I want to start by wishing every a happy and safe cinco de Mayo as you kick back on some Coronas while checking out Rock and Metal News. Our first piece of news involves the estranged drummer of AC/DC Phil Rudd who speaks out for the very first time since pleading guilty to various charges. The drummer spoke with Australia’s A Current Affair about how he tried to get a hold of Angus Young, “I wrote them a letter, I tried to get in contact with Angus … I’ve had no contact with anybody.” He also talks about the situation that put him in his current predicament, “I was pretty stressed at the time. I got back here and the people who I had working for me for this [album] launch — it was a total f–king disaster. So I was really pissed off.” Rudd is sitting at home awaiting his sentencing which takes place on June 26TH and his band is on the road with Chris Slade. When they ask him about he simply says, “I’m sure they’re having a great old time. I’m sure they’re really enjoying playing. I’m sure it really sounds great. I’ve seen the errors of my ways… It’s onward and upward from here.” You can check out the full video for yourself here.
One of the most interesting stories ever in the history of Black Metal music is the story of the band Mayhem which unfortunately superseded their music. You know they are the band whose singer Per “Dead” Ohlin committed suicide only to see Euronymous (the co-founder of the band) cook his brains and eat it. Then after that, bassist Varg Vikernes stabs him to death and goes to jail for the crimes. Are you still with me? Well, now the legend of the band has reached Hollywood and it is going on to the big screen as Jonas Akerlund will be directing Lords Of Chaos. Akerland, you may remember as one of the members of Bathory in the 1980’s and you may remember him as the director of music videos for the likes of Ozzy Osbourne, Metallica, Smashing Pumpkins, Jane’s Addiction, Hollywood Undead, and Rammstein. So far all we know is that Rory Culkin and Caleb Landry Jones are set to star in the film, but they may have a detractor in current Mayhem member Necrobutcher who says, “This book Lords of Chaos is f—ing crap and that some stupid Swedes are gonna make a movie out of it is not OK. I will do everything I can to stop this film … Tell the Swedes and the Hollywood people to go f— themselves.” Stay tuned here for more info as it becomes available.
If you’re like me then you were enough of a sucker to pay $100 to watch the Floyd Mayweather/Manny Pacquiao dance contest that was supposed to be a boxing match (The fight of the century that is). Well, Nikki Sixx and Paul Stanley had some words for the abomination that was that night. Nikki took to Twitter with several tweets showing his support for Manny like this one, “Always root for the underdog in life, in music, and tonight in the ring #MannyPacquiao.” He followed that one with, “I believe that if Mayweather would FIGHT and not run away from #MannyPacquiao Manny would of crushed him. #BORING.” He gets even more upset with his next tweet, “I paid 100.00 to watch Mayweather run around in circle’s for 12 rounds. He got a 100 million and we got a track meet. #BORING.” Paul Stanley’s issue was with someone else during the telecast of the fight and to be honest I had an issue with it as well. Jamie Foxx was asked to sing the national anthem and here is what Paul Stanley tweeted out, “JESUS!! How about all singers agreeing if you DON’T want to sing the National Anthem as it was written YOU WON’T SING IT! What was THAT?!?..” I couldn’t have said it any better myself. Unfortunately that is what you get when you watch a fight that involves Floyd Mayweather, but word has it that he is offering to fight Manny once again, but I may decline to watch that when it comes around next year (if it does).
Metal Hammer Magazine has announced who will be on their cover for issue number 270 and it is the mighty Slayer. The trash metal titans return to the cover and to tell their story in the newest issue. They will talk about the brand new record as well as touching on former drummer Dave Lombardo and life after the death of Jeff Hanneman. The issue will also feature articles on Motörhead, King Parrot, Steel Panther, Coal Chamber, and so many more. Check out the cover below:
Have you ever wondered what happens to people after certain roles in iconic horror films like Hellraiser III: Hell On Earth? Well, I have an update on one person from the film who was recently signed to Chris Fronzak of Attila’s record label Stay Sick Recordings in the band It Breathes It Lives. You may remember Kevin Bernhardt as the actor that played cocky club owner J.P. Monroe in Hellraiser III: Hell On Earth. You know he’s the guy that purchases that that totem poll looking thing that houses the S&M freak Pinhead and then let’s him out. Well, now he is in a band and I don’t know what to make of them at all. I’ll let you be the judge of what you think of the band and whether it was a smart move for Fronzak. Check out the band’s music video for the song Independence Day right here.
For those of you wondering what life after Motley Crue is going to be like for some of the members should not fear because one has already made up his mind regarding the future and I support it. Nikki Sixx states that when Motley Crue is done playing the final song of their illustrious career, he will never play another Motley Crue song ever again. In an interview with Riffyou.com, he states, “A lot of times, I see people try and do ‘the next thing’ and it’s just kind of the same as the other. [If that were me] I’d think, ‘Well, why not just do Motley Crue?’ But why would I do another version of Motley Crue? Sixx: A.M. is completely different musically, spiritually, emotionally, visually…and that gives me pride. The people who are coming to see us, are coming to see Sixx: A.M. We don’t play Motley Crue music and we never will play Motley Crue music. The day Motley Crue plays its last show, I will never play another Motley Crue song again…even if it’s one I wrote. To be respectful to Motley Crue is the biggest gift I can give to fans.” I am a huge supporter of this decision because Sixx: A.M. is such an amazing band that deserves their time to shine in the light as much as the Crue does. He goes on to say, “I’m loving finishing off the Motley Crue stuff, but my expectations are high for Sixx: A.M.. The first thing we have to do is take it around the world and play in front of everybody. Then we have to release the right fourth record and just go out there and do it. My expectations are that we are an arena band.” Expect that album and world tour to happen in 2016 according to Nikki Sixx.
“We were going to see the Foo Fighters later that night and maybe get some Super Bowl t-shirts for friends and family back home. Exiting the apartment, we ran smack-dab into a very famous actor. Being as this was an almost private street, we simply nodded to him and kept on our way, not wanting to intrude on his private life. Ed commented that the actor had been clean for something like 23 years, but he’d heard that he’d recently started using again. Should we turn around and offer to take the guy for a coffee? As I said, keeping sober is a group effort. We trudged through the cold, discussing the matter.” That is how one of the passages in Duff McKagan’s new book titled How To Be A Man starts when he is talking about seeing a famous actor right before they died. Due to timeline, we are all suspecting that he is taking about Phillip Seymour Hoffman, but out of respect he will not mention names other than the fact he was hanging out with Jerry Cantrell and another friend named Ed who were all clean and sober. He continues, “Later that afternoon, when we came back, we saw the actor in the street again and could tell that he was waiting to score. Should we offer our friendship and a safe place? This is sometimes the dilemma for sober guys — as we all know, you can’t force a guy to get sober. He has to come around to it himself. We went back into the apartment.” He would once again run into the actor at 1:30 in the morning saying, “We thought that maybe he was on a last run before getting clean,” says McKagan. “Surely if we saw him again in the morning, we’d have to say something. Bro, c’mon. We’ve been there. Come on out of the cold. We understand. We’ve been there. Really. We’ve been there.” He ends it by saying, “The next morning, Sunday, Feb. 2, 2014, the morning of the Super Bowl, I heard a ruckus outside our front door. I went out to take a look. There was an ambulance and police and a whole crowd of press people and fans. The actor had OD’d and died sometime after we saw him at 1:30AM the night before. The three of us gathered in the kitchen of the apartment. We were stunned. We’ve been through this before with friends, and friends of friends, but I’ll never get used to it. Sure, none of us knew the actor personally, but he was one of us. The three of us understood that we could, at any time, be just one small and easy step from being the guy out there on the street waiting for the dealer to show. When guys like us witness something like this go down, it makes you take stock of where you are at in your sobriety.”
A lot of people have been wondering why Matt DeVries (Ex-Chimaira), the now former Fear Factory bassist left the band and why Tony Campos (Formerly of Static-X and Soulfly) has joined the band. Well, he answers that by issuing a statement for all of the fans, “For those that haven’t already heard, I’ve decided to step down as bass player of Fear Factory. The main reason being to simply take some time off of the road and focus on my kids. I couldn’t think of anyone better to take my place then Tony Campos. He’s a good friend and great bass player! Thank you to all Fear Factory fans. You guys have been amazing and made the past three years a blast! Thank you as well to Dino, Burt, and Mike for a great ride, and some memorable / incredible shows! None of which could have happened without our amazing road crew, Wedge, Jerry, Justin, Sarah… you guys rule! Music is my passion, so this won’t be the last time you see me.” Fear Factory also issued a statement of their own saying, “We’re really sad to see Matt Devries go, but we totally respect his decision. The past 3 plus years have been beyond amazing. We’ve known Matt for a very long time and we’ve gone through allot together so we will always be friends. We wish him the best of luck on his future endeavors.” The band’s first gig with Tony Campos will be at The Amnesia Rockfest in Montebello, Canada the day after he finishes a gig with Ministry.
Moshpits And Movies 