Wow. What a strange couple of weeks. Sickness everywhere! In more than one way! Pulse of Radio reports Slipknot guitarist Jim Root was forced to miss Saturday night’s (Jun 30th) launch of the Rockstar Energy Mayhem Festival tour in San Bernardino, California because of a burst appendix. A statement issued by the band said Root had been seriously ill for the past few weeks and the situation could have been life threatening. He is likely to miss several more Mayhem Festival shows, although it is hoped he can rejoin the tour as soon as possible. The statement read, “Jim has been seriously sick for the past two weeks and went to the hospital last week where he was advised that his appendix burst a couple weeks before and that it could have been life threatening. Jim is at home recovering and is awaiting surgery to have pieces of his appendix removed and hopes to join the tour as soon as he is able. Slipknot will continue to headline the Mayhem Festival and all other shows. We refuse to let our fans down and will not miss a single date. We will miss Jim greatly and our thoughts are with him. Jim sends his love to each and every one of our fans.” Meanwhile, congrats to John Reese and John Oakes, producers of the Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem Festival, the world’s largest touring heavy music festival! It kicked off its fifth year Sat Jun 30 at San Manuel Amphi in San Bernardino, CA with a record-breaking attendance of 26,105 — 4,000 more than the previous attendance record set by the tour! (Thanks Blabbermouth!)….. Pulse of Radio also reports Deftones have tentatively set Oct 9th as the release date for their seventh album, which will follow up 2010’s Diamond Eyes. That disc was the group’s most successful and acclaimed outing in years, and lead singer Chino Moreno told us why the band got back to work faster than usual: “I think it was really important that we wanted to not drag it out. I mean, we have a well-documented history of taking forever to make records, and with our last record, we did it in a really good amount of time. I mean, it was probably like four or five months from the time we started writing it ’til we finished it, and for us, you know, that’s record time. So we felt really great about the way the last record came out, and so I think just the idea in general was like, ‘Let’s go in and start a record on this date and let’s try to be finished by summertime.” Looking forward to that. I would also imagine there will be a new song played here and there on their tour next month with System of a Down, which, damn it, I am going to miss because I will be on vacation! GROWL!….. Soundgarden vocalist Chris Cornell slammed the current pop music scene in a new interview with The Sun, saying his band’s new album may be just what the doctor ordered to give rock a new lease on life. Cornell explained, “A big reason grunge became so big so fast (in the early ’90s) is because people were so sick of what was out there. It’s the same thing now. You have a better chance of a very healthy and vital rock scene coming out today because there’s something to react against.” Cornell added pop music in general, not just rock, is in a bad place right now, saying, “Contemporary pop music couldn’t be any worse than it is now. The one bright spot was Adele having the biggest-selling record of last year. They’re actually songs and she can really sing. So obviously the biggest market still responds to a human being creating music.” The singer stated firmly he thinks his band’s new album, its first in 16 years, will be just what the rock scene is looking for. He remarked, “It’s new music available to a new rock audience, and the ultimate of what we could have achieved in trying to reach a new generation of rock fans is to give them something that’s theirs. This album is every bit as vital as anything we’ve ever done. It’s not in any way nostalgic, it’s not a throwback.” Nice. We need to hear this 🙂 …Good news abut Randy Blythe of Lamb of God. He was released from the Czech jail he was being held in since last Wed after being arrested in connection of the death of a fan from a 2010 tour stop in Prague. Bail was set at $200,000. More as we get it….Sevendust will enter the studio to record their 9th studio album on Sep 5th….Aaron Lewis’ second solo record, The Road, won’t be out til Sep 11th. See Road Rage for new solo dates for the Staind lead singer as he tours as his country music alter ego…I will be on vacation tomorrow through Sun Jul 8th. See you Monday! Have a great and safe 4th of July!
