WOW! Avatar last night played their first U.S. show last night at the Studio at Webster Hall here in NYC. A great turn out of industry execs to see the band too! Johannes Eckerstrom and drummer John Alfredsson stopped by the hardDrive studios to chat and I was taken aback at how tall Johannes was! Nothing what I had expected! Funny story: he was set to do an interview with Metal Injection, and was about to be filmed roaming around Ripley’s Believe It or Not in Times Square. (Look for it on the Metal Injection website soon!) Since he needed a place to put on his make-up and garb, he went in to the men’s room at the neighboring McDonald’s. While having his whole make-up kit spread out on the sink, a state trooper walked in. The cop looked at him and the make-up and outfit, sighed, washed his hands and walked out. Pretty funny. Anyhow, the set was great. Johannes has excellent frontman chops! Lots of fans singing along. They start their tour tomorrow in Greenville, SC at the Handlebar, so if you’re down there, check them out with Sevendust and Lacuna Coil. Lots of cool Scandavian-style circular hair tossing for sure!….Ok, it’s official! Metallica will perform and be among the acts honored at the fifth annual Revolver Golden Gods Awards, which will take place on May 2nd at Club Nokia in downtown Los Angeles. Metallica will be presented with the Ronnie James Dio Lifetime Achievement Award, which has been given in the past to Rush, Motley Crue, Motorhead‘s Lemmy Kilmister and Ozzy Osbourne. Drummer Lars Ulrich said in a statement, “Since the Revolver Golden Gods Awards is fast becoming THE most rocking awards ceremony in the hard rock world, we are beyond psyched to be at the receiving end of this shout out and in the distinguished company of Rush, Lemmy, Ozzy and Motley Crue. I was hanging out and presenting at the shenanigans two years ago and the energy in the room and the vibe backstage was beyond f***ing cool, so Metallica is chomping at the bit to partake in this year’s event.” And the nominees are: (drum roll, please)
Best Guitarist:
• John 5 (Rob Zombie band)
• Stephen Carpenter (Deftones)
• Alex Lifeson (Rush)
• Misha Mansoor (Periphery)
• Brendon Small (Dethklok)
• Kim Thayil (Soundgarden)
Best Drummer
• Abe Cunningham (Deftones)
• Mario Duplantier (Gojira)
• Arejay Hale (Halestorm)
• Gene Hoglan (Dethklok & Testament)
• Roy Mayorga (Stone Sour)
• Neil Peart (Rush)
Best Bassist:
• Rex Brown (Kill Devil Hill)
• Steve Harris (Iron Maiden & solo)
• Lemmy Kilmister (Motorhead)
• Geddy Lee (Rush)
• Jason Newsted (Newsted)
• Sergio Vega (Deftones)
Best Vocalist:
• Phil Anselmo (Down & solo)
• Maria Brink (In This Moment)
• Chris Cornell (Soundgarden)
• Lzzy Hale (Halestorm)
• Chino Moreno (Deftones)
• Corey Taylor (Stone Sour & Slipknot)
Best New Talent:
• Device
• Ghost
• Kvelertak
• Miss May I
• Of Mice & Men
• Young Guns
Most Metal Athlete:
• Tom Crabtree (Green Bay Packers, NFL)
• Tanner Faust (Rally and drifting car racing)
• Clay Guida (Mixed Martial Arts fighting, UFC)
• Triple H (WWE wrestling)
• Geoff Rowley (Skateboarding)
• CJ Wilson (Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, MLB)
Best Live Band
• Anthrax
• Five Finger Death Punch
• Hatebreed
• Lamb of God
• Slipknot
• Volbeat
Comeback Of The Year
• Aerosmith
• The Darkness
• Quicksand
• Refused
• Soundgarden
• Tenacious D
Song Of The Year
• Asking Alexandria, “Run Free”
• Avenged Sevenfold, “Carry On”
• Black Veil Brides, “In The End”
• Dethklok, “I Ejaculate Fire”
• Halestorm, “Love Bites (So Do I)” (see video from Jimmy Kimmel Live here!)
• In This Moment, “Blood”
Most Dedicated Fans:
• Black Label Society
• Black Veil Brides
• A Day To Remember
• HIM
• Rammstein
• Slipknot
Album Of The Year:
• Deftones, Koi No Yokan
• Gojira, L’Enfant Sauvage
• Halestorm, The Strange Case of…
• Marilyn Manson, Born Villain
• Soundgarden, King Animal
• Stone Sour, House Of Gold & Bones Part 1
Cast your vote: www.goldengodsawards.com
Stoked for our friends Halestorm & Young Guns from the HARDDRIVE LIVE FIVE TOUR!! The show airs on May 2nd. More details in the coming weeks……Kim Thayil of Soundgarden was on the hardDrive hotLine and he told us his band performed at the inauguration of President Obama last week, with the band playing the inaugural ball and singer Chris Cornell also performing solo at a ball for military personnel. Kim said the crowd responded to the first heavy rock band to ever play a Presidential inauguration: “We were the last act of the night. There were definitely many people making for the exits when we started playing, because we are loud and aggressive and people in their high heels and their ball gowns probably went to some other function and realized that their evening was over. But there was probably a number of hundred to a thousand that were definitely loosening up their collars and bowties and getting into us.” That was pretty freakin’ awesome! Here’s a clip of Chris’ performance…. Pulse Content also revealed Rob Zombie‘s finally got a title and release date for his fifth solo studio album, which will follow up 2010’s Hellbilly Deluxe 2. The set will be called, wait for it, Venomous Rat Regeneration Vendor — try saying that three times fast — and it’s due to arrive on Tue, April 23rd, just three days ahead of the April 26th theatrical release of Zombie’s fifth live-action directorial effort, The Lords Of Salem. Zombie told us what goals he set for himself in making the new album: “I wanted someone to hear it and go, ‘Wow, I haven’t heard that before.’ I wanted it to be just different. We really went out of our way with the sounds, so every song has a very different sound, a very different guitar sound, drum sound, just everything, where the sound, the actual sound becomes very important. You know, after all these years you want to still try to feel that you can break through new, creative areas in your own mind, and that’s really what we’re just trying to do, you know.”…Blabbermouth reports .Drowning Pool has set Resilience as the title of its fifth studio album, with an April 2nd release date penciled in. An official single called “Saturday Night” has been issued. The set marks the debut of new singer Jasen Moreno, the group’s fourth frontman. Moreno follows Ryan McCombs, who left at the end of 2011 after six years. The band said in a statement about the new disc, “Ultimately, it isn’t a new beginning or an end. It’s a continuation of the Drowning Pool legacy — and a fitting one at that.”….Happy 49th today to Slayer’s Jeff Hanneman! Hope you are feeling better!
