Whoa! I guess the Grammys wasn’t enjoyed by everyone, eh? Pulse Content posted some of the reactions from some of our friends out there, and it wasn’t pretty! Artists like Stone Sour‘s Corey Taylor, Tool frontman Maynard James Keenan and others took to Twitter on Sunday night (Feb 10th) to vent their feelings about the evening’s 55th annual Grammy Awards, which were held at the Staples Center in Los Angeles and broadcast on CBS. While rock music did well — with acts like the Black Keys, Halestorm and Fun.all winning anywhere from one to three awards — some rockers were disgruntled by the proceedings. Taylor tweeted, “I’m happy for Halestorm, but sad because the Grammys don’t respect our genre AT ALL. We get one category and it’s not even televised.” Jane’s Addiction guitarist Dave Navarro noted a new episode of The Walking Dead premiered opposite the awards show, writing, “People watch zombies on #thewalkingdead , zombies watch people on The Grammys.” Asked on Twitter if he agreed the show was irrelevant, overrated & not ‘fun’ (as in the band),” Keenan simply replied, “Yup.” Adelitas Way also weighed in, tweeting, “Watching the Grammys with respect for every artist involved, but this year is very boring, I would be def be breaking s*** up there :)” Being one of those folks who channel surfed all night, I have to say the moments I did catch were pretty cool! Granted, the Grammys has never been kind to us hard rock fans, but I was interested in seeing other artists performing music I wasn’t that familiar with. Oh well, to each their own….Today the new Bullet For My ValentineTemper, Temper, album will be released! It’s their fourth album and the Welsh quartet changed the way they approached making an album this time around, with frontman Matt Tuck and drummer Michael “Moose” Thomas traveling to Thailand to do the initial writing and recording for the album. Tuck told us why they made the trip: “It was just nice being in a studio 24/7 really, you know, with no distractions from home and stuff. So that was kind of the main reason why we went there and it just worked out well, you know, because we didn’t have any pressures from having to travel, having to cook your own food — just all the stuff that is an everyday process obviously takes a lot of time out of the day to be creative. So just being there, being able to write 24/7, was a huge advantage.” Incidently, it was the same studio Young Guns used to record their album, Bones. The band, who shares the same management overseas, turned Bullet onto the facility…And speaking of hardDrive Live Five bands, Lou Brutus will be talking to Halestorm guitarist Joe Hottinger today on the hotLine from LA! Be listening for that interview as soon as we can schedule it! Meanwhile, writing on her Instagram, singer Lzzy Hale said: “Last night was an incredible moment… I want to say a few words now that my head is together. This is such a huge milestone for us. I’ve been in this silly band since I was 13. That’s 16 years I’ve been working at this. We’ve been playing an average of 260 dates a year since I was a teenager. So after dedicating my life to rock, receiving a Grammy for ‘Best Hard Rock/Metal Performance’ last night is such an amazing honor! I’m so proud to represent for my genre, which, by the way, is the beating heart and inspiration for so many other genres (even all the pop kids want to be rock stars). I’m also so proud to represent for all my femme freaks out there; I am the first female to win a Grammy in this category. I hope to use this gift as a weapon of empowerment. Nothing great comes without hard work and patience. It’s a huge combo of luck and tunnel vision. I’m living proof that you can achieve your goals in life. Thank you to everyone who gave us a chance and has supported us throughout the years. Most of all, thanks you to our families and our freaks for enabling us to do what we love every day. We love you!”….The Navy SEAL who killed Osama bin Laden has opened up to Esquire magazine about the raid on the Al Qaeda leader’s compound and the shots that took his life, as well as the personal aftermath for the SEAL and his family. The SEAL, who is only referred to as “the Shooter” in the article, also mentions that he used the music of Metallica on prisoners before interrogations — until the band asked them to stop. The Shooter explained, “When we first started the war in Iraq, we were using Metallica music to soften people up before we interrogated them. Metallica got wind of this and they said, ‘Hey, please don’t use our music because we don’t want to promote violence.’ I thought, ‘Dude, you have an album called Kill ‘Em All.’” He added, “We stopped using their music, and then a band called Demon Hunter got in touch and said, ‘We’re all about promoting what you do.’ They sent us CDs and patches. I wore my Demon Hunter patch on every mission. I wore it when I blasted bin Laden.” And hey, if you haven’t seen either Zero Dark Thirty (in theaters) or Seal Team Six (on Netflix now), check them out. Go Navy SEALS!….Can’t keep the Rage Against the Machine “machine” down! Tom Morello performs in NYC at Lincoln Center on Feb 16th. Performing as The Nightwatchman, he will be “bringing troubled songs for troubled times.” Sorry I am going to miss it! Going out of town this weekend! Meanwhile, besides playing with Dave Grohl’s Sound City Players, Rage Against the Machine drummer Brad Wilk has been busy too! The members of Black Sabbath revealed in a new interview producer Rick Rubin originally suggested legendary Cream drummer Ginger Baker to play drums on their new album, since founding drummer Bill Ward was not participating. Guitarist Tony Iommi said, “I thought, ‘Bloody hell? I just couldn’t see that.” Rubin’s second idea, Brad Wilk, ended up working out. Sabbath’s first disc in 35 years with Ozzy Osbourne on vocals, titled 13, is expected out in June….Device has set April 9th as the release of the much anticipated album. I got invited to a special event David Draiman and the band are throwing down in Austin during SXSW next month, and very much looking forward to that! Meanwhile, the band posted a video, check it out!….Oh and speaking of the Sound City soundtrack, it’s dropping on March 12th. Go get it! And make sure to watch the film! Find it now on iTunes. You’ll thank me later! Can’t wait to see the band performing tomorrow night here in NYC. Today, gonna check out John Fogerty perform live at Iridium and then hopping over to Brooklyn’s Barclays Ctr to see Mumford & Sons. Living the dream! …Lastly, want to say a couple of friends of mine, Katherine Turman and Jon Wiederhornhave written an amazing book, called “Louder than Hell: The Definitive History of Heavy Metal” and it hits stores May 14. It chronicles the nearly 45 years the genre has been in existence and examines it, warts and all, from the mouths of over 300 artists. From Accept to Rob Zombie, interviews from artists and their experiences, good and bad, it’s all in there! And I even get a nice Thank You in there! 🙂 Be sure to check it out! It’s a fun and informative read! But don’t believe ME! Metal musicians themselves have come out to praise ‘Louder than Hell,’ along with its authors. “Katherine Turman and Jon Wiederhorn know metal,” gushes Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello. “Louder than Hell is an amazing gathering of different breeds of heavy metal rockers telling the tales metal fans want to hear.” Heavy metal legend Alice Cooper also endorses the book. “This is the book every metal fan should own. A fascinating high-octane chronicle of metal mayhem that takes readers on a wild ride, from metal’s earliest days to the head-banging present. I’m not saying this just because I’m in the book, but . . . if you love metal, great stories, and music history told by the people who made it, then Louder than Hell is a must-read.”
