March First??!! Holy geez! Just about 6 weeks before the beginning of the HARDDRIVE LIVE FIVE TOUR! We are just so psyched! And two weeks from today, I am on a panel at South By Southwest (SXSW) in Austin, where I hope I am hungover from the concert I hope to have seen the night before. ;> ….Speaking of HARDDRIVE LIVE FIVE, the wonderful Halestorm and Ms Lzzy Hale got to sing with Slash and his boys last Friday night in Stockholm, Sweden! If you recall, Halestorm had released ReAniMate, their cover song EP back in 2011. They did Guns ‘N Roses‘ “Out Ta Get Me.” So when Halestorm shared the bill with the guitarist, Lzzy was invited to come out with Slash to do the song! She was quoted as saying she was so into the moment, she couldn’t believe it! Love that! Incidently, right before they left for Europe while in LA, I hear the band was in a studio recording some new covers for what purpose, I am unclear. But knowing how much we love cover songs here at hardDrive, we will be waiting with open arms!…..Seems like another analog recording studio is struggling to adapt to the new world of digital recording like Sound City in LA. This one in Ireland, where it has been housing historic records from bands like Metallica and AC/DC! Pulse Content reports on a story from The Irish Times that over a thousand tapes from the old Windmill Lane recording studio are waiting to be reclaimed either by the artists or their record labels. If that doesn’t happen by May, they will start to be destroyed. Weighing more than a ton, the two-inch multi-track tapes have filled the attic at the new Windmill facility. Among the rare finds are an early version of AC/DC’s “Thunderstruck” and a recording of Metallica performing with Marianne Faithfull. The sessions were recorded on the heavy analog tape in the days before digital technology took over. Other recordings stored there include sessions from Bono and The Edge, tracks by Dire Straits frontman Mark Knopfler and demos from the Spice Girls. There also master recordings of soundtracks from movies like The Commitments, The Talented Mr. Ripley and The Mask. The tapes have begun to deteriorate and some may not be playable. A producer at the studio, Tony Perrey, said, “They are probably not of any practical value. You would only ever get one chance to play them again and that would be under archival conditions.” He added that digitizing them would be “hugely expensive.”…May 3rd, 4th & 5th are the dates for the 2013 Beale Street Music Festival in Memphis! Alice In Chains, Deftones, Sheryl Crown, Hall & Oates and Yngwie Malmsteen are some of the performers the first night, followed by The Black Keys, ZZ Top, Jerry Lee Lewis , Patti Smith and other the second night, and Smashing Pumpkins, Three Days Grace. Papa Roach, AWOLNATION and others the last day. Cool stuff!…. March 12th, a new book from Pantera bassist Rex Brown will be released called “Official Truth, 101 Proof: The Inside Story of Pantera.” Take a look at the trailer for it. I miss Pantera. I miss those crazy days of being backstage after a Pantera show where anything could and would happen! Standing on the side of the stage watching them perform, that power and glory! Not to mention, marveling how Dime could pour a shot of Crown Royal in a plastic water cup, toss it through the air into the audience for a fan to catch and lob the damn thing perfectly so it didn’t spill a damn drop! INSANE! Of course, where the cup got spilled was on the receiving end if it wasn’t caught just right. Amazing!….Was over on Stone Sour‘s www.houseofgoldandbones.com (almost typoed that to Golf and Vones) where I saw the trailer for the music video for “Do Me A Favor.” Cool stuff! Meanwhile, Corey Taylor will be at SXSW to do a spoken word event, and Dave Grohl gives a keynote speech. Hmmmm. Could a Sound City Players event be in the works? Wonderers are wondering…..Happy 4-0 today to Ryan Peake of Nickelback! And Happy 69th to The Who’s Roger Daltrey. On Saturday, Jon Bongiovani, aka Bon Jovi, turns 51. Have a great weekend! See ya Monday!
