Had a great time yesterday with David Draiman of Device, who stopped by the hardDrive studios. We talked about EVERYTHING and you will be able to hear him as Lou Brutus’ Featured Artist of the Week on hardDrive XL in a couple of weeks! We talked about the band being nominated for a Golden God Award for “Best New Band.” He said he was kind of taken aback by the nomination, since it was announced even before he had released any music!! Weird! Anywho, I mentioned to David about the documentary on the music industry I was asked to be in, and he’s also going to make an appearance in Who Killed or Saved the Music Industry. Ya know, it’s not all doom and gloom! Meanwhile, Device is releasing tracks from their debut album online. So far, besides the radio single, “Vilify,” the songs “You Think You Know” and “Penance” have been posted. Check them out on www.deviceband.com. I also was speaking on the hotLine to Jason Newsted. Was happy he remembered me, since we’ve done so many chats back in the day, when he was in Metallica (he was kind of the spokesman over the years when the other guys didn’t want to do stuff. Boy, has THAT changed!) Anyhow, excited for Jase and his new addition of guitar-player, songwriter Mike Mushok (another under-rated excellent guitarist) of Staind. Glad for Mike, too! He’s finally gonna be able to play more of the heavy stuff he likes! Check out Newsted when they come to your town later next month. Find the dates on the Road Rage page…..Speaking of Metallica, a new book on Metallica called Metallica: The Complete Illustrated History will arrive this fall from Voyageur Press. Author Martin Popoff promises to examine the band’s entire career up through 2011’s botched Lulu album, with more than 300 images and dozens of interviews with the band and others. The book is tentatively due out on November 15th. ….Speaking of guitarists, it pained me to read about these two events. Last week, I forgot to report on a story I saw about Local H mainman Scott Lucas was mugged and beaten severely in Moscow late last month. “The attacker came up from behind and put me in a chokehold until I passed out,” it read. “When I came to, I was in a stairwell with all of my pockets empty. No phone, no wallet, no cash, and (worst of all) no passport. Nothing. Even my hat and glasses were gone. It wasn’t until I found someone to ask for help that I realized something else was gone — my voice. When I opened my mouth to ask that person to call me a taxi, nothing but a scratchy croak would come out. I touched my throat and could feel that more damage had been done than I initially thought.” Upon returning to the States, and realizing that rest wasn’t healing like Lucas expected it to, he hit up a voice doctor after a SXSW show by his mellower collective, Scott Lucas and the Married Men. Damage to one of his vocal cords required that it be popped back into place, which just sounds gross. A handful of dates were shelved at first, and then everything up until March 30 was nixed. We wish Scott all the best. What a drag! (Thanks Vanyaland.com). Then another horrible thing happened to John 5 of Rob Zombie‘s band. After leaving his home in LA and forgetting to turn on the alarm, his place was robbed and they took 5 of his prized guitars, two MAC computers he writes music on, memorablia and other items. Just devastating news! Hopefully the perps in both of these crimes get what’s coming to them, whether by justice or karma. John put out a form on his Facebook page, along with pictures and descriptions of the items, so if you know ANYTHING about the whereabouts of his property, please let him know!….Stone Sour has issued a new music video for “Do Me A Favor,” the first official single from the band’s upcoming album House Of Gold And Bones, Part 2. The disc is the second half of a two-record conceptual project based on a short story by singer Corey Taylor. Part 1 arrived last fall, with Part 2 due out on April 9th. A four-issue comic book series adapted from Taylor’s story will come out this spring, with the first issue arriving on shelves on April 17th. (Thanks Pulse Content)….Slipknot’s Shawn Crahan is at it AGAIN! He’s directed another music video for a new band called Motionless in White. I happened to hear their new tune “America” yesterday and was blown away. Looking forward to catching them at Rock on the Range in May! The song is so cool, so I can imagine Shawn’s feelings when he posted on his Facebook page, ” I directed a Motionless In White video yesterday (March 26). I had a blast. We created something special. All the people involved were so great and a pleasure to work with. I live for those days.” Can’t wait to see the clip!….August 10-11, the Montreal Heavy MTL festival hits the Quebec province, and it’s got Avenged Sevenfold, Rob Zombie, Godsmack, Megadeth, Danzig, Mastodon, Machine Head and more! It’s the first Avenged date I’ve seen so far. I also hear the album might be out in July. More on that in a few weeks!
