Happy Wednesday! (Is it Friday yet?) Pulse Content reports Nine Inch Nails mastermind Trent Reznor took to the airwaves of Los Angeles radio station KROQ on Monday (June 24th) to discuss the upcoming NIN album, Hesitation Marks, the group’s return and the recent departures of guitarist Adrian Belew and bassist Eric Avery from the lineup after just a few months. Reznor said about the latter, “It’s been disruptive . . . you can spend a lot of time, like I’ve done, hypothesizing and imagining and projecting as to what it’s going to be like with this chemistry and this recipe of people in a room playing music. And in reality, it rarely is that.” He added, “In the case of a couple people in the band some switches were made and it’s turned into something different . . . It’s felt a wrench in the works at time, but at the same time it’s made me rethink a lot of how we put this together and I think where we’re ending up at a place that’s much truer to where Nine Inch Nails should be and better in the long run.” Asked why he kept the recording of Hesitation Marks a secret for a year, Reznor responded, “I still owe Interscope a greatest hits record. There was talk about doing a couple new tracks for the compilation under the NIN header . . . I started tinkering with a couple songs for Nine Inch Nails. I felt inspired by what’s happening. A couple songs led to a couple more songs and pretty soon it was a full-fledged, ‘let’s make an album.‘” Reznor described Hesitation Marks as “much more electronic,” although he added that the first single, “Came Back Haunted,” is “familiar, it’s very self-referential and purposely. I think that’s the most like that there is on that record.” A video for “Came Back Haunted,” directed by filmmaker David Lynch, could surface by the end of this week. Hesitation Marks, the first NIN album since 2008’s The Slip, will arrive on September 3rd. The album features guest appearances from Fleetwood Mac guitarist Lindsey Buckingham and The Who touring bassist Pino Palladino. They begin their tour Sep 28th. See Road Rage….Soundgarden bassist Ben Shepherd will release his debut solo album, In Deep Owl, on August 27th. The collection was recorded in what a press statement described as “the industrial neighborhoods of Georgetown and Interbay in Seattle. The first song off of the album, “Baron Robber,” can currently be heard at Spin.com. Shepherd wrote the entire album himself and began working on it around Thanksgiving of 2009. Although it was originally intended to feature just an acoustic guitar, Shepherd eventually enlisted the contributions of current Soundgarden and Pearl Jam drummer Matt Cameron, as well as former Pearl Jam drummer Matt Chamberlain. Shepherd noted that most of the disc was recorded at a studio “behind a sex club, but it was where we could record, all day and all night, at all volumes.” A vinyl edition of In Deep Owl will also be issued. Soundgarden, who reunited in 2010, finished a North American tour last month. The quartet has been touring in support of King Animal, its first album of new material since 1996. For pre-ordering info, go to http://hbshepherd.bandcamp.com/ …My friend Rob Zombie has put out the call to his fans to be part of a video for his cover of the Grand Funk Railroad classic, “We’re An American Band.” He wants fans to submit footage of themselves rocking out to his version of the song, which is featured on his latest album, Venomous Rat Regeneration Vendor. The posted announcement added, “We want singers, bands, cheerleaders, athletes, hard-working, hard-drinking, hard-rocking people! Your submission just might end up in a special fan version of the ‘American Band’ video created by Rob Zombie.” To submit your video, hit www.sharethevenom.com….I am glad to hear this news. Deftones singer Chino Moreno believes the band should and will release Eros, the album it recorded before late bassist Chi Cheng was left in a semi-comatose state by a car accident in November 2008. It was produced by Bob Ezrin. Although Moreno was not sure if the disc would ever surface, his feelings have changed since Cheng’s death this past April. Moreno told MTV Hive, “I get asked about that record a lot. For a while, I was giving the same answer, ‘No, no, no, no, no, no, no.’ After Chi’s passing, I went back and listened to some of the record and it was a pretty intense experience to say the least.” Moreno added, “I think it should be released, but we don’t have any definite plans. There’s some work to do on it. Deftones have been moving forward in a strong, positive motion, so for us to stop and reflect on something five years ago, I don’t know if we’re ready for that.” But he also said, “It is a special thing for us: it’s the last thing Chi played on. It will see the light of day. I just don’t know when.” Moreno’s new side project, Palms, released its self-titled debut disc on Tuesday (June 25th). Cheng performed on Deftones’ first five albums, with his last released work being on 2006’s Saturday Night Wrist. Bassist Sergio Vega played on Diamond Eyes and the most recent Deftones disc, Koi No Yokan. I remember running into Chino and Abe Cunningham backstage at a Korn concert in Long Island right around the time they were in Connecticut recording with Bob, maybe around December 2007 or so, and I recall Chino saying it was not going great, but Abe commented Ezrin was legendary, but his work methods and the band’s were at odds. So I will bet you this record is a diamond in the rough. Ezrin, in case you never heard of him, was the mastermind behind Kiss Destroyer, the film soundtrack The Wall (Pink Floyd), Peter Gabriel, Aerosmith, every Alice Cooper album, among scores of other projects. In fact, Ezrin had done the previous Deftones’ album, Saturday Night Wrist. So anyhow, when this record finally sees the light of day, I will be the first in line to buy it God bless Chi…..Noisecreep reports Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello may sing protest songs and has battled the establishment on many an occasion, but he’s not above taking part of epic pop culture driven entertainment for musical creation sake. The guitar great recently teamed with ‘Game of Thrones’ composer Ramin Djawadi for the soundtrack to the new film, ‘Pacific Rim.’ “When they asked me to put some giant robot riffs and screaming underwater monster licks on the film score, I was all in,” said Morello to Rolling Stone. The movie, directed by ‘Hellboy’ filmmaker Guillermo del Toro, stars ‘Sons of Anarchy’ vets Charlie Hunnam and Ron Perlman in a movie that pits robots versus aliens. The soundtrack hit stores yesterday (June 25), and the movie comes out July 12. The guitarist has had an eventful 2013, as he filled in for E Street Brand member Steven Van Zandt during Bruce Springsteen‘s Australian tour and also has worked with the Boss on his follow up to last year’s release ‘Wrecking Ball.’…Happy 39th to New York Yankee Derek Jeter.
