Had a great time with Corey and Stephanie Taylor yesterday. Love those two! Glad Corey has “stopped smoking.” Well, let’s put it this way, he didn’t smoke one during the couple of hours he was in the studio. So that’s a start! LOL He cleared up some misinformation about the theft of his and Stone Sour‘s property that was taken from his storage unit in Des Moines last week. The local paper reported two of the basses stolen belonged to former Slipknot bassist Paul Gray. Corey set the record straight. “The newspaper in Des Moines, who didn’t get the facts straight before they printed the story, said that it was Paul’s actual basses. That’s not true. They were Paul Gray Signature basses that we got from Ibanez to have with us on the road, so we could have them onstage. It was not Paul’s actual basses. Thank you, Des Moines Register.” The good news is most of the items were returned. Sad that a friend, obviously not a friend anymore, took the items thinking it would be a temporary “loan” of sorts. Actually, if he had asked for money, chances are they would’ve loaned it to him. People = stupid. Corey told me the next few months are time off, except for the couple of Slipknot dates. Stone Sour doesn’t have anything til at least October. This gives everyone a chance to chill for a bit. They deserve the time off! Grab Corey’s book. It’s really a fun and interesting read. Listen for Corey’s interview on hardDrive and hardDrive XL in the coming weeks….Today, Jerry Cantrell, Sean Kinney and William Duvall of Alice In Chains enter the hardDrive studios. Can’t wait to talk to them and hear what they’ve got planned for Uproar. More on that tomorrow. Remember, if you have questions for the band, send them along to me right now via the email link on the home page!….Pulse Content reports Foo Fighters guitarist Chris “Shifty” Shiflett told FasterLouder last week the band was getting closer to hitting the studio to record its eighth album, saying, “We haven’t officially started, but we’re getting underway soon.” He added that frontman and leader Dave Grohl had a lot of “interesting” ideas about what direction the disc would take and how it would be recorded. Shiflett explained, “I can’t go into too much detail, but . . . I’m excited about it. Dave’s got a bunch of new songs and the way that we’re gonna make the new record — like, the approach for it — is gonna be pretty f***ing fun. And different. I feel like Dave’s always looking for ways . . . to keep things exciting and keep things inspired and fun. I think he’s got some good ideas for this next one.” Love it! But how different can it be to record from past recording experiences? Either you record live analog or digitally. I can’t think of many other ways to record, can you? He’s recorded in his house in Virginia, his studio in California. I doubt he’s going to go out of town to work. Hmmm. This one’s got me curious…Rise Against has announced it will release a compilation of rare original songs and cover tunes called Long Forgotten Songs: B-Sides & Covers 2000 – 2013 on Sep 10th. Lead singer Tim McIlrath said in a statement, “In the last 13 or so years Rise Against has put out six records, each one we are proud to put our name on. But we are just as proud of these 26 songs that slipped through the cracks and never ended up on any of our full lengths . . . most of these songs saw the light of day at some point, but we thought we would spare you the digging and put them all on one record.” They’ve covered a Bob Dylan tune “The Chimes of Freedom.” Glad to see it will finally see the light of day. New meat for the next cover song show on hardDrive! …Soundgarden bassist Ben Shepherd has released a song called “Collide” from his debut solo album, In Deep Owl, due out on August 27th. Shepherd is releasing the disc as H.B.S. — which stands for his given name of Hunter Benedict Shepherd. It includes guest appearances from Soundgarden/Pearl Jam drummer Matt Cameron and ex-Pearl Jam drummer Matt Chamberlain. Shepherd told Bass Player that the album title was “an old nickname for the neighborhood where I hang out,” adding that the album “was done before Soundgarden returned to doing anything, and then it was put on the back burner.” (Blabbermouth)…Australian/American trio Sick Puppies are embarking on a series of in-store appearance this week as they kick off their tour to promote the release of their fourth studio album, Connect, which arrived on Tuesday (July 16th). After launching the tour with a show and in-store on Tuesday in Omaha, Nebraska, the band will hit Best Buy outlets in St. Louis today (July 17th), Oklahoma City on Thursday (July 18th), Tempe, Arizona on Friday (July 19th), Pomona, California on Saturday (July 20th) and Bakersfield, California on Sunday (July 21st) for signing sessions and acoustic performances. (Loudwire)….Original Black Sabbath drummer Bill Ward will debut his first collection of fine art pieces, titled “Absence Of Corners,” on August 1st. There are 18 different pieces in the collection, ranging in size from 30 inches by 18 inches to 85 inches by 30 inches. Ward worked on the project with Los Angeles company SceneFour, using drumsticks and rhythmic accessories that produce light, with the movements within the captured rhythms then developed into abstract artwork. Each piece in the limited-edition collection is numbered and signed by Ward. All will be posted online for viewing at www.billwarddrumart.com. (Blabbermouth)….Happy 64th today to Sabbath bassist Terry “Geezer” Butler!
