TGIF people! I need the weekend to rest for the week coming up! It’s a busy time of year for us here in the hardDriveRadio world. Monday, Jason Newsted and Mike Mushok of Newsted will be in the studios, followed by RIchie Kotzen, Bad Boy Billy Sheehan and Mike Portnoy of the Winery Dogs (does this mean I need to bring a cork screw?) and then on Wednesday, Device’s David Draiman, Virus and Will Hunt come by for an interview and acoustic performance. Then the following week, we’ve got Joey Jordison of Scar the Martyr on the 12th, and on the 19th, Duff McKagan and Jeff Angel of Walking Papers. Oh and on the 16th, we attend the Rockstar Energy Uproar stop in NJ and Lou Brutus will be at JJO’s Band Camp in Madison, WI for Sevendust, Pop Evil, Nonpoint, Fight or Flight, Motionless In White, and a ton more! Like I said, it’s busy. And don’t forget, if you have questions for these bands, send them along to me via the email link on the home page…..Metallica singer/guitarist James Hetfield turns 50 years old on Saturday (August 3rd). Born in 1963 in Downey, California, James was the son of a truck driver named Virgil and a singer named Cynthia. Hetfield’s parents were Christian Scientists and strongly disapproved of the use of any kind of medicine or medical treatments, even when Cynthia was dying of cancer in 1979. This upbringing inspired many of Metallica’s later songs, such as “The God That Failed.” Hetfield also has two older half-brothers from his mother’s first marriage and a younger sister. Hetfield took up piano at the age of nine and began playing guitar at 14. He was in bands called Leather Charm and Obsession during his teen years. In October 1981 he answered a classified ad placed in a local paper called The Recycler by Danish drummer Lars Ulrich, and Metallica was born and he became a mega-millionaire. So believe in a dream, and you, too, can realize it!…..Oh look! It’s an item on Dave! Dave Grohl makes a guest appearance on Varnished, the first new album in over seven years from Joan Jett & The Blackhearts. There’s no word on which of the set’s 10 tracks the Foo Fighters frontman will contribute to. Also featured on the disc is singer Laura Jane Grace of Against Me! The highly personal set, which will touch on topics such as “the death of (Jett’s) parents” and “the victims of Hurricane Sandy,” is due out October 1st. (Rolling Stone)….hardDrive Live Tour‘s Black Veil Brides are offering an exclusive lyric T-shirt for sale in support of Anti Bullying Awareness Month, which is coming up in October. The shirt, which reads, “If We Stand Together We Will Be Unbroken,” is on sale now for the next three weeks for $25, with all profits going towards The Bully Project. The band is also inviting fans who buy the shirt to send in a photo of themselves wearing it. A selection of the collected photos will be used in an upcoming anti-bullying video that will be available on the Black Veil Brides YouTube page on October 1st. To order the shirt, go to http://www.teespring.com/blackveilbrides. (Loudwire) (Thanks to Pulse of Radio for the report today!)…..Trivium‘s new album, Vengeance Falls, produced by David Draiman, is set for release on Oct 15th. The band is offering a free download of the tune I heard back in March at David’s house down in Austin, called “Brave The Storm.” You can definitely heard David’s influence on that one! …Celebrating birthdays this weekend! Well, Hetfield is 50 on Saturday and Stephen Carpenter of Deftones turns 43 that day as well! On Sunday, our President Barack Obama turns 52 and Max Cavalera of Sepultura and Soulfly will be 44. Have a great weekend!
