Today I will be on the hotLine with my pal M Shadows of Avenged Sevenfold! And how timely! Pulse of Radio reports the band has notched the fifth Number One single of their career this week as “Hail To The King,” the title track of its upcoming album, reached the top of the Active Rock radio chart. It was the group’s fastest climb to the top spot to date. Matt told us the track about a ruler’s bloody climb to the throne was inspired by something completely different: “This isn’t ‘Hail To The King,’ like the jewels and the gold. This is like the man who went through and slaughtered everybody and just kind of put a metal thing on his head with no jewels and said, ‘I’m the king ’cause I’m the most powerful.’ And the funny thing is, me and Brian (Haner, a.k.a. Synyster Gates, guitar) were playing the song in my studio and I have an 11-month-old little boy and he was probably six months at the time, so I picked him up and I held him in the air and I said, ‘Hail to the king,’ and we were like, ‘Oh, that’s so catchy.’ So it actually came from something that was just really playful and lovey-dovey and all of a sudden it became, you know, ‘cut your tongue out.’” Hail To The King, the band’s sixth studio album, will arrive on August 27th. The CD is Avenged Sevenfold’s follow-up to 2010’s chart-topping Nightmare. Avenged Sevenfold will begin a fall headlining North American tour on October 3rd in Chicago, concluding on October 26th in Las Vegas. Support on the road trip will come from Deftones and Ghost B.C.. First, however, the band is playing a free show for fans in Los Angeles on Monday, August 26th. Tickets for the show at the Hollywood Palladium will be available through a local radio station beginning August 19th, Slide Bar and Johnny’s Saloon in Orange Country on August 22nd and finally at the Palladium box office on August 23rd. Man, wish I was going to be in Cali!…Lou Brutus is heading to Madison, WI this weekend for Band Camp 2013. You will see him on stage, in the photo pit and interviewing the bands!….Black Sabbath bassist Geezer Butler has told the Chicago Sun-Times the band’s current tour in support of its long-awaited reunion album, 13, could very well be his last. Asked why, Butler explained, “I don’t know. I just got a feeling. It’s getting tough, it really is. I can’t lie about that. I’m old now. It really is tough going on every night. You wake up the next day, all the pains you never had before. I don’t want to go onstage for the sake of the money. You have to have a lot pride in yourself, and I honestly think I’m coming to the end of the top of my job.” Butler also said that he’s enjoying the current Sabbath tour, adding, “I’ve always said as long as I can play, as long as I can do it to a good level, then I’ll keep doing it, because I still really enjoy playing. I’ll know when the day comes I can’t do this anymore, can’t play to my usual standards. That’s when I won’t go out anymore. I won’t do that to me self. But at the moment, I just love playing with the band. It probably will be the last time, will probably be the last tour. But I want to go out on a high. The band is playing really well at the moment.” I haven’t personally seen the tour, but I have been hearing mixed reviews. It has to be hard with Tony‘s (Iommi) illness, the issues with original drummer Bill Ward not being in the band, and such. And hey, we all get older. It’s just life….There’s been all this hub-bub coming from David Silveria‘s Facebook about his interest in returning to Korn. I have one thing to say on it and I will leave it there. He left the band. He left the band, sold or used his drum gear as tables and such for his restaurant in Huntington Beach. He has his own personal issues. And to just call Ray Luzier a “heavy metal drummer” is insane. Ray is one of the most accomplished, talented, NICEST and positive people you’d ever meet. So I’ve said it, leave it alone. Let’s move on…This is great news, because both of these documentaries are OUTSTANDING. Dave Grohl‘s Sound City documentary and director Cameron Crowe‘s film Pearl Jam Twenty will both show up on VH1 as part of the channel’s “Rock Docs” series. Sound City, directed by Grohl, tells the story of the legendary, now defunct studio near Los Angeles where Nirvana, Tom Petty, Fleetwood Mac, Neil Young, Nine Inch Nails and others all recorded seminal albums. Pearl Jam Twenty traces the history of the Seattle band from their formation through their rise to fame to the present day. Sound City will air on VH1 on August 17th, while Pearl Jam Twenty will air on October 12th. Be sure to set your DVR and do not miss these airings, even if it means sitting through the commercials! (Hollywood Reporter)….Monday, Walking Papers’ Duff McKagan and singer Jeff Angell and newcomers Charming Liars, both on the Rockstar Energy Uproar, will stop by the hardDrive studios. On Tuesday, our old pal Kaz and Jules from Redlight King will drop by and do an acoustic “Live at 10-65” performance for us. More cool stuff in the works too! So exciting for you AND me!… Celebrating Birthdays! Today: Madge aka Madonna is 55! Director James Cameron is 59, Saturday, Madonna’s ex, Sean Penn turns 53, Bob DeNiro will be 70! and Gilby Clarke of Guns N’ Roses turns 51. Sunday, I will always call her “The Baby Frances Bean” Cobain turns 21! Everlast is 44 and former Incubus bassist Dirk Lance turns 37. Have a great weekend!
