Man, what a busy weekend and Monday! Lou Brutus spent all day Saturday interviewing bands, doing stage announcements and taking photos in the pit at JJO’s Band Camp! About the only thing he didn’t do was clean the port-o-sans! HA! But he’s come back with some great interviews with Sevendust, Pop Evil, Asking Alexandria, Motionless in White, Mindset Evolution, Nonpoint, Red Line Chemistry and more! So be listening for those in the coming days for sure!….Today, The Walking Papers (hey, you fans of the more sophisticated rock out there should really sink your teeth into their self-titled album. I really like it and it will probably be overlooked by radio for the most part, but I gotta tell ya, it doesn’t get old listening to the record AT ALL!) and Charming Liars will be making their way into the hardDriveRadio Studios. Looking forward!…..One more reason 2014 will be a great year! Pulse reports Foo Fighters are well on their way to making their eighth studio album, according to a new interview with Dave Grohl done by a U.K. radio station. Asked about the band’s progress on a new disc, Grohl revealed, “Well, I’ll tell you, we have been in our studio writing and in the past few weeks, we’ve written an album. And we are going to make this album in a way that no one’s ever done before, and we’re pretty excited about it.”Grohl admitted that the band hasn’t started recording yet and suggested that a 2014 release date is likely, adding, “It’s a little way off — it’s not ready to happen right now, but I think next year is going to be a really big year for the Foo Fighters without question. It’s going to be great, I can’t wait.” ….Device and Disturbed frontman David Draiman brought his pregnant wife, Japanese-American model, actress and wrestler Lena Yada, up on stage during Device’s August 11th concert in Toronto at the final stop of the band’s current tour. Draiman and his wife are expecting a baby boy, Samuel Bear Draiman, in early October. Draiman revealed the news of the pregnancy on May 2nd via Twitter before announcing it at the Revolver Golden Gods Awards. The couple were married in September 2011. (Blabbermouth)….Five Finger Death Punch is featured in the latest installment of “Walmart Soundcheck,” an online series from discount retailer Walmart. The segment goes behind the scenes with the Las Vegas act as they discuss connecting with their fans, working with Rob Halford of Judas Priest, the current state of heavy metal music, and recording their most ambitious album to date, the two-part The Wrong Side Of Heaven And The Righteous Side Of Hell. The entire episode can be seen at http://soundcheck.walmart.com/. (Blabbermouth)…I remember when Roadrunner Records, a company based in Amsterdam, NL, was “just this little metal label” back in the day that had all these sorta scary bands and Type O Negative, which was the first Roadrunner band hardDrive ever played back in the days when we were more of a metal show, circa 1994, called “Pure Concrete.” (Peter Steele, rest in peace.) Now Nickelback, Stone Sour, Theory Of A Deadman and many others are among the acts included on XXX: Three Decades Of Roadrunner Records, a four-CD boxed set chronicling the history of one of the most highly regarded labels in heavy rock and metal history. The set is due for release on Oct 1st and will contain 54 tracks from dozens of artists ranging from the company’s earliest signings to its more recent offerings. The first disc, called “Foundations,” highlights early underground metal signings such as Mercyful Fate, Carnivore, Type O Negative and others. Disc two, titled “Horns Up,” features key signings of the 1990s such as Slipknot (the first act to go platinum on the label), Machine Head, Sepultura and more. The third disc, called “And Metal For All,” brings the listener into the 2000s with bands like Killswitch Engage, Trivium, Dream Theater and others, while the final CD, “Rock For The Ages,” focuses on hard rock and classic acts like Nickelback, Rush, Theory Of A Deadman, Korn and many more. Roadrunner was successful on the underground metal scene for years until Nickelback’s third album, Silver Side Up, became a multi-platinum smash and made the company competitive with the major music labels. Nickelback frontman Chad Kroeger told us a while back Roadrunner was determined to stick with the group even before they broke through: “I’m very proud to be largely responsible for putting them on the map. I mean, they were doing the same thing for us when we were nobodies. They were just sinking tons of money they didn’t have into us and really trying to break us as their first radio band. And then we turned around and handed them Silver Side Up so…I mean if we were on any other record label in the world we would have been dropped after our first month of s***ty sales.” Other major commercial successes included albums from Stone Sour and Theory Of A Deadman, while the label also partnered with veteran acts like Rush, Korn and Rob Zombie. CHECK IT OUT: See the complete track list and packaging of XXX here. I can’t wait to get my hands on it. What a fitting tribute to a great label and the folks who were there from it’s inception should be very proud (I’m talking to you, Monte Conner!)….Metallica‘s first-ever performances in China, which took place last Tuesday and Wednesday (Aug 13th and 14th) at the Mercedes-Benz Arena in Shanghai, have been filmed for a documentary about the trip. Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich revealed information during a press conference in Shanghai, saying, “Being here in this wonderful country and feeling the energy and excitement, the idea came up to celebrate it and to try to document it and to try to get the experience out . . . there may be 20,000 of you who came to this arena yesterday and today, so we figured that if we filmed and shared the experience then maybe we could get to more of you and maybe there could be a next-level relationship between Metallica and China that could last for decades.” Ulrich added plans for the film possibly included “bringing some local bands into it and bringing some actors in and maybe some way bridging this into the Through The Never movie that we made in the United States.”It is not clear whether the proposed documentary would be a China-only release or would also be available in the rest of the world. Metallica’s first show in China sold out in record time and faster than any other Western act that has played the country before. On meeting Chinese fans, Ulrich said, “The interactions with the fans have been very emotionally engaged; they’re very appreciative and thankful that we’re here. Obviously there is a language barrier . . . but you can feel that there is a passion and that there’s been a longing for this moment that is really special.” The band’s current Asian run is taking them to South Korea, Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia, where it ends on August 25th. The only other live date on Metallica’s schedule for the rest of 2013 is September 19th in Rio. Next up for Metallica is the release of the band’s 3D movie, Metallica Through The Never, which arrives in limited release on Sep 27th before expanding its run on Oct 4th. A soundtrack album arrives on Sep 24th. The movie is part concert film and part fictional narrative, with the latter centering on a roadie played by Dane DeHaanwho must go on a mysterious mission for the band during the course of a live performance….And last, but not least, Blabbermouth reports Korn recently spent time in Los Angeles filming a music video for the song “Never Never” with director and motion designer Giovanni Bucci. “Never Never” is the first single from Korn’s 11th studio album, The Paradigm Shift, which is due on October 8 via Prospect Park. The follow-up to 2011’s The Path Of Totality features the return of guitarist Brian “Head” Welch to the lineup after more than eight years away. His last album with the band was 2003’s Take A Look In The Mirror. “Never Never” was made available for purchase digitally on Tuesday, Aug 13. The track features slow hulking beat stomps into screeching electronics before bleeding out on a bouncy chorus evocative of the swooping prowess of “Got the Life” and “Freak On A Leash”. “It was an amazing night when we finished that song,” says frontman Jonathan Davis. “It’s a relationship song. You go through that shit and you get hurt so bad. Then you think, ‘It’s not worth it anymore. I’m not going to fucking love again.’ You experience so many pressures to be a good dad, a good husband, a good lover, or whatever. Being in a relationship is a lot of work.” Other songs on the new set, which was recorded with producer Don Gilmore (Linkin Park, Bullet For My Valentine, Lacuna Coil) at Buck Owens‘ studio JD bought in Korn’s original hometown Bakersfield and at Los Angeles’s famed NRG Recording Studios, include “Love & Meth” — for a which a video was also recently shot — “Prey For Me”, “Spike In My Veins”, “Mass Hysteria”, “Paranoid And Aroused” and “Victimized.” The Paradigm Shift is available for pre-order in standard and deluxe editions, with the deluxe showcasing two bonus tracks and a documentary DVD titled Reconciliation….Happy 67th to President Bill Clinton, Happy 68th to singer Ian Gillan of Deep Purple and Happy 62 to Queen bassist John Deacon.
