What a day, what a day! First, going to get a scratch test to see what the hell I am allergic to! Seems like pesky childhood allergies are making their way back into my life, and that sucks! Shellfish? Ugh! Sucks. But later I am on the hardDrive hotLine with Robert Trujillo of Metallica to discuss the awesomeness that is their Metallica: Through The Never 3-D movie! Looking forward to that!……Pulse of Radio reports Stone Temple Pilots and new singer Chester Bennington performed a surprise set for about 30 fans and a handful of journalists on Sunday night (Sep 1st) at the band’s rehearsal space in Los Angeles. The low-key performance took place ahead of the group’s upcoming North American tour, which kicks off today (Sep 4th) in Bethlehem, PA and offer fans around the country their first look at Bennington with STP since the band recruited him to replace fired frontman Scott Weiland earlier this year. The six-song set featured some deeper cuts that STP has rarely played live in the past, including “Sex And Violence,” “Pop’s Love Suicide,” “Piece Of Pie” and “Church On Tuesday.” Also aired were “Trippin’ On A Hole In A Paper Heart” and current single “Out Of Time.” Guitarist Dean DeLeo told me STP were hoping to mix up their set list now that Chester is on board: “You know, there’s been songs that we’ve been unable to play on a lot of tours. So I think that’s what’s really exciting to us, is being able to play some tunes that Chester has the ability to bring to life.” Following the show, the members of the band spent time talking with the fans in attendance, signing autographs and posing for pictures. Stone Temple Pilots will release a new five-song EP called High Rise on Oct 8th. The disc will be the second release featuring Bennington following “Out Of Time,” which emerged last spring and went to Number One on the rock chart. I’ll be interviewing all four members next Tue night in Huntington, Long Island! Yeah!….Hoping to also get Mr Shaun Morgan of Seether on the ole hotLine soon. Yesterday their label announced Seether will release a two-disc retrospective collection called Seether 2002 – 2013 on Oct 29th. The 27-song package will include three new tracks, rare B-sides and all 11 of the group’s Number One rock singles. The first single, “Seether,” is a cover of Veruca Salt‘s 1994 hit song and also where the band got its name. This marks the first time Seether has covered and recorded the song, which will arrive at radio stations on Monday, Sep 09th. The band said in a statement, “Well, it’s official . . . We are ‘one of those’ bands. We are at a point in our journey that we have decided to bookend this era of our career with our upcoming greatest hits release Seether: 2002-2013. When we were given the task of assembling the track listing . . . we knew it wasn’t going to be easy. But, believe it or not, we are also fans of the band and wanted to approach it with what ‘we (as) a Seether fan’ would like to hear in a ‘Seether Greatest Hits.’” The cover obviously was chosen by Shaun. As you noticed by the phot above, it’s his French bulldog taking a dump! Gotta love that!…..Last week, Young Guns left to return to the UK and sent me a little note to say goodbye! The band, who topped the rock chart earlier this year with the song “Bones,” are hard at work on their next studio effort. The British band was holed up at a studio in New York City “doing some writing, fast demoing and pre-production all in kind of one big chunk,” singer Gustav Wood told Alternative Press. Wood added, “We’ve managed to get what I think is a pretty great amount of material in a short amount of time. We’re really excited; we’re in a really great place right now.” Working in New York has been an added charge for the group, with Wood saying “It’s inspiring to be — as a (band) from London — to wake up every day and go to Times Square and to make music with my mates.” As for what the band’s new music sounds like, Wood called it “quite an evolution,” explaining, “This record is really about challenging (ourselves) to be more creative and hopefully a little more unique.” Young Guns reached the Number One spot on the U.S. rock radio chart last March with “Bones,” the title track from the band’s second studio album. They also were on the hardDrive Live Tour bill with Bullet For My Valentine, Halestorm and Stars In Stereo last spring!…Speaking of Bullet, this Saturday, frontman Matt Tuck is tying the knot with his long-time girlfriend and mother to his son in Wales. Waiting to get drummer Moose on the hotLine to fill us in! If you haven’t already, check out the tour page, www.harddrivelivetour.com, for all the tour dates and tickets. Hope you can make it out for the second leg with Black Veil Brides, Stars In Stereo and Throw The Fight. Starts Sep 28th in LA!….Soundgarden have posted the music video for their latest single, “Halfway There.” Watch it…..Speaking of Halestorm, Lou Brutus told me Lzzy and the band will be doing a song at the York County Fair on Saturday in York, PA with Tom Keifer of Cinderella fame, who is currently on a solo tour. And Halestorm is working on their second covers EP which should be coming later this fall!….Congrats to Avenged Sevenfold! Hail To The King is the Number One album in the country! RAWK IS NOT DEAD!…..Deftones released their new single today called “Romantic Dreams.”…And lastly, to my idiotic impulsive instincts that sometimes bite me in the ASS, in case you checked in early yesterday, the correct Family Values Festival line up is KORN, HOLLYWOOD UNDEAD, ASKING ALEXANDRIA, BEWARE OF DARKNESS and rapper MACHINE GUN KELLY. I’m kind of surprised JD didn’t want to add in a dub step DJ, but I guess that means, more than likely, he will surprise the audience with DJ sets from J Devil between sets. Not set in stone, but if there were odds on it, I’d put down. Tickets for the one-night only stop in Denver go on-sale Friday!….. Celebrating their 32nd year on this planet today are Lacey Mosely Sturm (ex-Flyleaf) and Mrs Carter, Beyonce Knowles. And Soundgarden’s Kim Thayil turns 53.
