Had a great time on the phone with Chester Bennington and Davey Havok yesterday. First, for you AFI fans, hit their Facebook today for a live chat with Davey and Jade. I think they want your input on something. So Linkin Park “leaked” its new single, called “Guilty All The Same,” through the Shazam mobile music search app yesterday (March 6th). The track is taken from the band’s sixth studio album, titled The Hunting Party, which will arrive sometime in June. I am guessing the 24th. The album track features rapper Rakim and also includes something that singer Chester Bennington admitted we didn’t hear much of on the last two Linkin Park records — guitars: “The guitars are back for sure. We challenged ourselves to get that 16, 17-year-old kid that was like so excited about what was going on in rock music — we wanted that kid to be excited again. And that was something that we feel, right now, I mean, with all the great music that’s out right now, there seems to be this vacancy for that kind of music — really aggressive, really energetic music that just kind of doesn’t exist right now.” Be listening for Linkin Park as our Featured Artist of the Week on hardDrive XL with Lou Brutus Mar 24-28. Regarding their Carnivores Tour, Chester said they are going to be using some new “toys”-state of the art technical gear. I can’t wait to see what that possibly could be! Meanwhile, AFI are in Hawaii tonight and head to Mexico and South America from there. Nice. Wish I was too!….Speaking of Mexico, I gotta tell ya. I am friends with Dan Donegan of Disturbed & Fight or Flight on Facebook (and in life, I guess.) He and his family are in Cabo right now and the pictures he is posting, I am drooling. Our running joke is my asking “When are you going to adopt me?” Pretty funny and pretty lucky folks, there, I’d say…Hellyeah drummer Vinnie Paul Abbott spoke with RockNLive.org about the band’s recent dismissal of bassist Bob “Zilla” Kakaha and guitarist Greg Tribbett, the recruitment of new bass player Kyle Sanders and the recording of its fourth album, Blood For Blood. On the lineup change, Abbott said, “We wanted to make sure that we brought somebody in that was a ‘bro,’ somebody that we felt comfortable with. We didn’t wanna go through an audition process and bring a whole bunch of different people in that we had no idea, anything about their character or dynamic or what they were all about. And Kyle . . . was the first guy that came to our mind.” Abbott also revealed the band will bring in a touring guitarist, hinting, “We haven’t announced who that is yet, but I can tell you he’s a hell of a guitar player.” Abbott said that Hellyeah is “gonna be stronger than ever” as a result of the changes, adding, “There’s nothing like having some fresh blood out on the road with you.” Blood For Blood comes out June 10th and was described in a press release as a “welcome return to form” for the eight-year-old act, whose last album was 2011’s Band Of Brothers. Hellyeah will hit the road this spring, starting with several festival slots in April and May….Speaking of Disturbed, bass player John Moyer has launched his own clothing line called Dread, which he will unveil at the “Heart Of Texas” Rockfest stage during the South By Southwest music festival in Austin, Texas on Friday, Mar 14th. Moyer has teamed up with Biohazard Apparel to create the line, which he describes as “metal meets cowboy.” The Dread line will reportedly include T-shirts, hoodies and unique items such as smartphone cases, headware and vests. Moyer said in a statement, ““What better way to celebrate the launch of this new business than here in my hometown of Austin during one of the most important weeks for music!“…..A trailer for a proposed documentary about the history of Madison, WI’s Smart Studios features Dave Grohl, Billy Corgan, and Butch Vig, the producer and Garbage member who co-founded the studio in the early Eighties. Each share stories about the studio, where albums like Nirvana‘s Nevermind, Smashing Pumpkins‘ Gish and Fall Out Boy‘s Take This To Your Grave were recorded. The Smart Studios Story is seeking funds on Kickstarter and has so far received $25,000 in pledges, but needs to make a $120,000 goal by March 30th. (Rolling Stone)…Rolling Stone also reports Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea is providing the voice for a character called the Milk Bandit on this Friday’s (March 7th) episode of the Disney Junior show Sheriff Callie’s Wild West. The show airs at 9:00 a.m. ET and the episode is titled “The Pie Thief.”….And finally today, Slash is among the artists who will be on hand to launch the new Jimi Hendrix U.S. postage stamp with a free concert at Austin’s South By Southwest music festival next Thursday (Mar 13th). Joining Slash will be fellow guitarists Wayne Kramer of the MC5 and the Doors‘ Robbie Krieger, along with Jane’s Addiction frontman Perry Farrell and others. I’m gonna buy me some of those stamps for sure! …Celebrating birthdays this weekend-Today: Tantric’s Hugo Ferreira is the Big 4-0, on Sunday, Shannon Leto of 30 Seconds To Mars will be 44.
