Queens Of The Stone Age announced a string of new dates yesterday for 2018. Apparently their bro-fest with Royal Blood continues, as they will be direct support, with Ty Segall on a date in San Francisco. See Road Rage for the deets.
Queens frontman Josh Homme has gotten banged up a lot on tour over the years, but told us a while back that he’d still rather be playing music than doing anything else: “I just love to play and I’ve had the worst jobs ever, man. I get to do this, I’m gonna try to make it as good as I can at every moment, because this is some lucky s*** here.”
Their new album, Villains, debuted at Number Three on the Billboard 200 album chart last month, moving 69,000 copies in pure album sales in its first week of release. The first official single from the LP, “The Way You Used To Do,” is currently Number 13 on the rock radio chart. (The Pulse Of Radio.)
Our favorite Prince of Darkness, Ozzy Osbourne, told the Los Angeles radio show “Whiplash” (hosted by our pal Full Metal Jackie) in a recent interview he’s working on material for his first solo recording since 2010’s Scream. He revealed, “I’ve got a bunch of songs written. But you know, you don’t sell records anymore. It’s not cost effective to make a record.” Pressed for more details about the disc, Ozzy said, “I’ve got about seven songs. One’s called ‘Mr. Armageddon,’ one’s called ‘Crack Cocaine.’” He did not reveal any further info, such as a release date.
Although Ozzy has had plenty of success on the radio throughout his career, he told us a while back that he doesn’t write songs with singles in mind: “I don’t write singles, per se. I don’t write Top 10 singles. I work on albums rather than singles. I mean, do people still buy singles? I don’t think people buy any f***ing records anymore, do they?”
Earlier this year Ozzy reunited with guitarist Zakk Wylde, who played on studio albums such as No Rest For The Wicked, No More Tears and Ozzmosis and whom has toured on and off with Ozzy for nearly 30 years. Ozzy has played a handful of solo shows since doing his final concerts with Black Sabbath last February on “The End (of The End) Tour.” The legendary band wrapped up its 49-year career with a year-long farewell tour, ending with two shows in its hometown of Birmingham, UK. (We’ll be giving away a bunch of “The End” DVD’s Halloween week-Oct 28-Nov 03-in a Win It Before It’s Out Contest, so stay tuned!) A CD/DVD package called The End, capturing the final Sabbath concert on film and as a live album, will be released on Nov 17th. Ozzy will next headline the first day of Ozzfest Meets Knotfest, on Nov 4th in San Bernardino, CA. (Thanks The Pulse Of Radio.)
Personal items donated by Foo Fighters‘ Dave Grohl, Soundgarden‘s Chris Cornell, Nirvana bassist Krist Novoselic and others have been used to create a unique line of timepieces called the Rock LTD Collection. Cornell, who pledged his support before his death last May, contributed a guitar strap that was turned into a watchband. Sales from the entire line benefit the Recording Academy’s MusiCares MAP Fund, dedicated to addiction recovery treatment for artists.
Cornell’s widow, Vicky Cornell, said in a statement, “Addiction is a disease, and we lose far too many loved ones to the illness each day. MusiCares is a crucial organization and the MusiCares MAP Fund 100 percent supports the music community in its fight to protect those battling this affliction.”
Cornell, who committed suicide at the age of 52 following a Soundgarden concert in Detroit on May 18th, was a longtime MusiCares contributor who was honored with the Stevie Ray Vaughan Award at the 2007 MusiCares MAP Fund benefit concert.
The Rock LTD Collection is set to launch before the holidays and will include between 25 and 30 pieces priced from $1,200 to $1,800. The one exception is the Cornell piece, which will be auctioned at a May 2018 MusiCares benefit.
Other timepieces included in the line are a watch created from a plaid flannel shirt donated by Grohl, a piece constructed from a denim jacket provided by Novoselic, and watches created from items donated by Iggy Pop and Elton John. Each of the hand-numbered watches will include a certificate of authenticity and be housed in a custom, etched case featuring the artist’s name. The pieces will be available at several global retailers as well as stores owned by manufacturer Nixon.
Lzzy Hale in performance (Photo: Blabbermouth)
Halestorm recently entered the Dark Horse Recording studios just outside Nashville to begin recording its fourth album for an early 2018 release. Helming the sessions is Nick Raskulinecz, an acclaimed producer who has previously worked with Rush, Korn, Alice In Chains and Deftones, in addition to having produced Halestorm‘s third covers EP, ReAniMate 3.0: The CoVeRs eP, which came out in January.
Speaking to Dallas radio’s Cindy Scull at the 2017 Freakers’ Ball, which was held on Sunday, Oct 15 at the Verizon Theatre in Grand Prairie, TX, Halestorm drummer Arejay Hale said about the follow-up to 2015’s Into The Wild Life: “It’s more organic, a little more raw, a little less processed, which a lot of modern rock is. So I think it’s kind of throwing it back to the roots of it.”
According to frontwoman Lzzy Hale, Raskulinecz “inspired” the band “a lot, because when we got off the road, we didn’t really know what we wanted to do with the record, so we kind of came in with absolutely nothing, the four of us in a room. And he just kind of turned to us, and he was, like, ‘When was the last time the four of you were just kind of in a room writing together and not afraid to be yourselves?’” she said. “And I’m, like, ‘Man, that’s been a long time, I think.’ So he really gave us this renewed trust in ourselves and what we enjoy in the music that we like and not being afraid to wear our influences on our sleeves, that kind of thing. And he’s also… he’s just so energetic. Arejay will tell you; he’s bouncing around with a drum stick. He’s, like, ‘Coach Nick’ right now.”
Added Arejay: “He’s, I think, more of kind of a fifth member… He almost kind of has an authoritative voice over the record. ‘Cause I think that if it was left to just the four of us, we would overthink the hell out of it, but having him kind of direct it and guide us along has been a great way, I think, to bring the best out of us.” (Thanks Blabbermouth.)
Many thanks to Blabbermouth for posting these killer videos of Guns N’ Rosesfrom the NYC Madison Square Garden shows. (I heard the Friday night show was off the hook amazing!) Fan-filmed video footage was from the Oct 16th performance — the band’s third show in a three-night stand at the venue — can be seen above.
The 2017 North American leg of Guns‘ “Not In This Lifetime” tour kicked off Jul 27 in St. Louis, MO. The trek features classic GN’R members Slash on guitar, Duff McKagan on bass and Axl Rose on vocals, backed by drummer Frank Ferrer, guitarist Richard Fortus, keyboardist Dizzy Reed and second keyboardist Melissa Reese.
About seventy people travel with the show in addition to the truck drivers; that number goes upwards of five hundred, including the local workers, by show date once catering, security, etc. are factored in, according to the tour’s production manager, Dale “Opie” Skjerseth. “Not In This Lifetime” continues tonight (Oct 19) at Washington D.C.’s Verizon Center.
Have a great day!
