This should be interesting! Blabbermouth is reporting Slipknot’s M. Shawn Crahan will be on a panel at the upcoming touring business convention in Los Angeles Feb 06-08, 2018 known as Pollstar Live. The panel’s topic is “Underground To Mainstream: What Are Metal And Hip-Hop Doing Right (And Where Does It Go From Here?)” The panel will include Slipknot manager Cory Brennan and hip hop artist Coolio, among others.
Blabbermouth also reporting Metal Wani recently conducted an interview with guitarist Ben Bruce of U.K. metalcore outfit Asking Alexandria. You can listen to the entire chat here. A few excerpts follow (transcribed by Blabbermouth.net).
On whether Bruce, who is Asking Alexandria‘s primary songwriter, collaborated with his bandmates on the group’s forthcoming self-titled album:
Ben: “I’m the main writer. I’ve been the main songwriter since our debut album. Then, obviously, I share my ideas with the guys. They come in and record their parts, so it’s not like I keep anyone in the dark and just show them a finished album. Yeah, I get the ball rolling. I write most of the material and I come up with the initial ideas and the main song structures.”
On whether he thinks the band’s self-titled album is all he hoped it was going to be:
On whether the band had to make any changes to re-acclimate returning vocalist Danny Worsnop:
Ben: “No, not really. It just all felt really natural. I think all the time apart from each other, it just allowed all of us to grow as musicians and individuals. When he came back and we started doing this album, everything just kind, it just kind of clicked, like it was meant to be. We didn’t have to sit down and force anything, like, ‘Okay, Danny’s back, so we need to do this.’ We didn’t need to tell Danny, ‘We need screaming so you have to do this.’ It’s just what it was, so we didn’t have to set any limitations. We were just, like, ‘Let’s all write music that we love and see what happens.’ This album is the result of that. I think everyone, including Danny, I’ve not seen Danny this excited about an Asking Alexandria record, ever. All of us are obsessed with it and it’s because it was such a pleasure to record and it’s us. It’s just us through and through. We weren’t told what to do or when to do it. Every single song, we did for us. Yeah, there was no groaning or changing, it was very natural, very easy.”
On whether Worsnop’s return has prompted the band to go in a different direction:
Ben: “Possibly. It’s hard to sort of know. I feel like with [2016’s Denis Stoff-fronted] ‘The Black’, it’s a great album. I’m very proud of it. People always ask ‘Do you regret ‘The Black’? No. That’s a significant time in our career, but we knew it was a tough thing to lose Danny and we wrote a record with that in mind, like, we need to keep our fanbase engaged, we need to write a record that our core, original fanbase that got us to where we are in the beginning are going to love and be excited with it. With this one, it was five friends back in a room that started the band together. It was, like, ‘Let’s write a record for us. We’re back as Asking Alexandria. Let’s celebrate that.’ It was a very different mindset. I can’t see the future and I can’t change the past, so who knows what would have happened if we done anything different, but this is the direction we took with this album. I’m definitely really pleased that we did. It seems to me, that all of our fans are, too.”
Asking Alexandria, the band’s 6th studio album, will be released on Dec 15th via Sumerian. The disc, which was produced by From First To Last‘s Matt Good and mixed by Taylor Larson, will mark the group’s first full-length effort with Worsnop since he rejoined the band in the fall of 2016.
My friend Fieldy aka Reggie Arvizu from Korn has released a three-part documentary about the making of the bassist ‘s jazz fusion album, Bassically, directed by longtime Korn documentarian Sébastien Paquet.
Bassically was be released on Nov 17. The seventeen-track disc was produced by Fieldy’s writing partner Anthony “Q” Quiles” and mixed by Chris Collier. The record features guest appearances by three of Fieldy’s bandmates: drummer Ray Luzier plays drums, bongos, shaker, tambourine and djembe on the songs “Bass O Rama”, “Step Right Up”, “Basque K Cinco”, “Zibba Zibop” and “Mr. Bassmen”; guitarist Brian “Head” Welch plays on “I Wuv Bass Mon”; and singer Jonathan Davis does some beatboxing on “JD Fresh”.
“This is a bass album that encompasses the last nine years of my life on the road recording with a variety of special and unique basses,” Fieldy said. “This project features recordings of mine from dressing rooms, tour buses, hotel rooms and other unique locations playing on basses just as obscure as the locations. It’s a blend of funk, fusion, and rock. I can’t wait to share it with you.” (Thanks Blabbermouth)
Also from Blabbermouth, Swedish band Ghost has begun teasing a live album called Ceremony And Devotion. The official cover artwork for the disc, which is reviewed in the latest issue of Sweden Rock Magazine is posted above.
An official release date for Ceremony And Devotion has not yet been announced, but rumor has it it could be any time now. The last-ever Ghost concert to feature frontman Papa Emeritus III took place on Sep 30 in Gothenburg and saw the singer apparently being dismissed from the band.
Papa was forcibly removed from the stage by two men during the band’s closing number, “Monstrance Clock”, A short time later, a very elderly man wearing a white and gold version of Papa’s robes and his signature make-up took the stage and addressed the crowd, saying in Italian, “I am Papa Emeritus Zero. The party is over and now a new era begins. The Middle Ages begin now.” The band posted footage of the incident to its official Instagram account but has yet to comment on the matter. It appears, however, that the reign of Papa III has ended.
Forge recently revealed that he’s been working on the group’s fourth studio album for a tentative April 2018 release. The new disc will follow up 2015’s Meliora, which featured the Grammy-winning hit “Cirice”, and last year’s Popestar EP, which included the chart-topping “Square Hammer.”
Forge hired an all-new lineup of the group for touring purposes in the first half of 2017, with the musicians all anonymously performing as Nameless Ghouls.
Celebrating life today: Happy 4-0 to Dominic Howard, drummer for Muse.
