Josh Homme at KROQ show (photo: Chelsea Lauren)W
Whoa! I just read this in RAMP. Queens of the Stone Age frontman Josh Homme was trending over the weekend, and not in that good way — Homme was captured on video kicking a female photographer’s camera into her face on Saturday night during the first night of Los Angeles Alt rock station KROQ‘s Almost Acoustic Christmas show. According to an extensive piece in Variety, Chelsea Lauren, a photographer for Shutterstock says the incident was unprovoked and Homme was even smiling before he struck her. In the video, Homme can be seen walking past Lauren, and then backtracking a step to kick away her camera. This photo was taken by Lauren seconds before the incident.
“I saw him coming over and I was shooting away,” Lauren recounted. “The next thing I know his foot connects with my camera and my camera connects with my face, really hard. He looked straight at me, swung his leg back pretty hard and full-blown kicked me in the face.” Word of the incident spread quickly — back in the press room, Variety says a rep for KROQ received a text from an audience member, asking, “Did the guitarist for Queens Of The Stone Age kick a photographer in the face?”
Photo credit: RexFeatures-Shutterstock
And then things got weirder — minutes after the incident, Lauren said Homme took out what appeared to be a knife and deliberately cut his own forehead, dripping blood for the rest of the performance. The Variety piece said, “It’s unknown if the 44-year-old Homme was under the influence of alcohol or drugs on Saturday. At one point, he called the audience ‘retards’ before insulting the night’s headlining act, Muse. ‘F — Muse!’ he exclaimed. Homme also encouraged the crowd to boo him, and told everyone to take their pants off, saying, ‘I want to give you all a night you’ll never remember.’” Lauren was later treated at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.
Yesterday, Homme released a statement that read, “Last night, while in a state of being lost in performance, I kicked over various lighting and equipment on our stage. Today it was brought to my attention that this included a camera held by photographer Chelsea Lauren. I did not mean for that to happen and I am very sorry. I would never intentionally cause harm to anyone working at or attending one of our shows and I hope Chelsea will accept my sincere apology.” Lauren said she was planning to file a police report.
In a follow up piece, Variety did report Homme, weathering a firestorm of criticism for kicking photographer Chelsea Lauren in the face while she shot his band’s performance at the KROQ Acoustic Christmas concert on Dec 9, has posted an emotional video on Instagram apologizing for his actions.
“I would just like to apologize to Chelsea Lauren,” he says in the first of a two-part clip posted on Dec. 10. “I don’t have any excuse or reason to justify what I did. I was a total d— and I’m truly sorry. I hope you’re OK.”
The 44-year-old also apologized to his bandmates, family, wife and kids, adding, “I made a lot of mistakes in my life and last night was definitely one of them. … “I wanna be a good man, but I think last night I definitely failed at that. … I’m gonna have to figure out some stuff, I think.”
Sad.
Just got this press release on this festival! Tool, Avenged Sevenfold, A Perfect Circle and Alice In Chains lead the incredible lineup for the fourth annual Northern Invasion, Saturday, May 12 and Sunday, May 13 at Somerset Amphitheater in Somerset, WI, just outside the Twin Cities.
Northern Invasion 2018 will be bigger and better than ever with over 12 hours of music per day from the biggest and best rock bands on three stages, as well as a top tier camping experience. The Northern Invasion Good Eats area includes food offerings from top regional and national restaurants and vendors.
The music lineup for Northern Invasion 2018 is as follows (subject to change): Tool, Avenged Sevenfold, A Perfect Circle, Alice In Chains, Breaking Benjamin, Stone Temple Pilots, The Used, Black Veil Brides, Asking Alexandria, I Prevail, Parkway Drive, Black Stone Cherry, Red Sun Rising, Andrew W.K., Atreyu, Anti-Flag, 10 Years, We Came As Romans, The Bronx, Dance Gavin Dance, Butcher Babies, Hawthorne Heights, New Years Day, Senses Fail, Stick To Your Guns, Miss May I, Like A Storm, The Fever 333, I See Stars, Wilson, Mutoid Man, Cane Hill, Black Foxxes, Counterfeit., The Blue Stones, Joyous Wolf, Spirit Animal, Stitched Up Heart, and Big Story.
Maynard James Keenan of Tool and A Perfect Circle said, “Looking forward to playing material from the new A Perfect Circle release at Northern Invasion. Bringing new songs to life in a live setting is always exciting.”
Dean DeLeo of Stone Temple Pilots commented, “Stone Temple Pilots are beyond thrilled to be playing Northern Invasion 2018. We are back! It’s going to be a killer weekend of great music–great fun.”
“We spent a lot of time listening to our loyal Invasion fan base over these last several months to create a lineup that celebrates some of the rock legends along with delivering on our reputation for inviting the hottest up-and-comers in the genre,” said Joe Litvag, Executive Producer of Northern Invasion. “Having heroes like Tool, Avenged Sevenfold, Alice In Chains, and Stone Temple Pilots matched with new sensations like Parkway Drive, Black Veil Brides, and Red Sun Rising, I think the fans will respond well. It’s going to be an unforgettable weekend!”
Northern Invasion General Admission and VIP tickets (including layaway options), as well as Hotel Packages and All-Inclusive Camping options, and Tent or RV Camping add-ons are on sale now at http://northerninvasion.com/tickets.html. Fans are encouraged to buy early and save. New for Northern Invasion 2018: Each ticket price level has a limited number of tickets available, so attendees can save more by buying earlier. Ticket prices will automatically move to the next price level once a price allotment sells out. The layaway purchase option also allows fans to split the ticket cost into four monthly payments.
Current ticket pricing levels are as follows while supplies last:
Weekend VIP: $199.50 plus fees
Weekend General Admission: $99.50 plus fees
Monster Energy Weekend General Admission 4-Pack: $319.00 plus fees
Specially priced tickets for Northern Invasion will be available for active military through partner GovX (www.govx.com) while supplies last.
The Northern Invasion campgrounds will be open from Friday, May 11 through Monday, May 14. Festival doors open at 11:00 AM on Saturday and Sunday.
In a related story, The Pulse Of Radio says Tool drummer Danny Carey has confirmed that the band will “definitely” release a new album in 2018. Discussing tour plans for his side project Legend Of The Seagullmen with Loudwire, Carey said, “At this point, it’s tough (to decide when Legend of the Seagullmen will tour) because we’re getting close to going in the studio with Tool, so we kind of have to work around each other’s schedule.“
When asked if that meant fans can expect a new Tool album in 2018, Carey revealed, “Yes. I’m saying definitely. We’ll probably have it done in the first half (of the year) if things go as planned. There’s setup times and manufacturing — I can never predict all that, it seems like it’s constantly evolving. (What time of year it will be out), I can’t tell you.”
Tool’s last album, 10,000 Days, came out in May 2006, more than 11 years ago. The instrumental members of the band have been working steadily on music for the past year, according to reports, with singer Maynard James Keenan rumored to be getting more involved in recent months.
Meanwhile, Legend Of The Seagullmen, which also features Mastodon‘s Brent Hinds, will issue their self-titled debut album on Feb 9th. The first single is out now and called “Shipswreck.”
My friends Alice In Chains have announced a new tour for 2018. See Road Rage for all the details and you can find ticket info here.
The band has been working on their new album with producer Nick Raskulinecz, who also produced their last two albums, Black Gives Way To Blue and The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here. A spring release is expected.
Blabbermouth and The Pulse Of Radio reporting Alter Bridge singer Myles Kennedy has released the official video for the title track of his debut solo album, Year Of The Tiger. The clip is based on a concept created from a discussion between Kennedy and his manager and follows a reflective Kennedy as he travels through the memory of the loss of his father in 1974 a.k.a. the year of the tiger.
Year Of The Tiger will be released on Mar 9th, 2018 via Napalm Records. The 12-song concept record, which was inspired by the death of Kennedy’s father when he was a child, taps into influences such as the blues and folk music.
Kennedy, who also fronts Slash‘s solo touring band, played lap steel, mandolin, banjo and bass in addition to the guitar on the record. He is joined on drums by a member of Myles’ first band, The Mayfield Four.
Year Of The Tiger is actually the second solo album Kennedy recorded, with the singer starting a previous effort in 2009 and completing it over a period of several years, only to decide in 2016 not to release it.
Meanwhile, Kennedy’s bandmate in Alter Bridge, guitarist Mark Tremonti, is gearing up to release a new LP from his self-named solo act in 2018. The band just issued a new trailer and a site where fans can get involved in opportunities surrounding the album’s rollout. The new disc will be the band’s fourth and follow up 2016’s double release, Dust.
On Friday, Avenged Sevenfold released a video of the band performing the song “Roman Sky” acoustically. The track is taken from the group’s new Live At The Grammy Museum album, which arrived digitally on Friday (Dec 8th). The LP was recorded on Oct 19th at the Clive Davis Theater at the Grammy Museum in Los Angeles. A portion of the proceeds from the release will benefit the education initiatives of the Grammy Museum, which seek to inspire youth via the enduring qualities and cultural significance of music. (Loudwire)
Surviving Nirvana members Dave Grohl, Krist Novoselic and Pat Smear reunited for a one-song performance during the Foo Fighters show at the Matthew Knight Arena in Eugene, OR on my birthday, Dec 5th. The song they played was “Big Me,” which Grohl said he recorded an early version of with help from Novoselic and Smear before including a version on the Foo’ 1995 self-titled debut. The three last regrouped for Nirvana’s induction into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame in 2014. (HenneMusic)
Stone Sour has released a 360-degree performance video of the song “Taipei Person/Allah Tea,” filmed live last June 29th at the Troubadour in Los Angeles. “Taipei Person/Allah Tea” is taken from the band’s latest album, Hydrograd, which was released on Jun 30th. Stone Sour recently announced a new North American tour for 2018 that begins in late Jan and will feature shows with both Halestorm and Red Sun Rising. (Blabbermouth)
Celebrating life today: Zacky Vengeance is 36, while Nikki Sixx is 59.
