I think the thing I love most about Fridays is new music releases! Today the new live album from Ghost arrives “Ceremony and Devotion!” Plus, new Of Mice & Men “Defy” and Walking Papers (featuring Duff McKagan of Guns N’ Roses) “WP2” album! Hot fresh for your earholes!
Breaking Benjamin has debuted the music video for its new single, “Red Cold River,” from the band’s upcoming LP, Ember. The album is expected to arrive next month. In other news, frontman Ben Burnley has revealed that Dancing With The Stars contestant Derek Hough contributes vocals to a song on the new record titled “The Dark Of You.”
Tool drummer Danny Carey has told Ireland’s Overdrive that work on the band’s long-awaited new album is starting to progress much faster than before. Carey revealed, “It’s all coming together really well. We’ll be hitting the studio again very soon and have a couple of gigs in May, so hopefully we’ll have the album out before that. It’s wishful thinking at this point. I actually think I said that this time last year.”
Asked if all the material is written for the new LP, Carey replied, “Yes, there’s a lot of material that’s already done, so we’re looking to go into the studio pretty quickly here and off we go. Things are just rollin’ along. We don’t just hang about here in Hollywood; we are pretty much working all the time.”
Guitarist Adam Jones told us not long ago that each member of Tool has a different method of working on music: “It’s like painting. We all work different. You know, some painters can paint in a day. That’s kind of like Maynard. He’s so good at just coming up with melodies and his lyrics and it’s like instantaneous. Where I like, you know, like I’m a painter where I like to paint one area and then sand it out and try something else, and then try a different palate. We just work differently and we’re all very respectful of that.”
Carey, who’s out promoting his side project Legend Of The Seagullmen, (which is AWESOME by the way, check it out) recently told Kerrang! magazine that the band’s new music is resolutely non-commercial, even joking that the songs are “too long” for radio play. The quartet has yet to announce a title or release date for the new LP. Tool’s last album, 10,000 Days, came out in May 2006, more than 11 years ago.
A new rumor on Pearl Jam‘s Ten Club fan message boards suggests that the band is planning to play a show to raise money for Democratic Montana Senator Jon Tester‘s re-election campaign later this year in the city of Missoula. The group last helped raise money for Tester during the 2012 election cycle. Pearl Jam bassist Jeff Ament, a Montana native who now divides his time between Missoula and Seattle, is a childhood friend of the senator.
The show for Tester will allegedly take place around the end of July, after the band returns from a month-long European trek. While no North American shows for Pearl Jam have been officially announced or confirmed, last year’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees are clearly gearing up for activity in 2018. The band is playing three Lollapalooza gigs in South America this March before going to Europe in June.
Rumors of a new album coming out this year are also unfounded at this time. Pearl Jam’s last studio LP, Lightning Bolt, arrived in 2013.
Hollywood Undead has shared a new music video for the song “Your Life,” the closing track from the band’s recently released album Five. Singer and bassist Johnny 3 Tears said about the tune, “It might be cliché to say, but it needs to be repeated: You can’t waste your f**king time. Every moment you waste worrying is a moment you could’ve been doing something that might actually have consequence by the day you die.”
“Your Life” follows a string of Hollywood Undead videos from Five that have now amassed over 20 million combined views, including “California Dreaming,” “Whatever It Takes” and “Bad Moon.” The band’s fifth studio LP came out last October 27th and debuted at Number Seven on the Billboard 200 album chart. Having just wrapped a four-month North American tour in December in support of Five, Hollywood Undead is heading out next on a tour of Europe.
Guns N’ Roses keyboardist Dizzy Reed has released “This Don’t Look Like Vegas,” the first single from his upcoming debut solo album, Rock N’ Roll Ain’t Easy. The LP is due out on February 16th and is available for pre-order now, with fans who purchase it ahead of time getting a free download of the single for their trouble. In addition to digital formats, the album will be available on compact disc and special limited-edition purple vinyl.
Reed handles lead vocals and keyboards on the disc, with guest appearances from members of Guns N’ Roses, Thin Lizzy, Queens Of The Stone Age, No Doubt and others. The keyboardist is the longest-serving member of Guns N’ Roses after singer Axl Rose. He joined as a touring member in 1990, during the Use Your Illusion era, and has played with most of the original members as well as all the later editions of the group and the current reunion lineup.
Celebrating birthdays this weekend are Matthew Tuck of Bullet For My Valentine, Rob Bourdon, drummer for Linkin Park, Sid Wilson, DJ for Slipknot, Paul Stanley of Kiss and Ian Hill of Judas Priest!
