Woo hoo! Happy Friday ya’ll! Here’s what’s up in the world of rock and roll:
SKILLET‘s drummer Jen Ledger will release her new project, Ledger, on April 13th. While this is the drummer’s first solo EP, it still will be a family affair as the project will be released via Hear It Loud/ Atlantic, a label owned by Skillet lead singer John Cooper and his wife, the group’s guitarist and keyboardist Korey Cooper.
Ledger explained how the Cooper’s have helped her and what fans can expect during an interview with Billboard. She said, “Over the last couple of years, the Coopers have really been training me, helping me on my writing and really helping me find my own unique style . . . I’m not just mini-SKILLET. I’m edgy and rocky, but I’m also soft and got a little bit of pop in me too. They’ve been helping me find out not only who I am musically, but also who I am as a person and what do I want to say.”
Ledger’s tracklisting will include: “Not Dead Yet,” “Warrior,” “Bold,” “Foreigner,” “Ruins” and “Iconic.”
Ledger will be pulling double duty during SKILLET’s upcoming tour which kicks off on April 12th in Texas. She will serve as the opening act with her own band then perform with SKILLET in her usual role as the drummer. SKILLET is still touring in support of their 2016 album, Unleashed.
Stone Sour recently released their Marc Klasfeld directed video for “St. Marie.” Lead singer Corey Taylor explained the vibe of the song to Billboard. He said, “The cool thing about the song is that it’s a long time coming. I write a lot of stuff on acoustic (guitar) and then try it out on electric and see if it works. But there’s always been a style I haven’t really been able to show with Stone Sour, which . . . call it what it is, a country side. I’ve written songs like that in the past that I’ve tried to work with in Stone Sour but they always come off a little too saccharine, a little sweeter than we were comfortable with at the time. But with this song it was just so special. If felt so kind of good to get our inner Eagles on that. We were really, like, ‘There’s no way we can’t do this song.’ It was such a great departure from the usual slower stuff we’d done. It just felt really good to just dig our teeth into it.”
Speaking of Corey Taylor, he recently shared that Slipknot is hoping to release a new album next year. He told Billboard.com, “The guys are writing tons of music and I’ve written lyrics to almost all of it and we’re going to start trying to put together demos here and there with the time off that I have and really try to get ahead of the curve as far as what happens next. I know that we’re gonna try and put an album out next year. However, that is all speculation. The best way to make God laugh is to announce your plans out loud. So I’m just going with the flow. The plan right now is next year but that is a huge plan because we still haven’t narrowed anything down, so we will definitely see what happens.”
Godsmack‘s Sully Erna recently discussed Godsmack’s forthcoming album, When Legends Rise, and how it differs from the group’s early work with Total Rock Radio. He said, “Well, there’s some pretty big differences. One is it’s the first time I decided to branch out a little bit more and work with some other songwriters that I have been intrigued with working with for a while . . . taking the experiences that I’ve had from working on my solo record when I was writing with different musicians from different backgrounds and to see what they can contribute and how that contribution can help me think outside of the box. And it worked really well in my solo projects and I really got to explore and experiment with some unique and different sounds that I think I would have never been able to accomplish without having the contributions of these other backgrounds. And so I wanted to take that same kind of approach to GODSMACK and take what we do here as a formula and as a hard rock band and branch out and see what other people think we could sound like and some other styles of music that they could present to me to get me thinking outside the box again and coming up with some different and unique kind of melodies and ideas. And I really think that we were able to accomplish probably one of the most unique records since maybe the first record and rebirth this band.”
In 2012, Chris and Vicky Cornell started the Chris & Vicky Cornell Foundation with a mission to help children who have been negatively impacted by foster care, poverty, addiction, child abuse and neglect. Following the May 18th, 2017 sudden death of the Soundgarden singer, his wife Vicky, has soldier on with their mission. On Wednesday, April 4th, Cornell was appointed to the Children’s Council of The New York Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NYSPCC).
Cornell will also serve a co-chair of the organization’s luncheon which will be held later this month at The Pierre in New York City. Olympic gold medal gymnast McKayla Maroney will be a speaker at the event.
Cornell said in a released statement, “I am excited to join The NYSPCC to support its extraordinary work positively impacting the lives of vulnerable children nationwide . . . Chris and I always shared a strong belief in helping children, and the mission of The NYSPCC is perfectly aligned with our foundation’s mission.”
TMZ.com recently obtained a copy of a voice message that Cranberries lead singer Dolores O’Riordan left for her friend and label executive Dan Waite which was timestamped at 1:12am on January 15th in London. The singer was scheduled to hit the studio a few hours later to record a cover of the Cranberries’ “Zombie” with Bad Wolves. Unfortunately O’Riordan passed away and fans are still waiting for answers as a coroner is yet to release an official cause of death.
The singer, who was 46 years old, was upbeat during the 30 second voice message and was excited to record the cover. She said, “Hi Dan, it’s Dolores, I’m in London. I’m at the Park Hyatt Hilton . . . Actually, I think it’s f**king awesome! It sounds f**king terribly good!” The singer also invited Waite to come to the studio later that morning to hear the finished product and asked him to say, ‘Hi,’ to his wife, Irene.
The Cranberries plan to release a new album which was recorded with O’Riordan later this year as well as a 25th anniversary reissue of their debut album, Everybody Else Is Doing It So Why Can’t We?.
Hoobastank will release their new album, Push Pull, on May 25th on Napalm Records. The group recently released a lyric video for the set’s first song, ‘More Beautiful.” The new project is the group’s first offering since 2012’s Fight or Flight and was produced by the band and Matt Wallace.
Push Pull is currently available for pre-order.
Thursday, April 5th, was the 24th anniversary of Kurt Cobain‘s 1994 suicide. His band mates from Nirvana posted a photo of the late star with a caption that read, “Dear Kurt-We miss you.” Krist Novoselic later retweeted the post.
On the eve of the anniversary on Wednesday night, April 4th, Cobain’s daughter, Frances Bean Cobain, teased some original music. In the clip she sang, “I think I saw you when I was small . . . I think I found you, a penny for your good thoughts/ I think I found you, Jesus hangs in your place on the cross.”
Cobain captioned the video, “I’m super restless because I can’t play guitar with long nails so I’m just sitting in my room alone singin’ to mah self . . . Not having a TV in my house is the best decision because I’m forced to occupy my time with things that feed my brain and soul instead of wasting energy on thinking about not having to think.”
Have a great Friday and a lovely weekend, all!
