Whoa man, what an incredible weekend at Rock on the Range! Lou Brutus has been beackstage all weekend, talking with the bands and showing off pictures of Darla the Wonderdog! Keep your eyes on the hardDriveRadio YouTube channel for lots of interviews with your favorite artists from this past weekend!
Late Soundgarden singer Chris Cornell’s widow Vicky, his children Lily, Toni and Christopher, plus his bandmates Matt Cameron, Tom Morello and Alain Johannes returned to his grave at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery on Friday, May 18th for a vigil to mark the one-year anniversary of Cornell’s death. Chester Bennington’s widow Talinda and Johnny Ramone’s widow Linda were also in attendance, along with other friends and a number of fans.
Vicky Cornell announced the vigil via social media last week, stating, “All of us who loved Chris know how special he was and how much he gave to all of us. Your love for him, your sympathy and support for us has carried us through these 12 months. We welcome all to join us in remembrance.” Fans who could not make it were encouraged to share their memories of the vocalist via posts and videos.
Meanwhile, Matt Cameron paid tribute to his fallen bandmate on Instagram, writing, “Can’t believe it’s already been one year since I lost my musical soulmate and special friend Chris Cornell. Chris always led by example — his work ethic, his sense of humor, his love of animals, his love of the Cascades, his love of family. Bands are nearly impossible to get right, but Soundgarden felt incredibly fierce and so right for me on day one, mid February 1986.”
After describing his first audition for the band, which took place in Cornell’s living room, Cameron wrote, “I will forever praise him for the decades of encouragement he gave me and for the fierce friendship we forged. I love you buddy.”
During their set at Columbus, Ohio’s Rock On The Range festival on Friday night, Alice In Chains paid tribute to Chris Cornell by performing two Soundgarden songs, “Hunted Down” and “Boot Camp.”
Cornell was found dead in a Detroit hotel room on May 18th, 2017, shortly after completing a show with Soundgarden in the city. The cause of death was suicide by hanging. He was 52 years old.
Greta Van Fleet is reassuring fans that the group’s first full-length album will be out this year, with a late summer release in the works. Guitarist Jake Kiszka told Loudwire, “We’re in the mixing process, so it’s going to be quite soon. We’re wrapping it up, so we’re hoping to release that absolutely this year.”
Bassist Sam Kiszka added, “We had all these songs we wrote three to five years ago that we were just going to put on the album. It very quickly became all new material, so I’d say about three-quarters of the songs are songs we wrote in the studio. It just happened very quickly, we got everything done in two weeks.”
Greta Van Fleet played in Michigan clubs for six years before rocketing to the top of the rock radio charts last year with “Highway Tune.” The track is taken from the Black Smoke Rising EP. Their latest single is the title track. The band will wrap up a spring headlining tour this week with a three-night stand in Detroit on Tuesday (May 22nd), Wednesday (May 23rd) and Friday (May 25th).
Korn frontman Jonathan Davis will take a number of his fans through a sensory deprivation experiment employed to test ESP abilities, known as the Ganzfeld Experiment. Davis recently spoke about the experiment with Ticketmaster UK, saying, “That’s something that’s been going on for a long time, if you deprive yourself of visual and audible stimulus you’ll start to hallucinate. You cut a ping-pong ball in half and put these white globes over your eyes, and you listen to white noise, after twenty minutes you start to hallucinate. Every experience is different, but the brain can’t handle not hearing or seeing anything.”
Davis added, “I’m doing these pop-up things where I grab a couple of kids and pull them through the experience. It’s just the whole thing, it’s meant to be entertaining and not to be taken overly seriously. But it’s a really dope concept. I wanted something different, and to be more immersive. I think I’ve pretty much pulled that off now.”
To get a chance to participate with Davis you’ll have to submit proof that you pre-ordered his new solo album, Black Labyrinth, which arrives this Friday, May 25th. Send your proof to blacklabyrinth@sumerianrecords.com. Winners will be chosen at random and notified this Wednesday, May 23rd at noon PT. The first Davis-led experiment will take place in Seal Beach, California on Friday, when the new LP is released.
Davis heads to Europe next month in support of his new disc. Korn will celebrate the 20th anniversary of its classic third album, Follow The Leader, with three shows this fall in San Francisco, Los Angeles and Las Vegas.
All four members of Halestorm will participate in what’s described as “an intimate evening of music and conversation” on May 31st at Sony Hall in New York City, starting at 7:00 p.m. ET. The band members will discuss their current tour, new projects, stories from the road, and much more. The event will include a long-form interview, an opportunity for audience questions and a short exclusive performance.
Tickets can be purchased at SonyHall.com. Fans who are unable to attend the event in person can see it streamed live at youtube.com/guitarworld. Halestorm is putting the finishing touches on its fourth studio LP and singer Lzzy Hale told us that the record shows personal growth for the members of the band: “It’s very rock. Against the other stuff, it’s just, it’s definitely a step forward for us, which I guess we’ve always really done naturally. But time moves a lot faster for us because we’re on tour and the three years is like one year, you know, and then you realize you’re a completely different person on the other side of a record cycle.”
Hale told Boston radio station WAAF that the upcoming album will be “the most Halestorm record that you’re gonna hear from us as of yet.” A first single is expected from the album soon. The new disc follows up 2015’s Into The Wild Life.
The Apocalypse Blues Revue, a band featuring Godsmack guitarist Tony Rombola and drummer Shannon Larkin, will release its new album The Shape Of Blues To Come on July 20th. Larkin said about the LP, which follows up 2016’s self-titled debut, “We’re very excited about this second record. I’ve never seen four wills join so strongly with one intent as I have in this band. That’s something special.”
The other members of the group are frontman Ray “Rafer John” Cerbone and bassist Brian Carpenter. Larkin first heard Rombola play the blues in 2010, saying a while back, “I couldn’t believe it. I didn’t even know he was into blues or could play the way he does. My reaction was immediate. We had to officially start a blues band.”
Larkin told us not long ago that he’s never held another job aside from playing music: “I started playing nightclubs when I was 13 years old, and I’m one of those lucky musicians that have never worked a day job. I’ve always been a musician and always been able to pay my rent through playing music. So I’m a one-percenter.”
Godsmack singer Sully Erna has also worked on side projects, releasing two solo albums in 2010 and 2016. The new Godsmack album, When Legends Rise, arrived on April 27th and entered at Number Eight on the Billboard 200 album chart. This marked Godsmack’s seventh Top 10 debut on the Billboard survey. Godsmack is performing at several music festivals this spring and summer, before launching a tour with Shinedown on July 22nd in Clarkston, Michigan.
Ok! Recovery day, the we get back to it tonight on hardDrive XL! have a great Monday everyone!
