Happy Memorial Day Radicals! We hope you’ve got the day off, and that you know a Veteran to thank for their service today!
Bad Wolves have released an acoustic version of their chart-topping cover of the Cranberries‘ “Zombie,” featured on their debut album Disobey. A video for the new version has been posted online. The band said in a statement, “After several live acoustic radio and television performances across the globe, we got repeated fan requests for an acoustic studio recording of ‘Zombie’. So we went in and re-recorded acoustic versions of three songs from our debut Disobey. We hope you all enjoy.”
Late Cranberries singer Dolores O’Riordan was scheduled to contribute vocals to Bad Wolves’ electric version of “Zombie” on the day she died last January. Bad Wolves singer Tommy Vext told us that the success of “Zombie” has been haunted by that: “It’s bittersweet. We’re very, very grateful that we sent her the song for her approval, and that she loved it so much she wanted to be a part of it. I think we’re also really grateful that people are digging our rendition of it. So it’s been a rollercoaster of mixed emotions.” Bad Wolves is sending all proceeds from sales of “Zombie” to O’Riordan’s children.
Disobey bowed at Number 23 on the Billboard 200 chart with 19,000 copies sold in the week ending May 17th. “Zombie” hit the Top 15 on the American rock radio chart and was Number One on iTunes in multiple countries, including the U.K., Sweden, Canada, New Zealand, Australia and Ireland. Bad Wolves will soon embark on a co-headlining run with From Ashes To New, followed in mid-July by an opening slot on a package that includes Five Finger Death Punch, Breaking Benjamin and Nothing More.
Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich penned an essay for Rolling Stone on Friday (May 25th) in which he spoke about the success of the band’s first-ever “Day of Service,” an initiative through the group’s All Within My Hands Foundation in which they encouraged fans and friends to help out at a local food bank. In addition to numerous fans taking part, the band members themselves also rolled up their sleeves and helped out at a variety of different organizations.
Ulrich wrote, “We have an incredible life. We are very fortunate to travel the world, playing music and connecting with people in live settings, creating intimacy and sharing an experience. As we continue this endeavor into our fourth decade, the notion of others participating in the goodwill and good fortune that’s generated from this incredible journey is one that has been impossible to ignore for many years.”
He continued, “For many years, we were quite skeptical about certain elements of the charitable path that we saw some of our peers in the entertainment world take . . . So for many years, Metallica gave back almost 100 percent under the radar.”
Ulrich added, “A couple of years ago, as we started looking ahead to the live campaign for the Hardwired…To Self-Destruct cycle, we decided that we were at a point where we were ready to go public with our goodwill endeavors . . . Whatever the reason, there was a natural, effortless transition to not only feeling comfortable with talking about our efforts but being ready to shout them loud and proud from every rooftop and every soapbox possible.”
The drummer pointed out that even though the foundation is “still finding our feet,” he was proud to say that “it feels like we’re on the path to something that is really making a difference.” The band will continue to select food banks, homeless shelters and programs for at-risk youths in every city it plays in and donate two dollars from each ticket sale, while spreading the word on its social networks.
Highly Suspect frontman Johnny Stevens is launching a new career as a DJ, announcing that his first performance under the moniker Terrible Johnny will take place on June 9th at Exchange LA in downtown Los Angeles. The singer wrote online, “I’ve made a decision to become the best DJ in the world and there is absolutely nothing anyone can do to stop me.”
But Stevens was quick to add that his new venture would not affect Highly Suspect, explaining, “The band is still the band. We are literally writing in the studio as I type this. This is a separate endeavor entirely and I just needed to be ULTRA CLEAR about that so that no one gets scared or thinks Highly Suspect isn’t about to put out the best album ever because that’s still very much going to happen.”
Stevens added, “(My dream of being a DJ is) being realized and I’m going for it full force so this is gonna be a historical show. This will be my first solo performance EVER. That only happens once. And I’m gonna turn it the f**k up and have this club bouncing so don’t sleep on it.”
The next Highly Suspect LP, the band’s third, will follow up 2016’s The Boy Who Died Wolf. That effort debuted at Number Two on the Billboard 200 album chart and featured the Top 10 rock singles “Little One” and “My Name Is Human.” The latter was also nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Rock Song. The band will next play live at the Mo Pop Music & Arts Festival in Detroit on July 28th.
Avenged Sevenfold frontman M. Shadows told Metal Hammer in a new interview that the band’s most recent album, 2016’s The Stage, could end up being more appreciated than it is now. Shadows said about the LP, “I think it will stand the test of time in terms of Avenged’s legacy and I think that at some point it will be a lot of people’s favorite record. I just think that when you’re in the middle of the process of writing a record and you know that things are going to be a little complex or a little over people’s heads, then you’ve got to know that a backlash is coming. And it did.”
Shadows continued, “I feel that all of the initial backlashes that we’ve had, people have grown into it. They try it on and see how it fits . . . The different thing on the backlash with The Stage, though, was it was the first time that we had a great critical response and more of a fan backlash.”
The group made the album available at midnight on October 27th, 2016 with almost no promotion beforehand, save for the arrival of a new song one week earlier. The surprise release of the disc, which was announced the night it went on sale, earned the lowest sales of an Avenged Sevenfold album in 11 years.
Shadows admitted at the time that he didn’t know why the release didn’t catch on with fans: “I think rock fans were a lot more skeptical of the surprise release than I expected them to be. It obviously works in the mainstream a little better than it does in rock ‘n’ roll. I think a lot of our fans were just like, ‘Why are you doing a surprise release? Is something wrong with the record? I think it was a fun experiment and I think there are ways to experiment with releasing music, but at this point, you know, I’m trying to figure it all out myself. We did something fun and we took a chance on it and I just don’t know how it’s going to play out to this day.”
The effort was a deeply complex concept album about the evolution of artificial intelligence and its possible consequences upon our society. Avenged Sevenfold will probably start working on its eighth studio LP this fall for a 2019 release. The band will tour North America this summer with Prophets Of Rage and Three Days Grace.
A documentary about the late Ozzy Osbourne drummer Randy Castillo, titled The Life, Blood And Rhythm Of Randy Castillo, will arrive on digital HD on June 15th through Freestyle Digital Media. Written and directed by Wynn Ponder, the film tells the story of the late, legendary drummer who played with Ozzy, Motley Crue, Lita Ford and many other rock acts during the 1980s and 1990s.
Narrated by Ford, the film “tells the story of a kind-hearted, sometimes mystical musician whose unique style redefined the art of heavy metal drumming, and whose generous spirit became a quiet legend in the lives he touched behind the scenes,” according to a press release.
The film traces Castillo’s life and career from his first childhood drum kit to his high school drum and bugle corps days to his early touring bands and finally his success with some of hard rock’s biggest names. The documentary features interviews, concert footage, Castillo’s own home movies and behind-the-scenes glimpses of the first Native American drummer to reach the top of the pop music charts.
Among the artists interviewed for the film are Slash, Duff McKagan and Matt Sorum from Guns N’ Roses, the late Lemmy Kilmister, Zakk Wylde, Lita Ford, Motley Crue’s Vince Neil and Nikki Sixx, Black Sabbath‘s Bill Ward, Jerry Cantrell and Mike Inez from Alice In Chains and many others.
Castillo died from cancer in March 2002.
In a new video promoting their upcoming co-headlining tour, Marilyn Manson reminisces to Rob Zombie about the first tour they ever played together on, a bill that included Danzig and Korn. Manson makes the surprising revelation, “It was definitely Danzig — Danzig and Korn was before us. I used to piss on (Korn)’s catering.” After Zombie replies “Well, you gotta do what you gotta do,” Manson adds, “”I would use (Danzig’s) bus as a place for sexual liaisons.” We suspect Zombie will keep his bus and catering room firmly locked now when their trek begins on July 11th in Detroit.
Speaking of Korn, frontman Jonathan Davis has launched a mini-documentary series chronicling the making of his newly released solo album, Black Labyrinth. The first video in the series focuses on the writing of the song “Basic Needs.“ An accompanying clip for each of the album’s other 12 tracks is expected to surface over the coming weeks.
Guns N’ Roses have quietly uploaded three rare videos to their YouTube account in advance of next month’s massive Appetite For Destruction box set. First is an “alternate” version of the classic “Sweet Child O’Mine” clip, second is a rarely-seen video for the Use Your Illusion I song “The Garden,” and third is the first of two videos shot for “Yesterdays,” from Use Your Illusion II. All three clips were last seen on a 1998 compilation called Welcome To The Videos. The band has also posted a montage of highlights from the two-year-old “Not In This Lifetime” reunion tour, which resumes in Europe this summer.
Have a great day!
