Good morning Radicals! It’s the first day of HALLOWEEN!!! (October 1st, for you non-ghosts)
Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl announced on Friday (September 28th) the launch of the Dave Grohl “Play” Reverb Auction in partnership with Reverb.com, the leading online marketplace dedicated to buying and selling musical instruments. The auction starts on Tuesday, October 9th, and will feature guitars, drums, and more signed by the musician. Proceeds from the auction will go to organizations that help young generations of musicians “just play.”
In August, Grohl unveiled Play, a two-part documentary that ended with him performing a new solo 23-minute song on seven different instruments. Grohl created the project to showcase “the rewards and challenges of dedicating ones life to playing and mastering a musical instrument.” In conjunction with the project, recording studios around the country donated session time to young musicians.
Grohl told us a while back that the most important thing is keeping the human element in music: “The most important thing is that there’s a human element to what you’re doing. With digital technology, it became a lot easier to manipulate these performances. I think what that does is it really takes a lot of personality out of music, you know. Like John Lennon didn’t really sing perfectly in key and John Bonham didn’t really play perfectly in time, but they just — it felt great.”
Beginning on October 9th, fans can bid on music gear donated by DW Drums, Fender, Gibson Gretsch, Ludwig, Made By Maple and Zildjian, all signed by Grohl. Proceeds from the auction will benefit several organizations that make it possible for young musicians to learn and grow. Grohl said, “Seeing my own kids start to play music and take lessons brings me back to the time when I was their age, chipping away at it and learning from my mistakes. It’s a lifelong obsession, but at the end of the day — just like any kid — the reward is just to play.”
Foo Fighters will headline the second annual Cal Jam festival this coming Saturday (October 6th) in San Bernardino, California.
Korn has launched its new coffee brand, called Korn Koffee. Created in partnership with J. Gursey Coffee Roasters, Korn Koffee is available now. Made entirely with certified fair trade whole beans, Korn Koffee is a distinctive blend of beans from Ethiopia, Guatemala and Peru, mixed with J. Gursey Coffee’s popular Vintage Black Diamond blend.
Korn personally curated the creation of Korn Koffee, a process that saw the band members tasting multiple variations before ultimately selecting the perfect roast and blend.
Each bag of Korn Koffee will feature a special message from the band which reads, “After almost 25 years of touring, making records and playing in front of all of our amazing fans (you), one thing has remained a constant in our daily routine: coffee. The ritual, the brew, the aroma and most importantly, that very first cup every morning that sets the tone, is something we look forward to every day. Because of our passion, we’ve gotten together with a roaster and handcrafted our very own blend of Koffee.”
Korn recently began recording its new album in Nashville, Tennessee. Drummer Ray Luzier posted an Instagram photo from the session at producer Nick Raskulinecz‘s Rock Falcon Studio.
Linkin Park singer Mike Shinoda and Talinda Bennington, widow of late Linkin Park vocalist Chester Bennington, have both participated in a new PSA for the National Suicide Prevention Hotline. The ad aired following the September 26th premiere of A Million Little Things on ABC.
Chester Bennington committed suicide in 2017 at the age of 41. Both Chester’s widow and the Linkin Park MC have dedicated their time to suicide prevention causes since Bennington’s passing. Shinoda’s debut solo album, Post Traumatic, dealt with the death of his Linkin Park bandmate directly through tracks like “Crossing a Line.”
Asked on The Blairing Out With Eric Blair Show last week if he saw signs of depression in Bennington when they were working together, Shinoda said, “Well, he battled with that stuff very publicly since the beginning of our relationship, since we knew him. I mean, it was just something he dealt with for his whole life.”
Shinoda also denied rumors that Linkin Park is preparing to carry on with a replacement singer saying, “No, we don’t have any plans at this point. Obviously, if there’s any news for the band, we’ll announce it on our socials, of course.”
Linkin Park headlined an all-star tribute concert for Bennington last October in Los Angeles but has not announced any future plans for recording or touring.
Chevelle has released “Sleep Walking Elite,” the first single from the band’s upcoming collection, 12 Bloody Spies: B-Sides And Rarities. The disc, out October 26th, culls together songs that haven’t appeared on the standard editions of the band’s eight studio albums, offering remastered versions of the tunes. “Sleep Walking Elite” was recorded during the sessions for 2007’s Vena Sera LP.
Fight The Fury, the new metal project from Skillet frontman John Cooper, has set October 26th as the release date for its debut EP, Still Breathing. The disc’s first single, “My Demons,” is online now. Cooper said about the song, “‘My Demons’ is the first song that I wrote for the project about five years ago when I first had the idea to start Fight The Fury . . . It touches on some dark themes that can be related in general to most people’s individual struggles in life.”
Red Hot Chili Peppers played their first live show in several months on Saturday night (September 29th) at the Silverlake Conservatory of Music in Los Angeles. The quartet opened the show with the Allman Brothers Band‘s “Ramblin’ Man” and closed with the Jimi Hendrix classic “Purple Haze.” The show was a fundraiser for the Conservatory, which Chili Peppers bassist Flea co-founded in 2001.
All That Remains releases its ninth studio album, titled Victim Of The New Disease, on November 9th. The release date is surprising, because it’s been less than two years since the group issued its last longplayer, 2017’s Madness, and also because frontman Phil Labonte had previously hinted at the new LP arriving in 2019.
Labonte said about the new disc, “We decided to throw a curveball… and do the heaviest record since For We Are Many in 2010! It was the perfect way to follow up Madness, where we did some different styles and songs and even covered a country song. People might’ve expected something more experimental, but throwing curveballs is what we do.”
A total of 10 new tracks will be featured, including the recently released single, “F**k Love,” as well as a guest appearance from Asking Alexandria singer Danny Worsnop on “Just Tell Me Something.”
Labonte told us not long ago how the band goes about writing new songs: “Just write songs that we dig. Like, that’s kind of the way that we look at writing. You know, like, some of the coolest bands are really tough to classify. So, like, all we do is get together and say, ‘Hey, do we like this? Do we want to use it?’ And we don’t say, ‘Oh, does that sound like All That Remains? Oh, will we be able to get away with it?’ You know, we write music for us, and if we write the music than it can’t help but sound like All That Remains.”
The band is expected to tour behind the new album heavily next year and there’s already rumors that they could be linking up with Slipknot for a run. The latter act is expected to release its new record in 2019, fueling speculation that the two outfits will hit the road together.
That’s a wrap for now! Have a great day!
