Good morning Radicals! Hope everyone had an awesome weekend.
The surviving members of Nirvana reunited at the end of Foo Fighters‘ set at the Cal Jam festival on Saturday night (October 6th) to perform six songs. Drummer Dave Grohl, guitarist Pat Smear— both of whom are in the Foos — and bassist Krist Novoselic were joined on vocals by Deer Tick frontman John McAuley for the songs “Serve The Servants,” “Scentless Apprentice” and “In Bloom.”
Following McAuley’s half of the set, Joan Jett then came out to play three more songs with the band: “Breed,” “Smells Like Teen Spirit” and “All Apologies.” The latter song saw Novoselic switch to the accordion while Brody Dalle of the Distillers took over on bass.
Jett previously fronted Nirvana at the band’s Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame induction in 2014, while McAuley and Jett took part in a private aftershow performance. That event, which also saw Lorde, Kim Gordon and St. Vincent take the mic at various points, marked the first Nirvana performances since Kurt Cobain died in April 1994.
Foo Fighters headlined Saturday’s day-long Cal Jam event, which also featured sets from Greta Van Fleet, Garbage, Iggy Pop, Billy Idol, Silversun Pickups and others. Both Deer Tick and Novoselic’s current band, Giants In The Trees, were on the bill, leading to speculation that the Nirvana set would take place.
Greta Van Fleet has shared a fourth song from the band’s upcoming full-length debut album, Anthem Of The Peaceful Army. The new song is an acoustic number called “Anthem” and follows the first official single “When the Curtain Falls,” along with the other recent preview tracks “Watching Over” and “Lover, Leaver.”
Guitarist Jake Kiszka explained that “Anthem” is especially relevant in the current climate of political turmoil: “‘Anthem’ was kind of a song about love and, you know, treating each other kindly, whether or not you agree with someone else’s opinion and not that, you know, the grass is still green and the sky is blue, you know. And I think that those are definitely some heavier lyrics on the album.”
Anthem Of The Peaceful Army will be released on October 19th. Music fans were first introduced to Greta Van Fleet in March 2017 with the release of the band’s debut single, “Highway Tune,” which shot to Number One on the rock radio chart and stayed there for five consecutive weeks.
The young group cut two EPs, Black Smoke Rising and From The Fires, before getting down to work at studios in Nashville and Royal Oak, Michigan on the 10-song full-length LP.
Disturbed is partnering with the USO to give special performances for the airmen at Creech and Nellis air force bases in Indian Springs and Las Vegas, respectively, on October 23rd and 24th. In addition to the performances, the band will visit airmen where they work and learn more about the missions theyre carrying out at each base.
Guitarist Dan Donegan said, “We are honored every time we are able to perform for our troops and pay our respects to our service men and women. They sacrifice so much for their love of our country and we look forward to partnering with the USO for the first time as a Force Behind the Forces to bring them a moment of escape from all that they do for us on a daily basis!”
Singer David Draiman has told us that Disturbed is always ready to do what it can for America’s armed forces: “We need to support our troops and love our troops and do everything we can. In fact, any chance that we as Disturbed have to perform for the troops, give them a little bit of encouragement, strength, build their hope, I would do in a heartbeat.”
Mari Villalobos, the USO’s director of entertainment relationships, said, “Disturbed has an enthusiastic military fan base, and we at the USO are excited to bring them directly to the fans who appreciate them so much. We hope this will be the first of many partnerships with them and other Warner Bros. Records artists as we continue to keep service members connected to family, home and country.”
Today’s show at @ShorelineAmp in Mountain View, CA has being postponed due to illness. Ozzy is being treated for an infection and will spend a couple of days at Cedars-Sinai in LA. Today’s show has been rescheduled for Tues, Oct 16 (support act is TBA)https://t.co/QCgoPDBGdJ pic.twitter.com/YPh4yam82L
— Ozzy Osbourne (@OzzyOsbourne) October 6, 2018
Ozzy Osbourne was forced to cancel his Saturday (October 6th) show at Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View, California after he was diagnosed with an infection that required surgery on his hand that morning. Osbourne will spend a couple of days at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, where he’ll remain under doctor’s care as they monitor the infection.
An infection would seem to be a minor issue for Ozzy, who’s told us before that he didn’t know how he was still alive after abusing drugs and alcohol for years: “I’m not a f***ing doctor. I keep saying that. You know, I’m just a very lucky guy that I ain’t six foot under shoving daisies up, you know. I’m like the laboratory rat that survives, you know.”
Ozzy is expected to return to the road on Tuesday (October 9th) in Chula Vista, California, and the October 6th show has already been rescheduled for Tuesday, October 16th. Tickets for the original date will be honored on the 16th. Refunds are also available at the point of purchase.
The Mountain View show is part of Ozzy’s North American “No More Tours 2.” This leg of the tour wraps with shows at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles on October 11th and the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas on October 13th.
Although Ozzy has maintained that this will be his final lengthy world tour, he plans to continue recording and performing live at a reduced pace and is not thinking of retiring completely.
Green Day drummer Tre Cool has released an EP from his “Icelandic death metal” side project Dead Mermaids. Titled You’re Welcome, the five-song EP is the second effort from the band following a self-titled EP issued in 2014.
Using the pseudonym Bjorn Roarkson, Cool is the lead vocalist and drummer of the band, which also includes guitarist Magnus “The Halibut” Magnusson, bassist Grimur “The Silver Fish” Grimsson and backup vocalist Njall “The Wolf” Njalsson.
The song titles include “My Fish,” “Whipping Song” and “Kill Eat S**t Repeat,” while the satirical act’s style itself is best described as a cross between Tenacious D and Dethlok.
Cool explained in a 2014 interview with SJC Custom Drums how he got involved with Dead Mermaids, saying, “Bjorn Roarkson, unfortunately, was harpooning a whale and the whale pulled him under and some walruses had their way with him, so he sort of indisposed at the moment. I’m sort of life-hacking Bjorn Roarkson right now and I’m going to become him.”
Cool and the rest of Green Day are currently keeping a low profile, although the band has hinted recently at some future live activity.
