Good morning Radicals! Here’s hat’s going on today in the world of rock and roll:
Greta Van Fleet has designed an app that is available via iOS and Android devices in which users are guided to local parks to enjoy “Age of Man,” the epic track opens the band’s newly released debut album, Anthem Of The Peaceful Army.
The band said in a statement, “We hope your ears are delighted by the introduction to our album, ‘Age of Man,’ when you embark on the White Rose March. Appreciate the nature and experience an unreleased Greta Van Fleet song.”
The statement continued, “We have a new song to share with you, and would like you to experience it in nature. If you share your location, we’ll help you find the nearest park to listen.” Fans are also encouraged to take photos of their surroundings as well.
Greta Van Fleet finally releases its highly anticipated debut disc on Friday (October 19th). The Michigan quartet’s first full-length LP follows two EPs and the overnight success of their first single, last year’s “Highway Tune.”
Ozzy Osbourne is headlining a special one-night-only version of Ozzfest on New Year’s Eve (December 31st) at the Forum in Los Angeles, where he’ll be joined by Rob Zombie, Marilyn Manson, Korn frontman Jonathan Davis, Black Label Society, Body Count and four other yet-to-be announced acts.
Black Label Society and the four acts to be named will perform on a special second stage outside the venue, while the event will also include other holiday festivities that will be announced in the weeks ahead. The evening will end with Ozzy leading the crowd in the countdown to 2019 at midnight.
Ozzy said, “I asked Sharon what we’re doing this New Year’s Eve and she said, ‘We’re doing f**k-all!’ So I thought, ‘We didn’t do Ozzfest in 2018, so let’s do a New Year’s Eve Ozzfest.’” Tickets for the show go on sale Friday (October 26th) at 10:00 a.m.. PT, with more information available at Ozzfest.com.
Ozzfest began as a groundbreaking traveling festival in 1996 and has morphed over the years into an occasional and sometimes annual destination event. Ozzy told us a while back that he was okay with Ozzfest becoming an on-again, off-again event: “If it takes off again, fine. If it doesn’t, well, that’s also fine because, you know, it’s been great for us. I mean, we’ve had a — I’m really happy that we’ve been able to launch new bands into the arena, you know. A good few many bands got successful from the Ozzfest. You know, we’ll see what happens. You never know, it could go on, it could not.”
Meanwhile, the Black Sabbath singer and solo artist spoke with Rolling Stone about the staph infection that required him to have surgery on his hand and cancel four shows earlier this month. Ozzy recalled about his visit to the emergency room, “I didn’t feel sick, so I was cracking jokes. The doctor said, ‘I don’t know if you realize, Mr. Osbourne, this is a very serious problem you have.’”
Ozzy ended up with not one but three staph infections in his thumb and middle finger. He described the surgery, saying, “They cut all this stuff out. Even with the numbing stuff, it was agony. It wasn’t pus, but it was the stage after pus, when it gets in the blood and goes in your body and f**king kills you. It may sound f**ked up what I’m saying to you, but (the doctor) was really concerned about checking my blood.”
Ozzy is on the mend now but says he hasn’t “been able to do anything” since he got home. He explained, “I’m right-handed. You can’t wipe your own a**. And I didn’t have many f**king volunteers who would do it for me.”
The singer has already rescheduled the four scrapped shows for July 2019.
Nickelback bassist Mike Kroeger told Australia’s Heavy magazine in a recent interview that the Canadian act uses radio airplay in different cities to determine which songs to put in its live set list. Kroeger explained, “That’s a really great problem to have when you have a whole bunch of songs that people want to hear you play every night . . . the way that we’ve been figuring it out is by using data from radio, etc. about what played well and what charted well — using that as a barometer for what people want to hear.”
Kroeger added that the formula doesn’t work the same outside the U.S., saying, “When you go to Europe is when it’s really interesting, because very often, you’re playing a different country every night . . We’ll be in one country like Germany where the single ‘What Are You Waiting For?’ went over huge, and then we’ll drive to some place like France where it didn’t, and something else did well there, so we do a lot of swapping based on what data we can gather of what works.”
Nickelback frontman Chad Kroeger told us a while back that the quartet has always wanted to have a deep and diverse set list: “Early on, we definitely were a little less diverse and kind of just stuck to the hard rock stuff. But it gets boring. You know, you wind up with a whole set full of songs that wind up sounding the same. And so when you can put on a show that’s diverse and ebbs and flows like a good movie, you know, those were always my favorite shows to go to, so that’s what we’ve always tried to accomplish.”
Nickelback will tour Australia in February with Bad Wolves along as support. Nickelback has been on the road behind its ninth album, Feed The Machine, which came out in June 2017 and landed at Number Five on the Billboard 200 album chart.
System of a Down frontman Serj Tankian has released his own coffee. in an email to fans he describes how he came to the idea:
Dear Friends,
Just got back from some west coast tour dates with System of a Down which were a lot of fun. It was great to see many of you at the concerts and equally exciting to see some of you being among the first to enjoy Kavat Coffee at Glen Helen Amphitheater.
Woke up this morning and was eager to have a cup myself.
The idea behind Kavat Coffee began over a year ago when my I approached my friend Ara who is a coffee roaster about the idea of crafting a premium, organic and fair trade Armenian coffee. The two of us tried countless varieties of raw coffee beans and a multitude of roasting techniques and blind tests until finally, we had their eureka moment, and modern Armenian coffee was born. We named our new caffeinated child Kavat Armenian Coffee.
Armenian coffee, or “Soorj” as it’s called in our native tongue, is like nothing you’ve ever tasted before. You can learn more about it HERE.
We also crafted an amazing and versatile espreso blend we call our San Lazzaro Espresso Blend. Whether you prefer to sip on a traditional espresso, concoct your very own pour over, indulge with a french press or brew up a whole pot of drip, the evenness of this roast will give you a richly aromatic coffee no matter how you prepare it, with cream or without.
Both of them are available for Pre-Order now at kavatcoffee.com and via the button below.
Can’t wait for you to try them.
Peace,
Serj
Finally, we’d like to wish a Happy Birthday to Metallica bassist Robert Trujillo! Have a great day!
