Not many days left in the year, but still plenty going on in the world of rock and roll. Let’s get into it with Dirt:
Five Finger Death Punch drummer Jeremy Spencer has left the band, according to a statement released by the group’s publicist. After sitting out the fall leg of the group’s recent co-headlining tour with Breaking Benjamin, Spencer underwent a second back surgery and will need a significant amount of time to recover. The band fully supports his decision to depart.
Spencer explained, “It’s with mixed emotion that I share with you the following news: I regret that I’ve decided to step down as the drummer of Five Finger Death Punch. This decision has been weighing on me for months. Now the time has finally come. I’ve been playing drums since I was six years old. After years of the physicality leading to surgeries, I feel it’s best to step down.”
He continued, “I feel fortunate that my body has provided me with several decades of doing what I love: playing double-bass and shredding the drums. However, the rigorous physical wear and tear has worn down my body to the point where I feel I can no longer deliver a performance you great fans deserve and one that brings me satisfaction and joy. In addition, I feel the band deserves to get someone with fresh fire and energy — capable of delivering Death Punch music the way fans deserve.”
Spencer added that he has “a number of future projects I’m excited about — all of which require that I be physically able to move fluidly and without pain. I hope you’ll continue to be part of the next chapter of my life.” He also said he wished “nothing but the very best” for the band and hoped fans would support his replacement.
For its fall tour, Five Finger Death Punch was joined behind the kit by 33-year-old drummer Charlie “The Engine” Engen. It is not clear if he will remain with the group or if they will seek a new and permanent replacement for Spencer.
Ghost mastermind Tobias Forge was asked in an interview with Loudwire this week for his thoughts on Larry Long, the Texas pastor who led a protest against the band’s recent show in Midland, Texas and warned of letting the band’s Satanic influences into the area.
Forge remarked, “This guy is obviously poorly informed about what we’re doing, but on the other hand, if he is an actual Bible-thumping true believer, then it’s like talking to someone who has some sort of malfunction. We’re trying to make (people) happy about life. We’re actually quite humanistic. If you take all of these things that we’re saying and what we’re doing completely literally, and you believe that this is equal to damnation, then there’s no way that we can meet intellectually.”
Despite Long’s efforts, the band’s show at Midland’s Wagner Noël Performing Arts Center drew nearly 1,000 fans. Forge said about the pastor’s actions, “I can grieve for tendencies like that, because I think it reflects on something more somber and limited and regressive.”
Ghost recently completed a lengthy North American tour in support of its fourth LP, Prequelle, that included the band’s first-ever arena dates in the U.S., in Los Angeles and New York. The masked occult rockers have yet to announce their tour plans for 2019.
Looks like @ChesterBe is in the studio – not with LP! Any guesses as to what’s happening? pic.twitter.com/tFspB5I8CN
— Linkin Park Live (@LPLive) April 12, 2017
A studio recording on which late Linkin Park singer Chester Bennington sang before his death in July 2017 was reportedly leaked online accidentally by Apple Music before being taken down. The track, titled “Cross Off,” was a collaboration with Lamb Of God guitarist Mark Morton for his upcoming solo album Anesthetic. The track will be officially released as a single on January 8th, 2019.
Plans are coming together for @VansWarpedTour 25th only thing I can say for now since many need to hold vacations dates are June 8 Cleveland, June 29-30 eastcoast, July 20-21 westcoast.
— KevinLyman (@KevinLyman) December 17, 2018
Although the long-running Warped Tour staged its final, full cross-country edition earlier this year, it looks like the festival will come back for a few dates in 2019. Founder Kevin Lyman tweeted that “plans are coming together” for Warped 2019 stops in Cleveland, on the east coast, and on the west coast as part of a “celebration“ for the 25th anniversary of the punk-hardcore-skate-themed tour. Lineups and ticket info will be unveiled in March.
Smashing Pumpkins frontman William Corgan performed with the supergroup Royal Machines on Monday night (December 17th) in Los Angeles. The band features ex-Red Hot Chili Peppers and Jane’s Addiction guitarist Dave Navarro, former Nine Inch Nails and A Perfect Circle drummer Josh Freese, ex-The Cult bassist Billy Morrison, and Jane’s Addiction bassist Chris Chaney. Corgan and the band performed the Smashing Pumpkins classic “Bullet With Butterfly Wings” and Jane’s Addiction’s “Mountain Song.”
Weezer frontman Rivers Cuomo told Rolling Stone on Tuesday (December 18th) that he still hasn’t seen the skit from this past weekend’s (December 15th) edition of Saturday Night Live in which Matt Damon and SNL cast member Leslie Jones debated the merits of Cuomo’s band.
Cuomo first heard of the skit from his manager, who happened by coincidence to be in the audience for the program that night. But Cuomo himself missed it, saying, “Everyone’s been texting me and emailing me. My mom saw it. But if there’s a specific moment you want me to comment on, you’d probably better describe it.”
Jones played a dedicated fan of the first two Weezer albums, while Damon was a devotee of the group’s later material. Cuomo said, “They really nailed it, right? I still can’t believe it. It can’t be that big of an audience that would appreciate such a specific little niche as the Weezer fandom.”
Although Weezer would seem like a perfect candidate for an SNL skit, Cuomo told us a while back that he never liked being tagged as quirky and ironic: “I’ve always been frustrated by the fact that people think we’re something else, that we’re just being tongue-in-cheek all the time. I was trying to be emotional and direct and sincere, but it just happened, I don’t know what it is, just creative habits or insecurities or just not enough experience as a writer. Sometimes I’d say things in a quirky way that would, I think, turn off the masses.”
The skit was a topic of online discussion for the rest of the weekend and capped a triumphant year for the 25-year-old act. Earlier in 2018 the band scored a surprise hit with a cover of Toto’s “Africa,” while also landing a Grammy nomination for 2017’s Pacific Daydream LP.
That’s a wrap! Don’t get drunk at the company holiday party!
