Good morning Radicals! Well, once again, the Grammy’s payed the smallest attention they could to rock and roll. Our bands won some awards though, so let’s focus on that.
Greta Van Fleet and the late Chris Cornell were among the winners in the rock categories at the 61st annual Grammy Awards, held Sunday night (February 10th) at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles and telecast live on CBS. Once again, the rock awards were handed out during a pre-telecast ceremony, indicating the Recording Academy’s lack of interest in promoting rock music.
Greta Van Fleet was up for four prizes and won just one, Best Rock Album for its From The Fires EP. The Michigan band was also nominated for Best Rock song, Best Rock Performance and Best New Artist.
Singer Josh Kiszka told us before the show that being nominated itself was a trip for the band: “I honestly did not expect that we were gonna get any nominations, so I wasn’t waking up early to see the nominations and everything. And so I slept in that day, and when I got up, my phone had been, like, exploding. So that alone was really, really cool, to have that happen.”
Late Soundgarden frontman Chris Cornell won in the Best Rock Performance category in the pre-telecast ceremony. Cornell was honored for the song “When Bad Does Good,” from the career-spanning box set released last year. It marked his third Grammy win.
His children Toni and Christopher accepted the award with an emotional speech. Christopher called his father “one of the greatest poets of his time,” adding, “I never thought we’d be standing here without my dad. I’m sure he’d be proud and honored,” while Toni remarked, “His voice was his vision and his music was his peace.”
Cornell beat out fellow nominees Arctic Monkeys, The Fever 333, Greta Van Fleet and Halestorm, whose singer Lzzy Hale was a presenter at the ceremony.
Other rock winners included St. Vincent for Best Rock Song, High On Fire for Best Metal Performance and Beck for Best Alternative Album. The majority of the awards in the 84 Grammy categories spread across 30 fields were handed out in the pre-telecast event. Red Hot Chili Peppers were the sole rock act to perform during the broadcast, in collaboration with Post Malone.
Update- Midway through mixing. Most likely be a few recalls. Then some arguing. Then Mastering, Artwork, Video, Special Packaging, etc. Best Ballpark Guess- Release date somewhere between Mid May and Mid July. More focused updates to follow as we progress. @tool #simplemath pic.twitter.com/o6T4AloLtB
— Maynard J Keenan (@mjkeenan) February 8, 2019
Ignore his expert level trolling, there may finally be some good news! Tool singer Maynard James Keenan has now said that the band’s long-awaited new album will arrive in late spring or early summer. Keenan tweeted on Friday (February 8th) that he and his bandmates were “midway through mixing” the effort. He added: “Best ballpark guess — release date somewhere between mid-May and mid-July. More focused updates to follow as we progress.”
Keenan’s latest comments come a month after Tool drummer Danny Carey told a fan at the NAMM show in Anaheim, California that “the plan” was for the group’s new LP to come out “mid-April.” Keenan refuted that statement a few days later with a simple “No.” But his latest comment is his most specific yet regarding the LP.
Keenan attempted to explain the long gap between Tool albums in a 2017 interview on Joe Rogan’s podcast. Speaking about his bandmates, the singer said, “Their process is very analytical, and I think, at some point, maybe because so much time has gone by from the last album, there has to be a little bit of fear in here. ‘Is this record gonna be as good as the last one?’ . . . Now the pressure is huge, so I’m sure there’s some of that (that) goes into play.”
Tool officially entered the studio in March 2018 to begin recording its first full-length album since 2006’s 10,000 Days, with Keenan tweeting last month that he had finished laying down his vocals “months ago.” The band has a number of festival appearances already booked in May and June.
Metallica and the San Francisco Giants have announced that the seventh annual “Metallica Night” will take place on April 26th at Oracle Park — formerly AT&T Park — in San Francisco as the Giants take the field against the New York Yankees.
A statement on the band’s web site said, “Members of the band will be on hand to start things off with the National Anthem and first pitch, sticking around all night to cheer on the team against the New York Yankees. As is customary, we’ll take part in some of the between-inning fun and games, as well as an exclusive pre-game VIP event.”
Special Event Metallica ticket packages include a ticket to the game and a limited-edition Metallica/Giants reversible knit beanie. A portion of the proceeds from every “Metallica Night” Special Event ticket sold will benefit the band’s own All Within My Hands foundation.
There will also be a pre-game VIP event in Triples Alley as the band celebrates the release of both its very own Blackened American Whiskey and Enter Night Pilsner from Stone Brewing. Lars Ulrich, Robert Trujillo and reps from both companies will be on hand for a question-and-answer session.
A photo has surfaced on social media suggesting that bassist Cliff Williams has returned to AC/DC and will appear on the rumored comeback album which is expected to be released in the coming months.
Last August, singer Brian Johnson and drummer Phil Rudd, along with guitarists Angus and Stevie Young, were photographed outside Vancouver’s Warehouse Studios, where AC/DC had recorded several albums in recent years.
Although Johnson and Rudd had both exited the band during the turbulent recording and touring cycle for 2014’s Rock Or Bust LP, fans speculated that both musicians had returned for a new album. But Williams was missing from the pictures, leading fans to assume that he was sticking to his decision to retire from the group in 2016.
But a newly uncovered photo posted on the Instagram account of Canadian personal trainer Scott Frinskie places Williams and Johnson together at a Vancouver hotel while the studio sessions were taking place. The picture appears to have been taken at the Shangri-La Hotel in December 2018, not long after the first photos from the recording studio had emerged.
While AC/DC has yet to officially reveal any details of a new studio recording, online reports have also indicated that Angus will dedicate the new album to his late brother Malcolm. The latter left the band that he co-founded 40 years earlier in 2014 after being diagnosed with dementia and passed away in 2017.
Guns N’ Roses guitarist Richard Fortus has told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that the band may unveil a new studio LP in the not-too-distant future. Fortus explained, “Slash is on tour (with his solo group) right now. Once he gets back from that, we’re gonna get some more recording done and hopefully get an album out soon. And then we’ll get back to touring.”
There has been speculation about a new album from the band ever since three-fifths of its original lineup reunited in 2016 for the recently completed “Not In This Lifetime” tour. Slash himself told Classic Rock magazine that singer Axl Rose had material already recorded, adding, “I think everybody thinks it’s a good idea, and everybody would like to do it.”
Slash, Axl and fellow founding member Duff McKagan were joined on the reunion trek by Fortus, who joined the latter-era Guns lineup in 2001, drummer Frank Ferrer, longtime keyboardist Dizzy Reed and second keyboardist Melissa Reese. The tour is now one of the highest-grossing in music history.
The last Guns studio album, Chinese Democracy, came out in 2008 and featured only Axl from the classic lineup. Axl, Slash and Duff have not appeared on an LP together since 1993’s covers set “The Spaghetti Incident?”
Finally, we’d like to wish a Happy Birthday today to Linkin Park‘s Mike Shinoda, and Slipknot keyboardist, #5, Craig Jones! Have a great day everyone!
