Good morning Radicals! Lots of great news in Dirt today, so let’s get started!
Godsmack frontman Sully Erna has announced the creation of the Scars Foundation to support ongoing mental health struggles facing so many. With the rise of suicides, bullying, addiction, abuse and so many other challenges, the Scars Foundation is dedicated to providing resources and tools to educate and empower people on a global level that struggle with these burdens.
Erna explained, “Scars come in all forms. They are physical and emotional. They’re traumatizing and make us fear what people may think of us. But we are ALL imperfect in some way. That’s what makes us perfect and unique! Everyone has something that makes him or her insecure or embarrassed. But instead of hiding them or internalizing them, own them and show them off to the world! Let them empower you so you can be a voice for everyone who can’t be. If we all wear our scars loudly and proudly, others will follow.”
The launch of the foundation coincides with the release of “Under Your Scars,” the latest single from Godsmack’s seventh and latest studio album, When Legends Rise. Every donation to the Scars Foundation will include a download of the band’s “Under Your Scars” single.
“Under Your Scars” is a very different type of song for Godsmack and Erna told us he wants to keep experimenting with his writing: “You know, I’m growing as a songwriter and my skills are developing more and more every year as a producer, and I just can’t write the same record over and over again. I don’t want to. I mean, if that’s what I was going to be pigeonholed into, I think I might just give the guys a big hug and say we had a great run and call it a day, and start producing and writing for some other bands.”
Godsmack will embark next week on a tour with Volbeat, kicking off in Nashville on April 16th and ending on May 6th in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Eleven of the dates will take place in Canada, with Volbeat co-headlining for most of the Canadian shows.
Rival Sons frontman Jay Buchanan says that he has “very serious trouble” with the current political situation in the U.S. Asked by Polish journalist Sandra Hajduk if he thinks musicians shouldn’t comment on politics, Buchanan responded, “I don’t see any need for a musician to be quiet or to be silent when they feel like they need to say something . . . we have a platform where we can talk to a lot of people, and sometimes, for me, being an American, I look at our politics [and] I have serious trouble with it. I have very serious trouble with the current situation. It’s very embarrassing, and it’s really difficult.”
Buchanan continued, “Some people will say, ‘Okay, don’t be political because you’ll lose fans,’ or something like that, and that just sounds terrible. Well, why would you be quiet about something that’s important to you just so you can make more money?” He added, “When you have someone in office that is declaring a national emergency to build a wall between the United States and Mexico while Michigan doesn’t have drinking water . . . We have a lot bigger problems in the United States than what’s being focused on right now.”
Buchanan also said that he’s “not an overtly political person,” adding, “I don’t think you have to be political to look at a situation and say that you think it’s ridiculous . . . having a social obligation and a moral obligation, that’s just called being a human being.”
Rival Sons’ latest album, Feral Roots, was released on January 25th. The band’s sixth studio album yielded a Number One hit at rock radio with the single “Do Your Worst.”
Metallica has called for a second annual “Day Of Service” on Wednesday, May 22nd. Once again, Metallica fans across the U.S. are invited to volunteer for a day at food banks in communities that have supported Metallica on its North American dates over the course of the “WorldWired” tour.
In cooperation with Feeding America, Metallica and the band’s All Within My Hands foundation have made contributions to their local partners in each of those cities. Now the group is asking fans across the country to help the fight against hunger in their neighborhoods. Last year’s first-ever “Day Of Service” enlisted more than 1,000 volunteers to spend a day working at local food banks across the U.S.
More than 50 food banks will be participating in this year’s activities — more than twice as many as last year — and each registered volunteer will receive a special All Within My Hands T-shirt commemorating the event. Space is limited and registering in advance is mandatory.
In its first six months of operation, All Within My Hands donated more than $750,000 to local food banks around the world — a practice the band and the Foundation continued on Metallica’s recent North American tour, donating $10,000 to local food banks in every city.
Rob Zombie has officially completed work on 3 From Hell, the sequel to his earlier films House Of 1,000 Corpses and The Devil’s Rejects. Zombie confirmed that the movie was wrapped during an appearance on Monday’s (April 8th) edition of Trunk Nation.
Asked why his long-completed new solo album had yet to be released, Zombie responded, “I had to finish the movie. I just literally finished that two days ago. That’s done. That was taking my life for the last couple of years.” He added that the film was possibly headed for an early fall release, although that had yet to be confirmed.
3 From Hell, which was shot in California, will reunite Sid Haig, Sheri Moon Zombie and Bill Moseley as the members of the psychopathic, sadistic Firefly family. It’s not clear whether Zombie plans to resurrect the Firefly trio from the dead in some kind of supernatural fashion in the new film or has found a way to explain that they survived the climactic shootout at the end of The Devil’s Rejects.
Zombie told us a while back that he likes leaving audiences who watch his movies a little off balance: “When I see people coming out of the movie they always have that sort of like look on their face like, ‘What did I just have to sit through?’ Good or bad, you know, however they take it. You know, they are conflicted, like, ‘Well who are we rooting for? What was that about? Who was the good…’ You know, just, anything that confuses people, makes them talk is good, ’cause I’m so sick of walking out of movies and feeling like you’re not even out of the lobby yet and you’re done discussing the film.”
Zombie’s new LP will be out later this year and will follow up 2016’s The Electric Warlock Acid Witch Satanic Orgy Celebration Dispenser.
Guns N’ Roses guitarist Slash mourned the death of actor Seymour Cassel, who died on Monday (April 8th) at the age of 84. It was Cassel who gave Saul Hudson, a childhood friend of Cassel’s son Matt, the nickname Slash and started him on his path to rock history. Slash recalled in 2012, “We used to ditch school and hang out at his house and he used to call me Slash and it was just habitual with him.” Slash added that he never knew why Cassel called him that until years later, explaining, “He says it was always because I was in a hurry, hustling whatever it was I was hustling at the time and never had time to sit and chat. I was always sort of in passing and he just started calling me Slash.”
AC/DC‘s longtime engineer Mike Fraser has confirmed that the band has been in the studio “doing something.”
Rumors of a new AC/DC record have been circulating for several months, ever since singer Brian Johnson and drummer Phil Rudd, along with guitarists Angus Young and Stevie Young, were photographed outside Vancouver’s Warehouse Studios. Based on the pictures, the assumption at the time was that AC/DC was in the midst of making — or at least planning — another album, with Rudd and Johnson both back in the lineup. Online reports have also indicated Angus Young will dedicate the new AC/DC album to his late brother.
Fraser spoke about a possible new AC/DC record during an interview he did last month with Australian record-masterer and podcaster Tony “Jack the Bear” Mantz.
Asked if there is any truth to the rumor that there’s another AC/DC album in the works, Fraser said: “Umm… Well, yeah, I could say that we’ve been in the studio doing something. What’s come of that I can’t discuss yet, but uh…”
“With Brian singing?” Mantz asked. “I think so,” Fraser replied, laughing.
Fraser recorded and mixed five AC/DC albums, including the band’s latest CD, 2014’s “Rock Of Bust”. He is also known for his mixing work with such acts as RUSH, GUNS N’ ROSES, METALLICA and LED ZEPPELIN.
Ever since AC/DC completed the tour cycle for “Rock Or Bust” more than two years ago — a turbulent trek that weathered the forced retirement and eventual death of co-founder Malcolm Young, plus the departures of Johnson, Rudd and bassist Cliff Williams — fans have wondered whether sole remaining founding member Angus Young would keep the band going or decide it was time for AC/DC to pack it in.
Johnson was forced to leave AC/DC mid-tour due to a dangerous level of hearing loss, and was eventually replaced on the road by GUNS N’ ROSES frontman Axl Rose, while Williamsdecided to retire at the end of the cycle. (Thanks Blabbermouth!)
Last, but not least, we wish a Happy Birthday to Mike Mushock of Staind & Saint Asonia! Happy hump day!
