Good morning hardDriveRadio Radicals! Thank goodness it’s finally Friday! I don’t know about you, but it’s been a looooooooong week here. Still sorta recovering from the good times out at Rock Fest, but, at least we get to watch Iron Maiden tonight in NYC! Ok, let’s take a look at the news this morning:
Bad Wolves have released “I’ll Be There,” the first single from the band’s sophomore album. Details about the disc, such as its title and exact release date, are still yet to be determined, although the LP is expected out in the fourth quarter of 2019.
The new record will follow up last year’s debut disc, Disobey, which came out in May 2018 and featured a massive breakout hit with a cover of the 1993 Cranberries classic “Zombie.”
The song was originally scheduled to feature a guest appearance from Cranberries frontwoman Dolores O’Riordan, but she was found dead in her London hotel room the morning of her recording session.
Disobey also yielded the single “Hear Me Now,” featuring Diamante, which reached Number Two on the rock chart.
Bad Wolves will head out on tour this fall as guests of Five Finger Death Punch.
Tool won’t release its new album for another month, but frontman Maynard James Keenan already appears hard at work on a new LP from one of his other projects, Puscifer. The vocalist shared a brief Instagram clip suggesting a 2021 release for Puscifer’s fourth album.
Wednesday night (July 24th) on Instagram, Keenan posted a brief video clip that shows his microphone in a studio, with his eye eventually popping up on screen. His caption read, “Mat Mitchell My Eye. #chippingaway #puscifer2021 @matmitchell @carinaround @bluemicrophones.”
Mat Mitchell is Puscifer’s guitarist, while Carina Round is Keenan’s co-vocalist in the revolving lineup. The ensemble released their last album, Money Shot, in 2015. Although the band could complete its new album this summer, Keenan will almost certainly be on tour with Tool for the next two years.
Puscifer has existed in some form since 1995 but only began making records in 2007. Keenan told us a while back that the project was not just another band: “This is much more of just a collaborative, creative outlet on all levels with various people, free from label contracts and just kind of express to express, and not really worry about taking over the world with it.”
Little is known of the new Tool album, other than its August 30th release date and the songs “Descending” and “Invincible,” which the band has been performing live. The band also updated its logo last week in advance of the album’s release.
Just one day after teasing a new song, Blink-182 has unveiled the details of its new studio album. Titled Nine, the set will be released on September 20th and is now available for pre-order digitally.
The 15-song LP is available for digital pre-order and fans who do so will receive instant downloads of the brand new song “Darkside,” along with previously released tracks “Happy Days,” “Generational Divide” and “Blame It On My Youth.”
Other tracks on the record include “The First Time,” “Heaven,” “Black Rain,” “I Really Wish I Hated You,” “On Some Emo S**t” and “Remember To Forget Me.” Special versions of the album will include limited colored vinyl, cassette and CD.
In support of the new music, the band is currently out on a nationwide tour with co-headliner Lil Wayne that pulls into Tampa, Florida on Friday (July 26th) and will wind down in late September.
Metallica lead guitarist Kirk Hammett has just finished composing his second classical music piece in conjunction with his wife Lani. Hammett revealed the news at Toronto’s Royal Ontario Museum on Tuesday (July 24th), as part of an event launching “It’s Alive! Classic Horror and Sci-Fi Art From The Kirk Hammett Collection,” an exhibition of horror memorabilia from Hammett’s vast personal collection.
The music the couple wrote is meant to convey the feelings one gets from the posters in the exhibition — among them classic posters for films like Dracula, Frankenstein, Barbarella, Bride Of Frankenstein, Creature From The Black Lagoon, Invasion Of The Saucer-Men, King Kong and Abbott And Costello Meet Frankenstein.
Hammett said about “The Jinn,” which is the name of the new piece, “It will come to the museum in a bit, at some point . . . the title ‘The Jinn’ will hopefully set the mood for how you experience music because it tells a story of the jinn (a Middle Eastern term for genie).”
Hammett’s first classical piece, “Maiden & The Monster,” was composed for his inaugural “It’s Alive!” exhibit in 2017 at the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusetts.
Hammett explained, “I’m getting more and more into classical music, classical composers, and a lot of classical composers take on the horror genre.” He added, “I want to start orchestrating music, and telling musical stories through music, in much the same way as a lot of these classical guys did in the 19th century, 20th century.”
Hammett told us a while back why he has shared his collection in recent years at festivals, his own convention and in a 2012 book: “There’s a certain part of being a collector, you know, that’s based on selfishness. You know, you’re buying stuff for yourself. You’re collecting stuff for yourself. You know, I’ve always been aware of this, you know, selfish aspect of collecting, and after a while, it came to a point where I just decided to start being generous. I wanted to share my collection with people who are into this sort of thing.”
The Offspring is putting the finishing touches on its 10th studio album and first in seven years. The veteran punk act has been recording with Grammy-winning producer Bob Rock in between extensive tours. The yet-to-be-titled LP is the band’s third with Rock, following 2012’s Days Gone By and 2008’s Rise And Fall, Rage And Grace.
Frontman Dexter Holland said, “Save for a few small things, we’re pretty much wrapped and excited to get these tunes out there. We have a lot of really fast stuff on there, plus a couple of things that you might not really expect from us.”
Holland told us a while back that the band enjoys straying from its punk roots: “I love that sound, and that’s what inspired me to start a band and that’s what saved my life, but I’ve always just kind of gotten bored, you know, if that’s all we do. So I’ve always tried to stretch it a little bit, even back to our first record, Ignition, which had a song called “Dirty Magic,” which was different for us and stuff. But always tried to mix it up, kinda just to keep it interesting. It’s a great feeling to feel like, creatively, we can kind of go wherever we want.”
Guitarist Noodles added, “People keep asking me what it sounds like and I say, it sounds like us. It’s all there — the melody, the powerful drums, bass and guitar. We dig it. You’ll dig it.”
The Offspring just completed a run of North American dates and is now hitting festivals in Europe.
Finally, we want to wish a Happy Birthday to the legend, Mick Jagger of the Rolling Stones, along with Gary Cherone of Extreme, and the ever-talented Taylor Momsen of The Pretty Reckless! We should be getting a new album from them soon, don’t you think? Saturday is Deftones drummer Abe Cunningham‘s birthday, as well as Pantera & Kill Devil Hill bassist Rex Brown! Sunday is Papa Roach singer Jacoby Shaddix‘s birthday as well! Wish ’em all a happy! Have a great weekend!
