Good morning Radicals! Wow, it is difficult to focus on work when the Labor Day weekend is approaching… join me in a small distraction by looking at the music news today!
Halestorm singer/guitarist Lzzy Hale revealed in a new interview with New Jersey radio station WDHA that the band is about to record a “secret project” in the studio before hitting the road with Godsmack next month.
Asked about the band’s schedule, Hale responded, “We go in the studio. We have a project we’re working on. Not a new record yet, but a project we’re working on. But it’s not Reanimate (the group’s series of covers EPs), it’s something else. (I’m) super-excited about that.”
Halestorm has been on the road since July 2018 in support of its latest album, Vicious, and Hale told us that this album cycle has been especially satisfying for the band: “As a band it feels like we’ve started again, but in a good way and just like leveling up, you know. It’s like we’re at the beginning of another level as bandmates and as musicians but also just in our careers. So definitely this record, like, renewed our excitement for what we do, and we reconnected on the reasons why we started in the first place.”
Halestorm’s month-long U.S. tour with Godsmack will kick off on September 20th in Green Bay, Wisconsin and end on October 18th in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Godsmack frontman Sully Erna‘s debut in the professional boxing world, as co-trainer and cornerman for amateur boxing champion David Tubbs, ended in spectacular fashion last weekend. Tubbs scored a brutal knockout just 18 seconds into his fight, which set the record for fastest knockout of the year in the state of New Hampshire where the fight took place.
Erna said after the bout, “It was definitely a little faster than we expected. He did exactly what was asked of him, though. He threw the exact combination that Hoss (Tubbs’s head trainer) was working on in the locker room with him on the pads. One of the punches landed clean on the side of the head and in boxing that’s all it takes.”
Erna added: “It was an honor to be invited to work with Team Tubbs on such a special night. A professional debut is such an important night for a fighter and to do it at an event benefiting The Scars Foundation made it even better. I’m looking forward to being a part of Tubbs’s next fight and continuing to work in the boxing world.”
Erna, a boxing enthusiast who works with fighters at his personal gym in New Hampshire, worked Tubbs’s corner along with world-renowned trainer Joseph “Hoss” Janik of KnuckleHeadz Boxing in Ventura, California. Janik said, “(Erna) brought a lot of inspiration and ideas to David prior to the fight. It definitely won’t be the last time you see us working together in the corner.”
The fight was part of “Scars For Scars”, an evening of professional boxing benefiting the Scars Foundation, Erna’s new charity to raise awareness of mental health issues and provide resources and tools to educate and empower people on a global level that struggle with burdens such as bullying, addiction, abuse, depression and more.
Gibson has announced the worldwide launch of the new, limited-edition Chris Cornell ES-335 Tribute guitar, in honor of the rock legend who passed away in May 2017. A pre-sale has already begun, while on September 3rd, all Gibson Chris Cornell ES-335 guitars will be sold worldwide through authorized Gibson dealers.
Gibson chief merchant officer Cesar Gueikian said, “Chris Cornell was not only one of the most iconic singer-songwriters of all time, he was a modern innovator who left a legacy that transcends music genres and generations. Chris fell in love with this guitar and it became a part of his creative expression . . . we hope that this guitar will inspire fans to find their sound, and inspiration, just like Chris did, for many years to come.”
The guitar was officially unveiled earlier this year at the star-studded “I Am The Highway: A Tribute To Chris Cornell” concert supporting the Chris And Vicky Cornell Foundation and The Epidermolysis Bullosa Medical Research Foundation. Gibson made a donation, in addition to offering a selection of the limited-edition Chris Cornell ES-335 signature guitars to the foundation to raise added funds.
Cornell took his own life on May 18th, 2017, after playing a show with Soundgarden in Detroit. The band had been working on material for its seventh studio album before his death at the age of 52.
A YouTuber named William Maranci has created the Tool/Taylor Swift mash-up that will haunt your nightmares….
Maranci has fused Tool’s ode to postmodern malaise, “Stinkfist,” with Swift’s anthem of post-break-up empowerment, “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together.” And the results work better than anyone has a reason to think they might.
The latest combination of the progressive hard rockers’ music with a pop confection follows “Love Your Parabola,” the Tool/Justin Bieber mash-up that surfaced earlier this month.
As for real Tool music, the group’s first LP in 13 years, Fear Inoculum, arrives this Friday (August 30th). Tool released the title track as the first single more than two weeks ago.
A limited edition of the 85-minute, seven-song disc will come with a four-inch HD screen featuring exclusive video footage, a USB charging cable, a two-watt speaker and a 36-page insert book.
Ok, time to look productive!
