Good morning Radicals! Here’s what’s up in music news this week:
With the release of its 13th studio album this past Friday September 13th, titled The Nothing, Korn singer Jonathan Davis told NME that his band is “far from done” after 25 years.
Davis explained, “It’s hard with metal because the world is just so f**king pussified right now. But I think the thing with Korn is we’ve always done what we’ve wanted to and never followed anyone else. I think we’ll work out a way to make sense going forward. We’re survivors. We transcend.”
Davis, who lost both his mother and his estranged wife in the past year and a half, was also asked where the light comes from in his life. He responded, “Being a father. From being someone who’s gone through a lot of s**t and come out the other side — as have many of my bandmates — who kids can look up to and take strength from.”
Korn’s first single from The Nothing, “You’ll Never Find Me,” is currently Number Eight on the rock radio chart. The LP follows up 2016’s The Serenity Of Suffering.
Korn and Alice In Chains recently completed a North American co-headlining tour. Korn will next play a string of “Ticket To Rock” shows over the course of the next few months alongside acts like Chevelle, Slipknot, Dirty Honey, Volbeat and others.
We’re excited to announce that @worldoftanks has invited us to perform inside their game. Beginning Sept 18 you can join us on a virtual stage right in #WorldofTanks. The game has never seen anything like this before, so we’re excited to be the first!#wot #WGFest19 pic.twitter.com/7oXkJ1EXoG
— Offspring (@offspring) September 15, 2019
The Offspring will play a virtual concert inside a video game starting later this week. Beginning on Wednesday (September 18th), fans will be able to watch a virtual performance by the veteran punk act within World Of Tanks, the popular shooter game and simulation of online multiplayer tanks. Within the game map, there will be a stage on which the band will perform in concert.
The band tweeted, “We’re excited to announce that @worldoftanks has invited us to perform inside their game. Beginning Sept 18 you can join us on a virtual stage right in #WorldofTanks. The game has never seen anything like this before, so we’re excited to be the first!”
The Offspring is not the first rock band to play inside a game. A virtual version of Korn performed in the multiplayer video games AdventureQuest 3D and AQWorlds. The band played on stage as part of a special in-game event late last month.
The Offspring’s long-awaited 10th studio album is tentatively due next year. The follow-up to 2012’s Days Go By was once again produced by Bob Rock, who also worked on the band’s last two LPs.
Ozzy Osbourne has told UK tabloid The Sun that he has completed work on a new solo album, his first since 2010’s Scream and the first LP to feature Ozzy singing any new music since 2013’s reunion album with Black Sabbath, 13.
Ozzy told The Sun that guesting on rapper Post Malone‘s new album after struggling with several medical issues earlier this year inspired him to make music on his own again.
He explained, “I’d never even heard of this kid. He wanted me to sing on his song ‘Take What You Want’, so I did and then one thing led to another. I started recording a new album with Post Malone’s producer Andrew Watt. It’s only nine tracks, but it was a catalyst to get me to where I am today . . . Up until making the album, I thought I was dying. But that got me off my arse.”
Ozzy confirmed that he took just four weeks to record the new disc, adding, “This is my first (solo) recording in a studio for 10 years, so I do feel a bit out of touch.” He told the Boston Herald last year that he had “a bunch of songs written” but was unsure when or how he would end up recording them.
Ozzy told us a while back that he always creates music with a full album in mind: “I don’t write singles, per se. I don’t write Top 10 singles. I work on albums rather than singles. I mean, do people still buy singles? I don’t think people buy any f***ing records anymore, do they?”
In early April, Ozzy postponed all his 2019 tour dates, both in North America and Europe, as he recovered from an injury sustained while dealing with his recent bout of pneumonia.
Staind guitarist Mike Mushok has revealed in an interview that ex-Metallica bassist Jason Newsted shut down his self-named band Newsted because it “cost him a ton” to keep the project alive.
Speaking on The Jasta Show podcast, Mushok — who joined Newsted in March 2013 and played on its one full-length LP, Heavy Metal Music — recalled that Jason ultimately pulled the plug on the band because it wasn’t financially viable.
Mushok recalled, “We were playing smaller places, but the shows were always good; they were always fun. I just think it cost him a ton. ‘Cause he was footing the bill for everything. So I think that at the end of the day, he’s like, ‘I’m doing this ’cause of my passion for it and what I love, but I’m bleeding here.’”
Mushok remarked that Jason was a “hard worker” and added about the experience, “I think the touring thing was hard. I don’t think it was exactly what he expected it was going to be. But listen, it was fun. I really enjoyed him. I really enjoyed our time together and playing. We’re still friends; we still communicate.”
As for Staind, the band is playing a handful of live shows this fall after five years off the road, starting with the Louder Than Life festival in Louisville, Kentucky on September 27th.
Guns N’ Roses will play a low-key show at the Hollywood Palladium in Los Angeles this Saturday (September 21st). The intimate club-sized gig will be part of the Citi Sound Vault series, produced in conjunction with Live Nation. Most of the tickets will be available for Citi card members, with some allocated to Guns fan club members.
The show will serve as a warm-up of sorts for Guns N’ Roses as the partially reunited act launches a new round of tour dates later this month. The run kicks off on September 25th in Charlotte, North Carolina, winding down on November 2nd in Las Vegas.
Aside from the new tour and some possible dates next March, Guns is focused on new music. Guitarist Slash recently said, “Obviously, everybody knows that we’re working on new material, which is really exciting, and so, that’s really primarily what the focus is.”
Slash told us he was thrilled about the possibility of new Guns music: “It’s one of those things that, I try not to get overly excited about it because we have yet to do it, but I mean, I’m totally excited about it.”
Ever since Slash, singer Axl Rose and bassist Duff McKagan reunited in 2016 as Guns N’ Roses, rumors have been circulating that new music from the band — the first to feature the three founding members since 1993 — was in the works.
Finally, today would have been Prodigy singer Keith Flint‘s 50th birthday, had he not taken his own life earlier this year. If you are in need of help, please call the lifeline at 800-273-TALK.
