Good morning Radicals. While the quarantines continue and folks practice social distancing, more and more concerts are postponed or cancelled. Seems to be all there is to talk about these days. Let’s look at the latest:
FYI EVERYONE: we are posting as soon as we get word and confirmation… please stay tuned for any further tour date info! pic.twitter.com/8nP9jpR4Jh
— Godsmack (@godsmack) March 16, 2020
The organizers of three major rock festivals all scheduled to take place in May — Sonic Temple, Welcome To Rockville and Epicenter — say that they are “assessing the situation very carefully” with regards to whether the festivals can go forward.
Danny Wimmer Presents released the following statement about the fate of the festivals, saying, “Information is changing incredibly fast and we are assessing the situation very carefully with health professionals and government officials. As soon as we have a definitive direction, we’ll be in touch and will be making an announcement here. Thank you for your patience in these uncertain times, stay tuned and stay safe.”
Epicenter is scheduled to take place from May 1st through the 3rd in Concord, North Carolina, while Welcome To Rockville is slated for May 8th through the 10th in Daytona Beach, Florida. Sonic Temple is scheduled for May 17th through the 19th in Columbus, Ohio.
Metallica is slated to headline Epicenter and Welcome To Rockville, doing two sets at each event. The band pulled out of Sonic Temple so that frontman James Hetfield can attend a recovery-related event following his stint in rehab last fall. Red Hot Chili Peppers and Tool have taken the band’s place on that bill.
A number of festivals, including Coachella and South By Southwest, have already been canceled or postponed due to the COVID-19 outbreak. Coachella has been pushed to October, while South By Southwest is scrapped for 2020.
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Andrew Watt, who produced, co-wrote and played guitar on Ozzy Osbourne‘s new album Ordinary Man, says that he has tested positive for COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus.
Watt said he received his test results on Monday (March 16th), after first showing signs that he was ill back on March 6th. He is unsure how he got the virus.
He wrote, “12 days ago . . . I started feeling like I was hit by a bus. I couldn’t move out of my bed for days and started to run a fever. I was seen by a doctor at my house who told me I am positive for the regular flu and there’s no way I could have COVID-19 as I haven’t left the country and all I do is go to the studio and go straight home. I told all my friends I had been working with and anyone close to me that I’m laid out with the flu and quarantined myself . . . none of them even had a sniffle.”
Watt said that the chills, sweats and fever did not stop despite medication and that he developed a cough. He wrote, “I immediately rushed to the emergency room and begged to be tested for COVID-19 as this ‘flu’ was not subsiding. I was turned down for the test because of federal regulations . . . A private doctor was finally able to test me himself and yesterday afternoon it came back Positive for COVID-19.”
Watt added that his fever has abated and his appetite has returned, but that he finds it difficult to breathe as a result of developing pneumonia. He remarked, “I am 29 years old. I am a healthy young man and I am going to get through this no matter what. I am going to make a full recovery . . . but there are so many people in my life and in the world that could possibly not get through this due to their age and/or a compromised immune system.”
Watt wrote that people must “stay inside, stay sanitized,” adding, “To have the mentality ‘I’m young this can’t affect me’ is just straight up stupid and so dangerous to everyone around you.”
Ordinary Man is Ozzy’s first solo album in a decade. He first worked with Watt on a song featuring a duet by Ozzy and Post Malone.
I Prevail has shared an acoustic version of the band’s current, chart-topping single, “Hurricane.” The original version of the song is found on the band’s sophomore album, Trauma, which arrived last March.
The band said in a statement, “‘Hurricane’ is one of the most important songs on Trauma. It was one of the first tracks we wrote for the album, and it became a pillar in building the central message and sound we wanted to create.”
The group continued, “From the day we wrote it, there was a vision for a stripped-down version of the song that would allow us to explore more delicate instrumentation, production, and vocals. This version definitely brings to life a different mood and atmosphere to experience the track.”
I Prevail is scheduled to hit the road next month as support to Five Finger Death Punch, but it’s unclear whether that tour will go forward due to the ongoing coronavirus crisis.
Papa Roach singer Jacoby Shaddix has confirmed that the band has plans to celebrate the 20th anniversary of its breakthrough album Infest this year, but has declined to spell out exactly what’s involved.
Speaking to Metal Hammer, Shaddix vaguely suggested that the band could be re-recording material from the Infest days, saying, “We just did some re-recording of the earlier music. There’s some remixes and that kind of stuff, just because we’re out of contract with the old music.”
He added, “It wasn’t about reimagining what we do to it now. We matched it note for note, matched tones, I tried to get my voice to do the same little small inflections, so if we do remixes it sounds just like the track.”
Shaddix told us a while back that Papa Roach was quite a different band in the early days before Infest put them on the map: “Oh my God, we sucked! We were horrible. We were the sloppiest band. Back then we didn’t do it for a career, we just did it ’cause we just want to have fun.”
Shaddix also hinted at the same documentary that bassist Tobin Esperance spoke about in an earlier interview, saying, “We’re putting together a piece to kind of look back to the early years and recap those moments. And as we were going through the process of putting this thing together, it just brought back all these old emotions and all the s**t that was going on in our world at that time. It was f**king nuts. We were crazy. I’m so glad I am where I am now.”
Papa Roach intends to announce its plans to celebrate Infest, along with “special shows,” by mid-summer — pending the course of the coronavirus pandemic.
Guns N’ Roses went ahead with a headlining show in Mexico City on Saturday (March 14th), where the band played the song “So Fine” for the first time in 27 years, with bassist Duff McKagan on lead vocals. The concert and festival, Vive Latino, went forward despite artists dropping off the bill and critics calling for its cancellation due to the pandemic. The rest of the band’s South American dates have been rescheduled to November, although its summer North American run remains untouched for now.
Staind‘s 2008 album The Illusion Of Progress will be reissued on vinyl on April 17th. The album will come out on silver 180-gram vinyl and limited to 1500 numbered copies. The double-LP pressing will feature two bonus tracks: live performances “It’s Been Awhile” and “Schizophrenic Conversations” recorded at the Hiro Ballroom in New York.
When Tool and Alice In Chains toured together on the 1993 edition of Lollapalooza, late Alice In Chains singer Layne Staley would occasionally join Tool onstage for the title track from Tool’s 1992 EP Opiate. They did the same thing at a post-Lollapalooza festival in Hawaii on August 15th, 1993, where a fan caught the collaboration on video. The footage has now surfaced online.
Speaking of Alice in Chains, we want to wish a Happy Birthday to the legendary AiC axeman himself, Jerry Cantrell! Cantrell is in writing mode for his next solo album, the follow up to the highly regarded Degredation Trip! Have a great day!
