Skip to Content

Tuesday, Apr 28, 2020

Julian Woolsey


Good morning Radicals! I hope everyone is well and getting along. Let’s dive into the music news of the day:

Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich will join Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff on Tuesday (April 28th) at 1:00 p.m. ET for a new installment of Benioff’s livestreamed fireside chat series.

Ulrich will discuss how he and his bandmates are staying connected and giving back through their All Within My Hands non-profit foundation during the coronavirus pandemic and lockdown.

Four out of five North American festivals that the band was supposed to headline in 2020 — Epicenter in Charlotte, Welcome To Rockville in Daytona, Sonic Temple in Columbus and Louder Than Life in Louisville — have been canceled. The fifth, Sacramento’s Aftershock event, is as of now still scheduled for October.

Ulrich told us a while back that rehearsing for shows is different these days for Metallica: “At our age, it’s not really rehearse as in like, how does ‘Enter Sandman’ go? It’s more just kind of, you know, loosening up and kind of getting the battered bodies somewhat up to speed. It’s a little bit like sort of, you know, kickstarting like a car that’s been sitting out in the snow for a while. You know, you need to let it run and idle for a few minutes before you drive it.”

The band’s South American tour, which was originally planned for April, has been postponed until December.

Papa Roach took part in a special event on Saturday (April 25th) to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the band’s breakthrough major label debut, Infest.

“Infest In Conversation” featured a discussion among the four members of the band along with original drummer Dave Buckner. Also participating were guests such as Linkin Park bassist Dave “Phoenix” Farrell, Deftones singer Chino Moreno, Avenged Sevenfold guitarist Synyster Gates and Korn guitarist Brian “Head” Welch.

“Infest In Conversation” was live-streamed via YouTube, Twitch, Facebook, VK and Twitter on the band’s official channels.

Singer Jacoby Shaddix told us a while back that Papa Roach’s shifting style has helped set them apart all these years: “Papa Roach sticks out like a turd in a punch bowl. We don’t fit in anywhere. We’re like the bastard cousin to the rock scene, you know, and that’s how we’ve been ever since. You know, it’s like, we’re not punk enough to be in the punk scene, we’re not metal enough to be in the metal scene, we’re not hardcore enough to be in the hardcore scene. We’re just what we are, you know, and like, we have to, like, embrace that, we can’t be ashamed of it.”

Infest was Papa Roach’s second full-length record and first major label release. The disc peaked at Number Five on the Billboard 200 chart and has been certified triple platinum for sales of more than three million copies in the U.S. It featured the massive hit “Last Resort,” along with “Broken Home” and “Between Angels And Insects.”

Foo Fighters have now canceled their DC Jam festival, which was scheduled to take place on July 4th, 2020 in Landover, Maryland. No acts had been confirmed yet for the event, which would have celebrated the 25th anniversary of the first Foos album.

The Foos have also postponed a summer European run until 2021, although they are still currently scheduled to head out on their “Van Tour” this fall in the U.S. That trek has been moved already from this spring and is now slated to start October 1st on Hamilton, Ontario.

This past weekend saw the band share their June 17th, 2006 live set from a festival at Hyde Park in London, England. The band has used that video to raise over $9600 so far for MusiCares.

Band members Dave Grohl and Taylor Hawkins participated last week in BBC Radio One’s online group performance of the Foo Fighters hit “Times Like These.” They were joined by Royal Blood, Coldplay singer Chris Martin, Dua Lipa, Yungblud, Bastille and others performing the 2002 tune from their homes.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

Round 2 of the Teasing. #puscifer2020 @matmitchell @carinaround #maynardjameskeenan #soon

A post shared by Puscifer (@puscifer) on

Tool frontman Maynard James Keenan‘s other band, Puscifer, has begun teasing new material with a couple of audio snippets of a new song on the group’s Instagram page.

In the first post, which went up late last week, the caption reads “Doin Stuff. More details to follow this weekend.” The second post reads, “Round 2 of the Teasing.” Both posts have the hashtag “#puscifer2020,” while the second one also added “#soon.”

It’s speculated that the outfit may now bring out its latest album in 2020, instead of 2021 as planned. Puscifer actually recorded most of the LP last year, but decided to hold off on releasing it while Keenan toured with Tool to promote that band’s Fear Inoculum album.

Now that Tool, like every other touring act, has had to pull off the road due to the coronavirus pandemic, it seems like Keenan may take this opportunity to share the new Puscifer set sooner than planned.

The new Puscifer LP will follow up 2015’s Money Shot. Last year, Keenan and Tool released Fear Inoculum, their first album in 13 years. But Keenan told us a while back that he doesn’t mind taking a long time between projects: “Some new band, their first two records are the ones that are the freshest, ’cause they’ve had all their lives to write them. And then that third record ends up being all about the inside of a bus and something that happened backstage ’cause what else have they seen? And I’ve pretty much tried my best to avoid that album by taking time between writing projects to kind of absorb life in general — have some experiences, read a few books, get into a different headspace and then wait ’til the time is right.”

Late Linkin Park singer Chester Bennington‘s widow Talinda has been give this year’s Mental Health Ambassador Award by Didi Hirsch Mental Health Services, a nonprofit providing mental health, substance abuse and suicide prevention services for over 75 years.

Bennington partnered with the Campaign To Change Direction to create 320 Changes Direction, to help families support those dealing with mental health struggles. Chester Bennington committed suicide in July 2017.

In a video message accepting the award, Talinda said, “I’m so honored to be this year’s recipient of the 2020 ‘Mental Health Ambassador Award’ from the Didi Hirsch Center. Thank you so much for this award. In July of 2017, I lost my husband, the father of my children, Chester Bennington, to suicide . . . I quickly realized that there was a lot of stigma surrounding suicide and mental health.”

Talinda added, “I could not be more proud of the Didi Hirsch organization and all of the opportunities, resources and support groups that they provide for families in need, especially during the COVID-19 crisis.”

Talinda and Warped Tour founder Kevin Lyman will bring 320 Festival Online next month. In partnership with KNEKT.TV, people all around the world can tune in on Facebook Live, YouTube Live, and the KNEKT.TV network on Roku and Apple TV to join in discussions, educational sessions, musical performances, workshops and more from May 8th through the 10th.

Saint Asonia has announced a “virtual tour” that will find the band delivering acoustic livestreamed performances across the social platforms of various rock radio stations around the country. According to a press release, the group will be adding “local flavor” to each respective performance. The “tour” will begin on April 30th in Wisconsin and end on May 15th with a “Saint Asonia Happy Hour” on the band’s Instagram page.

System Of A Down, Korn and Faith No More have postponed their two-night stand at Los Angeles’ Banc of California Stadium on May 22nd and 23rd due to the coronavirus pandemic. The bands jointly promised that the shows would be rescheduled, with all original tickets honored. Korn and Faith No More’s co-headlining summer tour, scheduled to start in early August, has not yet been affected.