Happy Friday! We’re freezing our bums off over here, so let’s warm things up with some hot music news in Dirt:
Green Day‘s video for its new song “Oh Yeah!,” which arrived on Thursday. January 16th, finds the band trapped in a world where everybody is looking at their screens — and one of them even ends up hitting Green Day frontman Billie Joe Armstrong with his car.
The clip opens with drummer Tré Cool introducing a low-budget YouTube tutorial on how to play “Oh Yeah!” which, it turns out, is being watched by a man in his car who accidentally hits Armstrong while pulling into a grocery store parking lot.
Rather than check on Armstrong, the fan immediately starts recording a video — a theme that continues throughout the rest of the clip as everybody is watching their screens, texting or chatting.
Armstrong told us a while back that it’s important for rock artists to stay connected to what’s happening in the world when they write: “I think that rock stars, or whatever they like to call themselves nowadays, when they tend to get pretty big, a lot of people go way deep inside themselves and sort of shut out the world and kinda become disconnected with what is going on. I think it’s really important, especially in music, that you have to have some sort of connection and you have to be some sort of member of society to comment on it. Or else people are just sorta like, ‘Well, you’re just this whiny rock star, you know. What are you talking about?'”
“Oh Yeah” is the third single from Green Day’s upcoming 13th album, album, Father Of All Motherf**kers, following the title track and “Fire, Ready, Aim.” The disc arrives on February 7th. After the album drops, Green Day will hit the road on the “Hella Mega Tour” alongside Weezer and Fall Out Boy.
Godsmack singer Sully Erna told Boston radio station WAAF that “a big part of my life ended” when he found out that Rush drummer Neil Peart passed away from brain cancer last week at the age of 67.
Erna explained, “When I got the call, man, it was like a big part of my life ended there too, because he was a tremendous influence (to me). I can’t even articulate how much this guy meant to me and how big of an inspiration he was and an influence on me being a musician. He was one of the ‘everything’ people in my life.”
Erna, who started his career as a drummer, told us a while back that meeting Peart was a highlight of his 20-plus years as a recording artist: “Being able to meet Neil Peart a couple of times, I didn’t need to meet anyone else after that. As much as I love the Steven Tylers and the Joe Perrys and the James Hetfields, you know, I quit school because of Rush. Really, that’s all I did is I studied Rush, you know. I sat home and strapped on headphones and played Moving Pictures and Exit…Stage Left and Signals and all these great albums.”
The singer said he knew about Peart’s illness but kept it quiet out of “respect” for the drummer’s privacy. He remarked, “I knew, when they were ending the Rush tour, that he was sick. And then I knew it, even up to a year ago or so, he was in a wheelchair and he couldn’t speak. And it was just becoming more and more sad to me.”
Peart’s bandmates, Alex Lifeson and Geddy Lee, issued a statement saying that Peart had battled his cancer for three and a half years before succumbing on January 7th, which would have placed his diagnosis somewhere around mid-2016.
Godsmack is continuing to tour in support of its latest album, When Legends Rise, which was released in April 2018.
Stone Temple Pilots have shared the official video for “Fare Thee Well”, the debut single from their forthcoming first-ever acoustic album Perdida. A second song, titled “Three Wishes,” is out as well.
The album was recorded at drummer Eric Kretz’s Bomb Shelter Studios in Los Angeles on vintage instruments, including flute, alto saxophone, guitarrón, viola, cello and vintage keyboards.
Initially, the record was meant to be only an EP, but the new approach inspired the group to write more, especially about heartbreak and grief. Singer Jeff Gutt said about his lyrics, “I was looking back at difficult moments in my life. I was trying to be vulnerable, and that’s a scary thing to do, but it’s also kind of comfortable.”
Perdida is out on February 10th and will be supported by STP’s first-ever acoustic tour, starting February 5th in Vancouver.
OB_TRAILER from T GROUP Productions on Vimeo.
A trailer has arrived for Biography: The Nine Lives Of Ozzy Osbourne, a documentary on the legendary singer which will premiere at this spring’s South By Southwest festival. The film, which A&E produced as part of its Biography series, will celebrate the life of the Black Sabbath frontman.
The documentary features interviews with Sharon, Jack and Kelly Osbourne, Rick Rubin, Ice-T, Marilyn Manson, Rob Zombie, Korn‘s Jonathan Davis and Post Malone. Ozzy, Sharon and Jack executive produced the picture, which is directed by former The Osbournes producer R. Greg Johnston.
The trailer opens with Ozzy in the present watching an old interview he did in the past, in which he says, “I think there’s a wild man in everybody. I’m a split personality. Ozzy Osbourne and John Osbourne (are) two different people. John Osbourne is talking to you now. But if you want (me) to be Ozzy Osbourne . . . (it) takes over.”
The 86-minute documentary includes archival footage of Ozzy’s career reaching back to his Black Sabbath days.
Ozzy’s new album Ordinary Man is due out in February. It features appearances from Elton John, Slash, Chad Smith and Duff McKagan, among others.
In addition to its previously reported custom collection of guitars from Slash, Gibson is also rolling out collaborations with Tool‘s Adam Jones and Black Sabbath‘s Tony Iommi.
Jones is working with the famous guitar maker on a recreation of his 1979 Les Paul Custom Silverburst that he uses onstage during Tool’s concerts. The Tool guitarist hinted at the item back in the summer on Instagram, writing, “So excited. Not officially official but *Good things happening at @gibsonguitar @gibsoncustom #1979.” According to a press release, more details on the project will come later in 2020.
Meanwhile, Iommi’s 1964 SG Special — which he nicknamed “Monkey” — will be recreated in a limited edition of 50 — 25 right-handed and 25 left-handed guitars. Each guitar will be packaged with a replica of Iommi’s silver cross necklace with coffin case, along with a replica of his leather touring guitar strap and a 1960s replica case.
“The Slash Collection” was announced earlier and consists of four Les Paul and two J-45 Gibson guitars that Slash has used throughout his career. Each guitar will feature Slash’s “Scully” signature drawing on the back of the headstock and his signature on the truss rod cover.
Finally, we want to wish a Happy Birthday to Kid Rock and Atreyu frontman Alex Varkatzas! Have a great day and a a wonderful weekend!
