Below, check out an all-ukulele cover of Metallica’s One. It’s performed by a guy who calls his project “Ukes of Hazzard.”
“This was by far the most difficult cover I’ve done,” he says on YouTube. “It’s long, it’s intricate and devilishly fast at the end. The whole process of tabbing, learning, playing and finally editing this monstrosity took me the better part of two weeks. I’m pretty pleased with the final result. There’re still a few bits I wish I’d played a little cleaner.
“Full disclosure: I actually couldn’t pull off a clean take of the main solo, no matter how hard I tried. By the time I realized this, I had already put a lot of work into the rest of the song, so I decided to record it at 80 percent and speed it back up in post, rather than shelve the song. A cheat, for sure, but the song sounds better for it. Plus I’ve heard that Kirk Hammett has done the same thing on a few Metallica albums, so I don’t feel too bad.”
Note that Mr. “Ukes” is playing every part of the song—including bass, drums and the vocal melody—on a ukulele, and you can see him playing the various parts as the video progresses.
[Dana’s note: Thanks to Harry Taint for sharing this link with us]
As previously reported, original Black Sabbath drummer Bill Ward was interviewed for the latest episode of Eddie Trunk’s podcast, Eddie Trunk Podcast and made a few statement’s about Black Sabbath’s latest album, 13.
Ward told Eddie, “I didn’t think [13] was successful at all. Well, in terms of live attendance, I think it’s gonna go, ’cause the band’s really well known. But I really didn’t… I was working on detachment — serious detachment — and I wanted to make sure that I went down the line and detached myself as much as possible. I had to stop loving them, because if you’re loving a dog as it’s biting you and ripping your insides out, it’s hard to love a dog that’s doing that. So, I actually stopped loving them, and I had to learn what we call detachment. So whatever they were doing, I could care less. I wasn’t interested in the f–king album 13. I’ve heard twenty bars of it — that’s all I’ve heard — and then I turned it off and said, ‘That’s a pile of shit,’ and that’s the truth. And I couldn’t care less what they were doing on tour.”
According to blabbermouth.net, after some web sites reported on the interview by using Ward’s “pile of shit” comment in the headline in reference to the “13” album, Ward took the opportunity on the latest edition of his radio show, “Rock 50“, to set the record straight. He said, “I found myself getting into trouble again this week in the press. [Laughs] Man, I just can’t seem to say the right thing without getting slaughtered by some of our friends in the press. It’s quite amazing.”
I did a nice interview with a friend of mine, Eddie Trunk, as you know, this week, and, of course, some of the contents of the interview has been taken out, and kind of out of context as well, and they are making headlines right now. NME, I believe, in Great Britain, and I think there was one in Classic Rock as well, that I called Black Sabbath’s album 13 complete shit or something like that. And it’s just, like, ‘Man…. Man…’ You know, it’s, like, ‘Ooooh…’
Let me get a couple of things straight here. I really, really love those guys. I am so passionate in my love for them. They are fantastic musicians. I never faulted their musicianship — ever. I’ve played with these guys since I was a teenager. And I just… I love them. I’m in a dispute with them.
…Let’s go back to 13 for a second, so I can make it clear for the record. I heard about twenty, twenty-four bars of one track — one track — on 13, and I listened to it, and I just didn’t like it at all; I just didn’t like it. And I have that right not to like it. Recently, at the Ivor Novello Awards, where I was with Tony [Iommi] and Geezer [Butler], Geezer mentioned to me that he bought, or he downloaded, my new CD, which was Accountable Beasts. I said, ‘What did you think of the album?’ He said, ‘I love it musically, but I can’t stand it vocally.’ It just so happens that Geez doesn’t like my singing. He has that right…. He has that right not to like it. But I’m f–ked if the press is gonna slam me up the wall or come out with some pretentious bulls–t about using headlines that are completely out… You know, it’s just, like, what the f–k is all that about?
I’m just saying it from my heart, if you’re listening out there: Hey, get a clue! I really dig these people that I’m talking about, and I listened to twenty-four bars. I haven’t heard the rest of the album 13. I haven’t heard it. And I never listened to it. One of the reasons I didn’t wanna listen to it was because I felt it would be quite painful to listen to. Not musically, but emotionally, it’s quite painful to listen to something that you wanted to be part of, but were unable to be part of, because I’m fighting for some principles in my life, and that includes the way that I interact with those three guys — Black Sabbath. It’s about principles, folks. That’s all it is, okay? So when these big headlines come out like that, then… Oooh. Man! Talk about fanning the flames… Man….
Anyway, just for the record, I love Tony, I love Geezer, and I love Ozzy Osbourne, and they are great musicians. And I am letting all the Ozzy fans know that as well.”
To listen to Eddie’s podcast with Bill Ward, please click here.
Original Black Sabbath drummer Bill Ward was interviewed for the latest episode of Eddie Trunk’s podcast, “Eddie Trunk Podcast“. A few excerpts follow (transcribed by Blabbermouth.net. To listen to Eddie’s podcast with Bill Ward, please click here.
On why he chose to go public with his reasons for pulling out of the reunion of the original lineup of Black Sabbath:
“The first I wanted to do… I had to go public because I knew that we were being asked to sign an unsignable contract again. And I made a solemn vow to myself after the last tour that we did, which I believe was 2005, that I would never ever sign into another contract like I’d been signing into. And so, based on that criteria, we started to negotiate a contract in very, very early 2011. And all the lawyers were involved. The lawyers just didn’t show up out of nowhere. All the lawyers were involved right from the very start. And we tried to negotiate a deal for the entire year of 2011. When the turn of the New Year came, 2012, we were a given a kind of a… their marching orders, which is, basically, ‘We’ve come as far as we can…’ This is not necessarily the band, but the band’s representatives. ‘We’ve come as far as we can in the way of the contract.’ And we just went, ‘You know what? I’m just not gonna do it. I’m not going to do it. It’s as simple as that.’ So that was what primarily was going on. But there was something way more important that was going on: I was being advertised as a member of the band, and there were three or four live gigs which had my name and likeness posted on them. And so, across the Universe, I think there was one gig in America and three gigs in England, the posters were saying that the originals band was gonna be playing, and I needed to tell the truth about that. And so, that’s why I went public and I made a public statement, basically letting everybody in the fucking world know that there’d been problems with the contract, [and] that I would not be appearing. The biggest thing, for me, was I didn’t wanna be part of something which I felt was misleading to the fans. And so, that’s why we asked for my name and likeness to be removed. We asked for our name and likeness to be removed from the advertising that promoted the first three or four live gigs in 2012. That’s it. Which brings up another side issue, of course, where, as you probably may have noticed, my name and likeness has been gradually disappearing from BLACK SABBATH. And the claims, on their behalf — not necessarily the band again — but the claims have been that it was me that asked for my name and likeness to be deleted, which is a complete fucking lie and complete bullshit. I’ve never asked for anything like that. I asked for my name and likeness to be deleted from the promotional posters that could have been misleading to the fans. I don’t like misleading people, and I like to be honest and transparent. So that’s why it came out.”
“There were several other motivating things. One was the students. I needed to do something. It was a terrible ordeal going through that period in early 2012. There’s a lot of young guys that I know [that were] gonna come and watch me play — a lot of young drummers. And I cried for weeks, actually, on and off. I mean, I did. I was really so upset, and I felt like I was letting these guys down and letting a lot of other people down. And at the same time, I knew that I had to make a tough decision, and I had to stay by that tough decision that I was masking. I felt it was the truth, and it was the truth, and I was standing by what I felt was honest and sincere, but above everything else, I had to do this for the students. And I kept thinking to myself, and I talked to my wife, Jackie. We were talking. I said, ‘You know, if I don’t stand here, then all the drummers to come, and all the people that are gonna get fucked in this business… I’m gonna have to do something and stand for something.’ And, basically, one of the things that I was standing for was publishing — that publishing equals drumming. Because one of the things that… One of the things that was… There were certain things in the contract that disallowed publishing. So I said, ‘No. My drumming equals writing.’ I just don’t just notes or beats or whatever… I’m an enthusiastic member of that band, and I play musically, and everything counts. That was one of the issues that we were trying to get something from — not equality; equality was out the window — but something at least.”
Discussing whether he puts any responsibility for what has happened on the other members of the band:
“Some camaraderie would have been nice, but I let go of that camaraderie back when we started the first reunion. The first reunion took place without me, and one of my friends from Faith No More played drums instead. Mike Bordin… Mike’s a good kid, man. I like Mike. So I knew that it was gonna be strictly business; I already knew that going in. Camaraderie would have been nice, but nobody touches the business — nobody touches the business. And I stay out of what their personal relationships are with their management. I’ve always taken it that that’s none of my business, and that they keep that private, and I stay out of that. I wanna be respectful that those are their arrangements, and that’s that. And that’s why I’m prefacing [some of my answers by saying] ‘not necessarily the band.’ I don’t know where the sources of decisions are made, but I always preface it by… You know, Tony’s [Iommi] not the kind of guy that would sit down behind a contract and work out terms and what have you. He might — I mean, for all I know. But the kind of lawyers that they have, they definitely sit down and work out terms.”
Speaking about his recent public war of words with singer Ozzy Osbourne:
“I was painted that I was physically unable to do it, and also, I was painted as having other motives besides wanting to play with the band. I mean, I was accused of a lot of things in those statements. And I was absolutely f–king furious.”
On how much of what Ozzy has said can be attributed to Ozzy’s wife and manager, Sharon Osbourne:
“I’m not sure. It seems to me like Ozzy started out making those statements. I know that Sharon definitely dislikes me, and she has for a long, long time. And I also know that she is inside all these contractual things and these unsignable contracts and everything else. She’s right there, right in the center of everything — as are the other lawyers as well, the other representatives. But, you know, the statements were made by Ozzy, so… It’s broken up the friendship that we had; there’s no doubt about it. I mean, it f–king killed the friendship. I detached from him. And I’ve already stated what will renew our friendship. But I think the day that he amends those statements, that will be one hell of a day. I think that’ll probably happen in the next life or further down the road. I don’t think it’s gonna happen in this life. But that’s my criteria, again, and I’m gonna hold him to those statements, because I know that those statements are incorrect.”
Speaking about reuniting with Sabbth members Tony Iommi and Geezer Butler (bass) to accept the “Lifetime Achievement” award at this year’s Ivor Novello Awards in May in London, England:
“Yes, I saw them. I gave them a hug, and wished them well. And I still said the same thing… Even at the Ivor Novello Awards, the press was there asking questions, and I said, ‘Yup. I’d like to play with the band again — providing that they get a signable contract, and providing that Ozzy makes amends for his statements that he made in 2012 and 2013.’ Yeah. Hey, if you wanna get the band together, if you wanna make it happen, I’m ready to play. But I’m already busy with everything else, but I can play — I can still play in Black Sabbath.”
Blabbermouth.net reports that former Guns N’ Roses guitarist Slash has confirmed that he has rekindled his friendship with the band’s lead singer Axl Rose — six years after the frontman called him “a cancer.”
Speaking to Aftonbladet TV in Sweden (see the video below), where Slash was making a special appearance on Friday (August 21st) for a launch event for the Marshall London phone, the guitarist said of his restored relationship with Axl. “It was probably way overdue, you know. But it’s…. you know, it’s very cool at this point. You know, let some of that, sort of, negative… dispel some of that negative stuff that was going on for so long.”
Asked if his warmer relationship with Axl will lead to a reunion of Guns N’ Roses’ classic lineup, Slash said, “Oh, I couldn’t answer that one, though…” Pressed on why that is, Slash replied, “All right, let’s get off the subject, ’cause, you know, that’s an old one.”
Slash was asked about the possibility of a reunion of the classic Guns N’ Roses lineup on the May 7th edition of CBS This Morning and gave a somewhat surprising answer. He replied, “I’ve got to be careful what I say there. I mean, if everybody wanted to do it and do it for the right reasons, I think the fans would love it. I think it might be fun at some point to try and do that.”
Asked what the “right reasons” might be, Slash said, “I mean, that’s a hard one. That just starts to get into a whole complex thing… It’s really between the guys in the band.” But pressed on whether he thought it was likely, Slash said, “Never say never.”
For the past 40 years, Lemmy has lived up to his reputation as a hard-rocking, hard-living metal god. As frontman for the British band Motorhead, he counts among his die-hard fans Dave Grohl and Guns N’ Roses’ Duff McKagan.
But now, at age 69 and living with diabetes — not to mention a heart defibrillator installed in his chest — the English bassist and singer, who famously used to drink a bottle of Jack Daniel’s a day, has had to abandon his beloved whiskey in the name of health.
His substitute? Vodka.
“I gave up whiskey ’cause it had Coke in it,” says Lemmy, referring to his regular whiskey and Cokes, which his diabetes would no longer allow.
He’s also cut down from two packs of cigarettes a day to one pack a week, and he says his drug use is “not half as much” as it used to be. He even bought an exercise bike that he swears he uses regularly.
“I’ve always been healthy, aside from the drugs and the booze,” he quips.
Despite his hard living, Lemmy says his avoidance of one particular drug is a big reason he’s still with us.
“I never did heroin. That took care of a lot of my generation,” he says. “I knew what I was doing . . . I learned a bit more every time somebody else died.”
One such friend was icon/Sex Pistols bassist Sid Vicious, whom Lemmy calls “a nice man.” He once tried to teach Vicious, who famously couldn’t play his instrument, to do just that.
“It was impossible,” he says. “Then, three weeks later, he comes up to me and says, ‘Lemmy, I got a job with the Pistols.’ I said, ‘What, [as a] roadie?’
“He said, ‘No. Playing bass.’ I said, ‘You can’t play bass, Sid.’ He said, ‘Yeah, I know. But I’m in the Pistols.’ ”
Talking to The Post about the release of Bad Magic — Motorhead’s 22nd album, which drops on Friday — the man born Ian Kilmister in Staffordshire, England, swears his aggression hasn’t lessened a bit in spite of his cutbacks.
“I still feel the same,” he says. “There’s so much to be angry about.”
Any advice for younger rockers? “Nothing, I’d tell ’em nothing,” he says. “It’s all luck. I’m not dead and [other rockers] are. It’s a weird thing.”
Greg Prato of Songfacts spoke with iconic guitarist George Lynch about Lynch Mob’s new album, Rebel and other subjects. Excerpts from interview appear below.
Songfacts: Let’s start by discussing the new Lynch Mob album, Rebel.
George Lynch: I think we retained the core aspects of the Lynch Mob formula, if there is such a thing: sort of a blues-based desert rock, with an exotic tinge to it. And we always work off that foundation when we’re writing and push out the envelope a little bit – veer off into different areas. I think Rebel is probably the most ambitious record we’ve done, in the sense that we pushed the limits.
I’m not saying that it’s “genre busting” or anything like that – it’s a hard rock record. But I’m very proud of Oni [Logan, Lynch Mob vocalist] and myself, because we were able to stretch out a little bit. I always like to challenge ourselves, without abandoning who we are.
Songfacts: How would you compare the songwriting process in Lynch Mob to Dokken?
George: The process isn’t much different, but the results and the chemistry are different. I subconsciously internalize who I’m playing with and who I’m surrounding myself with. When I’m playing with Dokken, I’m aware who is going to be singing this material, the parameters I’m working in, with how we’re constructing songs, and stylistically what they’re going to be.
With Oni, I know it’s going to be more soul and R&B flavored, and try to give it a little twist. With the Dokken stuff, it’s going to be a little more straight ahead, and a little bit “whiter,” for lack of a better way to describe it. And the same with writing for the Sweet & Lynch record [2015’s Only to Rise] – it’s really identical to the Dokken writing sessions, in that both singers are in the same camp, the same world, the same universe, and I write accordingly.
Songfacts: Out of all the singers you’ve worked with over the years, is there one that is the easiest to work with, or whose voice is closest to the one you hear in your head when you’re writing a song?
George: No, I don’t have a favorite, if that’s what you’re asking me – or anything closest to what I envision. All the singers I’ve worked with have aspects of maybe my “ideal singer,” but I never played with one that had all the components of the ideal vocalist. It’s maybe why I play in all different kind of situations.
For instance, I’m recording a record right now with a project called the Infidels, and the singer is Angelo Moore-the singer from Fishbone. That is something that is way out of my wheelhouse, and it’s fantastic. He’s doing things that I would never have imagined myself doing.
When I sit here and I talk to you and I talk about pushing the envelope with the Lynch Mob, I realize how much I neglected myself and avoiding areas of music that I should have been involved in – from punk to salsa to calypso to reggae and all these different influences that this guy [Moore] is bringing to the table. It’s a learning process, really. I’d rather play with somebody who is influenced in a way that forces me to stretch a little bit.
Songfacts: What do you remember about the writing of the Dokken song, Mr. Scary?
George: That was originally intended to have vocals on it. I tried to write this heavier track – all the Dokken records had to have this balance: a ballad, a mid-tempo song, a fast song or two. And a heavy song balanced the light. We intended on Don to sing on it, but he just wasn’t feeling it, which I can understand – you can’t really sing over that song in retrospect. So instrumentalizing it was an afterthought.
We were just sitting there, and it was a really cool track, but it’s either do that, or it wasn’t going to make the cut on the record. So I spent all night in… I can’t remember the name of the studio [Total Access Recording], but it was in Redondo Beach, and literally staying up all night tracking it. And it was one of the more memorable tracking sessions ever in my life, because it was so magical – all that stuff just happened. And it says something about songwriting: when you have a larger inspiration, it really takes it over the edge and pushes it to the next level.
Songfacts: What other Dokken tracks do you remember having a large part in writing?
George: When Heaven Comes Down. I remember writing that. I had a little area in my house which Jeff [Pilson, Dokken’s then-bassist] and I had boarded off and we locked ourselves in there, and it was one of those sessions. Actually, Jeff had to leave, and I just stayed awake all night and started getting into writing the lyrics, and I had a melody in my head for the chorus.
So I got my sh–ty little plastic mic and plugged it into an Octavider and some echo, into a Fostex 4-track cassette recorder, and I recorded it.
The sun was coming up, and I was singing really low, because I didn’t have a lot of range. I’m a lousy singer, and I put all these effects on there – I put an Octavider and delay. I basically put all my effects on the mic! I wish I still had that recording.
