Category : LATEST NEWS

THE METAL GOD, ROB HALFORD, REFLECTS BACK ON JUDAS PRIEST’S SUBLIMINAL MESSAGE TRIAL

Kory Grow of Rolling Stone reports:

Twenty-five years ago today, a judge ruled that heavy-metal trendsetters Judas Priest were not liable for the deaths of two young men who cited the band’s music as the reason they killed themselves. One day in December 1985, the men — Raymond Belknap, then 18, and James Vance, 20 — had spent six hours drinking, smoking marijuana and listening to the metal band’s Stained Class album, after which each man took a shotgun and shot himself. Belknap died instantly, but Vance lived, sustaining serious injuries that left him disfigured; he died three years later.

Below, Halford took some time to reflect on what was a landmark case in recorded music before he and the rest of Judas Priest readied themselves for a U.S. tour this October.

It feels like it was just yesterday, because it’s such a strong memory. I remember walking up the steps every day at the courthouse in Reno, and feeling the incredible fan support that we had every day. All the local metalheads were there, chanting and holding up signs calling for us to be exonerated. And then there was just the tension and the sadness in the courthouse, because at the heart of the matter were these two guys that lost their lives tragically. These two boys were massive Priest fans, and that made it even more heart-wrenching that this terrible combination of the night and the drugs and the booze and their state of mind turned into something quite terrible.

The case was very interesting, since it was about subliminal messages, plain and simple, and what they have the potential to do or not do. One of the first instances of the so-called “backward masking” I’d heard of was in Led Zeppelin songs. But in that case, it wasn’t subliminal, it was allegedly audible. And weren’t the Beatles accused of doing something like that?

Either way, my interpretation of subliminal messages as we presented it was how in the old days you’d go to a movie and someone would insert a frame of film that suggested you buy popcorn. But even then, it was real and it was physical, because you could take that frame and go, “Look, there it is.” You can’t do that with words, because you have to actually hear them. And then if you can hear them, then how can they be subliminal or subconscious, like in a dream?

It’s a very, very intriguing subject matter, built in psychology. But I haven’t got a clue. I’m just a f–king singer in a heavy-metal band. We were baffled by some of the things that were coming out in the courtroom.

The trial shook us up, because it came from a country that we love dearly. We’ve always had this fantastic relationship with America. To come from a place that we love so much was a shock.

Nevertheless, the case was a great opportunity for a band like Priest to show the judge and the public that was clueless about metal and rock that we had a bunch of guys who could string sentences together and be logical and intelligent and have a deep conversation in a courtroom. I think there was the misguided belief that that wasn’t going to happen. But we’re not idiots, and we never will be.

We were in court, 9 to 5, every day for a month. We stayed in some kind of facility way outside of Reno to get away from the press, so we could huddle on the weekends, switch off, cook some food, just hang out and support each other. But we had to be prepared for whatever the next week was going to hand us, because we were just a bunch of musicians. Like, “Why are we here?” We’re British metal musicians, and we’re having to defend ourselves and our music and our fans about the ridiculous, absurd accusations that we put these messages in our music designed to kill yourself. It was preposterous, absolutely ridiculous. So it was a very emotional circumstance, but the band had a wonderful defense attorney, and everybody supported us, and we got through it.

I really wanted to go over to the mother of the boy who killed himself and give her a hug, and say, “I’m sorry for the loss of your kid. Let’s go have a coffee and talk this over.” But I think the deeper end of the story was that the people who were working for her in terms of prosecution was a very tangled web, because we heard there was a kind of infiltration from the extreme, right-leaning Christian groups that were urging them to pursue the case, telling them that we were responsible. But I would have loved to have just had the opportunity just to be with that family and let common sense prevail and talk it out. But you can’t, because it’s obviously a highly charged, emotional circumstance when you’ve lost your children. You’re bound to be angry. You’re bound to be upset. You’re bound to be looking for some explanation.

Our label took over the costs of the lawsuit for us. They understood that it wasn’t just the musicians on the line, it was the label, too. Had the judge found in favor about the so-called subliminal messages having the power to physically manifest themselves and make people to do something, the ramifications of that would’ve been extraordinary. How do you prove to somebody that there are not subliminal messages on your record when you can’t hear them in the first place? When you got into the nitty-gritty of the possible outcome, it would’ve been quite stunning.

When the verdict came in, we were relieved but also a little disappointed. The judge left the door open to some extent. He didn’t flatly say, “What the prosecution was suggesting actually did not take place.” He basically said, “Look, this is still a nebulous area, but it is my opinion that this band did not put these words onto this song and the outcome of those words created this tragedy.” So we as a band were exonerated, but the whole thing as far as what subliminal messages have the potential to do was left in limbo. It would be horrible to think that it might occur again, but you just have to wait and see.

In other Rob Halford news, we here at EddieTrunk.com want to wish the Metal God a VERY HAPPY BIRTHDAY. The iconic singer will be celebrating his very special day tomorrow, August 25th.

source: rollingstone.com

WATCH “THE UKES OF HAZZARD” COVER METALLICA’S “ONE”

Damian Fanelli of Guitar World reports:

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]

additional source: guitarworld.com

DRUMMER BILL WARD EXPLAINS HIS STATEMENTS REGARDING BLACK SABBATH’S “13”

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.

DRUMMER BILL WARD SAYS THAT “SHARON [OSBOURNE] DEFINITELY DISLIKES ME, AND SHE HAS FOR A LONG, LONG TIME”

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.”

additional source: blabbermouth.net

FORMER GUNS N’ ROSES GUITARIST SLASH SAYS THE HE AND AXL ROSE HAVE REPAIRED THEIR ESTRANGED RELATIONSHIP

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.”

MOTORHEAD FRONTMAN LEMMY KILMISTER SAYS “I DRINK VODKA AND SMOKE A PACK A DAY”

Larry Getlen of The New York Post:

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.”

source: nypost.com