Metallica guitarist Kirk Hammet insists that Lulu, their notorious 2011 collaboration album with musician Lou Reed, is one one the band’s best records.
The record was snubbed by all but three percent of Metallica’s fanbase, selling 15,000 copies during its first week of release compared to 490,000 for 2008′s Death Magnetic. Even their much-maligned 2003 album St. Anger sold 418,000 in its first week. Reed admitted he’d had death threats following the album’s release.
But Hammet tells The Verge, “I think Lulu is some of the best stuff we’ve ever done. The song Junior Dad moves me to tears. And working with Lou was such a cool, unique and special thing for us. Maybe it’s not for everyone. Maybe it’s a challenge for our fans. But for us – Lars, James, Rob and myself – we loved doing it and it was such a great experience. We look back at it very positively.”
Metallica have just released highly-anticipated concert movie Through The Never, and they’ve vowed to turn their attention to a new album early next year.
On October 29th, Eleven Seven Music will release The Best Of Buckcherry.
The recording is the culmination of 15 years of non-stop hard work that has resulted in unprecedented success and has made Buckcherry the standard for the great American rock band.
Not many bands have been successful in merging punk grit, gutter attitude, honest-to-God storytelling and razor-sharp hooks and see the overwhelming success that Buckcherry has had throughout their careers. Somewhere between reaching gold status with their self-titled debut and achieving the status of an international platinum-selling phenomenon, Buckcherry has also supplanted themselves as pop icons with party radio hits that spread throughout their entire catalog.
The liner notes for The Best Of Buckcherry were written by renowned by radio personality and That Metal Show co-host Eddie Trunk.
The Best Of Buckcherry track listing:
1. Lit Up
2. For the Movies
3. Ridin’
4. Sorry
5. Next 2 You
6. Everything
7. Crazy Bitch
8. Rescue Me
9. Rose
10. All Night Long
11. Gluttony
12. Nothing Left But Tears
Peter Hodgson of Gibson spoke with vocalist Sammy Hagar about his new solo album, Sammy Hagar & Friends and the playing styles of Eddie Van Halen and Joe Satriani. Portions of the interview appear below.
Gibson: You always hear “Sammy had so-and-so over to jam at his club in Cabo,” but most of us never get to see that. This album is like that experience being distilled into an album you can throw on in your house.
Sammy Hagar
Hagar: What I wanted this record to be was my life: my lifestyle now. Because in the past when I’ve went into the studio I’ve gone in with 15 or 20 songs and I’d record them all and pick the best ones. It was kinda like a business. And this record I wanted to be exactly who and what I am today. So the first thing I thought was, I want to write just lifestyle songs. So, I wrote Father Sun first, and then All We Need Is An Island. And then I thought, well, maybe I should call up some of my friends to play on this stuff. And little by little it dawned on me that I was making the record that I really wanted to make but I didn’t have a method of doing it. There was no manual to making a record that’s who you are. But then I realized what you just said: what I’ve been doing for the last ten years is going to Cabo San Lucas with different people all the time. I meet Toby down there, I meet the guys from the Grateful Dead down there, I meet Slash, Jerry Cantrell, guys from Metallica. They say “Hey, I’m going to Cabo, are you around?” And I’ll say “[Expletive], I’ll meet you down there.” I have a house, I just go down there and we play this kind of music. This is what we do. Chad Smith and I, we go down there and we play Going Down. We jam a lot of blues stuff, and this record is exactly who and what I am. It’s what I do.
Gibson: Depeche Mode’s Personal Jesus is an interesting choice because even though it wasn’t originally recorded in a heavy blues style, you can unlock that from it.
Hagar: I’ve gotta tell you, as I studied that lick I went “That is a blues fricken’ lick.” For an electronic band, some bizarre alternative electronic band, that’s a badass blues lick. And I played it on guitar and said, “This is it.” And Neal Schon, the intro on that thing, the licks Neal’s playing, it’s in high gear. I can’t wait till the Depeche Mode guys hear it. I think when they hear it they’re going to say, “Sammy Hagar, that [expletive] rock and roll freak?” Haha. They’ve gotta like it. It’s a blues song and it’s a great lyric, a great deep, dark lyric. I can’t write lyrics like that. It’s too dark for me.
Gibson: I dunno, you got pretty dark on Van Halen’s Balance. When that album came out I was like “Is Sammy okay?”
Hagar: Yeah, you’re right, you’re right. That’s because it was a dark period! I knew that was the end of that rainbow, man!
Gibson: I’ve always wanted to ask you how you rank yourself as a guitarist. It takes balls to stand up there with Eddie Van Halen or Joe Satriani. I’ve been lucky to jam with Satriani and Vai, and to a certain point it’s intimidating but also at a certain point you’ve just got to tell yourself “Screw it, this is what I do.”
Hagar: I’m a little bit intimidated if we go too long, but in Chickenfoot and Van Halen I just put the guitar on and got a big cheer always, and then I’d burn for a little bit and then take it back off before I ran out of chops, y’know? I rate myself as a guy that can play, and I can express myself extremely well but only in one language. I can only play blues-based guitar. And when a guy like Joe steps up there, he can play. Once he finishes with my repertoire he can go into French, Spanish and Russian on the guitar! He’s just so versatile and fluent. Eddie’s not as fluent and versatile. Eddie’s got a style for himself and he’s very much in that pocket but Joe can play anything. He freaks me out. When Joe and I start to write together he’ll show me some chords and I’ll start singing, then I’ll pick up a guitar just mainly to figure a lick out: “What chord is that? What are you playing?” so I can know what notes I have to choose from to sing. Then he’ll go “That was a cool lick, what did you play?” and I’ll go “[Expletive], I don’t know!” I don’t get it. I just play.
Gibson: There were so many great guitar players to come out of the 80s where you knew they’d kind of fade away, but even early on it was apparent that we’d still be hearing about Joe Satriani in 40, 50 years.
Hagar: Oh Joe’s here to stay. I think he’s going to have a kind of Jeff Beck career. He’s going to have these little windows where he gets a little bump, a little more publicity, a little more recognition, and then he kinda just cruises along, then all of a sudden somebody’s gonna say “Wow, Joe Satriani’s the best guitar player in the world” and everybody gets hip again. He ain’t going nowhere. The thing that amazes me the most about Joe’s guitar playing over any other musician is he knows exactly what he’s playing and he can play it twice, three times exactly the same. He works his parts out but he does it really quick. It’s not like it takes him forever to come up with a part. He comes up with it, BAM, instantly, and he knows every note he’s playing and I don’t know how he does it. He’s too smart for his own good. But you’re a lucky man if you stood up and played next to Joe Satriani. What I do is, I learn. He immediately makes me better because it makes me aware of what I’m playing, because if I see him solo I think, “I don’t know what I’m doing.” So I start to think a little more, like “Oh I know why that note works.” So he just enlightens. He’s enlightening to play with. I don’t know if that works for you but that’s how it works for me.
Rock Against MS returns to the Whisky A Go-Go in Hollywood with yet another amazing All-Star line up. On the heels of a spectacular sold-out show last March 27th, the Rock Stars return in support of long time friend and publicist, Nancy B. Sayle. This rock-fueled concert is to help raise awareness and funding for Sayle and her new foundation benefiting those living with MS.
This show will also be in loving memory of Penny (Maglieri) Tuttle who passed from complications of MS just days prior to the first concert. Penny is the daughter of Sunset Strips legendary rock n roll giant Mario Maglieri, owner of the Whisky A Go-Go and the Rainbow Bar & Grill.
Penny’s passing affected Sayle profoundly, as she, herself is challenged with Primary Progressive MS. “Being just diagnosed in 2009, I first ignored the disease and now with it progressing I move forward doing all I can to cheat it and be positive,” explains Sayle. “Penny’s death, just within days of a concert at her family’s venue that they so graciously donated to us, really shook me. The Maglieri family are great long-time friends and I want to honor Penny and many others that have lost their lives due to this disease. We also thank the Maglieri family for all they have done for us. I really need all to know about MS. It is important that we fight and not lose hope.”
Rock stars, such as Steve Lukather, Gilby Clarke, Blasko (Ozzy), Marky Ramone, Jorgen Carlsson (Gov’t Mule), CJ Vanston (Spinal Tap),Erik Eldenius (Billy Idol), Brian Tichy, Robert Sarzo (Queensryche), Jimmy D’Anda, Nick Menza (Megadeth), Gretchen Bonaduce, Chas West (Moby Dicks/Bonham) and more will perform at Rock Against MS on October 17th, 2013. They are showing support for not only Sayle, but for so many others living with MS in our own community and around the world. Many more artists will be announced in the coming weeks and a huge surprise guest is in anticipation.
In its finishing stages, the Rock Against MS will provide services from a three (3) grant resource system, which will provide daily care, quality of life needs and emergency funding, while assisting people with multiple sclerosis to live an independent and full life. There will also be an educational grant for kids with MS as well as kids that have parent with MS that are challenged with funding for college. These grants will support the physical and emotional needs of MS patients and their families – as well as creating awareness of multiple sclerosis to the general public.
When: Thursday October 17th, 2013
Where: VIP Pre-Party
Rainbow Bar & Grill 4-6PM
Concert/VIP Meet & Greet
The Whisky A Go-Go
8901 W. Sunset Blvd, West Hollywood, CA 90069
VIP Meet & Greet: 6:00 PM
Sponsors: 95.5 KLOS, Guitar Center, Monster Energy Drink, Schecter Guitars, D’Addario, Evans, SIR, Pro Mark, Whisky A Go-Go, Rainbow Bar & Grill
About Multiple Sclerosis:
• Every hour in the United States, someone is newly diagnosed with MS, an unpredictable, often disabling disease of the central nervous system.
• MS interrupts the flow of information from the brain to the body and stops people from moving.
• Symptoms range from numbness and tingling to blindness and paralysis. The advancement, severity and specific symptoms of MS in any one person cannot yet be predicted, but advances in research and treatment are moving us closer to a world free of MS.
• Most people with MS are diagnosed between the ages of 20 and 50, with more than twice as many women as men being diagnosed with the disease.
• MS affects more than 400,000 people in the U.S. and 2.1 million worldwide.
Soundcheck reports: For thirty years TV and radio host Eddie Trunk has been charting the hard rock and heavy metal scene. He’s shared his love for bands like Metallica, Bon Jovi and Anthrax on VH1 Classic’s That Metal Show, and over the airwaves with Eddie Trunk Rocks on Q104.3.
Now, he’s releasing the second volume of his book Essential Hard Rock and Heavy Metal – this time, he’s focusing in on some lesser known acts. We hear about Whitesnake, Angel and Overkill. Plus, Trunk weighs in on the new Metallica concert film, Through the Never.
Former Judas Priest guitarist K.K. Downing spoke with Dean Pedley of The Midlands Rocks about why he left Judas Priest and how the music industry has changed over the years. Highlights from the article appear below.
Discussing British Steel:
“It’s always the hardest thing in the world to follow success, if I had a pound for every time someone has said to me why don’t you write another album like British Steel but the thing is you can’t – those songs have already been written. If the people that wrote it tried to sit down and write another one you would end up with a watered down version; you wouldn’t better it because it’s already out there, it would just sound like a poor copy.”
On why he left Judas Priest:
“I’ll never get away from this retirement thing, but what happened was that I quit, retired implies that I am not physically able to do it. I am able to do it but I didn’t want to do it; I just wasn’t enjoying it any more, a lot of things had changed. I think I counted about thirty reasons why I didn’t want to do it at the time and that is an awful lot of reasons. In all honesty, I think that in so many respects it had run its course. If you’re part of a songwriting team you get the recognition and reward for creating something, but for me Priest became about going out and playing live and replicating exactly what people had enjoyed ten, twenty or thirty years ago. The fans would be just as happy if they could see us bin all of the modern guitars we now play and take them on a walk down memory lane because I think that’s what people enjoy most. And I understand that because if I could go out now and see Eric Clapton with Cream then I would be the happiest person in the world.
One of the beautiful things about being in the industry was the ability to continue to invent and create, constructing songs and making good records. You do feel the need to be creative and that was taken away with the downloading thing and as you get older the balance of the scales starts to tip. So if you can’t be creative why would you want to continue to dedicate the time into something. I suppose if the industry was still healthy and people still had to spend their hard earned money buying a record it would be different, but if you give something away then it has no value. We used to buy an album and think well it’s not that good but I’ll play it a million times I’m sure I’ll get into it and now it doesn’t really get a second chance. In the past there was always the opportunity to create a record like Dark Side of the Moon or British Steel or Back In Black that would be one of those albums that would be indelible and people will always come back to. And I think that opportunity has gone now and I think it would take a miracle for one of those to happen again. If you consider an album like Nostradamus then if that had been released in 1978 then it would have been another Dark Side of the Moon but it is all about the timing. When you think about it in the early days we had the opportunity to write great songs, play great solos and have great vocal performances but people get used to it and it is hard now to get the reaction of “Wow, have you heard the new Priest album.” The industry has changed so much… I see companies that are repackaging and rehashing and that started happening to us and that was not a pretty thing to be a part of. It’s kind of duping the fans a bit because there are fans around the world that have got to have everything to complete their collection so even if there are only a few thousand of them if you put out a box collection it might be $100, which is a lot of dollars, and so for me that is something that I didn’t get into music for.”
