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Ok, I promise this is not a Metallica blog. It’s just that so much press has come out from drummer Lars Ulrich that I figure why not post about it because…

A) It’s funny, and…

B) It’s all a big waiting game to see exactly what Metallica’s new album will sound like. It’s fun to gamble…

So finally, Lars has given Billboard.com, (via a conference call with many reporters) some actual descriptions of what the new material actually sounds like.

“These are long songs … we’re talking seven-minute, eight-minute, nine-minute nutty-ass songs,” Ulrich revealed. “We don’t make them long or short on purpose; you just kind of do what feels natural. We’re not really gonna edit them, (so) we’re gonna lose another one at some point in the next month or so and probably end up with 10.”

Ulrich described the material as “definitely pretty all over the place. There’s a lot of variation, a lot of fast, slow, melodic … kind of hardcore, nutty super-fast speed stuff. It’s a little more like how some of the earlier records were a little more dynamic within the songs.”

Ulrich also mentions that the band is still working out song names. This seems a little weird, since usually if the songs are recorded, they’d probably also have lyrics and one would guess…names. I don’t really know how Metallica works on the inside, but the thought of them doing long songs that are really fast and almost hardcore like sounds cool. I’d love to hear Lars doing super fast tom fills and double bass beats again. The album is still schduled for release in September of this year.

Source.

Since I’ve sort of been reporting on what’s been up with Metallica lately, here is some more news…

Drummer Lars Ulrich revealed last night at the band’s small sold-out performance at The Wiltern in Los Angeles, CA, that the band will release it’s new album in September and a full scale tour will take place following the release in October.

Last night the band didn’t play any new songs, but did offer up a lot of old classics. Tickets for the sold-out show were priced at $200 and $500, with proceeds going to benefit Flea’s (of The Red Hot Chili Peppers) Music Conservatory in Los Angeles. Flea joined the band on bass for the song “Fight Fire With Fire” from the bands classic “Ride The Lightning” album. The concert was rumored to have netted around $300,000 for the conservatory.

Metallica is slated to headline Los Angeles radio-station Kroq’s annual “Weenie Roast” on May 17th followed by the Bonnaroo Music Festival in Manchester, TN on June 13th.

It seems obvious that the new Metallica will most likely suck. You can always hope though…

-Set List from the bands May 14th show in Los Angeles-

“The Ecstasy of Gold”
“Fuel”
“For Whom the Bell Tolls”
“Sanitarium”
“…And Justice For All”
“Sad But True”
“Disposable Heroes”
“One”
“Master of Puppets”
“Battery”
“Last Caress/Green Hell” (Misfits cover)
“No Remorse”
“Enter Sandman”
“Fight Fire with Fire”
“Seek and Destroy”

Source.

I mentioned this in my post about Metallica the other day. Many music sites and publications have been running stories on “Dave Grohl’s Open Letter to Metallica” or similar headlines. It turns out this wasn’t really true, as Dave himself has personally stated via FooFighters.com…

“Just wanted to write a quick note to clear up this whole “Open letter to Metallica” fiasco……For the record, I never “wrote” anything to Metallica. I was asked by a journalist, at the end of a long interview (abut the Foo Fighters) to give a quick message to Metallica in the studio. So, I rattled that quote off the top of my head. No biggie, right? Somehow it became my “open letter” to the band, and now it’s been picked up by everyone from Blabbermouth.com to Rolling Stone (as if anyone really cares!). Now, it’s true that I’ve been a loyal fan of this band for 25 years, and I can’t wait to hear the new shit, but an “open letter” to the band?!!?? Nah. Not my style. I’d rather just text ‘em……”

Turns out it’s just the media trying to drum up, (get it?) some controversy. Oh well…no Foo Fighters vs. Metallica feud yet…

To continue on the theme of popular metal bands, (see yesterday’s post about Metallica), it appears Slipknot will be gearing up to record a new album.

According to band frontman Corey Taylor, the album “Is going to rip your face off.”

“Declining to give an album title or song names, Taylor describes Slipknot’s forthcoming set — which is being recorded in the band’s home state of Iowa — as a “very dark” cross between “Vol. 3″ and 2001’s “Iowa.” “It has so much power in it and yet there are so many great spots for melody,” he explains. “It’s a controlled chaos that hits you right out of the gate.”

“Lyrically, “Instead of bitching about what went wrong in my life, I’m bitching about what’s wrong in life, period,” Taylor says, noting that his vocals are much more melodic than before. “I got to the point where I was tired of pretending that I couldn’t sing every time I made a Slipknot album, so this time I’m going all out.”

However, a lot of people will be looking forward to drummer Joey Jordison’s work on this album. He has come to be known for ridiculously fast blast beats, crazy tom fills and basically all out double bass explosions.  These trademarks of his drumming I am pretty certain will be featured on this new album as well. Last time the band worked with Rick Rubin, and while a producer hasn’t been announced yet, I’m hoping they go with someone a little less played out with more of a metal sound.

Source/More Info.

After reading a story on Stereogum concerning Dave Grohl, (of Nirvana and Foo Fighters fame) writing Metallica an open later chastising them, (Dave Grohl’s open letter to Metallica), ironic isn’t it? I thought I’d check out their website and see what’s up.

Apparently, Metallica launched a website called www.missionmetallica.com, a place where drummer Lars says “people can kind of tune in every day, watch clips, contests, get updates for what’s going on with the record and kind of watch the last couple of months of song titles, album titles, final mixes.” The website also contained a trailer for the new album but the site was taken down, the trailer is still available on YouTube. I just hope Lars can lay down some drum tracks this time that don’t include his super pongy snare drum from St Anger.

The YouTube clips essentially show a few sound bytes/snippets of new songs being worked on and/or recorded in the studio. If you’ve ever seen the bands “Spinal-Tap-for-real” documentary “Some Kind of Monster” it kind of looks like that. Let us also hope Rick Rubin (the Michael Bay of music), succeeds in helping the band reclaim their early sound. I hate to be pessimistic, but I kinda doubt it.

Source.

Famed drone and Southern Lord Records band Earth will be touring certain parts of the US this summer. The band has just wrapped up a tour of the East Coast and now has dates announced on the West Coast.

I’ve personally been waiting to see this band live for a while, as I never have before and I’m interested in how their quiet multi-layered approach will go over in a live setting.

Drummer Adrienne Davies is not the most furious, fast, loud or even busy player, but her drum parts fit and blend perfectly with the songs. It seems like it might be challenging to play as minimal as she plays, and as gently. I’ve seen pictures of her playing both big Ludwig and Gretsch drums but I’m also interested to see what type of setup she has.

-Earth West Coast Dates (so far)-

Earth @MySpace.com

It hasn’t really been announced on any major music news sites such as Stereogum, Pitchfork, etc…but Russian Circles will be touring and coming through Los Angeles again. Witness Turncrantz drumming skillz in person!

The band will be playing The Troubadour in West Hollywood with the band Daughters and its $10 advance and $12 at the door. This is one show I will not be missing. You can expect to see a review up here after the show.

It’s pretty much a full US tour…

-Russian Circles, touring with Daughters-

Jun-03 Iowa City IA Picador
Jun-04 St Louis MO Bluebird Theater
Jun-05 Kansas City MO The Riot Room
Jun-06 Denver CO Marquis
Jun-07 Salt Lake City UT Burt’s Tiki Lounge
Jun-08 Boise ID Neurolux
Jun-09 Seattle WA Neumos
Jun-10 Portland OR Doug Fir Lounge
Jun-11 Chico CA Cafe Coda
Jun-12 San Francisco CA Slims
Jun-14 Pomona CA The Glasshouse
Jun-15 West Hollywood CA Troubadour
Jun-16 San Diego CA The Casbah
Jun-18 Phoenix AZ The Clubhouse
Jun-20 Austin TX Red 7
Jun-21 Ft Worth TX Lolas
Jun-22 Houston TX Rudyards
Jun-23 Baton Rouge LA Spanish Moon
Jun-24 Birmingham AL Bottle Tree
Jun-25 Atlanta GA The Drunken Unicorn
Jun-26 Chapel Hill NC Local 506
Jun-27 Wilmington DE Harmony Grange
Jun-28 Cambridge MA Middle East Upstairs
Jun-29 Brooklyn NY Music Hall of Williamsburg
Jun-30 Baltimore MD The Ottobar
Jul-01 Buffalo NY Mohawk Place
Jul-02 Detroit MI Magic Stick (*no Daughters)

Russian Circles @ Myspace.com

Sabian cymbals will be releasing new Vault series 13inch hi-hats. These cymbals were partly inspired by famed drummer JoJo Mayer, who I posted about just two days ago, (see: JoJo).

“The hats’ attack is very aggressive with a low bite, which means they are punchy and cutting, yet not metallic sounding. This is more about music than metal,” Love said. “Sticking is always precise, and the pedal ‘chick’ is strong and articulate. Jojo’s Fierce Ride and Crash created such a positive stir, and with so many people commenting about the cymbals on his ‘Weapons for the Modern Drummer’ DVD, introducing the Fierce Hats was a natural progression.”

Mayer said: “We’ve got a very unique sound with these Fierce Hats. There’s a raw aspect and a complex darkness that works well in live and recorded contexts. I’ve been playing prototypes for about eight years, and wherever I go people ask me, ‘What are those hats?’ Similar to my Fierce Ride and Crash, they’re very complex, but great for almost any music. It’s great to be part of the adventure of creating these sounds with SABIAN.”

If you’ve ever heard Mayer’s drumming, particularly his tight and defined hi-hat sound, you’ll definitely be interested in these cymbals.

Source.

“A New York City press conference featuring the Police and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg today (May 6) heralds the band’s final concert ever, to be held in New York at a date to be announced in August.

This final concert will be a fundraiser with proceeds benefiting the production of arts programming for public television stations Thirteen/WNET and WLIW New York. Tickets will be available nationally online via the Thirteen/WNET and WLIW Web sites.

Additionally, Sting and the Police announced that they will contribute $1 million to Mayor Bloomberg’s MillionTreesNYC initiative — a gift the city will match — to plant trees all over New York City.”

This is interesting as the Police supposedly played their last show a long time ago and just recently reunited. It is always so hard to tell whether bands like this will really play a “last show” without coming back 5 years down the road for another tour.

I saw The Police last year, and while Stewart Copeland was amazing on drums, the band just didn’t have the same purpose or fire they did just from older videos I’ve seen. It just didn’t seem relevant.  Sting also seems completely out of touch with reality, he just seems like a larger than life rock-star persona.

The band’s last American/European tour of 50 shows, grossed $212 million dollars.

Source.

A drummer I’ve been into for a long time is Matt Cameron. If you don’t know who he is, he was formerly the drummer of Soundgarden and is now the current drummer for Pearl Jam.

It’s rare that a drummer gets to be in one well known band, let alone two. The drumming of Matt Cameron, is in my opinion best represented on the breakthrough Soundgarden album “Superunknown.” After having listened to it recently I was impressed that his playing was so diverse on one record. Multiple snare drums, as well as drum kits were used to record and this is evident on the different drum sound on a lot of the songs on the record.

Cameron’s drumming features several odd time parts, such as on the famous hit “Spoonman” where he showcases a mix of 7/4 and 4/4 time signatures. Another detail worth mentioning is his classy use of the cymabls and toms, throughout the album he never overplays any one part of the kit.

If you have never really listened to Soundgarden’s Superunknown, or it’s been a while, check it out again.