Joey Jordison Returns
October 8, 2008 | Leave a Comment
According to Rhythm magazine, Joey Jordison and his broken ankle are now in drum-slaying shape and scaring the hell out of the Japanese. The band released the following statement today:
After numerous flights we arrived in Nagoya, Japan two days ago. Joey is on fire and we had a killer rehearsal with the full band. Tonight is the first—it’s on! We just shot a video for “Dead Memories” that we’ll be unleashing to the world in the next couple weeks. This one is psychological—you’re in for a journey. We’re just starting a world tour—so we hope to see all of you.
Does the Sound Quality of Metallica’s New Album Suck?
September 30, 2008 | Leave a Comment
A whole lot of fans think so (nearly 13,000 so far have petitioned to have Death Magnetic remastered…and you know how goddamn lazy people are about activism), but Lars predictably disagreed yesterday on Blender’s blog:
Listen, there’s nothing up with the audio quality. It’s 2008, and that’s how we make records. [Producer] Rick Rubin’s whole thing is to try and get it to sound lively, to get it to sound loud, to get it to sound exciting, to get it to jump out of the speakers. Of course, I’ve heard that there are a few people complaining. But I’ve been listening to it the last couple of days in my car, and it sounds fuckin’ smokin’.
Somebody told me about [people complaining that the Guitar Hero version of Death Magnetic sounds better]. Listen, what are you going to do? A lot of people say [the CD] sounds great, and a few people say it doesn’t, and that’s OK. You gotta remember, when we put out …And Justice for All, people were going, ‘What happened to these guys, this record? There’s no bass on it. It sounds like it was recorded in a fuckin’ garage on an eight-track.’ And now …And Justice for All is sort of the seminal Metallica record that supposedly influenced a whole generation of death-metal bands. The difference between back then and now is the Internet.
The Internet gives everybody a voice, and the Internet has a tendency to give the complainers a louder voice. Listen, I can’t keep up with this shit. Part of being in Metallica is that there’s always somebody who’s got a problem with something that you’re doing: ‘James Hetfield had something for breakfast that I don’t like.’ That’s part of the ride.
I will say that the overwhelming response to this new record has exceeded even our expectations as far as how positive it is. So I’m not gonna sit here and get caught up in whether [the sound] ‘clips’ or it doesn’t ‘clip.’ I don’t know what kind of stereos these people listen on. Me and James [Hetfield] made a deal that we would hang back a little and not get in the way of whatever Rick’s vision was. That’s not to put it on him - it’s our record, I’ll take the hit, but we wanted to roll with Rick’s vision of how Metallica would sound.
Lars Ulrich Doesn’t Do Cocaine…
August 28, 2008 | Leave a Comment
At least not anymore. He also doesn’t hate Dave Mustaine, though that’s probably just because MegaDave tends to be so freakin’ ridiculous:
I keep coming back to the statistics, which are interesting: he’s never played on a Metallica record, he was in the band for 10 months, 25 years ago! That’s an amazing statistic when you think about it, and still Metallica is such a prominent part of his existence. That’s just mind-blowing, because he has made some of the best heavy metal records of all time. It blows my mind.
Joey Jordison Breaks Ankle
August 20, 2008 | 15 Comments
…And all this time we thought Jordison was a superbionic drum god. It appears, however, that his ankles are mortal enough because he broke one of them in Europe. As a result, Slipknot has had to cancel their slots at the Leeds and Reading festivals, as well as their remaining European dates. Expect riots and the maggot uprising to ensue. There’s just enough time to watch a few Jordison licks:
Lars Ulrich Talks “Kill ‘Em All”
August 11, 2008 | Leave a Comment
With Metallica’s much-anticipated ninth studio album, Death Magnetic, scheduled to hit sometime in September, Lars Ulrich recently reflected on the recording of the band’s first disc, “Kill ‘Em All.”
…Oh, and James Hetfield gets to talk too.
[via Blabbermouth]
Gene Hoglan Interview at Sick Drummer
July 21, 2008 | Leave a Comment
The mighty Gene Hoglan spoke with Sick Drummer recently about drums, Dethklok, and the untimely, unfortunate death of Michelle Meldrum. As always, Hoglan manages to be affable, cheeky, wise, and passionate all at the same time—and all in about 1,700 words. Give the interview a read posthaste, and then check out the videos below of Hoglan playing Meldrum tunes.
Backstage With Jason Bittner
July 15, 2008 | Leave a Comment
Tama has posted a cool little promo vid with Jason Bittner, sticks down one of the nicest, most humble dudes in the business. Yet again, however, the clip can’t be embedded (what’s up with all the proprietary video paranoia, guys?), so you’ll have to check it out here. It opens with Jason’s tech talking about tuning and then teases with some slick pounding from the Shadows Fall drummer. We likey.
Lars Ulrich Talks About Covering Iron Maiden
July 8, 2008 | Leave a Comment
If you’re anything like Web-worshiping us, you probably let your U.K. magazine subscriptions expire long ago. Who needs the overseas shipping charges, not to mention all that extra paper?
Well, dear thumpers, that was a big, stupid-ass mistake because the upcoming issue of Kerrang! will include a CD of Iron Maiden cover tunes performed by Metallica, Machine Head, Trivium, Avenged Sevenfold, Dream Theater, and lots of shreddin’ others. How cool is that? According to Lars Ulrich, about 10% cooler than you first thought:
Iron Maiden are 10 percent cooler than every other band….From their relationship with their fans, to their album covers to their stages, to their live presentation, to their photos—whatever they did was always cooler than what everyone else did! I have always had an incredible amount of respect and admiration for them and obviously getting a chance to be part of this CD feels like that has come a full circle. We played “Remember Tomorrow” as it was basically the blueprint for songs like “Fade To Black” and “Welcome Home (Sanitarium)”, and some of the more epic ballady type of songs that Metallica had done later. We had so much fun jamming with this! We put a bit of an intro on it, to give it a bit of a Metallica stamp, and we are super pleased with how it has turned out.
Chris Adler Gets a Modern Drummer Column
May 13, 2008 | Leave a Comment
Looks like MD is making another push for the metalheads. The magazine is getting Lamb of God drummer Chris Adler to write a monthly column called “My Two Cents.” Judging solely from Adler’s excellent talk at MD Fest 2005, we’re betting his prose will be equally engaging. He has this to say about his new gig as pen wielder:
I’m flattered and amazed to be asked to contribute a column to the magazine. As I mention in the column this month, I’m not the typical MD model. I’m not the Berklee kid—I’m the kid with the long hair and denim jacket that figured it out my way. I hope the column serves as a beacon to players like myself who may feel overwhelmed by MD magazine. It’s great of MD to recognize the organic, self-taught style, and I hope to empower those readers who play from their heart, not just from the exercises we read. I’m already receiving very positive feedback and questions from readers and can’t wait bring a bit different perspective to them.
Got a question for him? Send an email to miked@moderndrummer.com with “For Chris Adler” in the subject line.
Metallica and the Click Track
May 12, 2008 | Leave a Comment
The latest video from MissionMetallica captures Lars and the fellows trying to answer the perennial studio question: to play or not to play with a click?
