This time, though, he’ll be off camera and (probably) dressed. Lee’s going to narrate a documentary, Dear Jack, about Andrew McMahon’s battle with cancer. McMahon is the vocalist/pianist for the band Something Corporate and his solo project Jack’s Mannequin. He was diagnosed with leukemia in 2005. Check out a preview of the movie here.
Ringo is pretty goddamn sure it was himself. The other three lads liked to take a whack at the kit, particularly Paul, who played the drum part on “Back in the U.S.S.R.,” but Ringo ain’t backing down:
…[Paul’s] an incredible bass player, but he’s not a great drummer. George Harrison had his own way of playing drums, John Lennon had his own way of playing them, too. They’d hit them about a bit but they couldn’t really play.
New Metallica is on the way, and Ulrich has spoken a little bit about it to Revolver. Apparently (and somewhat miraculously), producer Rick Rubin has the guys returning to the kick-ass sound, energy, and drumming (!) of albums like Ride the Lightning and Master of Puppets.
So does that mean we’re going to feel metal up our collective ass? Here’s what Lars had to say:
I hate to be that specific, because six months from now people are gonna go, “What the f***? Lars lied to us!” But it feels that way to me.
The awesome-ass Vadrum posted his latest video on YouTube last month, but we just had to spread the link love in case there was anyone out there who actually hasn’t heard this fantastic and fun drummer. On a scale of 1 to 10, he get’s 11 for skillz and a solid 15 for being so kitsch-y cool.
After last month’s one-off Led Zep gig, the reunion rumors kicked in with full force, and now Dave Grohl is reportedly interested in taking over the drum chair….Well, yeah, who the fuck wouldn’t want that gig? It seems likely, though, that Jason Bonham will handle the stick swinging duties should Zeppelin actually tour. Grohl himself said as much to NME.com in this interview:
I am at their beck and call, but Jason should be the one….It should be Jason and everyone knows that, it should be Jason. And Jason’s a fucking phenomenal drummer, you know? And he’s a really sweet guy, he’s a really good guy. They seem like a family, they feel like a family that have been around for a long time.
The New Year is off to a good start ’cause Tommy Lee is finally putting out some new music. It’s an electronica project called WTF? Check out the tracks on the group’s Myspace page. As always, we are down for listening to whatever Tommy is putting out, whether he’s fronting a band and playing guitar or manning the turntables, but we can’t wait to see him play some drums again soon too.
Never too early to start the back-patting.
Yamaha has put together a list of its artists who played on Grammy-nominated albums this year. The award show will take place in Los Angeles on February 10, 2008 (assuming, that is, the on-going writers strike doesn’t somehow bring it down), but until then, the Yamaha hopefuls are:
Courtesy of Vic Firth’s video podcasts (what happened to posting weekly, guys?), Thomas Lang shreds it up on his Roland V-Drums. He’s also rockin’ some anti-Teutonic long locks.
Sweet fucking Jesus, a gear company is finally figuring out this whole Web thing. Vic Firth is posting weekly video podcasts on iTunes as well as on its site here. This week’s entry features Omar Hakim at PASIC 2007.
[Update 2022: These vids have all moved, as far as I can tell, to Vic Firth’s channel on YouTube. The Omar Hakim vid looks like it has been reposted in slightly higher vid quality. Progress!]
Nikki Sixx? A little freakin’ fact checking goes a long way.
(…I know that one day, probably very soon, I’m going to regret having mentioned that.)
The Indian site newkerala.com is reporting that “drummer Nikki Sixx” has written about his heroin addiction in a new book.
Now, I know these dudes are in India, and verifying the drug adventures of aged rock stars is probably low on their list of life concerns (what with all the rioting and rigged elections and stolen nukes), but if a drummer like Tommy Lee, the man with one of the biggest back beats and largest cocks in rock, can’t get his name correctly mentioned in a e-rag published half way around the world, what hope do any of us wee bashers have for, well, anything at all?
And now somebody will have to tell this poor guy not to Halloween in India.
Looks like Babyshambles basher Adam Ficek has got himself a side project called Roses, Kings, Castles. There are a couple acoustic tracks up on the band’s Myspace page (all instruments and vocals apparently performed by Ficek himself), and they have a kind of undeniable, degenerate charm.
But probably not enough charm to bed a Kate Moss.
Here’s what the Quiet Riot drummer had to say about the man who helped make metal mainstream in the ’80s:
I’m at a loss for words. I’ve just lost my best friend….Out of respect for both Kevin and his family, I won’t comment further. There’s going to be a lot of speculation out there, and I won’t add to that. I love him too much.
Very sweet.
Check out the complete CNN article for an unimpassioned Quiet Riot primer. You know where to go for the good stuff.
At least for a few hours. The former Scorpions drummer is taking a turn at platter spinning on this Greek radio station tonight, but fuck all if we can find the link to listen in. If anyone figures it out, leave a comment.
A shit load of rumors were popping up on the Net last week about Barker’s demise. A day before his 32nd birthday, so the story goes, Barker was found dead in his garage. A record company spokesman, however, has since confirmed that Trav is still alive and stomping.
…Of course, that is what the Man said about Paul McCartney too.
And does this mean we have to stop listening to rumors about Blink-182 getting back together?
…but we don’t know what the bloody hell it is, because the interview is in Portuguese.
Oh wait, scroll down a bit and there’s a translation.
[reading….reading….still reading….]
Hmmm, we liked it better when it was in Portuguese.
