Weekly Music News

[FH]

BRIDES OF DESTRUCTION: Is The End Near? - Aug. 9, 2003

BRIDES OF DESTRUCTION, the new band featuring MÖTLEY CRÜE bassist Nikki Sixx, L.A. GUNS guitarist Tracii Guns, vocalist London LeGrand, and drummer Scot Coogan (ex-PAUL GILBERT, ONI LOGAN/ROWAN ROBERTSON, SINÉAD O'CONNOR), appear to be on the verge of splitting up as a result of their inability to land an American and European licensing deal for their debut album, according to a recent online posting by Guns.

"[Producer] Steve Thompson is set to mix the 11 songs we have already recorded," he explained. "The album will be delivered [to Universal Records] in Japan only by September 17th. There are only plans to promote the album in Japan and there are no plans to tour. Apparently, we were asking for way too much money for the American and European license and it turned a lot of people off. That's when everything came to a screeching halt. So unless a magical deal comes from out of a monkey's ass, or a label, this record will never see the light of day outside of Japan."

In a later posting Guns offered an update on the situation, saying "I just talked to Nikki. After we deliver to Japan, we will try to get at least license or distribution. At that point we will pickup where we left off. So BRIDES is not over, it's just not a full-blown band at this point until we need be somewhere, So I will put something new together to occupy my time until the CD comes out.... [Nikki] said if we had the right deal right now... that's pretty much all he would be putting his energy on... he loves the band, he loves the support from the rockers and wishes things were different so, it's not all negative just kinda kinky."

[FH]

PRIMUS Reform, Record New Material - Aug. 8, 2003

The original lineup of PRIMUS — Les Claypool (bass/vocals), Tim "Herb" Alexander (drums) and Larry "Ler" Lalonde (guitar) — has reformed after a four-year hiatus and has recorded five new songs for inclusion on the upcoming DVD/CD set, "Animals Should Not Try to Act Like People", due October 7 on Prawn Song/Interscope Records.

According to the official Les Claypool newsletter, the DVD will contain all 13 PRIMUS videos, including the little-seen "Lacquer Head" (an anti-drug clip banned by MTV for its drug references), along with 1992's "Cheesy Home Video" documentary, award-winning cartoon "The Devil Went Down to Georgia", and previously unreleased live footage.

Live performances on the DVD cover every single era of the band's career, from a 1989 college radio appearance, to Woodstock '94, to latter-day shows with Brain. A rarities section even includes pre-Larry and Tim performances from the Eighties with first guitarist Todd Huth, and drummers Jay Lane and Tim "Curveball" Wright.

The five brand-new cuts recorded for the collection are as follows:

01. Pilcher's Squad
02. Mary the Ice Cube
03. The Last Superpower aka Rapscallion
04. My Friend Fats
05. The Carpenter and the Dainty Bride

The new songs were recorded in June during a session at Rancho Relaxo. Some of these musical ideas were generated in May in Los Angeles, when Les Claypool, Larry LaLonde and Tim Alexander first got back together and spent three days jamming, testing the waters, feeling each other out and working on new jams.

"The track 'Pilcher's Squad' was written and recorded in one afternoon," stated Les. "The lyric was inspired by the activities of the notorious Sgt. Norman Pilcher, a London police detective that used to bust Pop stars (including John Lennon and George Harrison) in the late sixties for drug possession. He was later convicted and subsequently jailed six years for planting evidence."

Regarding the idea behind the package, Claypool said, "It seems of late that bands are adding supplemental DVD material to their album releases to promote record sales. We've done the opposite. We've added a supplemental audio recording of brand new music to an extremely comprehensive DVD of classic visuals. Also, we've enlisted the incredible talents of some local artists to create a cutting edge, interactive interface."

The band will promote the package with a limited run of shows starting Oct. 15. Dubbed "Tour de Fromage", the trek will feature PRIMUS offering an opening set that varies nightly followed by the full performance of 1991's "Sailing the Seas of Cheese".

Confirmed shows so far are include the following:

Oct. 17 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Wiltern Theatre
Oct. 21 – Denver, CO @ The Fillmore
Oct. 31 – San Francisco, CA @ The Warfield

"The spontaneous visual presentation and the varied song selection will insure that no two performances will be the same," said Claypool, who has spent the last three years creating and collaborating on a range of projects with a wide array of influential musicians. "It has been an incredible period of growth for me as an artist and performer. And one thing I have gained from this time away from PRIMUS is a huge respect for the unique creative chemistry that Larry, Tim and I have together."

In other news, San Francisco photographer Jay Blakesberg is publishing a photographic history of PRIMUS and all of Les Claypool's solo projects. The 192-page hard covered "To Defy The Laws of Tradition - Photographic Archive of Primus & Les Claypool" features over 800 shots (at last count) culled from Blakesberg's 10,000+ image archive of PRIMUS, HOLY MACKEREL, SAUSAGE, OYSTERHEAD, and FROG BRIGADE photos. Les Claypool and others contribute essays to this one of a kind, limited-edition, numbered collector's item.

Available for $100 (including shipping and handling) only through the PRIMUS and LES CLAYPOOL web sites (no bookstores), "To Defy The Laws of Tradition…" will be signed by Les Claypool and Jay Blakesberg and will come in a special handmade box. This will be a one-time-only printing.

If you are interested in purchasing this book, send an e-mail to primusbook@blakesberg.com and write 'YES' in the subject line (this does not commit you to purchasing anything). Your response will help the band judge how big a press run they will need to satisfy PRIMUS aficionados (right now the print run is scheduled to be 2000 copies). Books will be shipped in October.

[FH]

One reason A Perfect Circle resonate with such power is because the bandmembers are dedicated to their art — whether it's catchy and commercial or sprawling and inaccessible to the mainstream. They immerse themselves in their songs, which are as much a part of themselves as a reflection of their personalities. And they present their vision in a striking and unconventional manner, singing from behind a screen, performing in near darkness and greeting the media with complete indifference.

The band's new album, The Thirteenth Step, due September 16, is textural, evocative and moody — metallic art-rock for the clinically depressed. The title seems like a reference to life after a drug and alcohol treatment program, but ever-elusive vocalist Maynard James Keenan, who also sings for Tool, shrugs off any such analysis.

"I've been in L.A. for about 13 years," he said in a barely audible voice. "For me, it's a whole new year, a whole new idea and a whole new project. So it's my 13th step, and next year will be my 14th in regards to living in Los Angeles."

Maybe so, but the first single, "Weak and Powerless," suggests that there's more to the title than mere chronology. Lines like, "Someone feed the monkey while I dig in search of China/ White as Dracula as I approach the bottom" seem to deal with addiction, as does the chorus, "Desperate and ravenous/ I'm so weak and powerless over you."

"Everybody has their demons they need to exorcise or at least acknowledge," Keenan said. "Most music that I like that's fairly powerful has some element of struggle in it. Like every other wonderful story, there's comedy and tragedy and conflict. I think that's present in all good art."

"Weak and Powerless" starts with a brooding bassline and tricking guitars before bursting in to an insistent beat at an unconventional tempo. The chorus resonates with asymmetrical guitar lines and a harmonized vocal that makes the song easier to digest.

Like most things A Perfect Circle, "Weak and Powerless" is a tale of paradox. The song was one of the last completed for The Thirteenth Step yet one of the first tunes band founder and guitarist Billy Howardel ever wrote. And though it will be perceived as a taster for Thirteenth Step, it's least representative of the rest of the disc.

"I had it lying around for a long time and then it went through a few changes this year," Howardel said. "[Drummer] Josh [Freese] and Maynard worked on the rhythm and changed it up and breathed some new life into it. All of a sudden it was like having a new song. It has more of a roll to it now and more of a constant energy. It's something a little different for us as a band."

The Brothers Strause (Staind, Nickelback) are completing a video for "Weak and Powerless," and while band refused to talk about the visuals, Keenan said, "The plot of the words is the plot of the video."

[wip5150]

Cool stuff about Primus - I've always been a Les Claypool fan.

[FH]

Fans of Godsmack are used to hearing the band play abrasive rock songs with plenty of attitude and lots of volume. Frontman Sully Erna's growl isn't going anywhere, but the band's next release will be a bit quieter.

An all-acoustic record is due November 18 and will feature stripped-down versions of hits like "Voodoo" and "Serenity" as well as new tracks, according to a spokesperson for the group.

"We decided to do an acoustic record because we have always messed around with acoustic versions of our music and gotten great reactions to it," Erna said in a statement. "Reworking the songs this way shows a different side of the band."

Godsmack are in a Hawaii studio with producer David Bottrill figuring out which songs to include on the disc. Bottrill first worked with the band on "I Stand Alone," which surfaced on "The Scorpion King" soundtrack and then on Godsmack's Faceless, which came out in April.

Though the project came together fairly spontaneously, with the band choosing to record in Hawaii because it was a convenient stop on the way back from an Asian tour, Erna's been hungering to do an unplugged album for a while.

"I have a lot of acoustic tracks that I'd like to release some day," Erna said in an interview in November 2001. "I might do something that has more of a vibe like [Alice in Chains' acoustic disc] Jar of Flies. That's just another side of me that I love. I just love music."

After the acoustic record is done, Godsmack will launch a North American tour, first in Canada, then in the States, with the aim of hitting markets they missed on this year's Faceless tour.



—Jon Wiederhorn

[FH]

Former LIMP BIZKIT Guitarist Praises The 'Underworld' Soundtrack - Aug. 12, 2003

Former LIMP BIZKIT and current EAT THE DAY guitarist Wes Borland has posted the following message on the EAT THE DAY web site:

"The smell of progress is in the air. We will be entering the studio to begin recording for sure in the next few months.

"The 'Underworld' soundtrack turned out great. I ended up being part of only 2 tracks even though there were several more that were completed. One is an original song with THE DAMNING WELL, which features myself, Danny Lohner, Richard Patrick, and Josh Freese. The second is a remix of 'Weak and Powerless' by A PERFECT CIRCLE, which is actually more like a revisioning than a remix because Danny and I stripped all the music away and wrote brand new parts to accompany [Maynard James Keenan]'s voice. I also did a 3' x 9' painting of Selene (one of the movie's main characters) which was photographed for the album inlay. Although this isn't the [EAT THE DAY] album coming out, it's a great record that I've been involved with heavily for the past 6 months and it feels amazing to be a part of. I hope you all will check it out."

[FH]

TESLA COMPLETE RECORDING, MOVE TO MIX, BUT SET 2004 FOR NEW CD DATE:
So just what have the boys from Tesla been up to? Things have been very quiet on the Tesla front these past few months, so I thought now would be a good time to try and catch vocalist Jeff Keith on the phone. Fortunately he was home and didn't mind putting aside a warm plate of pasta to spend a moment to give us all an update.
And the good news is that the band has finished recording their long awaited new album. The as yet untitled opus heads to the mixing stage next week, which will take about a month to complete. From that point the label needs a two month lead in/set up time, which would place the release due in the middle of silly season.
Knowing that labels hate releasing albums like this in amongst the rush of Christmas "Best Of" releases, you can expect an early 2004 release. Mostly likely February says Jeff, "...although January would be nice."
The band just played 2 special live dates, where they previewed four new tracks, Jeff adding that the band were really happy with the crowd reaction to the tracks.
You might be able to hear a lead track from the album on radio and in the press from November, when Jeff says the band might start doing some early press for the album.
So what does it sound like? Jeff says: "It's definitely Tesla, but Tesla 2003. There's a few harder tracks and we broadened our horizons and experimented a little, but we are not attempting to be something we are not. We know we are not the new kids on the block. In the end if we made an album the band were happy with, it should make the fans happy to!"

[FH]

Bassist PAZ LENCHANTIN Rejoins A PERFECT CIRCLE At Chicago Gig - Aug. 13, 2003

Bassist Paz Lenchantin made a surprise appearance with her former A PERFECT CIRCLE bandmates during the group's headlining gig at Cabaret Metro in Chicago Sunday night (August 10). Lenchantin reportedly played violin during her brief appearance and hugged guitarist Billy Howerdel when she was done. Singer Maynard James Keenan then called her over to him, told her the band loved her and gave her a kiss, according to one attendee.

As previously reported, Lenchantin recently exited ZWAN, the group fronted by former SMASHING PUMPKINS singer Billy Corgan. She plans to join fellow ZWAN member David Pajo's PAPA M project for a new album and tour, beginning Oct. 4 in Chicago.

ZWAN's Reprise debut, "Mary, Star of the Sea", has sold 267,000 copies in the U.S., according to Nielsen SoundScan. PAPA M's most recent album was 2001's "Whatever, Mortal". Pajo has also released three separate three-track PAPA M singles this year via Drag City.

[FH]

VELVET REVOLVER: Live Video Of 'It's So Easy' Posted Online - Aug. 13, 2003

A video of VELVET REVOLVER performing the GUNS N' ROSES classic "It's So Easy" live at El Rey Theatre on June 19 has been posted online in Windows Media format at this link. A live recording of the song from the same concert is slated to appear on the group's forthcoming CD/DVD EP, tentatively due on October 13 through Immortal Records. VELVET REVOLVER feature in their ranks STONE TEMPLE PILOTS singer Scott Weiland and former GUNS N' ROSES members Slash, Duff McKagan and Matt Sorum.

[FH]

Keep it on the down low. That's how they do it in the underworld, and that's how they did it on the "Underworld" soundtrack.

For the past six months, Danny Lohner — a producer, multi-instrumentalist and member of Nine Inch Nails — has been quietly bringing together artists like David Bowie, ex-Limp Bizkit guitarist Wes Borland, Filter mastermind Richard Patrick, A Perfect Circle members Josh Freese and Maynard James Keenan, and Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist John Frusciante.

"We were basically trying to put together the most crazy combination of people who had anything to do with really cool, darker rock," Borland said.

The guitarist appears on the soundtrack as part of Damning Well, a supergroup of sorts that also includes Lohner, Freese and Patrick — whom Borland had earlier hooked up with to record a song intended for either the soundtrack of "The Matrix Reloaded" or "Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life." That song never surfaced, but the Damning Well's "Awakening" is one of 19 tracks on the soundtrack to "Underworld," a vampires-meet-werewolves flick starring Kate Beckinsale.
Consider the pedigree of Damning Well — a past that includes work with everyone from Bizkit, NIN and the Vandals to Evanescence, Avril Lavigne and Mondo Generator — and you've got one of the most intriguing combinations since Travis Barker and Tim Armstrong teamed up for the Transplants.

The same holds true for the bulk of the "Underworld" soundtrack, due September 2. "Bring Me the Disco King (Loner Mix)" pits Bowie with Frusciante, Tool/APC's Keenan, singer Lisa Germano and actress Milla Jovovich. "Pucifer" is a Keenan/Lohner joint, while the "remix" of APC's "Weak and Powerless" is more a revision that retains Keenan's vocals but adds new music by Borland, Lohner and Freese. New tracks by Skinny Puppy, Helmet's Page Hamilton and Concrete Blonde's Johnette Napolitano also appear.

"It's just a bunch of unusual things that you don't get to hear very often," Borland said. "It's like Lollapalooza '92," a reference to the inaugural lineup that paired the Chili Peppers and Ministry with Ice Cube and Pearl Jam.

Borland said the soundtrack's production was more fun and relaxed than most albums because much of it was recorded in the artists' home studios, without the intrusion of handlers and record-label execs. Works-in-progress CDs and Zip disks were taken from house to house and augmented at each stop. When someone couldn't track their parts locally, as was the case with Bowie, they e-mailed their files to Lohner. It all made for an experience that was closer to a group science project than a compilation album.

"We all kept parking behind each other," Borland laughed. "All these cars crammed into this little driveway. It was just a trip going through that every night. Everyone was helping each other out, too. Like, 'John needs you to run an errand real quick' or 'You're blocking Milla's car in, you gotta move.' It was great having no bullsh-- around. Just a bunch of people getting to know each other and hanging out. And listening to what one person was doing and going, 'Oh, I can add to that' or 'Why don't you do this?' "

The home-studio, DIY approach also explains how the project was kept under wraps for so long. It's rare that a member of a multiplatinum band can moonlight with another project without anyone reporting on it, but it actually happened when Amy Lee took the mic. The Evanescence singer was set to appear on two songs, though her contributions had to be scrapped because of record-label red tape.

"The whole thing was kept very private," Borland explained, "and not even intentionally. When we've spoken casually about it, they're like, 'Oh, I haven't heard anything about that. Weird that there's been no gossip about it.' Until now."

"Underworld" soundtrack track list, according to Lakeshore Records:
The Damning Well - "Awakening"
Puscifer f/ Maynard James Keenan, Danny Lohner - "REV 22:20"
Page Hamilton - "Throwing Punches"
Milla - "Rocket Collecting"
Renholder - "Now I Know"
David Bowie f/ Maynard James Keenan, John Frusciante - "Bring Me the Disco King (Loner Mix)"
Skinny Puppy - "Optimissed"
Renholder - "Down in the Lab"
A Perfect Circle - "Judith (Renholder Mix)"
Johnette Napolitano - "Suicide Note"
Dillinger Escape Plan - "Baby's First Coffin"
Trust Company - "Hover (Quiet Mix)"
Renholder - "Falling Through the Sky"
A Perfect Circle - "Weak and Powerless (Tilling My Grave Mix)"
Finch - "Worms of the Earth"
Lisa Germano - "From a Shell"
Renholder - "Death Dealer's Descent"
The Icarus Line - "On the Lash"
Sarah Bettens - "All of This Pass"




—Joe D'Angelo

[FH]

Living Colour will release their first album in ten years, CollideOscope, on October 8th.
"The world is a 'collideoscope,'" says Living Colour frontman Corey Glover. "Cultures clash, ideas clash. So we're colliding a lot of different things."

The set, which comes after a 1995-2000 hiatus, adds world beats and electronica to the signature hard-rock sound forged on the band's 1988 debut Vivid and 1990's Time's Up. It also features two covers: an amped-up, electro-laced version of the Beatles "Tomorrow Never Knows" and a triumphant "Back in Black."

"It's very, very cool," Glover says of the AC/DC remake. "Straight-ahead, balls-to-the-walls rock & roll. They have a great sense of humor."

The band members -- Glover, guitarist Vernon Reid, bassist Doug Wimbash and drummer Will Calhoun -- produced the record themselves. "It made it a lot easier," Glover says. "We had a really definitive idea of what we wanted to come out of this record. Our goal was to write topical things about ourselves and about the world we live in."

Sounds a lot like vintage Living Colour. "It hasn't changed much," Glover admits, "but I think we've expanded on what we were."

PJ GACH and AUGUSTIN SEDGEWICK
(August 14, 2003)

[FH]

A new Johnny Cash box set collecting more than 100 outtakes from the country legend's work over the past decade with Rick Rubin is being prepared by the celebrated producer for a possible Christmas release through American/Lost Highway.

Tentatively titled "Unearthed," the collection will most likely span five discs, four of which will be composed entirely of previously unreleased material, Rubin reveals to Billboard.com. The fifth disc would be a compilation of tracks highlighting past four Cash studio albums, each recorded and produced by Rubin for his American Recordings label.

Rubin says over the past 10 years, he and Cash have amassed roughly 150 unused songs, including many covers and duets with the likes of Nick Cave and Fiona Apple, both of whom appeared on Cash's 2002 album "American IV: The Man Comes Around."

The first three discs of "Unearthed," he says, will be composed of assorted leftovers, while the fourth disc will be an acoustic gospel album titled "My Mother's Hymn Book."

Among the songs slated for inclusion is a duet with late Clash frontman Joe Strummer on Bob Marley's "Redemption Song," which will most likely also feature guitar work by Tom Morello (Rage Against The Machine, Audioslave); a cover of Cat Stevens' "Father and Son" featuring Apple; and a take on "Cindy Cindy" that features Cave.

Of the latter, written by Ben Weisman, Buddy Kaye and Darrell Fuller and recorded by Elvis Presley, Rubin says, "It's an old song from the '50s that Nick actually suggested and Johnny knew well. I had never heard it before, but it's really good."

Cash and Rubin are also moving right along on the singer's next American album. "He's planning on coming [to Los Angeles] in September to take all the bits and pieces that we've worked on over the last two years and kind of flesh them out and finish them." Among the songs being considered for the effort is Ian & Sylvia's "Four Strong Winds" which Neil Young covered on his 1978 acoustic classic, "Comes a Time."

After the May death of his wife and longtime performance companion, June Carter Cash, the 71-year-old Cash has not only poured himself into work, but devoted the rest of his life to his music. "He kind of made a decision," Rubin says. "He called me a couple of days after June passed and said that he really has dedicated his life to work and wants to be busy all the time and focused on songs. That's what he wants to do, so that's what we're going to do [and] that's what we've been doing."

Rubin also notes that Cash, who suffers from diabetic neuropathy -- a disease of the nervous system that leaves its victims susceptible to pneumonia -- is doing well these days, physically. "He's been really getting very healthy, and walking more and kind of really seems to be doing better than he has in years."

Cash's work with Rubin essentially reignited his career in the early '90s (especially in the U.S.), thanks to the producer's stripped-back, simple approach to the material. Many of their early recordings featured only Cash's voice against his acoustic guitar work on such covers as Soundgarden's "Rusty Cage" and Beck's "Rowboat."

"He'll send me songs, I'll send him songs," Rubin says. "In Nashville, he'll put down tracks, and then we either redo them out here or sometimes I'll go to Nashville to work with him there. It's kind of a constant work-in-progress, and we're always working on something now."


-- Wes Orshoski, N.Y.