#loudersound

[cultofpoppy-tm]

"Negative Spaces is one of the catchiest, most consistent records of 2024." Poppy has gone and made a full-on arena metal album, and it absolutely bangs | Louder

[dickinson-devotee]

“I’ve grown up with it for 30 years. It’s always been there,” he says, growing emphatic. “I don’t remember not being in Iron Maiden. People go, ‘What a bizarre life you must lead’, but I put it all in a balloon. At the end of the tour it goes pop and I leave it all behind…” You’re saying you aren’t the man you are onstage. “No,” he says, the warmth leaving his visage, his stare suggesting the weight and pain of experience. “You can’t do that. You lose the plot. There were times earlier on when you’re sort of fantasising about ‘Wouldn’t it be great to be a rock star?’ You’re 16, you read about guys in magazines, but it’s a complete loss of all sense of reality that goes on. ‘Here’s the keys to the Ferrari, an unlimited supply of drink and shitloads of women.’ From a distance it looks like everybody’s dream, but as much as you believe all these people are consenting adults sleeping and drinking with you because you’re such a great guy, it’s difficult to find anybody that actually thinks about you as an individual. Suddenly you go from being the life and the soul of the party to being the loneliest guy in the most amazing orgy in the world. It’s like, where the fuck do I belong? Believe it or not I saw Barry Manilow being interviewed and he was talking about his asshole years, and I went ‘I’ve been there!’ I knew exactly what he was talking about.”

[dust-n-roses]

love how my music news website is more liberal than the actual national news…

[mymanreedus]

So how did Norman Reedus end up joining you onstage?

A couple of weeks ago we went to see AC/DC in New York and met Norm there. Long story short, Scott [Ian, Anthrax guitarist] is friends with Greg Nicotero, the show’s director, and the band was invited to come and check out the set when we played in Atlanta. They gave us such a wonderful tour of the place that we forgot we had a show in the evening.

Really? It was that good?!

[Laughs] We were so enthralled by what was going on there, none of us wanted to leave. We’re all huge fans of the show and the cast and crew were so good to us, we were treated like gold. So we invited everybody to that night’s show, and Greg and Norm both came. Norm stood right at the side of the stage by me, which was very cool. I wanted to pay him back for such a great day and told him, ‘Dude – last song of the night, you’re coming out here’. He took some persuading but eventually said, ‘Fuck yeah’. I handed him my back-up bass and, well… the YouTube’s out there, everybody saw what happened.

It looks like the place went bananas.

Yeah, the energy was incredible. What a buzz for everyone that saw it.

Did you already know that Norman could play the bass? Has he been in bands before?

No, that’s the funny thing. He said, ‘I can’t play!’ so I replied, ‘Just follow me!’

And nobody twigged?

No! Everyone’s talking about Norm playing with us, but he doesn’t even play. But now he says he wants to learn and form his own band. I’ll help him out with that if I can because he lives in New York.

Frank Bello interviewed by loudersound

[kaddyssammlung]

Is there a deeper meaning to this whole “our identities are unimportant” thing?!

Let’s start with one of those rare quotes that we have (taken from Loudersound)

“Our identities are unimportant. Music is marketed on who is or isn’t in a band; it’s pushed. prodded and moulded into something it isn’t.”

In my opinion this has something to do with our Ego. At least that is what I read into this.

In my understanding we have two different forms of “I”.

There is a "deeper I" and "the surface I".

The surface I is what most humans think they are. “The first is what I sometimes call the “surface I”—the person with a past and a future. This is your historical identity, which is relatively fragile because the past and future only exist as thought forms or concepts in the mind. Most people on the planet are completely identified with the “surface I.” (source)

In other words those are those typical boxes most humans think about themselves or others. To give you an example from my life: I am a lesbian but not really attached to this. You will never hear me say things: “ I neeeeeeeeed to do this because I am a lesbian” which would hint on a total identification with that concepts. To me these boxes that we put humans in are just mental concepts.  

That surface I is also kind of what Vessel hints on by saying that Music is marketed a certain way. It is seen as a brand actually. Every artist is its own brand with its unique selling point. Sleep Token’s unique selling point could be that nobody knows who they are. Or is it?

Let’s continue with Eckhart because he knows and also I trust him.

He explains our deeper I as: “The second dimension to who you are is what I like to call the “Deep I.” The most vital realization in your lifetime is to see that in addition to being a historical person or a “surface I,” you are more fundamentally the “Deep I.” This realization frees you from looking only to the “surface I” for your ultimate sense of identity—where it can never be found. It frees you from the frustrating sense that there’s always something missing or not quite right in life.” (source)

I never thought about not seeing someone’s face or seeing someone’s face and therefore only interacting with them on a surface level or their surface I. Vessel gets out of the way so we can see his deeper I.

If you are wondering why I am writing this….I had this thought this morning that maybe you could say that Vessel wants us to connect with his deeper I rather than with his surface I.

I feel like everything means something what he does. As if there was an extra layer to it. I kept thinking about what this layer could be and then this morning while I was meditating it hit me “think about Eckhart Tolle and what he would say.” Here we are.

Since I was already reading through some articles by Eckhart Tolle, I also found this and really liked it. It’s about music or art that comes from a deep place of consciousness

“When you ask, “Can art or music inform the ego of Presence?” – the ego doesn’t know anything about Presence, so it can’t do that. There needs to be some opening in the ego in order for you to be receptive to the power that is latent in music or art, that was created from that deep place. There’s a lot of music and art that’s not necessarily created from that deep place, but the ego is trying to be clever. Let’s talk about some piece of music or work of art that comes out of connectedness with Stillness, or Presence. To some extent, the work of art or the piece of music still carries that energy field. It can put a person in touch with the deeper dimension within. A there’s a little bit of an opening is required. If there’s only the density of the ego, then the transformational possibilities of art or music are not realized. A little opening is required in the viewer, or the listener, and then it can be quite a wonderful thing to listen to music or to contemplate a work of art. You can be transported, if only for a moment, into that alert stillness out of which it originally came. That’s a beautiful thing.” (source)

This is something that even I feel more and more. Whenever I play or sing and it’s coming from a deep place within me I can feel my spine being activated. Everything starts to feel warm and nice in some way. It’s hard to explain. As if my doing is supported by something higher, something divine. As if it speaks through me in a way. Coming back to the part about the unique selling point. I don’t think this is just a marketing scheme what they are doing. To me this is for us to connect with them on a deeper level.

[notafraidofredyellowandblue]

Loudersound interview with Schneider, 2020

[friendshapedplant]

[ID: Three screenshots. The first is the heading of an article for The Independent titled, "System of a Down's Serj Tankian says he doesn't 'respect Imagine Dragons as human beings' after A..." The latter two are parts of the above linked LouderSound article. They read as follows:

Screenshot one:

Last summer, while on a family holiday, System Of A Down vocalist Serj Tankian took the time to write a "kind" personal letter to Las Vegas pop-rock stars Imagine Dragons asking them to reconsider playing a show in Baku, Azerbaijan which he argued could be viewed as an endorsement of the country's authoritarian President Ilham Aliyev, stating that to proceed with the gig at Baku Olympic Stadium "would help whitewash the dictatorial regime’s image."

Ahead of the band's scheduled September 2 gig in the Azerbaijan capital, Tankian drew attention to an AP news report highlighting a warning from a former chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court that Azerbaijan was preparing genocide against ethnic Armenians in its Nagorno-Karabakh region.

"I really feel that performing in Azerbaijan would have a negative impact on your brand as well," the singer's letter cautioned. "I’m confident that you can decipher all the facts for yourselves to decide whether to cancel your concert."

Screenshot two:

Despite these pleas, the Imagine Dragons gig went ahead as planned.

Speaking with Metal Hammer, Serj Tankian admits that he was frustrated, disappointed and angry about Imagine Dragon's decision to ignore all entreaties on the issue. "I don't know these guys, but who are these people?" he says. "I don't understand that type of thinking."

"Very close thereafter, Azerbaijan attacked the people of Nagorno-Karabakh and 120,000 people left their historical homes," he states.

"Look, I'm not a judge for people to tell bands where to play, or where not to play," he says. "You have other artists playing in very questionable kingdoms, run by one person, where people don't have a lot of human rights, and I get that they're doing it for money, that they're artists, that they're entertaining, all of that. But when there's a government that's about to commit ethnic cleansing, when Azerbaijan was starving the 120,000 Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh, and not allowing any food or medicine in… you know, as an artist, if I found that out, there is no fucking way I could have gone and played that show. But some artists do. And I don't know what to say about those artists. I don't respect them as human beings. Fuck their art, they're not good human beings, as far as I'm concerned."

/End ID.]

Say no more, King.

[dotwpod]

(349) DotW Featuring 'Drowning In Blood' and 'Orion'

Disciples!! Nate and I are back at it - catching up, talkin' buyin' music, and the usual shenanigans. We have music from Drowning In Blood and Orion for this episode, and we're wrapping this episode with a Loudersound's list!

Disciples!!Nate and I are back at it – catching up, talkin’ buyin’ music, and the usual shenanigans. We have music from Drowning In Blood and Orion for this episode, and we’re wrapping this episode with Loudersound’s list of the ‘Top 10 thrash Albums NOT from the Big 4!’ \m/ What’s Nate been listening to? Artist: Peter ToshAlbum: Equal RightsSong: Downpressor…

[edc-blog]

“He's never done a band like us; he’s done a lot of heavy metal. But I thought the two could mix": How AC/DC's producer and synthesisers reinvented The Cars

© Mirrorpix via Getty Images (via LouderSound) “I always wanted our songs to pop and kick,” The Cars’ Ric Ocasek told me in 2005. And on the band’s fifth album, Heartbeat City, they did just that.  You might think of the pop in Pop Art terms: bold colours, sleek lines; bang-vroom choruses, the kick of a lyrical subversion that sneaks up on you, hinting at fragile mental states, with elliptical…

[savage-kult-of-gorthaur]

FOR YOUR MOTÖRHEAD MONDAY -- DID YOU REMEMBER TO KEEP YOUR TOUR PROGRAM IN '82?

PIC(S) INFO: Spotlight on an original MOTÖRHEAD Tour Program for the band's "Iron Fist Tour," and featuring the band's classic lineup of Lemmy Kilmister, "Fast" Eddie Clarke and "Philthy Animal" Taylor. It was to be their last. The international tour of the album started on 3-17-1982 and would finish on 11-24-1982.

"As guitarist "Fast" Eddie Clarke told me: "Iron Fist" was the toughest because we were getting low on ideas and things were getting strained.” 

Drummer Phil "Philthy Animal" Taylor was particularly affected by the onrush of fame, Eddie claimed.

“Lemmy was not himself, either�� Indeed, Lemmy had begun to delight his ego just a tad too much of late. Playing the biggest show of their career so far, headlining a six-band line-up billed as the Heavy Metal Barndance at Bingley Hall in Stafford, in 1981, Lemmy collapsed halfway through; the rest of the show was cancelled. 

“Lemmy’s been up for three days drinking vodka,” said a still pissed-off Clarke. “He’s been fucking chicks all day and we’ve got twelve thousand kids crammed waiting for us. All day people have been offering me lines of coke, and I’ve only had one fucking Heineken because I want to be together for this show. 

"Fifty-five minutes into the set, Lemmy disappears backwards, collapses on the stage. Me and Phil are furious. "You let us down, you cunt!" And he’s saying: "Me being up for three nights has nothing to do with it." Of course not!""

-- LOUDERSOUND/CLASSIC ROCK, "By the time Motörhead made "Iron Fist" they hated each other, and it showed," by Muck Wall, published December 6, 2022

Sources: www.sturgisantiques.com/items/motorhead-tour-program-for-iron-fist-tour-printed-by-ballantine-uk-1982-classic-line-up#gsc.tab=0 & www.loudersound.com/features/by-the-time-motorhead-made-iron-fist-they-hated-each-other-and-it-showed.

[dickinson-devotee]

Iron Maiden: the story of the A Matter Of Life And Death Album

In some ways, the new album is connected to The Number Of The Beast. When the latter hit in 1982, it was the band’s third record. Now, A Matter Of Life And Death is the third one for the current line-up: Harris, Dickinson, McBrain, guitarists Dave Murray, Adrian Smith and Janick Gers… or is that reading far too much into the situation?

“The ‘difficult’ third album, eh?” smiles the singer. “Maybe there’s something to that. I believe we’ve made a huge leap forward this time. This is our Radiohead moment! Everyone was up for pushing things as far as they’d go, but the record was so easy to make. Kevin Shirley did an amazing job as producer – so good that Steve [Harris] as a co-producer was as much hands-off as hands-on this time. I’m so proud of the guys’ playing – it’s brilliant. And I didn’t do too badly for a part-time singer!"

[dust-n-roses]

obsessed with how casually loudersound’s articles are written

[eddieswh0r]

Will we ever hear Eddie’s band, Corroded Coffin?

“We’re working on an EP… Joking! I’m joking!”

It’s not that ridiculous – Dave Grohl did it with Dream Widow this year…

“Maybe I should email him – ‘Would you write the music for Corroded Coffin please?’”

How would they sound?

“Oh, thrash! Proper, old-school thrash – really fast, really evil.”

——————————————————————————

[fuckyeahvanhalen86-95]

Former Van Halen frontman David Lee Roth has released a new single, and it's an affectionate look back at his time with the band.

Called Nothing Could Have Stopped Us Back Then Anyway, the single's YouTube thumbnail is a picture of the original Van Halen line-up, while the song itself – a wistful affair with a touch of Crosby, Stills & Nash about it – features lyrics that relate to Roth's time with the band.

Highlights include, "We laughed, we cried, we threw the television off that balcony. That memory means so much to me", "Remember when you safety pinned the tablecloth to my pants" and "Kicked out the restaurant to make the night complete, six pack and a happy meal on a park bench down the street."

The song comes from acoustic sessions Roth recorded with guitarist John 5 in 2007, alongside Skyscraper-era Roth band drummer Gregg Bissonette and keyboardist Brett Tuggle. Later, John told Guitar World that the sessions had resulted in an album's worth of material.

"Dave and I have about 12 or 13 songs in the can for a future record," John 5 said. "And it’s all acoustic. But not strummy, campfire stuff – I’m talking lots of cool, crazy jazz chords, and 50 or 60 overdubbed guitar tracks, with all this harmonising and other weird stuff going on. Dave’s vocals are incredible. He sings his ass off."

Other songs to have emerged from the sessions include Somewhere Over The Rainbow Bar and Grill, which Roth released in 2020, and Giddy-Up, which came out in May last year, but it's Nothing Could Have Stopped Us Back Then Anyway that excites John 5.

"It’s unbelievable," he told al.com last year. "Being a Van Halen fan and a Dave Lee Roth fan, it’s unbelievable because it’s about Dave singing about Van Halen and what it was like. Really something special, so I really hope that comes out."

[notafraidofredyellowandblue]

There's an interview out there somewhere where Richard says that he got in trouble with Stasi before the incident that lead to him leaving, for playing without a license (?) I think. Essentially he says that when that happened he was given the choice of either becoming an informant or being arrested, and they gave him a week to make his choice, which he then spent telling everyone about this so that the Stasi would see that he can't keep his mouth shut and would therefore be unreliable, and dropped it. His plan worked and he seems appropriately proud of it when he talks about it. (Although that probably only made things worse for him the second time they got him...)

For this i can provide a link to this interview by Loudersound

When he talks about his early years, it sounds utterly alien: training to be a chef after school, he had jobs as a driver (until he crashed), a window-cleaner (until he discovered he didn’t like heights) and a jeweller – the latter until the East German secret police tried to recruit him as an informer. “One of our friends escaped and the Stasi picked me,” he recalls. “This guy said: ‘You have two choices. You can help us or you can go to jail.’ It was unbelievable, the guy knew everything about me. He said we had to work together to make the government a better place – he would meet me in one week and I would decide what to do. I thought, ‘I can’t be a rat…’ The rumour was that one in every three people was an informer, so I went around telling everyone about what happened, figuring they’d realise I talked too much and that I wasn’t usable. One week later, the guy never showed up.”

but right in the next sentence there's an error (i think) ststing that he fled in 1988, when in other sources it was early 1989...which goes to show how difficukt it is to have all details right...

Maybe Richard should think of writing that autobiography 😄

[nussywire]

ABSOLUTE LEGEND