The Great Rock News Report 11.07.09: For Those About to Rock
Posted by Daniel Wilcox on 11.07.2009
Tons of Aerosmith/Tyler news, including who might replace the iconic singer. Plus news on Rush, Metallica, AC/DC, Fall Out Boy, Slash, Motorhead, Avenged Sevenfold and tons more in the latest Great Rock News Report!
Happy Saturday, people! Of course, what with it being Saturday and all, you should all be reading this with a hangover, otherwise you're just not doing it right.
The great thing about Halloween is that it's followed up almost immediately by Bonfire Night, which is just another excuse to go out and drink, as if any of us needed an excuse. While the winter means excessive rain and shorter days, it's also holiday season and while it's too early to be thinking Christmas, I have been noticing a general festive feel in the air lately.
And I have some presents for you today. And by presents, I mean news! But you love news too, right?
We've got loads on the Aerosmith/Stephen Tyler issue, plenty of news on some old school rockers and a fair bit more on top of that.
So without further ado, let's get right to it.
Steven Tyler has commented on the rumor that Aerosmith is looking to replace him as singer.
"I don't know what I'm doing yet, but it's definitely going to be something Steven Tyler: working on the brand of myself – Brand Tyler."
It has also been reported that the members of the band "will reconvene (probably sans Tyler) to discuss future plans, which could be either the announcement of a long hiatus or even possibly include carrying on with a new lead vocalist."
Guitarist Brad Whitford recently added, "if somebody was willing to do it and the chemistry was right, why not?"
Why not? Because very few people care about Aerosmith in 2009 away. Take away one of the most iconic frontmen in rock history, and even less people will care. Honestly, Aerosmith without Tyler is essentially worthless irrespective of the talents of the other members.
Joe Perry seems to know about as much as the rest of us regarding the issue.
"Steven quit as far as I can tell," Perry said. "I don't know any more than you do about it. I got off the plane two nights ago. I saw online that Steven said that he was going to leave the band. I don't know for how long, indefinitely or whatever. Other than that, I don't know."
Part of the problem, Perry said, is that Tyler doesn't return his phone calls.
"He's notorious for that. That's one thing I've learned to live with. I try to overlook it. I like to pick my battles. Frankly, the last few months I've been wanting not to rock the boat. I don't want him canceling any more gigs. We really wanted to do these last four. We just kind of didn't want to call him out or anything and get him anymore pissed off, for whatever reason. So we just let things lie. So we did the gigs and, like I said, I got off the plane and saw this online. That's how I know about it."
"As far as replacing Steve, it's not just about that, it's also four guys that play extremely well together, and I'm not going to see that go to waste. I really don't know what path it's going to take at this point, but we'll probably find somebody else that will sing in those spots where we need a singer and then we'll be able to move the Aerosmith up a notch, move the vibe up a notch."
So let's have a little fun with this. Who should Aerosmith get in to replace Tyler? Here's a few ideas.
5. Mick Jagger – Because Tyler always wanted to be him anyway, and The Rolling Stones don't have another farewell tour on the horizon that I'm aware of.
Oh, but wait! Breaking news…
Ron Wood hinted that the Rolling Stones are gearing up for their first road trek in three years, telling BBC 6 Music, "It's all very good. I saw Mick (Jagger) and Charlie (Watts) last week. Everything is great."
When asked about the rumored tour, Wood added that he was confident that the Stones will be out on the road in 2010, adding, "Let's hope so, yeah!"
Couldn't even make that shit up. I legitimately stumbled across that news item minutes after writing the bit about Jagger. The band is also rumored to be playing Glastonbury next year, but then again so are Led Zeppelin. Anyway, back to the list…
4. Courtney Love – Yeah, I have no real reason as to why this might be a good idea, other than the fact that two have distinctive lack of facial movement for whatever reason, and both are a bit of a train wreck.
3. Jack White – Because with The Raconteurs, White Stripes, Dead Weather, movies and more, Jack White clearly doesn't have enough work on his hands at the moment. Trying to hold Aerosmith together may just put him over the edge though.
2. Robert Plant – I don't know if this one would be a good match, it'd just be pretty funny for the other Zeppelin guys trying to get him to come on tour if Plant randomly joined up with another band. If not Aerosmith, Velvet Revolver are still looking for a singer, right?
1. Myles Kennedy – OK, so this is my only somewhat serious suggestion. Alter Bridge are having trouble with their label right now, but more importantly, the Creed comeback album did better than expected despite the low-key comeback, and there's already another tour and album in the works for next year. So what's Kennedy going to do, wait around for that to finish? If the other guys are making more money with Creed, why would they want to go back? It'd be a real shame to see the extraordinary vocal prowess of Kennedy go wasted, and I reckon he could do some amazing things with some of Aerosmith's songs. I'd pay good money to see this guy belting out "I Don't Wanna Miss a Thing."
Speaking of great talent, with the speculation about special guests continuing in earnest, Slash revealed this week that the one artist he couldn't pin down to play on his forthcoming solo album was The White Stripes/Raconteurs/Dead Weather star Jack White.
Slash's eponymous solo album will be released early in 2010 on Roadrunner.
Slash revealed: "I wanted to get Jack White to sing on something, but he didn't want to sing. He said I'll play drums, I'll play guitar, but I don't wanna sing. He was one guy that I wanted to work with. Pretty much everyone else that I went after I managed to get."
In some disappointing news, Rush mainman and drummer Neil Peart is open to suggestions when it comes to what the band should do next - but he's not convinced it'll be another album. He says the Canadian three-piece have taken time apart after releasing then touring 2007's Snakes & Arrows, and the industry has changed since then. For that reason, there could be no call for another Rush LP.
Peart explains: "These are parlous times in the music business so our time-honoured pattern of touring, recording and touring is no longer the obvious way to do things."
"It's very different now, even since 2006 when we began work on Snakes & Arrows. The importance of the album is not what it was. There's a reversion to a musical climate rather like the 1950s, when only the song matters."
"In any case, there are enough possibilities for the future. I'm curious to see what we'll come up with. We need consensus, not democracy - it's no good having one member in a three-piece band outvoted and unhappy."
Metallica will release another new DVD featuring footage from the band's Canadian performances in Quebec City, Quebec (October 31 and November 1) and Ottawa, Ontario (November 3). Not that anyone bought the last one. No word on a release date.
Motörhead are going to start work on their new album in February. Frontman Lemmy has revealed he wants to die on stage rather than retire from the rock ‘n' roll lifestyle.
"That would mean completely giving up everything that makes life worth living," the 63-year-old recently revealed. "I don't want to hang around with tubes up my nose."
I love Lemmy and Motorhead, and implore them to just keep rocking the fuck out. Motorizer was probably their best album in at least a decade so I'm really looking forward to their next one.
Moving on to a somewhat less iconic front man, Pete Wentz has once again commented on the future of Fall Out Boy, and more specifically whether they're on a hiatus, splitting up, or just fucking around.
"People want an answer of when we'll be back, and I think it's impossible…it's unfair to say when we'll do Fall Out Boy again. It's hard to be creative. You just feel compressed all the time. We just want to let ourselves decompress."
So they're just fucking around then. With recent albums by similar bands such as All Time Low, Cobra Starship, Panic at the Disco and Paramore charting significantly higher than Fall Out Boy's last ever, I wouldn't be surprised if the band hangs back long enough for people to lose interest in these bands before making a big return.
Avenged Sevenfold have posted a lengthy update on their current status;
"It has been awhile since we have shed light on our current doings. We have been focused on only one thing, writing and preparing to record what to me is our most personal and epic Avenged Sevenfold album. The reason is the fact that everything happening around us in the entire world might be a once in a life time source of inspiration and direction."
"We have been harnessing every aspect of what makes A7X truly unrelenting and building off of that. I don't think we sleep too much anymore because of the excitement we feel while writing this album.We are also in the final stages of solidifying our production team, studios and engineers so that the second the axe falls and the album is written we will spend day and night in the studio until it is complete."
Fucked Up are going to re-record the classic charity single 'Do They Know It's Christmas?'.
Using the $20,000 they got from winning the Polaris Prize, the Canadian band are going to release the single featuring a host of artists.
"[We already have] David Cross, members of Vampire Weekend, TV On The Radio, Broken Social Scene, the GZA, Bob Mould, No Age, and Yo La Tengo all confirmed." Frontman Pink Eyes revealed.
"I'm still waiting on confirmation from Feist, Jarvis Cocker and MIA. We wanted the biggest people we could get. If we could get a Jonas Brother on this, I would get a Jonas Brother."
Now that's a shitload of talented artists. I'm not usually a big fan of Christmas covers, but this could be pretty decent and worth a listen.
Nonpoint will be releasing Cut The Chord, an acoustic digital EP on December 8th via their own 954 Records in partnership with Rocket Science Ventures / RED / Sony. The five song EP features acoustic renditions of;
1. What a Day
2. Circles
3. Rabia
4. Victim
5. You Signs
NYC hardcore band Sick Of It All is currently recording their next full-length album. The group is at Antfarm Studios in Denmark with producer Tue Madsen (Behemoth, Earth Crisis) tracking the effort, which is expected to surface in early-2010. A record label has yet to be officially announced.
And finally, AC/DC have long been a band that resists change - and it's worked out well for them. Until now. A group of devout fans are demanding that AC/DC change its setlist. Apparently, the Black Ice tour has featured the same songs in the same order since it began on 28 October 2008.
An extract from an open letter to the band reads;
"As the greatest band on Earth, we think it is a travesty that you are not playing songs that are dear to yourselves and your long term loyal fans - the songs from albums that critics wrote off, but which we both know are some of the finest from your back catalog."
For those interested, here's the band's setlist;
Rock N Roll Train
Hell Ain't A Bad Place To Be
Back In Black
Big Jack
Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap
Thunderstruck
Black Ice
The Jack
Hells Bells
Shoot To Thrill
War Machine
Anything Goes
You Shook Me All Night Long
TNT
Whole Lotta Rosie
Let There Be Rock
Highway To Hell For
Those About To Rock
Random video interlude!
This Week's Reviews
As always I've been keeping myself busy by churning out a bunch of reviews around the site. Here's what I've been reviewing, complete with a brief quote to sum up the record.
Soil – Picture Perfect [4.0]: "With a whole host of filler and uninspired ballads, this is a record that will end up just like Soil in 2009: forgotten."
Creed – Full Circle [7.5]: "While not groundbreaking or that stunning, it's a record that has no frills, dabbles in grunge and nu metal, but predominantly just rocks hard and fast."
Epica – Design Your Universe [9.0]: "Epica has branched out somewhat and produced an album that is as enchanting as it is heavy, and supersedes any and all expectations."
Alexandra Burke – Overcome [6.5]: "While Overcome is a well-polished and efficient debut album with numerous tasty pop nuggets, Burke simply does not fit the mould of established R&B queens."
Foo Fighters – Greatest Hits [8.0]: "Ultimately it's just a collection of songs we're all greatly familiar with."
Carrie Underwood [6.0]: "Hrmless and inoffensive, featuring some fairly fun country-pop tracks with enjoyable vocals and at times, great hooks and melodies."
Orianthi – Believe [8.0]: "A tremendous showcase of a young girl's talents, and hopefully from here her star will continue to rise."
Weezer – Raditude [2.5]: "Unless you want your fond memories of mid-nineties Weezer erased forever, I'd avoid this at all costs."
This forthcoming week should see me have reviews up by the likes of Bon Jovi, Robbie Williams, Biffy Clyro, Within Temptation, JLS, Flyleaf and more, so be on the look out for those. I'll be back here next week, but until then, enjoy the weekend and keep rocking!
