Hard Rock
Chino Moreno’s ✞✞✞ (Crosses) Cover “The Beginning of the End”, First New Track in Six Years: Stream
Deftones singer Chino Moreno has resurrected ✞✞✞ (Crosses) and released the first new track from the project in six years. It comes in the form of a cover of Cause & Effect’s “The Beginning of the End”. Crosses unleashed their self-titled debut album in 2014, but hasn’t released any new music or performed any shows since that year. The band’s lineup is comprised of Moreno, guitarist Shaun Lopez, and bassist Chuck Doom, although a press release for the new single only mentions Moreno and Lopez. For Crosses’ return, Moreno turned to a song by fellow Sacramento act Cause & Effect, an electropop band who released their self-titled debut album in 1990. “The Beginning of the End” is a track from that first LP, and it gives off some very strong Depeche Mode vibes. Crosses’ version do...
Slash Eyes 2021 Release for New Guns N’ Roses Music
Slash, photo by Antonio Marino Jr. Slash is expecting that 2021 will be a fruitful year for Guns N’ Roses and his band with Myles Kennedy, with hopes to release new music from both acts. In a new interview, the guitarist said he’s recently been working with bassist Duff McKagan on the highly anticipated new GN’R album. He’s also got 20 songs ready to go for an upcoming LP from Slash Featuring Myles Kennedy and the Conspirators. “We did a week of initial pre-production [on the new Conspirators album] and there’s 20 songs and we’re gonna start back up next year,” Slash told Cleveland.com. “I spent a lot of time writing and demoing that stuff. And prior to that, Duff [McKagan] and I did some jamming and we also worked on the Guns record, and I’ve had a couple of ancillary recordings and jams ...
10 Times Lemmy Was the Coolest Man on Earth
While the rock world will never forget the legendary Lemmy Kilmister, late December is an especially poignant time to commemorate his legacy. This year, December 24th marks what would have been the late Motörhead frontman’s 75th birthday, while December 28th marks five years since the passing of one of rock’s all-time great icons. Few rockers were as instantly memorable and recognizable as Lemmy. Whether it be his lifestyle (pushing life to the max via his party-hearty ways), his looks (long hair, facial hair, and signature facial moles), or his music (penning dozens of headbanging classics that have influenced countless other artists, and have only improved with age), there will never be another gentleman like Ian Fraser Kilmister. So, what better way to celebrate the life of the late, gr...
R.I.P. Leslie West, Legendary Mountain Frontman Dies at 75
Leslie West, the legendary singer-guitarist of pioneering hard-rock band Mountain, has passed away at the age of 75. His death was confirmed by Dean Guitars. “With a heavy heart, we are saddened to hear about the passing of #Dean Artist and part of the Dean family, Leslie West. Legendary and one of a kind. Rest In Peace,” read a tweet from the guitar company. According to Rolling Stone, West suffered a cardiac arrest at his home near Daytona, Florida, and never regained consciousness. West was born Leslie Weinstein in New York City on October 22nd, 1945. He originally formed Mountain in 1969, with the band breaking up and regrouping on various occasions over the past 50 years. Mountain released several albums throughout the decades, beginning with their 1970 debut, Climbing! That LP yielde...
King Crimson’s Robert Fripp and Wife Toyah Perform Eccentric Covers of Nirvana, Alice Cooper, GN’R, and Sex Pistols: Watch
King Crimson’s Robert Fripp and his singer wife, Toyah Willcox, have stayed busy in recent weeks with eccentric interpretations of classic heavy songs by Nirvana, Alice Cooper, Guns N’ Roses, and Sex Pistols. They’re the latest additions to the couple’s “Sunday Lunch” pandemic performance series. You may remember the couple’s utterly bizarre Halloween rendition of Black Sabbath’s “Paranoid”, which saw Fripp playing the song on guitar while Willcox sang and danced in what appeared to be a prison cell. Although the new covers aren’t quite as unconventional as the Sabbath performance, they still showcase the idiosyncratic talents of each artist. Fripp tends to handle most of the music, while Willcox sings and supplies interpretative dances, including a one-person mosh for Nirvana’s “Smells Li...
Nickelback Hilariously Spoof Own “Photograph” Video for Google Photos Commercial: Watch
Nickelback have long been one of rock’s most parodied acts, but the latest mockery of the band comes courtesy of Nickelback themselves. The Canadian rockers have hilariously spoofed their own “Photograph” video in a new commercial for Google Photos. The multiplatinum group’s 2005 music video has been the inspiration for countless memes and even a Donald Trump tweet that was eventually blocked by the band over copyright issues. The image of frontman Chad Kroeger holding up a picture frame, with the words “Look at this photograph”, provides a blank slate for endless fun. In the Google commercial, Nickelback are poking fun at the original song and video with newly written lyrics that even dare make fun of Chad Kroeger’s signature curly locks: “Falling down the photo rabbit hole/ Is it my hair...
Trent Reznor on Approach to Adding Nine Inch Nails Members to Rock Hall Induction: “Make This F**king Happen”
Last month, Nine Inch Nails were officially inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Initially, Trent Reznor was set to be the only member enshrined, but the NIN mastermind saw to it that other members of the industrial band were inducted, as well. Nine Inch Nails were announced as part of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame class of 2020 back in January, with an induction ceremony originally set for May in Cleveland. The ceremony was eventually canceled due to the pandemic, and the 2020 inductees were instead honored with a November television special on HBO. In September, it was revealed that six current and former members of Nine Inch Nails — Atticus Ross, Robin Finck, Chris Vrenna, Danny Lohner, Ilan Rubin, and Alessandro Cortini — would be added to the Rock Hall induction al...
Steel Panther Just Performed Three Concerts at Packed Venues in Florida: Watch
Steel Panther in St. Petersburg, Florida, via YouTube Despite a nationwide surge in COVID-19 cases over the past several weeks, Steel Panther performed three headlining concerts to packed crowds in Florida over the past few days. According to video footage and photographs, most of the audience members were not wearing masks or practicing social distancing. The hair-metal parody act was joined on the bill by Southern rockers Black Stone Cherry in Orlando on Thursday (December 17th); St. Petersburg on Friday (December 18th); and Fort Myers on Saturday (December 19th). As MetalSucks reports, the shows were packed with maskless people, and looked very much like pre-pandemic concerts. While the venues posted messages stating that they would require temperature checks, masks (when people were no...
Older Gentleman Delivers Amazing Cover of Slipknot’s “Snuff”: Watch
YouTube singer-songwriter Frank Watkinson might seem like an unlikely Slipknot fan for his age. Yet, his thoughtful cover of the band’s 2008 track “Snuff” proves that Watkinson knows at least one of the band’s songs to its core. The already slow track is rendered even more emotionally direct through the simple combo of Watkinson’s powerful voice and an acoustic guitar. Sitting in his living room, he delivers a rendition worthy of an actual concert audience. The clip originates from August but made the rounds over the past couple days (via Metal Injection). While the original track is a ballad by Slipknot standards, Watkinson strips the song even further to its bare chords and sentiment, harnessing a simplicity that genuinely conveys the song’s intended message and atmosphere. Watkinson’s c...
Creed Singer Scott Stapp to Play Frank Sinatra in Ronald Reagan Biopic
Scott Stapp (via “My Sacrifice” video), Frank Sinatra (via Nothing But the Best album cover) We’ve been inundated with some unforeseeable headlines in 2020, and here’s one more before the year ends: Creed singer Scott Stapp is playing Frank Sinatra in an upcoming biopic on Ronald Reagan. Yes, the rock vocalist is portraying the legendary crooner in the movie Reagan, starring Dennis Quaid as the 40th president of the United States. Stapp already filmed the role, telling Billboard, “Sinatra in performance mode was an exercise in restraint. He had this steely, stylish swagger and his sheer presence commanded a room. I was excited to join the cast and blown away by the on-set attention to detail, style, and overall production.” His performance as Sinatra comes during a scene in whi...
Slash on Eddie Van Halen: “Any Instrument He Had Chosen to Play Would Have Been Phenomenal”
There have been countless tributes to the great Eddie Van Halen since his passing on October 6th. One of the millions of fans mourning his death is fellow guitar legend Slash. Van Halen released their groundbreaking self-titled debut in 1978, and by the time Guns N’ Roses formed in 1985, one can easily argue that Van Halen were the biggest hard-rock band on the planet — until GN’R took that title with their own masterful debut, Appetite for Destruction. We recently caught up with Slash to discuss the new Guns N’ Roses pinball machines, as well as his new custom collection with Gibson Guitars. While speaking with the GN’R axeman, we asked him for his thoughts on Eddie Van Halen, specifically what it was about the Van Halen legend’s playing that made him such an iconic guitarist. Slash graci...
Led Zeppelin’s Jimmy Page Urges Streaming Companies to Pay Musicians Fairly
Jimmy Page is using his status as a rock icon and a knighted Order of the British Empire to urge streaming companies to fairly compensate musicians. The legendary Led Zeppelin guitarist penned an open letter on his Instagram account in response to a recent inquiry into streaming services by the UK’s Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee. Among the items the committee is reviewing is the business model employed by Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, Google and other streaming services, especially when it comes to artist royalties. Page shared the following letter on his Instagram page: “Having recently viewed the Select Committee for Music Streaming on 24 November 2020 I feel compelled to write this letter. I fully appreciate the dilemma surrounding streaming royalties that should be ...
