Rick Rubin Speaks On The New Metallica Album

In a brand new article published in this past weekend's edition of the New York Times magazine, co-head of Columbia Records Rick Rubin spoke about his work as a producer for such bands as METALLICA, LINKIN PARK and RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS.

Whenever he agrees to produce an album, Rubin scrutinizes the songs before going into the studio. Rubin works slowly — it can take him years to finish an album. "A lot of that is because of the songs," Rubin explained. "I try to get the artist to feel like they are writing songs for the ages rather than songs for an album. As they write, they come over and play the songs for me. For some reason, most people will write 10 songs and think, That's enough for a record, I'm done. When they play the songs for me, invariably the last two songs they've written are the best. I'll then say, 'You have two songs, go back and write eight more.' "

His responses are instant, specific and constructively definitive. In the early METALLICA sessions, Rubin has been exacting about different drum sounds. "Lars" — Ulrich, the drummer — "will play two things for me, and I'll say, 'This one is great and that one is terrible,' " Rubin recalled. "Lars will say: 'How do you know? They both sound good to me.' Well, I just know. The right sound reaches its hand out and finds its way. So much of what I do is just being present and listening for that right sound."

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"High School" Tribute To Metallica Due In April

High School Tributes — the production of high school La Frontalière, located in Coaticook, Québec, Canada — has announced the tentative track listing for its upcoming METALLICA tribute album, "Teach 'Em All - A High-School Tribute To Metallica". It is as follows:

01. Seek & Destroy
02. Creeping Death
03. For Whom The Bell Tolls
04. Master Of Puppets
05. The Thing That Should Not Be
06. Welcome Home (Sanitarium)
07. Eye Of The Beholder
08. Enter Sandman
09. Sad But True
10. I Disappear
11. Am I Evil? (originally performed by DIAMOND HEAD)

"Teach 'Em All - A High-School Tribute To Metallica" will be released in April 2008.

High School Tributes previously released two tribute CDs to KISS, "Christine Sixteen: A High-School Tribute To Kiss" and "Christine Sixteen 2: Another High-School Tribute To Kiss".

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Just For Fun

The 10 Weakest Songs by Badass Bands

"When Badasses Go Soft: The 10 Weakest Songs by Badass Bands" is a recent feature on Cracked.com detailing their list of some of the biggest cases of hard andheavy bands wussing out. Metal is of course well-represented on the list with the following spots:

#10. "Until It Sleeps" - Metallica
#8. "All of My Love" - Led Zeppelin
#6. "Mama, I'm Coming Home" - Ozzy Osborne
#4. "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing" - Aerosmith

You have to read the original article to get the complete details.

Read the full article at Cracked.com.

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Metallica Album Will Not Include Previous Songs

Last year, METALLICA performed two new tracks live in concert that have become known as "The New Song" and "The Other New Song". Earlier this year, bassist Robert Trujillo said in an interview that neither of those cuts was going to be included on the next studio album, but that parts of one of them might be reworked into other songs. Then METALLICA surprised the audience at their show in Bilbao, Spain on June 29, 2007 when they once again performed "The Other New Song".

Sweden's Close-Up magazine caught up with Trujillo in Stockholm, Sweden on July 12, 2007 and asked him: Will "The Other New Song" be on METALLICA's next album? "Well, I don't think so and the reason is we didn't record it!" laughed Trujillo. "We call the song we played the other night 'Vulturus'. I don't know if that's gonna be the official title of the song in the future. We enjoy playing that song, it's kind of a MISFITS-y kind of a jam. We had been rehearsing it in San Francisco and having a lot of fun playing it.

"I don't think we played it so well the other night [laughs]. It was horrible actually, it was really bad. We played it last year in Japan a couple of times and it went over really well there. I think this last time we played it we hadn't played it since we rehearsed in San Francisco. So it had been a couple of weeks and all of a sudden it's, 'Let's play this song,' and it’s like 'Wait, how does it go?'

"'Vulturus' exists kind of as a live song 'cause we've already played it. The other song that we used to do was a bit of an experiment. We thought it would sound good live and we had fun playing it live. We thought maybe it was a little long, but we thought there were some really great parts in that song. We were never completely dead-set on the arrangement of that song or it existing to be a track on the album. So we've basically dissected the best of that and married it into something that's also really slammin' and exciting. So one of the new songs you will kind of hear on the album and it's gonna be great. But we really wanna get these songs recorded — not these two, but our new material. We wanna save a lot for the album and bring it out fresh and ready to go. We're still in the first phase of the recording process right now, so we don't really wanna blow our water right now."

NOTE: "The Other New Song" has been rumored to be titled "Vulturous". However, the Close-Up reporter asked Robert Trujillo to spell the title and the bassist said "It's 'V-U-L-T-U-R-U-S' — all U's."

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Metallica's Wembley Gig Posted Online

Several fan-filmed video clips from METALLICA's July 8, 2007 concert at the Wembley Stadium in London, England have surfaced, featuring audio that was synched up to the music from the official LiveMetallica web site. Just search in YouTube for 'daveingham'.

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Classic British Metal Documentary Posted Online

In 1989, BBC2 television aired a five-part music genre documentary series in the UK called “Arena.” One of the episodes, “Heavy Metal,” featured live footage from Metallica, Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden, Megadeth, Napalm Death, Motörhead, Slayer and others.

The production features no narration, instead relying on interview commentary and concert clips to place the viewer in the heart of the metal scene and elliptically tell the story of the genre.

Various scenes specifically delve into metal culture: a club full of kids, but no bands, mosh around a dancefloor to music broadcast on a PA; and a kid who couldn’t be more than 10 shreds out solos with more agility than most thrash metal veterans.

There are also straight-out humorous moments, like when an interviewer asks W. Axl Rose, “Do you have anything in common with Iron Maiden, and he replies without a pause, “I hope not.”

You can watch this metal portion of the feature on Google Videos.

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Metallica And Slayer Confirmed For Guitar Hero III

METALLICA's "One", SLAYER's "Raining Blood" and QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE's "3's and 7's" are among the newly confirmed tracks for the upcoming Activision title Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock.

As previously reported, former GUNS N' ROSES and current VELVET REVOLVER guitarist Slash will provide an original track for Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock, as well as make an appearance in-game as a boss battle character. The legendary guitarist will not, however, be easy to get to: In order to "unlock" Slash (who donned a motion-capture suit so game makers could track his every pluck), players will have to face him in a one-on-one shredding duel after completing all the songs in the game.

Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock confirmed songs so far:

"3's and 7's" - QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE*
"Barracuda" - HEART
"Cherub Rock" - SMASHING PUMPKINS*
"Cities on Flame with Rock and Roll" - BLUE ÖYSTER CULT
"Cult of Personality" - LIVING COLOUR*
"Even Flow" - PEARL JAM *
"Knights of Cydonia" - MUSE*
"La Grange" - ZZ TOP
"Lay Down" - PRIESTESS*
"The Metal" - TENACIOUS D*
"Miss Murder" - AFI *
"Mississippi Queen" - MOUNTAIN
"My Name Is Jonas" - WEEZER*
"The Number of the Beast" - IRON MAIDEN*
"One" - METALLICA*
"Paint It Black" - THE ROLLING STONES*
"Paranoid" - BLACK SABBATH
"Raining Blood" - SLAYER *
"Reptilia" - THE STROKES*
"Rock and Roll All Nite" - KISS
"Rock You Like a Hurricane" - SCORPIONS
"Sabotage" - BEASTIE BOYS*
"School's Out" - ALICE COOPER
"She Builds Quick Machines" - VELVET REVOLVER*
"Slow Ride" - FOGHAT
"Suck My Kiss" - RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS*
"Through the Fire and Flames" - DRAGONFORCE*
"Welcome to the Jungle" - GUNS N' ROSES*

* Original master recordings

"Guitar Hero III: Legends Of Rock" is slated for release on the Xbox 360, Playstation 3, Nintento Wii and Playstation 2 on October 29.

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Lars Talks About New Album and More In Interview

Britain's Metal Hammer magazine has recently conducted an exlusive interview with METALLICA drummer Lars Ulrich about the progress of the recording sessions for the group's new album, among other subjects. A few excerpts from the chat follow:

Metal Hammer: You've already recorded the drum, guitar and bass tracks for the new album, with the rest to be added some time in August.

Lars: "The backing tracks are done, yeah. But Rick [Rubin, producer] likes to keep things organic and work in a way that can be described as 'of the moment.' If we continue in August we should be done by October."

Metal Hammer: Rubin isn't known for being to giving with his time. What role has he played in the sessions?

Lars: "He's been there every single day so far. He's all about the big picture. He doesn't analyze things like drum tempos or tell James [Hetfield] to play something in F sharp. He's more about the feel: is everyone playing together? Rick's a vibe guy."

Metal Hammer: And is it okay for Rick to tell you something you've done sucks?

Lars: "Absolutely. And, believe me, he does. There's not a lot of gray with him. He really speaks his mind. Either something's great or something sucks."

Metal Hammer: How easy was it to can Bob Rock?

Lars: [Frowing]: "That's not a term I'd like to use. We'd been making records together for almost 20 years. That's as creative a relationship as you can come up with in music, film...just about anything. But it had got to a point where we would both finish each other's sentences. We needed to look somewhere else for our own sanity, survival and fulfillment."

Metal Hammer: How did you let him know that it was over?

Lars: "We talk on the phone a lot. That's the thing. I've said it many times: Bob has always been primarily a friend, and secondarily a producer. And that friendship hasn't suffered whatsoever."

Metal Hammer: In hiring Rubin, what were you hoping to achieve?

Lars: "To a certain extent, it was to do with wiping the slate clean when it came to the process of making records. I've known Rick for many years but we've never worked together. He brings a whole new energy and dynamic."

Metal Hammer: In keeping with the fact that you've been playing the title track of the "...And Justice for All" album again, Internet gossip suggests that some of these songs will be long ones.

Lars: "I wouldn't say that they're longer than the ones before. We've always written long songs. Most of the new ones clock between six and eight minutes. There's one that's five minutes. We're recording 14 and plan on finishing them all because we love them all. But only nine or ten will appear on the new record".

Metal Hammer: Kirk [Hammett] has said that although this is METALLICA's 11th studio album. It feels like the band's sixth. Does a part of you consider "St. Anger" was a mistake?

Lars: "Not at all. The mistake was the white leather jacket [worn in the drummer's infamous rock star phase, circa a stadiom tour with GUNS N' ROSES in 1992]. The Napster dispute wasn't a mistake, but it caught us off guard. The music has always been pure. It was the right thing to have done in 2003. That said, I listened to it a couple of months ago and it's a difficult record. I can hear that. But when I finished it, it made me do the same kind of backflips as all the other records."

Metal Hammer: You must've known that after the whole "Some Kind of Monster" thing, some people — including Kerry King [of SLAYER] who called you "fragile old men" — would never take the band seriously again.

Lars: "Oh listen, the reason we did that movie was to piss Kerry King off. Being the source of his amusement, that's great!"

Metal Hammer: As fascinating as it looked on screen, wouldn't it have been better to keep those things behind closed doors?

Lars: "There's certainly an argument for that. But right from day one, METALLICA has always been about the relationship with the fans. Unlike bands like LED ZEPPELIN who tried to keep things mystical, we've gone out of our way to be as accesible as possible. Our roots are alot more punk than that. 'Some Kind of Monster' was the logical conclusion of that mindset".

Metal Hammer: Then presumably you disagree with Kerry's ageist comments?

Lars: "Of course I do. If he hated 'Some Kind of Monster' that's the only stamp of approval that I need".

Metal Hammer: Nevertheless, "Some Kind of Monster" raised a lot of questions about your coheisiveness as a band. How are you all faring now?

Lars: "Of course, it asked some important questions. But you've got to remember that it was a moment in time from five years ago. Phil [Towle, therapist] is no longer around and we all get along. And mentioning Phil's name reminds me, he always used to tell us back then that the music we're making wouldn't shine through until the record after 'St. Anger'. I think he was right about that". More...

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Matt Sorum Gives Opinion On New Metallica Songs

METALLICA is hard at work on its next album with producer Rick Rubin, and at least one person outside the band has heard the songs: VELVET REVOLVER drummer Matt Sorum. He tells RollingStone.com, "Lars [Ulrich, METALLICA drummer] is a good friend of mine. He played me the demos from San Francisco, and I turned and looked at him and I said, 'Master that shit and put it out.' It's ridiculous. The demos were sick. Eight-minute songs, all these tempo changes, crazy fast. It's like, 'Dude, don't get slower when you get older, but don't get faster!? How are you gonna play this live?' And then me and Lars were out partying all night, and he had to go in the studio the next day and do this stupid like nine- or ten-minute song, and I was laughing at him — because he played me the demo of it, and it was [sings really fast drum part], so fast. I called him, and said, 'Dude, how are you feeling?' He was like, 'Dude, I'm hurting.' They're cutting everything to tape, no fuckin' ProTools — live, no clicks. Bitchin'. I dig it. I'm really excited for them."

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Hetfield: "King Is Afraid Of Getting Old"

Greece's metal TV show "TV War", which airs on MAD TV, recently conducted an interview with METALLICA frontman James Hetfield. Watch the interview in two parts: Part#1, Part#2. A transcript of the chat follows:

On why the setlist for the "Sick of the Studio '07" tour consisted mostly of pre-1991 material and not any newer songs:

Hetfield: "Well, it's tough when you're doing festivals and also you have a lot of material. You wanna do something new, you wanna do something different, you wanna do the ones that people identify with. And a lot of times… you know, we haven't done some of these festivals in years. But we did the festival circuit last year also. So we're hitting some of the festivals we've done… Every night is different. Sometimes that's fun, sometimes it's… for me, introducing the wrong song or something, or starting a wrong one…. But as far as the stuff on 'St. Anger' goes, I guess we have so much time, and they don't make the list — that's all. But we also don't wanna be one of those bands that are just playing the favorites. You wanna put some in there, so… We have been playing a song like 'Ride the Lightning', '…And Justice for All', 'Whiplash', 'The Four Horsemen'… you know, some songs that we haven't played in festivals in a long time."

On playing the "Live Earth" concert and whether musicians should get involved in politics:

Hetfield: "Fuck politics! I mean, I can't stand it. It drives me crazy. And there's politics within music; the business side a lot of times really, really bothers me. I like playing music. We were asked to play, and I said, 'OK. I wanna play. There's a lot of people that are gonna be watching that show.' . . . I don't like talking politics. METALLICA is about music from us, music for the ears of our fans. Really, that's what it's about. I don't like playing for any cause. I had to get a little more talked into playing this show. I don't like any strings attached to things. I wanna play because I like to play."

On how things are different in the recording studio now compared to how it was for 2003's "St. Anger":

Hetfield: "A lot of growing up happened on 'St. Anger'. We went from hating each other, not talking, to, 'Ah, I love you,' hugging — you know, from one extreme to the other — and both of them were just a little bit crazy, so we're somewhere in the middle now where most people live, maybe. [Laughs] I don't know… We're feeling better about it. And all the therapy and the work we did for 'St. Anger' is really for this record, because now we don't have Phil Towle, the therapist, with us; we don't have Bob Rock babysitting us a lot — that's not his only job, of course — but a different producer. And we're trying to take more responsibility for ourselves and grow up through the process."

On the "Some Kind of Monster" movie and SLAYER guitarist Kerry King's explanation that he didn't want to watch the film because he didn't want to "see these fragile fucking old men that can't have a cocktail anymore":

Hetfield: "That's probably what they saw, and that makes a lot of sense — that's what they're afraid of… they don't want to get old and… Everyone gets old, everyone goes through things. It happened that we went through that on film. And we're not afraid to show ourselves to anyone at any time. That is pure freedom right there. Putting that movie out was more for us, I would say. I'm not interested in showing everyone my dirty laundry, but that was part of human nature. It wasn't to shock anyone, it wasn't to make money, it wasn't to… there was no ulterior motive to that except showing what we went through at that time."

On various descriptions that have been used to describe METALLICA's upcoming album, including that it sounds like a cross between "Master of Puppets" and the "black" album and that it contains Middle Eastern influences:

Hetfield: "I think there always is, as far as scales go — minor scales — there's been that type of stuff since 'Fight Fire with Fire'. Robert [Trujillo, bass] just yesterday said, 'Hey, that solo section in 'Fight Fire with Fire', it sounds Greek to me.' It sounds like Greek music, maybe."

On why "Master of Puppets" is regarded as such a classic album and other bands' aspirations to make their own "Master of Puppets":

Hetfield: "I think it's more of a landmark. I think when a band says, 'We want to record our 'Master of Puppets',' that's more of a landmark… I think it was a bit of a peak in the band with Cliff Burton, just like the 'black' album was, I think, a peak with Jason [Newsted], and maybe we'll peak with Robert somewhere. But 'Master of Puppets'? Who knows? Who knows why? Just a bunch of good songs at the right time. That happened, you know?! There was no extra thought put in it — we were just doing what we were supposed to do, and that's play our best music. We were just thinking about that the other day. We were driving in England and looking in all the bushes between the estates, you know, and saying, 'Oh, that's a hedgerow.' And then we started singing, 'There's a bustle in your hedgerow' — the lyric from 'Stairway to Heaven' [by LED ZEPPELIN] — and [we were like] 'What is that?' The most popular song in the history of rock has some gibberish lyrics. It's just magic somehow."

On what makes producer Rick Rubin (SLIPKNOT, AUDIOSLAVE, RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS, SYSTEM OF A DOWN) so special and why METALLICA picked him to work on the new album:

Hetfield: "It's not luck that these albums that he does [that] they sound good and they hit the mark. Bob Rock… god bless Bob Rock. We learned so much from him. But at a point we were too enmeshed together, and I think we needed to just separate for awhile. And working with someone new — someone who we might be able to respect... It's tough when you're at the top of your game and you've done it all. You need someone to show you things, and hopefully he's gonna show us some things we don't know."

On some of the off-the-wall and outlandish things that people have done as a result of their love for METALLICA — such as the Swedish couple that named its daughter "Metallica", the book "Metallica and Philosophy" written by a college professor, and the death of a Canadian fan following an argument over METALLICA:

Hetfield: "We are four very grateful and lucky kids that play music. . . I don't know what to say. We're just doing what gift we have, and their gift may be writing a book. Naming your kid METALLICA… I don't know about that. Maybe my dog or something, but your child? Hey, if they love it so much, why not? People getting married to METALLICA songs… Hopefully it's not just a trendy thing, [and] it really moves you. And everyone in life just wants to be moved and feel like they're a part of something, or feel alive, and METALLICA music does that for me, and I'm grateful that it does it for a lot of other people."

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Mastodon Bassist Talks Of Playing With Metallica

Dave Maher of Pitchfork magazine conducted an interview with MASTODON bassist Troy Sanders on July 14, 2007 at the Pitchfork Music Festival 2007 in Chicago, Illinois. A few excerpts from the chat follow:

Pitchfork: Just from seeing pictures of you guys, I thought [guitarist] Brent [Hinds] would be the most savage member of the band, mostly because of his face tattoo. But after seeing your show, I think it might be you. Do you practice making faces or moves in the mirror?

Troy Sanders: No, not at all. Our music and our live show and everything that we embody is basically just every emotion under the sun that we bottle up and channel out through our music. Off the stage, we're four quite normal goofballs. Our music and our stage show is very intense; it's very demanding. But it's basically because we choose to write this type of music that embodies everything dark and deep and brutal about life that we encounter, which are the same things everyone else encounters. We just take all this, and we channel it through what we call MASTODON. That's why it's like, "Why do you guys scream all the time and play this brutal music that you want to kill yourself to?" It's like, "Well, we don't intend to do that. This is our art form. This is our outlet." If we didn't have this outlet, we would probably be even more disturbed. But Brent is a savage beast. It depends on what kind of show [it is]. This art form of touring conjures different emotions every single day. I was up there having a great time, glad to be here in front of 10,000 people under the sun. I've had a great weekend, a great year. And it sounded okay to me on stage. It felt good. I was just going for it, getting it all out, sweating out all the bad stuff.

Pitchfork: You guys met METALLICA recently, right?

Troy Sanders: Yeah, we just met them on Sunday [July 8 at the Wembley stadium in London, England].

Pitchfork: And you've played with SLAYER?

Troy Sanders: Oh we've played over 150 shows with SLAYER.

Pitchfork: What's it like meeting those dudes?

Troy Sanders: We're friends, like, "Hey Tom [Araya], what's up?" "Hey Troy."

Pitchfork: Is that weird?

Troy Sanders: It was at first, man, because those are the people [whose music] I grew up with, but now we're on a first-name basis with them. We've done six tours, over 150 shows.

Pitchfork: What about the guys in METALLICA?

Troy Sanders: They're cool as hell. They told us to keep flying the flag.

Pitchfork: So the torch was passed.

Troy Sanders: It's not necessarily that the torch was passed, but a piece of the torch was passed. And those guys had heard of our band before. They get to pick their opening bands. They were on stage watching us for the three shows we did last week, and I'll tell ya, that's a little nervous, man. I would not be here today if METALLICA didn't exist, and now they're on stage watching our band and then we're hanging out drinking with Lars [Ulrich] until four in the morning.

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Hetfield: "St. Anger Was A Statement That Failed"

Britain's Kerrang! magazine recently conducted an interview with METALLICA frontman James Hetfield. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow:

Kerrang!: You're working [on the new METALLICA album] with Rick Rubin who has a reputation as an "absentee" producer...

James: Oh, I met him once, I bumped into him in a corridor! [Laughs] No, we were well aware of his reputation when we signed up. On "St. Anger", [longtime METALLICA collaborator] Bob Rock did everything — he was producer, engineer, bass player, babysitter, father figure. And Rick is pretty much the opposite; he's not there to babysit. When we first came in, his opening statement was, "I want you guys to impress me; I want you to feel like you're starting out again'. He really wants us to get in the mind-set of "Master of Puppets". It's impossible to recreate what we were 20 years ago, that's silly, but we had to get that hunger back.

Kerrang!: And he's impressed so far?

James: Rubin is really good at feeling songs, and he'll tell you straight-up if he doesn't like something. We started with 20 songs and we've whittled it down to 14 since he came in. He won't say "This fucking sucks," but he'll make suggestions and I'm definitely open to that. With "St. Anger", it became so open-minded that it became unfocused. This time around, there's a lot of "Sorry, it's not good enough." We're aiming for excellence.

Kerrang!: With "St Anger", did the democracy you practiced in the studio end up comprimising the album?

James: Definitely. It was very unrealistic. We went from tearing each other's throats out with sarcasm, anger and not speaking to the polar opposite where we'd embrace every stupid idea so as to not hurt anyone's feelings. And that didn't work either!

Kerrang!: It seems weird that you're taking time out to tour when you're on a roll in the studio...

James: Well, hopefully it'll inspire us to take it to another level. You'll listen back to a new song and go, "We were just out there listening to 60,000 people screaming at what they love about METALLICA and I don't think they're gonna scream at this! Also it gets claustrophobic in there — you can be trapped in there not knowing whether people are still out there.

Kerrang!: Have you started to work on the lyrics?

James: I have phrasings and something vocally to at least feel what the song is like. I forgot about "Let's please everyone in the band." Now it's, "This is where my head's at." I think people will identify with it.

Kerrang!: Is there a sense that time is running out for METALLICA and you need to make a defining album again?

James: Well, we have no shortage of ideas and what am I gonna do? I write songs, I play songs and I like doing this. I know we're getting older, there's no point in trying to hide that fact, and we might tour less than we did, but as records go, we just want to make a good record, that's all we ever want to do. I mean, we thought "St. Anger" was going to be amazing, but it turned out to be more of a statement than METALLICA music that we enjoy playing live. It was more of a purge, just getting that shit out of me, as a catalyst for the next chapter of METALLICA.

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Watch Pantera, Metallica, AC/DC Tear Up Moscow

Ozzfest and Sounds of the Underground are fine and all, but back in 1991 the Monsters of Rock festival in Moscow featured Pantera, Metallica and AC/DC on the same bill. In addition to being a great concert, the show had real historical impact. It was the first mega-metal festival to follow the collapse of the Soviet Union and it was a sign of the changes and hardships to come.

MTV has posted a stream of Pantera playing “Cowboys From Hell,” “Primal Concrete Sledge” and “Psycho Holiday”; Metallica opening with “Enter Sandman,” and continuing the assault with “Creeping Death” and “Fade to Black”; And AC/DC capping off the night with “Back in Black,” “Highway to Hell,” “Whole Lotta Rosie” and “For Those About to Rock (We Salute You). The beginning of the 112 minute-long video capturing the event features the caption, “In August of 1991 in the U.S.S.R., the young challenged the old. Those who questioned authority triumphed.” Indeed, (re)visit this moment in history for some metal education, or to breathe in a little nostalgia.

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Metal Makes More Appearances in Rock Games

With the gaming industry's biggest expo, E3, going on, there have been tons of new announcements as well as some back and forth between competition. The Neversoft-developed Guitar Hero III revealed the former Guns N' Roses/current Velvet Revolver guitarist Slash would rock on a variety of unlockable guitars. Original Guitar Hero developer Harmonix then fired back with the announcement that it will offer not just hit singles for gamers to play on their upcoming Rock Band game, but entire full-length albums from multiple labels.

The first band to receive the digital conversion will be classic British rockers The Who. Gamers will be able to form a virtual cover band playing guitar, hitting the drums, and singing along to the band's widely acclaimed 1971 album Who's Next. The album should hit soon after the game's release this fall, with new content planned on a weekly basis.

Harmonix also announced the first 15 songs from the retail edition of Rock Band. A glance at the list reveals a wide array of rock subgenres and decades represented, from David Bowie and Black Sabbath to The Hives and The Strokes.

Piling on the announcements, Harmonix also revealed that Steven Van Zandt had signed on to chief Rock Band's music advisory board. In addition to appearing in the HBO gangster drama The Sopranos, Van Zandt is a member of Bruce Springsteen backing band E Street Band. Van Zandt also hosts the weekly syndicated radio show Little Steven's Underground Garage, which showcases up-and-coming sub-genre rock bands, and is a program director for the Sirius Satellite Radio network.

Finally, Harmonix revealed the Grammy-winning "Enter Sandman" from Metallica's 1991 Black album will be included in Rock Band's initial lineup shipping with the game. Announced at the end of EA's press conference, Kathy Vrabeck also made mention that a "substantial" number of songs from Metallica's catalog are slated to appear in the game.

The first 16 songs from Rock Band are listed below: More...

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Metallica Live Earth Appearance Boosts Album Sales

According to SoundGenerator.com, METALLICA's record sales enjoyed a boost of around 800% in the wake of their appearance at Live Earth in London.

As with Live 8 in 2005, bands signing-up for the event saw the huge viewing figures translate into serious album sales, and the FOO FIGHTERS did best, with an increase of around 1,000%, according to Tesco's combined in-store and online download sales.

The Queen of Pop, MADONNA, saw a more modest rise of 420% in album sales during the week before the Live Earth concert at the new Wembley Stadium.

An industry pundit told the Daily Star this week, "Some cynical observers might say there was more to it than just playing for a good cause."

In a recent interview with Norway's NRK, METALLICA frontman James Hetfield stated about the band's appearance at Live Earth, "I really avoided the press around the Live Earth day. I didn't quite agree with what was going on there. Politics drive me crazy, and I don't like talking politics. Politics get in the way of things; they get in the way of getting things done, and getting our music across is what we wanna do — we don't wanna cloud it with 'Democrat, Republican,' whatever. Our philosophy is 'think for yourself' at the end of the day — do what you think feels right. I really believe that humans will survive. I have a lot of faith in mankind that we will overcome and adapt — whatever it is; whether it's man-made or God-made, or Earth/Mother Nature — we have a lot of smart people on this planet that will make something good out of bad."

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Philosophical Insight To Metallica

BBC Radio 1's "Rock Show with Daniel P. Carter" aired an interview last week with William Irwin, a professor of philosophy at King's College and the author of the book "Metallica and Philosophy". During the discussion, Irwin draws parallels between the songs of METALLICA and the writings of famous philosophers, including Rene Descartes, Plato, Jean-Paul Sartre and Albert Camus. The specific tracks discussed are "Master of Puppets", "One" and "Wherever I May Roam", and each is backed with APOCALYPTICA covering METALLICA. Listen to a replay of the program at this location. Excerpts from Irwin's book can be found at Google.

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BBC Apologizes To Metallica Fans

John Plunkett of MediaGuardian.co.uk reports that the BBC has put out an apology after complaints from viewers that the set by METALLICA was not shown in full in its live coverage of the Live Earth concert from Wembley stadium in London, England.

The BBC was at pains to point out that the decision was not taken out of "prejudice about heavy metal music or any other music." Rather, it was a result of its efforts to broadcast from other Live Earth concerts from around the world.

To add insult to injury, however, the BBC misspelled the band's name on its complaints website.

"We received complaints from some viewers that the METALICA [sic] set was not shown in full," it said.

"This was a global event and we were keen to reflect the other concerts as well as the one in UK.

"We took editorial decisions in advance and on the day, about the times and places we would do that.

"Not all the tracks by every performer could be featured but we did transmit a full trail promoting our interactive coverage where digital viewers wanting to see the performances in full, could press the red button at any time.

"The concerts were very fluid in London and around the world and there was certainly no prejudice about heavy metal music or any other music; just a determination to do the best for the entire audience watching on BBC2 and BBC1 during the day.

"This is inevitably a fine balance and we cannot please everyone all of the time. However, we of course apologise if any particular viewers were disappointed."

One viewer, Cheryl Joyce from Northants, wrote to the Sun after the concert to complain. "I can't understand why METALLICA were cut short at Live Earth," she said. "They have a bigger following than most bands who were there."

Live Earth proved a ratings disappointment for BBC1, drawing less than a third of the audience that tuned in for the Concert for Diana the previous week.

Live Earth averaged 2.7 million viewers during its evening coverage, peaking with 4.5 million. The Diana concert peaked with 14.8 million.

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Hetfield Says Band Is Looking At MoP For New Album

METALLICA frontman James Hetfield was interviewed by Norway's NRK on Tuesday (July 10) prior to the band's headlining performance in Oslo. Watch the seven-minute unedited question-and-answer session at SVT.se or YouTube. A transcript of the interview follows:

Q: What will the new METALLICA [album] sound like?

Hetfield: "As good as we can right now, I would say, and that's all it ever has been. [Producer] Rick Rubin is extremely good at getting the best out of any artist he's worked with, whether it's BEASTIE BOYS, NEIL DIAMOND, SLAYER, SLIPKNOT… he does all, he does rap… anything! Somehow he taps in. He's got a good vibe, and a good ear, and we think we do too. So sometimes there's a little bit of this — we like our things the way we like them, he likes his things the way he likes them — but with two great powers putting something together, I think we'll come up with something pretty amazing. He's having us focus a lot on the feeling around 'Master of Puppets' — what was going through our minds? what was it like? — the hunger around 'Master of Puppets'."

Q: You played at Live Earth. What are your thoughts on the climate crisis. What can METALLICA contribute to [the whole process]?

Hetfield: "I really avoided the press around the Live Earth day. I didn't quite agree with what was going on there. Politics drive me crazy, and I don't like talking politics. Politics get in the way of things; they get in the way of getting things done, and getting our music across is what we wanna do — we don't wanna cloud it with 'Democrat, Republican,' whatever. Our philosophy is 'think for yourself' at the end of the day — do what you think feels right. I really believe that humans will survive. I have a lot of faith in mankind that we will overcome and adapt — whatever it is; whether it's man-made or God-made, or Earth/Mother Nature — we have a lot of smart people on this planet that will make something good out of bad."

Q: You guys have been a band for 25 years. What is the plan for the next 25 years?

Hetfield: "Yeah, to make it to 26, 27, 28… you know, it's one day at a time. Something exciting that's up for us is being eligible for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in America, which is a pretty big deal. We played it last year for BLACK SABBATH, who chose not to perform, and we said we would. [Laughs] That was a lot of fun. You know, it's this historic landmark. A lot of bands get inducted, [but] not many bands are there to play all together to say 'Hi' and 'Thank you.' If you made it to 25 years, you either hate each other or you're broken up or you didn't make it that far, or something. So we're pretty proud. There's a not a whole lot of bands that can say that, so we're very grateful."

Q: You had a little bit of a difficulty on the last record. How are you guys functioning now on the new record?

Hetfield: "Well, one thing that someone said on the last record — going through all of the cleansing, the therapy, the talking, the breaking down the falls… you know, from one extreme to the other — from hating each other to not talking to hugging and crying over every note… It's crazy — one to the other. They're both unrealistic. Somewhere in the middle is where we need to live, and balance is difficult at times, especially for myself, who likes the extremes, or thinks I like them. All the work that we went through on 'St. Anger', it was said that it was not for 'St. Anger', it was for the next record, and that makes total sense. 'St. Anger' was pretty much a statement — it felt like a purging of a feeling. And this record is more us working together — in harmony, in friction, in happiness, in sadness… all of that put together. And we're able to get through it — we've walked though fire; we know how hot it can get, and we don't need to go through there again." More...

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Hammet Says A Bit More About New Metallica Album

NME TV sat down for a chat with METALLICA guitarist Kirk Hammett on Sunday, July 8 prior to the band's sold-out concert at Wembley Stadium in London, England. Watch the 10-minute interview at YouTube.

When asked how work is progressing on METALLICA's long-awaited new album, Hammett said, "It's coming along fairly well. We wrote 22 songs with the intention of recording 12 or 14, with the intention of putting maybe nine or ten on the new album, depending on how they all turn out once they're all finally recorded and mixed and done. The music is really heavy — surprise, surprise — very, very progressive; different from anything we've ever done before again. Yes, there are guitar solos. Yes, the production will be slightly better. We're using [producer] Rick Rubin [SLIPKNOT, AUDIOSLAVE, SLAYER, SYSTEM OF A DOWN, RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS]. We're not recording in HQ [the band's rehearsal studio/headquarters in San Rafael, California]; we're recording down in L.A. at a place called Sound City. And we're just about to finish the drums, the drumming aspect of it. And when we get back to the States, that's when Rob [Trujillo, bass], James [Hetfield, guitar/vocals] and I start playing our instruments and building tracks. We're all pretty psyched about it. The material, we feel, is very, very strong. I like that to think that it sits somewhere between '…And Justice For All' and the 'black' album — that little niche right there. And like I said, again, it's very, very different.

"We're actually shooting for an early 2008 release. I would be extremely surprised if it comes out sooner than that. But I would be extremely disappointed if it came out later than that, let's just say."

Sweden's TV4 interviewed METALLICA drummer Lars Ulrich on Thursday (July 12) approximately two hours before the band's headlining performance at Stadion in Stockholm. Watch the 12-minute unedited question-and-answer session at this location.

When asked about METALLICA's upcoming CD, Ulrich replied, "It's the first time in almost 20 years that we're working with a producer other than Bob Rock. We're working with Rick Rubin, who's made records with everybody from the CHILI PEPPERS to JOHNNY CASH to SLIPKNOT to whatever… So we're excited to be working with a different producer. It's interesting, it's stimulating. The stuff that I've heard… [Laughs] … which is pretty much all of it, is very heavy, a little more dynamic than the last record, 'St. Anger', and I think that what he's really trying to do is capture an excitement and capture kind of a moment and trying to get us away from spending too much time thinking about what we're doing so he's trying to get us just to play in the studio. It sounds like it has a lot of energy and a lot of kid of good, energetic moments. But James [Hetfield] is gonna start singing in August and [we'll] do some overdubs. We're gonna spend another couple of months in the fall to finish the overdubs and we should hopefully mix the record by November and have it out in the early spring."

A soundboard recording of METALLICA's new track, tentatively dubbed "The Other New Song", recorded during the band's appearance on June 29, 2007 at the Bilbao BBK Live festival in in Bilbao, Spain has been posted at YouTube. METALLICA previously played the same track live on August 15, 2006 at Seoul Olympic Main Stadium in Seoul, South Korea (watch professionally filmed video footage with soundboard audio at this location).

A high-quality video clip of METALLICA performing the "first" new song during their headlining appearance at the Gelredome in Arnhem, Holland on June 8, 2006 as part of their "Escape From The Studio '06" European tour is available at YouTube. More...

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Zakk Wylde, In Vain, Metallica on Tinnitus 7/15

TINITUS brings you the Kristiansand boys, IN VAIN and Zakk Wylde from the Ozzy Osbourne band and BLACK LABEL SOCIETY into your living room. Switch on that set at 20:00 and get your head caught in a barbed-wire wall of sound.

Plus, Miss Pee dragged Mina Hadjian to London for a metal-packed weekend. With the likes of MASTODON and MACHINE HEAD supporting METALLICA in front of 80 000 people, wasnt it just a little too much for the P3 gobshite? An account of the treacherous adventures of this unlikely pair in tonight's Miss Pee's world.

Last but not least, win some pretty cool stash - from OCTAVIA SPERATI, ISKALD and tickets to the Hammerslag festival kick off featuring GORGOROTH live, who's the fool that wouldn't want to enter and win?!!

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