* Solistul trupei de NU-metal Linkin Park, Chester Bennington, a acordat recent un interviu site-ului german Dasding.de. Acesta vorbeste, printre altele, despre noua directia muzicala a trupei, despre semnificatia unor versuri, dar si despre anumite aspecte legate de viata sa personala. Mai jos puteti urmari intregul interviu.

* Jurnalistul american Justin Norton de la publicatia Hellbound a realizat un interviu cu Tom Gabriel Warrior, celebrul frontman al trupei Triptykon. Muzicianul elvetian a vorbit, printre altele, despre ultimele sale realizari artistice (lansarea unui nou EP cu Triptykon, lansarea celui de-al treilea tiraj a unei carti despre Hellhammer, intitulata “Only Death Is Real”), dar si despre viata sa personala, despre care spune ca incearca sa o tina cat mai ascunsa.

Hellbound: Your new book (“Only Death is Real”) is in its third printing.

Tom: “The second printing is almost out and it’s going into the third printing. The third printing is confirmed. It blows my mind. I’m not Dean Koontz. I’m in the process of going through my father’s estate. He left an enormous amount of photographs because he was a journalist. We’re talking tens of thousands of photos in his archive. I’m still working my way through them. To my astonishment, I found boxes of slides from the Hellhammer times. I didn’t know they were in my father’s possession. There are some photos that belong in the book and hopefully the third printing can include some of these photos to make it even more complete.”

Hellbound: You held nothing back in terms of what was included in “Only Death Is Real”. Part of a band is image and mythology yet you showed your whole childhood. Was it a difficult decision?

Tom: “Yes and no. It’s still not a complete record of my childhood. There are some things I will never talk about. I was married for 16 years and I never even told my ex -wife. I feel embarrassed about what happened even though I was a victim. Then you find yourself having to live with this shit the rest of your life. I could write a book about my childhood alone. The most drastic things aren’t in there and will never be anywhere. Having said that, how could you write an autobiography if you didn’t write about it? Hellhammer came about when there was no extreme metal. It happened based on my desperate situation…this aggression had to go somewhere. I wanted to create a parallel world. I’m frustrated when I buy a magazine and people say there is coverage of something and then there’s a one or two-page article that doesn’t got into any detail. So, my book is very comprehensive”.

Hellbound: You seem like a private person but you never hesitate to give interviews and always seem forthright with your responses. Can you explain that disconnect? Do you enjoy interviews?

Tom: “Both of the characterizations you’ve made are accurate and in complete conflict with each other. I’m actually a recluse in Switzerland. I don’t go to parties and I hardly ever go to concerts. I feel very happy that way. But there’s a public side to me I can’t deny. I enjoy giving interviews that have some depth. I don’t like when people have questions like “when is the next tour?” That bores me to death and it’s a difficult to maintain a professional façade. I enjoy interviews where it’s like a discussion and I have to think. But there is a conflict to being exposed and being private. I guard certain aspects of my life as much as I can.”

Hellbound: The American writer J.D. Salinger who wrote The Catcher In The Rye died this year. He lived the last 40 years of his life as a total recluse.

Tom: “I’ve seriously asked my band about becoming a recluse. They witness this conflict on a daily basis. I’ve been a victim of stalking and I’ve been slandered on the Internet. It becomes increasingly difficult for me to deal with. There are people slandering me and they haven’t even met me for five minutes? That’s very difficult to accept. In some ways I have to accept it because the Internet is an anonymous place. People don’t have to have any courage they can just put something under a fake name and a fake e-mail and no one will know.”

“I’ve seriously thought about completely withdrawing, having the rest of the band do interviews, doing my thing on stage and then disappearing completely. Not to forge a cult or anything – it’s just difficult to stand. Who knows, maybe it will still happen.”

Hellbound: Salinger wrote a book that people cared about and identified with…they felt like he owed them something. If you are an artist and give of yourself why do you owe anything more?

Tom: “That’s the way it should be but it doesn’t work like that. People are accustomed to mass media and the Internet makes it easy to pry into everything. I haven’t reached a conclusion about what to do. By nature, most of my life is public but I’d like to maintain a little bit for myself.”

* Trupa britanica de shoegazing Ride va re-edita cel mai cunoscut album al formatiei, intitulat “Nowhere”, care implineste anul aceasta 20 de ani de la lansare. Aceasta versiune re-editata va aparea sub forma unui pachet special, care va contine 2 CD-uri, primul continand tracklist-ul albumului “Nowhere” si al unui EP din 1991, intitulat “Today Forever”, iar cel de-al doilea continand tracklist-ul unui concert live din 1991, si un booklet cu 40 de pagini cu fotografii.

– CD1 (“Nowhere” and “Today Forever”):
01. ‘Seagull’
02. ‘Kaleidoscope’
03. ‘In a Different Place’
04. ‘Polar Bear’
05. ‘Dreams Burn Down’
06. ‘Decay’
07. ‘Paralysed’
08. ‘Vapour Trail’
09. ‘Taste’
10. ‘Here and Now’
11. ‘Nowhere’
12. ‘Unfamiliar’
13. ‘Sennen’
14. ‘Beneath’
15. ‘Today’.

– CD2 (“Live At The Roxy”, 1991):
01. ‘Polar Bear’
02. ‘Seagull’
03. ‘Unfamiliar’
04. ‘Dreams Burn Down’
05. ‘Like a Daydream’
06. ‘Vapour Trail’
07. ‘In a Different Place’
08. ‘Perfect Time’
09. ‘Taste’
10. ‘Nowhere’
11. ‘Chelsea Girl’
12. ‘Drive Blind’.


Supergrupul Them Crooked Vultures, format din Dave Grohl (tobe), Josh Homme (voce, chitara) si John Paul Jones (bas), a dezvaluit ca lucreaza momentan la cel de-al doilea album de studio, care va fi lansat cel mai probabil anul viitor. Trupa nu a oferit prea multe detalii referitoare la disc, John Paul Jones declarand pentru BBC 6 Music:

“It will mainly be excess material from the first album, material we started and never finished because we had to go and play the stuff we already recorded!”

“Some stuff we’ve worked on, but we’re gonna write pretty quickly and just put it down… we may be a year or so.”

Albumul de debut al trupei, intitulat “Them Crooked Vultures”, a fost lansat in noiembrie 2009 si a fost apreciat atat de critici, cat si de fani.

* Celebra trupa britanica de alternative rock Pulp a anuntat ca se va reuni in formula originala, alcatuita din Jarvis Cocker, Nick Banks, Candida Doyle, Steve Mackey, Russell Senior si Mark Webber. Trupa a sustinut ultimul concert live in 2002, avand insa, la vremea respectiva, un line-up diferit fata de cel original. Astfel, aceasta revenire marcheaza nu numai refacerea vechii trupe, dar si revenirea pe scena dupa o pauza de 8 ani. Deocamdata nu se cunosc prea multe detalii, decat datele unor concerte care vor avea loc anul viitor.

Cei care vor sa fie la curent cu activitatea trupei pot face acest lucru abonandu-se la newsletter-ul oferit de site-ul lor oficial.

* Solistul trupei islandeze de post-rock Sigur Ros, Jon Birgisson, cunoscut mai ales sub pseudonimul Jonsi, va lansa pe data de 29 noiembrie un pachet multimedia intitulat “Go Live”. Acest nou material discografic va contine un DVD cu un concert live filmat in luna martie la Londra, dar si un CD cu piese live inregistrate in Belgia/Anglia.

Tracklist-ul este urmatorul:

– “Go Live” DVD:
01. ‘Hengilas’
02. ‘Icicle Sleeves’
03. ‘Kolniaur’
04. ‘Tornado’
05. ‘Sinking Friendships’
06. ‘Go Do’
07. ‘Boy Lilikoi’
08. ‘New Piano Song’
09. ‘Around Us’
10. ‘Volume Pedal Song’
11. ‘Grow Till Tall’.

– “Go Live” CD:
01. ‘Stars in Still Water’
02. ‘Hengilas’
03. ‘Icicle Sleeves’
04. ‘Kolniaur’
05. ‘Tornado’
06. ‘Sinking Friendships’
07. ‘Saint Naive’
08. ‘Go Do’
09. ‘Boy Lilikoi’
10. ‘Animal Arithmetic’
11. ‘New Piano Song’
12. ‘Around Us’
13. ‘Sticks & Stones’
14. ‘Grow Till Tall’.


Mai jos puteti urmari un trailer al DVD-ului:

Puteti afla mai multe informatii despre acest pachet multimedia accesand site-ul oficial al artistului.

* Trupa americana de punk Social Distorsion se pregateste de lansarea unui nou album, intitulat “Hard Times And Nursery Rhymes”. Acest nou material discografic va aparea pe data de 18 ianuarie 2011 la casa de discuri Epitaph.

Tracklist-ul este urmatorul:

01. ‘Road Zombie’
02. ‘California (Hustle and Flow)’
03. ‘Gimme the Sweet and Lowdown’
04. ‘Diamond in the Rough’
05. ‘Machine Gun Blues’
06. ‘Bakersfield’
07. ‘Far Side of Nowhere’
08. ‘Alone and Forsaken’
09. ‘Writing on the Wall’
10. ‘Can’t Take It With You’
11. ‘Still Alive’.


Ultimul album al trupei a aparut in 2004 si s-a intitulat “Sex, Love And Rock ‘n’ Roll”.

Puteti asculta piesa ‘Machine Gun Blues’, care va fi primul single al albumului “Hard Times and Nursery Rhymes”, accesand acest link.

* Solistul trupei de alternative metal Helmet, Page Hamilton, a acordat recent un interviu site-ului LA Music Blog, in care este intrebat, printre altele, despre ultimul album al trupei, dar si despre schimbarile care au avut loc in industria muzicala.

LA Music Blog: The initial reviews for the album were pretty mixed. I guess when you’ve been a band as long as you have, there are always going to be people who only want to hear “Meantime” or “Betty 2.0”. When you’re readying new material, do you somewhat anticipate this sort of thing?

Page: I don’t think about how people are going to respond at all. I never have, and I’ll be honest, it can be disheartening. I tell my manager and I tell [Helmet’s publicists] MSO not to send me reviews. I don’t read them. I was saying this to my girlfriend. She’s an actress, and we were sitting on set last night and talking to people she works with, and I said that I feel like at this point, I don’t have to explain myself anymore. Helmet’s always been its own thing. We’ve played with everyone from Motley Crue and Slayer, to Rise Against and Thursday and Joan Jett on the Warped Tour, and the thing is, we’re not really a metal band. We’re not a punk band. We’re not hardcore. We’re not industrial. It’s our thing, and so I feel that I’m the one best qualified to do the music and not really worry about it. But it can be disheartening. Somebody sent me the Spin review, and I’ve read reviews in the past where someone’s said things about my guitar playing or my solos not relating to the chord changes or whatever, and then blaming me for nu metal. I’m just like “whatever” because the people that matter to me really are the Helmet fans, and they don’t give a shit what critics think […].”

LA Music Blog: You guys released a few tracks for free download over the summer in anticipation of the album. As an artist, is it difficult for you to just give your work away?

Page: “Well, I like to get paid for what we do. That allows me to continue to make albums. I’ve got about a $9,000 or $10,000 debt on my credit card from making the album. I paid off the first $7,000 or $8,000, and then the $12,000 in t-shirts and shit. It’s a different thing, you know. The record companies have a big chunk of dough, and they’ll give you a big chunk of dough and a lot of money gets wasted. I look back on how much money we wasted, and it’s just like “Ugh, $300,000 for a piece of crap video,” but that’s the way it was back that. We didn’t have the internet.”

LA Music Blog: The internet has definitely made it a bit easier to get your music out there and to interact with fans. Since your return, do you feel that you’ve developed a more meaningful connection with your fan base?

Page: “Yeah, and I think it’s more because I have more of a connection with my band mates now, too. At the end of every show, I sit on stage and sign stuff, talk to people, and do photos and stuff. I could never see John or Henry or Peter doing that back when we started. We didn’t think about it. I don’t know how I even started doing it, but I’ve been doing it for awhile now, and people really like it. But actually, I don’t get online. I don’t do chat rooms. I don’t Twitter. I don’t have a Facebook. I don’t do any of that stuff. It’s just too time consuming. I spend enough time on the computer as it is doing emails, so I don’t need any of that other crap or else I’d never play another note of guitar, but I definitely do feel more connected.”
* Frontman-ul trupei americane Dinosaur Jr., J Mascis (pe numele sau adevarat Joseph Donald Mascis), va lansa un nou album solo, al 5-lea din cariera. Intitulat “Several Shades Of Why”, noul material discografic va aparea pe data de 15 martie 2011, la celebra casa de discuri Sub Pop. Discul va contine doar piese acustice fara tobe.

01. ‘Listen to Me’
02. ‘Several Shades of Why’
03. ‘Not Enough’
04. ‘Very Nervous and Love’
05. ‘Is It Done’
06. ‘Make It Right’
07. ‘Where Are You’
08. ‘Too Deep’
09. ‘Can I’
10. ‘What Happened’.

* Trupa americana de math rock/post-hardcore Frodus a anuntat ca se va reuni dupa o pauza de 9 ani. Shelby Cinca & Co. vor reveni pe scena in mod oficial pe data de 21 martie 2011, in cadrul unui festival organizat de Slip Productions si Lovitt Records. Anul acesta, trupa a mai dat semne de revenire lansand un nou EP, intitulat “Soundlab 1”, ale carui piese au fost inregistrate in 2009. Momentan, trupa ofera spre download, contra cost, doua albume digitale cu piese demo rare. Frodus isi propun pentru anul viitor lansarea a doua materiale: un album de studio nou si o reeditare a albumului “And We Washed Our Weapons In The Sea”.