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TRIVIUM’s COREY BEAULIEU Says Split With Drummer NICK AUGUSTO ‘Needed To Happen’

Manos Spanos
Impact metal channel conducted an interview with guitarist Corey Beaulieu of Florida metallers TRIVIUM at before the band's June 17 concert in Dublin, Ireland. You can now watch the chat below. A couple of excerpts from the interview follow (transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): On the abrupt mid-tour split with drummer Nick Augusto in May due to personal differences and addition of the band's drum tech, Mat Madiro, as Nick's replacement: Corey: "It just wasn't working out and we just felt it was time to… At that time, it was best to go our separate ways instead of trying to keep going on and then something happening and having an effect on shows or anything like that. [The split] was very calm and chill, but it just needed to happen. Sometimes, after awhile, things just aren't going the way you kind of hope for and you've gotta make a switch. It's a pain in the ass to switch members and get someone up to speed. But Mat's been doing great. He came into the role and he's been doing a great job playing the songs and playing the shows. It was pretty smooth considering the circumstances — being in the middle of a tour and having to get a new drummer up to speed in 24 hours. But it was just something we had to do just to make sure that, moving forward, everything was tip top, 100 percent ready to roll." On whether Mat is a permanent replacement for Nick: Corey: "He's drumming for us for the foreseeable future, for the rest of the album cycle, which goes up 'till about December. And then we're just gonna see where we're at. We're not gonna make any quick decisions; we're just gonna let him get comfortable. He's only played about 20 shows with us, and before playing with us, he never really had played in front of people before. So we're just gonna let him ease into it, get comfortable playing the songs and knowing them, get comfortable playing shows, and then we're gonna see what happens. He's still… he plays a show and he's still part of the crew, 'cause he was the drum tech and he's teching himself, so he's going between both sides. Everything's been going great, the shows have been awesome, he's been playing great, so we're gonna leave it like that until we finish up all the shows we have booked and we're gonna see where it goes from there. We're gonna record a new record, and we'll see if he's the guy. It could possibly be him; you never know. [That decision will be made] months and months away from now. We're just taking it easy and not making any quick decisions and [taking chances on it] not being 100 percent down the road. That is the right thing to do. So we're keeping it fair for everybody and not leading anyone on. Playing shows and having fun is pretty much what we're just having it be for now." On TRIVIUM's plans for after this summer's Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem Festival: Corey: "We'll take a break for a while, have a couple of months off. Then we've got Knotfest in Japa
05 min read

LADY GAGA Mistakenly Posts METALLICA Concert Photo Claiming It Was Taken At Her Show

Manos Spanos
According to Mediaite, pop superstar Lady Gaga "mistakenly" posted a photo of the crowd from METALLICA's concert at Quebec, Canada's Festival D'été from 2011 claiming the picture depicted the audience that attended her July 4 performance at the same festival and venue. Lady Gaga's appearance at Festival D'été reportedly drew around 90,000 people, roughly 40,000 less than the 130,000 attendees that showed up for METALLICA's gig at the same event three years earlier. On Saturday, Lady Gaga, or whoever manages her social media accounts, posted a picture on Instagram of what was supposed to show the huge crowd of people that were present for her outdoor concert in Quebec. "Those little dots are fans, and that's our stage and lights beaming from the center," the accompanying caption read. "Unreal 90,000 ppl showed up! What a magical night #artraveQuebec" After various blogs pointed out the mistake, the singer quickly corrected the error by taking to Twitter and posting actual photos from her show, insisting that she "was not trying to fool anyone." Inexplicably, she then used the opportunity to take a cheap shot at her rival Madonna, who famously criticized her in 2012 for the similarities between Gaga's track "Born This Way" and Madonna's own hit "Express Yourself". "Maybe the Madonna fans on your site can use a microscope to count the fans," Gaga tweeted in response to the celebrity gossip site Oh No They Didn't.
01 min read

SLIPKNOT To Headline U.S. KNOTFEST Featuring DANZIG, FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH, VOLBEAT, Others

Manos Spanos
The second installment of SLIPKNOT's Knotfest will be held on October 24-26 in San Bernardino, California. The Iowa-based band will headline two days (Friday and Saturday) of the event, playing a different set each night, with more than two dozen other acts rounding out the rest of the the three-day bill. The Friday-night festivities will serve as a pre-party bash for fans who purchase VIP or camping packages. Fans who purchase tickets to Knotfest will receive a digital copy of SLIPKNOT's new album when it's eventually released. As previously reported, 2014 will also see the debut of Knotfest Japan. Set for November 15 and November 16 at Makuhari Messe in Tokyo, Knotfest Japan will feature SLIPKNOT who performed at last year's Ozzfest Japan, which drew capacity crowds and wide critical acclaim. The two-day music festival, headlined by SLIPKNOT on both days, will feature a mix of more than 20 international and Japanese bands. "Knotfest is a chance for SLIPKNOT to bring the sensory-overload of a wild European festival — and now we're coming for you, California," says SLIPKNOT percussionist Shawn "Clown" Crahan. "Playing two different sets over two nights at one location is a new experience in the history of this band. This year's Knotfests in the U.S. and Japan are going to be on another level." Early-bird discounted tickets, as well as camping packages, for Knotfest at the San Manuel Amphitheater & Campgrounds in San Bernardino go on sale Monday, July 7, at 8 a.m. PT / 11 a.m. ET, with VIP packages available starting Wednesday, July 9. Knotfest in San Bernardino will feature performances by the following artists: SLIPKNOT DANZIG FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH VOLBEAT KILLSWITCH ENGAGE ANTHRAX OF MICE & MEN BLACK LABEL SOCIETY TECH N9NE TESTAMENT IN THIS MOMENT ATREYU HATEBREED HELLYEAH THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA CARCASS SUICIDE SILENCE DEVILDRIVER WHITECHAPEL THE FACELESS THE BLACK DAHLIA MURDER MAXIMUM THE HORMONE UPON A BURNING BODY BUTCHER BABIES MISS MAY I VEIL OF MAYA ONE OK ROCK KING 810 ANTI MORTEM MAN WITH A MISSION NOTHING MORE CHELSEA GRIN ALTERBEAST
02 min read

Video: FAITH NO MORE Performs Two New Songs At Poland’s OPEN’ER FESTIVAL

Manos Spanos
Fan-filmed video footage of the reactivated influential alt-metal act FAITH NO MORE performing what are believed to be two brand new songs — tentatively titled "Leader Of Men" and "Motherfucker" — on July 5 at the Open'er Festival in Gdynia, Poland can be seen below. FAITH NO MORE recently hinted at the possibility of new music 17 years after the release of the band's last LP, "Album Of The Year". The group, which made a comeback in June 2009 with a headlining performance at the Brixton Academy in London, England and has played sporadic shows for the past few years, launched a new Twitter account and one of the first posts was as follows: "The reunion thing was fun, but now it's time to get a little creative."
01 min read

CAVALERA CONSPIRACY To Release ‘Pandemonium’ In October

Manos Spanos
CAVALERA CONSPIRACY, the band led by brothers and founding SEPULTURA members Max (also of SOULFLY) and Igor Cavalera, has set "Pandemonium" as the title of its third album, due in October via Napalm Records. The CD was produced by John Gray, who has previously worked with SOULFLY. During an appearance on the "Metal Hammer" magazine show on TeamRock Radio, Max stated about the upcoming effort: "It's called 'Pandemonium' and it's very, very heavy — the heaviest of all the three. I was really possessed to get Igor back to his 'Arise' [SEPULTURA] era of drumming, everything fast." Max recently told HardRockHaven.net about "Pandemonium": "There aren't really any guests on the album. Nate [Newton] from CONVERGE plays bass and he sings one song called 'The Crucible' — it's about the witches of Salem; we did a song about that. Nate's got a great voice, 'cause he sings for DOOMRIDERS and I love his voice, so I got him to sing one song. That's the only guest. The CAVALERA album is really more about me and Igor [Cavalera, drums], the brothers, thrashing. This one is almost grindcore. I was really a dictator in the studio with Igor to try to keep him from going into the groove and tried to keep him playing fast; I wanted him play fast for most of the record. So every time he'd go into the groove, I would be, like, 'Fuck the groove! Get out of the groove! Go back to the fast shit.' And I succeeded, man. It's a really brutal album. I think it's definitely the most brutal of all the CAVALERA albums and it's definitely gonna turn some heads when people hear this one."
02 min read

GHOST Shrugs Off NERGAL’s PAPA Photo ‘Leak’: ‘At Some Point It’s Bound To Happen’

Manos Spanos
Swedish occult rockers GHOST, who go to great lengths to keep the identities of their bandmembers a secret, have commented on the recent release of a photo that appeared to show the band's frontman Papa Emeritus II (believed to be Swedish musician Tobias Forge of MAGNA CARTA CARTEL, REPUGNANT and SUBVISION) without his trademark makeup posing backstage at a Dutch festival with BEHEMOTH's Adam "Nergal" Darski. Speaking to Jägermeister at this weekend's Sonisphere festival in the U.K., one of the Nameless Ghouls from GHOST said (see video below): "Adam from BEHEMOTH [who posted the photo in question on his Instagram account] is a really, really nice guy; we only have good things to say about him, and we hope [he feels] the same way [about us]." He continued: "I mean, it's… We don't really know what to say about that except for we keep our identities as secret as we possibly can, of course, but at some point it's bound to happen, some things that are not really optimal for us, of course. But the identity part is always gonna be, for as long as can take it, it's gonna be a hassle in many ways, and I think we have managed to keep it below the radar, for the most part, at least."
01 min read

The Silent Rage: searching for guitarist

Manos Spanos
The Greek power metallers The Silent Rage announced that Laertis Toskas left the band for his own personal reasons so the band is in search for a new lead guitarist. If anyone is interelested can send an e-mail to this address: thesilentrageofficial@gmail.com. Also, they inform the fans that this change will not bring any troubles in the recordings of their new album, nor to their special guest show with Grace Digger in Kuttaro on September 19.
00 min read

DISOLVO ANIMUS Back On The Studio

Manos Spanos
Through the Official facebook page the Greek Death/Black metallers announced their return to the studio for the recording of new album. Bellow you can read their statement: "We have some great news to announce. We are at Esoteron Music Studiowith George Emmanuel and Hryshaorr is recording right now! Stay tuned for more news , 'cause great things are going to happen! (Special thanks to Dimitris & Sofia from S & D Photography)"
00 min read

FAITH NO MORE Debuts New Music At London’s Hyde Park; Video Available

Manos Spanos
Reactivated influential alt-metal act FAITH NO MORE debuted what are believed to be two brand new songs during their concert earlier today (Friday, July 4) at Hyde Park in London, England. Low-quality fan-filmed video footage of the performance can be seen below. FAITH NO MORE recently hinted at the possibility of new music 17 years after the release of the band's last LP, "Album Of The Year". The group, which made a comeback in June 2009 with a headlining performance at the Brixton Academy in London, England and has played sporadic shows for the past few years, launched a new Twitter account and one of the first posts was as follows: "The reunion thing was fun, but now it's time to get a little creative." Speaking to IHeartGuitarBlog.com in November 2012, FAITH NO MORE singer Mike Patton stated about the possibility of the band releasing any live material from its reunion tours: "Right now, we have no plans whatsoever — live, recording or anything. We've done what we set out to do with the reunion, and it's all great, but it's just, 'Let's see what happens next.' And I think you need to take a pause to actually reflect on something like that, because otherwise we could just keep playing, and we're very conscious of overdoing it, y'know, milking material that's so old. You can only do that for so long, and I feel that we've done pretty well. The whole band's naturally came to this conclusion, so now we're just sitting tight." According to Patton, one of the reasons the FAITH NO MORE reunion didn't happen sooner is the fact that they wanted to avoid making it feel like a nostalgia thing — like "Here's FAITH NO MORE again." "We wanted it to feel fresh and still somehow vital," he said. "It wasn't an money grab. It's funny to say, but we all kind of reconnected, and after quite a long time we all kinda looked at each other and were like, 'Man, we actually spent half of our lives together.' It's interesting to see it through that set of glasses as opposed to the ones you wore back then. I suppose, at least personally speaking, I've grown up a lot since then, and I think I approach the music differently, and I felt better about the music than I did then."
03 min read

HALFORD Says Controversy Over DICKINSON’s Teleprompter Comments Is Much Ado About Nothing

Manos Spanos
Rob Halford says that the recent controversy surrounding IRON MAIDEN frontman Bruce Dickinson's apparent condemnation of the JUDAS PRIEST singer's use of a teleprompter during live performances is much ado about nothing. A teleprompter, or autocue, is a display device that prompts the person speaking with an electronic visual text of a speech or script, and it is usually used by singers — including Halford and BLACK SABBATH's Ozzy Osbourne — who are getting on a bit and have a large body of work to remember. "I never realized that people were using autocues," Dickinson told The Guardian in a recent interview. "What the fuck is that all about? People pay good money and you can't even remember the sodding words." He continued: "The daftest one I ever saw was [JUDAS PRIEST's] 'Breaking The Law'. It's on the fucking autocue. 'Breaking the law, breaking the law/Breaking the law, breaking the law/Breaking the law, breaking the law/Breaking the law' — guess what? — 'breaking the law.' It's ludicrous." Asked by Nikki Blakk of the San Francisco, California radio station 107.7 The Bone to respond to Dickinson's comments, Halford laughed out loud and said: "What we British say is it was just a storm in a teacup [Editor's note: 'Storm in a teacup' is a British variation of 'tempest in a teapot,' an idiom meaning a small event that has been exaggerated out of proportion]." He added: I love Bruce. I love Bruce. He's a great friend of mine. And he's very outspoken. [He's a] great frontman, a great singer from a great band. And, you know, these things are said in many ways, and I'm sure he didn't mean it in any other way than Bruce sometimes goes off in one of his rants. You know, it's just the way it goes. "But, yes, storm in a teacup. Storm in a metal teacup." In a 2010 interview with the QMI Agency, Halford spoke about how using a teleprompter helped him when he was asked to fill in for Ozzy with BLACK SABBATH for a show after Osbourne was taken ill. "[Like Ozzy], I use a teleprompter now too because I do so many things," he said. "I can't remember. I wish I was like my mate Bruce Dickinson and could do everything, but I need that safety blanket." During the 2005 edition of Ozzfest, the traveling festival's founder, Ozzy's wife and manager Sharon Osbourne, famously cut the venue's public-address system and the main stage's power on at least three occasions during MAIDEN's performance at the tour's final stop in Devore, California because she said that Dickinson was "talking shit about my family, night after night," and was being "disrespectful" to her husband during Bruce's "nightly outbursts from the stage" by saying that "we don't need a teleprompter' (like Ozzy)."
03 min read