MACHINE HEAD Frontman: Jamming With HETFIELD Was 'One Of The Highlights Of Our Musical Lives'

MACHINE HEAD frontman Robb Flynn has spoken exclusively with BLABBERMOUTH.NET about having one of his musical idols — METALLICA frontman James Hetfield — join MACHINE HEAD on stage on Saturday, May 16 and Sunday, May 17 in Oberhausen and Cologne, Germany, respectively, to perform the song "Aethetics Of Hate", taken from MH's latest album, "The Blackening".

MACHINE HEAD is in the middle of a lengthy world tour as the support act for METALLICA.

The following question-and-answer session with Flynn was conducted via e-mail:

Q: How did the Hetfield jam come about? Who suggested it first and how did you decide on which song to play together?

Flynn: James and I were hanging out in our dressing room talking, and we have some of those little MicroCube battery-powered practice amps set up, and a small electronic drum kit set up. I was warming up on guitar and he just jumped on the drums and said, "You know any METALLICA songs?" I was like "Shiiii-iiiit", and I busted out "Battery" on the spot. He played the drums all the way through, fuckin' good too!!! The rest of my guys [MACHINE HEAD] eventually came in, and with him still on drums, we all jammed some MAIDEN — "Wrathchild" and "The Trooper", some "Creeping Death" [by METALLICA], and then he played drums to "Aesthetics Of Hate"!! He did it pretty killer too!! [Dave] McClain [MACHINE HEAD drummer] was there watching like, "Holy shit!!??". He got off the kit and went to McClain, "Duuuuude, much respect." After we wrapped up jamming, he asked me, "When are we going to jam it onstage?" I said, "Er...uh... let's do it last show." He said, "Let's do it". Phil [Demmel, MACHINE HEAD guitarist] then showed him the rest of the riffs while we all got ready to play the show. He came to me day of the Oberhausen show and said he wanted to jam it both nights. It was like, "FUCK YEAH!!"



Q: Did you get a chance to rehearse beforehand?

Flynn: We ran through it a couple times at the Vienna show in our dressing room. He had learned a good chunk of it already. I fine-tuned a couple of things with him, but he came in really prepared. He even wanted to try some harmonies and layers too since there were three guitars. Two days later (and with no more rehearsal), he came on and killed it!! After the first show, I watched the YouTube clip and saw that he was singing the "strike down" part with me, so I suggested for the second show we do a trade-off in the chorus, and he sing the "Aesthetics Of Hate" line. Next night, he brought the thunder!!

Q: You have spoken a number of times about how much of an influence and inspiration METALLICA has been for you personally and as a band over the years. How did it feel having one of your musical idols performing one of your songs with you?

Flynn: It was amazing! I mean, seriously amazing! There was actually a point during the second show when we were rocking out together, and I just reached over and grabbed him by the shoulders and yelled, "This is amazing!!!!" He cracked up!! It was one of the highlights of my/our musical lives. Is there a higher compliment? A friend of mine e-mailed me the next day after watching the clip on Blabbermouth, and was like, "DUDE, training is over, you are now a full-blown JEDI KNIGHT OF METAL!!!" I laughed my ass off!

Q: From what I understand, the performance with Hetfield was professionally filmed (there were guys with cameras running around). Any chance of the footage ending up anywhere where people can get hold of it? Your next DVD, perhaps? (Note: Professionally filmed video footage of the Oberhausen performance can be viewed below.)

Flynn: There's fan-filmed clips up on the web and I'm sure MetClub [METALLICA fan club] or MH1 [official MACHINE HEAD web site] will throw something up. I loved watching the fan-filmed stuff on Blabbermouth just so I could see what everyone else was doing during the show when I was singing. He got a kick out of the "Sanitarium" intro. And it was rad watching him and Adam [Duce, MACHINE HEAD bassist] DOWN-PICK that whole long-ass lead section in the middle, they were having a friggin' "down-pick-off," haha!! It was AWESOME!!

Thanks for the report to blabbermouth.net

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NEW DREAM THEATER COVER SONG OUT NOW

Dream Theater is proud to release a brand new cover of the classic Rainbow tune, "Stargazer."

Report on roadrunnerrecords.com

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Van Halen confirmed for 'Guitar Hero'

Activision Blizzard is releasing three new music-based video games this year — "DJ Hero," "Guitar Hero 5" and "Band Hero" — and has confirmed that "Guitar Hero: Van Halen" is on tap.

The company provided few details on any of the games. "DJ Hero," which previously was confirmed, still doesn't have a full set list in place, but the company has released new details about the controller. It will be a single turntable device with three colored buttons similar to the five fret buttons featured on "Guitar Hero."

"Band Hero" is positioned as a more family-oriented version of "Guitar Hero," focusing on top 40 hits.

"Guitar Hero 5" is expected to be similar to all previous installments, but with the ability to "drop in and out of songs and change band members, instruments and difficulty levels on the fly."

The company confirmed the development of "Guitar Hero: Van Halen" to video-game blog Joystiq. It is scheduled for release in the second half of the year. No specific tracks were listed, but Activision said it will include music from guest bands including Queen, Weezer, blink-182, The Offspring and Queens of the Stone Age.

It's not clear which band members will appear as avatars within the game.

Article on msn.com

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Guy Pratt serves up breakfast in Australia

Buoyed by the success of his previous shows in the country (tying in with the release of his unmissable book "My Bass and Other Animals") and appearances on popular TV programmes such as Spicks and Specks and assorted talk shows, Guy Pratt is heading back to Australia with a mammoth 20-date tour.

The show resides under the heading of "Breakfast of Idiots", and Guy tells us that the show - whilst based on the original "My Bass..." show - has a lot of new material in it. He has been heavily updating it, so for those who have seen it before, there'll be loads of stuff you won't have heard before. The original show, chock full of hilarious stories about his times with Pink Floyd, David Gilmour, and a whole bunch of other top musicians, has thrilled audiences all over, so it is great news that Guy has been working on this new take on his life on the road and in the studio...

It is a mammoth tour that will see Guy covering quite a bit of the country, taking his show to big cities and small towns alike. Tickets for the shows go on sale very shortly from the SpokenWordAustralia.com.au website.

Article on brain-damage.co.uk

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Led Zeppelin Rock Symphony

A little rain was not enough to dampen the mood as hundreds of fans showed up to hear the first collaboration between the ASO and "The Music of Led Zeppelin" at Sloss Furnace Saturday night.

Alabama Symphony Orchestra spokesperson Marie Sutton calls it a huge success.



Vocalist Randy Jackson says the combination of classic rock and classical music works perfectly for Led Zeppelin.

"A lot of the songs were orchestrated by Led Zeppelin when they did albums like Kashmir and the Rain Song. We try to stick to those arrangements as much as possible, but now you're hearing it with a real orchestra," said Randy Jackson.

Jackson, who is also the lead singer for the band Zebra, says this tour attracts a very broad audience.

"I think its the environment, Zeppelin's classic stuff and the kids these days seem to gravitate towards it on their own, but I think that being able to see it with a symphony orchestra makes a big difference.

They can bring their kids and they know it’s not going to get too crazy. We get all ages at these shows so it’s like a family even you know but it's still rocking," said Randy Jackson.

Longtime fan David Ort thinks the music will continue to rock long into the future.

"Robert Plant and me have the same birthday, that's what got me into it back in the seventies. In my eyes Led Zeppelin lives on! Now it's almost 2010, shoot man I think they'll last till 2090," said David Ort.

Article on cbs42.com

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"LET IT ROLL: SONGS BY GEORGE HARRISON," TO BE RELEASED JUNE 16 BY CAPITOL/EMI

Collection Features Harrison's Solo Hits from 1970's All Things Must Pass Through 2002's Brainwashed, Remastered, Plus Live Recordings from 1971 Concert For Bangladesh

Capitol/EMI confirms the tracklist for George Harrison's first-ever career-spanning solo hits collection, Let It Roll: Songs by George Harrison. To be released June 16 (June 15 internationally), the CD's special packaging includes a 28-page booklet featuring previously unseen and rare photos, and newly-written liner notes by Warren Zanes. The collection's 19 tracks have been digitally remastered by Giles Martin at EMI's Abbey Road Studios, and will be available in CD and digital formats.

"Let It Roll: Songs by George Harrison is a gathering of material that takes us far into the territory that was ultimately a place unique to George Harrison," writes Warren Zanes in his liner notes essay for the new collection.

This collection is the first to span Harrison's entire solo recording career, including the #1 Billboard Pop singles "My Sweet Lord," "Isn't It A Pity," "Give Me Love (Give Me Peace On Earth)," and "Got My Mind Set On You." Let It Roll also features live recordings of three timeless Harrison-penned Beatles songs, "Something," 'While My Guitar Gently Weeps," and "Here Comes The Sun," from his 1971 all-star Concert For Bangladesh benefit at Madison Square Garden.

"The keyhole into the world of George Harrison is the music itself. Yet his songs and the accomplishments for which he's remembered are inextricably bound - and those accomplishments are, without question, eclectic in scope," Zanes writes.

George Harrison is a twice-inducted member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, as a solo artist and as a member of The Beatles, and an 11-time Grammy Award winner for his recordings with The Beatles, Traveling Wilburys, and as a solo artist. On April 14, Harrison was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in Los Angeles.

Let It Roll: Songs by George Harrison (CD, digital)

• 1. Got My Mind Set On You
• 2. Give Me Love (Give Me Peace On Earth)
• 3. The Ballad Of Sir Frankie Crisp (Let It Roll)
• 4. My Sweet Lord
• 5. While My Guitar Gently Weeps [Live] - Concert For Bangladesh
• 6. All Things Must Pass
• 7. Any Road
• 8. This Is Love
• 9. All Those Years Ago
• 10. Marwa Blues
• 11. What Is Life
• 12. Rising Sun
• 13. When We Was Fab
• 14. Something [Live] - Concert For Bangladesh
• 15. Blow Away
• 16. Cheer Down
• 17. Here Comes The Sun [Live] - Concert For Bangladesh
• 18. I Don't Want To Do It
• 19. Isn't It A Pity

Article on beatles.com

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Mystery Beatles lyric is a dream display at the British Library

A previously unseen George Harrison lyric, found by author and collector Hunter Davies, goes on display at the British Library today (8 May). Written in early 1967 when George was aged 23 or 24, the untitled song was penned at a time when The Beatles had stopped

touring to spend more time in the studio to work on what would arguably become their most famous record, Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. The Beatles are still one of the world's greatest bands, almost 40 years after their split.

Hunter Davies found the lyric during his research for a new edition of The Beatles official biography, which has just been re released more than 40 years after its original publication. In its introduction, Hunter recalls how he collected Beatles lyrics discarded as scrap paper from the floor of Abbey Road studio and kept them as souvenirs. It's almost certain that they would have been thrown out by the cleaners if he hadn't picked them up.

Written in George's handwriting, which all true Beatles fans will recognize, it's not a song that he ever recorded, or perhaps even put music to, as far as we can tell. The girl George was dreaming about remains a mystery although it could have been his then wife Pattie Boyd. The lyric [sic] is eight lines long and reads a bit like teenage angst:

Im happy to say that its only a dream
when I come across people like you,
its only a dream and you make it obscene
with the things that you think and you do.
your so unaware of the pain that I bear
and jealous for what you cant do.
There's times when I feel that you haven't a hope
but I also know that isn't true.

On the reverse side of George's lyric are instructions on how to reach The Beatles manager, Brian Epstein's country house in Sussex, written in Brian's hand. This means that George must have written the lyric before August 1967 when Brian was found dead at his London home following an accidental sleeping pill overdose. Significantly, John Lennon would later claim that this signalled the beginning of the end for the Beatles.

Hunter Davies, The Beatles official biographer, said: "I can't believe I'd kept George's lyric all these years but had forgotten about it until now! Although George is no longer around to tell us what the inspiration was for the song, I'm glad the lyric will be on display at the British Library for generations of Beatles fans to enjoy."

Jamie Andrews, Head of Modern Literary Manuscripts at the British Library, said: "George's words are all that is left of the song - we can only guess what it would have sounded like so it is an invaluable and hugely interesting piece of Beatles memorabilia. The nation loves The Beatles so it's great to see George's lyric reunited with those of his band mates in the British Library next to John Lennon's 'Help' and Paul McCartney's 'Yesterday'."

Although Beatles compositions were credited to 'Lennon/McCartney', in reality most of the songs were ninety percent Lennon or ninety percent McCartney, rather than being simple fifty/fifty splits. The handwriting of each lyric on display at the British Library illustrates this, for example, 'Help' is one of Lennon's so it's in his handwriting. 'Yesterday' and 'Michelle' are by McCartney so it's in his handwriting. This makes George's lyric all the more rare.

Most of the British Library's Beatles collection is on loan by kind permission of Hunter Davies, who plans to donate it to the Library after his death. The collection features a wide range of memorabilia that ranges from a fan club membership card to the lyrics of 'A Hard Day's Night', written by John Lennon on the back of a birthday card to his son Julian.

Also on display are concert tickets, a printed Christmas fanzine letter, a 45rpm single for A Hard Day's Night, an untitled verse written by John Lennon, the first issue of the Beatles magazine and an early photo of the band.

George's lyric which has never been seen before, joins other Treasures of the British Library - such as Magna Carta and Shakespeare's First Folio - in the Sir John Ritblat Gallery, which is free and open to the public.

British Library information here: BRITISH LIBRARY (link)

Article on beatles.com

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