Rock News 8/28/17

By LT


Wolfie Van Halen Star Teases Upcoming Solo Album

(hennemusic) Van Halen bassist and Eddie  VH's son Wolfgang recently streamed a brief audio preview of a track  from his forthcoming debut solo album on Instagram."Here's a  sneak peak of the music I've been working on (that's longer than half a  second)", posted the Van Halen bassist, who has been sharing images from  his work-in-progress project since 2015.

The  rocker's father, Eddie Van Halen, first broke the news about his son's  solo record during a 2015 interview at The Smithsonian's National Museum  of American History in Washington, DC during an event to help launch  the institution's three-year initiative entitled "What It Means To Be  American."

While gushing about  being able to make music with his son, Eddie told host Denise Quan,  "Wait til you hear his record. This is not 'pop' (Dad) talking, this is  real talk; it blew my mind."

Wolfgang  is reportedly playing everything on his debut himself - from guitars,  drums and bass to keyboards and vocals; no timetable for the set's  release has been revealed to date.

"Progress,"  he tweeted on August 24. "Shouldn't be too much longer until everything  I've been working on is done." Check out the clip here. 

Brian Johnson Plays with Muse at Reading Festival

(hennemusic) AC/DC singer Brian Johnson  performed the band's 1980 classic, "Back In Black", with Muse at the  UK's Reading Festival on August 27 and video from the event has surfaced  online.

Muse frontman Matt  Bellamy welcomed Johnson to the stage, saying, "he's back!", before the  band delivered the iconic track as the first encore tune of their  closing night headline set.

"That  means a lot to me, thank you so much, thank you boys!", said Johnson as  he gave a big, bear hug to the singer. "Muse promised us special guests  and boy did they deliver!," tweeted host broadcast BBC following the  show, which also saw headline performances by Kasabian and Eminem, with  all acts also appearing at the companion Leeds Festival over the  weekend.

The Reading  appearance marked the second surprise live performance by Johnson this  year, following a guest spot alongside Robert Plant at a Paul Rodgers  show in Oxford, UK in May.

Metallica Releases Grammy Rehearsal with Lady Gaga

METALLICA has released video footage of its February 10 rehearsal session with pop superstar Lady Gaga for their collaboration at this year's Grammy Awards. Check it out below.

METALLICA's appearance with Gaga at the 59th annual event in Los Angeles on February 12 turned into something of a disaster when the Grammy sound crew did not turn frontman James Hetfield's mic on, forcing him to share the mic with Gaga after the first verse and chorus. 

As a further humiliation, presenter Laverne Cox did not even introduce METALLICA by name. At the end of the song, a visibly angry Hetfield hurled his guitar at a road crew member while kicking over his mic stand.

James later told New York Post about the microphone  malfunction: "I felt embarrassed. I haven't been that angry in a long  time. When something out of my control goes wrong, I still get wound up.  I'm sure it taps into other stuff from my past, but I felt helpless. It  ended up being a blessing because I ended up singing in a microphone  with Lady Gaga — maybe even more than she wanted. It felt more like a real collaboration because of that."

Hetfield told the Chilean newspaper La Tercera that he wasn't interested in collaborating with Lady Gaga again or another pop artist in some capacity. But, he said, "Even just  talking with her, being around her, her energy was very, very exciting.  She has lots of ideas, and she likes to push the boundaries like we do.  So it was a good fit."

Shortly after this year's Grammy Awards, METALLICA drummer Lars Ulrich told Rolling Stone that Gaga was the "quintessential perfect fifth member of this band," saying,  "Her voice, her attitude, her outlook on everything is so awesome. [The  performance] was so effortless and organic and she just has the spirit  of hard rock and metal flowing through her veins. It comes really easy  for her. There's nothing contrived; she just has this super warm, easy  energy."

METALLICA was up for a Grammy this year for "Best Rock Song" for the track "Hardwired" from its new album, "Hardwired... To Self-Destruct", but lost to the late David Bowie's "Blackstar".

Avenged Sevenfold Covers Beach Boys " God Only Knows"

(Radio.com) Avenged Sevenfold have taken on  the Beach Boys' 1966 classic, "God Only Knows." The cover version is  the latest new track recorded for the band's ever-expanding 2016  release, The Stage.

"Of all  these new songs we've recorded, this one was the most difficult in terms  of figuring out an arrangement," vocalist M. Shadows said in a press  release. "Figuring out the middle vocal melodies was also challenging.  We wanted to make the song a little darker by adding a flanger and some  haunting vocal nuances. The Beach Boys have always been an influence, so  it was fun to tackle this one from arguably the best album of all time,  Pet Sounds."

Avenged  Sevenfold's version of "God Only Knows" follows recent covers of Mr.  Bungle ("Retrovertigo") and Del Shannon ("Runaway"). Stream the unique  take on the Beach Boys classic here. 

Chris Cornell Fans Invited To Share Tributes On His Website

(Radio.com) Chris Cornell's widow Vicky has  announced that she has made it possible for fans to post their very own  tributes to the late Soundgarden frontman on his official website.

"Since  my husband's tragic passing, fans from all over the world have come  together to share their feelings about what Chris and his music meant to  them, leaving thousands of messages of love while visiting him at  Hollywood Forever and online," she wrote on Twitter.

"You  have opened your hearts to me and our children and we are grateful to  you for your sympathy, love, and support in bringing us solace and  helping us heal. You have given us the hope and strength to endure the  pain of these very dark days. I want to thank all of you and I hope you  will leave your tributes, personal stories, and messages for our family,  to be shared on Chris's site for everyone to read." See Vicky's post,  which includes a link to share your message here.