SLIPKNOT and STONE SOUR frontman Corey Taylor is to have a case of the masks and uniforms he has worn on stage with Slipknot, as well as some of his plaques, photographs and some other special collectibles displayed in the Hard Rock Hotel in Vegas. Stocked with rock & roll memorabilia throughout, the hotel will be unveiling the special new Corey Taylor case on July 15th.

To celebrate this special honor, Taylor will be performing two solo shows at the Hard Rock. The first will be Poolside on July 16th with his Junk Beer Kidnap Band. The second will be a solo acoustic show on July 17th at Wasted Space inside the Hard Rock.

Corey is currently on the road with Stone Sour ahead of the release of the bands forthcoming third studio album ‘Audio Secrecy’, which hits stores on September 6th. First single ‘Mission Statement‘ will be released as a digital single on June 27th.

Today sees the release of the LYNYRD SKYNYRD’S CD/DVD live extravaganza Live From Freedom Hall.

The release showcases the band’s performance at Freedom Hall, Louisville, Kentucky on 15th June 2007 and features some of the classic band’s best-known tracks. The performance is also the last to feature founding member/keyboardist Billy Powell and longtime bassist, Ean Evans who sadly passed away in 2009, during the recording of the band’s last studio album, GOD & GUNS.

Our colleagues over in the USA got vocalist Johnny Van Zant on the phone recently to chat to him about the show/release and he walked us through, track by track:

Travelin’ Man
“That’s kind of like a duet thing that me and my brother did, and to be able to sing with him was pretty awesome. Years ago we had it on our record and for live, I think for Skynyrd fans to be able to see Ronnie up there actually singing and then it comes back to me on stage I think it’s just a very cool thing for fans and I always love doing that. Our dad was a truck driver and we’ve been travelin’ men our whole life. Ronnie for 29 years was a travelin’ man, ‘til his untimely death. And for me I’ve been doing it for about 30 something years. So it’s just a very cool song and for anybody.”

Workin’
“Well I think that goes back to our upbringing. We always have worked in our life and our fans are working class people and that’s what we believe in doing — we’re probably one of the hardest working bands out there and have always been out there every year. Where a lot of other bands take off, we’re out there playing for our fans. And you know its something like ‘I’m gonna buy my baby shoes’ I have kids in college and I have to buy them shoes! (Laughs) …and keep ‘em fed! So thanks to the Skynyrd Nation we’re still around. And we’re actually playing it this year coming up. We change our set up here and there, there’s so many great Lynyrd Skynyrd songs. We know we have to do “Freebird”, “Sweet Home” and those kind of things, but that song was just a statement, we think of our fans as the working class of America –or all around. [Even] when we’re in Europe they’re the working class so we like doing that one. It’s an up tempo thing, it’s in your face and that’s us.”

What’s Your Name?
“Well that is just a great hit song. Most Skynyrd people don’t realize that was the highest charting song that Lynyrd Skynyrd ever had as far as the top 100 singles and it was a top 10 song, I’m not sure exactly how far it went but it went up there quite a ways. And it’s just a great song, great feel [good] song. You can always tell that the crowd loves that, which is why we pretty much keep that in our set every year. I mean the crowd, especially the ladies — that one’s for the ladies.”

That Smell
“Well, ‘That Smell’ what a great song. That’s something Skynyrd’s always been about: true things that we’ve written about, and that’s definitely a true thing. We’ve all lived true our days of doing things that probably weren’t good for us (laughs). That one there with the audience you can definitely smell that smell if you get my drift.”

Simple Man
“Well that’s a great song and something that I think we all live by. I think anybody out there needs to respect their mother, and the words of their mother. It’s mama talking to you in that song and I think it’s probably one of my favorite’s if not my favorite to do live. It’s just a great song and that one stays in the set and the crowd always goes crazy on that one. Actually I just saw Lee [DeWyze] from American Idol do part of it a couple of weeks ago. Thought that was pretty neat.”

Down South Jukin
“Well that one’s just another fun up-tempo thing and I think that’s part of a medley. We’re from the south and just love doing that one; it just gets the crowd so much and to go from “Simple Man” into that just makes your blood start going up a little bit too, it’s a lot of fun.”

The Needle and The Spoon
“That’s a rare, really an obscure Skynyrd song. I mean not everybody knows “Needle and The Spoon” but we love doing it live just the whole riff the way it starts out and we’ve been doing it for many, many years.”

Ballad of Curtis Loew
“Well that one everybody does know. If you’re a Skynyrd fan you know “Curtis Loew” and again it just kind of brings the tempo down and just kind of lets us get that back porch feel.”

Gimme Back My Bullets
“Again that song it just in your face and that song’s pretty cool. The story behind that song and the reason why we like doing it is that when Skynyrd, when that album came out, everybody used to throw bullets at them because they thought it meant that, but what it really meant was on the Billboard charts it had a bullet besides it meaning it was doing really good, and the album before that, before Give Me Back My Bullets didn’t do quite as well as the first two. So this was something saying give us back our bullets, we’re here and in your face. It’s in your face so we love doing it.”

Tuesday’s Gone
Again just a great ballad, up there with Simple Man. Fans love it, and we can hear a little bit of harmonica on that one and sometimes the fans sing louder on that one than when I’m singing at all. That’s one thing about Skynyrd, I’m kind of like the head cheerleader and we love for the crowd to get into it. I can understand people sitting and listening to the music, but for Skynyrd it’s, ok let’s take your worries away for a couple hours and let’s have fun.”

Red, White and Blue
“Well that’s one that was off an album called Vicious Cycle. We’re big supporters of our troops and we’ve always felt that’s a Skynyrd crowd; we always go back to our fans, we write about our fans and we love our fans. We’ve been blessed to have fans with us for years and years and years for multi-generations now and we’re supporters of our troops and our families. That song is basically written about our fans.”

Gimme Three Steps
“That’s our time to turn it up not to 10 but 11 and try to go out the night at 11. That’s also just a fun, boogie, sing-along song that we’ve done forever, we’re going to be doing it this coming year and it’s just an all around good song, good party song.”

Call Me The Breeze
“Call Me The Breeze’ is an old J.J. Cale song that the band recorded years and years ago. Again it just keeps up – we go from “Three Steps” to “The Breeze” and the crowd just loves it and so do we. By that time in the set we’re ready to go to “Alabama” and “Freebird” you know? So it really pumps us up, not only the crowd but it pumps us up too.”

Sweet Home Alabama
“I think “Sweet Home” is something that, we’ve been the ambassadors of Alabama for years –they should give us the state award for spreading the word [laughs] but that song is just a timeless song. And you had Kid Rock last year with “All Summer Long” which used part of it and numerous movies and what can you say about it really except for that it’s ‘Sweet Home Alabama’?”

Freebird
“Well that is a timeless song, that and “Stairway to Heaven”. For years Skynyrd has always closed the show with that song and the song has different meanings for different people. Somebody was telling me, it’s graduation time right now, this kid was telling me that they used it for their graduation song and not too long ago somebody told me that they used it at a funeral. And really it’s a love song, its one of the few that Lynyrd Skynyrd’s ever had. It’s about a guy and a girl. Of course at the end it was dedicated to Duane Allman from the band Allman Brothers because it goes into the guitar part. That one there if you can get through that one you’ve had a good night at a Skynyrd show.”

You can pick up ‘Live From Freedom Hall as a digital release on all the usual platforms or as a CD/DVD package in all good record stores and online HERE.

When SOULFLY were in the UK recently to play shows in support of their recently released aural assault OMEN, we took the opportunity to sit down and chat with Max Cavalera about the Soulfly back catalogue in continuation of our ‘Discography’ series.

In part 1, we chat to Max about the bands self titled debut- where it was recorded, who with and how he feels about the release…

‘Soulfly’ was recorded at Indigo Ranch, it was the same place I did (Sepultura’s) ‘Roots’ with the same producer, Ross Robinson. It’s a very cool studio in the mountains in Malibu – actually I don’t think it’s a studio anymore unfortunately, they sold the place. But it was a great studio, it was where Korn did their first album and Megadeth did ‘Peace Sells… But Who’s Buying?’

It was a great old, rustic vibe, a lot of 70s equipment. It’s all wood cabins and a beautiful view over the ocean and mountains, an awesome place to record. A really good vibe.

I had three Brazilian musicians – the guitar player Lucio, and two drummers who played on the record – who all stayed in bungalows at the studio, so it was a kind of homely atmosphere. We’d wake up every morning ready to record and make music, every day there was something new to record at the studio. It was a really fun album to make.

I wrote most of the stuff at home first. I had a demo with ‘Eye For An Eye’ and ‘No’ back-to-back, and they were the initial parts of the album. Then came ‘Bleed’ about Dana, and ‘Tribe’, then later on we started doing ‘Fire’ and some of the faster songs like ‘The Song Remains Insane’.

The musicians were Lucio, a great Brazilian guitar player who plays bossanova-style Brazilian guitar mixed with Jimi Hendrix, really tasty guitar playing – he did a lot of cool stuff on the record. We had Roy (Mayorga – drums) and Marcello (D. Rapp – bass) in the band too. Roy’s an amazing drummer, he still kicks ass today. He made great beats for the record, I love the beats he did on ‘Eye For An Eye’ – he wrote it on a drum machine but translated it to a live set, with the same energy. Marcello’s a really good bass player too- he was a Sepultura roadie for many years so we were friends from when we were teenagers. He started playing bass and got really good at it, so I invited him to be part of Soulfly from the beginning.

[Recording with new people after Sepultura] was scary, I didn’t know if I could trust these guys with the burden of coming from albums like ‘Roots’ and ‘Chaos AD’, it was a huge space to fill, but they did great. The album sounds amazing, really powerful. It’s a lot of people’s favourite Soulfly album.

To me, there’s a lot of pride involved because it was my first American Gold album, before Sepultura achieved that. It’s on my wall, it has huge value to me. It was also Gold in Australia.

It was a fun record to make. We had Chino from the Deftones on the song ‘First Commandment’, he came and sang, then we had Benji from Skindred – at that time he was in Dub War – singing on ‘Quilombo’ and parts of ‘Fire’ (Benji also appeared on ‘Prejudice’). And we had Fred Durst on ‘Bleed’, and DJ Lethal (also from Limp Bizkit), and Burt and Dino from Fear Factory played on ‘Eye For An Eye’ too. We had a lot of good friends come in!

Check back here tomorrow for part 2, where Max will talk about Primitive. To check out the others in our Discography series, CLICK HERE.

Pick up current album ‘Omen’ online now- CLICK HERE.

Welsh quintet KIDS IN GLASS HOUSES are excited to announce a second 2010 UK headline tour in support of their current album DIRT, set to kick off in Norwich on November 11 and culminating in a London Shepherds Bush Empire show on November 24th.

Dirt, the band’s second offering, has so far spawned three Radio 1 A-List singles: Matters At All, Youngblood (Let It Out), and current single Undercover Lover (feat. Frankie Sandford), which the band recently performed at Radio One’s Big Weekend with the lady herself!

Prior to their forthcoming headline tour, the guys will also be performing at this year’s T4 On the Beach, T in the Park, Oxegen festival and Reading & Leeds festival.

Tickets for the November tour go on general sale on Friday 25th June at 9am from GIGS N TOURS or on the numbers below.

A limited amount of tickets will go on sale from the band’s own website at 9AM on Wednesday 23rd June. Anyone purchasing their tickets from the site will be given a link to watch an exclusive behind the scenes video of the band on their last tour. Fans should head to www.kidsinglasshouses.com/tickets Wednesday morning.

The opening band on these dates will be chosen from the eight bands currently on the Red Bull Bedroom Jam Festival Tour. Kids In Glass Houses have joined up with the online platform for emerging artists to give one of the up and coming bands the opportunity to join the November tour. The chosen band will be confirmed in September.

The full run of dates is as follows:

July
Sun 4 Weston Super Mare T4 On The Beach
Fri 9 Balado T in the Park
Sun 11 Punchestown IRE Oxegen Festival

August
Fri 27 Leeds festival
Sat 28 Reading festival

November
Thu 11

MURDERDOLLS are continuing to drive their ever-suffering tour manager mad with their escapades as captured by one of their crew. In this latest clip, Joey and Wednesday go a little too far on the party train the night before a show. Oh and can you spot the sock puppet??

Don’t forget that we will give you an opportunity to download the forthcoming single My Dark Place alone for FREE on June 22nd before the tracks release as a digital single on July 4th. Head to www.roadrunnerrecords.co.uk on Tuesday for the track!

The sun is out (sometimes), the beer is cold (most of the time) and it’s the World Cup (hopefully for the win)! What we need is a summertime, fun-time anthem and we have just the tune!

Check out the video below from NICKELBACK for their forthcoming single THIS AFTERNOON, which will see a release on August 8th. Get up, go out you and all your friends!

And if your team in the office sweep stake isn’t winning then hopefully the killer tune-age, the triumph of the nerds and the hot chicks adorning the video will list your spirits a little!

‘This Afternoon’ is taken from Nickelback’s current album DARK HORSE, which is in stores now. Pick it up online HERE.

Citing influences as diverse as the Police to Meshuggah to Dream Theater and starting his musical career on the piano, Dan Torelli, drummer with Chicago alt rockers MADINA LAKE had plenty to say about his craft when we sat down with him recently to talk about his drumming career, influences and set up.

Read on to get an insight into Torelli’s career…

Roadrunner UK: What was the first instrument you started playing?
Dan Torelli: The piano when I was probably 6 or 7 years old. It was the traditional parents make you take piano lessons type thing because I didn’t want to at the beginning I don’t think? From what I remember they just signed me up you know! And then I really, really, really enjoyed it and I took lessons from when I was about 6 or 7 until 9 or 10 or something like that, it was a few years of piano lessons. So that’s where I learned just basically how to read music and timing and things like that. That was my first introduction and then I stopped when I got a little bit older, like when I went to school but I still played to fuck around I think. And then finally I met the drums, we went to a party of a friend of my parents, I was still young maybe 9 or 10 years old and my Dad’s friend had a drum set down in the basement. I went down in the basement, where like all the kids were running around playing and I just started playing it (the drum set), beating the shit out of it and I stayed down there the whole night driving everybody crazy at this party but couldn’t drag me off it. Then it finally came to the end of the night and I finally had to stop playing it the guy said ‘you know what, you guys can take it!’. I mean he hadn’t played it in so many years and it was just sitting there collecting dust, which was awesome! I mean what a cool gesture saying ‘you can have it!’ so he gave me the drum set and that’s how I started.

RR UK: So that’s how you got started?
DT: Yeah, probably like 10. For the first couple of years I played, I would put on headphones and just play, I don’t even think I was doing anything right I was just having fun just wailing on them you know. And then finally then I started getting a little bit older and into music- my parents listened to a lot of music and stuff like that, my Dad used to play the drums when he was a kid and he can play like rock beats and stuff like that which is awesome. So, he started coming down after he realised I was really into it and showed me basically how to set the whole thing up and how to play a really simple rock beat – snare drum, 2 and 4 pattern and stuff. Then I started taking drum lessons after he pretty much showed me what he could show me. After a couple of months, it wasn’t too long after that, I started taking lessons in our drum shop in Westchester. It was a music store and in the basement they gave lessons and that’s where I took lessons, probably from 7th grade for four years.

RR UK: Tell what was that first drum kit like. What was the set up?
DT: A piece of crap! It was awesome! [laughs] I think the company was called ‘Kingston’ and I’ve never seen or heard of it ever again- and I always look cos it was like the first I had but I’ve never seen another one; no ones ever heard of it! Apparently the history, (not to nerd out on drum history) but after World War II, like when rock and roll started like coming over to America and stuff like that, there were millions of different brands of drum sets that came over from Japan. They would make them over there, like make these shells and then all these different companies would just simply buy them, put a sparkle wrap on them, and put another name on it. So there were all these tons of kits that were pretty much the same kit but there’s just hundreds of names of drums from that era. And actually the cool part of that story, to me, is that years and years and years later after I’d already gotten three drum sets since then and was playing in high school, playing in rock bands and stuff like that, those friends of my parents had a son who was a little bit older than I was when it happened to me, about 11 or 12 years old and we still had that thing he (the Dad) had given me sitting in a closet and so we gave it back to him and then he (the Son) started playing on that kit which was kinda cool!! Like that’s the best, giving instruments like that. You have no idea what you could be doing for somebody by you know handing them an instrument to make music with, it’s cool!

RR UK: Who would you say were the first drummers that got you really excited?
DT : The very first was Lars Ulrich. The first CD I ever bought was ‘And Justice for All’ (Metallica) because I saw the ‘One’ video on MTV. I think everybody liked Lars at that time, like he was sitting behind that huge, white, Tama drum set with the double bass pedals and like, all his shit. And that was it for me- that’s why I had to have a Tama drum set and that was my first one- just ‘cause Lars had it! I think that’s why subconsciously I still like that brand today, he made a really, really, really big impact on me. So the first music I really started playing was kinda like that, metal because Metallica and Lars Ulrich was my door for that stuff.

RR UK: So who else would you say you really admire?
DT : There’s so many millions of them right now but early on, starting with Lars and then…when you play instruments there are guys that are really good and intrigue you and I remember somebody showed me Dream Theater along the way, so Mike Portnoy was definitely, definitely one of the early ones that was actually playing stuff that I couldn’t play. I’d sit there and try and figure it out and that helped me get better. At the same time I was listening to Chad Smith from the Red Hot Chilli Peppers and Will Calhoun from a band called Living Color. Also Stuart Copeland of course, Police. My Dad used to listen to a lot of Police records so that was cool. ‘Cause that was hard to understand too, like being a drummer starting out you know it sounds awesome but he’s not playing typical beats ‘cause it’s like that weird reggae weird punk weird stuff, so that was cool trying to figure that out! [laughs]

RR UK: So what kinds of music do you think have influenced you over the years? You seem to have quite varied musical interests.
DT: Yeah, it’s been everything! I just love music, you know? I don’t think it really matters what it is as long it’s genuine and legit…the style doesn’t matter. I played in orchestras and concert bands and marching bands and shit in high school, and I really enjoyed it a lot of the time. I was one of the few kids who was there, I mean, we’d rehearse this thing for months and then give a concert and I was like ‘Man, I love this song, or composer or whatever’, I really, really enjoyed playing that. I got into the jazz bands and things like that which led me into a lot of jazz which I think is amazing too. I listened to that a lot, I mean I guess it depends on what your mood is. But that music is amazing, it is without a doubt to me the ultimate in expressive-ness, musically. The songs are so loosely written. Most of the way they work things is a very loose structure and the rest is just complete like solos. I appreciate that part about jazz. I listen to a lot of hip hop, rap and things like that- again it’s the drums. I love grooves, I like long repetitive things. I was really into Dream Theater for a while, and Meshuggah, and I still appreciate that, but I like groove players, it just feels good to do.

RR UK: Are there any new drummers coming that who’re exciting you?
DT : Yeah, Darren King from Mutemath- he is awesome. Really, really good on record. I haven’t been able to see him live yet- when they’ve come by we’ve been out of town- but Iv’e heard through other people that he’s just incredible live, too.

RR UK: Was it through mimicking other drummers that has helped you develop your style?
DT: I think that’s the best way to create your style – based on whatever combination of people you’re listening to. The first thing anybody does on any instrument is to try to figure out the songs they like, but that’s really important ‘cos that definitely shapes your style. You do want to have your own way of playing your instrument, I think that’s the ultimate goal – to have your own sound. Anybody can learn to play any instrument if you sit down long enough and slow things down, but it’s more impressive and fulfilling to develop your own sound. I’d say listen to as wide a variety of music as possible, because that’s what shapes you.

RR UK: Can you tell us about your current kit?
DT: I just got a brand new drum set that I really, really love. It’s a Tama Star Classic with Bupinga Birch Shells, which is awesome. They just started making them. They were making Star Classics with Bupinga for a while, which is really expensive – it’s a dark wood with really deep lows and resonance. It’s really boomy. We had to rent a drum set one time and that’s what came, and it sounded amazing. I didn’t even have to tune it. Mateo turned round and was like ‘Oh my God, that sounds amazing!’ They started making kits just out of birch too, and that’s the complete opposite, they’re the ultimate ‘rock’ drums, all the bands in the eighties used birch drums because they’re really loud – like huge attack, then it dies. So they mixed Bupinga and birch together and it really is the best of both worlds, I love it.

I use a 22” kick drum, 18” x 22”, an 8” x 12” rack tom and then two floor toms. The sizes depend on what I’m using. The set I’m using at home right now has 14” and 16” floor toms, the set I’m using over here on our UK tour has 16” and 18” floor toms. I don’t really prefer one over the other, it’s fun to mix things up.

The snare drum I’m using right now is a Stuart Copeland signature snare, and I also use a Kenny Arnoff one. They’re really similar, they’re both 5.5” x 14” brass snare drums, which I love. Brass is super-loud and super-ringy, and when we play these shows it’s really useful that you can hear it across the stage. I mean, I hit it hard anyway but that sound can get lost with some snare drums.

I’ve been playing Sabian cymbals forever, I love their cymbals a whole lot. My set-up right now is a set of 14” AAXcelerator hi-hats, a Mike Portnoy signature MaxStax 12”/14” crash/china, which makes a really quick accent noise, then 18”, 19” and 20” AAXplosion crashes. I have a 21” HHX dry ride, and a Neil Peart 8” Paragon splash, which is cool. Then, on my right, I used to have a china but now I use a Sabian 20” Ozone crash, which is the one filled with a bunch of holes which makes it sound trashy and gross, but that’s great for accents.

The sticks – Vic Firth, awesome. I started working with Vic Firth a while ago on my own stick which is basically a AAA wood tip. The heads I use are Evans, my favourites are Codeine G2s – I put them on everything but my bass drum, which is an Evans EQ3.

RR UK: You’ve been known to use one of your cymbals vertically – what’s that all about?
DT: Yeah, that’s something I got from Chad Smith from the Chili Peppers, years ago. I think I started setting that up before I realised why I would do that! I only really use that cymbal for accents and to wail on it really hard, but it makes sense because I could hit it as I moved from the ride to another part of the kit. I’ve since changed it up for something else but I’ll probably bring it back. Drums are cool that way, it’s really easy to switch things up and all of a sudden it’s new. It inspires you to do new shit. I’m also setting my kit up differently now – instead of two floor toms on my right, I now have one on my right and on my left, which actually stemmed from a wrist problem I’ve been having for a lot of years due to bad technique – that’s why you should take lessons! I started to realise I could only turn my body so far with my feet on the pedals and it was causing me to bend my wrist at an awkward angle. I needed to figure out a way to keep it in front of me, and even though it makes it more difficult to play traditional rolls, it’s made it something new. It’s really important to work on your technique at the start, cos that stays with you forever. If you’re doing it wrong, you can only progress so far before you hurt yourself, and it’ll put a ceiling on your ability. Get the basics then just listen and watch – it’s great that we have YouTube. This is the first generation of drummers who can go online and just watch drummers and not just listen to it, which is amazing, and there’s actual drum lessons on there too – so use it!

Dan joins a long line of our artists who have discussed their instrument of choice in our Gear nerd series, and you can check out the others (which include Gene Simmons, Warren DeMartini, Daniel Adair and willie Adler to name but a few) at this location.

Madina Lake will be back in the UK to finish off their touring cycle for current album Attics To Eden this coming August, kicking off with a performance at this years Sonisphere Festival. Check out the full list of dates HERE.

Pick up Attics To Eden online at this location.

In this second part of our exclusive interview with SLASH and his current vocalist Myles Kennedy of Alterbridge, we chat about how the touring band currently out in Europe came to be and what made Slash migrate towards the folks he is currently playing with.

Flimed before the run began, Slash also talks about why Download Festival and specifically Donington where the festival is held is so special for him. Check it out in the player below.

Slash makes his way back to the UK in the coming week for his appearance at this years Glastonbury Festival. He will follow that up with a spattering of headline shows before returning to London for Wireless festival. Get a full list of dates over at out Tours Page.

If you missed part one of the interview, where we chatted more about Slash’s debut solo record ‘SLASH‘, then CLICK HERE to check it out.

Pick up ‘Slash’ online HERE.

STONE SOUR recently revealed the first track from their forthcoming album AUDIO SECRECY as a free MP3 download. For those who missed it, the track- Mission Statement will be available as a digital single from all the usual outlets from June 27th.

The album is scheduled for a release on September 6th. Further details, including pre-order are coming soon.

As the anticipation for the new release from 36 CRAZYFISTS grows, we are happy to announce that you will be able to pick up a BRAND NEW track, taken from the forthcoming release COLLISIONS AND CASTAWAYS later this month.

‘Reviver‘ will be available as a digital single on all the usual platforms from JUNE 27th.

Watch this space for more on the forthcoming album, which is due to hit stores July 26th. Maybe, just maybe, we’ll have some news Tuesday.