DJ Ashba got the ‘GNR gig’ just by showing up

Guns N’ Roses have been auditioning guitarists for over a year before getting DJ Ashba, so the guy just wants everyone to know that unlike those guys, all he had to do was ‘be in the room’ to get the gig. Way to be humble about it, DJ.

“What happened is that I got a call, basically saying — I got a call at SIXX: A.M., and we had a number one hit at the time, and it said: ‘Listen, GUNS has been auditioning guitar players for about a year and a half on the down low. They can’t seem to find the right guy.’ Then they asked if I would be interested in coming down and checking it out. And I said, ‘Yeah, I’ll definitely come down.’ I guess Axl got wind that I was going to come down, and he called management and said, ‘If he even shows up in the room, he has the gig.’ So it was kind of that easy.“

Read full interview here.

Amazing guitarists don’t audition, yo. All they need to do is enter the room and BOOM, their aura will take care of everything.

Yet another unreleased Metallica song…

Songs don’t make the cut for a reason. They’re not good enough. So releasing them after a few years is as bad as being caught without makeup if you’re a hot celebrity chick with a bad acne problem. That’s how I see it, anyway.

But in celebration of 30 years of Metallica (and my metal math says 9 years of actual Metallica and 21 years of trying to jump on other bandwagons),  the guys are playing a few shows in San Francisco with a bunch of guests (like Jason Newsted) and shit. It’s pretty cool, and apparently they play an unreleased Death Magnetic song each night and then release the studio version of it online.

Something along those lines, anyway… Fuck you, I didn’t really research this.

Anyway, the third unreleased song hit the interwebz — It’s called ‘Hell and Back,’ and it describes what I went through to avoid Lulu.

Enter Slipknot

I buy CDs on the basis that I know I’ll want to listen to them at some point in the future. That point may be the day of purchase or it may be days, weeks, or even years in the future. With that in mind, I just decided that now is the right time to discover Slipknot. I bought the first 3 albums when they were released but until this week I haven’t heard any of them (I haven’t picked up the fourth one yet).

I read the metal press and esteemed metal websites, natch, but by listening to music in my own time I find myself well removed from any hype, allowing me to appreciate (judge ?) the music solely on its own merits. But hang on I’ve seen them play live thrice, and I’ve seen the Disasterpieces DVD too so what the fuck am I talking about ? Well yeah okay, but I still haven’t heard the first three albums until this week.

So now I presumably know what everyone else knows, The first album is good, the second is better and the third is the weakest. A most enjoyable week and well worth the wait as far as i’m concerned, in fact I’m playing Iowanow as I type.

Maybe soon I’ll be in the mood to listen to The Hellacopters, I’ve got their first 6 albums but as yet I’ve heard nothing by them, or maybe I should dig out some vinyl I have yet to play ? I know I haven’t played MC5’s Kick Out the Jams yet and I’ve had that in my collection for many years. Still, there’s no rush is there?

Metallica release another unreleased song

After performing (and later releasing a studio version online) an unreleased track from the Death Magnetic sessions, Metallica have released another new track from the recording of Death Magnetic.

The song is called ‘Just a Bullet Away’ and is a lot better than ‘Hate Train’ in my opinion. That said, it’s still nothing mindblowing. A few decent riffs, a nice instrumental mid section and some mediocre vocals. Check it out below.

In other news, the band apparently performed some Lulu tracks with Lou Reed, played a song with Kid Rock, and I thanked my lucky stars I wasn’t there to witness the massacre.

Five Finger Death Punchline

Five Finger Death Punch drummer, Jeremy Spencer and guitarist, Jason Hook, were recently interviewed by Musik Universe.

When asked about the overwhelmingly negative comments their band receives on Blabbermouth.net every time a Five Finger Death Punch story is posted on the site, Jason said, “I skip right to the comments, actually. I’m like, ‘Oh, a story on us….’ Right to the bottom.” Jeremy added, “I think it’s great, man. I just want it to be creative when they dog us. I wanna see something that’s really funny that sticks out, ’cause I love it; I think it’s great. The bonehead, stupid, typical dogging, that’s not funny to me, but if they go out of their way to be creative, I love it. I say, bring that stuff on; that’s awesome.”

That’s funny, “bonehead, stupid, typical dogging, not funny” — Holy shit, is it me or did they just describe their own music? Nah, that’s not fair I guess, FFDP are really creative sometimes. Like that time they released a cover song as a single. Or that time they borrowed a few nu-metal riffs and called it an album. Twice.

For more on Five Fanny Dingo Plank, check out Blabbermouth.