Artist Interview
Revolver just premiered Buckcherry's new song, "The Motherfucker" (check it out HERE), and we caught up with lead guitarist Keith Nelson to ask about the hard rocker's new EP, 'Fuck.'
REVOLVER Pardon my French, but what the fuck inspired you to release an EP titled 'Fuck'?
KEITH NELSON Somebody had to do it. I'm sure we aren't the first band with this idea—we're just the first band with the balls to go through with it.
How was the writing and recording process different than your last album, 'Confessions'?
Well, with 'Confessions' there was a story that ran through all the songs and it was important that the music convey a similar feeling and emotion as the lyrics. With this EP, we just wrote songs until we felt like we had a complete body of work. The recording process hasn't changed much. Five guys in a room and some analog tape—simple.
We've just premiered "The Motherfucker. How did that song come about?
I came up with the riff and a basic structure for a song. I gave Josh [Todd, vocals] a rough demo of it and he came up with the lyrics. Then we set up the band in my living room and banged it out. My neighbors loved it.
You guys cover Icona Pop's "I Love It." What made you decide to cover that song?
Josh heard that song and had the idea. He tweaked the lyrics a bit and we made it a guitar-driven song and there you have it. There wasn't a lot of over-thinking. Kinda like a "if we would have written this song, it would have sounded like this" approach.
What's it like releasing music on your own label, F-Bomb Records?
It's a freedom we have been looking for a very long time. There is a lot to know about how a record goes from an idea in your head to consumers' hands. We are learning as we go in some areas and trying to use the lessons learned from past record deals. It's a very exciting time for us.
We hear you've got a crazy guitar collection. Which one is your favorite and did you have a particular one you played on the new record?
I have a 1959 Gibson Les Paul Standard that is my "go to" guitar. We call it "Louis" and it does everything I need a guitar to do.
You guys will be performing on the the Uproar Tour, which starts in a few days. What are you most looking forward to while you're on the road?
The road is our home. It will be great to play and hang with the other bands on the tour and finally get the 'Fuck' EP in peoples' hands.
Hard rockers Buckcherry will release their new EP, 'Fuck,' on August 19 on their label, F Bomb. In anticipation, the band has teamed up with Revolver to premiere a new song, "The Motherfucker." Check it out below and let us know what you think in the comments!
MORE BUCKCHERRY: Read our interview with guitarist Keith Nelson.
To get 'Fuck,' visit iTunes or the band's webstore. For more on Buckcherry, visit their website or follow them on Facebook and Twitter.
As In Flames and their fans count down to the release of the Swedish metal stalwarts' new album, 'Siren Charms' (September 9 in the U.S.), the group has teamed up with Revolver to roll out a series of five videos in which the band members break down the record, track by track. Below, watch the first entry, and check back every day this week for more!
This is an excerpt from the August/September 2014 issue of Revolver. For the rest of this story, plus features on Linkin Park, Body Count, Judas Priest, Every Time I Die, Godsmack, Suicide Silence and much more, pick up a copy of the new issue at the Revolver Online Store.
By Dan Epstein
"I'm wiped out, man," laughs Avenged Sevenfold frontman M. Shadows, talking on the phone from a departure lounge at San Francisco International Airport. "I just finished a long day in San Francisco doing video game press!"
An old hand by now at promoting A7X albums and tours, Shadows now finds himself in the odd-but-cool position of pimping a video game, Hail to the King: Deathbat.
Created by Avenged Sevenfold in conjunction with Subscience Studios after nearly two years of development, and inspired by the group's artwork and lyrical imagery, the complex action-adventure mobile game features classic hits from A7X—players can also unlock eight new instrumental tracks—and includes player characters based on the band members themselves, including late, great Avenged drummer Jimmy "The Rev" Sullivan.
An avid gamer since childhood, Shadows understandably can't wait to get out there and tell the world about it.
REVOLVER Hail to the King looks much more involved than your typical shoot-'em-up or hack-and-slay mobile game.
M. SHADOWS It is, man, and that's a big reason why I wanted to come out to San Francisco, meet with people face to face and get the game in their hands. It is a very big game for the mobile platform. We're pretty much making a console game, and squishing it down as much as we can to fit it onto your phone and some of the other high-end devices. We're actually trying to tell a story with our game. And it's something no band has ever done before.
We wanted to do it for mobile devices, because most people have smart phones, so this is a way to get a cool story into people's hands. When you make a Triple-A console game, the development can take five or six years and cost close to 200 million dollars—and we didn't want to just slap our name on something and have the people who invested that money tell us how the game is going to end up.
Something like this, we were able to fund it ourselves, we developed it ourselves, we're publishing it ourselves, and we have complete control over it. Everything that's in this game is from us, and doing a mobile game has allowed us to do that.
How would you describe the basic concept behind the game?
You basically go around fighting all these demons who have taken over your world and killed your people. It's an action-adventure, along the lines of Zelda and Gauntlet. It's got a lot of old-school nods, a wink of the eye to people in my generation who grew up with old Nintendos and cartridge games—but it's also got a new-school flavor. We recorded eight songs for the levels, which are all nods to 8-bit, Castlevania-type music.
This isn't the sort of stuff you'd release on an Avenged Sevenfold album, right?
It's a completely different genre of music—it's like neoclassical, but with 8-bit sound. But you can also fight to the real tracks of "Nightmare," "Afterlife," or "A Little Piece of Heaven," depending on which level you're on. And we've built worlds around some of our bigger songs. For example, there's a level called "Bat Country," which is like this desert with all these caves—and when you fight the Bat King, "Bat Country" plays. You can play as band characters, if you want, and we also have non-player characters who you're talking to throughout the game. Like, there's an Avenged Sevenfold fan on one of the levels that talks to you out of the blue. When you're making a virtual world like this, you can basically do whatever you want, so we had some fun with it.
To read the rest of this interview, pick up a copy of the August/September issue at the Revolver Online Store.
Rob Zombie will be hosting a live video chat on Friday August 8 at 1 pm EST. The event will stream on RZ-31.com where fans will be able to watch live as the rocker-filmmaker discusses his new horror movie, '31'—Zombie recently announced that the a crowd-funding campaign to finance the project.
Fans will be able to ask questions on Twitter using the hashtag #RZ31, via Facebook under the "Live Stream Launches Now" post or in the comments section at RZ-31.com.
Five Finger Death Punch, Megadeth, Down, Gojira, Watain, and many more rocked Resurrection Fest on July 31 through August 2 in Viveiro, Spain. Photographer Javier Bragado was on hand to catch all the action. Check out the photos he captured for us below–you can also follow him on Twitter and Facebook.
Motionless in White will release their new album, 'Reincarnate,' on September 16 via Fearless Records. In anticipation, the band has teamed with Revolver to premiere the lyric video for album cut "Puppets 3 (The Grand Finale)," which features guest vocals by Dani Filth of Cradle of Filth. Check it out below and let us know what you think in the comments.
Reincarnate is now available for pre-order on Merchnow and digitally on iTunes. Fans who pre-order the album on iTunes will receive "Reincarnate" as an instant download.
On October 4-5, the first-ever Louder than Life festival will bring music, whiskey, and "gourmet man food" together in Louisville, Kentucky. We're counting down to the big weekend with recipes from some of the performing artists themselves, as well as band-inspired cocktails courtesy of one of our favorite rock-and-roll bars, Idle Hands at 25 Avenue B in New York City. We'll be posting these every week until the last week of September when all the recipes and cocktails will be compiled in a Louder than Life eBook that will be available free download.
We're also offering you, the fans, the chance to get your favorite band-inspired recipe or cocktail in the eBook. Email your recipe to: submit@revolvermag.com
For tickets and info on Louder than Life, visit: LouderThanLifeFestival.com.
First up, Judas Priest frontman Rob Halford presents his personal recipe for a full English breakfast.
One of the things I look forward to cooking when I get back home to Walsall, England, is what's known as the full English breakfast. The basic ingredients are simple and straight forward. Purists might go into detail as far as the many varied types, styles, and tastes of the contents of a FEB and that's the fun side of giving cooking a personal flair. I will leave that to one side and just lay out my fast and easy way of making it all happen.
Ingredients:
- A couple of rashers of best gammon bacon
- A couple of top quality pork sausages
- One or two large free range eggs
- A large fresh garden tomato
- Two or three decent size white mushrooms
- Small can of Heinz baked beans.
How to cook:
Heat up a large non-stick frying pan and place in the rashers along with the sausages and chopped mushrooms. Soon as it all starts to sizzle, lower the heat to around medium low and start turning everything around so it gets cooking all sides. Then add the chopped tomato. After a few minutes, crack in the eggs. Season with some salt and pepper to taste. Now, stick a lid on the pan and occasionally agitate by shuffling the pan back and forth. I usually give it a good five minutes to thoroughly cook the meat and the eggs.
This is the metal way, folks! Slide the whole shebang onto a warmed plate. Spoon on the side some heated beans. Along with all this delicious concoction, I have a slice of fried bread that I quickly cook on both sides in the juices left over in the pan on a high heat—you'll sense when it's ready. We make this killer sauce called HP, which gives the whole thing some zing that you dollop on or drizzle over the entire dish.
That's it! Don't forget the huge mug of hot English tea to wash it all down with. And the morning paper!
Washington D.C. melodic death metal act Darkest Hour will release their new self-titled album on August 5 via Sumerian Records. In anticipation, the band has teamed up with Revolver to premiere their new music video for "The Misery We Make." Check it out below and let us know what you think in the comments!
To get 'Darkest Hour,' visit iTunes or the band's webstore. For more information on Darkest Hour, visit their website and Facebook.
After a long series of video teasers for their highly anticipated fifth album, Slipknot have premiered a far-beyond-heavy new song, "The Negative One"—their first original song in six years, and first ever without drummer Joey Jordison, who split with the group in 2013, and bassist Paul Gray, who passed away in 2010. The track can be streamed below or on Slipknot's official website.
Crank it up loud and let us know what you think in the comments.
Frontman Corey Taylor has described the musical direction of the new album as "a great mesh" of 2001's 'Iowa' and 2004's 'Vol. 3: (The Subliminal Verses).' "You've got the gorgeous melodies and the artistic direction of 'Vol. 3' and then you've got the absolute brutality of 'Iowa,' he said. "And I think people are gonna lose their minds when they hear it."
MORE SLIPKNOT: Check out our gallery of the most insane Slipknot fan tattoos!