MIKE SHINODA SAYS LINKIN PARK WILL CONTINUE
Singer Mike Shinoda says that he has "every intention" of continuing with Linkin Park, half a year after the death of his bandmate Chester Bennington. Shinoda spoke out on the band's future on Thursday (January 25th), after he released a surprise three-song EP titled Post Traumatic in which he directly addresses Bennington's death and his own anxiety over what would come next.
Shinoda wrote on Twitter, "I have every intention on continuing with LP, and the guys feel the same. We have a lot of rebuilding to do, and questions to answer, so it'll take time."
- Discussing the EP, Bennington wrote, "I wanted to put this out as soon as possible because I’m living it, and a lot of other people are living it, too. I want people to see and hear it as soon as I complete each thing."
- Shinoda also revealed that he has "a bunch" of additional songs, saying, "I wanted to release these three today and see what the fans want me to do next. If you like these, I’ll keep going."
- Bennington committed suicide on July 20th at the age of 41. In the months that followed, fans have speculated about Linkin Park's future, with some wondering if the group would stay together.
- Linkin Park paid tribute to Bennington last October with an emotional three-hour show that featured numerous guests joining the band onstage at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles.
- The one new song that Shinoda performed at that show, "Looking For An Answer," does not appear on the EP. Asked about its absence, he wrote, "It still exists. I just want to figure out the right presentation."
Story source: Blabbermouth / The PRP
AVENGED SEVENFOLD SKIPPING GRAMMY AWARDS IN PROTEST OF ROCK TREATMENT
Avenged Sevenfold will skip this year's Grammy Awards in apparent protest of the way the organization treats the rock and heavy metal genres. Avenged Sevenfold has received its first-ever Grammy nomination this year in the Best Rock Song category for the song "The Stage," the title track from its latest LP. But asked by a fan on Twitter how they felt about the nomination, the band responded, "Honored. Unfortunately, they have taken 'Best Rock Song' off the telecast this year so we won't be attending. Maybe next time."
- Also nominated for Best Rock Song are Metallica's "Atlas, Rise!," K.Flay's "Blood In The Cut," Nothing More's "Go To War" and Foo Fighters' "Run."
- In an interview last month, Shadows expressed his disappointment that the Best Metal Performance category was one of 70 not televised during the Grammy Awards broadcast. He explained, "You wanna get nominated for a Grammy and you wanna get noticed by people and seen on TV . . . So the 'metal' award still is a problem because literally no one's gonna see those bands or know that they're nominated, and that's an issue."
- The Best Rock Song category has been telecast in the past, but it will now join the 84 or so awards handed out in a non-televised event the afternoon before the main awards ceremony.
- Around a dozen prizes will be doled out on the broadcast, which is set for this Sunday (January 28th) on CBS-TV at 8:00 p.m. ET.
Story source: Blabbermouth
THREE DAYS GRACE SETS NEW ALBUM RELEASE, SHARES FIRST SINGLE
Canadian act Three Days Grace will release its sixth full-length album, titled Outsider, on March 9th. Bassist Brad Walst said about the follow-up to 2015's Human, "To me, Outsider represents the journey to find your place. The world feels crazy at times. We try to get away from that every once in a while. We do our own thing, and we're comfortable doing it. We have always looked forward -- and not backwards. That's an ongoing theme."
- The band shared the video for its first single from the new LP, "The Mountain," on Thursday morning (January 25th). The clip was filmed at a UFC octagon and features a cameo by UFC fighter Misha Cirkunov.
- Drummer Neil Sanderson said that the record's title also reflected the way in which the band wrote, electing to work in a converted garage two hours outside Toronto instead of in their downtown rehearsal space in the city.
- Outsider is the second Three Days Grace effort to feature Brad's brother Matt on lead vocals, following the departure of original frontman Adam Gontier in late 2012.
- Matt's debut with the group, Human, debuted at Number 16 on the Billboard 200 album chart and yielded two chart-topping singles in "Painkiller" and "I Am Machine."
Story source: press release
DID YOU KNOW? Three Days Grace holds the all-time record for most Number One singles at Active Rock Radio ever with 13.