METALLICA will play a special open-air concert at Rotundenplatz in Vienna, Austria on July 5. There will be exclusive Wavebreaker tickets for members of the official METALLICA fan club, MetClub. The pre-sale will start on February 24 at 9:00 a.m.
Commented the band: "The schedule is coming together and we've got another stop on our little European jaunt for you . . . drumroll, please . . . Vienna, Austria on July 5th at Rotundenplatz. And here's the cool part — this one is a METALLICA show, the first all-METALLICA show in Austria in over ten years! Okay, of course we will have a few cool opening bands, still to be determined, like a few other things on this tour, but your friends here are trying to bring you this information as it happens . . . day and night. Speaking of friends . . . if any of our metalli-friends in Switzerland, Italy, Germany, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Slovenia, or Liechtenstein want a dose of METALLICA this summer, you might want to check this show out because unfortunately it will be our only one in your neck of the woods. Also, the un-named tour is no longer without a name courtesy of MetClubber TR3NDKILLR . . . 'Sick of the Studio 07' . . . it's now, um, official."
ROB HALFORD "'NOSTRADAMUS' MAY TURN INTO DOUBLE ALBUM"
Recently Rockdetector, Garry Sharpe-Young, conducted an interview with JUDAS PRIEST, Rob Halford. Few excerpts are follows:
"Look, I love the Internet as a tool for knowledge gathering and for its amazing marketing possibilities but sometimes you have to step back a bit and present something in a better way," he said. "Just because the Internet allows you to give everything instantly does not always make that the right choice. I believe that if you go along to see a concert by your favorite band, as a fan, you hunger for that anticipation — what are they going to play? What's the stage look like? All those things. It's the same with a new record for us. We've whetted the appetites by revealing the Nostradamus concept. That's a big deal for us, actually. I could give you song titles and intimate details of the story and each track but we don't want to ruin it for fans. Just remember the last time you bought a record that you had been wanting to get your hands on for months and that magical moment when you hear the first note. We'd like to bring some of that excitement back. Metal in particular thrives on that kind of fan-driven word of mouth. It worked very well for us with 'Screaming for Vengeance' and very much so with 'Painkiller'. Fans were talking to each down the pub and saying, 'You really need to hear this!' We had it back in the very early days too when we were playing every pub and club that would have us. It was word of mouth that generated that huge support from all over the country that the London media suddenly saw manifest itself at the Reading festival in 1975."
Rockdetector.com: OK, without giving too much away then, what clues can you tease us with for "Nostradamus"?
Haford: "Not a lot, except that it's absolutely massive in its scope. I mean, it really is a very big concept, even possibly a double album. We're all totally into the whole idea and researching the man's life has opened up so many possibilities. Right now Glenn [Tipton] and Ken [K.K. Downing] have all the music written but we have to construct all of that into a meaningful story. It's hugely ambitious but I know the fans will be blown away."
Rockdetector.com: With your enthusiasm to build the excitement for this record, it seems you embrace both old style promotional tactics and you are obviously very keyed into the present game with your website and this new round of HALFORD solo releases.
Halford: "You have to be. I'm only looking at what works. Of course you have to have a great product in the first place, which is why the HALFORD albums and this new crop of releases has had so much effort gone into them. I didn't just want to rehash the existing albums so there is a lot of attention to detail. I actually think the possibilities for music distribution in the future are going to be wonderful but of course the whole industry is in a very painful transitional stage right now. Music consumption is going up very fast, but CD sales are going down. More people are coming out to shows too, so the world wants music. The question for the labels is how they deliver it. Won't won't change is that JUDAS PRIEST will be out there delivering the goods on stage"
MACHINE HEAD PUTTING FINISHING TOUCHES ON 'BONUS' TRACK
Robert Flynn, MACHINE HEAD Frontman, is scheduled to complete his vocals for an as-yet-untitled new song at Sonic Ranch studios in Tornillo, Texas this week, to be used as a bonus track/b-side in connection with the group's much-anticipated sixth studio album, "The Blackening". The music and most of the vocals for the song were reportedly recorded in San Francisco prior to the band leaving home to hit the road with LAMB OF GOD and TRIVIUM. More information will be made available soon.
