Studio A Audio Recording & Production

OCTOBER 23RD, 2019 AT 11:08AM

RUBY VOLPE

The past month has been action-packed for Judas Priest. They were nominated for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and frontman Rob Halford released a Christmas album, Celestial.

Meanwhile, Rob Halford has revealed a dream of another nature — he has a burning desire to appear as a judge on RuPaul’s Drag Race. ADVERTISING

The Metal God expressed this wish in an interview with Yahoo News.  His vision includes having all of the drag queens going on the air in full-on metal gear.

When asked what appeals to him about RuPaul’s Drag Race, Halford said, “I just love that show just for every emotional dimension of what’s being presented… It’s a beautiful insight to a part of our world and it’s really important. It has a tremendous amount of value.”

Halford also used the opportunity to trash the current state of American politics (again). He expressed his disdain with how underrepresented and undervalued the American people are by those currently in office. Halford’s praise of RuPaul’s show is rooted in how it call attention to the fact that everyday people can be drag queens, normalizing the phenomenon:

“These things are wonderful opportunities for people that don’t know about us. Just to look and listen and learn. That whole thing about we are your bus driver, we are your nurse at school, we are your judge court. We’re their airline pilot. We are everywhere.” 

“Even today we’re about to get to 2020 and we still have to talk about this. Particularly in this current climate here in the U.S. it’s terribly, terribly difficult. Especially what’s going on in Washington.”

Halford came out as gay in 1998 but has had little representation within gay media — most likely due to how the media still views metal as an inordinately masculine scene. Halford hopes to break down this stereotype and enter gay media spaces while bringing the brutality of metal with him.ADVERTISING

Halford will be publishing an autobiography in 2020 that will shed some light on what it’s like to be a gay man and a God of Metal.

Photo Credit: Mike MacKenzie / CC by 3.0

Activist group Fight for the Future has managed to get 40 music festivals to ban facial recognition technology.

Facial scanning software has already been used at some live music venues.  Just this year, we learned that Taylor Swift used the tech to keep tabs on her stalkers.  Facial recognition software goes far beyond security purposes, with facial scans entering massive databases for ad targeting and behavioral tracking — just to name two downstream applications.

Companies like Ticketmaster have invested money in facial ID tech companies like Blink Identity as recently as last year. That startup is run by ex-defense contractors that helped to build the U.S. military’s facial recognition system in Afghanistan.

Companies like Ticketmaster hope to use the tech for displaying targeted ads, or monitoring your activity while at the venue. For example, marketers might push merch advertising more heavily to people who make frequent passes by merch stands.

At least 40 of the world’s largest music festivals have agreed to the facial recognition ban. Coachella, Bonnaroo, and SXSW have gone on record saying they will not use the tech. Even Ticketmaster says it has no plans to use facial recognition tech at its live shows, despite the investment in Blink Identity.

Fight for the Future brought attention to the issue through grassroots activism and social media pressure. They also proposed economic boycotts of any festival sponsors or artists for those who do use the technology. While the focus so far has been on music festivals, Fight for the Future is turning its sights to other live events.MORE NEWS:  ‘Post-Primary’ Ticketing Exchange Lyte Scores a $15 Million Round

Outside Lands, Life is Beautiful, iHeartRadio Music Festival, Boston Calling, and Burning Man won’t commit to not using the tech.

More than 30 organizations have endorsed the fight against facial recognition in all aspects of life. At least four cities in the U.S. have banned government use of biometric spy tech. Many of those who favor the technology say facial recognition is “opt-in only” and can easily be regulated.

For now, public opinion seems to be against deploying the technology. Out of all the music festivals targeted by this campaign, only five have stated they ‘might use’ facial recognition tech.

Lynyrd Skynyrd: Last of the Street Survivors Farewell Tour Lyve’ will be released November 1st

ByJOSEPH HUDAK 

Lynyrd Skynyrd will release a new concert album that documents the venerable Southern rock groups’ farewell tour. Lynyrd Skynyrd: Last of the Street Survivors Farewell Tour Lyve was recorded at the band’s hometown performance in Jacksonville, Florida, on September 2nd, 2018.

Ahead of the 17-track album’s release on November 1st, the group previews the set with a video of “What’s Your Name” filmed onstage at TIAA Bank Field.

Opening with the famous riff from guitarists Gary Rossington and Rickey Medlocke, the performance finds singer Johnny Van Zant (who took over lead vocal duties after his brother Ronnie Van Zant and two other band members died in a 1977 plane crash) mugging for the cameras and acknowledging his audience with finger points and cheers. But Skynyrd will always be a guitar-focused band, and the interplay between Rossington, who underwent heart surgery in August necessitating the postponement of two shows on the tour, and Medlocke is particularly electrifying in front of a home audience.

Lynyrd Skynyrd will screen their Jacksonville 2018 concert in theater across the U.S. on November 7th. Presented by Fathom Events, the film will begin at 7 p.m. local time.

Here’s the track list for Lynyrd Skynyrd: Last of the Street Survivors Farewell Tour Lyve:

1. “Workin’ for MCA”
2. “Skynyrd Nation”
3. “What’s Your Name”
4. “That Smell”
5. “Travelin’ Man”
6. “I Know a Little”
7. “The Needle and the Spoon”
8. “Saturday Night Special”
9. “Red White and Blue”
10. “The Ballad of Curtis Loew”
11. “Tuesday’s Gone”
12. “Don’t Ask Me No Questions”
13. “Simple Man”
14. “Gimme Three Steps”
15. “Call Me the Breeze”
16. “Sweet Home Alabama”
17. “Freebird”

Duo host funk-metal graveyard smash with ghosts, ghouls, keytar-playing skeletons

ByJON BLISTEIN 

Funk legend Bootsy Collins and masked guitar wiz Buckethead have teamed for an absolutely bonkers cover of Bobby “Boris” Pickett’s Halloween classic, “Monster Mash.”

The pair’s rendition transforms the wholesome, jangly boogie of the original tune into a revved-up funk-metal hybrid, replete with big riffs and scorching guitar solos. There’s also a sheer delight in the way Collins’ milks every word of his vocal performance as he narrates the goings-on at the graveyard smash.

Collins and Buckethead’s cover of the “Monster Mash” also comes with a equally ridiculous video, directed by Ouiwey Collins, which features a packed cast of ghosts, ghouls, vampires, Frankenstein monsters and, because why not, a skeleton shredding a keytar.

In a statement, Collins explained his life-long love of the “Monster Mash” and how he and Buckethead decided to cover the song: “I believe I was 11 years old and was a big Boris Karloff fan-junkie. In fact, Bela Lugosi, Lon Chaney and Vincent Price — all the big monsters — were my heroes. When I heard ‘Monster Mash’ recorded by Bobby ‘Boris’ Pickett in 1962, it became my all-time superhero theme song. I always wanted to record it, and do something special with it. Buckethead and I have been talking about it for over a decade, and I finally said we can’t wait any longer — let’s do the mash now! So I went to my lab late one night and funked some sheet up, and, boom!”

Leave it to Ozzy Osbourne to scare up the weirdest, wildest Halloween costume contest ever. The Blizzard of Ozz announced the challenge on Thursday (Oct. 24), asking fans to dress up as their favorite version of Ozzy and send in a pic for a chance to win a signed bone like the one that appears on the cover of his upcoming box set, See You on the Other Side (Nov. 29).  

His official site already features dozens of amazing entries, which Ozzy will accept through Nov. 1. See You on the Other Side collects all 10 of Ozzy’s solo albums and the Mr. Crowley and Just Say Ozzy EPs, as well as the Tribute double live album, Live & Loud, Live at Budokan and the Flippin’ the B-Side rarities collection.

READ MORE

Bedbound & ‘Bored Stiff’ Ozzy Osbourne Cancels Tour Dates

Osbourne, 70, has been laid up since a bad fall earlier this year that he said in a recent video “screwed up all the vertebrae” in his neck, resulting int he cancelation of European tour dates that had been scheduled for January and February. For now, he’s still planning to play some North American shows slated to start in May.

Karen Gwee Oct 25, 2019 5:29 am BST

Tame Impala Credit: Getty 

Tame Impala have confirmed the title of their next album, which is due out in 2020: ‘The Slow Rush’.

Earlier this week, the Australian band posted a mysterious video on their website that appeared to hint at new developments.

Now, in a new video, Tame Impala have confirmed that the forthcoming record is titled ‘The Slow Rush’, and will be released next year. The clip features shots of Tame Impala leader Kevin Parker in the studio, live footage of the band and snippets of what seems to be new music. Watch the latest video on the band’s official site.

Details on the new record are scarce, and it’s unclear if the songs Tame Impala released earlier this year, ‘Borderline’ and ‘Patience’, will appear on the tracklist.

‘The Slow Rush’ will be the follow-up to Tame Impala’s 2015 album ‘Currents’. In a May interview, Parker explained that he can’t “hurry” his creative process. “Part of the thing about me starting an album is that I have to feel kind of worthless again to want to make music,” he said.

• READ MORE: Eight brilliant Tame Impala side projects you need in your life

Earlier this year, Parker contributed to Mark Ronson’s new album ‘Late Night Feelings’ by co-writing the song ‘Find U Again’, which features Camila Cabello.
Read more at https://www.nme.com/news/music/tame-impala-confirm-title-of-new-album-out-in-2020-2560886#8lqgAOL8h6jMY7Mh.99