New Metallica Album.com

So the latest video from mission:Metallica from March 31st is really cool. James walk around a little. Then James hits a punching bag. Then this other guy walks and sits. Then he twangs on his guitar. Good stuff. See it here.

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This is one for the irony file, right up there with the news that Napster is trying to remake itself (a third time) as a no-DRM download service, about half a decade too late. It seems that Metallica — the band that, more than any other, became known for its opposition to Napster and everything that the Web stood for — just launched a new site called Mission Metallica, which offers fans all kinds of special features, including the ability to hear tracks from the new album before it comes out. The site was developed by Ethan Kaplan, the head of technology at Warner Brothers Records, and his team there.

Ethan, as some of you may recall, was one of the “keynote conversations” at mesh 2008 a couple of weeks ago, where I talked with him about the future of music and the Web — and he talked about the idea that music is no longer primarily about selling an artifact (i.e., a plastic disc) but is more about the experience (if you want to read more about mesh, including Ethan’s keynote. Not long after leaving Toronto, Ethan said he was working on the launch of a really major site and a few days later the record company launched Mission Metallica, and Ethan posted a message to Twitter saying:

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In May of 2000, when Lars Ulrich personally delivered a 60,000-page printout of the Napster users who were sharing Metallica songs, he probably never suspected that the online backlash against his band would still be running at full steam eight years later.

Sometimes, hindsight is everything.

The band’s unveiling of a fan-outreach program called Mission:Metallica, including DRM-free downloads and access to unreleased material, reflects a new understanding on their part about how the internet works: Give people what they want or they’ll get it from somewhere else.

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What are we talking about?

Sandman Magazine is giving a lucky band the opportunity to play on the same bill as Rage Against The Machine, Metallica and The Killers at this year’s Leeds Festival, that’s what.

To be in with a chance of selection by Sandman to play the BBC Introducing Stage in August, follow these simple instructions as detailed in the latest Sandman Magazine:

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For all those cannot access the missionmetallica webiste in various parts of the world, here is some new  “fly-on-the-wall” footage of Metallica in the studio working on its new album whih has surfaced on the MissionMetallica.com web site and can be viewed here: May 27, May 28.

A pair of questions: If you’re Edgar Bronfman, do you pay through the nose to keep Metallica, just to temporarily halt the parade of artists leaving the company? If you’re Metallica, do you sign the paper, cash the check, and stick it out with Warner’s sinking ship or go out on your own with crazed pricing and delusions of grandeur?

According to Bloomberg.com, Edgar Bronfman Jr., CEO of the Warner Music Group, of which Warner Bros. Records is a division, declined to comment on the status of contract negotiations with the band during a quarterly conference call earlier this month. The new Metallica album is the band’s last under its current contract with the label, which dates back to 1984 when the quartet first signed with Warner subsidiary Elektra Records.

Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich told us that finishing out its recording contract was a liberating experience for the band:

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Metallica’s future with its record label, Warner Bros. Records, may not extend past the release of the band’s ninth studio album this fall. According to Bloomberg.com, Edgar Bronfman Jr., CEO of the Warner Music Group, of which Warner Bros. Records is a division, declined to comment on the status of contract negotiations with the band during a quarterly conference call earlier this month. The new Metallica album is the band’s last under its current contract with the label, which dates back to 1984 when the quartet first signed with Warner subsidiary Elektra Records.

Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich told us that finishing out its recording contract was a liberating experience for the band: “It’s awesome. I mean, to be out of your record contract, it’s exciting just because of, what are the new — and that’s not anything disrespectful about the great bunch of people up at Warner Bros. Records. But it’s just exciting to be able to communicate directly with your fans, and having the opportunities to do it, you know. I think that’s really exciting.”

Warner Music has already lost Madonna to Live Nation and is reportedly paying a tremendous amount of money to keep Nickelback under contract, while other artists that have recently defected from the major labels include Nine Inch Nails and Radiohead.

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Not the greatest quality, probably recorded on a cell phone. Crowd looks huge and the band seems to play pretty damn hard here. They always say they love playing for the European crowds.

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Lars: “We’re psyched to play some new songs,” he laughs. “In fact, if we don’t, then I give people permission to come and find me and slap me across the face!”

Metallica is yet to play any new songs from the new album. Will we hear something before Aug 22th. In the following interview in Kerrang magazine from March ‘08, it is unclear if Lars is refering to this specific concert in Leeds to reveal any of the new songs live for the first time. Should we have heard something by now? 

Kerrang: Joining Metallica are Rage Against The Machine – who make their first UK appearance in the UK for eight years – Slipknot, Queens Of The Stone Age, Serj Tankian, Feeder and Pendulum. In addition to their Download 2008 appearances, Bullet For My Valentine and Biffy Clyro have confirmed they’ll appear at the three-day festival. More acts will be announced over the coming months.

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This was the band’s seventh visit to Poland. Fans from Poland and abroad, 60,000 people in total, were gathering around the Slaski Stadium in Chorzow from early morning. In the afternoon  members of Metallica’s Polish fan club Overkill started collecting signatures on a giant Polish flag, 3 metres in width and 40 in length, which was given to the band later during the concert. The band arrived in Poland as early as on Monday to rehearse as the Chorzow concert was the first one during the band’s European tour. Both fans and critics were enthusiastic about the gig, saying that Metallica was back in shape after its last mediocre album “St. Anger”, which they also promoted with a concert in Poland in 2004. - polskieradio.pl

METALLICA just finished the first show of their 2008 European Summer Vacation in Chorzow, Poland at Slaski Stadium. The setlist was as follows:
‘Creeping Death’, ‘For Whom The Bell Tolls’, ‘Ride The Lightning’, ‘Harvester Of Sorrow’, ‘The Unforgiven’, ‘…And Justice For All’, ‘Devil’s Dance’, ‘Disposable Heroes’, ‘Welcome Home (Sanitarium)’, ‘Master Of Puppets’, ‘Whiplash’, ‘Nothing Else Matters’, ‘Sad But True’, ‘One’,
‘Enter Sandman’. Encore: ‘Last Caress’, ‘So What’, ‘Seek and Destroy’.

Upcoming Metallica tour dates:

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NEW YORK, BUSINESS WIRE — Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival has selected KickApps, the leading on demand social media platform, to power the online community and media management system for its recently re-launched website, Bonnaroo.com. The community allows people from around the World to meet fellow Bonnaroo fans and attendees, share stories about their experiences at the festival, upload videos, photos and audio files, and engage in discussions about upcoming and past performances. The site was designed and developed by Threshold Interactive in Marina Del Ray. 

Bonnaroo is a multi-stage, camping festival held on a 700-acre farm in Manchester, Tennessee from June 12 – 15, 2008. The annual festival features some of the best performers in rock and roll, along with dozens of artists in complementary styles such as jazz, Americana, hip-hop and electronica. Rolling Stone(R) magazine has named Bonnaroo one of the 50 moments that changed the history of rock and roll. Performers scheduled to appear in the 2008 festival include Kanye West, Pearl Jam, Metallica, B.B. King, Chris Rock, Death Cab for Cutie, The Raconteurs, Willie Nelson, Jack Johnson and Widespread Panic.

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   In my travels on YouTube I pick up a lot of clips I dig, a lot of times to watch the fretting and timing they use.  Found this little gem of a compilation of Metallica’s ballads – some with sound exceptionally great bridges.

You have to disregard the first 15 seconds, and 2:30-3:30 is pretty rough.  It picks up steam around 3:45, with several very bright spots.

If you are like me though, around my age and a crap guitar player who has spent many a Sunday afternoon with the ballgame on in the background with a buddy passing the guitar back and forth while one has a beer and the other licks out whatever junk they have picked up, you agree you would have went to the fridge for a couple more and sat back and gave this fella an extra “turn” after this performance.

 And probably grinned ear to ear in pure fun.

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