Rock

One suspects there's a touch of viral intent behind this video of Dave Grohl going a little bit loopy in the studio after one too many cups of coffee. But seriously, how many coffees is too many? Well, probably however many Dave just drunk.

Here's a video of him looning around the studio, presumably high on caffeine and being very annoying. I've known drummers to get punched for more sedate behaviour. Is this newsworthy? No, not really. No more than my own addiction to bacon sandwiches. But I suspect the real goal is to draw attention to Grohl's latest collaboration with Queens Of The Stone Age's Joshua Homme and Led Zeppelin legend John Paul Jones.

It's ironic that I've been blasting the first two Bat Out Of Hell albums over the last couple of days. It was totally a whim, a need for Meat Loaf's distinctive brand of blustery performance rock. I sure as hell didn't know he had a single coming out, and I sure as hell didn't need his classic material in my head when I heard this.

Everything about Meat Loaf's new single, Los Angeloser, is hand-me-down. He's wearing Elvis' cast-off costumes (and possibly his accent), he's got the slutty police costumes from George Michael's Outside video. And that song! Where did he dredge this from? It's a country-rock plodder that barely gives Meat a chance to show off his considerable talents. If they're still buried in there somewhere.

To anyone who saw Mr Loaf's recent stint as a judge on Britain's Popstar to Operastar show, this is the next step on his descent into celebrity hell. It's like he's been morphing into the rich Texan from The Simpsons - an eccentric, slightly crazy-eyed fella. And I hate saying this, because I'm actually loving the vintage Bat Out Of Hell material right now, but Meat Loaf is making the classic mistake. There's no "Hand of Steinman" on this material.

When secret UK nuclear testing went wrong in the South Pacific, 4 street urchins found themselves covered in a sticky green residue from melted AC/DC picture discs.

The resulting nuclear fusion formed the basis of their quest to take back the streets, from New York to Newcastle, from Tokyo to Tyneside, the beast became unleashed, the monster was born….welcome ‘Killer Godzilla’.

This brand new band, fresh out of Newcastle, England, comes rampaging into the collective consciousness with a stream of instantly likeable songs and a driving reptilian rhythm that Godzilla herself would shake her tail to.

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Hey guys! I've had a sudden urge to start writing again and thought I'd bring you some of the singles being released in the next few weeks. You can see them all below. And I will be reviewing everyone of them. Yeah, that's right! You might ask how I will have time to write all these reviews? Well, instead of writing a review for each individual single, every week I will do a round up of all the singles being released during the week. This allows me to cover more singles and my thoughts and opinions on them. But more importantly, I get to here feedback from you guys. Except reviews for singles being released 21st August 2009 tomorrow. Bye!

21st August 2009:
Biffy Clyro: 'That Golden Rule'
Erik Hassle: 'Don't Bring Flowers (After I'm Dead)'
Flo Rida featuring Nelly Furtado: 'Jump'
Ian Carey Project: 'Get Shaky'
Jet: 'She's A Genius'
Lily Allen: '22'
Noah And The Whale: 'Blue Skies'
T.I. featuring Mary J. Blige: 'Remember Me'

Secondhand Serenade is the musical project of one John Vesely and his band, an ambituious soulful rock sound that is certain to be a hit among those of a romantic disposition.

The band have two albums available - Awake, their debut, and 2008's A Twist In My Story. The music itself is richly layered a combination of subtle acoustic and piano tunes building into sweeping orchestral crescendos. Get a taste of the band on their Fall For You video here.

And if you want to listen to some full-length versions of their songs, may I point you toward their PureVolume page.

One major point of failure (John, I hope you're listening) is that I cannot find an embeddable version of their video on YouTube. Providing half-a-song on MySpace and nothing shareable via YouTube might sell a few extra albums, but it really makes it difficult to illustrate how good the band is, right on the page here. Sort it out.

Metallica easily take the crown as “The Masters Of Metal” in their show at Sheffield Arena.

The crowd were not on high form for most of the night, with two unfortunately sub-par supporting acts in the form as Machine Head and The Sword. Kudos for keeping up the energy on a stage that was very much too big for them, but the sound quality was inexcusable. For the hour or so these bands played between them, it all seemed like one long song, with a few breathers to let the crowd half heartedly cheer.

Still the main event was what the crowd waited for. When the house lights dropped, the scream of twelve thousand excited fans lit up the arena. In the pitch black, you could see four small shadows gracing the stage, to epic Don Quixote style introduction.

Then it all happened: Lasers, screeching guitars, and the bright shining lights which let you see every person in the room. Metallica had arrived, and they made sure the crowd knew it. They power straight on with their opener, “That Was Just Your Life.”