Various news circulating the Lou Reed & Metallica project has surfaced over the last few months. The most notable remarks surrounding the forthcoming work came  from Reed who claimed in a June interview that the music they were creating was “awe inspiring” and “possibly the best thing done by anyone, ever“.

Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich said “I don’t think we’ve ever felt this free. There’s nothing that’s totally outside of the boundary for us, nothing that feels like ‘Oh, what happens if we go there?”
Frontman James Hetfield added, “Lars and I listened to [Reed’s demos] and it was like, ‘Wow, this is very different.’ It was scary at first, because the music was so open. But then I thought, ‘This could go anywhere.‘”

The project, entitled ‘Lulu’ is to be released in the US on November 1st, and on October 31st in all other territories.  Lou Reed is not currently under contract with a label and Metallica completed their contract with Warner Bros with the release of ‘Death Magnetic’, back in September 2009.

Titles on the forthcoming disc includes ‘Pumping Blood’ and ‘Mistress Dread’, but at this time, no full track listing has been revealed.

Click here to watch a full Metallica gig from Sweden 2011.

They’ve attracted the attention of Nikki Sixx and Tommy Lee. Joan Jett and Little Steven have also been drawn to to the band’s trashy sound. In the live setting, they’ve opened for Scott Weiland, Andrew WK and Jet…

They are The Dirty Pearls.

The New York based band have an album scheduled for release early in 2012, but you can see a video clip for their new track ‘Static’, here…right now!

Singer/songwriter Caroline Smith and her band The Good Night Sleeps are playing a handful of live dates in the US throughout September and October. The shows are promoting the band’s second album, ‘Little Wind’, which will be released on September 20th.

Catch them at the following venues:

9.16 Minneapolis, MN @ First Avenue *
9.17 Northfield, MN @ The Cave
9.18 Omaha, NE @ O’Leavers
9.19 Fort Collins, CO @ The Hangar
9.20 Denver, CO @ Hi-Dive ^
9.22 St. Louis, MN @ Off Broadway
9.23 Ames, IA @ The Space for Ames
9.24 Iowa City, IA @ The Mill
9.25 Lawrence, KA @ Replay Lounge
9.26 Tulsa, OK @ Soundpony
9.27 Little Rock, AR @ White Water Tavern
9.28 Indianapolis, IN @ Earth House Collective
9.29 Chicago, IL @ Schuba’s #
9.30 Milwaukee, WI @ Club Girabaldi #
10.01 Madison, WI @ The Terrace #
10.04 Columbus, OH @ Woodlands Tavern
10.10 Boston, MA @ The Middle East
10.11 Brooklyn, NY @ The Rock Shop
10.12 New York, NY @ Cake Shop
10.13 Brooklyn, NY @ Union Pool
10.21 Providence, RI @ AS220

* w/ Dark Dark Dark, Dead Man Winter, and Daredevil Christoper Wright
^ w/ Ivan & Alyosha
# w/ Dead Man Winter

A promotional documentary about legendary indie band The Smiths made in 1992 has been posted online.

The documentary was given to the press in 1992 as part of the promotion for their ‘Best of’ release, and since believed to be lost.  The film has now resurfaced as part of the promotion for Rhino’s complete remastering of the band’s back catalogue.

See the film at the NME website, here.

While Johnny Marr has lovingly remastered all four of The Smiths’ albums (The Smiths, Meat Is Murder, The Queen Is Dead and Strangeways Here We Come), their sole official live album (Rank) and the three compilations of non albums singles/session takes etc (Hatful of Hollow, The World Won’t Listen and Louder Than Bombs), none of the reissues in the campaign will contain any bonus materials.

There are still various unreleased materials circulating amongst fans, including various instrumental demos and a completely alternate version of the debut album produced by Troy Tate.

Duff McKagan is about to start work on the film version of ‘The Taking’, with Seattle documentary film maker Jamie Burton Chamberlin.

The movie is to be constructed of serveral vignettes, each based on the lyrics from McKagan’s most recent work of the same name.

In a 2010 interview with the West Seattle Herald, Chamberlin said the movie “will be a contemporary version of, say, The Beatles’ ‘Hard Day’s Night’ meets Led Zeppelin’s ‘The Song Remains the Same’, with aspects of documentary, music video, and live performance, all interconnected by an underlying motivation. The album will serve as the soundtrack.

“Everything will be shot in Seattle and the Northwest. We hope to use locations in West Seattle and other familiar settings to create these vignettes that develop organically within them.” 

Meanwhile, it is said that McKagan hopes to push the movie and get it screened on the festival circuit to gain exposure beyond his music fans.

Duff McKagan’s Loaded will be playing a handful of US shows in the remainder of August.  More shows announced soon.

Read a review of ‘The Taking’ (album) here.
Read a review of ‘Sick’ here.