SLIPKNOT and STONE SOUR frontman COREY TAYLOR is one of the growing number of musicians who are coming forward as avid comic book fans. He certainly knows his superheroes and supervillains – and the characters that he adores aren’t the characters that outsiders will readily recognise, which Attention Deficit Delirium discovered when they sat him down to discuss some of his favourite comic book characters. See below for some extracts from that interview:

Spider Jerusalem from Transmetropolitan
“He is like cyberpunk meets Hunter S. Thompson. That’s what I really love about him. But he is also so frenetic and out of his mind and so righteous that how could you not love that character? And just the fact that he is gross; they didn’t draw him as this lean, cut, musclebound asshole.”

Jesse Custer from Preacher
“I could almost do a whole movie or book about all of the characters in the Preacher books. They’re so good. If I ever needed to find a good guy to help me in life, Jesse would be the guy that I really would try to find. He would be the archetype. He doesn’t take any shit, has got a very good sense of right and wrong and is not afraid to stand up and fight for his friends. That’s the guy I would want on my side when the shit hit the fan, almost like a Breaker Morant type.”

The Joker from Batman
“I’m a huge Batman fan, don’t get me wrong, but I think — and this is just something I’ve been thinking about recently — the reason I love Batman so much is because he is balanced by the Joker at the end of the day. Because as mad as Batman is, as insane as Batman is, he is still so ensconced in his morals and the lines that he won’t cross. He’ll go so close, but then he won’t cross them. With the Joker there are no lines. There are absolutely no lines, there are no boundaries, there are no rules. He’s really the quintessential anarchist, and to me, from his look to his laugh to his little non sequiturs that just come floating out of his mouth, he is just the ultimate bad guy. ”

Apollo and Midnighter from The Authority
“I love the fact that it’s the wink-wink nudge-nudge version of Superman and Batman at the end of the day. They’re a gay couple who are also two of the most dangerous beings on the planet. They’re completely devoted to each other. Apollo is so obviously Superman it’s painful, and the Midnighter is so obviously Batman it’s not even right, but when they’re together they’re the sweetest people you’ve ever seen. Then they turn around to fight supervillains, and I mean brutally fight. It’s pretty wicked when you watch the Midnighter fly into some kind of interdimensional door, and he is basically flying an S-14 jet into a villain’s face. Now that’s just destructive as hell.”

Spider-Man
“He’s the guy that’s been with me since I was a kid. I know he’s been through a lot of changes lately, but at the end of the day I always go back to the Spider-Man that I grew up with. He doesn’t look anything like the new movie that’s coming out. It’s like, what if Spider-Man were part of the Twilight people? I’m like, really? Is that necessary? So I find myself going back to the ’70s and ’80s archetype of Spider-Man and Peter Parker, the guy who I grew up with, the guy who always had his back against the wall and always was ready to do the right thing, but at the end of the day he almost always got screwed. But he always did his best to get it done, and I’m still glad that I had that to grow up with. I grew up without a dad, so I was desperately looking for a sense of good and bad. I found it in my comics, and I found it in Spider-Man.”

Click here to read the full interview – it’s a great read!

Click here to keep up to date with all things COREY TAYLOR.

DOUG STANHOPE has been making waves on Twitter this week after his public row with UK journalist, Allison Pearson. The comic took offense to an article that Pearson had written and the rest as they say, is history. Read more about the feud on Chortle by clicking here.

Doug’s new DVD ‘Before Turning The Gun On Himself‘ is out now and as you may have seen from previous news posts, the reviews and coming in hard and fast. Hecklerspray have reviewed the DVD and you can see an extract below:

His latest DVD, Before Turning The Gun On Himself, shows a man who has resigned himself to the fact that his material, as politically charged as it can be at times, is never going to make a difference to the bigger picture. In a world where subtext is lost on audiences, he’s come to realise that even brutal honesty and directness isn’t enough.

People will still leave his shows, agreeing with him, only to go out and do exactly what he’s been apoplectically criticising on stage for the best part of an hour.

Like Bruce, Hicks and Kinison before him, he pulls no punches and no subject is out of bounds. You may be up for the challenge, you may even think you’re not one to be easily offended, but if you’ve not had a chance to catch his show you might be in for a surprise.

If you have the nerve.

Click here to read the full review.

And if you point your mouse in this direction you can find out more about Doug, including info about his current UK tour.

We spotted the mosty unlikely collaboration reports this morning…wait for it as we’re pretty sure not many would have paired these two artists together! Grime artist Professor Green was interviewed by The Sun newspaper recently and he confirmed that he has been in talks with SLIPKNOT‘s Sid about working on some material together. Apparently the two met whilst on tour in Australia and Green went on to say:

‘Collaborations come up naturally. I don’t try to force anything. We met Sid Wilson, the DJ from Slipknot, out here. He told me he was a big fan. How mental is that? So we were talking and he’s going to send some stuff over.’

You can read the fulol interview with The Sun by clicking here and you can find out more about SLIPKNOT by pointing your mouse in this direction. Watch this space for further updates!

Our friends over at Amazon have an awesome Hardcore and Punk campaign running whereby they are giving away an album of 21 classic hardcore tracks absolutely free! And if that wasn’t enough, they’ve also slashed the price of their Hardcore and Punk titles, which includes killer Roadrunner releases like HATEBREED‘s ‘The Rise Of Brutality’ (

SHINEDOWN‘s Zach Myers will be hosting a live guitar lesson online today! Click here to head over to the band’s official website at 7.30pm UK time (3.30pm EST).

And in case you haven’t done so already, click here to pre-order SHINEDOWN’s upcoming album ‘Amaryllis’.

KENNY WAYNE SHEPHERD is currently making his way across the US as part of the Experience Hendrix Tour 2012, which features a number of awesome axmen including Buddy Guy, Brad Whitford, Dweezil Zappa and many others. The tour pays tribute to the legendary guitarist Jimi Hendrix and with this in mind, our US office sat Kenny down and got his thoughts on 10 of his favourite Jimi Hendrix songs. Check it out below:

Before we get to the list, are you more of a Jimi Hendrix Experience guy or a Band of Gypsys guy?

That’s a hard question to answer, to be honest with you, because both bands were really great, but I probably lean more towards the Jimi Hendrix Experience. I loved listening to Hendrix doing more blues and R&B stuff, but for me, he pushed the boundaries of music more when he was leaning more in a rock direction and to me the Jimi Hendrix Experience was more of a rock band.

Kenny’s top 10 Hendrix tracks are as follows:

“Voodoo Child (Slight Return)” – This is my favorite Hendrix song, and we end every one of my shows with that song. I’ve been doing that since I was 15 years old and put my first band together. I just think it’s one of the greatest rock guitar anthems ever written. A pretty swanky little groove there, you know?

“Are You Experienced?” – To me, that song makes a huge statement. It’s almost a song he wrote in honor of his band, speaking to the fans about his music and the band. And also the way they experimented in the studio, with the backwards drums and guitar and that stuff, it’s just very unique. I’ll never forget the first time I heard that song. I was just blown away by the sounds they were creating on that particular track. So to me, that’s a signature Hendrix song.

“Purple Haze” – I think that’s probably one of the songs guitar players learn first; when you start learning the guitar, it’s inevitable that you want to learn some Hendrix stuff, and “Purple Haze” is usually the first song guitar players learn of Jimi’s music. It’s just interesting; he starts off with that really weird riff and then it goes into a really cool groove, but it’s one of his more mainstream songs. Everybody knows it.

“Foxy Lady” – I just like that song ’cause I liked how Hendrix incorporated his sexuality and his love for women into his music. This entire song, he’s seducing a woman, and it’s just a killer, guitar-driven track. The main riff is really heavy and drives the entire song.

“Little Wing” – Obviously a very well-known song. I think the live versions are more interesting than the recorded version, cause the studio version is actually quite short. But just great imagery in his lyrics, and the composition, musically, is very impressive. It really takes things beyond your standard three-chord blues song, and shows some of his real talent as far as lyrics and musical depths goes. There’s a lot of different directions you can take that song.

“Crosstown Traffic” – That’s just a fun song to me, man. It’s one of those songs, when I get in my car, it’s one of the first songs I play. It really makes you wanna put the hammer down and just enjoy life and music in general. It just makes me feel good.

“Spanish Castle Magic” – I always lean very heavily toward the songs Hendrix wrote that have these huge, signature guitar riffs in them, and “Spanish Castle Magic” is another one where this really heavy riff drives the entire song, and it’s another really cool showcase for Mitch Mitchell’s drumming, ’cause there’s all kinds of different time signatures and stuff like that, and the way he really works the snare drum throughout the entire song is really cool. I always thought Mitch Mitchell was as much a part of the signature Hendrix sound as Jimi was, you know?

“Red House” – Obviously, because I’m a blues guy, I love hearing Hendrix play the blues, and that’s probably the one blues song he’s most well known for playing and recording. Although if you look at the course of his career, he covered a lot of blues songs and was very heavily influenced by blues people like Muddy Waters and Buddy Guy and lots of other artists.

“Angel” – Just a beautiful ballad. Again, his songwriting ability, the lyrics, the depth – this song is absolutely beautiful. It shows a more tender side to him, which I really like. I’m a big fan of slow songs and ballads, and this one is just great. And there’s lots of killer guitar work; even though to me the vocal melody and the lyrics are the highlight of the song, if you listen to what he’s playing on guitar, it’s a pretty complicated song. It’s interesting when somebody’s able to write a complicated ballad, but it doesn’t sound like it’s overdone. He plays exactly the most appropriate stuff for that song.

“Castles Made of Sand” – Again, he paints a very vivid picture in that song with his lyrics. It’s kind of a sad story, but it’s one of the songs I remember trying to learn to play as a very young kid. And for some reason, when you’re going through a range of emotions as a young person, this was one of Hendrix’s songs that really stood out to me and just showed his ability to tell an interesting story that was different than just about all of his other songs. He just painted a really interesting picture with his lyrics and with his guitar.

It’s a pretty killer collection of thoughts about one of music’s greats! What do you think of Kenny’s selection – is it what you would have picked?

Pick up a copy of KENNY WAYNE SHEPHERD’s latest album ‘How I Go’ by clicking here.

AT THE SKYLINES are giving away a FREE MP3 of ‘Shady Dreamin’ (Tension)‘ the first single from their upcoming debut album, ‘The Secrets to Life’! Click here to head over to the band’s Facebook page and download your free copy of ‘Shady Dreamin’ (Tension)’.

You can check out the artwork for AT THE SKYLINES much anticipated Roadrunner debut by clicking here.

KO퐌¿N released the new edit of ‘Chaos Lives In Everything (featuring Skrillex)‘ on the 11th of March and in case you haven’t got your hands on a copy of the track, click here to pick up a copy from iTunes.

KO퐌¿N are touring the UK at the end of this month and you can check out the dates below:

25 March – O2 Academy Brixton, London
26 March – O2 Academy Birmingham
28 March – Academy Manchester
29 March – O2 Academy Glasgow
31 March – Olympia Theatre, Dublin
01 April – Mandela Hall, Belfast
03 April – O2 Academy Bristol

Buy tickets here: http://bit.ly/xRQjAn

You can pick up a copy of KO퐌¿N’s latest album ‘The Path Of Totality’ by pointing your mouse in this direction.

Bay Area metal titans, MACHINE HEAD are set to play two Irish shows prior to their mainstage appearance at this year’s Download Festival at Donington Park on Friday 8th June.

Iconic, Grammy-winning rock guitarist and songwriter SLASH has today announced that, along with his band mates Myles Kennedy and The Conspirators, he will be performing a special one-off show at HMV Hammersmith Apollo ahead of his appearance at this year’s Download Festival. Slash tickets go on sale at 9am on Friday 16th March priced at