William E. Spevack

AlternativeNation.net • 25th February 2020

Smashing Pumpkins 'Adore' Real Title Finally Revealed

Make no mistake about it, Billy Corgan always wanted us to know Adore was wordplay for ‘A Door.’ He wished it was accepted as much as Siamese Dream and Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness were, but it wasn’t to be, even after it celebrated its 20th anniversary a couple of years ago, its reputation still hasn’t lived up to what the Smashing Pumpkins’ frontman wanted despite it being a strong album with plenty of great melodies and atmospheres. It has an unusual place as one of the five major P

AlternativeNation.net • 9th May 2019

Alice In Chains Drop Cryptic Bombshell About Hiatus

Interviewed by Bionic Buzz at the George Lopez Celebrity Golf Classic in California this week, Alice in Chains’ Jerry Cantrell addressed what will be in store for the rest of the year after they complete their co-headlining tour with alternative metal band Korn.

“We’re looking forward to that, it’s been a really great tour. With the album we put out last year Rainier Fog, we’ll have spent about two solid years on the road which’ll be the Korn tour; the Korn tour will be the end.

Alice in Chain

AlternativeNation.net • 7th May 2019

Dave Grohl Eerie Photo With Metallica & Corey Taylor Revealed

Dave Grohl joined various members of classic and current bands to play Motorhead’s “Bomber” and Thin Lizzy’s “Jailbreak” at the ‘Ride For Ronnie’ benefit gathering in Encino, California on Sunday. The event raises money for cancer awareness and was hosted by Eddie Trunk for the Ronnie James Dio Stand Up and Shout Cancer Fund.

The stage backdrop used a mural from the 2014 Ronnie James Dio tribute album This Is Your Life artwork that featured a walk of fame of metal stars throughout history. Amon

AlternativeNation.net • 3rd May 2019

Miley Cyrus ‘Ugly’ Pearl Jam Photo Revealed

You never know what you’re going to get with Miley Cyrus but for alternative rock fans, she provided an interesting surprise. In an Instagram post this week Cyrus posted a beautiful photo of herself wearing a vintage Pearl Jam T-shirt, with a necklace covering Eddie Vedder’s face. Despite her full-fledged pop status, the singer seems diverse enough to handle rock.

A fan named Brian though wasn’t pleased with the bootleg shirt, preferring that Miley buy official merchandise from the Ten Club, tw

AlternativeNation.net • 2nd May 2019

Dave Grohl Eerie John Lennon Secret Finally Revealed

In an interview with Warren Huart, recording engineer Bradley Cook looks back on engineering the Foo Fighters classic The Colour and the Shape- particularly Dave Grohl’s work on the song “Everlong”. Alternative Nation transcribed comments from the interview. Hearing the vocals isolated off the mixing console, Cook recollected:

“On this record, Dave told me the first record, Dave tripled all his vocals, just tripled them out-that’s not so great and Gil [Norton, producer of the FF’s sophomore eff

AlternativeNation.net • 2nd May 2019

Gavin Rossdale Reveals If He Really Imitated Nirvana

Bush and Live – two major post grunge bands of the 1990’s and beyond reflect on some of their earliest memories of being around the rock world including being contemporaries of Nirvana. In a video feature called ‘Marquee Memories’ featuring Bush singer Gavin Rossdale and Live singer Ed Kowalczyk, they talk about a number of bands from the grunge era.

Ed: “I saw Nirvana back in 1994, it was the In Utero tour. We were working on music with our producer Jerry Harrison who’s in Talking Heads and he

AlternativeNation.net • 2nd May 2019

Van Halen Icon Reveals Most Disturbing Drug He Used

On David Lee Roth’s podcast, the Van Halen singer made some bizarre connections about gateway drugs. From a conversation about Cuban coffee, Roth decided to proclaim himself to be the leader of a generation during a humorous bit.

Roth jokes, “The trouble with Cuban coffee for me is that a week later, I’m drowsy again.”

Dave: “I kind of represent midnight when everybody’s guilty. I don’t know when your first cigarette was or your gateway drug. The original gateway drug I think for most American

AlternativeNation.net • 30th April 2019

Foo Fighters Reveal Disturbing Truth About "Everlong"

In an interview with Warren Huart on Produce Like A Pro, recording engineer Bradley Cook looks back on engineering the Foo Fighters classic The Colour and the Shape, and working with Dave Grohl. He also revealed the very sad story behind a mysterious part of “Everlong.”

Using the song “Everlong” as an example of some of the band’s recording techniques, the two go through a number of interesting moments during the sessions. One involved Dave telling a which Huart and Cook can hear on the playbac

AlternativeNation.net • 20th April 2019

Layne Staley Brutally Disrespected By Big Name On Radio

In an interview conducted by Warren Huart, engineer Dave Jerden remembers his time with Alice In Chains and Layne Staley in the 1990’s. He remembered a famous Los Angeles metal station disrespecting Staley. Alternative Nation transcribed Huart’s comments.

“When we first put this song out [‘Man in the Box’], radio stations all turned it down. They all said Layne’s voice is wrong. There was this metal station here in Los Angeles and this woman that was on – what do they call that- program directo

AlternativeNation.net • 9th April 2019

Kurt Cobain Played Surprising Role On Foo Fighters Classic

In a new interview with Warren Huart, recording engineer Bradley Cook looks back on engineering Foo Fighters’ The Colour and the Shape, and revealed that Kurt Cobain’s live setup made an appearance on a classic song. Alternative Nation transcribed part of the conversation.

Asked about the setup for the classic “Everlong”, Cook remembers the scene and how Dave Grohl and Pat Smear’s guitars were recorded.

“They’re both definitely playing on it. It’s very lefty-righty, Dave-Pat, and then the othe

AlternativeNation.net • 6th April 2019

Red Hot Chili Peppers Help Dave Grohl After Foo Fighters Disaster

In a new interview with Warren Huart, recording engineer Bradley Cook looks back on engineering the Foo Fighters The Colour and the Shape. With frontman Dave Grohl and producer Gil Norton at the helm, drummer William Goldsmith had a lot of pressure on him to perform when they began recording at Bear Creek studio in Washington. Alternative Nation transcribed Huart’s remarks.

“We did the record and came back from Christmas vacation and everyone listened and decided that we didn’t get it. I guess

AlternativeNation.net • 12th January 2019

Red Hot Chili Peppers' Anthony Kiedis Announces Heartbreaking 'Crisis'

Some of alternative music’s biggest stars will come together this Sunday for the benefit concert ‘Malibu Love Sesh’ put on by The Malibu Foundation to help raise money for wildfire relief and the overall climate change situation taking place in California. Red Hot Chili Peppers, Beck and St. Vincent will all perform.

Red Hot Chili Peppers fans have seen the band tribute California a number of times; the Californication album; of their biggest hits “Dani California”. Now, Anthony Kiedis is dedic

AlternativeNation.net • 12th January 2019

Queen 'Horrific' Cash In Attempt On Bohemian Rhapsody Revealed

This weekend, the Queen movie Bohemian Rhapsody will follow the tradition of many Golden Globe winners of the past by re-appearing in theaters to take advantage of their newly-minted status.

But this one has a weird twist. Fans who attend particular screenings will see them altered with ‘subtitles’ of the lyrics of the songs performed scrolling so Queen fans that may not know all the words to these famous compositions can sing along aloud.

Eddie Trunk addressed it on his SiriusXM show recently

AlternativeNation.net • 10th January 2019

Geddy Lee Reacts To Rock Hall of Fame Disrespecting Rush

Rock and Roll Hall of Famers Rush will be getting a celebratory moment once again from The Rock N’ Roll Hall of Fame as January 19, 2019 will be Rush Fan Day- an event that will see members Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson attending.

Rush were inducted into the Hall in 2013 though they started way back in 1968. Geddy Lee appeared on the Eddie Trunk Show to talk about a variety of topics including the band’s reaction to years of snubbing.

“It was a pretty big day and it really caught me by surprise b

AlternativeNation.net • 9th January 2019

New Tool Album Could Face 'Long Delay' For Sad Reason

The waiting game continues as Tool creep towards completion of their first studio album since 2006. Providing an update on the possible forthcoming work, frontman Maynard James Keenan tweeted:

Radio/podcast personality Eddie Trunk addressed the tweet on his SiriusXM show a couple of days ago and had concerns for the chemistry and communication amongst the Tool members through the recording process, and described their ‘dysfunction’ as he sees it.

“If you read that tweet, it does not come off l

AlternativeNation.net • 8th January 2019

David Lee Roth 'Struggles' Revealed, Will It Hurt Van Halen Reunion?

With rumors continuing to swirl of a possible Van Halen original lineup reunion, there’s a mix of excitement and cautious optimism from the fans about the state of David Lee Roth’s vocals. After a caller complained on a recent Eddie Trunk SiriusXM show about Van Halen not caring about their fans by claiming the band are weaker with Roth singing, citing he was never great to begin with, Trunk did agree to an extent that Roth never did have a great voice and has had ‘struggles,’ though he credited

AlternativeNation.net • 16th December 2018

Why Nirvana's "All Apologies" And "Rape Me' Are Greatest Release Of 90's

Nearing the finish of another rollercoaster ride of a year for alt. rock’s most popular band, 1993 proved especially fruitful at the very end as Nirvana was in the midst of a heavy promotional cycle that promoted their latest album In Utero.

“All Apologies”/”Rape Me”, released 25 years ago, is the greatest double A-side in alt rock history and it would rank top ten all-time in rock history when we look back at all the great ones since the now mostly-defunct practice of releasing two potential h

AlternativeNation.net • 11th December 2018

Kurt Cobain 1994 Video With Rock Icon Who Recently Died Resurfaces

You know me, I’m acting dumb

You know the scene, very humdrum

If you didn’t know these lyrics came from original UK punk band The Buzzcocks, you’d think they were from the Seattle scene during the grunge era. Many grunge and punk bands from the 1990’s felt like The Buzzcocks were an influence and when the band’s frontman Pete Shelley passed away recently, it reminded us that grunge and alt. rock had punk and Pete Shelley as major motivators. Numerous tributes have come along since Shelley’s pa

AlternativeNation.net • 20th February 2018

Smashing Pumpkins Reunion Record Tracklisting Revealed, With Metallica Homage?

With all the controversy surrounding the D’arcy interview and the big announcement of a 2018 U.S. tour, The Smashing Pumpkins are continuing to record new songs according to a new Instagram post from Billy Corgan. The picture is of a snatch of text that reads:

“Everyone seems to have wildly extreme thoughts on you: you’re either a messianic genius or some crazy kind of nightmare. I just see a guy comfortable having your own ideas and…”

Corgan’s comment next to the picture is the Pumpkins’ upda

AlternativeNation.net • 11th February 2018

The Cranberries' Top 10 Hardest Rockers

The Cranberries’ brand of alternative rock usually included a lot of melody and a lot of pop, but yes, when they wanted to, The Cranberries could rock hard. “Zombie” pushed the door open to a tougher, more aggressive, punchy style that they used a number of times. While their band sound overall remained a mix of cascading guitars, graceful vocals, bittersweet tones and a slick, soothing and passionate feel through their catalog, they still could still hammer home some rough riffing, fierce drumm

AlternativeNation.net • 21st January 2018

Why Dolores O'Riordan And Grunge Era's Pain Is Tragically Authentic

More and more it feels like the lyrics uttered by our 90’s alternative rock heroes have an authentic angst about them that no other culture of rock had, and it has tragically become even more real with Dolores O’Riordan’s death. There were many dark and turbulent days in the 90’s Grunge era, and The Cranberries fit right into the alternative scene at the time. The darkness of The Cranberries’ debut Everybody Else Is Doing It So Why Don’t We? spilled withered and rotting relationships out of buck

AlternativeNation.net • 7th December 2017

How Pearl Jam Separated Themselves From Nirvana & Alice In Chains In 1992

After the mega hit singles of “Alive”, “Evenflow” and “Jeremy”, Epic Records wanted “Black” to be the 4th single, but Pearl Jam thought it to be too personal, so to ease the tension of those first 3 singles, the meditative and peaceful “Oceans” followed instead. Known at the time for stellar hard rock filled with tension, the band chose this quieter song to alleviate the pain built up from the other songs found on their debut Ten.

It was the first time Pearl Jam went against the grain, and defi

AlternativeNation.net • 6th December 2017

Why “Angry Chair” Is A Sequel To Another Alice In Chains Classic Revealed

A tightly wound Layne Staley- in mind and in melody, syncopated to a tightly wound Jerry Cantrell riff, winds around us like a rope tying us tighter to the angry chair we’re trapped in. “Angry Chair,” released 25 years ago today as a single, hasn’t loosened its ropes on us all these years later, and we’re still sizzling in its electrocution.

Layne Staley wrote words and music to one of Alice In Chains’ finest songs released on Dirt, and as a single December 6th, 1992. Over a loose and limber rh

AlternativeNation.net • 5th December 2017

Why Metallica Deserve To Lose To Foo Fighters At Grammys

This year’s Grammy nominations are pretty tough competition with 3 of the 5 tracks for Best Rock Song lasting over 5 minutes, each and all are hard rock epics that are as awesome as they are monstrous. Can Foo Fighters beat the competition? Well, the Grammys has been very kind to both the Foo Fighters and Metallica in past years, but the other nominees may have a chance too. You can check out Alternative Nation’s article on Chris Cornell’s “The Promise,” which is also nominated for a Grammy, by