On The Black Carpet at The Loudwire Music Awards  – Part 1

On The Black Carpet at The Loudwire Music Awards  – Part 1

The Loudwire Music Awards took place at The Novo in Downtown Los Angeles on October 24th, featuring headlining performances from the likes of Avenged Sevenfold, Anthrax, Halestorm with special guest Lita Ford, In This Moment with special guest Rob Halford and a whole lot more!

Prior to the festivities, Highwire Daze Online was on the Black Carpet outside catching up with many of the nominees and presenters of the show.  We caught up with 14 bands in all to discuss what would turn out to be a superbly memorable hard rock and heavy metal awards show.  We now begin Part 1 of our coverage of On The Black Carpet at The Loudwire Music Awards!  Read on…

Huntress

Interview with Jill Janus

What made you come out to the Loudwire Music Awards tonight?
They asked me to come out and I didn’t have anything else to do, so fuck it!

What’s going on with Huntress? Is there a new album out on the horizon?
Yes, it’s half way through. And on top of that, I’m personally working with Monte Pittman on another album. So the Huntress album will be coming out in the Fall of 2018.

When I saw Huntress at the Rainbow for their Labor Day weekend show, you literally brought the rain. It poured after your set.
I did! That’s my witchy ways.

And The Starbreakers. What’s happening with them?
Whenever the girls are in town, we play. Most likely at this point, I think we’ll be doing January.

Huntress on Facebook

Anthrax

Interview with Scott Ian

Anthrax has three Loudwire nominations tonight. Do you guys have any acceptances speeches prepared.
No.

And you’re giving Rob Halford the Lemmy Award tonight. When was the first time you met Rob Halford and Judas Priest?
The late 80’s at some point, but I don’t remember where. The first time I saw Priest was ’81 with Maiden opening crazy enough on the Killers tour – Paul Di’Anno was still in the band. We’ve known Rob and we’ve been friends and we’ve been lucky enough to tour together. Priest has been nice enough to take Anthrax out a tour a bunch of times. We’re obviously all massive fans. Anytime I get to hang out with him, it’s a privilege.

What was it like being called out by Rick Nielsen of Cheap Trick at the Greek and getting up onstage to play with them?
I’ve gotten up onstage with them a bunch of times, but it’s always been talked about beforehand. And that one wasn’t. I had no idea that was going to happen. He literally pulled me up from the crowd over the barrier. I was like, “Uh, okay. Let’s go. Let’s do it!” I love those dudes. I just had to kind of remember where the chords were. My muscle memory kicked in and I was okay.

What did you think when Rick brought out that monster five neck guitar while you were playing?
That thing is amazing! Rick is one of my heroes.

Has Kansas (Carry On Wayward Son) or The White Stripes (Black Math) heard your covers of their songs yet?
I don’t know about The White Stripes. I know one of the dudes from Kansas – I think the only original dude whose left in the band – he did comment on it and he thought it was really good .

Anthrax on Facebook

Halestorm

Interview with Lzzy Hale and Arejay

What brings you out here to the Loudwire Music Awards tonight?
Lzzy: You know, we’re just here for the fun.

Most dedicated fans! How does it feel to be nominated for an award like that?
Lzzy: To me, we’re honored to be nominated for that award in particular, because we do have the absolute best fan base in the world. It’s all inclusive. What we see in the community –everybody lifts each other up – everybody helps each other out – and everybody comes out for the music – they really need to be there. Here’s the thing – it’s not about us and that’s why the award is so cool. It’s not about us – it’s about them – and we couldn’t do what we do without them.
Arejay: I think that’s probably the coolest thing you could be nominated for.

You’ve done a few cover EP’s. Has any of the bands you’ve covered heard or commented on your versions of their songs?
Lzzy: It’s funny – we’ve been doing covers kind of selfishly, because usually if we cover somebody, we end up getting to meet them or play with them at some point. So it’s just basically a musical wish list.
Arejay: We’ve gotten Sebastian Bach to get up sing Slave To The Grind with us when we covered that. When we were in Japan, he got up and sang with us and it was amazing. He was swinging the microphone around and it was amazing – he almost killed all of us but it was great.
Lzzy: We got to play with Slash. You get to meet the people you cover so it’s pretty rad.

Any new music on the horizon?
Lzzy: We’re making a new record as we speak. New stuff coming soon.
Arejay: Immediately after this, we’re going right back into the studio.

Halestorm on Facebook

Wage War

Interview with Briton and Cody

What brings you guys out here to the Loudwire Music Awards?
Briton: To hang and to give out the Award for Most Dedicated Fans.

It’s been a pretty busy year for you guys. Lots of touring and a new record. Is there any story or concept behind the album title Dead Weight?
Briton: It’s about life kicking you in the rear and shedding things that you really don’t need anymore.

What are you looking forward to the most about your upcoming tours?
Cody: We did a part one and a part two for our headliner. Part one went great so I’m thinking part two is going to be a ramp up from that. Bigger rooms. All the bands on the tour are really good friends of ours. It’s pretty much going to be great hangs and great shows. We’re psyched.

What could one expect from your upcoming live show?
Cody: Just a good time. We’re all about having a good time.

You are about to present an award for Most Dedicated Fans. Do you have any messages for your dedicated fans?
Briton: Come hang at this next headliner! That would be super sick. Come hang and have a good time.
Cody: And thank you for supporting us!

Wage War on Facebook

Powerflo

Interview with Sendog (Cypress Hil) and Billy Graziadei (Biohazard) 

What brings you out to the Loudwire Music Awards?
Billy: We were supposed to be in Portland, Oregon, but they asked us to show up and say what’s up to everybody – and to introduce Body Count who we grew up with and love. So we postponed that show and came down here from San Francisco to do this. And tomorrow we’re in Salt Lake.

Select any song from your Self-titled Powerflo album and what inspired the lyrics.
Sendog: There’s a song on there called Victim Of Circumstance. And it’s a song from watching the news and things like that – some of the terrible violence that’s happening in America and people who have got caught up in the midst of it. Not the people that are involved in it, but the innocent people that get messed up by it. That struck a chord with me and I wanted to write about those people that accidentally get shot – little children and stuff like that. I felt someone had to make a song for those kind of people. I’m not glorifying gang life or anything like that. It’s more of while you are doing your own dirty work, you’re messing other innocent people in the process. And that’s where that song came from.

What’s up next for you guys?
Sendog: We’re going to tour the year out and then at some point next year early on – get together and start putting riffs and drums together for a new album. At the same time, head over to Europe and do some festival there. So yeah, we’re knocking this shit out!

Powerflo on Facebook

Testament

Interview with Chuck Billy and Alex Skolnick

30 years in the business! What goes through your mind when contemplating the fact that Testament has been around for 30 years?
Alex: It’s kind of surreal. I think music keeps you young. But it doesn’t feel it’s been that long that at all.
Chuck: It doesn’t feel like that at all. It’s like holy shit! Where did the time go?

What brings you out here to the Loudwire Music Awards tonight?
Chuck: We’re presenting a few awards. Alex has one and I have one tonight. Just hang out with a bunch of cool people, man.
Alex: Just a reunion with a bunch of friends.

What are you looking forward to the most about bringing Metal Allegiance back next year?
Alex: Yeah that’s coming back to Anaheim in January.
Chuck: That’s always especially fun because it’s a NAMM event – especially because there’s always such famous artists. And all the artists are there performing and signing. So it’s always great.

(At this point Sammy Hagar walks by and waves at us and says hello…)

If you are going to get interrupted in an interview, it might as well be the legendary Sammy Hagar! So what are you looking forward to the most about the upcoming Ozzfest Meets Knotfest show?
Alex: That’s going to be fun. That’s a great bunch of bands! Everybody that you can imagine is on that show.
Chuck: I think it’s just great too, because America doesn’t have as many festivals as Europe – so it’s good to see that Ozzfest Meets Knotfest is making a statement for metal in America. It’s awesome!

When was the first time you meet Ozzy?
Alex: I played for him for about a week. When they were trying out different guitar players. It was 1995. Zakk had left and Zakk came back a little while later. It was very surreal but I enjoyed it!

Testament on Facebook

Hellyeah

Interview with Vinnie Paul

What brings you out here to the Loudwire Music Awards tonight?
All my friends and family are part of the heavy metal world. This is what we do so it’s a beautiful thing.

You are presenting the Best Vocalist category tonight. Is there any one you are rooting for?
I just hope everybody has a good time tonight. That’s all I really care about.

And you’re nominated for an award tonight too!
Yeah, I’m giving an award today and I’m nominated too, so we’ll see. I’ve won a few in the past so we’ll see what happens tonight.

Do you prepare an acceptance speech for something like this?
Oh no no no. This is very spontaneous. It’s all about a good time and we’ll see what happens.

What could fans look forward to on the Unden!able Special Edition?
It’s got the DVD from Australia which is very amazing. It’s got some great live tracks on it – put it in your car and make you feel like you are right there. And some cool pictures and some cool liner notes.

How excited are you about seeing your song Love Falls making some serious play on the radio airwaves?
It’s number 5 in the United States of America. It’s the biggest song we’ve ever had since the first record. I’m very excited! I want to thank the people for calling in. I want to thank the radio stations for showing the love. It’s a big thing!

Has Phil Collins heard or commented on tour cover of I Don’t Care Anymore?
I haven’t heard if he has or not. I’d love to hear what he has to say.

What are the future plans for Hellyeah?
We start recording our new record in about two weeks and it will be out early next year sometime.

Hellyeah on Facebook

On The Black Carpet at The Loudwire Music Awards  – Part 2 can be read HERE!

(Interviews by Ken Morton – Photos by Jack Lue)

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