MAGAZINE: October/November 2010 Summer Issue

Check out the MASSIVE new issue of Rip It Up with BIG stories on Kings of Leon, Metallica, Linkin Park, Slipknot, Gorillaz, Jay-Z, Trinity Roots, Ladi6 and TONS more.

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Kings of Leon

It has been a crazy year or so for the four strapping young guns that make up Kings of Leon - a time that has seen them transform from almost-indie cool kids into global superstars with the massive success of their album Only By The Night.

It’s been the best of times and the worst of times for the four members of the family Followill, with the aforementioned album selling over six million copies and garnering them a truckload of fans, then the critical fallout that’s often associated with instant fame hitting them like a thunderbolt out of the blue.

"Alcohol helps a lot, and our rider makes a really big difference too as it’s full of stuff that reminds us of home. Me and Jared also request a certain type of tuna salad from Whole Foods, and every evening when we walk into the dressing room we just grab that big tub and really go for it."

- Matthew Followill

Singer Caleb Followill, a self-professed germophobe who left the stage with a mouthful of shit, added: "I was hit by pigeons on each of the first three songs. We had 20 songs on the set list. By the end of the show, I would have been covered from head to toe. The last thing I was going to do was look up, but if that was only a couple, we must have caught them right after a big Thanksgiving dinner."

Metallica

The biggest metal band of all time was formed in Los Angeles in 1981.

One of the primary founders of thrash metal, Metallica were influenced by both the new wave of British heavy metal and punk scenes, and rebelled against the popular cross dressing glam metal posers. They played hard, fast drumbeats, accompanied by aggressive, crunchy rhythm guitar lines and intense, blistering guitar solos.

Widely regarded as the best metal album ever released, this is Metallica at the peak of their 80s thrash heyday. From the distorted guitars kicking in on opener ‘Battery’, to their closing stabs in ‘Damage, Inc.’, Puppets is absolute magic. It’s a carefully planned, multi-layered album of epic songs made by virtuoso musicians, with perfect production and mixing that the band has sadly not achieved since.

Linkin Park

"I think we’re expressing ourselves in a much more grown up manner, rather than a bunch of kids running around yelling at stuff."

- Chester Bennington

Do you have any standout memories of New Zealand?

Rob: I think it’s beautiful there.

Chester: Yeah. I thought it was bigger than it was but it also seemed smaller than I thought it would be - if that makes sense at all. It was totally cool. We got to fly in the first time we went [to New Zealand] and the sun was setting and it was hitting the islands perfectly - and it was really beautiful and I thought, ‘wow, this is one of the most beautiful looking places I’d ever seen.’

Jay Z

The crowning achievement in Jay-Z’s illustrious catalogue, The Blueprint’s soul infused 15 track set flipped the game on its head.

Not since Dr. Dre’s The Chronic had an album reformatted the soundscape of hip hop. 70s icons like the Jackson 5 and Al Green were sampled, and Kanye West and Just Blaze provided a renaissance aesthetic that complemented Jay-Z perfectly.

Slipknot

“We’ve worked so hard to prove that we’re not a band, we’re a culture.”

-Clown

On the eve of the release of one hell of a live DVD, the members of Slipknot are in turmoil. At a time of huge successes in their career the highs have been tempered by one hell of a low, and talking to Shawn ‘Clown’ Crahan at home in Des Moines, Iowa, it’s clear it will take them a long time to recover.