> Working with Rick
Rubin can make even
the headbangingest
of metal gods sound
like a damn hippie. “He’s really
into preserving our energy,
and his main thing is what the
song feels like more than what
it sounds like,” says METALLICA
drummer Lars Ulrich, on a
break from tracking the band’s
as-yet-untitled ninth album,
due this summer. “He’ll tell
us, ‘Today you guys aren’t
connecting. Go home.’ ” So far,
the high-priced producer has
done a better job of getting
the band in touch with them-
selves than did the high-priced
therapist during 2003’s mildly
regarded St. Anger, as Rubin’s
prime goal has been to help
them recapture their lunatic
mind-set circa Master of
Puppets. “I guarantee it doesn’t
sound like St. Anger—that’s the
only thing I’m 100 percent sure
of,” Ulrich says. “Screaming
guitar solos, fat fucking drums,
long-ass songs with a lot of
different dynamics like we did
in the ’80s. The last album was
just an exercise in pummeling
people into submission.”

This summer, the Hold
Steady will release their
latest songs about getting
high, the Mississippi River,
and getting high by the
Mississippi River. Two might
be “Ask Her for Aderall” and
“The Joke About Jamaica,”
both of which they played
live last year.…Having done
two Arctic Monkeys albums
in as many years, you’d
think Alex Turner wouldn’t
need another outlet
for his bursts of creativity.
Well, frankly, you’d be
wrong. Turner decamped
to a farm in the north of
France with his pal Miles
Kane (late of the Little
Flames, currently of the
Rascals) to record tunes
that are more orchestral
and lush than either guy’s
usual fare. “It’s dramatic
and classic-sounding,” says
Kane.…Just because their
lead singers died of heroin
overdoses doesn’t mean
Alice in Chains and Blind
Melon can’t churn out new
product. William DuVall
and Travis Warren pick up
the batons—but hopefully
not the habits—from Layne
Staley and Shannon Hoon,
respectively, on comeback
albums expected this
year.... After two massively

successful solo outings, Gwen Stefani finds it in herself to return to her boys for a fifth No Doubt album, slated for this fall.…Jesse Hughes’ Eagles of Death Metal best their previous attempts at clever album titles with their third, Heart On, coming (giggle!) this spring, once again with BFF Josh Homme produc-ing.…Freshly liberated from their corporate overlords at Interscope, …And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead are recording their sixth album in Austin this spring with Mike McCarthy, then hope to have it out by early fall on an ethically sound independent label yet to be determined.…

Minus one Curtis brother (Benjamin), the remaining 66. 66 percent of Secret Machines soldier on, proggily, with new guitarist Phil Karnats on their first album (due in April) since 2006’s Ten Silver Drops, which, when you put it that way, wasn’t that long ago.…The Roots’ tenth album, Rising Down, comes out April 29, and drummer ?uestlove promises a more synth-driven affair than 2006’s Game Theory.…If you like taking fistfuls of pills, then you’ll be excited to learn that Jason Pierce and Spiritualized will release their first album since 2003’s Amazing Grace this spring….

> For the first time, TAKING BACK SUNDAY aren’t in any rush to
finish an album. Which gives them more time to soak up
unexpected influences. “I love how Roger Miller and Johnny

Cash would write a song and the chorus was a weird noise,” says frontman Adam Lazzara. “I want to do songs where the hook is me making a motorboat noise with my mouth.” Though lyrical ideas are still forming for the record, due in the fall, Lazzara already has a title in mind. “Look at Yourself. Damn, You Look Really Good Right Now,” he says. “Can you tell we’ve been listening to Sly and the Family Stone?” ADAM LAZZARA