CKY, SYSTEMATIC To Open For METALLICA In San Francisco

Philadelphia punk/metal outfit CKY have landed the support slot for METALLICA at the Fillmore in San Francisco, California on Sunday, May 18. San Francisco Bay Area's own SYSTEMATIC, who were previously signed to METALLICA drummer Lars Ulrich's now-defunct record label imprint The Music Company (distributed through Elektra),will open the show at the same venue on Monday, May 19.

SYSTEMATIC guitarist Adam Ruppell posted the following message to the band's official web site shortly receiving the news that the band were selected to open for METALLICA at the Fillmore:

"So I was up the other night when I received a phone call," Ruppel wrote. "It was a little Danish drummer that plays in a band called METALLICA. He just called to ask if SYSTEMATIC would want to open a show for them back home. So here all you systemaddicts go...

"May 19th SYSTEMATIC will be opening for this little band out of San Francisco called METALLICA for the one of the free shows they're doing for their fan club! After years of knowing the MET family we finally get to share a stage with them. I have to say that the band is stoked and can't wait for the day to get here.

"I also have to state that I have been very lucky to hear the new METALLICA album. I must say it's the heaviest shit I've heard from METALLICA in ages and trust me they still got it. We all need to root for METALLICA to go back on top and get rid of alot of the crap that is out there. The album will blow your mind. So make sure you get your copy."

In related news, FloridaToday.com filed an interesting report on the current and future state of the record industry, particularly as it relates to online music piracy. Among the artists interviewed for the story was METALLICA frontman James Hetfield, who offered the following comment on the subject of illegal music downloading: "The record companies are history. They won't be around much longer unless they get with it and morph into something new that's going to help get music directly to the masses. The Internet is about as direct as it gets. Putting a CD in a store is like putting a rotary dial phone in front of a kid: 'What's that? There's no antenna.' Downloading is a sobering change."

METALLICA's forthcoming "St. Anger" CD, which hits retail on June 10, will include such incentives as a companion DVD of rehearsals, a CD-ROM peek into the band's upcoming video game and an elaborate booklet.

"The idea was to throw out a bone that you won't get in a download," Hetfield said. He's relieved that security measures so far have thwarted leaks. "Recording was like working in a bank. The hard drives were in a safe. Nothing left the studio. But then you hand it off to the record company to mass-produce it, and you have to let it go."

"It's not the METALLICAs and MADONNAs and LINKIN PARKs and BRUCE SPRINGSTEENs that take the hardest hit, it's the 10 developing bands each label has on its roster every month," METALLICA drummer Lars Ulrich added. "That gets trimmed to three. Instead of getting a million dollars to make videos and tour, you go home if nothing happens in the first five minutes of that project. Young artists won't have a chance."

Hetfield chimed in, "What about the band that's on the cusp of make it or break it? It's so ironic that a band won't be successful because the people who really like their stuff are stealing it."

Read the whole article here.

(Thanks: Inter Sandman)