THE NIN HOTLINE

Tuesday, 12/30/08

JJJ's Hottest 100
Yes, summer has rolled around again in Australia which means it's time for two things; making your house bushfire safe and voting in the world's largest musical democracy.

Voting is simple, just proceed in an orderly fashion to the vote page and click on the "vote now" button to get under way. You can vote for up to 10 of your favourite tracks from 2008 (the year that will soon be "was"), we all know you want to vote for NIN ... but it's completely up to you ... no pressure! People from overseas can also vote, however varying degrees of success have been had.

In the past NIN has had some good and bad results. In 1994 Closer reached the dizzying height of #2 and in 1999 Starfuckers Inc got #69, however since then NIN has not made it into the list. This could be the year for NIN to make a comeback, considering that Discipline was in high rotation earlier in the year and well, people just love to dance to it.

So go. Vote. And clear the leaves from your gutters before it's too late!

Reported by mafu at 03:43

Monday, 12/29/08

Here's your Christmas gift from us: A better search box
I know, I know, I shouldn't have. It's just too much, it's what you've always wanted.

What am I talking about? Well, it used to be that when you typed a search term into the search box over on the right there, it would search all the news we've posted to the front page. Now when you search, you'll have the option to further refine your search - you can search our article archives, and you can restrict your search by date. It could still use a little beautification, but I'll get to that later. Maybe.

Big thanks to neraulia for offering to help me out with this, even though I ended up coding it myself. If she hadn't offered to work on it for me, I wouldn't have gotten off my own ass and bothered to tackle it.

Next up, one of these months, will be a significant upgrade to the way you can browse the front page archives. Okay, it's still a little clunky, but it will be less clunky than it is now, unless you're surfing with Javascript turned off.

Reported by leviathant at 15:57

Sunday, 12/28/08

Totally off-topic holiday-related poll-buster post
A few weeks ago, a friend of mine sent me an email detailing this thing where an organization will donate $10,000 to an animal shelter that gets the most votes. It wasn't something he asked me to post on the Hotline, but I thought that with all the poll-busting we've done in the past, this might be nice to post while the holidays are on, because something really cool would come out of his shelter winning.

It's been a busy season for me and I haven't been online as much, but yesterday I got another email from my buddy on the topic. Long story short, he used to know the guys in My Chemical Romance before they got famous, and he asked one of them to maybe post his link on Twitter or something. So when they blogged about it on MCR's website, they changed the link to point to their local shelter.

Either way, really, an animal shelter's going to get a big boost and it's going to be really cool for them, but I think that was a dick move, and reminded me that I forgot to post my link. So I'm encourage you to take about 20 seconds to fill out this form and vote for Addison County Humane Society in Vermont.

Thanks, hope you had a nice holiday, and have a great time on New Year's Eve!

Click here to read (most of) the original email I was sent, asking me to vote for said shelter.

Reported by leviathant at 10:19

Tuesday, 12/23/08

NIN Fan DVD: Update
A new website has been set up to act as a hub for the Fan DVD Project Leviathant mentioned a few posts below.

Keep discussing concepts and ideas, and linking wicked awesome youtube videos in the forums, but this website will allow the public to vote for things such as the DVD title and cover art, and serve as a one-stop-shop for those casual observers.

Voting is currently scheduled to start from New Year's Day.

Thanks to Torgo, Hippygeek, and Owinn for getting the website up, and ALL of you for making this an exciting project so far. GO TEAM! YES WE CAN! etc.

Reported by icklekitty at 13:13

Sunday, 12/21/08

NIN in Melbourne
Bad news guys, looks like NIN won't be returning to The Forum in Melbourne again.

BUT THEY WILL BE PLAYING FESTIVAL HALL!

AWYEAH!

nin.com just added: 02.25.09 Melbourne, VIC Festival Hall (map) on sale: 01.06.09 presale: 01.02.09 5:00 pm


Thanks to hughman for taking time out of his busy breastfeeding schedule.

Reported by icklekitty at 15:09

SYDNEY SIDESHOW IN FEBRUARY (kinda) ANNOUNCED
GREAT news for those in Sydney - Looks like a Soundwave sideshow is happening according to this full page ad in Brag Media and rumours currently flooding various boards.

If it goes ahead, you heard it here first...If not? We know nothing!

Let's hope news of sideshows for all the other states are announced soon!



Thanks to Sam89 over at ETS for the heads up

Reported by mark at 00:52

Saturday, 12/20/08

Fans assembling video of the Las Vegas show.
Currently, there is a NIN Fan DVD being assembled and created by fans in an effort to document their own Lights in the Sky experience. This DVD will be centered around the Vegas show and is looking to gather any varied quality coverage of the concert. Later on in the project, there will be a contest of sorts to decide the DVD title and DVD Art. To find out more about this project or try to help out, have a look at this post over on ETS.

Reported by leviathant at 09:27

Thursday, 12/18/08

New Merch!
The Official NIN Merch Store has been updated with three more shirts; this time from the just-wrapped Lights In The Sky tour. There's at least one shirt from each leg of the North American tour and the shirts are... you gotta be kidding me. 13 bucks before shipping?! Well damn. Sucks if you paid $35!

We'll be keeping our eyes open on the Goodrock store to see if they get any of the new shirts from this leg.

Reported by Lt. Randazzo at 21:12

'tis the season to make shit up
We got wind of a couple of rumors tonight, so let's take 'em one at a time.

thePRP.com reports rumors that NIN might be touring with Rage Against the Machine in the spring. Sure, a lot of people might think "AWESOME" but if you were at Lollapalooza, you probably remember how different the crowds were for these shows. Anyway, thePRP's been really good in the past, but they've always reported rumors about release dates, which leads me to believe they're getting info from Universal Music Group. In this instance, the rumor's completely false. Not happening, folks.

Rumor number two comes from MattGreen420, who emailed us to say that "My local radio station said they are playing a new nin single tonight.:)" MattGreen420 didn't write back to say what station this was, but his IP address traces to AT&T Wireless in Canada somewhere Matt wrote back to say that said rumor came out of Fm96 in London, Ontario. Sorry folks, this is either some DJ pulling a stunt to hype his dying format, or Matt's gotten into his greens and is just making shit up himself. This, too, is not happening.

Reported by leviathant at 15:45

NIN + Logic Studio = Epic Win
Apple has posted a promo video for Logic Studio featuring NIN and their many uses of the program. The video features footage from the recently wrapped Lights In The Sky tour along with interviews with Mat Mitchell (keyboard & sound tech), Trent Reznor & Alessandro Cortini. Check it out here. To watch the video, click on the picture of Trent above the caption, Nine Inch Nails: Out of the studio, onto the stage.

Thanks halogoggles!

Quick update: Here's a direct link to the MainStage vid if you're wanting to download and have fun with it. Also, here's an interview with Mat Mitchell where he talks about MainStage even further. Very cool stuff, especially if you're a Macintard like me.

Reported by Lt. Randazzo at 08:45

Wednesday, 12/17/08

The Buddyhead Holiday Ho Ho Hodeo (a.k.a. "party")
Buddyhead Ho Ho HodeoIf you live in or around the L.A. area and want to do something cool on a Sunday night for once, why not come to the Whateverth Annual Buddyhead Christmas Holiday Party? As many as 3 former Nine Inch Nails members will be there for you to rub shoulders (and other body parts) with, including Aaron North, Alessandro Cortini and Twiggy "Jeordie" Ramirez! Plus Josh Homme and the other QOTSA guys, and probably other cool people as well. Not only will there be cool music and lots of booze, but there will be fabulous giveaways, a raffle contest to win multiple boxes of over 4,000 Buddyhead CDs, and a photo/art exhibition including contributions (which will also be available for purchase) from Nick Jago, Chrissy Piper, Aaron Farley, Sonny Kay, Travis Keller, and Meathead (me). BRING MONEY

Click here to buy tickets ($10)

Sunday, December 21st, 2008
@ The Hotel Cafe in Hollywood
1623 1/2 N. Cahuenga Blvd., 90028
Doors @ 7pm
$10
21+

Hotelcafe.com

Reported by meathead at 20:07

Who Likes Presents? I Like Presents!
From NIN.com:

The LIGHTS IN THE SKY era has come to a close, and I'd like to once again thank you for your support. I am very proud of what we pulled off - it was an immense amount of work and worth it all.
I'd like to thank Josh and Alessandro for being an integral part of this for the last few years and I wish them all the best.

No rest for the wicked here, though. We start rehearsing the new band/format first thing next year and as I mentioned, we'll be announcing some final waves of dates. North America, UK/Europe, Pacific Rim and elsewhere.

Oh yeah - we may have a small holiday gift for you soon. Check back.


Keep on checking NIN.com over the next little while to see what Santa Trent has left in your stocking. Hopefully he doesn't shop at the same place as my Mom, otherwise I'm getting a 3-Pack of Fruit of the Looms ... again.

Reported by swindley at 16:47

Sunday, 12/14/08

Trent on Trent action
Finished drying those Alessandro-induced tears? Seen this youtube video from last night's show? Then I'll begin.

Everyone's favourite Trent managed to snaggle a brief interview with that guy from that "Big Fuckin Titties" band after last night's show in Vegas. Read all about it here and refresh the page manically until their video interview loads, why don't you.

*edit*

Ok, stop refreshing. here it is!

Reported by icklekitty at 13:27

Alessandro Cortini to leave NIN
From Modwheelmood's MySpace


"thank you.

It's been exactly 4 years since i joined Nine Inch Nails and the time has come for me to move onto new things.

I feel a need to explore other paths in music and life which leads me to leave the tour at this stage.

I am grateful of the chance i was given: it doesn't happen every day to be able to work next to some of the most talented people on this planet.

Trent & Co. have been aware of this decision of mine for a while now and are prepared to take the band to the next step.

Thanks to all the fans who welcomed me at the beginning of my journey and supported me through the years: I hope to see you around here or there.


Alessandro"



Bummer...



Thanks to Thir13teen and all the others for submitting the news.

Reported by mark at 00:31

Saturday, 12/13/08

Sacramento News and Review article and misc bits

Those of you who aren't enjoying the last two shows of the tour can go and read this amusing article at the Sacramento News and Review

Also, The Slip made it into Rolling Stone's Top Albums of 2008 (some "interesting" choices on there)

And Ghosts I-IV made it to #4 on Last FM's Best of 2008.

Thanks Steve, bmoloney, Jason, guildmaster, Dearfr0x, Mayra, Casey, Hyphnip!

Reported by naut at 00:01

Thursday, 12/11/08

Repost: Regarding NIN music used at Guantanamo Bay for torture
It's difficult for me to imagine anything more profoundly insulting, demeaning and enraging than discovering music you've put your heart and soul into creating has been used for purposes of torture.

If there are any legal options that can be realistically taken they will be aggressively pursued, with any potential monetary gains donated to human rights charities.

Thank GOD this country has appeared to side with reason and we can put the Bush administration's reign of power, greed, lawlessness and madness behind us.

Trent Reznor

(from nin.com)

Reported by leviathant at 13:29

Wednesday, 12/10/08

Is anyone at Guantanamo Bay sending checks to ASCAP?
A story came out this week that absolutely lit up our submission queue, involving the use of a variety of music at the notorious prison camp limbo that is Guantanamo Bay. Why are we getting so many emails about "Musicians don't want tunes used for torture"? Well, here are the first two paragraphs:

GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba - Blaring from a speaker behind a metal grate in his tiny cell in Iraq, the blistering rock from Nine Inch Nails hit Prisoner No. 200343 like a sonic bludgeon.

“Stains like the blood on your teeth,” Trent Reznor snarled over distorted guitars. “Bite. Chew.”

Nine Inch Nails, AC/DC, Queen, Pantera, Eminem, songs from Sesame Street and Barney, all get blasted for periods of sixteen hours a day at prisoners in the camp, and several of the original artists have spoken out against the use of their music in this setting. Alternately, the article quotes the bassist from Drowning Pool as being supportive of the use of his music as an element of psychological distress against prisoners. He thinks that playing Drowning Pool to Gitmo prisoners is helping to prevent another 9/11. Yup.

The former prisoner that the Associated Press spoke to went into further detail, and from the sounds of it, was at least familiar with NIN's catalog before the ordeal:

He said he was locked in an overcooled 9-foot-by-9-foot cell that had a speaker with a metal grate over it. Two large speakers stood in the hallway outside. The music was almost constant, mostly hard rock, he said.

“There was a lot of Nine Inch Nails, including ‘March of the Pigs,”’ he said. “I couldn’t tell you how many times I heard Queen’s ‘We Will Rock You.”’


Kind of brings an exchange to mind...

Alex: No. No! NO! Stop it! Stop it, please! I beg you! This is sin! This is sin! This is sin! It's a sin, it's a sin, it's a sin!
Dr. Brodsky: Sin? What's all this about sin?
Alex: That! Using Ludwig van like that! He did no harm to anyone. Beethoven just wrote music!
Dr. Branom: Are you referring to the background score?
Alex: Yes.
Dr. Branom: You've heard Beethoven before?
Alex: Yes!
Dr. Brodsky: So, you're keen on music?
Alex: YES!
Dr. Brodsky: Can't be helped. Here's the punishment element perhaps.


Unfortunately, there's probably not much anyone can or will do about the situation, which in the grand scheme of things, is just a small stain amongst the larger injustices perpetrated at places like these.

Reported by leviathant at 10:22

Tuesday, 12/09/08

Camera policy for Sacramento show
And... here's another update from nin.com regarding camera policy changes -
** UPDATE MONDAY Dec 8**
Camera / camcorder policy is back to normal. The next and last "bring your camera / camcorder" show will be Sacramento, Dec 12.

I think it's important to note that you'll save time by not bringing in your tripod, since folks have been saying that they've been sent back to their cars, but everything else like DSLRs and such should be fair game.

Reported by Lt. Randazzo at 08:54

Josh Freese blogs on why he's leaving NIN
JOSHFREESEWhile checking MySpace to see if I had any spam messages about someone who has a secret crush on me, I stumbled upon an update from Josh Freese's blog. Here's what he had to say -
"So, I've been wanting to write something for a while now explaining why I am leaving Nine Inch Nails at the end of the year. Not that it's THAT big of a deal or important compared to other real shit going on out there in the world but I figured I'd take a minute out to explain anyhow. I know a few people are aware that I'm having my 3rd child in January and basically....that about SUMS IT UP!

"I've just been gone too damn much lately and if I hadn't spent so much time on the road in recent years (between NIN, A Perfect Circle, Devo, Sting, The Vandals) coupled with having 3 kids (come January) then I'd still be out on the road in the new year. It's just that the rate that NIN has been touring (and will continue to tour in 2009) is something that I can't keep up with right now. My kids need their Dad around and I want to be around for them. I am definitely not retiring or "done touring" by any means though. I just need to be home a bit more next year.
I am not leaving because I got a better offer from another band or because I don't enjoy it.....it's one of my favorite situations I've ever been involved with and I already miss it (though we still have 5 more shows to play).

"If you saw a NIN show in the past 3 years then you'll know that to say I LIKE playing up there is an understatement and that I give it my all every night. It's much more than a "job" or a "gig" for me. I'm a big believer in Trent and his music and feel fortunate and privileged to have had the chance to work along side of him and be a part of what he does for the past three years. It is something I am truly proud of and he makes most the other ones out there feel pretty small time. I have faith in the notion that we'll work together again at some point, in some fashion. But for now I need to go teach my 7 year old boy how to ride a bike.....nothing can really compare to that (except maybe an all night hotel coke session with some hookers.)"

Josh

Reported by Lt. Randazzo at 08:51

Sunday, 12/07/08

Portland camera policy for tonight
From nin.com -
** UPDATE SUNDAY Dec 7**
The relaxed camera / camcorder policy continues for Portland. Bring and shoot what you want and share what you get. Please understand local security has been made aware of this policy change but I cannot assure you every single one of them will be cool about it. Change can be hard for some.


It's about four hours until the doors open. If you haven't left yet and you have a camera, TAKE IT.

Reported by Lt. Randazzo at 16:12

Thursday, 12/04/08

Free Album Of 8-Bit Nine Inch Nails Covers
I stumbled across this earlier today at synthtopia.

"Robo-Bot Records has released a free album of Nine Inch Nails covers by 8-bit chiptune artists, Nine Chip Nails.

The compilation was organized at the 8 Bit Collective forum.

Tracks:

  • Little-scale: The day the world went away

  • SCSI: Down In It

  • Microchip: Survivalism

  • Kyotosapian: Heresy

  • Subway Sonicbeat: Eraser

  • Hartfelt: Hurt



The download links seem to be down at the moment, so I've taken the liberty of mirroring it here. Be forewarned, however, it starts out a lot stronger than it finishes.

Reported by ItsJustDave at 22:16

Spreading some holiday cheer with Nine Inch Noëls!
WRG over on ETS found this funny little gem. Enjoy!

Reported by JessicaSarahS at 21:50

Follow-up to sad DVD-less news for LITS
Trent just posted a small update to his now-infamous "Curtain Call" post from nin.com -
"The venue for Friday night's performance in Victoria will have a very relaxed camera / camcorder policy... hmmn..."

Anyone attending that show should know what to do. Just sayin'.

Reported by Lt. Randazzo at 21:24

Wednesday, 12/03/08

Grammy Nods for All!
Nine Inch Nails has been nominated for two Grammy's this year. The first is for Best Rock Instrumental Performance (34 Ghosts IV); the second for Best Boxed Set or Limited Edition Package (Ghosts I-IV). A full list of nominees can be found on the official Grammy website. Let's hope Rob Sheridan can bring him his first Grammy, as he's co-nominated for the Ghosts LE set. I'm sure it will look great on the mantle next to his Tee-Ball "Participant" trophy.

Reported by swindley at 21:13

TR's Curtain Call and LITS DVD news
From nin.com -
"File this one under lost opportunities.

"I'm very proud of the show we've put together for this tour and have been working hard the last few months to find a way to capture it. I had an amazing situation lined up that would have allowed me to film the show in 3D with James Cameron's team for a theatrical release as well as DVD / BluRay, etc. We had an extra date added to the tour that we were going to give away all the tickets for and have a filming party / thank you show.

"I made two critical mistakes. One was to approach a certain record company that owns some of the song rights about producing / funding. The second was to allow said company to fuck around as usual for months before saying um... no. We then achieved the impossible by finding alternate production / funding but the timetable is too rushed to get it filmed comfortably with the remaining time left on the tour. This tour and a lot of the personnel involved finish at the end of this leg, so we can't push filming into Jan / Feb.

"Deep breath...
This was an amazing tour and production - certainly the best thing I've ever been involved with and likely the final tour for NIN on this scale. Thank you to those who came out to see it and forgive me for having a Kanye West moment, but this was FOR SURE the best show of the year and any bullshit end-of-the-year poll you may read in the next few weeks that says otherwise simply has it wrong. Those of you who saw it know I'm right.

"The shows we have announced in 2009 and any more that may be announced will be a completely different approach with some different personnel and will likely be the last for the foreseeable future."

trent reznor


Discussions are taking place on ETS & the NIN Forums regarding this news.

Reported by Lt. Randazzo at 19:07

Tuesday, 12/02/08

Pitchfork wants to know what the best album of the year is
Click here to vote!

The title pretty much says it all, and while we all know that Pitchfork's reviews are filled with stupid bastard sauce, they've done some cool stuff this year (Slip rehearsal videos anyone?). That being said, let's all vote like CRAZY for The Slip since they already saw fit to include it on the bill. However, they didn't include Ghosts I-IV, BUT, they've included a write-in option. So, vote #1 for The Slip and #2 for Ghosts or vice versa, just make sure they both get voted in!

I'm assuming that it's one email address per vote and knowing how the Radiohead remix contest went earlier this year, I'd stick to those rules. But hey! You get entered to win the 2xCD set of The Sound of The Smiths and the 4xCD box set of New Order's Retro. So go, VOTE!

Reported by Lt. Randazzo at 19:58

New TR interview hints at changes for the live show
New Zealand's Stuff website has come through again; this time with an interview with Trent Reznor during one of the off days of the current Lights in The Sky tour. In it, Trent talks about changing the live show around for the recently announced "Down Undah" shows, addiction, and finding his happy place. Check it out here.

Thanks to RobW for sending this in.

Reported by Lt. Randazzo at 11:19

Monday, 12/01/08

Stupid cartoon
It's apparently time for another stupid Meathead Perspective cartoon. Yeah. Go Packers.

Reported by meathead at 21:30