The stars on 'Higher Voltage'

Fifteen of rock's hottest bands have contributed cover versions of classic songs for the second instalment of Kerrang! magazine's free 'High Voltage' CDs (free with this week's Kerrang! magazine). Below, all of the bands who contributed to this project talk about what tracks they chose to cover and why.

LOSTPROPHETS
'DAVIDIAN'
(ORIGINALLY RECORDED BY MACHINE HEAD)
Ian Watkins (vocals): "After Pantera, Machine Head were the next great hopes for metal. It was wicked to play a song like 'Davidian' because it wasn't the obvious choice and no one would expect the Lostprophets to do a song like that. When we were 15 and 16, that was the song, that was our anthem. I loved 'The Burning Red' but you can't fuck with 'Burn My Eyes'. That's the fucking shit!"

AIDEN
'DRAIN YOU'
(ORIGINALLY RECORDED BY NIRVANA)
wiL Francis (vocals): "I wanted to do a Nirvana cover for a long time and 'Drain You' is one of my favourite songs. Growing up, Nirvana played a huge part in my life, and this record in particular is one of the records that taught me how to play the guitar: I learned how to play this song when I was 11 years old. Am I nervous about Dave Grohl and Krist Novoselic hearing it? Fuck, I hadn't thought of that..."

FIGHTSTAR
'BREAKING THE LAW'
(ORIGINALLY RECORDED BY JUDAS PRIEST)
Charlie Simpson (vocals/guitar): "When we recorded our cover of Deftones 'My Own Summer (Shove It)' for the 'High Voltage' CD, I was pretty intent on not changing anything. With 'Breaking The Law', we thought we would fuck around with it. When you do a cover, sometimes you have to make it completely your own. This time, I didn't give a fuck. We love the song, we love what we've recorded and that's all that matters. It'll always offend the hardcore fans, no matter what you do."

BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE
'CREEPING DEATH'
(ORIGINALLY RECORDED BY METALLICA)
Matt Tuck (vocals/guitar): "We chose this song as we pretty much knew all the parts as we used to play it years ago before we got signed. We only spent about eight hours on it from setting up to mix so we're so happy how it came out. It's pretty fucking heavy! I'm sure Lars (Ulrich) and the boys will check it out, they loved our 'Welcome Home (Sanitarium)' cover from last year's Kerrang! 'Remastered' album so maybe we'll get to jam it with them on the upcoming summer tour!"

THE AUTOMATIC
'EPIC'
(ORIGINALLY RECORDED BY FAITH NO MORE)
Rob Hawkins (vocals/bass): "We chose 'Epic' because it's a classic tune. Also, Pennie's vocal style suits the song and we love massive sounding guitars. We'd just come off tour when we recorded it, it only took us a day because we'd worked out what we were going to do before. We're not nervous about the other bands hearing it - it's just a laugh, at the end of the day. Some people will love it, some people will think we've murdered it."

FUNERAL FOR A FRIEND
'THE BOYS ARE BACK IN TOWN'
(ORIGINALLY RECORDED BY THIN LIZZY)
Ryan Richards (drums): "We decided to have a crack at 'The Boys Are Back In Town' by Thin Lizzy just because we all love the song. Doesn't everyone, though? We recorded it about two years ago as a B-side to one of our singles and it was a lot of fun musically to tackle with all the duelling guitars, walking basslines and swinging rhythms. Our dads liked it so you can't ask for more than that really."

MADINA LAKE
'TODAY'
(ORIGINALLY RECORDED BY SMASHING PUMPKINS)
Matthew Leone (bass): "For Nathan and I, the Smashing Pumpkins were the reason that we decided to make music. I think they have a unique relevance and legacy that has affected music by many of today's musicians more than they are credited for. 'Today' is one of those songs, lyrically, that captured a certain beautiful irony. It is alleged to be about the day he was seconds from killing himself, but found something that made life beautiful enough to carry on."

SIGN
'YOUTH GONE WILD'
(ORIGINALLY RECORDED BY SKID ROW)
Zolberg (vocals/guitar): " 'Youth Gone Wild' was definitely the soundtrack to my teens, so being able to do our own version of that for the world to hear really fucked me up. We felt really nervous that we would fuck it up, but fortunately, we know our shit and I think we did a great job: we added a little more power to it, some extra chords and stuff. If you got big balls and a heart to back it up, love high screamin' and great guitar solos, Skid Row is your band!"

THEAUDITION
'LIVIN' ON A PRAYER'
(ORIGINALLY RECORDED BY BON JOVI)
Danny Stevens (vocals): "We chose 'Livin' On A Prayer' because it's so recognisable and thought it would be fun and a challenge to record. We recorded it while we were in the UK with The Academy Is... in Livingstone Studios in London, so making it sound good while we were in the middle of the tour was definitely a difficult task. It was really strenuous to sing. Apparently, Jon Bon Jovi even had a hard time singing it a lot of the time. It was great getting some of our fans to sing 'wo-ah' on the choruses too!"

SOULFLY
'BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE'
(ORIGINALLY RECORDED BY MARILYN MANSON)
Max Cavalera (vocals/guitar): "The last time I spoke with Manson was in London at the Kerrang! Awards. It's always good to see Manson, although we're pretty much from very different music and visual styles, there's much respect and admiration and the fact that we both don't give a fuck about this bullshit society we live in. The track came out just as I was hoping it would: direct and to the point. Like a hostage crisis, cannibal holocaust or like Marilyn Manson meets the Brazilian Godzilla with four heads ready to destroy the planet!"

THE BLACKOUT
'MY GENERATION'
(ORIGINALLY RECORDED BY LIMP BIZKIT)
Sean Smith (vocals): "When we started this band we all loved nu-metal: the reason I got into music, was through hearing Limp Bizkit. I heard Freddie D swear a few times and then I decided 'I want in on that!'. So, we asked Kerrang! if we could do Limp Bizkit, and you very nicely agreed. It was a dream come true to record it and hopefully people won't hate us for it!"

YOURCODENAMEIS:MILO
'FEEL GOOD HIT OF THE SUMMER'
(ORIGINALLY RECORDED BY QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE)
Adam Hiles (guitar): "We've been big fans of Queens Of The Stone Age for a while: the music, production and lyrics all have a swagger and sounded like they didn't give a fuck if you liked them, they were going to keep on doing this and being this good regardless. And their guitars always sound absolutely unholy. They're the only rock band left that you should be afraid of. It's safe to say they've been an influence on us. I don't think any of us are too nervous about the band themselves hearing it, I mean for fuck's sake, what's not to like about it?"

DARKEST HOUR
'NAZI PUNKS FUCK OFF'
(ORIGINALLY RECORDED BY DEAD KENNEDYS)
Mike Schleibaum (guitar): "'Nazi Punks Fuck Off' is a great fucking song! And I think that it translates really cool to a more metal-type song. We recorded this song while working on the new record 'Deliver Us'. We just did it as an extra track and honestly it added a needed break. I mean it's a great song and it's already written so all we had to do was riff it hard and have a great time doing it!"

GALLOWS
'NERVOUS BREAKDOWN'
(ORIGINALLY RECORDED BY BLACK FLAG)
Frank Carter (vocals): "It's one of a few Black Flag tracks that I really, really love and it's been part of my life for years. As a band, it just made sense. We were in the studio going out of our fucking minds. I was having a really bad time and I felt like having a nervous breakdown. I was really pissed off when we recorded it as I had tonsillitis and it was just driving me insane and it was a good way to get out a bit of aggression."

BRING ME THE HORIZON
'EYELESS'
(ORIGINALLY RECORDED BY SLIPKNOT)
Oli Sykes (vocals): "We covered 'Eyeless' because it's as heavy as hell! We like heavy. Slipknot are awesome - they've got some blistering breakdowns, so we wanted to cover it and make it just that bit more heavy BMTH-style. I don't think any of us really ever considered Slipknot hearing this - if they do, let us know!"

'Higher Voltage' is free with this week's Kerrang! magazine (in all good noise agents Wednesday, June 20).