Queen Rock Montreal captures Queen at the very peak of their live powers. Recorded in 1981 and recently released as a record-breaking digitally restored IMAX concert film, this landmark moment in the band’s history is now being released as both double Blu-Ray and double 4K Ultra High Definition packages, plus double CD and triple vinyl packages. Both arrive on May 10. Watch a new video trailer below.





Queen Rock Montreal presents Freddie Mercury, Brian May, Roger Taylor and John Deacon at their most exciting and exhilarating. As Brian May puts it, this is Queen “live and dangerous.”




Queen were on all-conquering form when they returned to Montreal, Canada for the fourth time in November 1981 to play two huge concerts at the 18,000-seat Forum.


This pair of Montreal concerts marked an historic moment for Queen. After their massive success in the 1970s, the band entered the 80s bigger than ever, with the hugely successful The Game album producing their two biggest ever US singles in "Another One Bites The Dust" and "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" (both Billboard No.1’s), followed by the UK No.1 single "Under Pressure".


Queen’s return to Montreal came after almost two years of touring, including their very first tours of South and Central America, which saw the band playing two nights at Sao Paulo’s Morumbi Stadium to more than 150,000 devoted fans. As a result, when the band arrived in Canada in November 1981 they were in electrifying form.


“Montreal is one of our favourite cities, it’s a great audience there, very full of energy,” says Brian May. “We’d played this particular venue, The Forum, several times before, and it was always full of really enthusiastic people giving us a lot of energy back.”


The original concerts, which took place on November 24 and 25, 1981, were truly ground-breaking. They were arranged specifically to be filmed for a full-length concert film to document their live show. Director Saul Swimmer planned to shoot them using state-of-the-art Double Anamorphic 35mm footage, which allowed it to be projected on a gigantic, five-storey high screen. Backstage tensions between the members of Queen and Swimmer could have caused problems, but instead they propelled the band to new heights.


“We were very, very hyped up, some of the tempos are really fast, there’s a lot of really incisive, angry playing,” says May.


Queen Rock Montreal features a rawer version of the band who had released Bohemian Rhapsody half a decade earlier, showcasing their unparalleled musicianship, soaring vocal power and unstoppable live energy. “There’s no one on the stage apart from us,” says May.


Says Taylor: “It's fascinating to now realize how free we were on stage in 1981. It's a four piece, just the four of us in Queen, and to see Freddie. It's like being on stage with the band because the cameras are very high quality for the time. I've never seen anything that makes you feel quite so involved with the performance.”


From Freddie Mercury’s opening cry of “Hello Montreal… long time no see. You wanna get crazy?” through to the thrilling climactic one-two of "We Will Rock You" and "We Are The Champions", the energy rarely lets up – and even then only for signature ballad "Love Of My Life".


The powerful vocal acrobatics of Mercury, May’s dazzling six-string pyrotechnics, Deacon’s rock solid heartbeat bass, Taylor’s unstoppable rhythmic display, and not to mention the unique combination of all four voices – Queen Rock Montreal shows the total cohesion and individual strengths of four musicians who were, as Brian May says, “at the top of our game”.





The audio comes as 2CD/3LP black vinyl and special 3LP Coloured Transparent Blue Vinyl (Queen Online Store exclusive). Also available in Double Blu-ray or Double 4K Ultra High Definition package.


As never before seen, the package presents this historic performance for the first time in 4K with Dolby Atmos sound to experience rock & roll royalty with Freddie Mercury, Brian May, Roger Taylor, and John Deacon as they take to the stage in this historic and exhilarating live concert from 1981.


The 35mm original negative has been scanned to ensure the highest possible resolution, which was then examined frame by frame to remove any dirt, damage or splices to enhance the sharpness and quality of the picture.


“I can’t think of any other record of our shows in which you are so intimately in contact with Freddie,” says May. “You can almost see everything that’s going on in his head, you can see his anger, you can see his insecurity, you can see his consciousness that he can move people right to the back of the auditorium. To me, it‘s very emotional. Oh my God, he was good.”


For the first time ever, the concert will be presented in both full-frame and widescreen formats. The full-screen aspect ratio echoing more closely the way the film was originally shot, and the widescreen being a carefully cropped alternative presentation to fill the 16:9 ratio. In addition, the 4K Ultra High Definition release also has SDR / HDR dynamic range options.


In addition to Montreal, this package includes the most famous 21 minutes in rock & roll history – Queen’s electric performance at Live Aid, upscaled to high definition for the first time ever and with brand-new stereo, 5.1 and Dolby Atmos sound mixes, along with Freddie Mercury & Brian May performing “Is This The World We Created…?” later that evening.


Now, these double CD/triple vinyl LP and Double Blu-ray or double 4K Ultra High Definition packages bring an entirely new dimension to this iconic slice of Queen history.


“You see four young guys, we’ve already been around the world a lot of times, we’ve sold a lot of records, we’ve had a lot of hits, we know how to play with each other,” says Brian May of Queen Rock Montreal.“I feel proud of who we were at the time.”


Taylor echoes the sentiment: “It’s so satisfying to look at our younger selves in explosive action after all these years!”


The enduring power of Queen Rock Montreal was confirmed earlier in 2024, when a digitally remastered version of the film released exclusively in IMAX theatres became the most successful IMAX concert film ever, reaching a record-breaking £5.5M globally and surpassing Talking Heads’ Stop Making Sense and The Beatles’ Get Back documentary.


Queen Rock Montreal is available for pre-order here.








Queen have announced that Queen Rock Montreal will be available to stream on Disney+ from May 15.


Experience Queen's 1981 performance like never before with digitally remastered visuals and DTS:X audio. IMAX and DTS' partnership with Disney+ brings Queen's epic show to life, setting a new standard for streaming concerts.


Check out "Another One Bites The Dust" from the concert, below:

Onward guitarist, Toby Knapp, has announced that vocalist, Robert Van War, has left the band.


Says Toby: "Well, some bummer news. Robert Van War is no longer in Onward. This was a mutual decision and I wish him the best! Onward will continue as planned. We'll find a vocalist."


Toby is now seeking a new Onward vocalist as the band is preparing to record a new album this summer. Inquiries can be sent directly to Toby at tkbender72@yahoo.com.

In a new interview with Matt Bingham of the Z93 radio station, GODSMACK frontman Sully Erna spoke about having the band's schedule wide open after previously announcing that GODSMACK's latest album, "Lighting Up The Sky", would likely be the group's last. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Well, yeah, it's a little bit of the unknown. But it's kind of exciting, too, to not have a game plan right away. For sure, we have a small run we're doing in July of some festival dates and then we have a September-October run that we're gonna do. And then we're kind of close to the holidays at that point, so we'll probably take a little time [off]. But then I really don't know what's gonna happen. I don't know which way this is gonna go. I don't know where we're gonna tour next and what the game plan is. I'm sure we'll start figuring it out in the next couple of months, 'cause we need time to promote it, as you know, whatever we're gonna do next year. I know we have to do some international touring. We did do all States pretty much, and Canada, this year. So we have Mexico, we have Australia, we have Japan, we have Europe, we have places to get to, and we're gonna have to spend some time next year doing that as well."

GODSMACK's ongoing "Vibez Tour" sees Erna and his bandmates deliver a series of intimate evenings featuring acoustic/electric performances and untold stories in theatres across North America. The second leg of the tour kicked off April 9 in Valley Center, California.

When GODSMACK last embarked on "An Evening With" tour 20 years ago, the stripped down acoustic-based performance was aimed at showing the group in a different light and offering it the opportunity to play its music with different arrangements. The show featured the GODSMACK members performing while seated on stools, a la "MTV Unplugged", and included some creative staging and lighting, dim candles and a few spooky props, Times Leader reported at the time.

"Lighting Up The Sky" was released in February 2023 via BMG. The LP was co-produced by Erna and Andrew "Mudrock" Murdock (AVENGED SEVENFOLD, ALICE COOPER).

The first single from "Lighting Up The Sky", "Surrender", which arrived in September 2022, marked the first release from GODSMACK in four years, following their globally acclaimed and gold-certified 2018 album "When Legends Rise", which earned the Erna-fronted outfit a No. 1 spot across U.S. Hard Rock, Rock, and Alternative album charts.

MÖTLEY CRÜE will release a new song called "Dogs Of War" on Friday, April 26. The track is available for preorder now.

"Dogs Of War" will be released via MÖTLEY CRÜE's new deal with Nashville's Big Machine Records.

"It's a great match for us," singer Vince Neil tells Classic Rock. "We're good friends with [Big Machine founder/CEO] Scott Borchetta, who put together the 'Nashville Outlaws' album back in 2014. His company just knows radio, how to get it out there, how to get the right people listening."

"MÖTLEY CRÜE on Big Machine!" exclaims Borchetta. "Growing up in Southern California, I was in Hollywood when these new sheriffs showed up and took over the city. It was loud. It was powerful. It was game-changing. Nikki [Sixx, bass] and Tommy [Lee, drums], along with new guitarist John 5, have reignited the flame with ferocious new CRÜE music. Fans will unite… SHOUT!"

MÖTLEY CRÜE's last studio album was 2008's "Saints Of Los Angeles", which was followed by a 2009 "Greatest Hits" compilation.

In 2018, MÖTLEY CRÜE recorded four new songs for "The Dirt" movie, including the single "The Dirt (Est. 1981) (Feat. Machine Gun Kelly)", "Ride With The Devil", "Crash And Burn" and the band's own spin on Madonna's "Like A Virgin".

"'The Dirt' movie got us a whole new generation of fans," Neil said. "We want to keep putting new music out. We don't want to stagnate."

"We self-released 'Too Fast For Love' on our own Leathür Records label," Neil added of the band's 1981 debut. "It cost $3,000 to make and was done in three days. It was a glorified demo tape, but we were the record label until we got signed by Elektra. We haven't been on a record label for 20 years. But Scott shares our philosophy and he's a brilliant guy."

More than a year ago, MÖTLEY CRÜE recorded three new songs with longtime producer Bob Rock, including "Dogs Of War" and a cover of BEASTIE BOYS' "(You Gotta) Fight For Your Right (To Party!)":

This past January, John 5 told The Metal Voice that he and his bandmates are continuing to work on fresh material. "We're writing songs, and a new song will be coming out soon," he said. "It's really great, and I'm super excited and I can't wait."

Regarding the musical direction of the new MÖTLEY CRÜE tracks, John 5 said: "Oh, it's heavy, great songs. Heavy, great songs… I would say you could easily hear this off the 'Dr. Feelgood' album."

Earlier in January, John 5 told Illinois Entertainer about MÖTLEY CRÜE's current songwriting process: "Just the other day, Nikki called me and he was playing guitar over the phone and he'll play a riff, and he'll sing this melody, and it sounded like it could be something off of [MÖTLEY CRÜE's debut album] 'Too Fast For Love'. It's just natural for him to write these songs that I have loved and lots of other people have loved. I think we're always going to make new music, because, man, this guy is pumping out amazing lyrics and great music. When we all get together, it's pretty magical."

In December, Lee told Desert Sun about the three new songs he and his bandmates recorded with Rock: "Wait until you hear it. It's insane. It's not a full album, but that might be down the road a bit. We're always writing and doing stuff, so that's always a possibility down the road. But we just went to the studio not too long ago and recorded three insane tracks and one of them is called 'Dogs Of War'. We're just finishing up the video for it. For those jonesing for some new CRÜE, people are going to bug out. John 5 is playing on it, the guitar work is incredible and it sounds sick."

In September, John 5 told Meltdown of Detroit's WRIF radio station about the new MÖTLEY CRÜE music: "I don't know when it's gonna come out, but everything is a plan. Everything is mapped out and structured, and everything is, 'We're gonna do it here and there,' and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. So the songs are recorded, mixed, mastered. And they're so good. I can't wait for them to come out. They're so good. I'm really excited about 'em."

He continued: "Who knows what's going to happen? I don't know if we'll just release singles or an album. It's up to those guys, so I don't know. We just record and see what happens. But these songs that we recorded are so good; they're heavy and the melodies and everybody's just killing it on these songs."

Asked how much how much input he had during the songwriting process, John 5 said: "We all sat in a room and did it together. 'Cause me and Nikki have written for years and years and years together. So it was nothing new. And me and Tommy worked in the studio together many times as well. So it was nothing new being in the studio, but it was new with Bob Rock.

"What was so wild was we got in a room… It was like total old school, man," he explained. "You get in the live room and there's my amp and there's Nikki's amp and there's Tommy's drums, there's a mic… 'Cause I'm so used to just playing in the control room. And it's, like, 'Oh no, no, no. We're all gonna get in this room and we're gonna play.' And that's how we recorded. It was incredible. I've never recorded that way. And it was maybe one of the best experiences I had recording. It was so fun. It was a blast. I had to, like, make notes and all this stuff, and we just played through it. It was incredible."

Last spring, John 5 told Sirius XM's "Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk" about recording with Rock: "Bob would come in and [say], 'Okay, let's try this here, and that here and this here. It was one of the most incredible experiences ever… I'm thinking, 'We've got so much great technology today'… but we got in that room and it was like being in a garage working on a song when you were in high school… It was incredible, and we documented a lot of it too."

Regarding the musical direction of the tracks he and the rest of MÖTLEY CRÜE have recorded so far, John 5 said: "The songs are fucking heavy. I sound like a little excited kid right now, but they're heavy and they're mean. I can't wait for them to come out. I'm just so excited."

When host Eddie Trunk asked John 5 whether the new MÖTLEY CRÜE music can be compared to the band's breakthrough second album, 1983's "Shout At The Devil", the guitarist said that some of the new riffs are "heavier than anything" on that LP. "All I can tell you is that it's heavy and it's aggressive, and I think people are going to dig it because, talking as a fan, it's fucking badass," he said.

MÖTLEY CRÜE debuted its cover of "(You Gotta) Fight For Your Right (To Party!)" during a "secret" June 30, 2023 club performance for 450 lucky fans at the Underworld in London, England.

John 5 joined MÖTLEY CRÜE in the fall of 2022 as the replacement for the band's co-founding guitarist Mick Mars. Mick announced his retirement from touring with MÖTLEY CRÜE in October 2022 as a result of worsening health issues.

Mars suffers from Ankylosing Spondylitis (AS),a chronic and inflammatory form of arthritis that mainly affects the spine and pelvis. After years of performing through the pain, he informed the other members of MÖTLEY CRÜE in the summer of 2022 that he could no longer tour with them but would still be open to recording new music or performing at residencies that did not require much travel.

When Mars announced his retirement from touring with MÖTLEY CRÜE, he maintained that he would remain a member of the band, with John 5 taking his place on the road. However, in early April 2023 the now-72-year-old musician filed a lawsuit against CRÜE in Los Angeles County's Superior Court claiming that, after his announcement, the rest of CRÜE tried to remove him as a significant stakeholder in the group's corporation and business holdings via a shareholders' meeting.

Photo credit: Ross Halfin (courtesy of Live Nation)

🔥 MÖTLEY CRÜE RETURN MARKING THE START OF A BRAND NEW CHAPTER WITH OUR NEW SONG 'DOGS OF WAR' AVAILABLE NOW FOR PRE-ORDER! 🔥
HITTING ALL PLATFORMS 4/26

👉 : https://MotleyCrue.lnk.to/DogsOfWarFP

Posted by Mötley Crüe on Tuesday, April 23, 2024

In a new interview with Jacqui Neal, MÖTLEY CRÜE guitarist Mick Mars spoke about his ongoing battle with degenerative disease ankylosing spondylitis (AS). Ankylosing spondylitis is a type of arthritis that causes inflammation in the spine joints and ligaments and can lead to stiffness over time, according to the National Institute Of Arthritis And Musculoskeletal And Skin Diseases.

The 72-year-old Mars, who began dealing with sharp pain in his tailbone starting around the age of 14, which later spread throughout his body, said: "With what I have, ankylosing spondylitis, the doctor [told] me [I would] be in a wheelchair at 25 or whatnot, and I went, 'No, I'm not.' I mean, how do doctors make their money? By keeping you sick, by telling you this or doing that. And it's, like, not to be mean to doctors because they help too, but it's, like, they don't make any money without patients. So that's kind of my feeling about it. I mean, absolutely, there's people that get so badly [physically debilitated] — let's say like Stephen Hawking [the English theoretical physicist, cosmologist, and author who suffered from Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS),commonly referred to in the U.S. as Lou Gehrig's disease], and those, of course. AS is something you've gotta fight through, for sure."

Earlier this month, Mars told Hear 2 Zen that the "worst" thing about his battle with ankylosing spondylitis, other than stupid pain, it's holding my head up. It's stiff, but still — the muscles in the back of my neck are just… It's cruddy," he said. "But I can still work. That's okay. My fingers work, my arms work, my hands work — it's all good."

Regarding the possibility of hitting the road in support of his recently released debut solo album, "The Other Side Of Mars", Mick said: "Touring, it is a beating. I wish I could. And that part comes in where I go, like, 'Ugh.' 'Cause I'd like people to hear this live."

Asked if he could see himself maybe doing a small residency in his hometown of Nashville, Mars said: "Oh, yeah, I could do that. Or just about any place, if it's a residency. 'Cause you you go a couple of days early and rest up and do that. You play your gig, take your elevator up, go back to bed, or whatever."

Mars previously discussed his health last November in an interview with Jonathan Clarke, host of "Out Of The Box" on Q104.3, New York's classic rock station. At the time, he said: "I'm fine. My AS is what it is. There's nothing I could do about that. The hard stuff, like flying here and doing this — that crap is a little difficult for me to do nowadays 'cause I'm almost a solid bone now. It got a little rough, but that doesn't mean I'm not gonna do a lot of music. As long as my brain and my hands and legs work, I'm never stopping."

In April 2023, Mars filed a lawsuit against MÖTLEY CRÜE, alleging his longtime bandmates were trying to kick him out of the group and reduce his ownership stakes because of his illness.

Mars told the band in 2022 he would be unable to tour because of his disease. The guitarist "just could no longer physically handle the rigors of the road," according to his lawsuit. But he said he would be able to perform with them in a "residency situation" and record with the band.

In response to Mick's decision to retire from the road, the lawsuit claimed, MÖTLEY CRÜE announced that Mars was "retiring" from the band and would be replaced by former ROB ZOMBIE and MARILYN MANSON guitarist John 5. Mars claimed he had no intention of retiring from the group, and accused CRÜE bassist and main songwriter Nikki Sixx of gaslighting Mars by alleging the guitarist had "some sort of cognitive dysfunction."

"The Other Side Of Mars" was released on February 23. The effort was made available via Mick's own label 1313, LLC, in partnership with MRI.

Birmingham, Alabama rocker Jacob Bunton collaborated extensively with Mars on "The Other Side Of Mars".

Bunton had previously worked with former GUNS N' ROSES drummer Steven Adler and CINDERELLA frontman Tom Keifer, and has songwriting credits with Mariah Carey, Steven Tyler and Smokey Robinson, among others.

Bunton sings lead on all but two of the 12 songs on "The Other Side Of Mars".

Other guests on the LP include WINGER/ALICE COOPER keyboardist Paul Taylor, KORN drummer Ray Luzier, and Brion Gamboa, who handled lead vocals on the songs "Undone" and "Killing Breed".

Bunton previously fronted the Alabama bands MARS ELECTRIC and LYNAM.

Dead By Daylight and SLIPKNOT have teamed up for a menacing new collection that brings the legendary band's iconic masks to the terrifying Realms Of Dead by Daylight.

Featuring eight cosmetics for some of Dead By Daylight's most fearsome Killers, this epic collaboration fuses the game's heart-pounding gameplay, where a Killer and four Survivors compete in a deadly game of hide and seek, with the horrifying masks that only SLIPKNOT could conjure up.

Garnering critical and commercial success, SLIPKNOT has cemented themselves as one of the most important heavy metal bands of their era. Their attention-grabbing masks, seen on stage and on their album covers, have served as a powerful vehicle of expression, reflecting the band's apocalyptic sound and the members behind its orchestration.

Inspired by the band's recent looks, the SLIPKNOT collection features masks for The Wraith, The Deathslinger, The Doctor, The Clown, The Hillbilly, The Blight, The Trapper, and a masked full Outfit for The Legion (Frank). Aside from the Outfit for The Legion (Frank),these masks can be mixed with existing and future Cosmetics, allowing players to craft some truly twisted looks as they hunt down Survivors.

With their aggressive sounds, chilling themes, and their gruesome masks, SLIPKNOT is no stranger to the world of horror, making them a perfect match for Dead By Daylight.

Dead By Daylight's SLIPKNOT collection is available now.

Created by Behaviour Interactive, Dead By Daylight is a multiplayer action horror game of hide and seek, set in a dark fantasy and drawing from all corners of horror, where each match is a different experience. Dead By Daylight boasts 60 million players both globally and across all platforms. On any given day, up to 2 million players step into The Fog, whether on PC, console, or mobile. Since its release in 2016, the game has become a place where cult classic horror survives and thrives, having welcomed legends from TV, movies, and video games.

Behaviour Interactive is the largest Canadian gaming studio, with more than 1,300 employees worldwide. Behaviour is best known for its flagship franchise, the multiplayer survival horror game Dead By Daylight, which has entertained 60 million players across multiple platforms. The studio is currently expanding its portfolio of original IP with multiple projects, including the acclaimed building and raiding title Meet Your Maker. Behaviour has also established itself as one of the world's leading providers of external development services. The company has partnered with many of the gaming industry's leaders, including Microsoft, Sony, EA, Warner, Netflix and Take-Two, among many others. Over 30 years, Behaviour has developed an unparalleled, award-winning culture. The company was named one of the Best Places to Work in Canada by GamesIndustry.biz, and has been recognized with Deloitte Canada's Enterprise Fast 15 and Best Managed Company awards. Headquartered in Montreal, Behaviour has expanded its global presence with studios in Toronto (Behaviour Toronto),Seattle (Midwinter Entertainment),the United Kingdom (Behaviour UK - North and Behaviour UK - South) and the Netherlands (Behaviour Rotterdam).

There was never a band like SLIPKNOT, and there will never be another. Like a spore out of the Midwest, they've quietly bloomed into the most uncompromising, undeniable, and unique presence on the planet whose influence transcends genres and generations. Since sowing the seeds for revolution in Iowa during 1999, these musical outliers have captured a Grammy Award alongside 10 nominations, scored 12 platinum and 41 gold album certifications around the world, and logged over 8.5 billion global streams and 3.5 billion video views to date — unprecedented for a rock act in this generation or any other. Rolling Stone cited the seminal platinum-selling 2001 album "Iowa" among "The 100 Greatest Metal Albums Of All Time," while The Ringer attested, "They're the most important heavy band of their era." In addition to marking the group's third consecutive No. 1 debut on the Billboard 200, their sixth full-length album, "We Are Not Your Kind", bowed at No. 1 in twelve countries worldwide in 2019. Selling out shows on multiple continents, they deliver an irreplicable multi-sensory experience on tour and through their own festival Knotfest. With their seventh studio album, "The End, So Far", SLIPKNOT are back, and nothing will be the same again.

Former VAN HALEN bassist Michael Anthony joined THE COVERUPS, the side project of GREEN DAY's Billie Joe Armstrong and Mike Dirnt, on stage this past Saturday (April 20) at the Tiki Bar in Costa Mesa, California to perform cover versions of "Rock And Roll All Nite" (KISS),"Dance The Night Away" (VAN HALEN) and "Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love" (VAN HALEN). Also appearing with THE COVERUPS for "Rock And Roll All Nite" was GREEN DAY drummer Tré Cool. Fan-filmed video can be seen below.

Started in 2018 as a way to play cover songs, THE COVERUPS, which also features GREEN DAY touring guitarist Jason White, the band's audio engineer Chris Dugan, and guitar and bass tech/tour manager Bill Schneider, also performed covers of classics by PRETENDERS, BUZZCOCKS, RAMONES and Bryan Adams, among others.

When THE COVERUPS played at The Garage in London in late February, they were joined by HOLE singer Courtney Love for covers of CHEAP TRICK's "He's A Whore" and "Surrender", and Tom Petty's "Even The Losers".

GREEN DAY's "The Saviors Tour" will launch in Europe in late May. The North American leg follows beginning July 29 in Washington, D.C., and will feature support from THE SMASHING PUMPKINS, RANCID and THE LINDA LINDAS. The trek will see GREEN DAY celebrating the 30th anniversary of "Dookie" and 20th anniversary of "American Idiot" by performing both albums in full at each date.

Anthony will join vocalist Sammy Hagar, guitarist Joe Satriani and drummer Jason Bonham on a summer tour that will focus largely on the music of VAN HALEN.

Hagar and Anthony previously worked with Satriani in the supergroup CHICKENFOOT. They recorded two albums between 2009 and 2011 and toured across America but never performed any VAN HALEN material. More recently, Hagar and Anthony have played some of the VAN HALEN catalog with guitarist Vic Johnson and Bonham in SAMMY HAGAR AND THE CIRCLE.

Produced by Live Nation, the 28-date "The Best Of All Worlds" tour will commence on July 13 in West Palm Beach, Florida and will conclude on August 31 in St. Louis, Missouri.

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In a new interview with Sweetwater, PANTERA bassist Rex Brown spoke about the decision to tour with a reformed version of the band, also featuring fellow surviving member Philip Anselmo (vocals),alongside Zakk Wylde (BLACK LABEL SOCIETY, OZZY OSBOURNE) on guitar and Charlie Benante (ANTHRAX) on drums. The lineup has reportedly been given a green light by the estates of PANTERA's founders, drummer Vincent "Vinnie Paul" Abbott and guitarist "Dimebag" Darrell Abbott.

Rex said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "The last show, man, I had a creepy, like a cold — something came by me. It felt like there was a cold feeling. And I've gotten this a couple of times before. When we were down recording with Charlie — me and Charlie just went down [in late 2022], put up eighty to a hundred hours of tape before Zakk [started rehearsing with us]. Zakk was still on the road. So we wanted to get the bass and the drum real tight, and we had this scratch guitar player. I felt that same chill. And, to me, they're angels. And I think you know who they are. Those guys, I think they're looking down, or they're looking around us, with us, and I think they're digging what they're seeing, man. I really do. And that's the only kind of way I can look at it, and get as close as we can with Charlie and Zakk. And God, it's getting really, really good. And there's so much more potential to get even tighter."

Speaking about the opportunity to perform PANTERA's music to new generations of fans who never saw the band before, Rex said: "There's a lot of memories in this band that are hard to put down. And losing the brothers, I just never in a million years thought that something like that would happen. Here we are 22 years later, and to see these new fans' faces. You've got one kid sitting there, or man, woman or child crying, and you have this other guy just going, 'You did it right.' It's just amazing."

Earlier this month, Rex spoke to American Musical Supply about how touring with PANTERA in 2024 is different from how it was in the band's heyday. He said: "This is a completely different thing, man. We have Charlie and Zakk now, and they're just — number one, they've been great friends of ours for all these years. We get along extra super cool. Charlie and I went down, probably put about eighty, hundred hours on tape of all the songs we were gonna do for the set, and others that we would want to do. Charlie and I worked on this for six months before we ever got into a rehearsal room. That's just how good friends we are. Charlie has been one of my best friends for years. So, this is another band. It's hard to fill the shoes of the brothers. At the same time, this has become a really tight unit. And Zakk just puts the extra… Dime was a very unique guitar player, and he was my best friend, and it's good to see those boys up on the screens and with us. And that's what this is about tonight, for me."

Regarding how he and the rest of the current PANTERA lineup have balanced honoring the band's legacy with any new creative goals they might have, Rex said: "There's many ways that we wanna keep this legacy alive, 'cause the music is still played all over. We have a whole new generation of fans that, they probably wouldn't have heard this stuff if we weren't playing out here playing these shows. And so, that generation of fans — let's say the 15-to-18-year-old kids that come out — they'll shortly have children, and that keeps that new generation alive. And Phillip even says it in the set, the parents of the '90s, which I'm a parent of the '90s, it's a very important statement in the set because it's about the gratitude.

"We're not doing this for ourselves; we're doing it for the name and the brand PANTERA," he continued. "And by God, this music needs to be heard again. It does. It needed to for a long fucking time. And that's what we're here doing tonight… It's just wonderful to be able to do this and pay homage to my music, the riffs that I wrote, or the riffs that Dime wrote, or the patterns that Vinnie played, and for what Phil came up with — tremendous impact on this music."

Last month, Rex told Rolling Stone Australia about performing with PANTERA in 2024: "Two of our beloved brothers that just aren't here anymore man, that's life, you know? They're just not with us man. That's just fate; it's the way the ball rolls, dude."

He added: "This is no tribute band — Philip and I get to play these songs of ours that we haven't played in 23 years. And to be able to do that and connect with the enormity of what's happened is just extraordinarily fucking insane, you know?"

Regarding PANTERA's latest additions, Rex said: "We knew who would fit and who wouldn't. We knew what the obstacles were in front of us, and we knew after… I'll put it this way — Charlie and I came down in September [2022] before we played that [first] show in December [2022], and we have probably one hundred hours of tape of us playing every fucking PANTERA song that I could remember. And so, you know, me and Charlie lockin' in like that… the drummer and the bass player, that's your foundation. So when Zakk came in, there were certain things we had to go over and over and over, to get tight. And today, this band is about as tight and about as badass as I fucking want. You know what I mean, and that's all I'm gonna say on that."

"But, man, this band is on fuckin' fire, and I couldn't be happier, man," he added. "I just can't explain that as much as I need to, I could not be happier."

Rex previously told AndrewHaug.com that he was "absolutely" open to writing new music with the reformed version of PANTERA. "Yeah, I could tell you more but I'm not going to," he teased.

Earlier in the chat, Brown talked about what is has been like to go out and perform as PANTERA to a whole new generation of fans.

"You can't see it on the YouTube. You can't feel that vibe until you actually come to the show," he explained. "And we haven't been doing interviews just for the fact we want people just to come to the show. It's not about anything prior past or present that I wanna talk about today — just the show tonight.

"We're pinching ourselves over these new fans that have never seen this before, and it's a whole another generation that we either didn't know a) that were out there, b) that were still listening to us, and the turnout has just been unbelievable," Rex continued. "Of course, at first you had the naysayers and all that stuff, and as we played gig by gig, it's made us tighter. And I've been trying to rehearse this band as much as I can within schedules, and we'll just go down for no fucking reason and just jam. That's what makes a band tight."

The reformed PANTERA is headlining a number of major festivals across North America, South America and Europe and staging some of its own headline concerts. They are also supporting METALLICA on a massive stadium tour in 2024.

It was first reported in July 2022 that Anselmo and Brown would unite with Wylde and Benante for a world tour under the PANTERA banner.

Asked how it feels playing those "timeless" songs again, Rex told AndrewHaug.com: "You just said it — they're timeless. So getting to play them again is a… These were a big part of Philip and I's songs too. Of course, respect to the brothers. I think that looking down on us and giving us a big — and they're with us. It's just uncanny. That's the glue. Those guys are hanging around with us.

"Look, I'm not some crazy old man, man. I know that we're here for reasons," Rex added. "And this time he gave us a heavy load, and we have come through in spades. And I'm very proud of Charlie and Zakk and Phillip for stepping up… All of us [were very close back in the day]. We were intertwined. There was a close-knit family of friends — Jerry Cantrell and all those guys, ALICE IN CHAINS. We were all brothers and we all had each other's backs — even as fucked up as we got. We're fine now, I'll put it that way. But it's just such a different time and we're older men and can appreciate this more. And I feel 25 years younger, man. It's just insane."

Addressing complaints from some fans that Brown and Anselmo are going out and touring under the PANTERA name even though Dimebag and Vinnie Paul are not involved, Rex said: "I don't call it anything. I call it PANTERA. The show itself is a celebration of the lives of all four of us. Two are sadly not with us, and we cannot bring them back. God, do I want them back. But that's just not possible. So we're doing the best thing that we can to keep our music alive. And I think they're smiling down and saying, 'You guys are doing all right, man.' And they're with us. And I'm not shittin' you."

Asked what his initial thoughts were when he was first approached about relaunching PANTERA as a touring act, Rex said: "Philip and I talked for several months before. He got on the phone and said, 'Hey, man, you wanna do it? I didn't have — maybe a six-second… not a hesitation, but just to wrap my head around the full gravity of the enormity of it. I went, 'Okay, I've got a couple of questions.' And, man, ever since that call we've worked really, really hard to get this thing going. And we've jumped over a lot of mountains."

In February, Zakk spoke about the possibility of the reformed lineup of PANTERA making new music during an appearance on SiriusXM's "Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk". Asked if he would be open to working on new material with PANTERA, Zakk responded: "No. I think you would have to call it something else. You know what I mean? PANTERA is those four guys. So, yeah, you can't replace that."

Pressed about whether he would want to do it under an altered name rather than calling it PANTERA, Wylde said: "Yeah. If that was ever a bridge we crossed, we'd have to wait until we get there. But right now, it's just the four of us celebrating what the fellas [from the classic lineup] created."

Zakk went on to say that he was open to making new music with Anselmo, Brown and Benante, provided that it was presented differently than just PANTERA. "Yeah, of course," he said. "I mean, how could you call it PANTERA unless it was just pre-existing material and we were gonna record it — stuff that was in demo state or whatever, and it is songs that the guys wrote. But as far as new songs, it would have to be — you'd call it something else."

Back in January 2023, longtime PANTERA producer Sterling Winfield, who is reportedly one of the people who control PANTERA drummer Vincent "Vinnie Paul" Abbott's estate, told Reckless Rock Radio 89.3 KNON FM about the possibility of the reformed PANTERA recording new music: "It's not unheard of, it's not blasphemous. I will say that it is entirely plausible, it is entirely possible, but at this point in time, I don't know that anybody's looking that far down the road. They've got a world tour to tackle, man, for the next two years, and they are gonna be busy doing that. Now, could it happen? Yes."

Asked if he "would be cool" with Brown, Anselmo, Wylde and Benante making new music together, Sterling said: "It depends, man. Again, it has to be done right, like this whole thing; the whole tour that's happening has to be done properly. And I don't really feel comfortable — if it were to happen, I would not feel comfortable calling it PANTERA. I don't think that would be classy. I'll put it that way. And I'll just leave it at that for now. [But] this lineup could make some very badass music. And the music is all that matters."

In 2016, Vinnie Paul said that he would eventually release music that was planned for DAMAGEPLAN's second album.

The drummer formed DAMAGEPLAN with his brother "Dimebag" Darrell Abbott after PANTERA's split in 2003 and released the debut DAMAGEPLAN album, "New Found Power", a year later.

Vinnie Paul told "Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk": "The first [DAMAGEPLAN] record, I think, was pretty diverse. We wanted to do something that didn't sound exactly like PANTERA, and with [the material that was written for] the second record, it was really focused, man. I've got the demos and someday they'll come out. But I really feel like we had turned a corner. We'd been out, the fans had seen us, and they'd accepted the fact that this was our new thing at this point."

Anselmo and Brown spoke about PANTERA's return to the stage during an appearance on the seventeenth episode of "The Metallica Report", the podcast offering weekly insider updates on all things METALLICA. Philip said: "It's empowering. It is incredibly beautiful, and you feel so much love when you're up there. And if you take it in, it's a great feeling, man. These days, man, that's where me and Rex, you know, we get to dig the shows more."

He continued: "When we were younger, we were at war and when we were on stage; we were just angry and at war, man. Now it's — the songs are there. I can concentrate on singing the fricking songs, number one. Geez, that's a relief for me, man. I don't have to break my fricking body in part anymore."

Anselmo and Brown also talked about Charlie and Zakk being part of the PANTERA team. Philip said: "Them two dudes, so enthusiastic. And they got their damn thing and they got their own damn legacy, both of them, without us. It's an honor to play with them. They're the nicest frickin guys in the world, man. I'm just so... [Laughs] Zakk, he's a crack-up, man. He's a sweetheart. And fricking Charlie, we've known Charlie since '87, man. It's a long time."

Rex chimed in: "The way [Charlie] plays Vinnie's parts is uncanny. I don't think there's any drummer out there that could play the way that Vinnie did. I would close my eyes, because I was trying to get tight, and sometimes if I close my eyes, I can hear a little better; I think I can. And there'd be a tear of joy just coming down, because that was so close to what Vinnie and I used to play. So you have the foundation."

Philip concurred, saying: "The low end sounds so PANTERA, man. It's freaking me out."

When the interviewer suggested that PANTERA in 2023 had Vinnie Paul and Dimebag's "spirit inside it", Philip said: "Only thing I can say is, man, I know for a damn fact Vince and Dime would want us to do this, hands down. They would want the PANTERA brand or the legacy to go on. And I don't know what you believe in, but sometimes, you know, you would like to think that them old fellas are looking down on us, giving us the thumbs-up."

While he was alive, Vinnie Paul had repeatedly dismissed talks of a PANTERA reunion, telling Germany's EMP Rock Invasion in 2014: "People are selfish, man. They want what they want; they don't care what you want. And it's unfortunate that people go, 'Oh, wow, man, they can get Zakk Wylde to jump up there on stage and it's PANTERA again.' No, it's not, you know. It's not that simple. If Eddie Van Halen was to get shot in the head four times next week, would everybody be going, 'Hey, man, Zakk, go play for VAN HALEN. Just call it VAN HALEN.' You see what I'm saying? I mean, it's really selfish for people to think that, and it's stupid. It's not right at all."

He continued: "They call it a reunion for a reason. It's called bringing the original members back to what it was. So there's a lot of these things that they call reunions that aren't really reunions. They've got one dude from the band floating around in them, you know. That's not a true reunion. With PANTERA, it'll never be possible."

He repeated those same sentiments a few months later, telling PlanetMosh in a separate interview: "Without Dimebag Darrell, there is no [PANTERA] reunion. And that's all there is to it. We were a very influential band, and we touched millions and millions of people with that band, but it's over. People really have to come to grips with that, and that's all there is to it. If all of us were still here, then the possibility would truly be there, but since it's not, you know… It's selfish of the fans to want something that they can't have. And they don't ever understand that, and I get it. There's things I want in this world too. You know, people in fucking hell want ice water, but they're not gonna get it."

Up until his passing in June 2018, Vinnie remained on non-speaking terms with Anselmo, whom the drummer indirectly blamed for Dimebag's death.

Vinnie Paul and Dimebag co-founded PANTERA. On December 8, 2004, while performing with DAMAGEPLAN at the Alrosa Villa in Columbus, Ohio, Dimebag was shot and killed onstage by a troubled schizophrenic who believed that the members of PANTERA were stealing his thoughts.

Dimebag's longtime girlfriend Rita Haney in 2011 called on Vinnie and Philip to settle their differences in honor of Dimebag.

Vinnie, who was Dimebag's brother, and Anselmo had not spoken since PANTERA split in 2003. But the relationship got even more acrimonious when Vinnie suggested that some remarks the vocalist had made about Dimebag in print just weeks earlier might have incited Dimebag's killer.

Haney told the producers of "Behind The Music Remastered: Pantera" that she forgave the singer after they found themselves unexpectedly face to face at a concert in California.

Photo credit: Epiphone

SUNBOMB, the musical alliance between two steadfast warriors of the U.S. hard rock/metal scene, Tracii Guns (L.A. GUNS) and Michael Sweet (STRYPER),will release its sophomore album, "Light Up The Sky", on June 24 via Frontiers Records Srl. Developed as a tribute to the classic heavy metal of the 1980s, SUNBOMB melds influences of classic metal bands such as BLACK SABBATH, OZZY OSBOURNE, DIO and JUDAS PRIEST.

To celebrate the album's announcement, SUNBOMB has shared the album's first single, "Unbreakable", which is accompanied by a lyric video, available below.

About the new track, Sweet said: "'Unbreakable' is a raw, in-your-face track with a message of perseverance and never giving up.

"We all walk through the fire and when we do, we come out refined and 'unbreakable'.

"It's an honor to be working with Tracii and releasing music that's powerful and meaningful."

Tracii played all guitars and bass on "Light Up The Sky", with drums handled by Tracii's old L.A. GUNS bandmate Adam Hamilton.

"Light Up The Sky" is a project created, overseen and directed by Serafino Perugino, president and A&R director of Frontiers Records Srl.

Like its 2021 predecessor, "Evil And Divine", the music here is once again very heavy and firmly planted in the "metal" category, with a wink to a traditional approach to the genre. While Tracii wrote the music for the album, the fact that Michael has been writing in an increasingly heavier style on latter-era STRYPER albums made him a perfect vocalist for the album.

Tracii first leaked the news of the SUNBOMB project in a March 2019 tweet, where he described the band's approaching debut LP as "the metal record I would have made when I was 17 years old." Then, in May 2020, he mentioned on "Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk" that: "['Evil And Divine'] is really kind of like [L.A. GUNS' 2019 album] 'The Devil You Know' times three. It's more on the heavy side of 'The Devil You Know' album. And Michael Sweet, he's a really fantastic metal singer."

About "Light Up the Sky", Michael had this to say: "I'm always humbled to be a part of a project like this.

"This album takes the SUNBOMB vision to another level with killer songs and amazing energy. Tracii really delivered on the riffs and it made it very easy for me to come up with melodies that were fitting for each song. It's different yet familiar at the same time in the best of ways.

"We're very fortunate to be working with a label that still believes in the best music in the world — rock!"

"Light Up The Sky" track listing:

01. Unbreakable
02. Steel Hearts
03. In Grace We'll Find Our Name
04. Light Up The Skies
05. Rewind
06. Scream Out Loud
07. Winds Of Fate
08. Beyond The Odds
09. Reclaim The Light
10. Where We Belong
11. Setting The Sail
12. Where We Belong (acoustic version) (bonus track Japan)

SUNBOMB is:

Tracii Guns - Guitars ‎
Michael Sweet - Vocals ‎
Adam Hamilton - Drums ‎
Mitch Davis - Bass

Produced by: Tracii Guns
Drums recorded at Palm Ranch Studio
Vocal editing: Kenny Lewis/Mixed Emotions
Recorded by: Adam Hamilton
Vocals recorded by: Michael Sweet
Mixed by: Adam Hamilton
Mastered by: Derek Hughes

MERCYFUL FATE played its first concert in nearly a year and a half last night (Monday, April 22) at the Movistar Arena in Santiago, Chile.

The band's setlist was as follows:

01. The Oath
02. A Corpse Without Soul
03. The Jackal Of Salzburg
04. Curse Of The Pharaohs
05. A Dangerous Meeting
06. Doomed By The Living Dead
07. Melissa
08. Black Funeral
09. Evil
10. Come To The Sabbath

Encore:

11. Satan's Fall
12. To One Far Away

Fan-filmed video can be seen below.

In a recent interview with Sam Acevedo of El Planeta Del Rock, legendary Danish heavy metal singer King Diamond spoke about the new MERCYFUL FATE material, including the song "The Jackal Of Salzburg", which was performed live for the first time during the band's spring/summer 2022 tour. Lyrically, the track is inspired by one of the last major witch hunts, the Zaubererjackl trials in Salzburg, Austria (1675-90). 139 people were executed as the followers of Wizard Jackl or Magician Jackl or Jäckel, who was himself never found.

"Right now 'The Jackal Of Salzburg' is almost finished," King said. "I am doing vocals at the moment. When I'm finished, [new MERCYFUL FATE bassist] Becky [Baldwin] will do bass one more time. She's done one bass, but we want her to be the last to record. That's the thing that we want to do for MERCYFUL FATE and KING DIAMOND, is to give the bass player the chance of really doing special stuff, like old URIAH HEEP, for instance. And we did it ourselves with Timi Hansen, when he was playing for both KING DIAMOND and MERCYFUL FATE. The bass player might follow the guitar sometimes, sometimes [the bass player will] follow vocals or choirs, backing vocals or whatever. I mean, [there's] freedom to do extra cool stuff, as long as it all fits together. But that you can't do until the vocals are on as well. So [Becky] will do one more round of real delicate bass. And that will be the final thing. But I'm working on recording the vocals right now for 'The Jackal Of Salzburg'. And there will be one more song that we are working on now. I know Becky has also done the first bass for that. Hank [Shermann, MERCYFUL FATE guitarist] has done all guitars for that. It's another song. It is called 'Sacrifice'. It's about four minutes long. The one I mentioned before is 'The Jackal Of Salzburg'. It's nine minutes long. That's the first one we actually played live sometimes now. But we hope we can get it finished, mixed and released before we come down to South America [in April], so that you can hear the version with all the vocals, all the guitars, all the stuff that a MERCYFUL FATE song would normally have had in the old days. So, it makes it different to hear it again live [once] you [have] heard the studio version. So that's what we're working very hard on right now. And, like I said, 'Sacrifice' is the same. It will be given to [MERCYFUL FATE guitarist] Mike Wead next, I think, to put guitars on it. And then I will also start working on… I have a lot of lyric ideas for that already, 'Sacrifice'. And I have worked with Hank in the beginning on arranging it the right way for vocals, so it should be pretty ready for vocals now. And there's a third song I'm not gonna talk about but that we are working on as well. And then I have a couple of songs on my own for MERCYFUL FATE. I have the title track for the next album and some other stuff."

Becky officially joined MERCYFUL FATE as a permanent member in January. The Birmingham, England-based musician previously toured with MERCYFUL FATE in the fall of 2022 as the temporary replacement for Joey Vera who was unable to make the dates due to a scheduled conflict with his longtime group ARMORED SAINT.

In 2019, it was announced Vera would be replacing Hansen for the band's summer 2020 European festival appearances due to Hansen's cancer diagnosis. Hansen passed away in November 2019 and MERCYFUL FATE's 2020 summer festival appearances were rescheduled for 2021, and then to 2022.

MERCYFUL FATE's North American tour, which featured support from by KREATOR and MIDNIGHT, followed the band's headlining performance at the 2022 edition of Psycho Las Vegas.

In a new interview with Robert Miguel of Uvalde Radio Rocks, GREAT WHITE rhythm guitarist and keyboardist Michael Lardie confirmed that he and his bandmates are working on material for the follow-up to 2017's "Full Circle" album. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "It's time. It's been about six years, so we're ready to go with that."

GREAT WHITE's upcoming LP will be the band's first with the group's latest addition, 26-year-old singer Brett Carlisle, who was officially named GREAT WHITE's new vocalist in October 2022. Brett joined the group as the replacement for Andrew Freeman (LAST IN LINE),who sang for GREAT WHITE for only five months.

Regarding what it has been like working with a singer who wasn't even born when some of GREAT WHITE's classic songs were written, Lardie said: "Well, I think he gets what we're trying to do. It's been a godsend to have someone with his youth, but at the same time he has what a lot of people would deem as an older soul. His parents did a great job bringing him up on '70s and '80s rock, so he's pretty well versed in that. And he comes from the South, so he's got a little bit of that blues and gospel edge to him."

Michael went on to say that he is "really looking forward" working on the new GREAT WHITE album with Carlisle. "In fact, before we were going on the other night, I was playing him a little bit of a thing that he and I are working on, and he's going, 'Oh, yeah, I got this idea,'" Lardie said. "So he's really psyched about working with us. And it's a joy to be onstage with him. He's turned into a great little performer, and when he's offstage, he's the most down-to-earth, righteous young man that I've come across in a while. And it's been a joy."

Michael added that Carlisle has the singing ability to handle anything from GREAT WHITE's catalog. "With his energy and his vocal range, we can do pretty much anything," he said. "If somebody throws out a tune, no matter how obscure it might be or how high it might be in terms of range, he's, like, 'Yeah, I can do that.' Like one of the songs we are doing from the very, very first record is 'Stick It'. And he hits every one of those notes spot-on every night. So it's awesome."

Regarding the musical direction of the new GREAT WHITE material, Lardie said: "It's hard to say. I would love the album to be kind of an amalgam of '...Twice Shy' [1989], 'Hooked' [1991] and 'Psycho City' [1992]. I mean, that, to me, would be a great combination of things."

Last month, GREAT WHITE guitarist Mark Kendall told The Logan Show about Carlisle: "Believe it or not, [Brett is] kind of an old soul in a way. And when we stand next to the guy, he don't look like he's standing next to CROSBY, STILLS & NASH or something, you know what I mean? So somehow it fits. Even though he's younger than us, he's kind of, like… Nothing overwhelms the guy. He's respectful and everything, but he's not, like, 'Oh, my god. Look at this. Oh, my god. [Look at] that.' He just goes out and just totally handles it every night. Yeah, he's younger than us and whatnot, and, like you said, he wasn't even born in our heyday or whatever, probably, but he just goes out, he really brings the crowd into the show. He's really good and natural at… He doesn't have a script when he goes out there; he just kind of whatever he's feeling, and he sings like perfect, no matter what. It's pretty incredible, really. We're looking forward to doing an album with him, I can tell you that much."

After interviewer Logan Crosland noted that "quite a few people online" have commented that Brett is "probably the closest-sounding singer to Jack Russell," GREAT WHITE's original vocalist, and asked if that was a criteria when hiring Brett to front the band, Mark said: "Not necessarily. What it was is he just sang the songs correctly and he has the range to sing 'em. I don't think his voice sounds that much like Jack, but he has the range of Jack in his heyday. And so we're able to play anything we want, and we really haven't been able to do that in the past. Like we're playing 'Stick It' off the first album, which is up in the astral planes with the vocal range, and he's hitting all those notes full power. I mean, it's not like a falsetto, weak high notes. He's like straight from the gut just like screaming these notes, like full power from A to Z. There's not a song in our catalog that he can't totally handle. And I've been writing with him."

Elaborating on the writing process, Kendall said: "Because I don't really have all the gear, really, that I need to make a proper demo here, I go to Tracy G's [Grijalva] [studio]. He's like a teenage friend of mine, a guitar player, a really good one, and his studio, he's done 28 records there, something like that. And he used to be in DIO; I think he was in DIO for seven years, and he was in a band with Jimmy Bain and Vinny Appice called WORLD WAR III. That's a pretty good record. Anyway, so I go down to his house and we've been doing these demos and stuff, and it's pretty amazing stuff."

He continued: "The only thing that's held it up — we were scheduled to go in for a couple writing sessions for two weeks, and Scott [Snyder], our bass player, had back surgery, which took him out of the loop for a couple months. So we put it on hold because we want the whole band to be there and involved."

Asked if fans can expect new music from GREAT WHITE in 2024, Mark said: "We wanna come out with something this year, without fail. We don't know exactly how we're gonna do it, as far as releasing 12 songs or just come with five or just a video on a song or maybe three songs. We're just kind of talking to people and seeing what's the best way, with today's world. Do we bombard them with 15 songs, like old school, or do we give 'em a video on a song and go to iTunes and Amazon, whatever. I don't know. We're not there yet, so I'm not really that concerned. The main thing is just writing some killer stuff that rocks hard."

Regarding whether he has any songs already completed, Mark said: "Oh, yeah. I probably have seven complete songs on tape right now. [They're] just absolutely killer. But we haven't collaborated. The way we do it is we get together and we sit in a circle and say, 'What do you got? Let's hear it. What do you got?' And if a riff kind of pokes out, we say, 'Let's work on that. That's badass, dude. That's killer.' And that way it's more of a group effort."

Carlisle made his live debut with GREAT WHITE on September 24, 2022 at the Cannery Casino Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada.

According to Brett, he felt welcomed by his new bandmates and the GREAT WHITE fans from the get-go.

"After meeting [the GREAT WHITE guys], they're all super-cool dudes," he told Kevin McKay of the 99 Rock WKSM FM radio station. "In Vegas, we had a rehearsal the day before, and I already knew half the songs well enough to be able to do it. So I wanted to do the best that I could on 'em. But after we hung out, everybody was cool and stuff. I mean, it's a big crowd. I love big crowds; they're fun."

Carlisle has been playing guitar and singing since the age of eight and counts bands like VAN HALEN, SKID ROW and METALLICA as his main influences.

In May 2022, GREAT WHITE announced that it had parted ways with singer Mitch Malloy and had replaced him with Freeman. Malloy had been in GREAT WHITE for nearly four years, having joined the group in 2018 following the departure of Terry Ilous.

Ilous, frontman of '80s L.A. hard rockers XYZ, joined GREAT WHITE in 2010 after stepping in for touring vocalist Jani Lane (WARRANT).

The Ilous-led GREAT WHITE released two albums, 2012's "Elation" and 2017's "Full Circle", before Terry was dismissed from the group.

This version of GREAT WHITE is not to be confused with JACK RUSSELL'S GREAT WHITE, which features original GREAT WHITE singer Jack Russell.

In an April 2023 interview with Larry Mac of the 96.1 KLPX radio station, Kendall said that he is not as concerned about record sales or commercial success as he is about making sure the new GREAT WHITE songs are strong enough to stand alongside the band's classic material.

"Even in our heyday, I've never really thought dollars and cents; I just wanna know if people like the music or not," he explained. "To where I would be so desperate, I would go to friends of mine who are pretty hard on me — tough critics or whatever — just to get feedback. 'Cause that space in time after you're done recording to when it comes out is pretty brutal. So I always run to friends: 'Tell me you love me. Listen to this.' So I'm kind of the same way now. I just wanna get the music to the people and get feedback: 'How is this? Would this hold up in the '80s? Is it better?' Because I still feel really creative. And we can always get better.

"I'm really feeling pretty good about these songs that we're coming up with," Kendall revealed. "So I'm more anxious for people to hear it than I am selling a million records or whatever. And I think it makes us viable that we still are creative; we still wanna make new music. We're not quite an oldies band yet, even though they kind of label us classic rock or whatever. But that's not so bad. So, yeah, that's it. We wanna keep [creating] and not just go out and be the oldies band that plays the hits every year or whatever. We wanna come up with some tunes and get it to the folks and let 'em know that we're still making music for you. And no matter what's happened with the industry or whatever, we're still the same band and we still make music. This is what we do."

In January 2023, Kendall told the "Mark 2.0" podcast that he was surprised by the overwhelmingly positive response to Carlisle's addition to GREAT WHITE. "It was world news," he said. "I'm seeing stuff on the Internet from Italy, Germany, the U.K. And even some of the more online dirt-seeking-type entities that normally are just huntin' for the headline to say, 'He said his singer sucks'. That's the article. That's the way it starts. These guys actually said good things and posted some of the [fan-filmed videos]. They're cellphone cameras, so the quality probably isn't… But you can hear it. You need to sing great."

In October 2022, Carlisle was asked in an interview with AL.com about his approach to singing GREAT WHITE's classic songs. He said: "I just want to do the songs justice, because that's what people expect to hear. They want to go to the shows and hear the songs the way they remember them, the way they know them. It's not about me and how many high notes I can hit or anything like that. I just want to do the give the people, and the band, what they want."

Brett went on to say that he is honored to be singing for a band whose songs — including "Save Your Love", "Rock Me" and "Lady Red Light" — he had previously covered with his other band ALL OR NOTHING.

"I just want to learn from them," Carlisle said of his new bandmates "It's just really cool to be included in what I've grown up listening to, like looking at the CDs and everything. And then now people are coming up after the shows asking me to sign like original GREAT WHITE cassettes and stuff. And I'm sitting here feeling like I'm not worthy. Because I didn't record that. But I'm like, I just sang with them, so, sure, if you want me to."

In a new interview with Brian Casey of the 93.5 Max radio station, drummer Jason Bonham — son of the legendary John Bonham — spoke about his LED ZEPPELIN EVENING show, which he is once again taking on tour across North America this spring. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "One of the reasons why we're still doing this 14 years in is the fact that I took something that was purely kind of therapeutic, just a way to play the music, didn't really think of it as something that we'd be carrying on doing much past the first time we did it, and then the second time, and the next thing you know, here we are, 14 years later, which blows my mind. You'd think we'd have learned the songs by now. So, it's one of those things, it's naturally grown. And to the point of, to get invitations to go and play with other artists… I never imagined us going out, and one of the highlights for me was to play with Peter Frampton, and we opened up for Frampton at Madison Square Garden. To go on stage and be playing LED ZEPPELIN music back in 2019, it was quite emotional. To think of this was where the ZEPPELIN concert 'The Song Remains The Same', everything was filmed there, Madison Square Garden. And the love, and to walk out at 7 o'clock — you know, most of the time, you don't go and see the opening act, but to walk out and see a house full was this huge respect that they have for the music of my father and LED ZEPPELIN. I'm still overwhelmed and just humbled that the fact that when we go out, like we're just about to go and do some shows with Billy Joel, we're doing some [shows] with HEART again, and we're going to do some shows with DEF LEPPARD, to get these phone calls, it's just amazing to be thought of, to come and bring my, what started off as a little bit of fun. So, yeah, we are still enjoying it."

Bonham also talked about the fact that JASON BONHAM'S LED ZEPPELIN EVENING makes it a point to reproduce the music faithfully. "We had an insurgence of… one is a guitar player called Mr. Jimmy [Japanese musician Akio Sakurai] that came to the band in 2017. And his knowledge and his tone and the whole thing has really made all of us, like, we have to suddenly… He knew way more than me. It was great for us. It was a time that we needed to, if we were gonna continue on, he came in and just brought the joy back. It's been a wonder. His ability to take you to those places where, as I said, the guitar, the way Jimmy Page used to play it, it was like he'd make it sound — and it wasn't easy to do that. It was a struggle, and it was a conversation you had with the guitar that was making it do it, and the guitar would fight back. And that's the thing — you get players that can play all those runs, they make it sound too easy. That's not what Jimmy and LED ZEPPELIN were about. It's the feel. So, yeah, to find somebody that studied Jimmy, and only studied them like the Japanese can — they studied their subjects and their masters — and they go, 'This is what they do.' And it's a wonder to watch him do that."

Jason Bonham spent nearly a decade touring as JASON BONHAM'S LED ZEPPELIN EXPERIENCE before changing the band's name to JASON BONHAM'S LED ZEPPELIN EVENING. Bonham later explained that the switch was prompted by a request from the LED ZEPPELIN camp, who wanted to use the "Experience" name for a project involving the archive of ZEP live recordings.

JASON BONHAM'S LED ZEPPELIN EXPERIENCE was formed in 2009 to pay tribute to Bonham's father, who died in 1980 at the age of 32. "It was meant to be part of my way of expressing my love for music and expressing myself with a tip of the hat to my father," Jason told Mixdown in a 2017 interview. "Soon after doing the 28 shows that we did with an orchestra, everyone said, 'You're not going to stop now, are you? You haven't been here, you haven't played there…' And so I said, 'As long as you guys want me to do it, I'll do it.' It's really fan-based. It's not us and them; it's about love for LED ZEPPELIN, and that's how it's grown, as a very honest, natural, fan-based show. You guys all knew him as Bonzo; I knew him as dad, and there's a great interaction."

Jason launched JASON BONHAM'S LED ZEPPELIN EXPERIENCE two years after taking part in LED ZEPPELIN's one-off performance at London's O2 Arena tribute concert for friend and Atlantic Records founder Ahmet Ertegun. The rare live set, which saw Jason behind the drums in place of his late father, was released in 2012 as "Celebration Day".

He told the Chicago Tribune about JASON BONHAM'S LED ZEPPELIN EVENING: "We're not LED ZEPPELIN. We are fans. We love the music. We give it 150 percent energy and time to make it as good as we can make it to give people that feeling and make people go back to their youth.

"I never wanted it to be we are just playing music. It had to be personal with stories to tell people what Dad was like at home. It's nice to know that so many people love hearing that music played in a live environment."

The performance includes LED ZEPPELIN favorites as well as deep cuts.

"The hardest thing is picking the songs," Bonham told the Chicago Tribune. " "There's more deeper songs — 'In The Light', 'Friends', 'Four Sticks' — songs that never got played live and never made it to a ZEPPELIN show. The list could go on for the more obscure ones that fans like to hear. Of course we still do 'Kashmir', 'Stairway To Heaven' and 'What Is And What Should Never Be'. We started doing 'Dancing Days', 'Houses Of The Holy' and 'That's The Way'. This show is one of the most fun things to do because I get to play all this great music in front of people that really appreciate it."

ARCH ENEMY frontwoman Alissa White-Gluz has been named one of the executive producers of "I Could Never Go Vegan", a new film which explores various common arguments against veganism, why they exist and whether they are justified.

Produced by brothers Thomas and James Pickering, who were both raised on a plant-based diet, "I Could Never Go Vegan" features interviews with athletes, health professionals, scientists, former slaughterhouse workers and other experts, including writer and environmentalist George Monbiot, social psychologist and founder of Beyond Carnism, Dr. Melanie Joy, and Olympic silver medalist Dotsie Bausch, among others.

Apart from her musical acclaim, Alissa is a passionate advocate for animal rights. She has been vegetarian since birth, and vegan since the 1990s, and her dedication to animal rights is evident in her collaborations with various animal welfare organizations and her outspoken stance on issues related to animal exploitation, aligning her musical career with a fervent commitment to creating awareness and promoting compassion for all living beings.

Thomas Pickering said in a statement: "I've never eaten meat. But it seems every other day a new argument pops up against veganism. Certain reasons started to pop up more frequently. Cheese. Bacon. Canines. The food's terrible. It doesn't help the planet. Humane slaughter. The list goes on. This led me on a path to find out why so many people had opposing views to the movement, and why these arguments exist in the first place. In the film, we ask whether there's any justification to them, or is there something else at play here?"

The film explores common arguments against the vegan diet including those that humans have a genetic predisposition for eating meat, that vegans are malnourished, and that the diet is too expensive and difficult in an effort to understand whether or not they're justified reasons for eating animals.

James Pickering said: "We created 'I Could Never Go Vegan' to address common themes, myths, and misconceptions around veganism, in a way that will draw interest from even the staunchest meat eater.

"The documentary is an eye-opening look into the key barriers preventing people from reducing their intake of animal products, and what will happen if we continue to eat meat at the current rate of consumption. It's a must-see for all — whether you're already vegan, a flexitarian, or think you could never give up steak."
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"I Could Never Go Vegan" will premiere in London on April 10, and will be released in U.K. cinemas from April 19, with the U.S. and the rest of world to be announced shortly afterwards.

Alissa's distinctive blend of artistry and activism has garnered widespread acclaim, earning her recognition as a trailblazer in the realm. As an influential figure in both the metal community and the animal rights movement, White-Gluz remains steadfast in her commitment to creating a more compassionate and just world for all beings.

In June 2023, during last year's Tuska festival in Helsinki, Finland, Alissa was asked by Kiki of the "Bleeding Metal" podcast if her activism is part of her identity. Alissa responded: "Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I am an activist before I'm a musician even. That's really what drives me forward every single day, is hoping that in some way my existence on this planet can make it a little bit better for everybody else who is currently existing on the planet and who will exist in the future. And that's first and foremost animal rights."

Asked if she would describe that as her purpose in life then even, Alissa said: "I don't know if people have, like, a purpose in life. I think it's nice to think that we do. I don't really know if we actually do. I think someone's purpose in life can just be whatever they attach themselves to — you know, whatever drives them forward. It doesn't have to be some big grandiose thing. But with that definition, then yes, I would say that it's my purpose. Yeah."

As for what her activism entails, Alissa said: "For me, I mean, I don't look at it as a job or something that I can really detail out because if I did, I would do that and not this. So it's really just… Deep down inside, I love animals. I think it's amazing that we share this planet with so many different, uncountable species in the sky, in the water, on land, these amazing creatures. They look different than us. They have different abilities than us. I mean, a fish can just live underwater; we would drown. You know what I mean? Like, just even simple things like this. A bird just flies. They just jump off a building and then fly. I still have this childlike awe over animals that can do this. And I think it's so sad that we have built an industry that doesn't care about that and actually only cares about profiting off of exploiting animals. And so as much as possible, I like to just show people that you don't have to take part in those industries. You can actually still have all the things that you wanna have in life — everything that you like; your food, your makeup, your whatever — you can still have all those things without involving animals at all. And now, actually, I've been more and more involved in the tech space when it comes to this. So there's some really cool innovations happening in the tech space when it comes to the future of food and also just reducing animal testing."

In 2022, during a question-and-answer session at the Wacken Open Air festival in Wacken, Germany, White-Gluz was asked if it's difficult for her to maintain her lifestyle while she is on tour. She responded: "It super easy, actually, because I still party; I just don't intoxicate myself when I do it. But if other people wanna do that, that's their choice — it's up to them. Smoking, I'd like them to stay away 'cause I don't wanna breathe that in. But otherwise, it's really, really easy, actually. It's not even something that I think about. And actually, we have… In our tour bus, in our band and crew, I'm not the only sober one and I'm not the only vegan either, so I'm surrounded by a lot of different kinds of people and we all get along beautifully."

Two years earlier, White-Gluz explained why being vegan is definitely metal, telling the Mercy For Animals Facebook page: "So, I've been vegan for over 20 years now. I was vegan before I ever started in music. I've never eaten meat in my life. I grew up in a completely vegetarian household, so going vegan was just like the logical next step. And when I started doing music, there was nothing that I wanted to talk about more than animal rights. And so I was now using this heavy, passionate form of music to sort of convey a message that I wanted to. When I'm screaming in my band, I feel like I'm screaming for the voiceless. And I can't imagine being that loud if I had nothing to say.

"Being female, being vegan and also being straight edge in the metal world is just a combination of targets on my forehead that make it really easy for me to get singled out or pushed around," she continued. "But those are just things that are so much a part of who I am that I couldn't change them even if I wanted to. And I wouldn't — I wouldn't change for anyone.

"In my opinion, metal is all about rebellion — it's about carving your own path, thinking against what everyone's trying to make you think," Alissa added. "And veganism is the ultimate form of rebellion, because you are literally taking things that people have told you are normal that deep down inside you don't think are normal that you've been conditioned to accept about your day-to-day tasks, like eating or what you wear or what you choose to buy. Everyone says that that's normal, that you need to exploit other living beings for those things, but you don't. And so taking a stand against that is what veganism is. And that is really metal."

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In a new interview with Billlboard, HEART's Ann and Nancy Wilson, who are about to hit the road for their first tour together since 2019, said that they are hoping to work on new music in the near future.

"The thing that we really hope to achieve is to maybe write some more stuff together," Ann said. "We don't have plans for that right now. We don't really plan too far in the future; we're not calculating like that. We're just gonna do this tour and see what comes. But I think if a song comes out of a situation, it'll be a real good one, 'cause it'll be authentic. It's just a matter of me and Nancy getting our heads around that."

Nancy said that she has been going through some of the HEART demos and listening to unreleased material with an eye toward possibly reworking it for future release. "There's a couple unfinished things I'd like to finish off with Ann and [longtime collaborator] Sue [Ennis]," she said. "There's one really, really cool song called 'Sweet Deceiver', but the words were never right, so we never recorded it properly. I think I might want to finish that song; I've been trying to think of new chorus lyrics ever since I heard the demo. I would love to write some new stuff, too.

"If we have a song or two that comes out of HEART, that would be really great. These days, it's kind of like one song at a time, but you can still do a whole album, which is cool. I love albums," she added. "When I can put on an album in its entirety, in the sequence it was intended, that's the best to me."

The current members of HEART feature Nancy Wilson (rhythm, lead and acoustic guitar, backing and lead vocals),Ann Wilson (lead vocals and flute),Ryan Wariner (lead and rhythm guitar),Ryan Waters (guitars),Paul Moak (guitars, keyboards and backing vocals),Tony Lucido (bass and backing vocals) and Sean Lane (drums and bike).

Last December, HEART played its first three concerts in more than four years — in Highland, California, at Greater Palm Springs in Palm Desert, California, and in Seattle, Washington.

Prior to HEART's December 27, 2023 show in Highland, the band's last performance took place in October 2019 in St. Paul, Minnesota.

HEART will return to the road for the first time in five years this spring on the "Royal Flush" tour. The trek, which will kick off April 20 in Greenville, South Carolina, will feature CHEAP TRICK as support on most of the North American leg, while SQUEEZE will open a handful of HEART's summer European dates. HEART will also join DEF LEPPARD and JOURNEY for summer stadium shows in Cleveland, Toronto and Boston and will make an appearance at the New Orleans Jazz And Heritage Festival on April 28.

Since HEART's formation in the early 1970s, the band has sold 35 million albums, including seven that made the Top 10, and notched 20 Top 40 singles. The band was inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame in 2013.

Photo credit: Criss Cain

In a recent interview with Amy Harris of The Travel Addict, TESLA's Brian Wheat was asked what the longest is that he has gone without playing bass or guitar. He responded: "Oh, I don't know. Maybe a week. I'm not one of those guys that sits around and practices my bass. I did that when I was young. I'm kind of like a situational bass player or even a situational musician.

"I never wanted to be a virtuoso bass player," he explained. "I wanted to be a songwriter. I always pick up instruments if I'm working in the studio. I produce, engineer and manage bands. I do all kinds of things. A lot of people call me a renaissance man, I guess.

"So, when it comes to playing my bass, it depends on if I have to re-learn one of our old songs, if we're making a record or rehearsing or playing on tour. If I'm in the studio producing somebody, I'll play as well. But to just pick up the bass and sit there and go, okay, I'm gonna practice some scales today…nah, I'm not that guy.

"I'm sure if they listed the top 100 bass players in rock, I wouldn't be on the list, but that's okay," Wheat added. "That's not what I want to be remembered as. I want to be remembered as a guy who wrote a couple of really good songs, was in a great band, that was honest, and who put together that band with [TESLA guitarist] Frank Hannon in the garage. That's what I want people to remember me by. Not by how creative a bass player I was.

"Having said that, I'm not selling myself short as a bass player. You know, I can play in any rock outfit, I'm sure. I couldn't play the [RED HOT] CHILI PEPPERS because I don't play like that. But if it's straight-ahead rock and roll, I can handle that gig."

TESLA will release a new single, "It's All About Love", this summer. It will be the follow-up to the band's previous standalone singles "Cold Blue Steel", which came out in the summer of 2021, and "Time To Rock!", which arrived a year later.

Some fans criticized TESLA for adopting a 1980s-style polished production for its latest album, 2019's "Shock". The follow-up to June 2014's "Simplicity" was helmed by DEF LEPPARD guitarist Phil Collen, whose own group is no stranger to slicked-up, glossy-sounding recordings.

In September 2023, TESLA released the official music video for its cover of AEROSMITH's "S.O.S. (Too Bad)". The song is a bonus track on TESLA's live album, "Full Throttle Live!", which arrived in May 2023. The LP includes the band's "Time To Rock!" single, plus other songs, all recorded in August 2022 at Full Throttle Saloon in Sturgis, South Dakota.

In September 2021, original TESLA drummer Troy Luccketta announced that he would "take a little time from the road" to spend with family and friends. He has since been replaced at TESLA's gigs by Steve Brown, the younger brother of former DOKKEN drummer Mick Brown.

TESLA's debut album, 1986's "Mechanical Resonance", went platinum on the strength of the hits "Modern Day Cowboy" and "Little Suzi". The 1989 follow-up album, "The Great Radio Controversy", produced five hits, including "Heaven's Trail (No Way Out)" and "Love Song", which hit the pop Top Ten.

In a new interview with Argentina's Global Legends, BATTLE BEAST's Noora Louhimo opened up about her recent health scare. The 35-year-old Finnish singer revealed in November that she had been diagnosed with a ruptured left carotid artery, causing the postponement the band's tour.

"Well, definitely it scared me a lot, and other people as well," she told Global Legends about the diagnosis and how it has affected her life (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET). "And like the doctor said, this can happen to anyone. So if you are coughing too hard… I heard this example that there was a person who was coughing too much and both of the veins got ruptured. This can happen to anyone, but because I really want to — how do you say? — avoid having this again, I have definitely started doing more warm-up before any singing and warming down and taking care of my overall health even more than before. So, actually, the accident was also kind of — it was a good wake-up call for me, because even though I was already on a good path with the lifestyle and how to eat and how to do the sports and stuff like that. But still I noticed that there were some things that I need to concentrate more into and kind of put more effort. So this was actually a really good kind of wake-up call. And also I really — how do you say? — I really appreciate life more now. I'm thankful for each and every day and every moment that I get to live, I get to love, I get to see. I get to see people. I get to be with my loved ones and with my animals here at home. And now I get to tour in the places that I've always dreamed of. And it's not something that you should take [for] granted."

When Louhimo first revealed her diagnosis five months ago, she wrote on her social media: "I went to be examined because of a weird pain in the left side of my neck, throat, ear and chin. At ultrasound examination the doctor found the rupture that had already started healing, and he saved my life. I was hospitalized for more exams and finally got confirmation of the situation. I was ordered to have a break on everything that might stress or increase my blood pressure for the next month. Otherwise, I could have a stroke. As you know how passionate I am as a singer and performer, the blood pressure getting high is a guarantee. So, I did not want to take the risk to die with my boots on, not quite yet".

Louhimo joined BATTLE BEAST in 2012 with no previous experience as a metal vocalist but quickly acclimated herself as the replacement for Nitte Valo (a.k.a. Nitte Vänskä).

Less than two years ago, Noora, who in 2021 released her debut solo album, "Eternal Wheel Of Time And Space", under the NOORA LOUHIMO EXPERIENCE banner, admitted publicly that she had been struggling with eating disorders and her weight since she was "a little child" and said that she was "still trying to find a balance." She added that she had "been depressed and anxious sometimes 'without a reason'."

In an interview with Metal Divas, Noora explained how she ended up fronting BATTLE BEAST: "[In] September [2012], I got a call from [then-BATTLE BEAST guitarist] Anton [Kabanen] that they want me to join BATTLE BEAST. I had heard their music and loved the sound and the vocals, so the next day I called Anton and said I'm in.

"Anton found me by accident on YouTube when he was searching for the new vocalist," she continued. "He had been looking for a vocalist — male or female; [it did not] matter. The only thing that mattered was can that [he or she could] sing his songs without compromises.

"I've been singing since I was four years old," Noora added. "While being a huge fan of heavy metal of '80s and a teenager, I had some classical singing lessons when I was 16 years old. Then at the age of 19, I started studying music in pop/jazz line. At the same time, I started doing some jam sessions at bars. There I found my first band (ADMIRAL OCTOPUS) in the blues bar. We used to play rock and blues music from '60s-'70s and Janis Joplin was the reason I got the rasp in my voice. After ADMIRAL OCTOPUS, in 2011, I took part in a singing competition ('Wanna Be A Rock 'N' Roll Star') at Henry's Pub of Tampere and won it with Janis Joplin's 'Piece Of My Heart'. That's how my single 'Relax' was born."

Photo credit: Terhi Ylimainen

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MEGADETH drummer Dirk Verbeuren has shared a video of him performing the group's classic song "Mechanix" with his bandmates on April 16 at the Movistar Arena in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Check it out below.

In December 2022, Verbeuren spoke to That Metal Interview about the songwriting process for MEGADETH's latest album, "The Sick, The Dying… And The Dead!", which arrived in September 2022 via UMe. He said: "There was a lot of freedom. [Dave Mustaine, MEGADETH leader] invited Kiko [Loureiro, then-MEGADETH guitarist] and myself from the get-go to contribute our own ideas and our interpretations, and that's what we did.

"The way we work and the way Dave tends to work is that he has this massive vault of riffs, guitar riffs that go all the way back to the early years, to the '80s. And that's all sitting in a folder and organized. And so we started by him picking out a bunch of riffs and working with those. And as the process went on, those started turning into songs and we would maybe add some riffs or change some riffs or maybe go fishing for some more or write new ones — whatever felt right at the time. So I also contributed some music myself, and so did Kiko; Kiko co-wrote quite a few of the songs on the album. So it was a very collaborative process. As far as the drums went, same thing. Of course there were certain parts where Dave preferred one idea over the idea, and he would be, like, 'Play it more like this,' or, 'I prefer that beat over this beat.' But for the most part I pretty much got to do what I wanted to do and how I felt it. Because I think, at this point, having been in the band for over six years, I've got a pretty good feel of what MEGADETH drums are supposed to sound like, and it seems like Dave feels the same way."

Dirk went on to say that he didn't want to deviate too far from the drumming style that characterized MEGADETH's classic albums. "It's an important thing, because I'm also a MEGADETH fan," he explained. "I was for many years when I was younger. So I know what it's like to be a fan and going and watching your band or hearing a new album by your band that you like and you expect it to be within certain parameters. So, having grown up listening to [previous MEGADETH drummers] Gar Samuelson and Chuck Behler and Nick Menza, of course, I wanted to have kind of that vibe. So that's what I aimed for. In the end, it's gonna sound like me as well, because I can't change that. And I also put some of my own flavors in there, of course. But I did wanna be very mindful of the legacy of MEGADETH history and respect that and carry on that tradition."

"The Sick, The Dying... And The Dead!" sold 48,000 equivalent album units in the U.S. in its first week of release to land at position No. 3 on the Billboard 200 chart. It marked MEGADETH's eighth top 10-charting album. Of "The Sick, The Dying... And The Dead!"'s 48,000 units earned for the week, album sales comprised 45,000, SEA units comprised 3,000 and TEA units comprised a negligible sum.

MEGADETH's previous top 10 entries on the Billboard 200 were "Countdown to Extinction" (No. 2, 1992),"Youthanasia" (No. 4, 1994),"Cryptic Writings" (No. 10, 1997),"United Abominations" (No. 8, 2007),"Endgame" (No. 9, 2009),"Super Collider" (No. 6, 2013) and "Dystopia" (No. 3, 2016).

In a new interview with Global News journalist Adam Wallis, JUDAS PRIEST singer Rob Halford pointed to metal fans' acceptance of his sexuality as evidence of metal's capacity to be a place where all are welcome. "It's broad based," he said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET). "It's not just in music. It's everywhere. It's in every walk of life. When I was a younger person particularly, but through the early metal years, yeah, there was a there was a lot of homophobia and pushback and bigotry, so much so that I really had to hide myself, I had to hide my identity within the band. The whole point of getting from that place of having to hide to now being able to step out and be who you are, particularly in the metal scene, because the metal community loves and takes care of our own, that's the advantage.

"I used to be terribly lonely because of having to live a double life," he continued. "So this whole business of being embraced and feeling not alone and feeling part of a group of people that are all feeling the same way is really, again, special and unique to the metal world."

Less than three years ago, Halford, who publicly declared his homosexuality back in 1998 during an appearance on MTV News, reflected on what it was like to be a closeted man in the 1980s while so many other rock musicians at the time dipped their toes into the glittery waters of glam androgyny.

"When you think about the glam rock movement, what it was, specifically, two bands that really pushed that for me were MÖTLEY CRÜE and POISON — and, to some effect, CINDERELLA, maybe some WINGER, L.A. GUNS," he told Ultimate Classic Rock. "There was a lot of stuff coming through at that moment in the glam rock era. And definitely Sebastian [Bach, then-SKID ROW singer], you know, when guys looked like girls. And that worked. And I could never quite figure that out, because of the homophobic stuff that was going on in the '80s. And there's all these guys with makeup on, looking ... I have to watch my words here, but you know what I'm saying? Looking in a specific way, that everybody else is like, 'Yeah, man, they're really hardcore,' and all that kind of stuff. And then me as a closeted gay man, it's like, 'Am I missing something here? How am I not able to come out for fear of losing my career and my band, but these guys are going out there looking like they do, and everybody's falling over them?' Not everybody, but, you know, just the general perception of the imagery was just, everybody has to look that way. Everybody has to dress that way. It [was] a remarkable time in heavy metal and rock to think about in a broader sense."

He continued: "And I love those guys. While we're talking, I must get the message across that I love those guys. I love their music, I love what they achieved and everything. They're very, very important. And maybe there was a sense of opportunity within the LGBTQ community because these guys were there then, doing what they did. Maybe they opened a little tiny chink in the door for acceptance. Because a lot of guys used to go to the shows looking like that. One of my friends here in Phoenix in the '80s used to put the makeup on and the hair and everything. They would look like that, and then they'd go out to see those bands. So in terms of the anthropological aspect, the social connection between looking like that and it being cool and accepted without any pushback was quite remarkable. It's a really interesting part of that time in heavy metal. And I include myself — not entirely, in that respect, but if you look at [PRIEST's] 'Turbo' [album], you look at the way that we're looking, look at the way Glenn's [Tipton, PRIEST guitarist] got his hair and Ken's [K.K. Downing, then-PRIEST guitarist] got his hair, we were all in that same melting pot, really. The '80s was a remarkable time for metal, glam rock, rock, whatever you want to call it. The visual presentation was extraordinary."

Three and a half years ago, Downing confirmed during an appearance on MACHINE HEAD frontman Robb Flynn's "No Fuckin' Regrets With Robb Flynn" podcast that he, the other members of the group and PRIEST management knew about Halford's sexuality and were accepting, although Rob at the time was advised to be discreet given the macho hetero nature of the metal world.

"We always knew Rob was gay," K.K. said. "Because the thing is back in the days — in the '60s and particularly early '70s, when everything was still kind of behind closed doors and stuff like that — people felt a bit more comfortable around us because we would hang around in groups and gangs and we would always know that that guy is different to us and that girl is different."

According to K.K., Rob's sexuality didn't matter to him and the rest of PRIEST. "The main thing is… Obviously, to me, Rob being gay, apart from [having] a great voice, I thought Rob was gonna stay in the band forever, and he's obviously gonna be theatrical, he's gonna be obviously articulate with words — and he was; he was all of that," Downing said. "Sensitivities and all of that, and the showmanship — so all of these ingredients [were] great attributes to have as a frontman. And I proved to be right."

K.K. also touched upon the revelation in Halford's recent "Confess" autobiography that the singer spent much on his time on the road in the 1980s and early 1990s "cruising" for one-night stands in gay bars, public restrooms, and other gay meeting places. Asked by Flynn if he was aware that Rob was doing it, K.K. said: "Yeah. Absolutely. My eyes have seen a lot. [Laughs] Even in the mid-'70s, if you come off stage and Rob's in the shower with one of the crew and stuff doing things. I mean, it is what it is. You don't have to go in there until it's over and whatever. It is what it is. 'Cause Rob had to put up with lots of things from us. It's the same thing — no different… It's the same thing — fair's fair. We're all there in the van. We're ready to go. 'Okay. Where's fucking Dave? Okay. He's in there still with a girl. Somebody go and get him.' We need to go. We need to get to the gig or from the gig. And these things happen. It's rock and roll. A lot of things were put down to rock and roll because it was rock and roll in those days."

Elsewhere in the interview, Downing talked about Halford's efforts to maintain the image of heterosexuality in the media — most notably through PRIEST's studs-and-black leather biker outfits, which defined the look of the heavy metal genre for years to come — even while living a secret, double life as a closeted gay man.

"In all fairness to Rob, Rob was a team player," K.K. said. "He knows that his image and the way that he was in the day and everything, it appealed to guys [and] it appealed to girls. And he was cool with that. The same with me, because your audience is your audience. We had so many people that did have an awareness, obviously, back in the day. But we are entertainers and we're performers. But [we had] a great belief in the music and the image and just everything around it. I still had immense pride in Rob as a great frontman and entertainer and a great vocalist. And he played the part as well, equally, as we thought we did in the macho, macho that wasJUDAS PRIEST. Because we'd done the outfit, the leather and the studs, and I think anything to do with anything else ancillary — sexuality or anything — was just not a part… it wasn't on the stage. In Rob's mind, maybe it was here and there, but, to us, it was so ferocious and full-on, delivering up this music in the way that we did it, to me, I felt so proud of all of the bandmates. Because we'd done the uniform, and it was unique at the time, and it was such a powerful feeling. 'Cause we were getting off on that, what we had. The audience could sense it, I think. And that's why we were never afraid to play with any band, because we had the uniform that nobody else could put on at the time."

In "Confess", which came out in September 2020, Halford detailed the struggle of being gay while writing about how he and his bandmates started attracting groupies as PRIEST became more commercially successful. "Well, I didn't," Halford clarified. "None of our fans knew that I was gay at this point, of course. If any misguided girls made a play for me, I could politely brush them off. But if I wanted some action on the road — and I really, really did — how the hell was I supposed to go about it? For straight blokes, the ritual was easy. They could invite a girl to come backstage. Would you like a drink? Would you like to come to our hotel? Would you like to see my room? I couldn't do any of that."

Halford continued: "If I fancied a guy in the crowd, how did I go about it? What were the chances of him being gay (or, if he was, of admitting it)? What if I got it wrong, made a misjudged pass and got a smack in the mouth? And, of course, the overriding fear that was to limit my existence for decades: What if it got out that I was gay, fans didn't want anything to do with a band fronted by a queer, and it killed JUDAS PRIEST stone dead? PRIEST was the most important thing in my life, and even if I were willing to sacrifice it for my sexuality — which I wasn't — I simply couldn't do it to Ken [K.K.], or Glenn [Tipton] or Ian [Hill]. It wouldn't be fair on them. It was my problem, not theirs."

Rob also wrote about how PRIEST came to adopt its iconic leather look, saying: "The biggest myth about this new stage gear is that I had somehow masterminded the image as a cover and a vent for my homosexuality — that I was getting a thrill from dressing on stage as I'd like to dress in the street, or the bedroom. This is utter bollocks. I had no interest in S&M, domination or the whole queer subcult of leather and chains. It just didn't do it for me. My sexual preference was for men, sure, but I was — and still am — pretty vanilla. I've never used a whip in the boudoir in my life. Or, have I? Hang on, let me think for a minute…"

In 1998, Halford became the first metal icon to announce he is gay during an MTV interview, despite knowing about his sexuality since he was 10.

Unleashing their latest album Grotesque on Gore House Productions this past November, UK death grinders Foetal Juice have a new playthrough from bassist Lewis Bridges for the closing track "Gruesome". In this song, the bass plays almost a solo over the intro riff where Lewis gets to flex his bass playing guns to the world.


Lews Bridges adds about the song:


"This one is where we have really experimented with a clean intro. This is something we have never done before but really enjoyed it when bands like Entombed have done it on albums. The clean intro is influenced by the film Lobster Man From Mars and we just thought it would be good to try a build a song up like that for one. After the intro we wanted it to go straight in as abrupt as we could make it. So, 6/8 blast it was. We wanted the song to be a sort of one after the intro but also make it incredibly groovy with skipping triplets on the guitars and a wandering bass. We are really happy with how this song turned out."







Foetal Juice’s sound is a melting pot of influences, ranging from death metal and grindcore to black metal, gore, groove, thrash, and even Enya. Their evolution as a band has brought new dimensions to their music, incorporating diverse elements while staying true to their death metal roots.


Notorious for their catalogue of unpleasantries and musical vulgarities, this album promises to be heavier, catchier, faster, and more aggressive than anything they've ever done before. It's a relentless assault on the senses, and Foetal Juice is ready to claim its place in the annals of brutal death metal.


A relentless barrage of blast beats, horror and gore that will have you questioning your sanity, “Grotesque” is recommended for fans of Cannibal Corpse, Deicide, and Vomitory.


They comment on the new album: "Everything seems to have worked amazingly on “Grotesque.” It turned out far better than we ever imagined it would. Everyone has brought their A-game to the table with this one. Then Chris Fielding (Producer) put the cherry on the top with the outstanding mixing/mastering. He really has made this album sound incredible. Due to the lockdowns during Covid, Ryan, who is the main songwriter/Guitarist, has churned out hundreds of riffs and song ideas, which has meant we could be a lot more selective with choosing the final ideas than we would normally be able to. This has really helped us to find the best riffs and ideas to use on this album.


We always write the next song as if it has to be better than the last song we wrote. This really pushes us to impress one another when it comes to our individual parts. When we recorded the last album, Lewis had only been in the band for 2 months and pretty much had to copy the guitar parts with his bass lines. On Grotesque, he has really come into his own. The bass lines have added so much to each song as it’s not just the same as the guitar riffs.


With Foetal Juice, we push each other as far as we can to get the best out of each member. This is mainly because individually, we are all really difficult to impress, so when we have to impress one another, it really takes you to the next level of performance/writing.


We are so proud of everything about this album, from the artwork and songwriting to the performance, recording, and mastering. Even if no one likes it like we do, we can all hold our heads up high with this one.”


Order (Cassette / CD / Digital) here.





"Ghoul Amongst The Mouldering Dead" video:





"Legion Of The Grotesque":





"Two Bongs Don't Make A Right":





(Photo - Karen Carley)

During an appearance on the Appetite For Distortion podcast, IRON MAIDEN singer Bruce Dickinson was asked if there are different sides of his personality that he applies to the various projects that he is involved or if it all "part of the same same guy". He responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "No, it all comes out of the same pot. Yeah, just like like any guy… I suppose, really, I'm like a — if I was gonna make an analogy, it would be like you take me out of the fridge and I'm stone cold and you put me on the cooker and you heat me up to a certain temperature and you go, 'Oh, yeah, that looks like MAIDEN temperature there,' and you put a dollop in the bowl and it's MAIDEN world. And then, at the end of that, you put MAIDEN back in the pot and it goes back to its normal kind of tepid, boring, ordinary state, which is me when I'm not running around doing stuff."

He continued: "I like pictures, analogies and things like that. I explain things a lot in those terms, which is the same way I write songs and music and things. So I like to say that the way I approach a [show at a] club and then a theater and then an arena and then some mega stadium where you can't even see the last person in the audience because they're so far away — how do you project your personality, if you like, over those different distances? And I said, well, it's kind of like having like a party balloon that is you, so you're the deflated little party balloon, but you get into a club and you go — you don't have to inflate the balloon very much to touch the back of the club, 'cause everybody can see you. And you inflate it a bit more for the theater, and then the arena is, like, 'Oh, a bit more effort going on there.' And then the big one is the big festival, and you don't realize how hard you've been inflating this giant balloon until you walk off at the end and you're just absolutely exhausted. And you think, 'Why is that?' Because you've been pushing out all this energy to try and fill this vast space. But the problem with all that is that you're now walking around with a balloon the size of Texas around your head. So you need to somehow go [and get the air out of the balloon], and the balloon just deflates. And you've gotta do that after the show, because if you don't do that, you won't be able to get through any doorway in the Western world. Because your balloon is too big.

"Everybody's got a little balloon, and everybody's capable of inflating it," Dickinson explained. "It's just that my job is doing it to a ridiculous extent. And so I treat that balloon as kind of almost in the third person. I'm, like, 'Okay. The big balloon is out there, but that's not really a state to exist in, in the real world.' So I try and deflate it at the end of the show and be quiet and just run away somewhere into a dark corner and hide. But that's how I deal with that, and that's how I hope I've retained some semblance of sanity in what can be a very toxic environment for people."

After playing two warm-up shows at the Whisky A Go Go in West Hollywood, California, Dickinson officially kicked off his first solo tour in more than 20 years on Monday, April 15 at The Observatory in Santa Ana, California.

As was the case with the two Whisky A Go Go shows, the IRON MAIDEN singer was joined at The Observatory by his current backing band, featuring Dave Moreno (drums),Mistheria (keyboards) and Tanya O'Callaghan (bass),alongside the group's latest additions, Swedish guitarist, songwriter and multi-platinum-credited producer Philip Näslund and Swiss session and touring guitarist Chris Declercq (who played on Dickinson's "Rain On The Graves" single). Bruce's longtime guitarist and collaborator Roy "Z" Ramirez is not part of the touring lineup.

Prior to the April 12 Whisky A Go Go show, Bruce last performed with his solo band on in August 2002 at the legendary Wacken Open Air festival in Germany.

Dickinson's latest solo album, "The Mandrake Project", arrived on March 1 via BMG.

Bruce and Roy recorded "The Mandrake Project" largely at Los Angeles's Doom Room, with Roy doubling up as both guitarist and bassist. The recording lineup for "The Mandrake Project" was rounded out by Mistheria and Moreno, both of whom also featured on Bruce's last solo studio album, "Tyranny Of Souls", in 2005.

Dickinson made his recording debut with IRON MAIDEN on the "Number Of The Beast" album in 1982. He quit the band in 1993 in order to pursue his solo career and was replaced by Blaze Bayley, who had previously been the lead singer of the metal band WOLFSBANE. After releasing two traditional metal albums with former MAIDEN guitarist Adrian Smith, Dickinson rejoined the band in 1999 along with Smith.

Former SKID ROW singer Sebastian Bach has released a new song called "(Hold On) To The Dream". The track is taken from his upcoming solo album, "Child Within The Man", due on May 10 via Reigning Phoenix Music.

"An album more than 10 years in the making," according to Bach, "Child Within The Man" was recorded in Orlando, Florida; produced and mixed by Michael "Elvis" Baskette; engineered by Jef Moll, assistant engineered by Josh Saldate and mastered by Robert Ludwig of Gateway Mastering. Bach wrote or co-wrote all the album's 11 tracks and sang all lead and backing vocals.

"Child Within The Man" features guest appearances from John 5 (MÖTLEY CRÜE, ROB ZOMBIE, MARILYN MANSON),Steve Stevens (BILLY IDOL) and Orianthi (ALICE COOPER, MICHAEL JACKSON) — who all co-wrote their respective tracks with Bach — and two tracks co-written with ALTER BRIDGE's Myles Kennedy ("What Do I Got to Lose?" and "To Live Again"). Devin Bronson (guitars),Todd Kerns (bass) and Jeremy Colson (drums) round out the players on the album. The album will be available on jewelcase CD, cassette, and double LP in a variety of colour options.

"I have been putting out records since the year 1989," Sebastian says. "Thank YOU for 35 years of Bach N' Roll…all leading up to 'Child Within The Man'! If you like the records I have put out in the past, I can GUARANTEE that you will enjoy the new album. THIS is the kind of Rock N' Roll that keeps you young ! Can't wait for you all to crank up 'Child Within The Man' — a magical elixir to the Fountain of Youth! Gone Wild! Forever! It's all one big song! TURN IT UP!"

In an interview with "Whiplash", the KLOS radio show hosted by Full Metal Jackie, Sebastian spoke about the inspiration for the "Child Within The Man" title. He said: "Well, my wife calls me man-child. That's kind of been a theme for me my whole career. I bring a youthful energy to the stage when I get up there. People are smiling and excited and hooting and hollering. But the line 'child within the man' is a line of one of the songs on the record. And I scream it like bloody murder. And it kept haunting me. "

Sebastian also talked about the "Child Within The Man" artwork, which holds special meaning since it was designed by Bach's father, noted visual artist David Bierk.

"I have a lot of my dad's artwork," Bach said. "He's no longer alive. And we all, all of his kids, we got a lot of his art when he passed away. And I unrolled a roll of paintings that I knew had the SKID ROW 'Subhuman Race' painting in it, and I wanna take care of it and make sure it's preserved. But in that roll was this painting that I remember my dad doing of me when I was 10 in a field next to this beat-up old Cadillac car in the field and then behind the car, it's Jesus ascending into heaven, and I'm running next to the car. It looks like an album cover. And then he also did a painting of me from Circus magazine, the first centerfold of me on stage at Giants Stadium. He did a gigantic painting of that, like 12 feet high. And so the cover is gonna be me running as a child into me on stage as a man, and it's child within the man. And it just reminds me of the '70s, like child in time, and it just reminds me of a good '70s album cover. And the fact that I can bring back a painting from the year 1978 and make it into artwork in 2023, 2024, that's really mind-blowing to me."

"Child Within The Man" track listing is as follows:

01. Everybody Bleeds
02. Freedom (featuring John 5)
03. (Hold On) To The Dream
04. What Do I Got To Lose?
05. Hard Darkness
06. Future Of Youth (featuring Orianthi)
07. Vendetta
08. F.U. (featuring Steve Stevens)
09. Crucify Me
10. About To Break
11. To Live Again

The album's first single, "What Do I Got To Lose?", was co-written by Sebastian, Kennedy and Baskette, the latter of whom also served as the track's producer.

In advance of the album's release, Bach will hit the road in 2024 for an international tour with dates in Latin and North America. The "What Do I Got To Lose?" tour is a mix of solo gigs and festival appearances that kicks off with an international run of performances in Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina, and Chile before North American shows in the U.S. and Mexico. The stateside tour gets underway May 10 in Jefferson, Louisiana before wrapping June 29 in San Diego, California.

Bach performed "What Do I Got To Lose?" live for the first time during his February 24 concert at Palace Theatre in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Bach released the official music video for "What Do I Got To Lose?" in December. The clip was directed by Jim Louvau and Tony Aguilera. For the video, which shows Bach cruising through the desert in a convertible and performing with a full band, Sebastian was joined by his former SKID ROW bandmate, drummer Rob Affuso. The clip also features an appearance by actor and comedian Craig Gass and Sebastian's wife Suzanne, who plays a scantily clad car wash attendant.

Bach hasn't released a full-length disc since "Give 'Em Hell", which came out in March 2014. Like its predecessor, 2011's "Kicking & Screaming", the disc was released through Frontiers Music Srl, the Italian label which specializes in what's commonly called AOR, a term that once signified a popular radio format ("album-oriented rock") but nowadays applies to acts whose airplay is marginal.

Photo credit: Jim Louvau

CREED played its second concert in 12 years on Saturday (April 20) as the headliners of the Summer Of '99 cruise. Fan-filmed video can be seen below (courtesy of Fake Fan).

The band's lineup of Scott Stapp, Mark Tremonti, Brian Marshall and Scott Phillips performed two shows during the cruise, which is traveling from Miami to the Bahamas between April 18 and April 22. Presented by Sixthman, the "Summer Of '99" cruise lineup also includes performances by 3 DOORS DOWN, BUCKCHERRY, TONIC, FUEL, VERTICAL HORIZON, THE VERVE PIPE, TANTRIC and NINE DAYS, among others.

CREED's second concert consisted of 17 songs and included the new additions of "Beautiful", "Pity For A Dime" and "Inside Us All", which were not performed two days earlier.

CREED's setlist for the April 20 show was as follows:

01. Bullets
02. What If
03. Beautiful
04. Torn
05. My Own Prison
06. Pity For A Dime
07. Are You Ready?
08. Never Die
09. Faceless Man
10. Say I
11. Inside Us All
12. Rain
13. What's This Life For
14. One Last Breath
15. My Sacrifice
16. With Arms Wide Open
17. Higher

CREED will perform aboard a second cruise, the "Summer Of '99 And Beyond", traveling from Florida's Port Canaveral to Nassau from April 27 to May 1. A full-fledged tour, also dubbed "Summer Of '99" tour, produced by Live Nation, will kick off on July 17 and will run through September 28.

In a recent interview with Ryan McCredden of the I-Rock 93.5 radio station, CREED frontman Scott Stapp spoke about the fact that younger generations of fans have discovered the group's music in the 12 years since he and his bandmates played their last concert. He said: "Yeah, a hundred percent. And the analytics don't lie. We've started seeing, in late 2020, CREED beginning to go viral on TikTok, Instagram and then Facebook. And then it just seemed like every two or three months… The first couple months in 2021, we went viral again, and it just kept happening every two or three months. And then you look at the analytics, and you realize that when you look at the numbers, it's three generations. And now it's gotten down into high school kids. And so, what a gift and what a blessing. And I do not take that for granted. I understand how rare that that is. And I think I can speak for all of CREED, because we've had these conversations in private, that it's something we definitely understand is a gift, it's rare and we're not taking it for granted and we're just so grateful and appreciative that this has happened. And I think we're in the nurture phase of this whole thing and not taking a single bit of it for granted and just want to just share how grateful we are and fortunate we are that all these years later [so many people are discovering our music."

Stapp went on to discuss the overwhelmingly positive response to the announcement of CREED's first shows together in 12 years.

"I learned this from Mark [Tremonti, CREED guitarist] the other day in a Guitar World interview that we did together," Scott said. "One thing about Mark, and I hope he doesn't get mad at me for sharing, but he's always in touch with our long-term agent from day one, Ken Fermaglich at UTA. He started with us when we were doing clubs and nobody was showing up, and he's still our agent today. And Mark checks in with him to get analytics and get numbers. And Ken shared with him that right now we are bigger in terms of sales and how things are moving than we were at our peak in 2001, 2002, which blows my mind. It still doesn't seem that way to me, but Mark made a comment. He goes, 'Oh, well, you'll see it when you step out and there's 25,000 people in front of you.' And I said, 'Don't scare me, man.' It's been a long time since I've stepped in front of an audience that big."

When McCredden suggested that "the social media world of TikTok and Instagram" played a huge part in generating interest in a CREED reunion tour, Stapp said: "I've learned in my journey in sobriety and in recovery that… I believe in God and I believe that God has a plan. And looking at this from a thousand-foot perspective, it just all just seems, to me, without a doubt that God's had a hand in it. And I'm just grateful that I'm included on the ride and I'm just not gonna take a moment for granted and [I'm gonna] try to deliver every night and give the fans what they're asking for."

Stapp, whose road to sobriety kicked off in 2014 after issues with drugs and drinking, along with thoughts of suicide, credited his recovery with providing him with the necessary tools to reach new heights with his CREED bandmates. "Absolutely," he said. "In my experience, that's the only way you really learn. And, really, you have no other option. You have to get back up, no matter what you do and deal with the consequences, of course, but learn from it and grow. And one thing I'm looking at when I reflect back on my career is it kind of happened in reverse. With CREED, it was instant. It was first single 'My Own Prison', within 11 months, we're in arenas. But then there's been this 15-year drought for me where I went all the way back as a solo artist playing in small clubs and just duking it out, sweating it out in clubs and bars for over a decade. I mean, man, since 2005 or [2006]. So, I mean, we're talking 17, 18 years. So, it's happened in reverse, and I think that's how it needed to happen, because I think it really gave me a different perspective on how I wish I could have approached this from day one back in the day. But it is what it is, and I'm just gonna enjoy it now and be grateful for it."

CREED's enormous success is largely due to the prolific writing team of Stapp and Tremonti, who founded the band together in 1993. Their winning combination of driving guitar riffs, rousing hooks and introspective lyrics earned them legions of loyal fans around the world. Following the release of their first two albums, the four-piece — which also included bassist Brian Marshall and drummer Scott Phillips — became the first band ever to have seven consecutive No. 1 singles on Billboard's Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks. CREED's third album, "Weathered" (2001),also debuted at No. 1, and produced several popular singles, including Top Ten hits "My Sacrifice" and "One Last Breath". Though CREED announced its breakup in 2004, the band briefly reunited in 2009 to release "Full Circle". Heavier than their previous albums, "Full Circle" debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard 200, proving the incredible staying power of the band.

CREED disbanded in 2004 but reunited five years later for the aforementioned "Full Circle" LP and an extensive tour. Stapp has since toured and recorded as a solo artist, although he suffered a drug-related mental breakdown in 2014 and spent several years recovering from that.