Former SKID ROW frontman Sebastian Bach was revealed to be the voice behind the Tiki mask on Wednesday's (December 6) episode of "The Masked Singer".

Based on an international hit, "The Masked Singer" features celebrities facing off against one another with one major twist: each singer is shrouded from head to toe in an elaborate costume, complete with full face mask to conceal his or her identity.

Back for Season 10 are host Nick Cannon, alongside panelists Jenny McCarthy Wahlberg, Nicole Scherzinger, Ken Jeong and Robin Thicke.

Nicole was the only one to guess correctly with Bach, who has pursued a solo career since being fired from SKID ROW in 1996.

"It was the connection to me that sealed the deal," Nicole said. "It was 2006 and I was on the same bill as this legend and we saw the monkey clue for SKID ROW's song 'Monkey Business'."

Prior to Tiki's performance of KISS's classic "I Was Made for Lovin' You", Sebastian shared a little bit about his journey from small-town kid to world-famous performer.

"When I was a kid, my buddy asked me to join a choir," Tiki said. "He told me if I got in, I'd get a three buck stipend every month. I said, 'What's a stipend?' But I knew three bucks meant two more KISS posters. So, I auditioned, and because I had a super high-pitched voice, I was made lead soprano.

"Who would have thunk I'd be touring the rest of my life," he added. "It just goes to show never pass up an opportunity because you never know what it will lead you to."

Regarding why he chose to do the show, Bach told Variety: "I love singing, and honestly I saw some really cool friends of mine on the show — namely Dee Snider and Bret Michaels. I've always loved a big production. I just went to the very last KISS show at Madison Square Garden. And I've always loved costumes and make-up and smoke and lights. 'The Masked Singer' is definitely a big production with a lot of staging. Before I got on the show, I thought it was more about comedy and the costumes — which it is. But then when I did it, I found out it's about the singing. I was very happy to be a part of it because I love to sing."

According to Kerrang! magazine, IRON MAIDEN's Bruce Dickinson has "just married" his fiancée, French fitness instructor Leana Dolci.

The two split their time between Paris and his home in London.

"I wander round and it all feels a bit bohemian, a bit exotic," he told Kerrang! of Paris, where he has lived for a few years now.

The 65-year-old singer revealed his engagement to Dolci while speaking to Bosnia And Herzegovina's <N1 TV channel in March.

Bruce's second wife, Patrice "Paddy" Bowden was found dead in May 2020 at the home they once shared in Chiswick, West London, following a "tragic accident." London Ambulance Service confirmed that the patient was pronounced dead on arrival.

Bruce and Paddy had married in 1990 after two years of dating and shared three children: Austin, Griffin, and Kia. They tied the knot following Bruce's split from first wife Erica "Jane" Barnett.

At the time of Paddy's death, Bruce said in a statement: "This is a terrible tragedy which appears to be a tragic accident.

"Our children Austin, Griffin and Kia and I are devastated. Out of respect for Paddy we won't be making any further comment at this hugely difficult and painful time for our family."

Dickinson is believed to have split from Bowden privately in 2018, although their breakup wasn't made public until November 2019.

Nine years ago, Dickinson was diagnosed with stage 3 throat cancer after doctors discovered a golf ball-size tumor on his tongue and another in the lymph node on the right side of his neck.

The singer got the all-clear in May 2015 after radiation and nine weeks of chemotherapy and later covered his cancer battle in his 2017 autobiography, "What Does This Button Do?"

Bruce Dickinson and wife to be French fitness instructor Leana Dolci don't they make a great couple. 💞

Posted by Fans of iron maiden on Sunday, April 30, 2023

Bruce Dickinson with his girlfriend Leana Dolci.

Posted by Fans of iron maiden on Sunday, August 9, 2020

Leana & Bruce Dickinson

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1163063263838691/?ref=share

Posted by Bruce Dickinson unofficial on Saturday, January 1, 2022

KISS, the legendary rock band known for electrifying live performances over a 50-year career and sales of more than 100 million records worldwide, is marking the end of its physical existence by crossing into the digital world.

At 11 p.m. EST on Saturday, December 2 at New York City's Madison Square Garden, at the conclusion of the last show of the final KISS live tour, "End Of The Road", the band made a surprise handover onstage to their new digital avatars who performed as an encore "God Gave Rock And Roll To You", marking the withdrawal of the flesh and blood group, yet the continuation of the KISS journey into a new era. The band's transformation into avatars will ensure their immortalization, while pushing the boundaries of rock and roll performances, as KISS has done throughout its career to date. This avatar performance will feature KISS as fantasy-based superheroes, and will provide a glimpse of just one of the many and varied ways in which KISS will live on as digital performers through their avatars in the future.

Achieved through a partnership with Pophouse Entertainment Group, the Swedish entertainment company renowned for its development of brand-building enterprises in music and entertainment, this end-of-show performance marks the official reveal of plans for a new era of KISS in the near future — which will see avatars of the band perform to fans for decades to come. KISS's long history of experimenting with special effects and staging, as well as iconic personas and costumes, will evolve through pioneering technology.

The KISS avatars are created by the George Lucas-founded visual effects company (and Lucasfilm division) Industrial Light & Magic (ILM),who showcase their unique creative expertise and artistry using their advanced performance-capture technology. The technology has enabled ILM to capture the band's face and body performance, forming the basis of the avatars in combination with ILM's artistry and machine learning technology, allowing the creative essence of KISS to be able to live on forever. ILM's previous work includes credits on iconic movies and franchises such as "Star Wars", the Marvel cinematic universe and groundbreaking episodic series such as "The Mandalorian", amongst others.

Following the physical band's final performance, Pophouse Entertainment Group will continue to champion the KISS legacy for fans old and new, and for all generations. The new KISS avatar shows will be the second immersive, avatar-powered music concert project that Pophouse Entertainment is involved in — following the success of the "ABBA Voyage" show in London, U.K., where Pophouse is the lead investor. Thierry Coup — former chief creative officer, SVP at Universal Destinations & Experiences — is announced as the creative director of the upcoming avatar show.

To coincide with the reveal of their digital transformation, KISS members Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons joined Per Sundin (Pophouse Entertainment CEO),Thierry Coup (creative director, JOCOUP Creative),and Grady Cofer (VFX supervisor, ILM) for a special discussion about the band's history and the inspiration behind the move into innovative avatar-powered performance. The video of the discussion (that includes a glimpse of the avatars, which featured at Madison Square Garden and in the future KISS avatar show) can be seen below.

In the discussion, Simmons comments that through partnering with ILM and Pophouse Entertainment: "We can be forever young and forever iconic by taking us to places we've never dreamed of before. The technology is going to make Paul jump higher than he's ever done before."

During the conversation, Stanley comments: "What we've accomplished has been amazing, but it's not enough. The band deserves to live on because the band is bigger than we are." He later adds: "It's exciting for us to go the next step and see KISS immortalized. I mean, we've spent 50 years building it to this point. And by working with ILM and working with Pophouse, we're all sharing this vision of taking KISS to a completely different level beyond being just a music band. And we've always thought of ourselves as more than just a music band."

Sundin comments: "Pophouse Entertainment Group is thrilled to embark on this transformative journey with KISS, and showcase to fans what is on the horizon as part of future avatar show. Our partnership will fuse the rich history and iconic status of KISS with cutting-edge technology, allowing fans — now and in the future — to experience the band like never before."

In addition to the avatar shows, KISS will continue through other ventures, including a KISS museum in Las Vegas, KISS cruises, an upcoming movie coming out and a cartoon show.

Simmons previously talked about KISS's future plans last month in an interview with 519 Magazine. At the time, he said: "This tour is the end of the road for the band, not the brand. KISS is a universe of its own — movies, merchandise, maybe even Broadway. The band will end, but the KISS experience… it's immortal."

He added: "The KISS show will live on in different ways. Yes, that's being planned. It'll also be four to ten different traveling shows. So, you'll be able to be in Japan and have Japanese actors, musicians being us, and at the same time you could go to Vegas or New York or London."

Pophouse was co-founded by ABBA's Björn Ulvaeus in 2014, initially as a way to create unique live events that encapsulate and promote the ABBA brand. Since then, it has expanded into other venue, event and media ventures.

The purpose-built venue and the technology that delivers the "ABBA Voyage" concerts in London reportedly cost around $175 million before the show opened in May 2022.

Within 15 months, the show had generated more than $150 million in sales and sold more than 1.5 million tickets, according to Bloomberg.

Time to dress warmly as winter is reigning in many parts of Europe, including Finland from where melodic metal titans, Sonata Arctica, deliver the perfect soundtrack for the cold season with the stormy opus, Clear Cold Beyond - stormy in the most positive way, of course. A fact that got cemented by select music journalists who could sneak an exclusive peek at the full record last month.


Today, the quintet have unveiled yet another taste of their long-awaited new studio album which is due out on March 8 through Atomic Fire. Touching, emotional and with a tad of melancholy leading to an epic chorus, "A Monster Only You Can't See" is a song about friendship and never leaving anyone behind and thereby the band's ideal single choice for the current Christmas time.


Stream/purchase the song here, and watch a lyric video below.




Frontman Tony Kakko explains: "How we all may have in our group of friends that one person who seems to be a magnet for all kinds of problems, many of which he/she may not even see himself/herself. Maybe you're that one? You might be an asshole, but you're OUR asshole and we can see through all that, see the real you, and help. And when children arrive to the scene, they all fit under that same umbrella. Don't worry. We'll kick your butt up that hill."





Clear Cold Beyond contains 10 tracks reviving the band's penchant for power metal-esque tunes following their trip to acoustic landscapes during the pandemic. Clear Cold Beyond is packed with strong songs and fuses the best of all periods of Sonata Arctica's multifaceted work: From high-speed anthems such as the aforementioned "First In Line" and "California" to emotion-laden tracks such as "The Best Things" and the closing title track, this record offers something for each and every Sonata Arctica fan.


The album's artwork, reminiscent of their early works, was created by Niko Anttila and the band returned to mixing engineer Mikko Karmila (Finnvox Studios; Ecliptica [1999] - Stones Grow Her Name [2012]). Final mastering was handled by Svante Forsbäck, who has also been part of other Sonata Arctica productions.


Clear Cold Beyond will be available in the following formats:


- CD-digipak
- jewelcase CD (US)
- 2LP vinyl [winter night marbled (white/black) | icy-blue marbled (transparent/blue)]
- digital


Pre-order the album in the physical format of your choice, pre-save it on your favourite DSP or pre-order it digitally to receive "A Monster Only You Can't See" and "First In Line" instantly now, here.





Clear Cold Beyond tracklisting:


"First In Line"
"California"
"Shah Mat"
"Dark Empath"
"Cure For Everything"
"A Monster Only You Can't See"
"Teardrops"
"Angel Defiled"
"The Best Things"
"Clear Cold Beyond"


Bonus Tracks (digipak + vinyl only):
"A Ballad For The Broken"
"Toy Soldiers" (Martika cover)


"First In Line":






A bunch of festival appearances in support of Clear Cold Beyond have already been announced, while even more dates for Sonata Arctica's usually busy live schedule are still to be added in course of time.


Live dates:


March
16 - Laukaa, Finland - Peurunka Areena


May
3 - Kopervik, Norway - Karmøygeddon Metal Festival
11 - Bomal-sur-Ourthe, Belgium - Durbuy Rock Festival
31-June 6 - Pilsen, Czech Republic - Metalfest


June
28-30 - Helsinki, Finland - Tuska Festival


July
31-August 3 - Wacken, Germany - Wacken Open Air


August
7-10 - Villena, Spain -  Leyendas del Rock


Lineup:


Tony Kakko - vocals
Elias Viljanen - guitars
Pasi Kauppinen - bass
Henrik "Henkka" Klingenberg - keyboards
Tommy Portimo - drums


(Photo - Jaakko Manninen)

Sepultura have today issued the following statement...


"Sepultura has reached the end of the road and has chosen to depart via a conscious and planned death. Throughout the next 18 months we will celebrate 40 years of existence together along with our loyal fans on a farewell tour across the entire globe. It will be a celebration of the past and the present for one final time.


"After 4 decades filled with ups and downs, having visited 80 countries and countless different cultures, we’ve had the chance to become Brazil’s messenger to the world and spread our colors and rhythms worldwide. With our latest studio album Quadra, a highlight of our career, we added an unforgettable chapter followed by the SepulQuarta experience that helped us to overcome the difficult times of the pandemic together. We will unite our forces for one final, strong farewell. And all of you can be a part of it.




"During this 40th anniversary tour, we will record 40 live tracks in 40 different cities and release a massive compilation of our best, most energetic moments on stage.


"We are happy and very grateful for everything we could witness within the past four decades. We have released great albums and played unforgettable shows, cultivated friendships, met our idols, contributed to placing Brazilian metal on the world map, and therefore feel that we can leave the music scene with a sense of duty fulfilled.


"We’ve always had the best fans in the world, who supported us with praise and criticism, who were demanding and intelligent, who grew together with the band and have always been loyal. Without you, none of this would have been possible. This album and this tour are for you. Dear SepulNation - we love you and always will!


"Euthanasia, the right to a dignified death. The right to choose to live free and to choose when you die!"


Europe, Sepultura will celebrate with you for one final time together. As special guests, Ukrainian progressive metal highflyers Jinjer will join them on all 20 dates, alongside old-school death metallers Obituary and Philadelphia’s Jesus Piece.


Tickets will go on sale through all outlets on Wednesday, December 13 at 10 AM, CET via here.





European dates:


October
30 - Paris, France - Zenith Paris - La Villette
31 - Offenbach am Main, Germany - Stadthalle


November
1 - Hamburg, Germany - Edel Optics Arena
2 - Cologne, Germany - Palladium
3 - Den Bosch, Netherlands - The Rock Circus
5 - Brussels, Belgium - Ancienne Belgique
6 - Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg - Rockhal
8 - Manchester, UK - Manchester Academy
9 - Dublin, Ireland - Olympia Theatre
10 - Belfast, UK - Telegraph Building
11 - Glasgow, UK - Barrowland Ballroom
12 - London, UK - Hammersmith Apollo
14 - Zurich, Switzerland - The Hall
15 - Ludwigsburg, Germany - MHP Arena
16 - Munich, Germany - Zenith
17 - Budapest, Hungary - Barba Negra
19 - Leipzig, Germany - Haus Auensee
20 - Vienna, Austria - Gasometer
21 - Katowice, Poland - Spodek
22 - Berlin, Germany - Columbiahalle
23 - Prague, Czech Republic - O2 Universum





Sepultura are:


Andreas Kisser - guitars
Derrick Green - vocals
Eloy Casagrande - drums
Paulo Jr. - bass

GUNS N' ROSES have released a new single titled "The General" via Geffen Records. The track can now be streamed below.

"The General" is the B-side of GUNS N' ROSES' limited-edition seven-inch vinyl single titled "Perhaps", which was made available for pre-order in August.

GUNS N' ROSES performed "The General" live for the first time on November 2 at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles. The track was introduced by singer Axl Rose as a song they hadn't played before and that "it could be very interesting."

Like "Perhaps", "The General" was written during the sessions for GUNS N' ROSES' "Chinese Democracy" album. It was previously talked about by ex-GN'R drummer Bryan "Brain" Mantia, who reportedly wrote some of the song's music and gave it its title, and former SKID ROW singer Sebastian Bach.

In a 2008 interview with Rolling Stone, Sebastian said that Axl told him that "The General", which was described as "a slow, grinding track," is the sequel to "Use Your Illusion II"'s "Estranged", that goes to the parable that Del James wrote of the trilogy. (James penned the short story that inspired the "November Rain" video).

Bach told Metal Edge magazine back in 2007: "One of my favorite songs is this song called 'The General', which is so... it's by far the heaviest metal tune I think I've ever heard Axl do, this slow, grinding riff with these high, piercing vocals, screaming vocals."

Like GUNS N' ROSES' 2021 singles "Hard Skool" and "Absurd", "Perhaps" was originally written and recorded during the sessions for "Chinese Democracy", and a rough demo version of the song had previously been leaked and uploaded to YouTube.

GUNS N' ROSES released a four-song EP, "Hard Skool", in February 2022. The effort, which was exclusive to the GUNS N' ROSES' official store, contained the two new songs the band released in 2021 — the title track and "Absurd" (stylized as "ABSUЯD") — as well as live versions of "Don't Cry" and "You're Crazy".

In September 2021, the guitarist and his bandmates dropped "Hard Skool", which came more than a month after their performance and subsequent official release of "Absurd", a reworking of GUNS N' ROSES previously unreleased "Silkworms".

According to Slash, several other older GUNS N' ROSES tracks have also been reworked during the pandemic. "There's a handful of those songs that we actually fixed up and did when we were in lockdown," he explained to "Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk". "So those have yet to be released. So those are gonna come out. They're really good, too. So I'm excited for those. We're just gonna put out like one or two songs, and another one or two songs. And I think that's gonna be pretty much all of 'em. I'm not sure exactly how many we did in total."

When host Eddie Trunk noted that "Hard Skool" in particular was a strong cut, Slash said: "These other ones, they don't have the same kind of amount of history, 'cause I know 'Hard Skool' seriously has… [it] goes way back. But there's a couple of epic ones coming out, so I'm excited about that."

If and when it happens, the new GUNS N' ROSES studio album will be the first under the GUNS banner since "Chinese Democracy" and the first to feature Slash, Rose and bassist Duff McKagan since 1993.

Slash previously spoke about "Hard Skool", one of the first two songs he recorded with GUNS N' ROSES in more than 25 years, this past February in an interview with Rolling Stone. At the time he said: "'Hard Skool', in essence, was a completed song when I was first introduced to it. And Duff and I went in and redid the bass and the guitars. It's a simple song, so it didn't take a hell of a lot of thought and analysis. I think it was a lot of fun just because it was part and parcel of a bunch of stuff that we were working on that was all sort of new — at least to Duff and I — so we had a good time."

In October 2021, Slash told Audacy Check In host Remy Maxwell that GUNS N' ROSES had yet to begin writing new material after releasing the two reworked songs from the "Chinese Democracy"-era sessions.

"As far as new GUNS is concerned, we haven't even gotten to that point of really in earnest sitting down and writing," Slash said. "We've been doing a lot of material that's been sort of sitting around for a while. So that will be a whole focused endeavor unto itself."

As for how "Hard Skool" and "Absurd" came about, Slash said: "They both have a lot of history. What happened was Axl has all these songs that he recorded at some point along the way. And so Duff and I went in and re-did them, basically… Like, I wrote my own kind of parts to what else is going on, and [we] just sort of took the drums and re-did everything else."

Written by Rose and co-produced by Rose and Caram Costanzo, "Hard Skool", which had the working title "Jackie Chan", was originally recorded during GN'R's "Chinese Democracy" era but was eventually omitted from that album. Short clips of the song were later posted online and a full version was leaked in August 2019.

On "Hard Skool", Axl sings: "But you had to play it cool, had to do it your way/Had to be a fool, had to throw it all away/Too hard school and you thought you were here to stay/ If that were true, it wouldn't matter anyway."

"Absurd" came out on August 6, 2021, three days after GUNS N' ROSES performed the tune live for the first time during its concert at Boston's Fenway Park.

GUNS N' ROSES last performed "Silkworms", which was also reportedly written during the "Chinese Democracy" sessions, in 2001.

Photo courtesy of The Oriel Company

In a new interview with Australia's Heavy, HELMET frontman Page Hamilton was asked how the band's recently released album, "Left", has been received so far. He responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Everybody tells me all the positive stuff. So, as far as I know, positively. [Laughs] I don't read reviews and I don't pay attention. They send me e-mails, 'You got this add and that add, and 'it's the number one metal album in Australia on Spotify.' And 'it's number four rock album.' It all means next to nothing to me. My job's done, as far as the album is concerned, once it's released — actually, once it's mastered and the artwork's done and I pass it off to the label. Then I just have to learn the songs for live. So that's my job. I can't worry about the other stuff."

Asked if fans generally go into new HELMET music with a sense of expectation or they trust that whatever he puts out is going to be enough, Page said: "I don't know now. I think early on in HELMET Mach 2, everybody had expectations because the band had been gone for a while and it wasn't the same rhythm section. And so, of course, people had expectations. The first album was 'Size Matters' in 2003 or [200]4, whenever that was, that came out, after the hiatus, after the band broke up in '98. And I remember Decibel — that's a metal magazine; still around, I believe, [with] really good writers — they reviewed the album, and then three years later, or two years later, they re-reviewed it. They were, like, we were wrong about this song, this song. It's a really great album. It just doesn't sound like 'Betty' or 'Meantime' or whatever. And you're always gonna kind of come up against that. If you do an album that everybody holds in high esteem, people want that for the rest of their lives, I guess. But I couldn't write the same song over and over again. It's just not in my DNA."

He added: "I sang and played on a LINKIN PARK song, and Mike Shinoda, the rapper and kind of producer in the band, he said, 'Yeah, man, we made our first album, sold a bunch of millions of records. And so we made our second album exactly the same.' And I said, 'Yeah, my approach is different.' I like to kind of try to do the opposite."

Circling back to the original question, Page said: "I think some people are cool with it. Some people are not cool with it."

HELMET is touring in support of its latest studio album, the aforementioned "Left", which was released on November 10 via earMUSIC. The trek is making stops in Germany, Scandinavia, Italy, Spain, Netherlands, Belgium and France before concluding on December 13 in London, United Kingdom.

For a complete list of tour dates, visit HelmetMusic.com.

HELMET's first official live album, "Live And Rare", was released in November 2021 via earMUSIC. It was made available on heavyweight black vinyl as well as a CD digipak edition and digital.

Although HELMET disbanded in 1997, Hamilton revived the band in 2004, and the group has continued to tour and record.

"Dead To The World" was released in October 2016 via earMUSIC. The effort was produced by Hamilton and mixed by Jay Baumgardner.

In 2021, HELMET released a cover of GANG OF FOUR's 1981 song "Into The Ditch". The track was recorded for a tribute album to GANG OF FOUR's guitarist Andy Gill, "The Problem Of Leisure: A Celebration Of Andy Gill And Gang Of Four".

Having cut his teeth playing with avant-garde guitar icon Glenn Branca and indie stalwarts BAND OF SUSANS, Hamilton launched HELMET in 1989, and the band released its debut album, "Strap It On", on the independent Amphetamine Reptile label the following year. HELMET soon became the subject of an unprecedented major-label bidding war, ultimately signing with Interscope and releasing "Meantime" in June 1992.

Even while the band was absent from the spotlight, HELMET continued to exercise considerable influence on multiple generations of bands. Their songs have been covered by the likes of CHEVELLE, DEFTONES, FAITH NO MORE, PIG DESTROYER and SOULFLY, and the band inspired a 2016 HELMET tribute album titled "Meantime Redux". HELMET has also been cited as a key influence on such bands as GODSMACK, KORN, MARILYN MANSON, MASTODON, PANTERA, QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE, SEPULTURA, SLIPKNOT, STAIND, SYSTEM OF A DOWN and TOOL.

During an appearance on the latest episode of Knotfest's "She's With The Band", the show hosted by Tori Kravitz aiming to amplify the voices of women on stage, backstage and in the business, STITCHED UP HEART singer Alecia "Mixi" Demner was asked to elaborate on things in the hard rock and heavy metal portion of the music industry that she has found to be "misogynistic" but "from more of a constructive standpoint, like what we can do better, that's maybe could use a little work." Mixi responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Oh, shall we? Uh, yeah. I have to watch what I say, because it always ends up on Blabbermouth, and then I'm, like, having… I have to defend myself constantly, because I don't wanna just sit there and let people be trolls… It's okay. I don't mind playing back. It's kind of fun. But it is what it is."

She continued: "It's clearly obvious that the amount — if you just look at festival lineups, the majority of them are male, like about 90 percent of the bands are male. If you look at radio, there's only maybe two or three songs with a female on it. And it doesn't just have to do with the stations or the festivals. It's like the people listening are predominantly male. And, unfortunately, I guess that's what comes with the aggressive nature of the music. And so I feel like it's my responsibility to bring more women into this world and to show women and girls that girls can do it too. Because when I was growing up, there weren't a lot of women rock bands. There was NO DOUBT, you had Avril Lavigne, and there wasn't a lot of that at the time that I grew up on. And so I just wanna see a 50-50 split. And it might take a long time to get there. But I have seen a lot of girls in the crowd at these shows [we recently played with ESCAPE THE FATE]… And when we did the tour with [other female-fronted bands] IN THIS MOMENT, HALESTORM and NEW YEARS DAY, it was almost a 50-50 split in the crowd. So maybe we're doing something. Maybe we're carrying that torch for the women for the next generation. Who knows what the future holds? But watch out, boys, because we're comin' atcha."

Mixi previously talked about what it is like being a woman in a traditionally male-centered and male-dominated business of rock and roll this past September in an interview with Anne Erickson of Audio Ink Radio. At the time, she said: "I gravitate to the women in the industry, so I'm always, like, 'Oh my God. There's a girl in the band. I need to check out this band.' I don't know what it is, [but] I just relate a lot, and I seem to have a lot in common with the other women in the industry. So it's kind of, like, when I find band with a girl in it, I know almost every single one, so if there's another band that I don't know of that has a girl in it, I'm surprised."

She continued: "But I do think there's definitely been growth in women being more accepted in the heavy music genre, but still, there's a lot more room to go, 'cause it's still way male-dominated. And I just wish I could see, like, a 50-50 split with women [and men]. But it is really, really cool to see the women… It's not the easiest gig. It's rough on the road. As women, we like to be pampered, and we like to be clean, and it's not always the cleanest. [Laughs] But I keep it as clean on the road as possible. So, I understand why it's a little more difficult."

Demner added that she would like to see more women enter the rock and metal music industry. "I'm hoping that that'll change, 'cause if you look at pop, rap, country, [there are] so many women, and why is it different with metal?" she said. "I mean, if you look at Europe, they embrace the women in metal, and actually metal, in general, is a mainstream thing. So I'm hoping the U.S. catches up with that. But there are so many great bands with females in them in the heavy genre."

STITCHED UP HEART's latest album, "To The Wolves", arrived on September 1 via Century Media Records.

Formed in Los Angeles, California in 2010, STITCHED UP HEART has gained recognition for its intense live performances and deeply personal songwriting.

Mixi is joined in STITCHED UP HEART's core lineup by James Decker on drums, Merritt Goodwin on guitar and Randy Mathias on bass. They released their album titled "Never Alone", which debuted in the Top 10 of both the Billboard Heatseekers and Hard Rock charts. With their single "Finally Free" organically gaining hyper rotation on active rock radio the band paved the way to success for the next two singles "Monster" and "Catch Me When I Fall".

In 2020, STITCHED UP HEART released its sophomore album, "Darkness". Produced by Matt Good, the LP delved further into the band's introspective songwriting and showcases their growth as musicians. Tracks like "Lost" (featuring Sully Erna of GODSMACK) and "My Demon" highlighted the band's ability to blend heavy guitar riffs with anthemic choruses, making a lasting impact on the rock genre.

STITCHED UP HEART is:

Alecia "Mixi" Demner - lead vocals, rhythm guitar
James Decker - drums, backing vocals
Merritt Goodwin - lead guitar
Randy Mathias - bass, backing vocals

Legendary rockers AEROSMITH have joined Spotify's "Billions Club" with their classic song "Dream On".

Billions Club is a playlist first launched in 2020 which includes all of the songs on Spotify that have surpassed one billion streams on the platform. After the achievement, Spotify gifts artists the Billions Club plaque.

AEROSMITH joins other artists — including METALLICA's "Nothing Else Matters", SURVIVOR's "Eye Of The Tiger", ABBA's "Dancing Queen", PAPA ROACH's "Last Resort" and Whitney Houston's "I Wanna Dance With Somebody" — to reach the achievement. The milestone has reportedly been achieved by nearly 500 tracks so far.

"Dream On" was featured on AEROSMITH's self-titled debut album, which was released in January 1973.

Penned by frontman Steven Tyler, the ballad was the second single released from "Aerosmith". Long since a staple at classic rock radio, "Dream On" scored its most recent accolade in the form of induction into the Grammy Hall Of Fame as part of the class of 2018.

"The music for 'Dream On' was originally written on a Steinway upright piano in the living room of Trow-Rico lodge in Sunapee [New Hampshire], maybe four years before AEROSMITH even started," Tyler recalls in the AEROSMITH biography "Walk This Way" by Stephen Davis. "I was seventeen or eighteen… It was just this little thing I was playing, and I never dreamed it would end up as a real song or anything… It's about dreaming until your dreams come true."

Former HINDER vocalist Austin John Winkler recently appeared on the "Side Jams With Bryan Reesman" podcast to take about his long and difficult road to sobriety. He departed HINDER, the band he fronted for over 12 years and over four albums, in 2013 when his addictions hampered his ability to perform with them. HINDER had a triple platinum album with "Extreme Behavior" and a gold album with the follow-up "Take It To The Limit". They are known for the songs "Get Stoned" and "Lips Of An Angel". Winkler recently re-recorded the latter song as a duet with country singer Shaylen.

On "Side Jams", Winkler said that he had always been drawn to something to make him escape since he was a kid, and that escape continued for 20 years. The cumulative effect of his drinking and partying before, during, and after his time in HINDER led to the point where he was on dialysis for nine months. He went for four to five hours for four days a week. The singer was fortunate enough to not need a liver transplant.

"It was obviously over time of me just partying and drinking and [taking] tons of opiates," Winkler told "Side Jams". "Just anything that's bad for your liver. I love opiates, I love drinking, and it all caught up to me probably around 2019. I got to the point where I was so bad that all I needed was two shots of vodka and then I wouldn't drink anymore. I would just be hallucinating. And I was completely yellow. I hadn't looked in the mirror, and the doctor was, like, 'Why are you so yellow?' And I had no clue I was yellow. It was not pretty towards the end. Like I said, just two shots and that was just to keep me from shaking and so I can think that I was functioning. But, man, I thought that I had the cast of 'House Of 1000 Corpses' [stalking me]. The last month of me using was waking up having a couple shots back so I could just function, and I would just peek around the room thinking that these guys are going to come out and get me. It was full blown paranoia. And I would tell this story two months after I hadn't had a drink in the hospital, thinking it would be true, trying to convince my friends and family. It was crazy. They were in the fucking closet. It was just from drinking two shots of vodka, and that was only to stop shaking. Then I would just hallucinate the rest of the day. I did that for about a month."

After going through dialysis, Winkler was given a two-week break to see how it went. He recalled going to Nashville and recording his 2021 single "SuperJaded" with a catheter sticking out of his chest.

"I took the long way to get there," Winkler said of achieving sobriety. "I had probably seven rehabs and eight sober livings and stuff like that. So it was gradual. Obviously I was something that I wanted to have happen and achieve because I just kept trying to do it. And it just wasn't wasn't taking. I'll tell you what, man, looking at yourself in the mirror, and looking like a 'Simpsons' character — and having the doctor say you may never get your color back — that will definitely scare you into sobriety. That played some part. Definitely when I saw myself I was like, 'This is my bottom. I hit it.' There's lots of different bottoms. There's lots of times that I thought that this was the bottom. [Then when] I spent three months in the hospital, 24 days in the ICU, that was the biggest gift. I mean, as much fucking hell as it was, it was a gift to me. Like, you get a second chance."

Winkler also gave props to MusiCares — a charitable wing of the Recording Academy which provides a safety net of critical health and welfare services to the music community — with offering him assistance.

"It definitely is an amazing program that helped me out," the singer said. "When I first started to try to get sober, they took care of me and put me up and helped me get a whole three months of treatment. They put me where I needed. MusiCares is definitely an amazing program that if anybody is struggling, if you know any musician struggling, reach out to them because they will definitely do all they can."

In the new issue of Metal Hammer magazine, IRON MAIDEN's Nicko McBrain discussed the effects of the ministroke he suffered earlier this year and his ongoing recovery. He said: "Well, it was very, very difficult. When it first happened, I thought, 'This is it. I'm not going to be able to play. I've got a tour coming up in three months' time.' I had a lot of time for reflection in the hospital. My wife was really my bastion of strength and encouragement and she was with me throughout. I did a lot of strength exercises, a lot of stretches with weird weights that they have and I got my stamina back."

McBrain told Metal Hammer that his MAIDEN bandmates, especially bassist Steve Harris, were very supportive during his recovery.

"Through all this period of time I was in touch with Steve, obviously all the guys, and I'd have a bit of a chat with them on the phone and they were all very, very encouraging, and none more so than Steve," Nicko said. "He said, 'Look, the most important thing is that you get well and work on getting yourself together.'"

This past October, Nicko spoke about his latest health scare during an appearance on SiriusXM's "Trunk Nation Power Trip Special". Asked how the shows on MAIDEN's "The Future Past Tour" have been, Nicko said: "It's going great. It started off a little shaky for me, but as the time [went on] and the more shows we performed, I started to get a little bit more strength and they'd been really rocking out well. And the last couple of months have been fantastic."

The 71-year-old McBrain also talked about his recovery in more detail and touched upon how his health setback affected his drumming. He said: "[I'm] doing good [right now]. I'm still probably — I'd say I'm 85 to 90 percent back to strength, but I still have a little less dexterity with speed in my fingers. My fingers are the ones that — this is the last thing to strengthen up. But I had to change certain drum fills. Some fills that everybody knows me for on certain songs, I've had to improvise those at rehearsals to be able to actually play the songs. So now I'm starting to actually be able to kind of embrace it a bit more. And I can't do that live. I have to wait until we start doing some rehearsals again or whatever it is. But I'm definitely getting stronger. And I've had great support from [MAIDEN manager] Rod [Smallwood], the band, and all of the fans out there. They've been absolutely — they've shown me so much love, it's amazing."

When Nicko first went public with his stroke in August, the drummer said in a statement that the episode left him "paralyzed" down one side of his body and "worried" that his career with the band was over.

McBrain's statement read as follows: "I hope this message finds you all well!

"The reason I'm writing to you all today is to let you know of a very serious health problem that I have been through. In January I had a stroke, thank the Lord it was a minor one referred to as a TIA. It left me paralyzed on my right side from my shoulder on down, of course I was very worried that my career was over but with the love and support from my wife, Rebecca and family, my doctors, especially Julie my OT (Occupational Therapist),and my MAIDEN family I was able to bounce back to somewhere near 70% recovered. After 10 weeks of intense therapy it was almost time to start rehearsals for our tour.

"I feel it's important to let you know about this now instead of earlier as I was mainly concerned with doing my job and concentrating on getting back to 100% fitness. I'm not there yet but by the grace of God I'm getting better and stronger as the weeks go by.

"Thank you all for a most wonderful and magical tour so far, you have all been so amazing.

"Well that's it from me. God bless you all, stay safe and well and I look forward to seeing you all somewhere in time. "

Manager Rod Smallwood added: "The rest of the band and l think that what Nicko has been able to achieve since his stroke shows incredible belief and willpower and we are all very proud of him. With this new and musically very complex set to learn ahead of him, he just got his head down and concentrated on recovery. We honestly did not know if he would be able to play a whole show until band rehearsals started in May and there was just so much support for him from the band and then genuine relief for all when we saw he was going to be able to do it!

"Nicko being Nicko he did not want to make a fuss and cause any distraction to the tour at the time but, now that he is sure he will soon get there, he thought you fans should know straight from him rather than by any rumours! We are all of course delighted he battled through this so well and look forward to many more tours together!"

Three years ago, McBrain was diagnosed with stage 1 laryngeal cancer and opened up about it in a single interview in 2021 but otherwise kept it mostly under wraps. The musician received his cancer diagnosis after undergoing an endoscopy at the Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center, part of the University Of Miami Health System and the Miller School of Medicine. Within a week, McBrain's cancer was surgically removed and he now gets check-ups every few months to make sure the cancer hasn't returned.

McBrain, who had the cancer in a part of his vocal cords, isn't the first member of MAIDEN to beat cancer. Back in late 2014, IRON MAIDEN's Bruce Dickinson was diagnosed with throat cancer. The singer, who had a golf gall-size tumor on his tongue and another in the lymph node on the right side of his neck, got the all-clear in May 2015 after radiation and nine weeks of chemotherapy.

In a 2015 interview with Overdrive, McBrain admitted that he thought MAIDEN was over when it was discovered that Dickinson had a cancerous tumor. "Well, I'd be a liar if I didn't think for a minute that IRON MAIDEN [was] finished," he said. "[But] I thought more about the possibility of losing my friend than anything else, to be honest. Then later, I was thinking, 'God forbid if the worst ever happened, the legacy would be the last 16 albums.'"

McBrain, who is a dedicated Christian, continued: "I've got to be honest, I did question his mortality at one point and thankfully that didn't last long. Honestly, I got down on my knees and said a prayer, picked my thoughts up and got positive about it all, thinking to myself, 'If anyone can beat this, it's Bruce.' He's so positive about everything he's ever done in his life, or whatever he is about to do. Basically, I prayed for him and my prayers were answered, as well as everybody else that knows and cares for him."

In a new interview with Cannabis Now, SYSTEM OF A DOWN bassist Shavo Odadjian was asked to name "the coolest thing" he he has ever experienced with his bandmates. He said: "Oh, I could name a few, but when we were the musical guest at 'Saturday Night Live', that was amazing. Now that was ridiculous. That's a moment I'll never forget. Also, when we played Rock In Rio for the first time in front of a sea of people, an ocean of humanity and energy with 300,000 fans screaming and singing our songs back to us. So great. The third has to be the Grammy we won. We didn't go to the actual award show that year, something I now kind of regret. I would've loved to experience it. I was at home having a burger when I got a call saying 'Congratulations, you just won a Grammy,' and I called my brother, my two cousins and a friend and rented a limo. It took them to all the Grammy after-parties because I was definitely going to take family to this, something they'd never experience otherwise. We had a great night."

As for the "low moments," Shavo said: "The low moments are only the human moments when we don’t do as many things as we want. Because it takes four of us to agree on everything and not all of us are on the same page."

Shavo recently announced the musicians who will accompany him on his upcoming debut solo album, including vocalist Taylor Barber (LEFT TO SUFFER),guitarist Alejandro Aranda and drummer Josh Johnson.

The 49-year-old Armenian-American Shavo, born Shavarsh Odadjian, is working on the LP with WINDS OF PLAGUE guitarist Michael Montoya (a.k.a. MorgothBeatz),a producer and songwriter who has previously collaborated with Travis Barker, JuiceWrld, Lil Xan, Jonathan Davis, ISSUES and many more.

This past April, Odadjian spoke to the 96.7 KCAL-FM program "Wired In The Empire" about his solo LP, saying: "I started this solo project with MorgothBeatz; he's my producer and he's also the guitar player for the group. And it's called SHAVO, but it's heavy. I'm back to my roots — no hip-hop. I think it's the heaviest I've ever been, and it's just flowing out of me.

"We have a track with — I'm gonna say it — Jonathan Davis [of KORN]," Shavo revealed. "I'm working on that one right now. We have the choruses and the first verse, and I'm gonna do a little breakdown, and I think we've got one. That's 12 — number 12. So we're 12 songs into the solo record. I'm very excited about that."

Regarding the writing and recording process for his solo album, Shavo said: "I'm recording bass and guitar. And then I have the drums being programmed at the moment, but I'm gonna have a live drummer on the record… And it's sounding crazy. I swear, I wouldn't even talk about it if I didn't believe in it so much.

"I go in, [MorgothBeatz] plays a beat, and I just write," he explained. "And then we record everything I write, and then we put it together and it becomes something. And it's fucking cool as hell. It's this cool artistic freedom I'm having in the studio."

As for a possible release date for his solo LP, Shavo said: "I'm thinking late this year, early next year. I'm gonna shop it and get a label for this one. I'm not doing it on my own. I think it needs a good push, because it's what you want to hear from me. It really is. If you know what I've done in the past, then you know the songs I had a part in writing. It's a little of [SYSTEM OF A DOWN's] 'Toxicity' all throughout this record — that kind of shit. You wanna bang your head, you wanna run in the pit, you wanna go crazy, but you wanna smile while you're doing it and not be angry."

Asked if he is planning on touring with his solo project, Odadjian said: "For sure. I'm gonna take this on the road… The SHAVO project is something that I wanna tour with for as long as I can and blow up, because I feel like it's something that can. And like I said, it's my DNA — it's what you'd expect from me."

SYSTEM OF A DOWN has toured intermittently since ending its hiatus in 2011, but has only managed to record two songs in the last 17 years, "Protect The Land" and "Genocidal Humanoidz". Released in November 2020, the tracks were motivated by the conflict between Artsakh and Azerbaijan, with all proceeds supporting humanitarian efforts in SYSTEM OF A DOWN's ancestral homeland of Armenia. Along with other donations from fans on their social pages, they have raised over $600,000.

In 2018, SYSTEM OF A DOWN guitarist Daron Malakian publicly accused singer Serj Tankian of not wanting to record, with Tankian responding that creative and financial issues with Malakian led to the stalemate. In a message on Facebook, Tankian wrote that Malakian wanted to control SYSTEM's creative process, take more of the publishing money and be the only bandmember to speak to the press.