In a new interview with El Cuartel Del Metal, SABATON's frontman, co-founder and principal songwriter Joakim Brodén spoke about the band's decision to sign with Better Noise Music after a decade-and-a-half-long run with Nuclear Blast. Regarding what prompted the label switch, Joakim said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Basically, they've gone through some changes, Nuclear Blast, over the years, [having] been bought up by [global digital music company] Believe [in 2018], and while I have no hard feelings towards any one of them, this felt like the next logical step. Because for the past two albums, it seemed like we had hit the roof, to us sometimes, of our reach with Nuclear Blast. With that said, we have good friends still, and we have good friends and lovely people who work there. So this is more of a — what do you call it? — intellectual decision of what's the best next step for SABATON and not emotional, 'Oh, we've been fucked over by a label.' No, we haven't."

The Nuclear Blast relationship with SABATON dated back to 2010's World War II-themed "Coat Of Arms" album.

Earlier this month, SABATON released its first single for Better Noise Music, a song called "Templars". The track will appear on the band's soon-to-be-announced eleventh studio album, to be released later in the year.

Along with the digital release of "Templars", SABATON is offering its fans a special one-sided 12-inch vinyl single which is limited to 1,000 copies worldwide and set to be released on June 27.

The strikingly cinematic "Templars" video was filmed at two massive historical fortresses in Serbia (Belgrade Fortress within Kalemegdan Park and Smederevo Fortress),both of which provided a striking and authentic backdrop for the epic battle scenes.

SABATON — Joakim Brodén (vocals),Pär Sundström (bass),Chris Rörland (guitar),Thobbe Englund (guitar),Hannes Van Dahl (drums) — has always had a signature focus on writing songs about historical battles, wars, and acts of heroism that have solidified their impact with their loyal and longtime fans. SABATON has accumulated more than three billion streams across all streaming platforms and almost two billion views on YouTube.

Better Noise Music is known for its creative artist development, innovative cross-media strategies, and ability to build international success stories. It was named Billboard's No. 1 Mainstream Rock Airplay Label and No. 1 Mainstream Rock Airplay Imprint of 2024, after its history-making run of five consecutive years as the No. 1 Mainstream Rock Airplay Imprint (2018-2022). In 2023 Allen Kovac moved up to chairman role and over the last two and a half years the company has been run by Dan Waite CEO, Steve Kline COO and president, Harris Masood CFO and Paul Cormack GM.

Since SABATON's 2005 debut LP, the band has released 10 studio albums (some of which have been certified as gold, platinum, and even quadruple platinum),seen eight of its albums score Top 10 international chart status, and six claim the Top 5.

2022's "The War to End All Wars" was the last SABATON album to feature guitarist Tommy Johansson. He has since been replaced by a returning Englund.

Thobbe originally joined SABATON in April 2012 and amicably parted ways with the band in July 2016 to focus on his personal life and expand his creativity. He rejoined SABATON in February 2024.

Englund recorded two studio albums with SABATON, namely "Heroes" (2014) and "The Last Stand" (2016),and assisted with the songwriting of some very popular songs including "Shiroyama" and "Fields Of Verdun", among others.

In November 2025, SABATON will embark on a 20-city European run dubbed "The Legendary Tour". The band teased the trek as "a huge celebration of SABATON's music, storytelling and the incredible bond they share with their fans", featuring "The Legendary Orchestra and other surprises," resulting in "something unprecedented."

Last fall, SABATON served as main support to JUDAS PRIEST on the legendary heavy metal band's North American tour.

In the more than two decades since their launch, SABATON has achieved quadruple-platinum sales, headlined major festivals, sold-out arena concerts across the globe, and earned a legion of loyal fans by being self-managed and carving out a reputation as one of the most innovative bands in rock. SABATON combines standout stage design and production with epic concept albums, linking real-life historical war events with classic kick-ass metal. To date, the band has released ten studio albums, amassed six gold, two platinum, and one four-times-platinum awards, seen eight of its albums score Top 10 international chart status, and six claim the Top 5.

When SABATON hit the 20-year mark, they headlined both stages at Wacken 2019 — the biggest metal festival in the world — simultaneously. Meanwhile, in 2023 as part of a charity initiative, SABATON donated their full-length animated movie to museums around the world in order to increase awareness and visitor numbers, and successfully encouraged people to support the preservation of history in these establishments. During SABATON's 25th-anniversary year, the band released the "Tour To End All Tours" concert film, and through independent distribution, it was screened in more than 1,200 cinemas spanning 28 territories.

Baltimore hardcore band TURNSTILE has shared a double music video for "Seein' Stars" / "Birds" — two new songs off its eagerly awaited album "Never Enough", which is set to arrive on June 6. The new music video is directed by the band's own Brendan Yates and Pat McCrory, and "Seein' Stars" includes additional vocals contributed by BLOOD ORANGE's Devonté Hynes and PARAMORE's Hayley Williams. Both tracks are available today across all streaming platforms.

Earlier this month TURNSTILE announced details of "Never Enough" and shared the album's title track along with a music video directed by Yates and McCrory. "Never Enough" marks the band's first full-length release in four years and is available for pre-order / pre-save, with several limited edition vinyl color variants available in the band's store.

Recorded between Los Angeles and their homes in Baltimore, "Never Enough" is produced by TURNSTILE's Brendan Yates. The expansive collection is a restless and exhilarating evolution of the band's genre-defying sound. A transformative journey, both fearless and alive, by one of the most forward-thinking and influential bands of their generation. "Never Enough" follows TURNSTILE's widely celebrated album "Glow On", which earned the band four Grammy nominations.

TURNSTILE recently revealed plans for a special New York record-release show set to happen on June 5 at Under The K Bridge in Brooklyn, New York, which will see them joined by special guests TEEZO TOUCHDOWN, BOY HARSHER and BIG BOY. The band also shared plans for a run of European dates this summer. Additionally, TURNSTILE has a handful of North American festival dates planned for the summer and fall.

TURNSTILE is Brendan Yates (voice / synth / keys ),Franz Lyons (bass),Pat McCrory (guitar),Daniel Fang (drums) and Meg Mills (guitar).

Yates described his feelings about hardcore and making music in a recent interview with the Los Angeles Times: "What drew, and still draws me to [hardcore], is that none of us were musicians. Punk and hardcore are less focused on skill and more on expressing yourself. It's hard to imagine other communities where you [can have] people come out and support you when you're really bad at your instrument. The way I taught myself how to play the guitar is wrong — I played with the wrong fingers and stuff like that — but I learned enough to feel good about what I was trying to get out. I think making music is just a shot in the dark. It's this open canvas."

Photo credit: Alexis Gross

On April 21, IRON MAIDEN singer Bruce Dickinson took part in the Musicians Institute's MI Conversation Series with host Ryan J. Downey in Hollywood, California. During the chat, which can be seen in two parts below, Dickinson spoke about the fan response to his latest solo album, "The Mandrake Project", which arrived in March 2024. Bruce said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Yeah, it was great. Honestly, the reception was great. The reaction to the band when we toured all through Europe [last year] was fantastic. Obviously, we just did two or three shows here in Southern California [in April 2024] just to kind of warm things up before we went down to Brazil… But, yeah, it was brilliant. And people got it. I mean, not everybody is gonna get everything you do — it's not compulsory — but I thought it was a really good, varied album. It was heavy, but it was emotional and stuff. So it was really good. And it worked really well live. In fact this, a couple of tracks [from the album] that we didn't play — well, we've never actually played — we're gonna be playing on the U.S. tour. 'Shadow Of The Gods', which is the most unplayed popular track on the record. So, yeah, you get the benefit of that, and all the people in Europe will be jealous."

Speaking about his upcoming "The Mandrake Project Live 2025" North American tour, Dickinson said: "We're gonna have a lot of fun on this tour coming [up]. Yeah, we did The Observatory [in Santa Ana, California] and two shows at the Whisky [A Go Go in West Hollywood, California in April 2024] as THE HOUSE BAND OF HELL, which is kind of cool. We're still undecided whether or not to call ourselves 'Bruce Dickinson', in brackets, 'featuring THE HOUSE BAND OF HELL. ' But I think it's kind of cool, and we kind of adjusted to all that. We are a crew now as a band."

Regarding a possible follow-up to "The Mandrake Project", Bruce said: "I've just been in the demo studio with everybody for the last three weeks, and we ended up with 18 tracks in 15 days…

"It's gonna be a really cool album," he added. "And, obviously, the guy that's producing it, Brendan Duffey, he mixed 'Mandrake'. We started off with him doing the Atmos mixes and then kind of morphed into, 'I take it you do stereo as well.' And he's great. So, we are just keeping the same crew on this record. And [I'm] looking to record it next year, early next year. I've got some gaps. January, February, March, April is kind of free zone for me next year."

Joining the IRON MAIDEN singer on the "The Mandrake Project Live 2025" North American tour will once again be his 2024 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.

"The Mandrake Project Live 2025" North American tour kicks off in Anaheim, California at the House of Blues on August 22 and takes the band across North America including shows in New York, Los Angeles, Texas, Florida and Canada, with festival appearances at Rocklahoma (Oklahoma) and Louder Than Life (Kentucky),with more to be announced. The tour also includes a quick return to Brazil for the prestigious The Town festival at the City Of Light in São Paulo.

Prior to the April 12, 2024 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.

Roy played guitar on Dickinson's 1994 album "Balls To Picasso" and went on to produce, co-write and perform multiple instruments on Bruce's subsequent three solo albums, "Accident At Birth" (1997),"The Chemical Wedding" (1998) and "Tyranny Of Souls" (2005).

O'Callaghan is an Irish musician who joined WHITESNAKE in 2021 and toured with the David Coverdale-fronted outfit the following year. She also hit the road with Dickinson last year as part of a performance of Jon Lord's "Concerto For Group And Orchestra" on nearly a dozen dates in Europe and South America.

Californian drummer Moreno previously played on "Tyranny Of Souls" and has worked with BODY COUNT, Jizzy Pearl, Dizzy Reed and Steve Stevens, among others.

Italian keyboard wizard Mistheria has collaborated with an array of artists live and in the studio, including Rob Rock, Mike Portnoy, Jeff Scott Soto and Joel Hoekstra.

"The Mandrake Project" arrived on March 1, 2024 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.

We had the legendary Bruce Dickinson 🎤 come by for our Conversation Series and give us deep insight into the Mandrake...

Posted by Musicians Institute on Monday, April 21, 2025

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Brucedickinsonhq is joining us for the MI Conversation Series, this upcoming Monday, April 21st to...

Posted by Musicians Institute on Wednesday, April 16, 2025

In a new interview with Colombia's Radioacktiva, EUROPE singer Joey Tempest was asked about the fact that it's been eight years since he and his bandmates released their last studio album, 2017's "Walk The Earth". Joey responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Honestly, we've never had this long break — ever. I mean, when we did 'Bag Of Bones' [2012], 'War Of Kings' [2015] and 'Walk The Earth', those three albums, they were, like, boom, boom, boom, touring all the way. And then all of a sudden COVID hit and we had some extra time. And then it kind of felt okay to leave it a bit and to live with the ideas, to write new stuff. And that's why this [upcoming EUROPE] album's gonna be special. These songs we lived with for a while — they're strong and there's some strong melodies. And it's gonna make this album special, that it has this extra time. But we've been touring ever since, as you know. So we're always on the road, but we haven't been in the studio, and we're going in this autumn, and that's gonna be a big moment."

Earlier this month, EUROPE drummer Ian Haugland was asked by Brazil's Marcelo Vieira how the band's longtime fans have reacted to EUROPE's recent studio output, which has followed a more blues/classic rock direction instead of the poppy hard rock from the group's most commercially successful years. Ian responded: "Some of the more sort of '80s lovers, they have some — I shouldn't say 'negative' thoughts, but they miss the old EUROPE, as they say. [They tell us], 'You should write more melodic songs' or whatever. But I think our thoughts [have] always been [that] the most important thing for the band to move on is to not only move on and play the old songs, but to give ourselves the space to develop as musicians, as a band, with trying different sounds out. And I think we've been on a musical journey.'

He continued: "The last couple of albums have been more towards the bluesier hard rock. And now the latest one, which actually came eight years ago, 'Walk The Earth', is a lot inspired by our roots, like RAINBOW and [LED] ZEPELIN and DEEP PURPLE. So it's more of that. And right now we're writing songs for a new album that is gonna be recorded later this year. And I think that now we're maybe more back to the melodic EUROPE, sort of. So we're on the journey swaying from different styles and angles. And I think it's important for us to be able to develop all the time. But I would say most of our fans are positive to our development."

Asked why it is taking such a long time for EUROPE to release the follow-up to "Walk The Earth", Ian said: "We've been very busy touring. Every year we get a lot of requests from festivals, especially around Europe, so we haven't had time to really sit down and gather forces and try to become creative in that sense, to write new music. But I know Joey and the guys have been writing stuff along the way without writing for a specific album. But I agree with you. It's been a very long time, but now we're finishing the demos for the new album and the songs are coming together really great. And I think, in my opinion, it's the strongest bunch of new songs that we have at this stage. So I'm excited to see what the next album is gonna sound like. It's gonna be out — well, probably we're gonna go into the studio in October, so it's gonna be out in a year, I guess."

Earlier this month, Tempest confirmed to Brazilian music journalist Igor Miranda that he and his EUROPE bandmates were working on new material. "It's been a long while," he said. "We've never had this long of a break before — ever. We always move from tour into the studio, tour into the studio. I mean, 'Bag Of Bones', 'War Of Kings' and 'Walk The Earth', it was a period in our lives, a very energetic period. But we've been touring ever since, though, ever since 'Walk The Earth'. But we haven't been in the studio. I mean, it started a bit with the, the period of COVID, that made us sort of start over again. In a way, it was good for writing because I could start from scratch. There was more time all of a sudden. There was not, like, 'Let's record an album because we've gotta get back on the road.' We had time all of a sudden. So this is what makes the new album interesting. In a way, it feels like a debut album because it has had life. We had to live with ideas for years. And that's how debut albums are with bands, 'cause bands are out touring and they have written the songs and they live with them, they play them. And it feels a bit like that. It feels fresh, this new EUROPE album."

He continued: "We're halfway through. We're sending demos to each other. We're getting there. We've got some great ideas already.

"We're planning on going in the studio in the autumn, which means there'll be music out next year. And the whole band is very excited about that. The songs are coming, and it feels fresh, with some influences from our past as well. But, as you know, we always experiment as well. So it's kind of the usual adventure, EUROPE adventure. But there's some good stuff there."

Tempest also spoke about EUROPE's upcoming documentary that the band has been busy filming with producer/director Craig Hooper (DEEP PURPLE, SAXON) for Coolhead Productions. The film will tell the story of the band, from formation until present day, telling of their rise to success in the mid-1980s, through hard times and heartache, to coming back in the millennium, and the current successes the band has achieved.

Joey said: "We've had this team with us for four or five years traveling with us to document the new EUROPE. But during COVID, we'd started thinking, 'Hang on a second. Maybe it's time to do the documentary.' People have asked us to do this many years now. But we decided, 'Okay, let's do it.' And then we found a box with old VHS tapes. Our first manager, he walked around with this huge VHS camera when we were just kids. We were still teenagers, and we were wondering, 'What are you doing with that thing? Stop filming,' kind of thing. But he kept filming, and there's [footage] from hotel rooms, there's [footage] from backstage from the middle of '80s and up to '92. And there's stuff from all over the world. And there's stuff that has never [been] seen before, and it was exciting for us as well. So, basically, it's new footage from the band today touring, and there's old VHS footage that has never been seen, and the whole story of us coming from the suburbs of Stockholm, going out in the world and then, in the early '90s, grunge hitting the scene, and it's a bit of a dip and then it's us building everything up again to where we are today. So it's quite a good story as well. And the director's done a great job. So we can't wait. It's gonna be exciting to put this out."

Last month, Joey told El Expreso Del Rock that the musical direction of the upcoming EUROPE LP won't be similar to that of "Walk The Earth" and "War Of Kings". He said: "No, it'll move on. It'll be a new adventure. But I realize, hearing some of the demos we make now, that it's really strong, [with] great melodies. Some of it's really heavy as well. But there's also some connection to the past.

"I'm writing with everyone," he revealed. "I'm writing with John [Norum, guitar], I'm writing with John [Levén, bass] and Mic [Michaeli, keyboards]. And there's beautiful melodies there as well. I'm really excited. There's some great songs coming on. And it's been a while, so we've had time to live with the music, almost like a debut album, almost like the first album, because we have years to live with the songs. We know some of them are really strong because they have staying power; they've stayed for years now. So yeah, this could be an interesting album.

"Yeah, we just like to go on our own adventure, but always carry your past with you," he explained. "That's the thing."

Regarding the upcoming EUROPE documentary, Joey said: "We're so happy to be together after 40 years. Last year was so emotional, that tour. It was incredible to look around the stage at my teenage friends, and we were still there playing and there was great connection with the audience. And so we carry that spirit on to this year. So we're gonna start touring now. South America is the first touring for this year. And we're gonna carry that spirit through the emotional thing that we're still together with. And in this case, we're meeting new fans as well. But it's a great feeling to be here. It's a great job, and to be with the same same guys, yeah. We're gonna do South America. Then we do festivals all over Europe, and then we'll go into the studio. And hopefully this year as well, yeah, it will come out, the official documentary of EUROPE, and it's a great journey. And we have found footage, old footage from hotel rooms, Japan and around the world, San Francisco, when we mixed 'The Final Countdown', there's some footage [that had] never [been] seen [before]. And there's a lot of new footage from us traveling around the world, in South America and other places, mixed in with the story of these young punks from Stockholm making it in the world and then grunge coming along and then building it up again, and it's a great story. So we're really excited to release this documentary as well. So there's a lot of things going on in the EUROPE camp."

Asked if the documentary will be released this year, Joey said: "Yeah, I'd say it will be. We're almost done. We're doing the final editing now. Everything's been approved by the band. Every bandmember has seen it now. And the final editing, we're gonna put some narration on. We're very close. I just hope we get it out maybe before the summer, if not after the summer. Yeah, we're looking forward to that."

In September 2023, EUROPE released a new song titled "Hold Your Head Up". The track, which was described by the band as "a punchy uptempo rocker with reminiscent elements of early EUROPE," was recorded in August 2023 at Atlantis Studios in Stockholm with producer Klas Åhlund (GHOST, ROBYN) and was mixed by Stefan Glaumann (RAMMSTEIN, DEF LEPPARD),who also mixed EUROPE's "Secret Society" album.

In an interview with Metal Global, Tempest was asked why he and his EUROPE bandmates decided to record and release just one song at this time. Tempest said: "We wanted to get this ready before the [fall 2023 European] tour and the [upcoming EUROPE] documentary. So we focused on this song so we could have something out together with the tour and the documentary. That's why we released one song now. But we have a handful of songs — great ideas."

Regarding the experience of working with Åhlund this time around, Joey said: "It was a great experience. We all liked it. The whole band would like to do more stuff with him. We don't know whether he's gonna be the producer of the [upcoming EUROPE] album yet, but... No, we don't know yet. I mean, it would be an interesting idea, actually. But we haven't decided yet. But we were very happy finding him and working with him. He's very professional, and he's also listened to EUROPE when he was younger and so he knows how we think. And the procedure with him was amazing. It went really smooth, and he's a very talented, very talented man. He's a guitar player as well."

Joey also talked about the musical direction of "Hold Your Head Up", which Botas noted is a combination of the classic EUROPE sound and the band's more recent, bluesier approach. The singer said: "I think it's a good mixture in the song. We never really set out to do that. It was an idea I had, and I sent it to the guys and everybody was, like, 'Yeah, that's great. Let's do that.' So, it's a natural progression, but I think you're right. I think it's a little bit of some melodies, especially in the verses, in the end of the verses there, there's melodies that remind you of some of the earlier stuff. But maybe the chorus and the riff a little bit, it's also quite fresh and more modern, I suppose. So yeah, it's got a bit of everything, but it still sounds like EUROPE, which is really cool."

"Hold Your Head Up" was made available to stream and download on September 29, 2023 across all reputable digital platforms, including Spotify, Apple, iTunes, Amazon Music, Deezer, Tidal, Pandora and YouTube Music.

In the fall of 2023, EUROPE completed the "Time Capsule" European tour which included 21 concerts across Switzerland, Italy, Germany, Norway, Sweden, France, The Netherlands, and the U.K., including two nights at the famous London Palladium. These anniversary shows consisted of a career retrospective "evening with" performance featuring all the hits together with deep cuts and fan favorites from all of their 11 studio albums.

"Walk The Earth" was released in October 2017 via Hell & Back Recordings (Silver Lining Music). It was recorded at famed Abbey Road Studios in London with Grammy Award-winning producer Dave Cobb (RIVAL SONS, Shooter Jennings, Jason Isbell, Chris Stapleton).

Photo credit: Fredrik Etoall

Swedish doom rock legends WITCHCRAFT have released "Spirit", a soulful and eerie new song taken from their seventh studio album "IDAG", due on May 23 via Heavy Psych Sounds.

From the depths of the Swedish darkness, "IDAG" emerges, and holy hell, it's flamboyant. Led by enigmatic guitarist, singer and songwriter Magnus Pelander, these architects of doom who kickstarted the whole analog revival two decades ago and ushered in a new era of occult rock, have spent five years crafting their most intimate opus yet.

After his 2020 acoustic experiment "Black Metal", Pelander has tapped into transcendence and delivers pure proto-metal sorcery woven through 1970s prog wizardry, with half the tracks performed in his native Swedish tongue for the first time in the band's history. With just a few acoustic whispers here and there, this is WITCHCRAFT at their most spellbinding. "A smoldering invocation of their signature '70s-laced, riff-heavy sorcery — both raw and hypnotic, yet laced with an unsettling intensity that lingers long after the final note fades. Heavy yet deeply melancholic, brimming with the occult doom energy that made their early records cult favorites," describes Decibel magazine.

More than 20 years after WITCHCRAFT's debut, "IDAG" is a full accounting of who they are as a band. Those who have clamored for the return to an earlier sound rooted in 1970s classic progressive and heavy rock will delight to the strut of "Irreligious Flamboyant Flame" while the eight-minute opening title track is the heaviest the band have ever sounded, and a succession of interspersed acoustic-based pieces helps create a vision of a new, soulfully folkish doom taking shape as they continue to move inexorably forward.

These enigmatic few words from the Swedish band's main songwriter give clues as to the songs' intentions; a reference dropped to COVEN's 1969 album "Witchcraft Destroys Minds And Reaps Souls". COVEN also had a folkish, proto-doomed take at that point in their history, and that multifaceted nature has been a part of WITCHCRAFT all along. On one level, Magnus is winkingly telling you it's a WITCHCRAFT record. The actual meaning of that becomes clear when you hear the album and find out just how much "a WITCHCRAFT record" can encompass.

The storyline of WITCHCRAFT's growth, from Pelander's starting the band in Örebro in 2000 in the wake of his prior outfit NORRSKEN's disbanding. A generational landmark of a 2004 self-titled debut helped spark a retroist movement that has become its own subgenre, but WITCHCRAFT never stopped growing. 2005's "Firewood" and 2007's "The Alchemist" introduced more progressive sounds, and five years later, the pointedly modern "Legend" established in 2012 that they had moved beyond the analog worship they had been a part of pioneering within the contemporary heavy rock and doom scene.

In 2016, the 2LP "Nucleus" introduced fuller-toned doom, and 2020's "Black Metal" diverged into moody acoustic minimalism familiar to some fans from Pelander's early solo work, but different from anything WITCHCRAFT had done prior. "IDAG", then, is the tie that draws all of this — more than two decades of exploring and growth — together. Whatever they've done in the past and whatever they'll do in the future, "IDAG" feels like a nexus for defining who and what WITCHCRAFT are. Even crazier, that might be the point of the thing.

In a new interview with Jorge Fretes of Spain's GoetiaMedia, Brian Baker, best known as one of the founding members of the hardcore punk band MINOR THREAT, and as a guitarist in BAD RELIGION since 1994, was asked if he has ever felt tempted to retire, similar to the way fellow punk rockers NOFX have done with their recent farewell tour. He responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Hmm. No. Well, the thing is quitting implies that this is some kind of job or some task or something that you have to do. I don't know how to express it. This is an artistic expression and this is fun. This is something we do because we like doing it and it's really great that we can do something and people will wanna come see it, but we'd do it if they didn't come. It doesn't matter. And so the idea that you just shut down this outlet — I don't know — it doesn't even make sense to me."

He continued: "I'm friends with the NOFX guys. I couldn't figure that out either. You do it until you can't, and stopping it — I don't know. I just never thought about a time limit. It's part of who I am. I don't know. It's kind of what I'm here to do. That's how I feel about it."

Asked if he ever gets tired of being expected to comment on the state of the world as a member of BAD RELIGION, which has always been known for its socio-political lyrics, openly questioning authority at any opportunity, Brian said: "No, because that's what BAD RELIGION is. BAD RELIGION is about questions, and it's about looking at the world and interpreting it. And it's about sharing ideas about humans can get along and why they don't. I mean, this is the whole thing that the band's about. So, no. It's a privilege. And to have yet another dangerous political situation in the United States [with Donald Trump being re-elected as U.S. president] is an excellent muse. It's time for the scientists to continue to figure out the experiment."

BAD RELIGION formed in 1980 in the suburbs of Los Angeles and is celebrating its 45th anniversary in 2025. The band has become synonymous with intelligent and provocative West Coast punk rock and are considered one of the most influential and important bands in the genre. BAD RELIGION has continually pushed social boundaries and questioned authority and beliefs armed only with propulsive guitars, charging drumbeats, thoughtful lyrics and an undying will to inspire and provoke anyone who will listen.

The band released its 17th studio album, "Age Of Unreason", in 2019. The critically acclaimed record offered a fiery and intensely relevant musical response to the times, with songs that address a myriad of socio-political maladies, including conspiracy theories, racist rallies, Trump's election, the erosion of the middle class, alternative facts and more. There was a stylistic consistency to the band's iconic and influential sound — hard fast beats, big hooks and rousing choruses, yet each new song remained distinctive, utilizing composition, melody and lyrics to deliver a unique narrative consistent with the band's longstanding humanist worldview.

In December 2020, BAD RELIGION celebrated its 40 years of making music with "Decades", a four-episode online streaming event captured live at The Roxy Theatre in Hollywood, California. The band felt it important to commemorate the conclusion of 2020 as a strange moment in history when they reached that 40-year milestone. The celebratory episodes included live performance footage, exclusive interviews, and a peek at their rehearsals leading up to the taping of "Decades".

In August 2020, BAD RELIGION released its autobiography, "Do What You Want: The Story Of Bad Religion", written with the group's full cooperation and support. It reveals the ups and downs of the band's 40-year career, from their beginnings as teenagers experimenting in a San Fernando Valley garage dubbed "The Hell Hole" to headlining major music festivals around the world. The book predominantly features the four principal voices of BAD RELIGION in a hybrid oral history/narrative format: Greg Graffin, Brett Gurewitz, Jay Bentley and Baker. It also includes rare photos and never-before-seen material from their archives.

In a new interview with Rock 100.5 The KATT FM's Cameron Buchholtz, DISTURBED guitarist Dan Donegan was asked about a possible release date for the band's follow-up to 2022's "Divisive" album. Dan said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "We haven't really nailed down when we wanna release it because our priority's been this tour [celebrating 25 years of DISTURBED's debut album, 2000's 'The Sickness']. We wanted to keep the focus on the anniversary. We did record a bunch of material this past fall, enough for an album, and it's great and we love it and we're excited about it. But we thought at least with this tour we'll put out 'I Will Not Break' as a [new standalone] single just to give fans something new along with this anniversary tour, but not quite announce a release date of the whole album. 'Cause we're still trying to strategize when we're gonna tour. Next we have some European dates in the fall that's a continuation of 'The Sickness' [anniversary tour] here. And we have to figure out what our plan is for '26. At this point it's still kind of up in the air. We may drop another single at some point, and maybe we'll have a release date for the whole album by that point."

Regarding the fact that "I Will Not Break" marks DISTURBED's first release via the band's own label, Mother Culture Records, Dan said: "We've been with Warner Brothers our whole career, and this is, yeah, the first time us doing it on our own. We had a great relationship with them. They always worked hard for the band. [We're] very thankful for the relationship we had. And it probably helped that we were successful early on the first album, that they always stayed out of our way. So we were able to do what we wanted to do, and they'd say, 'Hey, it's working. We're not gonna interfere.' And that's always a great relationship when an artist could do what they want. So it was a great run with them, but we weren't obligated to stay. We have a great relationship with our management company, with Q Prime, and they have the infrastructure too. So they have their radio department and their marketing and their social media and everybody. And they've been amazing with us as well. And I think our relationship with radio and the fans over the years, just as the band, all the relationships we've built, we've had a lot of support. You guys, everybody have always been there for us. So if we keep delivering the songs and you guys keep playing it, it's a good partnership for us."

Dan spoke about the the musical inspiration for "I Will Not Break", which came out on February 21, during an appearance on a recent episode of The Mistress Carrie Podcast. He said: "We were out in L.A. last fall and just started getting the ideas out. And we had an album's worth of material already done. And me and [DISTURBED drummer] Mike [Wengren] and Drew [Fulk, also known as WZRD BLD], our producer, were sitting in the room. And I like to keep going. Once the ball's rolling, I don't like to quit — I don't like to stop, because I always feel like the excitement's there. You've got something new so I keep writing. And David's [Draiman, DISTURBED singer] trying to play catch-up, because he's gotta write all these lyrics to these songs. So a lot of times he wants us to stop because 'cause we're getting too far ahead of him. And one day I was in the studio, and I was already digging back into old demos that I had at home, old cassette tapes that we had in the '90s, as we're going through the vault of things… So I wanted to go back and just kind of get back in that headspace of… Some of those recordings were actually just hitting the 'record' button and putting a little cassette player in the back of the room, so it's the worst quality ever. But I wanted to hear some of those improvised tapes and get in that headspace of where we were back then. And even though 'I Will Not Break' is a brand new riff, it kind of just had that vibe."

Donegan continued: "I was supposed to be tracking guitars in the studio for something else that day and I'm, like, 'Ah, let's just put that on the back burner. I just feel like doing something new.' And we just start messing around a bit and I'm just playing around with this riff for a while. I changed the riff probably 50 times as we were sitting there, and I think when the riff finally came about, I think me, Mike and Drew just looked at each other and were, like, 'That's it. That's the one. Go with that.'"

Dan added: "Cakebread is one of the wines we have backstage here [on tour]. And we were having that in the studio that night. We opened up a bottle of wine and started improvising. So the working title for the song was called 'Cakebread'."

Mike also reflected on the making of "I Will Not Break", saying: "[Dan's] riffing out, and we'll loop some beats for him and he just sits there. And he can riff for hours sometimes. Sometimes something comes out in five minutes. Sometimes it comes out in five hours. It had been going around. I'm, like, 'You know what?' I'm sitting in the back of the room. I Doordash some wine. The best that the store had on Doordash was Cakebread. So the guy shows up. I crack open the wine. Within five minutes of pouring the glasses for everybody, that riff for 'I Will Not Break' came out."

Donegan previously talked about "I Will Not Break" in a February 2025 interview with Ryan McCredden of the I-Rock 93.5 radio station. Dan said at the time: "[That song] came late in the recording process. We were out in L.A. this past September, October and November, just getting the ball rolling. There was no really gameplan of a timeframe or deadline in any way. We had some time off the road with only a handful of shows last fall, so we said, 'Let's get back in the room and get things going again and see how the creative process goes.' And everything was going great. We wrote a bunch of material, tracked it all, and then 'I Will Not Break' kind of came late in the session. I just felt like I still had a lot left in me. And I was supposed to be tracking guitars for something else that day, and I just told my producer I felt really creative. I wanted to kind of go with this kind of old-school — I wanted to give something to David that was gonna hopefully trigger kind of that old-school delivery out of David. So we just kind of worked on this heavy groove, this beat, and I just started improvising over it, and as soon as the riff came around, we kind of all just looked at each other, like, 'That's the one. That's the one.' And then I just continued down that road and put together a rough structure. David wasn't there at the moment, at the time, so we just kind of worked out the music and put together a rough structure. And when I'd seen him next, I kind of went over it with him and he connected with it. And he kind of gave us those elements that we were looking for — the still melodic, but still quick, rapid-fire syncopation at times and just that kind of delivery we were hoping to pull out of him. And we thought it would be a great lead-off track to share with the fans."

When McCredden noted that "I Will Not Break" sounds like something DISTURBED could have recorded 25 years ago, possibly inspired by the fact that the band was preparing to embark on a 34-date North American tour celebrating the 25th anniversary of "The Sickness", Donegan concurred. "I was going through the archives and going through a lot of stuff here, my memorabilia, gearing up for this 25th-anniversary tour, and I came across some old demo tapes," he said. "I had actually cassette tapes, if people don't remember what those are. Back in the day, in the late '90s, when we got David in the band, we would just set up a little cassette player in the back of the room and hit 'record' and record us — crappy version, but record our practices so we could hear us just improvising ideas. And so I was kind of in that headspace 'cause I was listening to these old riffs and these old deliveries of us just kind of improvising, like I said, and it just had me in that headspace. Actually, one of the song ideas was a riff I pulled from 1998 off the demo and I kind of slid it back into the mix. I have a history of doing that. I have a way of sneaking in old ideas and seeing if it triggers anybody, if they remember it and pick up on it, if it's been that long ago. But I try to get back into that headspace. And so, even though the riff for 'I Will Not Break' is brand new, I was kind of in the spirit of that old-school DISTURBED, and that's what we were hoping to do — trigger [David] in that that kind of way."

According to DISTURBED, "I Will Not Break" is "a necessary song, about becoming stronger than the forces that constantly try to tear you down." The track includes the stirring lyrics "I've had enough of feeling terrified, now I'm deciding that I won't be hiding from anyone," which encourages listeners to push back in the face of adversity.

Fulk previously worked with DISTURBED on "Divisive", which was recorded in Nashville, Tennessee.

According to Billboard, "Divisive" sold 26,000 equivalent album units in its first week of release, with 22,000 units via album sales.

On the all-format Billboard 200 chart, "Divisive" debuted at No. 13.

DISTURBED has had five No. 1s on the all-genre chart, beginning with "Believe" in 2002.

"The Sickness 25th Anniversary Tour" kicked off in Nampa, Idaho on February 25. Produced by Live Nation, each night features two sets of music, opening with DISTURBED playing the five times platinum "The Sickness" in full, followed by a full set of greatest hits. The first half of the tour featured support from special guests THREE DAYS GRACE, including the return of original singer Adam Gontier, and opener SEVENDUST, and the second half features special guests DAUGHTRY with opener NOTHING MORE.

Since "The Sickness" was released in 2000, the album was certified five times platinum by the RIAA, spent a total of 106 weeks on the US Billboard 200 chart, and Revolver named it one of "Top 25 Debut Hard Rock Albums." Billboard said of the title track upon release: "'Down With The Sickness' is, of course, the quintessential DISTURBED song, harnessing all the band's seethe and its now-famous tribal beat and guitar chug into three and a half minutes of alt-metal mayhem. It's menacing, it's rhythmic, it's rebellious."

Photo credit: Travis Shinn

In a new interview with Brutal Planet Media, former VIXEN singer Lorraine Lewis opened up about her 2024 exit from the band after a five-year run. She said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "I didn't leave. I was fired. And so that's the truth of it. And I think when it all went down, I was really in shock, 'cause I had been in the band for over five years and I know that I did my job and I really believe I elevated the band. And people can say, 'Oh, she thinks she's all that,' just by that coming out of my mouth. But I really believe that. I think that I brought a new life to the band. And I come from the school of David Lee Roth, so I am in your face and I stick out my tongue a lot when I'm on stage 'cause it's like an exclamation mark when you're up there and it feels so damn good. And I just had the time of my life."

Lorraine continued: "I definitely miss the [VIXEN] girls. But at the same time, I think that everything really does happen for a reason. And I know that my path is my own and my own adventure to fulfill. And so I am happy with the time that I had with them. We did some amazing tours, amazing shows.

"It was never going to be my band," she added. "I knew it was not my band, but I really gave it my all and I think that we had a hell of a time, and again, elevated the brand, for sure, and really did everything I could to be that front person that I thought they wanted."

Regarding why she was fired from VIXEN, Lorraine said: "I still to this day do not know a reason; I was never given a reason. We were two weeks out of the summer [2024] tour, and I had new outfits and everything… I asked why. I asked why, but I was told that the reasons don't matter. And so that's really the truth."

Offering her theory for why she might have been fired from VIXEN, Lorraine said: "I'm just gonna say it: it's [drummer] Roxy [Petrucci] that runs the band. It's her band. And I've known Roxy for a very long time. I've known her for 30 years… I think maybe I've just always been a little bit too much for her, 'cause I just go for it. I'm not here to hurt anybody. I'm just here to have fun and live life to the fullest and just express myself. And rock and roll is rock and roll. You can't tame rock and roll. So I don't wanna be tamed in any way. [Laughs]

"So, that's what went down," Lewis continued. "And I spoke about this on Troy Patrick Farrell's ['This That And The Other'] podcast when it happened. It took me a couple of weeks to even talk about it. But it's been almost a year. It'll be a year in May. And I had just been in the studio recording with [original FOREIGNER singer] Lou Gramm, and then two days later I got this phone call from the manager. And it was, like, 'Whoa, what the hell just happened?' It was a wild ride."

Reflecting on how she felt after she got the news that she was no longer the singer of VIXEN, Lorraine said: "I will admit, the first few weeks I would wake up in the morning and it was like I was in a dream. It's like almost I couldn't get my footing, like even just walking, like getting out of bed and walking. It was just this whirlwind of, like, 'Did that really happen? Am I not in the band anymore?' It really took a while to sink in. And it was really challenging, emotionally, just to handle it, but at the same time, I'm a believer in fate and the universe and all good things are happening to me, and if I really believe that stuff I'm feeding myself or other people, I have to really believe it. If I say I know that things are always working out for me, then I know that part of the process is sometimes things fall away. And that's part of the universe pushing you to your path. And so I got my head around that… But little by little, here we are a year later and I can't even tell you how many amazing things are at my fingertips right now."

VIXEN's new singer Rosa Laricchiuta (TRANS-SIBERIAN ORCHESTRA, HEADPINS) made her live debut with VIXEN on June 21, 2024 at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California alongside GREAT WHITE, SLAUGHTER and QUIET RIOT.

During an appearance on the Battleline Podcast, VIXEN guitarist Brittany Denaro (a.k.a. Britt Lightning) discussed the decision to part ways with Lewis. Asked what she would say to fans who are concerned that VIXEN bears little resemblance to the band that broke through in the late 1980s, with Petrucci as the sole remaining member from VIXEN's classic lineup, Britt said: "Yeah, well, I think Roxy is definitely dedicated to maintaining the musical integrity of the classic VIXEN. And she said that. And I think for whatever reason, she feels that this change is gonna be a positive one… So, I'm excited. I trust her. She's been doing this a long time, and she knows what feels right."

Britt continued: "Sometimes things run its course. And, again, I'm not involved in in this decision or at liberty to really speak about … the reasons in it. But at the end of the day, it doesn't matter, I guess. We're forging forward, we're forging ahead, and there will be new music. And I think it's gonna rock. So I'm very excited."

Britt went on to discuss the importance of getting along with VIXEN's new singer on a personal level, explaining: "At the end of the day, obviously you have to be talented, but just being a good person and being a cool person, 'cause we spend a lot of time together. I mean, that saying, musicians, we get paid to travel and then we play the gig, but what do we get paid for? The travel. I mean, I've flown to South America for one 30-minute show and then flown right back. So that's a lot of travel time and not a lot of playing. And that's a lot of time that you have to be with each other, and if you're with somebody that just drives you nuts, that's the worst thing ever. And then you can tell on stage too. So you know there's good chemistry when — you can feel it, is what I'm saying, on stage. And I think the audience can always feel it too."

When VIXEN announced Lewis's exit from the band on May 27, 2024, the group said in a statement: "First of all we want to extend a special thank you to Lorraine Lewis. We're grateful for her contributions to VIXEN and wish her all the best in her career moving forward."

Prior to Lewis's addition to VIXEN, Petrucci, bassist Share Ross and Lightning vowed to "expand upon the VIXEN legacy while remaining true to our musical roots."

Gardner, Petrucci and Ross are considered to be part of VIXEN's classic lineup, along with founding guitarist Jan Kuehnemund, who died of cancer in October 2013.

Gardner contributed lead vocals to VIXEN's most commercially successful studio albums — "Vixen" (1988),"Rev It Up" (1990) and "Tangerine" (1998) — as well as the group's latest full-length release, 2018's live album "Live Fire".

More than three years ago, Ross announced that she was "taking a hiatus" from VIXEN. Her replacement was Julia Lage, formerly of the Latin Grammy-nominated Brazilian rock group BARRA DE SAIA and wife of Richie Kotzen. Lage made her live debut with VIXEN on February 8, 2022 at the pre-Monsters Of Rock cruise concert at Magic City Casino in Miami, Florida.

VIXEN's "Red" single, featuring Lewis, on vocals, arrived in October 2023. The official music video for the track, which was written and produced by CINDERELLA drummer Fred Coury, was directed by Drew Johnston and Vicente Cordero and edited by Ryan Conion.

Reactivated Santa Barbara-based metal/punk rock hybrid SNOT played its second show with guitarist Doc Coyle (GOD FORBID, ex-BAD WOLVES) this past Saturday night (April 26) at The Black Sheep in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Video of the concert can be seen below, courtesy of joegames dot tv.

Coyle was recruited by SNOT after the band's recent split with guitarist Sonny Mayo.

The news of Mayo's departure was broken by SNOT guitarist Mikey Doling who stated in a video message:  "Sonny Mayo has decided to quit SNOT. SNOT doesn't fit into his life right now, and he just wants to focus on himself and his life. And SNOT's just too busy for him to be able to continue.

"So I'd like to wish Sonny Mayo the best of luck in his future, and I wanna thank him for all he's contributed to SNOT over the years. We love you, brother," Mikey continued.

"That being said, our very, very good friend from GOD FORBID, formerly BAD WOLVES, Doc Coyle, is going to be filling in on guitar for the upcoming shows. And we're excited to have him on board. And thank you very much, Doc Coyle."

Last month, SNOT announced a European tour for August 2025. The eight-date trek will mark the band's first shows on the continent with new singer Andy Knapp, who made his live debut with SNOT in January.

SNOT's first gig with Knapp took place on January 17 at the Parish room at the House Of Blues in Anaheim, California. The performance was also livestreamed via the band's Instagram. SNOT played a second show with Knapp, who also sings for fellow Southern California band STRONGER THAN MACHINES, on January 18 at Brick By Brick in San Diego, California.

In a recent interview with "The Garza Podcast", hosted by SUICIDE SILENCE guitarist Chris Garza, Doling and bassist John "Tumor" Fahnestock confirmed that there are plans for SNOT to write new music.

SNOT's current lineup also includes drummer Jamie Miller.

SNOT is scheduled to play two more club concerts this month, leading up to the band's appearance at the Welcome To Rockville festival in May in Daytona Beach, Florida. SNOT will also play at select European festivals, as well as at the Inkcarceration Music & Tattoo Festival in Mansfield, Ohio, this summer.

SNOT disbanded in 1998 following original singer Lynn Strait's death, putting an end to a career that generated considerable promise but only one studio album, "Get Some". The band had been writing material for its sophomore CD and had completed 10 songs at the time of Strait's tragic passing. As a memorial to Strait, SNOT eventually decided to release those tracks, with lyrics and guest vocals provided by a host of stars from the alt-metal community. The resulting album, "Strait Up", was a fitting tribute from Strait's peers and friends, featuring members of LIMP BIZKIT, KORN, SLIPKNOT, SEVENDUST, (HED) P.E., COAL CHAMBER, SUGAR RAY, SYSTEM OF A DOWN, SOULFLY, and more.

SNOT in 2014 recruited Carl Bensley (VITIATE, CONSUME THE FIRE) to sing for the band following the departure of Tommy "Vext" Cummings (ex-DIVINE HERESY, BAD WOLVES).

According to the Los Angeles Times, Lynn died in died in a car accident in December 1998 as he attempted to drive across Highway 101 in Mussel Shoals, California. The 30-year-old singer died instantly after his 1992 Ford Tempo was broadsided by a southbound full-size pickup truck about noon. Also killed was Strait's small bulldog, SNOT's mascot Dobbs, who adorned the cover of the band's debut album, the 1997 Geffen Records release "Get Some". Strait, a Santa Barbara resident, was crossing the highway after visiting his girlfriend in the community. Lynn apparently pulled into the path of the truck, which was going about 65 mph. The impact sent Strait's car spinning into the center divider where it stopped, a California Highway Patrol officer told the Los Angeles Times at the time.

Cummings fronted SNOT in 2008-2009 before he and Mayo exited the group amid "strained relationships."

Who’s ready to rock? @943kilo presents @snotband THIS Saturday, 4/26 w/ special guests @skinlabmusic @suicidecages & @getsomeband

🎟️ Grab your tickets soon! 👉 blacksheeprocks.com

Posted by The Black Sheep on Wednesday, April 23, 2025

In a new interview with Rolling Stone, Sammy Hagar spoke about his relationship with his former VAN HALEN bandmate Alex Van Halen, who hasn't spoken with Hagar in 21 years, and refused to even mention Sammy by name in his recent memoir, "Brothers". Regarding why there has been no communication between the two in the last couple of decades, Sammy said: "I've had this conversation with a few people, including [former VAN HALEN manager] Irving Azoff. I've asked him, 'What's the problem?' And some people have said to me, 'Oh, Cabo Wabo. At one time, VAN HALEN, when you built it, you guys were all partners in that. And then they didn't want it anymore when it was losing money, and they gave it to you, and you turned it around and made hundreds of millions of dollars on it. And they're angry. Alex is angry about that.' To that I said, 'How the fuck could they be angry about that? They gave me the damn thing, they walked out on me, left me with it. And they made me indemnify them in case I got sued and lost everything. They made me sign off big time.' And I'm going, 'I hope it's not that.'"

Referencing his 2011 autobiography "Red: My Uncensored Life In Rock", in which Hagar slammed Alex's brother Eddie Van Halen, saying the guitarist was unkempt, hunched over, frighteningly skinny, drinking wine straight out of a bottle, missing part of his tongue (after a cancer scare) and several teeth, Sammy continued: "The book has been brought up. The book was honest. It was well documented that Eddie was a mess on that tour. But I don't want to drag Eddie through no coals now. That's just water under the bridge.

"I think Al's angry because I'm out doing it, and Mike [Anthony, former VAN HALEN bassist] and I are out doing it, and he can't," Hagar added. "He's not a singer. He's not a guitar player. He is not really a band leader. And he seems like he doesn't want to play drums or can't play drums anymore, and he can't go write a new record. Alex wasn't the songwriter in the band. He was the drummer. Eddie and I wrote the songs. Dave [Lee Roth] and Eddie wrote the songs, and so we can go out and do them. And I think that really bothers him that Mike and I are still out there doing it. I would feel bad. If I put myself in his shoes, I would feel terrible if I couldn't do it anymore. But I'm the happiest guy out of all of them. That pisses people off in itself. Being too happy, people don't like that."

When interviewer Andy Greene noted that Alex has had real health issues and has reasons to feel bitter, Sammy said: "Yeah, I'd say so. And I'm okay with it. Al, you're fine. Just leave me alone. I'll leave you alone. Everything's good. I'm making you money, by the way, Al. I'm out there selling VAN HALEN records and keeping the name alive, keeping the music alive."

Last December, Alex Van Halen was asked by Bringing It Back To The Beatles why he made "the conscientious decision" to end his book, "Brothers", in 1984 and not cover any of the band's later years. He responded: "Because the original band was the band that was the driving force. That was the connection between the disparate parts of the musical world, if you will. And we were young. The first record going platinum — it's incredible. That's something you can really never expect to happen again. Later on, it was different — that's for another book — but the excitement and the confusion and the groping in the dark, if you will, and all the mistakes that we made, and all the B.S. we had to endure, and then to recognize at the very end, maybe we had one more record in us, it was very… You can't take it back, but those are the things that are in the back of your head. The old expression of, if you don't go over the edge, then you can't come back. You have to go too far to come back in. Does that make sense? Unfortunately, we're human and we made some bad choices. The US Festival, for instance, was just a clusterfuck. Nobody knew what the hell was going on. All we said was, 'You make sure you have enough power, and we'll play.' That's it."

When the interviewer noted that this attitude is "true rock and roll," Alex concurred. "Bingo. That's exactly right," he said. "You just hit the nail on the head. After that, that's why the book ends in 1984, because that was true rock and roll. After that, it became much more — I don't know; I can't explain it. But it's not to say that it was not any good. We always did our best at whatever we were doing, but it wasn't the same."

He added earlier in the interview: "I think I picked up where Ed [legendary VAN HALEN guitarist and Alex's brother Eddie Van Halen] left off in terms of saying… His example was that we were actually happier playing in clubs than we were when we hit the so-called big time, because in the clubs you weren't quite sure what you were doing, you could, at the drop of a hat, change directions, you can play anything you want and there's nobody that holds you accountable or they have expectations of any sort. You just go on and you play. And it's intimate. You're right there, two feet away. People are right there in front of your face. And that kind of goes away when you get to the place where you have five lines of security people. And we always kept it to a minimum, but nonetheless, that was the soup du jour."

Two months earlier, Alex gave a slightly different answer to USA Today when asked about his decision to end the book when VAN HALEN's original singer David Lee Roth first quit the band 41 years ago.

"For me, the spirit of the band ended in 1984," Alex said. "We did good work after that, but the primary spiritual aspect, the magic, the potential, the looking to the future together, all of that stuff, our mutually strange backgrounds — that's what made VAN HALEN. Ed and I were outsiders. Dave was an outsider. Those kinds of intangible things make the fabric of how we were tied together."

Asked about his current relationship with David, Alex said: "I think Dave is laying low right now. I don't know his mental state in terms of how he's dealing with all of this.

"I was taught early on that the music field isn't about the notes and things, it's about relationships and what we all had [in VAN HALEN] was deeply entangled.

"I don't hold [Roth leaving VAN HALEN] against him. We're not here to hold you prisoner. But it was very telling how the dynamic of certain entities got warped by the people around him.

"Dave was in the middle of [huge success] where he wasn't thinking clearly, and he would admit that now. That's the reason I called him first [after Ed died] — only to find out that 23 years changes people."

Asked if that means that the conversation didn't go as expected, Alex said: "He's the not the same guy. But if he called me right now, I would answer the phone. It's about human dignity and respect."

"Brothers" ignores Sammy Hagar's stint with VAN HALEN, as well as that of EXTREME vocalist Gary Cherone, and even VAN HALEN's reunion with Roth that started in 2007.

"What happened after Dave left is not the same band," Alex told Billboard. "I'm not saying it was better or worse or any of that. The fact is Ed and I did our best work whenever we played. We always gave it our best shot. But the magic was in the first years, when we didn't know what we were doing, when we were willing to try anything."

Alex also explained his refusal to participate in this past summer's "The Best Of All Worlds" that focused largely on the music of VAN HALEN. The trek featured Hagar and former VAN HALEN bassist Michael Anthony, along with guitarist Joe Satriani and drummer Jason Bonham.

The 2024 tour came more than two years after Satriani revealed that he was approached about participating in a VAN HALEN tribute show with Alex and David Lee Roth. That project never got off the ground, reportedly because Roth was "holding up" getting everything approved.

In the Billboard interview, Alex said about why he was not responsive when Hagar and Anthony reached out about him taking part in some way in "The Best Of All Worlds": "I'm not interested. They're not doing the band justice. They can do what they want to do. That's not my business."

In a separate interview with Rolling Stone, Alex didn't even utter Hagar's name. "The heart and the soul and the creativity and the magic was Dave, Ed, Mike and me," he said. In the book, his only acknowledgment of the "Van Hagar" era reportedly came in the line, "We had a lot of other singers over the years."

Hagar mended his relationship with Eddie Van Halen months prior to the legendary VAN HALEN guitarist's October 2020 passing.

Hagar replaced Roth in VAN HALEN in 1985 and recorded four studio albums with the band — "5150", "OU812", "For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge" and "Balance" — all of which topped the U.S. chart.

Sammy, Eddie, Alex and Mike last teamed up in 2004 for a U.S. summer tour. In exchange for taking part in the tour, Anthony reportedly had to agree to take a pay cut and sign away his rights to the band name and logo.

Sammy Hagar photo credit: Leah Steiger

In a new interview with Mane Campos of Chile's Heavyfonía, Blackie Lawless of W.A.S.P., whose single "Animal (F**k Like a Beast)", landed at No. 9 on the PMRC's (Parents' Music Resource Center) "Filthy Fifteen" 40 years ago, spoke about the importance of free speech. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET):  "Quite honestly, I think censorship is worse now than it was in the '80s because with the Internet, you have people that are just afraid to speak.

"Censorship is an ugly thing because — the idea of freedom of speech, it's not to protect popular speech; it's designed to protect unpopular speech," he explained. "And I don't care what anyone has to say — they can come up with the craziest ideas they want. I have enough faith in my fellow man that they will determine what's bullshit and what's not. And you give the people the ability to decide, the majority of the time, they're going to come up with the right ideas. So, like I said, I don't think that trying to limit speech in any way has ever been a good idea."

Asked if he thinks social media isa democratic way for people to express themselves or a platform for "cancel culture" and polarized views, Blackie said: "Well, it's both. But from what I see… I don't spend a lot of time there, so I really don't know a lot about it, but from what I hear, the concept of being able to cancel people, that's a scary thought.

"If you have someone like me — I don't care what you say about me; I just don't care," Blackie insisted. "But the majority of the world is not like that; they're very sensitive to what other people think. And so someone like that would be easy to cancel. Someone like myself, you cannot cancel us because we don't care. You can only cancel someone if they care. If I believe in something that I'm doing, I don't care if somebody believes it or not. What's important is what I think. And I've spent my career telling our fans — the only thing that really matters is to think for yourself. Come up with your own ideas. Come up with your own opinions. Don't listen to what someone next to you is telling you. Yes, you can listen, but at the end of the day, you have to decide what is right for you, and that's really, really important. Like I said, I've spent my entire career talking about this one idea. So, the concept of censorship definitely fits into this."

Asked about his comment from a couple of decades ago where he expressed his interest in becoming a U.S. senator, Blackie said: "At the time, I was pretty passionate about that, but I think I can say more by making records for a longer period of time than I could have been if I would've went [sic] to Washington. So I made the right decision staying where I am, because my voice has spoken louder for a longer period of time than if I would've gone there and done that."

Asked if he is "disappointed" in politics today, Blackie said: "Yeah, because you know the old expression, 'absolute power corrupts absolutely.' And there's a lot of truth to that. It's all about money and power — that's what politics is — and I'm the kind of person, I don't do well in environments where people are not allowed to speak truth. I just don't do well there. So I'm way better off doing what I'm doing now because I can say the things I wanna say without restriction. Because they say politics is the art of compromise, and I don't do well when it comes to compromise."

Pressed about whether he changed his mind a bit about rock and roll's ability to change the world, Blackie said: "No, not at all, because if you look back at the '60s and the '70s, rock and roll helped win the war. Any time you can get people to listen to ideas, that's a powerful thing. And that's one of the reasons that rock and roll has always scared people, because it's dangerous. Because it's dangerous, because of the ideas that it talks about. And that's what's made it so revolutionary. And I think that rock and roll is missing that today. I wish there was more of that because when it was truly revolutionary, it was something to fear, if you were someone that did not agree with it. And I miss that today."

Toward the end of the interview, Lawless was asked to describe U.S. president Donald Trump in one word. He responded: "A winner."

Last November, Blackie defended his decision to praise Donald Trump during the band's concert in New York City, saying the then-U.S. president-elect was "a patriot" who was "willing to die" for what he believed in.

Prior to launching into the closing song, "Blind In Texas", of W.A.S.P.'s November 16, 2024 show at Hammerstein Ballroom At Manhattan Center, the 68-year-old Lawless, whose real name is Steven Duren, addressed the crowd, saying: "We'll do something a little different tonight. We are in the appropriate city to do this. You know, it was Shakespeare that said, 'Some are born to greatness. Some have greatness thrust upon them.' It was the Greek historian Herodotus who said that when it comes to tragedy and things like that, that we do not rule circumstances, circumstances rule us."

Reflecting on his experience with the PMRC (Parents' Music Resource Center) four decades ago, Lawless continued: "Now when I was a little kid, growing up across the bay over here in Staten Island, I never, I never ever imagined that my time would come where I would be thrust into a situation where I had no control over. Now, it will be 40 years next year, there was a situation that happened, and it was called the PMRC. And there were hearings, there were hearings done in Washington, D.C. And two days later, Frank Zappa and myself stood on a stage just around the corner here and we talked about the evils that would come about them. Because censorship is an ugly, ugly thing. And it ain't just in music. It happens in all forms of life.

"Now, down the street here in lower Manhattan, there's a chapel down there. It's called the St. Paul's Chapel. We now know it as the chapel from 9-11. But before that, when George Washington was elected the first president of the United States, after he was sworn in the federal building, he walked into that street and he walked down to that chapel and he consecrated the United States of America to God Almighty right there on that spot.

"The very first amendment of our constitution guarantees freedom of speech," Blackie added. "Our founding fathers were genius enough to know that if you can control speech, you can control thought. And these men knew this. These were great men. Fast forward a couple hundred years, 250 almost, now we have a situation in the last six, eight years, we find censorship again rearing its ugly, ugly head. Now, this time it's on the Internet, and it's affecting every single one of us."

Referencing the fact that Trump was making his return to Madison Square Garden that same night, visiting the New York City landmark arena for an Ultimate Fighting Championship event, Blackie said: "Tonight, you may not be aware, but right next door to us over here in the Garden, there is a man who has undergone attempt after attempt, assassinations on his life, and this man has stood up for this country. He's right next door right now at the Garden.

"Now, I got two things that I'm passionate about the most. One of them is that freedom of speech," he added. "And the other one is about being a patriot. Because I'm here to tell you, I don't care if you're Republican, Democrat, Independent, you need to be a patriot of this country. I am willing to die for this country. I believe in it that much. And that man next door, he believes in it too.

"I only got one more thing to say before we go. 'Cause I'm blind in Texas."

W.A.S.P.'s performance of "Blind In Texas" in New York City featured Trump banners flanking the stage while the image of the then-president-elect with his fist raised after July 2024's assassination attempt near Butler, Pennsylvania was displayed behind the band.

Blackie was asked about his pro-Trump comments during a November 19, 2024 "VIP Experience" question-and-answer session before W.A.S.P.'s concert in Cleveland, Ohio. He said: "When we did what we did Saturday night, it wasn't just about him. It was about America. And we knew before we did it, 'cause we weighed the idea back and forth for a week before we did it, what would we do if there was gonna be fallout? And I said, well, it doesn't matter if there's fallout, because when you see Big Tech censorship, it's the same thing we were going through 40 years ago; it's just that it's got a different name on it now — that's all. So, the first thing any government does when they seize power is they seize the airwaves, because we know that if you can censor speech, you can control thought eventually. We see it time after time. Or even if you don't control the thought to the degree you like, you cower people so they're like little rabbits hiding in the corner. They're afraid to speak out."

He continued: "So, that was the big reason behind it. But looking at someone who's willing to go through what the guy did, well, I mean… I heard somebody say yesterday, he said he's got big brass wings. And I thought, yep, that's very true, because Thomas Jefferson said, the tree of liberty must be replaced from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. And I see him as a patriot. And when I was saying what I was saying the other night — there's two things I was interested in, which was censorship and patriotism. So, if somebody's willing to die for what they believe in, I gotta stand there with them."

Back in the mid-'80s, the PMRC published a list called "The Filthy Fifteen" which consisted of the top fifteen songs they wanted banned due to objectionable lyrics suggesting violence, sex, drugs, alcohol or the occult. They petitioned for lyrics to be printed on the album jackets and no one was safe — heavy metal acts were right there alongside the pop stars. AC/DC, Madonna, MÖTLEY CRÜE, JUDAS PRIEST, Prince, W.A.S.P., MERCYFUL FATE, Vanity, DEF LEPPARD, Cyndi Lauper and TWISTED SISTER all made "The Filthy Fifteen" list. In November 1985, the RIAA (Recording Industry Association Of America) agreed to put "Parental Advisory: Explicit Lyrics" labels on selected releases at their own discretion.

Lawless previously discussed the importance of free speech in an October 2023 interview with "Metalshop". Speaking about how he was affected by his experience with the PMRC, he said: "We were too young to really understand what it was all about, but they quickly put us in the eye of the hurricane, and then all kinds of bad things started happening — death threats and getting shot at and all of that. We became educated very, very quickly.

"I think I was in Indiana — I think it was Indianapolis — this girl came in to interview me," he continued. "And this was, like, '87. And she had worked for the PMRC at one point. And she, at this time I was talking to her, was a journalist. And she goes, she brought in a cassette tape and she goes, 'I've got something I need you to hear.' And she played this cassette tape for me. And on it were Susan Baker [co-founder of the PMRC] and a few of the others talking about what their real motivation was. And their motivation was not to get stickers on records. Their motivation was to get Al Gore a platform to then run for president of the United States. So they were trying to create a political profile for him — because what better way to get attention, if you're a political candidate, a southern caricature, which is what he was, what better way to get attention than to go after an attention getter? I mean, this is McCarthyism [political repression and persecution] — you know, it's no different. Richard Nixon did it. All these witch hunts that went on in D.C. for years. But they come to a generation who's not heard it. So this thing comes around once every 15 years. The generation hasn't heard it. They haven't heard the same old lies that come out of it. So it sounds pretty good to them because it sounds sincere and genuine."

Lawless, who has repeatedly stated in interviews that he has returned to the Christian faith and considers himself a born-again Christian, added: "Let me tell you something about free speech. I'm part Jewish, I'm part Native American Indian. You can stand on a soapbox and you can talk about how wonderful Nazism is and how you'd like to kill all the Indians out there. I don't care. Well, let me rephrase that. I do care, but I don't want to limit your ability to speak, because if I do that, then we start going down a dark road because you start playing umpire, and then who plays umpire tomorrow?

"This country was built as a republic and a republic, contrary to what a lot of people don't understand, is not a democracy. But what you have to do to create a republic, you have to have a certain amount of faith in the people. So, in other words, if you have a guy that's spewing a bunch of hatred on a street corner or in a soapbox, you have to have faith in your fellow Americans that this guy is a lunatic and the vast majority of people are gonna find him out and not follow him. But what happens is when you start limiting that speech, then, like I said, you take away the ability of the people to decide for themselves, number one, who's crazy and who isn't. But even more dangerous than that, you start appointing these umpires that tell you what you can and cannot say. And it's extremely dangerous. And you've heard it a million times but it bears repeating, our system is not set up for popular speech. It's set up for unpopular speech."

Lawless also discussed his experience with the PMRC during a "VIP Experience" question-and-answer session in November 2022 before W.A.S.P.'s concert at The Paramount Theater in Huntington, New York. At the time, he said: "It changed my life, if that's what you mean. It made me more of a recluse. Yeah, a couple of thousand death threats and bomb scares and getting shot at a couple of times usually has a tendency to alter your outlook on life a little. But also, we were exposed to extreme fame very early, and fame is kind of like this — if this table is a smorgasbord, it's like an evil genie stands down at the end of the smorgasbord and [says], 'You can take anything you want, but if you take one thing, you take it all. You do not get to pick and choose. So all the good stuff that you like in the smorgasbord, that's wonderful, but you've gotta take the bad stuff too.' So it ends up being a life-altering experience, one I don't think you can ever really go back from — at least I haven't been able to."

In a 2004 interview with the Las Vegas Mercury, Lawless spoke about having his music slammed by the PMRC, saying: "As the story goes, [PMRC founding member] Tipper [Gore] was walking down the hall in her house and her 12-year-old son had [W.A.S.P.'s] 'Fuck Like A Beast' playing on his stereo, and she lost her mind," Lawless said. "I don't know if that's true, but that's the story I've been told.

"You wanna talk about sensationalism?" Blackie continued. "This was an organization that was seeking a platform that would help serve its own political interests. They didn't give a damn about censorship. I've spent the better part of my career trying to get people to understand that. This really is not what you think it is. They come to you like the wolf in sheep's clothing and then use you to create a frenzy — not unlike what McCarthy did with the communists and Bob Dole did with rap. This is nothing new.

"You don't have to be Nostradamus to see what's going on with young people these days," Lawless continued. "Parents just don't get involved with their kids as much as they used to. Are you going to tell me that these parents at Columbine didn't know that anything was going on with their kids? Hey, my mother knew what I was doing 24 hours a day, seven days a week. But parents now, they don't want to take any responsibility for their children. They bring something into this world, and then when something goes wrong, they want to blame everybody else for it."

It is not clear what Lawless thinks about Trump's supposed commitment to free expression, seeing as Trump champions freedom of speech for himself and his allies while attacking it when it protects his critics and political opponents. Trump has regularly attacked individual journalists and the press in general for unfavorable news coverage. He called journalists the "enemy of the people" and removed ones he did not like from press events and rallies.

Fan-filmed video of AC/DC's entire April 26 concert at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nevada can be seen below.

Featured songs:

* Intro 0:00
* If You Want Blood (You've Got It) 1:08
* Brian Johnson welcomes Las Vegas 6:13
* Back In Black 6:37
* Demon Fire 10:58
* Shot Down In Flames 15:35
* Thunderstruck 19:50
* Have A Drink On Me 25:45
* Hells Bells 30:30
* Shot In The Dark 36:25
* Stiff Upper Lip 40:07
* Highway To Hell 44:44
* Shoot To Thrill 49:23
* Sin City 55:58
* Rock 'N' Roll Train 1:02:49
* Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap 1:07:52
* High Voltage 1:13:30
* Riff Raff 1:21:02
* You Shook Me All Night Long 1:27:27
* Whole Lotta Rosie 1:31:40
* Let There Be Rock 1:38:32
* Angus Young 1st Solo (On The Riser) 1:48:35
* Angus Young 2nd Solo 1:52:16
* (End Of) Let There Be Rock 1:59:51

Encore:

* T.N.T. 2:02:28
* For Those About To Rock (We Salute You) 2:06:41

AC/DC kicked off its North American tour on April 10 at the US Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

AC/DC — guitarist Angus Young, vocalist Brian Johnson, rhythm guitarist Stevie Young, drummer Matt Laug and bass player Chris Chaney — is performing in 13 stadiums coast to coast this spring. This run will conclude on May 28 in Cleveland, Ohio at Huntington Bank Field. Along the way, they will play some of the most iconic and historic stadiums in the world, including Soldier Field in Chicago, Illinois on May 24. Support on the trek is coming from THE PRETTY RECKLESS.

AC/DC played the 24th and final concert of its "Power Up" European tour on August 17, 2024 at Croke Park in Dublin, Ireland.

The "Power Up" European tour marked AC/DC's first with the band's new touring lineup consisting of Johnson, Angus and Stevie Young, Laug and the latest addition to the group's touring lineup, Chaney.

The European tour was the first run of gigs since AC/DC's return to the stage at last year's Power Trip festival in Indio, California.

AC/DC's last tour took place in 2015 and 2016 and had a $180 million gross, with 2,310,061 sold tickets reported to the Pollstar box office.

Laug is an American drummer who has played with many bands/artists such as Alanis Morissette, Alice Cooper, SLASH'S SNAKEPIT and Vasco Rossi. Matt moved to Los Angeles after graduating from South Florence High School in 1986 and after attending college in L.A., Matt became a sought-after studio drummer.

In 2001, Laug supported AC/DC as part of SLASH'S SNAKEPIT on the North American and European legs of the "Stiff Upper Lip" tour.

In its announcement about Laug's addition to the band's Power Trip lineup, AC/DC offered no explanation for the absence of the band's longtime drummer Phil Rudd, who rejoined AC/DC for the recording of the group's comeback album, "Power Up", which came out in November 2020.

Rudd was ousted from AC/DC when he was sentenced to eight months of home detention by a New Zealand court in 2015 after pleading guilty to charges of threatening to kill and drug possession. He was replaced on the band's "Rock Or Bust" tour by Chris Slade, who had previously served as AC/DC's drummer between 1989 and 1994, playing on the album "The Razor's Edge".

Rudd, who appeared on all but three of AC/DC's 18 previous studio albums, toured in support of his 2014 solo debut, "Head Job". It was the release of that album that led indirectly to Rudd's arrest, with the drummer allegedly so angry at a personal assistant over the way the record was promoted that he threatened to have the man and his daughter killed.

AC/DC postponed the last 10 dates of its spring 2016 North American trek after Johnson was advised to stop playing live or "risk total hearing loss." The band went on to complete the European and North American legs of its "Rock Or Bust" tour with GUNS N' ROSES frontman Axl Rose as a "guest vocalist." At the time, Johnson had been AC/DC's singer for 36 years, ever since replacing the late Bon Scott in 1980 and making his debut on the classic "Back In Black" album.

To enable him to perform live with AC/DC again, the now-77-year-old Johnson worked with audio expert Stephen Ambrose, who said he could help resolve the singer's hearing problems.

Ambrose, who invented the wireless in-ear monitors that are widely used by touring artists today, claimed to have invented a new type of ear-bud that would allow Johnson to perform without causing further damage to his eardrums. After three years of experimenting and "miniaturizing" the equipment, Johnson previously said the technology could allow him to tour again.

Chaney is best known as the bassist of JANE'S ADDICTION and as a member of Alanis Morissette's touring and recording band. Chaney was also a member of TAYLOR HAWKINS AND THE COATTAIL RIDERS and CAMP FREDDY, as well as being a prolific and versatile session musician, having played with artists including Joe Cocker, Shakira, Slash and Avril Lavigne to Sara Bareilles, Gavin Degraw, Cher, SHINEDOWN and Celine Dion. Chaney is also a founding member and partner in the all-star supergroup ROYAL MACHINES along with Dave Navarro (JANE'S ADDICTION),Mark McGrath (SUGAR RAY),Josh Freese (FOO FIGHTERS) and Billy Morrison (BILLY IDOL).

Bassist Cliff Williams announced his retirement at the end of AC/DC's 2015-2016 "Rock Or Bust" tour, which also saw Johnson leaving. However, Williams — and Johnson — took part in the recording sessions that resulted in "Power Up". Both of them were also part of the AC/DC lineup that performed at Power Trip.

During an October 2020 interview with Dean Delray's "Let There Be Talk" podcast, Cliff was asked if Johnson's departure from the road was what led to his desire to stop touring. Cliff responded: "It was before then. I spoke to Angus about it initially. I was at a point — and this is at the beginning of the 'Rock Or Bust' tour — that I just felt, for me, it was time to hang it up. I knew that I didn't wanna keep doing these two-year tours, and I didn't wanna hold them back, so I made them aware of the fact that this was gonna be my last go-round. It was a tough tour to finish. God bless Axl for coming in and helping us out, finish it up. He did a great job. And at the end of that, I was definitely — that was it for me. Done — just done. That compounded the whole thing."

According to Williams, he wanted to take part in the recording sessions for "Power Up" as a tribute to Angus's late brother, founding AC/DC rhythm guitarist Malcolm Young, who died in 2017 from effects of dementia at age 64. Malcolm is credited as a writer on all 12 tracks on "Power Up".

"If 'Back In Black' has [late AC/DC singer] Bon Scott all over it, for me, 'Power Up' has got Malcolm Young," Cliff said. "This is for him. And it's the band that we played together with for 40-plus years. And I wanted to do that — I wanted to come back and do that.

"We did some rehearsals earlier [in 2020] before this darn COVID thing popped up, and we had great rehearsals," he continued. "The band was playing really well. So [they asked me], 'Do you wanna do a few shows? 'Sure'. A few shows. We were planning on doing that. Everyone goes home to their respective homes, and bang, we've been here ever since [because of the coronavirus-related shutdown]."

Cliff went on to confirm that his commitment to AC/DC was only for "a few" dates in support of "Power Up".

"For both [my mental and physical] health," he said. "I definitely have some physical issues, which I won't bore you with the details of. But, yeah, it's tough. I'm very grateful for everything. It's been fantastic. But I just don't wanna do that anymore."

Williams previously revealed that a "terrible" bout with vertigo contributed to his 2016 retirement. He also admitted the return of both Johnson and drummer Phil Rudd convinced him to rejoin the group. "It was like the old band back together," he told Rolling Stone. "It was not like starting over again, but as close to the band that's been together for 40-plus years as we can possibly make it. I didn't want to miss that."

The follow-up to 2014's "Rock Or Bust", "Power Up" was recorded over a six-week period in August and September 2018 at Warehouse Studios in Vancouver with producer Brendan O'Brien, who also worked 2008's "Black Ice" and "Rock Or Bust".

DOWN, the long-running heavy metal supergroup featuring vocalist Philip H. Anselmo, guitarists Pepper Keenan and Kirk Windstein, drummer Jimmy Bower and bassist Pat Bruders, has signed with Nuclear Blast Records. The band is currently in the final stages of recording its long-awaited new full-length album, slated for release in 2026.

Nuclear Blast comments: "Nuclear Blast is proud to be in the trenches with NOLA legends DOWN as their partner in their long overdue return to the metal world. In addition, we are excited to bring some of their key past catalog releases back into the spotlight, especially on the vinyl side. There are so many longtime DOWN fans at Nuclear Blast who are excited to be working with one of their all-time favorite bands. 2026 can't come soon enough!"

Anselmo states: "It's good to sign with Nuclear Blast Records. It's a good label home and we're ready to make some awesome recordings!"

Keenan says: "Having already been a part of the Nuclear Blast family with CORROSION OF CONFORMITY, it is an honor and a privilege to be here as well with my brothers in DOWN. The team at Nuclear Blast is a well-oiled machine and you can definitely tell they love what they do. We are in the right place."

Bower adds: "Nuclear Blast is a great label that put out some excellent records. It's an honor to have them work our jams!"

Updates on new DOWN music will be unveiled in the months to come. In the meantime, don't miss DOWN when they headline night one of this year's edition of the Milwaukee Metal Fest. The show follows the band's recent Western U.S. tour with DANZIG.

In April 2024, Windstein, who is also the frontman of CROWBAR, told Concrete Spew about the musical direction of the new DOWN material: "It just sounds like DOWN. I mean, it sounds refreshing because we haven't done it in so long, gotten together with me and the guys and done it in — fuck — 12 years or something. So it sounds like DOWN, I think, to me, it sounds more old-school DOWN. And the reason I say that is I think we got to a point where… Like, the 'NOLA' record is so simple, and it just wrote itself; it was so simple. And that's how this is coming about, which is great."

He continued: "We're not overthinking it. We're not trying to make things too complex. Phillip's not trying to write so many lyrics and things. We just kind of got away — I hate to say 'got away', 'cause anything we do is DOWN, but, to me, we kind of got a little bit… We needed to go back and look at each other and just go, 'Let's just get in a room and do it like we did from the beginning.' And that's what it feels like to me. It's very magical. The ideas and the working together, just bounce off of one another, it's a natural thing."

DOWN played its rescheduled concert at Inn Of The Mountain Gods Resort And Casino in Mescalero, New Mexico on September 27, 2024. The band was originally supposed to perform at at Inn Of The Mountain Gods on June 20, 2024, but the show was called off due to a pair of rapidly growing wildfires which were converging on a village inside a tribal reservation in the state. As a result of the postponement, DOWN played two pop-up shows in Louisiana — on June 20, 2024 at Southport Hall in New Orleans and on June 21, 2024 at Varsity Theatre in Baton Rouge.

Prior to Southport Hall, DOWN's last concert took place in September 2022 at the Blue Ridge Rock Festival in Alton, Virginia.

DOWN made a handful of rare live appearances in the spring and summer of 2022. The band launched a three-date U.S. run of shows in May 2022 at the Welcome To Rockville festival in Daytona Beach, Florida. After playing in Atlanta and Dallas immediately after Rockville, DOWN took a three-week break before regrouping for three European festival appearances in June. The aforementioned appearance at that year's Blue Ridge Rock Festival followed in September 2022.

In August 2021, DOWN took part in a very special in-person live and virtual experience. "NOLA Town Throwdown" was held at the Fillmore in New Orleans, Louisiana and featured fans attending the show in person as well as watching it in real time from the comfort of their living room.

In August 2020, DOWN celebrated the 25th anniversary of "NOLA" with a special livestreamed event. Dubbed "The Quarter Century Throwdown", the high-production, multi-camera event took place using cutting-edge streaming technology to create a one-of-a-kind virtual concert experience.

A founding member of DOWN, Windstein left the band in 2013 in order to focus on CROWBAR and his family life. He was replaced by Bobby Landgraf, DOWN's former guitar tech who was previously in GAHDZILLA MOTOR COMPANY, a 1990s outfit also featuring Jason McMaster (DANGEROUS TOYS, WATCHTOWER),and HONKY.

Windstein announced his return to DOWN in 2019, with the band confirming a number of festival appearances for 2020 to celebrate the 25th anniversary of "NOLA", all of which were later canceled or postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic which swept the globe.

Prior to the August 2020 livestream, DOWN's last live appearance took place in August 2016 at the Psycho Las Vegas festival in Las Vegas.

The supergroup hasn't issued anything since the arrival of the "Down IV – Part Two" EP in May 2014.

"Down IV – Part Two" sold around 10,000 copies in the United States in its first week of release in May 2014 to debut at position No. 23 on The Billboard 200 chart.

The band's previous EP, "Down IV Part I – The Purple EP", opened with around 12,000 units in September 2012 to land at No. 35.

"Down IV – Part Two" was recorded at Nodferatu's Lair — Anselmo's home studio — and produced by Michael Thompson. It was released via Down Records/ADA Music.

Photo by MetalDave Media

During a recent interview with Audacy Music, HALESTORM frontwoman Lzzy Hale spoke about the fact that she will appear at the upcoming "Back To The Beginning" charity show on July 5 at Villa Park in Birmingham, United Kingdom. The concert will mark the original lineup of BLACK SABBATH's last-ever performance and Ozzy Osbourne's final appearance as a solo artist. Asked if she will perform the Ozzy Osbourne/Lita Ford song "Close My Eyes Forever", which she recorded as a duet with DISTURBED frontman David Draiman for the self-titled debut album from Draiman's DEVICE project, at the event, Lzzy said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "So, according to [RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE's] Tom Morello [who is the musical director for the concert], that is in the works, but he said, 'You're gonna have to be patient with the confirmation for that.' Because of Ozzy's health and everything, we're gonna have to see pretty much on the day how much Ozzy's going to be singing and willing to do. But HALESTORM is doing a set. We're also doing a BLACK SABBATH cover. And I've been asked to sing in the supergroup with Tom Morello and everybody there."

Regarding how HALESTORM's participation in the concert came about, Lzzy said: "Dude, so we got this e-mail from [Ozzy's wife and manager] Sharon Osbourne. And I didn't answer it for two days. 'cause I'm, like, 'Is this real?' It's wild."

She continued: "I've been a BLACK SABBATH fan since I was 11. The first riff I ever learned a guitar was 'Heaven And Hell' by BLACK SABBATH. And then you opened for HEAVEN & HELL in 2009, with Ronnie James Dio, and that was Ronnie James Dio's last show before he passed away. So it's this incredible full-circle, unfathomable dream. If you had told me this when I was 13, I'd be, like, 'You're a liar. This will never happen to me.'"

Lzzy went on to say that "to be the only woman asked to be there is an honor as well." She added: "I was talking to my friends, uh, [THE PRETTY RECKLESS's] Taylor Momsen and [EVANESCENCE's] Amy Lee and [IN THIS MOMENT's] Maria Brink and all of my sisters in this genre, and they're all so proud of me. And I said, 'Hey, girls, I'm carrying you with me. You're gonna be there in spirit. I'm gonna make you girls so proud.' And so it's this beautiful event that everyone gets to look forward to. I'm so glad they're doing it."

Circling back to BLACK SABBATH's influence on her career, Lzzy said: "[SABBATH bassist] Geezer Butler ended up mentioning our band in his book because of us opening up for HEAVEN & HELL right before Ronnie passed. And I got some amazing words of advice from Ronnie James Dio at that gig that I carry with me every day.

"There's a difference between believing that you are capable of doing and being a part of great things, and then it actually happening," she explained. "'Cause you can believe all you want; it doesn't mean it's gonna happen. So, yeah, I'm very grateful for all the people that believe in us and believe in me, and I'm so happy that we're still a band. We haven't disbanded yet, and we didn't give up before the miracles started happening."

Lzzy said that Morello's task of curating the performers for the concert is not something that can be taken lightly. "Sounds like a shit show," she said. "I do not envy that job at all.

"They've been keeping us a little bit in the dark," she added. "I get bits and pieces from Tom. Every time Tom calls me, I'm, like, 'Uh-oh. Am I learning a new song? What's happening?' And so there's all these moving pieces.

"It's gotta be hard 'cause you have the legacy of BLACK SABBATH, and then you have everyone attached to BLACK SABBATH, all of the ex-bandmates, the family members, and then the rock royalty, like Wolfie Van Halen and Billy Corgan and all of these guys and TOOL and everybody that wants to be a part of it," Hale added.

Reflecting on the impact of the Ozzy-curated Ozzfest traveling festival in the 1990s and early 2000s, Lzzy said: "I could never afford to go when I was a kid. The only shows I could afford to go to were local shows in Pennsylvania. And all my friends would be going to Ozzfest. Like, 'Are you coming?' I'm, like, 'No. I can't.' And so it's kind of like I skipped a lot of important steps, and now I'm getting to open up for BLACK SABBATH and sharing a stage with them. But Ozzfest was fundamental in our upbringing, 'cause anybody that was worth their stuff in anything was at Ozzfest. And any new band — like DISTURBED broke through Ozzfest; so did the SYSTEM OF A DOWN. We probably wouldn't have these acts if it wasn't for Sharon being, like, 'Hey, get on Ozzfest.' So it's a big deal."

"Back To The Beginning" sold out in less than 10 minutes in February. The concert will mark the first time that the original lineup of BLACK SABBATH — Osbourne, guitarist Tony Iommi, bassist Geezer Butler and drummer Bill Ward — have played together in 20 years.

Also set to appear at the event are METALLICA, GUNS N' ROSES, TOOL, SLAYER, PANTERA, GOJIRA, ALICE IN CHAINS, HALESTORM, LAMB OF GOD, ANTHRAX and MASTODON.

In addition, there will be a performance by a "supergroup of musicians" including Duff McKagan and Slash (GUNS 'N' ROSES),Billy Corgan (THE SMASHING PUMPKINS),Fred Durst (LIMP BIZKIT),K.K. Downing (JUDAS PRIEST),Jake E. Lee (OZZY OSBOURNE),Wolfgang Van Halen (VAN HALEN, MAMMOTH WVH),Tom Morello (RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE),Andrew Watt, Chad Smith (RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS),David Ellefson (MEGADETH),Vernon Reid (LIVING COLOUR),Whitfield Crane (UGLY KID JOE),David Draiman (DISTURBED),Frank Bello (ANTHRAX),Jonathan Davis (KORN),Lzzy Hale (HALESTORM),Mike Bordin (FAITH NO MORE),Rudy Sarzo (OZZY OSBOURNE, QUIET RIOT),Sammy Hagar, Scott Ian (ANTHRAX),Sleep Token II (SLEEP TOKEN) and Papa V Perpetua (GHOST).

Ozzy — who hasn't played a full show since late 2018 — announced his last-ever performance on February 5.

Proceeds from the "Back To The Beginning" show will support Cure Parkinson's, the Birmingham Children's Hospital and Acorn Children's Hospice, a Children's Hospice supported by Aston Villa.

The original lineup of BLACK SABBATH last performed in 2005. Since then, SABBATH has played in partial reunions but never in its original lineup.

The legendary BLACK SABBATH frontman was diagnosed in 2003 with Parkin 2 — a very rare genetic form of Parkinson's. During a TV appearance in January 2020, the singer disclosed that he was 'stricken" with the disease which occurs when the nerve cells of the body degenerate and levels of dopamine are reduced. Dopamine is an essential chemical that is produced by these nerve cells which send signals to different parts of the brain to control movements of the body.

Ozzy's health issues, including suffering a nasty fall and dislodging metal rods placed in his spine following a quad-bike accident in 2003, as well as catching COVID-19 three years ago, forced him to cancel some of his previously announced tours.

While Osbourne's health issues forced him to scrap most of his live appearances, the musician said he would return if his condition improved.

Despite his health problems, Osbourne has performed a couple of times in the last three years, including at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham in August 2022 and at the NFL halftime show at the season opener Los Angeles Rams and Buffalo Bills game in September 2022.

In a new interview with Radioactive MikeZ, host of the 96.7 KCAL-FM program "Wired In The Empire", Scooter Ward of alt-rock trailblazers COLD — who are currently celebrating the 20th anniversary of their second album, "13 Ways To Bleed On Stage", and 25th anniversary of their fourth LP, "A Different Kind Of Pain", on a spring 2025 U.S. tour — was asked about the possibility of a new album from him and his bandmates. The singer responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Yes. Well, that's another reason why I wanted to do 'A Different Kind Of Pain' and '13 Ways To Bleed On Stage'. We're a few months away from the actual 'A Different Kind Of Pain' anniversary. So, I go, 'I know this anniversary thing with 'Year Of The Spider' was successful, the '13 Ways' thing is successful.' But I go, 'Why don't we just throw 'A Different Kind Of Pain' on there as well?' Take of all that at one point, so I don't have to go do another anniversary tour, because if I don't, then everybody's gonna be yelling at me about it: 'You're not gonna do [an anniversary tour for] 'A Different Kind Of Pain'?' I'm, like, 'Yes, we already did it.' And it was important for me to do that. So I think doing both those albums now gives us the levity to have time and just work on new music and put that out and move forward from those types of things."

Asked if that means COLD fans can expect to hear new music in 2026, Scooter replied: "Yes, a hundred percent. I'm writing right now, so I'm gonna say by next summer there will be a COLD album out."

At the turn of the century, COLD unveiled the seminal "13 Ways To Bleed On Stage", which went gold and yielded hits such as "Just Got Wicked", "No One" and "End Of The World". Their 2003 follow-up, "Year Of The Spider", marked their highest chart position, bowing at No. 3 on the Billboard 200, receiving a gold certification, and spawning the smash "Stupid Girl", accompanied by Rivers Cuomo of WEEZER. 2005's "A Different Kind Of Pain" illuminated melodic strides to the tune of 37,000-plus copies sold first-week and a Top 30 debut. Meanwhile, 2011's "Superfiction" continued this streak, crashing the Top 10 of the Top Rock Albums chart upon arrival and extending a growing legacy.

The past few years have been transcendent for COLD — peaking with the successful 2019 release of "The Things We Can't Stop", subsequent singles "Shine", "Without You", "The Devil We Know", "Run" and "Quiet Now" and a North American comeback tour boasting several sold-out shows.

In a new interview with Metal Hammer Greece's TV show TV War, former ACCEPT and current U.D.O. and DIRKSCHNEIDER frontman Udo Dirkschneider was asked what keeps him motivated to still record new albums and tour at the age of 73. He responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Let's say this: the most important thing is that I still have fun to do this. I mean, that's the most important thing. I also like to create a new album. Normally you can say, okay, I don't need to do a new album. I mean, we have so many stuff — you can change every year the setlist, if you want. No, it's still fun to do this.

"I always say, when people ask me, 'Oh, when do you wanna retire?' I say, 'I don't know. As long my voice is working, as long we can tour worldwide, why stop?'" he explained. "[So I can] sit home and drink coffee? No. For what? No. It makes no sense.

"I really like to do this," Udo added. "I have a really good band with me, especially now with [former ACCEPT bassist] Peter [Baltes]. And it's a lot of fun to do this. And as long everything works — I don't know — maybe [I can keep doing this for] another 10 years. I don't know. [Laughs]"

Udo, who recently released a reimagining of ACCEPT's iconic album "Balls To The Wall" to celebrate the LP's 40th anniversary, was also asked if he has had any thoughts of celebrating other ACCEPT albums, such as perhaps 1985's "Metal Heart". He responded: "Yeah. I know already that some people came up and said, 'Oh, maybe in five years [in 2030] you can do that with 45 years of 'Metal Heart'. I don't know. At the moment, we are so busy with DIRKSCHNEIDER 40-years-of-'Balls [To The Wall]' tour — it goes until the end of summer next year. And in between we have to work on the new U.D.O. album. And then after the summer next year, we wanna make a little break. And then I don't know when the U.D.O. album is coming out — maybe the end of '26 or maybe in the beginning of '27. And then touring again."

He continued:  "I don't know. Maybe [we can do something with] 'Metal Heart'. We will see. But I always say never say never. I mean, it was the same when I did [a] three-years-long [tour with DIRKSCHNEIDER]. We played only ACCEPT songs. I think I was a little bit too quick to say, 'No, I have enough of [playing] ACCEPT songs. I have enough of my own [U.D.O.] songs [to perform live].' But then it's a history, that people wanna hear that.

"I had, a long time ago, with Ronnie James Dio, a conversation, and he said to me, 'Udo, normally it makes no sense to make new albums. We always play the same stuff that they wanna hear. But we are entertaining people. And give the people what they want.' And that's also why we said, 'Okay, then we do DIRKSCHNEIDER again [playing only ACCEPT songs]."

DIRKSCHNEIDER, the band featuring former ACCEPT members Dirkschneider (vocals) and Baltes (bass),along with drummer Sven Dirkschneider and the talented guitar duo of Andrey Smirnov and Fabian "Dee" Dammers, celebrated the 40th anniversary of "Balls To The Wall", which was originally released in late 1983 and is the most commercially successful and best-known album by ACCEPT, by performing the LP in its entirety on recent tours of South America and Europe.

Ten years ago — in 2015 — Udo announced that he would embark on a special tour during which he would perform ACCEPT songs one last time under the DIRKSCHNEIDER banner before closing that chapter for good. Since then, the former ACCEPT frontman has continued to play ACCEPT material at select shows, including at the September 18, 2020 U.D.O. concert in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, which was released on DVD and Blu-ray.

When he first announced the original DIRKSCHNEIDER tour in 2015, Udo said that he had "to make a clear break for myself — close the book and this is it. And I have the problem that people come to me and ask me to play more ACCEPT songs," he explained. "Other people ask me why I play ACCEPT songs at all, because there are [more than] fifteen U.D.O. records. I want to avoid such things and avoid the repeating questions concerning ACCEPT. I just can't stand that anymore. There is nothing more to be said. U.D.O. exists longer than ACCEPT. We have more records than ACCEPT."

While acknowledging that some ACCEPT fans want to hear the band's classic songs performed by the group's original singer, Dirkschneider explained that "you always have these comparisons [between how these songs are played by ACCEPT and U.D.O.]. I don't want this anymore either. [The current lineup of ACCEPT] also play 'Metal Heart', they play 'Balls To The Wall' and 'Princess Of The Dawn'. And then some people tell me, 'Oh, [current ACCEPT singer Mark Tornillo] is doing it better than you.' And I go, 'That's fine. Enjoy yourself.' But I don't want this anymore. And to avoid all of this in the future, I said, 'We are doing this one more time.'"

Dirkschneider said that his vow to never play ACCEPT material again came with one caveat. "If the band ACCEPT dissolves one day in the near future and I am still around with U.D.O., then there is a chance that I put ACCEPT songs back in the setlist," he said. "But currently there is ACCEPT, so go see them [if you want to see those songs performed live]. They are playing these songs."

Udo previously said the original plan was for DIRKSCHNEIDER to only "a few shows," and "then [the tour] got bigger and bigger [due to demand]." But, he added, "I don't want to complain about that."