Former OZZY OSBOURNE and DAVID LEE ROTH guitarist Joe Holmes has shared the official music video for his new single called "The Deadfall". The track, which was made available under the Joe Holmes name, once again features a recording lineup that is similar to the one that tracked the debut album from Joe's FARMIKOS project, with Holmes on guitar, Robert Locke on vocals, and Holmes's former OZZY OSBOURNE bandmates, bassist Robert Trujillo (now in METALLICA) and drummer Mike Bordin (also of FAITH NO MORE) on drums. Also contributing melodies and lyrics to the song was Brent Hoffort.

In December 2024, Holmes released a new song called "Cross Eyed Stare" featuring Locke, Trujillo and Bordin.

FARMIKOS's self-titled debut album was released in 2015 to critical acclaim. The disc contained ten original songs written by Holmes and Locke, with writing contributions on eight songs by Hoffort. Some of "Farmikos" featured Brooks Wackerman (AVENGED SEVENFOLD, ex-BAD RELIGION) on drums.

FARMIKOS was Holmes's first venture under his own flag since first attaining local notoriety with TERRIFF, an L.A. band he formed after taking guitar lessons as a teenager from none other than original Ozzy axeman Randy Rhoads. Holmes eventually went on to replace ALS-stricken Jason Becker on the 1991 David Lee Roth "A Lil' Ain't Enough" world tour.

In 1995, Holmes was brought to the attention of Ozzy Osbourne who was looking for a new guitarist to take over Zakk Wylde's spot for the "Ozzmosis" album touring cycle. Holmes would go on to co-write three songs, "Facing Hell", "Junkie" and "That I Never Had", which appeared on Ozzy's 2001 album, "Down To Earth".

Holmes began collaborating and creating material with Hoffort and then joined forces with vocalist and Arkansas native Locke in 2011 to put together ideas for what would become FARMIKOS.

MR. BIG played the final show of its "The BIG Finale!" tour earlier tonight (Tuesday, February 25) at Nippon Budokan in Tokyo, Japan. Fan-filmed video of the concert can be seen below.

In an October 2024 interview with Ruben Mosqueda of We Go To 11, MR. BIG bassist Billy Sheehan was asked if the band's "The BIG Finish" farewell tour was just the end of extensive touring for him and his bandmates, with plans to make special appearances from time to time, or if MR. BIG was going to become a studio-only project going forward. Billy responded: "The end is the end. It's finished. If some extenuating circumstances come up, we might do a show or two, maybe, but touring and recording… We kind of wanted to put a period at the end of the sentence. And as I've said many times, we wanted to run over the finish line, not crawl over it. And for us, a fully functional band is on tour playing live and doing the thing and writing recording, and then go out on after the record and do another tour, to do that, we've done that for 34 years, and it's been an amazing run. We have friends all over planet earth. It's fantastic. And it's probably our greatest asset, personally, for me, the amazing people that we've touched around the world. But we decided to really, 'Let's do it the right way,' and not to have some continual farewell thing that goes on for an eternity."

He continued: "Our last show was in Romania. Unusual. That's where the roulette ball fell into that as we spun the wheel. And we had a great time. And our last shows in Europe, we did a bunch of shows in Germany. Amazing. We have a lot of friends in Germany. We had big hits in Germany as well. And all over Europe and England. We got to play Ireland — Belfast and Dublin. And I'm an Irishman, so that was very nice. We played Liverpool, the Holy Ground. It was quite amazing. I had to put one little BEATLES melody in my solo at the end. Pretty cool. So it was a nice way to go out. I'm glad we did it. We did it with as much class as we're capable of. We did the final tour, and I'm very, very pleased about it."

In a separate interview with George Dionne of KNAC.COM, MR. BIG frontman Eric Martin once again admitted that he was second guessing the group's decision to stop touring after the completion of "The BIG Finish" farewell tour. Asked what "The BIG Finish" means to him, he said: "Yeah, I'm not pulling the wool over anybody's eyes. It means the touring is over. Which kind of bums me out, because I was there in the meeting a year and change ago going, 'Yep. I agree. It's time that we call it quits.'

"I didn't wanna quit for the longest time," he admitted. "I mean, this was brought up, like, five years ago. 'Should we do a farewell tour?' We've got other projects going, and it's kind of hard to keep the MR. BIG thing alive. And I was, like, 'No,' cheerleading, 'Please, no. We've gotta keep it going.' But yeah, a year and a few months ago, I was totally in agreement with everybody going, 'Yeah, this is it.' I even thought of the name 'BIG Finish'. So I put the nail in the coffin. But now I'm, like, oh, I wish I had a nice big hammer to unclog that nail. 'Cause the band's so good and so tight. The crowd's coming out. New album came out. The momentum is there. And the band just sounds so tight on stage.

Circling back to what "The BIG Finish" meant as far as the possibility of future MR. BIG live shows, Eric said: "What I mean by 'The BIG Finish' is there's no touring anymore. I would hope that we still leave the door open. I mean, I brought this up many times online. Even Nick D'Virgilio, our drummer, he goes, 'Man, we should do a residency in Indonesia or Japan or just anywhere,' like do a residency. And I go, 'Man, I just hope we can play in a few years, play four or five shows here and there, maybe play a festival with bands in our ilk.' It'd be great to keep that door open. And no response. I think also, a whole year and almost a half of touring, everybody just kind of wants to take a break. But I'm, like, 'Let's ride this wave, brother. Let's do this.' But yeah, no more touring. No more multiple dates. It's over. The big lady has sung."

In August 2024, Eric told Roppongi Rocks's Stefan Nilsson that there was no chance of him and his MR. BIG bandmates going back on their word that they would not tour ever again. "We're not the kind of band — when we say that we're gonna quit and it's over and we're not touring anymore… We may do a one-off here and there every couple of years or whatever, but we're not going to be like the MÖTLEY CRÜEs and the KISSes," he explained." And no offense to them, because the crowds keep coming to see 'em, but we're not gonna do it. We just maybe have too much pride in it."

Asked if there was a chance of MR. BIG making more studio albums in the future, Eric said: "I did an interview the other day with Billy, and… I'm not my brother's keeper. I don't know what he thinks. I know what I think, that I'd like to do albums. If we're not gonna tour anymore for different reasons — I mean, I just don't wanna tour lengthy…. This has been a year. I just can't do it. I'm too old to… Everybody goes, 'Oh, what about THE ROLLING STONES?' Yeah. What about THE ROLLING STONES? Flying in, playing one show and two weeks later playing another show. Yeah, this is back-to-back touring. Hardly any hotels. I mean, the bus will suffice, but it's like a big camping trip for older men. So, I would like to do other albums. But the interview went like this. The guy goes, 'You gonna do another album?' And I'm, like, 'I'd like to.' And Billy goes, 'No, that's it.' I'm, like, 'All right.' But he's the guy that always says, 'Never say never.'"

MR. BIG played the last show of its "The BIG Finish" farewell tour on August 23, 2024 at the Way Too Far Rock Festival in Bistrița, Romania.

After the concert, Sheehan took to his social media to share a picture from the gig and he included the following message: "Romania!!! Crowd was a little bit light, but they made up for it in enthusiasm! The last MR. BIG show (not MY last show, goddammit!!).

"What a great run we've had since 1988. We made Great memories and millions (literally) of friends all around the world. My unlimited love and respect to all who listened, watched, purchased records, tickets and T -shirts. — without you we would have been nothing. Fact. Moving on now to other adventures, but never forgetting this amazing experience."

Guitarist Paul Gilbert added: "What an adventure! MR. BIG wraps up over a year of touring! Many thanks to ALL! I'll get home just in time for my son's 10th birthday. I hope he remembers who I am!"

D'Virgilio, who joined MR. BIG in 2023 as the replacement for the late Pat Torpey, commented: "It has been an amazing run with @billysheehanonbass @paulgilbert_official and @iamericmartin I've been able to rock n roll all over the world with the guys and I will be forever thankful. Big Love for MR. BIG!"

MR. BIG's tenth studio album, "Ten", was released on July 12, 2024 via Frontiers Music Srl. The LP features 11 new original tracks written by Martin and Gilbert, along with André Pessis and Tony Fanucchi. "Ten" was produced by Jay Ruston and MR. BIG.

D'Virgilio missed most of the final European leg of MR. BIG's "The BIG Finish" tour due to his commitments with his band BIG BIG TRAIN. He was temporarily replaced on the trek by Edu Cominato, an experienced drummer from São Paulo, Brazil who has previously played with Sheehan and Martin, Jeff Scott Soto and Geoff Tate (QUEENSRŸCHE),among others.

When MR. BIG announced "The BIG Finish" tour in 2023, the bandmembers said that it was "time to mark the end of this chapter of their legacy" after drummer Pat Torpey lost his battle with Parkinson's disease in 2018. The first leg kicked off in Japan and Southeast Asia in July and August 2023, where the band performed for hundreds of thousands of loyal fans at 11 sold-out shows including Budokan in Tokyo, Japan.

MR. BIG's last-ever live album release was "The BIG Finish Live", which came out on September 6, 2024 via the Evolution Music Group.

"The BIG Finish Live" was a brand-new live album and concert film of MR. BIG's "The BIG Finish" farewell tour, where the band played their million-selling "Lean Into It" album in its entirety, plus additional MR. BIG classics.

SWANS have announced details of their seventeenth studio album, "Birthing", due for release in North America on May 30 via Mute/Young God Records. "Birthing" will be released on triple vinyl (in a brown chipboard sleeve),double CD (in a brown chipboard digipack) and digitally. Initial pressings of the triple vinyl and CD editions will come with a bonus DVD featuring "Swans Live 2024 (Rope) The Beggar", a live concert film directed by Marco Porsia from the last SWANS U.S. tour, plus Christopher Nicholson's documentary from Michael Gira's solo tour in 2022 titled "I Wonder If I'm Singing What You're Thinking Me To Sing".

Listen to the first track to be shared, "I Am A Tower", below.

Michael Gira of SWANS says: "The material contained in this album was largely developed over the course of a yearlong SWANS tour, during 2023-2024 ('The Healers', 'I Am a Tower', 'Birthing', 'Guardian Spirit', 'Rope' and 'Away'),then recorded and further orchestrated and rearranged in the studio. Two pieces were created and performed in the studio ('Red Yellow', 'The Merge').

"In all cases, the material began with me sitting in my office with an acoustic guitar, singing and dreaming about what would become of these skeletal songs. I'm blessed to have such a stellar group of musicians to work with live (listed below),and through improvisation, endless revisions and an intensity of focus in performance (not to mention endurance),over the course of time the music morphed into what you generally hear on this collection.

"This album, coupled with the recent live release, 'Live Rope', constitutes my final foray (as producer / impresario) into the all-consuming sound worlds that have been my obsession for years. We'll do a final tour in this mode towards the end of 2025, then that's it. After that, SWANS will continue, so long as I'm able, but in a significantly pared down form. Hints of that direction can be found in a few moments on the current album. In the meantime, my hope is that the music provides a positive and fertile atmosphere in which to dream."

SWANS "Birthing" album contributors:

* Michael Gira - acoustic guitar, voice, producer
* Phil Puleo - drums, hammer dulcimer, flute, melodica, percussion
* Kristof Hahn - lap steel guitar, electric and acoustic guitars, loops, backing vocals
* Dana Schechter - lap steel guitar, bass guitar, loops
* Christopher Pravdica - bass guitar, Taishogoto, loops, sounds, keyboards
* Larry Mullins - Mellotron, keyboards, piano, synthesizer, drums, vibraphone, percussion, backing vocals
* Norman Westberg - electric guitar, loops

Guest musicians:

* Jennifer Gira - backing vocals, cameo vocals
* Laura Carbone and Lucy Kruger - backing vocals
* Andreas Dormann - soprano saxophone
* Timothy Wyskida - drums on "The Merge"
* Little Mikey - cameo vocals

"Birthing" was produced by Michael Gira. Recorded at Soundfabrik Berlin, recording engineer Ingo Krauss, assisted by Kiron Gaudi, and mixed at Candy Bomber Studio, Berlin by Ingo Krauss. Mastered by Doug Henderson at Micro-Moose, Berlin.

"Birthing" track listing:

01. The Healers
02. I Am a Tower
03. Birthing
04. Red Yellow
05. Guardian Spirit
06. The Merge
07. Rope
08. Away

Gira founded the groundbreaking New York City band SWANS in 1982. Initially notorious for their relentless, brutal, high-volume onslaughts of sound, the extreme, abject imagery of Gira's lyrics and his thundering vocals, SWANS would undergo a series of startling transformation over the next 15 years. Following the punishing "Filth" and "Cop" albums, the ensemble would venture into harshly mechanical proto-industrial rock of their "Greed" period, then both haunted atmospheric idylls and martial stomps on 1987's landmark "Children Of God" double album. They'd conjure gentler acoustic-based meditations on "The Burning World" (1989),then after relocating to Atlanta grand, melody-dense sonic whirlwinds of the "White Light From The Mouth Of Infinity" (1991) and "Love Of Life" (1993) era, becoming more dissonant and sharp-edged with "The Great Annihilator" (1994). Finally, the ultimate statement of that epoch of SWANS, "Soundtracks For The Blind" (1996),incorporated all of these elements across well over two hours of music. At this point, Gira called it quits after 15 years of non-stop recording and touring, disbanding the group. For the next 13 years, he'd make a long series of acclaimed albums and perform live extensively with a revolving roster of musicians under the name ANGELS OF LIGHT. Gira also discovered, produced and released albums by other musicians through his label Young God Records. He cultivated such talents as Devendra Banhart and Akron/Family, among others, the original figures of the late '00s avant-folk movement.

In 2010, he reactivated SWANS, releasing the studio album "My Father Will Guide Me Up A Rope To The Sky" to ecstatic critical response and touring the world for the better part of a year. "The Seer", a triple album studio set, came out in 2012 and was celebrated by another lengthy world tour eliciting more media praise and album sales that landed "The Seer" on Billboard's Top 200. SWANS' next release, "To Be Kind" (another triple vinyl) debuted at No. 36 on Billboard's Top 200 Sales chart and No. 5 on their Independent Sales chart. The group sold out 47 concert dates in their subsequent touring including selling out two-night stands in cities including New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Paris, as well as single shows in London, Berlin and Rome. The album garnered enormous praise from the press, and the two-hour long album stream was premiered by NPR. "The Glowing Man" (2017) (also triple vinyl) was the last studio release by this incarnation of SWANS. 2019's "Leaving Meaning" saw Gira return to working with a fluid supporting cast of musicians once again, which continued with 2023's acclaimed album "The Beggar".

DOKKEN has released the Tom Strickfaden-directed performance video for the pensive track "Saving Grace", taken from the band's 13th studio album, "Heaven Comes Down", which came out in October 2023 via Silver Lining Music.

DOKKEN leader Don Dokken said: "My studio in the Sangre de Cristo mountains has wrap-around windows staring at three mountains ranges and the city lights of Santa Fe below. It's a very different vibe. Looking at that view is what inspired me to write 'Saving Grace'. It just left me in a better place."

He added: "The song is the new single from our current album 'Heaven Comes Down'. We shot a performance video for it and I hope all the Rokkers out there will love it! See you on the road!"

The follow-up to 2012's "Broken Bones", "Heaven Comes Down" was produced by Bill Palmer and Don Dokken and was mixed by Kevin Shirley (AEROSMITH, IRON MAIDEN).

In August 2023, DOKKEN released the music video for the album's first single, "Fugitive". The clip was directed by Chris Eyre ("Dark Winds", "Smoke Signals") and was filmed at the popular immersive arts venture Meow Wolf in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Don said about "Fugitive": "The inspiration for the lyrics came from what seems to me to be an uncertain world these days. It's an up-tempo Rokker as are many on the album. I don't know what the future holds for our world, so I decided to take a step back and watch it all unfold… Yes, I guess I've become like many these days a fugitive from life. Hence the title!"

He continued: "The song rocks and the lyrics are self-explanatory. Like many songs I've written, it came to me late at night. Inspiration and pure stream of consciousness have always been the best formula for me when composing. It has that classic DOKKEN sound… A great song to blast when driving down the highway."

In September 2023, DOKKEN released the music video for the LP's second single, "Gypsy".

Dokken said about the track: "While writing the new record, we had written a lot of music, but I sometimes got stuck with the lyrics so I decided to go camping. I came across a woman wearing a lot of necklaces and jewelry. She was driving an old wagon with one horse and she was stuck in a hole. I asked her if she needed help, but she said, 'No. The sun will be up soon.' She had a fire going and invited me to have some food that was cooking in an old pot, so I did and we began to talk. She spoke in broken English and looked Navaho. There is a reservation here in New Mexico. The first thing she said to me was, 'You make music,' and I was intrigued by that, so we sat there for several hours and talked. She looked very old yet wise. She told me about her life living on the reservation and I told her about my life. She told me I had lost my way, which I found funny since she seemed to be lost but wasn't. It was pitch black. She looked up and said, 'The stars guide me,' and started speaking Navaho. I found the experience very surreal."

Don concluded: "I got my jack out of my truck and lifted up her wagon. We both gathered a lot of rocks and filled the hole so she could get her wagon unstuck, and then she just walked away and started to drive off without saying a word, but then she shouted back to me and said, 'The sun is coming up… you need to go, the coyotes and mount lions will be hunting soon'... Very wise advice."

Working with Palmer over the course of a year at his studio in Santa Fe, the DOKKEN flavors remain as potent as ever, yet they're also sprinkled with some desert seasoning which gives "Heaven Comes Down" a richness hitherto unseen on a DOKKEN album.

You want to rock? Sink your teeth into "Fugitive", which rides some shimmering guitar work courtesy of 20-plus-year member Jon Levin, and if you want ballads, head on over to "I'll Never Give Up", hanging on that Coliseum chorus, Levin laying down a landmark solo. The pattern of "Heaven Comes Down" never falters in delivering the goods on both sides of the fence. "Just Like A Rose" brings the Pacific Coast Highway to desert plains with its smooth, effortlessly-driven gears, and "Saving Grace" carries a mystical malevolence. But "Santa Fe" is perhaps the most revealing with Don Dokken opening up with what amounts to a "life-moment biography": a spartan acoustic arrangement allowing the rich yet road-driven vocals to frame what might well prove to be the defining moment of DOKKEN's career.

Don Dokken makes one thing abundantly clear: he is excited about his new record and the future, and wholly uninterested in revisiting a DOKKEN past which has centered too much on the off-stage and out-of-studio swirl.

"I'm so tired of hearing about the fighting and the 'this' and 'that'… this is about a new record," he declared, "a new record with my new band. It's been a long process, but at the end of the day, I think we have lightning in a bottle."

"Heaven Comes Down" track listing:

01. Fugitive
02. Gypsy
03. Is It Me Or You?
04. Just Like A Rose
05. I'll Never Give Up
06. Saving Grace
07. Over The Mountain
08. I Remember
09. Lost In You
10. Santa Fe

According to Don, 15 songs were recorded for "Heaven Comes Down", with the original plan to include all of them on the LP.

"When I write records, I don't just think, 'Okay, we need 10 songs or 11.' I always write 20 per album, and then you pick the best," he explained to Tulsa Music Stream. "And sometimes you write a song, and I'm thinking, 'Oh, this is great.' And it's a good thing I owned a recording studio in L.A., so it didn't cost me anything. And I'd write and write and write. And I'd get it done, and I'd go, 'Eh… It's okay.' So you get an idea and you think it's gonna go, and all of a sudden it just didn't pay out.

"I'm very proud of the record, but then I gave it to the label… I had only written three songs in the past that never made it, and it was me playing guitar," he said. "And I wanted those on the record, because now I'm crippled, I can't play guitar anymore. I said, 'At least put those on the album,' my last hurrah. And they took 'em off. And I never heard… Most record companies, they want 15 songs or 16 songs, like METALLICA albums. And he goes, 'We can only put 10.' I go, 'But that was the old days of vinyl.' You could only put — I can't remember; I think it's 40 minutes a side or something like that. So I said, 'But these are good songs. I want 'em on the record.' Why would you wanna take off four good songs? And they said, 'Well, maybe we'll put like a bonus album out down the road and add 'em.' … Anyway, he just said, 'We want 10 songs on the record, 10 songs on the CD. We're ditching four of 'em.' And they happened to pick the ones that I was playing the guitar on and Jon [Levin, DOKKEN guitarist] was playing solos. And I think they didn't like 'em… What did my record company president say? 'They're too grungy.' And I went, 'Grungy? Well, they're old.' But it wasn't like they were grungy; they were just dark. I was probably going through a dark phase, and he didn't want any dark songs on the record; he just wanted that classic DOKKEN [sound with] tons of harmonies, uptemp… yada yada yada."

One of the songs on "Heaven Comes Down" is the aforementioned "Santa Fe", which was written about Don's adopted hometown.

"People are always asking me how I ended up here," Dokken said. "And I told the story to my engineer and producer Bill Palmer. So I literally wrote a song called 'Santa Fe', and it's four minutes and 15 seconds, 'From the day I was born in L.A., I never wanted to leave. I had a lot of jobs. I hung out on Sunset Boulevard. I traveled around the world, was always missing home.' And I was telling him this, and he was recording it on a microphone. And I told him my story, and I went, 'Huh. I can make a song out of this.' So I did… And it's a really cool bastard song. It's not a rock song. It's not country. I can't put my finger on it."

Regarding the experience of working with Shirley for the first time, Don said: "Kevin Shirley is an amazing engineer. When he first started mixing the record, I was really disappointed. He gave me the first song and I went, 'This sounds like '80s.' And he goes, 'Well, I thought that's what you were going for.' And I said, 'That ship has sailed, man. I want a modern record — punchy, aggressive, in your face. I don't want a bunch of reverb, I don't want a bunch of echo. I don't want a bunch of production — just harmonies I want still.' So he goes, 'Oh, okay, I get it.' I said, 'Look, I just heard the IRON MAIDEN album. That thing kicks ass. Just go that direction.' So he did."

The title of the new DOKKEN album is apparently not to be confused with the song "When Heaven Comes Down" which originally appeared on the band's 1984 LP "Tooth And Nail".

In March 2023, DOKKEN bassist Chris McCarvill told Sam Wall about "Heaven Comes Down": "I have to tell you is Don sounds fantastic on it. He sounds great. I talked to him on the phone about this a bunch of times, and it was, like, he re-did his vocals three times. He didn't just phone it in; he really worked hard on it. And I can honestly say that, as someone that — I liked DOKKEN growing up and stuff — I can't imagine any DOKKEN fan being disappointed by it; I really can't. Don really sounds good on it."

DOKKEN released an album called "The Lost Songs: 1978-1981" in August 2020 via Silver Lining Music. Featuring sleeve art by renowned U.S. artist Tokyo Hiro (MOTÖRHEAD, MOTLEY CRÜE),the effort contains material written and recorded by a hungry young Don Dokken as he embarked upon a journey which started in Southern California and Northern Germany.

DOKKEN's classic lineup of Dokken, guitarist George Lynch, bassist Jeff Pilson and drummer "Wild" Mick Brown completed a short Japanese tour in October 2016, marking the first time in 21 years the four performed together.

A DOKKEN concert DVD focusing on the band's reunion tour, "Return To The East Live (2016)", was made available in 2018.

At some of the recent DOKKEN shows, Lynch has been rejoining the band on stage to perform three of the classic DOKKEN songs: "Kiss Of Death", "When Heaven Comes Down" and "Tooth And Nail".

A new Ozzy Osbourne documentary, "No Escape From Now", is currently in production at Paramount+. The feature-length project, which is slated to premiere later this year, will "reveal the devastating setbacks" the legendary BLACK SABBATH singer has "faced since his fateful fall in 2019," according to a press release.

"This is Ozzy Osbourne like you've never seen before: an honest, warm and deeply personal portrait of one of the greatest rock stars of all time, detailing how the singer's world shuddered to a halt six years ago, forcing him to contemplate who he really is, confront his own mortality and question whether or not he can ever perform on stage for one last time," the documentary's logline reads. "Addressing his health issues and impact of his Parkinson's diagnosis, the film showcases the central role music continues to play in Ozzy's life — also proving his mischievous sense of humor remains resolutely intact despite it all."

Directed by BAFTA winner Tania Alexander ("Gogglebox"),the doc began filming in 2022 during the sessions for Osbourne's 13th album "Patient Number 9" and will continue through what the 76-year-British-born musician is calling his final performance with BLACK SABBATH in his original hometown of Birmingham, England on July 5.

"The last six years have been full of some of the worst times I've been through. There's been times when I thought my number was up," Osbourne said in a statement. "But making music and making two albums saved me. I'd have gone nuts without music."

He added: "My fans have supported me for so many years, and I really want to thank them and say a proper goodbye to them. That is what the Villa Park show is about."

"This film is an honest account of what has happened to Ozzy during the last few years. It shows how hard things have been for him and the courage he has shown while dealing with a number of serious health issues, including Parkinson's," Ozzy's wife and manager Sharon Osbourne added. "It's about the reality of his life now. We have worked with a production team we trust and have allowed them the freedom to tell the story openly. We hope that story will inspire people that are facing similar issues to Ozzy."

"Given our storied past with Ozzy, Sharon and the whole family, we were determined to land this project and look forward to sharing it with his legions of fans and global audiences on Paramount+ later this year," Bruce Gillmer, president of Music, Music Talent, Programming & Events for Paramount as well as chief content officer of Music for Paramount+, said in a statement.

The documentary will be produced by U.K. production house Echo Velvet in partnership with the Osbournes and MTV Entertainment Studios. Gillmer and Amanda Culkowski will executive produce the project for MTV Entertainment Studios alongside Phil Alexander for Echo Velvet and Sharon Osbourne for Sharon Osbourne Management.

"No Escape From Now" will feature interviews with Sharon and the couple's children as well as Tony Iommi (BLACK SABBATH),Duff McKagan (GUNS N' ROSES),Robert Trujillo (METALLICA),Billy Idol, Maynard James Keenan (TOOL),Chad Smith (RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS),Zakk Wylde, producer Andrew Watt and friend/musician Billy Morrison.

In a new interview with Sara Parker of Philadelphia's WMMR radio station, SLAYER guitarist Kerry King, who just completed a North American headlining tour with his solo band, was asked if writing an autobiography is something that he would be interested in doing at some point. He responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "I don't think so. And I know people are gonna come knocking because I've been the voice of [my solo] band and the voice of SLAYER for the better part of 20, 30 years. Just as it went on, more interviews started coming my way. And I don't pull any punches — I say it like it is in interviews, radio, magazines, whatever. So, other than real dirt, there's nothing to write about. And I'm never gonna throw my band under the bus."

Back in 2010, King told The Grand Rapids Press that he wasn't interested in reading MEGADETH mainman Dave Mustaine's autobiography.

"I certainly don't need to hear what kind of nonsense is in that book," he said. "Dave's got a very skewed perspective."

Asked whether he would consider writing a book about SLAYER, King said at the time: "I've forgotten more stories than I can remember, I'm sure… Between the four of us, we could piece things together, but we don't have the drug overdoses and the therapists and all that."

King kicked off his first-ever headlining tour on January 15 at the Regency Ballroom in San Francisco, California. With MUNICIPAL WASTE as special guest and ALIEN WEAPONRY supporting, the tour wrapped at House of Blues in Las Vegas on February 22.

Joining Kerry in his new band are singer Mark Osegueda (DEATH ANGEL),guitarist Phil Demmel (MACHINE HEAD, VIO-LENCE),Kyle Sanders (bass; HELLYEAH) and Bostaph.

King's solo debut, "From Hell I Rise", came out last May via Reigning Phoenix Music.

All material for "From Hell I Rise" was written by the 60-year-old SLAYER guitarist. Helming the sessions at Henson Recording Studios in Los Angeles in 2023 was producer Josh Wilbur, who has previously worked with KORN, LAMB OF GOD, AVENGED SEVENFOLD and BAD RELIGION, among others.

King authored all the lyrics, mainly for logistical reasons. "I finished everything before Mark knew he had the gig," he explained. "But that's not to say he will or won't write on record two." Circumstances dictated that King sing on all "From Hell I Rise" demos. "I did scratch vocals on everything," King said, adding, "I'm not a singer. I'm a guitar player. I've got conviction when I sing, but I have no range, and I need some distortion to help me out a little bit. There was always, 'I got this if whatever we're looking for doesn't work.' Luckily, we didn't have to go that route."

Last year, Kerry said that he knew people would compare "From Hell I Rise" to SLAYER. "I'm not afraid of that because I think it stands up to anything we've done in our history, musically, performance-wise," he said. But he was quick to add: "There will be people complaining, 'Why does it sound like SLAYER?' And 'why doesn't it sound more like SLAYER? That's just what people do."

In early May 2024, the KERRY KING band performed its first live show at Reggies in Chicago. In the days following, the band went from playing an intimate venue to performing at the huge U.S. festivals Welcome To Rockville (Florida) and Sonic Temple (Ohio).

KERRY KING launched a European tour on June 3, 2024 — King's 60th birthday – in Tilburg, The Netherlands. The trek combined headline shows in the U.K., The Netherlands, Germany, Italy and Spain but also festival appearances such as Rock Am Ring, Hellfest, Tuska, Download, Sweden Rock Festival and many more.

The SLAYER guitarist's solo band played its first concert as the support act for LAMB OF GOD and MASTODON on July 19, 2024 at the Texas Trust CU Theatre in Grand Prairie, Texas. The six-week "Ashes Of Leviathan" tour wrapped on August 31, 2024 in Omaha, Nebraska.

Photo credit: Andrew Stuart

In a new interview with Ernest Skinner of Canada's Border City Rock Talk, former WHITESNAKE and DIO and current THE DEAD DAISIES guitarist Doug Aldrich offered an update on his health, nearly five months after he underwent a "very successful" surgery following a throat cancer diagnosis. Regarding how he found out about the seriousness of his diagnosis, Doug said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Once I met with the oncologist, he said, 'Hey, this is very treatable. You're gonna be fine. It's gonna be a pain in the ass, but it's very treatable.' But prior to that — it was about two or three weeks [earlier] when I got the news that it was cancerous, it was definitely cancer — I didn't know what kind of cancer [it was] and how advanced it was. That's the scary part, because, man, I was, like… It was just a nerve-racking situation because I've got kids. I've lived a great life, I'm super blessed and lucky, and if it's my time, I'll go, but I don't wanna leave yet because I've gotta help my kids get through life a little bit."

Doug continued: "It was definitely a setback mentally. And I just had to kind of go, 'Look, I'm gonna leave it in God's hands and just whatever it is, it is, and I'll just deal with it my best I can.' And then the doctor said it was very treatable and it would be a pain in the ass. It would be a surgery and also radiation. And I thought, 'Okay, the surgery is the worst part of it,' but actually radiation is [the worst]… Fortunately, I didn't have to have chemo, so that was good. They took out my tonsil where it was, and then they took out a bunch of lymph nodes right here. And the scar is pretty good, actually."

Elaborating on the negative effects of his treatment, Aldrich said: "One of the biggest things was I lost all my taste, so you could smell stuff, but you couldn't taste it… On one side, for some reason, it was really metallic… I would gargle all day with salt water and baking soda, and that helped a bit with a lot of issues. But anyway, the bottom line is I got my blood test the other day and it's zero, whereas prior to my surgery, it was 277, whatever that is. Now it's zero. So that's good. I've still gotta get scanned on my full body to make sure there's no organs that got anything in 'em, but I think I'm pretty good. I'm hoping so."

He added: "Going through that treatment, I lost a bit of weight, and so I'm trying to build back a little bit without gaining in the other spots. I like that I lost some weight."

Earlier this month, Doug told Ralph Rasmussen of Radio Bypass that "everything" was "good" following his treatment. "I got done with all the radiation treatments in December, and then it's just been a quick six weeks or whatever," he said. "It's just flown by. But I've been feeling good. Everything's kind of getting back to normal. I'm starting to go to the gym a little bit and work on my muscles and stuff and getting going again like that. So I'm good. I've been playing a lot. There's a few little issues that pop up — I get some swelling sometimes. After they do that surgery on you, there's some restructuring of your nasal cavity and stuff like that in your throat. So there's a little bit to get used to, but I can't complain. I'm doing really good. And after what I went through, I'm definitely feeling blessed."

Doug went on to say that he felt some fatigue as a side effect of his radiation therapy. But "it went away pretty quick," he explained. "Literally, you would do radiation every day for 15 minutes and then they would give you Saturday and Sunday off, and, man, I was just so happy when it was Friday and I could look forward to Saturday just not having to go there. And then by Sunday, I'd start to feel a little better. I mean, I was definitely taking naps every day. But after a couple of weeks of being done with it, I feel my energy is back. I've been taking it easy in the gym 'cause I don't wanna strain anything. I've done that in the past where I was getting ready for a tour and I started to do some heavy weights and I'd pull something, and it's like I got an issue for six months for it to come back. So I'm taking it pretty easy. But I'm feeling good, and, yeah, overall, I can't complain at all."

Asked if he is now "clear" from cancer, Doug said: "I don't know if I'm clear. I guess it takes five or seven years before you're actually clear, but the doctors — the surgery was really good. Everything was positive, and they fried me really good for six weeks, so I'm pretty sure everything else that was left over is gone. But I got some blood work done last week. We'll see what that says. And then I've got to get a PET scan, and that's a full body scan again to determine if everything's good."

Asked if there was any damage to his vocal cords, Doug said: "No. I think I sound pretty similar to what I did. It was on my tonsil. So they removed my tonsil on one side and then the lymph nodes on the inside of my neck — they took 30 lymph nodes. But, yeah, my voice sounds pretty similar and I can sing — not that I do a lot of singing with THE DEAD DAISIES, but I can do it."

Aldrich revealed that he will join his THE DEAD DAISIES bandmates when they return to the road next month. "We leave it about three and a half weeks," he said. "We start in Germany. We're gonna do a couple of days' rehearsal. We've got a new setlist that we're gonna do, just because the band was over there in October — October or November; I forgot. Anyways, the band was there. So we need to put together a new setlist and keep it fresh and hit some places that they didn't go when I… I was home; I had Reb Beach, actually, fill in, which was great. Yeah, so I'm excited about that. That's in March. We've got some dates in June, some festivals and stuff in Europe. And then there's talk of a few things in September and then again in November."

Aldrich previously discussed his cancer battle during an appearance on the December 16, 2024 episode of SiriusXM's "Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk". Regarding how he got diagnosed with throat cancer, Doug said: "I never thought I would get cancer. It just never occurred to me. I've always been super healthy and — knock on wood — I never had a major anything. And one day, I think it was in May, I was about to go on tour with THE DAISIES and I was shaving and I saw a little lump on my neck. And I was, like, 'Well, that looks when you're sick, you've got swollen glands or something.' It was on one side. And I thought, 'That doesn't hurt at all. My throat doesn't [hurt]. Nothing hurts.' And I went on tour, and I said, 'Hey, something like that could be a viral thing. Let it roll for a couple weeks, and if it doesn't change, then make an appointment to see your doctor.' And so I went and did the dates — it was, like, three weeks of dates or something in the U.S., I believe. And I got home and got an appointment. It took a little time. As you know, to get a doctor's appointment it takes a minute. So it was another few weeks before I got in. And immediately they looked at it in order for me to get a CT scan, [and] after reading that they were concerned there was something in there. It wasn't a major concern. Then I did a little MRI of the neck, and that's when they could measure the bump, and they realized that this was really concerning. [And they told me] I should go see an ear, nose and throat doctor. And my doctor was, like, 'Hey, it could be cancer. It could be cancerous, but it could be benign. It could be whatever. Don't worry about it yet.' But already my mind was starting to get a little bit nervous. So I go to the ear, nose and throat doctor, and he goes, 'I see it. It's on your tonsil. And if you don't mind, I'm gonna grab a piece of it with the tweezers and I'll send it in for a biopsy,' which, actually, just for those people that care about this stuff, you could go get a biopsy and it would cost you thousands of dollars or insurance or whatever. The way this guy did it was old school — he just ripped a chunk off my tonsil and sent it in and it saved me a ton of money to do that. So it came back positive for HPV 16 throat cancer. Definitely not good. So, right then you start freaking out, like, 'Oh, man. Okay, what stage is it?', whatever. And it's very difficult to get definitive answers on stuff, 'cause nobody really knows until you do all these tests and all this stuff. So there's probably three or four weeks before you find out what stage it is or whatever."

Doug continued: "So that's how it started. And then I went and started going through the process. By that time, I was doing a lot of tests and stuff. I have insurance for me and my family, and I maxed out my deductible. So that was good. But insurance is a whole another thing. Doctors' bills — you get bills; every day there's bills from this and that, and you don't know what to pay and what not to pay. It's very confusing. But anyway, that's how it started. That's how it was diagnosed. And I immediately got in with… My wife got me into a doctor at UCLA Medical Center, which is close in L.A. And then my sister's boyfriend is a plastic surgeon, and he got me in with a doctor for a second opinion from Cedar Sinai in L.A. And that's the guy I went with, a guy called Dr. Ho."

Asked by host Eddie Trunk to clarify that he "had no symptoms" beyond this little bump and that he wasn't "in pain or anything", Doug said: "Nothing. Sometimes people lose weight. I had no symptoms — nothing. It was just a bump, and it was not super noticeable, but then, of course, once you see it, you can't unsee it. And another thing that's important for people [to know] is that the most important thing you can do to protect yourself is get checked. Well, this particular cancer, it usually gets discovered by a dentist. But I don't have many problems with my teeth, and a dentist is expensive. So I would be, like, 'Look, my kids, I wanna make sure they're checked, and [they have] braces and whatever they need to do. That's what I'm gonna spend my money on.' I was, like, 'I don't need to go to the dentist. I just brush my teeth and floss. That's it.' But had I gone to the dentist, he would have seen this before it… It's called metastasizing when it switches from the actual tumor to a lymph node, and that's what my neck bump was; it was a lymph node that had gotten swollen. So a dentist would have seen that thing on my tonsil a lot sooner and it would have been much easier to deal with, or my treatment would have been much easier to deal with. But it got discovered when it was already metastasized in the lymph node and then the question was, what stage is it? How big is it? How far did it go?"

Doug added: "So the bottom line is you've gotta get diagnosed of where you're at, and you need to go to an oncologist. And I would recommend [for you to] go to a big hospital in your area and make an appointment, start making appointments with whoever you can. And that's what my wife did. She reached out to UCLA because we've used them before for kids and stuff. And so she got me that one. And the guy, he had been there a long time, had a great record, and UCLA is great and everything, but he said, 'We don't really do stages anymore. It's kind of an old thing that they did with cancer. They call it stage 1 through 4, whatever.' Basically, he goes, 'I don't know what yours is exactly. It could be 2, it could be 3, it could be 1 and a half, whatever. But you're gonna need surgery.'

"When it's in your throat, you've got all these things that are connected in there. So they're looking down your nose, looking in your throat, looking at X-rays and scans and all this stuff. And by the way, around that time too, the doctor ordered a PET scan, which is a full-on body [scan] to see if the cancer has spread to like your lungs or your liver or kidneys or whatever, and that's scary. When you start thinking, like, 'When is my appointment? Oh, it's in two weeks. It could be right now growing anywhere.' And you don't know, so you've gotta get this PET scan. But, fortunately, so far and at that time, I was all clear everywhere except for that spot. So he said, 'You've gotta operate,' and he goes, 'The good thing is I'm a great surgeon. I can do the outside part on your lymph nodes, but I can't do the inside, which is gonna be a robotic surgery. I need somebody else to do that.' And then when I met with Dr. Ho at Cedar Sinai, he was younger. He had probably had more up-to-date kind of training in terms of robotics. And he goes, 'I'm gonna do both surgeries myself.' And he was very confident."

According to Aldrich, another issue had come up during that time which affected the way he went about his surgery. He explained to "Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk": "There's a nerve in your neck that connects your shoulder that's involved in this area. And when they do the surgery, if they clip that nerve, then you're have a real hard time lifting your arm, which wouldn't affect my guitar playing, but I wouldn't be able to lift my arm up very well. And I'm thinking not just about playing guitar, but I'm thinking about, like, shooting a basketball with my kids or something. So I asked him about it, and he goes, 'We'll do our best. I think we can save that nerve.' And he did. So first thing [they did was the] surgery, and then after surgery, they decide what kind of treatments, whether they got it all and you don't need to do anything, or if you have to have radiation, or chemo, or both. And I had to get radiation."

Asked if he is now done with all the radiation, Doug said: "They told me that I needed radiation just to clear it up, because it had gone to the lymph nodes on my neck and it looked like it was pretty contained, but there might be a little piece or some fragments that would come off, so they need to zap them with radiation just to make sure. And I started reading about what radiation was gonna be like, and my wife did, and it's not fun any way you do it. It's basically frying certain parts of your body, and there's a lot of side effects that happen from that, so I wasn't looking forward to it. And I thought maybe because the surgeon did a good job, and I've got a lot of friends that have gone through [similar] stuff … I was hoping I could get a little bit of a less radiation than what I got. I got six weeks. But they said, 'Hey, you are eligible for a clinical trial where you could get three weeks radiation, but you've gotta get three doses of chemo as well. And it works out really well.' And I was excited about that, and I qualified for it, but the problem with the chemo when you're dealing with head and neck is it makes your ears ring and you can lose hearing. And I already got one ear that's ringing really bad with tinnitus or whatever you call it. So I wasn't a good candidate for that. So I went for the six weeks of radiation, which is five days a week. It takes 15 minutes under the microwave thing or whatever, the laser, whatever, that proton thing, and you do it five days a week. Then they need to give you two days to rest for six weeks. So I just wrapped up."

Asked if he has been given the "all clear" now, Doug said: "The biggest issue from the radiation was I'd get nauseated and major fatigue, and then little by little your neck on the outside starts to fry and my neck now is like baby skin. It's all brand new skin. And so I was lucky. I'm feeling great. I got done with it. I'm starting to think about getting to the gym. And I probably lost 10 pounds, which some people lose 40 or 50 or 100… So I just try to eat healthy and eat protein, and they just said, 'Keep your calories up.' And I've been really lucky, man, but there's a lot of side effects. There's a lot of stuff that's a pain in the ass. I still can't open my mouth to take a nice big bite of a hamburger, and then my jaw gets really tired, because… So I've got this fibrosis — it's like called TMJ or whatever — so I can't really eat; it's hard to eat, it's hard to chew. That's one thing. And then I've got no taste, because that radiation basically fries your taste buds. So that hopefully will come back. Because that's one of the things that's crazy, man, is without taste… When I got COVID a couple years ago, I didn't lose my taste, so I never knew what it was like."

"So to answer your earlier question [about whether I have been given the 'all clear'], I'm basically done with the treatment and the surgery and all that stuff," he continued. "Now I've gotta wait three months and they're gonna do a PET scan again and see if there's anything left. Chances are they got it all. If not, then I'll just deal with it, whatever it is. And you start getting freaked out about it, but there's so many people that go through various stages and things of cancer and they're still around and they're still fighting and kicking ass. And they really are warriors. The key is just to try and catch it early, if you can."

In late September 2024, Doug's wife Daniela "Danni" Aldrich said that his surgery, which she described as "five long hours of multiple steps", "went incredibly well", adding that "Doug pushed through like the fighter he is. Even the nurse called him a superhero for his strength and determination right after!" she wrote. "He is the strongest person I know."

As a result of Doug's surgery, he was not able to take part in THE DEAD DAISIES' recent European tour and was temporarily replaced by Reb Beach (WHITESNAKE, WINGER).

Aldrich played with DIO for a short period between 2002 and 2006. He was also a member of WHITESNAKE from 2002 to 2014 before leaving to spend more time with his family. The guitarist played on two WHITESNAKE studio albums, 2008's "Good To Be Bad" and 2011's "Forevermore", and appeared on several live releases, including 2013's "Made In Japan" and "Made In Britain/The World Records".

Aldrich left WHITESNAKE 10 years ago, saying in a statement that he "had several recording and live commitments," so he "needed a more flexible schedule to conclude these before going full force as normal." He added: "Unfortunately, my schedule was not workable."

Former FEAR FACTORY bassist Christian Olde Wolbers has announced his departure from San Francisco Bay Area thrash metal veterans VIO-LENCE.

Earlier today (Monday, February 24),Olde Wolbers shared a photo of him with VIO-LENCE singer Sean Killian, ex-VIO-LENCE guitarist Phil Demmel and former VIO-LENCE drummer Perry Strickland, and he included the following message: "I wanna thank these 3 dudes right here for 6 years of @vio_lence_band. All bad ass dudes right here who created some real Thrash metal magic in the Bay Area in the 80's/90's.

"I wasn't going to post anything or make a big stink announcement but when I saw this picture today I felt I had to. This pic just sums it all up. I love these dudes!

"VIO-LENCE was my favorite thrash metal band when I was 17-18 years old and obviously there was a higher spirit already knowing I would end up making a journey in this band a few decades later. Crazy how that all that works out. Completely mind blowing to be honest. Be careful what you wish for.

"But unfortunately my journey with the band has to come to an end as I am going to pursue my own new solo band and producing career.

"It's not easy throwing in the towel. I'm not a quitter, the last time I quit a band was in 92 when I quit ASPHYXIA in Belgium and moved to the USA a few months later to pursue a bigger career.

"CYPRESS HILL has been busy as well with the Symphony Experience and I wanna concentrate on writing albums that I have been dreaming of making for a long time.

"I have a creative space (studio) so i am already in the lab busy making new music. Get ready".

VIO-LENCE released three studio albums between 1988 and 1993. The group reformed soon after Demmel acrimoniously left MACHINE HEAD more than six years ago.

VIO-LENCE released a new EP, "Let The World Burn", in March 2022 via Metal Blade Records.

Formed in 1985, VIO-LENCE helped define and refine what came to be known as the Bay Area sound, dropping three seminal albums before splitting in 1993. Leaving behind a heady legacy, they reformed briefly a couple of times in the intervening years before becoming a full-time going concern once more in 2019. After playing a string of successful shows, the quintet started to think about new music and delivered "Let The World Burn", showcasing their first new material in 29 years.

Filling out the band's ranks on "Let The World Burn" alongside Killian and Demmel were Strickland, Olde Wolbers and former OVERKILL guitarist Bobby Gustafson.

Killian is the only VIO-LENCE member from the "Let The World Burn" recording lineup who is still touring with the band. Joining him at some of the band's recent concerts were drummer Nick Souza and guitarists Mario Salcedo and Pat O'Brien (EXHORDER, ex-CANNIBAL CORPSE).

"Let The World Burn" was recorded with Juan Urteaga at Trident Studios (TESTAMENT, MACHINE HEAD, EXODUS),with mixing handled by Tue Madsen (THE HAUNTED, MESHUGGAH) and Grammy Award-winning engineer Ted Jensen (ALICE IN CHAINS, DEFTONES, PANTERA).

Demmel left MACHINE HEAD at the end of the band's fall 2018 North American tour. He was in MACHINE HEAD for nearly 16 years, during which time he played on five of the group's studio albums: "Through The Ashes Of Empires" (2003),"The Blackening" (2007),"Unto The Locust" (2011),"Bloodstone & Diamonds" (2014) and "Catharsis" (2018).

Demmel's final concert with VIO-LENCE took place on February 11, 2024 at Carioca Club in São Paulo, Brazil. The gig also marked the last show of VIO-LENCE's Latin American tour with EXHORDER.

Although MACHINE HEAD frontman Robb Flynn was part of VIO-LENCE's classic incarnation and played on the band's debut album, "Eternal Nightmare", he wasn't approached about taking part in the band's reunion.

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Jimmy Page and THE BLACK CROWES have released a live version of the LED ZEPPELIN classic "The Lemon Song" from the upcoming 25th-anniversary expanded edition of their iconic live album "Live At The Greek".

The newly released recording of "The Lemon Song" is one of five tracks on the "Live At The Greek" expanded edition that were recorded during a soundcheck. The other songs recorded during the same soundcheck are ZEPPELIN's "Custard Pie", "You Shook Me" and "Ten Years Gone", as well as a track titled "Jam", written by Rich Robinson and Jimmy Page.

In October 1999, Page teamed up with THE BLACK CROWES for a two-night performance of material from the LED ZEPPELIN catalog and old blues and rock standards. A live album, "Live At The Greek", was recorded during these shows and released in February 2000. The set was dominated by LED ZEPPELIN tunes, along with a mix of classic blues nuggets and covers of FLEETWOOD MAC and Page's first group, THE YARDBIRDS. (Due to contractual obligations, no CROWES songs were included.)

Due on on March 14, this special anniversary release features 36 newly remixed and remastered recordings, including 16 never-before-released tracks from the legendary 1999 performances at The Greek Theatre in Los Angeles.

Also newly added to the track listing are THE BLACK CROWES' "Remedy", "Wiser Time" and "No Speak, No Slave" as well as a cover of Otis Redding's "Hard To Handle".

Page says: "I'm really looking forward to the soon-to-be-available release of Jimmy Page and THE BLACK CROWES material from concerts in 1999. The new mixes capture the collaboration of those historic encounters and provide the full explosive passion and exciting energy of those alchemical moments."

THE BLACK CROWES singer Chris Robinson adds: "The new 'Live At The Greek' box set brings the whole experience of our work with Jimmy into a vibrant, electric, mystical, and powerful perspective. Hail, hail rock 'n' roll!"

THE BLACK CROWES guitarist Rich Robinson says: "Going through the shows and putting together the new box set has been such an incredible dive back to that time in our history. It was a once-in-a-lifetime thrill to play these amazing iconic songs with the man who composed them. The sound of the new mixes and extra songs blew me away when I first heard them."

Pre-order the album now on 6LP box set, 3CD set and on a limited 2LP "Best Of" edition.

"Live At The Greek" track listing

01. Celebration Day
02. Custard Pie
03. Sick Again
04. No Speak No Slave
05. Hard To Handle
06. The Wanton Song
07. Misty Mountain Hop
08. Hots On For Nowhere
09. What Is And What Should Never Be
10. Wiser Time
11. Mellow Down Easy
12. Woke Up This Morning (My Baby She Was Gone)
13. Ten Years Gone
14. In My Time Of Dying
15. Your Time Is Gonna Come
16. Remedy
17. The Lemon Song
18. In The Light
19. Shake Your Moneymaker
20. Sloppy Drunk Blues
21. Shape Of Things
22. Nobody's Fault But Mine
23. Heartbreaker
24. Bring It On Home
25. She Talks To Angels
26. Oh Well
27. Band Intros
28. Hey, Hey, What Can I Do
29. You Shook Me
30. Out On The Tiles
31. Whole Lotta Love
32. Custard Pie (soundcheck)
33. You Shook Me (soundcheck)
34. The Lemon Song (soundcheck)
35. Ten Years Gone (soundcheck)
36. Jam (soundcheck)

Five years ago, Rich Robinson refuted former THE BLACK CROWES drummer Steve Gorman's claim that the guitarist turned down an offer to write music with Jimmy Page.

In his book "Hard To Handle: The Life And Death Of The Black Crowes", Gorman said that he learned from Page that the legendary LED ZEPPELIN guitarist wanted to write songs with the Robinson brothers for what at the time was supposed to be THE BLACK CROWES' next record, but that Rich blew him off with a "No thanks! … We don't need more songs." "I was insulted," Page allegedly said to the drummer, who furiously called THE CROWES' manager and told him, "I'm driving to Connecticut, and I'm going to kill Rich in his home."

Speaking to U.K.'s Classic Rock magazine, Robinson said that there was no validity to Gorman's account. "Absolutely not true," Rich said. "I remember having conversations with Jimmy, telling him: 'Hey, if you ever wanted to make a record or do anything, I would love to help in any way I can.' Jimmy's a brilliant musician, a brilliant person. I loved playing with him."

He continued: "Jimmy Page wants to write songs for me, and I'm gonna say: 'You know what, Jimmy? LED ZEPPELIN was all right, but I'm not gonna do it'? It's the most absurd thing I've heard in my life."

Gorman is not involved in THE BLACK CROWES' reunion, which officially launched in 2021 — delayed by the pandemic — after being announced two years earlier.

During this year's 70000 Tons Of Metal cruise, guitarist Waclaw "Vogg" Kieltyka of Polish extreme metal veterans DECAPITATED was asked by the Brutally Delicious podcast if there are any plans for him and his bandmates to release new music. He responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Yeah, I'm working on it. I'm working on the new songs. I have already, let's say 50%, I guess, of the new DECAPITATED record. And, yeah, after this ['Nihility Across America' 2025] tour I'm gonna continue, because sometimes I've been working [on] new ideas on tour, but I don't really like it, because it's just not a place to focus on ideas. It's a mess — people are running around, it's, like, soundcheck and then you need to go out and look for food. It's not really a place to focus [on writing music]."

Elaborating on how he usually writes music, Vogg said: "I'm working at home. I have my room, so I can separate from the family, from kids. But still I can hear them. So it's not maybe perfect place, but I learned during the years. I already made, I think, four albums at home, with the small kids, with the family life, all these things, which I needed to somehow learn how to take my head out of the [everyday life]. But after the tour I have a plan to just go to our rehearsal space and just work on the material there, to be completely out of everything, separated. And I believe it will work well for that."

Asked if he approaches writing a new album with a theme in mind or a topic or if he just kind of sees where it ends up, Vogg said: "Something like [the latter]. Yeah. Anything can inspire me. And just hunting, fishing for the riff. I just spend time with guitar, playing and listening what's going on. And then suddenly, 'Oh, maybe this is gonna be a good idea.' And then work around this and add new ideas around. It's a long process.

"It's weird, because I'm performing," he continued. "I'm a guitar player, so I'm an instrumental guy. Plus I'm composing the stuff. I'm performing on stage. It's a few things you need to connect. And it's not that easy, and you need to find the time for this, for this. Also, I need to practice a lot to keep in shape myself, and it's not possible. If you play DECAPITATED, you can't stop to practice. You can stop practice for one week, but then you need to practice even more to go on stage and perform this kind of stuff."

Regarding how much time he spends "trying not to rewrite" his previous records, Vogg said: "I don't really think about it. And actually every DECAPITATED record is different… I don't have to [put much effort into making sure they're not the same kind of ideas as what we've done in the past]. Somehow it becomes naturally that it's different.

"I had a moment that I was in trouble because I thought it's, like, this is something like a completely different band right now, and what would be the reaction for the fans? Like how [would] they take it?

"Every record is different, but with 'Blood Mantra', for example, we started to do something really different, something groovy, something thrashy — I don't know," he added. "And [our] new record will be, I think, also bringing in new, fresh ideas, which will be surprising [to fans]. And you know what? It always worked that way. You play traditional kind of classic death metal, and then [come out] with an album which is different — it's modern, it's completely alternative to that. And you can see some kind of voices that, 'This is not the band anymore. I don't like it. I'm quitting to be your fan.' And then after five or eight or ten years, these people are, like, 'Oh, this album is like your classic. It's the best album.' It's like — I don't know — when METALLICA released the 'Load' album, or SEPULTURA released 'Roots Bloody Roots', I was, like, 'That's it. I'm done with this band.' And then right now, it's, like, 'Holy shit. It's a good jam.'"

Last month, DECAPITATED released two new performance videos, featuring the tracks "Names" and "Eternity Too Short". The clips were filmed live from the band's rehearsal room.

"Names" and "Eternity Too Short" are both seminal tracks from DECAPITATED's acclaimed album "Nihility", which is being played in its entirety on the current tour.

The tour is covering 23 cities in the United States and Canada, concluding on March 2 in Santa Ana, California. Fans can look forward to an electrifying lineup with DECAPITATED headlining, supported by the formidable talents of INCANTATION and DARKEST HOUR, with EXMORTUS opening each night.

Last October, DECAPITATED announced that it had parted ways with vocalist Rafał "Rasta" Piotrowski and replaced him with Eemeli Bodde of Finnish metallers MORS SUBITA.

Bodde made his live debut with DECAPITATED on November 1, 2024 at Damnation Festival's "A Night Of Salvation" at BEC Arena in Manchester, United Kingdom. Also joining DECAPITATED at the gig for several "classic" tracks was the group's original vocalist Wojciech "Sauron" Wąsowicz, who was previously a member of DECAPITATED between 1996 and 2005.

Across eight studio albums, DECAPITATED grew from the adolescent dream of teenagers from a small Central European town to one of the leaders of the metal genre. Each successive album further expands the band's sound with genre-bending authenticity and integrity. As Metal Injection rightfully observed, "any self-respecting death metalhead knows the name well." Like a rose in the devil's garden, the DECAPITATED story builds triumph from tragedy. The gleeful grotesquery of extreme metal imagery and riff-tastic bludgeoning beckons listeners to uncover broader truths.

Their latest studio album, "Cancer Culture", was released in 2022, with instantly recognizable devastation and deceptively sinister hooks abound. Newly minted DECAPITATED anthems like "Last Supper", "Hello Death", "Just A Cigarette", "No Cure", "Iconoclast" and "Cancer Culture" shimmer with sonically sharp production and unrelenting bombast. There's also a newly increased emphasis on melody, even venturing into darkly romantic territory. JINJER vocalist Tatiana Shmayluk and MACHINE HEAD frontman Robb Flynn make impressive guest appearances. Flynn contributes a hauntingly beautiful vocal to the "Cancer Culture" track "Iconoclast", with Shmayluk, a formidable screamer, going the clean vocal route on track "Hello Death".

In a new interview with Francisco Zamudio of KNAC.COM, DESTRUCTION bassist/vocalist Schmier was asked about the possibility of more shows featuring the union of Germany's legendary "Teutonic Big Four", completed by KREATOR, SODOM and TANKARD. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "I don't wanna say anything bad now because I've been working for the last 10 years on this. I tried to convince everybody. I tried to build bridges between everybody. Everybody knows each other, but in between there's also managers and labels and different advisors also.

"I was happy that two years ago, we played in Mexico together, a big festival, all four of us," he continued. "Then this last year, we played Germany and Romania also. It was amazing. The German show was sold out in three days — 7,000 people. It was killer. But then not everything was perfect in between the organization and the whole thing, and some people were unhappy. And I think SODOM doesn't wanna do it anymore. And we have a show this year — KREATOR, DESTRUCTION and TANKARD, without SODOM, in Germany. And it seems it's not happening. Tom [SODOM's Thomas 'Angelripper' Such] did some interviews [where he spoke about it]. And I guess you have to talk to him and find out [how he feels about it].

"For me, I say there's always a solution for every problem," Schmier added. "So when you have a problem and you're not happy and you talk about it, you find a solution and then you can do it, because this is a gift to do this. This is a life goal to tour this around the world. People wanna see it everywhere in the world. And just to throw away this idea just because of some problems that [came up], it's not cool. I think sit down, think about it, recharge your batteries and let's do this, but I'm not the one making the decision. Everybody has to be involved. Hopefully the day will come again one day that we talk about it, but we're not getting younger. That's my concern — we're not getting younger. Also, people, [as they] age, [they] get more stubborn, and that's not gonna help. So I hope that things will loosen up and one day we can still do this as long as we're still able to do this, because we're gonna be the generation of thrash bands that retires in 10 years, 15 years — who knows how long we can do this? So every year counts, every album counts, every opportunity is a cool one. And to have this opportunity to play with a 'Big Four', 'German Big Four', is an amazing one. So to just throw it away like this, I think it's not cool, but I'm not the only one in charge here. So let's hope the day will come that we can talk again."

Schmier went on to say that a tour featuring KREATOR, DESTRUCTION, SODOM and TANKARD "was supposed to happen in America. There was already some offers for shows. And then SODOM kind of backed out," he explained.

"It would be great for fans all around the world [to see those four bands playing together], and especially also in America, because those guys [SODOM and TANKARD] don't tour much in the States. And it would be a big opportunity to catch them all together for once. You can bring your kids. All the generations can go together. It would be like going to a baseball game. It's something special. But we all need to sit at the table, and if somebody doesn't want, we cannot force him at the moment. So let's wait and see what happens. Hope dies last, is my saying. So I'm still hopeful."

KREATOR headlined the July 20, 2024 "Klash Of The Ruhrpott" festival at Amphitheater Gelsenkirchen in Gelsenkirchen, Germany, also featuring performances by SODOM, DESTRUCTION and TANKARD. Unfortunately, due to a "severe weather warning", KREATOR was forced to cut its show short after 10 songs.

In a July 2023 interview with La Mesa Del Metal, Angelripper spoke about the possibility of there being more shows featuring the "Teutonic Big Four". He said at the time: "Well, we talk about years doing something with the 'Big Four', and we played… [In 2022] there was a Mexico Metal Fest, [with] all the four bands playing, and that was great; people had a great time. And I can tell, we are not able to make touring around the world because KREATOR, they have their own projects, the touring, their recording sessions, whatever. So, but if there is a promoter [out there in] the world who [says], 'I wanna book SODOM, I wanna book KREATOR, DESTRUCTION and TANKARD,' maybe, we go. So you got the Big Four. So I always wanna do something special like this… I think KREATOR is a bigger band than SODOM… But doing something special for the fans and all the four bands gonna play there — maybe just every band gonna play one hour. We get four hours of finest thrash metal music. That would be something really special for the fans. But it's very easy to do. If you are promoter and you wanna have all the four bands going there up on stage, we go."

Such went on to say that there are no personal issues between him and KREATOR. "We are still friends," he explained. "We are talking about everything. But they are touring at this time, DESTRUCTION's touring at the same time. It's very hard. The business is very hard, because all the bands are very busy for touring and writing songs and rehearsing sessions. And how fast the year is gone. But we're working on it. Definitely."

According to Angelripper, there was a stronger sense of competition when all four bands were just starting out in the 1980s. "When we were young kiddies, a young band, [we would think], 'Oh, KREATOR, they got a better guitarist.' Or [they would think], 'SODOM, they get the record deal first,' that was something," he said. "But nowadays, we are getting older; we're getting wise. I never mind what the other bands do. I don't take care. I just wanna take care of my own band."

When "Klash Of The Ruhrpott" was first announced in 2023, Mille Petrozza (KREATOR) commented: "I'm so happy we have an opportunity to present this package in the best way possible! It's going to be a really special day, full of love and respect…and the most extensive KREATOR set ever…prepare for some DEEP CUTS!"

Such added: "I am very happy to finally be able to share the stage with my old companions and friends again. A meeting with these four fantastic bands cannot be surpassed in terms of cult status. It will be a very special event for us and our fans. Until then, please stay healthy and confident. See ya soon… Cheers, Tom."

Schmier stated: "Oh YES — we all have been waiting for this to happen, I am excited that it finally worked out! Hopefully this is the beginning of some more to come! We are super thrilled to be a part of this. Thanks for the invitation, Mille!"

Andreas "Gerre" Geremia (TANKARD) said: "Good things take time! Finally the four big will clash and thrash together. We feel very proud to be a part of this historical event!"

In the fall of 2022, Angelripper spoke to BLABBERMOUTH.NET about SODOM being part of the "German Big Four". He said at the time: "I love DESTRUCTION. Schmier is a good friend of mine. They have a different style of music. DESTRUCTION is more thrash metal than SODOM; we have more black metal or heavy metal influences. I'm so proud of them. They did it. They created their own style. They have the perfect singer in the band. We always talk about the [German] 'Big Four' and touring together, but it's hard to do. I think Mille is not interested in doing it. We played the Mexico Metal Fest [in September 2022], the 'Big Four', with HELLHAMMER and GRAVE DIGGER and I talked to Schmier, we had a beer with Gerre, but I didn't see Mille. He came on stage and went back to the hotel. He doesn't want to spend any time with us. I don't know why. Maybe he's living on a different planet. I don't think this tour will ever happen."

When he asked if he has always been friendly with Mille, Angelripper said: "We're friends, but I'm good friends with Schmier. But Mille…it's different. He's not more in the scene. I never see him when we go into any metal bar here in Essen. It's completely different. We'll need to talk about the 'Big Three' touring. It doesn't have to be a tour. All the bands have a packed schedule touring, but we can do a big show. This package is good for three, four or five thousand people."

The Clyde Shenefield YouTube channel has uploaded video of Marty Friedman's February 22 concert at the Whisky A Go Go in West Hollywood, California. Check out the clips below.

The former MEGADETH guitarist kicked off his "Live Drama 2025" U.S. tour on January 25 at Count's Vamp'd in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Friedman's latest solo album, "Drama", came out last May via Frontiers Music Srl.

Recorded in Italy, "Drama" showcases Marty's unique touch, for the first time using both vintage and modern guitars, delivering a pure delight for lovers of music everywhere. From the captivating first single "Illumination", to the album's breathtaking "Mirage" and 10 other emotionally charged mini-symphonies, Marty paints atmospheric elements with a modern and exotic flair, promising an unforgettable musical experience.

During the question-and-answer portion of the November 2023 Rock 'N' Roll Fantasy Camp's "Metalmania III" in Los Angeles, Friedman spoke about "Drama". He said: "I've got 15 solo albums now, and each time I try to do something new and something I've never done before. I don't want ever to be heard as one of those guys, 'Ah, his early albums were great.' You know what I mean? I used to say that about my favorite guitarists — sadly — and I never wanted that to be said about me. So I'm always challenging myself on new stuff. On this new album, the closest thing I can relate it to is an album I had called 'Scenes' [1992], which I released quite a while ago. It was very dramatic and orchestral, and there was a lot of other type of instruments — violins, cellos and all that type of stuff. So it's more of a dramatic, orchestral concept. But everything that I've learned since that 'Scenes' album has just exponentially grown, so it's a much bigger scale. So if you like that 'Scenes' album at all, I think this one will be right up your alley."

Marty previously talked about "Drama" in October 2023 in an interview with Chris Akin Presents. Asked what challenges and motivates him to keep pushing forward with his music, Marty said: "I'm not really so much into trying something that I haven't done for the sake of trying something I haven't done. I'm trying to impress me with something that I've never done before. It's not like I'm gonna suddenly wake up one day and say, 'Okay, I'm gonna be a rapper' or something. I do what I do and I have my musical vision and sound. I just try to do deeper things with it. I try to make more complex emotions, deeper emotions in the music, more interesting, melodic twists and turns, more adventurous things, things that I wasn't deep enough to do last year or two years ago, or five years ago, things that I couldn't hear back then, things that I can only hear because life has given me more experiences since then, and, of course, more musical experiences, and just to consciously be aware of stuff that I've already done and not repeat it. It's a natural challenge that I've been doing forever, and the hardest part is that blank sheet when I just start from zero. It's, like, 'How am I going to top that last thing that I just did? I worked my ass off. I'm completely done. I have nothing left. I've got zero.' And so that's the challenge."

Marty's presence in the world of music, the world of guitar and Japanese pop culture is mystifying, bizarre, and nothing short of inspiring. His first major impact in music was in the game-changing guitar duo CACOPHONY, which he founded with equally enigmatic and now-legendary guitarist Jason Becker. He then spent 10 years as lead guitarist in the genre-defining thrash metal act MEGADETH before moving to Tokyo due to his love for Japanese music, language, and culture.

Following his move, he landed a starring role for a new TV comedy "Hebimeta-san" ("Mr. Heavy Metal") and its spinoff, "Rock Fujiyama", which ran for six seasons and propelled him into the living rooms of Japan's mainstream. He has since appeared in over 800 TV shows, movies and commercials, including a two-year campaign with Coca-Cola for Fanta, authored two best-selling novels and was the first-ever foreigner to be appointed as an ambassador of Japan heritage and perform at the opening ceremony for the Tokyo Marathon.

At the same time, Marty has continued his career in music with several solo albums in addition to writing and performing with the top artists in Japanese music, racking up countless chart hits, including a No. 1 with SMAP, two No. 2 songs with MOMOIRO CLOVER, a No. 2 with SOUND HORIZON — just to name a few.

Friedman's autobiography, "Dreaming Japanese", arrived on December 3, 2024 via Permuted Press.

Posted by Mark Middaugh on Tuesday, February 18, 2025

Former ANNIHILATOR vocalist Coburn Pharr has died at the age of 62. Pharr sang on ANNIHILATOR's critically acclaimed and best-selling 1990 release "Never, Neverland", which included such classics as "Road To Ruin", "I Am In Command", "Reduced To Ash" and "Phantasmagoria".

Earlier today (Tuesday, February 25),ANNIHILATOR guitarist and founder Jeff Waters released the following statement via social media: "Sad news in the metal world: ANNIHILATOR's 'Never, Neverland' vocalist, Coburn Pharr, has passed away.

"I won't say anything about the details, as that is the family's business, but I wanted to post this before any misinformation surfaces on the internet.

"Coburn was the singer on our best and biggest record. He had the most unique voice of all our singers, along with Randy Rampage (he also passed, in 2018).

"I had very little contact with Coburn over the years, but was able to get him to play a few songs with us on the 70,000 Tons Of Metal cruise, 2014ish.

"In 2018, I had Coburn over to our house in the UK for a really amazing visit. He had lost his Mom and sister and was eager to hang out and talk music, life and reconnect.

"Attached are 2 pics from that visit in Aug 2018, along with my favorite 2 of he and I, back in the day (1990). Since 2018, we had been discussing him coming back for some festival shows and even a tour... However, he was having struggles with some personal things, demons, etc... and it was clear that he would not be able to do any of it.

"I was really glad to have had that time in 2018 with him. He was going through a terrible time and the thought of doing music again brought back some real hope and life in his eyes and being.
Thoughts to his wife and family.

"Thank you for the music and memories, Coburn.

"Sail away, Coburn: To Never, Neverland."

Pharr last reunited with ANNIHILATOR in January 2015 when he performed with the band on the 70000 Tons Of Metal cruise. Pharr took the microphone for the songs "Reduced To Ash", "The Fun Palace", "I Am In Command", "Road To Ruin" and "Stonewall".

ANNIHILATOR's second album, "Never, Neverland" was re-released twice: in 1998, expanded with three demo tracks; and again in 2003 as a two-disc compilation set along with "Alice In Hell", titled "Alice In Hell/Never Neverland", as part of Roadrunner Records' "Two From The Vault" series.

Annihilator's JEFF WATERS: " Sad News in the Metal World: ANNIHILATOR's Never, Neverland vocalist, Coburn Pharr, has...

Posted by Jeff Waters on Tuesday, February 25, 2025