German power metal hopefuls Rigorious will free their debut album, Night Of Retribution, on November 10, 2023 via Metalapolis Records as CD, Download and on all well-known digital platforms.


Mixed and mastered by legendary German heavy metal icon Chris Boltendahl from Grave Digger, at Graveyard Studio in Cologne, and beautified with cover artwork created by renowned graphic artist Uwe Jarling, Night Of retribution comes with ten tracks full of independent, fresh and energetic power metal.







Tracklisting:


"Victory"
"Lay With Me"
"Iron Wings"
"Fight For Your Lives"
"Brothers Arise"
"Children Of The Night"
"Ride Till We Die"
"Behind The Curtains"
"Lost"
"Power Of My Sword"


Pre-orders can be placed now at this location.


 

Brother Cane is an American rock band originally from Birmingham, Alabama. Formed by singer/guitarist Damon Johnson and bassist Glenn Maxey in 1991, the group released three studio albums and several charting singles including three #1’s and five Top 10 hits. Brother Cane released the band's debut self-titled album in 1993 on Virgin Records. The album peaked at #14 on the Billboard Heatseekers chart and would produce several hit singles including "Got No Shame" (#2 Mainstream Rock), "That Don't Satisfy Me" (#6 Mainstream Rock), and "Hard Act To Follow" (#12 Mainstream Rock). The album evoked the classic rock sound of early Black Crowes and Guns N' Roses. The album was produced by the legendary songwriter and record producer Martin "Marti" Frederiksen. The album garnered the band U.S. tours with Aerosmith, Robert Plant, and Lynyrd Skynyrd. 


To commemorate the 30th anniversary of this stunning rock record, Girder Music is reissuing the album on CD (including two bonus tracks), Cassette, and for the first time ever, on Vinyl. Pre-orders can be placed now at this location. It will be released on October 20, 2023.


"We are so honored to be able to work with Damon Johnson and Brother Cane on the the 30th Anniversary fully remastered release of their debut 1993 award winning album," begins a statement from Girder Music. "Available on Color Vinyl, Black Vinyl, CD and Cassette. This is the first time this album is available on vinyl. You get two color options - standard virgin black or a (webstore exclusive) Orange/Purple Vinyl.  The remastered 30th CD comes with a collector sleeve and LTD collector card. We even have a sonic orange cassette. You can also grab 1 of only 100 bundles that contain the Vinyl, CD, Cassette and an autographed 11x17 band poster and band sticker. Poster will be autographed by founding member Damon Johnson.  The Orange/Purple Vinyl is limited to 750 copies. Cassettes are limited to 200 and the CD is limited to 1000."







Tracklisting:


"Got No Shame" 
"Hard Act To Follow" 
"How Long" 
"Don’t Turn Your Back On Me" 
"Woman" 
"Pressure"  
"The Last Time" 
"The Road" 
"That Don’t Satisfy Me" 
"Stone’s Throw Away" 
"Make Your Play" 
"Rattle My Bones" (Bonus Track) 
"Cold Heart" (Bonus Track)


In live news, Brother Cane's 30th Anniversary Tour will run from mid-October to early December. Confirmed dates are as listed:


October 
14 - Bald Knob, AR
26 - Woodstock, GA
27 - Huntsville, AL


November
1 - Richmond, VA
2 - Annapolis, MD
3 - Leesburg, VA
4 - Lititz, PA
5 - New York, NY
7 - Lakewood, OH
8 - Covington, KY
9 - Edwardsville, IL
10 - Columbus, OH
11 - Warrendale, PA
12 - Dunellen, NJ
16 - Bloomington, IL
17 - Westland, MI
18 - St Charles, IL
29 - Knoxville, TN
30 - Chattanooga, TN


December
1 - Nashville, TN
2 - Memphis, TN





 

Like A Storm (LAS), the band from New Zealand known for blending the Didgeridoo with heavy riff-driven music, has signed an exclusive distribution deal with Edgeout Records/Universal Music Group/UMe for distribution of their new album coming this year. Their first single, “Sinners & Saints”, stays true to the classic LAS roots with their high energy, heavy guitars and powerful drums.


Check out a snippet below:







The highly regarded team assembled to launch the next LAS album and oversee their career strategy includes Tony Guanci, Edgeout founder; Universal’s Linda Kury VP Commercial Partnerships & Label Relations / Global Marketing; Manager, Steve Wood; Agent Dan Devita of TKO.


Tony Guanci, Chairman Edgeout, “Like A Storm blew me away the first time I saw them perform. After spending some time with the band, I recognized their drive, determination and most important, the talent. I look forward to all the incredible things we are going to do together!”


LAS is brothers Chris Brooks (Vocals, Guitars, Didgeridoo), Matt Brooks (Vocals, Guitars), Kent Brooks (Bass, Keyboards) and Zach Wood (Drums).  


“We’re excited for this new era with Tony and everyone at Edgeout Records, and to now be part of the incredible and illustrious Universal family! We’ve had many great talks already with the team, and are really impressed with all the innovation, expertise and experience they’re bringing to the launching of our new music. We’ve been lucky to have had some great moments and milestones in our career to date and are feeling more passionate about the music now than ever. This is going to be epic!”


Like A Storm is the highest-charting New Zealand act ever at US Active Rock Radio. The band write and produce their own records, which have combined more than 150M streams across all platforms, and 7 x Top 40 Singles at U.S. Active Rock.


Renowned for their high-energy live show, and once described by Alter Bridge/Slash frontman Myles Kennedy as “The hardest working band in the business,” LAS has extensively toured the US, Europe, Australia, Canada, New Zealand & Japan. Either in a headline capacity or sharing the stage with such artists as: Ozzy Osbourne, Slash, Godsmack, Three Days Grace, Creed, Shinedown, Alter Bridge, Black Veil Brides, Skillet, Volbeat, Gojira, Escape The Fate, Hellyeah, Sevendust & many more.


Like A Storm has appeared at festivals all over the world: From Download UK to Download Japan, Hellfest France to Homegrown New Zealand, and had multiple appearances at iconic festivals such as Novarock (Austria), Graspop Metal Meeting (Belgium), Louder Than Life (US) and Shiprocked.


Having recently completed a highly successful 6-week tour of the UK/Europe supporting Skillet, they are currently strategizing the same kind of return to touring in the U.S., Japan and other markets in 2023-24, in conjunction with the upcoming releases from what is to be their 5th studio album.


Lineup:


Chris Brooks: Lead & Background Vocals, Guitar, Didgeridoo, Keys & Programming
Matt Brooks: Lead & Background Vocals, Guitar, Keys and Programming
Kent Brooks: Bass, Keys & Programming
Zach Wood: Drums


(Photo - David Muselman 2023 / Prague)

In an interview with Ore Bihovsky of TotalRock's "Louder" radio show, KILLSWITCH ENGAGE guitarist Adam Dutkiewicz confirmed that he is working with the band's former singer Howard Jones on a collaborative new project. "Yeah, me and Howard are doing a project together," he said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET). "He just hit me up. He was, like, 'Why don't you write some music for me?' And I was, like, 'Sure.' So yeah, we're working on a record right now."

As for when fans can expect to hear the first music from this new project, Adam said: "I've got so much on my plate right now. It's really hard to schedule anything particularly, like 'it's gonna come out at this point,' 'it's gonna come out at this point,' but we're just almost at a situation where we can maybe release a single. But I think the entire record's gonna take a little bit longer than expected. Because now I have to do double duty and record [the next] KILLSWITCH [album] at the same time. So I'll be doing that."

Asked if there is already a name for this new project, Adam said: "Not yet. It's still very much in the works. We've got maybe four songs completed — absolutely completed. We're trying to do an entire record, though."

This past Friday (August 18),Jones took to his Instagram to write that "13 demos" were created for the as-yet-unnamed new group, which hopes to put the finishing touches on the record "as soon as possible."

Jones left KILLSWITCH ENGAGE in 2012 and battled manic depression and bipolar disorder before forming a new project, DEVIL YOU KNOW, with guitarist Francesco Artusato (ALL SHALL PERISH) and drummer John Sankey (DEVOLVED). Along with bassist Ryan Wombacher (BLEEDING THROUGH),they recorded and toured behind two well-received albums, 2014's "The Beauty Of Destruction" and 2015's "They Bleed Red". In 2017, the band changed its name to LIGHT THE TORCH.

Jones makes an appearance on KILLSWITCH ENGAGE's latest album, 2019's "Atonement", contributing guest vocals to the song "The Signal Fire".

Jones discussed his previous mental health issues in a 2016 interview with Metal Hammer. He said: "For a lot of the time during the whole manic depression thing, I didn't realize how bad I was. I thought the high levels of anxiety I was experiencing was just my lot in life, I didn't realize that there was help on hand for me to be able to deal with that. I thought that I was just meant to feel really nervous around large crowds. Now it's like being a kid again, because I can deal with it, so I've got my passion back and it's great."

Asked what made him get back into music after leaving KILLSWITCH ENGAGE, Howard told Heavy New York: "Honestly, I think it was because I was just kind of tired of doing nothing and I don't do much else other than music. I felt like I needed to venture out because I was basically agoraphobic for three years. It's kind of well known. I went off the grid. I didn't have a cell phone for three years — I was gone. It felt, like, 'Okay, maybe I should dip my toe in. I don't have to do it full time. I don't have to do what I don't want to do.' That's all I was thinking. I started moving, I started doing things. It was definitely a struggle, especially for the first few years. I was, like, 'What am I doing?' There's been few things in my life that has been consistent other than music. I just did it. It just took some time, then all of the sudden, the spark showed up. I fell back in love with what I was doing. I really can't explain it. It just sort of happened."

Current KILLSWITCH ENGAGE singer Jesse Leach appeared on the band's self-titled debut and sophomore album, "Alive Or Just Breathing", before exiting the group. Jones took over on vocals for "The End Of Heartache", "As Daylight Dies" and the 2009 self-titled set before being dismissed from KILLSWITCH ENGAGE 11 years ago and being replaced by a returning Leach.

In 2012, KILLSWITCH ENGAGE bassist Mike D'Antonio told Boston Globe that the band's split with Jones was necessitated by the singer's struggle with personal issues, including diabetes that had gone untreated for several years. "It became very apparent we had to move on without him," D'Antonio said. "Howard didn't quit."

On a recent episode of the "Talk Louder" podcast, hosted by veteran music journalist "Metal Dave" Glessner and lifelong hard rock/metal vocalist Jason McMaster (DANGEROUS TOYS), FASTER PUSSYCAT singer Taime Downe confirmed that he is working on a book with Rare Bird, the Los Angeles–based publishing company founded in 2010 by Tyson Cornell, former marketing and publicity director of Book Soup, a legendary independent bookstore on the Sunset Strip in West Hollywood, California. "They've done a bunch of books," Taime said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET). "They did [John] Corabi's book and they did one of Matt's [Sorum] books and Sami Yaffa. The guy really fucking cool. And these guys [Leif Eriksson and Martin Svensson] that are writing it, they did Matt's book. They're from Sweden. So we met last summer, at the end of summer, here to just meet. And then we went through the process of, 'Okay, yeah, those guys are cool,' and then we dealt with shit. And then in January we hooked up — I think it was January — and then we hooked up for, like, three or four meetings here in Los Angeles. And I've been gathering shit and trying to timeline stuff, 'cause it's not just [going to be about] FASTER; it's my life."

The 58-year-old Downe, whose real name is Gustave Molvik, went on to say that he is going through his personal archives to gather material and to prompt autobiographical memory through discovery.

"There's a lot of shit to remember, and a lot of shit happened fast," he explained. "All the stuff that happened, happened fast — coming to L.A. and then putting FASTER together and then being signed and being on tour and then being over. And then the next thing, and then the next thing — it's all quick. So it's a fucking blur. And just trying to gather shit, you know what I mean? Those weren't the days of cell phones and photos and that shit. Going through boxes of old shit."

Last November, FASTER PUSSYCAT released double A-side singles "Like A Ghost" and "Pirate Love" digitally via Golden Robot Records. It was the band's first release under the Golden Robot umbrella.

Originally formed during the mid-1980s glam rock era, FASTER PUSSYCAT has gone on to have a triumph of success, with over two million albums sold worldwide, and has accompanied some of rocks most distinguished names on tour, such as ALICE COOPER, OZZY OSBOURNE, MÖTLEY CRÜE, GUNS N' ROSES and KISS.

FASTER PUSSYCAT, consisting of Downe, Sam "Bam" Koltun (guitar),Danny Nordahl (bass),Chad Stewart (drums) and latest addition to the band, Ronnie Simmons (guitar),has over 215,000 monthly listeners on Spotify alone, proving that they not only are still a prominent force but they have also been able to successfully mold to the digital age and maintain stamina.

Back in 2019, Taime told AL.com about the camaraderie between all the hard rock bands in the 1980s: "We were all friends. We were all like incestual, L.A. GUNS, GUNS N' ROSES. GUNS N' ROSES basically got a record right when we were putting FASTER together, so they helped us out tons for us getting our shit going. I was friends with [L.A. GUNS guitarist] Tracii Guns [GN'R drummer] Steven Adler. So, all this was just a melting pot.

"I remember going and seeing GUNS N' ROSES' first show, and it's so funny too because originally when we were putting FASTER with Mick Cripps (who would soon join L.A. GUNS) and we answered an ad in the Music Connection for a 'loud glam guitar player available,' and it was fucking Slash. We went and checked him out at the first GN'R show he did after Tracii [left GN'R]. I thought he was great. Mick said, 'He looks stupid.' [Laughs] I was like, 'Whatever.' And then I sold Slash his fucking hat. … He said he stole it. He's so full of shit. I gave it to him. [Laughs] But he can say he stole it; it's tougher. But we've been friends ever since."

Fan-filmed video of CINDERELLA frontman Tim Keifer's August 16 solo concert at the Tennessee Theatre in Knoxville, Tennessee can be seen below.

This past June, #KEIFERBAND launched the "Live/Loud" 2023 tour with WINGER and John Corabi.

#KEIFERBAND — which is rounded out by Savannah Keifer, Tony Higbee, Billy Mercer, Kendra Chantelle, Jarred Pope and Kory Myers — has released two critically acclaimed solo albums so far, 2013's "The Way Life Goes" and 2019's "Rise".

In a recent interview with Branson News, Keifer stated about the setlist for his current tour: "Obviously there's some hits you just can't leave out of the show. 'Nobody's Fool' is always a staple. 'Don't Know What You Got', 'Gypsy Road', 'Shelter Me', 'Night Songs' and all that stuff. But for a few years now, because you've got 90 minutes and trying to fit in a lot of material, we hadn't been playing 'Heartbreak Station', the song, the ballad. We'd gotten so many requests online for that, we've actually added 'Heartbreak Station' to the set this year and everyone's been really happy to hear that song. They sing it at the top of their lungs every night. That one got added this year. You have to pick and choose, and that one's been out of the show for a while, but we put it back. We pretty much got all the CINDERELLA tunes in there that people would want to hear, for sure."

Keifer went on to say that he is happy to still be able to perform for his fans 40 years after CINDERELLA's formation.

"One word describes it and that's gratitude. To still be doing this and walk on stage and everybody turns out and they're still singing all the songs and just having that exchange with the people. It's just amazing, not only with the CINDERELLA stuff, but the stuff from the solo records. I'm really grateful for that too and fortunate that people are kind of paying attention to the new stuff as well. I got no complaints, man. It's been decades of just fun and rock 'n' roll. There's been ups and downs obviously along the way, but I keep landing on my feet. In 2013 we started this new thing when we released 'The Way Life Goes' and this band has been just a blessing. The people that I'm working with are amazing people and musicians."

During an appearance on a recent episode of SiriusXM's "Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk", Tom was asked if he has commenced work on the follow-up to "Rise". He responded: "I haven't recorded anything [new]. Some song ideas are starting to bubble.

"The pandemic kind of threw a wrench in everything, obviously," he explained. "We were in the middle of working 'Rise'; we were on the second single, 'Hype', and were about to go out on that 'Big Rock Summer Tour' [with RATT, SKID ROW and SLAUGHTER]. And 'Hype' was kind of moving up the charts, and then everything got shut down. All the creative juices, all the energy during that couple of years just kind of… I know some people got creative; some people didn't. I didn't. [Laughs] So, it's starting to come back now. I think getting back out on the road last year kind of ignited that spark again. But, yeah, we definitely wanna do a follow-up to it.

"I would say records come in their time; I don't like to rush them," Keifer added. "But, yeah, there will for sure be a follow-up. And that antenna is starting to go up and song ideas are starting to kind of come in. Yeah, it's coming."

According to Tom, the pandemic-related break from touring came just at the right time. "I kind of needed it," he said. "We toured so much with this band leading right up to the last tour, right before the pandemic. We were actually out early that year, in 2020, 'cause the 'Rise' tour was still kind of continuing; we were still working the record. So it was 10 years straight for me — or not quite 10 years at that point. But there were three CINDERELLA tours prior to that. So I'd been on the road, like, 12 years straight. So I was crispy by the time that pandemic hit. None of us wanted that forced on us, obviously, but I guess it forced me to take a break, which I probably needed."

Although CINDERELLA hasn't released a new studio album since 1994's "Still Climbing", the band started playing sporadic shows again in 2010 but has been largely inactive for the last few years while Keifer focused on his solo career.

In March 2022, Keifer said that he was "not prepared" for the 2021 passing of CINDERELLA guitarist Jeff LaBar. Jeff was found dead by his wife in July 2021 inside his apartment in Nashville. He was 58 years old.

British guitar sensation Sophie Lloyd is featured in a new intercview with Guitar World. She discusses rising to fame via YouTube, becoming a Kiesel signature artist, touring with Machine Gun Kelly, and collaborating with some of rock and metal’s biggest names as a solo artist. An excerpt is available below.


On her forthcoming solo album, Impostor Syndrome


Lloyd: "I always said this album was going to be me paying homage to my 15-year-old self. This is an album I wrote for that girl. I’m so fortunate to work with all of the amazing singers on the record, and I can honestly say I’ve been listening to them for years. I can’t tell you how gratifying it’s been – I’d write the songs, and then we’d send them off and hear back from the singers. They were like, 'Yeah, I really dig this. I’m up for it.' It’s all turned out better than I could have imagined."




Read the complete interview here.


Lloyd recently dropped her brand new single and video for "Runaway" (Feat. Michael Starr). Teaming up with the Steel Panther frontman, the collaboration tells the story of a young girl born to rock and her metalhead parents, who goes on to pursue her destiny as a shred superstar.


Watch the music video below, and stream the single here.





“'Runaway' is one of my favourite songs of this album,” declares Sophie. “It’s inspired by all the high energy, super fun 80s rock that I absolutely love. Eddie Van Halen was an especially big influence for the guitar work throughout the song. And to have Michael Starr feature on the song is such a ‘pinch me’ moment. I’ve loved Steel Panther so much growing up and they were such a big influence on my playing style. He really is a rock legend and I’m so honoured he wanted to collaborate in this. I absolutely love the story he tells in this song and I can relate to it a lot myself, and I had so much fun recording guitar lines to go along with the lyrics and help tell the story.”


“What a killer experience getting to work with Sophie,” comments Michael Starr. “She’s a great guitar player and loves metal just like me. This song came out awesome. Enjoy!”


The song is accompanied by a colourful, sexy video that brings the spirit of the song to life in a vivid and powerful way.


“The music video was probably one of the craziest days I’ve ever had!,” says Sophie. “We wanted to have that 80s nostalgia in the video, however this time it’s the girls taking the power back and showing that you can be a powerful, sexy boss babe! We invited loads of people down to a local rock bar in London and things got crazy, everyone was so into it and just having so much fun and I think this really translates in the video. It was inspired by one of my favourite movies, Coyote Ugly, and follows the story of a dive bar where the staff are also the in-house band. Michael applies for a job but is pretty useless at the tasks he’s given! However when the staff overhear him singing, this leads to Michael being brought on stage and wowing the audience. Loki films did an incredible job at bringing our ideas to life and capturing the energy of the whole day. We are so grateful to everyone can came down to be in this video, it was amazing to unite a bunch of rockers together from all different walks of life and have an amazing day.”





(Photos - Nathersonn)

By Nick Balazs


In an upcoming feature with Yngwie Malmsteen, the Swedish guitarist was asked about his days in Steeler and their lone full-length album celebrating its 40th anniversary this year.


The album features Malmsteen on guitar, Ron Keel on vocals, Rik Fox on bass, and Mark Edwards on drums.







Looking at the Steeler days, Yngwie says, “I mean it was a short lived thing for me because I came to the States and I did a few shows with them. Then I went up to San Francisco and recorded the album in one day. And then I went down and did like ten more shows or something and then I formed other bands. So it was a very short-lived thing. I think it was a cool thing to do because it was a very happening scene at the time, you know? So it was great, but like I said it was only a couple months, the whole thing.”


The album still holds up well all these years later. “Right, well I haven’t heard it for a long time, but that’s what people tell me,” he laughs.








Yngwie Malmsteen returned to the road on August 17 in Falls Church, VA for a tour of the US that will stage 28 performances prior to wrapping the excursion on September 23 at Ruth Eckerd Hall in Clearwater, FL.


The world-renowned guitarist, composer and performer has always stood for uncompromising excellence. In a career that now spans more than 40 years, he has proven himself to be a unique artist. You can try to categorize him in any way you wish. But the manner in which this supreme Swedish craftsman has continually developed his music makes Malmsteen sublimely transcend any definition you attempt to impose.


He now has a catalogue of 21 solo studio albums, each of which has much to commend. Moreover, the guitarist played a crucial role in helping to establish Alcatrazz as a significant force in the 1980s. Malmsteen's artistry has always clearly incorporated a healthy virtuosity, but his talent goes well beyond a comprehensive control of the guitar. The man is a fine composer and, on recent releases, has also showcased a strong vocal presence.


One aspect of his approach has always shone through, and that is an abidingly deep respect for the music he plays. Malmsteen has constantly done whatever it takes to bring out all of the color, shade and hue embedded in each one of his compositions. Merely doing a very good job isn't an option. He wants to go – and does go - well beyond such limitations, into the rarefied realms inhabited by an elite number of timeless masters.


On the release of his most recent studio album Parabellum in 2021, he shared, “I always try to push myself on every album I do, and attempt things which are more extreme than previously. But what has helped this time is that I wasn't able to go on the road because of the pandemic. “It meant I could take much longer in the studio, both to write and record. Because I am usually always on tour, which is great, I haven't had the luxury of spending a lot of time working on new music for more than 20 years.  But I suddenly had no pressure at all on that front. And I feel the album has benefited enormously as a result.”


Parabellum is the best example yet of Malmsteen's creative spark lighting a raging fire that is surely set to burn brightly for many years to come. Yet, despite the care and attention to detail which has gone into every aspect of the album, what truly makes it remarkable is the undoubted joy radiating through each of the songs here. “The bottom line for me is that the passion I feel for the music I make has to be obvious. I am the sort of person who lives in the moment. I wanted this album to have a joyous, spontaneous atmosphere. This must never sound as if it's been rehearsed so much that it becomes routine.”


And in an era when there is a seeming demand for instant gratification, and bands are urged to release individual tracks instead of whole albums, 'Parabellum' is a throwback in the best possible sense to a time when albums were to be treasured and cherished. It has depth, imagination and authority. “I hope people will put on this record at the start and listen right through to the end, from start to finish. I recorded this as a singular piece of art. Not as a collection of 10 tracks you can hear in any order you want.  I view this album as having a natural flow from start to finish. It's not to be cut up into little pieces. I want fans to experience the delight I had in making it.”


Confirmed appearances include:


August
18 - Hudson Falls, NY - The Strand Theater
19 - Poughkeepsie, NY - The Change Theater
20 - Warrendale, PA - Jergel’s Rhythm Grille
22 - New York, NY - Palladium Times Square
23 - Huntington, NY - The Paramount
25 - Columbus, OH - The KING of CLUBS
26 - St. Charles, IL - Arcada Theatre
27 - Hobart, IN - Art Theater
30 - New Orleans, LA - House of Blues
31 - Dallas, TX - Majestic Theatre


September
1 - Houston, TX - House of Blues Houston
2 - San Antonio, TX - Tobin Center for the Performing Arts
4 - Tempe, AZ - Marquee Theatre
6 - San Diego, CA - House of Blues San Diego
7 - Sacramento, CA - Ace of Spades
8 - Beverly Hills, CA - The Canyon @ The Saban Theatre
9 - Oxnard, CA - The Canyon @ The Oxnard Performing Arts
10 - Montclair, CA - The Canyon – Montclair
11 - Anaheim, CA - House of Blues Anaheim
13 - Denver, CO - The Oriental Theater
15 - Mt. Clemens, MI - Emerald Theatre
16 - Angola, IN - The Eclectic Room
17 - Holland, MI - Park Theatre
19 - Worcester, MA - Palladium
20 - Reading, PA - Reverb
21 - Ft. Lauderdale, FL - Lillian S. Wells Hall at The Parker
23 - Clearwater, FL - Ruth Eckerd Hall


* Glenn Hughes co-headlines all appearances 8/18-9/23


International Appearances:


November
3 - Wolverhampton, UK - KK’s Steel Mill
4 - Great Yarmouth, UK - hard rock hell 2023
5 - Camden, UK - Electric Ballroom


Additional performances will be announced in the coming weeks.

PRETENDERS singer Chrissie Hynde joined GUNS N' ROSES on stage Monday night (August 21) at Fenway Park in Boston, Massachusetts to add harmonica to the Axl Rose-fronted band's song "Bad Obsession". Fan-filmed video of her appearance can be seen below.

PRETENDERS have served as the support act for many of the shows on GUNS N' ROSES' current North American tour, which kicked off on August 5 with a sold-out concert at Croix-Bleue Medavie Stadium in Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada.

GUNS N' ROSES will continue their massive 2023 run visiting historic venues across the country such as Wrigley Field in Chicago, Illinois on August 24. The tour concludes in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada at BC Place on Monday, October 16. This leg comes following the band's largest run to date consisting of legendary performances in Europe across stadiums, festivals, and arenas this year including festival performances at Glastonbury and Hyde Park and sold-out shows in Abu Dhabi, Tel Aviv, Budapest and more.

PRETENDERS will release a new album, "Relentless", on September 1. Hynde and guitarist James Walborne worked on the LP with producer Dave Wrench along with Kris Sonne (drums),Chris Hill (double bass),Dave Page (bass) and Carwyn Ellis (keyboards and guitars).

Regarding the "Relentless" album title, Hynde said: "I enjoy seeing the various meanings and origins of a word. And I liked the definition: 'showing no abatement of intensity.' So when it came to an album title, it seemed fitting. You know…to keep doing it. I think anyone in a band is constantly questioning if they should keep going. It starts as a youthful pursuit and eventually, it makes you wonder, why am I doing this? It's the life of the artist. You never retire. You become relentless."

GUNS N' ROSES' current lineup features classic-lineup members Rose, Duff McKagan and Slash, backed by guitarist Richard Fortus, drummer Frank Ferrer, keyboardist Dizzy Reed and second keyboardist Melissa Reese.

Soen have released the piercing new single, "Violence", which is taken from their forthcoming album, Memorial, set for release on September 1 via Silver Lining Music.


Founding member and singer Joel Ekelöf comments, “'Violence' touches the topic of coercion, whether it is physical or mental. Violence can sometimes be delivered very cautiously in ways that don’t give room for a reaction but with the passing of time will destroy your confidence and self-regard.”


The new track is as biting and abrasive as its theme along with a melodic grace that transcends across the whole of the new album.




“It’s a different song for us musically speaking, it’s very direct and full of darkness and anger,” adds co-founding member and drummer Martin Lopez.





Never ones to take the restrained path, Soen face down the ills and ways of current society with a crisp, wounded venom that betrays their pain, anger and frustrations. Each guitar carries a greater serrated edge, each melody a richer heart, each lyric a soul and spleen venting definitive proclamation. At the same time, Soen’s unique blend of progression, aggression, and beauty shows more maturity than ever before.


Soen have been building up to this moment for years and now they’re here with Memorial, which is an inspiring modern hard rock classic.


Memorial will be released on September 1, via Silver Lining Music. Available as a Deluxe CD, 12” Vinyl Album in Black and colour variants, digital formats and special D2C products and bundles. For pre-orders, head here.





Memorial tracklisting:


"Sincere"
"Unbreakable"
"Violence"
"Fortress"
"Hollowed" (feat. Elisa)
"Memorial
"Incendiary"
"Tragedian"
"Icon"
"Vitals"


"Memorial" video:





"Unbreakable" video:





Following their incredible performances at this year’s summer festivals across Europe, Soen, completed by Lars Enok Åhlund (Keyboards and Guitar), Oleksii ‘Zlatoyar’ Kobel (Bass) and Cody Ford (Lead Guitar), will be heading out on their Memorial European tour, which will kick off in September in Odense, Denmark.


Today the band are excited to announce twenty-five new dates seeing them bring Memorial to the United States, Canada and Mexico. The tour will kick-off in May 2024 in Chicago, Illinois. Fan exclusive 48-hour pre-sale available from August 23 at 3 PM, EST (8 PM, BST). General on sale available from August 25 at 3 PM, EST (8 PM, BST).  


Full list of confirmed dates, tickets, and additional information available here


Lineup:


Joel Ekelöf - Vocals
Martin Lopez - Drums
Lars Enok Åhlund - Keyboards and Guitar
Cody Ford - Lead Guitar
Oleksii “Zlatoyar” Kobel - Bass


(Photo - Jeremy Saffer)

A-Z, the band formed by Fates Warning icons Ray Alder and Mark Zonder, have released a video for the track, "Window Panes", featured on the band's self-titled, debut album that came out in August 2022. Watch below.


Mark Zonder comments: "We had planned to do a video for every song on the record and this is number 10 out of 11. We thought it was important, as we are currently in the process of recording the new album, to let the fans know we are moving forward and will be out with a record soon. Yes, there will be the all important video 11 as well!"







A-Z is currently at work on the band's second album with a cast of world-class musicians that will be revealed in the coming months. Fans can expect the new material to be heavier in nature and will feature two guitarists while maintaining space for great vocals and choruses. In touring news, A-Z plans on hitting the road following the release of the second album.


"Several of the new songs have been shared with a group of respected friends and musicians," Zonder said. "Their consensus is this is next-level music that even surprised them with how well the songs blend the heaviness and prog of the 1970s with today."


Order the debut album here.





A-Z tracklisting:


"Trial By Fire"
"The Far Side Of The Horizon"
"The Machine Gunner"
"Rise Again"
"Window Panes"
"Run Away"
"Stranded"
"At The Waters Edge"
"Borrowed Time"
"Sometimes"
"The Silence Broken" (Bonus Track)


"Rise Again" video:





"Run Away" video:





"The Silence Broken" lyric video:





"Borrowed Time" lyric video:





"At The Waters Edge" video:





"The Far Side Of The Horizon" lyric video:





"Stranded" video:





"Trial By Fire" video:





"The Machine Gunner" video:





When Mark Zonder, famed former Fates Warning and Warlord drummer, started working on material in early 2020 he had a very clear vision for the band he wanted to put together. "I was thinking beer commercials, car commercials, and Cobra Kai. I wanted to have a very accessible band that would appeal to the masses and would lead to the ability to tour larger venues and build a second and third record off the success of the first. I did not want to hear things like, 'I don't hear a single, it is too proggy, I just don't get it, let me listen to it a few more times'. I knew from myself and the others that I would recruit, it would have some sophisticated music parts but the big hook was the main priority." The result was A-Z, and while Zonder is adamant it is not a supergroup that is doing a 'one and done' record it has a stellar lineup, reuniting him with Fates Warning vocalist Ray Alder, Warlord/Steve Vai/Ring of Fire bassist Philip Bynoe, guitarist Joop Wolters and keyboardist Vivien Lalu, the combination of these players stirring up a very specific kind of magic that could not be replicated.


Things came together smoothly from the start, Zonder sending drum patterns and grooves to first recruit Lalu, and he would write songs using guitar sounds so between the two of them they had basic song structures pretty quickly. Zonder knew Bynoe would jump on board as they have a long history and mutual respect and Lalu had worked with Wolters for years, recruiting him for the band. Both Wolters and Lalu brought in great musical ideas that were turned into songs. The goal was always the same: shorter songs and getting right to the chorus, no twelve-minute songs, and everyone found it easy working to this remit. With everything else coming together nicely, finding the right singer was the hardest aspect of the whole process.


"I had sent out a basic song to over 20 different singers, some popular named singers and some unknown, but completely struck out," says Zonder. "Then I just decided to call Ray as I was not sure what he was up to. I figured it could not hurt to get in touch. I do remember speaking with him back in the day and him talking about how he loved this kind of music. I sent him a track or two and he just killed it." Adds Alder, "I found this a chance to do something completely different than what I am used to, being in a prog metal band for 30 years. I find the blend of the 80s, 90s and a touch of 70s style of music very cool, and it is great to work with Mark after all of these years." Thrilled to have him on board, Zonder did not have a list of demands. "My only words to him were 'do whatever you want.' I was not going to tell him what to do. Same for all of the others guys. Yes, there has to be some editing and making decisions, but when it came to the music I just wanted everyone to do what they do best." The results are undeniable, from the high octane stomper "The Machine Gunner", to the gorgeous sway of "Rise Again" or the towering "Stranded", every track an anthem that sounds like only the biggest venues could contain them.


The band's name came courtesy of Alder - A-Z = Alder thru Zonder - and it fit straight away. "What I liked is that it did not limit what someone would think of the band. If we named the band Scary Serpent it would give a certain direction and I did not want people to prejudge the band and record," Zonder says. Likewise, self-titling the record made sense. "I did not want to give a direction idea to the audience. If we named the album Far Side of the Horizon, people would probably think 'prog band'. But if you named it The Machine Gunner, it would give a totally different direction for thought." For artwork, wanting to again get the best possible contributor, they turned to the famed Hugh Syme (Rush, Fates Warning), who delivered the vivid image of a zebra eating an apple, encompassing the band name in a sly way. "Again, hire the best people you can find and just let them do what they do. The artwork is absolutely fantastic and really fits the whole concept. He is truly the best. Just a great guy to work with."





A-Z lineup:


Ray Alder - Lead and Backing Vocals
Philip Bynoe - Bass Guitar
Vivien Lalu - Keyboards
Joop Wolters - Guitars
Mark Zonder - Drums

As the lords of Balkan folk and unique heavy metal sound, the band Manntra is, once again, marrying the past to the future in their newest single, “Links 2-3-4,” honoring the legacy of the iconic German group, Rammstein. This riveting rendition is part of the A Tribute To Rammstein album (Cleopatra Records August 25) and is available now, here. Listen below.


The release of “Links 2-3-4” follows the success of Manntra’s 2022 album Kreatura, which was praised for its eclectic sound and impeccable storytelling, often sharing the stories of the band’s Croatian homeland. Now, with their new single, the industrial metal folk band is stepping into the international spotlight, yet again, performing mostly in English without losing the power of tradition, that is typically exhibited throughout their music.


Their cover of “Links 2-3-4” is one of 13 trailblazing tracks by new school industrial acts, including Priest, Manntra, and Julien-K, and veterans Frontline Assembly, Burton C. Bell (Fear Factory) and Paul Ferguson (Killing Joke), Skold and more, on a true clash of the industrial titans. A Tribute To Rammstein marks the 30th anniversary of the Berliners’ beginnings and is an homage to Till Lindemann and his colleagues with vicious cover versions of some of the band’s most iconic songs.




“Links 2-3-4” was the second single release from Rammstein’s third studio album Mutter (2001). A politically-charged song, taking aim at early allegations of Nazism against the band by revealing that they are politically left-wing, the song was a top 40 hit in Germany, Austria, and Finland.





A Tribute To Rammstein tracklisting:


"Du Hast" - Burton C Bell, Paul Ferguson & MGT
"Deutschland" - Front Line Assembly
"Sonne" - Skold
"Engel" - Priest
"Amerika" - Laibach
"Feuer Frei!" - The 69 Eyes
"Ausländer" - Jah Wobble & Jon Klein
"Radio" - Julien-K
"Ich Will" - Stoneman
"Keine Lust" - Lacrimas Profundere
"Links 2 3 4" - Manntra


Bonus Tracks:


"Mein Teil" - Original God
"Du Hast" - Leæther Strip

Multi-platinum hard rock icons Extreme - Gary Cherone (vocals), Nuno Bettencourt (guitar), Pat Badger (bass), and Kevin Figueiredo (drums) - have released a static video for "Save Me", a track from their new album, SIX, out now via earMusic. Check it out below:





SIX was recorded at Nuno Bettencourt’s home studio in Los Angeles. The album swings between unapologetic fits of fret-burning hard rock and intimately introspective balladry. Order SIX here.







SIX tracklisting:


"Rise"
"#Rebel"
"Banshee"
"Other Side Of The Rainbow"
"Small Town Beautiful"
"The Mask"
"Thicker Than Blood"
"Save Me"
"Hurricane"
"X Out"
"Beautiful Girls"
"Here's To The Losers"


"The Mask:





"Small Town Beautiful":





“Other Side Of The Rainbow” video:





"Banshee" video:





"#Rebel" video:





"Rise" video:





Extreme's headlining “Thicker Than Blood” world tour is underway. It will be followed by stops in Australia and Japan in September and has already sold-out dates in cities including Detroit, Hampton Beach, Tokyo and Yokohama. The band also announced an additional jaunt beginning November 27 in Newcastle, UK and wrapping December 16 in Milan, IT.


Special guests Living Colour (who will also be supporting Extreme on their US and Australian shows) will appear on the UK leg and The Last Internationale will appear across Europe. Tickets  at extreme-band.com.





Tour dates:


August
21 - Denver, CO - The Ogden #
22 - Albuquerque, NM - Revel Entertainment Center #
24 - Anaheim, CA - House of Blues #
26 - San Francisco, CA - The Regency #
28 - Portland, OR - TBD #
29 - Seattle, WA - The Showbox #


September
6 - Perth, AU - Regal Theatre #
8 - Adelaide, AU - Hindley Street Music Hall #
10 - Melbourne, AU - Forum #
12 - Sydney, AU - Enmore Theatre #
13 - Brisbane, AU - Fortitude Music Hall #
17 - Sendai, JP - Sendai Gigs
19 - Yokohama, JP - KT Zepp Yokohama
21 - Tokyo, JP - Hitomi Memorial Hall
25 - Nagoya, JP - Shimin Kaikan Hall
26 - Osaka, JP - Zepp Namba





November
27 - Newcastle, UK - O2 City Hall #
28 - Glasgow, UK - O2 Academy #
30 - Manchester, UK - O2 Academy #


December
1 - Wolverhampton, UK - Civic Hall #
3 - Bristol, UK - O2 Academy #
4 - London, UK - O2 Forum #
8 - Pratteln, Switzerland - Z7 Konzertfabrik *
10 - Berlin, Germany - Huxleys *
11 - Cologne, Germany - Live Music Hall *
12 - Amsterdam, Netherlands - Melkweg Max *
14 - Antwerp, Belgium - Trix *
16 - Milan, Italy - Alcatraz *


# with Living Colour
* with The Last Internationale

Baroness are offering one final preview of Stone, the September 15 album, with the release of “Shine”. Listen here, and below.


The track is the third pre-release single from the Philadelphia-meets-Brooklyn foursome, with the band previously sharing “Last Word", and “Beneath The Rose”. Both of the tracks featured videos created by the band members, with Nick Jost crafting “Last Word,” and the full band participating in the dazzling clip for “Beneath The Rose.”







Stone pre-orders and pre-saves are available now, here. The album features original cover art by John Baizley and is available on a variety of formats, including an indie exclusive LP and ten limited-edition custom vinyl variants themed after each song on the album and designed by Baizley himself, as well as CD, a limited-edition deluxe CD featuring a bonus disc of live tracks recorded on the “Your Baroness” tour, and a limited blue cassette.


Stone album cover; original painting by John Baizley.





Stone tracklisting:


"Embers"
"Last Word"
"Beneath The Rose"
"Choir"
"The Dirge"
"Anodyne"
"Shine"
"Magnolia"
"Under The Wheel"
"Bloom"


"Beneath The Rose" video:





"Last Word" video:





Baroness also announced the “Sweet Oblivion Tour,” a seven-week trek that sees the band traversing North America this Fall. Tickets are on-sale now, with Baroness bringing along some of their favorite bands including Jesus Piece, Portrayal of Guilt, Primitive Man, KEN Mode, Wayfarer, Chat Pile, Vile Creature, Soul Glo, Sheer Mag, Escuela Grind, Midwife, Hoaxed, Empire State Bastard, Cloud Rat, Imperial Triumphant, Uniform and Agriculture, with more support acts to be announced. More information and ticket pre-sales available at yourbaroness.com.


(Photo - Ebru Yildiz)

This December, HOOBASTANK will celebrate 20 years since the release of its sophomore album, "The Reason". The LP took the band to even greater heights following the success of their 2001 debut "Hoobastank", and featured the massively successful single of the same name, "The Reason", which helped solidify the band as a household name. The single "The Reason" has since been certified fourt times platinum and racked up quite a few No. 1 chart positions along the way, while the album went double platinum. The success of "The Reason" has led the band's entire catalog to surpass the four billion mark across all digital streaming platforms.

As the band prepares for the 20th-anniversary celebration, the official music video for "The Reason" just hit a major milestone, crossing one billion views mark on YouTube. The video, directed by Brett Simon, saw maximum screen time during the days of MTV's "TRL", earning the band two VMA nominations in 2004 for "Best Rock Video" and "Best Group Video".

In recent years, HOOBASTANK has had a resurgence back into the mainstream through TikTok, hit TV shows and collaborations. The viral success of the #NotAPerfectPerson trend on TikTok brought new attention to the hit single as the hashtag currently has over 948 million views and the sound has been used in over 220,000 posts. When Netflix's hit show "Beef" gained major popularity in 2023, the first episode featured HOOBASTANK's "The Reason", which resulted in the song re-entering the iTunes Rock charts and appearing on Shazam's U.S. Top 200, the most Shazamed tracks in the United States. Most recently, Venezuelan pop singer Moly released a Latin version of "The Reason" featuring HOOBASTANK, and both lead vocalist and guitarist Doug Robb and guitarist Dan Estrin from HOOBASTANK joined Moly on stage at the Univision awards, Premios Juventud. Because of this mainstream attention and a newer generation of music fans finding the band's catalog, HOOBASTANK is clocking in at over nine million monthly listeners and two million followers on Spotify, with "The Reason" well on its way to hitting one billion streams.

In a new interview with Heavy New YorkHeavy New York, OTEP frontwoman Otep Shamaya, who is also known as an outspoken advocate of gay rights, poet, illustrator, author and activist, talked about her approach to writing lyrics and having her songs occasionally misinterpreted by people from the opposite side of the political spectrum. She said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "I do my best to write with universal language. I know that what truth I'm trying to convey or what emotional experience I'm trying to write about, and sometimes it's multiple things all in this big alchemical stew that it may start off with one idea in the same verse and it switches to several other different things. But I try to do as the beat poets did — use a lot of universal language — and so that people that might not understand or have never had the experience that inspired me to write the song, they can find their own experiences in it and their own meanings to it. Sometimes it can be a disaster. There are people that are on the other side of things politically or culturally than I am, and they'll think that I was writing about something completely different than what I stand for or what I believe in as a human being. So that's really the only danger, is when someone's, like, 'Wait, you write political songs? And you're a liberal?' Yeah. I mean, I'm working class… I'm always gonna represent the working class, and I am a liberal, and I'm gay and I'm a vegan. And so sometimes when those things are discovered and people will be, like, 'Wait, but you wrote 'Smash The Control Machine'? But you're pro this politician or you're pro this legislation.' It's, like, first of all, that was inspired by a William Burroughs poem… I think they ascribe that as to me being an anarchist or something like that. And it's, like, no. The control machine, that song starts off writing about something that happened to my family personally — an elder in my family was being evicted, and so I wanted to write about that. And then I wanted to write about other things as well about the different types of control machines, which is what William Burroughs was referring to, that control us as a population and that are used to control us as a population, economically, culturally, socially and those types of things. So it wasn't just about standing up against the government; it was about making sure that it was about addressing a bunch of different issues. That, I guess, would be the only danger, really, and it rarely happens. But that would be the only real danger in people misinterpreting a song."

Otep, who has never held back on her rage against the wrongs of society, in her music or her social media, went on to say that she doesn't care about appealing voters who currently align with the Republican Party, which she feels is being controlled by extremists.

"For me, I draw a very, very — I mean, it's not even a line; I've dug a canyon between my side and whatever red means now," she explained. "I miss the days of John McCain Republicans where I could disagree with someone all day, but we could still respect each other. Where we are now politically is we're actually fighting fascism in America. And this isn't the first time. I mean, it's not the first time that it's tried to rear its ugly head. In fact, things have gotten better. We're just not gonna let them regress to back to those times. And that's why I think — I can't remember who said it, but stuck with me, was that we have to know where we've been to know where we are to know where we're going. And that's why history's important and that's why right now for me, anyone that still is wearing a red hat, they're not somebody that I would even wanna have a discourse with. I'm not trying to change anybody's mind anymore. I'm not trying to do any of that. If you are that easily pulled into a culture of hate and bigotry and wish the extermination of different types of people, including gay people like me, and wanna rip the rights away from women — I'm a woman — and all the other things that they're trying to do, against the trans community and that type of thing, if your whole position is based around hate and exclusion, then I don't care if you listen to my music or not, or come to my shows. I don't care. I don't. And I never have."

"To The Gallows", the first single from OTEP's 2018 album "Kult 45", was described in a press release at the time as "a hyper-political outcry to the resistance to challenge Trump's falsehoods and hypocrisies." Shamaya branded the track "a song for the heretics/to resist the dictatorship." She rapped about Trump as a "traitor" as well as "a morally corrupt demagogue who's in lust with his daughter so he pays porn stars to dress like her."

OTEP will release a new studio album, "The God Slayer", on September 15 via Cleopatra. The follow-up to "Kult 45" offers up a mix of inspired original tracks as well as transformative takes on chart-topping hits from a variety of influences, including pop, rap and grunge, by such artists as Eminem, Billie Eilish, SLIPKNOT, Lil Peep and Olivia Rodrigo.

THE DEFIANT, the new band featuring MIGHTY MIGHTY BOSSTONES singer Dicky Barrett alongside with Pete Parada (THE OFFSPRING) on drums, Greg Camp (SMASH MOUTH) on guitar, Johnny Rioux (STREET DOGS) on bass, and Joey LaRocca (THE BRIGGS) on guitar and keyboards, has released its debut single, "Dead Language".

"Dead Language" marks Barrett's first new music since the BOSSTONES broke up in early 2022, shortly after the release of the band's last album, "When God Was Great".

THE DEFIANT recently recorded 12 songs for a debut album which is expected to arrive later this year. Teasers for two other tracks, "Everybody Loves Me" and "No Nothing", were made available in early 2023 and can be found below.

Barrett stated about THE DEFIANT's distinctive combination of clever, quick-witted, thought-provoking lyrics and well-crafted punk rock songs: "All I've ever really wanted to do is bring people together and share a message of peace, love, and unity. With that in mind, the music created by THE DEFIANT could very well be some of the best I've ever had a hand in making, as well as one of the most important and thoughtful musical experiences of my career. I am thrilled to be a part of it."

Added Parada: "It is an insanely solid lineup, like Murderers Row from the 1927 New York Yankees. This project is a real throwback to when albums felt like books, and songs were integral chapters in a story. It's a tribute to the heartbroken, the misunderstood, the lost and found, the isolated, the fighters, the believers, the wildly hopeful and irrationally optimistic." "I agree with Pete but let's take it easy with the Yankees analogies," interjected lifelong Red Sox supporter Barrett.

Rioux said: "The diversity of the material is great, too. You can hear hints of THE JAM, THE POGUES, THE SPECIALS and BLUR. So many different influences make up this project. Those influences, along with incredible unifying and biographical lyrics, have resulted in something I'm really excited about."

When asked about this new musical brotherhood, Camp said: "We have all either known each other or run into each other on the road over the years. But the moment we were all in the same room at the same time, it was like we had been buddies since birth."

When it comes to THE DEFIANT, the whole is — at the very least — equal to the sum of its not inconsiderable parts. "For me, the best thing about this group is that we’re so aligned on just about every aspect of our lives. From our similar musical backgrounds and influences to our general life philosophies, we have much in common and a lot to share," said LaRocca.

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In support of METALLICA's latest album, "72 Seasons", the band has been playing two-night, no-repeat shows in each city— first in Europe and now in North America — as part of the "M72" tour. Each concert sees METALLICA performing on a massive ring-shaped stage, with the Snake Pit in the center, and four drum sets which are equally spaced out around the circular stage so drummer Lars Ulrich can get closer to the audience at various points in the show.

In a new interview with The New York Times, Ulrich spoke in more detail about the "M72" stage production, saying: "This is the first time we've done a 360-degree stage in a stadium setup. We tried to crack the code on that for years. Everything that we had done always had a center point. We were going down this rabbit hole a year ago, and all of a sudden it was, like, 'Well, hang on, why does the band have to be in the center?' And then it was, like, 'What's the opposite of the band being in the center?' And that would be the fans being in the center. And that's when we came up with the doughnut concept, where you play on the doughnut itself and then the fans are in the doughnut hole. And then, well, where do the drums go? Then the concept of the four drum kits — one drum kit in each of the four different directions — came up, and then it sort of went from there."

He added: "You know, all this [expletive] makes a lot of sense when it's in an e-mail or it looks really good on a napkin. Nine months later you’re in the first venue trying to figure out what the [expletive] you're doing."

The "M72" tour launched in late April in Amsterdam.

Opening acts include FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH, ICE NINE KILLS, MAMMOTH WVH, PANTERA, ARCHITECTS, GRETA VAN FLEET and VOLBEAT.

A portion of proceeds from the shows go to METALLICA's All Within My Hands foundation, which seeks to assist and enrich the lives of members of the communities who have supported the band and combat food insecurity; provides disaster relief; and bestows scholarships.

The "Nothing Else Matters" Snake Pit experience, which includes access to a meet-and-greet, and production and stage tour, are exclusively a two-show experience, and are not being made available for single-day purchase.

The "Lux Aeterna Private Platform Experience" costs $7,272. With this, you get a private viewing platform for up to eight people, a cooler of soft drinks and beer, access to the pre-show party in the Black Box lounge, a merch item for everyone in the group, and the ability to pre-order merch that will be delivered directly to your platform. The platform will be near the stage at the base of a production tower and allows easy access to and from the general admission section of the venue.

According to Billboard, METALLICA's production travels in 87 trucks — 45 for the band and its setup, plus two groups of 21 each for the steel stage and towers. There are 130 people in the band's crew, plus 40 steelworkers, local hires and truck drivers.

METALLICA's manager Cliff Burnstein told Billboard that between 80% and 90% of fans at each concert will attend both shows.

METALLICA's two-night stand at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas later this month will be livestreamed to movie theaters across the globe.

It will mark METALLICA's first appearance in Texas since November 2021, when the band played before, during and after a Triad Combat event at Globe Life Field.

METALLICA last played AT&T Stadium in June 2017.

Former IRON MAIDEN singer Paul Di'Anno performed a set of MAIDEN classics at Cavernas Bar in Cuiabá, Brazil on February 18, 2023 during his "The Beast Resurrection" tour. HELLCITY TV has now uploaded professionally filmed video of the entire concert. Check it out below.

According to Setlist.fm, Paul's setlist was as follows:

01. Wrathchild
02. Sanctuary
03. Drifter
04. Purgatory
05. Murders In The Rue Morgue
06. Remember Tomorrow
07. Genghis Khan
08. Killers
09. Charlotte The Harlot
10. Transylvania
11. Phantom Of The Opera
12. Running Free
13. Prowler
14. Iron Maiden

In a recent interview with Mexico's MB Live, Di'Anno, who underwent a long-awaited knee surgery in Croatia last September, was asked if it's true that his former MAIDEN bandmates covered the remaining costs of his operations and treatment. He responded: "The last part of it they did, 'cause I ran of money. [Laughs] It's been very expensive. 'Cause when I first got sick, I had to get medevaced from Argentina, which cost me a lot of money, 'cause I had to [be transported] in a private medical plane and all that stuff back. When I arrived in England, I only had 45 minutes to live, with sepsis and that. So they pumped me full of antibiotics. I spent eight months in hospital. So the last bit of the treatment, the band was really cool — they paid for the last couple of months' worth of treatments, which was good. I'll be forever grateful for that."

Asked if he still gets royalties for his recordings with MAIDEN and his other post-MAIDEN projects, Di'Anno said: "Yeah. I still get royalties. I've just signed a deal with Sony Publishing, so they're getting all my royalties back in to me now. I mean, I'm owed fucking millions. I won't have to worry about all that, 'cause people keep ripping me off. All these assholes coming out with different… There's been about four different BATTLEZONE CDs coming out in different formats and vinyl and stuff. I don't see any of that money. But now we will, 'cause we've got Sony Records and Warner Brothers behind us, which is great."

Last December, Di'Anno spent time in Split, Croatia recording an album with his new project called WARHORSE. The band was formed earlier last year by Di'Anno and two guitarists/authors, Hrvoje Madiraca and Ante "Pupi" Pupačić.

WARHORSE previously recorded three songs, two of which — "Stop The War" and "The Doubt Within" — were released in May 2022 as a special DVD single along with Paul's video message to all fans who bought the single and thus helped raise funds for his recent knee operation.

Di'Anno recorded two classic albums with IRON MAIDEN — a self-titled effort in 1980 and "Killers" in 1981 — before being fired and replaced by Bruce Dickinson. He went on to front a number of other bands, including KILLERS and BATTLEZONE, and released several solo records.

The WARHORSE single marked Di'Anno's first music release after a seven-year hiatus due to severe health issues.

Di'Anno played the first show since his operation on October 1, 2022 at the Keep It True Rising II festival in Würzburg, Germany.

In December, Paul was joined by Greek guitar virtuoso Gus G., well known in rock and metal circles for his work as Ozzy Osbourne's guitarist and as leader of his own band FIREWIND, for three concerts in Greece, where they played songs from MAIDEN's first two albums, "Iron Maiden" and "Killers".

In May 2022, Di'Anno came face to face with MAIDEN bassist Steve Harris for the first time in three decades before the band's concert in Croatia.

Harris, whose group kicked off the 2022 leg of its "Legacy Of The Beast" world tour at the 22,000-capacity Arena Zagreb, came out before the show to greet a wheelchair-bound Di'Anno and chat with him for a few minutes.

After his friendly meeting with Harris, Di'Anno stuck around long enough to watch some of MAIDEN's performance before leaving near the end of the set to avoid a huge traffic jam after the show.

Also in May 2022, Paul played his first full solo concert in seven years at the Bikers Beer Factory in Zagreb. The show was filmed and parts of it will be included in a documentary about Di'Anno, to be directed by Wes Orshoski, co-director and producer of the acclaimed 2010 film "Lemmy" about the MOTÖRHEAD icon.

https://www.clubedoingresso.com/evento/pauldianno-cuiaba

Posted by Cavernas Cuiabá on Thursday, December 1, 2022

Canadian metal legends ANVIL have completed the pre-production rehearsals for their upcoming studio album. According to drummer Robb Reiner, the sessions have yielded "another 14 tracks crushing true to form".

ANVIL was scheduled to fly from Canada to Germany on Sunday (August 20) to begin recording the new album with was longtime producer Martin "Mattes" Pfeiffer and Jörg Uken at Uken's Soundlodge studios in Germany. The same production team was responsible for ANVIL's last four albums, "Anvil Is Anvil" (2016),"Pounding The Pavement" (2018),"Legal At Last" (2019) and "Impact Is Imminent" (2022).

This past January, MVD Marquee Collection released the "Ultimate Edition" Blu-ray and "Standard Edition" DVD of ANVIL's acclaimed documentary, "Anvil! The Story Of Anvil".

The new version of the film features remastered picture and sound, as well as a new exclusive epilogue interview with director Sacha Gervasi and ANVIL frontman Steve "Lips" Kudlow and Reiner moderated by former MTV host Matt Pinfield.

The remastered "Anvil! The Story Of Anvil" received its premiere in conjunction with Beyond Fest last September in Los Angeles at the Saban Theater, where ANVIL also performed. This was followed by a question-and-answer session with Kudlow, Reiner, producer Rebecca Yeldham and Gervasi, moderated by Steve-O from "Jackass".

Last fall, Lips spoke to the French metal radio show "Metal Zone" on Oxygène Radio about ANVIL's unwillingness to pay attention to music trends while working on new songs. He said: "It was never about radio play. It was never about being posers. It was always about high-integrity, as-heavy-as-possible music. And that's what it was really about. And we didn't wanna become one of the bands that puts out a couple of heavy albums and then goes soft and tries to get on the radio; that was not our idea. We wanted to stay true to what we started and continue to do."

Asked how he has evolved as a songwriter since ANVIL's inception more than four decades ago, Lips said: "Yeah, I would say I've learned a lot of things. One thing I've learned more than anything else is about self-recognition. I think that I lacked my own belief in myself and didn't realize that, really, I shaped and formed everything all along and I didn't really need the help and that help generally was more of a hindrance than actually helping. And that's what I've kind of discovered more in the later years, that I probably could have done a better job in earlier records had I taken the bull by the horns and been a tyrant and overstepped everybody who was trying to get their two cents in. Because what generally happens [is] I have a vision, I have an idea and I have the whole song in my mind, and if I come into rehearsal and if it's not completely settled with me, it ends up going off topic and off target, because I've allowed other people into the equation that they're not gonna know what's gonna happen or how to really do it. It's a much more pure place that I'm coming from now. I sit down and write all the music, I create all the guitar parts before I go in. Then I present it to the other two guys, and they write their accompaniment to it. That seems to be the best format. I don't have to have a discussion with the singer, because I am the singer."

Absolutely true ..off tomorrow to Germany…looking forward to the project:
🔥🔥🔥

Posted by Robb Robbo Reiner on Saturday, August 19, 2023

In a new interview with The Metal Mixtape, STITCHED UP HEART singer Alecia "Mixi" Demner spoke about how she deals with criticism in the age of social media. She said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "I try to do meditations and pause, 'cause it is a rough industry. It's a cutthroat industry. It's very much judgmental and you're pouring your heart out for people to comment that they hated it online. People don't just yell at you to your face, but they could say it online for everybody to see and they don't realize you actually could read that stuff too. And that we're people also, right? Artists are people. So, it does take a toll, and I have a therapist now for that and I'm on antidepressants for that. If you wanna be real honest; I'm a very transparent person when it comes to that stuff. So, that's helped a lot, and meditation and trying to really try to live in gratitude. And when you have gratitude, you can't have fear at the same time as gratitude, so you have to try to focus on the positive. And it's, it's harder than focusing on the negative."

Mixi also talked about how the pressure of the pressure to meet commercial expectations can stifle artistic experimentation. She said: "There's so much that's different when it becomes a business versus just like a hobby. You're just painting for yourself or you're making music for yourself and you're just having fun with it and trying to create this art. And then once it becomes, like, okay, well, now that we accidentally had all these radio singles that did really well and when we first got signed with Century Media, never alone went on hyper rotation on [SiriusXM's] Octane and it wasn't expected… So, there was a lot of pressure on the second record to do as good as the first one. And I think we kind of lost ourselves in it, because you've got all these… I try to take direction as much as possible, but I think I lost myself a little in what we were creating from the beginning and what the vision started out like. And so I think that this record [STITCHED UP HEART's upcoming album, 'To The Wolves'] definitely… I think we stopped caring what anybody else thinks and just really truly tried to get to the core of what we wanted to create. What kind of sounds? We wanted more riffs, we wanted more screaming. I was a little nervous to start screaming, 'cause before the second record, I ended up having vocal cord surgery and it was a super-challenging time for me. But I was scared to scream on that record. And now this one, I'm just, like, you know what? If my voice goes, that's the way it is, and then I've gotta go and deliver some pizzas, I guess."

"To The Wolves" will arrive on September 1 via Century Media Records.

STITCHED UP HEART will support ESCAPE THE FATE, along with D.R.U.G.S., POINT NORTH and GARZI, on a U.S. tour beginning on August 31 in Salt Lake City, Utah and wrapping up on October 5 in Portland, Oregon.

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

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

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

STITCHED UP HEART is:

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

Former KISS members Bruce Kulick and Ace Frehley will appear at this year's Kiss Cancer Goodbye II fundraiser for the American Cancer Society, set to take place October 13-14, 2023 on Harvest House campus in Sarasota, Florida. Kulick will perform KISS's "Alive III" album in its entirety at the event, which will include live music on Friday and Saturday night as well music, comedy and other activities on Saturday afternoon. The weekend will also be interlaced with charitable raffles and other fundraising activities. In order to maximize charitable fundraising, the event will include both in person viewing and live streaming during portions of the event.

In early 2023, Harvest completed construction of its new state-of-the-art community center adjacent to its existing facility called the Venue. It includes an elevated stage, high-end PA system, advanced lighting system, 16-foot video wall and built-in live streaming package.

Harvest House is a long-standing, highly regarded not-for-profit organization in Sarasota that provides housing and recovery programs for veterans, battered women and other individuals in need. They also operate the Harvest Church, which is a non-denomination religious organization.

Kiss Cancer Goodbye was first held in 2022 in Nashville, Tennessee at SIR Studios. This event exceeded expectations, with over $40,000 donated to the American Cancer Society.

The Kiss Cancer Goodbye organizers said: "This year we challenged ourselves to find ways to not only increase our fundraising results, but we also want to provide more education about cancer risks and create a stronger message about the importance of getting checked for early signs of cancer."

Bruce joined KISS in 1984, and accompanied the band on the "Animalize" tour and continued with them until the reunion tour. Bruce is heavily featured on "Kissology – Vol. 2" and "Vol. 3", the band's DVDs spanning their historic four-decade-plus career.

"Alive III" was released in 1993. It is the third installment of the "Alive" series. The recording of "Alive III" took place over multiple dates (in Cleveland, Detroit and Indianapolis) during the band's 1992 tour in support of the "Revenge" album. It was certified gold in 1994.

Frehley left KISS after the band's 2002 "Farewell Tour" dates, saying afterwards that he took the word "farewell" seriously. Drummer Peter Criss has claimed that his contract with KISS wasn't renewed in March 2004. Both charges have been disputed by Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons.

Simmons and Stanley have chosen to have the rest of the current KISS lineup — guitarist Tommy Thayer and longtime drummer Eric Singer — dress up as Criss's and Frehley's respective "Spaceman" and "Catman" personas.

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In a new interview with Robert Miguel of Uvalde Radio Rocks, VIXEN drummer Roxy Petrucci spoke about the status of new music from the band. She said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "We have a new single coming out. By the end of the summer, we're gonna have a new single and a new video. We're just looking for the right opportunity to — you know, everything has to be together, the promo and all that, and then we're gonna release that sucker. It's pretty energetic. I think it's a good mix of the old '80s mixing with fresh, new 2023 VIXEN."

Regarding how the new VIXEN song came together, Roxy said: "We actually worked on it with Fred Coury from CINDERELLA. He's quite the songwriter and he's a producer and he writes jingles for soundtracks and things like that. So we hooked up with him and he had the song and he presented it to us. And we said, 'Okay, let's take that and let's own it.' And that's what we did. And it came out killer. It's a good representation of this new VIXEN. So I think fans are gonna dig it. I mean, we certainly do. We owned it, we feel good about it and we're gonna throw it out there and, yeah, see if it sticks."

Last December, VIXEN singer Lorraine Lewis explained to Max Davallo of "Sonic Dorms" about why she and her bandmates had yet to release their new single after previously saying it would arrive last summer. "I kind of — I didn't make a mistake; I was just excited at the beginning of summer," she said. "'Cause I had already gone in and done my vocals, laid down my vocals for a new song for VIXEN. And I don't know — in 'Lorraine world,' if it's just 'Lorraine world,' it's happening fast. But it's not 'Lorraine world,' it's 'VIXEN world,' and so there's a lot of elements that had to come together. So it has been mixed," she revealed. "It is now being mastered. I just heard it last week. I'm excited."

At the time, Lewis also said that VIXEN's current lineup — in which she is joined by Petrucci, bassist Julia Lage and guitarist Britt Lightning (a.k.a. Brittany Denaro) — had also been working on "other stuff" in recent months. "We were in Boston. There was a song that I had written… God, I would love to tell titles, but I'm just gonna play it safe and say, no, I'm not gonna tell you the title. But we worked on it and laid it down," she said. "It sounds really good as well. I don't know exactly what the plan is for that. Julia brought something to the band that we all really liked, and I'm hoping that we'll record that. Britt and I worked on a lot of music together; we've got a lot of stuff ready to go. Roxy works all the time on music. So it's just a matter of time.

"We have become a pretty well-oiled machine live up to this point," she continued. "Adding Julia as well — she's been with us since January [of 2022], I believe, [or] February. So we're a machine on stage. So now we just need to transcend that into the studio and with new music. But I'm feeling really good about what's going on for sure."

Petrucci is the only remaining member of VIXEN's "classic" lineup.

In June 2022, Lewis was asked by SW Wall Interviews if she and her VIXEN bandmates began working on new music relatively quickly after she officially joined the group in early 2019. Lorraine said: "Right away. I would say within six months we were in the studio. We were in a rehearsal studio in the Valley and we were working on ideas. And then Britt and I, during COVID, we were working together just on Zoom, at least trying, 'cause there's a weird feedback thing. But we wrote quite a few songs together. And so there's another song that we're hoping to get recorded very soon, and that is possibly going to be with [producer] Toby Wright. So we've got things cooking. But it didn't take long. When we were in the rehearsal studio together, working on music too, and this is when Share [Ross, longtime VIXEN bassist] was with us, [it was] just super natural. They'd lay down something and I would just come in with something over it and Share would add a vocal line and a melody line and words. And it was just easy peasy. We haven't had that luxury to do it with Julia yet, but I'm sure it will happen. And I know Julia is a prolific songwriter herself, so I think that we'll get some new music going with her as well."

A year and a half year ago, Ross announced that she was "taking a hiatus" from VIXEN. Her replacement is 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.

When Ross made the news of her departure public at the aforementioned pre-Monsters Of Rock cruise concert, she told the crowd that "life got a little complicated" and that "something has to give," resulting to her decision to "step away from VIXEN for a while." She then introduced her "amazing" replacement and urged the VIXEN fans to "graciously" open their arms and welcome Lage to the group. At that point, Julia and her new bandmates launched into the track "Streets In Paradise" and played the last couple of songs of the set with Ross watching the proceedings from the side of the stage.

During a February 2022 appearance on SiriusXM's "Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk", Julia spoke about how she ended up hooking up with VIXEN, saying: "Share is taking a hiatus. She wants to do her thing [and focus on her real estate career]. She's kicking ass. She's gonna be writing and playing forever — I mean, she's a badass artist and bass player, singer, everything, songwriter. So I got the invitation, and I'm, like, 'Yeah, of course I'm gonna join. Of course.'"

Asked how the other members of VIXEN reached out to her about joining the band, Julia said: "Well, actually, funnily enough, before Britt joined VIXEN, me and her tried to put together a band, right when she moved to L.A. But that didn't work out, and then she joined VIXEN, and I was super happy for her. So, fast forward, she actually called me a few months ago and she told me about the scenario, and I was, like, 'Yeah. I would love [to do it]. I mean, it's an honor for me to join VIXEN.' So that happened. And that was it. It was that quick. And I was just, 'Okay. Sign me in. Where can I go?' [Laughs]"

In January 2019, VIXEN recruited Lewis as its new lead singer following the departure of Janet Gardner.

Lewis had already performed with VIXEN in March 2018 in Durant, Oklahoma while Gardner was recovering from surgery.

Prior to Lewis's addition to VIXEN, Petrucci, Ross and Denaro 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 release, 2018's live album "Live Fire".

Rik Emmett is best known as the guitarist/vocalist for the legendary Canadian hard rock band, Triumph. Between its 16 albums and DVDs, it has received 18 gold and 9 platinum awards in Canada and the United States. They were nominated for multiple Juno Awards, including the Group Of The Year Award in 1979, 1985, 1986, and 1987. It was inducted into the Canadian Music Industry Hall Of Fame in 2007, into the Canadian Music Hall Of Fame in 2008, and into Canada's Walk Of Fame in 2019.


Emmett is now releasing Then Again..., worldwide through Deko Entertainment (ADA/Warner Music Group) as part of a new deal with Music In Motion Ent.


As he states about the release, “There seems little point in simply trying to repeat history, so we came at it from a different place: the place where Dave Dunlop and I dealt with these songs, on smaller nightclub & intimate listening room stages. Honouring the endurance of these songs, but giving them a fresh, stripped-down and 21st century D.I.Y. perspective.”




Enjoy reimagined versions of classics like, “Lay It On The Line,” “Magic Power,” and “Fight The Good Fight”. Listen to “Magic Power” here, and below.


The classic Triumph album Allied Forces sold over a million copies in the US, while attaining the highest chart positions any Triumph album would attain: #23 in the US and #13 in Canada. It included the songs "Fight The Good Fight" and "Magic Power". "Magic Power" reached #8 on the Billboard Mainstream Top Rock Tracks chart and #51 on the Hot 100, while "Fight The Good Fight" went to #18 on the Top Rock Tracks chart. This bodes well for the success of Emmett’s Then Again....


Then Again... will be available on CD and limited-edition vinyl. Pre-order now and get a very limited signed copy while supplies last.





Tracklisting:


“Never Surrender”
“Ordinary Man”
“Midsummer Daydream”
“Magic Power”
“Fight The Good Fight”
“Petite Etude”
“Lay It On The Line”
“Fantasy Serenade
“Hold On”
“Suitcase Blues”
“Blinding Light Show” (CD only)
“Somebody's Out There--24 Hours A Day--Say Goodbye” (CD only)


"Magic Power":