On July 26, the official IRON MAIDEN soccer team, Iron Maiden FC, continued "The Future Past" football season with a 9-4 defeat against Dortmund Legends. In a social media post, MAIDEN described the match as the "toughest game of the tour". Video highlights from the game can be seen below.

Four years ago, IRON MAIDEN bassist Steve Harris, an avid soccer fan, told WISH TV that he and some of his bandmates and crew members "try and play a game every six to seven days" while on tour.

"We've lost a few," he said. "We won last week, but we've lost a few so far. We've been playing some really good sides."

According to Harris, he doesn't "really train" for the soccer matches. "I've got a bit of an injury at the moment, so I don't want to train too much before," he said.

Harris said in a 2012 interview that he had given up playing soccer — for the most part. He explained at the time: "I've had so many problems with my back that I can only play the odd match here or there. Unfortunately, it's five years since I've played a full season of football and that's something that I miss a lot. But I had to make a decision. I play a lot of tennis."

IRON MAIDEN kicked off "The Future Past Tour" on May 28 in Ljubljana, Slovenia.

"The Future Past Tour" features previously unperformed songs from the band's most recent studio album, "Senjutsu", along with a focus on 1986's "Somewhere In Time" LP, plus other classic cuts.

"Senjutsu" came out in September 2021. It marked MAIDEN's second consecutive double album behind 2015's "The Book Of Souls" which is the longest MAIDEN album, with a running time of 92 minutes.

IRON MAIDEN's first album in six years, "Senjutsu" was recorded in 2019 in Paris with longstanding producer Kevin Shirley and co-produced by bassist Steve Harris. It features three tracks whose running time exceeds 10 minutes each.

For "Senjutsu" — loosely translated as "tactics and strategy" — the band once again enlisted the services of Mark Wilkinson to create the spectacular Samurai-themed cover artwork, based on an idea by Harris.

"Senjutsu" bowed at No. 3 on the Billboard 200 chart, charting higher than even the band's early classics like "Powerslave" and "The Number Of The Beast". Nearly 90 percent of the LP's 64,000 equivalent album units earned came from pure album sales. The critically acclaimed double album debuted one place higher than 2015's "The Book Of Souls" and 2010's "The Final Frontier", which both peaked at No. 4.

"Senjutsu" was MAIDEN's 13th album to top in the Top 40 in the U.S.

Maiden FC faced their toughest game of the tour today, which resulted in a 9-4 defeat against Dortmund Legends!

A big...

Posted by Iron Maiden on Wednesday, July 26, 2023

MÖTLEY CRÜE bassist Nikki Sixx has revealed that he is working on his fifth book.

Sixx is a four-time New York Times best-selling author with "The First 21" (2021),"This Is Gonna Hurt" (2011),"The Heroin Diaries" (2007) and MÖTLEY CRÜE's biography "The Dirt: Confessions Of The World's Most Notorious Rock Band" (2001).

Late Monday night (August 7),Sixx took to his social media to write: "Started on my 5th book. If things go smoothly we should be able to release it next year. If it connects it will be my 5th time on the New York Times best seller list....

"It's an honor to write books.

"I'll keep you in the loop......

"Thank you for always supporting my addiction to words."

Back in November 2021, Sixx's last book, "The First 21: How I Became Nikki Sixx", entered the New York Times best-seller list at No. 8 on the Hardcover chart and No. 11 on the Combined Print And Ebook List.

In "The First 21: How I Became Nikki Sixx", Sixx told his origin story: how Frank Feranna became Nikki Sixx, chronicling his fascinating journey from irrepressible Idaho farm boy to the man who formed the revolutionary rock group MÖTLEY CRÜE.

Less than two years ago, Sixx said that he was working on a children's book about diversity with his wife Courtney Sixx.

"Me and my wife are working on a book about this little girl who goes to all of these countries in her imagination," Nikki told The Aquarian Weekly. "She goes to Africa and she has this little African boy or girl teaching her about that culture, or she goes to England, and then she goes to Wyoming and learns about horses, then goes to Japan and learns about the food and the culture and the language. That is a great idea."

CRÜE's "The Dirt" biography inspired the 2019 film of the same name.

MÖTLEY CRÜE recently went into the studio with longtime producer Bob Rock and recorded three new songs, including "Dogs Of War" and a cover of BEASTIE BOYS' "(You Gotta) Fight For Your Right (To Party!)".

CRÜE and DEF LEPPARD have just teamed up with Alice Cooper for a U.S. mini-tour this summer. The trek kicked off on August 5 in Syracuse, New York and includes stops in the Midwest before concluding in El Paso, Texas on August 18. Shows in Japan and Australia will follow in the fall.

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

This is one of the new projects I’m working on as well as completely differnt book and an animated show that includes music. Plus new Motley…. Creative times ahead- SOBRIETY ROCKS.

Posted by Nikki Sixx on Monday, August 7, 2023

MR. BIG's new touring drummer Nick D'Virgilio has shared behind-the-scenes footage from the band's recent shows in Japan. Check out the 31-minute clip below.

In a message accompanying the YouTube release of the video, Nick wrote: "Sorry, it took so long to get Tour Vlog 2 done. There is always a lot going on while traveling every other day. Plus I am shooting a ton of content for both myself and Sweetwater while on this tour. Keeping everything organized is a full-time job in itself.

"In this vlog, you will see some of my adventures with MR. BIG while in Japan. A little bit from our shows in Nagoya, Osaka, and Tokyo. There are some travel bits, behind-the-scenes at the venues, and a little bit of concert footage from all three venues. All the footage is either shot from a GoPro or iPhone.

"The shows in Japan were incredible. The venues were amazing to discover and play at. The MR. BIG crew doing such a great job taking care of us and getting our gear ready for every gig. The UDO group in Japan was beyond fantastic! I also got to share the experience with my wife Tiffany. She braved traveling all the way to Japan on her own to be with me and we had a great time together. Then the icing on the cake were the fans at all the shows. Such passion for the band and so much fun to entertain. These gigs were some of the biggest of my life. Calling it fun does not adequately describe the experience. It was awesome!

"A special prize goes out to the person figuring out how many times I say 'SO COOL' in this vlog. HA! It's way too many times but I couldn't help it. It was all...SO COOL!!! Vlog 3 will be up as soon as possible. Thanks for watching and cheers!"

In an April 2023 interview with Border City Rock Talk, D'Virgilio spoke about how he landed the gig as MR. BIG's new touring drummer, five years after the passing of the band's co-founder, Pat Torpey. The 54-year-old Nick, who has spent the last nine years working for the Indiana-based online retailer of music instruments and audio gear Sweetwater, said: "It stemmed through Sweetwater. I've known Paul [Gilbert, MR. BIG guitarist]; Paul was the one guy I knew most. I met Pat, and I met Billy [Sheehan, MR. BIG bassist] — Gosh — at a music trade show back in the day. And I was definitely a fan of the band. I listened to a lot of Pat's drumming way before I ever met him in person. But at Sweetwater, we do a lot of recording workshops and we get artists in to come and people pay to come to the studio and hang in the studio with the artists that come in. Paul does it quite a bit; he's been there a bunch. Billy was there a while back as well, but Paul's been there a number of times. And I've been able to play as his rhythm section for these recording workshops. And I also had Paul play on a song on my solo record called 'Invisible' that I put out in 2020. Through all of this stuff, we got to just jamming some more stuff. And I know Paul through Mike Portnoy and Neal Morse and a lot of circles of musicians. After the last thing we did at Sweetwater, Paul just sent me an e-mail and asked if I would be interested in going on tour with MR. BIG in Asia. Now, this was last July, when he first sent me the e-mail, so nine, 10 months ago or so. And I immediately said 'yes'. I think I said 'fuck yes', all in bold letters… So then I went sort of hog wild here in my studio and I videotaped and multi-tracked my drums. I kind of just went hog wild, sending back these demos of me playing and then singing all the parts. So I sang the lead vocal, and then I sang Pat's parts too. Since [it was an] audition, I figured I'd put my best foot forward. Long story short, they said, 'Yeah, we'd love to do it. And you're in,' basically. So that's kind of how it all happened. It came out of the blue."

D'Virgilio went on to say that he is looking forward to performing with MR. BIG on the band's worldwide tour, aptly titled "The BIG Finish", which will take the band to Japan and Southeast Asia in July and August, while shows in South America, Europe, and the U.S. will launch in early 2024.

"You've been in this music business for a long time. Especially as you get older, the phone doesn't ring as often," he said. "I live in Indiana now. I'm not in California and L.A. where I grew up. So I have a great job, but I'm not where all the action is all the time. So the phone doesn't ring quite like that, maybe like it used to 10, 20 years ago, so it was super exciting to get that e-mail from Paul."

As a session musician and touring artist, Nick has worked with many different kinds of artists and bands, from TEARS FOR FEARS, Sheryl Crow and Kevin Gilbert to Peter Gabriel and Eric Burdon and the ANIMALS. In 1996, Nick took Phil Collins's place in GENESIS and played on their "Calling All Stations" album. He has also carved out a major presence in the progressive rock world with his bands, SPOCK'S BEARD and BIG BIG TRAIN.

Before joining the Sweetwater team, Nick spent almost five years touring with Cirque Du Soleil's "Totem" as drummer, vocalist, and assistant bandleader.

When D'Virgilio's addition to MR. BIG was first announced in March, Sheehan said in a statement: "We found a wonderful drummer in Nick, and he's got a great voice too. Nick has a vocal range similar to Pat's, and he'll be able to do the parts Pat did with a similar finesse. It's a big relief because MR. BIG has always been heavy on the harmonies. When the band began, we really relied on each other. We knew each guy would do exactly what he needed to do vocally and to do it righteously, on key, and in time. It's difficult to find a drummer who sings in that range, but Nick has the voice we really need onstage."

Gilbert concurred, saying: "Nick gets close to the spirit of Pat Torpey. Billy, Eric [Martin, vocals] and I have been really happy with the music we've already shared back and forth. I'm impressed with Nick's level of musical adaptability and breadth of skill. He and I have done some recording together, and I was blown away with his groove, and how he just played what fit the song. If the song requires him to be more progressive and stand out, he will stand out. But if the song requires him to groove, he will groove. That's actually a rare thing, and it really fits in with what we do in MR. BIG."

Martin added: "I love the fact that Nick was a fan of Pat Torpey and wants to keep our BIG sound intact. When I first saw his audition demo video of the 'Lean Into It' song 'Lucky This Time', Nick was playing drums with those signature Pat snare hits and singing harmonies spot on to what Pat used to do. It gave me goosebumps!! I am so thrilled to have this man who will be filling some mighty BIG shoes join us on our last tour."

MR. BIG's final tour will see the band performing the entirety of its breakthrough platinum-selling 1991 album "Lean Into It" from start to finish as a featured highlight of the live setlist.

"We wanted to do a proper farewell, and this seems like the right way to do it," Sheehan said. Gilbert added: "We're in the process of making sure we come up with a suitably big entertainment extravaganza to go along with our music. And since our music has resonated so wonderfully in places all over the world, we're going to play in as many of those places as we can." Martin stated: "If we were in the movie business, we'd just put it all up in lights and say, 'Welcome to 'The BIG Finish'!' Seriously, I'm glad we're getting a chance to do it all onstage together as MR. BIG again and raise a flag to everything we've done as a band over the years."

The addresses YouTube channel has uploaded 4K video of LYNCH MOB performing a new song called "The Synner" on August 5 at Smugglers Run in Wyandotte, Michigan. Check it out below.

"The Synner" will appear on LYNCH MOB's upcoming studio album, "Babylon", tentatively due in the fall.

LYNCH MOB currently includes legendary DOKKEN axeman George Lynch, drummer Jimmy D'Anda (BULLETBOYS),TANTRIC bassist Jaron Gulino and singer Gabriel Colon.

For much of 2021 and 2022, George had played dates around the U.S. under the name ELECTRIC FREEDOM, which he previously said was the new name of his "touring entity" after deciding to retire the LYNCH MOB band name in 2020. However, ten months ago, it was reported that Lynch was once again playing shows under the LYNCH MOB moniker.

Lynch discussed his change of heart in an interview with Full In Bloom. He said: "[LYNCH MOB is] just a brand I'd established for decades, obviously — over three decades. Nothing's perfect, and I've gotta just live with the fact that it has some negative connotations that I probably have to continue explaining for the rest of my life, and I don't mind doing that. But it is a brand that I built, and I'm just gonna stick with it. As far as a marketing thing and a brand thing and a business thing and a working thing, and it keeps my band guys working and it keeps the fans happy, it makes sense.

"I really felt, when I adopted ELECTRIC FREEDOM, that I was really going against the grain more than keeping the old name," he laughed. "I really felt a lot more resistance than I'd ever felt having LYNCH MOB; that was actually the reality of it. Nobody really liked it. And I didn't like living with that; it was just kind of uncomfortable. It's, like, 'Okay, well, we've just gotta put up with George's decision here to do this, but nobody agrees with it. We're not comfortable with it.' It has a sort of disingenuous ring to it. As much as my motives were pure — I felt honest — it just never caught on, on all kinds of levels."

Asked if he had gotten any negative comments from fans over the LYNCH MOB name, George said: "I may have had a few in the 35 years it's been around, but I'd say probably the most negative criticism I've had of it came from me. So I was my own worst critic with the name, especially in later years. I got a lot more criticism with ELECTRIC FREEDOM.

"It's a brand," George explained. "I mean, nobody wants Coke to change their recipe. Just stay the same, and that's what you built over the years. Why would you…? 'Why would you change it' is a rhetorical question. Why I'm probably not more successful in some ways in my career is because I followed my aspirations musically rather than sometimes be smart about just sticking to the plan. [Laughs]"

The news of LYNCH MOB's return was first reported by the Metal Sludge web site on October 1, 2022.

In August 2020, Lynch announced that he was ending LYNCH MOB due to the racial insensitivity of the moniker, saying he would no longer record or perform under that name.

A few months later, Lynch offered a lengthy explanation for why he was ending LYNCH MOB during an interview with George Dionne of Metal Express Radio. Addressing questions about why it took him three decades to call it quits with LYNCH MOB, George said: "When we first formed the band in '89, the name had sort of already been around. While I was in DOKKEN, it's what I called our little group of guitar fans — I had picks made; it was kind of a little subculture within DOKKEN. When we started working on developing and building the band after DOKKEN broke up, that was just the name that we always thought we'd use, 'cause it was a perfect fit — it's my name, and it describes it pretty well. And, of course, the negative connotations were always there, and I was aware of 'em, but not as aware as I probably should have been. [Laughs]

"I had made numerous attempts over the decades to kind of let that name go and had walked that back for multiple reasons — usually because of business considerations," he continued. "For instance, if you try to go out on a tour and not use the name, promoters aren't gonna be happy with you changing it. People aren't gonna know who you are. They're not gonna show up, because what's THE GEORGE LYNCH EXPERIENCE, or whatever you call it. Or record labels are not interested, because it's a brand that they can count on and sell a certain many albums or whatever.

"For instance, the LYNCH MOB record 'Smoke This' that came out, I think, in '99 or 2000, that was not supposed to be a LYNCH MOB record; that really wasn't anything to do with LYNCH MOB. At the end of the day, after the record was done and we were delivering it to the label, they insisted on using that name as insurance. And if I hadn't agreed to that, we wouldn't have had a record. That's the kind of pressure I'm talking about.

"But then, with the onset of everything that's happened in the last year, I didn't have that kind of pressure anymore," George added. "I could take it or leave it at this point. And I didn't really feel comfortable with it; I didn't feel comfortable with the name. 'Cause I'm a very progressive person politically, and it just so flies in the face of everything I believe in, and it makes it hard. It makes it hard to have relationships with people and explain yourself, and I got tired of rationalizing it. I think the music is bigger than that, and it's had a great run.

"Another reason, too, is the band fell apart again. The band has fallen apart so many times, I can't even count. And it was just, like, 'No more Oni [Logan, vocals], no more Brian Tichy [drums], no more this guy, no more that guy. Oh, great. Now what do I do?' It's, like, 'Okay, build another band from scratch, call it LYNCH MOB?' No. How about just build something new? It gives me a lot more freedom to basically play anything I want live… I can go out and play everything from my catalog — new, old, covers, jams, you name it, and go deep and have fun and change it up every night."

Oni first hooked up with LYNCH MOB in 1990, but exited the group after the release of its first album, only to rejoin the outfit in the late 2000s.

Logan is featured on five of LYNCH MOB's eight albums, including 1990's "Wicked Sensation", as well as 2009's "Smoke And Mirrors", 2014's "Sun Red Sun", 2015's "Rebel" and 2017's "The Brotherhood".

In August 2021, LYNCH MOB celebrated the 30th anniversary of "Wicked Sensation" with a special limited print/deluxe edition of the album. "Wicked Sensation Reimagined" features re-worked and re-recorded versions of the LP's classic songs, and was made available via Rat Pak Records.

Anders Colsefni and Jeffrey Nothing, the original singers from SLIPKNOT and MUSHROOMHEAD, respectively, are the featured guests on "Breaking The Fallen", the new single from the New Zealand act KAOSIS.

"Breaking The Fallen" is a progressive nu-metal track that features Anders delivering gut-wrenching gutturals and an empowering spoken-word bridge section while Nothing delivers a soaring call-and-response chorus with his trademark melodic aggression. The two fierce voices complement and contrast, together creating a deeply visceral and unnerving experience.

The seed of this particular musical collaboration was conceived back in 2014 for the MUSHROOMHEAD release "The Righteous And The Butterfly". However, due to scheduling issues the feature never happened.

Anders said: "Jeff and I looked at doing this years ago, but it was Xen and the KAOSIS mob that made it all possible. Jeff is a great vocalist and it was awesome to finally work with him."

The video for "Breaking The Fallen" draws its inspiration from 1980s cyberpunk classics and was shot entirely on greenscreen during the COVID-19 pandemic. Xen, the band's singer and director is a huge "Robocop" fan and he brought this passion for the film to the video.

When asked what the song is about, Xen said: "'Breaking The Fallen' is about perseverance through trauma to become a stronger and more resilient human."

"Breaking The Fallen" also features turntables by DJ Storm who is most recognized for his work with Eminem, PUBLIC ENEMY and Ice-T. Storm adds an aggressive layer of golden-era scratching to the soundscape.

"Breaking The Fallen" is a feature single from KAOSIS's upcoming sophomore record, "We Are The Future". The effort features Jeremiah Stratton (AMERICAN HEAD CHARGE, (HED) P.E.) on drums and Peredur Ap Gwynedd (PENDULUM) on guitar.

KAOSIS also worked with some hugely influential studio personnel on "We Are The Future". The amp engineering was handled by Logan Mader (ex-MACHINE HEAD, SOULFLY),who has previously worked with FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH, GOJIRA and FEAR FACTORY. The cinematic samples were produced by the world-renowned Boom Library team members of Sebastian Johnson ("Dark Knight", "Godzilla", "Pacific Rim" and "Prometheus") and Michael Schwendler ("Mortal Kombat X" and "Elder Scrolls").

"We Are The Future" was mastered by Howie Weinberg who has 21 Grammy Awards to his name and has mastered the biggest names in metal and rock, including NIRVANA's "Nevermind", DEFTONES' "White Pony", METALLICA's "Master Of Puppets", SLAYER's "Reign In Blood", PANTERA's "Cowboys From Hell" and LIMP BIZKIT's "Significant Other".

"Breaking The Fallen" is available on all platforms courtesy of Blood Blast Records.

Colefsni and Reavis will team up with KAOSIS for the Australasian "Numetal Mayhem" tour in October. Colsefni will perform SLIPKNOT's independently released debut effort "Mate. Feed. Kill. Repeat." in full on the trek.

Tour dates:

Oct. 11 - Sydney, Australia @ Crowbar
Oct. 12 - Adelaide, Australia @ Enigma Bar
Oct. 13 - Melbourne, Australia @ Bendigo Hotel
Oct. 14 - Brisbane, Australia @ Mansfield Tavern
Oct. 15 - Goldcoast, Australia @ Mo's Desert Clubhouse
Oct. 16 - Toowoomba, Australia @ Irish Club Hotel
Oct. 18 - Auckland, New Zealand @ Neck Of The Woods
Oct. 19 - Taranaki, New Zealand @ 8 Bar Pool And Darts
Oct. 20 - Wellington, New Zealand @ Valhalla
Oct. 21 - Christchurch, New Zealand @ The Embankment
Oct. 22 - Queenstown, New Zealand @ Yonder
Oct. 23 - Dunedin, New Zealand @ Dive

Colsefni, bassist Paul Gray, drummer Joey Jordison and percussionist Shawn "Clown" Crahan first performed under the name SLIPKNOT in April 1996 at the Safari Club in Des Moines. Not long after, Mick Thomson and Craig Jones joined the band and the trajectory of modern metal was changed forever.

Early this morning (Monday, August 7), SHINEDOWN's Brent Smith and Zach Myers played a short acoustic set on Chicago's Q101 radio station. You can now watch video of their performance below.

SHINEDOWN recently announced the summer/fall leg of "The Revolutions Live" tour, co-produced by Live Nation and FPC Live, with support from PAPA ROACH and SPIRITBOX. The 26-date trek launches on September 3 in St. Louis, Missouri and wraps on October 20 in Denver, Colorado.

In an interview with Heather Brown of the 105.9 KZZK radio station, Smith spoke about SHINEDOWN's plans for a possible follow-up to last year's "Planet Zero" album. He said: "There's always songs that we didn't use on an album, but the way our mentality is on that sometimes is if it didn't make it on a record, there's a reason for it. So we'll go back and listen to it and see if there's anything in there that might spark something or what have you. However, on 'Planet', we had so many songs that were written, and everything we did… We don't demo anything anymore. We write it and then [we record it]. So for us, I just recently was in South Carolina with Eric [Bass, SHINEDOWN bassist and producer], and we were reviewing some of those things that didn't make it on 'Planet Zero', 'cause 'Planet Zero' is very specific, and I was actually shocked that a lot of it was really strong. I had forgotten some of it. But there was some stuff in there where I was, like, 'I wouldn't change anything on that, and that's way better than I remember' — things like that. But me and Eric have been working on some new material and what have you. I can tell you that you'll probably see something new for us not this year, but definitely next year."

This past February, SHINEDOWN released the music video for its new Hot AC single "A Symptom Of Being Human", a standout track from "Planet Zero".

The "Planet Zero" album also features pop-rock anthem and No. 1 rock hit "Daylight", which People called one of "the most powerful of pop-rock songs created to remind us that we are truly all in this together." The band's video for "Daylight", set to the Amazon Original version of the song, is a love letter to their fans and shows the impact that the song's message — that you are never alone — had during SHINEDOWN's sold-out "Planet Zero" world tour.

SHINEDOWN also released a music video for rock single "Dead Don't Die", a rousing declaration of survival and an anthem about the resilience of the human spirit after trying times.

"Planet Zero" boldly confronts the societal forces that perpetuate divisiveness while offering a restorative path forward through empathy and open conversation - ultimately serving as a reminder that it is our human connections that matter the most. The album debuted in the Top 5 on the Billboard 200 chart and the official U.K. albums chart, and at No. 1 on six other Billboard charts, including Top Album Sales, Rock, Hard Rock, and Alternative Albums.

In a brand new interview with Sara of the Philadelphia radio station 93.3 WMMR, METALLICA guitarist Kirk Hammett was asked about his "relationship" to the songs on the band's first two albums, "Kill 'Em All" and "Ride The Lightning", which are celebrating their fortieth anniversaries in 2023 and 2024, respectively. He responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Well, when I listen to those tracks, I'm just kind of blown away when I look back. We were all so young, but we had a very clear vision of what we wanted to do, what we wanted to sound like, how we wanted to execute things, the type of songs we wanted to write. I mean, for as young as we [were], we all had a collective vision and we knew exactly what we wanted, and what we wanted and what we were chasing was very unique. No one else was — well, very few other bands were chasing that same vision. You know, it was us, it was SLAYER, it was ANTHRAX, it was MEGADETH, it was EXODUS, it was OVERKILL, it was TESTAMENT. There's a lot of bands who were chasing that vision, and we all had kind of like the same vision. But what blows me away about it is we're all around the same age. I don't know if that happens these days. You find just a large group of people, a scene where everyone's just all into the same thing and is supporting each other. And then record companies start going, 'What's going on?' and start getting curious, and next thing you know, all of a sudden there's a record company in the room and it is signing everyone. And we were all, like, 22, 23 years old. The fact that we got so much done at such a young age just blows me away, because it seems like we had something on our sides — we had some sort of energy, or God was smiling down on us or the universe was pushing us. And thank God, because those two albums, 'Kill 'Em All' and 'Ride The Lightning', when they came out, there was nothing like it. And I'm really proud of that… I'm actually blown away when I look back at it. When we were making those albums and touring behind them, we just kind of took it for granted. It was just, like, 'All right, we did that. Let's go on to the next thing.' We never like sat down and really thought about the accomplishment that we made. And so, 40 years later, I'm able to do that and I'm able to go, 'Man, we really pulled something off and we were just kind of blasé about it,' you know?"

Originally issued on July 25, 1983 through the independent label Megaforce Records, "Kill 'Em All" was recorded in two weeks on a miniscule budget in upstate New York. Although only 1,500 copies were initially pressed, the album was reissued by Elektra Records after the band signed to that label in 1984 and has since been certified triple platinum for sales of more than three million copies.

The varied sounds of "Ride The Lightning", which included the first METALLICA ballad in "Fade To Black", drew mixed responses from some fans. The band's drummer, Lars Ulrich, told Rolling Stone magazine: "It did surprise us a little bit, I guess. People started calling us sellouts and all that type of stuff. Some people were a little bit bewildered by the fact that there was a song that had acoustic guitars."

Noting that at least four songs from the album are still part of METALLICA's live set today, Ulrich said that "Ride The Lightning" "holds up very well," adding, "There's kind of a youthful energy that runs through the record."

METALLICA's "M72" world tour, which launched in late April in Amsterdam, sees the band playing two nights in every city it visits — with each "No Repeat Weekend" featuring two completely different setlists and support lineups. The "M72" tour features a bold new in-the-round stage design that relocates the famed METALLICA Snake Pit to center stage, as well as the "I Disappear" full-tour pass and the debut of discounted tickets for fans under 16 years of age.

"M72", named after "72 Seasons", includes "takeover" events taking place during weekends in the New York City area, Montreal, Dallas, Los Angeles, Phoenix, St. Louis and Detroit. Those events include film fests, pop-up stores, Ross Halfin book signings, tribute bands, special performances by friends and family, and more.

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.

ANTHRAX guitarist Scott Ian has weighed in on bands who rely heavily on pre-recorded tracks during their live performances.

In recent years, more and more artists have been given a pass for relying on pre-recorded tracks, drum triggers and other assorted technology that makes concerts more synthetic but also more consistent. For better or worse, pre-recorded tracks are becoming increasingly common for touring artists of all levels and genres and they're not just used in pop music — many rock artists utilize playback tracks to varying degrees.

Speaking to the Syncin' Stanley YouTube channel about certain acts' reliance on pre-recorded tracks, Scott said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Obviously, I'm aware that this is something that's going on these days now that the technology has made it possible to do these kind of things. And my opinion is I really don't care. I don't care what artists do or what bands do to make their show happen. My opinion is that it's hard out there for bands and artists these days; it's never been tougher. And whatever it takes to get a show on, I think. It's all part of the show. This is just new technology that people aren't accepting yet. That's just my opinion."

Ian continued: "Really, who cares? You know what I mean? If it's something you don't like, then you have the choice. You have the choice as a consumer to spend your money or not spend your money. And, really, that's what it comes down to. So why there's a big deal about it, honestly, I don't care.

"I will say this. I did hear an AI version of Bon Scott singing on [AC/DC's] 'You Shook Me All Night Long' yesterday online, and it gave me the chills — in a good way," Scott added. "So, whatever. I love that. I'm sure if there was other AI stuff I heard, I'd probably maybe have a different opinion on it. It all just comes down to what it is and how it moves you."

KISS frontman Paul Stanley, who has been struggling to hit the high notes in many of the band's classic songs for a number of years, has been accused of singing to a backing tape on KISS's ongoing "End Of The Road" tour.

Back in 2015, KISS bassist/vocalist Gene Simmons slammed bands who used backing tapes for not being honest enough to include that fact on their concert tickets.

"I have a problem when you charge $100 to see a live show and the artist uses backing tracks," Simmons said. "It's like the ingredients in food. If the first ingredient on the label is sugar, that's at least honest. It should be on every ticket — you're paying $100, 30 to 50 percent of the show is [on] backing tracks and they'll sing sometimes, sometimes they'll lip sync. At least be honest. It's not about backing tracks, it's about dishonesty.

"There's nobody with a synthesizer on our stage, there's no samples on the drums, there's nothing," Gene continued. "There's very few bands who do that now — AC/DC, METALLICA, us. I can't even say that about U2 or THE [ROLLING] STONES. There's very few bands who don't use [backing] tracks."

This past March, KISS's longtime manager Doc McGhee defended Stanley's vocal performance on "End Of The Road", explaining that the "Star Child" "fully sings to every song" at every concert. He explained: It's enhanced. It's just part of the process to make sure that everybody hears the songs the way they should be sang to begin with. Nobody wants to hear people do stuff that's not real, that's not what they came to hear."

When McGhee was asked to clarify if he was "actually saying there are backing tracks that [Paul is] singing to," Doc said: "He'll sing to tracks. It's all part of a process. Because everybody wants to hear everybody sing. But he fully sings to every song."

In March 2020, SHINEDOWN guitarist Zach Myers said that "90 percent" of rock artists use at least some pre-recorded tracks during their live performances. He told Rock Feed: "It bothers me that it bothers people. I'm, like, 'Why does this bother you?' It's the way it is. People have been doing this since the '80s. And we want the sound to be the best it can be. Could we go up there, just the four of us, and put on the best rock show ever? Of course. But that's not how we wanna do it."

Former SKID ROW singer Sebastian Bach has previously said that he is "one of the last people" who are still not using pre-recorded tracks at their live shows. "I don't know how much longer I can say to you that I don't use tapes onstage, because I don't, and I never have," he told Consequence Of Sound. "And I still don't. When I have opening bands, and they're using tapes, and then I come out and I don't use tapes… sometimes, it makes me feel stupid, because I'm like, 'What am I doing, when all these kids half my age can come onstage and do all of my moves, but they don't have to warm up for an hour before the show, or weeks, before the first show?' Sometimes, I'm like, 'Why do I even bother, if the public is so used to this other way?' It's becoming very rare to come see a good band that's actually a real band — that's not miming or doing silly moves while a tape is running. It just becomes more rare as the years go on."

In 2019, IRON MAIDEN guitarist Adrian Smith said that he doesn't "agree" with certain rock artists relying on pre-recorded tracks during their live performances. "I tell you what, I see it with a lot of younger bands, and I don't think it's a good thing at all," he told the New York Post. "I mean, the music is getting too technical now. You have computerized recording systems, which we use, but I think we use them more for convenience than because we need to. We've toured with a couple bands that use tapes — it's not real. You're supposed to play live; it should be live. I don't agree with using tapes … I think it's a real shame."

One musician who has been open about his band's use of taped vocals during live performances is MÖTLEY CRÜE bassist Nikki Sixx, who said: "We've used technology since '87." He added the group employed "sequencers, sub tones, background vox tracks, plus background singers and us. [MÖTLEY CRÜE also taped] stuff we can't tour with, like cello parts in ballads, etc.... We love it and don't hide it. It's a great tool to fill out the sound."

In a 2014 interview, MÖTLEY CRÜE guitarist Mick Mars admitted that he wasn't comfortable with the fact that his band used pre-recorded backing vocals in its live shows, claiming that he preferred to watch groups whose performances are delivered entirely live. "I don't like it," he said. "I think a band like ours… I have to say '60s bands were my favorite — '60s and '70s bands — because they were real, like, three-piece bands or four-piece bands, and they just got up there and kicked it up. Made a mistake? So what? Sounded a little bit empty here or there? So what? It's the bigness and the rawness and the people that developed and wrote the songs and made them and presented them. To me, that's what I really like. I mean, I could put on a MÖTLEY CD and play with it all day long. I don't wanna do that."

Swedish rockers, Kings Crown, have announced the upcoming release of their debut album, Closer To The Truth, on October 13. The first single and video from the album, “Still Alive,” are out today. Watch the video below, and pre-order/save Closer To The Truth here.  


“I was sitting outside our house in Spain thinking about what to do next,” explains guitarist Martin Kronlund. “I got the idea of going back in time and doing an album in the style of the ‘70s but with a modern production. The first person I contacted was Lee Small. We had been working together in Phenomena and he said ‘let’s do it.’ The same was with Anders Skoog. We had played together in Dogface and he is an amazing Hammond player and a really good songwriter. Then, Pontus Engborg joined us on drums, and he suggested BasBerra Holmgren on bass. Kings Crown was born.”


Former Gypsy Rose, Phenomena, and Dogface guitarist Martin Kronlund launches his new musical venture, Kings Crown: a musical alliance featuring the powerhouse british vocalist Lee Small (Shy, Phenomena, Sweet), along with Anders Skoog on keyboards, Berra Holmgren on bass and Pontus Engborg (Glenn Hughes) on drums.




Kings Crown were formed in 2021 in Gothenburg, Sweden and the plan was to create a strong sound combining bluesy 1970s hard rock (think Deep Purple, Bad Company, Whitesnake, Rainbow), with the Swedish melodic hard rock of the 1980s. Thanks to Kronlund, strong experience in songwriting, and production, they managed to craft an exciting set of songs that were topped and completed with the terrific vocals of Lee Small, who truly shines with his exquisite of clean vocal range. The end result - great melodic hard rock with some rather tasty Hammond organs among all the guitars - is an exciting affair for all the lovers of the classic melodic hard rock sound and offers a truly enjoyable and entertaining listening experience.


Closer To The Truth certainly marks another excellent release from the increasingly prolific Swedish hard rock scene and will reward the listener with a discovery that definitely deserves credit.





Closer To The Truth tracklisting:


"It's Too Late"
"Servant"
"Still Alive"
"Standing On My Own"
"Stranger"
"Down Below"
"Stay The Night"
"Closer To The Truth"
"I Will Remember"
"Don't Hide"
"Darkest Of Days"


"Still Alive" video:





Lineup:


Lee Small - Vocals
Martin Kronlund - Guitars, Backing Vocals
Anders Skoog - Keyboards
Bas Berra Holmgren - Bass
Pontus Engborg - Drums

FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH played its first show as the support act for METALLICA on the "M72" tour Sunday night (August 6) at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey. Fan-filmed video of FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH's performance can be seen below. Additional support at the gig came from ICE NINE KILLS.

FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH's setlist was as follows:

01. Lift Me Up
02. Trouble
03. Wash It All Away
04. Jekyll And Hyde
05. Inside Out
06. Bad Company (BAD COMPANY cover)
07. IOU
08. Wrong Side Of Heaven
09. Burn MF
10. Welcome To The Circus
11. Under And Over It
12. The Bleeding

FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH was originally supposed to support METALLICA on several European shows this past spring — including April 29 at the Johan Cruijf Arena in Amsterdam, Netherlands; on May 17 at Stade De France in Paris, France; and on May 28 at Volksparkstadion in Hamburg, Germany — but ended up canceling the dates in order to allow singer Ivan Moody to fully recover from his recent hernia surgery. They were replaced by NIGHTWISH singer Floor Jansen in Amsterdam and EPICA in Paris and Hamburg.

When FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH played a few shows in Europe as the support act for METALLICA in July 2022, FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH shared a video report on the pairing in which Moody said of the experience: "Everyone sets goals, as you should. But you have to understand, for us, this is the apex, this is the climax, this is the top of the fucking hill. And it's amazing to me that we've been on tour for almost 15 years and never crossed paths with this band. And I've gotta tell you, they paved the road for any of us, and anyone that argues that fact is out of their fucking mind. The one and only METALLICA."

Back in 2016, FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH bassist Chris Kael told Loudwire that METALLICA's classic third album, "Master Of Puppets", represented a turning point in his music tastes. He recalled: "I went to a place called Disc Jockey Records back in Lexington [Kentucky] and I had in my hand 'Master Of Puppets' and RUN-DMC 'Raising Hell' and I had to make that decision. Which one? I've heard about this band METALLICA through Circus magazine and whatnot, but I haven't heard the music, but I know RUN-DMC."

He continued: "I ended up picking up METALLICA and 'Master Of Puppets', and right from the first notes of 'Battery', hearing that beautiful guitar piece into crushing and everything that Cliff Burton did on that basically shaped me melodic-wise on bass right from the very beginning. So that album is probably one of the most influential in terms of making me want to play bass. I'll never be able to get to the same level talent-wise that Cliff Burton was, but it was a challenge."

In 2015, FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH's then-drummer Jeremy Spencer said that Lars Ulrich was a huge influence on him as a drummer and credited the METALLICA sticksman for inspiring him to play double bass.

"['Master Of Puppets' is] definitely my favorite, probably, metal album ever," Spencer said. "It's gotta be top two for sure. It's a toss-up between that and… I actually like 'South Of Heaven' by SLAYER too. But when I first heard 'Master Of Puppets', man, the drumming and the double bass, I never heard anything like that before as a young kid. It made such an impression on me that I just kind of wanted to do all things double bass. There's some really fast moments in 'Damage Inc.', and it just stuck with me and made such an impression on me as a drummer when I was younger; I instantly fell in love with it."

Asked what was so special about "Master Of Puppets" in particular, Spencer said: "I think they blended… They kind of had some European melody going on in the guitars, especially in the early records. That was different. But it was just… It was a different beast at that time; nothing sounded like it. There was an energy coming from that, and I think the riffs and the arrangements of the songs, it made such an impression on me and on so many other people."

Regarding how much of an impact Burton's contributions had on the way "Master Of Puppets" turned out, Spencer said: "I really don't know, but, obviously, he had some serious influence on them, 'cause their sound drastically changed [after his death]. But I love it. I think the first three records are incredible, to me."

FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH is continuing to tour in support of its ninth album, "AfterLife" which was released in August 2022 via Better Noise.

SKID ROW guitarist Dave "Snake" Sabo has weighed in on the never-ending debate about how the rise of grunge in the early 1990s forced most hard rock bands off the radio and MTV, with album and tour sales plummeting. Asked in a new interview with Andrew Daly of Metal Edge about the "downfall" of the 1980s glam metal scene, Snake said: "I don't recall blaming, you know, the grunge music or movement for ruining things. I remember that one minute we were touring with BON JOVI and the next it was with PANTERA and SOUNDGARDEN. So we were lucky enough to cross into different territories with the bands we were able to tour with. So I didn't see that as killing it; I just think that, as with any genre of music, it'll run its course and will have to be reinvented. That happens with every musical style that has existed for any number of years. It's going to reach critical mass, and the audience will tire of it. It was too many similar-sounding artists being signed, and things got oversaturated. It's human nature to want something new when you get too much of something. The grunge guys provided new voices and presented as something different from us, so it made perfect sense.

Asked if he was a fan of grunge, Sabo said: "Oh, yeah, it was cool. Like I said, we had SOUNDGARDEN out with us, and we loved them. I still love them now. We looked at Nirvana or anybody else and blamed them for our type of music taking a backseat and losing popularity. That's just the nature of the music business, and life, in general. And the truth is that so many great bands from that era got lumped in with the 'grunge movement,' which isn't much different than bands getting lumped in with 'hair metal.' A lot of cool bands, rightfully or wrongly, get lumped into one barrel. I think that happened to a lot of bands in the grunge scene as well as our scene.

Upon release in September 1991, NIRVANA's "Smells Like Teen Spirit" wreaked confusion upon the hair metal vanguard, putting an end to an era dominated by glamorous, androgynous and sparkly rock stars who absolutely saturated the radio waves and were almost exclusively what aired on MTV.

In recent years, several other prominent 1980s hard rock musicians have weighed in on grunge's impact on the glam-rock scene, including SKID ROW bassist Rachel Bolan, who told Rodrigo Altaf of Sonic Perspectives about the demise of the so-called "hair metal" movement: "When a musical genre becomes just a point of sale, that's kind of the beginning of the end for the genre, 'cause they'll sign a million bands that kind of sound like a band, and then it just dilutes everything. So that's what was kind of happening right around when grunge came out. And then when grunge came out, it was the next big thing, and then it happened to them too. Every band that kind of resembled NIRVANA got signed, and they were nowhere near as good as NIRVANA. So it dilutes the market and eventually just poisons it."

Back in 2014, Bolan admitted to the Dallas Observer that "grunge put a lot of bands like us out of business. You just have to wait it out. We came back because people wanted to have fun again. There were some grunge bands that I liked, but it was such a different vibe and a different scene. People started to miss bands from our era. There was a certain nostalgia involved."

In a 2016 interview with the Fox Business program "Kennedy", Bolan's onetime bandmate Sebastian Bach was asked when he realized that there was a "shift" taking place and how he felt about it. He responded: "I think I realized it when I saw the video for [NIRVANA's] 'Smells Like Teen Spirit'. And there was never any video or song like that before; it was a new sound, and people were responding to it. But what goes around comes around. I mean, now the biggest tour in town is GUNS N' ROSES or AC/DC, who have the same singer. [Laughs] So, you know, music is cyclical, and people will always love rock and roll, 'cause it gets passed down through the generations. IRON MAIDEN has never been bigger than right now. It's kind of crazy."

Last year, TWISTED SISTER frontman Dee Snider told Armchair MBA that "no one saw" the rise of grunge coming, but he admitted that he "was already dead and semi-buried before grunge hit. TWISTED arrived in the early '80s and then we hit our stride in the mid-'80s and by the late '80s, the band had broken up. I had a band called DESPERADO [with former IRON MAIDEN drummer Clive Burr and ex-GILLAN guitarist Bernie Tormé] that got shelved by Elektra Records; a lot of money we spent on that record. So I was sort of already removed as a featured artist by that point, and I was struggling trying to find my footing with DESPERADO and then WIDOWMAKER. And then I got the letter in the mail, certified letter, 'We have decided we're no longer doing what you do — look like you, sound like you, sing like you, write like you, perform like you. We actually don't want anything to do with anything you ever did. Sincerely, the music-buying public.' [Laughs] And that's when the bottom really fell out. I mean, imagine being a doctor who studied a form of medicine, and they found a cure for it. You're a cancer specialist — a specialist; it's what you dedicated your life to — and you get a pill that cures [cancer]. You're out of work. Grunge cured hair metal. So I was out of work."

Three years ago, Snider told Ultimate Guitar that he "loved" NIRVANA and other grunge bands when they emerged. "When they first came out, it wasn't even called grunge," he explained. "And this is the thing about titles — even heavy metal, punk, hair metal, those are not titles chosen by the artists; they're titles chosen by the writers. And usually as a negative connotation. Usually as a form of a putdown. And the artists that they called grunge, called punk, called heavy metal — they hated it. This is a fact, dude. I'm old. I know this, a fact: if you mentioned grunge to SOUNDGARDEN or PEARL JAM, they got physically violent with you. They were just a rock band. And if anything, SOUNDGARDEN, ALICE IN CHAINS, they were metal bands. They were touring with Ozzy [Osbourne]. It just became defined by some writers; they pigeonholed it and called it a new sound."

Dee continued: "When it first came out, I was, again, doing metal radio, and I was playing ALICE IN CHAINS, SOUNDGARDEN, NIRVANA on my show, and I was like, 'This is great, heavy new stuff.' So then it became defined as grunge, and then it was the hair metal killer, and that was awful. But I don't blame it on the music; hair metal did it to itself. It became too commercialized, and then it got unplugged and became nothing but power ballads and acoustic songs, and it wasn't metal anymore. It had to go; it had to change."

Snider's TWISTED SISTER bandmate Jay Jay French told Daniel Sarkissian of the "Rock Is Dead?" documentary about the death of hair metal and arrival of grunge: "The only band that leapfrogged and saved themselves was GUNS N' ROSES. And my theory is that GUNS N' ROSES was not perceived as a joke. They came out of L.A., but I think that Axl [Rose], first of all, had a great voice. I think that they were perceived as real, not fake. Like, they were real junkies, not pretend junkies. So there's an authenticity. It's all about authenticity, and grunge is all about authenticity. People wanted authenticity, so they got it with grunge. It wiped out the perceived frivolousness of hair metal, which is, 'Hey, man. Let's party. Let's get the girls and drink.' I think people just got sick of that, and they wanted [something more] authentic."

Former MÖTLEY CRÜE singer John Corabi told Newsday in a 2014 interview that the CRÜE album he sang on was a commercial disappointment because the music scene had changed, with hair metal brushed aside for grunge. "Everybody was listening to ALICE IN CHAINS and SOUNDGARDEN," Corabi said. "At that point, we were considered passé."

According to Corabi, CRÜE's ill-fated 1994 American tour " was a nightmare. We weren't selling tickets. It was just horrible," he said.

In 2019, TNT singer Tony Harnell said that the rise of the grunge movement, which symbolized the working-class spirit and focused on music over image, was ultimately a positive thing for the rock genre because it "shined a really harsh light on how boring and repetitive" the '80s glam metal scene had become. He explained: "It was the same look, the same songwriters, the same producers, and it just started to be… Nobody was offering anything… Don't get me wrong, there were a few that got in there that were interesting and different, but, for the most part, they were all just sort of rehashes, slightly, of other bands."

In a July 2023 interview with Goldmine magazine, RATT vocalist Stephen Pearcy denied that grunge was the deciding factor in the band's split in 1992: "A lot of people think grunge had a huge impact on us, but at that point, it really had nothing to do with what happened to RATT," he said. "I mean… we can claim partial ownership for the music that came out of the early '80s, but by the time the decade ended, and [1990's] 'Detonator' came out, the scene was totally flooded with cookie-cutter bands. That was as big of an issue as anything. It got to the point where people were, like, 'You have to dress this way, move this way, sing this way,' and all this fucking shit. The whole world was filled with mini-MÖTLEYs [CRÜE] and mini-RATTs, and it just got to be too much. And so, things went from being amazing to being the absolute worst very quickly. When everyone is making the same music, using the same producers, and the same video directors, you're going to have a problem. So, I don't blame it on grunge as much as I blame it on all that was going on in that era."

Country-pop superstar Carrie Underwood performed several rock covers during her set this past Saturday (August 5) as the opening act for GUNS N' ROSES in Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada.

Underwood's 18-song concert at Croix-Bleue Medavie Stadium included her renditions of such iconic rock hits as Joan Jett's "Bad Reputation", Pat Benatar's "Hit Me With Your Best Shot", THE ROLLING STONES' "Wild Horses", HEART's "Alone" and LED ZEPPELIN's "Rock And Roll".

But the biggest surprise of the night came when she delivered a high-energy version of MOTÖRHEAD's timeless classic "Ace Of Spades", a song she had previously used as the hype anthem and the tune that played prior to her taking the stage on her headlining "Denim & Rhinestones" tour earlier this year.

Underwood's love for rock music has been well-documented, having previously joined GUNS N' ROSES on stage during the band's 2022 concert at London, England's Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. She also released her version of Ozzy Osbourne's "Mama, I'm Comin' Home" for Apple Music Sessions, a live performance series launched by the tech giant.

Carrie said in a 2014 interview that late QUEEN frontman Freddie Mercury was high on her list of first loves.

"I've always been a huge fan and lover of Freddie Mercury," she said. "I would listen to him when I was a kid. He could do so many amazing things with his voice. People like that — who had incredible voices — I was always drawn to. I would want to try to do what they do. They were my teachers."

She also said that if you scrolled through her iPod, you'd find some really hard rock music, like MUDVAYNE.

"When I work out, I like to listen to things that are really angry," she said. "I couldn't do it on a daily basis or driving in my car. I think that would be kind of weird."

When I PREVAIL took to Twitter in September 2022 and shared about the band's third studio album, "True Power", "One month of 'TRUE POWER'. 56M streams. All thanks to you." Underwood replied to the tweet with, "I think I was a large number of them!" She also added a "face with tears of joy" emoji.

This past February, several members of I PREVAIL attended Underwood's concert at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit, with the singer later writing on social media: "I was so excited to have the guys from @iprevailband at the show last night in Michigan!!! I tried to play it cool and not fangirl too much! Super great guys!!! I'm hoping I get to catch one of their shows this year!!!"

In the comments section below Underwood's Instagram post, I PREVAIL vocalist Eric Vanlerberghe wrote: "There was an equal amount of fangirling haha. Thanks again for having us out! Show was incredible." Meanwhile, I PREVAIL co-vocalist Brian Burkheiser wrote: "Thank you for an incredible night!!!"

SKINNY PUPPY co-founder Kevin Crompton, better known by his stage name cEvin Key, has shared a brand new track in tandem with the announcement of his upcoming album, "bRap And fOrth Vol. 9" — a continuation of the famous "Back And Forth" series through Artoffact Records.

With this news coming not long after the announcement of his North American fall tour with SKINNY PUPPY and his work creating the score for "Silent Hill: Ascension", it's safe to say that Key is not taking the slow road through 2023.

The forthcoming album serves as the follow-up to 2018's "bRap And fOrth Vol. 8", which gave us a dozen restored and remastered tracks out of Key's personal archive and hit No. 1 on Bandcamp almost immediately after being released. "Vol. 9" sets out to give fans a further look into what the mastermind who co-founded a band that changed music forever was making before taking over the world.

Commenting fondly on the upcoming album, Key says: "'bRap And fOrth 9' is a collection of some of my earliest recordings recently discovered on four-track tapes. Most are from 1985 from the infamous 'Bites' apartment, a couple more from later but still made on a four-track. Something about the collection of gear and this vibrant time made for a lot of writing. Enjoy the time capsule <3."

In the early days of SKINNY PUPPY, when the band was still just an idea brewing, Key spent much of his time in his apartment, recording demos and experimenting with electronic equipment. Some of these recordings went on to be the basis for early SKINNY PUPPY releases like "Back And Forth", "Bites" and "Remission", and Artoffact Records is making sure that these demos get their time in the sun through the "Back And Forth" series.

While Key is most widely known as a co-founder of SKINNY PUPPY, the songwriter, producer, and composer is renowned worldwide for his contributions to industrial music through his solo work as well as his hand in countless other projects. With a career spanning nearly 40 years and dozens of releases, Key's reputation is ever-growing, but will always remain as one of the leaders who helped to shape the industrial genre — a genre which he continues to elevate and innovate to this day.

LIVING COLOUR paid tribute to Sinéad O'Connor by performing her version of Prince's song "Nothing Compares 2 U" during their August 5 concert at Roadrunner in Boston, Massachusetts.

In introducing the track to the crowd, LIVING COLOUR singer Corey Glover said: "Hey, we know it's a little late but we thought we'd do it anyway. This is for Sinéad."

Police officers found O'Connor unresponsive in a London apartment on Wednesday, July 26 just weeks after she had moved to the city. Her death is not being treated as suspicious.

The Irish singer, who infamously became a polarizing figure when she tore up a photo of Pope John Paul II during a 1992 appearance on "Saturday Night Live", was 56.

O'Connor's breakthrough single came in 1990 with the aforementioned "Nothing Compares 2 U". In total, she had released 10 albums, most recently 2014's "I'm Not Bossy, I'm The Boss".

Sinéad reflected on her rise to fame in the documentary "Nothing Compares", which came out last year. In it, she explained why she was compelled to rip up a photo of Pope John Paul II on camera.

"I had come across an article about families who had been trying to lodge complaints against the church for sexual abuse and were being silenced," she said. "Basically, everything I had been raised to believe was a lie."

O'Connor tore up a photo of Pope John Paul II after performing an a cappella version of "War" by Bob Marley. She then told the audience to "Fight the real enemy."

Although Sinéad announced her retirement from music and touring, writing in 2021 that she'd "gotten older" and was "tired", she changed her mind within days, saying, "I love my job. Making music that is. I don't like the consequences of being a talented (and outspoken woman) being that I have to wade through walls of prejudice every day to make a living."