In a new interview with Ultimate Classic Rock, legendary rocker Ted Nugent confirmed that he is working on a memoir. "My son Rocco, who is just a genius, he's on the road with me," he said. "Rocco Winchester Nugent and I are collaborating. You know, I've written three New York Times bestsellers, and I wrote 'em. I mean, I sat down and wrote the motherfuckers, man. It's quite a chore. Holy shit. You've got to sit down for long periods of time and I'm really not good at that. So Rocco is sticking recorders in my face. By the way, we're filming [my] whole 'Adios Mofo' [farewell tour]. We're documenting the whole tour for all kinds of applications. Rocco has been having me reminisce about all of these stories. I have so many stories."

Ted continued: "So he's transcribing all of my [stories] and we're going to create two books. One is 'Uncommon Sense', because I live a beautifully perfected common-sense lifestyle. That's the [first book], because it seems to be on the endangered species list out there — but it's not. It's alive and well. Then we're also documenting my 75 years of being clean and sober, riding the flame-throwing middle finger into that not-so-quiet night. Boy, that's a statement, that should be the front of the book, shouldn't it? That book will be titled 'Stranglehold'. I'm going into all of the gory details. It will be unabridged and my God, what an adventure I've had. Holy shit."

Back in 2008, Nugent landed on The New York Times bestseller list with his book "Ted, White, And Blue: The Nugent Manifesto". This marked the rock legend's second time charting on The New York Times bestseller list, a spot he achieved with "God, Guns, And Rock 'N' Roll" (2000). Ted's other successful books include "Kill It And Grill It", "Blood Trails: The Truth About Bowhunting" and "Blood Trails II".

Nugent's self-titled debut album in 1975 was certified double platinum in the United States, while "Free-for-All", "Cat Scratch Fever", "Weekend Warriors" and "State Of Shock" all reached the Top 30 on the Billboard 200 chart.

Nugent has reportedly sold over 40 million albums and was named Detroit's greatest guitar player of all time by readers of MLive.

The conservative rocker, who been eligible for the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame as a solo artist since 2000, has enjoyed a remarkably successful and eventful musical career over the past five decades, but his music is increasingly overshadowed by his political outbursts.

Nugent's latest album, "Detroit Muscle", was released in April 2022 via Pavement Music. The follow-up to 2018's "The Music Made Me Do It" was recorded with Ted's most recent touring band, which included bassist Greg Smith and drummer Jason Hartless.

This past May, Smith, who had played bass for Ted for the past 16 years, announced his departure from the legendary rocker's touring band. He has since been replaced by Johnny Schoen.

Ted kicked off his "Adios Mofo '23" farewell tour on July 12 in Immokalee, Florida.

BEARTOOTH will release its fifth album, "The Surface", on October 13 via Red Bull Records.

Like its predecessors, "The Surface" is an intensely personal and powerful journey for singer Caleb Shomo, who has never shied away from sharing his demons in his music and with his fans. However, the frontman has turned a corner with a more optimistic outlook and demonstrates exceptional growth as both an artist and a human being through the songs that comprise the album.

"BEARTOOTH's entire discography has been snapshots of my inner monologue and emotional state over the years with a recurring theme: depression and self-loathing," says Shomo. "It's been tough to understand why I've felt the way I do for so long. During the pandemic, I was faced with two distinct paths in life. One — I continue doing nothing to manage the realities of my mental health and continue down a path of self-destruction, ultimately ending in my demise. Two — choose to do the work needed to maintain a healthier relationship with myself, no matter how difficult or painful."

He continues: "This album is the story of my beginnings in the new world I've created for myself. One focused on health, self-love, positivity, understanding, hard work, and most of all second chances. At the end of the day, life is short for all of us. We can't escape the end, so why not make friends with it and live in a world focused on living a personally fulfilling life."

And with that impactful mission statement in mind, the band has shared the video for the latest single "Might Love Myself". Watch it below. The song initially premiered yesterday via SiriusXM's Octane.

"I truly believe mental health starts with a healthy relationship with one's self," Shomo further explains. "Self-love was something I never believed would be a part of my life. I would focus on my depression and my sadness, believing those part of me were always the most prominent in my mind. But through hard work comes results. Self-love had to be a choice; it can't be an emotion. Emotions are fleeting and can change with a sunset or a single word. Choosing to put your own health (mentally and physically) as the highest priority in your life has been the only path I've found to self-love. It helped me realize what I'm capable of, how strong I am, and that progress is more important than any immediate fix to my emotions. This song is about the first moment I realized something was significantly shifting in my life."

BEARTOOTH recently wrapped up a co-headlining U.S. tour with TRIVIUM and will return to Australia for the first time in four years, co-headlining alongside PIERCE THE VEIL. They will next head to Europe for a festival run.

"The Surface" track listing:

01. The Surface
02. Riptide
03. Doubt Me
04. The Better Me (feat. Hardy)
05. Might Love Myself
06. Sunshine!
07. What’s Killing You
08. Look The Other Way
09. What Are You Waiting For
10. My New Reality
11. I Was Alive

Shomo first turned the pain of his struggle with mental health and self-image into music in 2013. BEARTOOTH began as a living document, a diary, a journal of repressed rage and depression. Alone in his basement studio, screaming and singing, playing all the instruments, and self-producing a batch of furious but melodic songs filled with reflection and confession, the Ohio native stared into the abyss, initially with no intention of returning to the heavy music world that burned him as a teen. A decade later, the different pieces of his body of work connect in title, sound, and spirit. As the frontman hits 30, BEARTOOTH's fifth album, "The Surface", completes this era in 2023. Even more importantly, it kicks off a new chapter filled with surprising optimism and just as honest. Depression is a sick, disgusting, aggressive disease below the surface. Shomo stands ready to bask in the light.

Like NINE INCH NAILS, BEARTOOTH remains a one-person band in the studio. On the heels of the introductory "Sick" EP (2013),"Disgusting" (2014) produced the band's first gold single, "In Between". "Aggressive" (2016) and "Disease" (2018) expanded on the desperation and pain, each a step closer to a balance between the blood and tears of classic recordings and the shimmer of modernity.

Rolling Stone heralded BEARTOOTH as one of 10 Artists You Need to Know. The rabid response to Shomo's music demonstrated how many people related to his struggle for self-acceptance. "Below" (2021) topped the Rock and Alternative charts and several Best Rock/Metal Albums Of The Year lists. As of 2023, the BEARTOOTH catalog boasts more than one billion streams across all platforms.

BEARTOOTH began as both bomb and balm, an outright refusal to suffer in silence, weaponizing radio-ready bombast, delivering raw emotion mixed with noise-rock chaos. Other bands play the "devastating riffs and catchy hooks" game, but this music is the difference between life and death, and now, a sort of life after death while still here. The band Forbes sees "inching towards a tipping point of becoming the latest arena headliner" is now one step closer.

On July 18, GODSMACK frontman Sully Erna spoke to the 105.7 The Point radio station about the announcement that the band's eight album, "Lighting Up The Sky", will likely be its final collection of new material. Regarding the bandmembers' mindset in focusing on performing the band's hits for the remainder of GODSMACK's touring career, Erna said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "We love each other. It's not even a 'like'; it's like a deep love. We really do love and respect each other. We've jumped over so many mountains and climbed so many hills, and there's been a lot of complications along the way, so it wasn't a walk in the park by no means. But it's something to celebrate, because here we are; we get along better than ever. The music is still relevant [and] we're still doing big shows. It's really a blessing. And now we're even at an age, our daughters, we can hang out with them now as humans, as adults. And it's cool. Maybe we missed a big chunk of the beginning, but the moms were there to nurture them and help with that. We were the providers, but now it's like coming around where they really enjoy coming to see us and coming to see the shows and that kind of thing. My daughter actually is living with me right now. So it's really cool, man. And I love this stage of the career that we're at."

He continued: "Listen, you can never say never. We don't know if we're gonna put out a single here or there we don't know if we're gonna do a collaboration here or there. We just know that right now, what feels right for this moment, and it's why we took the steps to announce it, was that we really do believe this will probably be the last full body of work from GODSMACK… But we're not going anywhere either. We're still coming out. We're gonna be doing live shows and we're gonna tour and honor the career and do kind of a greatest-hits show."

GODSMACK kicked off its 2023 U.S. tour on May 4 at the 107.9 KBPI Birthday Bash at Fiddler's Green Amphitheatre in Denver, Colorado.

This past March, GODSMACK and STAIND announced a 25-city co-headlining 2023 tour, produced by Live Nation. The trek kicked off on July 18 at Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre in St. Louis, Missouri, with stops across the U.S. before wrapping up in Austin, Texas at Germania Insurance Amphitheatre on August 31.

"Lighting Up The Sky" was released in February via BMG. The LP was co-produced by Erna and Andrew "Mudrock" Murdock (AVENGED SEVENFOLD, ALICE COOPER).

The first single from "Lighting Up The Sky", "Surrender", which arrived in September, marked the first release from GODSMACK in four years, following their globally acclaimed and gold-certified 2018 album "When Legends Rise", which earned the Erna-fronted outfit a No. 1 spot across U.S. Hard Rock, Rock, and Alternative album charts.

Erna previously addressed GODSMACK's decision to no longer release new music last fall in an interview with Pablo of the Minneapolis, Minnesota radio station 93X. Speaking about "Lighting Up The Sky", he said: "I've never been that artist who says, 'Oh, this record is our newest record. It's our best work ever.' You can read any interview you want over my whole career, and you've never heard me say it," he continued. "I've always loved our records [and] I always knew there would be some good singles on it and hoped it did well, but I was never the guy that said, 'This is our best fucking work ever.' And I'm telling you right now this is our best fucking work ever. And it's because it's emotional, man. This is the last record we're ever gonna do. This is the last run around the mill for us. We put every single ounce of energy and emotion into this album. Especially for me, when I wrote a lot of these songs, it was about my life journey. That's really what the sequence of this album becomes about. Not that it was planned that way, but this really kind of mystical thing happened where I felt like the universe wrote this record."

Photo by Chris Bradshaw

Traditional Philly metal headbangers, Corners Of Sanctuary (COS) have announced their recent signing with SODEH Records. The new signing has select tracks from the COS catalog being reissued and a new cover song EP, Taking Cover, available digitally through the label on August 1.


"We are excited about partnering with SODEH Records," said COS guitarist and founder Mick Michaels. “We are hitting the ground running with the label and plan to have new music out sooner than later."







Taking Cover will contain previously released cover songs including "Rock Of Ages", "Bringing On The Heartbreak," and "Breaking The Law." The digital EP will also include two new cover tracks, The Osmonds' "Crazy Horses,” and Warrant's "Inside Out."


"It was a lot of fun working on these covers... definitely a learning experience," said Michaels. "But our thing is original heavy metal... so we are going to be getting back to business moving forward."


Between shows, the band is currently in the studio working on an all new, original EP titled Metal Up, which is slated to release later this fall.


COS has also announced the addition of new bass player, David St. John, to the band's lineup.


"DSJ has come out swinging. The energy he's bringing is not only inspirational, it is contagious... definitely a welcomed addition," Michaels said.


Since the band’s UK tour this past April, Corners Of Sanctuary continues to add dates for the remainder of 2023 including their fourth show with SonarFest in August, supporting Sponge again in September, several benefits performances, and opening for the heavy metal tribute act Denim And Leather in October and November. See schedule below.



Live dates:


August
4 - Sonarfest 2023 - Halftime Sports Bar - Newark, DE


September
9 - Jabber Jaws - Allentown, PA (with Illusions Of Grandeur)
23 - Halftime Sports Bar - Newark, DE (with Sponge)
30 - The Rusty Nail - Metal to the Max Night - Ardmore, PA


October
21 - Kaycee Ray's - Vineland, NJ (with Demin and Leather)


November
4 - Halftime Sports Bar - Newark, DE (with Demin and Leather)
11 - Veterans Suicide Awareness Metalfest - Bar XIII - Wilmington, DE

Norwegian black metal pioneers MAYHEM will release a live album, "Daemonic Rites", on September 15 via Century Media Records. The record is a comprehensive look at the legendary band's chaotic and intense performances from various cities around the world over the last two years. The album promises to be a thrilling sonic journey for fans and a testament to MAYHEM's unparalleled live prowess.

In conjunction with the upcoming release, MAYHEM has unveiled a first look with a performance video of the first single "Malum (Live 2022)". Filmed during the band's March 2022 concert in New York City in collaboration with renowned director Zev Deans, the clip encapsulates the intensity and ferocity that MAYHEM brings to the stage. The video is set to premiere today at 12:00 p.m. EDT // 9:00 a.m. PDT.

MAYHEM's Necrobutcher comments: "We wanted to document how great the band and set sounds like after almost 40 years of playing live. As a treat to our fans, we decided to release this live recording.

"I knew from day one back in 1984 that this band was going to be outstanding — one of the best bands ever! I guess that's a big reason why we still are here after 39 years — and counting."

"Daemonic Rites" marks the culmination of the "Daemon" era, which commenced in 2019 with the release of their critically acclaimed studio album "Daemon". The journey continued with the savage EP "Atavistic Black Disorder" in 2021, leaving audiences hungry for more. This latest live conglomeration serves as the ultimate chapter-closer for this landmark.

Track listing:

01. Intro
02. Falsified And Hated
03. To Daimonion
04. Malum
05. Bad Blood
06. My Death
07. Symbols Of Bloodswords
08. Voces Ab Alta
09. Freezing Moon
10. Pagan Fears
11. Life Eternal
12. Buried By Time And Dust
13. Silvester Anfang
14. Deathcrush
15. Chainsaw Gutsfuck
16. Carnage
17. Pure Fucking Armageddon

For fans who are hungry for the real thing, fret not. MAYHEM will hit the road later this year with CANNIBAL CORPSE, GORGUTS and BLOOD INCANTATION. The extensive trek will kick off on September 22 in Nashville, Tennessee and will draw the final curtain a month later on October 21 in Louisville, Kentucky.

With a reputation built on their unyielding commitment to the darkness, MAYHEM has become a revered name in the world of extreme metal. As a band that defies expectations and pushes the boundaries of the genre, their live performances are known for leaving audiences breathless and in awe.

MAYHEM is thrilled to share this live opus with their dedicated fans, who have stood by them throughout their tumultuous and illustrious career. "Daemonic Rites" is not only a celebration of the past but also a declaration of the band's continued relevance and power in the present-day metal landscape.

Lineup:

Necrobutcher - Bass
Hellhammer - Drums
Attila - Vocals
Teloch - Guitar
Ghul - Guitar

Photo by Vincent Grundke (courtesy of Suspiria PR)

Although Slash became a movie producer a decade ago when his Slasher Films released its first title, "Nothing Left To Fear", the guitarist says that he has no interest in producing a movie about the exploits of his band, GUNS N' ROSES. "I just don't see it happening anytime in the foreseeable future," he told Yahoo! Entertainment's Lyndsey Parker in a new interview (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "It doesn't mean that it won't happen ever, 'cause who knows; I can only think down the line so far. But I've never been able to envision how you're gonna get… I mean, it's one thing to try and find actors to represent the people in the band, but the other thing is all sort of theatrical depictions of life and the music scene and everyday life of musicians and all that kind of stuff. It's always some fabricated, overexaggerated bullshit. And it's very rare that you see a movie that actually feels genuine. And so I don't even wanna be a part of all that. I just don't think that it would be done a real justice. I've seen a lot of bad ones and they freaked me out."

Slash continued: "I actually am working on a movie that is based around a rock band; it's a horror movie. And it's actually… 'Cause that's something I avoid, 'cause that's the first scripts I always get, are rock-related horror scripts. But there's a really good one that I'm involved with. But that is just around a band, and it has some music throughout it. It should be out next year. It is fictional. But that's all I can say at this point."

Slash previously dismissed the idea of a GUNS N' ROSES biopic back in 2014 during an interview with the Belfast Telegraph. At the time, he said: "I would not like to see a GUNS N' ROSES biopic. It's really rare where you see actors portraying live musicians [well]. I don't think rock and roll translates in the movies, I don't think they really get the gritty vibe of what it's like.”

In April 2012, former GUNS N' ROSES drummer Matt Sorum revealed that he was in discussions for a possible biopic about the band. He said: "I've talked about doing a screenplay, and that's actually something that I'm in talks about with a couple of pretty big people."

He added that the film would have a different energy to most rock biopics of the past, saying: "If you look at rock and roll movies, they've never been done right... If there was a film about GUNS N' ROSES, the thing about GUNS N' ROSES that was different than all the butt rock bands in Hollywood was that it was down and dirty and punk rock and real.

"As much as anyone wants to say they want to try to lump it in with hair metal, it never was because it was a different kind of energy. There was a much sort of more street, dark undercurrent happening that could be great on film."

GUNS N' ROSES' North American tour will start on Saturday, August 5 in Moncton, NB at Medavie Blue Cross Stadium, and will visit historic venues across the country such as Fenway Park in Boston, Massachusetts on August 21 and Wrigley Field in Chicago, Illinois on August 24. The tour concludes in Vancouver, British Columbia at BC Place on Monday, October 16.

GUNS N' ROSES launched its long-rumored and long-awaited reunion tour with an April 2016 club show in Hollywood and appearances in Las Vegas and at California's Coachella festival.

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

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

The band is now reportedly working on a new studio album — the first under the GUNS banner since 2008's "Chinese Democracy" and the first to feature Rose, Slash and McKagan since 1993.

Global superstar and recent Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame inductee Dolly Parton has released her cover version of the QUEEN classic "We Are The Champions". The song is taken from Dolly's forthcoming "Rockstar" album, due in November.

"We Are The Champions" is the fourth song to be made available from "Rockstar", following the release of the original song "Bygones (feat. Rob Halford)" with special guests Nikki Sixx and John 5 of MÖTLEY CRÜE and a personalized cover of the rock classic "Magic Man (Carl Version) (feat. Ann Wilson)" with special guest Howard Leese. Parton's self-penned lead single "World On Fire", became a No. 1 song on the Billboard Rock Digital Songs chart upon release in May.

Parton teamed up with an all-star roster of musicians for the 30-song "Rockstar" collection which includes nine original tracks and 21 iconic rock anthems. "Rockstar" is set for global release on November 17 via Butterfly Records with distribution by Big Machine Label Group and will be available as a four-LP set, a two-CD set, digital download and on all streaming services.

Dolly said: "I'm so excited to finally present my first rock and roll album 'Rockstar'! I am very honored and privileged to have worked with some of the greatest iconic singers and musicians of all time and to be able to sing all the iconic songs throughout the album was a joy beyond measure. I hope everybody enjoys the album as much as I've enjoyed putting it together!"

"Rockstar" track listing:

* Rockstar (special guest Richie Sambora)
* World On Fire
* Every Breath You Take (feat. Sting)
* Open Arms (feat. Steve Perry)
* Magic Man (feat. Ann Wilson with special guest Howard Leese)
* Long As I Can See The Light (feat. John Fogerty)
* Either Or (feat. Kid Rock)
* I Want You Back (feat. Steven Tyler with special guest Warren Haynes)
* What Has Rock And Roll Ever Done For You (feat. Stevie Nicks with special guest Waddy Wachtel)
* Purple Rain
* Baby, I Love Your Way (feat. Peter Frampton)
* I Hate Myself For Loving You (feat. Joan Jett & The Blackhearts)
* Night Moves (feat. Chris Stapleton)
* Wrecking Ball (feat. Miley Cyrus)
* (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction (feat. P!nk & Brandi Carlile)
* Keep On Loving You (feat. Kevin Cronin)
* Heart Of Glass (feat. Debbie Harry)
* Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me (feat. Elton John)
* Tried To Rock And Roll Me (feat. Melissa Etheridge)
* Stairway To Heaven (feat. Lizzo & Sasha Flute)
* We Are The Champions
* Bygones (feat. Rob Halford with special guests Nikki Sixx & John 5)
* My Blue Tears (feat. Simon Le Bon)
* What's Up? (feat. Linda Perry)
* You're No Good (feat. Emmylou Harris & Sheryl Crow)
* Heartbreaker (feat. Pat Benatar & Neil Giraldo)
* Bittersweet (feat. Michael McDonald)
* I Dreamed About Elvis (feat. Ronnie McDowell with special guest The Jordanaires)
* Let It Be (feat. Paul McCartney & Ringo Starr with special guests Peter Frampton & Mick Fleetwood)
* Free Bird (feat. Ronnie Van Zant with special guests Gary Rossington, Artimus Pyle and The Artimus Pyle Band)

When Parton was inducted into the Rock Hall, she mentioned several artists during her speech that she wanted to collaborate with on her rock album and revealed that she and Steve Perry would be singing JOURNEY's "Open Arms" together.

"If I'm gonna be in the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame, I'm gonna have to do something to earn it. So I'm doing a rock and roll album, and I'm having a lot of the rock stars that I met that night be on the album with me," Parton later explained.

Speaking to TotalRock, JUDAS PRIEST singer Rob Halford said about his collaboration with Dolly: "After the show, her manager came up to me, Danny [Nozell], and he goes, 'She's doing a project, like a rock album. Would you be interested?' I said, 'Yeah. Here's my number.' And then, out of the blue, like four weeks later, and suddenly [there's] ideas for some more work."

Parton is the most honored and revered female country singer-songwriter of all time and was recently inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame. Achieving 27 RIAA-certified gold, platinum, and multi-platinum awards, she has had 26 songs reach No. 1 on the Billboard country charts, a record for a female artist. Parton is the first artist to have topped the Billboard's Adult Contemporary, Christian AC Songs, Hot Country Songs, Christian Airplay, Country Airplay and Dance/Mix Show Airplay radio charts. Parton became the first country artist honored as Grammy MusiCares Person Of The Year given out by NARAS. She has 48 career Top 10 country albums, a record for any artist, and 110 career-charted singles over the past 50-plus years.

In 2014 the RIAA recognized her impact on recorded music with a plaque commemorating more than 100 million units sold worldwide. She has garnered eleven Grammy Awards and 51 nominations, including the Lifetime Achievement Award, 10 Country Music Association Awards, including Entertainer of the Year; five Academy Of Country Music Awards, also including a nod for Entertainer Of The Year; four People's Choice Awards; and three American Music Awards. In 1999, Parton was inducted as a member of the coveted Country Music Hall Of Fame.

In 2020, she released the Christmas album "A Holly Dolly Christmas" which went No. 1 on the Billboard Country and Holiday charts, as well released the best-selling coffee table book "Songteller: My Life in Lyrics". In 2021, she won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Television Movie for the film "Dolly Parton's Christmas On The Square" and in December 2022, she released on NBC an all-new original holiday movie called "Dolly Parton's Mountain Magic Christmas" with her starring as well as producing; it was the most watched film of that year and the two years prior.

To date, Parton has donated over 205 million books to children around the world with her Imagination Library. Her children's book, "Coat Of Many Colors", was dedicated to the Library Of Congress to honor the Imagination Library's 100 millionth book donation. In March of 2022, Parton released the book "Run Rose Run" which she co-authored with James Patterson which sat at No. 1 on the New York Times Bestseller's List for five weeks, a record for this decade. She also released an accompanying album of the same name with original songs inspired by the book which reached No. 1 on three charts simultaneously — Country, Americana/Folk and Bluegrass Albums. From her "Coat Of Many Colors" while working "9 To 5", no dream is too and no mountain too high for the country girl who turned the world into her stage.

MR. BIG played its second concert with new touring drummer Nick D'Virgilio last night (Thursday, July 20) at Nippon Tokushu Tougyou Shimin Kaikan, Forest Hall in Nagoya, Japan. Fan-filmed video of the show, which marked MR. BIG's first appearance in Japan in six years, can be seen below.

MR. BIG's first-ever concert with D'Virgilio took place last Sunday, July 16 at the Majiao Music Festival in China.

The band's setlist for the Majiao Music Festival gig was as follows, according to Setlist.fm:

01. Addicted To That Rush
02. Take Cover
03. Undertow
04. Daddy, Brother, Lover, Little Boy (THE ELECTRIC DRILL song)
05. Alive And Kickin'
06. Green-Tinted Sixties Mind
07. CDFF-Lucky This Time (Jeff Paris cover) (first time since May 15, 1992)
08. Voodoo Kiss (first time since 2016)
09. Never Say Never
10. Just Take My Heart
11. My Kinda Woman (first time since 1992)
12. A Little Too Loose (first time since 2011)
13. Road To Ruin (first time since 2011)
14. To Be With You
15. Guitar Solo
16. Colorado Bulldog
17. Bass Solo
18. Shy Boy (TALAS cover)
19. Wild World (Cat Stevens cover)
20. 30 Days In The Hole (HUMBLE PIE cover)

Encore

21. Good Lovin' (THE RASCALS cover) (Paul Gilbert on drums, Billy Sheehan on vocals, Eric Martin on bass and Nick D'Virgilio on guitar)

In a 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."

Bret Michaels, who spent the summer of 2022 on the road with POISON as part of "The Stadium Tour" with MÖTLEY CRÜE and DEF LEPPARD, has told The Oakland Press that he intends to regroup POISON during 2025 for more touring and possibly some new songs.

"Y'know, back when we started I never knew what would happen, but I never thought it couldn't happen — I just found a way to get it done and enjoyed that," Michaels explained. "My pot of gold is the journey. I've met incredible people. I got to play incredible places, travel the world and play music. I've been through a lot of adversity and finding ways to get by that."

The 60-year-old singer, who was promoting the launch of his "Parti-Gras" 2023 solo tour on July 13 at the Pine Knob Music Theatre in Clarkston, Michigan, continued: "And I've embraced the changes. I didn't fight the digital world. I didn't say 'no' when they asked me to play country festivals. I'm sincere. I'm passionate. I'm a fan of music, and I appreciate the fans and I come out with the same energy I would bring when I was playing Harpo's or Blondie's — just on a bigger stage and with some better equipment now."

POISON's long-delayed North American trek with DEF LEPPARD, MÖTLEY CRÜE and JOAN JETT & THE BLACKHEARTS was originally planned for 2020 and later moved to 2021 and then to 2022.

In 2018, POISON completed the "Nothin' But A Good Time" tour with CHEAP TRICK and POP EVIL.

POISON's last album of new material was 2002's "Hollyweird". An album of covers, "Poison'd", followed in 2007.

Back in 2018, POISON bassist Bobby Dall said that the band "should" be making a new studio album but claimed that he didn't know if it would happen. "I'm not going to bullshit you and say there's any [new music] in the process [of being made]," he told All That Shreds. "Would I like there to be? Yes. But, it's a matter of everyone having the time. Everybody in the band has other commitments. Some members have younger children than others. So between those two issues, it's difficult, and, you know, [there are] health issues as we get older. Should we be making a new record? Yes, definitely. But will it happen? I don't know."

In a 2017 interview, POISON drummer Rikki Rockett acknowledged that part of the reason the band hasn't been motivated to work on new music has been the fact that fans rarely show interest in hearing fresh material performed live when classic rock groups go on tour. "We could write the second coming of 'Talk Dirty To Me', and I don't know if people wanna hear it or not, and that's a frustrating thing; it really is," he said. "AEROSMITH was able to do it, but not everybody is. I mean, even THE ROLLING STONES have had problems with that in the last few years. So… I don't know. But I do think it's important to stay viable. For the 'über fans,' it's always a really, really good thing. And that's what you do it for — you do it for you, you do it for the real fans, the real true fans."

More recently, Rockett admitted that he and other members of POISON harbor some resentment toward Michaels, whose frequent tours as a solo artist caused the band to take a five-year break from the road.

"I think we need to get away from each other and do other things, but at the same time, I think he spent a little too much time away," Rockett said. "There's definitely some resentment, but not resentment like I want him to fail. I want him to do good. I just want POISON to be important too, and I would like [him] to put a little more energy into POISON."

SPIRITBOX vocalist Courtney LaPlante was the featured guest on BBC's "The Rock Show With Johnnie Walker" during the "Rock God" segment. Courtney picked Tina Turner and stated about her choice (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "I think she's one of the most influential artists that ever lived. Anyone can look through her career, and even if you remove the incredible music that she created and performed, even if you were just to take that away, her career was so inspiring to anybody that wants to be an artist. She kind of had two lives — there's the Tina Turner that we think of with Ike Turner and the whole band, 'Proud Mary'. And then there's this rebirth that she had in the '80s. When Tina was, I believe, 44 years old, she put out her album 'Private Dancer', which I think is just the epitome of that '80s rock sound. And she had this second life of this incredible career. What is more rock and roll than that?"

Tina passed away on May 24 after a long illness. The pioneering rock singer was 83 years old.

Turner had battled several health issues in recent years, including being diagnosed with intestinal cancer in 2016 and having a kidney transplant in 2017.

With a career spanning more than half a century, the legendary singer, dancer, actress and author was not only one of the world's most popular and successful entertainers, but the beloved global icon widely regarded as the "Queen Of Rock 'N' Roll".

Among her many accomplishments, the revered singer had received 12 Grammy Awards, was the first black artist and the first female artist to feature on the cover of Rolling Stone and was awarded the Légion D'honneur by the French government. One of the world's best-selling artists of all time, her live performances have been seen by millions. First inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame as half of IKE & TINA TURNER, she was inducted in her own right as a solo artist in a ceremony in October 2021.

Born as Anna Mae Bullock in Nutbush, Tennessee, Turner first rose to fame in the 1960s, partnering with then-husband Ike Turner, as the lead singer of the IKE & TINA TURNER REVUE, acclaimed for her live performances and catalog of hits, including "River Deep - Mountain High" and "Proud Mary". Turner's well-publicized divorce and hardships ultimately forced her to virtually all but disappear from the music scene. By the 1970s, she began practicing Buddhism and rebuilt her life by tapping into her spiritual strength.

She celebrated her newfound freedom in 1975 with the role of the Acid Queen in the film version of THE WHO's "Tommy", delivering an outrageous, but all-too-brief performance.

She continued to release several albums during the late 1970s, but it was in 1984 that her career went stratospheric with 1984's "Private Dancer" going five times platinum in the U.S. and selling 10 million copies worldwide, spawning megahits, including "What's Love Got To Do With It", "Better Be Good To Me", the title track and a cover of Al Green's "Let's Stay Together". The album would earn her widespread recognition and numerous awards, including three Grammys.

A string of hit albums followed, including "Break Every Rule", "Foreign Affair" and "What's Love Got To Do With It". Hit singles included "Typical Male", "The Best", "I Don't Wanna Lose You", "I Don't Wanna Fight" and "Goldeneye". Successful duets with David Bowie and Mick Jagger showed her ability to perform on an equal footing with the greats of rock 'n' roll.

With another movie role in 1985, "Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome", she found another hit in its theme song, "We Don't Need Another Hero", establishing her high-profile status well into the '90s.

As an author, her bestselling memoir, "I, Tina", became the 1993 Academy Award-nominated film "What's Love Got To Do With It", while her follow-up book, "My Love Story", was a global success in 2018. Additionally, Turner's eventful life has been immortalized in at least three documentaries including HBO's 2021 production "Tina", while her story has recently been staged as the biographical musical "Tina: The Tina Turner Musical" — becoming one of the most successful stage shows on Broadway and London and was honored by a Tony award and an Olivier award.

METALLICA has put out a casting call for "superfans" of the band to possibly appear in an upcoming documentary.

The filmmakers are looking for "big personalities, unique characters and unexpected stories from METALLICA fans who consider METALLICA to be their favorite band, real 'Fifth Member' types. All stories and walks of life are welcome and encouraged to reach out."

The documentary is reportedly being produced by METALLICA and Mercury Studios, powered by Universal Music Group.

Mercury Studios is a full-service production studio originating, producing, selling, distributing, and investing in scripted, unscripted, and live content. Editorially independent, Mercury Studios is powered by Universal Music Group and represents the world's leading catalog of music-related content.

Earlier this year, METALLICA drummer Lars Ulrich credited the use of "Master Of Puppets" last year in the hit Netflix series "Stranger Things" with creating a whole new generation of METALLICA fans.

As a result of the song's appearance in the show, "Master Of Puppets" — the title track of METALLICA's 1986 album — went on to top of the iTunes Rock Chart and crack the Spotify Top 50.

Ulrich told Japan's TVK: "I'm just so happy that hard music and hard rock still has a place. To see so many young people connecting with music again. . . I can see it my kids; I can see it, in the last nine months, the 'Stranger Things' phenomenon of so many young kids discovering 'Master Of Puppets' and that being a gateway to maybe more METALLICA music or to more heavy music or heavy rock music."

Lars went on to say that the possibility for METALLICA's music to reach a new audience seems endless.

"I see that there's still so much, all over the world, a coming of age when kids are 12, 13, 14 years old, to get into music and for us to be part of that discovery is an incredible thing," he explained.

In a 2015 interview with Time Warner Cable News, METALLICA frontman James Hetfield was asked what it feels like to get such a strong reaction from the crowd every time the band performs live. He said: "Well, it's like an ultimate family for us — especially for me. When I'm able to just be honest and ask, 'Hey, help sing this part,' or I screwed up the words and they sing it for me. It's, like, 'Man, they really do have our back.' And we don't look at things as mistakes. There are no mistakes that happen. There's just unique ways of doing it for that day. We go up there and we play it. So there's just such a freedom when you have… When the crowd has your back, there's such a freedom to be able to even explore more up there or to even do better. 'Cause you know you're not out there to impress people, you're out there just to deliver what you've got in you."

In 2016, Ulrich told Vice that he and his bandmates don't make a concerted effort to bring in new fans or win over naysayers whenever they release a new album. "I mean, we are all aware kind of aware of the fact of how wide the net is cast," he said. "And like I said, most things that I see in the world is in grays, so it's pretty easy with this stuff. So 40-year-olds, 50-year-olds, 30-year-olds, 20-year-olds, teens, it's fine. We don't go out of our way to do one thing more than the other. I think that there still there seems to be a rite of passage for 13 and 14-year-old boys and in lots of places around the world. There are still a lot of young kids. When I occasionally check our social media, I can tell that a lot of them are younger, which is cool. So I think we got a pretty good balance. There are certain places like in Scandinavia, they're really young and there is like 14-year-old girls down in the front row. Sometimes parents bring their kids, or kids bring their parents. It's fun."

Photo credit: Tim Saccenti

Posted by Diane Stockton Williams on Tuesday, July 18, 2023

In a new interview with Oran O'Beirne of Bloodstock TV, SEPULTURA frontman Derrick Green spoke about the challenges newer bands are facing in organizing tours in the post-pandemic world. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "It's extremely difficult — now more than ever. The industry itself is consistently trying to take as much as they can from the artists because of the whole pandemic, as far as clubs really being extremely greedy and trying to make their money back through the artists, which is completely ridiculous, as far as having absurd percentages that they're taking from your merch. Which doesn't make any sense to me at all, being an artist where you're creating the merch, you're carrying the merch, you're paying the tax on the merch, you're doing everything to make it relevant and to have it out there, and then somebody comes along and they're, like, 'Oh, I'm gonna take 30 percent.' 'I'm gonna take 20 percent of whatever it is that you're selling in our venue.' And I think this is absolutely absurd and outrageous, that they are pushing this on artists."

He continued: "A lot of people don't realize, that's where you make your money as an artist, is with your merchandise. It can sometimes save a tour, if you're not getting that in gigs, the proper payment. So I think this is something that's happened a lot more, where the percentages are going up, which is absolutely disgusting, I think, and super greedy from these clubs doing this, especially in the U.S. I find it's very disrespectful for certain places where they're doing check-ins, checking your bags as an artist as you're rolling into a venue. I mean, it's completely absurd, and it's pissing me off here, the fact that they're putting us on the level as almost treating us like criminals. The fact that we're putting on a show, creating a show that's paying everyone in the venue, I figure that we're all working together, but in the sense that these clubs are treating us like we're gonna do something to damage our own show is absurd. So these things have been popping in my mind from being on this tour that really drive me up the wall. And it's forced bands to do other alternatives of selling their merchandise — either pre-selling it or doing pop-up stores in places where they're not taking so much of a percentage of your merch and maybe just a flat fee just to rent the space out and then you can sell your merch there the day before the show. Also some alternatives that artists are gonna look for so that they're not being ripped off by these venues."

Green added: "I think a lot of artists need to speak out because… I think a lot of artists might be afraid to speak out from [a fear of] being banned or whatever from certain shows, but I think it's important if every artist spoke out about this and really talked about it and really tried to find a change in this because I think it's unfair in so many ways. It's just disgusting, the fact that a lot of these people in the industry are always trying to take away from the artists when the artists already have less. We're the ones that hadn't played for two years as well too, so we're coming back struggling and fighting and trying to pay a lot of debt and things like that. But we continue onward. The music is still very strong, and the scene, and I think it's just important that musicians and artists fight for their rights."

Derrick isn't the only metal musician who has spoken out about the practice of venues taking a cut of an artist's merchandise revenue. Earlier this month, FEAR FACTORY guitarist Dino Cazares told The Razor's Edge that promoters are taking "larger and larger" cuts from the bands than they used to. "Of course there's always been a percentage that you have to give to venues. That's just how it is," he said. "Merch percentage — we're talking about merch percentage. But, of course, it's getting higher and higher. So, unfortunately, the fans are the ones who have to pay for that, because once the merch percentages get higher that the venue takes, then you're gonna have to raise your prices on a t-shirt. That's just inevitable and that's unfortunate, [but] that's what happens."

When the interviewer pointed out to Dino that artists do not get a cut of any of the alcohol that is sold in the venues where they are performing, Cazares said: "It's not just the promoters and the club venues; it's also the ticket agencies. It's all a big thing. It's not one thing — it's all of it. And you're right — we do not get a percentage of the alcohol at all whatsoever. But I did hear that there was one artist that did that, and that was Axl Rose. Axl Rose was putting GUNS N' ROSES in stadiums — in soccer stadiums and baseball stadiums — selling out 40, 50 thousand people, but he was, like, 'If you want GUNS N' ROSES in your stadium, you're gonna have to give me a piece of the alcohol,' And I heard a rumor that he got a piece of that alcohol percentage, which is really good. Which probably evened out to what [the promoters] were getting from the merch percentage. But not a lot of artists in my genre have that kind of power, if at all."

Many venues require bands to pay them a percentage of their merchandise sales. Commonly that split is 20/80, meaning for every dollar a band makes selling a t-shirt, the venue gets 20 cents. It's an accepted industry standard that understandably riles touring bands, especially those acts for whom merch income is still crucial for ensuring that a tour is profitable.

"That's a typical thing that venues will do," DREAM THEATER guitarist John Petrucci recently told "THAT Rocks!", the weekly YouTube series hosted by Eddie Trunk, Jim Florentine and Don Jamieson. "I think that if you're in the position, you should try to negotiate that as much as you can. I mean, 30 percent, that's way too high. I think it's more typical [for it to be in] the 15-to-20 [range]. And I think also it might be different for soft goods and physical things, like records and stuff like that. So there might be a difference there as well. But it's all reasons to be on top of your shit and your business and have people representing you that know what they're doing, because a young band might not know that they can negotiate that. They just kind of [go], 'Oh, I guess it is what it is.' And I guess in some circumstances, if you have no leverage, then it is what it is. But you can look at that and be conscious of that. Because it sucks. 'Cause then you're in that position — well, what are you gonna [do]? [Are you] gonna jack up the price of your shirt? Then somebody is paying 50, 60 dollars for a t-shirt? That's ridiculous. And you feel like you're gouging your fans, and that's not cool."

DREAM THEATER keyboardist Jordan Rudess added: "And it's also sad, because a lot of these younger bands, they're working so hard to get out there and play, they finally show up at a venue and they stand a chance of making a little money maybe at the merch booth, and then you've got these venues — clubs, theaters, whatever — that wanna take money out of their pockets, basically. You see it all the time. It sucks."

In larger venues, it is often mandatory for a merchandise staff to be employed directly by the venue, meaning a percentage cut can be standard.

In recent months, some venues have said that they will do away with merch fees. Ineffable Live, which runs 10 venues, including the Golden State Theater in Monterey, California; the Fremont Theater in San Luis Obispo, California; and the Chicken Box in Nantucket, Massachusetts, got rid of their 20% merch fee in response to the testimony of Clyde Lawrence of the independent soul-pop band LAWRENCE, who spoke in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee this past January about the "lopsided deal mechanics in certain aspects of the live music industry." During his appearance at the hearing, Lawrence explained why venues taking a cut of merch sales is unfair, saying: Another pain point for artists is the significant loss of revenues due to promoter merchandise cuts. Typically, the promoter takes a sizable percentage (roughly 20%) of an artist's merch sales, and once we factor in our costs of creating and transporting the merch, it can be an even larger percentage (40%) of an artist's bottom line. The argument is that the venue is providing us the retail space for us to sell our merch. Sure. But we're providing all of the customers, and yet receive no cut from their many ancillary revenue streams. Live Nation getting around 20% of our gross merch sales while we get nothing on ticketing fees, bar tabs, coat checks and parking passes doesn’t make a lot of sense to me."

According to Billboard, Ineffable Music Group CEO Thomas Cussins said that on a good night, an independent touring band with a loyal fanbase can sell $5,000 to $10,000 in merchandise at a 500-capacity show. Eliminating the venue fee can save some groups $1,000 to $2,000 per night, he added.

"We are on the ground and hearing from artists every day," Cussins said. "We are seeing how much the costs of everything have gone up — from buses to hotels to flights. So even though the club business is a marginal business, any action we can take to help to insure a healthy, vibrant concert ecosystem is important. This industry only works if artists of all levels are able to afford to tour. When artists are able to tour sustainably and fans can afford to buy a t-shirt because the all-in ticket price is reasonable, everyone wins."

Ineffable head talent buyer Casey Smith added: "We've been able to make our live business work even with increased expenses by having a number of venues and being able to create routes for artists, offering them a number of shows in secondary and college markets between their big city plays. Since we've made it work for ourselves, we want it to work for the artists as well. This move is fully aligned with Ineffable's independent spirit, and in hearing the needs of independent artists, we believe it’s important to put them first."

In a new interview with Canada's The Metal Voice, former MEGADETH drummer Shawn Drover addressed Dave Mustaine's reputation as one of the most divisive personalities in metal. Asked why he thinks the MEGADETH leader is so frequently portrayed in such a negative light, Shawn said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "I think some of it may be from his political viewpoints at any given time. You know how that goes — politics and religion can definitely rub people the wrong way. That's certainly, I would say, maybe part of it. Which I never had any comment of any sort on any of that stuff."

Shawn, who is currently promoting the debut album from his WITHERING SCORN project, continued: "Who knows? There's always Monday-morning quarterbacks that talk shit about something. And a lot of it gets thrown out of context. Something I'll say on here I'm sure will be on a web site, saying, 'Shawn said this.' It's just to create a headline. It's clickbait, they call it. It's just music, man."

Drover, who spent a decade as the drummer of MEGADETH, went on to say that he looks back fondly on his years with the legendary thrash metal act.

"I have nothing but good memories and good things to say about it," he said. "If it wasn't for that band, we wouldn't be talking today — I guarantee it… I have nothing but good things to say about that. So I'm very thankful."

Shawn's latest comments are similar to those he made back in November 2017 during an interview with the "Talking Metal" podcast. At that time, he said: "I have nothing bad to say at all about [MEGADETH]. Dave Mustaine gave me a career, and I'll always be thankful to him for that. I was very good friends with him for 10 years, and at a certain point, I just wanted to move on and express my own musical vision and do the things I wanted to do before I got too old. I'm not a spring chicken, so I just started to think, If I want to do something, the clock's ticking here… But I have nothing but good things to say about that camp. Dave gave me a career, and I have nothing but good things to say about him and the entire organization. I wish them the best."

Drover quit MEGADETH in November 2014 "to pursue [his] own musical interests", according to a statement he released at the time. Later that same day, MEGADETH guitarist Chris Broderick announced his departure from the group, saying that he was exiting the band "due to artistic and musical differences." The duo later launched an act called ACT OF DEFIANCE with ex-SCAR THE MARTYR singer Henry Derek Bonner and bassist Matt Bachand (SHADOWS FALL).

In a September 2015 interview with Sticks For Stones, Shawn talked about his working relationship with Mustaine and whether personal differences played a part in his decision to quit MEGADETH. He said: "I never had an issue with [Dave] whatsoever. I always thought we got along very well, and I knew my role in the band. And that's a big part of joining a band like that. If you don't know your role and think that you can walk into a situation… to an established band and think that you can be an equal partner or something foolish like that, that would be just that: it would be quite foolish. I walked into the situation knowing what my role was, and I respected the legacy of the band and just tried to do the best that I could. So it actually was quite easy. I got along with him very well. I got along with everybody very well. But I was smart enough to know what the situation was, and never thinking, 'Oh, I'll get my songs on the next record.' It was never like that. I respected the legacy of the band and [tried] to uphold that to the best of my ability, no matter who… whatever lineup was in the band at the time, I just did my job. But at the end of the day, I left the band — I was not fired; I left. So it was just purely a musical… I wanted to write heavier music, and that's what I did [with ACT OF DEFIANCE]."

Shawn joined MEGADETH in 2004 as the replacement for Nick Menza, who had only just rejoined the group. Drover performed on four MEGADETH studio records: 2007's "United Abominations", 2009's "Endgame", 2011's "TH1RT3EN" and 2013's "Super Collider".

In addition to Shawn, WITHERING SCORN features his brother, and fellow ex-MEGADETH member, Glen Drover, along with former FATES WARNING bassist Joe DiBiase and German singer Henning Basse, who has previously played with FIREWIND, METALIUM and MAYAN.

WITHERING SCORN's debut album, "Prophets Of Demise", was released on July 7 via Frontiers Music Srl.

MR. BIG's new touring drummer Nick D'Virgilio has shared behind-the-scenes footage from the first-ever concert he played with the band, which took place this past Sunday, July 16 at the Majiao Music Festival in China. Check out the 17-minute clip below.

The band's setlist for the Majiao Music Festival gig was as follows, according to Setlist.fm:

01. Addicted To That Rush
02. Take Cover
03. Undertow
04. Daddy, Brother, Lover, Little Boy (THE ELECTRIC DRILL song)
05. Alive And Kickin'
06. Green-Tinted Sixties Mind
07. CDFF-Lucky This Time (Jeff Paris cover) (first time since May 15, 1992)
08. Voodoo Kiss (first time since 2016)
09. Never Say Never
10. Just Take My Heart
11. My Kinda Woman (first time since 1992)
12. A Little Too Loose (first time since 2011)
13. Road To Ruin (first time since 2011)
14. To Be With You
15. Guitar Solo
16. Colorado Bulldog
17. Bass Solo
18. Shy Boy (TALAS cover)
19. Wild World (Cat Stevens cover)
20. 30 Days In The Hole (HUMBLE PIE cover)

Encore

21. Good Lovin' (THE RASCALS cover) (Paul Gilbert on drums, Billy Sheehan on vocals, Eric Martin on bass and Nick D'Virgilio on guitar)

In a 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."

Danish heavy metal legend King Diamond was a guest on a recent episode of "The Electric Theater With Clown" Internet show hosted by SLIPKNOT's M. Shawn "Clown" Crahan. You can now listen to the entire chat below.

Speaking about new music that he is working on, King said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "There's a lot in the works right now. I'm writing with Hank [Shermann, guitar] for MERCYFUL FATE and writing with Andy [La Rocque, guitar] for KING DIAMOND and writing on my own for KING DIAMOND. For KING DIAMOND, it's an album that's gonna be called 'The Institute', which is part one of two; there'll be two full albums that will be completing that full story. As the title says, it's gonna be some creepy, weird stuff. And for MERCY, I also have the title, but I'm not giving it out to anybody at the moment. We have the front cover for the new MERCY too. It's very correct, very right for MERCYFUL FATE. It's very back to basics.

"For my part with both MERCY and KING DIAMOND — even more KING DIAMOND, I would say — all vocals are gonna be lead vocals again, like they were in the old days for me," he explained. "It didn't matter if it was a choir singing on the right or the left side or whatever; they would still go in and pick up parts of the lyrics to progress the story and so on. So it's gonna be anything goes with the vocals, for sure — back to the old style. And for MERCY too; it's gonna be very old-fashioned. Hank is writing very much like the old days. And it's nice to feel that we can capture that again.

"So that's the two albums that are being worked on, that will be done by the time we go out on tour again, I'm sure."

This past February, MERCYFUL FATE guitarist Mike Wead told Guitar World magazine about the band's new song "The Jackal Of Salzburg", which MERCYFUL FATE performed live for the first time in June 2022 in Hannover, Germany: "It's one of the more epic songs out of the new ones I've heard. It's kind of bombastic, with a slight touch of doom metal, which is a bit different for MERCY. But then again, MERCY was never a band that stood still, either."

Lyrically, "The Jackal Of Salzburg" is inspired by one of the last major witch hunts, the Zaubererjackl trials in Salzburg, Austria (1675-90). 139 people were executed as the followers of Wizard Jackl or Magician Jackl or Jäckel, who was himself never found.

"It's so grotesque, man," King told Guitar World about the source material. "There was a young man, 20 years old, whose mother was burned alive as a witch in 1675. Two years later they started hunting [the son] based on confessions the mom had made under torture, where she gave up her son as being in league with the devil.

"It's pretty shocking when you think about spearing a child on this horrible thing that goes up your backend and comes out through your mouth, or on a wheel that would pull them apart. Completely insane."

MERCYFUL FATE played the final show of its first North American headlining tour in over two decades on November 16, 2022 at the Tabernacle in Atlanta, Georgia. Stepping in on bass for MERCYFUL FATE at these shows was Becky Baldwin, a British musician who has previously played with FURY, TRIAXIS and CONTROL THE STORM. She filled in for MERCYFUL FATE's regular bassist Joey Vera, who was unable to make the trek due to a scheduling conflict with his longtime band ARMORED SAINT.

In 2019, it was announced Vera would be replacing original MERCYFUL FATE bassist Timi Hansen for the band's summer 2020 European festival appearances due to Hansen's cancer diagnosis. Hansen passed away in November 2019 and MERCYFUL FATE's 2020 summer festival appearances were rescheduled for 2021, and then to 2022.

MERCYFUL FATE's North American tour, which featured support from by KREATOR and MIDNIGHT, followed the band's headlining performance at last year's edition of Psycho Las Vegas.

MERCYFUL FATE was formed in early 1981 in Copenhagen, Denmark by King and Hank. They were later joined by guitarist Michael Denner and bassist Timi Hansen, and soon thereafter drummer Kim Ruzz would join to complete the band lineup. The band recorded two demos in 1981 and later signed with Rave On Records in Holland for the recording of their successful self-titled EP, released in November of 1982. The "Mercyful Fate" EP was soon in heavy rotation around core metal radio stations, launching a new breed of heavy metal with their unique sound.

The band joined Roadrunner Records in 1983 and their debut full-length, "Melissa", was recorded and released that same year. The following year, MERCYFUL FATE returned to the studio to record their now legendary "Don't Break The Oath" full-length, released in September of 1984.

MERCYFUL FATE embarked upon a two-month U.S. tour in support of the record, which took them across the States several times sharing the stage with the likes of MOTÖRHEAD and EXCITER. The shows had created a brush fire within the metal community. The band reaped recognition globally, closing the year with a five-date tour in Germany with MOTÖRHEAD, GIRLSCHOOL, HELIX and TALON.

MERCYFUL FATE's first concert of 1985 was in their hometown of Copenhagen at an old movie theater with a large capacity. The show sold out and their stage show exhibited a new level of distinction. The night was a huge victory and a new highlight for the band. By April of 1985, however, MERCYFUL FATE decided to part ways for each to pursue new challenges. The KING DIAMOND band was born and reaped critical acclaim the following years with five studio albums on Roadrunner Records. KING DIAMOND has since signed with Metal Blade Records and is going stronger than ever before.

In the summer of 1992, MERCYFUL FATE decided to reunite and penned a new deal with Brian Slagel and his label, Metal Blade Records. "In The Shadows" was released in 1993 and was an instant triumph furthered by a sold-out U.S. tour.

MERCYFUL FATE has gone on to release another five studio albums and have toured Europe, the U.S. and South America multiple times. The highlight of 1999 was their critically acclaimed album "9" which was followed by a European tour with METALLICA, where King and Hank joined the band onstage several times for the medley "Mercyful Fate" which METALLICA had recorded on their "Garage Inc." double tribute album the year prior. Tours in the U.S. and in South America followed, marking the band's last live performances for over a decade. MERCYFUL FATE then went on hiatus, but made a brief appearance when members joined METALLICA onstage in 2011 for their 30th-anniversary show in San Francisco, California.