In a new interview with the "Neil Jones Rock Show" on TotalRock, SKID ROW bassist Rachel Bolan once again addressed the band's recently launched first-of-its-kind partnership with USA company Sweetwater, the world's leading online retailer of musical instruments and pro-audio equipment, to search worldwide for SKID ROW's next lead vocalist. The collaboration invites singers from around the world to audition for the opportunity to front one of rock's most enduring and respected acts.

Bolan said about SKID ROW's singer search (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Well, we got video submissions from over 300 people. And we've also had some outside submissions of people telling us, like friends in other bands, 'Oh, I saw this band. You gotta go check this kid out,' and stuff like that. So, we're at the point… We keep doing it in phases. We watch the video, and there's a lot of really, really good singers out there. A lot of them are great, but they're not the right fit musically for SKID ROW. But there are a few. So we'll get the video submissions. Then we'll go to, 'Okay, let's get in a room with a few people over the course of four days,' bring in two or three people a day. And that's where we're at now. We're moving to that phase with a few guys. We're gonna bring them in and work for a couple days, see how a live feel to it works. 'Cause you're in the studio — you know how it is; you could do a million takes and make it perfect. But we wanna see what it feels like in a room. And then it's also — it's the hangout. It's the hang. It's, like, 'Are you cool?' And see how the hang is. So we're at that phase with a few guys. And we have the luxury of time right now. We have no tours booked. We're not in the middle of making a record, so we don't have to make any rush decisions. But there's a few guys that have really piqued our interest, for sure."

This past January, Rachel spoke to the "Rockstrap" podcast about the band's ongoing singer search following the departure of Erik Grönwall more than two years ago. The now-38-year-old Swedish-born musician, who was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia in March 2021, announced his departure from SKID ROW in March 2024, saying that it had become increasingly "difficult to prioritize" his health and full recovery as the lead singer of the group.

"We have a couple of guys on our radar," Bolan said. "We've auditioned a few people, but we're gonna do a big, gigantic… We were just waiting for the new year to start. Not so much an open call, but there's a lot of people that wanna audition, so we're just going — us and management and our producer, Nick Raskulinecz, we're all going through each person saying, like, 'Okay, let's get in a room with this person. 'This person [is a] little too young or a little too green,' or 'they can't sing. Who told them they could sing?' You get that too. So we have a couple of guys on our radar that we're pretty excited about. So hopefully before the end of the year we'll be back out on the road."

When one of the interviewers noted that SKID ROW has had especially bad luck with securing permanent singers, Rachel said: "It's just one of those things, man. We had a really good thing going with Erik. I think the road was just too much for him, [with] his past health issues and whatnot, and it just didn't work out, which was a bummer… He fit right in, and the fans loved him."

Last September, Rachel told Lisa Karkos of the Nashville On The Rocks podcast/show about how he and the rest of SKID ROW are going about looking for a new vocalist: "It's kind of become a thing with SKID ROW, 'cause we've had quite a few [singers]. But we're going to do something pretty big to find one, find the [right] person [to front the band].

"We have a certain criteria, and I think the main part, you have to have strong pipes," Bolan explained. "You have to be able to tour a lot. And you have to be a good hang. I think that's the main thing, is being a good hang.

"It's really hard doing it as long as we've been doing it, and other bands and artists could back me up on this, [when] you're doing it for this long, the hang becomes really necessary. When you get someone in there that is out for themselves and doesn't care about anything that's going on around them, it's tough.

"So that's where we're at," Rachel added. "We've auditioned some people, and some people came in and they were great — they were really great. But you have four guys that are looking at someone, and it's, like, one guy might think they're perfect, another guy might think they're almost perfect, another person might think, 'Eh,' wasn't feeling it. So all four of us — Rob Hammersmith, Snake, Scotti Hill and myself — we need to be a hundred percent on board."

Rachel went on to say that he and his SKID ROW bandmates are "not gonna rush anything" when it comes to selecting the group's next vocalist. "We have the luxury of time on our side," he explained. "Maybe not our ages [laughs], but we have the luxury of time. We don't have any tours set up or anything like that, that we have to just like kind of get someone in place… Our booking agent says those shows are still gonna be there. If it takes two years, three years, whatever, those shows are gonna be there, dude. And it makes you feel good, because when you're as close to it as I am, it's, like, you don't look at us, like, 'You guys are fucking SKID ROW, man. You can do whatever the fuck you want.' I look at it as, like, 'We're SKID ROW. What the fuck are we gonna do?' We just told ourselves we're not gonna stress. If it takes a long time, it takes a long time. And like I said, we've had people down that we've dug a lot. Something was there. Maybe there was pieces missing, an element missing, but it is what it is. And we're meeting a lot of really cool people along the way — a lot of really cool people who I'm, like, 'Wow.' I'll listen to some of their songs, and it's, like, you look at someone and you're, like, 'Maybe we could work together on something else or write songs together.'"

Erik was SKID ROW's fourth frontman since Sebastian Bach's departure.

Bach fronted SKID ROW until 1996, when he was fired. Instead of throwing in the towel, the remaining members took a hiatus and went on to play briefly in a band called OZONE MONDAY. In 1999, SKID ROW reformed and, after a bit of shuffling over the years, featured a lineup consisting of bassist Rachel Bolan, guitarists Dave "Snake" Sabo and Scotti Hill, alongside drummer Rob Hammersmith and singer Johnny Solinger. SKID ROW fired Solinger over the phone in April 2015, a few hours before announcing ex-TNT vocalist Tony Harnell as his replacement. Eight months later, Harnell exited the band and was replaced by South African-born, British-based singer ZP Theart, who previously fronted DRAGONFORCE, TANK and I AM I. Theart was fired from SKID ROW in February 2022 and was replaced by Grönwall, who was previously a member of the Swedish hard rock band H.E.A.T.

In a new interview with Andy Guitar, Joe Satriani reflected on taking part in the 2024 "The Best Of All Worlds" tour with Sammy Hagar during which Hagar and his bandmates in THE CIRCLE — Satriani and ex-VAN HALEN bassist Michael Anthony — performed largely VAN HALEN material. Asked if he watched a lot of old concert videos of Eddie Van Halen in order to reproduce the legendary guitarist's parts live or if he was "going from the original recordings a lot", Joe said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Well, I definitely started with original recordings and just used my ear to get the chords and the arrangement. And that's the easy part. The hard part is the quirky fingering string choices.

"Every guitar player, we have our own pluses and minuses, and it might be speed, timing, touch, tone, intonation — all kinds of things that certain people have a lot of, and then there are areas where we're kind of deficient, let's say, than the next player," Joe explained. "And so, yeah, you have to kind of come up against that and see, like, 'Well, how do I measure up in that particular area, and how do I work around it?' But I think one thing that really helped me was this amazing community, these guitar players of all ages dedicated so many hours to figuring out exactly how Ed played a lot of these songs. And so I would, after I learned the song, I'd go and I'd spend an hour or two on YouTube just watching how other people address this immense problem of trying to emulate Ed's playing. And you can't capture the magic, but you can get pretty close to the fingering, and some players are better than others. And it was just great for me to sit across from the screen and just go, 'Okay, he's doing that on the first three strings. This guy's doing it on the third string. She's doing it somewhere else,' and how some people pull it off.'

Satriani added: "There are players out there like — I was thinking of [BON JOVI and TRIUMPH guitarist] Phil X, who will play great VAN HALEN songs without any vibrato bar. And it reminds you that the spirit is sometimes more important than just imitating the part that might be. There's a lot of ways. And then when you go deep into any live clips or if you have memories of seeing VAN HALEN, like I do, you remember, like, 'Oh, yeah, [Ed] played it differently every single time.' He shocked you at how he would just forget about some part or purposely not play it the way it is on the record and just replace it with something you never expected. And you loved it anyway. You have to keep that in mind."

Back in December 2023, Satriani spoke to Ultimate Guitar's Justin Beckner about how he planned to play Eddie Van Halen's parts on "The Best Of All Worlds" tour. Asked if there are some VAN HALEN songs that he found most challenging to perform, Joe replied: "The main thing is that for the last five decades I've tried so hard to be myself and to be me and not copy anybody. I've been lucky, since the late '80s, to have a solo career, so I really had a job that forced me to be myself as much as possible. So I made a point not to play like anybody. But it happens eventually when you're having fun, you're at a party and someone says, 'Oh, can you play this song?' and you realize, 'I have no idea how to play that song. I love that song. I've listened to it a million times. I don't know what the guy's doing.' And then you go to learn it and you go, 'Wow, that's really weird. It feels so awkward for me to be like this.' And it's not the parts, 'cause I can hear the chords and I know what everything is when I hear it. It's just the sensibility of timing, vibrato, picking. If you're so deep into your own thing, it's really hard to get out of it and try to properly emulate somebody else's playing. It would almost be like if you gave a guitar to Eddie and you said, 'Okay, Eddie, we want you to play 'Summer Song' note for note.' He'd be, like, 'What? I don't play like that. I don't do that. I just kind of do this, this and this.' Of course we'd love it no matter how he did it — it would be fun — but it wouldn't be exactly the same."

Joe continued: "When I was young and I was in cover bands, I knew what it was like to try to get as close as possible when you were playing — for me, it was [LED] ZEPPELIN and [BLACK] SABBATH and THE [ROLLING] STONES and stuff like that; that's what we played. But eventually, you'd have to go, 'I don't play like that. That's not my vibrato.' If I go to play AC/DC, there's no way I can do Angus's [Young] vibrato. He just has his own vibrato. If you're gonna try to play like Jeff Beck — he's so personal. You can play the notes and remind people of this part he did and that part, but it's not gonna sound quite the same.

"If we heard Eric Clapton trying to play 'Since I've Been Loving You' by LED ZEPPELIN, there's no way it would sound the same. It would be great, but it wouldn't sound the same. So, what I noticed right away, when I realized, 'I really have to figure out these songs,' [I asked myself] what is Eddie — what's he operating on?

"So here are a couple of things I've noticed," Satriani added. "Number one, he plays so on the beat and makes it feel like he's pushing the beat, but he's actually not. It's really amazing how he does it. And I realized, when I went back and I listened to my stuff back to back, I thought, 'Oh, that's me, sitting on the backbeat as much as I can,' because I'm playing the melody. When you play the melody, you don't wanna be on top. Actually, you want the band to be pushing, and you're sitting back here, like a singer, playing. I like the way Robert Plant sings in 'Since I've Been Loving You'. He's so behind. Or listen to any hip-hop song — the vocals are way in the pocket; they're just late on purpose. So that's something I've worked on my whole life is 'sit back, sit back, sot back,' and all of a sudden you go to play a song like 'I'm The One', and it's like, 'No, you have to be the guy way in front.' And Alex [Van Halen] is gonna be going, 'No, no. Sit back here.' And that's a difficult sensibility when every nerve ending in your body is saying, 'Sit back.' But to make the song work, you've gotta sit forward. That's the first thing I noticed, like the difference between Eddie's sensibility in timing and mine in terms of timing.

"Our vibratos aren't that different," Joe said. "He holds hick pick [with his thumb and middle finger], so he's always got [his index] finger for tapping, and I don't. So I always have to do something. And what I started to do early on was to use my pick for a lot of hammer-ons because I just wanted to be different, and I thought I'd get a better sound, I'd be able to do some different things that other players weren't doing. And I saw guys using their fingers back in the early '70s, when Eddie was my age, just a young teenager. There were other guys doing tapping for decades before, but as my generation started to figure out how to do tapping, I saw the thing was a split. There's tapping for effect, tapping for riff, and then there's tapping to create an entire musical piece. And Eddie did all of it. The way that he would do the tapping, when he would use it, [was] totally opposite of the way that I had forced myself to go with it.

"The third thing is… Again, we're talking about someone who was just an incredible virtuoso in several areas. One of the things that Eddie had was this super-tight swing that was ultrafast with his right hand. And that is something, again, that once… I remember hearing for the first time and thinking, 'Well, I'm gonna have to work on that.' That's gonna take me, I thought, I bet, three months of 45 minutes a day just working with a metronome to work that into my bag of tricks.' 'Cause that's kind of like what it is."

Hagar and Anthony previously worked with Satriani in the supergroup CHICKENFOOT. They recorded two albums between 2009 and 2011 and toured across America but never performed any VAN HALEN material. More recently, Hagar and Anthony played some of the VAN HALEN catalog with guitarist Vic Johnson and Bonham in SAMMY HAGAR AND THE CIRCLE.

According to the Danish newspaper Sjaellandske Nyheder, 53-year-old Rasmus Stavnsborg from Solrød, a town in Denmark, is the owner of what is believed to be the world's largest collection of IRON MAIDEN memorabilia. Spread across six rooms in his home are more than 10,000 items dedicated to the legendary British heavy metal band.

Rasmus first dreamed of creating his own version of a Hard Rock Café as a child after visiting the famous restaurant chain. Only his vision would be entirely dedicated to IRON MAIDEN. Today, his villa in Solrød Strand is filled floor to ceiling with memorabilia, pinball machines, a homemade IRON MAIDEN bar, drums, incense sticks and countless other objects — all decorated with the band's iconic mascot, Eddie.

The collection originally occupied a 100-square-meter basement in the family's former home in Karlslunde. Around 12 years ago, the collection outgrew the space, prompting Rasmus, his partner and daughter to move to Solrød Strand, where the collection has since expanded from around 5,000 items to more than 10,000.

Among the most unusual objects in the collection is a cigarette butt once smoked by IRON MAIDEN's former singer Paul Di'Anno. Rasmus and his friends picked it up after meeting the singer at a bar years ago.

"He asked what on earth we were doing and what we were going to use it for. We just said we were going to clone him one day when he died, and then he shook his head and said we were some strange idiots," Rasmus recalls with laughter. Paul Di'Anno died in 2024.

For Rasmus, the stories behind the items matter as much as the objects themselves.

"If I just wanted to buy things to plaster the place with IRON MAIDEN stuff, that would be the easiest thing in the world. But I like that the things have a story, whether it's personal or connected to the band," he says.

He also insists the collection should be experienced rather than hidden away in boxes.

"A hunter hangs dead animals on the walls. I hang IRON MAIDEN things on the walls that I've hunted around the world," he says.

Rasmus has attended more than 300 IRON MAIDEN concerts since first seeing the band in Copenhagen's KB Hallen in 1988. During the band's 2006 "A Matter of Life and Death" tour, his dedication was recognized when IRON MAIDEN awarded him a "Super Fan Pass," allowing him to attend every concert on the tour free of charge.

"I was completely overwhelmed. It's an insane recognition to get from a band," he says.

Rasmus also appears in the new documentary "Iron Maiden: Burning Ambition", which premiered in early May. The film explores the band's history and the devotion of fans around the world.

His family often joins him on his travels to concerts across Europe and beyond. This year's plans include shows in Sweden, Denmark, Paris, London, Los Angeles, Peru and Ecuador — along with a hike to Machu Picchu.

"We experience the world together, and it brings us closer together as a family," says Rasmus.

A new video tour of Rasmus's collection can be seen at Sjaellandske Nyheder.

Special thanks to Daniel Almazan Fonseca of Sjællandske Nyheder

Mysterious masked British rock band PRESIDENT, which is rumored to be fronted by Charlie Simpson of the pop-punk act BUSTED and the post-hardcore outfit FIGHTSTAR, will release its debut album, "Blood Of Your Empire", on September 4 via Atlantic Records. The band has also shared the video for the LP's latest single, "Doom Loop". Watch it below.

PRESIDENT's frontman states: "The song is really about the strange tragedy of time — how we spend our lives chasing it, wasting it, and fearing it — only to realize its value once a moment is gone. It's a reminder for people to be present while they are actually living their lives, not just remembering them afterwards."

"'Blood Of Your Empire' was born out of my own struggle with existential crisis and trying to make sense of belief, mortality, and humanity's relationship with faith," he continues. "Religion has inspired incredible compassion, purpose, and beauty in the world — but it has also been responsible for unimaginable suffering and bloodshed throughout history. This album lives in the tension between those two truths. Writing it became a way for me to confront the fear, confusion, and questions I've carried for years, and turn them into something I'm truly proud of."

The album cover is a Eugène Delacroix painting, "The Battle Of Poitiers", which, consequently, hangs in the Louvre.

Launching in 2025 and operating under the cloak of minimalism and anonymity, PRESIDENT has been cultivating intrigue with each single and live performance. Refusing to conform to the traditional structures of genre or identity, PRESIDENT prioritizes intent over image.

Fresh off its first-ever full U.S. run supporting BAD OMENS, PRESIDENT will return this fall to headline venues across the continent. The live campaigns will feature support from CENOBIA and SHOWING TEETH on select dates. Produced by Live Nation, the tour is set to kick off September 4 at Brooklyn Bowl in Nashville, making stops across the U.S in Chicago, New York, Toronto, Boston, Atlanta, Denver, Seattle, Los Angeles. and more before wrapping up in Dallas at House of Blues on October 14.

The entire tour is already sold out.

"Blood Of Your Empire" track listing:

01. Angel Wings
02. Doom Loop
03. Dark Heaven
04. Pink Noise
05. Mercy
06. Sleepwalker
07. Dionysus
08. This Will Divide Us
09. Hate Figure (feat. Ando San)
10. White Devil

Built to exist outside the noise, PRESIDENT is building something that invites deeper investment — designed to be discovered, not sold. PRESIDENT said it best, telling Revolver in a cover feature that "the music industry has elements of fast fashion to it these days. Things just come and go. Everything's really quick. Everyone's shouting for attention and there's just so much noise, and it just becomes a fucking conveyor belt. [We] wanted to step back and not be a part of that. But if people are interested, and they want to enter into this world, we'll grab them with open arms."

PRESIDENT's debut EP, "King Of Terrors", was released in fall 2025.

Released more than two decades ago, "From Mars To Sirius" became a defining album that launched French progressive metallers GOJIRA to worldwide recognition. After celebrating its 20th anniversary in 2025, this metal masterpiece remains as powerful as ever, blending themes of environmental awareness, life, death, and rebirth. The album is widely regarded as one of the greatest metal records of all time.

Now, courtesy of Listenable Records, "From Mars To Sirius" is available in a limited deluxe edition: a double gatefold zoetrope picture disc featuring exclusive, never-before-seen band photos. The first edition of 3000 worldwide copies can be ordered at this location.

Released in September 2005, "From Mars To Sirius" was GOJIRA's third studio album. It is a concept effort addressing environmental issues and the rebirth of a dead planet through a space travel storyline, with the underlying theme of a transition from war to peace. The LP has since been named one of Rolling Stone magazine's" 100 Greatest Metal Albums Of All Time".

At the 2025 edition of the Bloodstock Open Air festival in the United Kingdom, GOJIRA drummer Mario Duplantier spoke to Bloodstock TV's Oran O’Beirne about the progress of the songwriting and recording sessions for the follow-up to the French progressive metallers' 2021 album "Fortitude". He said:  "We already did record some drums and guitars and basses.

"It took us a long time. We needed that time, I think, just to make sure we are all on the same page, make sure what is GOJIRA is bringing next is strong enough," he explained. "Also, we don't have that much pressure. We are not a young band anymore. We're not like SLEEP TOKEN or LORNA SHORE where the next album is so important. We've been a band for 30 years, so GOJIRA is already an established band. It doesn't mean that we can be lazy — it doesn't mean that — but it's very crucial to take the time to bring something fresh and new and powerful."

Mario added: "For the new songs, we took so much time just to make sure everything is fine and powerful enough and — I don't know — smart enough as well. But it's on the way, it's on the way. 2026, for sure."

Nearly two years ago, Mario's brother, Joseph Duplantier, told Chuck Armstrong of Loudwire Nights that he and his bandmates were "in the middle" of working on their next studio album. He said at the time: "We're trying to deliver something that is meaningful and impactful. We're very ambitious in terms of writing songs and the quality of it. And we wanna take a clear step forward and upward with this album. So we're putting all our love and energy on it."

In February 2025, GOJIRA was honored with a Grammy in the "Best Metal Performance" category in the pre-telecast ceremony at the 67th annual Grammy Awards, which was held at the Crypto.com Arena (formerly the Staples Center) in Los Angeles, California. GOJIRA was nominated for "Mea Culpa (Ah! Ça Ira!)" — a version of the French Revolution-era standard "Ah! Ça Ira!" — which the band performed at last year's Olympic Games opening ceremony.

In July 2024, GOJIRA performed a surprise rendition of "Ah! Ça Ira" alongside opera singer Marina Viotti as well as a number of beheaded figures representing the slain Queen Marie Antoinette. The performance took place outside the Conciergerie, a former prison and residence of French kings during the French Revolution where Antoinette was held before she was beheaded in 1793.

GOJIRA made history as the first metal band to ever perform at the Olympic Games. The performance made international headlines and was widely regarded as one of the most talked about moments from the 2024 summer Olympics.

Prior to winning last year's Grammy, GOJIRA had been nominated for a Grammy Award three times — twice in 2017, for "Best Metal Performance" and "Best Rock Album" ("Magma") and once in 2022 for "Best Metal Performance".

GOJIRA is considered a standard-bearer for French rock and bringing French rock to an international audience. Metal Hammer declared GOJIRA "metal's most important band" in 2016.

"Fortitude" entered Billboard's Top Albums chart at No. 1 in May 2021, while also claiming the No. 1 spot on Billboard's Top Current Albums, Current Rock Albums and Current Hard Music Albums tallies. The release also marked a career high debut on the Billboard 200 for GOJIRA, arriving at No. 12, with several career high chart positions and Top 10 debuts in countries around the globe including: France (No. 2),United Kingdom (No. 6),Australia (No. 3),Germany (No. 8),Belgium (No. 2),Netherlands (No. 4),Denmark (No. 3),Portugal (No. 4),Finland (No. 2) and Norway (No. 10).

Furthermore, GOJIRA concluded a month-long fundraising initiative in support of the indigenous-owned NGO The Articulation of Indigenous Peoples of Brazil (APIB) who advocate for environmental and cultural rights of indigenous tribes in the Amazon. Working with the social good-focused digital platform Propeller, the charitable campaign raised over $300,000 through an auction and raffle of one-of-a-kind items from the band and their friends in METALLICA, TOOL, SLIPKNOT, SLAYER, Slash and more. All proceeds were donated to APIB to support their work aiding the indigenous tribes of the Amazon who have suffered immensely — victims of deforestation, land loss, forced labor, violence, and harassment.

Recorded and produced by Joseph Duplantier at Silver Cord Studio — GOJIRA's Ridgewood, Queens, New York headquarters — and mixed by Andy Wallace (NIRVANA, RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE),"Fortitude" is GOJIRA's first album in five years and the follow-up to 2016's Grammy-nominated LP "Magma". A collection of songs urging humanity to imagine a new world and then make it happen, "Fortitude" has been earning widespread critical praise with Rolling Stone naming it one of their best albums of April 2021 and remarking "It's all the rage of death metal mixed with the conscience of punk rock and the musicality of progressive rock." NPR hailed "Another World" as "an apocalyptic banger," and Paste called "Into The Storm" a "much-needed revolutionary anthem." Stereogum declared, "hearing this band operating at their peak is a life-affirming thing," while Revolver attested "Fortitude" "could spark a revolution."

AVENGED SEVENFOLD has announced that it is now "a fully independent band" after completing its deal with Warner with the arrival of the "Life Is But A Dream…" album, which came out in June 2023. The band has also secured the rights to its 2016 LP "The Stage", which was originally made available through Capitol.

Earlier today (Tuesday, May 19),AVENGED SEVENFOLD released the following statement via social media: "We are excited to announce that we have purchased back the master recordings and rights to 'The Stage', 'The Stage (Deluxe Edition)' and 'Live At The Grammy Museum' from Capitol Records. We want to bring this to your attention because you may need to re-add to your playlists if it doesn't appear on your streaming services. Also, our Deluxe Edition now includes our 'Live From Capitol Records Rooftop' 4-song performance.

"After 26 years, AVENGED SEVENFOLD is now a fully independent band. 'The Stage' is now a part of that independence. It's an album that tackled AI, political and social critique, simulation theory and existentialism in 2016. All things that seem to be even more significant this day and age.

"We are aware the 10 year anniversary is coming up and are looking forward to that. For now, we are going to turn on double streaming points for Deathbat Rewards users throughout the week.

"You do know this is a simulation.... don't you?"

In an April 2023 interview with Overpriced JPEGs, AVENGED SEVENFOLD frontman M. Shadows spoke about the band's plans for releasing new music following the completion of the band's deal with Warner. Asked if AVENGED SEVENFOLD will go the "independent" route for its future releases, Shadows — whose real name is Matt Sanders — said: "Imagine writing out like a bullet point of things that we're not willing to budge on, and then we will… We wanna make music whenever we want, put it out, we wanna surprise-release things if we want, we wanna do this and that. Sometimes artists sign into a label but it's a distro deal where the label gets eight to 10 percent and then they'll distribute the record. They might even pay for the record to get done, but the band takes care of the other things. So there's so many ways to kind of slice this pie. We just know what we're not willing to do. And what we're not willing to do is just sign into the same kind of thing we have going on now. Now if the next record says Warner Brothers or Universal on it, it doesn't mean that we re-signed with a label; it means that maybe we're using them for distribution, maybe we're doing a licensing deal."

The singer continued: "We don't know what we're gonna do. Maybe we go to all the streaming services and make our own relationships with them and do our own thing. But at that point, when you're talking about an eight percent cut, you have to weigh and balance how much you wanna take on. Do we wanna pay for the record and the publicist and the radio people and all that stuff, or do we let the label do it and have a much better deal? One thing I've learned is that don't make decisions a year and a half out. Right now the record's not out. We have 18 months to live with them, see how they do on this record. And there's certain things we'll never do again, and there's certain things that I'm gonna look at. What we're gonna do is just make the best deal we can for where we're at. So, maybe [we'll be] independent, maybe not."

Back in April 2022, M. Shadows spoke to "The Bob Lefsetz Podcast" about the fact that Warner sued AVENGED SEVENFOLD in late 2015 after the band left the label by citing the California Labor Code's "seven-year rule." The rule allows for parties to exit contracts after seven years if certain unfavorable conditions exist. The band then moved on to Capitol, which issued "The Stage" as a surprise release in October 2016, promoted with a concert on top of the Capitol building.

The singer explained how AVENGED SEVENFOLD ended up returning to Warner, saying: "There's a lot that goes into that. We pulled the old seven-year clause that we were trying to get out of our deal, but the reality is we wanted our masters back — we wanted to make some sort of deal and be able to own our recordings, or possibly re-sign and get a check, all the things you can do. And then we started thinking about the seven-year clause and we actually wanted to see if we could help artists out in a way.

"The people that we had a problem with at Warner Brothers that simply weren't engaged in the band had left, and some new people came in and they flew out and we basically broke bread and said this record we did with Capitol Records, come back to Warner Brothers, finish up your deal and we'll deal with it from there. So, obviously a lot of rabbit holes in there."

Elaborating on why AVENGED SEVENFOLD was so unhappy with Warner Bros. before going back to the label, M. Shadows said: "[When] our 2014 record, 'Hail To The King', came out, we just noticed that no one at the label cared about our band. Basically, they'd come to the recordings, they'd come and check out the record, and it was just everyone's on their phone, and there was just no support. So we tried to get a better deal or at least get our masters back and get out of there. We went over to Capitol Records and put out a record. I think we're the only band that actually put out an album while we were still in some sort of litigation over the seven-year clause which caused a huge uproar between the labels and ourselves."

Pressed by Lefsetz about how Capitol feels about AVENGED SEVENFOLD returning to Warner Bros. after the band released only one album through the former label, M. Shadows said: "We went to Capitol and they knew the situation we were in, obviously. They're not dummies — they're not gonna sign us and say, 'We're getting into some long-term deal here.' We were under the idea that we would get our record back. They were basically putting one record out for us, and then we'd be free. So I think they kind of probably expected something like that to happen. When the regime change happened with Warner Brothers, and obviously the amounts of money we were spending arguing with them back and forth, it was obviously… the smart thing to do was just kind of put it to bed. So I think Capitol, they're fine. They got their one record, and we went out and worked it — we toured for a long time on it. And now we're back to finishing up our contract."

A provision in the California Labor Code's "seven-year rule" allows labels to collect money that would have been made on undelivered albums. In its lawsuit against AVENGED SEVENFOLD, Warner Bros. sought damages based on the fact that the band had one album left on its contract, while the group argued that extensive turnover in the label's staff led to an unsatisfactory working relationship. Had it lost the case, AVENGED SEVENFOLD would have faced a verdict between $5 million and $10 million. Warner Bros. was also allowed to seek its attorney fees — which by 2018 had amounted to more than $1.5 million.

"The Stage" debuted at No. 4 on The Billboard 200 album chart in November 2016. The surprise release of the disc earned the lowest sales of an AVENGED SEVENFOLD album in eleven years. It sold 76,000 copies in its first week, less than half the tally of its previous two efforts.

A few years ago, M. Shadows told The Pulse Of Radio that AVENGED SEVENFOLD was aware of the risks in such an unusual release. "One thing that we knew, you know, all the analytics proved that, you know, we shouldn't do this because of the way that rock fans consume music," he said. "You know, it's very physical-heavy, and one thing we knew is that we had to get records in stores, but we were gonna be basically setting ourselves up for a leak, which would have been a huge disaster. But Capitol Records did an amazing job of being able to get these records into stores, so we were able to be the first band to actually have a physical and digital release that was a surprise."

In a new interview with The Joel Martin Mastery Podcast, former EVANESCENCE guitarist Ben Moody spoke about the status of WE ARE THE FALLEN, the band he launched in 2009 with fellow original EVANESCENCE members John LeCompt (guitar) and Rocky Gray (drums) along with "American Idol" powerhouse vocalist Carly Smithson and current DAUGHTRY bassist Marty O'Brien. Asked if there is any unreleased WE ARE THE FALLEN material that could see the light of day, Ben said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "I'm probably being a little premature here, but fuck it… But Carly just left. Carly was just here [at my house]. Her and her kid, they came down for spring break and we recorded. And we have been fucking with shit.

"We've been in talks [and] threatening to do something since we did that show last [September], when we did the spot with the Nashville Symphony Orchestra" and conductor Eímear Noone for one song at a very special night of Gamesymphonic at the Schermerhorn Symphony Center in Nashville, Tennessee. This marked the first live performance by WE ARE THE FALLEN in 14 years.

Moody went on to confirm that there is "unreleased stuff" from WE ARE THE FALLEN that could see the light of day. "There's shit we did even for that [first WE ARE THE FALLEN] record that wasn't released," he said. "Plus there's been ideas since and stuff."

As for the possibility of further WE ARE THE FALLEN recording and touring activity, Ben said: "I refuse to believe that there is nothing in the future for WE ARE THE FALLEN, simply because we didn't break up because of some sort of a band squabble. Everyone involved loves each other very much, has an immense amount of respect for each other.

"There's a lot of things that went on behind the scenes with that, that no one knows about that, that cost and that sort of sucked a lot of life out of it. But we're all very proud of that.

"I'm sorry — I will put that live band up against anyone in existence," Moody continued. "We were at the top of our game, and I have never been a part of touring or anything to that degree that could fucking touch how good we were, how fucking tight we were, how a force of nature we were to contend with live. And I will still stand by that. That was something that was the last sort of victim of a system that should have already been gone, which is the major label bullshit. There's nothing on paper that can give you a decent... Show you the math. It should give you a reason why that wasn't a bigger success than it was, other than it was just so many fucking things dropping the ball that had nothing to do with us. And we put in more than people realize. That cost a lot of money and a lot of time and a lot of energy to put together, to keep it secret as long as we did, and to keep it protected, to be able to make the album we wanted to make. And I stand by that album. I love it. I love it, and I love all those people."

After the interviewer noted that there is a great deal of interest in something new from WE ARE THE FALLEN, Ben said: "I'll be honest with you. There are two things right now that are the instant hurdles we have to get over for something to happen. One of them is easier than the other, and one of them is we all are parents and our lives are different now. We want it badly, all of us. One, Marty's kind of busy. Marty's on tour with DAUGHTRY. [Chris] Daughtry's fucking relentless, and he will not fucking take long breaks. We'd have to contend with that, 'cause Marty's with somebody else now. But for the rest of us, we would all be willing to make it work.

"If I'm being honest, a lot of it comes down to me, and it's my fault," Ben admitted. "There's one more surgery [I have to undergo], [and] after that I believe I will have the ability to be able to do this adequately. But when I first started having problems, physically, it coincided with some problems I was dealing with on a mental health issue. And that sort of killed all the momentum we had after the fact. And now, to be honest with you, everyone would say yes. And we've had this discussion. Everyone is on board, and we've wanted to try to work on things multiple times. And there are actually some things that have begun, some ideas that were thrown around. A lot of it comes down to — if I'm being honest, I physically can't play our set, and that could change, and I've worked very hard on that. I gave up working on that a few years ago when other things became more important. In fact, the surgery I'm speaking of, the last time it was scheduled, my father died about 36 hours prior to that surgery, and there was a lot of things going on that week, and I needed something to take a backseat, so I could deal with all that and process that and mourn that and not have it sort of capsize my life at the time. And the thing that was chosen was that surgery, and I haven't rescheduled it. So it's possible, but it is not a lack of desire."

Moody continued: "One thing Carly has always been… She's so aware of and concerned about wanting to give people who showed their support, wanting to give them what they deserve and say 'thank you'. And she's always the one bringing up, 'Listen, fans want this, and they've said this,' and whatever. And it's important to all of us. None of us take it lightly, but it boils down to being on me, if I'm being honest, and it's my fault. And I can only do what I can. I'm trying. But that's just one small portion of sort of what this medical issue has taken.

"Dude, I love WE ARE THE FALLEN," Moody repeated. "I would jump on stage with them tomorrow if I could do it justice. It still could happen. I don't know when. We haven't blown it off. We all talk about it regularly. I have, unfortunately, a couple of things that take priority over that surgery now medically, and I'm doing my best. I mean, I hate it. I hate being subject to that. I hate that having control over so much of my life, but it does. If I try to change it, I just end up hurting myself. I end up furthering injuries. 'Cause I don't know when to quit, and I don't know when to say, 'I can't do this.' That's hard for me to say. 'I cannot do this.' And that's kind of where I'm at. I physically can't play it, which played a huge part in my disappearing from music altogether. I didn't want anybody to know that. I didn't know if it was gonna be permanent. I didn't know what the fuck was going on. All I knew was my body was betraying me, my hands had become this liability, and I didn't want anybody to know. I was embarrassed. So, I just disappeared.

"WE ARE THE FALLEN didn't break up," Ben clarified. "It's just sort of is where it is for now. We love it, though. Everyone involved loves that band. There's no bad blood. I talk to John and Rocky all the time. Carly was just here. Marty texted me yesterday or the day before. Carly and I went to go see him on the road. We're good. That band is not like EVANESCENCE. We all still talk to each other."

Gray did not perform with WE ARE THE FALLEN at the Schermerhorn Symphony Center. Filling in for him was Miles McPherson, who has previously played with played with Kelly Clarkson, PARAMORE, TONIC and BETTER THAN EZRA.

WE ARE THE FALLEN's debut album, "Tear The World Down" was made available in May 2010 via Universal Republic Records. The LP sold 13,000 copies in the United States in its first week of release to land at position No. 33 on the Billboard 200 chart.

WE ARE THE FALLEN made its live debut on in March 2010 at Kings College in London, England. A 28-city U.S. tour as the support act for HIM launched later that month in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and wrapped in May 2010 in New York City.

Sixteen years ago, Moody explained why he formed an EVANESCENCE soundalike band after his exit from the Amy Lee-fronted group. He wrote in a lengthy statement posted online that "contrary to almost every EVANESCENCE fan's opinion… what we were looking for was NOT an Amy Lee lookalike. Nor was it someone who would wear Amy Lee's clothes, or try to sing like Amy Lee. I hate to break it to you, but this is about five people who love to make music together. Does [WE ARE THE FALLEN's debut album] 'Tear The World Down' have many stylistic similarities to [EVANESCENCE's debut album] 'Fallen'? Sure. You want to hear me do something different? How about the songs I wrote on both DAUGHTRY records. Or Kelly Clarkson. Or Avril Lavigne. Celine Dion. HALESTORM. Hana Pestle… Hell… I even have country releases. My solo record is as far from EVANESCENCE as it gets, which has a lot to do with why about 12 people own it. I made EVANESCENCE music to leave a mark on this world. Everything else I do, I do for me.

"I LOVE playing in WE ARE THE FALLEN… I WAS the guitar player in EVANESCENCE. If I appear to be reminiscent in style, its because it's written and performed by the very same damn people. It's not rocket science… it's plain and simple. Rocky, John and I playing together just doesn't come out any other way. Accusing me of ripping off myself is just silly."

In January 2011, WE ARE THE FALLEN played a special show at the Avalon Theater in Hollywood, California. The concert, dubbed "Cirque Des Damnés" (English translation: "Circus Of The Damned"),was previously described by Moody as "a carnival-style event thrown into the unpredictability of a rock and roll show — bigger than we've ever done before." The performance, which was filmed for a DVD, featured "aerial acts and old-school freakshow freaks," and a burlesque show.

Innovative Mongolian rock group THE HU — Galaa (morin khuur, throat singing); Jaya (tumur khuur, tsuur, throat singing); Enkush (morin khuur, throat singing); and Temka (tovshuur, throat singing) — will release its third full-length album, "Hun", on July 24 via Better Noise Music.

Alongside the album news, the band has unleashed a hypnotic new single titled "Lost Soul", featuring Jonny Hawkins of NOTHING MORE. It marks the first collaboration between the gold-certified global phenomenon and NOTHING MORE.

The official music video for "Lost Soul", featuring Jonny Hawkins of NOTHING MORE, can be seen below.

Across the song, the percussive groove-laden soundscape resembles the extremes of Mongolia's fickle and unforgiving climate. A head-nodding riff tosses and turns beneath propulsive verses, giving way to a melodic refrain from Hawkins who croons the infectious chorus, "Born to be a lost soul." These English-sung affirmations lock into a seamless volley with traditional Mongolian chanting, uniting styles and cultures in one burst of boundary-breaking energy.

Resounding beyond all borders, the song trumpets a message of resiliency, fortitude, and strength that translates positively into any language and anywhere in the world.

Regarding the song, Galaa comments: "We have been unpacking our surprises one by one. Hunnu rock transcends through culture and in that respect, we have made 'Lost Soul' with Jonny Hawkins. To be not lost on your life journey, not losing your values, and go through life and having a courage to face the life obstacles are messages we are sending our fans through this song 'Lost Soul' and in our next album, 'Hun'."

Hawkins adds: "I am so excited to team up with a band as committed to their craft as THE HU. It's unlike anything I've done before."

"Hun" finds THE HU, who were first tipped by NPR back in 2019, at the peak of their powers thus far. They expand the scope of their signature "hunnu rock" with 11 tracks steeped in the lore and legend of Mongolia, yet uplifted with universal ambition. It's as epic, enthralling, and enigmatic and it opens the gateway into their world.

"We took our time to do this right, and we're so glad that we're almost ready to release what we have worked on these past few years," the band says. "Now, we are also focusing on the performances and working out a brand-new setlist. We want to play bigger venues so we can do extensive production, and bring in some amazing elements of our culture, and play these ideas to our fans. And, as well as our third album, we have some amazing ideas for another album already!"

"Hun" track listing:

01. Warrior Chant
02. Lost Soul *
03. The Men
04. Echoes Of My Father
05. Shadow
06. Horsemen
07. Greed
08. The Real You
09. Grey Hun
10. Universe
11. Second Face

* Version of "Lost Soul" featuring Jonny Hawkins of NOTHING MORE will only appear on the digital version of "Hun"

THE HU has teamed up with Finnish cello metal standouts APOCALYPTICA for a run of shows this May and June. The tour kicked off on May 12 in Silver Spring, Maryland and will take them across the country before wrapping in Anaheim, California on June 7. Joining THE HU and APOCALYPTICA is platinum-selling Finnish rock band THE RASMUS.

And in other THE HU news, the band recently appeared on the song "Pray To The Sun", featuring Declan De Barra, from the Netflix Japanese manga series "One Piece". It's another instance of the band and its music connecting with passionate fandoms, as their song "Sugaan Essena" was also prominently featured in the "Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order" video game.

THE HU have passionately and unforgettably brought Mongolian music to the music frontlines. In November 2022, THE HU became the first-ever rock/metal band to receive the prestigious UNESCO "Artist For Peace" designation at UNESCO's headquarters in Paris, France by UNESCO director-general Audrey Azoulay. Previous recipients include Celine Dion, Shirley Bassey, Sarah Brightman, Herbie Hancock, Marcus Miller and World Orchestra For Peace. With multiple sold-out headlining tours, prestigious government honors and awards, collaborations with several of rock's biggest names, and featured music on video games including EA Games' "Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order", THE HU have cemented their status as a global powerhouse.