Ghost have released the new video below, along with the following "Message From The Clergy": "We wish to inform you that in this world, nothing is certain except death and taxes."





Ghost have revealed details of its upcoming Re-Imperatour U.S.A. 2023 summer tour with special guest Amon Amarth. Produced by Live Nation and FPC Live, the 27-date tour kicks off on Wednesday, August 2 in Concord, CA at Concord Pavilion, with stops in Salt Lake City, Chicago, Cincinnati, Austin and more before wrapping up with the band's Monday, September 11 return to the Kia Forum in Los Angeles.




Says Amon Amarth: "We are pleased to announce Amon Amarth are joining fellow Swedes Ghost for another raid this summer across the US this August. Sharpen your axes and fasten your shields as we blaze across America sacking your cities and converting the survivors to join the Great Heathen Army! See you at the shows!"


General on sale startS Friday, February 17 at 10 AM, local time on Ticketmaster.com.





Tour dates:


August
2 - Concord, CA - Concord Pavilion
4 - Auburn, WA - White River Amphitheatre
5 - Airway Heights, WA - BECU Live at Northern Quest
7 - West Valley City, UT - USANA Amphitheatre
8 - Denver, CO - Fiddler’s Green Amphitheatre *
11 - St. Louis, MO - Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre
12 - Milwaukee, WI - American Family Insurance Amphitheater
14- Clarkston, MI - Pine Knob Music Theatre
15 - Chicago, IL - Huntington Bank Pavilion at Northerly Island
16 - Cincinnati, OH - PNC Pavilion at Riverbend Music Center
18 - Syracuse, NY - St. Joseph's Health Amphitheater at Lakeview
19 - Mansfield, MA - Xfinity Center
20 - Bridgeport, CT - Hartford HealthCare Amphitheater
22 - Indianapolis, IN - TCU Amphitheater at White River State Park
23 - Burgettstown, PA - The Pavilion at Star Lake
24 - Bristow, VA - Jiffy Lube Live
25 - Camden, NJ - Freedom Mortgage Pavilion
27 - Nashville, TN - Ascend Amphitheater
29 - Simpsonville, SC - CCNB Amphitheatre at Heritage Park
30 - Jacksonville, FL - Daily’s Place
31 - Tampa, FL - MIDFLORIDA Credit Union Amphitheatre


September
2 - The Woodlands, TX - The Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion presented by Huntsman
3 - Austin, TX - Germania Insurance Amphitheater
5 - Irving, TX - The Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory
7 - Albuquerque, NM - Isleta Amphitheater
8 - Phoenix, AZ - Talking Stick Resort Amphitheatre
11 - Los Angeles, CA - The Kia Forum ^


* Non-Live Nation Date
^ Amon Amarth not on this date

Arjen Lucassen’s Supersonic Revolution will release their debut album, Golden Age Of Music, on May 19 via Music Theories Recording/Mascot Label Group. You can watch a lyric video for “SR Prelude" / "The Glamattack” below.


You think you know Arjen Lucassen? Towering Dutch prog rock polymath? The man behind the super successful prog rock conceptualists Ayreon? Not to mention his prog metal of Star One and Guilt Machine? Enormous overarching concept albums about space and time, packed to the hilt with special guests that read like a who’s who of modern day progressive rock? Arjen Lucassen? Well, think again…


Supersonic Revolution, the band behind Golden Age Of Music, are simply five men: Arjen on bass, long-standing keyboard player Joost van den Broek, guitarist Timo Somers, drummer Koen Herfst and singer Jaycee. Five men rocking out and having one hell of a time doing it.




The whole project grew from a request to provide a track for a cover CD for the German music magazine Eclipsed. “They asked if I had any cover versions lying around,” he recalls. “I said, ‘No but I’ll happily record one for you.’ So, they gave me a list of bands and I saw a ZZ Top song ‘I Heard It On The X’ that I really like. I said I could record it for them, but then they told me it had to be ready in one week...”


“I was like ‘Oh my god!’. I contacted my favorite musicians in Holland via WhatsApp and literally within 30 minutes I had assembled five people. A band basically. From there the seed was sown in Lucassen’s mind. ‘I want to form a band. And I want to simply have fun!’.


“I’m a perfectionist as you know, so I’m always sending musicians their parts back and asking them to change stuff,” he acknowledges. “But this was all brilliant. We were having fun, calling and WhatsApping all the time, and within a week we had a complete product.” He continues, “Also I wanted to have an up-beat, positive project.”


“I was like, let’s form a band and let’s write songs in the style of the 70s, and have the lyrics be a celebration of all the memorable things from that time, because those were my formative years,” he enthuses. “But I didn’t want it to sound like the 70s because that’s already been done, and I can’t do it any better than ‘Stargazer’ or ‘Kashmir’.”


“The guys are all younger than me - around 30 - so they weren’t even alive yet in the 70s. So, it was a great way for me to make 70s music with lots of Hammond and blistering guitars, but to update it to this time.”


The end result is 11 tracks of high energy, progressively inclined heavy rock that swings with the kind of groove Deep Purple rocked with in the early to mid-1970s. “This album is not a typical prog album. It’s not YES or Genesis. But it’s not a metal album either. There’s a track called ‘Burn it Down’,” Lucassen notes, “it’s totally based on ‘Smoke On The Water’ but written from the perspective of the ‘stupid with a flare gun’ mentioned in the original lyrics.


The album also features covers of some legendary songs given the Arjen Lucassen treatment as bonus tracks: T-Rex’s "Children Of The Revolution", ZZ Top’s "Heard It On The X", Earth Wind & Fire’s "Fantasy" and Roger Glover’s "Love Is All".


That, ladies and gentlemen, is the real Arjen Lucassen. Job done. Having fun.


Available formats:


- Artbook
- Transparent Blue 2LP
- Pink Marble 2LP
- Purple Marble 2LP
- Yellow Marble 2LP
- CD
- Digital


Pre-order here.





Golden Age Of Music tracklisting:


"SR Prelude"
"The Glamattack"
"Golden Age Of Music"
"The Rise Of The Starman"
" Burn It Down"
"Odyssey"
"They Took Us By Storm"
"Golden Boy"
"Holy Holy Ground"
"Fight Of The Century"
"Came To Mock, Stayed To Rock"
"Children Of The Revolution" (Bonus Track)
"Heard It On The X" (Bonus Track)
"Fantasy" (Bonus Track)
"Love Is All" (Bonus Track)


"The Glamattack" lyric video:

In a new interview with the 96.1 KLPX radio station, SKID ROW bassist Rachel Bolan spoke about the band's touring plans for the coming months. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "I know we start up again in March, and we're doing a tour — us and BUCKCHERRY are going out, with another band opening the show called NO RESOLVE. And those shows are selling really well. We've got a three-week run now. We'll probably announce more dates. Other than that, we've got a bunch of European festivals. We've got some festivals in the States, and lot of other dates in the States.

"We recorded for a live record when we were in London [last October] — we recorded a live record. So hopefully that'll be out at some point this year," he revealed. "Possibly another video off this record [SKID ROW's latest album, 'The Gang's All Here']; [I'm] not sure. We're just kind of getting the year going.

"We got home in November, and Snake [SKID ROW guitarist Dave Sabo] had neck surgery. He had to get two discs replaced at the bottom of his neck — or wherever in his neck. And it's a crazy operation; they go in through the front and move his throat over and all this shit. [Laughs] It's nuts. So, anyway, he needs to rehab, and that's what he's been doing. So he'll be good to go by the end of February, beginning of March. And then we start — our first show, I believe, is on the 9th of March. We start rehearsals a few days before that. And then it's balls to the wall, man."

New SKID ROW singer Erik Grönwall made his recording debut with the band on "The Gang's All Here", which came out last October via earMUSIC. The group recorded most of the LP in Nashville, Tennessee with producer Nick Raskulinecz, who has previously worked with FOO FIGHTERS, STONE SOUR, HALESTORM, EVANESCENCE, RUSH and ALICE IN CHAINS, among many others.

Sebastian 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 Bolan and guitarists 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 singer Tony Harnell as his replacement. Eight months later, Harnell exited the band and was replaced by ZP Theart, the South African-born, British-based singer who previously fronted DRAGONFORCE, TANK and I AM I.

Grönwall, who auditioned for the competition show "Swedish Idol" back in 2009 by singing a cover of SKID ROW's "18 And Life", joined SKID ROW in January 2022. Theart, who had been in the group for more than six years, played his final gig with SKID ROW in February 2022 before being officially given the boot.

Grönwall was a member of the Swedish hard rock band H.E.A.T. with whom he recorded four studio albums — "Address The Nation" (2012),"Tearing Down The Walls" (2014),"Into The Great Unknown" (2017) and "H.E.A.T II" (2020) — before exiting the group in October 2020.

In September 2021, Grönwall released his cover version of SKID ROW's "18 And Life" via all streaming platforms.

In 2018, Grönwall debuted in the U.S. for 10 million viewers in NBC's live broadcast of Andrew Lloyd Webber's and Tim Rice's musical "Jesus Christ Superstar". Along with John Legend, Alice Cooper, Sara Bareilles and others, Erik played the key role of Simon Zealotes.

During an appearance on the latest episode of "The Jasta Show", the video podcast hosted by HATEBREED frontman Jamey Jasta, Glen Benton spoke about the status of DEICIDE's long-awaited new studio album. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUT.NET): "Well, we signed a new deal with one of these record companies out there. I guess I'm not at liberty to say anything, who it is yet; [they're] gonna announce it soon. Yeah, man, we've had the album in the works, but we got stuck doing this whole 'Legion' [30th-anniversary celebration] thing, and it kind of put the record to the backburner. So now it's out of the way, and we're really… I'm in the process of writing lyrics right now."

Regarding what he and his bandmates were looking for in a record deal, Glen said: "We wanted a one-record deal, man, with a big pile of money to get it done. And we got it… We get to both walk away after it. I think it kind of puts people to do a better job and to promote it better. I think it's gonna be a lot better experience for us. We've always had these multi-record deals that we've had to do. And you know as well as I do, after the first record, you're, like, 'What did I do?' It was a toss-up between doing it like this and just doing it ourselves. And me and Steve [Asheim, DEICIDE drummer] don't wanna lick envelopes and put stamps on shit. So that's why we went this route."

Last August, Benton told "The Garza Podcast" that DEICIDE's new music "is really anthem-style stuff. It's really good, man. There's a lot of prog stuff in there, mixed in there. Steve's our prog guy, man; he's the progressive rock guy. He likes to write those really black metal riffs and the progressive stuff. He's an amazing talent, man. He plays piano. He can play sweeps on guitar. He's a drummer. Yeah, he can do it all."

Benton went on to say that the next DEICIDE album was written in 2021 before he and his bandmates agreed to embark on a tour celebrating the 30th anniversary of DEICIDE's sophomore album, "Legion". But, he explained, "We're getting ready to hammer this deal out right now and get this thing out."

DEICIDE played its first show with new guitarist guitarist Taylor Nordberg (THE ABSENCE, INHUMAN CONDITION) on May 21, 2022 at the Rickshaw Theatre in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

A year ago, Nordberg spoke about how he landed the DEICIDE gig in an interview with "The Zach Moonshine Show". He said: "In 2019, my band THE ABSENCE toured with DEICIDE in the U.S. And we got to know the guys and got along really well. And I actually found out that Glen [Benton, DEICIDE frontman] lives, like, two streets over from Jeramie [Kling, THE ABSENCE drummer] and I, where we live. So Jeramie and Glen became good buddies and they ride bikes all the times. It's a funny little thing, thinking about that. But long story short, [previous DEICIDE guitarist] Chris [Cannella], I believe he's the head of A&R at Dean Guitars so he's focusing on that for right now. I heard that they needed a guitar player, so I learned a couple of songs, made a couple of videos, and Glen saw 'em and liked what he saw. So we had a couple of practices, and bing bang boom, here we are."

Cannella amicably left DEICIDE in January 2022 after a three-year run.

Chris joined DEICIDE in 2019 following the departure of guitarist Mark English.

English became a member of DEICIDE in 2016 after the exit of longtime guitarist Jack Owen.

In February 2022, Nordberg was asked in an interview with the "Brews N Tunes" podcast if he and his new bandmates had commenced work on the follow-up to "Overtures Of Blasphemy" album. He responded: "They had started most of the new album before I joined, but since announcing [that we are going to celebrate the 30th anniversary of] 'Legion' [by performing the LP in its entirety], we've kind of shifted gears and we're trying to lock that in and get a set prepped just in the event that a show pops up. But they have most of the new album prepped, and then we're hammering out, ironing out some details with the last couple songs. But the material is sounding killer. It sounds like DEICIDE."

"Overtures Of Blasphemy" was released in September 2018 via Century Media.

Image courtesy of Leo Presents
Episode 666 !! 🤘🏻😂🤘🏻 https://t.co/z2xDl9PE2G the mighty Glen Benton from #Deicidepic.twitter.com/25CDcAeqQ4

— Jamey Jasta (@jameyjasta) February 16, 2023

In a new interview with Jorge Botas of Metal Global, SAXON frontman Biff Byford was asked if he thinks it's easier for newer metal acts to make a mark nowadays than he was when he and his bandmates were first starting out. He responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "I don't think it's ever been easy. I think it's like winning the lottery. I think there are a lot of super-talented bands out there, new bands, but whether they are lucky enough to be noticed by enough people…

"The problem is you can have two hundred thousand followers, but they're all over the world," he explained. "So if you play in one city, they might be a hundred people of those two hundred thousand people in that city that know you. That's one of the problems.

"The thing is when you do a tour, or when you build up a following from [performing] live, those are the people, the next time you go, that turn into three hundred people, and then that turns… and people support you.

"So it's very difficult," Byford added. "It's very difficult for bands to tour. The club circuit is really bad at the moment. A lot of clubs have closed down, and there's a lot of tribute bands playing clubs all the time. So it's very hard for new bands to get in with new material. I would advise people to maybe play and do cover versions and do their own material as well, try and get your foot through the door.

"You need a lot of followers on social media — whether it be Spotify people or whether it be Facebook or TikTok or Instagram — you need a lot of people to be able to play in, say, some place in England — Oxford. There has to be five, six hundred people in Oxford to come and see you that perhaps only know you from social media. It's very difficult, very difficult for bands to have a live following. And from the live following comes the reviews in the magazines. You can record and make a live album quite cheap. You can sell merchandise. A lot of things come from [performing] live that helps bands to survive."

SAXON will release a new album, "More Inspirations", on March 24 via Silver Lining Music.

Following the release of "Inspirations" in 2021, "More Inspirations" is the second "deep dish" serving of the influences which have fed the mighty SAXON's immensely successful 40-plus-year career.

Produced by Biff, with Seb Byford helping record the music alongside mixing engineer Jacky Lehmann, "More Inspirations" includes enthusiastic takes on RAINBOW, ZZ TOP and CREAM, as well as a thunderous "Razamanaz" by NAZARETH, a tasty take on THE WHO's "Substitute", and a thick groove take on URIAH HEEP's "Gypsy".

Following the success of the "Seize The World" tour 2022, SAXON will be back on the road in March 2023 for a string of European dates, with special guests German metal titans RAGE.

Byford and guitarist Paul Quinn are the sole remaining original members in SAXON's current lineup.

Originally from South Yorkshire, England, SAXON has gone on to sell about 23 million albums and has produced such classic songs as "Denim And Leather", "Princess Of The Night", "Wheels Of Steel" and "Power And Glory".

Biff's first-ever solo album, "School Of Hard Knocks", came out in February 2020.

Last month, Biff told TotalRock that a new SAXON studio album will arrive in early 2024. The singer is also working on his second solo LP.

During an appearance on the latest episode of the "Appetite For Distortion" podcast, DEF LEPPARD drummer Rick Allen was asked to weigh in on MÖTLEY CRÜE guitarist Mick Mars's recent decision to no longer tour with the legendary rock act because of his long struggles with degenerative disease ankylosing spondylitis. Ankylosing spondylitis is a type of arthritis that causes inflammation in the spine joints and ligaments and can lead to stiffness over time, according to the National Institute Of Arthritis And Musculoskeletal And Skin Diseases.

Allen, who most recently toured with Mars as part of DEF LEPPARD and MÖTLEY CRÜE's 2022 "The Stadium Tour", said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "It was Mick's decision to really move on and just get to the next part of his life. And we all know that Mick has suffered terribly, terribly with pain; you see it on his face all the time. And I think the only time I ever saw him truly in his element [was] when he was up on stage playing with the band. It was more his decision. That must have been a super hard decision. I mean, it would have been different if the guy was being thrown out of the band, but it wasn't like that at all. It was a personal choice that he made. And you can't say that that's wrong. It was right for him at the time.

"Over the months — well, actually years — that I've known him, I really started to talk to him," Rick continued. "So unassuming. Such a soft, gentle soul. And when I first met him years ago, I was actually quite afraid, you know. [Laughs] But he's the exact opposite of that — just a really sweet, generous person. So it must have been a very difficult decision for everybody to have to go through that."

The 71-year-old Mars — whose real name is Robert Alan Deal — served as MÖTLEY CRÜE's lead guitarist since the band's inception in 1981.

A day after Mick announced his retirement from touring last October, the remaining members — bassist Nikki Sixx, singer Vince Neil and drummer Tommy Lee — vowed to "continue the legacy." In a statement, they said: "While change is never easy, we accept Mick's decision to retire from the band due to the challenges with his health. We have watched Mick manage his Ankylosing Spondylitis for decades and he has always managed it with utmost courage and grace. To say 'enough is enough' is the ultimate act of courage. Mick's sound helped define MÖTLEY CRÜE from the minute he plugged in his guitar at our very first rehearsal together. The rest, as they say, is history. We'll continue to honor his musical legacy."

The statement continued: "We will carry out Mick's wish and continue to tour the world as planned in 2023. No doubt will it take an absolutely outstanding musician to fill Mick's shoes so we are grateful that our good friend, John 5 has agreed to come on board and join us moving forward. We'll see all you Crueheads out on the road!"

John 5 said: "I'm honored to carry on Mick's legacy and am looking forward to playing these songs."

In his statement, Mick said that he had decided to step back from live shows due to his "ongoing painful struggle" with ankylosing spondylitis and while he will continue to be a member of the band, he cannot "handle the rigors" of touring life.

The statement read: "Mick Mars, co-founder and lead guitarist of the heavy metal band MÖTLEY CRÜE for the past 41 years, has announced today that due to his ongoing painful struggle with Ankylosing Spondylitis, he will no longer be able to tour with the band. Mick will continue as a member of the band, but can no longer handle the rigors of the road. A.S. is an extremely painful and crippling degenerative disease, which affects the spine."

GUNS N' ROSES's video for the classic ballad "November Rain", has surpassed two billion views on YouTube. The clip, which was first released 31 years ago, wasn't uploaded to the platform until December 2009.

Released on 1991's "Use Your Illusion I" album, the original version of "November Rain" clocked in at nine minutes and seventeen seconds. The accompanying music video follows the story of a troubled rock star (played by singer Axl Rose),his girlfriend (played by Axl's then-real-life flame Stephanie Seymour),and her mysterious suicide.

Back in 2018, the "November Rain" video became the oldest music video to reach one billion views on YouTube. "That was an epic production," Slash recalled to writer Clay Marshall. "That was all more Axl's vision than anything I had to do with it. My contribution was [that] I would write my own part, where the leaving the wedding and doing the church thing was concerned. The way that [director] Andy Morahan shot it, I thought, 'This is going to be the last thing I ever do,' because these helicopters were flying [right] at me. I thought, 'It'll look cool doing it, and that will be my last day.' Because it was such an elaborate production, being a very sort of stripped-down rock guy, I was like, 'Oh, God. All this stuff!' But it did come out pretty fuckin' awesome. Now, all this time later, it's more of a hats-off to Axl than anything that it's reached that threshold. I always knew that that was a cool song. I never count my eggs as far as in advance how epic or how big, because always whenever you feel that is when it goes the opposite direction. You just do it; you enjoy it in the moment; and wherever it goes, it goes. But I always knew that that was a really great song."

Slash revealed in his autobiography that an early 18-minute version of "November Rain" was recorded at a session with guitarist Manny Charlton (of rock band NAZARETH) in 1986, before the sessions for GN'R's debut album, "Appetite For Destruction", began.

In a 2014 interview with HuffPost Live, Slash admitted that he didn't know what the "November Rain" was all about. "You know what?! To tell you the truth, I have no idea," Slash responded when he was asked about the meaning of the clip. "Well, it was a concept. The song itself is pretty self-explanatory, but the video is so complex. And I remember when Axl was writing it, it just became… It was so epic, it was like a movie. And I, not being a huge videos and making videos especially, I just showed up for my scenes. I [would] write my own scene and [I would indicate what I wanted to] do in my section. I never paid attention to the rest of the whole production. So at the end of the day, I never really knew… I knew there was a wedding in there somewhere and I was not into the concept of the wedding."

The MrRogerRocks2 YouTube channel has uploaded video of DEEP PURPLE's February 13 performance aboard the Rock Legends Cruise X, which is sailing from Fort Lauderdale to CocoCay, Bahamas on Liberty Of The Seas. Check out the clips below.

In a recent interview with Spain's RockFM, DEEP PURPLE singer Ian Gillan discussed his apparent unwillingness to perform the band's classic song "Child In Time" live. He explained: "No, no. It's not possible. I could drop the key down, but it wouldn't sound the same. I always make the analogy… When I was young, I used to be an athlete, and I used to do the pole vault; that was my sport. And when I was 25, I couldn't do the pole vault anymore. At 26, no, forget it. I can't do it.

"I always thought of 'Child In Time' not as a song but more like an Olympic event. It was so challenging. But yeah, when I was young, it was effortless. So we got to the point when I got to about 38 years old, and it just didn't sound right. So I thought, 'Better not to do it badly. Better not to do it.' So it's been the same, and I never looked [back].

"When I was 38, when I made that decision, I thought, 'My god. I'm nearly halfway through my life now,'" Gillan added. 'And it made me think about the future. Do I want to be a singer for the rest of my life? Well, of course. I must. I've been singing since I was five years old in a church choir, or since I was eight. And my whole family was musical — singers, musicians. And so, what do I do then? I don't wanna just be known for this scream, as it was called; I don't wanna be screaming when I'm 80 years old or 70 years old. It's undignified. But here I am, at 77, and I'm still screaming — up to a point. But the control element and the elevation of that note is beyond me, to be honest."

"Child in Time" was originally featured on DEEP PURPLE's 1970 album "Deep Purple In Rock". It was last performed by the band on its 2002 European tour.

DEEP PURPLE bassist Roger Glover previously talked about Gillan's reluctance to perform "Child in Time" during an August 2020 interview with Noise11.com. At the time, he said: "This happened quite a few years ago. He drew a line in the sand. He said, 'I'm not gonna sing that song anymore.' And that was a personal decision. And we have to abide by that, because he's our singer, and we respect that.

"We wrote that song when we were 24, and when you're 24, you can do things a lot differently than you can when you're 74," he continued. "I think it was also spoiled a little bit by politics in the band back in the days. Ian Gillan, one night, couldn't go on and he said, 'I've got a cold. I can't do 'Child In Time' tonight.' And [then-DEEP PURPLE guitarist] Ritchie [Blackmore] went on and started playing the opening chords. Of course, the audience went nuts, and Ian was forced to do it. So it became a bit of a cause célèbre. And as Ian got older, he tried to do it, but we didn't wanna cheat and have the top harmony played by a sampler or a guitar or something like that. And so he said, 'That's it. I'm not singing that song ever again.' And it's not that he's not proud of it; it's just that he doesn't wanna sing it. And this was… I don't know how long ago this was… Ten, fifteen years ago."

Last September, Irish guitarist Simon McBride joined DEEP PURPLE as the permanent replacement for Steve Morse. McBride had previously toured with both Gillan and PURPLE keyboardist Don Airey,

In July 2022, Morse officially left PURPLE to care for his wife, Janine, who is battling cancer.

Morse's announcement came four months after the guitarist said that he would be taking a hiatus from the band, in the hope of rejoining his bandmates once his wife's health improved. He was then replaced on the road by McBride.

Morse effectively took over Ritchie Blackmore's DEEP PURPLE slot in 1994 and had since been in the group longer than Ritchie.

DEEP PURPLE's latest album, "Turning To Crime", came out in November 2021 via earMUSIC. The LP contains DEEP PURPLE's versions of great rock classics and musical jewels — including songs originally recorded by Bob Dylan, FLEETWOOD MAC, Bob Seger, CREAM and THE YARDBIRDS — carefully chosen by each member of the band.

The MrRogerRocks2 YouTube channel has uploaded video of original FOREIGNER singer Lou Gramm's February 14 performance aboard the Rock Legends Cruise X, which is sailing from Fort Lauderdale to CocoCay, Bahamas on Liberty Of The Seas. Check out the clips below.

Last October, Gramm was asked during an appearance on SiriusXM's "Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk"what he thinks of the band's current frontman, Kelly Hansen, who has been in the group for nearly two decades. "I think he's a good singer," Lou said. "And he sings those songs okay; he sings them good. But he mimics my style right down to the ad-libs, and I'm offended by that… I just think that if he's gonna sing the songs, he could sing the melodies that are familiar, but when it comes to the ad-libs and all the little things that set me aside as a vocalist when I sing them, he should make his own up. He should have his own ad-libs that are his own; he doesn't have to mimic me."

Gramm's latest comments echo those he made a little over two months earlier when he told John Beaudin of RockHistoryMusic.com about Hansen: "Kelly is all right. He's a good singer. But I think Mick [Jones, FOREIGNER's founding guitarist and leader] really told Kelly, when he first got in the band, that he had to study me, because he sings those songs with the same musical innuendos and vocal licks and ad-libs as I have. He's mimicking me. His voice doesn't sound like me, but he's singing the songs the way I would sing them.

"Some people say, 'Well, take it as a compliment, Lou.' I don't take it as a compliment," Gramm continued. "You're a singer with a big band like that — use your voice and your style. Don't hang your coat on my hook.

"I don't think he should sing the songs verbatim like me," Lou added. "Maybe sing a couple of parts. But let his own influences show — show the fans that he's the new singer now, not me."

Asked what it was like to share the stage with Hansen and other members of the current and original FOREIGNER lineup in 2017 and 2018 to celebrate the band's 40th anniversary, Lou told RockHistoryMusic.com: "It was okay. [Kelly] was bouncing off the walls. He couldn't stand still or sit still. After a song ended, I couldn't even get a word to thank the audience or tell 'em that I was happy to be part of the reunion. At the end of the song, the last song hit, and there wasn't a quarter of a second of space before he was yapping away to the audience… It was, like, 'Jeez, will you quiet down for a minute?'"

Pressed about whether it is "over now" for him and FOREIGNER, Lou said: "I think so, yeah. I don't wanna be a part of it. Well, Ian [McDonald, guitar] has passed away and Ed Gagliardi [bass] passed away, even though he wasn't part of the reunions. Two original members of the six are now gone. And Mick is in very poor health. I think when the new FOREIGNER plays, I've heard that he comes on for one song and then waves and goes offstage. [In the recent past] he would play the whole last half of the set. But then he was in the hospital again for weeks. He had some heart problems and his recovery time was very long and tedious. And I heard that he comes out for one song now — when he comes on. Most of the time FOREIGNER has no original FOREIGNER members in it."

Gramm was the voice on FOREIGNER's biggest hits, including "Feels Like The First Time" and "Cold As Ice" from the band's eponymous debut in 1977, and later songs like "Hot Blooded" and "I Want to Know What Love Is".

The 72-year-old Gramm left FOREIGNER for good in 2002 and has battled health issues in recent years, including the removal of a non-cancerous tumor. He told the Democrat & Chronicle in 2018 that he was planning to retire, but still reunited with FOREIGNER for several shows that year.

FOREIGNER replaced Gramm with Hansen in 2005. Jones, the only remaining original member of FOREIGNER, suffered from some health issues beginning in 2011, eventually resulting in heart surgery in 2012.

Gramm and Jones's June 2013 performance of "I Want To Know What Love Is" and "Juke Box Hero" at the Songwriters Hall Of Fame in New York City marked the first time the pair performed together in a decade after Gramm left FOREIGNER for a second time. Hansen has fronted the group for the past 18 years.