Frontiers Music Srl will release the latest album from ENUFF Z'NUFF, "Finer Than Sin", on November 11.

Now fronted by singer and bassist Chip Z'nuff for their last three studio albums, including THE BEATLES covers album "Enuff Z'Nuff's Hardrock Nite", the band is still delivering its patented infectious power pop melded with hard rock.

The first preview of the new album, a song called "Catastrophe", can be streamed below.

Founding member Chip Z'nuff is once again joined by long-running members Tory Stoffregen (guitars),Tony Fennell (guitars) and Daniel Benjamin Hill (drums).

"Finer Than Sin" showcases the musical stylings that have kept ENUFF Z'NUFF a loyal fanbase since the 1980s, staying true to their colorful rock 'n' roll roots. "Finer Than Sin" is the band's 17th studio album overall.

Originally formed in 1984 in Chicago, Illinois, ENUFF Z'NUFF received its big break in 1989 when its signed to Atco/Atlantic Records. The band's self-titled album was a monster hit and spawned two evergreen singles, "New Thing" and "Fly High Michelle". Both received constant airplay on radio and heavy rotation on MTV, spending over 60 weeks in the Top 10.

1991 saw the band release their sophomore album, "Strength". The album had a massive hard rock overtone and sustained the success achieved on the first album.

The band made high profile television and radio appearances on the likes of "The Late Show With David Letterman" and "The Howard Stern Show" and were featured in Rolling Stone's Hot Issue as "The Next Big Thing".

ENUFF Z'NUFF have soldiered on during the new musical climates of the '90s and '00s and continued to release over a dozen more studio records.

"Finer Than Sin" track listing:

01. Sound Check
02. Catastrophe
03. Steal The Light
04. Lost And Out Of Control
05. Intoxicated
06. Hurricane
07. Trampoline
08. Temporarily Disconnected
09. God Save The Queen
10. Reprise

ENUFF Z'NUFF just wrapped up a run of U.S. shows with THE DEAD DAISIES and has more U.S. dates coming up, as well as international concerts.

ENUFF Z'NUFF is:

Chip Z'nuff - Vocals, Electric Bass
Tory Stoffregen - Lead Guitar
Tony Fennell - Guitar, Vocals
Daniel Benjamin Hill - Drums, Percussion

BMG has announced the release of a commemorative triple black vinyl album in honor of the 40th anniversary of IRON MAIDEN's seminal third album, "The Number Of The Beast", which was to become the record which catapulted the band to international stardom. Included in the new vinyl package is "Beast Over Hammersmith" — available now officially for the very first time on vinyl — featuring the live concert from March 1982's now-legendary Hammersmith Odeon London show from the "Beast On The Road" world tour. Recorded only days before the release of "The Number Of The Beast" album, it's remarkable to think these now-classic songs at that time were still brand new, unfamiliar and being heard live by fans for the very first time. A real piece of history in the making.

The track listing is:

Disc 1 - The Number Of The Beast

Side 1:

01. Invaders
02. Children Of The Damned
03. The Prisoner
04. 22 Acacia Avenue

Side 2:

01. The Number Of The Beast
02. Run To The Hills
03. Total Eclipse*
04. Hallowed Be Thy Name

*alternative track listing to original "The Number Of The Beast" vinyl release. "Total Eclipse" replaces "Gangland"

Disc 2 - Beast Over Hammersmith

Side 3:

01. Murders In The Rue Morgue
02. Wrathchild
03. Run To The Hills
04. Children of The Damned
05. The Number Of The Beast

Side 4:

01. Another Life
02. Killers
03. 22 Acacia Avenue
04. Total Eclipse
05. Transylvania

Disc 3 - Beast Over Hammersmith

Side 5:

01. The Prisoner
02. Hallowed Be Thy Name
03. Phantom Of The Opera
04. Iron Maiden

Side 6:

01. Sanctuary
02. Drifter
03. Running Free
04. Prowler

The package features exclusive liner notes written by MAIDEN founder and bassist Steve Harris as well as restored and expanded artwork taken from the CD format of "Beast Over Hammersmith", previously only available in the limited-edition "Eddie's Archive" boxset originally released in 2002.

Harris comments: "On this vinyl release we get the chance to put 'Total Eclipse' in its rightful spot on the album for the first time. The reason it didn't make it in the first place was that it was all a mad rush when we were finishing the record and we had to get the 'Run To The Hills' single out before the tour and we basically had to pick a B-side and it was between 'Gangland' and 'Total Eclipse' and we just picked the wrong one, really! I think 'Total Eclipse' is a stronger song and the album would have been stronger if it had been on there."

To pre-order the album, click here.

Two years ago, Harris reflected on the pressure he and his bandmates felt while writing and recording "The Number Of The Beast". He said during an appearance on SiriusXM's "Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk": "It was the fact that we'd used up the material, pretty much, from the times before that. Before the first album [1980's 'Iron Maiden'], it was a four-and-a-half-year period before we got signed and all that. And so we had a lot of material that we were doing that was already there, playing in the live set, so we recorded all that. And the second album [1981's 'Killers'] was only, I think, three new songs that were on that album, 'cause the rest of it was stuff we'd been playing [live] as well. So when you get to the third album, it's, like, 'What are we gonna do now?' But that pressure was pretty fierce pressure, and we didn't have a lot of time either. Back in those days, it was just album-tour, album-tour and whatever, and it just worked. So we thought, 'You know what? That worked really well. We'll do the same thing again.' … It has to be done. And if you've got a tour coming after it, that's it — it has to be done."

Released in March 1982, "The Number Of The Beast" was IRON MAIDEN's first LP to feature vocalist Bruce Dickinson and the songwriting contributions of guitarist Adrian Smith, who had joined the band two years earlier.

"Obviously, all those elements all thrown into one, it was a pretty scary time in a way, but it was also therapeutic in the sense that we actually went in and just had to come up with the goods," Steve said. "It's, like, 'That's it. It's crunch time. You've gotta do it.'"

Ted Nugent has once again railed against large social-media companies that block users from their platforms.

The outspoken conservative rocker is an ardent supporter of former U.S. president Donald Trump who was famously suspended from his social accounts in January 2021 over public safety concerns in the wake of the Capitol riot.

Nugent repeated his unsubstantiated accusations that tech companies are censoring his speech during the September 22 edition of "The Nightly Nuge", a news-style clip in which Ted offers his take on the news of our world every night. Responding to co-host Keith Mark's claim that Meta chief product officer Chris Cox "on behalf of Facebook admitted" in a recent hearing "that there was collusion to thwart the First Amendment rights of a lot of Americans, but he justified it because it was for a greater good," Nugent said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Well, that's right out of the communist playbook and straight out of rules for radicals by Saul Alinsky, where they can cripple truth, logic and common sense and freedom and life, liberty and pursuit of happiness by censoring people who fight for, exercise and preach truth, logic and common sense. When you censor a segment of society who is about God, family, country, Constitution, Bill Of Rights, being the best that you can be… But that's really not what the First Amendment protects; the First Amendment, it was proven in the Hustler magazine thing [Editor's note: The U.S. Supreme Court voted unanimously in 1988 to overturn a $200,000 judgment awarded to the Rev. Jerry Falwell for his emotional distress at having been parodied in Hustler, a pornographic magazine.], the court system, the First Amendment is about protecting the most offensive speech, the most unfriendly speech, the most uncommon speech."

"So, finally the truth came out that they're admitting they're censoring and denying First Amendment rights, which I think is against the law," Ted continued. "The U.S. Constitution is the foundation of our law.

"I'm telling you, this is a pivotal moment.

"When I first started out on Facebook years ago — I don't think they really knew enough about Ted Nugent yet — because during the late, late… well, I guess it was in the 2000s, I had between 25 million and 36 million reach on Facebook," Nugent added. "And then the Big Tech America haters finally figured out that I was a truth, logic and common sense guy. So I went from 36 million to 3.6 million overnight. And now even with 3.6 million on Facebook, they reduce it to 15 — not 15 million, not 15 hundred; 15. Sometimes I'll make a statement that is irrefutably true, and they'll censor it and suppress it down to a couple of dozen people.

"So Big Tech, here's a word from good families of America, Big Tech. You people suck. Your fact checkers are psychopathic liars. Your fact checking is dishonest and it's against the law and it's against the First Amendment and it trounces freedom of speech. Shame on you idiots at Facebook and Big Tech. You are bad, bad people, because when you suppress freedom of speech, you're anti-human, you're anti-American, you are a voice and a power of communism. 'For the greater good.' And Big Tech hates the Constitution. I think those that are involved in the power of Big Tech, I think they look at the Constitution as toilet paper. I think we should look at them as toilet paper."

Social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook have suspended or removed the accounts of prominent conservatives who have violated their terms of service.

Trump was banned from Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat following the January 6, 2021 Capitol riot that he was accused of inciting, adding to claims that conservatives are being unfairly treated. Twitter, along with Facebook and Instagram, pointed to their terms of service, which prohibit inciting violence on their platforms.

Defenders of the technology industry have repeatedly said that private companies cannot be forced to host speech they don't agree with. They also argue that private owners should be able to do as they please with their own property. In addition, they note that social media companies can only decide what speech they host and present. Those unsatisfied with their choices can choose to read or contribute elsewhere.

Earlier this year, Trump launched Truth Social, the Twitter alternative. Trump has since used the platform to post, including spreading further misinformation, such as the ongoing false claim that Joe Biden's 2020 election win was fraudulent.

Trump had consistently attacked the media throughout his presidency and called the press the "enemy of the people." He also regularly accused reporters of spreading "fake news" — his term for stories he dislikes. In addition, he has assailed the news media at rallies and even at more formal presidential events, encouraging his audiences to chant "CNN sucks!"

This past January, Nugent once again repeated the baseless conspiracy theory that the riot at the U.S. Capitol was orchestrated by undercover FBI agents, Antifa and Black Lives Matter.

Nugent, who has refused to take the vaccine, has falsely claimed that public health measures taken during the COVID-19 pandemic violate the Nuremberg code, a set of medical experimentation guidelines set after World War Two, as the vaccine is "experimental."

In the past, Nugent, who battled COVID-19 in April 2021, had referred to the virus as a "leftist scam to destroy" Trump. He had also repeated a narrative pushed by conservative media and disputed by health experts that suggests the official death count from the coronavirus is inflated.

PAPA ROACH singer Jacoby Shaddix and guitarist Jerry Horton were interviewed by Liv Maddix of 105.7 The Point backstage at Pointfest on Saturday, September 24 at Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre in St, Louis, Missouri. Speaking about how they embrace collaborations with other artists, Jacoby said: "We're always keeping our ear to the underground. We're looking for what's new, what's poppin'. I think that's part of the fun of music, is discovering new stuff. But then also, like, how do we lead the charge ourselves? How do we, I guess, carry the torch for rock and roll? That's our goal. I don't know if we're necessarily the band that's doing it, but it's, like, when you put that in the forefront of your mind, like, how are we gonna take our fans on a journey? What's this trip gonna be? And I think that we always stretch out in that regard. And sometimes we go a little too far, and the fans are, like, 'What the fuck are you guys doing?' We're, like, 'Dude, just give it, like, five years and then you'll get it. We're coming to you from the future and the future's dope.'"

In July and August, PAPA ROACH and FALLING IN REVERSE took part in a co-headlining U.S. tour. Dubbed the "Rockzilla Summer Tour", the bill also included HOLLYWOOD UNDEAD and BAD WOLVES. The trek launched on July 27 in East Providence, Rhode Island and concluded on August 31 in Nashville, Tennessee.

After two years of work and nearly 10 months of building up excitement with fans, PAPA ROACH recently celebrated the release of its 11th studio album, "Ego Trip". An album that sprouted almost by mistake in the throes of a global lockdown, its seeds were planted when the quartet entered a COVID-secure mansion in Temecula, California, in the summer of 2020.

"Ego Trip" came out in April via New Noize Records in partnership with ADA Worldwide (WMG's independent label and artist services arm).

PAPA ROACH are two-time Grammy-nominated, platinum-selling leaders in alternative hard rock music, who in 2020 celebrated the 20th anniversary of their iconic album "Infest".

PAPA ROACH is completed by bassist Tobin Esperance and drummer Tony Palermo.

"Ego Trip" is the follow-up to "Who Do You Trust?", which came out in January 2019.

With 30 years of hit songs and world-traversing tours under his belt, STEELHEART frontman Miiljenko Matijević has released the single "We All Die Young" as part of a STEELHEART 30th-anniversary album that will be out at the end of 2022.

Matijević commented: "30 years of making records and performing throughout the world… How lucky can one man be? It all hit home when I completed the STEELHEART 30th-anniversary album. I have re-written and re-recorded some of my most famous songs and I am beyond excited for the world to hear this album. My deepest thank you to all the people who have supported and believed in me. Love to all!"

Matijević is a world-class vocalist who has performed as lead singer for the modern-day DOORS and as the voice for the "fictional" rock band STEEL DRAGON from the film "Rock Star" (starring Mark Wahlberg and Jennifer Aniston). "We All Die Young" is the track that Wahlberg lip-synced in the film, and is a STEELHEART fan favorite. It never got its proper due, since the song's original version came out September 11, 2001 and — along with all other songs with the word "die" in them — was shelved promotion-wise after the terrorist attacks.

In addition to the lyric video made by 12 Inch Media, Miljenko is filming a performance video to be released soon, along with a special 360 Real Audio remix of "We All Die Young" via PeerTracks.

In addition to his musical legacy, Matjević is currently acting in a film inspired by his song "Trust In Love", written about the division in the Korean peninsula that also speaks to the current Russia/Ukraine conflict. The song has been released in English, Korean and Mandarin (Chinese),Spanish and Portuguese with a Hindi version on the way. "Trust In Love" — the film — is about Mickey Ferrara's record-producing career going down the tubes while his estranged wife wants a divorce and his son is struggling with the reality that he is gay. But Mickey is a warrior, so he's about to get in the trenches and trust in love to keep his family together. The Mick Davis-directed feature also reunites Miljenko with Robby Krieger from THE DOORS who makes an appearance in the film.

2023 will see further touring from STEELHEART and a number of re-recorded, remixed and remastered favorites from Matjević's catalog having new lives as singles from the anniversary album.

BLACK SABBATH guitarist Tony Iommi was among the attendees at the London premiere of the first-ever career-spanning documentary on the life and times of legendary metal icon Ronnie James Dio, which was held Monday night (September 26) at the Curzon Soho Theatre. Speaking to TotalRock on the red carpet of last night's event, Iommi said about his late SABBATH and HEAVEN & HELL bandmate (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "You know, the thing is he loved his fans. Many times we'd say, 'C'mon, Ronnie. We've gotta go.' And he'd always see everybody. I mean, you can't always because you have to leave; you've gotta get the flight or you've gotta do this and that. But he'd always give them time. And he loved his fans; it was everything to him. He loved what he did. And he was a real professional. And that's one of the things I really liked about him as well. You'd know he'd go on stage and he'd be able to do it and put it on. He wouldn't pull anything out; he wouldn't cancel anything. He'd go on and do it."

"Dio: Dreamers Never Die" will be presented in more than 500 cinemas worldwide by Trafalgar Releasing and BMG for two days only on Wednesday, September 28 and Sunday, October 2. Executive-produced by Dio's widow and longtime manager Wendy Dio and fully authorized by the artist's estate, "Dio: Dreamers Never Die" delves deep into the singer's incredible rise from a '50s doo-wop crooner to his early rock days in ELF and Ritchie Blackmore's RAINBOW, to replacing Ozzy Osbourne in BLACK SABBATH, and finally cementing his rock star status with his own band, DIO. The film incorporates never-before-seen footage and personal photos, as well as offering intimate scenes with his closest peers, family, and friends, among them Wendy, Iommi, Geezer Butler, Glenn Hughes, Vinny Appice, Lita Ford, Rob Halford, Sebastian Bach, Eddie Trunk and Jack Black, as they bring viewers inside the life of one of rock and roll's true heroes and one of the most beloved figures in rock.

Iommi previously reflected on his time recording and touring with Dio as his bandmate in both BLACK SABBATH and HEAVEN & HELL in an April 2021 interview with Rockin' Metal Revival. At the time he said: "The last tour we did with Ronnie was real precious, and we had such a great time. And we really bonded. The last generation of the period with Ronnie was really close — everybody was close. Yeah, Ronnie was such a really nice person.

"What I liked about Ronnie [is] he gave everybody time," Tony continued. "It was just remarkable. Before the show, he'd have people in his dressing room — 'cause we'd have separate dressing rooms — he'd have people in there talking away and drinking and whatever. And he never warmed up or anything; he'd never done any kind of warming-up procedure before he went on stage. And he'd walk on stage and he'd just [sound] unbelievable; his voice was spot-on. It was just amazing, really, how he could do that.

"He was a really nice, caring character. He'd call me up — even just before he passed, he was on the phone to me, calling me from the hospital.

"It was very sad, really, [when he died]," Iommi added. "But he thought a lot of everybody — he really did. And he loved his fans."

Dio replaced Ozzy Osbourne in BLACK SABBATH in 1980, recording the "Heaven And Hell" and "Mob Rules" albums, plus "Live Evil", before leaving in 1982. He rejoined the group 10 years later for an album called "Dehumanizer", and again teamed with the group under the HEAVEN & HELL banner in 2006. HEAVEN & HELL released an album called "The Devil You Know" in 2009.

Ronnie passed away of stomach cancer on May 16, 2010 at the age of 67.

Dio was renowned throughout the world as one of the greatest and most influential vocalists in heavy metal history. The singer was diagnosed with cancer in late 2009. He underwent chemotherapy and made what is now his final public appearance in April 2010 at the Revolver Golden Gods Awards in Los Angeles.

Ronnie's long-awaited autobiography, titled "Rainbow In The Dark: The Autobiography", was released on July 2021 via Permuted Press.

Interviews with Tony Iommi, Wendy Dio and Thunder at the Dio Dreamers Never Die film UK premiere tonight in London….

Posted by TotalRock on Monday, September 26, 2022

Took my American cousin Linda Ducato for my exclusive tour of London yesterday … booked tickets to Shard but typical…

Posted by Jules Annan on Tuesday, September 27, 2022

Horror Pain Gore Death Productions are set to release the new album from Canadian death metal horror fiends VHS. Deep Gashes And Long Lashes is up now for preorder and will be released October 31 on CD and Digital formats, along with merch and bundles. 


VHS trade in their machetes for black hats and trench coats. With a more synth driven approach, throbbing groove and ominous melodies set the perfect backdrop for a bloodsoaked murder scene. Deep Gashes And Long Lashes is a tribute to the bizarrely beautiful giallo films from the 60's, 70's, and 80's. VHS present an audible homage to the thrilling and bombastic music that accompanies the on screen violence and beautiful set pieces, as well as a salute to the gorgeous woman that met a grisly end.  Call it Giallo Death! Deep Gashes And Long Lashes features guest vocals by Fiore of Fulci, Ricki of Golem Of Gore, Alessio from Guineapig and Il Becchino of Tenebro.







Tracklisting:


“I Want Your Eyeball” (feat. Ricki)
“Deep Gashes And Long Lashes”
“Flithy, Slimy, Pervert” (feat. Alessio)
“Solange”
“Quack, Quack” (feat. Fiore)
“Six Women For The Murderer”
“Deep Red”
“Witch…”
“Murder Witnessed Through Hallucinogens” (feat. Il Becchino)


“Solange”:

JUDAS PRIEST bassist Ian Hill says that he and his bandmates are "honored" to finally be getting inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame.

PRIEST will receive the Musical Excellence Award at the fall 2022 event, which will honor Eminem, Dolly Parton, DURAN DURAN, Lionel Richie, Pat Benatar, EURYTHMICS and Carly Simon in the Performers category.

In a new interview with Darren Paltrowitz, host of the "Paltrocast With Darren Paltrowitz", Hill stated about the nod: "These things come and go. You get excited for a while, and then you get let down on so many occasions, you think, 'Oh, forget it.' And you don't lose any sleep. Just from a vulgar commercial point of view, it doesn't really do you any good; it's not gonna earn you any money. But, yeah, it's great to be recognized by your peers. It's a different sort of thing — isn't it? — from your fans, to be recognized by the people who also do it. Yeah, we're honored to be part of it."

The award for Musical Excellence — which was originally titled the "Sidemen" category when it debuted — is given to artists, musicians, songwriters and producers whose originality and influence creating music have had a dramatic impact on music.

Back in 2010, when the Sidemen category was renamed the award for Musical Excellence, Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame Foundation president Joel Peresman told The Plain Dealer the category "gives us flexibility to dive into some things and recognize some people who might not ordinarily get recognized."

JUDAS PRIEST is the second band to receive the award for Musical Excellence; the E STREET BAND was the first. Last year, late OZZY OSBOURNE and QUIET RIOT guitarist Randy Rhoads was one of the recipients of the Musical Excellence Award.

The induction ceremony will be held on November 5 at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. It will air at a later date on HBO and stream on HBO Max. There will also be a radio simulcast on SiriusXM's Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame Radio channel 310.

According to the Hall Of Fame, the JUDAS PRIEST members that will get inducted include current members Hill, Rob Halford (vocals),Glenn Tipton (guitar) and Scott Travis (drums),along with former members K.K. Downing (guitar),Les Binks (drums) and late drummer Dave Holland.

Regarding how much discussion there has been about who exactly in PRIEST is being inducted, Hill told Metal Hammer: "The rule, as I understand it, is whoever has been with the band for 20 years. Richie [Faulkner, guitar] is sadly not being inducted, but really deserves to be, as he's been the driving force in the band for nearly 12 years now. Dave Holland [drummer 1979-1989] was in the band for a long time and obviously Ken [K.K. Downing] will be there. Les Binks was with us all those years, as was Scott, so he'll be part of the induction too."

Asked if he has spoken directly to Downing since the Rock Hall announcement, Hill said: "He's spoken to management and said he will definitely be there. It should be good."

JUDAS PRIEST was previously on the ballot for Rock Hall induction in 2020, but failed to receive enough votes to make that year's class.

Having been eligible for induction since 1999, PRIEST was also on the ballot for the 2018 class of the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame, but was ultimately left out of the inductee list.

To be eligible for nomination, an individual artist or band must have released its first commercial recording at least 25 years prior to the year of nomination.

Even though artists are eligible for the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame 25 years after the release of their first album or single, iconic hard rock and metal bands like IRON MAIDEN and MOTÖRHEAD have yet to be recognized by the institution, which inducted GUNS N' ROSES in that group's first year of eligibility.

The Rock Hall didn't induct BLACK SABBATH until 2006, and METALLICA followed three years later.

Eligible for induction since 1999, KISS didn't get its first nomination until 2009, and was finally inducted in 2014.

DEEP PURPLE was eligible for the Rock Hall since 1993 but didn't get inducted until 2016.

Downing left PRIEST in 2011 amid claims of band conflict, shoddy management and declining quality of performance.

In 2019, Downing said that he reached out to JUDAS PRIEST about taking part in the band's 50th-anniversary tour but that their response was that they were not interested in including him in the celebrations.

In 2018, Downing revealed that he sent two resignation letters to his bandmates when he decided to quit JUDAS PRIEST. The first was described as "a graceful exit note, implying a smooth retirement from music," while the second was "angrier, laying out all of his frustrations with specific parties."

Downing later said that he believed the second letter was "a key reason" he wasn't invited to rejoin PRIEST after Tipton's decision to retire from touring.

According to TMZ, MÖTLEY CRÜE drummer Tommy Lee has once again relisted his home in Calabasas, California.

Lee put the house on the market in April 2016 for $5,995,000, but that price came down in July 2016 by three hundred thousand to $5,699,000, in November 2016 by another two hundred thousand to $5,495,000 and in May 2017 by half a million to $4,995,000. Five months later, Tommy dropped the asking price to $4,650,000 before removing the house from the market in February 2018. Three months later, he put the home up for sale again at $4,650,000 before removing it in May 2019. The house was placed back on the market in May 2020 for $4,599,000 before the listing was removed in May 2021. The house is now back on the market for that same price.

The drummer purchased the home in 2007 for $5.85 million, according to property records.

Official description of the house courtesy of agent Emil Hartoonian of The Agency: "Set atop a spectacular hillside against the extended city light views lies this architectural compound which brings the perfect balance of a tropical escape and artistic functionality. A lush central atrium with natural tropic open to the sky with a retractable roof illumines natural light throughout. Uniquely modeled with the flow and scale far and wide. A spacious chef's kitchen with center island, stainless steel appliances and granite counters. Entertainers living and dining room, a spacious office/library with a private terrace. The main level Master Suite with personalized tranquility, large scale glass doors slide open to the beautiful outdoor space with a private pool and spa overlooking the city views. A large walk-in closet generously scaled for ample space to both his and hers adjacent to a beautifully appointed master spa. The lower level offers a true compound made for imagination, creativity and inspiration. A professional recording studio skillfully engineered with isolation booths and a control room. Adjacent is a home screening room and personal concession bar as well as lower-level dining and wine tasting quarters. Lower level garage parking and ample storage. This magnificent compound is truly a unique offering for the creative lifestyle it demands."

A 2020 video tour of the house is available in the YouTube clip below.

Lee sold his last house, in nearby Malibu, in late 2004 for $2,475,000, according to public records. Lee had paid $800,000 in 1995 for that 7,462-square-foot house on 2.49 acres. The house had made the news back in 2001 when a four-year-old boy died after accidentally drowning in the house's swimming pool during a birthday party.

CHASTAIN singer Leather Leone will release a new solo album, "We Are The Chosen", on November 25 via Steamhammer/SPV. The LP's lead single, "We Take Back Control", can be streamed below. It marks her first solo material since her 2018 effort "Leather II".

Leone has a mission, and not just recently, but since the beginning of her life as an artist. As a thoroughbred musician, as an exceptional metal vocalist, and above all as an unconditionally positive person, her message has always been: Never give up and stay the way you are! You don't have to look far to find this encouraging credo on "We Are The Chosen": It features immediately on the opening track "We Take Back Control", and it would be difficult to express her self-confidence and zest for action more unequivocally. The song sets the direction for the whole album, for Leather's ambitions, and for her future as a committed musician. Her positive lyrics run like a leitmotif through the album's ten songs and create an atmospherically dense arch up to its programmatic finale "The Glory In The End". A second single will follow on November 4.

Leather undeniably counts among the most charismatic metal vocalists of the past four decades. She already caused a sensation in the 1980s as frontwoman of CHASTAIN, the band of guitar icon David T. Chastain. Together with him, Leone produced a series of successful albums up to the present day, some of them for legendary U.S. talent scout Mike Varney's imprint Shrapnel. She has also released successful recordings with MALIBU BARBI, SLEDGE/LEATHER, among others, and as a solo artist.

"We Are The Chosen" has allowed Leather to break free from the oppressive situation of the past two years. Leone remembers: "Things had been going really well for me just before the lockdown started, but with the arrival of COVID, all my touring plans had to be shelved and things were threatening to go down the drain. But my friend and guitarist Vinnie Tex was totally right in saying, 'Now more than ever! We'll do everything ourselves!' The very first number we composed for the new record was 'We Take Back Control', which pointed the direction for the rest of the album."

Among other songs featured on the album is "Who Rules The World", which is, as Leather explains, "a typical example of my style, a kind of retrospective of my entire musical life." In addition, there are a number of surprises: "Off With Your Head" has the American chanteuse embark on pastures new. Leone explains: "This song is one of my absolute favorites." "Hallowed Ground", which she has dedicated to her great idol Ronnie James Dio, also deserves to be mentioned.

"I met Ronnie lots of times and had wonderful discussions with him," Leather says. "He knew that I first got into metal thanks to his music and that I owe him lots."

"We Are The Chosen" was recorded at the Hertz Studios (BEHEMOTH, VADER, HATE) in Białystok, Poland, with Leather Leone and Vinnie Tex in charge of songwriting and production. Woitek and Slawek Wieslawski mixed and mastered the material, and Marcelo Vasco (SLAYER, KREATOR, TESTAMENT) contributed the cover artwork.

Leather and Vinnie Tex have invested vitality and passion in every last detail of their new metal anthems, so it comes as no surprise that Leone sums up her latest offering as follows: "To me, 'We Are The Chosen' is a labor of love and I'm incredibly proud of it."

01. We Take Back Control 4:49
02. Always Been Evil 4:06
03. Shadows 4:08
04. Off With Your Head 5:17
05. We Are The Chosen 5:27
06. Tyrants 4:29
07. Hallowed Ground 6:56
08. Dark Days 3:41
09. Who Rules The World 5:09
10. The Glory In The End 3:26

The Leather-fronted version of CHASTAIN recorded five CDs in the mid-to-late 1980s: 1985's "Mystery Of Illusion", 1986's "Ruler Of The Wasteland", 1987's "The 7th Of Never", 1988's "The Voice Of The Cult" and 1990's "For Those Who Dare". After the "For Those Who Dare" tour, David Chastain and Leather amicably went their separate ways but kept in touch over the years before reuniting in 2013.

Leather released one solo album, "Shock Waves", in 1989, before taking a two-decade break from the music scene. In a 2015 interview with MusicLifeMagazine.net, she said: "For 20 years I got into animal medicine and animal rescue I got into pitbull rescue which totally blew my mind and took my breath away. But I went away from music because it was so frustrating for me. Some people have said that I just gave up and that those sorts of comments really dug into me but maybe it seems to outsiders that I did."

Leather in 2012 released the debut album from her SLEDGE LEATHER project, "Imagine Me Alive". The CD was inspired in 2010 when Leather called Sandy Sledge to collaborate on the Ronnie James Dio track "Egypt" for a demo tribute recording. Due to the overwhelming response for more material, SLEDGE LEATHER was born and performed at Germany's Keep It True festival in April 2011.

In a recent interview with Tinnitus Metal Radio, WATAIN frontman Erik Danielsson was asked to elaborate on his previous comment that "metal should be written by people who live metal lives." He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "I think that, yeah, I don't see metal as a thing that can be performed by anyone else [but someone] who's, like, deeply affiliated with this form of, not only music but subculture and lifestyle in general. Of course you can — of course you can rip off a [IRON] MAIDEN riff even if you're a skater boy — but to me, the metal that always struck hardest, the metal that always kind of shook my soul has always been written by liberated spirits, by outlaw, free-thinking real rock and roll men and women. And that's just how it is; there's no way around that. I mean, if I would be a young guy wanting to write a love song, I would probably wait to write that love song until I have been in love. And if I would write a song about death, I would probably wait until I had some kind of actual experience of it. And the same thing goes, but in a larger context, with metal music. I think it kind of demands a personal affiliation, a kind of deep-rooted compatibility between the artist and the music. That's my profound belief."

Earlier this year, Erik told Sense Music Media that WATAIN has "always worked with extremes" in its expression. "We have always worked near the borders of sanity, and the limits of what's being allowed and so on," he said. "All these different interpretations of what we do, all these misconceptions and so on, I think they serve the purpose of maintaining a well-needed and quite flattering mystery around the band, you know? I don't mind that at all. I actually like that people don't really know how to approach us sometimes. Ultimately, I think 90% of everyone that listens to WATAIN does that because they find what we do relatable, maybe in a musical taste sense, or they like the way our things look and so on. Everything is pretty elaborate and meticulously done and so on … I don't think most people see it as such a radical thing, in their lives, to be a fan of WATAIN, but I think there is definitely a general conception among people who don't like WATAIN, or that are not that well acquainted with our sound or our records or our live concerts, I think maybe it's more around those people that there's this general confusion or misconception about what we stand for and so on. That's fine by me. [Laughs] That's not really the people that we are playing to anyway, you know? I'm fine with being an elusive anomaly when it comes to trying to pin us down or whatever, in a larger context."

WATAIN's latest studio album, "The Agony & Ecstasy Of Watain", was released in April via Nuclear Blast.

Sharon Osbourne has clarified why she and her husband Ozzy Osbourne have made the decision to leave the United States and return to live in England.

Last month, Ozzy cited gun violence as the one of the main for the move, saying he was "fed up with people getting killed every day."

Sharon, who also manages Ozzy's career, appeared on "Fox & Friends" on Sunday to discuss her new Fox Nation series "Sharon Osbourne: To Hell & Back".

According to Sharon, she and Ozzy haven't yet officially moved back to the U.K. because "our house isn't ready yet. We've had our family house for over 30 years but we haven't lived in it so long," she explained. "And you go back and you go, 'Oh, it's falling apart.' And so we're redoing it. And then we will move."

As for why she and Ozzy have decided to go back to England, Sharon said: "[There are] many reasons. Yes, we don't like the gun violence in Los Angeles. But there's a lot more room for Ozzy. He can go fishing on our land, he can go shooting — he loves to shoot — and it's just a different lifestyle. He can walk around, do his thing, nobody there looking at him. And he can have some privacy."

When she was pressed to elaborate on the political reasons behind Ozzy's previous comment that he didn't want to "die in crazy America," Sharon said: "I think because there are so many guns, and I think because people commit crimes and they don't have to pay bail, and then suddenly — boom! — they're back out on the streets again. And there seems to be no repercussions for bad behavior. And so, 'Well, I might as well do it again. There's no bail. Why not?' Hopefully they do change the law with that."

Last month, Ozzy, who was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in 2003 and underwent a "major operation" in June, among other health scares, told The Observer that he had not traveled to the U.K. for eight years nor performed live in "three or four years" due to his health struggles. He made the comment after the iconic BLACK SABBATH singer made a surprise appearance at the Commonwealth Games' closing ceremony in Birmingham, England on August 8.

Ozzy and Sharon will resume living in the U.K. in February 2023 after residing in Los Angeles for more than two decades.

"Everything's fucking ridiculous there. I'm fed up with people getting killed every day," Ozzy told The Observer. "God knows how many people have been shot in school shootings. And there was that mass shooting in Vegas at that concert… It's fucking crazy."

"And I don't want to die in America. I don't want to be buried in fucking Forest Lawn," Ozzy added, noting the famous cemetery in Los Angeles. "I'm English. I want to be back. But saying that, if my wife said we've got to go and live in Timbuktu, I'll go."

"But, no, it's just time for me to come home," Ozzy clarified.

Sharon told The Observer that the move back to England had nothing to do with her husband's health.

"I knew people would think that. It's not. It's just time," she said. "America has changed so drastically. It isn't the United States of America at all. Nothing's united about it. It's a very weird place to live right now."

"Sharon Osbourne: To Hell & Back", which debuts on Fox News' streaming service on September 26, will feature "a candid and heartfelt look into Osbourne's personal and professional life, highlighting how she found herself in the crosshairs of the cancel culture movement after exiting CBS's 'The Talk'," the press statement read at the time of the program's announcement. The 69-year-old left the show in March 2021 after defending Piers Morgan's scathing criticism of Oprah Winfrey's interview of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle.

DISTURBED played its new single, "Unstoppable", live for the first time Saturday night (September 24) at the Riff Fest at Pine Knob Music Theatre in Clarkston, Michigan. Fan-filmed video of the performance can be seen below.

"Unstoppable" will appear on DISTURBED's eighth full-length album, "Divisive", which will arrive on November 18 via Reprise.

About "Divisive", DISTURBED singer David Draiman noted: "Partisan tribal warfare has become a part of our regular existence nowadays. It's one big battle of the cliques. The whole idea of the record is to be a wakeup call for everyone. Our society has become addicted to outrage. Music is the best cure for what ails us though. If only everyone reached out and used it. There's no better environment to forget about all of this shit than live music. We can be together and realize we have more in common than not. Recognize what's happening and let's make a change for the better."

Guitarist Dan Donegan added: "Whatever it takes, we've got to pull it together. We've always tried to take negative topics and spin them in a positive light. From touring around the world, we've seen the power of music as the universal language to bring everyone together from all walks of life. We can still play songs to unite people, and it's a pretty powerful feeling."

"Unstoppable" storms out of the gate on a jackhammer guitar riff, pummeling drums, and the band's signature staccato vocal phrasing in lockstep with a pulsating rhythm. This barrage crashes into a skyscraping stadium-ready refrain, "There's no escape. I am unstoppable." The accompanying lyric video seamlessly translates this frenetic anthem into fiery on-screen action befitting of the track's uncontainable momentum.

Draiman elaborated: "'Unstoppable' is definitely one of the heavier tracks on the record. The groove builds into a bombastic animal. It's truly the fight song."

"We always have a big rock anthem on every album," Donegan commented. "We love to write empowering songs for motivation. We're avid sports fans, and that's definitely part of it. It's an in-your-face track, for sure."

"Divisive" pulls no punches as a precise, pummeling, and powerful hard rock opus. Over the last year, the quartet cut these ten tracks with producer Drew Fulk (MOTIONLESS IN WHITE, LIL PEEP, HIGHLY SUSPECT) in Nashville, Tennessee. After Donegan shared initial ideas with the rest of the group, they locked in like never before with the groove as the backbone. Drummer Mike Wengren bolted down some of the strongest and boldest rhythms of their career punctuated by John Moyer's punchy bass. Together, the musicians collectively conjured the focus and fire of their seminal early output augmented by airtight songcraft and a heightened level of musical chemistry that could only be forged by years of writing and touring together.

As a result, "Divisive" finds DISTURBED at their most dynamic, defiant, and dangerous. Breaking ground, it also notably marks the first time the band included a guest feature on an album, boasting the epic emotionally charged duet "Don't Tell Me" with HEART's Ann Wilson. Meanwhile, the likes of "Bad Man" and "Divisive" rank amongst the band's heaviest material. At the same time, they infuse the likes of "Won't Back Down" with uplifting melodies.

DISTURBED initially set the stage for the record with "Hey You", which came out in July. The song spread like wildfire across airwaves, emerging as their 15th No. 1 single at rock radio. At the same time, it has already gathered 10 million-plus streams and counting, only increasing anticipation for "Divisive".

The DISTURBED members subconsciously rallied around a shared vision for what would become "Divisive". After a period of dormancy in the midst of the global pandemic, the group finally congregated in early 2022. Dealing with the same frustrations for nearly two years, the guys followed a collective muse without question.

"We wanted to get heavy again," exclaimed Dan. "We'll always be melodic, but there's more attitude now. We're showcasing David's animalistic side again. It touches on our early days with modern elements."

David added: "After 25 years, we've begun to anticipate each other's direction. We were all hankering to get back to chunky goodness," he laughed.

In order to do so, the band tapped Fulk as producer. With members based around the country, they chose Nashville to record, cutting ten tracks in spring 2022.

"Once we finally did get in a room together, it felt so good," Dan recalled. "It was nice to get the ball rolling and have that outlet in the studio again. Throughout our lives, music has been our therapy — as it is for most people."

Fittingly, the group kicked off this phase with the opener "Hey You". Powered by menacing electronics, a bone-crushing riff, and undeniable chorus, it marked their 15th No. 1 hit at radio, completing their quickest rise to the top and setting the tone for what was to come.

"It's the quintessential rallying cry," noted David. "It's like, 'Hey you, do you realize what you're doing? Do you see you're your own worst enemy? How are we making mountains out of mole hills everywhere we go and looking for enemies where there are none?' It was the perfect way to start."

Then, there's "Bad Man". Ominous string orchestration echoes around a jagged riff as the verses snake into an incisively infectious chant. Pressing down on the whammy pedal, Dan rips a screeching cinematic guitar lead rife with razor-sharp shredding.

"From a lyrical perspective, says David. "There's no shortage of evil maniacs on the planet who take advantage of their positions of power and have unchecked narcissism and egomania that fuels their decisions though. There was damn sure plenty of inspiration in current world events."

On "Don't Tell Me", DISTURBED joins forces with none other than Wilson for an epic duet. In two decades, it breaks ground as the first-ever guest collaboration on a DISTURBED record. Clean guitar soundtracks the story of a long-term relationship in the middle of its last gasp. David and Ann engage in a call-and-response before locking into a skyscraping harmony as the solo reaches for the heavens.

"It was very personal to me," admitted Dan. "I was going through my divorce, and I wanted to touch on the fact I was in a very long marriage to a wonderful woman. She's a great mother to my kids. We were together for 18 years. Even though the marriage was in a tough spot, it was hard to leg go, because we'd invested so much into each other. I felt like listeners could relate to it."

"In my humble opinion, I think Ann is probably the greatest female rock voice of all time," David stated. "She's untouchable. We had connected on Twitter, and I sent her the song. She agreed to jump on it, and it was humbling to work with her. She was totally pro. Her vocals are mind-blowing. It was a gift. Out of ten tracks, we needed to take at least one left turn," he smiled.

The album reaches its cathartic conclusion with a final knockout blow on "Won't Back Down". As the guitars toss and turn, the chorus assures, "I won't back down from this fight."

They've never backed down though. Instead, DISTURBED has dominated hard rock on its own terms. Thus far, they have notched five consecutive No. 1 debuts on the Billboard 200, occupying rarified air alongside METALLICA — the only other hard rock group to accomplish this feat. Since their influential five-times-platinum debut "The Sickness" in 2000, they have built a bulletproof catalog highlighted by a procession of smashes, including the platinum "Stupify", "Inside The Fire" and "Land Of Confusion", two-times-platinum "Stricken", six-times-platinum "Down With The Sickness" and seven-times-platinum "The Sound Of Silence", to name a few. The latter notably received a Grammy Award nomination in the category of "Best Rock Performance" as the band earned "Best Rock Artist" at the 2017 iHeartRadioMusic Awards.

In the end, DISTURBED still wields the power to unite.

"We have a lot left in us," concluded Dan. "I know for certain I'm not done. We're always going to need an outlet for our personal sanity. I feel inspired every time we do a record. We bring the best out of one another. I'm just excited for what the future holds."

David left off: "When audiences hear the album, I hope the reaction is, 'After the last three years, this is exactly what I wanted to get out the frustration, anger, and addiction to outrage'. There are better ways. I hope you use it as an outlet and a means of exorcising the demons once again."

METALLICA performed last night (Saturday, May 24) at the Global Citizen Festival in New York City's Central Park. Also appearing at the event were Charlie Puth, JONAS BROTHERS, MÅNESKIN, Mariah Carey, Mickey Guyton and Rosalía.

Global Citizen Festival: NYC was hosted by Bollywood star and Global Citizen ambassador Priyanka Chopra Jonas, who introduced METALLICA as "the greatest rock band in the world."

METALLICA kicked off the eight-song set off with "Creeping Death" and closed it with "Master Of Puppets", which recently saw new life after its inclusion in season four of Netflix's hit series "Stranger Things". The popularity of the 1986 song brought it to the Billboard Hot 100 chart for the first time ever in the band's lengthy career.

The setlist was as follows:

01. Creeping Death
02. For Whom The Bell Tolls
03. Enter Sandman
04. Sad But True
05. The Unforgiven
06. Wherever I May Roam
07. Nothing Else Matters (with Mickey Guyton)
08. Master Of Puppets

Professionally filmed video of METALLICA's set can be seen below. (Note: The band's performance of "Nothing Else Matters" with Mickey Guyton does not appear in the rebroadcast.)

Since it began lighting up Central Park's Great Lawn in 2012, the Global Citizen Festival has become the world's longest-running global campaign calling for an end to extreme poverty that unites millions of voices, amplified by the world's biggest artists, demanding world leaders take action now.

Globally, the disproportionate impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has pushed nearly 100 million more people into extreme poverty and is reversing recent trends of shrinking inequality, leading to the loss of at least three years of progress. Without urgent action now this backsliding will only worsen. Russia's invasion of Ukraine has aggravated the situation further, with as many as 323 million people now facing acute hunger, and 1.2 billion people now live in nations experiencing a perfect storm of food, energy, and financial crises. If we don't take action now, as many as 200 million more people may be plunged into extreme poverty by November.

The 2022 Global Citizen Festival called on world leaders at the United Nations General Assembly and ahead of the G20 and COP27 in November to step up and invest $600 million into the future of women and girls, close the annual $10 billion climate financing shortfall, deliver $500 million to help African farmers respond to the global food crisis, and provide urgent relief from crushing debts to end extreme poverty now.

With two stages in international cultural capitals, New York City and Accra, Ghana, the 2022 Global Citizen Festival was broadcast and streamed on ABC, ABC News Live, FX, Hulu, iHeartRadio, TimesLIVE, Twitter, YouTube, and more. ABC News Live's broadcast aired on Saturday, September 24, and a primetime special, "Global Citizen Festival: Take Action NOW", will air on ABC on Sunday, September 25 at 7:00 p.m. ET / 6:00 p.m. CT.

Marking the 65th anniversary of Ghana's independence and the 20th anniversary of the African Union, Accra's iconic Black Star Square saw live performances from Usher, SZA, Stormzy, Gyakie, H.E.R., Sarkodie, Stonebwoy and TEMS.

Hugh Evans, co-founder and CEO of Global Citizen, said: "Decades of systemic and political failures have led humanity into the midst of converging and rapidly deteriorating crises — climate, hunger, health, war and conflict. The most marginalized populations are paying the price of the stagnant inaction of our leaders, and now millions of lives, and the future of our planet, are at stake. We refuse to just stand by and watch! We refuse to accept the starvation of multitudes when solutions are readily at hand. We demand a secure future for girls everywhere. We demand governments keep their promises on climate funding. We demand relief from debts unjustly crushing economies. And we demand action NOW, while there's still time to change our collective trajectory."

For more information about the 2022 Global Citizen Festival, visit www.globalcitizen.org.
There are no words. I’m just grateful @metallica. #GlobalCitizenFestival

📸 Kevin Mazur pic.twitter.com/6u8dBwEA6Q

— Mickey Guyton (@MickeyGuyton) September 25, 2022

DISTURBED's upcoming album, "Divisive", marks the first time the band has included a guest feature on an LP, boasting the epic emotionally charged duet "Don't Tell Me" with HEART's Ann Wilson. Regarding how the collaboration came about, DISTURBED guitarist Dan Donegan told Meltdown of Detroit's WRIF radio station (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Early in our career, we wanted to really establish ourselves without having any guests. We didn't really talk about it much, but just [felt], 'This is the band.' Not that we were ever against it, but this far along in our career… We're always pushing ourselves, trying to do stuff that's different musically. And there's so much talent out there and so many people we would love to do collaborations with now or later in our career.

"Ann Wilson had mentioned before — she tweeted about us before," he continued. "A few years back, somebody asked her in an interview or whatever if there's anything new out there, or newer, musically that she's heard that she's fan of, and she mentioned she really loved our version of [SIMON & GARFUNKEL's] 'The Sound Of Silence'. And that kind of opened the door to a social media friendship between her and David [Draiman, DISTURBED singer] a bit. And then when we wrote this song, it just seemed like it would lend itself to Ann's voice and then trying to see that merge between her and David's voices together. She jumped on the opportunity. Immediately she responded, and we were, like, 'Holy shit. She just said yes to this.'"

Asked by Meltdown if "Don't Tell Me" is a more mellow track than the standard DISTURBED fare, Dan said: "I can't give it away, but their voices, it's like Fergie and Jesus — a little 'Step Brothers' [2008 movie] quote there… It was a pretty magical moment to be in the room and to hear the two of them harmonize together.

"We tracked David's vocals in Nashville, and we wanted to make it easy and convenient for her, 'cause we were, like, she said yes, she's gonna do it," Donegan continued. "Let's make it as easy as possible on her.' We flew out to California to meet with her. We went into a studio out there for just a couple of hours, and she sang against David's tracks. And he was there kind of going over the harmonies with her and stuff too. So it was kind of a really magical moment to see the two of them working on those harmonies together. It was pretty impressive. And she's such a pro, and she's so damn good. She's a legend. So it was pretty exciting. And it's not like she sits there and jumps on people's albums either, so we take that as a badge of honor to think that there's not many times where somebody as big a legend as she is that she would jump on any album. She doesn't have to, and she chose to be on this one. And she loves the track. And it just came together great."

"Divisive" will arrive on November 18 via Reprise. The LP was recorded earlier this year with producer Drew Fulk (MOTIONLESS IN WHITE, LIL PEEP, HIGHLY SUSPECT) in Nashville, Tennessee. The follow-up to 2018's "Evolution" includes the two recently released singles "Hey You" and "Unstoppable".
There’s an epic track coming out soon that I recorded with @Disturbed!

Below is a repost from @davidmdraiman

“People are going to lose their minds when they hear the duet we did with Ann Wilson. It’s called “Don’t tell me”, and it’s on our upcoming Disturbed album, #Divisive” pic.twitter.com/eRugQ6DkU6

— Ann Wilson (@AnnWilson) September 23, 2022

David Lee Roth has shared a new solo version of the VAN HALEN classic "Dance The Night Away". The track, like the previously released "Panama" and "Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love", was laid down on May 3, 2022 during a session at Henson Recording Studio in Hollywood, California. Joining Roth in the studio were Al Estrada on guitar, Ryan Wheeler on bass and Francis Valentino on drums. A total of 14 songs were recorded in two hours. The music and the vocals were tracked live with "no samples" and without the pitch-correction technology Auto-Tune.

Roth's versions of "Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love" and "Panama" come more than a month after he shared a previously unheard solo recording from 2007, "Nothing Could Have Stopped Us Back Then Anyway", in which he looked back nostalgically on his days in VAN HALEN. The latter song was recorded in 2007 with guitarist John 5 and drummer Gregg Bissonette for an album that never came out.

Back in 2020, Roth included five previously unreleased songs in The Roth Project, an online comic narrated by the legendary VAN HALEN singer, with music from John 5 on guitar and bass, Bissonette on drums, Brett Tuggle on keyboards, and Luis Conte on percussion. The tracks "Giddy-Up!", "Somewhere Over The Rainbow Bar And Grill", "Alligator Pants", "Lo-Rez Sunset" and "Manda Bala" were recorded at Henson Recording Studios in Hollywood, California.

Three years ago, Roth was asked by Meltdown of the Detroit radio station WRIF if his LP with John 5 will be made available at some point. He responded: "It will. There's been a revision of things, and I can start making real plans and start marching into the future. And, of course, you'll start hearing that material. This is material that we wrote variously for me solo and for VAN HALEN, and it's quite a bank of stuff."

Roth, who was promoting his Las Vegas residency at the time, didn't offer a possible time frame for the release of the record, explaining that his priority was "getting out on the road first. Let's see the band, let's show ourselves off, let's travel all over the world."

Roth canceled a series of Las Vegas residency shows in January because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Three months earlier, he had announced in an interview with the Las Vegas Review-Journal that he was planning to retire after the residency.

In July, Roth released a new solo song titled "Pointing At The Moon". The acoustic-based, Americana-flavored tune was accompanied by a new abstract painting from Roth.

Former ACCEPT bassist Peter Baltes is playing bass for U.D.O., the band fronted by original ACCEPT singer Udo Dirkschneider, on the group's ongoing European tour. Baltes is filling in for U.D.O.'s regular bassist Tilen Hudrap who was hospitalized after the band's show in Munich, Germany on September 4.

Baltes made his live debut with U.D.O. on September 9 in Berlin, Germany. Fan-filmed video of the September 23 concert at Fabrik in Coesfeld, Germany and the September 21 show at Amager Bio in Copenhagen, Denmark can be seen below.

On September 5, U.D.O. released the following statement via social media: "Dear Fans, As you may already have heard, last night Tilen Hudrap, our Bass Player & invaluable member of the U.D.O. Family, had to be rushed to Hospital after nearly collapsing on stage. Tilen is a guy who would walk barefoot over burning coals to play a show, but his body, after Months of stress of every kind, just could not take it any longer. He is in excellent hands at a great hospital in Munich, where doctors are continuing to run tests on him to ascertain the quickest way to bring him back to full health. But for right now, the best medicine is rest.

"U.D.O. will continue the Tour without Tilen until he has fully recovered. The next two shows in Pratteln and Stuttgart will be performed without a Bass Player, then Peter Baltes will join us as temporary replacement from Berlin onwards.

"Of course we will all be devastated to not have Tilen on stage with us, but his health comes first, and as soon as he is able, you can be sure he will be up there, Rocking the World, stronger than before.

"We love you Tilen! Get well soon!"

Tilen added in a separate statement: "This is the hardest thing I ever wrote publicly.

"As a public person I feel compelled to write what I will write, especially because I owe it to the fans: the fans of the band, my own fans'n'supporters from all the years of touring and to everyone involved in this touring commitment going on at the moment.

"Yesterday my body gave in on stage.

"In twenty years I never cancelled one single show and in all my professional years I never cancelled a tour or a concert. Not with a broken finger, not with 40C body temperature, not while barely standing, after I haven't slept for 52 hours, not ever.

"At the beginning of the world tour this was the last thing I wanted to do (to cancel ANYTHING, let alone a 3 month tour) so despite my burnout condition that I never talked publicly about and against the advice of my doctors and my family I went on tour to not let down my brothers in the band and the hardworking crew and management/booking agency. I always prided myself in being a road warrior and went through way crazier situations in my career so I thought this would not be a big deal (to do a nice 3 month tour). It turned out it was.

"(Un)Fortunately!!! My body gave in during the last two songs yesterday.
Respiratory alkalosis, total hyperventilation, uncontrollable tremors, momentary collapse of body functions and complete burnout. The doctors in the emergency room in München said I should never went on stage for the last week, let alone during the whole summer. My body was running on fumes. They basically saved me.

"I'm in the hospital now, writing this and thinking about everyone involved.
Sorry to everyone and all the fans, but I need to take some time to get back to 100%.

"Please know I would never not go play if it wasn't serious as it is. Most of this was caused by unreal amounts of no sleep, stress, e. rollercoasters and on top corona period. All this, plus decades of work that took me to where I am, put a price on my body.

"Yes, I remain in the band, the new album is in the works and someone nice will come to replace me indefinitely until I get back in shape for which you always known me for. You know I always gave 200% and always will!

"I will make a few updates in the following days to keep everyone in the loop. Got many worried msgs, I wanna assure everyone that I will be fine and come back stronger than ever. A metal heart is hard to tear apart!

"Last, but not least and most important: indescribable gratitude to my band brothers and crew for their support in the most dire situation yesterday and in general. I love you guys!

"METAL Lives!"

Two years ago, Baltes and former ACCEPT drummer Stefan Kaufmann were part of the songwriting team for U.D.O.'s album called "We Are One", a collaboration with Das Musikkorps der Bundeswehr, the military band of the German federal armed forces. Speaking to Canada's The Metal Voice about how Baltes came to be involved with the project, Udo said: "This was not planned. [Getting] Stefan Kaufmann [involved] was planned from the beginning on. He was helping us out on the last concerts, on the guitar. And he was sitting also with us together when we were talking about that we maybe wanna do an album. And he said, 'I wanna be the sound engineer. I have some ideas.' And then I said, 'Okay, no problem.' I mean, I never had any problems with Stefan Kaufmann. And then, one day, I was in Germany, and he said, 'Yeah, you have to do some demo vocals in the studio.' Then I said, 'Okay, I'll come then.' Then I came into the studio, but he didn't tell me this before, and Peter Baltes was staying there. Peter was there; he was doing some stuff with Stefan about his projects. Peter, after he left ACCEPT, he's doing so many things. And we were talking a lot of things. Then Peter said, 'You're doing a very interesting project. I have also some ideas, if you don't mind.' I said, 'Hey, Peter, no problem.' I mean, I never had a problem with Peter. Then Stefan and Peter, they came up with really good ideas."

He continued: "I'm not a guy to say, 'No. Nobody can come up with some ideas.' I mean, for this project, the most important thing was that we have really, really good stuff, and for me, it doesn't matter who was writing the songs or whatever. And [Peter] was really happy to do something like this. And also Stefan, I think, was really happy. Stefan did a great job. He was mixing in the end."

Asked how it was to reconnect with Peter and if there is any chance of Baltes joining U.D.O., Udo said: "It was a lot of fun to talk to him. I never had any problems with Peter. It was like we saw each other just yesterday, [meeting up for the first time] after 15 years, and also talking to him after 15 years.

"Peter in the band, to be the bass player in U.D.O.?" he continued. "He's doing so many projects; he's really busy. And we were not really talking about this. 'It would be great to have you now as the bass player in U.D.O.' [We'll] leave it like it is. If he does some stuff and maybe asks me to sing a song on his album — I think I heard he's doing a solo album — no problem, but to play in a band together again, I don't think so."

Udo's son Sven, who plays drums for U.D.O., added: "It would be strange as well, as we formed a very strong five-piece band. This is a very strong team, and everybody's getting along very well. So that would be a bit strange to now just say, 'Hey, but Peter's playing now, because he's Peter.' You would rip apart something we built up. And as you might know, we were looking for the right people for some time now, and now it works perfectly. And everybody's doing an amazing job — everybody's so good on their instruments — and we just found a good band. That would be strange."

💪🏻 Right before our show in Copenhagen, Denmark yesterday! 💪🏻

Today we‘re in Frederica, Denmark 🇩🇰 Come and join us on our GAME OVER Europe Tour 🤘🏻

Posted by U.D.O. on Thursday, September 22, 2022

Professionally filmed video of BUTCHER BABIES' entire August 14 performance on the Ronnie James Dio Stage at this year's Bloodstock Open Air festival at Catton Park, Walton-on-Trent, United Kingdom can be seen below.

At last month's Brutal Assault festival in Jaromer, Czech Republic, BUTCHER BABIES vocalists Heidi Shepherd and Carla Harvey spoke to Metalshop about the band's upcoming fourth studio album which was recently completed with producer Josh Schroeder (LORNA SHORE, KING 810) for a 2023 release.

Heidi said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "We released a barrage of singles throughout 2020 and 2021, and we're gonna follow that up with a full-length album in 2023. But we're also going to finish out the rest of this year with a bunch of singles from that album. So we're very excited. We played one new song today from that album, called 'Best Friend'. And it's been going over really well. So we're very excited. I know it's been a while, but it'll be worth the wait."

Asked why it's better to release singles than a full-length album in 2022, Carla said: "I think we live in a time where people want things right now; they want new stuff all the time. And I also think that when you release a single, people have a chance to digest that song, fall in love with that song before they skip to the next one and the next one and the next one. We really like developing a song on its own, making a video for that song, telling the story of that song, because every song is special to us."

Added Heidi: "We put our heart and soul into every single song that goes on the album. We don't just half-ass any of the songs, and so we want to make sure that it gets the life and the attention it deserves. And so I think we're just gonna continue this way and just leak it a little bit at a time and keep it going."

In a separate interview with Bloodstock TV, Carla stated about the recording process for the new BUTCHER BABIES LP: "It was a really cool experience. We got to sit together for about six weeks in the middle of nowhere — a very, very small town in Michigan — and just create together. And we had an Airbnb with animal skulls all over the place. And we just sat there in the snow and created probably our best album to date. So it was a great bonding experience."

Heidi confirmed that a cover song that BUTCHER BABIES have been performing at some of their recent shows will be included on the band's new effort.

"We've been playing one of the songs on these [European] festivals," she said. "One of the songs that we've been playing on these festivals, it's called 'Best Friend' and it's a cover from the hip-hop artist Saweetie featuring Doja Cat. And for us, being best friends, we thought it would be the best way to do a cover — a hip-hop/metal cover — since we've been best friends for, man, nearly two decades."

When Oran O'Beirne of Bloodstock TV suggested that some BUTCHER BABIES fans might object to such a diverse combination of musical styles, Carla said: "We haven't changed at all, because some of our earliest songs were similar. We've always run the gamut throughout our music; we've never stayed with one style. Most people love about BUTCHER BABIES that we have a death metal song and a thrash metal song and then a poppy radio song, and whatever mood they're in, we've got a song for them."

Added Heidi: "What I love about being in a band like this and being around musicians that we all see eye to eye is that we can do different things; we're not pigeonholed to one certain sound. Sometimes we wanna get up and we wanna scream and we wanna be angry bitches, and then sometimes we wanna sing and we want people to hear what we feel from our hearts. And I think that that's important as an artist, to be able to do both."

Carla continued: "And judging by the audience reaction when we go from one very, very heavy song to one lighter song, they love it. They have literally the same energy for both kinds of music. They want it too. People want the freedom to be able to like different types of music."

BUTCHER BABIES' latest album, 2017's "Lilith", was produced by Steve Evetts (THE DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN, SEPULTURA, SUICIDE SILENCE) and marked the band's recording debut with drummer Chase Brickenden, who replaced Chris Warner in 2016.

In July 2019, longtime BUTCHER BABIES bassist Jason Klein announced his departure from the band. He has since been replaced by Ricky Bonazza.

Last year, BUTCHER BABIES embarked on a headlining tour, "Butcher Babies Vs. Goliath", which saw the band performing its debut album, "Goliath" — released in 2013 via Century Media Records — in its entirety along with recent hit singles and new material.

Hailing from the City of Angels, BUTCHER BABIES have released two EPs and three albums to date, with "Lilith", debuting at #1 on iTunes Metal chart and #7 on iTunes Rock chart. The band kicked off 2021 by independently releasing a handful of newly energized singles produced and co-written by Matt Good (FROM FIRST TO LAST),including "Bottom Of A Bottle", "Sleeping With The Enemy", "Yorktown", "Last Dance" and "It's Killin' Time, Baby!" The latter was inspired by the DC Comics character Lobo, a heavy metal bounty hunter.

Michael Monroe, who turned 60 in June, celebrated the milestone with a bang Friday night (September 23) at the Helinki Ice Hall (Helsingin Jäähalli) in Finland. As the grand finale of the concert, the original lineup of HANOI ROCKS, one of Finland's most significant rock bands of all time, took the stage: Monroe, Andy McCoy, Sami Yaffa, Nasty Suicide and Gyp Casino. Prior to Friday night's performance, the quintet, which started a historic chapter in the world's music scene, was last seen on stage at Helsinki's Tavastia on July 27, 1982. The "support band" for the show for Friday night's concert was the reunited DEMOLITION 23. Led by Monroe, the band rose to great cult fame, although they only released one album ("Demolition 23") in 1994 and broke up shortly afterwards. This was DEMOLITION 23's first performance since the band's breakup in 1995.

At the 60th-birthday show, Monroe was mostly accompanied by his longtime band consisting of Sami Yaffa, Karl Rockfist, Rich Jones and Steve Conte. In addition to the original HANOI ROCKS lineup and DEMOLITION 23, several top musicians and artists who have collaborated with Monroe over the years took the stage. The almost-three-hour-long concert allowed fans to hear many Monroe classics throughout evening. To top the event, the lights and visuals are designed by the internationally acclaimed worldwide phenomenon Mikki Kunttu.

The setlist for the original HANOI ROCKS reunion was as follows:

01. Tragedy
02. 11th Street Kids
03. Oriental Beat
04. Boulevard Of Broken Dreams
05. Don't You Ever Leave Me
06. Motorvatin'
07. Malibu Beach Nightmare
08. Million Miles Away
09. Up Around The Bend (CREEDENCE CLEARWATER REVIVAL cover) (with all guests)

Monroe discussed the HANOI ROCKS reunion during a September 14 appearance on SiriusXM's "Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk". Regarding how the gig came about, he said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "What happened was Sami Yaffa and Nasty Suicide were gonna be there anyway [for the DEMOLITION 23 reunion], since Sami is in my band playing the bass. I met with Gyp Casino, the original drummer from HANOI, in Stockholm last December when we were filming my documentary… [He is] a cool guy [and I have] nice memories [of playing with him]. And I invited him over to do something [at the gig]. And then Andy McCoy, he called me. He invited himself. He said, 'I heard you've got this 60th-birthday celebration. If I have time from my world tour, I may have time to show up and maybe I'll come and do 'Tragedy'.' [And I said] 'Okay. Whatever. Fine.' So then I started thinking about it. I said, 'Wow. That would be actually cool. All the guys will be there, the original lineup. Why don't we do a few HANOI songs in the end?' And then we were gonna have it as a surprise, and everybody agreed. This was the only way and the only time to do it, for the right reasons. Then Sami Yaffa told me one night, 'Are you sure you don't wanna let people know ahead of time? Because if fans find out about this later on afterwards, they're gonna be pissed off.' So I said, 'You're right. We should let people know.' The Ice Hall in Helsinki was already over half sold out, but then we had this press conference, and I had Gyp Casino come over too — all five of us — and it was fun. It was surreal to be with everybody right there — all five of us together — after 40 years. It was amazing. It felt really cool, actually. It was fun. And we announced that the end of the show will be the original lineup doing a set of HANOI songs. The next day, it was all sold out and everybody wants to be there."

Asked if he thinks there is a chance that this HANOI ROCKS reunion will lead to a full tour or more shows, Michael said: "No. [Laughs] No. This will be just one time — this one time."

When host Eddie Trunk pointed out that other reunion tours had materialized in the past after what were initially supposed to be one-off gigs and that Michael should "never say never," Monroe quipped: "I say 'never say never say never.' [Laughs]"

Monroe and McCoy founded HANOI ROCKS in the late 1970s and the band's original lineup was established in 1980. HANOI ROCKS, the first Finnish rock band to make an international breakthrough, recorded their first three albums with the original lineup: "Bangkok Shocks, Saigon Shakes, Hanoi Rocks" (1981),"Oriental Beat" (1982) and "Self Destruction Blues" (1982). Casino was replaced in 1982 by Nicholas "Razzle" Dingley who became an integral member of HANOI ROCKS. Razzle died in a tragic accident in 1984. Unfortunately, this led to the band's untimely demise in early 1985.

HANOI ROCKS did reform once before in 2002, albeit with only Monroe and McCoy from the band's classic lineup, and released a comeback album, "Twelve Shots On The Rocks". The reunion lasted until 2009.

In a 2019 interview with Duke TV, Monroe stated about the band's "rebirth" two decades ago: "It was not planned. It just happened. I would never do a reunion to cash in on the reunion, so to speak, to cash in on the old name. It was interesting for me to see what we could accomplish with Andy because he had learned to respect my songwriting abilities, which he didn't in the past. It was cool to see what we could do. We had some old Ideas, like from 1984, that we had left over, that I remembered, that we reworked and made into songs. Then it started slipping into the same old 'you'd be nothing without me' and all that shit. I was, like, 'Are you sure you want to start this? Let's do some farewell tours.' I was ready to commit to that for the rest of my life if it had continued being fun, but it came to a point where it wasn't fun anymore, so I called Andy and said, 'Let's put this thing to bed.'"

He continued: "After that, I haven't seen him. We haven't had much to do with him, unless it was business with HANOI or something that has to be taking care of, our name in the paper — fine; we'll deal with that. Obviously, we're not the best of friend-friends, not like with Sami. Sami, Nasty and me had this bond that was created in the first half of a year of HANOI ROCKS when we started living in the streets of Stockholm homeless. That made us had this street gang kind of vibe. Us against the world, looking out for each other."

Hanoi Rocks first time together on stage since 1982 with this lineup ✨ Photographed at Helsinki Ice Hall 23/09/2022 💥 More to come later 🖤

Posted by Rocktografia on Friday, September 23, 2022

GODSMACK has released a brand new single, "Surrender", via BMG. The track marks the first release from the band in four years, following their globally acclaimed and gold-certified 2018 album "When Legends Rise", which earned the Sully Erna-fronted outfit a No. 1 spot across U.S. Hard Rock, Rock, and Alternative album charts.

"'Surrender' is a very cut-and-dry song," says Erna. "It's simply about the exhaustion we can all feel in relationships at times from the redundancy of fighting with each other. At a certain point in our lives, we submit to putting aside who's right or wrong, we just want it to STOP! So we wave the white flag."

This past April, Erna told the 101.1 WJRR radio station that band's new studio album was "finished; we're done recording it. You should probably be hearing new music by summertime — mid to late summer — and then following it up with a second single and the full record by the top of '23," he said. "That's the plan. And then we're just gonna hit it one more time hard and heavy. And I've gotta tell you, this might be the last one for us — it might be the last record for us."

In February, GODSMACK drummer Shannon Larkin told the "Stop! Drop & Talk" podcast that he and his bandmates were "writing music" in a "really different" way "this time. We're taking a couple of weeks on and however long off and then till the man calls, the genius calls. When Sully gets a spark, then we get together. There's no plan. For however long we can get together, we get together and create together. So it's a beautiful time."

Last November, Erna spoke to Minneapolis. Minnesota's 93X radio station about GODSMACK's plans for a new studio LP. He said: "People always ask us about this gap of how come it takes GODSMACK four years to put out new music. Well, for us, it's a blink of an eye. And the reason is because we take about six months to a year to write and record a record, 'cause we go for quality most of the time, not quantity. And then it's touring on it, which lasts another 18 months to two years. And then, obviously, when coming off a big world tour like that, before we do another record, we're taking six months off or something like that, and then it's another six months to a year to write [a new album]. So four years goes by very quickly is my point. Obviously, with COVID, it even bumped it up a little bit more. We are planning to hopefully release something late '22, with the intentions of getting out there by early '23 — in the States. We may start a little sooner in Europe first, but the States, I think, '23 for a big new-look world tour kind of thing [in support of a] new album."

Erna went on to say that GODSMACK had originally planned on putting out new music in 2021 but decided against it once it became obvious that touring would be delayed further by the ongoing pandemic.

"When this [pandemic] thing happened, then we were, like, 'Okay, well, this gives us some time, 'cause I wanna set up this place and get the band ready in a new studio' and whatever," Sully explained. "Then we finished the studio and we went right to work. We were in there for two, three months or whatever, and we started grinding and pumping out music, and then we were going, like, 'Wait a minute here. Why are we in such a hurry? We're not gonna tour yet for a while.' And Tony [Rombola, guitar] was, like, 'Yeah, I wanna kind of do some projects around my house,' and Shannon the same, and Robbie [Merrill, bass] was going through something, rebuilding his personal life. And I'm, like, 'There's no reason. We just toured for more than two decades straight, and now we're rushing to get right out there during a pandemic when we're not gonna be able to get out there?' So we just went, 'Eh. Shut it off. See you next year. Let's go enjoy our summer. Let's enjoy our families and our friends and our houses.' And we took this year off. And that's why we're looking at probably like a late summer, early fall [of 2022] release for a new single. And then [a full-length] record following that."

Earlier this year, Erna opened up about his battle with COVID-19, saying he "got very sick. I was sick for five and a half weeks, but I was in the hospital for four days." When asked if he thought he was going to get COVID-19, Erna, who was apparently unvaccinated, said: "I didn't. I take really good care of myself. I'm a runner. I've boxed for over 20 years. And I'm onstage two hours a night. I have pretty big lungs, so even thinking if I was gonna get it, I figured I'd get sick like the normal flu get sick and then you push through it, but I definitely didn't expect for it to knock me down the way it did. I just got some bad luck and bad timing. Part of it was I got hit during the Christmas holidays, so all my doctors were on vacation; there was only substitutes. They were kind of guiding me over the phone. And what happened was the COVID left my body within seven to 10 days, but then pneumonia developed, and that's what got me [really sick]. I ended up getting blood clots in my lungs and stuff like that. That's when everything went down. It was pretty gnarly for a while because my oxygen had dipped to 76. And if anyone knows anything about oxygen levels, you're not supposed to go below 95. If you go below, you go to the hospital and 70 is, like, [when they put you on a] ventilator. So I was pretty emotional, pretty nervous about wondering if I was coming out of this. But thankfully I was in the shape that I was in, and my doctor thinks, like, that proved to him… He goes, 'I know exactly how good of a shape you're in now, because,' he goes, 'I've gotta tell you, man, when you came in, I was really nervous for you. And most people that come in in that condition, they don't leave with a happy ending.'"

After the interviewer noted that COVID-19 affects people differently, Erna concurred. "It's pretty random," he said. "I think it has something to do with the blood type and DNA; they're testing for that kind of stuff now. But regardless, I got to the other side of it. I'm doing better than I ever have. It was a very humbling experience and a crazy journey. It puts things in perspective for you. So, that being said, I'm here to just do what we do, man. There was a reason for all of this, and it's made me appreciate life more and my career more and music more and things like that. But I'm also not overjamming my schedule like I used to. I'm taking time for my family, my daughter, the people that I love the most. And I'll play music when I wanna play music now, not because I have to."

In September 2021, GODSMACK's latest album, "When Legends Rise", was certified gold on by the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) for sales in excess of half a million copies. In addition, two more of the LP's singles (the title track and "Under Your Scars") were also officially certified gold by the RIAA. The album's first single "Bulletproof" earned a platinum digital single award in September 2020 and was previously certified gold in the U.S.

"When Legends Rise" was the seventh studio album from GODSMACK. Produced by Erik Ron and Erna, it was the band's first release in four years and was recorded at their now-former headquarters (GSHQ) in Derry, New Hampshire. The album went on to garner a multitude of career milestones for the group: four No. 1 rock tracks (an accomplishment that makes GODSMACK one of only four rock acts to achieve this),and a record 11 No. 1 singles in the band's career with the album's fourth single, "Unforgettable". "When Legends Rise" entered the Billboard Top 200 album chart in the top ten (No. 8),with four No. 1 placements on other charts: Top Rock Albums, Top Hard Music Albums, Top Independent Albums and Top Alternative Albums.

Serj Tankian, the prolific artist, activist, best known for SYSTEM OF A DOWN, will release a new five-song EP titled "Perplex Cities" on October 21 via Serjical Strike. "Perplex Cities" is Serj's second EP in the last couple of years, following his 2021 release of the hard-hitting "Elasticity" EP.

The official music visualizer video for the song "Pop Imperialism", taken from "Perplex Cities", can be seen below.

As an artist who has brought forth diverse types of music with each release, it's no surprise that this EP explores new musical territory. In his words, "This whole collection of songs within 'Perplex Cities' is a completely different sound than what I've done before. More electronic, subtle and deeper in terms of its layers of presentation musically. 'Perplex Cities' gives off an aura that is unique and unlike my previous releases."

Before reaching the music streaming platforms next month, each track off the EP will be made available via a free augmented reality experience featuring Tankian presenting the five tracks himself in an intimate fashion. Via the app he will be appearing in the same space as the listener-viewer to explain the music and listen along. The full EP will be available on all major streaming platforms thereafter, on October 21.

Says Tankian: "I'm always trying to create new and interesting ways to connect with people via my music. We made some amazing videos for the last EP 'Elasticity', so I wanted to try something different for 'Perplex Cities'. I love the idea of appearing in the room with someone listening to my music. It's intimate, fun and different."

"Perplex Cities" track listing:

01. Pop Imperialism
02. The Race
03. I Spoke Up
04. Rumi Loves His Cars
05. Forgive Me Father

For those interested in his musically composed art, Tankian will be debuting new paintings at Stephanie's Gallery in the Los Angeles area beginning October 9. The exhibition is titled "Shapeshift – A Dynamic Dive Into Diversity" and extends through Nov. 1. As with his previous artworks, each of these new paintings will be accompanied by a musical score that corresponds with the paint on canvas and made accessible via the same Arloopa app.

On April 29 of next year, fans of Tankian will also be treated to a unique concert with the debut of "Invocations" at The Soraya in Northridge. Composed and performed by Serj, these new works are symphonic, operatic, emotive and will bring the CSUN Symphony, ethnic instrumentalists and a variety of diverse vocalists, including Tankian, together on stage with a choir for this very special evening of live musical performance.

Photo credit: Travis Shinn

KINGDOM COME played its first two shows with drummer Blas Elias (SLAUGHTER) on Friday, September 23 at Legacy Hall in Plano, Texas and on Saturday, September 24 at the Tierra Segrada Rockfest at Tech Port Arena in San Antonio, Texas. Fan-filmed video of both concerts can be seen below.

KINGDOM COME recruited Elias
to play drums for the band while James Kottak is "recovering and getting his health together."

KINGDOM COME singer Keith St. John, who joined the band in 2018 as the replacement for original frontman Lenny Wolf, announced Blas's addition to KINGDOM COME's touring lineup in a statement to Metal Sludge. He wrote: "Taking over the drum seat in KINGDOM COME for the time being while James is recovering and getting his health together will be my 'Raiding The Rock Vault' and BURNING RAIN brother…(drum roll please)… Blas Elias!

"Blas has been so kind to step in and fill in for James. At this point, we don’t know how long it might be, but thankfully Blas has an amazing feel for this music and is absolutely killing on it! It's also fair to say that James has always mentioned that Blas is one of his favorite drummers."

Last month, Kottak announced that he wouldn't play with his KINGDOM COME bandmates at their concerts in Texas. In the early hours of August 21, James took to his Twitter to write: "I will not be at the Kingdom Come Plano or San Antonio shows so don't waste your time thanks jams k [sic]".

The Plano show took place on September 23 at Legacy Hall, with JACK RUSSELL'S GREAT WHITE and BULLETBOYS also on the bill.

Three months ago, Kottak denied that alcohol played a role in KINGDOM COME's disastrous performance at a Swedish festival.

The band's June 10 appearance at Sweden Rock Festival was described by the popular Swedish site Rocknytt as the event's "biggest fuckup." Writer Peter Johansson criticized the band for the inclusion of "several lengthy, uninspired, uninteresting and completely meaningless solos on both guitar and bass", saying that the musicians "completely massacred" one of their most popular songs, "Do You Like It". He also singled out Kottak, writing that the drummer played "really badly, sluggishly" and at times failed to keep the tempo "worryingly throughout the concert". At the end of the show, Kottak "stumbled to the edge of the stage to bow with his bandmates," according to Rocknytt.

Also critical of KINGDOM COME's performance was renowned Swedish music journalist and guitar player Janne Stark, who took to his Facebook page to share a photo of the gig and he wrote in an accompanying caption: "I've never seen a drummer fall asleep on stage before but James Kottak is pretty damn close. Drunk? He slows down every song to half tempo. KINGDOM COME, sorry guys but this is SHIT!"

Kottak publicly discussed KINGDOM COME's performance at Sweden Rock for the first time in an interview with "This That & The Other With Troy Patrick Farrell" conducted just days after the concert. Regarding what caused the show to fall short of expectations, James said: "I wanna say about eight or nine days ago, maybe 10 days ago, in the middle of the night, like four o'clock in the morning, I was in a dead sleep and I just rolled off the bed and I cracked three ribs on my left side. And I went to my chiropractor guy and he says, 'Oh, you have hairline fractures.' And I'm, like, 'Oh, great.' And dude, it's just been non-stop pain. It's not just my ribs; it's head to toe. That's why things were a little bit slower. 'Cause I took ibuprofen and the usual, Aleve or whatever, but, man, it was an uphill battle from the time we started. And it was just — I mean, not pain; I'm talking pain-pain, big-time stuff. That's no excuse, because the show must go on. But, yeah, I was a little slower than usual. But also we [usually] have a click track, of course, 'cause we might have a little bit of playback. Something was up with that, so we were flying solo… And [when] you don't have it, you go, 'Oh-oh. Okay. We'll do this.' It was just an off day, and there's nothing you can do about it."

According to James, there was "definitely no drinking" involved prior to the KINGDOM COME mishap at Sweden Rock. "Because that with the medication, it doesn't go good together," he explained. "And it was just an off day, man. I did everything to [make it better] — tons of tea, this and that, and all the usual things that I do — but, man, it was just too soon after falling that we went to play this gig. But it's Sweden Rock, and you don't wanna bail out on that."

Asked if alcohol contributed to him falling out of bed prior to the Sweden Rock performance, Kottak said: "I always sleep on the left side of the bed, and I just somehow, in my sleep, rolled off the bed and landed on my left side. I mean, that's really it. I wasn't drinking — nothing like that. Yeah, I have a few white wines here and there, but nothing like that. I just rolled off the bed. And that's the first time in my life that's ever happened where I actually fell off. I woke up and saw stars. It took me 15 minutes to get off the floor. These things happen sometimes, and there's nothing you can do. With SCORPIONS, going up my riser to get to my drums, there were, like, 14 steps, and I fell down those stairs at least five times, if not six times. Because I was like a dummy — I was always spitting this water. And I'd finish a song and I'd come down not thinking, and, just, 'Whoop', right on my ass."

James also denied that his battle with alcoholism was the primary reason he was fired from the SCORPIONS in 2016. He has since been replaced by former MOTÖRHEAD drummer Mikkey Dee.

"I hate to say it, but Blabbermouth's kind of been the worst James basher," Kottak said. "They always say — any article about SCORPIONS, they say, 'Yeah, ever since James Kottak was released for alcohol abuse.' So I e-mailed them one day and said, 'Man, stop saying that.' We parted ways. It wasn't just from alcohol, dude. We went through five years of negotiations, 'cause the manager and tour manager both died within six months of each other. Then the band decided to self-manage, which is cool. But I'll tell you what, man — that's when it was a super-bumpy road and we were just not on the same page anymore. And that happens with bands."

Four years ago, SCORPIONS guitarist Matthias Jabs said that he and his bandmates "had to make" the decision to fire Kottak, explaining that they gave the drummer "all the chances" to get better. During an appearance on "Rock Talk With Mitch Lafon", the guitarist said: "James was a real good friend — and he still is — but we couldn't continue with him. We gave him all the chances, and 10 more. And it was something that developed over the years — the drinking habit. It came in waves — sometimes it was good for four weeks, and then [there] was drama, and if you know him, you know what that's like. Then if it affects the show, you have to go, 'Hmmm…' Because our drum riser goes up 21 feet, or 24 feet sometimes, if the venue allows it, and the production manager, or stage manager, goes, 'I can't have him go up there. It's too risky.' If you can't really walk down the stairs straight, you can't have that. So that affects your intro of the show, and that's not good — it's not professional."

He continued: "We were helping him — we were sending him to [the island of] Antigua [to Eric Clapton's Crossroads drug and alcohol treatment center], and we paid for it, and we did everything we could, because we are extremely loyal. It's always hard if you work with somebody for almost 20 years to say, 'Okay, you've gotta go.' We'd rather do the opposite and try to keep him and help him. But we reached the point — or he reached the point — where it was just not worth it. After three months or four months even — they gave him an extra month in Antigua, the rehab — he'd come home, we'd start again, and you can't even talk to him. So we had to make that decision. We had Mikkey on the road, so [James] didn't notice. So I rehearsed with [Mikkey] and Paweł [Mąciwoda, bass] in the afternoon, just a backup; that was the original plan. But then there was no way we could continue with James, so we started with Mikkey."

Two years ago, Kottak, who joined the SCORPIONS in 1996, told the SCORPIONS official fan club Crazyscorps about the circumstances that led to his departure from the legendary German hard rock band: "I always liked a drink here and there. And then I always also take a pain medication called Aleve. It's what all the baseball players take, all the footballers, and it works like a charm. You take those of those and you don't feel anything. But on top of that, I'm a rock drummer in a rock band, and you've got the green light to drink.

"From 2008 to 2011, I didn't drink," he explained. "I just woke up one day and said, 'I just don't wanna drink anymore.' I didn't go to rehab; I didn't do any of that stuff. I just didn't wanna drink anymore.

"If you have any knowledge of A.A. [Alcoholics Anonymous] or any type of program or rehab, it only lasts so long and then you have what we call in recovery a relapse. I would go through these phases of a year or maybe two years of no drinking, and then you gradually…

"SCORPIONS, we play our show, we go back to the hotel, [and] 45 minutes later, we're all downstairs having dinner," he continued. "And everything's just the right price — free. All these flights back and forth from Europe, from L.A. — I was just flying constantly. Which I'm not complaining about, but it's always business or first class, and once again, all the booze is at the right price. I'm going, 'I've got the next two days off. I might as well have a drink.' And that's what triggered me to start drinking again sometimes.

"It's a typical alcoholic way of thinking: 'Well, I may as well have a drink. Why not?' And that's typical alcoholic disease thinking. 'Cause it is a disease."



Kingdom Come, Bullet Boys and Jack Russell’s GREAT WHITE!

Posted by Karen Miller on Friday, September 23, 2022