TESLA guitarist Frank Hannon has once again said that he doesn't know when drummer Troy Luccketta will return to the band.

Last September, Luccketta announced that he would "take a little time from the road" to spend with family and friends. He is being temporarily replaced at TESLA's gigs by Steve Brown, the younger brother of former DOKKEN drummer Mick Brown.

Frank discussed his longtime bandmate's absence from TESLA's gigs during a new interview with Canada's The Metal Voice. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "We're just allowing the time for things to work themselves out. He's got things that he's dealing with.

"Touring is not an easy life, man," he explained. "It's a very difficult thing being out there on a bus, with everybody crammed in that tight situation. And when you've got stuff going on at home, those things need to be taken care of. But hey, man, he's a long-standing member of the band.

"We'll work it out," Frank added. "Time will work things out. He's a brother, and, like I said, time will work things out. The founding members of the band are together and Steve Brown is playing drums for us at the moment and really doing a great job. And we're just happy to be able to keep on working."

Hannon went on to praise Steve's contributions to TESLA, saying: "Steve is not only 'Wild' Mick's little brother but he's also a member of our local community here in Sacramento. We've known him since he was a little guy. He used to come watch us play when he was a teenager. And he has done other shows for us in the past, filling in for Troy. So he's a member of our family as well."

When Luccketta first shared the news of his decision to stay off the road, he wrote: "I am happy and well, and couldn't be more grateful to my bandmates for this opportunity. I am also looking forward to some musical ventures closer to home. In my absence please show some love to Steve Brown. Steve is a dear friend, and great drummer! He has played with OLEANDER, Ronnie Montrose just to name a few. He is one of Sacramento's finest, The perfect choice so to speak!"

Earlier this month, TESLA released the official music video for the band's new single, "Time To Rock!". The track arrived five months after TESLA released the official lyric video for the 2021 standalone single "Cold Blue Steel".

Originally released last August, "Cold Blue Steel" was the first TESLA song to ever be produced by the bandmembers themselves.

TESLA is:

Frank Hannon - guitar
Brian Wheat - bass
Jeff Keith - lead vocals
Dave Rude - guitar
Steve Brown - drums

In a new interview with Arizona Republic, Bret Michaels admitted that he isn't necessarily in a rush to get back in the studio and make another POISON album. The band's latest collection of original material, "Hollyweird", came out 20 years ago. An album of covers, "Poison'd", followed in 2007.

"I know I could get outvoted on this," Michaels said. "But I said, 'Guys, I beg you. Let's just write a straight-up rock song.' A 'Nothin' But A Good Time'. But modern. 'Talk Dirty To Me'. A great guitar riff, good lyrics, a hook in the chorus. Just something that's fun for us to write. And who knows? Maybe it could be a modern-day 'You Shook Me All Night Long'."

Michaels clarified that he doesn't expect POISON to be able to release more than one new song.

"You give us a whole album," he said, with a laugh, "you'll get the best prize fight you've ever seen."

According to Bret, he is in a good place with his POISON bandmates.

"Here's the truth," he said. "We always get along great. No one has ever made me laugh harder or been through as much as we've been through together, from the ground up. I'm talking the basement, sump-pump water on the floor. We're definitely four uniquely different personalities. But on that stage, it's electric."

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

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

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

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

POISON's long-delayed North American trek with DEF LEPPARD, MÖTLEY CRÜE and JOAN JETT & THE BLACKHEARTS was originally planned for 2020 and later moved to 2021 and then to 2022. "The Stadium Tour" will conclude on September 9 in Las Vegas, Nevada.

THE PRETTY RECKLESS will release a new collection of music, "Other Worlds", on November 4 via Fearless Records. The effort sees the group delivering its first proper acoustic recordings, unexpected covers and other reimaginings.

"For a long time, we've been trying to figure out an alternative way of releasing music, including songs we love that didn't make our records, covers, and alternate versions," explains singer Taylor Momsen. "We found a way to do this coherently and consistently with 'Other Worlds'. We're a rock band, so there are lots of electric guitars on our records. However, we've gotten incredible feedback from fans about our acoustic performances, and we'd never put those out in any real format. So, this is a different take on the traditional format of a record and a stripped back version of us that our fans haven't really heard before, but it's still us."

"You get to hear a different side of Taylor's vocals," adds guitarist Ben Phillips. "It was a chance for us to see what she would sound like singing songs by people who have inspired us. It also gave us some perspective of where we need to go and what we need to be if we want to be that good."

"Other Worlds" collates striking acoustic renditions of personal favorites accompanied by some very special guests. The recording of Elvis Costello's "(What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love And Understanding" served as Momsen's first cover originally performed for the "Fearless At Home" livestream in the midst of COVID. As another pandemic-era cover, Matt Cameron played guitar and sang as Taylor powered an airy and lithe reimagining of SOUNDGARDEN's "Halfway There" from "King Animal", generating hundreds of thousands of views on its initial post. Iconic multi-instrumentalist, producer and artist Alain Johannes handled guitar on THE PRETTY RECKLESS' pensive and poetic interpretation of "The Keeper", originally by Chris Cornell, while David Bowie pianist Mike Garson performed a stirring piano movement for THE THIN WHITE DUKE's "Quicksand".

"Other Worlds" track listing:

01. Got So High (remix)
02. Loud Love
03. The Keeper (feat. Alain Johannes)
04. Quicksand (feat. Mike Garson)
05. 25 (acoustic)
06. Only Love Can Save Me Now (acoustic)
07. Death By Rock And Roll (acoustic)
08. Halfway There (feat. Matt Cameron)
09. (What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love And Understanding
10. Harley Darling (acoustic)
11. Got So High (album version)

THE PRETTY RECKLESS's latest album, "Death By Rock And Roll", was made available in February 2021 via Fearless Records in the U.S. and Century Media Records in the rest of the world.

Upon release, "Death By Rock And Roll" topped multiple sales charts — including Billboard's Top Albums, Rock, Hard Music, and Digital charts. The record also yielded three back-to-back No. 1 singles — "Death By Rock And Roll", "And So It Went" (featuring Tom Morello of RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE) and "Only Love Can Save Me Now" (featuring Kim Thayil and Matt Cameron of SOUNDGARDEN). The band has tallied seven No. 1 singles at the rock format throughout its career.

"Death By Rock And Roll" is THE PRETTY RECKLESS's first album to be made without longtime producer Kato Khandwala, who died in April 2018 from injuries sustained in a motorcycle accident.

THE PRETTY RECKLESS formed in 2009 and is rounded out by bassist Mark Damon and drummer Jamie Perkins.

Last year, Momsen — who rose to fame portraying the character of edgy little sister Jenny Humphrey on The CW's "Gossip Girl" — described "Death By Rock And Roll" in an interview with ABC Audio as a "battle cry for life and for hope."

"I think that that's something that we can all use a little bit more of, especially right now," she said. "We could always use a little more hope, and we could always use a little more rock and roll."

The Sheephead FilmsYouTube channel has uploaded video of Max Cavalera performing a couple of songs — including SEPULTURA's "Roots Bloody Roots" and SOULFLY's "Prophecy" — with the band PROPHECY on August 20 at the Rockin' Rally in Shonto, Arizona.

SEPULTURA's classic lineup fell apart in 1996 with the exit of Max after the rest of the band split with his wife Gloria as their manager. His brother, drummer Igor Cavalera, stuck around with the group for another 10 years before leaving SEPULTURA and re-teaming with Max in CAVALERA CONSPIRACY.

Although SEPULTURA has maintained a diehard fanbase in all parts of the world throughout the band's three-and-a-half-decade-plus history, Max-era albums "Roots" and "Chaos A.D." were by far SEPULTURA's most commercially successful, having both been certified gold in the U.S. for sales in excess of five hundred thousand copies.

Igor and Max have spent much of the last six years celebrating the 20th anniversary of SEPULTURA's "Roots" and 30th anniversary of "Beneath The Remains" and "Arise" albums on tour all over the world.

On Wednesday (August 24),Max and Igor announced the fall 2022 leg of the "Return Beneath Arise" U.S. tour. The trek will kick off on September 28 in Pomona, California and end on October 29 in Santa Ana, California.

SOULFLY's twelfth album, "Totem", was released on August 5 via Nuclear Blast. The follow-up to 2018's "Ritual" was recorded at Platinum Underground in Mesa, Arizona by John Aquilino and Arthur Rizk with assistance from John Powers. Produced by Max alongside Arthur Rizk (KREATOR, MUNICIPAL WASTE, CODE ORANGE),the LP boasts guest appearances from John Powers (ETERNAL CHAMPION),Chris Ulsh (POWER TRIP),and John Tardy (OBITUARY). Rizk was also responsible for playing lead guitar on the record. The artwork for the album was created by James Bousema.

The current SEPULTURA lineup — featuring guitarist Andreas Kisser and bassist Paulo Xisto Pinto Jr. alongside Derrick Green on vocals and Eloy Casagrande on drums — released its latest studio album, "Quadra", in February 2020 via Nuclear Blast.

PANTERA has shared a new video teasing the band's upcoming return to the live stage. The clip was uploaded to PANTERA's social media just hours it was announced that the influential heavy metal group will play its first shows in over 20 years in December 2022, starting with a co-headlining slot at Mexico's Hell & Heaven Metal Fest, followed by appearances at three Knotfest festivals in South America.

The new teaser video features pictures and footage of the classic PANTERA lineup along with of concert clips of PANTERA fans, along with the words "For the brothers. For the fans. For the legacy."

PANTERA will perform at Hell & Heaven Metal Fest on Friday, December 2 at Foro Pegaso in Toluca. Knotfest Colombia is scheduled for Friday, December 9 at Campin Circuit of Bogotá. Knotfest Chile is slated to take place on Sunday, December 11 at Estadio Monumental in Santiago. Knotfest Brasil will follow on Sunday, December 18 at Sambódromo do Anhembi in São Paulo.

Last month, it was announced that PANTERA's surviving members Philip Anselmo (vocals) and Rex Brown (bass) will unite with guitarist Zakk Wylde (OZZY OSBOURNE, BLACK LABEL SOCIETY) and drummer Charlie Benante (ANTHRAX) for a world tour under the PANTERA banner.

Anselmo and Brown, along with Wylde and Benante, will headline a number of major festivals across North America and Europe and stage some of their own headline concerts.

According to Billboard, the lineup has been given a green light by the estates of the band's founders, drummer Vincent "Vinnie Paul" Abbott and guitarist "Dimebag" Darrell Abbott, as well as Brown, who last year said Wylde wouldn't tour with PANTERA if a reunion were to happen. It's unclear what changed his mind.

Back in July 2017, less than a year before his death, Vinnie Paul slammed Rex's memoir as "a bunch of mythology" and once again ruled out the possibility of any kind of reunion of surviving PANTERA members. Asked about the way he was depicted in Brown's 2013 book, "Official Truth, 101 Proof: The Inside Story Of Pantera", in which the PANTERA bassist referred to Vinnie as "a strange person" who "was always all about the 'party, party, party'" but "only got laid maybe one out of ten times," the drummer told the "Rover's Morning Glory" syndicated radio show: "All I can say is that… I'll refer to Philip's comment about Rex's book. A bunch of mythology, man. We don't know where he came up with all this. More power to him, man."

Vinnie was also asked about his relationship with Anselmo, with whom he had not spoken since PANTERA split in 2003. Pressed about whether it was true that he indirectly blamed Philip for the death of Dimebag, suggesting that some remarks the vocalist had made about the guitarist in print just weeks earlier might have incited the guitarist's killer, the drummer said: "I'm just gonna say I have no comment on any of that, man. I'm beyond PANTERA. I've done so many other things with my life since then. And I always believe if you live in the past, you have no future. So, man, I'm happy doing what I do with HELLYEAH, and I'm gonna leave it at that." French, at that point, asked Vinnie if we can safely assume that that there are no circumstances under which all the surviving members of PANTERA would ever get back together. Vinnie responded: "That's a pretty damn good assumption. Yeah, man. [Laughs]"

In a 2013 interview with MetalSucks, Anselmo was asked for his opinion of "Official Truth, 101 Proof: The Inside Story Of Pantera". He said: "Honestly, [Rex's] assessment of me [in the book] — I don't care. Egotistical, self-centered, everything is always about me. Y'know what? I'm a lead singer and he's a bass player. That's his perception. So I'm fine with it. I don't hold any fucking grudges. But I think he did take some angry swipes and I don't need to be specific. There is a great deal of mythology when it comes to his 'quitting' DOWN. That particular chapter is a little disturbing."

Anselmo also commented on the fact that Vinnie Paul was at times painted in a very negative light in Rex's book.

"I'm not sure that type of beating [on Vince] was necessary," Anselmo said. "Vince is a difficult guy and was always a different type of guy. But did he deserve that type of beating? I don't think so. It's a shame."

He continued: "Rex has many faults, just like anyone else. But it sure seems like he wants to put fault on other people to take away from his humanity. We're all full of faults. Maybe it's easier for some of us to admit."

Brown defended his comments about Vinnie Paul during a 2013 interview with the "Energize With Lonn Friend" podcast. After revealing that he sent his book to Anselmo and Vinnie Paul, the bassist said: "Apparently, Vinnie isn't very flattered by it. Vinnie, then, he can write his own fucking book, you know. With Philip, I haven't heard any rebuttals, but I didn't say anything in the book that wasn't already out there, you know what I'm saying?!"

He added: "I think the reason they haven't talked to me is 'cause it is the fucking truth. And sometimes you don't wanna tell the truth. And I didn't go out of my way to maliciously hurt any individual. But at the same time, if you're gonna tell the truth, by God, you'd better be on the skinny. And I think Mark Eglinton [Rex's co-author], that did this thing with me, he really just kind of…. He put me down… You know how you have your dreams that you had in high school when you're just… you're in your underwear. That's the way I felt with this book. If [you're] not [being completely truthful in your memoir], I think it's all a bunch of charade… And why would you wanna do that?"

On page 172 of "Official Truth, 101 Proof: The Inside Story Of Pantera", Brown had the following to say about Vinnie Paul: "You need to understand that Vinnie is just a strange person — that's all there is to it — and it's either his way or the highway. I think he got most of that asshole-ishness from his old man, because in many ways they are very much alike. Vinnie was always all about the 'party, party, party!' and 'eat that pussy!' type of shit — to the extent that he thought he was fucking David Lee Roth. And him a drummer, can you imagine? But the truth is that he only got laid maybe one out of ten times and that's if he was lucky. Being in a platinum-selling band is meant to be a head start when you're trying to score with chicks, but he negated that by having no idea whatsoever how to treat or approach a woman. He'd just walk up and immediately start groping them, so it was no surprise that his strike rate was so pitiful. He acted like meeting him was a sexual audition and that just turned them off straightaway." He continued: "And as if that wasn't bad enough, when he didn't get laid (ninety percent of the time, I'd estimate) he was the most miserable fucking guy on the planet. I just couldn't live with him. He'd walk in the room in the morning and I'd just know. He'd be all snappy and pissed off with everyone and there was nothing anyone could do to change his mood. That became really boring."

Vinnie passed away on June 22, 2018 at his home in Las Vegas at the age of 54. He died of dilated cardiomyopathy, an enlarged heart, as well as severe coronary artery disease. His death was the result of chronic weakening of the heart muscle — basically meaning his heart couldn't pump blood as well as a healthy heart.

Vinnie and his brother co-founded PANTERA. When PANTERA broke up in 2003, they formed DAMAGEPLAN. On December 8, 2004, while performing with DAMAGEPLAN at the Alrosa Villa in Columbus, Ohio, Dimebag was shot and killed onstage by a troubled schizophrenic who believed that the members of PANTERA were stealing his thoughts.



Posted by Pantera on Thursday, August 25, 2022

SKID ROW bassist Rachel Bolan spoke to Chris Akin about the lyrical inspiration for "World's On Fire", the final track on the band's upcoming album, "The Gang's All Here", which will arrive on October 14 via earMUSIC. The group recorded most of the LP in Nashville, Tennessee with producer Nick Raskulinecz, who has previously worked with FOO FIGHTERS, STONE SOUR, HALESTORM, EVANESCENCE, RUSH and ALICE IN CHAINS, among many others.

Bolan said about the song (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "It's not so much political as it is just standing back and looking at things. And it's, like, you know, maybe everyone in the world shouldn't voice their opinion. With all the shit that's going on, maybe flapping your mouth is making shit worse. So that's where the lyrics just came out of.

"That was the last song that we wrote [for the album], I believe. And that was during rehearsals. Or we went back into pre-production, 'cause Nick was, like, 'You guys need more songs.' So we went back in and we wrote 'Not Dead Yet' and 'World's On Fire'. [Guitarist] Snake [Dave Sabo] had a riff. He was, like, 'Here's what I have.' Then Nick kind of pulled it apart and rearranged it and then I started writing lyrics. And we both had some melody ideas.

"It was just feelings. And although it was last minute, the more I listen to it, I'm, like, I didn't realize we were making such a statement when we were writing the song. That was truly where our head was at as we were writing those lyrics. It's just, like, 'Man, let's just stop this shit. Just stop. Just shut up.' Like the old saying, 'Stop and smell the roses.' My mom would always say that. When she saw that I was going… I'd get off tour and just work at home and then go on another tour. She was, like, 'You've gotta just chill and stop and smell the roses and just enjoy life a little bit.' And my dad was a big… He'd always be, like, 'If you talk too much, sooner or later you're gonna say stupid shit.' Just like, 'Say what you've gotta say and you're done. Don't keep talking just to hear your own voice.' And I feel completely the same — when people start going on about stuff, whatever the topic is, I'm, like, 'Oh my God. I wish they'd shut up.' [Laughs] My dad would always say too, 'When you're at a party and you start talking about the weather, you've run out of things to talk about. So go home.'"

Singer Erik Grönwall joined SKID ROW in January as the replacement for ZP Theart, who had been in the group for more than six years. Theart played his final gig with SKID ROW in February before being officially given the boot.

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

Grönwall was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia in March 2021. Six months later, he announced that he was cancer free after receiving a bone marrow transplant in August. "Some anonymous wonderful human being somewhere in the world donated his/her blood cells so that I could get a second chance at life," he told Headbangers Lifestyle in January. "Sometimes I can just get tears in my eyes when I think about it. It's so beautiful that one person who is not connected to me in any way wanted to do that for me. He/she doesn't know that the blood cells were for me. It's completely anonymous."

Last September, Grönwall released his cover version of "18 And Life" via all streaming platforms.

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

Video of THE L.I.F.E. PROJECT, the musical meeting of minds between Grammy-nominated STONE SOUR guitarist Josh Rand and PARALANDRA vocalist/guitarist Casandra Carson, performing a cover of ANTHRAX's "Caught In A Mosh" during its August 16 concert at Pine Knob Music Theatre in Clarkston, Michigan can be seen below (courtesy of Front Row Bobby). The show was part of THE L.I.F.E. PROJECT's run of U.S. dates as the support act for ALICE IN CHAINS, BREAKING BENJAMIN and BUSH.

THE L.I.F.E. PROJECT made its live debut on April 30 at The Riff in Springfield, Missouri. Joining Rand and Carson in the group are keyboardist/backing vocalist Diana Weishaar, bassist Jaron Gulino and drummer Danny Piselli.

Several days prior to the show, Carson commented on social media: "It's crazy to think that Josh and I started writing songs together 2 YEARS ago and we're finally taking taking it to the stage! I couldn't be happier with the people we've chosen to join us on this journey. Absolutely incredible musicians and all around great human beings (one of which I might be a little biased towards)."

In a recent interview with HardDrive Radio's Lou Brutus, Rand stated about THE L.I.F.E. PROJECT: "In a sense, it was just something that I started doing a couple of years ago, just writing music myself. And then I just decided I wanted to get a female vocalist, basically, to work on these songs and sing on them. And I found Casandra through a mutual friend — actually, STONE SOUR's A&R person, Dave Rath — and we hit it off. And then we've just been working on stuff for the last two years kind of just here and there. Obviously, with COVID and all that stuff going on in the world, it really restricted going out, so there's really not been a desire to do that up until recently. So now we're gonna end up being a full band and actually play our first show, which I'm really excited about finally getting back out there. 'Cause for me, it's been a bit, I guess — like, three years — since I've been on a stage.

"So, that's really what it's about," he continued. "It's just me musically trying different stuff, but also getting back to where I originally came from, as far as my musical journey. So it's kind of getting back to my roots and just having fun with it. That's what THE L.I.F.E. PROJECT is for me — it's a different vehicle to express myself, I guess, artistically with truly no boundaries, but leaning more towards, musically, I think, coming at it as an educated teenager. What I mean by that is it's the fire of that teenager — that drive, that style of music that I was playing 30 years ago — but now doing it with the experience, the knowledge and all that. So it's kind of like revisiting the past, in a way, or going home in some ways."

THE L.I.F.E. PROJECT released a new four-song EP, titled "Big F.O.U.R.", in March via Bloodblast. The collection features a clutch of cover versions, one each from heavy music's pioneering icons METALLICA, SLAYER, MEGADETH and ANTHRAX.

Rand previously stated about the EP: "Recording a 'Big F.O.U.R.' cover EP is something that I have wanted to do for a very very long time, and last fall I decided to finally do it with THE L.I.F.E. PROJECT.

"Without these four bands (METALLICA, MEGADETH, ANTHRAX and SLAYER),my musical career wouldn't be where it is today. In some ways, you could say this project is paying homage to them or, how I see it, a return to where it all started in my parents' house as a teenager trying to learn just a piece of the music.

"Each of the four songs that I picked were pivotal in my development as a musician, whether it was learning the intro to 'One' on guitar, drums on 'Symphony [Of Destruction]' or bass lines in 'Caught In A Mosh'.

"This EP was a true love and passion project for myself. I feel I captured the vibe and the spirit of the original but with THE L.I.F.E. PROJECT sound. Hopefully you hear it too!"

Stylistically, THE L.I.F.E. PROJECT is a fluid combination of classic metal sensibility and Rand's penchant for pushing the boundaries of contemporary heavy.

THE L.I.F.E. PROJECT's debut self-titled EP came out in the summer of 2021 and is available exclusively through the band's webstore or via the Nuclear Blast store.

Josh and Casandra's debut single, "The Nothingness", was featured on several major playlists across streaming platforms, including Rock Hard on Spotify, Breaking Metal on Apple Music, Break Through Rock on Amazon and Metal Radar on Deezer. "The Nothingness" was also included on SiriusXM Octane's "Test Drive" show on release.

Golden Robot Records has announced the signing of Stephen Pearcy.

As the founder, lead singer, and songwriter of the metal rock band RATT, Pearcy led his creation to mega multi-platinum success year after year from 1984 to 1991. RATT climbed up the charts with "Out Of The Cellar", which generated Top 10 singles followed by sold-out tours throughout the world.

Throughout RATT's nearly four decades of success with Pearcy at its helm, they released eight albums and played thousands of shows worldwide all the while selling over 20 million records.

Given the mammoth success of RATT, Pearcy was looking for extraordinary when choosing a label, and the only company deemed agile enough for the task was Golden Robot, headed by Australian entrepreneur, CEO and president Mark Alexander-Erber (pictured below with Stephen).

Pearcy explained: "It is with great pleasure to announce my having signed on with Golden Robot Records.

"Choosing a label to handle my music spanning 40-plus years in the industry is no easy task. Mark and Golden Robot have captured the modernization of the industry and marketing as well as held on to the old-school style that has served me well for decades, both of which are needed to handle a catalog as mine and the new music I bring to the table.

"As an artist, songwriter and performer, evolving is inevitable; therefore my team has to be on point and lightning quick to keep up. Mark and Golden Robot understand that concept and I look forward to our collaboration, with our first endeavor being the Stephen Pearcy 'Legacy' album. This album will be a career retrospective from 1976 to date. I look forward to sharing never-heard RATT classics in their infancy, early RATT with Jake E. Lee, live RATT, ARCADE, solo covers, the last song written with [late RATT guitarist] Robbin [Crosby], the last song written with [RATT guitarist] Warren [DeMartini], and so much more. This is the first time I've reached so deep into the archives and it's truly been a labor of love.

"Cheers to Mark and Golden Robot, we are about to bring RATT and '80s music fans the most authentic and thorough archive of music that was an interictal part of creating the '80s Sunset Strip music scene."

Alexander-Erber has also expressed his excitement at the finally getting Pearcy over the dotted line after years of courting. "Out of the hundreds and hundreds of signings we have had over many years, I have to say after a long while courting Stephen, I'm absolutely honored he has joined our Golden Robot family, helping us to bring rock back to the forefront," he said. "He truly is one of the best, and to be part of our roster is wonderful. We have some fabulous releases planned for 2022/23."

Pearcy is expected to release new music via Golden Robot Records later this year.

Pearcy has released five solo albums so far: "Social Intercourse" (2002),"Fueler" (2004),"Under My Skin" (2008),"Smash" (2017) and "View To A Thrill" (2018).

Pearcy and bassist Juan Croucier are the sole remaining original members in RATT's current lineup, which made its live debut in July 2018 in Mulvane, Kansas. Joining them in the band are drummer Pete Holmes (BLACK 'N BLUE, RATT'S JUAN CROUCIER) and guitarists Jordan Ziff (RAZER) and Frankie Lindia.

In January 2021, Pearcy told SiriusXM's "Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk" that he was open to the idea of making a new RATT album with all the surviving members of the band's classic lineup.

RATT hasn't released any new music since 2010's "Infestation" LP.

Top photo: MissTruthAdare Photography

Gibson Brands has announced the launch of Gibson Publishing in partnership with rock icon Slash. Gibson Publishing's first release, "The Collection: Slash", is a stunning, premium coffee-table book that explores in unprecedented detail the instruments Slash has used on countless hit records and on stages worldwide in front of millions of fans. "The Collection: Slash" will be published in hardcover in two editions, Custom and Deluxe via Gibson Publishing and is available for pre-order now via Gibson.com.

Gibson Publishing marks the next major step in the evolution of Gibson Brands' media platform and promoting music experiences to fans worldwide. As with the recently launched music label Gibson Records — which released SLASH FEATURING MYLES KENNEDY & THE CONSPIRATORS' acclaimed new album titled "4" this year — the first project for Gibson Publishing is a premium book with Gibson global brand ambassador and rock legend Slash.

"It's been a blast working with Gibson to create a platform for me to talk about my favorite thing, guitars" says Slash. "This book is a great exposé of all the great guitars I've collected over many years."

Launching simultaneously today is the Slash episode of Gibson TV's popular interview series of the same name, "The Collection", which takes viewers on a deep dive into the extraordinary, personal guitar collections of music's biggest artists. Slash and Mark Agnesi (Gibson TV host and director of brand experience) sit down to discuss the never-before-told stories behind his holy grail vintage pieces, to prototype Gibson signature models, drool-worthy Gibson Les Pauls, Flying Vs, and more. Watch as Slash and Mark cover a wide range of Slash's staggering collection of around 400 instruments.

Over 300 pages in length, "The Collection: Slash" is a lavishly illustrated, rare and collectible book with numerous photos of the guitarist and his impressive guitar collection, shot by the Gibson team and legendary rock photographer Ross Halfin, whose relationship with Slash extends back to an early GUNS N' ROSES portrait session from 1986. Accompanying the imagery are insights drawn from the new, exclusive interviews with Slash himself. Written and edited by Gibson editor-in-chief Chris Vinnicombe, "The Collection: Slash" is a must-have for both Slash fans and those who admire fine and rare guitars.

"Launching Gibson Publishing in partnership with Slash for our debut book 'The Collection: Slash' marks an important milestone for all of us at Gibson Brands," says Cesar Gueikian, brand president of Gibson Brands. "We continue to leverage our iconic past and lean into the future creating more opportunities for music fans around the world to experience original storytelling. With Gibson TV, Gibson Records and now Gibson Publishing, we are organically growing our own media platform that continues to create compelling original content. I am proud of what our media team led by Beth Heidt, Mark Agnesi, Todd Harapiak, Lee Bartram, and Chris Vinnicombe have accomplished together with the extended team. And I am grateful to Slash and his team's partnership for our debut publication."

"The Collection: Slash" Custom edition measures 297 x 420 mm (11.69 x 16.54") and comes in a deluxe clamshell box with premium case candy. The Custom edition includes an Axe Heaven Appetite Les Paul miniature, an exclusive Slash bandana, a guitar pick tin with Dunlop guitar picks, a cover poster, four guitar art prints, and a certificate of authenticity. The Custom Edition is hand-signed by Slash and is limited to 500 copies worldwide.

"The Collection: Slash" Deluxe edition is presented in a Les Paul slipcase and measures 240 x 340 mm (9.45 x 13.39"). It includes a cover poster, four guitar art prints, and a certificate of authenticity. The initial print run of the Deluxe edition is hand-signed by Slash and is limited to 1,000 copies worldwide.

Comprised of Jon Ricci (Vocals), Shaun Lichtenstein (Lead Guitar / Vocals), Glenn Mungo (Drums), Josh Waterman (Guitar / Vocals), and Mike LaRoche (Bass), LANSDOWNE has been a force to be reckoned with since emerging into the music scene in 2006.

In their 15+ years as a band, they have achieved two billboard charting radio singles, over 100 million streams / views across platforms on their music, and have licensed songs to major brands such as iRobot, the NFL, MTV, and more. LANSDOWNE built their name the old fashioned way – on the road, having performed countless shows internationally, including a 2007 tour for the troops across Kyrgyzstan, Afghanistan, and Kuwait, as well as sharing the stage with rock heavyweights such as Theory of a Deadman, Puddle of Mudd, Creed, Black Stone Cherry, Pop Evil, and more.

Between 2015 and 2017, the band took a brief hiatus to focus on family and other business ventures, but re-emerged with the hard-hitting single “Bend the Knee”, and the follow up fan favorite “Savage”, putting them back on the radar in today’s Hard Rock scene. The band released “FILTHY” in 2021, with a guarantee of more new music and major announcements on the horizon in 2022. Following a signing with Hamburg-based metal powerhouse AFM Records and the release of a lyric video for their mega hit "Burn Brighther" (with more than 11 million streams on Spotify alone) in mid-2022, today, LANSDOWNE released a brand new single, entitled "Medicine".

Long-running U.K. rockers THE QUIREBOYS will release a new studio album titled "The Band Rolls On..." in December. It will mark their first collection of material since the departure of lead singer Spike (real name Jonathan Gray) in March. The band has since announced its decision to continue as a five-piece, with longtime guitarist Guy Griffin handling the vocals.

After the split with Spike, and in between a hectic tour schedule throughout the U.S., Sweden, Portugal, Switzerland, France, Norway and the U.K., THE QUIREBOYS have been in the studio recording a 10-track studio album of brand new material featuring some all-star collaborations.

The album, which is now available on presale, features some well-known guests, including Joe Elliott (DEF LEPPARD),Angry Anderson (ROSE TATTOO),Charlie Starr (BLACKBERRY SMOKE),Dan Reed (DAN REED NETWORK),Josh Todd and Stevie D (BUCKCHERRY),Chip Z'Nuff (ENUFF Z'NUFF),Ryan Roxie (ALICE COOPER),Scotti Hill (SKID ROW),Steve Conte (NEW YORK DOLLS) and Tim Mosher (JUNKYARD).

Griffin says: "It's great to have people we really respect and admire in the industry adding some of their magic to the new songs we've written. After twenty years of writing QUIREBOYS songs, these collaborations have not only taken a bit of the pressure off me but brought a fresh perspective to the process, another way of looking at a song. It's also been a pleasure to sing alongside such great names."

From the rocking gospel-tinged riffs of the title song to the hypnotic groove of "So Glorious" (with Dan Reed),this is something different but with no less swagger. Griffin goes on to say: "It's given us a real chance to explore other styles as we continue our musical journey."

Paul Guerin adds: "The new machine is fresh, tight, highly motivated and performing better than ever. We have been so excited we haven't stopped writing new material throughout all the tours. To be honest, we have enough new material for three albums, but 'The Band Rolls On…' will feature the first batch from THE QUIREBOYS."

"The Band Rolls On…" is now available for pre-sale on CD or vinyl via the Off Yer Rocka record store. There will only be a small run of a thousand vinyl copies available.

Earlier this year, Spike fired back at his former bandmates, saying that he had "no intention" of walking away from THE QUIREBOYS. After the British rock stalwarts announced that they had parted ways with Spike and would "continue as a five-piece with all other current members," he responded with a statement of his own, saying that he had received "a letter from three of my band members informing me that my services are no longer required to sing or perform with them." THE QUIREBOYS later released a lengthy new statement in which they accused Spike of "refusing" to speak to them and "consistently declining" to meet and discuss band issues over the course of nine months. They also claimed that they had "been trading as THE QUIREBOYS through a business registered with Companies House & HMRC for many years, a company Spike was asked to join but declined, preferring instead to be hired on a freelance basis, 'cash in hand'." They reiterated that "Spike does not legally own the band or the name." Just hours later, Spike released a response to THE QUIREBOYS' statement, insisting that he holds the trademark to THE QUIREBOYS name and accusing his former bandmates of trying to "discredit" him by "say[ing] anything about me they see fit, whether it's true or not."

THE QUIREBOYS put out their most recent album, the well-received "Amazing Disgrace", in 2019.

The band's debut LP, "A Bit of What You Fancy", was released in 1990 and included the song "Hey You", which was THE QUIREBOYS' biggest hit, reaching No. 14 in the U.K. singles chart and No. 5 in the U.S. Billboard Rock chart.

In 2020, THE QUIREBOYS were scheduled to celebrate their 35th anniversary with a tour. The trek, which ended up getting canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic, would also have marked 30 years since the release of "A Bit Of What You Fancy".

Following the band's inception in London in 1984 — originally as THE CHOIRBOYS, then THE QUEERBOYS, before settling on the less controversial name of THE QUIREBOYS — there followed six years of hard graft and personnel changes.

THE QUIREBOYS played to 72,000 people at 1990's Monsters Of Rock at Donington with the likes of WHITESNAKE, AEROSMITH and POISON. They supported THE ROLLING STONES that same year in Newcastle, and opened for GUNS N' ROSES at the Hammersmith Odeon in 1987 and again a couple of years later on their "Use Your Illusion" tour.

The public's appetite for THE QUIREBOYS had returned and hasn't waned since — three further studio releases ("Well Oiled", "Homewreckers & Heartbreakers", "Halfpenny Dancer") were released on various labels from 2004 to 2009 before the band found their new, and permanent, home on Off Yer Rocka, the label of the renowned festival brand Hard Rock Hell.

An anniversary edition — fully re-recorded — of "A Bit Of What You Fancy" drew much acclaim in 2021.

In a brand new interview with podcaster Joe Rogan of "The Joe Rogan Experience", Dave Mustaine reflected on his 1983 dismissal from METALLICA and the formation of MEGADETH. When asked if went "right into" MEGADETH after his exit from METALLICA or if it took him some time to plot his next move, Dave said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "I think in my mind I went right into MEGADETH, but at the time I was still kind of trying to digest everything that took place.

"The thing that bothered me the most was I had all my music, and I left it behind and I said, 'Don't use my music.' And of course they did. They used it on the first record [1983's 'Kill 'Em All'], on the second record [1984's 'Ride The Lightning']. There's parts of my music on a song on the third record [1986's 'Master Of Puppets']. All the solos on the first record are mine, except that they're just performed by Kirk [Hammett, METALLICA's current guitarist]. And [they're] close but not the same. And he's not a bad guitar player."

When asked if he got royalties for that, Mustaine said: "Well, most of 'em, yeah, but Kirk got my royalties for [the song] 'Metal Militia' [from 'Kill 'Em All'] for many, many years. And he has to see the check, so I know somebody saw that I wasn't getting paid.

After Rogan noted that Mustaine feels both "sadness and bitterness" over his departure from METALLICA, Dave said: "Not bitterness — I'm over it. It's just money. At the end of the day, my happiness and my family and my wife and my children are more important to me than anything in this world. I love our fans. I have so many things in this life that I'm happy about. But, man, it's my family. And obviously my relationship with God. I take that very, very personal. And I don't talk to people about it; I don't push it on 'em at all. It's my thing. And I just look at it like where I'm at right now… Yeah, [I was] 20 [years old] in METALLICA, and now, look at me, I'm 60 [years old] in MEGADETH. And I'm a Grammy winner. I'm a New York Times best-selling author — all these things."

In a 2009 interview with Norway's Lydverket, Mustaine said that he was "so hurt" by getting kicked out of METALLICA for allegedly drinking too much. "I said, 'What?! No second chance, no warning? C'mon, we all drink. C'mon.'" he recalled. "And [they were like], 'No, that's it. You're gone.' And I was like, 'All right.'"

Mustaine also went on to claim that an altercation with METALLICA frontman James Hetfield led to his being fired from the band.

"I was selling pot," Dave said. "When I would go play in concert, people knew that my pot was sitting in my apartment just saying, 'Go ahead and keep me company.' So I was broken in on. People stole everything that I had; all my stash. And I figured, screw this. I'm gonna get some dogs to stay in the apartment when I leave. So I got two dogs and I took one of them up to a rehearsal one time and she put her paws up on Ron's [McGovney, METALLICA's then-bassist] car. And James kicked it right in the side. And I was like, 'What did you do?' [And I was like] 'It's a dog, it's what they do. You don't kick animals.' So we went into the house, and we started arguing some more. And I ended up punching him in the face and I think that was the root of why I lost my job."

In a 2009 interview with the Dallas/Ft. Worth, Texas radio station 97.1 The Eagle Rocks, Hetfield said that it was "so odd" to hear Mustaine still talking about his exit from METALLICA. "It is very Dave, and that's him," James said. "And no matter what band he was in or whatever... I mean, Dave is not in this band for a reason, and this is the reason. It's super-simple. He was in the band for 11 months and it goes on and on and on and on and on. I don't know any other band on this planet that there was a member in the band for a short amount of time and they've still got this big chip on his shoulder. It's insane.... You know what?! He's in love, and that's fine, 'cause we love him back."

Back in 2016, Hammett told the "Word Of Wheeler" podcast that he understood Dave's continued resentment toward his former bandmates over the way he was dismissed from the group. "I've always seen Dave as someone who was just really, really sad, really angry, really frustrated about his situation with METALLICA, and he never could let that go," he said. "And, you know, I've always shown a lot of empathy for him, understanding that he was just pissed off. It's the equivalent of the woman of your life leaving you. I mean, really. When your band kicks you out… I've never been kicked out, but I can imagine it's a horrible experience, especially if it's a band that you feel really passionately about. So I can understand Dave's plight over all these years. But I will also say that when we did these 30th-anniversary shows at the Fillmore [in San Francisco], and we invited Dave to play on all those 'Kill 'Em All' songs, man, it felt so good to have him playing on stage. It felt perfectly fine for me to, while Dave was playing the guitar solos, for me to go over to James and play the rhythm parts with James, and it wasn't a big deal at all. And I could see from the look on Dave's face and just from his whole attitude that it was super-cathartic for him. And I could see how it was helping him. And so I just took it all in stride. And it's interesting, because since then, I think, Dave's relationship with us is a little bit better now. I'd like to think that that whole thing just kind of healed some scars that needed to be healed."

After Hammett's comments about Mustaine were reported by BLABBERMOUTH.NET and other music sites, Dave took to his Twitter to respond. He wrote: "I have tremendous respect for @KirkHammett and I appreciate his take on this. he is almost 100% accurate...almost. I wish him the best."

In a September 2011 interview with Artisan News, Mustaine appeared to concur that his onstage reunion with METALLICA went a long way toward healing the wounds from the way his tenure in the band ended. Dave said: "When we [played a cover of DIAMOND HEAD's] 'Helpless' [as part of a 'Big Four' jam] one night, I walked over to say hello to Kirk on the stage and he said, 'Do you wanna take the solo?" and I said, 'Yeah.' [Laughs] But we forgot to tell anybody on the stage or [running] the sound out front that I was gonna do the solo, so the song's playing along and Kirk's playing rhythm full blast, and I'm sitting there going you can't hear what I'm doing. At least we knew what had happened. It was kind of a symbolic passing of the torch back to me and it was a nice gesture. I think that that helped Kirk and my relationship improve a bit."

In a September 2004 interview, Mustaine famously stated, "I really don't care about Kirk — he stole my job, but at least I got to bang his girlfriend before he took my job. How do I taste, Kirk?"

Mustaine did not play on any METALLICA albums and did not attend their induction into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame in 2009.

METALLICA drummer Lars Ulrich later explained to The Plain Dealer that Mustaine was not included because "you've got to kind of cap it somewhere. Dave Mustaine never played on any METALLICA records. No disrespect to him. But there [were] half a dozen other people that were in the lineup in the early days. We thought . . . the fair thing to do would be to include anybody that played on a METALLICA record." He added: "Dave Mustaine was in the band for 11 months, predominantly in 1982... I'm not trying to play it down. I have nothing but respect and admiration for his accomplishments since."

GOJIRA drummer Mario Duplantier has weighed in on the news that PANTERA's surviving members Philip Anselmo (vocals) and Rex Brown (bass) will unite with guitarist Zakk Wylde (OZZY OSBOURNE, BLACK LABEL SOCIETY) and drummer Charlie Benante (ANTHRAX) for a world tour under the PANTERA banner.

Anselmo and Brown, along with Wylde and Benante, will headline a number of major festivals across North America and Europe and stage some of their own headline concerts.

According to Billboard, the lineup has been given a green light by the estates of the band's founders, drummer Vincent "Vinnie Paul" Abbott and guitarist "Dimebag" Darrell Abbott, as well as Brown, who last year said Wylde wouldn't tour with PANTERA if a reunion were to happen. It's unclear what changed his mind.

Mario discussed his views on the PANTERA comeback in a new interview with Colombia's El Expreso Del Rock. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "It's great. I mean, what can I tell? I don't know what to think about it. I'm just happy when I see PANTERA. When I just see the logo, I'm just excited. Phil Anselmo is the best singer ever. So I cannot wait. And it's good because [Philip and Rex] brought some friends — good friends [to play with them]. And why not? They are going to play PANTERA, and everybody's going to lose it. And that's it. It's fantastic. I have no criticism."

He added: "I met — not Dimebag, but Vinnie Paul a few times. Vinnie was a legend. He's a drum hero — he's one of my drum heroes — so no one can replace him. But I think it's great to have just the logo of PANTERA and the vibe around PANTERA coming back. It's great. I'm happy."

Although no official announcements have yet been made, there are rumors that PANTERA will play Brazil's Knotfest Brasil and Mexico's Hell & Heaven Metal Fest in December. U.S. dates will likely follow in 2023.

Last month, Benante told SiriusXM's "Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk" about how he plans to approach the PANTERA gig: "I can't go do this as the drummer from ANTHRAX because it would be a different sound completely. So the way I'm gonna do that is if you close your eyes, it's gonna sound like it's Vinnie, basically. And that's how it's gonna be. The sound is gonna sound exactly like him."

Wylde said that he had a similar mindset. "You approach it the same way as you do when I'm playing with Ozzy," he said. "Obviously I've gotta learn [Randy] Rhoads's stuff and I've gotta learn Jake's [E. Lee] stuff, and when I was doing the [BLACK] SABBATH stuff, you learn it and do it as faithful as you can. Charlie's gotta learn all of Vinnie's parts. You approach it as if you're in a cover band. When we do the ZAKK SABBATH stuff," referring to his BLACK SABBATH cover band, "I don't start changing lyrics midway through 'War Pigs'. You learn the songs — so that's what you do."

A year ago, Anselmo said that he was up for reuniting with Brown for a special tour celebrating the music of PANTERA. The 54-year-old singer, who has spent the past few years playing a PANTERA-centric set with his solo band, THE ILLEGALS, discussed the possibility of re-teaming with his former PANTERA bandmate during an interview with Brazil's Inside With Paulo Baron. Asked if he and Rex would be open to playing some shows in celebration of PANTERA's legacy, Anselmo said: "If Rex and I had a show to play, or we were ever gonna be on stage again together, I would welcome it with open arms. I love Rex. And he'd be the same way. We're brothers forever. So playing on stage together, or doing some shows together, is not out of the question. It could happen."

In April 2021, Rex told Eonmusic that he and Philip still get offers for a PANTERA tribute tour. "But if you don't have the other guys in the band, it's not going to sound the same," he said. "If we were ever to do something like that, it would have to be spot-on, or I wouldn't do it. It would be a tribute."

Talk about a possible PANTERA "reunion" intensified when Anselmo regularly joined Wylde's BLACK LABEL SOCIETY to perform PANTERA's song "I'm Broken" during DOWN's 2014 stint on the "Revolver Golden Gods Tour". That buzz only got stronger after Brown joined the jam on May 23, 2014 when the tour swung through Texas.

Up until his passing, Vinnie remained on non-speaking terms with Anselmo, whom the drummer indirectly blamed for Dimebag's death.

Vinnie Paul and Dimebag co-founded PANTERA. When PANTERA broke up in 2003, they formed DAMAGEPLAN. On December 8, 2004, while performing with DAMAGEPLAN at the Alrosa Villa in Columbus, Ohio, Dimebag was shot and killed onstage by a troubled schizophrenic who believed that the members of PANTERA were stealing his thoughts.

PANTERA is managed by Scott McGhee of 1 Degree Music Entertainment. The band's legal representative is Nick Ferrara And Associates. PANTERA is booked internationally by Rod MacSween at ITB.

In a new interview with Goldmine magazine, SCORPIONS guitarist Matthias Jabs spoke about what it has been like for him and his longtime bandmates to work with drummer Mikkey Dee, best known for his work with MOTÖRHEAD and KING DIAMOND — on their latest album, "Rock Believer", following the departure of James Kottak in 2016. He said: "With James, we usually recorded the modern way. He played last, because we had done all the arrangements and recordings to programmed drums, a programmed drum track. That was the way the Swedes [producers Mikael Nord Andersson and Martin Hansen] were working. You know, it saves time, it saves money: It's one of those, fly the drummer in, he knows the complete arrangement because he could rehearse it and get ready, and the album is done in two days and that's it. That's that way of thinking. With Mikkey, we did it the other way around, playing live with the drummer there, the old-fashioned way, which brings in what the drummer has in terms of arrangement ideas. But first of all, Mikkey's a great drummer, plus he's a very positive personality and he has a lot of energy, which you can hear on the album. But also that means you can play with him for six to eight hours and he doesn't get tired. He's one of those powerhouses. Of course, we know him from MOTÖRHEAD, but he's smart enough and a musician enough to know that when he plays for the SCORPIONS, he knows what to play and what not to play. We've played together now since 2016, like countless concerts, and he's really great; he fits right in. The chemistry is wonderful and yeah, you know, a very fun guy, too."

A year and a half ago, Dee spoke to the "Drum For The Song" podcast about the main differences between playing with MOTÖRHEAD and touring with SCORPIONS in terms of how he paces himself for each individual band's setlist. He said: "A lot of people say, 'Hey, listen, Mikkey, you're probably sleeping through the [SCORPIONS] set.' And I'm telling you, this is so much more demanding than MOTÖRHEADever was, physically. Because, as you know, if I was starting to lose my breath here and there with MOTÖRHEAD, I could just shout at [guitarist Phil Campbell] or Lemmy and go, 'Hang on, boys. Have a drink,' and pretend to tune up the snare a little bit. And Lemmy and Phil, they were not very hard to [convince] to get a break. They went around their stacks and took a drink, and we said, 'Cheers,' and you could even actually have a chat on stage for a while. But with the SCORPIONS, it's all on a click track, because of our screens — the production. And I do play around the click, but it has to work with the lyrics and stuff on the screens and what's going on with the production, which we never had with MOTÖRHEAD."

He continued: "So every show [with the SCORPIONS] is exactly the same length — on the fucking second or minute… Klaus [Meine, SCORPIONS singer] cues whatever he says. So it could be one or two minutes difference between the sets, on two-and-a-half-hour sets. So it's very demanding. It goes up and down, the set, and there's a part in the set after we've done the acoustic medley, and then we come up and do 'Wind Of Change' — I'm actually freezing on stage. And then it's about 40 minutes, 45 minutes of non-stop… We do heavy, heavy songs, and a drum solo, straight into 'Blackout', straight into 'Big City Nights'. I mean, there's 45 minutes where I don't even have a chance to change drum sticks. So that is very, very demanding for me. But it's great — it's a challenge, and I love it. But the more tired I get on stage, the better I play."

Mikkey added: "We usually did 90 minutes, with MOTÖRHEAD, and when we played with other bands, it could be 60 or 70 minutes. But MOTÖRHEAD, we controlled the set ourselves, and here and there, Phil ran outside and changed his guitar or took a piss, or Lemmy disappeared off stage and no one knew what he was doing. We could run it ourselves more in a different way."

SCORPIONS kicked off their North American "Rock Believer" tour last Sunday night (August 21) at the Budweiser Stage in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Earlier this month, WHITESNAKE pulled out of the North American tour with SCORPIONS due to singer David Coverdale's "continued treatment for a persistent upper respiratory infection."

The SCORPIONS tour is scheduled to end on October 21 in Las Vegas, Nevada.

"Rock Believer" was released in February. The LP was recorded primarily at Peppermint Park Studios in Hannover, Germany and was mixed at the legendary Hansa Studios in Berlin, Germany with engineer Michael Ilbert, who has earned multiple Grammy nominations for his mix work with producer Max Martin on albums by Taylor Swift and Katy Perry.

SCORPIONS originally intended to record the new album in Los Angeles with producer Greg Fidelman, whose previous credits include SLIPKNOT and METALLICA. However, because of the pandemic, some of the initial work was done with Greg remotely, after which SCORPIONS opted to helm the recordings themselves with the help of their engineer Hans-Martin Buff.

SCORPIONS' new album marks their first release since 2017's "Born To Touch Your Feelings - Best Of Rock Ballads", which was an anthology of new and classic material.

SCORPIONS' previous full-length collection of new recordings was "Return To Forever", partially comprising songs the band had in the vault from the '80s. It was the final recorded appearance of Kottak, who was dismissed from the band in September 2016.

Metal: Hellsinger, the heavy metal rhythm shooter from publisher Funcom and developer The Outsiders, took to the stage earlier today (Thursday, August 25) at Gamescom, Europe's leading trade fair for digital games culture, in Cologne, Germany in the largest live concert ever seen at the event. Several of the game's celebrated vocalists performed their songs from the game, which are written by Swedish composer duo Two Feathers.

This epic joining of music and game was streamed live for all to watch and can now be seen below.

After shooting past one million demo downloads and a rapid climb up the Steam wishlist, Funcom and The Outsiders turned it up to 11 by gathering an astounding number of the game's metal icons to perform, including Matt Heafy (TRIVIUM), Alissa White-Gluz (ARCH ENEMY), Mikael Stanne (DARK TRANQUILLITY), Dennis Lyxzén (REFUSED, INVSN) and James Dorton (BLACK CROWN INITIATE).

The massive event was free and open to thousands of people, thanks to an entire hall being reserved for it. Even more were able to witness the mayhem on the livestream on the official Metal: Hellsinger homepage.

Those attending Gamescom had free access to the show, and the first 200 to enter got a bagful of exclusive Metal: Hellsinger merchandise.

In Metal: Hellsinger, the better you slay to the beat, the more intense the experience gets, with the music unfolding in layers, until it culminates in full vocals blasting as you tear through demons. Dive headfirst into the fires and frost of the Hells in search of vengeance.

Metal: Hellsinger will be released on September 15 on Steam, PlayStation 5 and Xbox X|S. Pre-orders for consoles are available now, and the demo, which released to glowing responses, is available now on all platforms.

JOURNEY guitarist Neal Schon joined pianist and singer Kodi Lee and singer Teddy Swims to perform the band's classic song "Don't Stop Believin'" on "America's Got Talent" Wednesday night (August 24). Video of his appearance can be seen below.

Earlier this week, Swims released his official cover of "Don't Stop Believin'", three months after his performance of the track went viral on YouTube, Instagram and TikTok.

The 29-year-old vocalist, who hails from Conyers, Georgia, embarked on a career in soul music after listening to Al Green. Swims also went to beauty school and played in hair-metal cover bands. Now he's got upwards of 440 million views on YouTube and millions of followers.

More than a year ago, "Don't Stop Believin'" reached 1 billion listens on Spotify.

In a 2009 interview with CBC's "Q" cultural affairs show, former JOURNEY singer Perry said he always thought "Don't Stop Believing" — which is also the top-selling digital download of a track not originally released in this century, according to Nielsen SoundScan — had potential as a single. It was always a hit with live audiences, though it didn't get great radio play at the time it was issued, he said.

"When we were doing the song in 1981, I knew something was happening, but honestly, when I saw it in the film 'Monster' with Patty Jenkins, I started think, 'Oh my goodness there's really something.'"

He added: "The lyric is a strong lyric about not giving up, but it's also about being young, it's also about hanging out, not giving up and looking for that emotion hiding somewhere in the dark that we're all looking for. It's about having hope and not quitting when things get tough, because I'm telling you things get tough for everybody."

Current JOURNEY singer Arnel Pineda, who has been fronting the band for 15 years, told CBS News in 2012, "Even before I discovered 'Don't Stop Believin'', it has been my motto — you know, to never stop believing in myself. The life that I've gone through, all those hardships, I never stopped believing that someday there is something magical that will happen in my life."

In 2020, at the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, "Don't Stop Believin'" had become a rallying call for patients recovering from COVID-19 at two hospitals in New York and Michigan. The 1981 hit was being played at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit, Michigan and the New York-Presbyterian Queens Hospital during celebrations for patients prevailing over the coronavirus.

Ex-MÖTLEY CRÜE singer John Corabi says that he would have to "bury the hatchet" with Nikki Sixx before he would ever consider doing anything with the band again.

Corabi joined CRÜE in 1992 as the replacement for the group's original singer, Vince Neil, who was dismissed due to personal differences. With Corabi on vocals, MÖTLEY CRÜE released one critically acclaimed full-length CD, which ended up being a commercial failure in the wake of grunge despite a Top 10 placing on the album chart. When Neil returned to the fold in 1997, Corabi was left on his own.

John reflected on his time with CRÜE during an appearance yesterday (Thursday, August 18) on SiriusXM's "Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk". Asked if he thinks there is a possibility that he would ever get a call from MÖTLEY CRÜE again if the group had an issue with Neil, John replied (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "No. I can absolutely, certifiably tell you there is zero chance of that ever happening. Until Nikki and I would be able to sit down at a table and have a cup of coffee and chew the fat and just whatever, it's never gonna happen.

"Initially, I was, like, 'Whatever. It doesn't matter. I'm done reaching out to those guys,'" Corabi continued. "Tommy [Lee, CRÜE drummer] reached out to me. Now we've got a communication again. Mick [Mars, CRÜE guitarist] I've been fine with. Even Vince I'm fine with. But for some reason Nikki started this whole thing about me not contributing to the '94 record, that it was painful, and I was just, like, 'Whatever.' But it's just this nagging thing that keeps going. And even we did a show at this thing called Loud Park in Tokyo when I was with THE [DEAD] DAISIES and Nikki sat on the side of the stage and he just made some comments and he was just commenting negatively about the band. And I'm, like, 'Dude, what is your problem?'"

Corabi added: "But I don't care. You know what? If that's what makes him happy, have fun with it. It doesn't matter to me. But now it's at a point where the only way that I would ever even remotely think about doing anything with MÖTLEY is if Nikki called me and said, 'I'm sorry. I wanna bury the hatchet.' And I'd be, like, 'Well, I'm sorry too for anything that I said if it offended you.' But until that happens, there's no chance. It'll never happen."

Six years ago, Sixx told Sweden Rock Magazine about MÖTLEY CRÜE's self-titled album: "I think it was a very unfocused record. It was painful for me, because John Corabi can't write lyrics, and I had to do all that work.

"It was the first time I ever had to work with somebody that wanted to participate in the lyrics," the MÖTLEY CRÜE bassist continued. "And my standard is so high that it was so hard, it took months. Usually, I write a set of lyrics in an hour.

"It's all about having pent-up information and aggression and just [letting it out]. It was just hard, because he was a nice enough guy, but he just didn't have that fire, and it was hard for me."

When he was asked in an interview with Thomas S. Orwat, Jr. of Rock Interview Series why Nikki would make those comments more than two decades after the CRÜE LP was released, Corabi said: "I've had a few people ask me, 'What's the beef with you and Nikki?' And I go, 'I have no fucking idea.' I don't know. The one beef that I did have with Nikki was probably 10 years ago, and it was something in relation to his…

"I had done an interview. And I was in Brazil. And the interviewer asked me a question, and they said, 'Have you read Nikki's book 'The Heroin Diaries'?'" he continued, referencing Sixx's 2007 book which was supposedly taken from actual journals Sixx kept in the late '80s while in the grip of a near-fatal heroin addiction. "And I said, 'Yeah. I own the book. I bought the book.' And he said, 'What do you think?' And I said, 'It's a great read.' Now the guy, I don't know if he was doing this to bait me or what, but the guy said, 'Well, do you believe it all?' And I said, 'Whatever, dude. It doesn't matter. It's a great read.' And he goes, 'Well, do you think it was colored?' And I said, 'Of course. Of course it was.' 'Well, why do you say that?' 'Well, 'cause [the CRÜE official band biography] 'The Dirt' was colored. I know for a fact 'The Dirt' was colored.' … And then I said, 'And besides, all of the heroin addicts that I knew didn't have the foresight to bring a diary with them and write shit down as it was happening or could not remember what they did the night before.' Now I followed it up with, 'Maybe Nikki's different, but the ones that I knew… So I think it was a little… It may have been a little colored.' And we left it at that. Then, two months later, Nikki e-mailed me and he was pissed. He's, like, 'Dude, I don't appreciate you slagging my book.' And I go, 'I didn't slag it.' So I responded to him, and I said, 'Okay. First of all, a couple of things. Did you read the whole interview? 'Cause in the interview I did say, at the beginning and at the end, that it was a great read and I bought the book.' And then I said, 'Why do you give a fuck about anything I have to say?' And I just hit 'send.' And then he came back and he was, like, ' Oh, okay, dude. Sorry. I didn't read the whole… Okay. Great. Awesome.' And it was cool. It was put to bed.

"I've never said anything negative about that band ever," Corabi added. "But then all of a sudden he started with, 'Corabi can't write.' 'It was painful.' 'He doesn't have any fire.' And I'm just, like, going, 'Where the fuck did that come from?' It was just random. Now it's weird. If I retort to it, [the music news web sites] take every little piece of retort and they dissect it and then they reprint just the parts that — you know, the clickbait — and it's just been this ongoing thing, like I'm saying Nikki doesn't like it, and it's back-and-forth volleying between me and Nikki when in all actuality I have zero bad things to say about any of them. They're irrelevant to me — completely irrelevant."

In February 2018, Corabi released a live album of his performance of MÖTLEY CRÜE's entire 1994 self-titled album, recorded on October 27, 2015 in Nashville, Tennessee. "Live '94: One Night In Nashville" documents the album in its entirety along with the bonus track "10,000 Miles", which was originally released as a bonus track on the Japanese version of the "Quaternary" EP.

Corabi recently released his autobiography. Titled "Horseshoes And Hand Grenades", it was written with the help of MÖTLEY CRÜE historian/author Paul Miles, and was made available via Rare Bird Books.

Legendary YES vocalist/songwriter Jon Anderson played with The Paul Green Rock Academy at the Ardmore Music Hall in Ardmore, Pennsylvania on August 7. Jon and the ensemble celebrated the 50th anniversary of the release of YES's classic album "Close To The Edge" by performing the LP in its entirety, along with other classics and surprises. Video of the concert can be seen below.

Jon Anderson's latest tour with The Paul Green Rock Academy was a resumption of the tradition started in 2005 when Jon toured with Paul Green's original School Of Rock all-stars. These early shows, over 30 in total between 2006 and 2008, were nothing short of magical, and Anderson has since returned to continue that magic with a set of YES classics, deep cuts, mash-ups and solo works, all with lush arrangements featuring choral singing, horns, and all the other benefits of having a backing band with 25 young musicians.

Said Paul Green: "Having done a few of these songs in the past with Jon and my students, I couldn't wait to add them to the current show. Once we did 'Close To The Edge' and 'And You And I' on our Florida run in April, I was reminded of the magic of hearing these songs recreated by young musicians… They really capture the frenetic energy of the original recordings. Then when I heard it was the 50th anniversary of the album, I just knew we had to do the whole thing. Jon agreed."

Anderson said: "There are so many wonderful moments in my musical life, and being on stage with these young teenagers performing classic YES songs makes me so happy and proud... It's a marvel and a tremendous pleasure for me. They are a joy to be with and so much fun. I am grateful, thankful and feel very blessed to be able to sing along with them. Janee and I love them all. Love and light."

Anderson co-founded YES in 1968 with bassist Chris Squire, and remained with the band until 2008, when YES replaced him with Benoit David, an Anderson sound-alike who previously fronted the YES tribute band CLOSE TO THE EDGE. David left YES in 2012 and was replaced by Jon Davison.

In July 2020, Howe told Rolling Stone that there is virtually no chance of the surviving members of YES reuniting for a tour.

"I don't think [the fans] should stay up late nights worrying about that," he said. "There's just too much space out there between people. To be in a band together or even to do another tour like 'Union' is completely unthinkable," referencing the group's 1990 "Union" LP and tour, which brought together the previous YES album's lineup (Jon Anderson, Chris Squire, Trevor Rabin, Alan White, Tony Kaye) and the then-ex-YES members' group ANDERSON BRUFORD WAKEMAN HOWE (Jon Anderson, Bill Bruford, Rick Wakeman and Steve Howe). "It was difficult when we went through that, particularly because of the personalities," Howe said. "I'm not saying any one person is to blame, but when you get a big hodgepodge like that together, it's pretty much a nightmare. We made a nightmare of possibly a good thing back in 1990. I don't think there is the stamina or the appetite for that kind of thing again."

Anderson, Wakeman and Rabin had started touring as ARW: ANDERSON, RABIN AND WAKEMAN in 2016 and then adopted the YES FEATURING JON ANDERSON, TREVOR RABIN, RICK WAKEMAN moniker shortly after the group's 2017 Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame induction.

Howe last toured with Anderson and Wakeman in 2004.

YES has released over 20 albums across its career, including its self-titled debut in 1969, "Tales from Topographic Oceans", in 1973, and its last album, "The Quest", which came out in October.

Back in January 2022, Swedish death metal stalwarts The Crown announced that after 32 years, founding member and bassist Magnus Olsfelt left the band.


Now the time has come for Magnus' replacement to be revealed:


"Viking Punks!




Let’s all welcome Mattias 'Arvid' Rasmussen as a permanent member of The Crown! The Deathrace Machine is once again ready to kill!


We have some really cool plans how to approach the next album regarding recordings etc, but more about that later on. We have also started to work on a solid live schedule for 2023 together with Dragon Productions and Metal Blade Records!


Forwards, Fire!
Let’s go 2023!
The Crown never dies!"


(Photo courtesy of The Crown's official Facebook page)


 


 

Emerging from the darkest and most desolate areas of the American Midwest, Casket Robbery has signed with Blood Blast Distribution for the release of their as yet untitled new album. 


"We are so excited to announce that we will be releasing our upcoming album with Blood Blast and are excited to be a part of the family," says vocalist Megan Orvold. "I wanted to jump on here and release some sneak peaks of the visuals. Check out some bits of artwork below, and some of the track list names revealed. I can't wait for you to hear and see the lyrics on this album!"










More album leaks from Megan:

• Album release date will be announced soon (November).


• The digital album will be 10 tracks.


• The physical album will include 1 bonus track.


• The album will be available to Patreon supporters before the release date, if you can't wait for November sign up for the early release.

In November 2021, Casket Robbey released a claymation video for the track "Bone Mother". The clip, which can be seen below, was directed and created by Shayne Minott of Budget Blood Productions.


Vocalist Megan Orvold comments on the song, "Everything about this song was so much fun for us. From the twisted spooky folklore of Baba Yaga and our lyrical interpretation to the way she was brought to life in the amazing claymation video. ‘All knowing, all seeing, all revealing, all being.’ We hope you enjoy 'Bone Mother'!"


The song is dedicated to the memory of Eric Orvold, father of Casket Robbery vocalist Megan Orvold.








(Photos by Shatter Imagery)


 

Canadian-American rock outfit, Redlight King, recently signed to German rock/metal label, AFM Records, who will release the band’s fourth full-length album, In Our Blood, later this fall. The album was written and produced by frontman Mark “Kaz” Kasprzyk at his studio, The Wheelhouse, in Los Angeles, CA with long-time collaborator and guitarist Julian Tomarin, who also co-wrote a few tracks, and drummer Randy Cooke.





Redlight King have released a video for their new single, "Cold Killer". The track will be available on Friday, here. Watch the clip below:







Redlight King previously released the debut single, the uplifting anthemic title track “In Our Blood”, across all digital platforms. The music video for the song can be viewed below.





(Photo - David Harris)

Dirty Honey have released the new video below, stating: "We’ve been saving this treat for you guys. Last year, we had a film crew tag along with us to capture some highlights from the Summer ‘21 Tour. We just released a never before seen live version of 'When I’m Gone' / 'Rolling 7s'."





Catch Dirty Honey on The California Dreamin’ Tour. The 28-date, North American headline trek also sees the band play a handful of major festivals and radio shows, as well as dates in Canada.







Dates:


August
25 - Oshkosh, WI - Waterfest*
26 - Minneapolis, MN - Fine Line*
27 - Fargo, ND - Fargo Brewing Co.*
29 - Winnipeg, MB - The Park Theatre*
31 - Saskatoon, SK - Louis’*


September
2 - Edmonton, AB - Starlite Room*
3 - Calgary, AB - Commonwealth*
5 - Vancouver, BC - Rickshaw*
7 - Portland, OR - Revolution Hall^
8 - Seattle, WA - The Neptune^
9 - Spokane, WA - Knitting Factory^
11 - Billings, MT - The Pub Station^
13 - Lincoln, NE - Bourbon Theatre^
14 - Des Moines, IA - Val Air Ballroom^
16 - Cleveland, OH - House Of Blues^
17 - Waterloo, NY - Del Lago Casino@
19 - Montreal, QC - Club Soda*
21 - Harrisburg, PA - HMAC^
24 - Detroit, MI - Pine Knob, WRIF Radio Show+
25 - Louisville, KY - Louder Than Life+
27 - Grand Rapids, MI - The Intersection^
28 - Joliet, IL - The Forge^
30 - Belvidere, IL - Apollo Theatre AC^


October
1 - St. Louis, MO - Red Flag^
2 - Fort Smith, AR - TempleLive^
5 - Tucson, AZ - Rialto Theatre^
7 - Santa Cruz, CA - The Catalyst^
9 - Sacramento, CA - Aftershock Festival+


* Mac Saturn will support
@ Dorothy will support
^ Mac Saturn and Dorothy will support
+ Festival date

Whitesnake revisit its multi-platinum career as it remixes some of its biggest hits for the new collection that spotlights updated versions of classic tracks like “Still Of The Night,” “Here I Go Again,” and “Is This Love.”


Whitesnake's Greatest Hits is available now on digital and streaming services, on CD, 2LP, and fans are invited to order the collection by going here.


The band have released this remastered video for "Forevermore":







In another clip, David Coverdale looks back on "Forevermore":





David Coverdale had 16 tracks remixed and remastered for this collection. He explains: “We’ve definitely expanded on the original Greatest Hits, took them all out of the sonic time capsule of the ’80s and ’90s, and brought them up to date, sound-wise … as always, we have the original albums for those who consider them holy relics.”


Keyboardist Derek Sherinian, who also appeared on Whitesnake’s recent Red, White and Blues trilogy, adds Hammond organ to more than half the songs on the collection. His scorching contributions can be heard on the #1 smash “Here I Go Again,” “Fool For Your Loving,” “You’re Gonna Break My Heart Again,” and more. New performances by former Whitesnake guitarist Adrian Vandenberg can also be heard on “The Deeper The Love” and “Judgement Day” from the 1989 album, Slip Of The Tongue.


Along with those new additions, Coverdale also went back to the vault to unearth vintage performances by guitarist John Sykes that didn’t appear on the original recordings, including a solo on “Slide It In” and rhythm guitar on “Give Me All Your Love.”


Whitesnake Greatest Hits focuses extensively on three blockbuster albums the band released during the 1980s: 1984’s Slide It In (2x platinum), 1987’s Whitesnake (8x platinum), and 1989’s Slip Of The Tongue (platinum). But the collection goes deeper with songs like “Sweet Lady Luck,” a b-side on the 12” single for “The Deeper The Love,” and “Forevermore,” the title track from the band’s 2011 album.


Whitesnake have embarked upon a farewell tour with special guest, Europe. Coverdale said: “I pray every day we can all make this happen & once again, share unforgettable evenings together & celebrate the amazing journey we have been on for almost 50 years!!!”





CD/Blu-ray tracklisting:


“Still Of The Night”
“Here I Go Again”
“Is This Love”
“Give Me All Your Love”
“Love Ain’t No Stranger”
“Slide It In”
“Slow An’ Easy”
“Guilty Of Love”
“Fool For Your Loving”
“Judgment Day”
“The Deeper The Love”
“Now You’re Gone”
“You’re Gonna Break My Heart Again”
“Sweet Lady Luck”
“Crying In The Rain”
“Forevermore”


"Crying In The Rain" remastered video:





"Sweet Lady Luck" remastered video:





"You're Gonna Break My Heart Again" remastered video:





"The Deeper The Love" remastered video::





"Judgement Day" remastered video:





"Fool For Your Loving" remastered video:





"Guilty Of Love" remastered video:





"Slow An' Easy" remastered video:





"Slide It In" remastered video:





"Love Ain't No Stranger" remastered video:





"Give Me All Your Love" remastered video:





"Is This Love" remastered video:





“Here I Go Again” remastered video:





"Still Of The Night" remastered video:

Ozzy Osbourne once revealed that he stopped taking acid after a trip that left him conversing with a horse for a hour. The story is told in the new issue of Classic Rock, which revisits Black Sabbath's chaotic heyday and the making of the 1972 classic Vol. 4.


"We lived together in a house in Los Angeles, rehearsed there, did loads of drugs and made an album: simple," says Ozzy. "Those were good times."


The story of how Ozzy stopped using acid after an equine encounter in the early 1970s is also told.




“At that time in America, people were very fond of lacing your drinks with acid," says Ozzy. "I didn’t care. I used to swallow handfuls of tabs at a time. The end of it came when we got back to England.


“I took 10 tabs of acid, then went for a walk in a field. I ended up standing there talking to this horse for about an hour. In the end the horse turned round and told me to fuck off. That was it for me."


Read more at Classic Rock.


Is Ozzy Osbourne coming to a city near you?


Last month, San Diego Comic-Con fans got to see a 25-foot giant Ozzy Osbourne inflatable designed by Todd McFarlane towering over the convention. The “Ozzy” inflatable has now embarked on a cross-country promotional tour in support of Osbourne's new album, Patient Number 9, out September 9 on Epic.


The month-long tour will close out in New York City the week of the album’s release. Some locations will be revealed 24 hours in advance, while others will be surprise appearances. At all stops, fans can win merchandise and pose for photos with “Ozzy” and the Patient Number 9 ambulance, they’ll also have the opportunity to win the 25-foot giant Ozzy Osbourne inflatable, details here. Follow "Where Is Patient Number 9 here.


The tour kicked off with three initial stops in Los Angeles. It began with an appearance at the historic Venice Boardwalk on Saturday, followed with a stop at Smorgasburg LA - the weekly Sunday market at The Row in downtown Los Angeles - before bidding farewell to the city on Monday atop East Hollywood boutique hotel, bar, and recording studio complex Gold Diggers. “Ozzy” then made a surprise appearance on the Las Vegas strip on Tuesday before heading to the annual Sturgis Motorcycle Rally in South Dakota this weekend.


 





Sturgis, South Dakota





Venice, CA





Downtown LA





Gold Diggers





Las Vegas Strip


 


Ozzy made his San Diego Comic-Con debut on July 22, setting a record for the largest signing of the year on the convention room floor (with fans lined up for hours) at the annual event when he teamed up with collaborator Todd McFarlane at the Stern Pinball/Rebellion Republic booth at the sold-out convention.





Prior to the signing, the two revealed the artwork for the McFarlane-designed comic book (available in limited edition album packages, with details on all Patient Number 9 album pre-orders here) before signing a poster of the McFarlane album artwork.





Patient Number 9 is Ozzy’s new album and the first since his critically acclaimed, worldwide, chart-topping 2020 Ordinary Man release. Produced by Andrew Watt (who handled the same duties on Ordinary Man), the new album marks Osbourne's 13th solo studio album. It’s heavy, it’s hard-hitting, it’s historic--it’s everything you’d want from an Ozzy Osbourne record and maybe more.


Working with producer Watt for the second time, Ozzy welcomed a dynamic A-list featured guests. The record boasts guitarists Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton, Mike McCready of Pearl Jam, and longstanding righthand man and six-string beast Zakk Wylde who plays on the majority of the tracks. For the bulk of the album, Chad Smith of Red Hot Chili Peppers held down drums, while the late Taylor Hawkins of Foo Fighters appears on three songs. Old friend and one-time Ozzy band member Robert Trujillo of Metallica plays bass on most of the album’s tracks, with Duff McKagan of Guns N’ Roses and Chris Chaney of Jane’s Addiction supplying bass on a few songs.


Pre-order Patient Number 9 here.





Tracklisting:


"Patient Number 9" (feat. Jeff Beck)
"Immortal" (feat. Mike McCready)
"Parasite" (feat. Zakk Wylde)
"No Escape From Now" (feat. Tony Iommi)
"One of Those Days" (feat. Eric Clapton)
"A Thousand Shades" (feat. Jeff Beck)
"Mr. Darkness" (feat. Zakk Wylde)
"Nothing Feels Right" (feat. Zakk Wylde)
"Evil Shuffle" (feat. Zakk Wylde)
"Degradation Rules" (feat. Tony Iommi)
"Dead and Gone"
"God Only Knows"
"Darkside Blues"


"Degradation Rules" visualizer:





"Patient Number 9" video:





(Todd McFarlane, Ozzy Osbourne photo - Hannah Verbeuren)

Vocalist/guitarist Chris Robertson of Kentucky rockers BLACK STONE CHERRY has confirmed to "Rock Of Nations With Dave Kinchen & Shane McEachern" that he and his bandmates have been hard at work on material for the follow-up to 2020's "The Human Condition" album.

"We've got nine songs completely written and about seven more that we've gotta write lyrics and stuff to," he said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET). "But we've been at it, man. And it's good. It's heavy. It's melodic. I think it's gonna be a great record."

Regarding the lyrical inspiration for BLACK STONE CHERRY's new songs, Chris said: "It's crazy because the songs we write… Obviously we write songs that are fun — like 'Blame It On The Boom Boom' and 'White Trash Millionaire' — a lot of fun stuff, but we also write some more serious songs.

"It's different, man," he continued. "We've been writing and stuff. And it's crazy. For me right now, the stuff that's kind of coming out is a lot related to my dad passing, a lot of understanding how to deal with this loss and grief and just learning to live through it.

"The serious songs we write are stuff that we've either witnessed or we've lived or whatever," Chris explained. "Other than a song like 'Rain Wizard' or some of the stuff we wrote that was more folklory, everything we've written is something we've lived. So there's a hell of a lot in the well now. I went a really long way of saying that, but the well is very deep now of things to write about."

Regarding when fans can expect to hear some new music from BLACK STONE CHERRY, Chris said: "We [will be on the road in] Europe for all of September, and then we come back home. I think it's the middle or end of October — somewhere around there — we go to Canada for about a month with STEEL PANTHER, which will be awesome… [After that] we're gonna try to finish up recording. Then hopefully sometime next year we can put out some new music."

BLACK STONE CHERRY's seventh studio album, "The Human Condition", was made available in October 2020 via Mascot Records/Mascot Label Group.

In June 2021, BLACK STONE CHERRY announced the departure of bassist Jon Lawhon. He has since been replaced on the road by Steve Jewell Jr., the guitarist from the Glasgow, Kentucky band OTIS.

The digital-only release of an expanded edition of "The Human Condition" was made available in August 2021.

In a new interview with Brazilian journalist Igor Miranda, JOURNEY guitarist Neal Schon was asked what it has been like to work with singer Arnel Pineda for the last 15 years. He responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Arnel is just a gem. He's more amazing right now than he was when I first found him in Manila 15 years ago, when he was homeless and he was in dire straits. I was searching for the new singer for JOURNEY and I chose YouTube to look all over the world for the singer. When I heard his voice, I knew that he was it — with no other thought. It hit me emotionally in my heart. I went, 'That is the voice. He is the voice. I know he can do it.' And so I stuck to my guns, with a lot of resistance from many — from within the band and from management. They all thought I was crazy. I said, 'I know I'm right. So get him over here.' We got him over. And he proved that I was right again."

Neal continued: "The show we just played the other night, he sounded phenomenal through the whole show. We finally got his in-ears sorted out; we've got a great mixer in front now. It sounds like a record every night. And he's sounding phenomenal every night. And he's very excited about some of the new direction that we took that allows him to show how creative he can be without having to emulate our other albums, which is a requirement for any singer that would come into JOURNEY. It's either that or you throw away all your hits that you ever had. And what do you do? Start from ground zero again? It doesn't make sense.

"So I knew when I found Arnel that I had found a true chameleon like no other singer I've ever heard. He is amazing. I love him. He's a true warrior."

Born in the Philippines, Pineda has been fronting the legendary rockers since 2007 when Schon discovered him leading a Manila cover band on YouTube. A vocal doppelganger for JOURNEY's longtime vocalist Steve Perry, Arnel has helped put JOURNEY back in arenas once again. But some fans were not happy about the addition of Pineda, complaining about his ethnicity and dismissing his voice as a "copycat" of Perry.

Pineda and Perry finally crossed paths when JOURNEY and its former singer shared the stage at their induction into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame in April 2017. While accepting the award, Steve spoke warmly about his former bandmates, as well as the man who replaced him. "I must give a shout-out to a man who sings his heart out every night, Arnel Pineda," Perry said.

Although Pineda did not get inducted with his bandmates, he did get up and join them at the Hall Of Fame induction ceremony, singing "Don't Stop Believin'" and "Lights".

Four years ago, Perry told SiriusXM that he didn't perform with JOURNEY at the Rock Hall ceremony because he is "not in the band. I haven't been in the band for quite some time," he explained. "Arnel's been in the band for almost 10 years, I think. He's a sweet kid — he's a wonderful kid. He sings his heart out every night. It's his gig."

As for meeting Pineda before the induction, Perry said: "There was something endearing about the way he looked at me. He was meeting, like, a grandfather. [Laughs] He's got the gig. It's his gig. He's doing great."

Pineda has overcome a tremendous number of obstacles throughout his life, including the loss of his mother at a young age, homelessness and borderline starvation, making him an inspiration and providing hope for millions of people around the globe. Blessed with the ability to give back, Pineda mobilized his team to join the battle against poverty and its ensuing havoc on Philippine youth.

Photo credit: Erik Kabik

James Hetfield's estranged wife says that she is "extremely saddened" by the end of her marriage to the METALLICA frontman.

On August 13, TMZ reported that James and his wife of more than two decades had called it quits.

Sources close to the former couple told the tabloid site James filed for divorce from Francesca Hetfield in their home state of Colorado earlier this year.

Three days after TMZ filed its original report, on August 16, Francesca released the following short statement to the same site: "After 30 years of ups and downs but always with a lot of love, I am extremely saddened that my marriage has come to this."

Hetfield met Francesca in 1992 and they have been married since 1997. The two are said to still be in touch as they co-parent their daughters Cali, 20, and Marcella, 16, and son Castor, 18.

This past May, Hetfield got emotional during a METALLICA concert in Brazil, admitting to the audience that he was "feeling a little bit insecure" prior to taking the stage.

James has been open about his battles with addiction, anxiety and low self-esteem in the past, most recently last fall while discussing the transformation he had to undergo in order to successfully front METALLICA during the touring cycle for the band's 1991 self-titled album, which stands as one of the top-selling records of all time.

He told Apple Music's Zane Lowe in October 2021: "There was such an expectation already on myself to not let the team down and be the best as possible. But then you add 60,000 people out there… You need to be what they need you to be, 'cause this is what you've evolved to be. And it is a little bit of Oz," referencing the classic 1900 children's book "The Wizard Of Oz" by L. Frank Baum which was then adapted into the two-time Oscar-winning film in 1939. "Like, the man behind the curtain, pay no attention, but this guy behind the curtain is just dying and struggling and freaking out and not knowing who he is."

He continued: "The word 'unraveling' is a great word, like unlearning, unlearning all of what happened before. That was a part of me, for sure, but it dominated all of me. And the parts that weren't happy about me — there's a huge codependence and insecurity, a lot of that — that… Gosh, I can't… I'm no good without these guys. Who am I? Off tour, it's, like, 'Who am I?' Like any first responder or football player or even a soldier, you take your uniform off and you're a civilian again. [And you start asking yourself] 'Who am I? I don't know who I am.' There was a lot of fear in that."

Five years ago, Hetfield told the Des Moines, Iowa radio station Lazer 103.3 that he doesn't read online comments from METALLICA fans. "I've got tons of friends that are either musicians or artists or someone who are creative and putting stuff out there. I just tell 'em, 'Don't read the comments. I mean, just don't. Unless you're feeling a little more secure in yourself these days,'" he said. "'Cause most of us artists are pretty fragile, insecure people, and we get up there and the music makes us feel strong and good. But other times when people… you know, someone says something about the lyrics, and it's just, like, 'Ouch! That went right in my heart, dude!' So I tell you, when you read that stuff, you can't believe it — you just can't. Most people… It's really easy just to hit 'send' [on your phone or computer] — I know that. But we also do get a lot of great comments out there that kind of work themselves out. It's like throwing a couple of pitbulls in a room — they work it out. You don't have to… Especially on the METALLICA site, they have people… it goes back and forth. And as long as there's passion, that's all that matters, really."

Back in September 2019, Hetfield re-entered a treatment program to work on his recovery from alcohol addiction. He had previously been to rehab nearly two decades earlier for the same problem.

In a 2003 interview with Kerrang! magazine, Hetfield spoke about his battle with the bottle and the much-publicized trip to rehab in 2001 that had seemingly enabled the singer to emerge a much healthier and more positive-thinking person that he was during much of the group's 40-year career.

"Going away to rehab taught me about priorities," he said. "I've been in METALLICA since I was 19 years old, which can be a very unusual environment, and it's very easy to find yourself not knowing how to live outside of that environment, which is what happened to me. I didn't know anything about life. I didn't know that I could come home and live a family life. I didn't know that I could live my life in a different way to how it was in the band since I was 19, which was very excessive and very intense. And if you have addictive behavior, then you don't always make the best choices for yourself. And I definitely didn't make the best choices for myself.

"But rehab is like college for your head," he continued. "I really learned some things about myself in there. I was able to reframe my life and not look at everything with a negative connotation. That's how I was raised. It was like a survival technique for me. And getting into METALLICA meant that initially I had to fight to survive, for food, for the towel, for the shower, for everything. And then fighting to be the best band you can be, and putting other bands down. Finding fault with everything was how METALLICA was fueled. And not only did I play a part in that, I was buried in that."

"[In rehab] I learned that every human being is born perfect. I learned that the flaws in ourselves comes from the things around us, from our backgrounds and influences. But when we're born, we all have the same-sized soul. There are certain things that are genetic, but that doesn't mean that I have to act in a certain way, and I didn't know that. My lifestyle has been very intense, and I didn't know how to remove myself from that. Rehab taught me how to do that. It basically taught me how to live."

"I was afraid of so many things. I'd look at other people's friendships and think, 'Man, why can't I have friendships like that?' But I didn't know how to. So I used to try and buy friendships."

Asked whether it was difficult to say to himself, "Look, things have gone too far for me, I need to reach out for help," James said: "Yes, it definitely was difficult. That was one of the most difficult things of all. I had no humility and I felt that I couldn't show any weakness. For me, I was James Hetfield of METALLICA rather than just James Hetfield. And I was trying to live that lifestyle at home, I was trying to wear that mask all the time. And it's amazing how long you can wear a mask for. We're performers who play music — I mean, this is us. This isn't an act. But now I've learned how to be more congruent with where I am. Admitting that sometimes being on tour really sucks, and that I would rather go home. Or that I'm not in a good mood right now, and not worrying if people turn around and say, 'Hey, you're an asshole.' That can't hurt me now, whereas I used to be so concerned that people liked me.

"There's a lot of machoism in this world, but I suppose the most manly thing you can do is face up to your weaknesses and expose them. And you're showing strength by exposing your weaknesses to people. And that opens up a dialogue, it opens up friendships, which is definitely what it has done for me."

During a 2017 interview with "The Joe Rogan Experience" podcast, Hetfield spoke in more detail about checking into rehab 21 years ago and how he almost lost his family in the process.

"Fear was a big motivator in that for me," Hetfield said. "Losing my family, that was the thing that scared me so much. That was the bottom I hit, that my family is going to go away because of my behaviors that I brought home from the road. I got kicked out of my house by my wife; I was living on my own somewhere. I did not want that. Maybe as part of my upbringing, my family kind of disintegrated when I was a kid. Father left, mother passed away, had to live with my brother, and then kind of just, where did my stuff go? It just kind of floated away, and I do not want that happening. No matter what's going on, we're going to talk this stuff out and make it work."

He continued: "[My wife] did the right thing — she kicked my ass right out of the house and that scared the shit out of me. She said, 'Hey, you're not just going to the therapist now and talking about this. You've got to go somewhere and sort this shit out.' So that's what I did… What worked for me was seven weeks someplace — like, basically tearing you down to bones, ripping your life apart. Anything you thought about yourself or what it was, anything you thought you had, your family, your career, anything, gone. Strip you down to just — you're born. Here's how you were when you were born — you were okay. You were a good person. Let's get back to that again. Then they slowly rebuild you."

Hetfield's issues with addiction and alcoholism were detailed in the 2004 documentary "Some Kind Of Monster".

James and his family moved to the "super quiet" Vail, Colorado after decades of life in the San Francisco Bay Area. He told podcaster Joe Rogan that loved visiting Vail because he could feel like "a part of nature" and take part in one of his favorite hobbies, hunting, with less judgment.

"I kind of got sick of the Bay Area, the attitudes of the people there, a little bit," Hetfield said. "They talk about how diverse they are, and things like that, and it's fine if you're diverse like them. But showing up with a deer on the bumper doesn't fly in Marin County. My form of eating organic doesn't vibe with theirs."

Hetfield also said that in the Bay Area, he felt "that there was an elitist attitude there — that if you weren't their way politically, their way environmentally, all of that, that you were looked down upon."

James said he and his wife also chose Vail because she grew up there after being born in Argentina, and because he just feels more "at home" in the mountains.

STILLWELL, the band featuring KORN bassist Reginald "Fieldy" Arvizu, vocalist/guitarist Anthony "Q-Unique" Quiles and P.O.D. drummer Noah "Wuv" Bernardo, will apparently release a new single on September 16. A teaser for the track is available below.

The upcoming single will mark STILLWELL's first new music since the release of the group's third album, "Supernatural Miracle", which came out in September 2020. The follow-up to STILLWELL's past albums — "Raise It Up" (2015) and "Dirtbag" (2011) — was described in a press release as "the culmination of years' worth" of the individual members "finding their voice."

"We intentionally made sure to not sound like the other bands we're a part of, out of respect, integrity and just wanting to push ourselves creatively," Arvizu stated at the time. "If people want to hear KORN, P.O.D. or the 10 bands Q works with, they can just listen to those, STILLWELL is its own thing. We put together what I think is our best work yet."

Fieldy announced in June 2021 that he would sit out KORN's ongoing tour in order to "heal" after "falling back" on some of his "bad habits." He has since been replaced on the road by SUICIDAL TENDENCIES bassist Roberto "Ra" Díaz.

When Fieldy broke the news of his absence from KORN's summer 2021 trek, he wrote in a social media update: "To all KORN fans worldwide. The past 6 years I've been dealing with some personal issues that at times have caused me to fall back on some of my bad habits and has caused some tension with the people around me. It's been suggested to me to take some time off to heal. I'm going to respect what was asked of me and take that time. Unfortunately you will not see me on stage with my band. I will be working towards getting the bad habits out of my system. In the meantime I will be staying creative to keep my mind & soul in a good place.

"I'm thankful for all of your support, patience & understanding as we all have something that we deal with.

"Jonathan, Munky, Ray and Head, I love you and I don't want to bring any tension or bad vibes to the circle."

A short time later, KORN's official social media shared Fieldy's statement, along with the following message: "We love and support our brother, Fieldy. Health and family always comes first."

During a press conference at this year's Hellfest in Clisson, France, KORN guitarist James "Munky" Shaffer was asked about Fieldy's current status. He said: "[Fieldy] needed a little time at home with his family to kind of regroup. We decided we were gonna make a record during the pandemic and use that time constructively. And once the pandemic was over and we were ready to go back on the road, he wasn't quite ready to do that yet. So the rest of us were anxious to get back in front of our fans and play for everybody."

Earlier in June, KORN guitarist Brian "Head" Welch told Kerrang! Radio that he had "been in contact" with Fieldy. "I just e-mailed him the other day," he said. "So we're gonna get together and talk to him, see how he's doing, see where his head is at, after this tour. Me and Munk were just talking about it. We love him, we've been in communication with him, and we'll see."

KORN drummer Ray Luzier told Germany's MoreCore that Fieldy is "doing good. He's our brother. We love him. We support him 110 percent," he said. "Bands are like marriages. Sometimes you need to step away a little bit to look at the picture and see what's going on with your individual life, and I think that's where we're all at now with Reggie. He's such a great dude and he's one of my best buds, so we support him in everything he does. No one has a crystal ball — I don't know what's gonna happen in the future — but we definitely miss him out here."

According to Luzier, Díaz is "doing a great job. He's doing a hell of a job. But there's a sound about Fieldy that isKORN," he said. "There's that signature thing that not many bass players can say that. Just that sound — you pop a KORN album on, and you're, like, 'Woah.' That bass, you take that out and it wouldn't sound normal, because Munky and Head [Brian Welch] don't sound normal, and neither does Jon [singer Jonathan Davis]. But that bass, man, it's just leading a lot of those older records."

This past February, Welch told Spotlight Report that Fieldy was "just taking a little time to be with his family. He is a great dad," Welch said. "He has so many kids. He has adult kids, teenagers and young kids. He is just taking time, and we are giving him the time. We want everyone to be healthy and happy.

"I guess we will go and tour this record," Head continued, referencing KORN's recently released album "Requiem". "I don't know a lot more other than that. We love him very much and we hope to communicate with him during the year at some stage, to see where everyone is at."

Welch previously addressed Fieldy's position in KORN during a November 2021 interview with U.K.'s Kerrang! magazine. At the time, he stated: "The best thing to do is stay at home, be with your family, and start processing. He's got to find that healing. I still struggle with it. I had a few slip-ups with my 'bad habits' three to four years ago, so I understand it, but I dealt with it by hitting it head-on and stopping it from becoming a problem. I'm not concerned because I know he's going to be okay."

Davis expressed a more worried outlook on Fieldy's predicament, saying: "I love him; he's my brother. But I watched somebody I care about die and I'm not going to fucking do that again. I refuse to. I will feel guilt for the rest of my fucking life because of that. I tried my hardest but perhaps if I'd been a little bit tougher there'd have been a different outcome. I pray that he can figure it out and get better and come back and be a huge part of this band again."

Despite the fact that he is not joining his KORN bandmates on their current tour, Fieldy did play on "Requiem".

Earlier in November, Shaffer told "Loudwire Nights" host Toni Gonzalez about Fieldy: "Right now he's just taking some time to kinda figure out what makes him happy and figure out his happiness and what he wants to do with his life, I guess is the best way to put it. And make sure his mental health is at its best, because if your mental health isn't good, or you're not clear, you're gonna make bad choices.

"I make an example," he continued. "I had my own challenges through the years, and once you get clarity, your life becomes a lot easier to manage. We're just giving him time to, like, no pressure, just figure out what you want to do because we can still work and we can still go out and tour. But we miss him. We love the guy, and we want him to just be healthy."

Regarding how KORN ended up recruiting Díaz to fill in for Fieldy, Welch told 97.9 GRD: "Well, there's COVID and everything, so when we started talking about it, it was a thing where we wanted to be careful still and whatnot. So we just started brainstorming and hitting up friends and whatnot. We need the slap — we need the slap bass, we need the finger playing, we need someone, 'cause Fieldy is unique — very unique. So it just kind of happened that way, man, where Ra, he was open because SUICIDAL [was] not going out [on tour] until [the following] year. So it just worked out, man. He came down, we jammed. He's a really humble guy, and just very talented. He can play anything — from jazz to slap to anything. He played all the songs with, like, three mistakes out of 10 songs or something — little mistakes. I mean, not even mistakes — it was just, like, 'I thought I heard it that way.' They weren't even mistakes. So we were, like, 'Okay. You got it down.'"



New Music 9-16-22
🦏🎸🥁🎸🦏

Posted by STILLWELL on Wednesday, August 24, 2022

Fan-filmed video of NIGHT RANGER performing a cover of the OZZY OSBOURNE classic "Crazy Train" on August 23 at the Lorain County Fair in Wellington, Ohio can be seen below.

NIGHT RANGER has been playing "Crazy Train" regularly in recent years as a nod to the time when guitarist Brad Gillis took on the pressure-packed job back in 1982 of replacing Randy Rhoads after Ozzy's virtuoso guitarist died in a plane crash.

In a 2004 interview with the Contra Costa Times, Gillis spoke about how he landed the Ozzy gig. While a member of an early version of NIGHT RANGER, Gillis was also playing with a club band by the name of ALAMEDA ALL STARS. After a Friday-night gig early in 1982, at which the band covered two Osbourne songs, Gillis was approached by friend Preston Thrall, the brother of guitarist Pat Thrall, who'd turned down the chance to replace Rhoads. Preston offered to get an audition for Gillis, who said okay, but didn't think much of it.

Sunday morning he was on the phone with Ozzy, who simply gave him a list of songs to learn. Tuesday he was in New York, with a one-way plane ticket and $150. The promised room at the downtown hotel wasn't there, so Gillis ponied up $135 and went upstairs and waited. He finally got the call at midnight to come to Ozzy's suite, where a party was happening.

"Ozzy says, 'Go get your guitar,'" Gillis said. "You remember those E.F. Hutton commercials? Everyone just stopped. He says, 'Play 'Flying High Again'. ' By the time I get to the solo, he stands up, puts his arms around me, and says, 'Bradley, pull me through this (ordeal).' He takes me out and says, 'I've got a new guitar player.'"

Last year, Gillis told Guitar World magazine about his time with Osbourne: "You have to realize that after the sad death of Randy Rhoads, the band was going through a lot of emotional stress throughout the rest of the tour. So, when I joined the band, it was quite a heavy situation. Bernie Tormé was playing guitar at that time in the interim, before a permanent replacement was added. And when I flew to New York for the audition, I basically found out it was just me. So, I did the best I could practicing in my hotel room every day, with a small amp, a boombox and a live board cassette with Randy that had been recorded a few months earlier.

"At night, I would go to the shows to watch the live performance from the soundboard. I was amazed at the large castle, fire, explosives, and the hanging of the dwarf — realizing that in a few days, I was going to be up on stage. I'll never forget the sound man looking over at me and laughing, saying, 'You're next, buddy!'

"My first night was quite a horrendous experience — because not only was I scared to death, at soundcheck, we only played seven out of the 18-song set, and Ozzy didn't even show up. My first gig was sold out in Binghamton, New York for 8,000 people. That was basically my entrance into Ozzy's world. I ended up botching 'Revelation (Mother Earth)', as I ended up coming into the fast section too early, and the whole band looked at me, like, 'What the hell are you doing?' I stopped playing, regained my composure, and finished out the song and the set — with no other major mistakes. The next night before we went on stage, Sharon [Osbourne, Ozzy's wife] came up to me, saying, 'Bradley, you're doing a great job. But tonight… don't fuck up.'"

🚨 NEW SHOW ANNOUNCEMENT! 🚨

Join us August 23rd as we rock the Lorain County Fair in Wellington, Ohio! 🤘

Tickets go on...

Posted by Night Ranger on Tuesday, June 21, 2022

Atlanta progressive metallers MASTODON have released "The Making of Hushed & Grim", a 90-minute documentary that chronicles the Grammy Award-winning group's critically acclaimed ninth studio album. The film is an intimate look at the bandmembers' creative process, which was largely influenced by the untimely death of their longtime friend and manager Nick John. The film also intertwines comedic skits that showcase the band's lighter, more humorous dynamic.

John, who also managed GOJIRA, passed away in September 2018 from pancreatic cancer.

"Hushed And Grim" was released in October 2021 via Reprise. The follow-up to 2017's "Emperor Of Sand" was recorded at West End Sound, which is located inside of Ember City, the rehearsal facility that members of MASTODON manage in Atlanta. Helming the effort was Grammy-winning producer/mixer/engineer David Bottrill, who has previously worked with MUSE, DREAM THEATER and TOOL, among many others.

The "Hushed And Grim" artwork was created by longtime MASTODON collaborator Paul Romano, who also designed the sleeves for "Crack The Skye", "Blood Mountain", "Leviathan" and more.

MASTODON drummer Brann Dailor stated about the "Hushed And Grim" cover: "Essentially, to be brief, [the tree] is an afterlife mythology that when you pass away, your spirit goes into the heart of a tree and then experiences all the pillars of your in successions of the seasons that the tree experiences. That is the way you're able to say goodbye to the natural world and move on to the next dimension. You can see a green man in the center of the tree — the heart of the tree — and that is our good friend and manager Nick John, who passed away, unfortunately, a couple of years ago. [Nick] has a lot to do with the inspiration of the album, 'Hushed And Grim'."

Last fall, MASTODON's Troy Sanders told Classic Rock magazine about the musical and lyrical inspiration for "Hushed And Grim": "There was no way we were going to approach this album without addressing how magnificent Nick's impact was on us, as four individuals and as one band. There was no way we could ignore that. It seemed too large of a moment in our lives to not write about it. It was too monumental and too devastating for us to say: 'We're not going to think about that. We're going to write some fun, happy rock songs.' It doesn't work like that with us. From day one, we've always pulled authentic emotions into our lyrics, our story writing and our riff writing. It always comes from within. Nick not only made us better people, but he took our band under his wing and brought us to new heights that we never had dreamt of. This album is us honoring his memory and showing our gratitude for how he touched our lives in the most incredible ways."