MÖTLEY CRÜE and DEF LEPPARD's "The Stadium Tour" has topped Pollstar's LIVE75 chart, which ranks worldwide active tours by the average tickets sold for reported shows taken place over the last 30 days.

According to Pollstar, "The Stadium Tour", which features support from POISON and JOAN JETT & THE BLACKHEARTS, moved 96% of the available tickets from concerts at 11 venues in U.S. cities to average 36,934 sold seats per show. The bands also earned "Heavy Hitter" status with a $4.94 million gross average, the highest of the week among the 75 ranked tours.

LIVE75 provides a weekly snapshot of the 75 active tours with the most drawing power, based on shows reported to Pollstar over the preceding 30 days.

"The Stadium Tour" kicked off on June 16 in Atlanta, Georgia and is slated to wrap up on September 9 in Las Vegas.

The massive North American tour was postponed from 2020 due to COVID-19, and then again in 2021.

"The Stadium Tour" marks the CRÜE's first live dates since wrapping its 2014/2015 farewell tour. CRÜE toured with POISON back in 2011 and DEF LEPPARD teamed up with POISON for a string of road dates in 2017, but this jaunt marks the first time all four acts have hit the road together for an extended tour.

CRÜE fans who shelled out for the band's 2014/2015 "farewell" tour were led to believe that the group would never return after playing its final show on December 2015 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. The band touted the signing of a pre-tour "cessation of touring" agreement as cementing the fact it truly was the end of CRÜE's life on the road.

MÖTLEY CRÜE's Tommy Lee played the first full show of "The Stadium Tour" on June 28 at Bank Of America Stadium in Charlotte, North Carolina.

The 59-year-old drummer hadn't been able to play full sets on the trek after sustaining his injuries about two weeks before the tour's launch. According to his wife, Tommy broke four ribs on his right side after falling down the stairs of a rental home in Nashville while CRÜE was rehearsing for the shows.

POWERMAN 5000 vocalist Spider One and the masked STATIC-X frontman Xer0 (who is rumored to be DOPE singer Edsel Dope) joined ROB ZOMBIE on stage this past Thursday (July 21) in Noblesville, Indiana to perform the WHITE ZOMBIE classic "Thunder Kiss '65". Fan-filmed video of their appearance is available below.

POWERMAN 5000 and STATIC-X were supposed to perform alongside ROB ZOMBIE and MUDVAYNE at Ruoff Music Center on Thursday but had their sets scrapped after one of the semitractor-trailers carrying the production tour broke down on the way to Indianapolis, the amphitheater in Noblesville tweeted.

Last December, Spider One, whose given name is Michael David Cummings, spoke to the "Podsauce" podcast about growing up with his brother, actor-singer-songwriter Rob Zombie, in a small town where television and music were the gateways to the world.

"[There's] only a couple of years difference in age [between us], so we grew up loving all the same stuff," he told "Podsauce" hosts Alesha Reneé and Dax Holt. "But the funny thing is we grew up in a household that was about as normal as you could possibly have. [Our] parents weren't artists. My dad worked in a furniture factory for his entire life. My mom stayed home, raised the kids. And there wasn't a lot of that around us. We grew up in a small town where there really wasn't anything to do. So TV and music was really like this gateway to the world, that there were other things out there other than this little town that we lived in. I mean, we watched everything and anything. And growing up in the '70s and '80s, there was a lot of crazy content... It just opened up the world."

Eight years ago, Spider One told the Dallas Observer that he and his brother aren't competitive. "I wouldn't say that at all," he said. "I would say that we are supportive and collaborative. We talk about what each of us is doing. He clearly has his own thing. I just try to do my thing too. There is plenty of room for everybody. It has never been a competitive thing. We've done a couple of things together over the years. He did some vocals on one of my records back in 1999. We've played a couple shows together, nothing too major. With him in his world and me in mine, it's almost impossible to get together for dinner."

As a rock icon and filmmaker with a unique vision, Rob Zombie has continuously challenged audiences as he stretches the boundaries of both music and film. He has sold over 15 million albums worldwide, and is the only artist to experience unprecedented success in both music and film as the writer/director of eight feature films with a worldwide gross totaling more than $150 million. Each of Rob Zombie's seven solo studio albums have debuted in the top 10 on Billboard's 200 chart, including his most recent album, "The Lunar Injection Kool Aid Eclipse", in 2021. Zombie is an eight-time Grammy nominee, with his most recent nomination for "Best Metal Performance" at the 2022 awards. Rob Zombie's ninth feature film, "The Munsters", is set to release later this year.

CRO-MAGS founder Harley Flanagan, who in 2018 filed a suit against his former bandmates John Joseph and Mackie Jayson regarding ownership of the CRO-MAGS name, told Erin Micklow in a recent interview that he has repeatedly reached out to Joseph and Jayson about a possible reunion of the group's classic lineup.

"Those of you who have been following my social media for any period of time, you'll see that I have made a lot of attempts over the years to try to get all those fucking guys to come to the table and have some sort of a conversation," he said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET).

"The truth is everybody in that band got fucked; we all got stiffed. That's a lot of the reason why everybody kind of started turning on each other. When you have nothing and you're getting ripped off and robbed and fucked over, it's, like, desperation makes people desperate. You start fighting over crumbs; you start thinking everybody's getting over.

"I tried to get these guys to come to the table, see if maybe we could have done some sort of shows or at least come to terms with each other and maybe try to fight the legal battle together to try to get the albums back or this and that," he continued. "And you know what? It just got to a place where none of these guys wanted to try; nobody really wanted to put in the effort or to even try to be friendly.

"I've tried. I can't force other people to get along. And me, I just wanna play music; I wanna tour. This is what I do. And if those guys don't wanna fucking be involved, I can't force 'em. And after a while, it's kind of insulting, when you're offering people an olive branch over and over again. They're, like, 'Fuck you.' It's, like, 'You know what? Fuck you, man. I'm done. I'm actually quite happy without you. I feel like my life has been better since you've been gone.' So it's, like, 'Fine. Don't let the door hit you in the ass.'"

Harley also touched upon the July 2012 incident when he was arrested in New York City on charges of attacking several members of the CRO-MAGS during the CBGB Festival. Flanagan, who had been a panelist at one of the event's seminars, allegedly attempted to attend the concert of his former band. The brawl saw Flanagan stabbed and arrested after being jumped at Webster Hall. This led to charges of felony assault and criminal possession of a weapon, along with a brief stay at New York City's most notorious prison Rikers Island before those charges were dropped.

"They invite me backstage and have these fucking fake thugs, like seven of 'em, jump me," Harley said. " I wound up putting three of them in the hospital. I fucking got stabbed. I had, like, 40-something stitches. And then they tried to sue me for fuckin' 'em up. And then fuckin' John, my buddy John, goes in the newspaper and says, 'He's a skinhead. He's a Nazi. He hates black people. He's a snitch.' That motherfucker's, like, putting a target on me. I'm, like, 'Dude, I'm in motherfuckin' Rikers Island. You're basically saying, 'Hello everybody. Go get this guy.'' So I've got this black dude, Smoke, he comes in my cell, he hands me a newspaper with me in it, and says, 'That's you?' And I'm, like, 'Yeah.' And I'm reading all this shit. I'm, like, 'Damn, John. Not only did you have these jerkoffs fucking jump me because you were too much of a chickenshit to fucking put your hands on me yourself. Then now, that shit failed, and you wanna try to get some rando fuckin' con to fuckin' put a hit on me so that they can have a little bit of clout?'"

Asked what happened during his stay at Rikers Island, Harley said: "Nothing happened. I was respected. Everybody knew what I did. Everybody saw me on the news. They were, like, 'This guy fucked three dudes up. He got jumped.' I was respected."

In April 2019, Joseph and Jayson reached an agreement with Flanagan over the rights to the CRO-MAGS name. At the time, it was announced that going forward, Joseph and Jayson would perform as CRO-MAGS JM while Flanagan would get to use the CRO-MAGS name for his own version of the band.

When Flanagan, who founded the CRO-MAGS at the age of 14 and toured with the band for some 20 years, sued members of the group for allegedly using the CRO-MAGS name without his permission, he claimed that CRO-MAGS was his idea when he formed it back in 1981. Flanagan filed a lawsuit against the then-most recent lineup of the group — including Joseph — in part for copyright infringement, saying he trademarked the "Cro-Mag" name for recording in 2010 and for merchandise in 2009 and then again in 2017.

According to the New York Post, Harley claimed in the lawsuit that the other members of the CRO-MAGS took over the band around 2002 when "Flanagan's first son was about to be born… and Flanagan had to stop touring to help with the baby."

A decade ago, Joseph told the New York Post he and Flanagan started the band together in the early '80s, but Flanagan continually took all the credit for himself. McGowan claimed the situation got so bad, Flanagan pocketed every cent from their 1986 tour. "That caused me to lose my apartment and be homeless in 1987," John said. "I lived hand to mouth."

In a separate interview with The New York Times, Joseph said that Flanagan "has been a negative thorn in the side of this band forever."

During a recent episode of his "Talk Is Jericho" podcast, FOZZY frontman and wrestling superstar Chris Jericho told the whole story behind his health issue last December that resulted in FOZZY canceling shows for the first time ever. Chris detailed the symptoms that started during FOZZY's U.K. tour that led to his hospitalization and pulmonary embolism diagnosis in London. He spoke candidly about the harrowing days having trouble breathing, watching his oxygen levels drop, and seeing specialists to help turn his condition around. He discussed his extended hospital stay, being stuck in London unable to fly before the holidays, and the hard work he put in once he was able to return home to Tampa.

Jericho said in part (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Back in November, end of November of 2021, FOZZY had a tour of the U.K. And first show was in Liverpool, and that one went good. The second one was in Manchester. And then the third one, I believe, was in Newcastle. And Manchester, after the show, I went out, had a couple of drinks, got back in the bus fairly late. And the next day in Newcastle when we were doing the show I felt a little bit winded — which was weird, because I'm never winded on stage. Even if it's super hot — sometimes you play a venue that has a low roof or something along those lines, and you get super hot to where you're, like, 'Oh my gosh. It's hard to breathe.' This was not that. The venue in Newcastle, the Riverfront, was a nice place [with] a high roof, not super hot. But I found myself kind of searching for breath, gasping for breath during the songs, to where it was hard to even sing all the lyrics. I was joking, I kind of sounded like Vince Neil, who's notorious for singing every second or third word and letting the crowd fill in the rest. I didn't really think much of it. I had a couple of more shows — in Ireland, we did Dublin and Belfast, [which] were just insane — but same thing: kind of feeling a little bit short of breath.

"During this time frame, when I was feeling a little bit kind of short of breath, I was talking to my doctor at home in Tampa who said, 'This could be blood clots," he continued. "You could have some blood clots. Sounds like it might be that.' And she said, 'When you get back home to Tampa, we'll put you through a couple of CT scans and kind of see where you're at. But if you start feeling really short of breath, go to the hospital directly.' So fast forward to the next night, the show was in a place called Chester. So, once again, low roof, and it was so, so hot, 'cause the place was sold out. Every gig on this tour was sold out. It's the first time that we've ever had that; we had 12 shows and every one of them was sold out before we even left and got on the plane.'

"So, in Chester I was really feeling like, 'This is terrible. I can't breathe.' There's a door right by the stage that leads to the outside, and I said, 'I'm just gonna walk offstage. I can't take it.' But I finished the show and then my doctor said, 'You have to go to the hospital, like, now.' And we were in Bournemouth the next night and then headed to London for a press day. And I thought, 'Well, I'm not gonna go to the hospital in Bournemouth or Chester. Let me just wait till I get to London and we can figure out kind of where I'm at.' So we did the Chester gig, and then I had two more shows — Birmingham, where I felt okay, but I knew that we had London after Bournemouth, and that would be kind of the place where I'd get checked out and see kind of what's going on. Bournemouth was the same thing where I was getting a little bit hot, and we cut a couple of songs — a song called 'Burn Me Out' that's super hard to sing, and a couple of other ones. I think we ended up doing 12 or 13 songs, even though we usually do 15 or 16. And that was it. And I remember saying after the Bournemouth show, 'I can't do another show like this. We need to figure out what's going on.' So what I had our manager Mark Willis do was call a friend of ours called Luke Bell. Now Luke Bell worked for us as our tour manager for years, and he's now gone off and he works for the RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS now. He connected us with a 'rock doc.' Now what is a rock doc? A rock doc, a rock doctor, is kind of a guy who travels to you when you don't have time to travel to them. So I went to London and we parked the bus outside the O2 arena, 'cause there's a parking place where buses can go, and took a taxi to the Hard Rock Hotel in London, which is where we were gonna be based out of to do our press day…

"So, when I got to the Hard Rock Hotel, I came in, got there early, took a shower, and then the doctor, he came and took some blood," Chris added. "And I told him what was going on. And he said, 'Okay, well, we're gonna book you for a heart scan later on and we'll take some blood and we'll see what's going on. So just kind of chill out and hang out.' And I was really having problems walking. I would be walking across the lobby at the Hard Rock Hotel and I felt like I was walking up a mountain — really, really bad. Huffing, puffing out of breath. Something was really wrong. So we canceled, basically, the press thing. We were supposed to have a listening party, and that got canceled due to COVID. And then I was supposed to go do kind of a sideline reporting thing at one of the football games, one of the soccer games in town… And I basically had to cancel; 'I can't do it.' 'Cause I had to stay [at the hotel] and also I had to figure out what my plan for the day was and what I was gonna have to be doing. So, anyways, about an hour later I got a call from the doctor, who said, 'You have blood clots. We can tell by the blood that we drew. You have to go directly to the hospital.' Now, [that was] pretty scary. Keep in my mind, I'm in London — I'm thousands of miles away from home in a foreign country, and now I have to go to a hospital. Well, the cool thing was that the rock doc worked for a medical concierge. And I never knew there was a such a thing. And what's a medical concierge? Well, this is a place where you pay, and the service they do is basically take care of everything — they book you the appointments; they get you the results; anything that needs to be done, they take care of for you. And thank goodness, because obviously this was in December when there was still all of this COVID going on, so all of the hospitals were fairly full. And the last thing you wanna do is just go to a hospital and sit in the hallway. So they were able to book me in a private hospital and get in quicker, and away you go. And this was actually December 9th; it was the day after my dad's birthday. So I go to the hospital; they pick me up… I get to the hospital and I can barely walk. I mean, walking across the lobby to get to the car to go to the hospital was a real task; it was terrifying. Three steps and I was just huffing and puffing and the heart was pounding. And you know something is really, really wrong here. Then the walk from that car to the hospital — same thing. It might as well have been a thousand miles if it was a hundred feet, if it was even that — 50 feet. So I walk inside and I'm trying to be cool; I know kind of what's going on here. But I'm a little bit scared, obviously, like anybody would be, especially when you have to go into a hospital. But I'm thinking, 'Who knows what it is?' You always think, 'They'll just give me a shot and I'll move on my way.' Well, that's not necessarily the case. I go inside. I check in… The doctor comes in and meets me… And keep in mind, prior to that, I went and saw him early in the morning. I had an appointment with the cardiologist, actually, at 6 p.m. And I met with him about 10 a.m. in the morning or so — 11 a.m. in the morning. And they were gonna give me an EKG and possibly an echo ultrasound of the heart. And then he texted me and said that the blood showed high possibility of clots in the lungs. The cardiologists got the results. And I said, 'What does that mean now?' 'We'll do a CT of the lungs first. Then we'll know for sure. And then it's tablets if it's in the blood.' So I was thinking once again, 'Just give me some pills and I'm on my way.' So I went to the hospital and I gave my insurance. And I go, I get checked in and they go and take me for the CT scan. And after the CT scan happens, then they tell me very soon after, 'Yes, you've had a pulmonary embolism.' What does that mean? It means that your lungs are filled with blood clots and you are now staying in the hospital. And they went and did an ultrasound and found that there was evidence of a clot that had been in my throat. Now, if a clot gets in your throat, that's getting into stroke territory. And the reason why these are so dangerous is if the blood clot breaks free and gets into your lungs, you could have some serious issues; if it breaks free and gets into your heart, you can have some serious issues; if it breaks free and gets into your brain, you can have some serious issues… So this is some serious, serious shit here. And I go into the hospital and I have my own room and all that sort of thing, and you then check in, and here you go. And it was nice — the people were nice — but once again, I am in a foreign country in this hospital room. And when they wanted me to go down to get the CT scan and the ultrasound, they wanted to put me in a wheelchair and you have to put the hospital gown on. And I was, like, 'Absolutely not. I am walking down to get this done.' Even though it was hard for me to walk, I did not wanna get in that wheelchair, and I did not wanna put on that gown. I put on shorts and a muscle shirt and I said, 'This is fine. I'll do this.' And they're, like, 'Sir, you have to put on your gown.' I said, 'No. I don't.' And they just kind of thankfully left me. 'Cause to me, if I put the gown on, that's more of a permanent stay. For me, to get into the wheelchair and get pushed down to the CT scan and the ultrasound, that's another step to being there longer. So I am not going to do that. I am going to essentially do this my way."

Jericho, a former WWE world wrestling champion who currently competes for All Elite Wrestling, was unable to sing at FOZZY's London concert on December 12, 2021 at the O2 Academy Islington. Instead, FOZZY held what was being billed as the "Ultimate Fozzy Fan Fest" that started with a world-exclusive premiere listening party of FOZZY's latest album, "Boombox", four months before the LP's official release. Then Jericho hosted a question-and-answer session with questions submitted by fans before the event concluded with FOZZY playing two of its biggest songs, "Enemy" and "Judas", live, with special guest vocalists — the fans themselves.

Prior to the London gig, FOZZY canceled two shows on its U.K. tour after Jericho was hospitalized.

FOZZY had already played nine shows as part of a 12-date "Save The World" tour of the U.K. before being forced to scrap a concert in Swansea and a show in Nottingham.

In a new interview with the FM99 WNOR radio station, HALESTORM frontwoman Lzzy Hale recounted some of her experiences meeting her musical heroes. She said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "I've never had a really bad experience meeting any of my heroes. Sometimes it was a little surprising. None of them were detrimental. One of them, I got to meet Tom Keifer from CINDERELLA, and we've since then become friends; we've done a bunch of duets and everything. But he was the guy that guy literally got me into guitar and singing the way I do. When I was a kid, I was obsessed with [CINDERELLA's] 'Night Songs' album; that was like my 'boy band.' It was in the '90s, and nobody understood it, but it's, like, 'I love this band so much.' He blew me away personality-wise — I mean, just made me feel like family from the get-go. Same thing with Ronnie James Dio. I only got to meet him once and he blew me away with just his demeanor. And then, on the surprising end of it, and this is not a bad thing, but I just got to meet Ann Wilson [from HEART] for the first time a couple of weeks ago, and it was such a beautiful moment, but she's so quiet — she's so just calm and subdued and is just happy to be there. And I was picturing in my mind that because of her powerful voice — I mean, I wouldn't be the singer I am today without her — I was expecting something a little bit more energetic and lively, and she's just cool as a cucumber. So that was just surprising, like, 'You're so loud when you sing but you're so quiet when you talk.' So that was kind of cool — surprising, but, again, not super detrimental."

Hale continued: "I always recommend meeting your heroes because you get to almost see that reflection of yourself and you get to really kind of just put the puzzle pieces together as to why you are the musician that you are today when you meet your heroes. So I never really shy away from that.

"One of the funniest ones was Joan Jett, because she was screwing with me," Lzzy revealed. "My bandmates had gotten me, years ago, one of her signature Melody Maker guitars, and so I brought it to the show that we were opening up for her. And I'm like, 'Hey…' I was all fangirly. I'm, like, 'Hey, would you sign my guitar?' And she looks at me and she looks at the guitar, and she's, like, 'Oh, I don't sign guitars.' And immediately I'm, like, 'Oh, that's okay. You don't have to.' And she's, like, 'I'm screwing with you. Give me the guitar.' And I'm, like, 'Okay. Phew.'"

HALESTORM's fifth studio album album, "Back From The Dead", was released on May 6 via Atlantic. The follow-up to 2018's "Vicious" was produced by Nick Raskulinecz (FOO FIGHTERS, MASTODON, ALICE IN CHAINS) with co-production by Scott Stevens (SHINEDOWN, DAUGHTRY, NEW YEARS DAY).

Lzzy and her brother Arejay (drums) formed the band in 1998 while in middle school. Guitarist Joe Hottinger joined the group in 2003, followed by bassist Josh Smith in 2004.

In December 2018, HALESTORM was nominated for a "Best Rock Performance" Grammy Award for its song "Uncomfortable". Six years earlier, the band won its first Grammy in the category of "Best Hard Rock/ Metal Performance" for "Love Bites (So Do I)".

Photo credit: Gibson

Fan-filmed video of JUDAS PRIEST's July 21 performance at NTC Aréna in Bratislava, Slovakia can be seen below.

The band's setlist was as follows:

01. One Shot At Glory
02. Lightning Strike
03. You've Got Another Thing Comin'
04. Freewheel Burning
05. Turbo Lover
06. Hell Patrol
07. The Sentinel
08. Victim Of Changes
09. The Green Manalishi (With The Two Prong Crown) (FLEETWOOD MAC cover)
10. Diamonds & Rust (Joan Baez cover)
11. Painkiller

Encore:

12. The Hellion / Electric Eye
13. Hell Bent For Leather
14. Breaking The Law
15. Living After Midnight

As previously reported, JUDAS PRIEST will celebrate its 50th anniversary again this year with the launch of a new North American tour. Support on the "50 Heavy Metal Years" fall 2022 trek will once again come from QUEENSRŸCHE.

JUDAS PRIEST kicked off its spring/summer 2022 European tour with an intimate concert on May 31 in Berlin, Germany. For the gig, which was held at the 1,600-capacity Huxleys Neue Welt venue, singer Rob Halford and his bandmates ditched their traditional leather-and-studs look in favor of a more stripped-down appearance.

In May, Halford told ABC Audio that PRIEST was in the process of "tracking" follow-up to 2018's "Firepower" album.

"You can never have enough songs when you're making an album," he said. "Songs that you didn't even know you had bits and pieces and fragments of, suddenly they become an incredibly important part of your record."

Regarding the musical direction of the new JUDAS PRIEST material, Rob said: "The music that we're making now is representative of where PRIEST is at this probably sixth decade of our existence when it comes out… It sounds great. I'm really pleased. I'm really, really happy that… we're not dropping the ball. Not that we ever have. But it's good, because there are some elements in there that we've never… kind of discovered before."

More than a year ago, Halford confirmed that PRIEST's next album will see the band reuniting with the "Firepower" production team consisting of Andy Sneap, longtime collaborator Tom Allom and engineer Mike Exeter (BLACK SABBATH).

Bassist Ian Hill is the sole remaining original member of PRIEST, which formed in 1969. Halford joined the group in 1973 and guitarist Glenn Tipton signed on in 1974. Rob left PRIEST in the early 1990s to form his own band, then came back to PRIEST in 2003. Founding guitarist K.K. Downing parted ways with the band in 2011, and was replaced by Richie Faulkner.

Tipton was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease eight years ago after being stricken by the condition at least half a decade earlier. Tipton announced in early 2018 he was going to sit out touring activities in support of "Firepower". He was replaced by Sneap, who is also known for his work in NWOBHM revivalists HELL and cult thrash outfit SABBAT.

This past March, Faulkner told the "Metal From The Inside" podcast about the recording process for the new PRIEST album: "It's been slowed down a lot because of, obviously, the pandemic. We wanted to get together, like we did on 'Firepower', and record it together, but, obviously, the lockdowns and everything like that slowed that process [down]. Some of us live in the U.S., some of us live in the U.K., so getting together proved to be a bit difficult over the last couple of years. Now everything is kind of opening up, it's a bit easier, but now we're on the road, so we've got a touring cycle [to get through]. So, if we can, we might be able to do it in between the touring cycles."

As for when fans can expect to get the next PRIEST album, Faulkner said: "We don't have a release date. It's not finished. We've got the songs, but we've gotta record it. We've got drums down. I don't know if that's even been said yet. So we're gonna try and build it up as we move through this touring cycle. But as Rob always says, it'll be finished when it's finished. At this point in their career, there's no point in rushing anything, especially when we've waited this long through the pandemic to start doing it. It'll be done when it's done. But there will be another PRIEST record. We've got some great songs."

Regarding the musical direction of the new PRIEST material, Richie said: "It's different to 'Firepower', but it's definitely… You can hear where it's coming from. It's not even 'Firepower 2'… It's hard to say anything these days without people getting… If I say it's like a continuation of 'Firepower', people think it's 'Firepower 2'. It's got its own character, it's got its own legs, and we're looking forward to releasing it on to the world when it's done."

In February, Halford was asked by Remy Maxwell of Audacy Check In if he agreed with Faulkner's recent comment that the band's upcoming album will be more musically "progressive" than "Firepower". He responded: "Yeah, the metal is there. But here's the thing: we've tried our best not to replicate anything that we've done. From 'Rocka Rolla' all the way through to 'Firepower', each record has had a distinctive character. And it's tough because fans go, 'We want another 'Painkiller',' 'We want another 'British Steel'.' And [it's, like], 'Dude, we've already done that.'

"Fans know that we're a band that is always full of adventure and trying new stuff," he continued. "And so, yeah, this has got probably some more progressive elements that we've never really delved into before. And that's exciting, because, again, it gives us and our fans another opportunity to see a different side of PRIEST. But it's still metal. There's just more of it. There are more notes than there were before."

That same month, Faulkner told Canada's The Metal Voice about the overall sound of the new PRIEST music: "Whenever you start a record, you never know how it's gonna turn out. So you might start with an idea of what it's gonna be, and as it kind of rolls on, it comes out something different. So you don't quite know. And also it's really hard to sum up your own music, I find, without sounding really pretentious. But I think this one — it's not 'Firepower 2', I don't think. It's its own thing, it's its own animal. If anything, I would say it's a bit more progressive in places, and in places it's got a bit more of that 'Killing Machine' swagger."

Faulkner added: "I know everyone says, 'Oh, is it the next 'Painkiller'?' or 'Is it the next…?' whatever… I don't know if they'd ever done it, but I know we've never done it when I've been in the band; we've never tried to recreate an album. It's always we try to create an album that stands on its own legs. So I think it's definitely a little bit more progressive than 'Firepower' and, as I said, in places it's got a little bit of that 'Killing Machine' angry swagger attitude going on. But again, as I said, we're waiting to see what it turns out like, 'cause it could turn out completely different."

JUDAS PRIEST will receive the Musical Excellence Award at this year's Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame, which will honor Eminem, Dolly Parton, DURAN DURAN, Lionel Richie, Pat Benatar, EURYTHMICS and Carly Simon in the Performers category.

The induction ceremony will be held on November 5, 2022 at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. It will air at a later date on HBO and stream on HBO Max. There will also be a radio simulcast on SiriusXM's Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame Radio channel 310.

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

Fan-filmed video of THE CULT performing its new single, "Give Me Mercy", on July 22 at the Metropolitan Opera House in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania can be seen below. The song is taken from the band's upcoming album, "Under The Midnight Sun", which will be released on October 7 via Black Hill Records. The LP was produced by Tom Dalgety (PIXIES, GHOST, ROYAL BLOOD).

"Give Me Mercy" makes clear that THE CULT's co-founding members, Ian Astbury and Billy Duffy, have spent the six years since their last LP pushing further into their esoteric strength. Flanked by Duffy's dynamic guitar riff, Astbury reaches new heights of sinewy vulnerability.

Astbury commented: "I was absolutely enamored with this piece of music Billy had written, and it perfectly fit these thoughts I'd been having about our culture's need to move past assumptions of duality. We need new language because words can't express where we're going."

Duffy said: "'Give Me Mercy' has all the hallmarks of the new classic CULT to my ears … fresh yet familiar."

The Juan Azulay-directed music video for "Give Me Mercy" can be seen below.

When the sun just wouldn't leave the sky one evening in Finland, Astbury took notice. Walking the grounds of the Provinssirock festival, Astbury found himself revelling in the surreal, almost occult moment that comes with the "midnight sun," the summer stretch where the sun doesn't go down north of the Arctic Circle.

"It's three in the morning, the sun's up, and there's all these beautiful people in this halcyon moment," Astbury remembered. "People are laying on the grass, making out, drinking, smoking. There were rows of flowers at the front of the stage from the performances earlier that evening. It was an incredible moment." While reviewing archival footage of the performance, Astbury found new mysticism in that moment and imbued it into the forthcoming "Under The Midnight Sun".

Leading to 2020, THE CULT had been on a rolling cycle of releasing albums, touring, and recording. As the world shut down, everyone was forced to reprioritize the way they approached life and work.

"When the world stopped, I had this moment to write in real time, to calculate," said Astbury. When lockdown lifted and the group could meet to record, they teamed up with Dalgety. "I was compelled by this vision, this anomaly, this memory, of being under the midnight sun. Tom helped us bring a new musical shape and frequency to our process."

Lyrically, "Under The Midnight Sun" bolsters that new musical dexterity by building out from the idyllic and surreal vision at its title. Throughout, Astbury pulls in influences from Brian Jones, Brion Gysin, William Burroughs, Buddhism, the Beats, and the Age of Aquarius, all shaded with the lingering threat of the present and the timeless CULT color palette.

As THE CULT is now returning to performing live and sharing "Under The Midnight Sun", Astbury hopes that the record connects to something deep within and subconscious in their listeners — something Astbury found within himself when given the moment to look for it.

"At the core of it all, music contains the vibrational frequency of how we once communicated before we could even speak," he said. "Bird songs, animal calls, string theory, quantum physics, psychedelics. The record ultimately is about finding and uniting beauty in those strangely natural moments."

Zachary Ezrin, guitarist for experimental metal outfit Imperial Triumphant, is featured in a new interview with Guitar World. Following is an excerpt from the chat. 


Ezrin: “New York City is a huge influence in many aspects of our music. There’s some extreme dualities when it comes to this city, where there are super-high highs and super-low lows, and it becomes apparent in our lyrics as well as our musical dynamics. This is where some of the richest people live, and this is where some of the poorest people live… and they're only a few blocks away from each other. 


Beyond that, musically, I’d say that Imperial Triumphant is inspired by the sound of New York City, which is extremely loud, and extremely chaotic. And if you've ever walked down the street, and heard sirens whizzing by, or been in the subway, or the train literally grinding through the tunnels. I get inspired by all that stuff and think, ‘Oh, let me play that on my guitar.’ You know? Like, there are many moments where I think, ‘Oh, I should sample this?’ But then it’s like, ‘Why bother sampling? I'll just play it on my guitar.’”




Read the complete story here.


Imperial Triumphant have released their new track and music video for “Tower Of Glory, City Of Shame”. Check out the music video, which was directed and edited by the band’s very own Steve Blanco.


“Monolithic events engineered throughout the ages compel great shifts in consciousness. Seemingly coincidental and synchronous points forever alter the landscape. Pigeons gather one by one. Civilization moves through the gateways and in hindsight the obscured vision becomes clearer. Still unknown, however is the truth as all is an illusion with much loss of life and zero accountability. At a certain point there are too many pigeons for the control’s infantile stories to be what they claim,” states Imperial Triumphant about “Tower of Glory, City of Shame”.


Recently, Imperial Triumphant announced that they will be joining Zeal & Ardor for their North American tour 2022. The band will be hitting the road starting September 11 in Brooklyn and wrapping on October 7 in Berkeley.


Imperial Triumphant is gearing up to release their forthcoming full-length album, Spirit of Ecstasy, on July 22 via Century Media Records. The band have already released two singles off the upcoming album, “Merkurius Gilded” (ft. Kenny G and Max Gorelick) and “Maximalist Scream (feat. Snake/Voivod)”. The album will be released as Ltd. CD Edition (Mini-Gatefold), Gatefold 2LP & LP-Booklet and on all digital platforms. Pre-orders are available here.


Spirit of Ecstasy follows the band’s previous LPs 2020’s Alphaville, 2018’s Vile Luxury and most recently their 2021 live record, An Evening With Imperial Triumphant, which was was recorded at the infamous Slipper Room in New York City. Just like its predecessors, the album features a handful of special guests including Kenny G on soprano saxophone, Max Gorelick on lead guitar, Snake on vocals, Alex Skolnick on lead guitar, Trey Spruance on lead guitar, Andromeda Anarchia with choirs, Sarai Woods with choirs, Yoshiko Ohara on vocals, J. Walter Hawkes on the  trombone, Ben Hankle on the trumpet, Percy Jones on bass, Seven Suns on strings, Colin Marston on Simmons drums and Youtube, and Jonas Rolef on vocals.





Spirit of Ecstasy tracklisting:


"Chump Change"
"Metrovertigo"
"Tower Of Glory, City Of Shame"
"Merkurius Gilded"
"Death On A Highway"
"In The Pleasure Of Their Company"
"Bezumnaya"
"Maximalist Scream"


"Tower Of Glory, City Of Shame":





"Merkurius Gilded" video:





"Maximalist Scream" video:





(Photo - Alex Krauss)

Leave it to one of the globe‘s biggest shows to reignite the flame for Metallica‘s classic juggernaut track, “Master of Puppets". In this lesson, Sweetwater‘s Nick Bowcott (ex-Grim Reaper) teaches the iconic opening riff as well as the down-picked mayhem that follows. Rock on, Eddie Munson!





Metallica’s 1986 thrash metal classic, "Master Of Puppets", recently entered the Billboard Hot 100 chart for the first time ever after gaining new life being featured Netflix’s hit series Stranger Things. It also made its UK Top 40 debut in similar fashion.

Sebastian Bach played a headlining show this past Saturday (July 23) in downtown Las Vegas as part of Fremont Street Experience's free concert series. The gig notably took place the same night that Bach's former bandmates in SKID ROW played at Sunset Station in nearby Henderson — approximately 11 miles away — as part of the "Live To Rock" tour with WARRANT, WINGER and QUIET RIOT. Fan-filmed video of both concerts can be seen below.

This past March, SKID ROW guitarist Dave "Snake" Sabo was asked by Scott Penfold of Loaded Radio how he feels about people still calling for a reunion with Bach. He said: "Well, it's been 23 years [since SKID ROW reformed], so to say that I'm over it would be an understatement. We attempted [a reunion] slightly [back in 2016]. We dipped our toes in the water and realized that it didn't feel so good. It's just one of those things where we still could not see eye to eye; we couldn't even get past the point of simple texting.

"I am really, really happy where we are," Snake continued. "I'm very proud of our past, and all due credit to everybody who's been involved in every aspect of our career, whoever that may be, 'cause it all led to where we are now.

"I've been asked a thousand times: 'What about the payday [of a reunion with Sebastian]?' And that's all well and good, but if that's why I did this — if that's why we did this; I can speak for everybody — we probably wouldn't be doing it," Sabo explained. "I wanna be happy, and I am very, very happy. And so are the guys; everybody's really happy.

"The music climate is what it is, and we're a classic rock band, and I'm proud of that. And we're still able to make music. I mean, Jeez — I live a very, very blessed life, man," Snake added. "I have nothing but gratitude and humility for what we have achieved and for what we're able to continue to do. So while there may be people out there who are flashing dollar signs with a lot of zeroes, I still have to be happy doing it, and I am. And that's what's most important. I need to be happy being in a band with the people I'm in a band with. A lot of other bands can go out and they don't see each other till they're on stage and travel on separate buses and all that stuff, and that's all well and good, but I don't wanna live my life like that. I don't wanna be up onstage and kind of living a lie; it just doesn't feel good. So, while I'm thankful for people's interest and whatnot, I'm even more thankful that we still get to play music for a living under our terms."

Bach fronted SKID ROW until 1996, when he was fired. Instead of throwing in the towel, the remaining members took a hiatus and went on to play briefly in a band called OZONE MONDAY.

In 1999, SKID ROW reformed and, after a bit of shuffling over the years, featured a lineup consisting of bassist Rachel Bolan, guitarists Sabo and Scotti Hill, alongside drummer Rob Hammersmith and singer Johnny Solinger.

SKID ROW fired Solinger over the phone in April 2015, a few hours before announcing ex-TNT vocalist Tony Harnell as his replacement. Eight months later, Harnell exited the band and was replaced by South African-born, British-based singer ZP Theart, who previously fronted DRAGONFORCE, TANK and I AM I. Theart was fired from SKID ROW in February and was replaced by Erik Grönwall, who was previously a member of the Swedish hard rock band H.E.A.T.

Last summer, Bach told Florida's 98.7 The Gater radio station that "there's no reason" for the classic SKID ROW not to reunite. "When those guys [in SKID ROW] try to say [about me], 'He's difficult to work with,' let me just say this one more time. We have not been in the same room together since the year 1996," he said. "Shut the eff up about you thinking you know what I'm like. You don't know anything about what I'm like. And the 'Gilmore Girls' think I'm okay to work with; Broadway thinks I'm okay to work with; the 'Trailer Park Boys' think I'm okay; GUNS N' ROSES think I'm pretty cool. We're not getting any younger."

Sebastian went on to say that a SKID ROW reunion "should" happen "for the fans. And we are absolutely running out of bands — bands that can play in sheds," he said. "The fact that we are all still alive and we are all in our 50s — some closer to 60 than others — but that, to me, is selfish that we're not together.

"I can play with anyone. I do play with everyone [laughs] — except for them."

Less than two years ago, SKID ROW bassist Rachel Bolan also confirmed that he and his bandmates "were entertaining the idea" of reuniting with Bach following Harnell's departure. But Rachel shot down the possibility of a rekindling of his friendship with Sebastian, explaining: "Well… Here's the soundbite for Blabbermouth. I wouldn't say we were friends [when we were in a band together]. We were bandmates. You know what I mean? We're two very different people." Bolan added that he hadn't seen Bach "in years."

Three years ago, Bach was asked by Rolling Stone what it would take for SKID ROW to be reunited. He responded: "It would take those guys to realize that I have a lifetime manager. His name is Rick Sales. I've been with him since 2006. They don't want to deal with a guy like that. They want to give some singer who doesn't have a manager $700 to $800 bucks a week. I've got a team that's worked with me and don't allow me to get fucked around. I didn't have that team when I was 19 years old."

In response to Bach's statements about the earnings of SKID ROW's singer, Sabo told Rolling Stone in an e-mail: "I guess fact-checking isn't in his skill set… The five of us go on that stage as a band and we all get paid equally. We're in this together. There's no egos."

Sebastian went on to say that SKID ROW was "close to reuniting, but then it didn't happen. The fact that it didn't happen obviously makes me somewhat bitter, because life is only getting shorter, as the song says," he added.

"I wouldn't say 'came close,'" Bolan told Rolling Stone in an e-mail response to Bach's account of the reunion talks. "We entertained the idea. Snake and I went as far as talking with agents and promoters about money. But we quickly learned after a few text conversations, why we fired him in the first place. Nothing is worth your happiness and peace of mind."

Sabo added: "It was already a miserable experience, and we didn't even get on the phone."

Last year, Bach completed a U.S. tour during which he celebrated the 30th anniversary of SKID ROW's sophomore album, "Slave To The Grind".

Sebastian Bach image courtesy of YouTube channel Sarah Hufana / Erik Grönwall image courtesy of YouTube channel azzurri70

Was not impressed with Quiet Riot, as well as Winger....Warrant was ok and Skid Row w/new vocalist dropped a new song...

Posted by Yvonne Tiger Cline on Sunday, July 24, 2022

So tonight in town we had Sebastian Bach playing on Fremont Street and Skid Row playing outside of Sunset Station - only in Vegas !!!!

Posted by Ray Mesaric on Saturday, July 23, 2022

"The Great Heathen Army", the twelfth studio album from Swedish melodic death metallers AMON AMARTH, will arrive on August 5 via Metal Blade. The LP was recorded with acclaimed British producer Andy Sneap, who previously worked with the band on 2013's "Deceiver Of The Gods" and 2016's "Jomsviking" albums.

Speaking to the "Fantasm" podcast about the writing and recording process for "The Great Heathen Army", AMON AMARTH guitarist Olavi Mikkonen said: "We really didn't plan to make an album. We kind of felt we have to. But whenever we started writing, it was just like a normal [writing session] for us. And then we recorded in England — we recorded with Andy Sneap. Obviously, there were still some pandemic issues, but it didn't really affect… He has a studio on a farm, and we all lived on the farm as well. So we kind of isolated ourselves there. 'Cause we didn't really want to have the virus there. If somebody gets it, we have to postpone the recording for a month or whatever. So we kind of stuck to ourselves. And that was kind of cool, 'cause that's really creative."

Olavi went on to say that Sneap "did a monster job" on "The Great Heathen Army". "He kind of worked around the clock," he said. "'Cause we all took different turns [recording]. I'm a morning [person]. I did the morning shifts, so to say, and then Ted [Lundström, bass] or Johan Söderberg [guitar] did the day shift. And in the evening Johan Hegg [vocals] was singing. Yeah, it was really cool."

Elaborating on AMON AMARTH's working relationship with Sneap, Mikkonen said: "What really helps is that we really like him as a person, and he really likes us too. And he actually likes our band too. He's not really into death metal stuff usually, but for some reason he really likes us. And that makes a huge difference. When you honestly like something… Obviously, with money you can buy whatever producer you want, but if you really do it because you actually believe it, it's a huge difference. And that's the amazing thing with Andy. But also he's an amazing engineer and producer when it comes to sounds. He knows everything with amps or pedals or whatever — he's just amazing in that. But also he's a great musician himself. So that really helps too."

This past February, AMON AMARTH released a standalone single, "Put Your Back Into The Oar", an ode to the epic Viking row. The track was recorded and mixed in January 2021 at Fascination Street Studios in Sweden with producer Jens Bogren and was made available via the band's own label Victorious Music.

The "Put Your Back Into The Oar" video was shot in England over three days in October 2021. The atmospheric, cinematic clip was produced by Twin V and directed by Ryan MackFall at Crashburn Media.

AMON AMARTH will team up with MACHINE HEAD for the "Vikings And Lionhearts" co-headlining European arena tour in September and October. A North American tour with CARCASS, OBITUARY and CATTLE DECAPITATION will follow in November and December.

AMON AMARTH's last album, "Berserker", was released in May 2019 via Metal Blade Records. The disc was recorded at Sphere Studios in North Hollywood, California with producer Jay Ruston, who has previously worked with ANTHRAX, STEEL PANTHER, URIAH HEEP and STONE SOUR.

AMON AMARTH enlisted a session drummer, Tobias Gustafsson (VOMITORY, CUT UP),during the recording sessions for 2016's "Jomsviking", following the departure of longtime drummer Fredrik Andersson. The band tapped OCTOBER TIDE drummer Jocke Wallgren as Andersson's permanent replacement six years ago.

AMON AMARTH stands tall and unassailable: 30 years into a career that has seen them evolve from humble origins in the dark, dank rehearsal rooms of their native Tumba to their current status as explosive festival headliners and one of the metal world's most widely adored bands.

Formed in 1992, AMON AMARTH became modern metal greats the hard way. Ruthlessly dedicated to creating new music and taking it out on the road, the Swedes steadily built a formidable reputation as a ferocious live band and, as the years passed, were increasingly recognized for their recorded achievements too. Since the dawn of the millennium, AMON AMARTH has been unstoppable.

Breakthrough releases like 2006's "With Oden On Our Side" and its now-legendary follow-up, 2008's "Twilight Of The Thunder God" further cemented their popularity throughout the metal world, while the band's stage show evolved with each successive tour, transforming into one of modern metal's truly great spectacles. "Berserker" brought with it an epic, history-making trek across North America with fellow Swedes ARCH ENEMY, AT THE GATES and GRAND MAGUS and saw multiple sell-outs.

The Dead Daisies have checked in with the following update:


"We're sad to have to announce that the dreaded virus has hit the camp again with Glenn Hughes testing positive and unfortunately unable to continue. He's doing OK, and please join us in wishing him a speedy recovery.


In the spirit of The Dead Daisies, 'The Show Must Go On'. As Yogi filled in for David when he was crook, we're forging forward with Yogi playing bass and Dino Jelusick (Whitesnake) joining us on vocals for the rest of these shows.




We know some of you are coming to see Glenn but we hope you will still come out, rock with us and have a great time. Too many bands find it easy to just cancel but we're determined to keep playing for you guys ... rain, hail, heat or virus.


If you do want to give it a miss, we're in the process of speaking with the promoters to work something out .. we'll keep you posted.


Look forward to seeing you at these remaining shows."


The band's remaining European tour schedule is as follows:


July
26 - Vienne, France - Theatre Antique (special guest for Judas Priest)
27 - Pratteln, Switzerland - Z7
28 - Karlsruhe, Germany - Substage
30 - Halle (Saale), Germany - Peißnitzinsel (special guest for Judas Priest)
31 - Oberhausen, Germany - Rudolf Weber Arena (special guest for Judas Priest)


August
2 - Bamberg, Germany - Brose Arena (special guest for Judas Priest)
5 - Knislinge, Sweden - Time To Rock Festival


The Dead Daisies are set to release their sixth studio album, Radiance, on September 30. Radiance is ten tracks of pure unadulterated brilliant rock. The power of Doug Aldrich and David Lowy’s dual guitars provide a wall of sonic nectar. Front man Glenn Hughes rock solid bass grooves and unmatched vocal intensity, still among the greatest rock singers of all time and the matrix of Brian Tichy’s drums set the engine room on fire!


Radiating heat, Radiance takes you on an exhilarating ride. The first singles off the album, "Radiance" and "Shine On" went straight to air on radio across the globe, were added to digital playlists and received with open arms by tens of thousands of fans and audiences on their EU Summer Tour when played live.


“The new album Radiance is our 2nd album with Ben Grosse producing from top to bottom. We had a great time composing and recording the record and I’m very excited for you all to hear what we put together. Definitely a heavy album but with some cool twists and turns! Hope you all like it.” - Doug Aldrich


Radiance is the second instalment The Daisies have recorded with esteemed producer Ben Grosse at the helm, recorded at The Mix Room in North Hollywood California. All the songs on Radiance are written by David Lowy, Doug Aldrich and Glenn Hughes. Hard-hitting drummer Brian Tichy returned to The Daisies in early 2022 to lay down the drums on Radiance.


“I am very much looking forward to the release of Radiance, the newest LP from The Dead Daisies! It was great to start off being back in the band by getting together with Doug, Glenn, David, and producer Ben Grosse at his studio dialling in the songs that make up Radiance. It was a very smooth, organized process of jamming with the guys getting all drum grooves and parts just right! The final result is another slab of butt-kicking rock! The guys all brought their A-Game and a tight, powerful record was created! I’m looking forward to everyone hearing it and playing more of these songs live in the near future!” - Brian Tichy


Radiance will be available as a Digipak CD with sticker, Gatefold black vinyl with printed inner sleeves and digitally from September 30. Pre-order here.





Tracklisting:


"Face Your Fear"
"Hypnotize Yourself"
"Shine On"
"Radiance"
"Born To Fly"
"Kiss The Sun"
"Courageous"
"Cascade"
"Not Human"
"Roll On"


"Shine On" video:





"Radiance" video:





US fall tour dates:


September
7 - Vineland, NJ - The Landis Theater
10 - Danville, VA - Blue Ridge Rock Festival
11 - Fall Church, VA - State Theatre
14 - Nashville, TN - Eastside Bowl
15 - St. Charles, IL - Arcada Theatre
18 - Los Angeles, CA - The Vermont Hollywood
21 - Roseville, CA - Goldfield Trading Post
23 - Portland, OR - Bossanova Ballroom
24 - Seattle, WA - The Crocodile

They've got nine lives, cat's eyes and they're back, back, back in the kitchen for a thrilling Sunday Lunch.


King Crimson founder Robert Fripp and his singer wife, Toyah Willcox, are back with another episode in their "Toyah & Robert’s Sunday Lunch" series. This time they perform a cover of AC/DC's "Back In Black". Watch below.







A selection of Robert & Toyah's previous Sunday Lunch videos can be seen below:


























 

David Ellefson's collaboration with Jeff Scott Soto will release a full-length album, "Vacation In The Underworld", in September via Rat Pak Records.

To officially launch the project, Ellefson and Soto will play two exclusive concerts in Italy where they will perform some of the new music as well as run through various catalog highlights, including selections from MEGADETH and Yngwie Malmsteen. They will be joined by Italian guitarist Andy Martongelli as the musical director, as well as Paolo Caridi on drums and Valerio De Rosa on rhythm guitar.

Ellefson said: "Italy has become, for many years now, a 'home away from home' for me and my solo projects. Jeff and I are thrilled to debut and launch our new music with these exclusive live shows for our fans in Italy."

Dates:

Sep. 16 - Mila, Italy @ Legend Club Milano
Sep. 17 - Rome, Italy @ Let It Beer

In March 2021 — two months before the former MEGADETH bassist found himself embroiled in a sex video scandal — Ellefson and Soto announced that they had been collaborating on some new material under the moniker ELLEFSON-SOTO. The ELLEFSON-SOTO version of the RIOT classic "Swords & Tequila" was simultaneously released across all digital streaming outlets via Ellefson's Combat Records.

In a May 2022 interview with KNAC.COM, Soto offered an update on his collaboration with Ellefson, saying (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "I can confirm that it's actually happening. I can confirm that it's gonna be released this year. And I can confirm that it's a full-fledged album, it's a full-fledged commitment that we both put into it. We will be doing shows and dates, et cetera. But that's about all I can give you right now."

Jeff's latest comments came seven months after he was asked in an interview with Dr. Music if the rest of the material he recorded with Ellefson would eventually see the light of day. At the time, Soto said: "I'm hoping it will at some point. I've given David, as many people have, the space and the time to kind of deal with his own things.

"We were full-on getting that thing ready to bounce and to drop, et cetera, and, obviously, things were put on hold for that reason," he explained. "And it's just better for things to just kind of go away and kind of calm down, because we don't need the kind of press that comes with it, especially the comments [from] the Internet cowboys out there. Let it go away, let it just kind of slip under the rug, and I'm sure that stuff is gonna resurface. And the idea of it will resurface and get us out there… I'm sure we'll revisit it when the time is right."

This past January, Soto shared an Instagram photo of him with Ellefson and he captioned it: "Something brewing in Los Angeles today....#davidellefson".

When Ellefson's collaboration with Soto was first announced, David said in a statement: "Jeff and I have been friends for so many years that it's great to finally collaborate on some material together. He has such a distinctive voice and perfect style for some new ideas my guitarist Andy Martongelli and I have been composing. We are excited about the progress of it all and thought this would be a perfect time to give a little sneak preview."

At the time, Jeff added: "As COVID-19 became a big negative around the globe, it actually offered many artists a chance to finally collaborate with one another that might have never happened otherwise… As I have known David for many years, I knew from our other efforts outside of our day jobs that we could come up with some badass jams…and here we are, letting you in on our cool little secret."

Ellefson was fired from MEGADETH in May 2021 after sexually tinged messages and explicit video footage involving the bassist were posted on Twitter. At the time, Ellefson was accused of grooming an underage girl through videos and online messages. David has denied the allegation and has repeatedly said the woman in question had been a willing, consenting adult at the time of their virtual sexual encounter. Ellefson accompanied his denial with an alleged screenshot of a statement from the woman with whom he was supposedly involved at the time. In it, the woman admitted to recording the alleged intimate communications she had with Ellefson and called herself "naïve" for sharing them with a friend without the musician's permission.

David was in MEGADETH from the band's inception in 1983 to 2002, and again from 2010 until his latest exit.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by jeғғ ѕcoтт ѕoтo (@jeffscottsotoofficial)

Originally released in 2005 on Ytsejam Records, Images And Words Demos (1989-1991) documents a special period for the band as they prepared for the release of their landmark Images And Words album. This collection includes instrumental versions of fan-favorite Dream Theater classics like "Take The Time" and "Learning To Live". Also showcasing rare early renditions of some of the band’s most well-known entries such as "Oliver’s Twist", which would later become arguably the band’s greatest hit, "Pull Me Under'". It also features the original audition takes that would see Dream Theater appoint James LaBrie as their new vocalist. Remastered and available on vinyl for the very first time, this is a fascinating look at the band’s earliest days together. The latest addition to the Lost Not Forgotten Archives is available to pre-order on 2CD Digipak, Gatefold 180g 3LP+2CD & as Digital Album. Pre-order now for a September 9th release here.





Tracklist




CD1 
Instrumental Demos 1989-1991
"Metropolis"
"Take the Time"
"Learning to Live"
"Under A Glass Moon"


Vocalist Audition Demos 1990
"Don't Look Past Me"
"To Live Forever"
"To Live Forever"
"A Change of Seasons"


CD2
The ATCO Demos May 1991
"Metropolis"
"To Live Forever"
"Take the Time"


Pre-Production Demos October 1991
"Pull Me Under"
"Another Day"
"Surrounded"
"Under a Glass Moon"
"Wait for Sleep"
"Learning to Live"


Line-up / Musicians
- Kevin Moore / keyboards
- John Myung / bass guitar
- John Petrucci / guitars
- Mike Portnoy / drums
- James LaBrie / vocals (tracks 9-17)
- John Hendricks / vocals (tracks 5 & 6)
- Steve Stone / vocals (track 7)
- Chris Cintron / vocals (track 8)

The Poor has just released a lyric video for their new single "Cry Out", the follow-up to "Payback’s A Bitch" - the band’s first new music in 12 years via Australian record label Reckless Records.


Time has not wearied this band. Still delivering their unabashed four-on-the-floor rock, these songs herald a new era for The Poor, led by lead guitarist Daniels Cox’s premiere songwriting.







Check out the aforementioned "Payback’s A Bitch":





The Poor is currently on tour in The UK with Rose Tattoo. Their next show is July 25th at Islington Assembly Hall in London, England. To view the complete tour schedule, visit this location.


 


 


 

Heavy blues rock band Bourbon House has revealed the official music video for their pulse pounding new single, "Resonate". Directed and edited by Jocelyne Berumen, and filmed at the historic Henry Miller House in Wausau, WI, "Resonate" is the first of five songs to be released through December, 2022.





"We're inspired by so many of the rock music pioneers from the '60s and '70s and we wanted to pay our respects by creating a track that isn't just influenced by them but is a very obvious nod to them. What those decades of rock bands have accomplished with their music is timeless and still resonates today." - Bourbon House vocalist Lacey Crowe







Bourbon House are a modern rock ‘n roll band whose music is just as timeless and infectious as their predecessors Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, and Bad Company, to name a few. Lead by the powerful and unique vocals of Lacey Crowe, Jason Clark (guitar), Jake Steinmeyer (drums), and Steve Lotharius (bass) make up the Wisconsin based rock band.


Crowe and Clark founded the band in 2017 and have been on an upward trajectory ever since the release of their debut self-titled EP. Following up their first album was Wild Abandon (2018), and most recently, Into The Red which was released in 2021. 


Bourbon House has an uncompromising honesty that draws fans in from the beginning. The desire to create an escape within their music is the driving force behind their artistry. Their songs utilize influences that go beyond just sonic themes and ventures into broad and interesting topics within their lyrics, as both Crowe and Clark are gifted writers themselves. Bourbon House are poised to develop their signature sound and style even further with these next releases.


For further details, visit Bourbon House on Facebook.


 

Metal Sludge recently posted that it was rumoured guitarist Kane Roberts would be returning to Alice Cooper's band. Alice did in fact announce the return of Roberts a short time later. Guitarist Nita Strauss announced her departure from the Alice Cooper’s band after eight years playing with the legendary rocker.


Roberts played with Cooper from 1985-1988 and performed on the albums Constrictor (1986) and Raise Your Fist And Yell (1987).


Speaking with VWMusic about her latest live album, Live From Hollywood, former Alice Cooper guitarist Orianthi was asked if Alice had contacted her before settling with Kane Roberts.




Orianthi: "Alice reached out to me not too long ago about joining him for some festivals in Europe. I don't know, I guess Nita couldn't make it, like, she was doing something. Then she ended up being able to make it, but I was gonna get on a plane and rush over there and guest with him. With Alice, the door is always open in the sense that we’re a family. I love him dearly, I love Sheryl (Cooper), I love the whole band; they're my brothers. Any time, like when it comes to guesting with Alice, I am there, absolutely, because I love the band and it’s so fun. I'm an artist – I have my own career, too, which I really wanna focus on with my records and what I'm doing – but any time that Alice calls me, I am there. A hundred percent. And if he wanted me to join him in the future for a run, absolutely."


"I got a lot of messages when Nita left: 'Are you gonna go and do it?' Like, literally, my phone was blowing up, and I was like, 'I don't know. That would be cool...' There's so many things that go into play with that kind of stuff; it's what's fitting for Alice, it's what's fitting for me. With Kane joining, he's got that kind of that metal edge, which Nita has. She's a different player than I am and it's a different sort of vibe. I bring more the blues-rock kind of vibe to his thing. It was fun, it was really fun. I think that we have our set personalities."


Orianthi toured with Alice Cooper from August 2011 until June 2014, but has appeared on stage with him and his band on a few occasions since then.


Frontiers Music Srl presents Live From Hollywood, a new live album and long-form video from Orianthi. Available on CD/DVD and Blu-ray, Live From Hollywood is out now.


The performance was captured on January 8, 2022 at the Bourbon Room in Hollywood, CA and sees the guitarist and her excellent backing band in fine form, playing songs from Orianthi's most recent release, O, and cuts like her hit, "According To You".


Watch a performance of "According To You" below, and order/save Live From Hollywood here.


This new live release serves as an appetizer for Orianthi's upcoming new studio album, which will be released later in 2022.





Live From Hollywood tracklisting:


"Contagious"
"Sinners Hymn"
"Heaven In This Hell"
"Think Like A Man"
"You Don't Wanna Know"
"What's It Gonna Be"
"Courage"
"Blow"
"Impulsive"
"Blues Won't Leave Me Alone"
"According To You"
"How Do You Sleep"


"According To You" video:





"Sinners Hymn" video:





"Contagious" video:





Lineup:


Orianthi - Guitar, Vocals
Nick Mayfield - Guitar
Carmen Vandenberg - Guitar
Justin Andres - Bass
Michael Bearden - Keyboards
Glen Sobel - Drums

RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS will release their second album of 2022, "Return Of The Dream Canteen", on October 14. The LP will arrive just six months after the release of "Unlimited Love".

Like "Unlimited Love", "Return Of The Dream Canteen" was produced by Rick Rubin, who also helmed past RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS albums such as 1991's "Blood Sugar Sex Magik" and 1999's "Californication".

RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS frontman Anthony Kiedis announced "Return Of The Dream Canteen" from the stage at a sold-out concert at Empower Field at Mile High in Denver, Colorado Saturday night (July 23).

RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS said in a statement: "We went in search of ourselves as the band that we have somehow always been. Just for the fun of it we jammed and learned some old songs. Before long we started the mysterious process of building new songs. A beautiful bit of chemistry meddling that had befriended us hundreds of times along the way. Once we found that slip stream of sound and vision, we just kept mining."

The band continued: "With time turned into an elastic waist band of oversized underwear, we had no reason to stop writing and rocking. It felt like a dream. When all was said and done, our moody love for each other and the magic of music had gifted us with more songs than we knew what to do with. Well we figured it out. 2 double albums released back to back. The second of which is easily as meaningful as the first or should that be reversed."

RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS added: "'Return Of The Dream Canteen' is everything we are and ever dreamed of being. It's packed. Made with the blood of our hearts, yours truly, the RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS."

"Return Of The Dream Canteen" marks the second RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS album since the return of guitarist John Frusciante, who rejoined the band in late 2019.

Pre-orders for "Return Of The Dream Canteen" have begun via the RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS web site. It's available on double vinyl, CD, cassette or digital download.

RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS had previously said that they recorded 48 songs during the sessions that produced "Unlimited Love", with Frusciante claiming that "some of the best stuff" would surface on the follow-up album.

"Unlimited Love" entered the Billboard 200 albums chart at No. 1 with sales of 97,500 album equivalent units, marking the band's first LP to top the chart since 2016's "Stadium Arcadium".

The Denver concert was the launch of the North American leg of RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS' stadium tour. Guests on the trek, which runs through September, include HAIM, BECK, THUNDERCAT, THE STROKES, KING PRINCESS, ST. VINCENT and POST MALONE.

RETURN OF THE DREAM CANTEEN OUT OCT. 14

rhcp.lnk.to/DreamCanteen

We went in search of ourselves as the band that we...

Posted by Red Hot Chili Peppers on Saturday, July 23, 2022

THE REX BROWN EXPERIENCE, the "supergroup" featuring PANTERA bassist Rex Brown and SKID ROW guitarist Dave "Snake" Sabo alongside Jared James Nichols, Dennis Holm and Cesar Gueikian (Gibson),performed a set of classic rock and metal covers at Gibson Garage Fest on June 9. The event celebrated the first anniversary of the Gibson Garage — the ultimate guitar experience and music destination in the heart of downtown Nashville.

Video of THE REX BROWN EXPERIENCE's performance can be seen below.

Featured songs:

00:00 - Cesar band introduction
02:41 - "Mississippi Queen"
06:02 - "Highway To Hell"
10:33 - "Jailbreak" featuring Kevin Griffin on vocals
16:52 - "Man In The Box"
23:07 - "Symptom Of The Universe"

Gibson Garage Fest attendees enjoyed artist panels, one-of-a-kind giveaways and experiences, participated in guitar-playing lessons and enjoyed live music from a wide range of generations and genres spanning country, Americana, rock, blues, and pop.

Said Brown: "The Gibson Garage embodies everything a player including beginners, would ever want. It's the Holy Grail of guitars. Every model is on display and available to be played — the ultimate collection of killers! And in the event that your favorite model isn't on their vulgar display trusses, you can pick out the woods of your very own custom model! There's simply not a cooler experience than the Gibson Garage!"

Nearly two weeks ago, it was announced that PANTERA's surviving members Brown and Philip Anselmo (vocals) 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.

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.

Photo credit: Gibson

Former SUICIDAL TENDENCIES bassist Bob Heathcote has died at the age of 58 from injuries sustained in a motorcycle accident.

Bob's passing was confirmed by his son Chris Heathcote, who wrote on his Facebook page: "My father Bob Heathcote has left this earth after 58 years and nearly two months, due to a motorcycle accident. I cannot put words together other than the fact that this is a loss I will hardly recover (if ever),and the fact that he was a hard working father who raised five children, including me. His interests included music, traveling, race cars and attending race tracks. He was also a supporter of the Dodgers.

"In addition to his work in the technology and photography industries, dad gained a bit of publicity in the late 80's as the bass player of the legendary punk/metal act SUICIDAL TENDENCIES. His tenure with S.T. lasted for just one album, the Epic Records release 'How Will I Laugh Tomorrow When I Can't Even Smile Today', which spawned the hits 'Trip At The Brain' and the title track 'How Will I Laugh Tomorrow'. Those two songs garnered airplay from 'Headbangers Ball' on MTV and active rock radio stations, including the defunct legendary Long Beach-based radio station 105.5 KNAC. After that album, he left S.T. and the band would replace him with future METALLICA bassist Robert Trujillo.

"Each and every moment I've shared with my dad will forever remain as a treat.

"Thank you dad for everything you did for me and my family. I will miss not only your keen sense of humor, but you and me doing a lot of things we loved doing together, including talking about or listening to music, traveling, going to the beach, going to Mexican restaurants, attending Dodger games, etc.

"R.I.P. Robert Monroe Heathcote
May 27th, 1964 - July 24th, 2022"

Back in 2009, Bob told the Suicidal Maniac blog about how he came to join SUICIDAL: "Amery Smith and I went to school together in Westchester, California. I remember one of the first times I played with Amery: after school I took the public bus with my bass and a small amplifier, pushed along on my skateboard, to Valor's place in Playa Del Rey. At the time he was playing his sisters drum kit. Just the two of us played for years, on and off with Rick Battson and other guitarists. After Amery joined SUICIDAL TENDENCIES and made the first record, they went on the road. Later I traveled a bit with him and the band myself as sound engineer. Professionally, I had been doing live sound, engineering seemingly forever for many bands around Los Angeles, more than playing bass. My first real engineering gig was the big show at the Olympic Auditorium where SUICIDAL TENDENCIES was the headliner over RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS and many others. That show was an eye opener for me and my introduction to the punk scene, really. As for my own playing, I liked playing with Amery and Rick Battson but it never went anywhere professionally. Really, we never tried to do anything except practice in that old garage. We always seemed to be looking for a singer to come along to give us direction. Later, though I cannot remember how we met, I started playing a lot with Rocky George in a cover band playing songs by the SCORPIONS, JUDAS PRIEST and MOTÖRHEAD. Rocky inspired me because he didn't play just rock/metal. We listened to a lot of jazz and fusion and Frank Zappa. I played a lot with Rocky along with Sterling Roberts on drums. One day I heard ST were looking for a new guitar player for their second record and I told Rocky he should audition. A few days later Rocky was in the band. Soon after Amery Smith and Todd Moyer were doing this project called UNCLE SLAM and I worked with them for maybe six months doing pre-production for a record. Mike Muir heard our tape and got us a record deal. I was very happy to finally get to have a chance record for myself in a real studio. But then just a couple days later Rocky called me and asked if I was interested in playing with SUICIDAL TENDENCIES because Muir wanted to cut Louichi. They were due to start recording two days later. Studio time was booked, and I had to make a decision immediately. I told Rocky I was interested in learning more and he said I had to talk to Muir. At the time I was playing bass a lot at night but I was also supporting my family with a regular 'day' job. I was married with one child (who is now married herself) so I had to get the details from Muir and be sure he was going to be able to pay enough for my family. Here I was at a crossroads where I had never toured, never recorded, and I might have to refuse my dream job if there was not enough money. I could not leave my family homeless while I went on the road. So I had to talk to Muir. I went down to see Muir where he lived, the Streets Of Venice skate shop on Lincoln, and sat with him in that upstairs room you see in the 'How Will I Laugh' video. We talked for maybe three or four hours. He said he could pay me (just) enough but he seemed torn by whether he really wanted to cut Louichi Mayorga from the band. He kept explaining to me why Louichi had to go, which I really didn't care about. I just wanted to hear him say, 'You are the new bass player for SUICIDAL TENDENCIES.' Finally, he did. What was really strange and something I will never forget is finding Louichi waiting downstairs when I came out of the room. Someone must have called him and told him I was talking privately with Muir. Louichi asked me what happened upstairs, and I told him, 'Well… I'm in, and you are out.' He heard it from me first. I still regret telling him that way. He was always a really nice to me but I didn't want to lie to him. I just did not know what else to say."

Asked what the best moment was that he had with the band, Bob said: "When Mike said I was in the band and told me what time to meet him at the studio the next day, I was pretty happy, especially as my wife supported me even if it mean some hardship for us. SUICIDAL TENDENCIES and I played some great shows in the U.S. and Europe, and some really bad ones, too, where there were no fans at all because someone screwed up the advertising/promotion. The best in Europe were probably the shows in Paris and Milan, the latter I think at the Rolling Stone club. I was sick as a dog but I remember the fans were great so I worked hard for them. The Royal Academy in London was a really great show, too: huge stage and lots of fans. Holland and Belgium were also excellent. Mike Clark was my roommate for nearly an entire year at every hotel. He and I got along great and would jam a lot and talk about future projects. It was the first real professional tour for both of us and we had a lot of fun together. I regret not staying in touch with him after I was cut."

As for the worst moment he had with the band, Bob said: "A low point, of course, was when the weasel manager called me on the phone to say my services were no longer required, especially because we were about to start working on a new record and I wanted to share my new 'bass voice' Louichi had done and Robert Trujillo would later do. Another bad memory: I felt really bad for getting the drum tech in trouble when we landed at the Heathrow airport which ended with him getting deported back to the U.S. and missing the whole European tour. Later I learned he was trying to enter the country as a tourist without a work permit and me calling his out name at the customs counter started an investigation. If someone would have told me ahead of time, it never would have happened. The worst show was probably Belfast where the fans spit on us to show their approval. There was, of course, also a bomb scare, and the hotel was like a scene out of a war movie with bunkers and obstacles in the driveway to prevent someone from driving up to the lobby with a car bomb. All the shows in Germany were horrible because the promoter pulled out and no one knew we were even there. That was painful. And we were booked for a lot of dates in Germany. The beer was good, though."

My father Bob Heathcote has left this earth after 58 years and nearly two months, due to a motorcycle accident. I cannot...

Posted by Chris Heathcote on Sunday, July 24, 2022

SOUNDGARDEN's Kim Thayil joined THE BLACK CROWES on stage at the latter band's Seattle-area show this past Wednesday (July 20). Also appearing with them was R.E.M. guitarist Peter Buck.

The musicians came out during the encore of THE BLACK CROWES' concert at Chateau Ste. Michelle Winery Amphitheatre in Woodinville, Washington. Buck appeared first, joining THE BLACK CROWES for a cover of his band's "The One I Love". He and THE BLACK CROWES were then joined by Thayil as they performed a rendition of THE VELVET UNDERGROUND's "Rock And Roll".

A 12-minute video of the performance was shared by THE BLACK CROWES on their Instagram and can be seen below.

THE BLACK CROWES recently embarked on the 2022 North American tour celebrating their classic 1990 debut album, "Shake Your Money Maker". The 34-date trek kicked off on June 9 and will run through July 24 before picking up again on August 13 and concluding on August 29.

The 2021 leg of THE BLACK CROWES' "Shake Your Money Maker" tour ended last September at Bethel Woods Center for the Arts in Bethel, New York.

Joining Chris and Rich Robinson in the new BLACK CROWES lineup are longtime bassist Sven Pipien, who played with the band live from 1997 up until the band's hiatus in 2015, along with Brian Griffin on drums, Joel Robinow on keyboards and Isaiah Mitchell on guitar, plus backup singers Mackenzie Adams and Leslie Grant.

Rich told Cleveland.com that he and his brother wanted to re-start THE BLACK CROWES with a clean slate. "There was a strong agenda in the band [previously] to keep Chris and I apart and keep Chris and I fighting," he said. "We just didn't want to have to deal with any of that negative [stuff], so it had to be this way in order for it to be what we want."

"Shake Your Money Maker" was re-released in multi-formats sets in February 2021 through UMe/American Recordings. The album, fueled by singles "Jealous Again", "Twice As Hard", "She Talks To Angels" and a cover of fellow Georgian Otis Redding's "Hard To Handle", has sold over five million copies.

This past March, former THE BLACK CROWES drummer Steve Gorman filed a lawsuit against the paid over unpaid royalties. In his complaint, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court against Chris and Rich and The Black Crowes Partnership, Gorman claimed faulty accounting resulted in him missing out on royalties from THE BLACK CROWES' classic albums.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by @theblackcrowes

According to Planet Rock, rock legends Slade will release their 5 CD live box set, All The World Is A Stage, via BMG on Friday, September 9th, 2022. The set consists of five separate Slade live performances between 1972 and 1981.


The CD box set boasts Slade’s seminal 1972 live album, Slade Alive!, and 1982’s Slade On Stage, together with three live records that have never been released before. Alongside the 58 songs capturing Slade in their imperious live glory, the collection also features a 16-page booklet. 







The trio of previously unreleased live shows are as follows:


Live At The New Victoria:


Recorded on April 24 1975, the album captures the band before they went around the UK to promote their feature film, In Flame. Heard officially for the first time, it now presents a fitting snapshot of the group’s powerful live performances.


Live At The Hucknall Miner's Welfare Club:


Recorded on June 26 1980, shows the band unwilling to trade exclusively on their past with songs featured from their new studio album at the time ‘We’ll Bring The House Down’, along with classics ‘Take Me Bak ’Ome’, ‘Gudbuy T’Jane’, ‘Everyday’ and the perennial ‘Mercy Xmas Everybody’.


Alive! At Reading:


The third unreleased full live set, captures the band delivering a sensational live performance to over 80,000 people at Reading Festival in 1980. As last-minute replacements for Ozzy Osbourne, few knew they were going to be performing but their sensational set was the highlight of the festival and led to Slade enjoying a renaissance in the eighties.


The box set is available for pre-order ‘All The World Is A Stage’ here.


For complete details go to  this location.

AEROSMITH guitarist Joe Perry played with his group THE JOE PERRY PROJECT Saturday night (July 23) at Sound Waves at Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Fan-filmed video of the concert is available below.

THE JOE PERRY PROJECT is made up of Perry, lead singer Gary Cherone (VAN HALEN, EXTREME),keyboardist Buck Johnson (AEROSMITH, THE DOOBIE BROTHERS, HOLLYWOOD VAMPIRES),drummer Joe Pet (one of the original members of THE JOE PERRY PROJECT),bassist Chris Wyse (HOLLYWOOD VAMPIRES, THE CULT and OZZY OSBOURNE).

The setlist was as follows, according to Setlist.fm:

01. Let The Music Do The Talking
02. Toys In The Attic (AEROSMITH cover)
03. Walking The Dog (RUFUS THOMAS cover)
04. East Coast, West Coast
05. Fortunate One (Joe Perry song)
06. Stop Messin' Around (FLEETWOOD MAC cover)
07. My Fist Your Face (AEROSMITH cover)
08. Same Old Song And Dance (AEROSMITH cover)
09. Wooden Ships (Joe Perry song)
10. Rockin' Train
11. Chip Away The Stone (Richard Supa cover)
12. Aye, Aye, Aye (Joe Perry song)
13. Boogie Man (AEROSMITH cover)
14. Spanish Sushi (Joe Perry song)
15. Quake (Joe Perry song)
16. Walk This Way (AEROSMITH cover)
17. Whole Lotta Love (LED ZEPPELIN cover)

Encore:

18. The Train Kept A-Rollin' (Tiny Bradshaw cover)

When THE JOE PERRY PROJECT dates were first announced last month, Perry said in a statement: "Since my schedule has freed up and we have a slot of time to play some shows, I wanted to jump on that opportunity. Aside from the obvious terrible effects the pandemic brought with it, I missed being on the road. However, it is actually the first time that myself and my wife Billie were able to sleep in our own bed for this long of a period without having to think about packing our bags. So it has been a new experience for us. Now, I'm really excited to do these shows, especially with this lineup."

The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame inductee continued: "The setlist will have a couple of new songs, a couple of my other solo songs, and a couple of AEROSMITH songs that AEROSMITH usually doesn't play, and everything in between…"

"I am also releasing another solo album on vinyl called 'Sweetzerland Manifesto MKII' later this year, so it seemed like the perfect opportunity to get some of the new songs out there. And since people will probably be sharing the new tracks on social media, the two new songs from the set — which I recorded in London with my sons Roman and Tony — are 'Quake', with vocal by Gary Cherone, and 'Fortunate One' which features Chris Robinson. The new album will also include a couple of songs from the first release ('Sweetzerland Manifesto'),some of which weren't ready to go on that initial record."

Following these shows, Perry will return to his AEROSMITH commitments.

"We are gearing up to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the band and will definitely have some incredible forgotten treasures for our fans that we found deep-diving into the vaults and there's a lot more to come," he said. "On the live side, we can't wait to get back on the stage together! We have a special date in Maine in September and our big 50th-anniversary show at home at Fenway [Boston] before we head back to Vegas for the two residencies."

Hailing from the North West of England, Xentrix was formed in 1985 by guitar player Chris Astley. After numerous changes to the line up Xentrix signed to Roadrunner Records and entered the studio to record their first album Shattered Existence with producer John Cuniberti (Vio-lence, Forbidden, Joe Satriani).


Xentrix were one of the leading lights of the British thrash metal movement. They had music videos which all had regular air time on MTV’s Headbangers Ball. Gaining global notoriety, Xentrix  had many high energy performances with audiences of thousands.


Xentrix released their comeback album Bury The Pain in 2019 with production from Andy Sneap and Mastering by Russ Russell, this new recording showed the band sounding heavier than ever, while still retaining their signature sound.




Seven Words - due out November 4th via Listenable Records - is the 7th studio release from UK Thrash outfit Xentrix and is a crushing compendium of all that has made this band what it is today. New tracks such as “Reckless with a smile”, “Anything But The Truth”, “The Alter Of Nothing”, “Everybody Loves You When You're Dead”, and the title track “Seven Words” will take their rightful place next to the Xentrix classics.


Xentrix’s guitarist Kristian Havard Comments: “This LP is the culmination of the last 2 years of us experimenting and trying new ideas. It feels like a big step forward for the band, but without stepping away from our Thrash Metal past and I can’t wait for people to hear it.”


Recorded in the UK at Backstage studios in Derbyshire and Viscon studios in Lancashire, the album was mixed and mastered by Andy Sneap (Judas Priest, Exodus, Megadeth) and returning to create the cover artwork was Dan Goldsworthy (Accept, Corpsegrinder, Alestorm)





Seven Words tracklisting:

"Behind The Walls Of Treachery"
"Seven Words"
"Spit Coin"
"The Alter of Nothing"
"Everybody Loves You When You’re Dead"
"Reckless With A Smile"
"Ghost Tape Number 10"
"My War"
"Kill And Protect"
"Anything But The Truth"
"Billion Dollar Babies" (CD Exclusive Bonus Track)


Xentrix 2022:
Jay Walsh - vocals/guitar
Kristian Havard - guitar
Chris Shires - bass
Dennis Gasser – drums

Arch Enemy drummer Daniel Erlandsson has shared a live playthrough video of the song "House Of Mirrors", filmed May 4, 2022 at the Ogden Theatre in Denver, CO.


Daniel is sponsored by: Pearl Drums, Sabian, REMO, Wincent, Steinberg, Roland, On Trigger, and SE Electronics.







"House Of Mirrors" appears on Arch Enemy's new album, Deceivers, which will be released on August 12, 2022 via Century Media Records. The studio version of the song can be enjoyed below.





A collection of 11 tracks that are ruthlessly catchy and mercilessly violent, Deceivers stands toe-to-toe with the highlights of Arch Enemy's storied catalogue.


Guitarist Michael Amott comments: "Having just celebrated our 25th anniversary as a group and now releasing our 11th studio album, one could easily assume that we would be cruising along and going through the motions at this point. In reality, nothing could be further from the truth when it comes to Arch Enemy and our new album, Deceivers. It is without a doubt always a challenge to raise the bar each time in both the songwriting and production side of things, and it can feel a bit daunting before we get into it. But once we do get started and fully immerse ourselves in the creative process, it's really like there is nothing else in the world and we are very focused. And believe it or not, for the most part, we have a ton of fun making this music! Creating Deceivers was no different, once again we shut out the outside world and went deep into the artistic zone. I believe we pulled out some really interesting musical and lyrical themes this time, a few things might even raise an eyebrow or two - while retaining all the signature elements of the band. In the end, it's Arch Enemy at full speed and power!"





Deceivers tracklisting:


"Handshake With Hell"
"Deceiver, Deceiver"
"In The Eye Of The Storm"
"The Watcher"
"Poisoned Arrow"
"Sunset Over The Empire"
"House Of Mirrors"
"Spreading Black Wings"
"Mourning Star"
"One Last Time"
"Exiled From Earth"


"Handshake With Hell" video:





"Sunset Over The Empire" video:

Fan-filmed video of W.A.S.P.'s July 23 concert at Skansen in Stockholm, Sweden can be seen below. It marked the band's first live performance since December 2019.

W.A.S.P.'s setlist for the Skansen show was as follows, according to Setlist.fm:

01. On Your Knees
02. Inside The Electric Circus
03. The Real Me (THE WHO cover)
04. L.O.V.E. Machine
05. Crazy
06. The Idol
07. Hellion / I Don't Need No Doctor
08. Arena Of Pleasure

Encore:

09. Chainsaw Charlie (Murders In The New Morgue)
10. The Great Misconceptions Of Me

Encore 2:

11. Wild Child
12. I Wanna Be Somebody

W.A.S.P. recently postponed its European 40th-anniversary tour, originally scheduled for spring of 2022, until the spring of 2023. The new dates will take place in March, April and May of 2023. All tickets previously purchased for the 2022 tour will be valid at the rescheduled 2023 shows.

W.A.S.P. will embark on its first U.S. tour in a decade this fall. The trek will coincide the band's 40th anniversary and will include support from ARMORED SAINT and MICHAEL SCHENKER on select shows.

Blackie Lawless has led W.A.S.P. as its lead vocalist and primary songwriter since its beginning. His unique brand of visual, social and political comment took the group to worldwide heights and sold millions of records alongside a legacy of sold-out shows across the globe for four decades. He is joined in W.A.S.P.'s current lineup by bassist Mike Duda and guitarist Doug Blair, whose tenures in the band span 26 and 18 years respectively, along with drummer extraordinaire Aquiles Priester.

In a May 2022 interview Meltdown of Detroit's WRIF radio station, Lawless spoke about the status of his long-in-the-works autobiography. He said: "It's taken a whole lot longer than I thought it would, but it's been one of the most fun things I've ever done in my life. It's a tremendous amount of work because there's so many things, over the course of a lifetime, that you forget about, especially when you do what we do for a living. Anybody that does what we do, it's not like the average person out there where you go to work and you do your thing and you get into a routine. And there's nothing wrong with that; it's different.

"I've often said that I've already… because of the schedule and the way that any band has to do things — you're here today; you're somewhere else tomorrow — it's like you've already lived four or five of somebody else's lifetimes," he explained. "And because of the amount of intensity that goes into the same amount of space that everybody has. Twenty-four hours for somebody that does this is not the same as twenty-four hours for somebody that's in a routine. And it can get a little on the insane side.

"The first thing I did was interview everybody that I could think of and said, 'What are your memories of this?'" Blackie revealed. "So I got those. But then where I got the majority of it from was really going back in my own head. And the deeper I got into it, the more things I had totally forgotten about. Because, like I said, there's so many things that will happen in a given day that the only thing you remember is the most intense thing. But maybe the two or three other things that were just under it were just as intense, but you don't remember it. You remember being on the flight the time the guys got angry with a stewardess and stuffed her in the overhead bin, but you don't remember the two or three things that happened under that. That's a true story, by the way."

Asked what he has learned about himself from digging into his life while writing his book, Blackie said: "In the preface of the book, I write that this has been a process of discovery — both good and bad. I would say, after it's all said and done, that it's been far, far more good than bad, because what it's done for me, it's been like writing a script to a movie. And again, like I said, there's a lot of stuff you forget about. But also at the same time, what it does is it helps you connect the dots of your own life, of maybe things that you didn't really think about were connected, and you go back and you look at it and you go, 'This is as plain as the nose on my face. Why couldn't I have seen this before?' And there's been a number of incidences like that — just things that are personal that might not be something that you could share with anybody else, because it wouldn't make sense to them. But then again there may be things that are. So I'm hoping that when people read this, they'll see a lot of themselves in it."

As for whether fans can expect to see Blackie's book and a new W.A.S.P. album released simultaneously, Lawless said: "That was the plan to begin with, but the book is taking way much longer than I thought. We were talking about doing records and trying to get 'em right. Well, it's the same with this — I'm gonna do it once, and I want it to be right."

W.A.S.P. Nation (Official) på Rock på Skansen den 23/7 2022

Foto: Effie Trikili

Posted by Rocknytt on Sunday, July 24, 2022

In early February 2022, Cathy-Sarah Holmes, the wife / manager of former W.A.S.P. guitarist Chris Holmes, revealed that her husband had been diagnosed with cancer in the throat and neck, which would require seven weeks of treatment.


A GoFundMe campaign, aiming to raise €20,000, was launched to assist Chris in his battle against cancer.


Holmes has provided a new health update, check it out below.







Holmes' third solo album, Unbearable Influence, was released in late 2021.





Tracklisting:


"Land Of The Free Home Of The Braves"
"Won't Take Shit"
"Playing With The Fire"
"Under The Influence"
"In Gods Hands"
"Devil Make Me Do It"
"I Am What I Am"
"The Truth"
"Had Enough"
"Touch Me And Die"
"Unbearable Influences"


"I Am What I Am" video:

Entertainment Tonight caught up with Ozzy Osbourne at Comic-Con in San Diego and he said he’s “getting there” in terms of his health.


Ozzy said, "I like to see people, you know. That's been the hardest thing of the past three years, because I've been trying to recover from my surgery. I'm getting there. It's a slow climb back, you know?"


Ozzy Osbourne has released an official visualizer for his new single, "Degradation Rules", which features a guest appearance by Black Sabbath bandmate Tony Iommi. The song is taken from Ozzy's new album, Patient Number 9, which is due to be released on September 9.







Working with producer Watt for the second time, Ozzy welcomed a dynamic A-list supporting cast on Patient Number 9. 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 made an appearance. 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. For the first time ever, Black Sabbath co-founder, guitarist, and riff-lord Tony Iommi appears on an Ozzy solo album.


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"


"Patient Number 9" video:





Ozzy Osbourne on Patient Number 9:


Q: This is your first album to be released after the pandemic. What was going through your mind during the early days of the pandemic and are any of those feelings reflected in these songs?


Ozzy: “Well, I was vaccinated and boosted and I still caught Covid in the end. My last album (Ordinary Man) was released just a few weeks before the pandemic started, and I was just about getting ready to go into the studio to work on this new one when the world shut down. It’s no secret that the last four years have been very difficult for me but making this album took my mind off of my problems.”


Q: The album features some players with whom have history. What was it like to be reunited with Tony Iommi musically?


Ozzy: “It was really great working with Tony. He’s the riff master. No one can touch him in that respect. I only wish we had these songs for Black Sabbath’s 13 album.”


Q: Zakk contributes a lot on this album--how was the decision made to have him play since he didn’t play on the last album?


Ozzy: “Zakk is part of my family and always will be. The album needed that weight that his playing provides. He just came in and really sorted things out.”


Q: Tell us about the first single, “Patient Number 9,” which features Jeff Beck. What do you feel he has contributed to the song?


Ozzy: “The song is about a mental institution. Having someone like Jeff Beck play on my album is just incredible, a total honor. There’s no other guitar player that plays like him and his solo on ‘Patient Number 9’ is just jaw-dropping.”


(Photo - Ross Halfin)