Heavy metal legend Ozzy Osbourne and his wife/manager Sharon sat down with Apple Music's Zane Lowe to break down Ozzy's latest studio album, "Patient Number 9".

The trio get an unexpected call from Ozzy's producer Andrew Watt, who shares what it really takes to create an Osbourne album. Ozzy goes on to explain what it took to get his idol Jeff Beck on the song "Patient Number 9" and how excited he was when Jeff said yes.

Lowe dives into Sharon and Ozzy's personal life, discussing family, "The Osbournes" and addiction. Despite all the hardship, the couple are completely in love and describe the healthy boundaries they've set in order to maintain their marriage.

Although Ozzy is still recovering from his recent health issues, "Patient Number 9" is the first step to getting him back on stage.

"I'm somewhat better, but it's gonna take a while for me to get my balance back," he said. "I can only do the best I can."

Elaborating on his recovery, Ozzy said: "It's slow. But I will get back on stage if it fucking kills me."

To celebrate "Patient Number 9" album, Ozzy has confirmed a special in-store appearance and signing at Fingerprints Music in Long Beach, California on Saturday, September 10. Attendees will need to pre-order a copy of "Patient Number 9" to attend the event as Ozzy will only be signing copies of the new album. In order to sign as many copies as possible, the new album will be the only item signed. Masks will be required for all attendees and no photos with Ozzy will be permitted. Click here to reserve your copy.

As previously reported, Ozzy performed at halftime of the Los Angeles Rams season opener this past Thursday (September 8) at SoFi Stadium.

Fans in the stadium were treated to a multi-song medley from Osbourne while viewers at home saw a portion of the performance on NBC and Peacock during halftime.

Ozzy opened with the title track of his new album, "Patient Number 9", backed by Andrew Watt on guitar, Chris Chaney on bass and Tommy Clufetos on drums. Longtime Ozzy guitarist Zakk Wylde then joined them onstage to play the singer's classic track "Crazy Train".

The performance came on the eve of the release of "Patient Number 9", which arrived yesterday (Friday, September 9) on Epic. It marked Osbourne's first stateside performance since he took the stage alongside Post Malone and Travis Scott to perform their "Take What You Want" collaboration at the 2019 American Music Awards. Ozzy has not played a full concert since 2018.

Prior to the the halftime show, the 73-year-old Ozzy last performed in August when he made a surprise appearance at the closing ceremony of the Commonwealth Games in his former hometown of Birmingham, England.

Ozzy publicly revealed his Parkinson's disease diagnosis in January 2020. And although he still struggles with walking, his symptoms are said to be quite mild.

In 2019, Ozzy suffered a fall at his Los Angeles home while he was battling pneumonia.

The BLACK SABBATH legend described his health issues as "walking around in lead boots". He said: "You think you’re lifting your feet, but your foot doesn't move. I feel like I'm walking around in lead boots."

Ozzy recently said that he believes he has one final tour left in him.

"I'm saying to you I'll give it the best shot I can for another tour," he told the Observer last month. "You have not seen the end of Ozzy Osbourne, I promise you. If I have to go up there and die on the first song, I'll still be back the next day."

Earlier this week, Ozzy and Sharon announced their return to TV with a 10-part reality series called "Home To Roost". Set to air on BBC One and iPlayer, the show will document the Osbournes' journey back to Britain, alongside daughter Kelly and son Jack's efforts to support them.

Gene Simmons's son Nick joined WOLFMOTHER on stage on Saturday, September 10 in Gold Coast, Australia to perform the song "Woman". Fan-filmed video of his appearance can be seen below.

WOLFMOTHER was the support act on the last two shows of the Australian leg of KISS's "End Of The Road" farewell tour.

On Sunday (September 11),Gene took to his Twitter to share a photo of Nick performing with WOLFMOTHER, and he included the following message: "Nick @nicktsimmons joined WOLFMOTHER @wolfmother onstage for a song, right before we hit the stage at Gold Coast Cbus Super Stadium. They rocked it out of the park.!"

Back in 2014, Page Six reported that the now-33-year-old Nick Simmons had launched a musical project of his own. At the time Nick likened his band's sound to THE BLACK KEYS, adding he wasn't worrying about people comparing him to his father, saying: "That's going to happen anyway, so I might as well do what I love in the meantime." Two years later, his described his band's sound as "eclectic. I wouldn't say it's 'rock.' I always loved blues, and it has some blues roots. Whatever the hell Beck is, it's probably like that." Nick also said of his famous dad: "He taught me how to talk the confident talk. He's not always right… In fact, he's overly confident about most things he's wrong about, but he's good at appearing very assertive, so he taught me how to do that."

Gene and his wife Shannon were married in 2011 after dating since 1975. They also have a daughter, Sophie, 30.

Gene, Shannon and their kids all appeared on the reality TV series "Gene Simmons Family Jewels" from 2006 until 2012.
Nick ⁦@nicktsimmons⁩ joined Wolfmother ⁦@wolfmother⁩ onstage for a song, right before we hit the stage at Gold Coast Cbus Super Stadium. They rocked it out of the park.! pic.twitter.com/GTNIkQ7b3G

— Gene Simmons (@genesimmons) September 12, 2022

Canadian rock band NICKELBACK will release its long-awaited new album, "Get Rollin'", on November 18 via BMG. Asked in a new interview with Lou Brutus of HardDrive Radio if making the LP during the pandemic afforded the group an opportunity to do things differently this time around, frontman Chad Kroeger said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Yes. Absolutely. Because when you've got all the time in the world and there isn't a record company kicking your ass, saying, 'Guys, we've gotta hit this window. And that gets you here. That gets you here. That gets you on tour at this time,' when you've got managers and record companies telling you great windows where you can do all these things, when there's no one doing any of that it's just, like, 'Do whatever you want. Go get fat. Work on your golf game,' it's not incredibly motivating. But it had just gone on so long, we were just, like, 'You guys, we've gotta make some new music here.' So we ditched the whole anniversary of 'All The Right Reasons' tour — we let all those dates go, as other people did at the time — and in the studio, started working. And it was sporadic; it wasn't head down, let's go, song after song after song. It was work on a tune, chill for a bit, work on a tune, see where it goes."

He continued: "This was the first time in the history of the band where we recorded more songs than we used. Because usually if we get the verse, chorus, verse, chorus, then we'll tuck that away and say, 'Okay, that's good for now. We know where we're going with the song. We know what it's gonna do. And it's in the vault.' And then we'll move on to the next one. And there are three or four this time where we just had too many of the same kind of song and we didn't need that many of them, so we set them aside.

"There is a song that is going to be released with this record in November that I have been sitting on for — I wanna say 15 years," Chad revealed. "But we needed the right time. And the song's called 'Does Heaven Even Know You're Missing?' So when anybody listens to that song off the record, they're gonna know, it's, like, 'Oh,' what era, what timeline that kind of came from… But most of the material on there is new; there's not too much stuff that was way, way, way back in the vault. And I've still got… I mean, we've got tons. If I die [laughs], we can keep releasing music for quite some time. We can keep pissing people off for decades."

The first single from "Get Rollin'", a song called "San Quentin", was released last week. The track was inspired after Chad met a real-life warden from the notorious high security California prison. The song follows the story as he plots his clever escape. In addition to "San Quentin", the band's forthcoming collection will feature 10 new songs all penned by NICKELBACK.

"Get Rollin'" and "Get Rollin' (Deluxe)" will be available via digital platforms and physical CD format. The deluxe edition includes four bonus tracks — acoustic versions of "High Time", "Just One More", "Does Heaven Even Know You're Missing?" and "Horizon". Standard and exclusive versions of the album will also be released on vinyl in 2023.

"Get Rollin'" track listing:

01. San Quentin
02. Skinny Little Missy
03. Those Days
04. High Time
05. Vegas Bomb
06. Tidal Wave
07. Does Heaven Even Know You're Missing?
08. Steel Still Rusts
09. Horizon
10. Standing In The Dark
11. Just One More
12. High Time (Acoustic) *
13. Does Heaven Even Know You're Missing? (Acoustic) *
14. Just One More (Acoustic) *
15. Horizon (Acoustic) *

* "Get Rollin'" deluxe version

Amassing hits for over two decades, NICKELBACK is the 11th best-selling musical act of all time, counting over 50 million units sold and over 4.7 billion career streams to date. The band has released 23 chart-topping singles, with 19 reaching the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart. Their undeniable success has resulted in over 26 awards, including Billboard Music Awards, American Music Awards, MTV Video Music Awards, MuchMusic Video Awards, People's Choice Awards, JUNO Awards, and more. Among their numerous accolades the band has also achieved 12 consecutive sold-out tours, with nearly 10 million tickets sold worldwide.

Named the "most successful rock back of the decade" by Billboard in 2009, NICKELBACK is one of the most commercially viable and important rock acts of the past two decades. The four-piece, comprised of Chad, Mike Kroeger, Ryan Peake and Daniel Adair, is globally celebrated for its career-defining and award-winning hits, including "How You Remind Me", "Photograph", "Far Away" and "Rockstar", which all held top spots on the Billboard 100. Their success includes worldwide sales of more than 50 million units, solidifying their status as one of the top-selling acts of all time and the second best-selling foreign act in the USA in the 2000's decade, behind only THE BEATLES. Their inescapable, irresistible smash "How You Remind Me" was named Billboard's "Top Rock Song Of The Decade". It was the number-one most played song on U.S. radio (any format) in the 2000s decade according to Nielsen Soundscan, with over 1.2 million spins.

Amongst all these accolades, they've also been named Billboard's "Top Rock Group Of The Decade" and received nine Grammy Award nominations, three American Music Awards, a World Music Award, a People's Choice Award, twelve JUNO Awards, seven MuchMusic Video Awards, and have been inducted into Canada's Walk Of Fame (2007). With more than 23 chart-topping singles and fans spanning the globe, NICKELBACK boasts twelve consecutive sold-out world tours, playing to well over 10 million diehard and adoring fans.

TESTAMENT played its first show with stand-in drummer Chris Dovas (SEVEN SPIRES) this past Friday (September 9) at the Van Buren in Phoenix, Arizona. Dovas is sitting behind the kit for TESTAMENT on the first six dates of the summer/fall leg of "The Bay Strikes Back Tour". He is filling in for regular TESTAMENT drummer Dave Lombardo, who is unable to make the gigs due to a scheduling conflict with the MISFITS.

Last Tuesday (September 6), TESTAMENT guitarist Eric Peterson shared a photo of him, Dovas and TESTAMENT bassist Steve DiGiorgio, and he included the following message: "Yo! Chillin with Stevie D and Chris Dovas after rehearsals today! By the way, Mr. Lombardo will be playing a show with the MISFITS on the 17th and joining us in Saint Petersburg Florida until then we are in good hands with Mr. Dovas I think folks will be surprised! See ya all soon!"

Remaining TESTAMENT shows with Dovas on drums:

Sep. 12 - Wichita, KS -Cotillion
Sep. 13 - Kansas City, MO - Truman
Sep. 15 - St. Louis, MO - The Pageant
Sep. 16 - Nashville, TN - Brooklyn Bowl

"The Bay Strikes Back Tour", which also features fellow San Francisco Bay Area thrash metal veterans EXODUS and DEATH ANGEL, will conclude on October 15 in San Jose, California.

On September 17, Lombardo and the rest of the current lineup of MISFITS will headline Riot Fest 2022, performing the band's landmark first album "Walk Among Us" in full for its 40th anniversary.

An original member of thrash metal legends SLAYER, Lombardo was the guest drummer on TESTAMENT's 1999 studio album "The Gathering", which also marked the first time the band worked with then-up-and-coming British producer/engineer Andy Sneap.

Lombardo rejoined TESTAMENT in February following the departure of Gene Hoglan.

In March, TESTAMENT singer Chuck Billy told the WSOU 89.5 FM radio station that he didn't expect Lombardo to focus only on TESTAMENT in the coming months. "I'm not holding my breath that Dave just is in TESTAMENT only but we're gonna have to kind of maneuver around what happens," he said. "But then again, this is the beginning of the relationship. We might be busy enough and he might just be happy enough just working with us and it works out. So we're just kind of taking it one day at a time, one tour at a time. We know he's gonna be with us for the next three tours — we know that for sure — so we'll see what happens after that."

Lombardo told SiriusXM's Liquid Metal that he reached out to the TESTAMENT camp the same day that the band announced it was splitting with Hoglan.

"I was still asleep, and my wife, she just said, 'Hey, Gene just left TESTAMENT,'" Dave recalled. "And she's been always telling me, 'Man, I can't wait for you guys to get together for that 'Gathering' reunion.' 'Cause we had been talking about this two and a half, three years ago — before the pandemic. And so I immediately — I didn't even get my other eye open and I was texting Chuck. I said, 'Hey, man, what's going on?' I don't know exactly what I mentioned in my text, but it was very simple, 'Hey, what's happening?' And he immediately called me back. And I remember Tiffany [Chuck's wife] was on the phone; Chuck was on the phone. We were, like, 'Hey.' It was a great come-together moment, like, 'Hey, here we go. This is the moment we've been waiting for.'"

Dave went on to say that the timing was right for his return to TESTAMENT.

"'The Gathering' reunion didn't have to happen putting Gene out, separating Gene and saying, 'Gene, we're gonna go with Dave for a while now.' Nothing like that happened," he said. "This happened organically. And it happened at a time where my other bands, two of the bands that I have, MR. BUNGLE and DEAD CROSS, [Mike] Patton sings in them and he's trying to get healthy and is taking a little hiatus. And SUICIDAL TENDENCIES hasn't been touring much lately. So that leaves me with a lot of little odd projects here and there that I work on in my free time. So it just felt like the right moment.

"I know it can be deceiving because I am in so many different bands, but there's 24 hours in a day and I only sleep eight hours, or seven to eight hours, so that leaves me 16 other hours," he explained. "And I don't take Saturdays and Sundays off. So it was a no-brainer."

Chuck said that he was surprised to hear from Dave so quickly after TESTAMENT made the news of its split with Gene public.

"Right when it happened, it was within minutes after the announcement," Billy recalled. "And Dave doesn't remember, but [his text message to me was] simply 'Lombardo?' That was the text. I'm, like, 'You're shitting me. Tiffany, Lombardo just wrote me, 'Lombardo?'' I called him right away. I said, 'Hey, dude, what's happening?' He was, like, 'Dude, I heard the news.' I'm, like, 'Dude, I would have called you right away, but I just thought it was kind of far-fetched for you to kind of jam because I know you're probably pretty busy with all the other projects going on.' And he was, like, 'No. I've got a big opening and I'd love to get back.' And we talked about 'The Gathering', doing that again. And here we are — it could be a reality to get to play 'The Gathering' like we spoke of."

"The Gathering" was widely considered to be an improvement over 1997's "Demonic", an album that saw Billy employ a more guttural style of vocals and was released at a time when thrash acts as TESTAMENT had fallen out of favor.

Hoglan originally played drums on "Demonic", but didn't stick around long enough to do any touring with the band. He officially joined TESTAMENT in 2011 and played on the group's last three albums: 2012's "Dark Roots Of Earth", 2016's "Brotherhood Of The Snake" and 2020's "Titans Of Creation".

MÖTLEY CRÜE drummer Tommy Lee has launched a profile on OnlyFans, a subscriber-based social media platform popular among porn stars and sex workers.

Lee made the announcement while speaking to the crowd at the final concert of CRÜE's "The Stadium Tour" Friday (September 9) at the Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas.

Referring to the fact that he posted a nude photo on social media last month, Tommy said: "In case you guys are fucking living under a rock, I've been in trouble a little bit lately." The nude photo, a selfie of Lee from the face down, was posted alongside the caption, "Ooooopppsss," before it was taken down from Instagram and Facebook.

"I wanna see what kind of trouble we can get into tonight. We are in fucking Las Vegas, right? And I think that we should dispel that fucking bullshit 'What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.' Fuck that. Let's fucking share it with the world."

Lee then urged the men in the crowd to show their penises before addressing the fact that his graphic photo was removed from the Meta-owned platforms.

"I showed you my shit," he said. They took it down off the Internet. No more dicks, no more titties. What I've done is I have now gone over to a place where you can be free as fuck. And you can show anybody whatever the fuck you want, and they don't fucking take it down." He then turned his back to the audience, bent over and pulled down his pants to reveal the words "Only Fans" written on his butt cheeks.

Last year, OnlyFans, where sex workers, influencers and celebrities charge subscribers for access to photos and videos, sparked outrage when it announced it would ban "sexually explicit" content. The platform backtracked within days, "suspending" its policy change following "assurances" from banks that adult content would not be penalized.

OnlyFans, which takes a 20% commission fee from creators, generated around $4 billion from its two million content creators in 2021.

Lee's controversial graphic image, which showed the heavily tattooed musician naked while sitting on the edge of a tub, was up for at least four hours, which was described by one Twitter user as "an insane amount of time."

Before the photo was removed, Lee's wife, Brittany Furlan, commented on the picture with "OH MY GOD," and the dating app Grindr responded with, "Wrong app, babe".

Instagram explicitly states that it does not allow nude photos.

"This includes photos, videos, and some digitally-created content that show sexual intercourse, genitals, and close-ups of fully-nude buttocks," it says on its web site. "It also includes some photos of female nipples, but photos in the context of breastfeeding, birth giving and after-birth moments, health-related situations or an act of protest are allowed."

Lee's penis was featured in a sex tape he made with then-wife Pamela Anderson during their 1998 honeymoon. The video ended up finding its way online after being stolen from their home by an electrician. According to Marie Claire, Pamela later sued the distribution company, but ended up settling, and the tape continued to be available online as a result. The tape reportedly made $77 million in less than 12 months.

The scandal was the focus of Hulu's "Pam & Tommy" series, which was released in February. In an episode of the series, actor Sebastian Stan, who played Lee, has a pep talk with his animated penis.

Show creator Robert Siegel later explained to Variety that he adapted the conversation from Lee's 2005 memoir, "Tommyland", adding, "There was gentle pushback, because you've got to push back a little when a talking penis is presented to you. But Hulu was extremely supportive."

Lee's penis was ranked at number eight on Gawker's list of "20 Famous Big D**ks," behind Wilt Chamberlain's.
You heard it here tonight https://t.co/cc2yLPXN6L 😜 cum join me over there for fun that Instagram won’t let us have here! 🤭 @ Allegiant Stadium https://t.co/ESfbRRAo6C

— T🥁mmy L33 (@MrTommyLand) September 10, 2022



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STAIND guitarist Mike Mushok has told Western Mass News that the band is working on a new album, which he said should be released sometime next year.

In a separate interview with Atlantic City Weekly, Mushok said that both he and STAIND frontman Aaron Lewis will continue to pursue other projects — Mushok with SAINT ASONIA, the band he co-founded in 2015 with former THREE DAYS GRACE singer Adam Gontier, and Lewis with his country solo career — alongside their long-running outfit.

"Aaron's built up a great following and great career that he'll fully pursue," Mushok said. "If we can do some STAIND shows in there, it would be great. If we can find a week here or there or maybe a tour every now and then, I'd be cool with that. Like we are looking to do a [STAIND] record, so we'll see how much we do to promote that. Honestly, I'm kind of taking it as it comes, one day at a time. It's hard to plan, you know what I mean. Who would have thought the world would shut down? So you've got to take it as it comes."

STAIND has just kicked off a short U.S. tour.

In the summer of 2021, STAIND completed a U.S. run of dates as the support act for KORN.

The band was scheduled to support DISTURBED on "The Sickness 20th Anniversary Tour" throughout North America last year, but the amphitheater trek was canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic which is sweeping the globe.

In June 2021, Mushok told Anne Erickson of Audio Ink Radio that he and his bandmates were working on their first studio album since 2011's self-titled effort. "There's a bunch of [new] songs kicking around," he said. "It's just kind of [a matter of] sorting through that stuff and seeing what, if anything, we like, and figuring out… I imagine, having not put out a real record of new music in 10 years, we're gonna be pretty critical of what it is and wanna make sure that it's great. But, yes, there is talk of that. We actually signed a record deal and have a deal to do a new record."

In March 2021, Lewis told SiriusXM's "Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk" that he "would certainly love to" have the new STAIND album released in the not-too-distant future. "All of our plans that were kind of semi on the books and on the table, everything just had a year taken off of it [due to the pandemic]," he said at the time. "We were gonna have a record come out sometime in 2020 or certainly in 2021, and there was a schedule that was on the table that, just like everything else, got burned to the ground as soon as [the lockdown] started."

STAIND has released seven albums since 1995, the latest being 2011's self-titled effort. The band has had a number of hit songs during its first two decades, including the Top 10 smash "It's Been Awhile" from the No. 1 album "Break The Cycle". Follow-up LPs "14 Shades Of Grey" and "Chapter V" also topped the Billboard chart.

STAIND released its first album in nine years, "Live: It's Been Awhile", in May 2021 via Yap'em/Alchemy Recordings. The "Live: It's Been Awhile" album was accompanied by "The Return Of Staind", a two-part global streaming series in partnership with Danny Wimmer Presents. The series launched with STAIND's "Live: It's Been Awhile (From Foxwoods)" concert, which streamed globally on May 1, 2021. The "Live: It's Been Awhile" album and concert were recorded at the band's comeback show at Foxwoods Resort Casino in Mashantucket, Connecticut in October 2019. The never-before-seen concert celebrated the band's reunion after a five-year hiatus. STAIND also performed its iconic multi-platinum 2001 album "Break The Cycle" in its entirety for a May 8, 2021 streaming event, exactly 20 years after the album's release. The "20th Anniversary Of Break The Cycle, Performed In Its Entirety" took place at Mill 1 in Open Square in Holyoke, Massachusetts, bringing the band back to their Western Mass roots.

STAIND played its first full live show in five years in September 2019 at the Louder Than Life music festival in Louisville, Kentucky.

Rikki Rockett says that POISON's "The Stadium Tour" "proved that rock 'n' roll is not dead."

The long-delayed North American trek with DEF LEPPARD, MÖTLEY CRÜE and JOAN JETT & THE BLACKHEARTS was originally planned for 2020 and later moved to 2021 and then to 2022. "The Stadium Tour" concluded this past Friday (September 9) in Las Vegas, Nevada.

On Saturday, Rikki took to his social media to write: "Such a crazy summer! I think we proved that Rock 'N' Roll is not dead. Neither is our brand of Rock 'N' Roll! We still have our pundits and quite frankly, it's part of our success.

"Back in the day, Jazz peeps criticized Rock 'N' Roll for having players who weren't proficient all the while having zero idea what makes good Rock 'N' Roll," the drummer continued. "POISON isn't a jazz rock fusion/progressive metal band. Hell, most of the time we aren't even really metal, we are Rock 'N' Roll. To those folks, enjoy stuffing 32nd notes into a 150 Bpm song or whatever floats your boat. Rock 'N' Roll moves the soul and if you all hate us for it, then that is cool!

"We moved souls this summer. I know it. I saw it in the fans eyes. Not the critics. I could not not give two shits about you critics. Baste in your sour cream sauce of hate.

"Nuthin' But a Good Time? Damn right!

"I love you all! Till next time, remember: Seeing is believing, but feeling is the truth!"

Last month, Bret Michaels revealed that POISON fans may have to wait until 2025 to see the band perform again after "The Stadium Tour". Asked by SiriusXM's "Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk" host Eddie Trunk to elaborate on his touring plans for the foreseeable future, the singer said: "For me, next year, I put it off this year, because we didn't know this year… With everything going on in the world, we didn't know if 'The Stadium Tour' was gonna go [ahead in 2022]. I prayed every day — I'm, like, 'I hope this goes. I've been waiting since '20.' First words out of my mouth besides thanking the fans and the bands and the crew, I go, 'I've been waiting two, almost three years for this' [since] we announced 'The Stadium Tour'. But for me, this year we were gonna do the 'Party Gras' tour. I put together something incredible, and now we're gonna launch that in '23. And when I tell you what this is and the way we've designed it with everybody, it's an incredible amphitheater tour that's just gonna be — I think it's gonna be insane and gonna be the 'all thriller, no filler' summer party. And you'll know what I mean when it hits the stage. It's really an exciting idea."

Asked if the "Party Gras" tour would include his own band or POISON, Bret said: "This would be my own band, in '23. I'm just saying '25 is probably when POISON will put a humongous world tour together and go back out and be incredible. And it'll be awesome. My 'Party Gras', this entire amphitheater thing we're doing and festival, as soon as we knew we were doing 'The Stadium Tour', we moved that to '23 and we got to do 'The Stadium Tour', which is incredible."

In 2018, POISON completed the "Nothin' But A Good Time" tour with CHEAP TRICK and POP EVIL.

POISON's last album of new material was 2002's "Hollyweird". An album of covers, "Poison'd", followed in 2007.

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

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

Image courtesy of The Poison Drummer YouTube channel

Such a crazy summer! I think we proved that Rock 'N' Roll is not dead. Neither is our brand of Rock 'N' Roll! We still...

Posted by Rikki Rockett on Saturday, September 10, 2022

NONPOINT has released a new single, "Paper Tigers", via the band's independent label 361 Degrees Records. The song was helmed by Chris Collier, the producer, engineer, mixer, and multi-instrumentalist who has worked with KORN, WHITESNAKE, LYNCH MOB, Mick Mars and many more.

NONPOINT vocalist Elias Soriano said: "In 10 records, 20 years and over 150 published songs, I can confidently say this is the heaviest track NONPOINT has ever released."

NONPOINT has also premiered a music video for the song, directed by Alex Zarek. Check it out below.

NONPOINT launched 361 Degrees Records LLC in January 2021. They filmed the process of starting the label and making new music in a docu-series titled "A Path To Independence" that can be seen on the band's YouTube and official web site.

In December 2021, NONPOINT released its latest EP, "Ruthless". This followed their independent label plan of delivering music to their fans through more frequent releases and videos from the band.

Asked in a recent interview with "Making Waves: The ShipRocked Podcast" if putting out EPs rather than full-length albums is "the way forward" for him and his bandmates, Soriano said: "For us, I think, like we talked about in our documentary during the pandemic, before we dropped 'Ruthless' and this next one coming up, it was a test on what everyone told us in the last 20 years we could or couldn't do with our music. Because I've worked with a lot of big teams — we started with MCA, went to Lava, went to Geffen, went to Rocket Science, then we went to Razor & Tie and then Concord; a lot of big, big, big names and big, big, big teams. And they have their systems in place. So when you go and you say, 'Hey, I feel like my fans would really gravitate to this kind of song,' there's a lot of doors you've gotta go through to finally feel like you have an answer to whether or not that feeling is right. When it's just completely up to you and the risk is yours and you've been asking that question for as long as we have, at this point it's just, like, 'Fuck it. I'm just gonna do it. And I'm not even gonna ask.'

"What we did with 'Ruthless', because we were flipping into the independent world, is we wanted to make sure that our base was taken care of," he explained. "For the last 20 years, I've dropping shit at radio and doing well at radio; I don't wanna pretend like I don't have radio songs. But I flash back to Hans Haedelt, our first A&R guy, when he signed us, and he was, like, 'You guys are gonna be the Latin PANTERA.' And it was because he saw our live shows with music that we had written that was completely untouched — by producers, by anyone. So when we went independent and I sat down with Robb [Rivera, drums] and I sat down with the guys, it was about answering that question. And we needed to bankroll that, to make sure that… And we did that — the 'Ruthless' EP, the streams, everything did so well for us that we are able to now… Our record label, in the first year, is now in the black and so is our independence. So everything is moving in such a positive way that we don't have to worry about things like budgets anymore, where it was constantly an issue before. Well, we worry about them, but it's dollars versus risk. And it's, like, 'Well, we never got to do this, so let's fucking do it.'

"With the next EP… 'Ruthless' was, like, 'Yes, they can write songs the way NONPOINT writes songs independent. Now watch what they do when the cuffs are off and the gloves are off and we're ready to throw down,'" Elias added. "Like, the next song that we drop on this EP is definitely going to turn some heads."

Earlier this year, Elias told "HRH Metal With Dan Chan" that the group's decision to go it alone with NONPOINT's own record label has resulted in "less anxiety and more anxiety," adding that he has "a team" of "people that are professionals in place" to run the business for him and his bandmates.

"I'm not a neophyte when it comes to the overall scope and understanding of the music industry, but I know when to get the hell out of the way and let someone else steer the ship," he said.

Asked what he misses about having a bigger label behind his band, Soriano said: "The relationships and the friendships. It's fun working with a team that you know everyone around the corner is a professional. That definitely gives less anxiety. But you see, even the staff, they feel the same kind of restriction. They wanna go harder; they wanna spend more money — you know they want to — but they have people to answer to."

As for how he balances the business and the creative side of being in a band, Elias said: "It's not easy but we're doing it, and that's what matters. And the product that's coming out is better than ever. It's a lot of fun. It really is. I'm having fun doing this."

In 2021 alone, NONPOINT's song "Ruthless" reached No. 16 on Billboard's Rock chart and was featured on the New Metal Tracks and Kickass Metal Playlist on Spotify, SiriusXM Octane's Big Uns Countdown, LA Lloyd Top 30 and Loudwire Nights. "Ruthless" was also the featured track on AEW's nationally televised event "Blood And Guts" on TNT in May 2021.

NONPOINT's songs "Bullet With A Name", "Alive And Kicking", "In The Air Tonight", "Circles", "Your Signs", "Everybody Down" and many others have been featured in trailers, hit movies, television, iconic video games, as well as broadcasts from NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, WWF.

NONPOINT has toured with major acts like DISTURBED, PAPA ROACH, MUDVAYNE and SEVENDUST, to name a few. They have also been featured on the main stages and support stages of iconic festivals like Soundwave, Rock Am Park, Rock Am Ring, Ozzfest, Rock On The Range, Welcome To Rockville and many more.

Photo credit: Francesca Ludikar

Swiss-Italian cinematic / progressive metal outfit Virtual Symmetry presents a video for “The Paradise Of Lies,” the third single from their eponymous fourth album, which sees release next week through Sensory Records.


Featuring eight immersive songs, Virtual Symmetry was recorded by the band then mixed and mastered at Domination Studio by Simone Mularoni (DGM, Michael Romeo, Turilli Lione, Rhapsody) and completed with artwork and photography by Kyrhian Balmelli.


The video for “The Paradise Of Lies” was directed by Giampiero Zappa and features dancer Vera Santagata.







Sensory Records will issue Virtual Symmetry on CD and digital platforms on Friday, September 16th. Pre-orders are available at the label's webshop, as well as Bandcamp.


Virtual Symmetry cover art and tracklisting:





"Virtual Symmetry"
"My Story Unfolds"
"The Paradise Of Lies"
"Come Alive" 
"Butterfly Effect"
"Fantasie Di Verità"
"Rising"
"Insomnia"








Virtual Symmetry has been confirmed alongside Fractal Universe as support for Evergrey for five weeks on their 2022 European tour, which runs from September 16 – the day of Virtual Symmetry’s release – through October 23. See all confirmed tour dates and more at Virtual Symmetry's official website.





 

Former METALLICA bassist Ron McGovney has cast doubt on the veracity of Dave Mustaine's claim that Dave was "the alpha male" while he was a member of METALLICA.

In a recent interview with Classic Rock magazine, Mustaine was asked about a comment he made in his 2010 autobiography, "Mustaine: A Heavy Metal Memoir", where he referred to himself as "the leader of the band" when he was in METALLICA in the early 1980s. After the interviewer, Paul Elliott, said that the statement was "a bit strange" because the guys who founded that band, James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich, are "such alpha males," Mustaine replied: "Oh no. I am clearly the alpha male between the three of us. Why did I have to do everything when I was in the band? Why did they always ask me talk to the promoters and collect the cash? Why was I the one who had to do the fighting? Why did I have to talk in between songs?"

Mustaine went on to say that it's not difficult for him to talk about METALLICA. "I really don't give a fuck," he insisted. "And you know what? I love those guys. I sent a text message to James just a couple of days ago after he'd said that he was insecure about his playing. I said: 'James, I love you and I really like your playing.' He didn't answer. Of course not. Why would he? The point is I wanted him to know that I've had those feelings too, but I don't now.

"I must remind you that when I joined METALLICA, James did not play guitar. He just picked it up and started playing when I was in the band. But let's be honest, James is one of the best metal guitar players in the world. So for him to have those feelings, that's a lie, because he's a mind-blowingly talented guy. So I just felt I needed to say something to him. I didn't tweet it. I didn't want anybody to know what I said. But I'm telling you because, hey, you brought it up."

After Revolver magazine tweeted out a link to a story about Mustaine's comments, Ron shared the tweet and included the following message: "Dave talked to the promoters? Collected the cash? James didn't play guitar before METALLICA? That's not how I remember those days. Just the opposite actually."

Last month, Mustaine reflected on his 1983 dismissal from METALLICA and the formation of MEGADETH while speaking to podcaster Joe Rogan of "The Joe Rogan Experience". When asked if went "right into" MEGADETH after his exit from METALLICA or if it took him some time to plot his next move, Dave said: "I think in my mind I went right into MEGADETH, but at the time I was still kind of trying to digest everything that took place.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

McGovney was a member of METALLICA during 1982 and appeared on the band's early demos. Tension between McGovney and Mustaine led to the bassist quitting the band and being replaced by Cliff Burton. He later told "Talk Is Jericho" that his exit from METALLICA wasn't upsetting to him because he was less into the band's thrash style, plus he was interested in being a motorcycle mechanic.
Dave talked to the promoters? Collected the cash? James didn't play guitar before Metallica? That's not how I remember those days. Just the opposite actually.

— Ron McGovney (@RonMcGovney) September 9, 2022

"We've all been there – stuck in a toxic relationship and wondering how we got ourselves into this mess. Finally, we realize that we're being treated like complete crap and we don't deserve that. 'Sludge' is the perfect personification of / metaphor for toxic behavior," says The Jailbirds.


Hear the uneasy and angry new single "Sludge" – out now on all platforms. The lyric video can be seen below.







"The riff in 'Sludge' is so creepy and powerful at the same time, like if Superman was a back alley weirdo trying to sell you things from a trenchcoat, or your conscience is warning you of imminent danger. We wanted to create a creepy feeling, almost like it makes the hair on your neck stand up, like a whisper in your ear.


You can see the truth.


The chromatic section of the chorus guitar part was largely inspired by songs like 'Speed King', 'Into The Fire' and 'Highway Star'. Deep Purple seemed to love those chromatic lines. But then the tones are very Black Sabbath, and filled with fuzz pedals galore."





Catch The Jailbirds live at the following shows:


September
17 - Gussapolooza - Barrie, ON
24 - Clifford Brewing Co. - Hamilton, ON
29 - Horseshoe Tavern - Toronto, ON
30 - Overtime Sports Bar - Kingston, ON


For further details, visit The Jailbirds on Facebook.


 

In an interview with Cameron Buchholtz of the Rock 100.5 The KATT radio station at this past weekend's Rocklahoma festival in Pryor, Oklahoma, MEGADETH leader Dave Mustaine spoke about what it has been like to play with bassist James LoMenzo again after 11 years apart. LoMenzo was MEGADETH's bass player in the mid-2000s and recently stepped back in as a touring member for "The Metal Tour Of The Year". Dave said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Good. James is just a consummate gentleman — he's no maintenance whatsoever — and he's a rock star. He's been around the block. He's played with Ozzy [Osbourne] on gigantic stages, so it's not like I have to stay on top of him, where we've had some periods from Day One until even just recently where we had to have a little bit of some Rock School 101."

Asked if LoMenzo was the "first" and "only choice" for the bassist position in MEGADETH following David Ellefson's dismissal in May 2021 after sexually tinged messages and explicit video footage involving Ellefson were posted online, Dave said: "When all of that stuff happened, I was pretty blown away. And I didn't want to do anything to harm anyone; there was already enough stuff going around. So I figured, 'You know what? I'm not gonna take anybody's side. All I know is that for now we need to do something.' The climate was just horrifying, to have something like that. So we parted ways [with Ellefson]. And I thought about, 'Do we get someone to come in as a session player? Or do I really, really, really go all in and start the search for a permanent guy?' And we didn't have the time. We had to have the record in — it had been two years since we started it and six years since 'Dystopia', so it was long overdue. And the idea for [TESTAMENT's] Steve [DiGiorgio] came up. He came out and recorded [the bass tracks on MEGADETH's latest album, 'The Sick, The Dying… And The Dead!']; it was great.

"I, of course, would have liked to have had someone that plays like [Steve] play with MEGADETH, but he's in TESTAMENT, who are friends of mine," Dave explained. "And although we are not very close — me and the guys in TESTAMENT — I do consider them my friends and I do consider them a great band. And I would never jeopardize that by trying to steal Steve.

"So James's name kind of [came up], and I went, 'Oh my God! James! Yes!'" Mustaine added. "So we called him back. And James doesn't have to be told how to look, how to act, how to play. He knows how to do the interviews. He's like that old ROXETTE song: 'You've got the look.' He's been to MEGADETH camp, he's been to the top of the mountain with me and with Ozzy. And what more needs to be said?"

Ellefson's exit came just days after sexually tinged messages and explicit video footage involving him were posted on Twitter. At the time, Ellefson released a statement on Instagram denying all social media chatter that he "groomed" an underage fan. He also filed a report with the police department in Scottsdale, Arizona alleging unlawful distribution of sexually explicit images of him by unknown offenders.

In the police report that Ellefson filed in May 2021, he admitted that he had been exchanging sexual text messages with a Dutch teenager, who captured a video of several of their virtual "masturbating encounters" without his consent and shared them with friends. (According to Ellefson, the woman was 19 at the time of their first virtual sexual encounter.) Ellefson, who lives in Scottsdale, first became aware of the video on May 9, 2021, when the claim "David Ellefson of MEGADETH is a pedophile" appeared on Instagram. Ellefson told police he was notified on May 14, 2021 by MEGADETH that the band would be parting ways with him. Three days later, he was fired.

During an October 2021 appearance on SiriusXM's "Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk", Ellefson opened up about the circumstances that led to his dismissal from MEGADETH, saying: "I ran toward the bullets and dealt with it right away. The night [the messages and video were leaked online], a couple of people said, 'Hey, don't say anything.' In particular, the MEGADETH camp didn't want me to say anything. But my legal [advisers] said, 'Hey, I think you should say something. I think some people have done some really shitty things here and made some false allegations about you, and you have every right to defend yourself.' And I did. Ultimately, that led to my dismissal from MEGADETH. But I have every right, as anyone does, to defend yourself, especially when somebody is making false allegations about you like that. So I dealt with it that night, and quite honestly, that was it — it was over, and it was really kind of done. But then, as the MEGADETH camp in particular jumped in and had addressed it — and not that they shouldn't, but they did. That pretty quickly led to them making the decision to part ways with me and to move away from it."

Ellefson told "Trunk Nation" host Eddie Trunk that he initially "didn't even know what" the word "grooming" was, adding that he "had no idea" about the meaning of the term experts use to refer to the actions that sexual abusers take to get close to and gain the trust of those they are interested in. "And any allegations of anything being illegal [are false]," he said. "There was nothing. And that's why I immediately hired a criminal lawyer. I went right to the police department. And just for the record, the bad guy doesn't go to the police department. Okay? So, just to be clear. The guy who didn't do anything wrong, he goes to the police department. That's why I went to the police department and filed a police report and let them deal with it.

"I think there was a big fear of — there's always this talk of cancel culture and all this stuff," he continued. "And I was, like, 'Listen, that was not me.' And I had every right to stand up against that and defend myself against it. And I just turned that over to the lawyers and police department and let them deal with it, and they did."

In 2004, Ellefson filed an $18.5-million lawsuit against Mustaine, alleging the frontman shortchanged him on profits and backed out of a deal to turn Megadeth Inc. over to him when the band broke up in 2002. The lawsuit was eventually dismissed and Ellefson rejoined MEGADETH in 2010.

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

Dave Mustaine photo credit: Gibson

Corey Taylor says that he and his SLIPKNOT bandmate Jim Root have discussed starting a new project together.

Although the guitarist was famously kicked out of the Taylor-fronted STONE SOUR in 2013, the singer has told Metal Hammer magazine that the pair have worked out past differences and are enjoying their renewed collaboration as part of their main band.

"He and I are very different people," Corey said, "and we were both going through our own shit in life. We reconnected, and we're actually talking about doing some stuff on the side, outside of SLIPKNOT and STONE SOUR.

"It's cool to find your friend again," he continued, "and realize that you can find your way back to people that you care about. Honestly, I can't sit here and say that I wasn't responsible for some of the bad feelings. That can only come with self-reflection, and the fact that the things that were going on in my life rippled and affected other people. Once you own up to that, you can start to mend bridges by showing people that you are truly sorry."

Three years ago, Root told Metal Hammer that he and Taylor would have ended up killing each other if he had stayed in STONE SOUR.

"Corey and I are much closer now," he said at the time. "It's the best thing, me leaving STONE SOUR. We would have just ended up killing each other and driving each other crazy. I can't spread myself that thin. I needed it, this band [SLIPKNOT] needed it and STONE SOUR certainly needed it. I just didn't have the time to commit that I'd have liked. I think they were tired of my shitty attitude, that's for sure."

Root did not speak kindly of STONE SOUR in interviews after he was fired, saying: "Some of the guys in STONE SOUR, I think they just want to be a radio band and write strictly for radio and try to be more of a poppy rock band. And that's not really what I'm into. There's at least one guy in the band that's only concerned about money. I really have no desire to associate with people like that anymore."

Root played on the first five STONE SOUR studio records, including 2010's "Audio Secrecy" and the double concept album "House Of Gold & Bones".

Back in 2014, Root claimed that he was fired over the phone, which he thought "was pretty lame." He also told Revolver magazine that "it became apparent" near the end of the album cycle for "House Of Gold & Bones" that "it had basically run its course. But the band kept pushing for more dates, and I was just, like, 'It's time to stop.'"

Root told The Pulse Of Radio when he first revealed that he was sitting out a STONE SOUR tour — before it was announced that he was let go — that he was already dealing with a lot of stress juggling the two bands. "You know, unfortunately I'm only one person," he said. "I can't really be in two places at one time and the amount of focus that I need to put into SLIPKNOT makes it really difficult for me to be on tour with STONE SOUR. It's crushing and it's heartbreaking and I really don't like the idea of not being out there, but I don't really see any other way to really do it."

Root said that he was dismissed from STONE SOUR in November 2013, revealing: "I was mad because STONE SOUR wanted to go do a tour and they didn't want me to be a part of it. So I had a little anger, and I had a little bit of depression. I was kind of hurt. But at the same time, it was probably all for the better, because I wasn't really happy in that band anymore."

At the time, Taylor addressed the issue as well, saying: "It was difficult, at first. It put a strain between he and I for a little bit. It was one of those things where the timing just sucked. But at the same time, we knew that, on both sides, we've gotta do what we've gotta do."

Seven years ago, STONE SOUR named guitarist Christian Martucci as the permanent replacement for Root. Martucci was recruited to play on the band's early 2014 tour tour and was confirmed as a permanent member in March 2015 in a Facebook post.

STONE SOUR has been off the road and out of sight since completing the touring cycle for its last studio album, 2017's "Hydrograd". Taylor has been working with SLIPKNOT since then, as well as making his debut solo album, "CMFT". A STONE SOUR live album, "Hello, You Bastards: Live In Reno", came out in December 2019.

Jim Root image courtesy of Fender

To celebrate their current US fall tour, The Dead Daisies have unleashed “Face Your Fear”, a powerful new straight up driving rock track taken from their upcoming album, Radiance.


With an intoxicating hook driven by the dual guitars of Doug Aldrich and David Lowy, along with Brian Tichy’s monstrous rhythmic beats and Glenn Hughes’ rock-solid bass and unmatched vocal intensity, this track will rock your socks off. The official video can be seen below.







“This song is about making peace with your personal fears and not fighting its grip. The intense groove and two chord simplicity is a great album opener!” - Glenn Hughes





You can listen to, stream, and download “Face Your Fear” at this location.


The Dead Daisies will release their sixth studio album, Radiance, on September 30. Radiance will be available as a Digipak CD with sticker, Gatefold black vinyl with printed inner sleeves and Digitally. Pre-orders can be placed here.





Tracklisting:


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


"Hypnotize Yourself" lyric video:





"Shine On" video:





"Radiance" video:





Energized after their monster European Tour, the band can’t wait to get face to face with their fans on their US fall dates. With shows from the East to West coast, the band will be showcasing some new material and play the classics with an energy inspired by the tens of thousands of rock lovers they played to in Europe.


Chicago-area based Rock group Enuff Z’Nuff will be special guests of The Dead Daisies on all the US shows with singer, songwriter Gilby Clarke, also known for his years as guitarist for Guns N’ Roses, joining for one show at The Vermont Hollywood.


A specially priced “Have A Drink On Us” ticket bundle for fans includes a drink and an exclusive Daisies T-shirt. The bundle is limited to 100 tickets per show, so get yours now. Get your tickets here.


Remaining US fall tour dates:


September
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


 

During an appearance on the latest episode of "The Jasta Show", the video podcast hosted by HATEBREED frontman Jamey Jasta, FEAR FACTORY guitarist Dino Cazares said that fans will have to wait a few more months to find out the identity of his band's new singer.

"FEAR FACTORY singer and music will be coming just before the [group's North American] tour with STATIC-X," he said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET). "End of February is the first show, so just before that we'll be releasing the single and the singer. And then boom — right on the road."

According to Dino, he has been working with the new FEAR FACTORY vocalist for a year. "It's just a lot of developing," he said. "You know, FEAR FACTORY is precious to a lot of people, and so I've gotta make sure that it's right.

"I wanted to release some tracks a while ago with the singer, but then I had nothing behind it — no tour or anything like that — so the hype was gonna die down quick," he explained. "So I wanna do it around a tour; that way you've got something to work. And I just didn't wanna release his name too quick, because no one's gonna care by the time I release a track a year later. So I want it all to be done together."

This past February, former NIGHTRAGE singer Antony Hämäläinen, who unsuccessfully auditioned for the vocalist slot in FEAR FACTORY, claimed in an interview that the new FF frontman is "a person from Italy."

In April, Dino told "The Garza Podcast" that the new FEAR FACTORY singer is emotionally ready to handle the inevitable pushback from some fans that he will get once his identity has been revealed. "I think that they're ready," he said. "When it comes to talent, they're very ready. But 'tour ready' is completely different. Let's hope that… Well, the person that we have has done some touring, but not touring like we do touring. Like, a full U.S. tour can be anywhere from four weeks to six weeks to whatever, then you fly over to Europe and do another four to five weeks, come back to the States, do another tour, then you go to South America and do another few weeks there, then you go to Australia and do another few weeks there, and then you plan for next year. I think one of the other things, too, is when this person is announced, they're gonna have to be able to handle all the criticism. That's gonna be the hard part. 'Well, it didn't sound like Burt.' Well, of course not. I want this person… They do actually sound like Burt — they can handle all the old stuff like Burt — but as far as moving forward, I would like them to have their own identity. We're still gonna have the formula of what makes FEAR FACTORY — for sure — but I want this person to somewhat have his own identity as well."

Pressed about what happened to cause Burton to leave FEAR FACTORY, Dino said: "Good question. I don't know. I think he just lost interest in… I can only assume, because we went through some really heavy lawsuits for four years, and it financially crippled us — personally as well — and I just believe that he lost interest. I think that possibly all the stuff that we went through in FEAR FACTORY was just, like… He's one of those guys, 'Fuck it. I'm out. I quit. Fuck it.' He doesn't come across as a fighter — as somebody who's gonna be, like, 'Fuck it. We went through it. Let's go through it and let's just continue.' I mean, I left the door open for him for a while to come back into the band, but he pretty much said fuck me, Raymond [Herrera, former FEAR FACTORY drummer] and Christian [Olde Wolbers, former FEAR FACTORY bassist] — everybody. Fuck everybody.

"I'm not gonna push it," Dino added. "I'm not gonna push him or nothing like that. Fans ask me all the time: 'Hey, call him up. Just call him up.' Well, if you saw the stuff he said when he left, he's not exactly a phone call away… He left pretty bitter, and that's pretty much where… It looks like he's having a good time being free. So I'm not gonna force anybody to come back or [any] stuff like that.

"Some people want change in their life, but sometimes fans just can't accept that. Fans are, like, 'He was the singer for 30 years. Come back.' That was his decision. No one pushed him out; no one forced him to leave — none of that stuff. That was his decision."

Asked about his previous comment that he was open to hiring a female vocalist for FEAR FACTORY, Dino told Bucketlist TV: "That was true. I auditioned a few women, yes. But it didn't work out — not because they were female or anything like that. Because I wanted to pick whoever was best for the position, and it turned out to be a guy."

Dino also addressed his statement from last year that he wanted to give an "unknown guy a shot" at fronting FEAR FACTORY. He said: "Well, it wasn't like I was only looking for somebody that nobody knew. I was looking for all different [types of singers]. Sure, if the guy turned out to be, or the girl turned out to be, someone that nobody knew and I gave 'em that shot, yeah, great. I was open to all of it, is what I'm saying. Male, female, whatever, known, unknown — I was open to all of that."

In September 2020, Bell issued a statement officially announcing his departure from FEAR FACTORY, saying that he "cannot align" himself with someone whom he does not trust or respect.

Bell's exit from FEAR FACTORY came more than two weeks after Cazares launched a GoFundMe campaign to assist him with the production costs associated with the release of FEAR FACTORY's latest LP.

Bell later told Kerrang! magazine that his split with FEAR FACTORY was a long time coming. "It's been on my mind for a while," he said. "These lawsuits [over the rights to the FEAR FACTORY name] just drained me. The egos. The greed. Not just from bandmembers, but from the attorneys involved. I just lost my love for it.

"With FEAR FACTORY, it's just constantly been, like, 'What?!' You can only take so much. I felt like 30 years was a good run. Those albums I've done with FEAR FACTORY will always be out there. I'll always be part of that. I just felt like it was time to move forward."

In October 2020, Dino issued a statement in which he said that the door for Burton to come back to FEAR FACTORY wouldn't "stay open forever." The guitarist also revealed that Burton "lost his legal rights" to the FEAR FACTORY name "after a long court battle" with Herrera and Olde Wolbers. "I had the opportunity to do something right, and I felt that obtaining the name in full was the right thing to do for the both of us, so after nearly four years we can continue as FEAR FACTORY, to make more records and to tour," he said. "That is why it is sad to hear that he decided to quit and, in my opinion, for whatever issues he has it seems like it could've been worked out."

FEAR FACTORY's latest album, "Aggression Continuum", was released in June 2021 via Nuclear Blast Records. The LP, which was recorded primarily in 2017, features Cazares and Bell alongside drummer Mike Heller.

Former IRON MAIDEN frontman Paul Di'Anno, who has been receiving physiotherapy and lymphatic drainage treatments in Croatia, finally underwent his long-awaited knee surgery earlier today (Monday, September 12).

Stjepan Juras, a MAIDEN fan and author of many MAIDEN-related books, who is taking care of Paul during his stay in Croatia, issued the following update regarding Paul's condition: "In short... the operation is over, the doctor is satisfied, he solved the problem. Paul's skin is now being stitched up and he will be woken up soon. If the wound heals well, the operation can be considered a success."

This past May, Di'Anno came face to face with MAIDEN bassist Steve Harris for the first time in three decades before the band's concert in Croatia.

Harris, whose group kicked off the 2022 leg of its "Legacy Of The Beast" world tour at the 22,000-capacity Arena Zagreb, came out before the show to greet a wheelchair-bound Di'Anno and chat with him for a few minutes.

After his friendly meeting with Harris, Di'Anno stuck around long enough to watch some of MAIDEN's performance before leaving near the end of the set to avoid a huge traffic jam after the show.

Di'Anno spoke about his experience meeting Harris in person after all these years in a live video chat with Canada's The Metal Voice. He said: "[That] weekend was absolutely amazing. 'Cause me and Steve [have exchanged messages] about football [in the past]. But we actually hadn't met [face to face] for a long time. And it was brilliant, because I met up with Steve's sister Linda first, whom I hadn't seen her in about 30 years. And then [seeing] Steve was amazing, and then [meeting up with MAIDEN's longtime manager] Rod [Smallwood] as well, it's made my whole year, actually. It was fantastic. It was pretty awesome."

Paul went on to say that the last time he saw Rod was in 2013 when both he and MAIDEN performed — separately — at Brazil's Rock In Rio festival.

"I missed the MAIDEN show because I got swamped by bloody press and stuff, so I couldn't actually do anything to watch the band," he explained.

Asked if it was "awkward" meeting up with Steve for the first time in 30 years, Paul said: "No. It was great. I wish I wasn't in this sort of position [being in a wheelchair]. Yeah, it was quite emotional. If it had been the first time we spoke together in 30 years, it would have been maybe a little bit more weird. But, as I said, we talk about football and stuff like that, and Steve phoned me up a couple of times from [his home in] the Bahamas."

Calling himself and Harris two "happy-go-lucky geezers" from London's East End, Paul went on to say that he owes Steve dinner "big time, because he looked after my missus and son over in the States on the last MAIDEN tour in Connecticut, in Hartford. He really looked after them — gave them backstage VIP stuff and all of that. It was great. So when I get my legs back, I'll take him out to dinner."

According to Paul, Steve called him the day after the MAIDEN show in Croatia but he missed his call. "But I did text him back," Di'Anno said.

Paul also set the record straight about where he stands with respect to his former band, saying: "What annoys me is that everyone's spreading rumors around that we don't like each other and stuff like that. I ain't got nothing [against] IRON MAIDEN at all. I tell you, the show was brilliant on Sunday — absolutely amazing."

Di'Anno recorded two classic albums with IRON MAIDEN — a self-titled effort in 1980 and "Killers" in 1981 — before being fired and replaced by Bruce Dickinson. He went on to front a number of other bands, including KILLERS and BATTLEZONE, and released several solo records.

More than a decade and a half ago, Di'Anno told The Jerusalem Post that leaving the MAIDEN juggernaut behind was the best thing that ever happened to him, and that he had no bitter feelings toward his former bandmates. "I absolutely have no regrets about leaving MAIDEN — I wasn't right in the head at that time to be in the middle of all that," he said. "I was fed up and disillusioned; it would have been cheating the fans and myself if I had stayed. It was easy to walk away from, and I'm very happy the band got bigger and bigger."

Several years ago, Di'Anno told Metal Thunder Radio that he wasn't as involved with MAIDEN's songwriting as he would have liked. "Steve had most of the words and the lyrics [to the band's first album] all written. That was some of the bones of contention that we had in the band — that I didn't get to write as much as I wanted to. 'Cause I am actually quite a prolific writer, but a lot of my songs were not accepted. 'Cause it's Steve's band, obviously."

He continued: "That first album was a revelation, I've gotta tell you. It was amazing. And the second album, for me, not so much. That's when I started to lose interest a little bit. But [we] still [had] great times — really great times."

In May, Paul played his first full solo concert in seven years at the Bikers Beer Factory in Zagreb. The show was filmed and parts of it will be included in a documentary about Di'Anno, to be directed by Wes Orshoski, co-director and producer of the acclaimed 2010 film "Lemmy" about the MOTÖRHEAD icon.

The Zagreb concert was free to attend and was held as a way of thanking Paul's fans for their help during the most difficult time of his recovery. The show took place just a day before the IRON MAIDEN's gig at the Zagreb Arena.

Di'Anno recently teamed up with several Croatian musicians to form a new project called WARHORSE. WARHORSE entered the studio to record three songs, two of which — "Stop The War" and "The Doubt Within" — have been released as a special limited-edition DVD single.

In February, Di'Anno outlined some of the recent health issues he has battled during an appearance on the "Još Jedan" podcast. He said at the time: "I caught sepsis [when an infection you already have triggers a chain reaction throughout your body] in 2015, and it almost killed me. And I spent eight months in a hospital in England. You've got a crucial 45 minutes to get as many antibiotics in you before you die, and they managed to do that, which was great. Then I spent eight months in a hospital, and then another three months in a care home. And while I was in there getting things done, on hospital visits, I caught MRSA [Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, an infection caused by a type of staph bacteria that's become resistant to many of the antibiotics used to treat ordinary staph infections] there twice, in the hospital. So that was it. So it kept delaying things and delaying things… And then they took this knee out put this cement thing in. And it was only supposed to be in there for a year. And the first time they put that in, it broke, so they cut me open again and put another in. And that one is still in here. And while it's been in there this long, it's going toxic."

Di'Anno reportedly underwent an operation in 2016 to remove a "rugby ball-sized abscess" on his lungs and required a knee-replacement operation on both knees after getting involved in several motorcycle accidents over the years.

Y&T frontman Dave Meniketti, who went public with his prostate cancer battle in February, says that he is feeling "close to normal" after completing his radiation treatments.

The 68-year-old guitarist/vocalist offered an update on his health in a social media post on Saturday (September 10). He wrote: "I'm feeling pretty darn close to normal. Stamina is less than what I would prefer when pushing myself, but that's what a ton of radiation can do to a person. I fully expected it, so I'm certainly not going to complain.

"Am I cancer free? Won't know for about 6 months or so after a few PSA follow up blood tests, but I'm expecting my treatments kicked its ass."

This past July, Y&T was forced to cancel its previously announced 2022 European tour in order to allow Meniketti more time to recover from the radiation treatments.

Meniketti discussed his diagnosis and treatment during an appearance on an April 2022 episode of SiriusXM's "Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk". Regarding how he found out that he had cancer, he said: "Back in 2018, I hurt my back and was completely out; I mean, I could not play. We had to cancel an entire European tour in the fall, which we do religiously every year. And I'm laying on my back and I'm in amazing pain and it was the first time anything like that had ever happened. But one of the things that I was thinking about while I was laying there is, 'Wow, I haven't had a PSA test,' which is the blood test that you have to screen yourself for possibly having prostate cancer. And I'm really good about getting my yearly exams and everything else, and I realized that I'd skipped a year or two; I think it was the longest I'd ever gone without getting my yearly physical or something. So I thought, 'Okay, well, I'd better get back on [track] here.' And I went and I had my PSA test and it came back high. It was over the average… It's like zero to four, anything in that range you're okay, and I was over that by a little bit; I was like 5.3 or something. So I went in to see my urologist, and he said, 'All right, we're gonna have to take a biopsy. And we'll just do a simple one in the office and we'll basically send that biopsy off and see what's happening.' Well, it came back negative. But then he said… A couple of weeks later, I was all, 'Okay. Great.' And then a couple of weeks later, he goes, 'Well, I sent that same biopsy to this other lab that does this type of thing…' And I can't remember what it is, but basically they look at the biopsy and they figure out whether or not maybe he just missed the area where it really was. I mean, the prostate's not very big, but if you're taking 12 little samples of it, snippets of it, you could very well miss the actual area where if there was cancer, if it was there or not. And so that came back as a 47 percent chance or more that I did still have cancer but they just missed it. So he said, 'So here's what we're gonna do. We're just gonna watch. We're gonna have you take a PSA test every six months, and we're gonna watch it.' And it went down a little bit the next time, and then it went up, but it wasn't much more different than where it was the first time it was up. And so we just watched it and watched it. And I kept asking, I go, 'Well, I'm still over.' He goes, 'Well, there's a lot of people that can be over that number four and still be okay. It's just a strange thing; some people just live with a higher number. But we're just gonna watch it.' And he goes, 'If it spikes up a couple of numbers or something like that, then we're gonna do the next step.' Well, just after December of last year — at the end of the holiday — I went in about December 30th or so and had my PSA and it was 6.25. And I said, 'Okay, this is getting scary.' And I went back to him and he said, 'All right. We're gonna do the next step,' which is take an MRI, a prostate MRI, which literally takes thousands of slices of pictures of your prostate, so they can really tell whether there's something in there. And sure enough, there was. So he said, 'Okay, you have prostate cancer. So now we're gonna take you into the hospital and do another biopsy which is gonna be guided much more clearly, 'cause we know now where this thing is.' And so they took the biopsy, and he said, 'You're lucky.' He goes, 'We've gotten it pretty early here, and your scores are really good.'"

According to Meniketti, he was given "two or three" treatment options for his prostate cancer. "One of them is to just take out the prostate completely, and the other one is to treat it with radiation," he said. "And I opted for the second because there are potentially more problems with taking it out at my age. When you're younger, it's not nearly as big of a deal, but there's more problems potentially, like I say. And the outcome for both is exactly the same. So it's, like, 'I'm gonna deal with this.' So [my wife] Jill and I researched it in detail online, we talked to, of course, my urologist and then met the oncologist that would get involved with this decision. And they all said exactly the same thing, that we had been researching and hearing from other cancer survivors and such, that if you do this particular two-stage process, you've got as good of an outcome as taking out the prostate completely. So I indeed opted for that. And it's basically they insert these radioactive seeds called brachytherapy, and they put it straight into the prostate and they put about 30 or 40 of them in there and they do about 70 percent of the work at killing the cancer. And they just stay there forever, but they have about a six-month amount of putting out full radiation and then after that they pretty much die off."

Dave concluded by saying that while prostate cancer is the most common type of cancer in men, with one in eight men getting it, it is also one of the most treatable, with a survival rate of over 90 percent after 10 years. "This is one of those cancers, if you catch 'em early, you can be one hundred percent fixed — it's over; it's done; you're sorted," he said. "I mean, sure, it could come back at some point, but even if it does, they can treat it again. You usually outlive this cancer, if you get it early enough. So, luckily, I have gotten it early enough."

Meniketti is the only surviving member of the Y&T lineup — then known as YESTERDAY AND TODAY — that recorded the band's self-titled debut album.

Original Y&T rhythm guitarist Joey Alves died in March 2017 at the age of 63. Two founding Y&T musicians — Haze, 61, and Kennemore, 57, who both had left the lineup — died from complications of lung cancer: Kennemore on January 7, 2011, and Haze on September 11, 2016.

Y&T's current lineup is rounded out by guitarist John Nymann, drummer Mike Vanderhule and bassist Aaron Leigh.

The iconic Bay Area rockers' latest studio album, "Facemelter", came out in May 2010 via Frontiers.

Well, it's been a while since I've posted, so I thought this was a good day to do that. With a picture from my favorite...

Posted by Y&T on Saturday, September 10, 2022

SALIVA reunited with its original singer Josey Scott for a one-off appearance earlier today (Sunday, September 11) at this year's Blue Ridge Rock Festival at the Virginia International Raceway in Alton, Virginia. Video of the performance can be seen below.

Scott left SALIVA at the end of 2011 after 15 years with the group, reportedly to pursue a solo Christian music career. He was quickly replaced by Bobby Amaru, who can be heard on SALIVA's last four releases: "In It To Win It" (2013),"Rise Up" (2014),"Love, Lies & Therapy" (2016) and "10 Lives" (2018).

In October 2019, Scott announced that he was returning to SALIVA, explaining at the time that he wanted to get together with his former bandmates and "write a badass record." Less than a year and a half later, in March 2021, SALIVA guitarist Wayne Swinny poured cold water on those plans, saying that the reunion with the singer "never really got off the ground."

Amaru discussed Scott's failed reunion with SALIVA during a recent interview with The Bay Ragni Show. Asked if he feels any "pressure" knowing that there are still ongoing discussions about a possible reunion with Scott, Amaru said: "I'm in those discussions as well, and there's nothing shady going on; it's nothing that I don't know about. It was my idea to actually say, 'Hey, you guys should do a 20-year-reunion deal.' I was an advocate for that. Wayne Swinny will tell you that. I was the one that was, like, 'I think you guys should.' And I think a lot of things just didn't pan out last year with… They couldn't get on the same page, and then Josey lost his son. It was just not a good year for anything like that."

Bobby also addressed BLABBERMOUTH.NET's previous coverage of SALIVA's reunion talks with Scott, saying: "Blabbermouth and all that stuff, that's clickbait, man, and that's stuff that… It's drama. There's too much drama in the world as is. If people wanna be fucking focused on who the fucking singer of SALIVA is — who fucking cares? Whatever. You know what I mean? There's way more shit going on, man. And typically the people that are on there are probably writing, 'Ah, I fucking hate it' or 'Who cares anyway?' They're probably… I don't know what they're doing with their life — fucking working at Subway or whatever. It's all good.

"I know that what we have, this band, we have a business; this is like a business; this is our business," he continued. "And it's also a fun business. And, dude, we're all happy doing this. We're not trying to enter drama into it or whatever. And I'm not saying that that's what would happen, but we're just not looking to change what we have going on."

Amaru also confirmed that both he and Scott would front SALIVA at Blue Ridge Rock Festival. "[It's] gonna be fucking awesome," the singer said. "And I'll be there. We'll both be there. It's gonna be great. It's good for the fans.

"I've always said that I wish the guy would do [solo] records and put out songs and do stuff. There's a lot of guys doing it — Geoff Tate, Scott Stapp. There's a lot of dudes [who were previously in established bands] putting out [solo] records for the fans, and there's nothing wrong with that."

SALIVA's reunion with Scott at Blue Ridge was originally announced on March 18 by festival organizers via Twitter. They wrote: "It is Happening. For years it is has been highly rumored and demanded, now it finally takes place this September." Less than two weeks later, Scott shared the announcement on Twitter for the first time and included a simple two-word comment: "LETS GO!!!!!!" When one fan asked him, "Are u serious???", he responded: "Yes!"

When Swinny spoke to WRIF about SALIVA's failed reunion with Scott, he said that even though there were some initial discussions about Josey's return to the group, there was no follow-up to ensure that the plan was executed.

"If you wanna do something, do it," Wayne said. "But you can't just talk about it and have it magically happen. There's work, there's planning, there's stuff that goes into it, and none of that stuff was done early enough to pull it off.

"Yeah, there was some fan response, saying, 'Wow, yeah, that might be cool.' But it didn't get enough steam to take off," he explained. "All the preliminary stuff kind of got set up, and it just didn't jell.

"It just didn't make sense to stop what we [the current lineup of SALIVA] were doing and do that, because you've got momentum, we've got a groove going, the band's tight live. I didn't feel like we should give that up or give that a rest."

Last December, Josey took to his Twitter to write: "I want 2 apologize 2 my fans because I thought I was gonna reunite w/certain people & make u new music, & that fell through, but, I believe everything happens for a reason. There are no coincidences. A blessing in disguise. Now it's just u, & me, how intimate is that? #SV2022".

SALIVA released six albums with Scott and tasted platinum success and a Grammy nomination for its first big hit, "Your Disease".

In May 2021, SALIVA celebrated the 20th anniversary of its breakthrough major label debut, "Every Six Seconds", with a special project called "Every Twenty Years", an EP of classic songs re-recorded with Amaru.



EXCLUSIVE: Original Singer JOSEY SCOTT reunites with Saliva at Blue Ridge Rock Fest 2022!

Posted by Blue Ridge Rock Festival on Sunday, September 11, 2022



Josey Scott reunited with Saliva at Blue Ridge Rock Festival

#saliva #blueridgerockfestival

Posted by Thunder Underground on Sunday, September 11, 2022



#blueridgerockfestival2022
Saliva

Posted by Chrissy Chafin on Sunday, September 11, 2022

Saliva 👌🎸🤩

Posted by Amanda Wray Joyce on Sunday, September 11, 2022

Who’s ready to rock Blue Ridge Rock Festival ???

#blueridgerockfestival #blueridgerockfest
#salivareunion #saliva #joseyscott #joseyscottdotcom #rock #rockmusic #rockmusician #rocknroll

Posted by Josey Scott on Sunday, September 11, 2022

Minutes before FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH's July 3 appearance at the Hills Of Rock festival in Sofia, Bulgaria, singer Ivan Moody was interviewed for an episode of "Elena Roberg Presents: Personalities And Passions!" Asked if he feels a connection to the European mentality and state of mind, Ivan said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Absolutely. Especially with what's going on in the world right now. I won't get too political on this, but for me, the idea that you look at music as universal — it's very artistic. It's bigger than religion in some ways; it's bigger than politics; it supersedes all of it. The connection of music between you and the culture out here [in Europe], it's just a different — it's a different world. I love it. In America, it's a lot about, 'What have you done for me lately? Have you put out another single? No? When's the new one coming out? I've heard that one 30 times. I want the next one.' And I hate that shit, because you don't get a chance to love your own stuff."

He continued: "I've seen W.A.S.P. out here, or Alice Cooper — JUDAS PRIEST, of course. Rob Halford — there's one of my favorites. And they're playing music that they wrote 40 years ago. And it's still just as good. And it's looked at that way out here [in Europe], where out there [in America] — not so much. And that's disappointing."

Asked if he is optimistic about the world we're living in, Ivan said: "I have to be. I have children. Listen, before I had kids, I would have been the first one to pour the gas on it and light the match. But the reality is having children has opened my soul to an idea, and that idea is that there's something bigger and better waiting, and we'll eventually get there, no matter how hard the trials may be. But I have to [be optimistic], because if I don't, then I'm giving my kids false hope. And I don't think any parents wants to do that. I know for damn sure I don't."

FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH's ninth album, "AfterLife", was released last month. The "Afterlife" title track, which was made available as a single in April, recently gave FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH the most consecutive No. 1s on Billboard's Mainstream Rock Airplay chart. The song was the band's 13th total No. 1 and eighth entry on the chart in a row.

FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH's follow-up to 2020's "F8" was once again recorded at the Hideout Recording Studio, the Las Vegas, Nevada facility owned and operated by Kevin Churko, the Canadian record producer/engineer and songwriter who has worked on all of FIVE FINGER's albums beginning with the band's sophomore release, 2009's "War Is The Answer".

"AfterLife" is FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH's first album with its latest addition, renowned British virtuoso Andy James, who replaced Jason Hook in 2020. James was previously featured on "Broken World", a song that was included on the second installment of FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH's greatest-hits collection, "A Decade Of Destruction – Volume 2", which came out in the fall of 2020.

Since FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH's debut album, "The Way Of The Fist", came out in 2007, the band has released six consecutive albums that were certified gold or platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) as well as two chart-topping greatest-hits albums. In addition, FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH has earned numerous national and international awards and honors over the last decade, such as the prestigious Soldier Appreciation Award by the Association Of The United States Army, an honor bestowed upon only one other recording artist before them: Elvis Presley.

Last month, FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH launched a U.S. headlining tour presented by Live Nation. The trek kicked off in Ridgefield, Washington on August 19 and will span over 30 dates, closing out on October 15 in Salt Lake City, Utah. The band is joined on tour by rock icons MEGADETH, with additional support from THE HU and FIRE FROM THE GODS.

Guitarist Dave "Gravy" Felton rejoined MUSHROOMHEAD on stage last night (Saturday, September 10) at this year's Blue Ridge Rock Festival at the Virginia International Raceway in Alton, Virginia. Fan-filmed video of his appearance can be seen below.

Earlier today, MUSHROOMHEAD shared a photo of Dave on stage with MUSHROOMHEAD at Blue Ridge, and included the following message: "Who saw Gravy's return to the MUSHROOMHEAD stage last night at the @blueridgerockfest? #mushroomhead #heygravy #woahskinny".

When one fan asked in the comments below the post if Gravy is "replacing the latest guitarist," MUSHROOMHEAD responded: "No sir! We had 2 guitarists on stage last night."

Dave, the brother of MUSHROOMHEAD founder and drummer/percussionist Steve "Skinny" Felton, was kicked out of the band in 2012. Four years later, Dave told Rock Music Star about his exit from the group: "The [MUSHROOMHEAD] thing is very strange. If you shine too much, it takes away from other people. I think there's insecurity issues there or something. Who knows? You would think he would want to exploit all of the strengths in the band and not the weaknesses, and that's kind of what it seems like they like to do."

Dave went on to call MUSHROOMHEAD "a dictatorship". He explained: "MUSHROOMHEAD isn't a band. There's one person calling all of the shots, and if you start questioning things, or trying to make your mark in a certain way or whatever, it's kind of frowned upon by the guy in charge. So the more you push or the better musician you are — who knows? — maybe you're considered a threat; I don't know. I was kicked out. I didn't do anything wrong except question things."

He added: "I never had a say in anything. I wasn't an original guy. Me and my brother and Jeff were in a band before MUSHROOMHEAD called HATRIX, and that got blown off. They started [MUSHROOMHEAD], and [MUSHROOMHEAD] took off. I was asked to join later, as a hired guy… I'm not an original guy. Actually, it was probably '99-2000 when I got in as a hired guy. And then, they got the deal with Eclipse, and did the first tour opening for W.A.S.P. They couldn't afford to pay me my hired show rate, so they asked me to join the band. So, it was like feast or famine with the band. Now you're a member. But, of course, after I'm out, it's, like, 'Oh, he was just a hired gun.' So, yeah. I'm in the band when it benefits you, but when you want me out because I'm calling you on your bullshit, then I'm a hired gun. Okay, whatever."

A little over two months ago, Skinny said that MUSHROOMHEAD was "stronger than ever" after undergoing its latest round of lineup changes.

Vocalist Jason "J Mann" Popson and samplist Rick "St1tch" Thomas both sat out MUSHROOMHEAD's recent tour, with VENTANA's Scott Beck covering the former's parts live and Aydin Michael filling in for St1tch. Elsewhere, vocalist Jackie LaPonza and guitarist Tom "Tankx" Shaffner have both exited the band, with Joe "Jenkins" Gaal stepping in for the latter.

Skinny addressed the recent personnel shuffles in an interview with Germany's Moshpit Passion. He said: "This is just the current version that we're touring with. COVID came in and changed a lot of people's lives, and some people decided that they didn't wanna do the touring anymore. And we weren't gonna just sit around and wait for people to feel that the world was convenient enough for them.

"We've been trying to put this tour together since we put [the 'A Wonderful Life'] record out — June of 2020," he explained. "So we've been trying to do this for two years. So if people kind of fell off over the course of two years, then that's what happened. So we ended up rebranding the band once again. And it's stronger than ever. And we changed up quite a bit of the material [in the setlist] because of that. We've got abilities now that we simply did not have in the past, as far as touring. So we're totally taking advantage of it."

Vocalist Steve Rauckhorst, who made his recording debut with MUSHROOMHEAD on "A Wonderful Life", stated about how he ended up joining the band: "The funny story about that is the first time I ever came to Europe was with MUSHROOMHEAD. I just wasn't on stage; I was part of the crew. And I have been around the band, one way or another, or at least have heard about it since basically the very beginning. I saw 'em when I was very young.

"It's been really good," he said about his experience singing for MUSHROOMHEAD. "It's felt more like home. It was a really comfortable transition. It went about as well as it possibly could. And it's just kind of a continuance or something, it felt like to me, more than a new beginning or a blatant shift in direction or anything.

"Yeah, [I'm] happy to be here," he added. "[I'm] happy to add whatever I can to it."

MUSHROOMHEAD's eighth album, "A Wonderful Life", was released via Napalm Records. The follow-up to 2014's "The Righteous & The Butterfly" was produced by Skinny and was mixed by Matt Wallace (FAITH NO MORE, 3 DOORS DOWN),also recognized for his work on the band's classic offering "XIII".

"A Wonderful Life" was MUSHROOMHEAD's first album since the March 2018 departures of longtime vocalist Jeff "Jeffrey Nothing" Hatrix and guitarist Tommy Church.

LaPonza previously appeared on "The Righteous & The Butterfly" track "We Are The Truth", as well as the 2015 song "Among The Crows", which appeared on the "Game Of Thrones"-inspired HBO promotional album "Catch The Throne".

In a 2020 interview with The Chronicle, Felton said about Jackie's contributions to MUSHROOMHEAD: "We had female vocalists in the past, so it was a very natural progression to add her into the mix. Before she agreed to do 'The Heresy', I could just totally hear her voice all over it. The natural progression of MUSHROOMHEAD has always been to expect the unexpected.

"One thing people overlook is there's never been the same lineup on any two consecutive records ever in the history of MUSHROOMHEAD. It's kind of cool — every album is definitely a new chapter but in the same book."

Who saw Gravy's return to the Mushroomhead stage last night at the @blueridgerockfest? 🤯 #mushroomhead #heygravy #woahskinny

Posted by MUSHROOMHEAD OFFICIAL on Sunday, September 11, 2022

Fan-filmed video of GHOST's entire September 9 concert at CURE Insurance Arena in Trenton, New Jersey can be seen below.

The band's setlist was as follows:

01. Kaisarion
02. Rats
03. Faith
04. Spillways
05. Devil Church
06. Cirice
07. Hunter's Moon
08. Ritual
09. Call Me Little Sunshine
10. Con Clavi Con Dio
11. Prime Mover
12. Watcher In The Sky
13. Year Zero
14. He Is
15. Miasma
16. Mary On A Cross
17. Mummy Dust
18. Dance Macabre
19. Square Hammer

In a recent interview with AL.com, GHOST mastermind Tobias Forge was asked why his band was able to break through commercially at a time when pop, R&B and rap acts dominate. He replied: "I think there are various reasons. And it all combined in alignment, sort of created the sum of our career. But I think our sound and our way of not writing the same record every time, but still having a signature DNA in it has helped. I think it has helped we have consistently tried to bring a show to the people."

He continued: "It defies logic for a lot of bands, I think, to try to expand beyond their means. But that was aided by the fact that I was the only one that invested and everybody else was paid. [Laughs] If we had people voting on everything, it would not have happened this way. Because I was so determined that, yeah, I want to be what METALLICA was in the '80s, on the '…And Justice For All' tour. That sort of band or like 'Powerslave' with IRON MAIDEN. That sort of fucking theater and playing arenas. And I've always been very, very influenced by PINK FLOYD and THE ROLLING STONES. As much as I'm a sucker and grew up listening to really obscure, very extreme death metal, I also have a huge alignment and childhood love with big-ass arena rock. And in this day and age, especially when rock isn't the flavor of the day, I think it has behooved us that we've sort of moved against the pack. When we were debutantes, it was still that like emo-core going on, and we stood out like a sore thumb. Somehow, we were lucky enough people started embracing us as well, even though we weren't part of any major music movement. Maybe there was a murmur about an underground occult rock thing going on at the time. But that was at such a low level that wouldn't have affected people in general. But then a lot of kudos and credit I must give to [GUNS N' ROSES bassist] Duff McKagan, [METALLICA's] James Hetfield, [PANTERA's] Phil Anselmo, Jerry Cantrell from ALICE IN CHAINS and Dave Grohl [FOO FIGHTERS], of course. All those guys took us on tours. They lifted up the band GHOST, onto their stages and put us in front of a lot of people. Without that, this wouldn't have happened."

GHOST's fifth album, "Impera", sold 70,000 equivalent album units in the U.S. in its first week of release to land at position No. 2 on the Billboard 200 chart. It marked the third top 10 album — and fifth top 40-charting set — for the Swedish act.

"Impera" landed at position No. 1 in Germany and Sweden, No. 2 in the U.K., Netherlands, Belgium and Norway, No. 3 in Australia, No. 5 in France and Ireland, and No. 20 in Italy.

"Impera" was released on March 11. The 12-song effort was produced by Klas Åhlund and mixed by Andy Wallace.

Forge worked on the follow-up to 2018's "Prequelle" with Åhlund and Swedish co-writers Salem Al Fakir and Vincent Pontare, whose credits include Madonna and Lady Gaga.

In March 2020, at final show of GHOST's "Prequelle" tour in Mexico City, Mexico, the band officially introduced Papa Emeritus IV, the new character who is fronting the act for its "Impera" album phase.

Forge performed as a "new" Papa Emeritus on each of the band's first three LPs, with each version of Papa replacing the one that came before it. Papa Emeritus III was retired in favor of Cardinal Copia before the release of "Prequelle".

Fan-filmed video of SHADOWS FALL's September 8 performance at this year's Blue Ridge Rock Festival at the Virginia International Raceway in Alton, Virginia can be seen below.

SHADOWS FALL played its first reunion show last December at The Palladium in Worcester in the band's native Massachusetts. In an interview with the Podioslave Podcast conducted just days after the gig, SHADOWS FALL singer Brian Fair stated about the comeback performance: "It was insane, man. It couldn't have gone any better than we could have hoped for. It was a long time coming. We sort of fizzled out as far as we never had a last big show to kind of head off into the sunset. We still all loved making music together, we all still loved playing shows, but life was just getting in the way. I was about to have my second kid; Paul [Romanko, bass] had already had a kid. It was just getting tough, so we sort of fizzled out. So, over the last few years, we would kind of, every now and then, just float the idea of, like, 'Yeah, we should probably play a show.' But then at five years, we were, like, 'All right. It's been long enough. We really wanna do this.' And we had a date, and we were all systems go, and then COVID happened. Literally, we were gonna announce probably three weeks before the world shut down. Thankfully, we didn't, so we could kind of just, like, 'All right…' It's not like we had to announce it and then retract. And it gave us some more time to really think about what we wanted to do.

"The key was for us we weren't trying to do like a quick throw-and-go, make-some-money-and-just-disappear thing," he explained. "We were, like, 'We want a sick bill that makes sense.' So once we got SWORN ENEMY, DARKEST HOUR and UNEARTH to sign on, we were, like, 'All right. That's where we wanna start. We want bands that make sense that are our crew.' And then we also wanted to get some local, kind of younger bands. Matt [Bachand, rhythm guitar] had been working with CARNIVORA forever. And we knew the WITHIN THE RUINS guys. And we were, like, 'All right, we've got our bill.' We knew it was gonna be at The Palladium before. That was like our backyard; that was like our hometown spot. We played so many metal fests and opened so many great shows [at that venue]."

Fair added: "And then we were, like, 'We also want to be razor-sharp prepared.' We were not known for rehearsing very diligently back in the day. We were kind of a lazy band when it came to practicing. We'd always get halfway through the set and be, like, 'We know 'Destroyer Of Senses'. We don't need to play it again.' And then you realize, 'We probably should have dusted it off.' So we really all focused and practiced like crazy, on our own and then together. And, man, that was probably as good as we've ever sounded. We were super ready. The crowd was incredible. We brought in an awesome crew and great production. We brought in the lights; we did the whole deal. We were, like, 'We're not nickel-and-diming this shit. It's gonna be a fucking party.' And it was, man. It was awesome. My family was out. I had the kids up on stage with me at one point. And Paul's kid came out. They got to see their dads being cool at least once, and not just on YouTube. The vibe was very celebratory. [There] was a crazy pit and people were going nuts, but it wasn't an angry vibe in there at all. It was very welcoming and very humbling as well."

SHADOWS FALL released a statement in August 2014 in which the bandmembers explained that financial difficulties made it virtually impossible for the group to continue as a full-time concern.

In August 2015, SHADOWS FALL played a few reunion shows on the U.S. East Coast, one year after completing what was being billed at the time as the band's "final" European tour.

SHADOWS FALL's latest album, "Fire From The Sky", released in May 2012 via Razor & Tie. The CD sold around 10,000 copies in the United States in its first week of release to debut at position No. 38 on The Billboard 200 chart.

SHADOWS FALL members Jon Donais and Matt Bachand recently launched a new project called LIVING WRECKAGE, in which they are joined by guitarist Matt LeBreton (DOWNPOUR),drummer Jon Morency (LET US PREY) and vocalist Jeff GardDEATH RAY VISION.

According to Billboard, MEGADETH's new album, "The Sick, The Dying... And The Dead!", sold 48,000 equivalent album units in the U.S. in its first week of release to land at position No. 3 on the Billboard 200 chart. It marks the band's eighth top 10-charting album.

The Billboard 200 chart ranks the most popular albums of the week in the U.S. based on multi-metric consumption as measured in equivalent album units. Units comprise album sales, track equivalent albums (TEA) and streaming equivalent albums (SEA). Each unit equals one album sale, or 10 individual tracks sold from an album, or 3,750 ad-supported or 1,250 paid/subscription on-demand official audio and video streams generated by songs from an album.

Of "The Sick, The Dying... And The Dead!"'s 48,000 units earned for the week, album sales comprise 45,000, SEA units comprise 3,000 and TEA units comprise a neglible sum.

MEGADETH's previous top 10 entries on the Billboard 200 were "Countdown to Extinction" (No. 2, 1992),"Youthanasia" (No. 4, 1994),"Cryptic Writings" (No. 10, 1997),"United Abominations" (No. 8, 2007),"Endgame" (No. 9, 2009),"Super Collider" (No. 6, 2013) and "Dystopia" (No. 3, 2016).

"The Sick, The Dying... And The Dead!" arrived on September 2 via UMe. The LP consolidates a furious return to form that began with the Grammy-winning "Dystopia", while pushing forward musically and marking frontman Dave Mustaine's recent triumph over throat cancer. Reuniting Dave with co-producer Chris Rakestraw (DANZIG, PARKWAY DRIVE),who together helmed 2016's "Dystopia", the album was recorded at Mustaine's home studio in Nashville, Tennessee, with guitarist Kiko Loureiro and drummer Dirk Verbeuren. Bassist Steve DiGiorgio temporarily stepped in to record the album. With the kick-off of MEGADETH's recent tour, MEGADETH alumnus James LoMenzo rejoined the MEGADETH family as permanent bass player.

Featuring some of Mustaine's strongest songwriting while also incorporating writing from the rest of the band, "The Sick, The Dying… And The Dead!" brings together everything that's exhilarating and distinctive about MEGADETH. From the blistering throwback fury of "Night Stalkers" and first single "We'll Be Back", to the more mid-tempo and melodic "Soldier On!" and the very personal title track, with its enthralling twists and turns. "The Sick, The Dying… And The Dead!" also features a cover of DEAD KENNEDYS' "Police Truck" and Sammy Hagar's "This Planet's On Fire", the latter of which includes vocals from Hagar himself.

"The Sick, The Dying… And The Dead!" melds the ultra-frenetic riffing, fiercely intricate solos, and adventurous spirit the quartet are known for, all laced with signature virtuosity and precision and Mustaine's singular sardonic snarl. This album combines all the crushing musical motifs that have made MEGADETH both repeat metal disruptors and revered genre flagbearers.

Regarding Hagar's contribution to "This Planet's On Fire", Mustaine told SiriusXM's "Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk": "It's a super-heavy song. And the good thing about this [is] we didn't just do the song; [Sammy] played on it too. So we've got a little bit of some guitar; we've got a lot of bit of singing. I think it's super badass."

As for MEGADETH's decision to cover "Police Truck", Mustaine said: "It's no secret I'm a big DEAD KENNEDYS fan, and I had wanted to do 'Holiday In Cambodia', but my friends in LÄÄZ ROCKIT had done that, and I felt that [I would] just let them have their glory off of that rendition of that song, and if the time comes, I'm sure there's another song that'll stick out to me. And there was — it was the song 'Police Truck'. So we recorded that one."

Earlier this year, Mustaine confirmed that DiGiorgio laid down the bass tracks on "The Sick, The Dying… And The Dead!"

There had been speculation about DiGiorgio's involvement in the new MEGADETH LP since July 2021, based on a Cameo video Mustaine recorded in which he offered the first glimpse of the bassist that re-recorded David Ellefson's bass tracks on the latest MEGADETH effort.

DiGiorgio is widely renowned as a pioneer on the fretless bass in heavy metal music, having played with TESTAMENT, DEATH and SADUS, among others. Within his genre, Steve is respected for his playing skills, versatility and incredible technique. He has more than 40 studio album recordings and over 20 years of touring the world.

In May, MEGADETH announced LoMenzo as a permanent member of the band. LoMenzo was MEGADETH's bass player in the mid-2000s and recently stepped back in as a touring member for "The Metal Tour Of The Year".

LoMenzo joined MEGADETH in 2006 and appeared on two of the group's studio albums, 2007's "United Abominations" and 2009's "Endgame". He was fired from the band in 2010 and replaced with returning original MEGADETH bassist Ellefson.

In addition to MEGADETH, LoMenzo has played with Ozzy Osbourne, Zakk Wylde and WHITE LION. For nine years, LoMenzo had also performed with iconic rocker John Fogerty.

LoMenzo played his first show with MEGADETH in nearly 12 years in August 2021 in Austin, Texas. The concert took place three months following Ellefson's dismissal from MEGADETH after sexually tinged messages and explicit video footage involving him were posted on Twitter.

Ellefson laid down his bass tracks on MEGADETH's sixteenth LP in May 2020 at a studio in Nashville, Tennessee.

In June 2021, Mustaine announced during an episode of his Gimme Radio program "The Dave Mustaine Show" that Ellefson's bass tracks would not be used on the new MEGADETH LP.

Ellefson was in MEGADETH from the band's inception in 1983 to 2002, and again from 2010 until his latest departure.
Billboard 200: #3(new) @Megadeth, The Sick, the Dying… and the Dead! 48,000 [3.6 million on-demand streams | 45,000 pure sales].

— chart data (@chartdata) September 11, 2022

King Crimson founder Robert Fripp and his singer wife, Toyah Willcox, have shared a special video in honour of Queen Elizabeth II, who passed away on September 8th at the age of 96. They perform a cover of David Bowie's "Heroes". Watch below.


"Toyah Willcox and Robert Fripp wish to extend condolences to the Royal Family, and respect the dedication HRH Elizabeth II showed her country during her unprecedented reign. The Sunday Lunch series is paused to play "Heroes" in acknowledgement of the passing of Her Majesty the Queen."







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

Germany’s cult thrashers Necronomicon are currently busy recording their 11th as-yet-untitled studio album. Freddy, the band's frontman and vocalist, has issued the following update:


"Rhythm guitars are now recorded and last Friday we started with the drum recording before we'll prepare for our European tour. The cover artwork is also in progress and will be finished by the end of September, as will the album. Glen will join us next week so we will be all together then. Can‘t wait to be on stage with the  guys again."


The album is produced by Necronomicon. Mixing and mastering will be handled by Achim Köhler.




Freddy's previous update was as follows:


"The album includes 13 songs full of power and hardness. A wide spectrum from typical thrash metal versions over punk-heavy versions to driving midtempo songs. As the world is becoming to resemble the H.P. Lovecraft’s Necronomicon (Book of Dead) we have decided to deal with the current situation in Ukraine and in general with the topic of war and violence against children and women. Musically, I would like to tie in with The Final Chapter and deliver a wide range of song material which also means a new beginning, a new chapter of the band with Rik and Glen at the same time. Stay tuned!"


Necronomicon recently announced their The Final Chapter Tour 2022 over Europe, kicking off on September 23rd in Berlin, Germany. The main support for the duration of the tour comes from 3000AD, and on select dates Strident and Stonecast. See the confirmed shows and details below along with a tour trailer.

Former EXODUS vocalist Rob Dukes rejoined his bandmates on stage this past Friday (September 9) at Van Buren in Phoenix, Arizona to perform the group's classic song "The Toxic Waltz". Dukes shared lead vocals with current EXODUS singer Steve "Zetro" Souza on the track, which originally appeared on EXODUS's third album, 1989's "Fabulous Disaster". Fan-filmed video of the performance can be seen below.

The San Francisco Bay Area thrash metal legends in June 2014 announced the departure of Dukes and the return of Souza, who previously fronted EXODUS from 1986 to 1993 and from 2002 to 2004.

Dukes addressed his current relationship with EXODUS in a June 2022 interview with Scott Penfold of the "Loaded Radio" podcast. He said: "When EXODUS fired me, it took me about a year to not be angry about it. It was unexpected — I didn't see it coming — and it was a hard time in life. I'd just moved; I'd just gotten married. It was a heavy burden. And it took me a while. And about a year later, after Gary [Holt, EXODUS guitarist] called me and we spoke, they flew me up to San Francisco and I sat down with them. And we laid it out on the table. And it made it better — just to clear the wreckage of that. And I moved on with my life, and they moved on with their life. I did one show with them — I did a few songs up in San Francisco — and then I just started living my life."

Dukes went on to say that he no longer dwells on the negative circumstances surrounding his departure from EXODUS.

"[EXODUS] was definitely a part of my life, but I don't rely on it," he said. "So I just move forward. But our friendship is good, man. I went up there to see… After Tom [Hunting, EXODUS drummer] got sick [with cancer in early 2021], we were talking the entire time and I was aware of his situation. And then when the time was right, after he had done some chemo sessions and was feeling a little better, I flew up and spent a couple of days with Tom. And I saw Gary, and I went and had lunch with Lee [Altus, EXODUS guitarist].

"Look, man, we lived together for 10 years. That bond is very difficult to break," Rob explained. "Especially when the reason I got fired, it wasn't personal; it was business. I took it personally in the beginning. But this is a harsh business, man, and there's a lot of fucking snakes out there and there's a lot of weird people who want their little piece. And it's kind of what happened. It was just business. Looking back on it, it was all for the best."

Three years after he was fired from EXODUS, Dukes performed with the band during a July 2017 concert in San Francisco, California. He sang several songs with the group on the second of EXODUS's two-night stint at The Chapel in what marked the band's first headlining Bay Area club shows since late 2013.

Dukes joined EXODUS in January 2005 and appeared on four of the band's studio albums — "Shovel Headed Kill Machine" (2005),"The Atrocity Exhibition... Exhibit A" (2007),"Let There Be Blood" (2008, a re-recording of EXODUS's classic 1985 LP, "Bonded By Blood") and "Exhibit B: The Human Condition" (2010).

Rob previously discussed his split with EXODUS during a December 2020 pay-per-view video conversation with Souza, recorded earlier that month at Zetro's studio in the San Francisco Bay Area as part of Souza's "Zetro's Toxic Vault" YouTube interview series. At the time, Dukes said that the seed for his exit from EXODUS was planted during the songwriting and pre-production sessions for the band's 2014 album "Blood In Blood Out". "One night, before a show, me, Lee, Tom and Jack [Gibson, drums] were sitting, and we said, 'You know, we should do this [album] different. We should do this one where we actually rehearse together and we go through the songs like a band would do 'em in the old days' — go through 'em and maybe pick apart parts, maybe make 'em better, do it that way," he said. "[I thought it was] a great plan; I agreed. I come home, fly back out a couple of weeks later and everything is done. They're doing the drums, but Jack is doing the engineering, and [longtime British producer] Andy [Sneap] is not doing the vocals. And at that time, nothing against Jack — I love Jack — but the difference was, working with Andy, I didn't have to sing the whole line all the way through over and over again. Jack wasn't able to, at this time, edit in a word if I fucked up; I had to start all over. And the dissent had started with me. I felt a lot of the songs were very repetitious.

"Now, I could have just kept my mouth shut and just went along with it if I wanted to keep my job, even though it wouldn't have mattered, because the business decisions, I think, were being made behind the scenes with Metal Maria and Chuck [Billy, TESTAMENT singer]. I, actually, in front of everyone, challenged Chuck. 'Cause Chuck was now managing the band. We're halfway through the record, and they said, 'Well, Chuck's gonna manage the band.' I go, 'You don't see that as a conflict of interest — a little bit?' And I said this to Chuck, to his face. I said, 'You're telling me, if you get an opportunity, you're not gonna have TESTAMENT [take the gig]; you're gonna give EXODUS the gig? Get the fuck outta here, dude! I wouldn't do that, so I know you're not gonna do that.' He's, like, 'I wouldn't do that.' I go, 'You're not being honest with me. You're not being honest with yourself.' And it caused, like, a thing. And everyone was mad at me, 'cause the boys don't like confrontation. And it wasn't the songs. The songs were the songs. I thought 'BTK' was killer. Dude, you did 'BTK' awesome," he said, complimenting Zetro. "There were certain things about it. I don't wanna shit on it, but some of it just seemed regurgitated. I was, like, 'This song sounds like that song,' and, 'This song sounds like this song,' and it started to weigh on me. Like I said, I could have just kept my mouth shut and just played the game and not rocked the boat, but it wasn't my nature. My nature was, 'No, man. We're better than this. We need to top ourselves over the last thing we did,' and I didn't feel like it was doing that — I felt like it was actually declining a little bit, in my eyes, from my position. But it didn't mean that I didn't give everything I had — I gave everything I had on vocals — but Jack was beating me up, because I was constantly not able to… Especially with some of the timing stuff — you've never done it before, and now you're expected to do it forever. This is the CD, man — this is forever."

Explaining why he was angry for such a long time about his dismissal from EXODUS, Dukes said: "Look, man, [I was] 47 years old [at the time]. I got married five days before. And you fucking fire me. If I was by myself, if I was just me, I would have been okay with it. I was responsible for another human being. I just moved my entire life from my comfortable New York upbringing to a place [in Arizona] where I know one person, and I don't even know him that well; I know him from touring and watching him when I was a kid. I knew Roger Miret from AGNOSTIC FRONT; it's the only guy I knew [in Arizona].

"I remember telling my wife, 'We're gonna be okay. It's fine. We're fine. I'll sell my car. And that'll get us, like, a year rent, and we'll be okay. I'll figure it out. We'll be okay.' But in my head, I was fucking terrified," he admitted. "And I felt like [the EXODUS guys] took something from me that I earned, that I deserved. But I was looking at it wrong. I didn't deserve anything. I didn't earn anything. I was grateful to be there. And I tried to do the right thing. I remember writing a statement and putting it out there. I was grateful — I was grateful for going to over a hundred countries in my lifetime, playing in front of the millions of people that I got to play over 10 years. I was grateful for every opportunity that was given to me; I was honestly grateful. But also, I was angry, and I had every right to be angry. But I wasn't able to see it for what it was until a year later — it took me a year."

Dukes said that he wishes he had been more vocal in the earlier stages of the making of "Blood In Blood Out", particularly as it relates to EXODUS's choice of producer for the sessions.

"The truth was that my part in it, had I been honest from the beginning and I had said — 'cause there were times when I didn't wanna rock the boat — 'We are making fucking mistakes. And if you guys all wanna go to this next level that you all talk about, then let's put our fucking money where our mouth is and change it the way we're doing it,'" he said. "You've done it this way all this time and you've always gotten what you got. But if you change the game… Nothing against Andy, but if we bring in Colin Richardson, bring in fucking Zeuss [Chris Harris], bring in somebody [from] outside the game who had his own ideas of looking at things and maybe corral some of the chaotic stuff that was going on. And maybe go, 'You know what? The song does sound like that song. Maybe we should fucking take this riff…' Let producers do what they do… I thought it would have been awesome for somebody like Colin Richardson or Zeuss to come in and take Gary Holt [EXODUS guitarist and main songwriter] and sit him down and go, 'This is awesome. But we can make this better. Let's try this and try that.' And that's what the plan originally was."

Looking back on how his split with EXODUS went down, Rob said during the "Zetro's Toxic Vault" chat that he was "glad that everything worked out the way it did. And I was glad that Gary called me a year later and I spoke with him," he said. "And he was legitimately sorry; I knew he was. And he said, 'I want you to come to San Francisco.' And then I was, like, 'Well, how does Zet feel?' And he goes, 'It was Zet's idea.'"

Dukes also addressed the speculation that his substandard vocals on an early version of "Blood In Blood Out" were proof that he wasn't sufficiently inspired to deliver the goods on the album. "That assumption has been said to me a bunch of times," he said. "Even Lee has said, he goes, 'Your heart wasn't in it.' And my ego, which I don't have a big ego — it's not like I'm an egotistical dick — but I can tell you that when I was on the microphone, I was giving my best, I was giving all I had. What I felt inside was that the songs weren't as good. To me, they felt rushed. I felt some of the lyrics felt rushed.

"Me and Gary look at music very differently, and I think that's why we kind of worked," he continued. "Gary will write the lyrics before he writes the music, and he fits it in, where I write the music, write the melody and then fill in the words to the melody.

"It's hard to say it without sounding like a dick, but it was very… I remember singing one song and going, 'Dude, this is that other song.' And then, hearing the lead, going, 'That's the lead from that other song.' And I think that alone, trying to take my ego out of it, maybe my heart wasn't it. I wish that it was.

"At the moment, I knew I was giving all I could, but the factors against me was I didn't think the material was as strong as what we had already done," Dukes added. "I wanted it to be better. It's like setting bar for yourself and then not giving at least that measure. And then I thought that, as much as I love Jack, he wasn't Andy Sneap. And working with Andy, there was something to working with Andy that pulls it out of me.

"I remember talking to [Rob] Halford about it, 'cause [Andy recorded] Halford with PRIEST. He made me do fucking 10 fucking takes of each line. When you do 10 takes of each line, and then he fucking pieces them together. And then you get back something and you're, like, 'Wow, that's the way I sang that, huh? Cool.' No, it wasn't. It was the way Andy put it together. And then, all of a sudden, now you have a template. 'Well, now I'm gonna do that live, 'cause that's better.' 'Cause Andy knew what the fuck he was doing. But now you're just leaving it to me raw. And I thought not having Andy there for the vocals made me mad — not mad; it just made me a little disheartened, I guess. Because working for two albums with Andy, I knew what to expect. No matter what template I was given, I knew that Andy was gonna make me do it the right way. And when we were doing it, it wasn't that."

Dukes still resides in Arizona, where he works as a mechanic specializing in car restoration.

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Drummer Phil Varone (Saigon Kick, Skid Row, Vince Neil, Red Dragon Cartel) introduces his new band, Panic Boom, with the following message:


"Well, well, well... It's been a while...


It's been a busy few months, to say the least, but I'm excited to report that my new band Panic Boom - debut album release titled Twenty Eight - comes out on October 28th.




The album was produced & mixed by my Saigon Kick, Panic Boom bandmate Chris McLernon.


I just finished directing and editing the video for the new single 'Keep It To Myself', coming September 28th. ( are you feeling the 28 themes yet? )


On a personal note: I couldn't be more proud of this record. The songs, the sound, the playing, and most importantly, the friendship. I formed this band in 1994 with my best friends, and 28 years later the band is made up of the same best friends. Chris McLernon, Randy Christopher Bates, Sean Martin, and Tony Cortese.


I think you guys are going to dig it... For all info on the band, and to get a sneak peek at songs and videos, go to PanicBoomBand.com.


No matter what we argue about, no matter the differences we have, the common bond will always be music! And there's nothing like some good new music to bond over... Peace, Love, and Mucho Respect."


Listen to "Revolution" by Panic Boom:








 



 

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

Baltes made his live debut with U.D.O. earlier tonight (Friday, September 9) in Berlin, Germany. Fan-filmed video can be seen below.

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

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

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

"We love you Tilen! Get well soon!"

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

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

"Yesterday my body gave in on stage.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"METAL Lives!"

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

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

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

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

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

U.D.O. - Princess of the Dawn

Das ich das nochmal erleben darf: Udo DIRKSCHNEIDER + Peter Baltes zusammen auf einer Bühne!

Posted by Rock City Radio Show Berlin on Friday, September 9, 2022



U.D.O. Live in Berlin

Posted by Obi Zabka on Friday, September 9, 2022

Dear Fans,

As you may already have heard, last night Tilen Hudrap, our Bass Player & invaluable member of the U.D.O….

Posted by U.D.O. on Monday, September 5, 2022

Posted by U.D.O. on Tuesday, August 23, 2022

Unfortunately, U.D.O.'s bass player Tilen Hudrap can't continue to play on the group's current "Game Over" tour. GET...

Posted by Atomic Fire Records on Wednesday, September 7, 2022

On August 14th, British death metal legends Benediction performed at the 2022 edition of Belgium's Alcatraz Metal Festival. Professionally-filmed video of the band's full set can be found below.


Setlist:


"Divine Ultimatum" (instrumental)
"Iterations of I"
"Scriptures in Scarlet"
"Nightfear"
"Progenitors of a New Paradigm"
"Unfound Mortality"
"The Dreams You Dread"
"Stormcrow"
"Magnificat"