For the first time ever, MINISTRY has an official music video for the eternal hit "Every Day Is Halloween". Originally released in 1984, Al Jourgensen's rally cry for the goth community and misunderstood creatures of the night has remained a cult classic over the decades and is finally being given the visual treatment it deserves.

Says Jourgensen: "I'm amazed and honored that folks are still listening to this song 40 years on. Fly that freak flag proudly."

"Every Day is Halloween" is one of the cuts on the "The Squirrely Years Revisited" album, out now via Cleopatra Records, that sees Jourgensen making peace with the past. After the incredible reception to MINISTRY's "With Sympathy And Twitch"-heavy set at Cruel World 2024, Jourgensen decided it was time to reexamine his long-dormant synth pop hits and give them a fresh polish 40 years later.

Featuring nine tracks (three additional bonus tracks on CD),"The Squirrely Years Revisited" offers reworked versions of not only "Every Day Is Halloween", but also "Work For Love", "I'm Not An Effigy" and "I'll Do Anything For You".

"The Squirrely Years Revisited" follows the release of MINISTRY's 16th studio album in 2024, "Hopiumforthemasses", and comes ahead of the final new studio album from MINISTRY in 2026, a record that has Jourgensen teaming up with Paul Barker once again.

"The Squirrely Years Revisited" is available in all formats, including digital, CD and four different vinyl configurations. The full track listing includes:

01. Work For Love
02. Here We Go
03. All Day
04. Every Day Is Halloween
05. Revenge
06. I'm Not An Effigy
07. I'm Falling
08. Same Old Madness
09. I'll Do Anything For You
10. Just Like You [CD only]
11. We Believe [CD only]
12. Over The Shoulder [CD only]

To celebrate the album and the new-old era of MINISTRY, the band — also including John Bechdel (keyboards),Monte Pittman and Cesar Soto (guitars),Pepe Clarke Magaña (drums) and Paul D'Amour (bass) — will embark on "The Squirrely Years" tour beginning April 29, with a set dominated by Jourgensen's earliest works. Opening support will come from MINISTRY's old-school comrades, including NITZER EBB for the first half of the tour, MY LIFE WITH THE THRILL KILL KULT for the second half of the tour; and DIE KRUPPS on all dates.

Born in 1981 in Chicago, MINISTRY has been the lifetime passion project of founder Al Jourgensen, considered to be the pioneer of industrial music. In its early days, MINISTRY was identifiable by its heavy synth-pop material in line with the new sounds and technology that were being developed in the '80s. MINISTRY's output began with four 12-inch singles on Wax Trax! Records in 1981 before the first LP, "With Sympathy", in 1983 via Arista Records. As time progressed however, so did MINISTRY, quickly developing a harsher, and more stylized sound that the band soon became infamous for on seminal albums "Twitch" (1986),"The Land Of Rape And Honey" (1988) and "The Mind Is A Terrible Thing To Taste" (1989). With the release of "Psalm 69: The Way To Succeed And The Way To Suck Eggs" (1992),MINISTRY hit an all-time high in the mainstream musical realm and received its first Grammy nomination. In total, MINISTRY has been nominated for a Grammy Award six times. Eight more albums would follow before an indefinite break in 2013, only to be unearthed again in 2018 with "AmeriKKKant", continuing to reflect Jourgensen's views on the frightening state of society and politics. The 2021 album "Moral Hygiene" marked a new creative era of Jourgensen and the band.

MINISTRY's 16th studio album, "Hopiumforthemasses", was released March 1, 2024 via Nuclear Blast Records.

Photo credit: Derick Smith

Vocalist Lou Koller of New York hardcore legends SICK OF IT ALL, who recently underwent chemotherapy after being diagnosed with an esophageal tumor, has shared a new video message in which he said: " How you doing, everybody? A little update for you. I haven't done one in a while because there's really not much to tell. I'm in the healing stage, as they say. It's about five or six weeks out from the chemo, my last chemo, and I'm doing pretty good, much better than last month. I feel a lot better than last month, but I'm still dealing with a lot of the side effects, as in my fingers are still numb, my feet are numb, my taste buds don't work right. I think now I can taste salty stuff and really bitter things. Everything else is bland. Other than that, I'm trying to gain weight. I'm down 30 pounds. That's not good for me. I've been trying to gain it, but with my new stomach shape, and it's still healing, it's going really slow. I'm not really gaining weight, but I'm trying. I thought that would be the easiest part — just stuff your face. But I can't."

He continued: "Anyway, other than that, I'm doing pretty good. I'm still sleeping a lot. Trying to break that. Trying to get my energy up. All those things are good.

"No word yet from the doctors. I get the full scan in May to find out if I'm completely cancer free. So we will see.

"Thank you for all the support again, and all your messages," he added. "It's good to hear from everybody and hopefully soon, soon I'll have some good news for you. Other than that, the band's doing okay. Everybody's doing their own thing. Trying to stay alive. Pete's [Koller, SICK OF IT ALL guitarist and Lou's brother] been writing a lot of music. We're gonna get together during the spring and summertime to try to hammer out some new songs. I have to try to sing too, which I might be trying this weekend.

"Anyway, thank you very much, and good to see all of you and hear from you. And take care."

A benefit concert supporting Koller's ongoing battle with esophageal cancer was held on November 23, 2024 at Irving Plaza in New York City. The "I'm In The Fight With Lou" event featured performances by VISION OF DISORDER, LIFE OF AGONY and MUNICIPAL WASTE, as well as veteran New York hardcore acts KILLING TIME and CROWN OF THORNZ. Notably, it marked VISION OF DISORDER's first live appearance since 2018. It was also LIFE OF AGONY's first show since the band's singer Keith Caputo — who came out as transgender and assumed the name Mina Caputo in 2011 — announced that he had "cured" his gender dysphoria and was planning to "physically completely detransition" in 2025 before officially changing his name back to Keith Caputo.

After Lou went public in late June 2024 with the news that doctors discovered a cancerous tumor in his esophagus, his brother Pete set up a GoFundMe campaign to help cover some of the costs of his cancer treatment and assist with living expenses while the group is off the road and unable to tour. That campaign has since raised more than $300,000, with fellow artists AFI, RANCID and DROPKICK MURPHYS contributing $5,000 apiece, and bands such as SNAPCASE and HOT WATER MUSIC also making generous donations.

The long-running New York Hardcore band subsequently canceled its previously announced European tour dates.

When Lou first posted about the diagnosis on social media, he said: "[Doctors] found a tumor in my esophagus that goes into my stomach, and I'll have to be getting treatment all summer — and of course, with full support of the band. As soon as they heard it, they were, like, 'Forget the tour. Just get healthy.' … They're all behind me staying home and us staying home."

Koller ended the message by saying: "I'll hopefully beat this thing and see you at the end of the summer … or maybe the winter."

SICK OF IT ALL's European tour was supposed to kick off in the Czech Republic on July 4, 2024.

SICK OF IT ALL's latest album, "Wake The Sleeping Dragon!", was released in November 2018 via Century Media.

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AEROSMITH bassist Tom Hamilton's new band CLOSE ENEMIES will release its third single, "Sweet Baby Jesus", on April 11 via TLG|ROCK, distributed through Virgin Music Group.

Joining the 73-year-old Hamilton in the new group his bass tech Trace Foster, who plays guitar in CLOSE ENEMIES alongside Peter Stroud, who has been playing with Sheryl Crow for 25 years. CLOSE ENEMIES' drummer is Tony Brock, who had a band called THE BABYS and then played with Rod Stewart for 12 years. Fronting CLOSE ENEMIES is Chasen Hampton, a performer from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma with a strong background in the country music scene. CLOSE ENEMIES is also working with "a great lyricist" named Gary Stier.

Upcoming CLOSE ENEMIES shows:

June 12 - Ludlow Garage - Cincinnati, OH
June 13 -Hobart Art Theatre - Hobart, IN
June 14 - The Token Lounge - Westland, MI
August 28 - Iroquois Ampitheater - Louisville, KY (w/ Tom Keifer & L.A. GUNS)
August 29 - The Arcada Theatre - St. Charles, IL (w/ WINGER)
August 30 - The Sonnentag - Eau Claire, WI (w/ Tom Keifer & L.A. GUNS)
October 2 - Riviera Theatre - North Tonawanda, NY (w/ Tom Keifer)
October 4 - Daryl's House Club - Pawling, NY
October 10 - Six String Grill & Stage - Foxborough, MA
November 7 - The Guild Theatre - Menlo Park, CA
November 8 - Goldfield Trading Post - Roseville, CA
November 14 - The Coach House - San Juan Capistrano, CA
November 15 - Whisky A Go Go - Hollywood, CA

Last month, CLOSE ENEMIES released its second single, "Inside Out". A month earlier, CLOSE ENEMIES released its debut single, "Sound Of A Train", garnering overwhelming praise from both fans and the press.

Foster and Stroud recently spoke to the "Is Breakfast Included?" podcast about how the band came together two years ago. Peter said in part: "I'm sure each of us have our own perspective. It was sort of in layers. Trace and I had already been working on another band project, trying to get something off the ground, and then just out of the blue — I think it was at the when an AEROSMITH tour had to go on a hiatus — apparently Tom and Trace had been speaking where Tom said, 'Man, I got all these songs I would love to try to do something with,' and the light bulb goes off in Trace's head, and he goes, 'I know just the guy to come up, and maybe we can get together and help you with that.' So he asked if I'd be interested in going up there and just jamming around, and I said, 'Yeah, well, I think I know just the drummer who would be into it.' And that was Tony Brock, who's a longtime buddy of mine. And we had always been trying to figure out some way to play together. And I figured that Tony and Tom might find some common ground and a good comfort zone playing-wise. So that was sort of the initial get-together."

Trace added: "I had this other band, and I thought we're riding around in a van, doing shows and not making any money. And I'm, like, if I'm gonna do this, I need to up my game, because at our age to be driving around in a van, not to make any money… So I called Peter. Why not? Why not start there? I just thought we could add him to the band I was already in. And then we did it. And it started to work really well. And then, of course, like every other band that you've been in in your life, somebody does something wrong and they're out of the band. Me and Peter were, like, 'This isn't worth it. Let's just wait.' And then, like he said, we started putting this other project together, 'cause we did all kinds of writing and we got the guy from Atlanta, Gary Stier, that was in my original band in Atlanta. I started writing with him, and then I brought Peter in. Peter knows Gary, of course. So the band that I was in in Atlanta all knew Peter, but I didn't so that's the weird thing. And then it just kind of went from there. Everybody's schedule didn't always jibe, and we just tried to make it work, and then we were in Las Vegas with AEROSMITH and I literally went, 'Man, we really gotta do something.' And then I just looked at Tom, and it was one of those moments where you go, 'This is the guy. He's asking for some help,' and this and that. I just walked up and I said, 'Hey…' I didn't ask him. I basically told Tom, I said, 'Hey, we're gonna come to Boston and work on your songs.' And he was, like, 'Well, let me think about that.' And then like an hour later, he was, like, 'I think that's a really good idea.' So that's how it started. And once Tom and Tony played together, it was pretty much a given."

Peter continued: "That was a great five days. I loved it, too, where Trace suggested to Tom, 'Hey, why don't we come up for a couple days, two or three days?', and he goes, 'How about five?' First he was, like, 'Well, let me think about it.' He was like, 'How about five? You guys wanna move up here?' I was, like, 'Man, there you go. I said, 'That's a reflection of somebody who knows hard work right there.'"

CLOSE ENEMIES made its live debut on October 11, 2024 at Eastside Bowl in Nashville, Tennessee.

In a recent interview with Ultimate Classic Rock, Tom said about CLOSE ENEMIES' debut gig: "I was a little bit nervous, you know. But that feeling, it energizes you. It doesn't hold you back. It makes you want to dive in deeper and deeper."

Speaking to AARP, Tom described Hampton as "a gifted singer who really made the songs come to life."

"When I joined, these guys had worked up a bunch of great songs, and I was able to contribute something I had," the bassist continued. "Hopefully, when the time comes, we'll work up some others I've had in my pocket for a while. All of these guys are great musicians, and it's an honor and a challenge to be part of it all. I'm looking forward to seeing how people like it. I think they'll be pleasantly amazed."

The members of AEROSMITH made the announcement that they were retiring from touring on August 2, 2024 — nearly one year after singer Steven Tyler fractured his larynx during a September 2023 show.

The "Peace Out" tour came to a halt after what turned out to be a final gig in Elmont, New York on September 9, 2023. That show came just three dates into the trek, which was supposed to last through February 2024. Tyler said in a statement at the time that the injury caused bleeding but that he hoped he and his AEROSMITH bandmates would be back on the road after postponing a few shows.

The rescheduled "Peace Out" tour was due to begin September 20, 2024 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, with special guests THE BLACK CROWES.

Photo credit: Rick Diamond (courtesy of O'Donnell Media Group)

In a new interview with La Hora Del Vértigo By Stairway To Rock, legendary Swedish guitarist Yngwie Malmsteen once again explained why he chooses not to partner with other musicians, preferring instead to handle most of the lead vocals and production duties on his albums himself. He said in part (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "First of all, I like to make something very clear to people like you — no offense — you writers. Some of you people have misunderstood what I am, what I'm doing, what I'm all about.

"When I grew up in Sweden — I'm not gonna get into it, really, but it was a very unhospitable environment for aspiring musicians, so to speak," the 61-year-old musician explained. "It wasn't considered to have a real job if you were a musician, composer or whatever. So, I felt not at home there. In any event, at a very early age, I started playing music. I grew up in a classically trained family, and I was surrounded by classical music and jazz and everything like this, and I wanted to play rock and roll. I got my first guitar when I was five years old, and I started playing when I was seven, and from the point I was seven years old, I never stopped. So I started bands when I was like eight, nine, ten years old. But they weren't really bands. I'll give you a good example. I was in third grade. I said to a kid in class, 'Hey, on Friday, we have a gig.' 'Oh yeah? What do you mean?' 'You've gotta play drums.' 'I don't play drums.' 'I'm gonna teach you how to play drums.' 'I don't have any drums.' 'It's okay. I've got drums.' That Friday we played a gig. I was eight years old. I was playing with an amp and feedback and shit, and this guy was just holding down the beat. From that day on forward, I've been the writer, the lead guitar player, the lead singer — everything. I had 10 million different bass players and drummers. This is in Sweden. I can't get anywhere in Sweden. I get offered to come to America. I joined a 'band' called STEELER. Then I formed a 'band' called ALCATRAZZ. Then in January 1984 — I like to point this out; in January 1984 — I signed a solo artist deal [as] Yngwie J Malmsteen. That's it. Now, all of these people that have been in and out of my projects seem to think they have something to do with it. They don't. They don't. It doesn't matter who's singing my songs. It doesn't matter who's playing the bass or the keyboard or the drums. It doesn't matter. It's like saying that the third violinist in the Czech Philharmonic [orchestra] is important for Vivaldi's violin concertos. So I'd like to point out, from day one I was a solo artist. I joined a 'band' for two weeks in 1983. I formed a band for about a year, and then I was solo artist again, like this. Pit stop."

Elaborating on why he finds it so difficult to collaborate with other people on his solo albums and live performances, Malmsteen said: "If you want to, you [can] call me a control freak. Go ahead. Call me that all day long. Guilty as charged. I decide when the smoke machine goes off. I decide what light colors are gonna be in the front truss of the lighting. I decide exactly what's gonna be the intro, what's gonna not be the intro. I construct the whole show, the whole thing, every night."

He added: "Music is an art form. So is painting. So is writing books. Now, the way Leonardo da Vinci and people like that, the way they approached their art, it's more akin to what I do. I don't paint half the painting and I call someone, 'Hey, can you come and help me paint the rest of the painting?' That's just the way as an artist I am, I'm thinking closer to a classical composer or a painter. And it's nothing to do with that I don't like other people or that I don't want to be with other people. It's just that I have such a perfect idea.

"Guys, remember this: I've been doing this for almost 50 years," Yngwie added. "A long time. And I'm still doing it. And I'm not stopping now. And the reason for this is I had a vision that goes like this [places his hands close to each other]. And everybody was saying, 'Do this, do that, do this. You should do this. This is the most thing in.'

"When I grew up in Sweden, all I heard from people was, 'Oh, you're never gonna make it. You're gonna be shit. Oh, what do you think you're gonna do with that?' I was playing neoclassical rock then. 1978, I can show you a tape [from then] when I [was] playing neoclassical stuff — really hard metal stuff. But in Sweden, they were laughing at me.

"The thing is that that's the way I am. I'm not saying there's anything wrong with what other people do. I'm just saying that for me, I have such a clear vision of what I wanna have in my head already…

"Listen, everybody has to find their own way. Like [John] Lennon and [Paul] McCartney. Come on. You know what I mean? This is beautiful, when people do this. That's just not my way. I'm not saying it's bad or good. It's just people are different and that's how I work."

As previously reported, Yngwie will release a new live album, "Tokyo Live", on April 25 via Music Theories Recordings. The concert was recorded at the Zepp DiverCity, Tokyo on May 11, 2024 as part of Yngwie's 40th-anniversary world tour.

Malmsteen's breathtaking technique takes center stage of the 100-minute concert while being cocooned by exquisite musicianship throughout. The setlist tracks Malmsteen's illustrious career, from "Hiroshima Mon Amour" and "Evil Eye" and through his remarkable solo career with "Rising Force", "Far Beyond The Sun", "Arpeggios From Hell" and "Seventh Sign" all the way up to his most recent material taken from 2021's "Parabellum", with "Wolves At The Door", "Relentless Fury", "(Si Vis Pacem) Parabellum", not to mention rousing renditions of "Paganini's 4th" and "Smoke On The Water".

Only four of the songs on "Parabellum" featured vocals. The album title is Latin, translating as "Prepare For War".

After working with some of the top hard singers of the past four decades, Yngwie now handles much of the lead vocals himself in his own band, backed by a lineup that includes keyboardist Nick Marino, bassist Emilio Martinez and drummer Kevin Klingenschmid.

The name of Yngwie Malmsteen has always stood for uncompromising excellence. In a career that now spans more than 40 years he has proven himself to be a unique artist. You can try to categorize him in any way you wish. But the manner in which this supreme Swedish craftsman has continually developed his music makes Malmsteen sublimely transcend any definition you attempt to impose.

He now has a catalogue of 22 solo studio albums, each of which has much to commend. Malmsteen's artistry has always clearly incorporated a healthy virtuosity, but his talent goes well beyond a comprehensive control of the guitar. The man is a fine composer and, on recent releases, has also showcased a strong vocal presence and now, with only this fifth live release, it captures four decades of relentless fury and blissful artistry of one of the true greats.

In a new interview with Scott Itter of Dr. Music, L.A. GUNS guitarist Tracii Guns, who spent some of his early years as a member of GUNS N' ROSES, was asked if he would do a tour playing guitar for the Axl Rose-fronted outfit if he was asked. He responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "I think I might. I think that it might be musically awkward for a minute, because Slash and I would be right back in high school. 'Well, I'm gonna do this solo.' 'No, dude. I wrote that song.' 'Yeah. But I'm not here as a rhythm guitarist, bro.' So it would kind of bring us to that weird 'we're at a party jamming' kind of thing, which we've done — 20 years ago, Slash and I jammed a couple times."

He continued: "But I don't know — I don't really know what purpose it would serve. If it was kind of like a GUNS N' ROSES farewell kind of tour kind of thing… I mean, I'd much prefer to have L.A. GUNS open, and then maybe get up and play a song with GUNS N' ROSES or something like that. But I'm not known for GUNS N' ROSES. I mean, it's my name. But nobody went the 'Appetite For Destruction' tour and saw me play guitar, so people don't really equate me with the band that way. But that being said, there's not a lot of cool rock bands that I would say no to anyway. I mean, I love to play guitar."

Last month, Tracii was asked during an appearance on The Bad Decisions Podcast With Scott Nathan what Axl Rose was like as a roommate. Tracii said: "He was a great roommate. The interesting thing about Axl is he really knows right from wrong. Let's just start there. He's smart, he's responsible, he is not afraid to ask for help when he needs help, he's always ready to give help. A really solid person. We really had a great friendship. We were inseparable for a few years. The thing that changed — and I had known; he had told me — he had… What did we call it back then? Manic depression is what he called? 'Well, yeah, I have manic depression,' blah, blah, blah. 'I'm supposed to be taking these meds, but I'm okay.' And I would have never known — until the one day. And the one day was, he was off with a junior high school friend of mine. And he had taken some ecstasy, and we didn't see him for, like, a week and he showed up at this gig and he was just like a completely different person. I was, like, 'Whoa. Who are you? Who's this guy?' And that's when the other side of that kind of kicked in."

Tracii continued: "I knew I wasn't gonna… I couldn't deal with that. I loved him on the one side, the person I knew, and we were creative together, we were funny together, but at that time, he really wanted to take control over everything around him. And that's when we were getting really popular. Before that, he was more aware and taking in information and kind of sorting out what we were doing and how this is going and all that stuff. But once we knew, once he knew that we were locked, that GUNS N' ROSES was going only one direction… I mean, sometimes he would talk for 40 minutes out of a 60-minute set on stage, stuff like that. And I would look at Izzy [Stradlin, GUNS N' ROSES guitarist] and Izzy would be very passive about it. I'd be, like, 'Fuck that, man. I'm here to play guitar.'

"And so that's when that whole thing started, the platform, the Axl Rose platform, and I think people really connected with it, , obviously, and I think they still do," Guns added. "The things that he has to say, the things that are interesting to people, and his very — what's the word? — loud and confident opinions on things like that. People latch to them, and it's very heartfelt, and he's very sincere when he says things, even if later he kind of might backtrack a little bit and say, 'Well, I really meant it then, but humans grow and we move on.' He's very in [his head], and that's what makes him great. But at that point, it just scared the shit out of me. I was just, like, 'This isn't a fun rock and roll band anymore. This is something else.'"

Back in 2007, Tracii told the South Wales Echo about his time with GUNS N' ROSES: "If I had stayed with Axl, I don't know if GUNS N' ROSES would have been any better or worse but I think it would have been a very different band. We would have had a bit more fire. But the key to that band's success was Axl because at that time his singing really connected with people on a social level."

"I haven't spoken to Axl since 1988, but we still have a lot of mutual friends. I don't wish him ill, but it's hard because he never stops saying bad things about me.

"Axl's problem is that if people don't support him 100 percent in what he's doing, he just doesn't want to know them anymore. He's so talented but that talent comes from being a nervous wreck and some place in your head you need to be happy, which he isn't."

"If I'd stayed with GUNS N' ROSES for two more years, I could have financed my rock and roll dreams — got Blackie Lawless to play bass, Nikki Sixx on drums and Robert Plant to sing — but at the same time we had a pretty good run with L.A. GUNS, so I take the positives."

In 2016, Tracii was asked by Jacky BamBam of Philadelphia's 93.3 WMMR radio station if Axl was difficult to work with in the early days of GUNS N' ROSES. Guns responded: "No. I loved it. There came a point in time where I don't know exactly what was going on with him. I mean, I probably do, but it's not important. It became really less about the music toward the end of when I was in the band and more about this kind of statement, this lifestyle, this kind of shoutout mentality — negative and positive. And I mean, that was cool, and he really found his calling; GUNS N' ROSES became really Axl's voice, and we've seen that through the years. He can be really reclusive, but with GUNS N' ROSES, being on stage and writing songs, he's really able to express himself and really connect with millions and millions of people. And I've always been really supportive since I left, and I'm still supportive to this day. One of the happiest things I've ever seen in my life is seeing Axl singing for AC/DC. It's just, like, 'Wow, dude! You're singing for AC/DC.' It's, like, 'Wow!'"

L.A. GUNS' new album, "Leopard Skin", will be released on April 4, 2025. It will mark the first fruit of L.A. GUNS' reunion with Cleopatra Records, a label known for its diverse roster and innovative approach to music production. The LP's first single, "Taste It", was released in early February on all digital outlets, along with a Jason Wisch-directed music video.

A two-camera fan-filmed video mix of GODSMACK's March 27 concert at PreZero Arena in Gliwice, Poland can be seen below.

GODSMACK kicked off its 2025 European tour on March 22 in Sofia, Bulgaria. Filling in for drummer Shannon Larkin and guitarist Tony Rombola on the trek are Will Hunt (EVANESCENCE) and Sam Bam Koltun (DOROTHY, FASTER PUSSYCAT, BUDDERSIDE),respectively.

According to Setlist.fm, the setlist for the Gliwice concert was as follows:

01. Surrender
02. You And I
03. When Legends Rise
04. 1000hp
05. Cryin' Like A Bitch!!
06. Speak
07. Straight Out Of Line
08. Awake
09. Keep Away
10. Voodoo
11. Batalla De Los Tambores
12. Whatever

Encore:

13. Under Your Scars
14. Bulletproof
15. I Stand Alone

The day before the Sofia gig, GODSMACK frontman Sully Erna was asked by Elena Rozberg of Bulgaria's Z-Rock radio station about the current state of GODSMACK. He responded: "Well [laughs], [that's] such a tricky question to answer right now at this stage. I can tell you that there has definitely been some changes that have happened in the last few months. They are changes that we're not sure will be permanent or temporary, but everybody and everyone is in good health and in really good spirits. And the band is doing better than ever. We're [playing to] the biggest audiences ever, and the shows are just becoming more and more valuable, because, as we get older, we still appreciate coming to places like Sofia that is so far away from where we started and being able to come here and sell out a 13,000-seat arena.

"All I can tell you right now is that the band is in good health, we're in good spirits, but there's gonna be a little bit of a different visual for everybody [at the Sofia show]," he added. "Tony and Shannon have some personal things going on, and they're not with us. So we have a couple of guest musicians playing with us that are phenomenal."

Asked to elaborate on the reason for Shannon and Tony's absences from the trek, Sully said: "Hmmmm… I don't know. I don't know. I don't know if I feel safe enough talking about that yet, because I don't wanna give people the wrong impression. Right now we're still at a stage where we're trying to figure out exactly what's happening, but we're also trying to respect their privacy. So whatever Tony and Shannon have going on in their personal life, we're just trying to respect that and at the same time still come here and put on a really great show. I can tell you right now that we have a guest drummer playing with us, who's Will from EVANESCENCE. And he is such a good friend of ours and such a great musician, and we've been having so much fun with him. So that's been a real surprise. And then we have a guitar player with us named Sam Koltun, who is somebody who — he's played with several different bands and a really, really nice guy and great guitar player. So as far as the music goes and the sound, it sounds exactly like we've always sounded, which is even surprising to me."

Larkin joined GODSMACK in 2002 after cutting his teeth with WRATHCHILD (later WRATCHILD AMERICA and SOULS AT ZERO) before getting picked up by UGLY KID JOE in time for a taste of their zenith.

Tony has been the lead guitarist and backing vocalist for GODSMACK since the mid-1990s following the departure of Lee Richards.

GODSMACK's spring 2025 European tour features support from P.O.D. and DROWNING POOL.

The 14-date trek will end on April 12 in Oberhausen, Germany.

GODSMACK's latest album, "Lighting Up The Sky", was released in February 2023 via BMG. The LP was co-produced by Erna and Andrew "Mudrock" Murdock (AVENGED SEVENFOLD, ALICE COOPER).

The first single from "Lighting Up The Sky", "Surrender", which arrived in September 2022, marked the first release from GODSMACK in four years, following their globally acclaimed and gold-certified 2018 album "When Legends Rise", which earned the Erna-fronted outfit a No. 1 spot across U.S. Hard Rock, Rock, and Alternative album charts.

In a new interview with Australia's Jaimunji, former FEAR FACTORY frontman Burton C. Bell spoke about his plans for new music after issuing two singles in 2024 — "Anti-Droid" and "Technical Exorcism" — and a cover of RAMMSTEIN's "Du Hast" in 2023. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "The guitars [on 'Anti-Droid'], they weren't prominent in the mix. But yeah, I'm expanding on it. And it's music that I've written with my band, whereas 'Anti-Droid' was written by the producer, Alex Crescioni, in L.A. And then 'Technical Exorcism' was written by me, but I had drums done by Paul Ferguson and guitars by Norman Westberg. But these next two songs and all the other songs we've been writing is the combination of the band and us working together as a band. And, to me, it's just pretty much I think I found my placement, I found the sound that I wanna do. It's me, two guitar players, bass player and a drummer. No keyboard. It rips. It follows my mantra of 'heavy, groovy, dark and moody.' And groovy is not necessarily slow — groovy is also uptempo — but every song I'm gonna be playing from my past catalog and my new catalog fits that mantra."

Regarding what it has been like releasing music under his name after being involved with so many other projects over the years — including FEAR FACTORY, ASCENSION OF THE WATCHERS, GZR, CITY OF FIRE and MINISTRY — Bell said: "It's very liberating, I'll tell you that. I don't have to pigeonhole myself. I don't have to stay within a certain parameter of a sound. I don't have to use a certain producer. Basically, the sky's the limit right now, and if it falls into my criteria of 'heavy, groovy, dark and moody,' I'm gonna do it. So it's been very liberating. Also, I'm very conscious that all eyes for this music are on me, so I'll be to blame if they don't like it. But I'm not really concerned about that. But it really is all the pressure's on me to make this sound killer, because I do — I feel like I do have something to prove.

"I've done all this music throughout my entire career, and I'm going to continue doing the music that I am passionate about," he explained. "For instance, all the music I've done outside of FEAR FACTORY doesn't sound like FEAR FACTORY, but it's still heavy. GZR, working with [BLACK SABBATH's] Geezer Butler, that was amazing. Working with MINISTRY, that's been amazing. Writing the music for ASCENSION OF THE WATCHERS, it was heavy in another respect, more of a esoteric respect, but it wasn't just pounding. I'm putting all those together and creating the sound that I wanna move forward with, and that's the sound of Burton C. Bell, which is heavy, groovy, dark and moody."

Asked if there are plans for him to release a full-length solo album or if he is going to keep putting out singles, Bell said: "At this point I'm just doing singles. In this day and age, without any label support, I'm able to release music on my own time and get it ready and make it perfect enough for release. And just releasing one song at a time keeps me out there, keeps my name out there, and hopefully the next goal is just to start touring."

Last month, Bell told Australia's Heavy about "Anti-Droid" and "Technical Exorcism": "I've had a great response [to the singles I've released so far]. Live, the fans really like it. They really translate live very well. The band that I have gathered, or should I say curated, 'cause it took me a couple of years to curate this band and grab these guys together. I've known [them] for a few years, but finally I got this band together. And the music that we play is really translating into a new group that's really translating these songs in a heavy, groovy, dark and moody way. It's amazing. So what you hear is gonna be heavier live."

Asked if he is sticking with his previously announced plan of putting out one song at a time before eventually releasing a full-length album, Bell said: "I am, but I've been recording a lot more new songs. So I've been releasing one thing at a time, but I do plan to have an actual physical release, hopefully in the coming year. So, the band and I, we have a few more songs that we're working on and that we're gonna just start working on new stuff. Well, we're already working on new stuff, but the two new songs — the first song that you guys are gonna hear in probably another month is a fucking banger, dude. It crushes — crushes. And the one after that crushes as well. And we're just gonna continue with that mode — just crushing."

Regarding whether "Anti-Droid" and "Technical Exorcism" are "a good sonic representation of what to expect from the whole album", Bell said: "I would say come to see us live and that will be a great representation of what you'll expect from the album, because, like I said, what we do live is we translate these songs to what we are doing now to our version. So even FEAR FACTORY songs and GZR songs, they are much more full. When you come [to see us] live, it's becoming more of an organic kind of feeling; it's just heavy. It's me, obviously, and then I have two guitar players. They both trade off doing rhythm and lead, bass player and drums. So, if you wanna hear what the album is gonna be like, come see what we do live and you'll understand and you will not be disappointed."

Bell played the first concert with his solo band on June 13, 2024 at 1720 in Los Angeles, California.

Backing Bell at his recent gigs have been guitarist Henrik Linde (THE VITALS, DREN),drummer Ryan "Junior" Kittlitz (ALL HAIL THE YETI, THE ACID HELPS),bassist Tony Baumeister (ÆGES) and multi-instrumentalist Stewart Cararas.

When the 1720 concert was first announced, Burton called the gig a "historic event" and vowed to perform "new songs and classics spanning my career."

In August 2024, Bell released "Technical Exorcism" along with the official Don Pancho Films-directed music video for the track.

In March 2024, Bell — who released "Anti-Droid" that same month — was asked by Knotfest's "Nu Pod" podcast if he has an entire album's worth of material ready to come out. He responded: "No. I'm working on individual singles at a time. I do have a record's worth of music. But I'm adopting the hip-hop strategy where instead of coming up, releasing a single and then the whole album comes out a couple of weeks later, and then a couple of weeks later, when that album is out, the momentum of the single and the whole record just kind of slows and becomes sluggish and just almost crashes. So I learned watching hip-hop artists and other artists as well, [where] they would just release a single at a time, keep that momentum, keep that spotlight on them and just release a single every few weeks and just keep that momentum going."

He continued: "In this day and age, the short attention span of the masses is very apparent. There's this old saying in economics, less is more — supply and demand, less is more. So if you just feed 'em just a little bit at a time, they wanna hear more. And that's where the interest stays. They're compelled to keep listening. 'Oh, he's got something else coming out. Oh, he's got something else coming out.'"

Bell's discography includes multiple live and recorded collaborations with BLACK SABBATH icon Geezer Butler and JOURNEY's Deen Castronovo (as G/Z/R); industrial maverick Al Jourgensen and MINISTRY; and guest vocal appearances with PITCHSHIFTER, CONFLICT, SOIL, STATIC-X, SOULFLY and DELAIN, among others. He's the vocalist of ASCENSION OF THE WATCHERS and CITY OF FIRE and, of course, the co-creator of FEAR FACTORY and the only musician to appear on every FEAR FACTORY release from 1992 through 2024.

FEAR FACTORY created a sound that revolutionized extreme metal, defined in no small part by Bell's innovative scream/sing dichotomy and the influences he brought from post-punk and industrial. Songs like "Replica", "Linchpin", "Edgecrusher", "Fear Campaign", "Archetype", "Cyber Waste" and "Zero Signal" are modern metal anthems. "Demanufacture" (1995) and the RIAA gold-certified "Obsolete" (1998) are genre-redefining works heralded by fans and critics as essential albums. Orwell, Bradbury, "Blade Runner", and sophisticated sci-fi and fantasy works fed Bell's lyrics and concepts.

The band toured the world with METALLICA, SLIPKNOT, KORN, MEGADETH and OZZY OSBOURNE, taking bands like SYSTEM OF A DOWN and STATIC-X out as support acts in their early stages. After years of behind-the-scenes band member turmoil and legal issues, Bell left FEAR FACTORY in the fall of 2020.

Bell said "Anti-Droid" is "a statement about breaking free. Breaking the bonds of what I felt was a prison in many ways. Not just financially or contractually but creatively, as well. I felt constrained to this format we'd written ourselves into. The 'factory' doesn't have a capital F. It's the factory of the music industry, a certain form of business, and priorities. Being a slave to an established way of thinking is not really freedom. I am moving forward."

The 56-year-old Bell had been largely inactive on the musical front since officially announcing his departure from FEAR FACTORY in September 2020. At the time he said that he could not "align" himself with someone whom he did not trust or respect, an apparent reference to FEAR FACTORY founding guitarist Dino Cazares.

In March 2023, Bell was asked by Joshua Toomey of the "Talk Toomey" podcast how it felt to see FEAR FACTORY going out on tour with someone else singing the parts he originally wrote and recorded with the band. He responded: "It doesn't affect me at all. To be honest, I haven't been this happy in a long time. More power to them, but I'm just moving forward in my own life, my own career, and I'm just trying to make a name for myself."

Asked if he has checked out any of the videos on YouTube of FEAR FACTORY performing with his replacement, the Italian-born singer Milo Silvestro, Bell said: "No, I don't. I don't care to."

Burton went on to say that he doesn't mind being asked about FEAR FACTORY despite the fact that he is no longer in the band. "FEAR FACTORY, it's what I'm known for," he explained. "And the 30 years I had with FEAR FACTORY were some of the proudest moments of my career. And everything I've ever done in FEAR FACTORY I'm very proud of. Even some of the questionable things I've done in FEAR FACTORY I'm still proud of. It was a great legacy."

During an April 2022 appearance on an episode of "The Ex-Man" podcast hosted by Doc Coyle (BAD WOLVES),Bell touched upon FEAR FACTORY's latest album, "Aggression Continuum", which was released in June 2021 via Nuclear Blast Records. The LP, which was recorded primarily in 2017, features Bell and fellow original FF member Dino Cazares (guitar) alongside drummer Mike Heller.

"I was just happy that record finally came out," Burton said. "We finished that record in 2017. By the time it came out, I'd forgotten all about it. 'Oh, yeah, I remember that song. Oh yeah.'

"There's some good songs on that record. The song 'Collapse' is a good song. The title track 'Monolith' is a good song," he added, referencing the LP's original working title, before it was changed by Cazares.

When Coyle noted that the mix on "Aggression Continuum" is "great," Bell hesitated for a couple of seconds before reluctantly agreeing. "I guess," he said. "When I finished the record [in 2017], the record was done and agreed upon and then further work was done without my say."

Elsewhere in the chat, Burton admitted that "it was difficult" for him to leave FEAR FACTORY. "Stepping away from FEAR FACTORY was not an easy decision by [any] means," he said. "But what I experienced for the 10 years before that, the lawsuits, the acrimony, that was the one that killed me. And I just had to step away to realize, you know, they can take all this stuff from me — they can take the money, they can take the royalties, they can take the trademark away from me — and I realized that didn't define me. They can take that, but I'm still Burton C. Bell, motherfucker, and whatever I have they can't take. So I'm just kind of moving forward and doing new things."

According to Bell, hardship is par for the course for most musicians, who often find themselves victims of bad contracts, unscrupulous management and, all too often, what appears to be a penchant for self-destruction.

"I knew a long time ago I wanted to be an artist — way before I was in FEAR FACTORY," he said. "When I was in high school, I was, like, 'I wanna be an artist.' To be an artist, you've gotta suffer. You've gotta understand that people wanna take from you the entire time — what you create they wanna make money off of and take it away from you and just give you a pittance. But being bitter is not my style — never has been.

"Whatever negativity has happened in the past with FEAR FACTORY doesn't even hold up to the amount of positivity that has happened," he continued. "If you think about the negative, it can weigh you down so much, but it's not really that much in comparison to what the band achieved, what we created, what we provided to the music world, and for that I'm proud and very happy.

"No one likes to talk to a bitter person at all," Burton added. "Me for one. It's, like, 'Man, just get over it and just move on.' 'Cause holding on to the past doesn't serve me anything, it doesn't serve anybody else anything. Move on and show 'em what you can do from that point forward."

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 2023, Bell unveiled "Paradise Found", his debut exhibition of photographic works, at the Vincent Castiglia Gallery in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The photographs Bell presented were representational of his industrial and science-fiction aesthetic.

"Paradise Found" consisted of 20 original full-color photographs of abandoned industrial buildings taken in darkness and fog from 2002 to 2003. Bell's images are printed on aluminum using the dye sublimation process — an approach Bell calls "celluloid impressionism."

Bell's ASCENSION OF THE WATCHERS project released its second full-length album, "Apocrypha", in October 2020 via Dissonance Productions.

In a new interview with Talkin' Bout Rock, TRIUMPH guitarist/vocalist Rik Emmett confirmed that there are still plans for the legendary Canadian rockers to develop a high-tech concept that would bring their music back to the stage. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "[TRIUMPH drummer and vocalist] Gil's [Moore] got a bee in his bonnet about wanting to do this heavy-duty 3D hologram-ish… He wants TRIUMPH to go back and do a tour — not the guys in the band, but screen projection, digital stuff. And he wants to have a band that would have [former TRIUMPH and current BON JOVI guitarist] Phil X sort of putting the musicians together so that there would be a live band. But then we would be joining them by playing on the screens and just all this incredible stuff. And he's sending me scripts."

Moore has been talking about a possible TRIUMPH live experience for several years, including in a 2021 interview with Ultimate Classic Rock. He said at the time that he was working on a "mixed-reality concept" that it is based on "sort of holography, but not in the traditional sense." He had been collaborating on the project with Paul Dexter, who had worked with TRIUMPH in the past on lighting and set design and was heavily involved with the hologram tours for both Ronnie James Dio and Frank Zappa.

"I'm not crazy about holograms," Moore said he told Dexter, "but the three-dimensional presentation — the holography, if you will — if you were able to deliver it on a better platform with more variables, I would like it." As for the audio, Gil said that it would consist of "Mike [Levine, TRIUMPH bassist], Rik and Gil," for the most part, sourced from live concerts that no one has ever heard before. "But the presentation would be more akin to a biopic movie combined with classic video," Moore explained. "Combined with a combination of real effects as well as fake [ones] and magic."

Moore also talked about a possible new TRIUMPH live show in a May 2023 interview with The Metal Voice. He said at the time: "I have a plan to do a mixed reality tour for TRIUMPH. I've talked about it a few times in a few interviews. And, yeah, I'm very serious about that. I'm working with our lighting director Paul Dexter at Masterworks in Los Angeles. He's unbelievable and he's kind of the godfather of holograms. This is not a hologram tour by any means or a hologram concert, but we are gonna use forms of holography or three-dimensional recreation to do this. Yeah, there's a lot of technology involved. Let's put it this way — it's not gonna be like anything that anybody's ever seen before, if Paul and I get our way with the way we're developing the content that's gonna be seen, but it's gonna be something that'll blow people's minds and it'll be TRIUMPH through and through."

Elaborating on what this proposed TRIUMPH live experience will look like, Gil said: "I don't wanna tell too much other than the key is think of mixed reality and what that means. No glasses, no tricks that way — all the tricks will be coming from the stage — but we've got some phenomenal plans. All the music is pre-recorded, because it's all from live shows, but it will be custom tailored to this particular performance, let's say. And it involves some actors. It involves footage of Mike, Rick and Gil, and recreations of Mike, Rick and Gil, and some of the coolest things that people are gonna see in the touring market, I can tell you that."

Asked if the upcoming TRIUMPH live experience is an answer to fans who are constantly asking the three original guys to tour together again, Gil said: "It is, really. In a sense, there's this feeling of obligation to the fans, and yet your life moves on. So I'm fully engaged doing what I'm doing, and I have a lot of things that I'm working on that I'm passionate about in the education field and so on for music, so I don't have the bandwidth for another TRIUMPH tour at this stage. And Mike and Rick have different things they're doing as well. But we talk about TRIUMPH all the time — we love it, we're brothers, we always will be — and, yeah, this is a way to give something to the fans that we know will absolutely knock them right off their chairs. And we're excited about it. And we do have the bandwidth to do that, thanks to not only Paul, but our video director, Don Allan, some great technical people that we're working with — Harry Witz at Clair Global audio who's gonna do all the sound. This thing is gonna be really something else."

Emmett, who quit TRIUMPH — acrimoniously, in 1988 — over music and business disputes, went on to pursue a solo career, while TRIUMPH carried on with future BON JOVI guitarist Phil X for one more album, 1992's "Edge Of Excess", before calling it a day the following year.

Emmett was estranged, both personally and professionally, from the two other members of the legendary Canadian classic rock power trio for 18 years before they repaired their relationship.

Rik's memoir, "Lay It On The Line - A Backstage Pass To Rock Star Adventure, Conflict And Triumph", came out in October 2023 via ECW Press.

Moore, Levine, and Emmett formed TRIUMPH in 1975, and their blend of heavy riff-rockers with progressive odysseys, peppered with thoughtful, inspiring lyrics and virtuosic guitar playing quickly made them a household name in Canada. Anthems like "Lay It On The Line", "Magic Power" and "Fight The Good Fight" broke them in the USA, and they amassed a legion of fiercely passionate fans. But, as a band that suddenly split at the zenith of their popularity, TRIUMPH missed out on an opportunity to say thank you to those loyal and devoted fans, a base that is still active today, three decades later.

After 20 years apart, Emmett, Levine and Moore played at the 2008 editions of the Sweden Rock Festival and Rocklahoma. A DVD of the historic Sweden performance was made available four years later.

Back in 2016, Moore and Levine reunited with Rik as special guests on the "RES 9" album from Emmett's band RESOLUTION9.

Released in 2021, TRIUMPH's documentary, "Triumph: Rock & Roll Machine", was produced by Banger Films and directed by Sam Dunn and Marc Ricciardelli.

EVANESCENCE will release a new single, "Afterlife", on Friday, March 28. A lyric video for the track, which will appear in Netflix's upcoming adult animated urban fantasy action television series "Devil May Cry", will arrive on Thursday, March 27 at 9 a.m. PT. The lyric video will include "exclusive clips" from "Devil May Cry", which is based on the Japanese video game franchise of the same name by Capcom. Created by Adi Shankar and produced by Studio Mir, "Devil May Cry" is scheduled for release on April 3 on Netflix.

In a new interview with Audacy Music, EVANESCENCE singer Amy Lee stated about how "Afterlife" came together (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Netflix, via Mako [Alexander Seaver], who is a guy that did score work on this series, 'Devil May Cry', had this song started and reached out to me and was, like, 'Hey, we'd worked together once before on a Lindsey Stirling track during the pandemic.' So, I made vocals to it, and we were kind of just communicating via e-mail. I still haven't met the guy in person. But he was, like, 'Hey, check it out. Would this be cool? Would you sing on this?' And that just snowballed into finishing the song together and then getting it, like, 'This is an EVANESCENCE song. Let's get the band in here. And let's just take this all the way.' And us getting to go into the studio with [producer] Nick Raskulinecz, who we did our last two albums with and love working with him. He is right here in Nashville, so it's fun and easy for me and I could just keep going over there and annoying him. And it kind of just happened, kind of fast."

Lee went on to say that she and her EVANESCENCE bandmates are "very excited to have new music. This is the first of many [new tracks]. We are working on a lot of songs right now for the new album, but this came up through Netflix, and we were just really excited to have an excuse to get in there right away."

Asked if there is a new EVANESCENCE album in the works, Amy said: "Yeah. I don't have a date for you. We are just working. We got off the road in November or something, and we've been just creative.

"When we book shows and we happen to have time in between that makes sense, like we have a show on a Saturday and we have another show, but it's not till the next Thursday 'cause it's festivals or whatever, it's, like, 'Hey, let's stick around, get an Airbnb and get some instruments together and see who's got an idea.' So we were doing some of that, and that can be fun and productive," she explained. "We got some cool locations out of it. We did one in Italy. But really spending the time in the studio, me just focusing and us taking the time to turn some of those ideas into real songs has been happening since. So, we've got a lot cooking, lot cooking. I don't have a date for you, but there'll be more and more and more music coming out."

Delivering a number of dynamic rock hits over the last two decades, EVANESCENCE recently celebrated the 20th anniversary of its landmark debut album, "Fallen", originally released in 2003. They recognized the milestone with a special anniversary edition of the smash album, which spawned gigantic rock hits like "Bring Me To Life", "Going Under" and "My Immortal", kickstarting a thriving career they're still carrying out today.

To date, EVANESCENCE has released a total of five studio albums, including the multi-platinum "The Open Door" (2004) and "Evanescence" (2011),both of which topped the Billboard 200. In 2021, the band thrilled fans with their first album of new material in a decade, "The Bitter Truth". Now 20 years on, EVANESCENCE continues to scale new heights. Featuring a lineup of Amy Lee (vocals, keyboards),Tim McCord (guitar/bass),Will Hunt (drums),Troy McLawhorn (guitars) and Emma Anzai (bass, backing vocals),the band continues to travel the globe, staging some of the most successful shows of their career, having wrapped a run of sold-out shows in Latin America, including Allianz Parque, a soccer stadium in Sāo Paulo, Brazil, which was the biggest headline show of EVANESCENCE's career to date, drawing 40,000 fans.

Shortly following its release in March 2021, "The Bitter Truth" rose to the top of the iTunes Album charts in 22 countries and also landed the top spot on Billboard's Top Hard Rock Albums chart.

EVANESCENCE first topped the Hard Rock Albums chart in October 2011 with its self-titled effort. The album stayed atop the list for three weeks.

"The Bitter Truth" was recorded during the pandemic and confronted the dark realities of the world head-on. Yet its resounding message was one of light: pushing through is better than giving up.

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ZEBRA, the legendary power trio consisting of lead guitarist/vocalist Randy Jackson, bassist/keyboardist Felix Hanemann and drummer Guy Gelso, will celebrate its 50th anniversary this year with the release of its long-awaited new studio album. This will be the band's first release of new material since "Zebra IV" in 2003.

ZEBRA's new album, which is being recorded at Jackson and Gelso's home studios, is being helmed by producer Jack Douglas, who previously produced the band's 1983 self-titled debut and 1984 sophomore effort, "No Tellin' Lies".

Speaking to Rev. Tom Brice of Sportzwire Radio, Jackson stated about what it has been like working with Douglas again (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Well, it's been really, really interesting. I've kept in touch with Jack ever since we first worked [together more than four decades ago]… It's been great. It's a whole different world now. I mean, it's been 40 years, so technology has changed. But both Jack and I have kept up with what's going on, and we've been doing a lot of it just online, back and forth, with a lot of the sessions. And then he has come to my studio several times — I think he's coming again next week — one on one. But we get a lot done online, which makes it easy. He's upstate, and if he happens to be in Los Angeles, we can do it online that way too. And it works out great. There's a program we use where he could pretty much hear all the tracks and look at the soundboard and mix, if he wanted to, but at this point I'm doing the engineering and he's just kind of sprinkling it up."

Regarding how the songwriting process for ZEBRA has evolved over the last 40 years, Jackson said: "Well, it's the same process except we don't have the luxury, or we haven't made it, so that we played the songs for any amount of time. There's a lot of stuff that's gonna be heard by people the first time when we release 'em. But we have a pretty good idea at this point what our fans liked and what worked. And there's a lot of material. There's also material that we never did record that people are familiar with, 'cause we did play it live years and years ago, that we've been asked for time and time again. So that'll be added on the record. And we just keep adding songs to the record all the time. And so the way we're gonna kind of do it, I think, is release a few tracks in May, and then just every month there'll be more tracks released. And who knows how many we'll end up with. We may just keep going with it, and it'll just be a constant release."

ZEBRA is the longest-running American band still touring with all its original members. Formed in New Orleans in 1975, Jackson, Hanemann and Gelso have performed together every year for the last 50 years. 2025 will continue that trend as the band is heading out on their "Zebra 50 - 2025 Anniversary Tour". New dates have been added to the band's previously announced performances in celebration of 50 years of performing together live. More dates will be announced in the future. Information on all shows including ticket links and access to VIP experiences can be found on the band's official web site at zebraband.com.

Last December, Jackson told Newsday about ZEBRA's upcoming LP: "The record will feature a variety of songs. We got some stuff from 1977 we never recorded, songs I penned with other people and a bunch of tunes that I wrote recently. It's evolving as we're doing it."

In 2023, ZEBRA celebrated the 40th anniversary of its debut album by playing the entire album in order and continued doing some more of these special shows in new cities during its 2024 tour.

ZEBRA has also been working on a new documentary that will feature new interviews and performance clips from the recent tour "plus a lot more" about the band's history. The documentary, tentatively titled "Tell Me What You Want: 50 Years Of Zebra", will feature never-before-seen footage from the band's birth in Louisiana, to spreading new roots and reaching legendary status in Long Island, New York.

ZEBRA galloped out of New Orleans in early 1975. The trio concocted their moniker from a 1926 Vogue magazine cover and soon won over the South and East Coast.

ZEBRA's self-titled debut album, released on March 21, 1983, went gold, and at that time was the fastest-selling debut album in Atlantic Records history, thanks to the radio and MTV airplay of "Tell Me What You Want" and "Who's Behind The Door?"

In 2010 ZEBRA was inducted into the Louisiana Music Hall Of Fame and is acknowledged as Louisiana's No. 1 rock and roll band by the Louisiana Music Commission. On October 18, 2012 ZEBRA was inducted into the Long Island Music Hall Of Fame.

CHEVELLE frontman and main songwriter Pete Loeffler and drummer— and Pete's brother — Sam Loeffler spoke to Audacy Music about the status of the band's new studio album, which is due later in 2025. The follow-up to 2021's "Niratias" will mark CHEVELLE's first release through Alchemy Recordings following a long run with the Epic label. Alchemy Recordings is a record label created in partnership between Dino Paredes, former American Recordings vice president of A&R, and Danny Wimmer, the founder of Danny Wimmer Presents, the premier production company for rock music festivals in the United States.

Sam said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "They're pretty particular about having every single part of everything finished before they give you a release date. All the artwork has to be finished and things like that. But [our] tour starts August 7th in San Antonio, with ASKING ALEXANDRIA and DEAD POET SOCIETY. So it would be nice if the record was out when the tour starts."

Regarding the musical direction of the new CHEVELLE material, Sam said: "We've worked really hard on it, and I think it's some of the best stuff we've ever done, honestly. It's so much fun to play, that's for sure."

Pete added: "We're just happy maintaining — we're trying to maintain, anyway — and put out shit that's fun to play live. And a lot of these tracks are. I'm running through four of 'em right now that I can rip out at any time. That goes both ways too. A lot of fans wanna hear the old stuff, some wanna hear the new, but we just try and mix it up. But I think this new album's gonna be a blast to see it live. So, come out to a show, please."

Earlier this week, CHEVELLE released its first new music in four years in the form of a music video for the new single "Rabbit Hole (Cowards, Pt. 1)". CHEVELLE also announced its return to the stage with special guests ASKING ALEXANDRIA and DEAD POET SOCIETY. Produced by Live Nation, the 38-city tour kicks off on August 7 at Boeing Center at Tech Port in San Antonio, Texas, making stops across North America in Chicago, New York, Los Angeles and more before wrapping up in Airway Heights, Washington at BECU Live at Northern Quest on October 2.

Last July, Sam told TribLive.com about CHEVELLE's next LP: "We kind of did expect to have it done [already]. It's like pulling teeth. This is what I described: Writing an album and doing all that is like pulling your hair out and then trying to put it back in. Writers love having written, is what I learned. It's just torturous on my brother. It's torturous because there's just so many factors to making something great. And then the longer you can live with it, the more changes you're gonna make. So that makes you never want to put it out. You never want to pull the pin and throw the grenade because you're like, well, it gets better every time I look at it."

As for what the 10-song album — which was produced by the CHEVELLE members themselves — sounds like, Sam said: We're always skewing towards heavy. [But] these [last] two songs that we've been working on right now are definitely different from everything we did, although 'Niratias', our last album, I think was a really important snapshot of what we've been learning about writing and about music and stuff. This one definitely sounds different than just rock music, definitely different."

Back in 2022, Sam told Knotfest's Cori Westbrook about CHEVELLE's songwriting process: "Well, Pete's our songwriter so he's our lyricist and everything. Basically, he just writes about what's going on around him. If he's taking the garbage out that night or has a bad day driving, he's watching a documentary that really affected him, he hears a podcast — so he's writing about those kinds of things. So if you're able to internalize that kind of a thing, I think you have a lot to write about. It doesn't just have to be a relationship that — a relationship with your dad or your significant other. I think those are some pretty powerful feelings — I get it — but if you are able to bring in all those other things in from your everyday life, there's a lot more to write about. So as far as inspiration goes, it's not hard to find; it's everywhere; it's all around you. And especially nowadays, we have so much access to what's going on around us that there's even more ideas to pull from."

In a separate interview with Heavy New York, Sam said that he and Pete had "a whole bunch of music written... Because that's what we do — you put music out, you write… It'll be our first record in a long time not with a major label, which is just neither here nor there," he added. "Epic Records did a lot of good stuff; we were with them for a long time, but we're finished with that contract now. So now we're doing something different. And we'll see how different it is."

Released in March 2021 via Epic Records, "Niratias" was recorded throughout 2019 and 2020 with longtime producer Joe Barresi (AVENGED SEVENFOLD, QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE). The album artwork was designed by Boris Vallejo — the famed and award-winning artist is responsible for the posters used for films like "Knightriders" and "National Lampoon's Vacation", as well as iconic '70s and '80s science fiction novel covers and magazines (such as Heavy Metal).

Over the course of its career, the Chicago rockers have generated nearly half a billion streams, notched seven No. 1 hits, and sold out shows worldwide. Their catalog spans the double-platinum "Wonder What's Next", which boasts the double-platinum smash "The Red" and the platinum hit "Send The Pain Below". "This Type Of Thinking (Could Do Us In)" attained platinum status, while "Vena Sera" was certified gold. CHEVELLE has landed four Top 10 debuts on the Billboard 200, including "Sci-Fi Crimes" (2009),"Hats Off To The Bull" (2011),"La Gárgola" (2014) and "The North Corridor" (2016). The latter two each captured the No. 1 slot on the Top Rock Albums chart.

Before he ever became a guitar virtuoso and toured the world with the likes of Marilyn Manson, Rob Zombie, Rob Halford and — currently — MÖTLEY CRÜE, John 5 was just a kid growing up near Detroit Rock City obsessed with KISS. That fascination turned into a lifelong journey of collecting anything and everything from the Starchild, the Demon, the Spaceman and the Catman.

In May 2025, John 5 will open up his personal collection for the first time ever to fellow KISS fans around the world with his brand-new Knights In Satan Service Museum of KISS memorabilia in Los Angeles, California. Guided tours will be open to the public for one month only (with a possible expansion). Current dates available are May 5-9, May 12-16, May 19-23 and May 27-30. Each will be led by John 5 himself who will provide tons of rich detail and answer any questions.

Tickets are on sale now at John5Store.com.

A new video report from FOX 11 Los Angeles in which John 5 talks about Knights In Satan Service Museum and takes viewers inside the museum can be seen below.

John 5 says: "In June 1977, when I was seven years old, my mom took me to Sears where I saw a record store display for KISS's album 'Love Gun'. I loved monsters and music and begged my mom for the record. Hearing it for the first time was a total epiphany for me. And any time a birthday or Christmas rolled around, I got a new KISS poster or merch. Collecting became a huge part of my life. It's also helped me connect with the world as I've found pieces from Argentina to Chile, Taiwan to Japan."

The idea for the Knights In Satan Service Museum began when he started archiving everything on Instagram but knew it was time to expand.

"With KISS not touring anymore, the only real place to see this collection and go down memory lane is to come to the museum in Los Angeles," John 5 says. "Hang out with me, I'll answer questions, we'll talk and I'll tell stories."

John 5's collection spans 2,500-plus pieces encompassing unique merch and one-of-a-kind collectibles from the gilded era of KISS, 1973-1983, including one of the only known pairs of Gene Simmons's "Destroyer" boots from 1976 and his first outfit from 1974 as well as banners from the band's appearance at Woodfield Mall, outside Chicago, in 1974 for the "National KISS-Off" kissing contest.

"If it was me and someone had this I would love it," says John 5.

A preview of the Knights In Satan Service Museum collection is available below.

John 5 recently wrapped up a massive 2024 tour with several legs of solo dates and international appearances with MÖTLEY CRÜE. Look for more to come in 2025.

For over 30 years, John 5 has been one of the most in-demand guitar players on the planet. As well as being a songwriter/guitarist for hire, John 5 has shared the stage as axe-man for Rob Zombie, Marilyn Manson and Rob Halford. He has also worked with an impressive array of names, from all walks of music, including KD Lang, Rod Stewart, David Lee Roth, Alice Cooper, Tina Guo, LYNYRD SKYNYRD, Meat Loaf, Dolly Parton and Ricky Martin. In October 2022, it was announced that John 5 would be joining MÖTLEY CRÜE as their guitarist following the revelation that Mick Mars would be retiring. John 5 continues to tour with MÖTLEY CRÜE.

In a new interview with Talking The Talk With Don, former SCORPIONS drummer Herman Rarebell, who wrote the lyrics for some of the group's most classic songs, spoke about a possible reunion with his longtime bandmates. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH>NET): "The last drummer they had was James Kottak. He passed away. I'm very sad about this because he was a good guy. And then I wrote an e-mail to them. I said, 'Why don't we do something together again?' And you know what? I didn't even get an answer. After 20 years being with those fuckers, not even an answer. I said, 'Okay, fuck you. Fine.' Because I can do my own thing — no problem. They can't. Because the chemistry we had was unique. And if you fuck that up, it's gonna be hard to replace. And the people out there, the fans, they're not stupid. They can hear it immediately. They wrote me so many e-mails: 'What happened?' I don't wanna explain all the time. Everybody can do in life what they want. That's why we have a free will. And so I respect this.

"For me, the band has been over since 1996," Herman explained. "There was nothing which they released after I left which knocked me out, where I said, 'Wow, this is amazing.' Even the last album, Rudolf [Schenker, SCORPIONS guitarist] told me, 'It's gonna be like the 'Blackout' album.' I said, 'It has nothing to do with 'Blackout'. You should have got Dieter Dierks, [SCORPIONS' longtime] producer, back with the band and me writing some lyrics for you. And then we'd have a great album. But otherwise, what is this? Why you do this?' No answer."

Asked at which point he felt SCORPIONS were starting to "lose the plot" with their musical direction, Herman said: "Really after [the ballad] 'Wind Of Change' [from the 1990 'Crazy World' album], you could see the direction. Klaus [Meine, SCORPIONS singer] obviously was all for it to go in this direction, but in my heart, I'm still a hard rock guy. So for me, I wanted to rock more, not go in ballad land. For me, there was nothing to do anymore from the creativity point. So, I said to myself, 'Well, you have to do something else.' And that's exactly what I did.

"When I look back on it, there's nothing to regret," Rarebell added. "Look at the band now. As [former SCORPIONS guitarist] Michael Schenker says in every interview, 'What have they done after Herman left?' There's no more hits. The fans write me many e-mails: 'Why don't you do something that you did before on [1980's] 'Animal Magnetism', [1982's] 'Blackout', [1979's] 'Lovedrive' and this kind of albums?, which were pure rock albums. And this is where my heart is, and that's what I wanted to do."

Earlier this month, Herman was asked by Scott Itter of Dr. Music which of the band's albums is closest to his heart. He responded: "Actually, two or three. 'Animal Magnetism'. The follow-up, 'Blackout'. I wrote a lot of lyrics in this one. Also the album title was me again. Then, of course, the one with Michael on it, 'Lovedrive'. I think those are my three favorite ones. Then, of course, [1977's] 'Taken By Force', there's one favorite song on there, 'The Sails Of Charon'.

"But I tell you what — what I don't like anymore — the albums, really, after 'Crazy World'," he explained. "Just the one [1993's] 'Face The Heat' with [producer] Bruce Fairbairn; that was nice. But everything after that, I wasn't a fan anymore. That's probably the reason why I left. I couldn't see any more progressing. So I said to the band, 'It's time for me to do something else.' I didn't wanna go along this way, 'cause after 'Wind Of Change', Klaus said to me, 'I'm gonna write more songs like this.' I said, 'You can do this, but I'm not with you anymore.' Then came another one out, which I couldn't listen to this. And I left then. Then I said, 'That's it for me. I stay in rock.' I wanted to stay in rock. I don't wanna drift up in the 'Wind Of Change' way. Great song, but it wasn't for me. For me, I'm more in the direction of 'The Sails Of Charon' and songs like this."

Back in September 2021, Rarebell blasted his former SCORPIONS bandmates, calling them "rude" and accusing them of "greed" over their apparent refusal to allow him to rejoin the band. Rarebell, who was a member of the SCORPIONS from 1977 to 1995, discussed the possibility of his return to the group in an interview for Classic Rock magazine. Asked if he was disappointed not to have been invited back into the fold following the 2016 dismissal of longtime drummer James Kottak, Herman said: "I'll tell you how disappointed I am. I sent them a message offering my services, and never even got a reply. I thought that was very rude. Now I hear the SCORPIONS are claiming their new album will be a return to the glory days of the eighties. If they're serious about that, they should get [former bassist] Francis [Buchholz] and me back, and also Dieter Dierks who produced all those classic albums. You know why they won't do that? Greed. It would mean having to share everything five ways and not three."

Rarebell also criticized his former bandmates for seemingly not giving him enough credit for their commercial success in the 1980s. "The band never mention me in interviews, which I find ridiculous," he stated. "But there's a new documentary in the pipeline from ITV on the band. I am being interviewed for this, so I can finally set the record straight on my role."

In an interview with Classic Rock Revisited, Herman stated about the huge commercial success of SCORPIONS' 1982 album "Blackout": "Mercury Records was totally behind us and they believed in us. They wanted us to keep making albums. They wanted us to grow and do better each time out. 'Lovedrive' went gold. 'Animal Magnetism' went gold and then 'Blackout' was the first one to go platinum. [Rudolf] Schenker / [Klaus] Meine / Rarebell was a great songwriting team. You can see that from how many successful albums we had. After I left the band, they didn't have any more hits."

Rarebell also talked about the inspiration for the lyrics to "Rock You Like A Hurricane", which was released as the lead single from SCORPIONS' ninth studio album, 1984's "Love At First Sting". "Those lyrics were very easy to write," he said. "I woke up early in the morning after fucking and doing cocaine all night and I opened up the curtains. 'It's early morning, the sun comes out. Last night was shaking and pretty loud. My cat is purring and she scratches my skin.' She had scratched my back during our lovemaking. I just sat down and wrote it right then and there. It was five in the morning and the girl was still in bed as I was sitting there writing it. The next day, I said to Rudolf, 'I have some great lyrics for that riff you have.'"

Rarebell is currently promoting the upcoming HERMAN RAREBELL & FRIENDS studio album "What About Love?", which will be released on April 11 via Metalville Records. The LP features Herman's re-recordings of 12 songs with good friends and great musicians as a tribute to the greatest hits of the 1980s — a time that was a golden age for him personally. Former OZZY OSBOURNE bassist Bob Daisley can be heard on this album, as can Dann Huff, who was a studio musician on some of the greatest albums in pop history, as well as Howard Leese from the legendary U.S. rockers HEART and singer Michael Voss (CASANOVA, MAD MAX, MICHAEL SCHENKER).