Former METALLICA bassist Jason Newsted says that he is "really not happy" with the article that was recently published based on an interview he gave to promote an upcoming charity concert.

A little over a week ago, Jason spoke to The Palm Beach Post about the April 23 show he will perform with his THE CHOPHOUSE BAND at the Maltz Jupiter Theatre in Jupiter, Florida. It is a benefit event for the Goldner Conservatory, a professional conservatory that offers the highest caliber of artistic education to students of all ages. During the chat, Newsted touched upon the various artists that have approached him in recent years about playing bass with them, including a proposed all-star VAN HALEN tribute project featuring VAN HALEN drummer Alex Van Halen and guitarist Joe Satriani.

After The Palm Beach Post article was published, Jason's bombshell revelation about the VAN HALEN tour offer dominated the music news headlines, with many fans expressing their surprise at the fact that such a project was in the works. In addition, Satriani himself said that he was taken aback to learn that Jason had revealed the project's existence before everything was finalized and an official announcement was made.

Jason addressed the media and fan response to his VAN HALEN comments in a brand new interview with the 98.7 The Gater radio station in West Palm Beach, Florida, Speaking about the fact that The Palm Beach Post article didn't sufficiently focus on the upcoming charity concert, he said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "That was bad, dude. I'm not happy about that. I'm really, really not happy about that."

When asked by 98.7 The Gater DJ Pat Lynch if The Palm Beach Post journalist printed stuff that he said off the record, Newsted replied: "I don't do very many interviews anymore, and I agreed to do that to promote the show for the kids. We do benefit shows to put paintbrushes and guitars in kids' hands. That's what I'm doing now. The METALLICA 'Black Album' did so well and it still does to this moment, [and] because of that I'm able to do what I want with whatever projects I have going. THE CHOPHOUSE BAND is the longest-running project. The things that we do five to six times a year — we do benefits, period, for art programs for kids. That's it — music classes and art programs. That's why I agreed to do that interview, was to forward the information about the Goldner Conservatory at the Maltz [Jupiter] Theatre that's gonna have classes for kids and do exactly what I said. So if I go to talk about that, and I mentioned two little things over here about the calls that I've received in the past 20 years from whoever it is — Alice Cooper, AEROSMITH, whatever; man, whatever — I was just listing a list of the calls that I received over time that never went anywhere. I only said yes to a couple of the 30 that I received, and I mentioned a couple of them that impressed me. People that if I wouldn't have had their records, I wouldn't play the way I do, they called me on my home phone and said, 'You wanna come and jam with us?' Dude, I'm off the ground; I'm levitating. I'm, like, 'Why would AEROSMITH call me?' That's a big frickin' deal to a kid. Just a kid from a farm in Michigan, dude, and a guy from AEROSMITH calls and asks me to play bass? However many years later when you stole that album from your brother's collection. It's frickin' huge. That's all I was doing. I talked about two seconds about that, and that's what they chose to go for. They didn't talk about the Conservatory, the kids' classes, the things that we're doing, THE CHOPHOUSE BAND, why we do that we do.

"Nobody makes any money in THE CHOPHOUSE BAND," he continued. "Everybody volunteers their time — the camera guy, the guitar tech. We just do it to try to help out and give back — that's it. We try to make some community thing. So when the press runs with it that way… And also I think just the straight-up lack of awareness, lack of study about what my past story is that's already been told 700 times. You know, those kind of things that are already very, very obvious news that you can get that information, why are you asking me that question again? It doesn't make any sense. Let's get on to what we're getting on with. There's a future here. Everybody knows about my past. Let's please talk about what's coming, not what has already happened."

"That really rubbed me wrong," Newsted added. "I don't know what interviews I'll do again. I'm not sure if I'll say yes to anything."

Pressed by Lynch about whether he called The Palm Beach Post writer back after the article was published, Jason said: "She got disinvited to the show." Lynch then opined that The Palm Beach Post journalist "probably doesn't give a shit" about not being invited to the gig, to which Newsted replied: "I don't really know and I don't really care."

Just a few days ago, Satriani told the "Rock Of Nations With Dave Kinchen" classic rock show that he was astonished to find out that Jason had discussed the proposed VAN HALEN tribute project with a journalist. He said: "These things are always happening in the music industry, and you're supposed to keep very quiet about it [laughs], because sometimes they don't work out. There's usually about 10 crazy ideas that float around and musicians are always, like, 'Okay, I won't say anything about this 'cause it may not work out. I don't wanna hurt this person's feelings or disrupt any other business plans.' So, yeah, we were all pretty shocked that Jason wanted to go public with it 'cause we were all sworn to silence. [Laughs]"

Jason left METALLICA in 2001 but was inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame, along with guitarist/vocalist James Hetfield, drummer Lars Ulrich, guitarist Kirk Hammett, and the man who replaced him, bassist Robert Trujillo, in 2009.

Newsted and his wife Nicole have been longtime residents of Jupiter, Florida.

Humans, you have waited long enough! The day is finally here! As of today, your Lords and Masters Gear unleash their latest aural masterpiece. Taken from their forthcoming album, The New Dark Ages, Gwar is pleased as piss to debut the song “Mother Fucking Liar”. Watch the visualizer below.


“This song is for anybody who’s sick of all the pieces of shit talking out of both sides of their mouth. Motherfuck a motherfucking liar,” says vocalist Blöthar the Berserker.


The New Dark Ages chronicles Gwar's adventures in the Duoverse, where the band rediscovers old powers such as Blóthar’s terrifying Berserker Mode, and encounter new allies, such as the murderous maven known as The Cutter. Along the way, they battle the living monuments of a lost cause and armies of undead soldiers who Rise Again to fight a New Civil War.




Pre-order The New Dark Ages here. The album will be released on CD/digital on June 3, and vinyl and cassette on September 16 via the band’s own Pit Records.  





The New Dark Ages tracklisting:


"New Dark Age
"Blood Libel
"Berserker Mode
"Mother Fucking Liar
"Unto The Breach
"Completely Fucked
"The Cutter
"Rise Again
"The Beast Will Eat Itself
"The Venom Of The Platypus
"Ratcatcher
"Bored To Death
Death Whistle Suite:
"Temple Ascent"
"Starving Gods"
"Deus Ex Monstrum"


"Mother Fucking Liar" visualizer:





The album concept is tied to a companion graphic novel, “GWAR In the Duoverse of Absurdity,” which will also be released by Z2 Comics on June 3rd. In the graphic novel the band are sucked off into an alternate universe to do battle with their evil twins and the specter of rogue technology.  


Upcoming Gwar tour dates are listed below.





May
19 - Ft. Wayne, IN - Piere’s*
20 - St. Louis, MO - The Pageant* (PointFest PreParty)
21 - Wichita, KS - TempleLive*
23 - Colorado Springs, CO - The Black Sheep
24 - Grand Junction, CO - Mesa Theater
26 - Sacramento, CA - Ace of Spades
27 - Chico, CA - Senator Theatre
28 - San Diego, CA - House of Blues
29 - Tempe, AZ - The Marquee
31 - San Antonio, TX - Vibes Event Center


June
2 - Destin, FL - Club LA
3 - Chattanooga, TN - The Signal
4 - Charleston, SC - Music Farm
5 - Charlotte, NC - The Underground
7 - Joliet, IL - The Forge
8 - Green Bay, WI - EPIC Event Center
10 - Washington, DC - 9:30 Club
11 - Sayreville, NJ - Starland Ballroom
12 - Albany, NY - Empire Live
14 - Hampton Beach, NH - Wally’s
15 - Burlington, VT - Higher Ground
16 - Providence, RI - The Strand
17 - Reading, PA - Reverb





July
29 - Tilburg, NL - 013
31 - Berlin, DE - SO 26


August
2 - Munich, DE - Free and Easy Festival*
3 - Essen, DE - Turock
4 - Wacken, DE - Wacken*
5 - Makowice, PL - Pol’and’Rok Festival*
8 - Dover, UK - The Booking Hall
9 - Brighton, UK - Chalk
10 - Bristol, UK - Fleece
12 - Catton Park, UK - Bloodstock*
13 - Norwich, UK - Waterfront
14 - Leeds, UK - Key Club
16 - Glasgow, UK - Garage
17 - Manchester, UK - Club Academy
18 - London, UK - The Dome


* Festival

Former SEPULTURA members Max Cavalera and Igor "Iggor" Cavalera will perform select tracks from the band's seminal "Beneath The Remains" and "Arise" albums on a U.S. tour this spring/summer. Joining Max and Igor on the trek will be Mike Leon of SOULFLY and Daniel Gonzalez of POSSESSED. In a new interview with Ghost Cult magazine, Igor stated about how he plans to prepare for the tour: "Of course, it is quite a physical tour. The drumming on it is quite extreme from those two records, so I do have to do a lot of practicing. Luckily, I have a studio here [home] in London that I can come in and do some drumming and try some stuff. And of course we will be doing a bit of rehearsals for this with the whole band before the tour starts, but it's always good to be prepared for something like that. Of course those are songs that somehow they are ingrained in my brain already, but I do need to… because I'm involved also with so many projects, sometimes I do need to do a bit of focusing so I can get all the parts right so my hard drive doesn't explode."

Asked if he has to re-learn how to play some of those songs which were originally written and recorded more than 30 years ago, Igor said: "I do have some notes that I write down, and I've been this for many years. I don't really read music professionally, but I do have some notes that I know where to follow certain things. And those are certain eras where a few songs are very similar to each other — they are variations of the same song, in a way — so not to get confused with certain parts, especially with tempo changes and things like that, I try to keep a bit of a notepad [so] I can look at and I know exactly where I am with a track. 'Cause otherwise, of course, we all go into some kind of a brainfart where you're, like, 'Oh, shit. What's next?' So I try to keep those notes somehow close to me, even when I'm playing live. I have the setlist, but I also have a few things that I write down that help me situate myself in that case."

Reflecting on the fact that "Beneath The Remains" and "Arise" are both more than three decades old, Igor said: "I'm very proud that those records are still relevant to a lot of people, including myself. I really enjoy those records, and to play them live is such a pleasure because I really enjoy playing music with my brother; I really enjoy the connection that we have, the chemistry that we have when we play live. And to have a chance to do this, for me, it's very special, and I really appreciate that. I know there's a lot of brothers out there who are not even here, like the Abbott brothers from PANTERA, or even someone like Eddie Van Halen is gone — now it's only Alex — so the fact that I have my brother to still do things [with], I feel very fortunate that I can still go out and play with him."

Max and Igor kicked off a tour celebrating "Beneath The Remains" and "Arise" back in 2018. In early 2020, Max revealed plans to bring the trek to the U.S., but no dates had been announced prior to the pandemic.

In a 2018 interview with Wall Of Sound, Max stated about revisiting the "Beneath The Remains" and "Arise" material on the most recent run of shows: "I had to learn those riffs again for the tour, and I had to rediscover the albums again. It was a really fun process, learning the lyrics again. I kind of fell in love with the albums again. I don't have a favorite — I like both together, and I think they're meant to be together. For some reason, they just feel right when you play them together. I was very young when I made them, so it made me very aware of my state of mind at the time. I feel like I'm pretty much the same guy. I'm [52] now, but I'm still a metalhead in the heart. I still have the teenage spirit. I'm a huge metal fan, [a] huge supporter of metal. That's just how it was when those albums were done. It's a blessing that I get to do that with my brother, especially after all we went through together and we didn't speak for 10 years. Now, it's good — we are in a good place, and our brotherhood is really good, and we're just having fun with this music... There's an energy and a real anger and real passion in those songs that translates into people losing their minds when they hear it. I don't even have to tell them, 'Circle pit' — they will do it themselves. It's just the power of music."

In 1996, Max exited SEPULTURA after the rest of the band split with Max's wife Gloria as their manager.

Igor left SEPULTURA in June 2006 due to "artistic differences." His departure from the band came five months after he announced that he was taking a break from SEPULTURA's touring activities to spend time with his second wife and their son (who was born in January 2006).

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

Max and Igor photo credit: Jim Louvau

Sabaton guitarist / Majestica frontman Tommy Johansson has shared his solo performance of the Simon & Garfunkel classic, "The Sound Of Silence". Check it out below.


Johansson: "This cover of the Disturbed version of 'The Sound of Silence' by Paul Simon & Art Garfunkel is dedicated to my friend Christian Sundberg, who is no longer with us. A great friend, father, brother and son who left us too early."







Johansson previously shared his cover of Gary Moore's 1986 classic "Out In The Fields". Check it out below.

Chilean death thrash band, Torturer, announces that it is currently working on a new studio album, which will be titled The Flames Of Purification - Burning Cross. The new album is set to be launched via Australis Records in Chile during the second half of 2022. This material consists in a re-recording of the previous work, Burning Cross, originally published in 2003, plus other rarities and an updated sound in terms of production. It also announces the incorporation of JT García (guitars), who will debut with this new effort.


Frontman Francisco Cautín commented: "We were never really happy with the production that Burning Cross back then and now we will finally have the opportunity to present these songs with the sound that they deserve, as well as debuting the new line up which has given a new spark of light to our sound."


The Flames Of Purification - Burning Cross was produced by Pablo Gudiño, who has already worked with the band in its previous studio albums, Conjuro IV (2017) and the homonymous Torturer (2012), at the Torture Chamber Studio. The art work was created by Productora Medu1a, who has been recognized in the Chilean media for their graphic work in the past with the work for bands such as Kuervos del Sur and Crisalida.




In the meantime, the band prepares the 30-year celebration of their acclaimed Demo 91, with a new version of its most popular song called "Kingdom Of The Dark", which will be accompanied with a new video, expected to be published in May.


Watch the original "Kingdom Of The Dark" video released in 1992:





Torturer is:


Francisco Cautín - Bass / Vocals
Francisco Garcés - Guitars
Rodrigo Zúñiga - Drums
JT García - Guitars

Y&T frontman Dave Meniketti, who went public with his prostate cancer battle in February, says that he will undergo five weeks of external radiation starting in May.

The 68-year-old guitarist/vocalist discussed his diagnosis and treatment during an appearance on today's (Wednesday, April 20) episode of SiriusXM's "Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk". Regarding how he found out that he had cancer, he said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "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. I had it about three weeks ago, almost, and I was kind of concerned, 'cause I had shows to play, and the first one was the Fillmore one week after I had that surgery. And I was, like, 'Can I do this?' And I was asking both doctors, and they said, 'Yeah, you're probably gonna be just fine. You might have a little bit of pain,' and so on and so forth. But I made it through. And then the next week was last weekend, and both shows went off great. And I had not that much pain overall, so it was not too bad."

As for the next step in his treatment, Dave said: "Five weeks after they insert those seeds, I go for external radiation, and that's five straight weeks of that five days a week. And it's very targeted. They, I guess, give you these little tattoos — which will be my first tattoos, by the way. [Laughs]"

Meniketti went on to say that this was one of the best treatment options for his age. "I'm 68 years old — I don't mind telling you that, because I'm proud of the fact that I've still got it as far as my voice is still there, I can still play guitar, the band sounds great, so I'm not worried about it," he said. "And [the radiation] starts about three weeks from now — somewhere around there; maybe two and a half; I haven't gotten the date yet from the oncologist when that's gonna start. But Jill, who is my manager and my wife, had set it up so that I wasn't gonna play any shows for at least a month after the end of that five-week treatment. Because even though I don't lose my hair or I don't get sick or anything like that, you will potentially lose some energy midway through the treatment because you're getting doused with radiation. So it's bound to happen. But it's not chemotherapy, so there's nothing like that type of thing."

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. And the urologist and the oncologist both feel that at the end of this five-week radiation therapy I should be done. And then I will continue to get PSA tests more frequently to really double check to make sure that the numbers go way down."

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.

In 2019, Y&T released its long-awaited documentary, "Y&T: On With The Show - The Documentary", on DVD and on Blu-

Mongolian rock band, The HU, is currently on the road in the US with their Black Thunder Tour with a series of headlining dates. It kicked off in San Diego, CA on April 16 and ends in Mexico City, MX on May 31.


Fan-filmed video from their April 19th show in Tucson, AZ can be viewed below.













The tour will continue to tease new music from The HU’s highly anticipated sophomore album, due later this year from Better Noise Music. The album was recorded in their homeland of Mongolia over the last several months, during which, the group gave an update from the studio to fans via their YouTube channel here. Fans can also expect special previews of the project with live performances of new songs that the group originally premiered on their North American 2021 tour. See a new Q&A with The HU discussing the album and touring below.


This past fall, The HU headlined a tour through North America after joining Halestorm’s headlining tour, where they reunited with frontwoman Lzzy Hale, their special guest on “Song of Women” from their #1-charting debut album THE GEREG. In addition to those tours, The HU also performed a slew of high-profile festival dates including Austin City Limits, Outside Lands, Rocklahoma, Inkcarceration and more, with the Austin-American Statesman giving a rave review for their ACL set, writing, “File this one under noise you didn’t think you needed. The eight-piece Mongolian band The HU plays its guitars with bows and man buns, with backing “whoa” chants and punishing drums…It’s music built on tradition with an eye on the past.”


Those dates coincided with The HU’s appearance on Metallica’s Special 30th Anniversary Black Album Reissue Covers Project, for which they covered the legendary band’s “Through The Never”. They appeared on the tracklisting alongside some of the biggest names in music - Elton John, Miley Cyrus, Yo-Yo Ma, St. Vincent, Phoebe Bridgers, J Balvin with the Neptunes, Weezer, and many more - who offered their own renditions of Metallica’s songs that originally appeared on the iconic LP.


The band is excited to share more news on new music and further touring in the coming weeks on their social media channels and encourage everyone to give them a follow so they don’t miss out on anything.





Tour dates:


April
21 - Phoenix, AZ - The Van Buren
22 - Indio, CA - Coachella
23 - Monterey, CA - Golden State Theatre
25 - Portland, OR - Roseland Theater
26 - Bend, OR - Midtown Ballroom
28 - Spokane, WA - Knitting Factory
29 - Missoula, MT - The Wilma
30 - Bozeman, MT - The ELM


May
2 - Fargo, ND - Sanctuary Events Center
3 - Lincoln, NE - Bourbon Theatre
4 - Kansas City, MO - The Truman
6 - Detroit, MI - St. Andrews Hall
7 - Bloomington, IL - Castle Theatre
8 - Columbus, OH - Newport Music Hall
9 - Nashville, TN - Cannery Ballroom
11 - Louisville, KY - Mercury Ballroom
13 - Portland, ME - State Theatre
14 - Albany, NY - Empire Live
16 - Washington, DC - Warner Theatre
17 - Norfolk, VA - The NorVa
19 - Charlotte, NC - The Fillmore
20 - Raleigh, NC - The Ritz
21 - Charleston, SC - Music Farm
22 - Daytona Beach, FL - Welcome to Rockville
25 - Birmingham, AL - Iron City
26 - Little Rock, AR - Little Rock Music Hall
27 - Oklahoma City, OK - Tower Theatre
28 - The Woodlands, TX - The Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion (Buzzfest)
29 - Dallas, TX - Dos Equis Pavilion (BFD 22)
31 - Mexico City, MEX - Lunario





See a full list of the band’s upcoming live shows and find ticket information here.


Q&A With The HU:


Q: Can you tell us which songs from the upcoming album will be performed on the “Black Thunder” tour, why you’re excited to play them and how they represent a new chapter for The HU?


The HU: "For the “Black Thunder” tour, we’re excited to be performing songs from our new album including “Mother Nature,” “Tatar Warrior” and “ShihiHutu.” We have been working hard on our second album and hope to have it ready soon. It will be focused on showing the unique qualities of The HUnnu Rock genre and consists of many new songs that reinforce the different aspects of it. So far we’ve been getting positive response from our fans and we can’t wait to perform all of our new songs for them."


Q: What inspired you to call the tour “Black Thunder”?


The HU: "We originated in Mongolia and through our music we try to make our fans feel the freedom and energy of the spirit of our vast land and high mountains. Likewise, the “Black Thunder” name is inspired by the unique scenery that can only be seen in Mongolia in which the thunder rumbles right before the rain in the high mountains, the number of clouds in the sky and the force of the lightning are heard, and seen many, many miles away We tried to communicate the energy and feeling you would get experiencing that and hence we named the tour “Black Thunder”."


Q: A Coachella performance is a prestigious booking since the festival has always stood for musical integrity. Can you discuss what it feels like to be performing at Coachella for the first time in your career? Are there any other artists you’re excited to see performing on the day you play?


The HU: "It is such an honor to be part of Coachella. We’re more than thrilled to be included and it has always been our dream to be performing on that stage representing Mongolia for the first time. We feel that it’s a great opportunity to meet with many of our loyal fans and artists that we love.  There are so many talented great artists playing on the day we perform and for the rest of the festival, and if we get a chance, we would love to see all of them."


Q: You’ve performed in many cities in North America. Can you tell us what it’s like to play for audiences here and how they might be different from ones in Europe?


The HU: "We’ve toured many cities and several continents and met with so many awesome people. Every place has its own characteristics that can be felt through their greetings, hand gestures and chants before, during and after the concerts. In that regard, we would say the biggest differences that we can recall would be the amount of people who would sing along and who’ve memorized the lyrics. Each continent has different accents on singing in Mongolian and we love all of our audiences and their uniqueness."


Q: What is your favorite part about touring North America? Do you guys ever have the time to explore cities on days off (restaurants, museums, etc.) and if so, what has that been like?


The HU: "Our favorite thing about touring in North America is visiting different places and meeting people. Not only do the restaurants and establishments differ, but each one of them has a unique style. On our days off, we’ve had a chance to taste the most amazing barbecue in Texas, Asian fusion mixed with Mexican spices and sushiritto, etc and explore around everywhere we go. Like their cuisine, Americans are always willing to go the extra mile to make people feel welcome and accepted - we’ve had many people guide us through their cities and towns."

In a new interview with Decker of Wisconsin's WZOR (Razor 94.7/104.7) radio station, TRIVIUM guitarist Corey Beaulieu was asked if he and his bandmates have begun working on material for the follow-up to 2021's "In The Court Of The Dragon" album. He responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "No. There's always material. During our downtime, I wrote some stuff, just 'cause I needed something to do and I had a couple of riffs, and I was, like, 'Screw it. I'll just kind of start working on it.' And then there's fragments of songs or demos of songs that maybe someone… I know I have a couple of things I wrote and demoed for the last record, but when you have three people in the band writing song ideas and riffs and stuff, by the time you finish the record there's a bunch of stuff everyone's got that we never got around to. So there's always a stockpile to pick from if we need a starting point for a song. We're never short on those.

"We're excited to get back out on tour," he continued. "We have two records, basically, to promote since we didn't really get to tour for [2020's] 'What The Dead Men Say', so they're kind of a combined tour so it's kind of a double-album-type tour situation where we're promoting two [records].

"Now that things are opening back up overseas and a bunch of other stuff coming out, we're gonna just focus on the tour side of things for a while. Since we did two records in basically a year and a half, we need to space out any new material for a little bit. Don't everyone expect we're gonna be dropping a record every year from now on."

According to Beaulieu, TRIVIUM "usually" released albums at two-year intervals in the past. "We'd put out a record and then tour and then two years later [put out another one]," he said. "That's basically how our whole cycle has been for our career. At one point, I think there was three years between records, but usually it's two 'cause you do your touring and then the way it is, you just kind of keep it going. That's why we have I think six albums that have come out in October, so we're pretty consistent with the timeline of what we're doing. We just felt that since 'What The Dead Men Say' came out basically right when everything shut down and we weren't gonna tour, the whole thinking was, 'Who knows when we're gonna be able to tour?' 'Cause no one knew at that point if it was gonna be six months, a year, a year and a half, two years — it was unpredictable when bands were gonna be able to tour and do all that stuff. Do we wanna go out on tour a year or two down the line with a record that's been out for a year or two? Or when we kick off touring, get people excited with new material. So we chose that route and surprised people with another album. We had all this free time, so why just sit around and not do anything, just trying to wait it out? It's, like, we can always write — no one's stopping us from doing that — so we jumped into that."

"In The Court Of The Dragon" was released last October via TRIVIUM's longtime label Roadrunner Records. The record was produced and mixed by Josh Wilbur and recorded in the fall of 2020 at Full Sail University in Orlando. The album cover is an original oil painting by French artist Mathieu Nozieres.

TRIVIUM is currently supporting MEGADETH and LAMB OF GOD on the 2022 leg of "The Metal Tour Of The Year", which kicked off on April 9 at Michelob ULTRA Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Listen to "Corey Beaulieu Of Trivium Talks Letting Loose In The Solos Of 'In The Court Of The Dragon'" on Spreaker.

American heavy metal band Lords Of The Trident have announced the next single from their newly released studio album, The Offering. Fans can check out the new music video for "Champion" below.





Talking about the "Champion" video, vocalist Fang VonWrathenstein comments: "I grew my hair out during the pandemic, and I'm still not quite used to it, so you'll see me accidentally headbanging into an open flame during the first few seconds of the song. I barely noticed! Afterwards, I asked the guys - "Hey, do you smell something burning in here?"




The new album from Lords Of The Trident, The Offering, was released independently on April 1, 2022.


With The Offering finally released worldwide, Lords Of The Trident have spared no time to engage with their fans through a new campaign that puts their loyal supporters first. Last week, at the overwhelming behest of the fans, the band launched a 30-day Kickstarter campaign with the goal of raising the funds to press The Offering on vinyl.





To announce the Kickstarter campaign, the band partnered with self-proclaimed Crypto pioneer 'John Parkingspot IV' to release the video seen below:





The Kickstarter for the vinyl fundraiser (which has already reached its initial goal!) can be found here.


"The first week after we released The Offering was INSANE - we had over 54,000 Spotify streams of the album alone, and the question we kept getting over and over was, 'Can I get this on vinyl??' I'm happy to announce today that we're opening up a Kickstarter pre-order for vinyl copies of the album. We're also offering SUPER soft hoodies, enamel pins, pogs (yes, really!) and more. Check out our announcement video for more info and the link to the campaign!"


Lords Of The Trident have also announced the first wave of their 2022 tour dates. The band's return to live shows this year began with an epic album release show on April 2, where they were joined by none other than Grant Truesdell of Unleash The Archers. See below for the band's upcoming live shows, and expect to hear more announcements very soon.


Dates:


May
28 – Cincinnati, OH – Urban Artifact Brewing
29 – Pittsburgh, PA – Club Café


July
28 – Minneapolis, MN – Amsterdam 
29 – Duluth – Caddy Shack


August
19 – Madison, WI – High Noon Saloon 





Full album:





"Carry The Weight" playthrough video:





"These Tower Walls" video:





"Acolyte" video:





"Charlatan" video:





"Power Of Evil" video:

Alcatrazz guitarist Joe Stump's  instrumental solo record, Diabolical Ferocity, is out now through Lion Music. Check out a guitar playthrough video of album track, “Sneak Attack”, below.





Order here.







"Burn It Down":





"Forever Moore":

METALLICA guitarist Kirk Hammett says that he was "pretty shocked" that he got the "blessings" from all of his bandmates to release his debut solo EP, "Portals", especially considering that METALLICA's former bassist Jason Newsted famously left the group more than two decades ago over the way his then-side project ECHOBRAIN was handled.

"It was amazing because our band has not had a lot of great progress with band members going solo, as everyone knows," Hammett told Rolling Stone in a new interview. "But all that went down almost 20 years ago, and we're such different people now. We're all just older, wiser, and more mature. Well, I don't know if we're wiser, but we're definitely older, and a little bit more mature, a little bit more responsible. So something like this takes on a different sort of meaning now than it would have 20 years ago."

Asked what has changed since the 2001 interview METALLICA gave to Playboy magazine in which frontman James Hetfield said, "When someone does a side project, it takes away from the strength of METALLICA," Hammett said: "Well, we kind of see it like this: We're not musicians, we're artists. Ethically, morally, and creatively, it's wrong to deny someone the opportunities to express themselves and create. And I think that's kind of where everyone is sitting right now. Also, now we're so much more accepting of what happens in our lives because so much stuff has happened to us in the last 20 years — so much stuff has happened in the last five years.

"I think we're a little bit more aware of our own mortality and how much more time we have as functioning artists, musicians, and band members," he continued. "So there are other things that are more important to consider, like the longevity of the group, the mental health of the group, the creative energy of the group.

"And those guys know I ain't fucking going anywhere. METALLICA is my fucking bed. METALLICA is my home, and it would be fruitless to leave the band because, if I did, people would be reminding me every single day of how I was the METALLICA guitar player. I don't want to be put in a situation where I have to resist that. I want to always fucking be seen as just another guy in METALLICA trying to make the best music along with these other three guys because that's basically what we do. That's our calling. It's what the freaking universe wants us to do. I think along those lines."

Jason spoke in detail about the reason he left METALLICA in a 2013 interview with Scuzz TV. Newsted explained: "The management of METALLICA was very, very excited about ECHOBRAIN, wanted to take it out for me, wanted me to do ECHOBRAIN also, with METALLICA. They felt ECHOBRAIN was that good, the singer was that good, and it didn't affect METALLICA because it was a totally different kind of thing, and I was in METALLICA; that would give it its pedigree already."

Newsted continued: "They had told me, pretty convincingly, 'This is a great record, we've been playing it around the office, that's all I’ve been hearing, it's fantastic, this kid has a great voice. Let's do something with this.' That's what they told me, and then James heard about it and was not happy. He was, I think, pretty much out to put the kibosh on the whole thing because it would somehow affect METALLICA in his eyes, because now the managers were interested in something I was doing that had nothing to do with him."

Newsted told The Pulse Of Radio a while back that he never saw how ECHOBRAIN could have interfered with METALLICA. "I never felt that it was going to affect METALLICA in any way," he said. "There was no way that it could. The monster and the integrity and the legend that METALLICA's built, it would take a lot more than that to ever affect it."

Newsted added, "The people that I had counted on for 15 years to help me with my career, help METALLICA, take care of my money, do all of those things, told me, 'Your new project is fantastic, we'd like to help you with it.' James heard about it, the manager calls me back a couple of days later — 'Sorry we're not going to be able to help you with that ECHOBRAIN thing.'"

During last year's chat with Apple Music's Zane Lowe, METALLICA drummer Lars Ulrich said that Newsted's decision to leave METALLICA in 2001 "now makes complete sense."

"We write the songs; we make the decisions; we do all of it," Lars said. "You have no creative outlet in this band; you have no creative voice. And then when you go and do something that gives you satisfaction and a way for you to express yourself to the rest of the world, then we get fucking pissed at you. And then that resentment then goes to you leaving the band. I mean, that's kind of Psychiatry 101 here. But we weren't equipped to see that side of it. Twenty years later, so now it makes complete sense."

Ulrich added: "Jason gave 14 years — every day, every performance, he was there always... I mean, we always used to joke. It's, like, 'He's so fired up. Come on, dude. Slow down.' He was the fucking first guy in and the last guy out. He was signing autographs when we were driving by waving on the way out of the buildings. I mean, he really was. And I now [am] finally equipped to appreciate every moment that he gave. And we have, I think, so much respect for each other now, so much appreciation. Ten years ago, when we did the 30th anniversaries, when he came up and played four nights with us at the four Fillmore shows, played two nights with us, seeing Rob [Trujillo, current METALLICA bassist] and him together up there, that felt like it was the beginning of the thawing of where we are now."

"Portals", an all-instrumental four-song EP, is being released today (Saturday, April 23) digitally and on CD and "ocean blue" vinyl for Record Store Day. The effort was recorded in Los Angeles, Paris, and Oahu and was produced by Hammett, who drew inspiration for the songs from horror movies, classical music, and the work of Ennio Morricone, whose "The Ecstasy Of Gold" has been opening METALLICA live shows since 1983.

Photo credit: Ross Halfin

John Steel (the band named after the literal English translation of guitarist Ivan Stalev) are a Bulgarian traditional heavy metal band that are well known in their home country.


Having released two previous albums featuring Blaze Bayley and Doogie White respectively, they are now forging ahead with their third record Distorted Reality featuring none other than Iron Allies frontman David Reece (also ex-Accept, Bangalore Choir, Bonfire).


This will mark the first worldwide release for the band.




Ivan Stalev offers the following comment:


"We are very excited to make this partnership with Global Rock, it is our first label signing and with David Reece on vocals we have delivered a great powerful classic sounding heavy metal album."


Vocalist David Reece adds: 


"I am very pleased to be part of the latest John Steel album, The guys have an undying hunger for metal and it shows on this album how truly talented each one of them is, I am also very pleased that Global Rock will be handling this latest release, giving the album a worldwide release so everyone can hear what I am talking (and singing) about!"


The physical edition of the new album will also include, as a significant bonus, the two previous John Steel albums, making this a great overall package featuring three legendary vocalists.





Tracklisting:


“Black Demon”
“Distorted Reality”
“Woman Of Ice”
“Dante’s Retribution”
“Evil The Spell”
“Messiah’s Day”
“Rise From The Dead”
“Fallen Angel”


“Distorted Reality”:

According to NBC Los Angeles, one person was killed and four others were injured in a shooting late Saturday night (April 23) during a death metal concert at a bar in San Bernardino, California

The shooting took place around 9:30 p.m. on Saturday outside of the Marquis Lounge, reportedly while Los Angeles death metal act CRAWLING THROUGH TARTARUS was performing. The band's vocalist Matt Holzboog was allegedly "hit by two rounds" and subsequently underwent surgery.

CBS Los Angeles reported that 32-year-old James Vincent Dickson was pronounced dead at the scene.

Police said all other four victims were listed in stable condition on Monday.

The investigation into the shooting remains under investigation, and no suspect or motive information was available.

Prayers for my boys in Crawling Through Tartarus after a violent shooting during their set last night in San Bernardino....

Posted by Matt Berg on Sunday, April 24, 2022

On April 23rd, 2022, at about 9:40 PM, San Bernardino PD, County Fire, and AMR responded to a reported shooting at the...

Posted by The Husky Reporter on Sunday, April 24, 2022

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Former ACCEPT frontman Udo Dirkschneider has just released a new solo album, "My Way", via Atomic Fire Records. The effort is billed as the 70-year-old German musician's "most personal and extraordinary album to date," containing 17 cover versions of the songs that have influenced the musician and singer the most, including classic tracks from URIAH HEEP, RAINBOW, THE SWEET, MOTÖRHEAD, LED ZEPPELIN, SCORPIONS, AC/DC and JUDAS PRIEST. "My Way" also features a cover of the WOLFSHEIM hit "Kein Zurück", which marks the first time Udo has recorded and released a song in his native language.

Asked in a new interview with Jorge Botas of Portugal's "Metal Global" why now was the right time for him to put out a song in German, Udo responded: "It's definitely about the lyrics. The lyrics on this song definitely reflect my whole career — the bad times, the good times; never look back; look always forward; there is no way back. And that fits perfectly for my thinking, how I think. I never look back; I always look forward and say, 'Okay, everything is history and now look forward.' That's the most important thing for me.

"I heard this song in 2002, it came out, and the lyrics, I don't know why, but I was really thinking in my head [about it]," he continued. "And when I was making up the list [of songs to cover on 'My Way'], I said, 'Yeah, I wanna do this song.' But the first idea was to translate the German lyrics into English lyrics, but the sense was gone of the lyrics; it was not really the same. So then I said, 'Okay, let's try it in German.' And this is also quite funny — I thought to sing in the mother language was easy. No — it was not easy. It was the most difficult vocal recording on the album — to get the words right. And the meaning and timing with German words are completely different than if you are singing in English. But I think in the end, the guy who wrote the song, he said also, 'Well done.'"

Udo added: "This song in this version is more heavy than the original one; the original one is more electronic and poppy — very soft. But as I said, for me it's a good version."

Asked if "Kein Zurück" has opened the door to the possibility of him writing and recording an original song in German, Dirkschneider responded: "[That's] a very interesting question. I don't know. I mean, I don't know. Already some people said, 'Wow. Why you're not doing a whole album in German? Look, like RAMMSTEIN [have been doing it all these years].' I said, 'Yeah, RAMMSTEIN. I'm not RAMMSTEIN.' I don't know. Maybe if there's something really interesting lyric[-wise] or whatever, it can be happening that we do something like a bonus track in German or whatever, but at the moment, nothing is planned for the next album. We have already some ideas for the next U.D.O. album, but slowly. It takes some time. Let's say the next U.D.O. album will not be out before next year after the summer or something like that."

Seven years after announcing that he would embark on a special tour during which he would perform ACCEPT songs one last time under the DIRKSCHNEIDER banner before closing that chapter for good, Udo is continuing to play ACCEPT material at select shows.

A year ago, Udo confirmed to Canada's The Metal Voice that U.D.O. will "definitely" play some ACCEPT songs if the band's North American tour materializes in 2022.

Dirkschneider said in 2016 that his vow to never play ACCEPT material again came with one caveat. "If the band ACCEPT dissolves one day in the near future and I am still around with U.D.O., then there is a chance that I put ACCEPT songs back in the setlist," he said. "But currently there is ACCEPT, so go see them [if you want to see those songs performed live]. They are playing these songs."

Udo previously said the original plan was for DIRKSCHNEIDER to only "a few shows," and "then [the tour] got bigger and bigger [due to demand]." But, he added, "I don't want to complain about that."

ALTER BRIDGE guitarist Mark Tremonti spoke to Niclas Müller-Hansen of RockSverige about the progress of the recording sessions for the band's new album. He said: "Drums are done and bass is starting today [April 19]. I go in next week. We all went in to do pre-production. Myles [Kennedy, vocals] and I write demos and then one by one we'll go through the demos until we're satisfied with the record. We arranged 14 songs and then the producer's, like, 'Hey, here's the moment of truth: we have to cut two of them.' That's the worst thing, so me and Myles were, like, 'We'll both cut one of the songs that we brought.'"

Tremonti went on to say that the follow-up to 2019's "Walk The Sky" "should come out in September," with a European tour set to kick off in October.

ALTER BRIDGE released a seven-song EP, "Walk The Sky 2.0", in November 2020 via Napalm Records. The effort contained live versions of a few of the band's favorites from "Walk The Sky" — "Wouldn't You Rather", "Pay No Mind", "Native Son", "Godspeed", "In The Deep" and "Dying Light" — as well as one new studio track, "Last Rites", which was written, recorded and completed entirely during the COVID-19 lockdown.

Tremonti issued the fifth album from his solo band TREMONTI, titled "Marching In Time", last September via Napalm Records.

Myles released his sophomore solo album, "The Ides Of March", last May via Napalm Records.

Tremonti recently partnered with National Down Syndrome Society (NDSS) to release an album of Frank Sinatra covers titled "Tremonti Sings Sinatra". The LP of selections from Frank Sinatra's catalog will be made available as part of a new charity initiative created by Tremonti called Take A Chance For Charity. Proceeds from the album — scheduled for release on May 27 — will go to support NDSS and the work they do to advocate for and support individuals with Down syndrome and their famil