FOZZY guitarist Rich Ward spoke to The Entertainment Outlet about the band's upcoming LP, "Boombox", which is due on May 6. It is the follow-up to 2017's "Judas", the title track of which was recently certified gold by the RIAA (Recording Industry Association Of America) for accumulating 500,000 certified units.

Ward said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "I feel like this is our best FOZZY album. I think 'Judas' is a fantastic record, but we didn't allow ourselves this process of at the end coming up with the real banger riffs. I would have been happier with 'Judas' if we had two or three more really crushing songs to really make it a more balanced meal. 'Cause I'm a big pop guy. Most of the music I listen to is pop. It's not new pop; it's '70s and '80s pop. But I'm a sucker for great songs, and I always have been. Even when METALLICA put out the 'Black' record, I was the first guy to go, 'Yeah.' When the [RED HOT] CHILI PEPPERS put out 'Blood Sugar Sex Magik', I was, 'Yeah.' I'm a big fan of big songs. And part of it is probably 'cause my mom listened to John Denver and Gordon Lightfoot and just the pop music of the '70s; that was the music I grew up listening to in the early '80s. The BEE GEES — the BEE GEES were my favorite band when I was seven or eight years old; the 'Saturday Night Fever' soundtrack was the album. And then the 'Grease' soundtrack. It wasn't until I heard AC/DC and then OZZY OSBOURNE in the early '80s that things really changed for me, and testosterone and hairs on my genitals then changed everything."

Rich continued: "I'm lucky that I married the two things [in FOZZY]; they both feel right to me. But I feel like a FOZZY record is not right unless it lives in both words where it's got these big superhooks and at the same time has the big riffs. And I feel like we just did it [this time around]. And it took the extra year, I think, to get it right. I think if we had put this [album] out in 2020, we may not have had this magic. It took a little more time. Just like I know there were a lot of authors who were also writing in the pandemic, and it gave their publishers chances to go back and do second and third drafts and to make some refinements in some places where it can make for a better book. And I feel like that's what we did."

"Boombox", which includes the top 10 singles "Nowhere To Run" and "Sane", was once again produced by Johnny Andrews.

FOZZY's "Save The World" 2022 U.S. tour, featuring special guests GFM, KRASHKARMA and THE NOCTURNAL AFFAIR, started on March 31 in Detroit, Michigan and will wrap on May 16 in Sauget, Illinois.

FOZZY debuted a brand new song, "Purifier", during its September 2021 concert in Flint, Michigan and has been performing it live ever since. Back in July 2021, FOZZY played another new song, "The Vulture Club", during its concert in Iowa City, Iowa. The band also performed its previous single, "Sane", live for the first time.

In May 2021, FOZZY dropped a video for its first new song in two years, the aforementioned "Sane", which hit one million views in its first two weeks. This first-of-its-kind video was filmed on the longest wooden roller coaster on the planet today.

In the summer of 2020, Chris revealed that FOZZY's next LP would contain 12 songs, including a cover of FRANKIE GOES TO HOLLYWOOD's "Relax".

Ward and Andrews once again did "the lion's share" of the songwriting for the new LP, which was recorded primarily in Atlanta, Georgia.

In addition to producing "Judas", Andrews previously co-wrote FOZZY's "Lights Go Out" track back in 2014. He has also written songs with the likes of ALL THAT REMAINS, THREE DAYS GRACE and HALESTORM.

In November 2020, FOZZY appeared in its first global live streaming event from Madison Studios in Atlanta, Georgia.

This past January, FOZZY parted ways with longtime drummer Frank Fontsere and replaced him with Grant Brooks (THROUGH FIRE).

Fontsere was a founding member of FOZZY, having formed the group in 1999 with Jericho and Ward.

When FOZZY announced Fontsere's departure, the band said that he was "stepping down to focus on his family and other projects."

FOZZY is Chris Jericho (vocals), Rich Ward (guitars, vocals), Grant Brooks (drums), Billy Grey (guitars) and P.J. Farley (bass).

In the latest installment of the 80's Glam Metalcast, Ross The Boss returns to talk about his upcoming tour with the Ross The Boss band, what’s going with The Dictators, the classic Manowar days. Check out the interview below. 


On new Dictators activity and Ross The Boss band tour 


Ross: "The Dictators are working on new music.We have two new members..Albert Bouchard, who is the original drummer from Blue Oyster Cult and Keith Roth, longtime Sirius XM DJ on guitar as well because our second guitarist Scott Kempner has dementia and can’t do it anymore. Next week for Ross The Boss Band, we are doing some US shows to get ready for our European tour that starts on April 21st. We have a lot of shows coming up." 




On the possibility of new Ross The Boss music 


Ross: "My last record, Born of Fire, was put out March 6th, right at the beginning of the 'scamdemic', so we haven’t had a chance to tour this record. The tour got postponed twice. I’m not going to do a new record until we get a chance to tour for this one. Then I’ll think about doing another one. Everybody wants new music, but nobody wants to pay for it. That all has to change. The musician counts, my job counts. I know I have to make another record, but not right now." 


On the similarities between the cover of KISS' Destroyer and Manowar's Fighting The World


Ross: "Joey (DeMaio) and I really liked the cover for Destroyer by KISS. We wanted to be represented larger than life like they were. That’s what we wanted and that’s what we got. I have tons of respect for Gene and Paul." 


On the improved sound production once Manowar got on Atlantic Records 


Ross: "Technology was really catching up. Fighting the World was the first digital metal record ever and we improved on it with Kings Of Metal. A lot of records today sound like have been mixed through a food grater!" 


On some of the glam bands of the '80s


Ross: "I liked it. Ratt was a great band, Mötley Crüe was good. Believe it or not, Poison was a good band. Then it got out of control when the record companies tried to sign every band in their mommies clothes ever!" 

In a new interview with Andy Hall of the Des Moines, Iowa radio station Lazer 103.3, SKID ROW guitarist Dave "Snake" Sabo, whose band is currently supporting the SCORPIONS on the rescheduled dates of their "Sin City Nights" residency, weighed in on the legendary Germany hard rockers' exclusion from the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "It's criminal. It's absolutely criminal. They have blazed the path for so many bands. And so many people probably don't even realize it, but they have been such a huge influence on so much music that is contemporary today. Their songwriting, their hooks — they're just undeniable. Their musicianship — always undeniable. And yes, it's criminal that they're not in the Hall Of Fame; it's absolutely ridiculous. They should be heralded, not only for their body of work but just how amazing of a band they've continued to be for decades."

Elaborating on what makes SCORPIONS so special, Sabo said: "They're masters at their craft; they always have been. They're one of the best live bands I've ever seen. Their abilities are unbelievably, I think, underrated. If you watch them play, they're an absolute machine. It's incredible. I've never seen them where they haven't been great — never. From playing the Moscow Music Peace Festival in 1989 to playing in Vegas with them now in 2022, they're always great because they're dedicated to their craft. They're great musicians, great singers, great performers. So every night that we go out there, we know that we have to be on top of our game if we're going to be in the same arena as them."

SCORPIONS have been eligible for the Rock Hall since 1997 but have yet to be nominated in spite of the fact they are the most successful rock act to call Germany home, in addition to having several FM radio anthems to its credit, notably "Rock You Like A Hurricane", "No One Like You" and "Big City Nights".

Two years ago, SCORPIONS guitarist Matthias Jabs told Lazer 103.3 about the possibility of his band one day getting inducted into the Rock Hall: "We've been wondering; then we stopped wondering. You never say never. Maybe next year. Maybe at some point in the future. We haven't given up, but it is a bit surprising that we haven't been really mentioned yet. But lately, there's a couple of rock bands that have at least been presented and were mentioned, like MOTÖRHEAD, for example; JUDAS PRIEST for the second time. I didn't follow it that much in recent years, because they always ignored us. I have the feeling now that maybe in the near future it might happen. I personally have the feeling it is actually well deserved, but if it doesn't happen, it doesn't happen. But let's see."

Four years ago, SCORPIONS singer Klaus Meine said that the band "would feel very honored" to one day get inducted into the Rock Hall. "To be inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame definitely would be something," he said. "And I think our fans around the world would be proud of that as well. It's something very special after all. And I know my friend Jon Bon Jovi was… BON JOVI, they were inducted recently, so I think there might be a change in politics, like when they start putting in now heavy metal or classic rock bands; they haven't done this for, I think, forever. And there are many bands who would be proud to be inducted. And for us, being a European band, being a German band, it would mean the world."

SCORPIONS previously played a Las Vegas mini-residency in May 2016, consisting of five shows at The Joint at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino. Support on those dates came from QUEENSRŸCHE.

German progressive metallers M.I.GOD. have returned with a new single / video, "Chances", taken from their 2019 album, Specters On Parade. Check it out below.





Specters On Parade was released in February 2019 and is the first of two concept albums from M.I.GOD. It features 21 tracks in total, 13 being full songs connected with short interludes to tie the concept together. Specters On Parade in the follow-up to M.I.GOD.'s 2012 album, Floor 29, marking an epic return following the tragic death of bassist Matt Weber that sidelined the band.







The tracklist is as follows:


"Vertigo"
"The Solitary Ghost"
"Tongues Of Poison"
"We All Belong To The Dark"
"Embracing The Neon"
"Titans Of The Void"
"The Sleeping Cruelty"
"Atelier Macabre"
"Specters On Parade"
"Sonata In Tenebris (Interlude I)"
"Tears Of Today"
"What's Your Favorite Scourge"
"Chances"
"The Call"
"Weight Of A Million Souls"
"Cluster (Interlude II)"
"Bound To A Daydream"
"Between The Devil And The Deep Blue Sea"
"The Threshold"
"Terminus Life"
"I Feed You My Love"





For information and updates on M.I.GOD. go to the band's official Facebook page here.

In a recent interview with RadioactiveMike Z, host of the 96.7 KCAL-FM radio program "Wired In The Empire", former ILL NIÑO and current LIONS AT THE GATE singer Cristian Machado was asked about his introduction to the music of METALLICA. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "My introduction to METALLICA was 'Master Of Puppets'. I remember living in New York City. My Polish cousin, ironically — I'm a Latino, but I have a small part of my family that's from Poland — he had visited our family from Poland. And apparently, I learned that day that in Europe, and especially in Eastern Europe, they're on to underground metal way earlier than Americans are. Back then in the '80s, Europeans and Eastern Europeans were on to the metal bands way before America even exploded it. And he had come down and he took me to a record store and 'Master Of Puppets' was one of the albums that he bought that day. And I'll never the listening experience that I had; to my ears, it was out of this world, it was almost alien and I was attracted to it immediately — immediately."

He continued: "One of my favorite METALLICA songs is definitely off '…And Justice For All', 'Dyers Eve', which I always felt was such an extreme METALLICA song that always felt just next level for them. But the 'Master Of Puppets' album is what holds a true place in my heart as a METALLICA fanboy in my early age."

When RadioactiveMike Z opined out that there isn't a weak song on "Master Of Puppets", Machado concurred. "Absolutely," he said. "And even till the end, with songs like 'Leper Messiah' and things like that, they just drilled the nail so hard on that album; they didn't lose focus, every song was intentional and intense, and they sounded their own. They had their own sound at the time in thrash metal, and I think that still continues to be something that's important in music."

LIONS AT THE GATE will make its live debut on April 28 at the legendary Whisky A Go Go in West Hollywood, California. Support at the show will come from THROWN INTO EXILE and BREAKING IN A SEQUENCE.

Joining Machado in LIONS AT THE GATE are fellow former ILL NIÑO members Ahrue "Luster" Ilustre (guitar) and Diego Verduzco (guitar), alongside bassist Stephen Brewer (WESTFIELD MASSACRE) and drummer Fern Lemus.

LIONS AT THE GATE released its debut single, "Not Even Human", back in June 2021.

The band's upcoming debut album was produced by the Kile Odell, who has previously worked with FOZZY and MOTIONLESS IN WHITE.

Australian electric bike company, Vallkree, have teamed up with KISS to launch the limited edition KISS x Vallkree in both Drifter and Scrambler models.





"This fusion of metal and machine is hot, hot, hotter than hell! As KISS’ trusted steed, this bike has been made to cruise through their final world tour “The End of the Road”. Headbang away on one of these limited edition ebikes today. Available in-store and online."




For complete details on both models, visit the following links: The Scrambler, The Drifter.

During an appearance on the "In The Trenches With Ryan Roxie" video podcast, URIAH HEEP guitarist Mick Box spoke about the progress of the recording sessions for the legendary progressive rockers' 26th LP. "At the moment, we've recorded a new album," he said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET). "It's in the bag. We used Jay Ruston, the producer that produced the last album, 'Living The Dream', which, for us, was marvelous because it was revered by both the media, the press as well as the fans and also is one of the best of our career. So to get an album like that 50 years on and get those sort of accolades, we kept with the same team. So, yeah, it's a great album. It's rockin'. It's got all the elements that HEEP's known for and all the musicality and the lyrics and everything else. So, yeah, it's there."

Regarding when fans can expect to see the new URIAH HEEP album released, Box said: "At the moment, we're in the process of choosing titles, choosing the artwork and all those sort of things. Then that'll get presented to the record company and, to be honest, it'll be decided by them. We're with a company called Silver Lining, and it's our first album with them.

"As you well know, we're in the music business, and we do the music and they care of that side," he continued. "So they'll release it when they feel that with their investment they'll get the best reward [laughs] — is a nice way of putting it, I guess. So we don't really have a say in it, but they'll find a place to release it when they feel [it's] best [to do so]."

This past February, Box told Danny Stoakes that URIAH HEEP won't play any new songs on tour before the upcoming album is released. "We'd not be allowed to by the record company, as much as we would be tempted," he explained. "In today's market, let's put it this way, if we play a [new] song on stage, before I've got the jeans off and showered and poured a drink, it's recorded and up on YouTube and Facebook and everything else… So it's highly unlikely — for those reasons. I mean, for us, we'd play them all. But sometimes your hands are tied for a reason. And the record company, they come in and allow us to go in and record and do that, so you have to play ball with them."

"Living The Dream" was released in September 2018 via Frontiers Music Srl. The LP was helmed by Ruston, who has previously worked with ANTHRAX, STONE SOUR and STEEL PANTHER, among others.

Box is the original guitarist and sole remaining founding member of URIAH HEEP. He, vocalist Bernie Shaw and keyboardist/vocalist Phil Lanzon have formed the nucleus of the band for more than 35 years and released 17 albums together.

URIAH HEEP debuted in 1970 with the release of one of hard rock's milestones, "Very 'Eavy, Very 'Umble", and has since sold in excess of 40 million albums worldwide. They constantly tour the world, playing up to 125 shows a year to more than 500,000 fans. The band's live set features the classic tracks from the '70s and is a musical journey from the band's beginnings to the present day.

URIAH HEEP is:

Mick Box - Lead Guitar/Vocals

Phil Lanzon - Keyboards/Vocals

Bernie Shaw - Lead Vocals

Dave Rimmer - Bass Guitar/Vocals

Russell Gilbrook - Drums, Percussion

The doom metal band DiGelsomina have posted the cover artwork for their debut album, Sic Itur Ad Astra. Lead guitarist and composer of the band, Andy DiGelsomina, released this statement: 


"We're really excited to present the cover art for our debut album, drawn by creative genius Michael Calandra. After we reviewed the subject matter of the album we felt this was a perfect fit. 







The album itself features the performances of Robert Lowe (formerly of Candlemass and Solitude Aeturnus) on vocals; Gary Spaulding on percussion, Thom Carvey on bass, and my producer / rhythm guitarist / co-conspirator, Andre Maquera.


The songs themselves are essentially epic doom metal with shades of thrash, death, progressive and classic rock / metal.


Tracklisting is:


"Mahanaim"
"Harbinger of Doom"
"Otherworldly"
"Shadows and Mirrors"
"Entombed By Choice"


The lyric topics range from Lovecraft to angelic hosts, existential angst, and the juggling of multiple personae (the last becoming both more prevalent and public in today's social media-oriented culture).


All dedicated to the love of my life and my own Warrior Angel, Cheryl DiGelsomina."


Sic Itur Ad Astra is set to be released this summer.


"Entombed By Choice"


 





 

Heavy horror punk icon Wednesday 13 has been paying tribute to his one-time MURDERDOLLS bandmate, late SLIPKNOT drummer Joey Jordison, during his 2022 U.S. headline tour, dubbed "20 Years Of Fear", which was launched last month in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

In a new interview with the "On The Road To Rock" podcast, Wednesday 13 spoke about his Jordison tribute and reflected on his relationship with Joey, saying: "Every night we have a little part in the set that I tell the story and talk about Joey. It's weird — there's some nights I don't talk as much 'cause I get choked up. I'm, like, 'Go into it.'

"It's been a tough thing to swallow, knowing he's not here. But we got to do that second [MURDERDOLLS] record ['Women And Children Last'], which is my favorite — killer songs on that record.

"When that record ended, we kind of ended on ugly terms and stuff — I won't get into it — but we made up in 2018. We had two days off in Iowa and I went to his house. I brought the whole band over. We had a barbecue, we hung out, we made up and we had been talking, 'Hey, let's do MURDERDOLLS again. Let's do MURDERDOLLS again.' And literally a month before he died, he texted me, just out of the blue, watching 'Texas Chainsaw Massacre'. From his bed, he was, like, 'I just woke up and this was on.' He was just giggling watching The Hitchhiker. And he wrote me a message and said, 'Dude, I'm with you, brother. Horns up. Go out there and destroy it.' It was just a weird, out-of-the-blue thing. So I don't know what was going on with him then. And then I get the news [about his death]. I literally woke up and I had a bunch of messages going, 'Did you hear? Did you hear?' And I knew it.

"So, yeah, man, it's been a weird thing," Wednesday 13 added. "But getting to go out and play these songs and seeing people's reaction has been a healing thing. I needed that."

Jordison — who played guitar for MURDERDOLLS — died "peacefully in his sleep" last July of an unspecified cause. He was 46 years old.

Three years ago, Wednesday 13 told the "Talk Toomey" podcast that he has fond memories of his time with the MURDERDOLLS. "That was such a special time for me — both times, both records," he said. "I mean, we did a lot of cool stuff. But that very first time we came out, and the things we did, it was when nu-metal was dying, and we were just kind of like… I won't say 'breath of fresh air,' 'cause it definitely wasn't fresh; it was smelly. But we were something that kind of came in, and it was really amazing in certain places. In the U.K., it made me feel like THE BEATLES for five seconds. It was something I'll never forget. I'll never forget having your van almost rocked over by a hundred fans in the middle of Piccadilly Circus in London. That was pretty nuts."

MURDERDOLLS had been inactive since completing the touring cycle in support of the aforementioned "Women And Children Last", which came out in August 2010 via Roadrunner Records.

In 2018, Joey told the "Talk Toomey" podcast that he wasn't opposed to the idea of collaborating with Wednesday 13 on new music. "Never say never, man — I mean, that's life," he said. "It's kind of funny, 'cause we have a bunch of songs that have been written and a bunch that are ready to go. Timing is everything, man — not necessarily anything about, 'Oh, we need to do this to impress people,' or, 'We need to put out this record or do something like that.' Timing in life is everything, so we'll see. Only time will tell."

Jordison told CrypticRock.com in 2017 that he "would love to do another record" with MURDERDOLLS. He explained: "I have this punk rock and pop side of me that I don't really get to get out in other areas in my life. When we did that band, it was just pretty much to express fun, have a great time, and kind of throw a monkeywrench into what was going on in rock and metal at the time, and it worked."

Jordison added that the tours he did with the MURDERDOLLS were "really awe-inspiring when you look in hindsight of what we accomplished in a short amount of time and the two records we did. I could not be more proud and happy of what we accomplished in that time," he said. "Everyone that was in that band, the couple of different personnels we employed, the MURDERDOLLS were killer."

Wednesday 13 reunited with onetime MURDERDOLLS members Eric Griffin and Acey Slade on stage for the first time in over a decade in August 2018 at Lucky Strike Live in Hollywood. The event, which celebrated the life of former MURDERDOLLS drummer Ben Graves, saw the trio performing some of the group's classic songs.

Graves, who also worked with PRETTY BOY FLOYD and DOPE, passed away in May 2018 after a year-long battle with cancer. He was only 45 years old.

PROJECTED, the band featuring SEVENDUST members John Connolly (guitar) and Vince Hornsby (bass) alongside ALTER BRIDGE/CREED drummer Scott Phillips and guitarist/vocalist Eric Friedman (a.k.a. E-Rock; TREMONTI), will release its third studio album, "Hypoxia", on June 24 via Rat Pak Records. The 13-track follow-up to 2017's "Ignite My Insanity" was tracked at Studio Barbarosa in Gotha, Florida with producer Michael "Elvis" Baskette, who has previously worked with SEVENDUST, ALTER BRIDGE and SLASH, among others.

The official music video for the "Hypoxia" title track can be seen below.

Connolly explains: "We wanted a performance video, but we wanted to strip it down literally to just the band and the song with atmosphere. It was cool to just jam without worrying about anything else."

Regarding the "Hypoxia" LP, Connolly previously said: "To me, personally, it feels like the most cohesive work we've done especially considering it's the first time we all went in the studio together. That in itself had a huge impact on the songwriting process. And it's taken some time to finally get released but it feels like we've matured quite a bit as a band."

"Hypoxia" shows a band building on its established foundation while incorporating new and exciting elements. Following the brooding album intro "Consequences", listeners are then greeted to the crushing guitar riffs of Connolly to open the galloping track "Dead Weight", setting the stage for the rest of the album's journey.

PROJECTED shows great range on its latest offering, establishing hooky and singable moments in songs like "Stain", "Take Aim" and "Scars" while expertly crafting classic nu-metal styles in "The Thing That's Real" and "Hypoxia". Songs like "Dark" and "Death Is Mostly Permanent" showcase the band's ability to slow things down while still keeping a foot-stomping pulse.

"Hypoxia" track listing:

01. Consequences

02. Dead Weight

03. The Thing That's Real

04. Stain

05. Take Aim

06. Hypoxia

07. Without You

08. Scars

09. My Addiction

10. Test

11. Dark

12. Death Is Mostly Permanent

13. At Your Window

"Ignite My Insanity" was a two-disc collection featuring 21 tracks. ALTER BRIDGE/TREMONTI songwriter Mark Tremonti co-wrote "Rectify" and "Call Me The Devil" and SEVENDUST's Morgan Rose co-wrote "Concede" with PROJECTED.

In a 2017 interview with Shockwave Magazine, Connolly stated about PROJECTED: "With PROJECTED, its something that has given me a ton of opportunity, whereas in SEVENDUST, we all know our parts. If I'm having a bad day in SEVENDUST, I need to remember that I'm only 20% of the puzzle and when the other guys are on, they can pick me up. The freedom and creativity is endless with PROJECTED, and it has certainly brought me to somewhere where I'm not used to, but it's so much fun, and these guys are so easy to work with."

Asked if he has had any formal training as a lead vocalist, Connolly said: "Honestly, no. My training is basically the 20 years with SEVENDUST, and everything I do is the wrong way. Other vocalists probably cringe when they hear the way I do it. I do hope that one day I can take some time and have someone give me direction and training, though. It's funny, I can wake up and sing a half a song one day, not feel it, then the next day a song. Then some days, I'm on, I just keep going and blow my voice out. My friends will ask, 'John, are you all right?', and I'm fine, but I'm just pushing it to the limit. Then I'll have to stop for a few days and then everything is all right again."

TRIUMPH drummer Gil Moore spoke to "The Hook Rocks" podcast about the band's documentary, "Triumph: Rock & Roll Machine", which recently premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival and is now available for streaming in Canada. Asked what it felt like seeing the documentary for the first time and having the band's story told through someone else's perspective, Gil said: "The film, I think, was so well shot and well directed and well scripted that it has a narrative where I'm looking at it almost looking in through the looking glass going, 'Gee, that's the story.' And I was there, but I was too close to the story. And when I actually watch the film, it's like being a passenger on the bus and not driving the bus. Very interesting seeing a career of a band defined in a film like that by someone else. And it's almost like, yeah, I saw those puzzle pieces and they were all lying around on the kitchen table but I could never have imagined assembling those puzzle pieces and creating that picture. I don't know if that's a good metaphor or analogy, but that's what it felt like to me, I would say, when I first saw it."

Moore went on to stress the importance of letting the directors "have creative control" of the documentary. "I think if Mike [Levine, bass] or Rik [Emmett, guitar/vocals] or myself had tried to control it, the outcome wouldn't have been nearly as good. And I joke now with [director] Sam Dunn [of Banger Films] when I'm talking to him on calls and stuff, and if I ever start disagreeing with him on something, I'll go, 'Well, I've learned my lesson. I don't disagree with Sam Dunn on anything 'cause he's always right.' [Laughs] [Because] that's what he's good at. He's good at being a director. And Marc Ricciardelli, I've gotta say, Marc, he's just an unbelievable editor. The way he can take the bits and pieces of film and stories and photos and chunks of animation and tell a story is just a phenomenal, phenomenal skill. Also, Don Allan contributed. He was one of the producers, but he was TRIUMPH's video director, and he contributed a lot creatively. Ralph Chapman, who wrote it — a great, great storyteller. And initially when we started, we had another writer, Peter Goddard from Toronto. And Peter's perspective on TRIUMPH has always been, I think, different and very perceptual into areas that I don't think the three bandmembers really had a lens into.

"So there was a lot of people that contributed ideas — not as much as the two directors, of course, but there were a lot of other influences," Gil clarified. "Mike, Rik and [I] had a little bit of influence — we had a little bit of input, little bit of say — but I think, really, if I was giving advice to another band and they said, 'We're gonna have a documentary,' I'd say, 'Well, tell the band to stay out of it. Just let the directors do their thing because you guys are way too close to the storyline. Let them find the good elements of the story that are worth telling and weave it together into the narrative that they can see.'"

Asked if it was difficult for him personally to let somebody else tell TRIUMPH's story, Gil said: "Yeah, totally. I'm a control freak — I would admit that — so I always have a tendency to wanna control things. And this was one where I just had to go, 'Well, Gil, sit down and shut up. Put your seatbelt on and whatever happens, happens.'"

Last September, Emmett told The Metal Voice about "Triumph: Rock & Roll Machine": "First of all, Banger Films made it, and they've done this before — they've done it for IRON MAIDEN, they've done it for RUSH, they've done it for Alice Cooper and ZZ TOP. I mean, these guys, they're experienced. But they're telling their perspective of the story. They've done their research and then they decided, 'Well, this is the angle we're gonna take.' So that's the first lens you're getting. The other thing is it's not my story, because I was only a part of TRIUMPH. And, in fact, I don't actually own that brand; Gil owns that brand. So you're gonna get a little bit more of Gil's angle of it than Rik's. And that's fine — I'm cool with that — but in truth and in fairness, I think people need to know that. That's what you're gonna see — you're gonna see something that's been passed through those filters."

He continued: "So, is this okay? Have all three guys signed off on this? Yes. But you're not getting my story… Truth is perspective. Truth is a point of view. And everybody understands that; it's just everybody also has this sort of ego thing where they go, 'Yeah, but my truth is better than his.' 'My truth is way more important than hers.' And that gets back to that vanity thing again about how you have to let go. So the documentary, you're talking about trying to find truth from an integration, and I'm saying compromise and collaboration, yes, you get a kind of an integration, but what I'm showing you here, that's only two dimensions. There's more to this than just what you see."

In 2020, Emmett told The Metal Voice about the making of "Triumph: Rock & Roll Machine": "There's a surreal nature to it — you're going back in your life, and they're reminding you of things that you'd completely forgotten," he continued. "And you're going, 'Oh, yeah.' And then they're digging deeper, and they're going, 'So, when the band broke up…' And you're going, 'Okay, this hurts, actually.' I don't wanna have to go back to that, because the rise and the fall and the rise again, it's the fall that hurts. I don't wanna go there. I thought I'd put all this behind me. It was ugly, heavy baggage."

Emmett also talked about a "really extraordinary thing" Banger Films did while working on "Triumph: Rock & Roll Machine". "They flew in fans from all over the world," he said. "They created an event. And the fans didn't know that we were gonna actually play three songs. So, they brought 'em all to the warehouse, and they're wandering, and they're looking at this TRIUMPH museum-y kind of thing. They've got dummies with my old spandex jumpsuits on. And then they send them down and they were gonna show them a few little clips on a scrim. The scrim drops and there we are and we play. And these are the people that love us the most. And there was only a couple of hundred of 'em. But it was so intense; it was so amazing. And, of course, they've got, like, 15 cameras around the room capturing every angle of this. And then you go, 'Oh my God. This is heavy duty.'

"So it's really good," Rik added. "It really gets to the heart of, you're a band, you create some music, you make a connection to people, and then here's these people, you're the soundtrack to their lives, and it matters to them. So they love you. I could get up there and fart, and they would go, 'Yeah! Great!'"

The aforementioned invite-only event was held in November 2019 in front of 300 "superfans" at MetalWorks studio in Mississauga (a suburb of Toronto), Ontario, Canada. Emmett, bassist/keyboardist Mike Levine and Moore played a three-song set that marked TRIUMPH's first performance in 11 years, as well as its first as a pure three-piece power trio in 31 years. The tracks played were "When The Lights Go Down", "Lay It On The Line" and "Magic Power".

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.

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

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.

Dutch powerhouse singer Floor Jansen performed her new solo single, "Fire", live for the first time on Sunday, April 17 at the Paaspop festival at Manegeclub De Molenheide in Schijndel, Netherlands. Fan-filmed video of the concert can be seen below.

"Fire" was made available on March 25 via ADA, the division of Warner Music Group dedicated to independent label and artist distribution.

Jansen is best known as the frontwoman in the multi-million selling and internationally successful symphonic metal band NIGHTWISH. As part of the band, Jansen has landed two number one albums in Finland, and Top Five albums in Austria, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland.

Born in the Netherlands, Jansen joined her first band, one of the world's first symphonic metal bands, AFTER FOREVER, when she was only 16 years old. The group went on to release five albums from 2000 to 2007, before they broke up in 2009.

Jansen's next band, REVAMP, released two albums in 2010 and 2013, before she joined NIGHTWISH as a full-time member. NIGHTWISH's first album with Jansen as the lead singer was 2015's "Endless Forms Most Beautiful", which landed in Top 10s around the world. This was followed by 2020's "Human. :II: Nature." , which was also an international success.

Jansen has toured extensively with the band and appeared on three of NIGHTWISH's live albums "Showtime, Storytime", "Vehicle Of Spirit" and "Decades: Live In Buenos Aires".

In 2019, Jansen participated in the popular Dutch TV show "Beste Zangers" where she scored a big hit with "Phantom Of The Opera" together with Henk Poort. She was recognized with a Dutch Popprijs award — a prestigious accolade for artists that has made important contributions to Dutch music. In the same year, her first solo tour sold out in less than 24 hours.

Three months ago, the 41-year-old Dutch-born singer, who made her live debut with NIGHTWISH a decade ago, stated about the musical direction of "Fire": "It's a pop song, so it's not metal, it's not rock, but it's definitely me." Jansen went on to explain that the track will not necessarily be representative of all the new solo music she has been working on in recent months. "I guess it's more of a mash-up [of styles] actually," she said, referring to her upcoming collection of solo material, "though it's not so extreme as in genres, like all of a sudden it becomes… Here's a metal song and here's a rock song and this is more poppy… I mean, pop music — the word of it — [it's short for] popular music, and it kind of describes a lot, and within that it falls. I can only say that it's not metal and it's not rock, but it will have its influences and it will have a part of the sound. It can't even be so that the first song is how everything else will sound like because, yeah, if you know NIGHTWISH and also for us, it's always so hard to pick just one song that's gonna be like the kick-off of an album but it can never really represent everything. And I guess it's the same for this first song that comes on the 25th of March."

Last summer, Floor said during an appearance on the "Breaking Absolutes With Peter Orullian" podcast that she had been working on a solo album since shortly before the beginning of the pandemic. "And it really kickstarted my own creativity that I haven't really been able to use over the years," she said. "It's nice that it gets out. And I would like to do more of that and actually finish that album and make those steps and find a way to combine a solo career with NIGHTWISH and my life at home, which I even more value after spending so much time here in this green heaven [in Sweden] where I live."

Jansen discussed the prospect of making a solo album during a 2020 interview with Metal Hammer magazine. At the time, she said: "After 20 years of rock and metal, I think I would like to do something else. I don't mean stop with NIGHTWISH, but something alongside it.

"I was recently involved in a TV show in my home country in the Netherlands [reality TV show 'Beste Zangers', which translates to 'Best Singers']. That really inspired me to start writing, and the stuff that has come out is very calm.

"I would love to make an album where less actually is more. Something different — not because I'm bored, but because if you are already in one of the biggest bands in your own genre, and you have someone like Tuomas Holopainen as a songwriter, I don't really see that I'd be adding anything by making another metal album myself."

Earlier in 2020, Jansen spoke about a possible musical direction for her solo album during an Instagram Live chat. She said: "I cannot imagine it would be rock or metal — just because rock now I've done, and metal I've done a lot. And I'm already in one of the best bands, I think, that are out there, in my opinion, to my taste. Plus, if you're in a band with a songwriter such as Tuomas Holopainen, it's a little bit hard to come up with something — anything — better, I would say, and I only say that out of love and respect for him. Plus, after 20 years of metal, wouldn't it be lovely to do something completely different for me? That's how I feel."

Jansen performed live with NIGHTWISH for the first time on October 1, 2012 at Showbox Sodo in Seattle, Washington following the abrupt departure of the band's lead singer of five years, Anette Olzon. Jansen officially joined NIGHTWISH in 2013.

This year will see Jansen become the Dutch ambassador for Record Store Day on April 23, as well as participate in Germany's "Sing Meinen Song".

In a new interview with Dawn Osborne of TotalRock, TESLA guitarist Frank Hannon reflected on his COVID-19 battle, saying (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "COVID hit us last August, of last year, 2021. We all got sick with it. I have to be honest, myself, I denied its existence for the first year of it, even though it was on the news and we were hearing about it. We were very lucky for a long time and didn't catch it. But then we all did catch it in August, and it set us back for the whole rest of the year last year, and we were all very sick from it."

Hannon went on to say that he and his bandmates are "feeling better" now, but he admitted that it "hit me hard. It felt like it aged me a little bit," he said. "I still feel it a little bit in my lungs; my brain is a little cloudy, which is okay — I'm used to that anyway. [Laughs]"

Last August, TESLA announced it was postponing a few shows after Frank tested positive for COVID-19. At the time, Hannon wrote in a social media post that he had "not been able to move all week" and revealed that he woke up with a 102-degree fever and could "hardly breathe" on the day that TESLA was scheduled to leave for tour.

Hannon later opened up about his COVID-19 battle in an interview with Marci Wiser of the 95.5 KLOS radio station, saying: "We went through COVID hell, and luckily none of us died from it. I just lost another friend who died from COVID. This is a real thing, man. People that are anti-vaxxers and all that — I was on the wrong side of that fence, listening to all the baloney. But we went through it and we survived it.

"Our friends in STYX and our friends in these bands that have been successfully touring, they've given us some advice that we follow [while we are on the road now]," he continued.

"As much as you hate wearing a mask, you've just gotta do it when you're close to people. And so we're doing that. We're all vaccinated now. And we're being careful but we're trying to live our lives too."

Hannon also elaborated on his battle with COVID-19, saying: "I wanna describe it, 'cause I got some flak from some clown on the Internet, saying, 'All you had was the flu. All it is is the flu. Quit making a big deal about it.' And that's the biggest crock. I'm telling you, man — it was a month of hell. It was a hard one.

"It affects everybody differently," he continued. "Like I said, unfortunately, sadly a lot of people are dying from it. But for me, it was like a month-long hangover. Imagine drinking all the tequila and whiskey and smoking a pack of Pall Mall non-filters for three days — imagine that — and then waking up hung over from that for a month. That's what it felt like."

Last September, Hannon told Meltdown of Detroit's WRIF radio station that he "got vaccinated" before going on the road with TESLA, but admitted "it was a little too late. I was not wanting to get vaccinated, and I put it off too long. I got vaccinated and about a week later I played a gig and caught COVID and took it to the band by accident. And everybody got sick. It knocked me down for a month, man. It was a month of hell, not being able to breathe and in a lot of pain."

He continued: "People dismiss it as being, 'Oh, it's only a flu,' or, 'It's a cold,' or whatever, but I just lost three more friends — people in the industry that have died from it. So it's a very serious thing. And I don't take it lightly anymore, that's for damn sure."

TESLA played the first two shows of its summer 2021 tour without Frank. Filling in for him was Howie Simon (JEFF SCOTT SOTO, GRAHAM BONNET, STRYPER), who previously stood in for Hannon in September 2018.

"Myself, I didn't even do one show [of the summer run]," Frank told WRIF. "The morning that we were leaving to go on tour, I came down with a 102 fever. So I called one of my friends that plays guitar, and he filled in for me. They did another show up in Oregon, and they got sick. So we got the kibosh put on TESLA right away."

In August, TESLA released the official music video for its brand new single, "Cold Blue Steel". The clip was directed by Brandon Gullion and produced by Hannon.

TESLA's latest album, "Shock", was released in March 2019 via UMe. The follow-up to 2014's "Simplicity" was produced by DEF LEPPARD guitarist Phil Collen.

Integrity’s first two classic full-lengths, Those Who Fear Tomorrow and Systems Overload, are available once again and remixed, remastered and produced by Arthur Rizk (Power Trip, Code Orange, Kreator, Ghostemane). The highly sought after albums now include new 2022 album art by Dwid Hellion. Features newly recorded drums by Iggor Cavalera (ex-Sepultura, Absent in Body) & Brandon Gallagher (Trace Amount).










Physical preorders are out June 10 via relapse.com. Stream Those Who Fear Tomorrow here. Stream Systems Overload here.





(Photo – Lenore McLimans) 


Regarding the two albums, Integrity’s Dwid Hellion comments, “Those Who Fear Tomorrow and Systems Overload were the first two albums released by Integrity. 


“Both albums were born from a variety of volatile concoctions, visceral emotions, countless inspirations, and unorthodox creative experimentations. 


“Ultimately, they were both born from our desire to create something comprised of all of our favorite bits and pieces, imaginatively collected from all of our favorite bands. 


“Aggressively collaged, conjured, stitched and Frankensteined all of our most passionate inspirations into these two musical monsters.


“Decades after their initial inception, Relapse Records has unleashed these albums for a new and hungry audience to devour. 


“I hope that the albums will reveal our raw emotions and religious fervor. I hope that you can bear witness to the purity and unabashed honesty that we exorcized and captured within these recordings.


“Outcasts, outsiders…these weapons were forged for us all.”


“Darkness” (2022 Mix):





“Armenian Persecution” (2022 Mix):

Chicago rock band The Outfit returns with its latest single “Monster.” The single is available from Pavement Entertainment on streaming platforms everywhere.





Singer Andy Mitchell says, "'Monster' is a song about a human that is becoming a monster through psychotic thinking and imagery. ‘Monster’ conveys the feeling of being trapped inside your mind knowing the difference between right and wrong but not being able overturn the outcome."




The Outfit will be playing several shows in the Chicago area during the spring and summer. For their first show, they will be headlining at the RocHaus in West Dundee, IL, for an original rock showcase on May 6, 2022. Later this summer, the band will perform with Puddle of Mudd and Motor City Madman Ted Nugent. Find tickets and more information at theoutfit.rocks.


Dates:


May
6 – West Dundee, IL – RocHaus


July
17 – West Chicago, IL – WC Social Club (with Puddle Of Mudd)
23 – St. Charles, IL – Arcada Theater (with Ted Nugent)
24 – St. Charles, IL – Arcada Theater (with Ted Nugent) 

Powerglove has announced the release of their new EP Flawless Victory. This celebration of nerd culture includes a mix of vocal tracks featuring the voices of the legendary Mike Mills (Toehider), R.A. Voltaire (Ravenous E.H.), Narcissa (Metalcissa), as well as the vocal debut of our Alex Berkson; plus a dose of the classic video-game metal instrumentals you know and love. Stream the EP at powergloveband.com.





Powerglove is currently headlining a U.S. / Canada tour with support from Immortal Guardian.







Tracklisting:


“Big Blue”
“Animaniacs” (feat. Mike Mills)
“The Fastest Thing Alive” (feat. Narcissa)
“Pokemon Red & Blue Theme”
“In The Dark Of The Night”
“Toxic Love” (feat. R.A. Voltaire and Narcissa)
“In The Dark Of The Night” (Orchestral Version)

In a recent Cameo video message requested by Jonathan Montenegro of Sobre La Dosis, MEGADETH's Brazilian-born guitarist Kiko Loureiro was asked to name his favorite heavy metal album of all time. He responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "That's hard. When I was young, I was really into BLACK SABBATH with [Ronnie James] Dio, so 'Heaven And Hell', 'Mob Rules', 'Live Evil'. Yeah, I would say those BLACK SABBATH [albums] with Dio. Also SCORPIONS — 'Blackout'. What else? Man, so many. Bands like SAXON. [IRON] MAIDEN… of course 'The Number Of The Beast', for sure, 'Killers', 'Powerslave'… And LED ZEPPELIN. So it's hard to mention one album."

In an October 2015 interview with The Irish Sun, MEGADETH leader Dave Mustaine was full of praise for Loureiro, saying: "A lot of times guitarists won't know how to add to something — they'll put something in there that's kind of like tits on a bull, unnecessary. Kiko came in and immediately started making some really good suggestions that we applied [to MEGADETH's 2016 album, 'Dystopia']. When he first came in, I knew he had the ability but I didn't know if the songwriting technique and talent was going to show up this early on."

He continued: "What was great about the suggestions that Kiko made was that they weren't just guitar ones — he made a bass part in a song called 'Me Hate You' [that made it] really come along. In fact, that was one of the songs where he made a huge melodic contribution in the chorus and I said, 'Man, this sounds like something.'"

According to Dave, Kiko possesses all the elements that are required to become part of a legendary metal act like MEGADETH.

"For me — really simply stated — if you want to be a musician, that's one thing. If you want to be a rock star, that's another," Mustaine said. "But if you want to be legendary, you need to have three very important components: you need to have ability, you need to have appearance, and you need to have attitude. Without all three of those things, it's kind of like trying to have a three-legged milk stool without three legs — it's just not going to work."

He continued: "I found with Kiko, his ability was astronomical, with his attitude he was very confident in what he did — there's a difference between confidence and arrogance. In appearance, he was very classy and very subdued on the street, but up on stage he totally takes command of his performance. When he came up to Nashville to visit with me, I didn't even have him play for the majority of the day he was there. I just wanted to hang out with him and it's been a really long time since I hung out with a guitar player before I hired him. Usually I would listen to how he played and then I'd go, 'Okay, we'll work it out.' I didn't want to do that again. Hanging out with Kiko, and having lunch and kicking back and talking music was all I needed — I knew he was the right guy."

MEGADETH recently completed work on its new album, "The Sick, The Dying And The Dead", for a tentative July release.

Decrepit Birth drummer Samus Paulicelli, who runs a YouTube channel under the name 66Samus, has shared his playthrough of Dream Theater's classic instrumental, "The Dance Of Eternity", only it's faster.


Samus: "This was one of the most challenging videos I've ever filmed. Took me 3 attempts to nail it in a single take."


"The Dance Of Eternity" is taken from Dream Theater's 199 album, Scenes From A Memory

Creators, pioneers, and purveyors of the whole gothic doom metal scene which subsequently came to prominence in the early ‘90s, Britain’s Paradise Lost rose from humble Northern roots to become one of the UK’s leading artists in the metal genre throughout the decade and beyond, remaining as relevant and revered as ever to this day after a career spanning over three decades. The band's first two albums were released on Peaceville, in the shape of 1990's influential deathly debut Lost Paradise, followed up by the more atmosphere-focused genre classic, Gothic in 1991.





The Gothic EP was originally released in 1994 and combined the tracks from the 1990 “In Dub” two track 12" release bookended by alternate studio remixes from the Gothic studio album. The two tracks which formerly featured on the studio debut received extensive remixing and all new arrangements in the shape of “Rotting Misery (Doom Dub)” and “Breeding Fear (Demolition Dub)”.




This edition of Gothic EP is presented on black vinyl with design-work from the original 1994 CD release. Preorder at BurningShed.com.

Brazilian trio The Damnation attack with their debut album, spewing forth a versatile sound which mixes several strands of extreme metal, and brings life to old school thrash. Way Of Perdition will be released on May 6th via Soulseller Records on CD, LP and digitally. Pre-save the digital album here. Pre-order physical CDs and vinyl at this location.


To promote their new work, The Damnation issued the second single from Way Of Perdition, entitled "The Greed", which accompanies the music video with making-of scenes. 







"We are all very excited to finally release our debut album," says vocalist and guitarist Renata Petrelli. "This album is a compilation of some old riffs and some new ideas, based on all the mess we've been going through these days. You'll hear some details also featured on our first EP, and some other influences we've had. See you on the road friends."


Way Of Perdition was produced and recorded by Rogério Oliveira, who worked on the band's Parasite EP. It was mixed and mastered by Martín Furia (Nervosa, Eskröta, Bark). Martin was recently announced as the new guitarist for Destruction.





Tracklisting:


"Before The Drowning"
"Way Of Perdition"
"Into The Sun"
"This Pain Won’t Last"
"Grief Of Death"
"Random Words"
"Slaves Of Society"
"Rotten Soul"
"No Hope Inside"
"The Greed"





For further details, visit The Damnation on Facebook.


(Photography: Jéssica Marinho)


 

Ex-DREAM THEATER drummer Mike Portnoy attended the group's concert on March 4 at Beacon Theatre in New York City. It was the first time Portnoy witnessed his former bandmates perform live since his exit from the iconic progressive metal outfit more than 11 years ago.

According to DREAM THEATER fans who attended the show, singer James LaBrie gave Portnoy a shoutout from the stage and Mike waved. Several fans also took pictures of Portnoy at the venue, with Mike and his wife reportedly watching the performance from near the Beacon Theatre soundboard.

The next day, Portnoy shared a few backstage photos from the concert and he included the following message: "After 36 years, I finally got to see my 1st DREAM THEATER show last night! It was a wonderful evening and it was such a pleasure to spend time with my old friends again".

LaBrie discussed his renewed friendship with Portnoy in a new interview with Rodrigo Altaf of Sonic Perspectives. Speaking about how Mike's backstage reunion with his former bandmates came about, James said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "What happened was my manager… This is, like, two hours before the show… So, you know the history with Mike and I. The thing is what was sad about that whole duration where Mike and I didn't see eye to eye is that when DREAM THEATER started, 'Images And Words' [1992] and 'Awake' [1994], Mike and I were best friends — way back — and then we started to fall apart, for several reasons. It doesn't matter — the details don't matter — it's just that we started to have a problem with one another. And so about two hours before the New York show, my manager texts me and he said, 'Listen, Mike's gonna be there tonight. He wants to come back and see you. He wants to make amends. I don't mean to do this...' And I said, 'Frank' — to my manager, I said — 'you're putting this in my lap two hours before I play in front of how many thousands of people in New York. Are you kidding me?' So, I thought about it. You know what? I went for a walk, believe it or not. I went incognito and I went for a walk in New York. And I walked the streets and I started thinking about it, and I said to myself, 'You know what? Enough is enough. There's enough hate in this world; there's enough frickin' negativity in this world. If Mike wants to come and see me and make amends, then I should be receptive.' And I got in touch… And John Petrucci [DREAM THEATER guitarist] was also there. So he said, 'Mike wants to know if he can come back and say hi to you,' like I just said. And I said, 'You know what? Yeah. Let him know. For sure. Tell him to come back and see me after the show.' And that's what we did. We chatted. We had a good, long discussion. We made up and gave each other a hug and did a picture together.

"When I was out on stage before all that, I just said, 'Hey, I just wanna let you guys know, Mike Portnoy's here. Hey, welcome, brother, to the show.' And that was it.

"The thing is that you get to a point in life where you've gotta… You can't carry around that. Don't carry around hate; don't carry around negativity," LaBrie continued. "We carried it around far too long, as far as I'm concerned, and it didn't serve any purpose; it just served frickin' division. It was very divisive and very damaging.

"Hey, listen, just the other day Mike texts me, and he was, like, 'Hey, James, I just wanna congratulate you on [DREAM THEATER's first-ever] Grammy. You frickin' well deserve this — you and the band. Awesome. Kudos. Bravo,' all this stuff. And I text Mike back, and I said, 'Frick, man. Mike, that's very admirable of you.' I said, 'In my book, that's pretty damn cool for you to say these things.' And he said, 'Awesome, man. Love it.'

"So, it's great to be back," James added. "We're talking to one another, we're chatting and all that stuff. And that's the kind of world that I wanna live in as opposed to negativity, hate and frickin'… It's just not worth it. It's not worth it."

Portnoy, who co-founded DREAM THEATER 37 years ago, abruptly quit the band in September 2010 while on tour with AVENGED SEVENFOLD. He has since been replaced by Mangini (ANNIHILATOR, EXTREME, STEVE VAI).

Portnoy was a guest on Petrucci's second solo album, "Terminal Velocity", which was released in August 2020 via Sound Mind Music/The Orchard. The effort marked the first time Petrucci and Portnoy recorded together in over a decade, as well as their first time playing together since Portnoy departed DREAM THEATER. John later shot down speculation among DREAM THEATER fans that it's only a matter of time before Portnoy returns to the band, telling Spain's Metal Hammer: "I think it's really important for everybody's sake — for fans to understand this. I think it's important, out of respect for both drummers — for Mike Mangini and Mike Portnoy — that there's no misconstrued thing: 'Oh, this means something else.' This is [Portnoy] playing on my solo album, which is a really happy moment for me… I don't want people to get the wrong idea. I don't wanna create any drama or weirdness, because it's all positive. I made a solo album — finally, after 15 years — and I got my friend to play drums on it, who I haven't played with in 10 years. So that's the vibe."

In a 2017 interview with Rockhok, Portnoy insisted that had "no longing to reunite" with DREAM THEATER but said that he would return to his former band "for the fans." He explained: "The ball's in their court, to be honest. I have no longing to reunite with them; it's not something I necessarily am looking to do or want to do. I'm very content with all the eighty-seven bands I currently have going, so it's something I need. But I would do it for the fans, because I'm a very sentimental person and I have a lot of great, fond memories of those guys and the times. I'm a sentimental guy, so I would never close the door on it. So, really, the ball's in their court, honestly. [But] if you're asking me the odds [of a reunion happening], I would say, don't bet on it, because I know their personalities as well and I don't think they're the type that are looking backwards."

A couple of years ago, Portnoy told Loud that he left DREAM THEATER because he wanted to expand his musical horizons. "[I didn't] want to go to my grave and just be the drummer from DREAM THEATER," he said. "I knew there was way more to what I had to offer."

Since the 2010 departure of Portnoy, Petrucci, along with keyboardist Jordan Rudess, has taken on much of the songwriting load for DREAM THEATER, including 2016's controversial double concept album, "The Astonishing", 2019's "Distance Over Time" and the band's latest LP, 2021's "A View From The Top Of The World".

LaBrie previously discussed his relationship with Portnoy in a November 2021 interview with Radio Forrest. He said at the time: "I haven't spoken to Mike, to be quite honest, since he left the band. So I think that pretty much says it all."

LaBrie had previously seemingly closed the door on the possibility of a DREAM THEATER reunion with Portnoy, telling Chile's Radio Futuro in an August 2013 interview: "That possibility, I don't see it ever happening; it's not gonna happen. Because, first and foremost, Mike Mangini is a full-fledged member of the band now, he's a phenomenal drummer and he's doing everything that we could possibly want as a drummer in a band. He's helping us realize exactly what we wanna do right now musically. And he will be our drummer until the day that we finish doing this, when we conclude. Mike Portnoy was a big part of our past, but I think that's where it's going to remain. He was a drummer from the past. And as far as presently and into the future, it will be Mike Mangini, and we all feel very strongly about that. He's an incredible drummer, he's an incredible asset to the band, and he is fulfilling our wildest dreams as far as what we're doing musically and what we're doing with each album. So that's the way it stands."






After 36 years, I finally got to see my 1st Dream Theater show last night! ? It was a wonderful evening and it was such a pleasure to spend time with my old friends again ☮️?

Posted by Mike Portnoy on Saturday, March 5, 2022



OMG—MIKE PORTNOY at the Dream Theater show now!!! Mike Portnoy is at the DT show in NYC ¾/2022 with his wife Marlene and James greeted him from the stage!

Posted by Amanda Palamara on Friday, March 4, 2022



<3

Mike Portnoy AND Mike Mangini both rule. Both great eras of DT

Posted by Andrew Ryan Prater on Friday, March 4, 2022



Mike Portnoy viendo a Dream Theater !!!!

Posted by ATR DT on Friday, March 4, 2022



With one of the greatest drummer ever MIKE PORTNOY

Posted by Michael Halasan Clint Nababan on Friday, March 4, 2022



Mike Portnoy watches Dream Theater concert at The Beacon.

Posted by Dodjie Garcia on Friday, March 4, 2022

























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A post shared by Mike Mangini (@mikemanginiofficial)

During an appearance on Monday's (April 11) episode of SiriusXM's "Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk", John 5 reflected on the infamous 2003 video (see below) of the former MARILYN MANSON guitarist throwing down his guitar on stage and pushing the shock rocker after he kicks John 5 in the chest during a live performance of "The Beautiful People" at the Rock Am Ring festival in Germany.

"What happened was my sister passed away, my sister died unexpectedly," John 5 explained (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET). "And I was shocked. I was in Europe and I was coming down the stairs, off a stage after a concert, and they told me my sister died. And I was in a state of shock; you just go into a state of shock. And here's the strange thing that happened to me: I didn't sleep for days and days and days. It was the strangest thing. I just wasn't tired. And I remember going to the bandmembers' rooms, going, 'I can't sleep. I just can't sleep. I haven't slept in now two days' or blah blah blah.

"So anyways, fast forward to the [Rock Am Ring] show. Now, what Manson did, that happened all the time," John 5 continued. "He didn't do anything wrong. I just snapped. It was weird. I went nuts. I didn't even remember. I just snapped. And I feel terrible watching it now because it really was my fault. You can't really hear what he's saying, obviously, but he's saying, 'Pick up your guitar.' 'Cause it looks like he's going, 'Come on. Come on.' But he's saying, 'Pick up your guitar. Pick up your guitar,' because he knew what was going on. And I feel horrible about it. But it was just a bad situation at that time… It was terrible because he was so nice during that time and all that stuff. I was in such a weird place, and it was just a bad time. I don't even remember it happening. It was just terrible."

After John 5 left Manson's band in 2004, he dismissed the idea that his departure was fraught with friction. "What actually happened was, at the end of the tour, we were just on different roads," he explained to ElectricBasement.com at the time. "It was completely amicable. He just wanted to write with other members of the band, and I wanted to do other things."

JOHN 5 AND THE CREATURES will embark on the "Sinner" tour next week. The band consists of John 5 on guitar, Ian Ross on bass and drummer Alex Mercado. Opening 15 of the 27 stops are THE HAXANS, the spooky rock duo featuring NEW YEARS DAY frontwoman Ash Costello and ROB ZOMBIE bassist Piggy D. JOHN 5 AND THE CREATURES will support FOZZY on some dates.

John 5 shares: "I am so happy and excited to get out there on the road. It's one of my favorite things to do in life and I am excited to see all the familiar faces. I can't wait to play some new songs off the 'Sinner' album and travel the country. It truly is going to be an amazing year."

JOHN 5 AND THE CREATURES will be recording shows along the "Sinner" tour for a live album and video, with San Francisco and New York dates confirmed for the recordings so far.

John 5 will be featured in an upcoming documentary called "Dreams Of Distortion" about "following your dreams and never giving up." The documentary also features Rob Zombie, Rob Halford (JUDAS PRIEST), Nikki Sixx (MÖTLEY CRÜE), Peter Criss (KISS), K.D. Lang, Michael Anthony (VAN HALEN), Gary Rossington (LYNYRD SKYNYRD) and Rudy Sarzo (QUIET RIOT, OZZY OSBOURNE).

John 5 has worked with a varied range of artists, performing as guitarist for some of the biggest headlining rock bands in the world such as ROB ZOMBIE and MARILYN MANSON, as well as playing session with Paul Stanley, Rod Stewart, LYNYRD SKYNYRD and more. Slash has called John 5, "one of the most mind-blowing guitarists around" and Rob Zombie has dubbed him "a fucking shredder". John 5 has released seven solo albums to date, as well as a remix album, and has written music for the likes of MÖTLEY CRÜE, Steve Perry, Ricky Martin and others.

In 2015, following a series of web shows to celebrate the release of his solo album "Careful With That Axe", John 5 decided to take his solo set on tour and formed THE CREATURES band to support his live shows. Initially joined by long-term friend Rodger Carter on drums, the band continues touring to this day, and now work as a unit on 5's solo albums, including "Season Of The Witch", the live album "It's Alive", "Invasion" and 2021's "Sinner".