During the question-and-answer portion of his March 1 spoken-word show at the Orpheum Theatre in Los Angeles, California, IRON MAIDEN singer Bruce Dickinson reflected on how the title track of his 2005 solo album, "Tyranny Of Souls", was composed specifically for the proposed THE THREE TREMORS project, also featuring JUDAS PRIEST's Rob Halford and QUEENSRŸCHE's Geoff Tate.

He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "We were gonna do this thing with three metal singers — myself, Ronnie James Dio and Rob Halford. However, for reasons that [didn't make much sense] — managerial bullshit or whatever — there was some opposition, not from me, to having Ronnie there, which I thought was crazy. So the suggestion was that we would have Geoff Tate instead. So Roy [Bruce's longtime collaborator Roy 'Z' Ramirez] and I wrote a tune. We thought we'd have a go at writing an album that would be sung by three singers. We only got as far as one song, and that song was 'Tyranny Of Souls'. And the idea was that had we done the project, the chorus would have been all three singers [singing together], but the beginning of it would have been kind of one line me, one line Geoff, one line Rob, and so on, through the song. And each line would have been written so it would suit the delivery, it would suit the vocal characteristic of whoever was singing it. So it was quite a tall order. It [would have been] quite difficult to do. I thought, 'Shit, it's gonna be pretty difficult to do a whole album of this stuff.' And of course, we never did. But 'Tyranny Of Souls', the demo of it was designed to illustrate how that would have worked."

Five years ago, Dickinson told SiriusXM's "Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk" that he was reluctant to pursue THE THREE TREMORS project if Dio wasn't involved. "I was, like, 'I am not gonna do this without Ronnie,'" he recalled. "And Rod [Smallwood, IRON MAIDEN's longtime manager] was, like, 'I don't wanna use Ronnie. He's too old.' I said, 'What do you mean too old? Are you kidding me?' I said, 'He's a legend.' He said, 'No. We should use Geoff Tate.' And then we had a meeting with Geoff Tate, and then I said, 'No. It's not gonna work.' And so that was that."

According to Dickinson, concert promoters showed great interest in booking THE THREE TREMORS before a single note had even been recorded. "I could see the money in their eyes, thinking, 'Oh, this would be great. We could sell this every which way all over the place as a package,'" Dickinson said. "And I went, 'Yeah, you could, but what are we actually gonna do? There's gonna be three of us on stage. What are we gonna do that's actually different that's really cool?'"

Before Dickinson's proposed collaboration with Halford and Tate was officially scrapped, the name THE THREE TREMORS was changed to TRINITY because "we figured they would sue our ass if we called it THE THREE TREMORS," Bruce explained in an interview several years ago.

Dickinson previously said that he and Roy wrote "about three songs" for THE THREE TREMORS during a session in Los Angeles before he "realized it was going to take us a lot longer than three weeks to write a project with three singers that would work."

He explained: "We wanted to make each song designed to be sung by three different characters as an integral part of the song, not something like, 'You sing the first verse, I'll sing the second verse, and he'll sing the chorus.' That would be a crap way to do it."

Dickinson added: "It's a bloody difficult thing to do, to try to make a song with three different voices to get the full benefit out of it. And it takes longer than three weeks, and we didn't have longer than that to do it, so I canned it in the end.

"It's a great idea; everybody loves the idea… We had marketing people salivating about the idea of a TRINITY project," he said. "But the bottom line is, the thing that is gonna sink it is if the music sucks. So I thought we should can the idea for now since we don't have time to do it. Rob was in the studio doing his album ['Crucible'] and Geoff was writing a new QUEENSRŸCHE album, so that was it. It is an interesting idea, and I'm sure the live show would be really interesting."

In 2000, Tate and Dickinson joined Halford onstage at the latter's concert in London for a rendition of "One You Love To Hate" (see video below), a song written by Halford, Dickinson and Ramirez that was featured on Halford's "Resurrection" album.

Dickinson's two-month North American spoken-word tour kicked off on January 17 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida and will run through the end of March.

Bruce's spoken-word show is split into two parts. The first section sees him take a humorous and often satirical look at the world from his own very personal perspective, treating the audience to private insights into his drive and ambition, peppered with plenty of MAIDEN anecdotes, and a myriad of other experiences encompassing not just the giddy heights but also the extreme lows, as told first-hand in his inimitable anarchic style, punctuated with photographs, videos and sometimes even erupting into song a cappella, to illustrate a point. The final section of the evening is devoted entirely to the aforementioned question-and-answer session, with the opportunity to pose questions on any subject whatsoever. As Bruce's answers are all completely improvised — the more left-field and quirky the question, the more interesting and compelling the response is likely to be.

MESHUGGAH drummer Tomas Haake spoke to Valentino Petrarca of the WSOU radio station about the band's upcoming ninth studio album, "Immutable". Due on April 1 via Atomic Fire, the follow-up to 2016's "The Violent Sleep Of Reason" was recorded at Sweetspot Studios in Halmstad, Sweden; mixed by Rickard Bengtsson and Staffan Karlsson; and mastered by multiple Grammy Award winner Vlado Meller (METALLICA, RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE, RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS, SYSTEM OF A DOWN). Visionary artist Luminokaya once again created the stunning cover artwork.

"We're pretty stoked how it came out," Tomas said. "We definitely took our time with this one. And compared to most other albums we've done, those have always kind of been very stressful — 'It needs to be done by now' — and we always kind of delivered masters at whatever time period was planned, which, a lot of times, meant it was gonna be stressful. So this time we weren't gonna have that, so we definitely took our time, both writing it but especially as far as the recording process itself.

"I think our first deadline for this album, it was supposed to be July 1st [of 2021]," he continued. "I think we delivered it in, like, October or something, so it was, like, four months later — something like that. We had to kind of go back and forth in the mixing process, and it added time. But we're stoked how it came out. We like both the production and also as far as the tracks themselves and how it all turned out. So we're definitely proud of it."

Regarding the musical direction of the new MESHUGGAH material, Tomas said: "Some of the things that maybe make this album maybe a little more approachable — I don't know — is not only production-wise… It's kind of a little harsh to me, personally; it's a little warmer sounding than some of the albums we've released previous. But also something that wasn't really deliberate, but the whole album has back beat on the snare. So we don't really kind of go into the clockworks or 'Nostrum' type of things that we did for 'The Violent Sleep Of Reason', where you had a lot of snare hits that were kind of on certain notes in the riffing, and that riffing goes over the barline and it would throw people off. This is more back beat and kind of swinging a little bit more, I think."

Asked if the "darkness of the last two years" has "bled into the lyrics" on "Immutable", Tomas said: "I think it's impossible to keep it out, actually, obviously. We don't have a lyric that particularly talks about the COVID pandemic or anything, but just the darkness of it, of course it's gonna bleeed into the lyrics. Our lyrics have always been dark but maybe even more so on this album. Some of them are just more off and some of them are more just a social commentary on what's going on around us and stuff like that."

The most inventive and creative metal band of the last 30 years and one of the most widely revered, MESHUGGAH has been standard bearers for forward-thinking creativity in heavy music throughout their illustrious careers. Over the course of more than 30 years and eight studio albums, Sweden's widely worshipped progressive mavens have consistently redefined what it means to be heavy, while exhibiting a ferocious intelligence that belies the crushing weight of their riffs. From the ground-breaking savagery of 1995's "Destroy Erase Improve" to the psychedelic tech-splorations of "CatchyThirtyThree", and on to the streamlined grotesquery of "ObZen" and "Koloss", MESHUGGAH has always been way ahead of the game and plainly without peer.

Scorpions have released another lyric video for a song from the recently released new album, Rock Believer. Watch the clip for "Call Of The Wild" below:





Rock Believer can be ordered here.







Rock Believer tracklisting:


"Gas In The Tank"              
"Roots In My Boots"              
"Knock 'Em Dead"              
"Rock Believer"              
"Shining Of Your Soul"              
"Seventh Sun"              
"Hot And Cold"              
"When I Lay My Bones To Rest"              
"Peacemaker"
"Call Of The Wild"              
"When You Know (Where You Come From)"             


Limited deluxe edition bonus tracks:


"Shoot For Your Heart"    
"When Tomorrow Comes"    
"Unleash The Beast"    
"Crossing Borders"    
"When You Know (Where You Come From)"


Album samples:





"Knock 'Em Dead" lyric video:





"Roots In My Boots" lyric video:





"Gas In The Tank" lyric video:





"When You Know (Where You Come From)" video:





"Seventh Sun" lyric video:





"Shining Of Your Soul":





"Rock Believer" video:





"Peacemaker" video:





Rock Believer - The Journey videos:


Part 1:





Part 2:





Part 3:





Scorpions will kick off their Rock Believer World Tour this month in Las Vegas, where the band will play nine shows as part of their residency at Planet Hollywood Hotel. Afterwards, they will cross the Atlantic to Europe where they will play six concerts in France and six shows in Germany supported by Wolfgang Van Halen’s new band, Mammoth WVH.


Skid Row will be the opening band for all nine shows of Scorpions' Sin City Nights 2022 Las Vegas residency, thereby replacing previously announced support act, Queensrÿche. Scorpions' stint in Vegas was originally supposed to happen in July 2020, then it got pushed back to May 2021, only to be rescheduled to March - April 2022 at Zappos Theater inside Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino.


Tour dates:


March
​26 - Zappos Theater - Las Vegas, NV
30 - Zappos Theater - Las Vegas, NV


April
1 - Zappos Theater - Las Vegas, NV
3 - Zappos Theater - Las Vegas, NV
7 - Zappos Theater - Las Vegas, NV
9 - Zappos Theater - Las Vegas, NV
12 - Zappos Theater - Las Vegas, NV
14 - Zappos Theater - Las Vegas, NV
16 - Zappos Theater - Las Vegas, NV


May
10 - Altice Arena - Lisbon, Portugal
13 - Zenith Toulouse Metropole - Toulouse, France
15 - Zenith De Lille - Lille, France
17 - Accorhotels Arena - Paris, France
21 - Hallenstadion - Zurich, Switzerland
23 - Arena Di Verona - Verona, Italy
26 - O2 Arena - Prague, Czech Republic
28 - Tauron Arena - Kraków, Poland
30 - Laszlo Papp Sports Arena - Budapest, Hungary


June
3 - Rockfest - Helsinki, Finland
8 - Schleyerhalle - Stuttgart, Germany*
10 - Olympiahalle - Munich, Germany*
12 - Festhalle - Frankfurt, Germany*
16 - Mercedes-Benz Arena - Berlin, Germany*
17 - Zag Arena - Hannover, Germany*
19 - Westfalenhalle - Dortmund, Germany*
23 - Hellfest - Clisson, France
25 - Rock Imperium Festival - Cartagena, Spain
28 - Palais Nikaia - Nice, France
30 - Le Galaxie - Amneville, France


July
2 - Zenith D'Auvergne - Clermont-Ferrand, France


* with Mammoth WVH

SLIPKNOT frontman Corey Taylor has blasted Kanye West for announcing that his new album, "Donda 2", would be released exclusively on the rapper's $200 proprietary hockey-puck-sized streaming devices, which allow users to remix songs as they listen.

Kanye released four "Donda 2" tracks to his Stem Player on February 23 following a listening party and live performance in Miami the night prior. The next day, he released 12 more songs, calling the 16-track collection the "Miami Version."

Taylor, who made headlines back in 2015 after he slammed West for claiming to be "the greatest living rock star on the planet," commented on Kanye's release strategy in a new interview with U.K.'s Metro. He said: "It's like releasing all the parts for a car and sending them to people's houses and going there, you got a free car, now you've got to figure out how to build the goddamn thing. You're assuming that the audience has the access and same technology that you have but you're a fucking moron for doing that. Are you serious? It doesn't work that way. The thinking that that's a smart thing to do just shows you how convoluted and off the fucking property Kanye West really is."

He added: "When you've got that much money and that much people around you telling you exactly what you want to hear, your concept of reality just goes right out the fucking window."

Addressing the steep "Donda 2" price, Corey noted that inflation is "fucking batshit" worldwide and added, "People can't afford their fucking apartments for fuck's sake. It's not right. It's just so pompous and ridiculous.

"If we [SLIPKNOT] did that, we would be fucking demonized but I guarantee people are looking at him like he's a genius, and it's, like, for fuck's sake, pull your head out of your ass, put it on CDs and just fucking give it to people. If you want to do that, put it together in a way that people can actually listen to it. It's such fucking horseshit."

When Kanye first announced his new album more than three weeks ago, he wrote on his Instagram: "Donda 2 will only be available on my own platform, the Stem Player. Not on Apple, Amazon, Spotify, or YouTube," adding that his reason for making his new music exclusive to the gadget had to do with how artists are paid when their songs are streamed on those platforms.

"Today artists get just 12 percent of the money the industry makes," he wrote alongside a clip from the new album. "It's time to free music from this oppressive system. It's time to take control and build our own. Go to stemplayer.com now to order."

Less than two years ago, Corey offered some surprising words of support to West, whose behavior had been increasingly erratic, including divulging deeply personal details about his family and marriage. In July 2020, West announced that he was running for president, and he delivered a lengthy monologue at a campaign event, during which he told the crowd he and his then-wife, Kim Kardashian, considered having an abortion when she was pregnant with their oldest daughter. The rapper then went on multiple Twitter tirades, alleging that Kardashian and her mom Kris Jenner had tried to "lock him up," and claiming that he had been considering divorcing his wife.

Taylor later told "Loudwire Nights" that he was "worried" about West's public comments, adding, "That's not the normal behavior of someone who is… That seems like someone who's having a mental break, to be honest. It sounds like someone who is borderline. I don't wanna say it's a borderline personality disorder, but it almost feels bipolar. When you exacerbate it with fame and money and all of these different things, people have a right to be concerned. He's got a family; he's got people who care about him and worry about him.

"It's one thing to laugh about it from afar; it's another thing to watch a breakdown happening in real time, especially with someone who is loved by so many people, and a lot of his actions are taken very seriously," Taylor added. "So when he says some of that shit, people take him seriously. It's like [then-President Donald] Trump — people take what he says very seriously, and that's a danger. So we have to be very, very careful and watch what's being said.

"I just hope that he gets the help that he needs, let's put it that way."

Four years ago, West told The New York Times that he was diagnosed with bipolar disorder in 2017.

West had previously compared himself to visionaries in the fields of art, fashion, technology, sports and business.

During a 2013 concert in Paris, the outspoken rapper called himself Picasso, Steve Jobs, Walt Disney and Basquiat

BUSH frontman Gavin Rossdale has confirmed to Australia's May The Rock Be With You that he has used some of the coronavirus downtime to work on new music. "I've just written 18 songs," he said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET). "And we start [in the studio] on Monday with a producer. [We'll] rearrange — hopefully not too much — the stuff I've done. We choose the songs we're gonna do. We either might use what I started, the tracks, or we might just try nixing them and doing it fresh. Each song will dictate that. But we go eight days [in the studio] before we come to Australia [for our tour with CHEAP TRICK and STONE TEMPLE PILOTS, then we do [several days] of rehearsal. And then when we come back from Australia, we've got a few days off and then we go back to finish it. It should be done by May."

According to Rossdale, the musical direction of the new BUSH material is very similar to that of the band's last studio album, 2020's "The Kingdom". "It's all like that," he said. "I like that. So I've kept it in that vein. That was the launchpad. That was it. I was, like, 'I'm off.' I've got maybe two ballady, two softer songs, slower songs, but they're weird."

He continued: "I've got a studio in my house now and it's been such an amazing time. You have the tools at your fingertips now to make songs and make music. It's just staggering. It's so much fun."

In November 2020, BUSH played two drive-in shows across Southern California to celebrate the release of "The Kingdom Deluxe Edition". The record featured six bonus songs, including "Heroes", a special tribute to David Bowie, as well as live performances of the title track "The Kingdom" and hard-charging single "Flowers On A Grave", which went Top 10 on Active Rock Radio.

BUSH's current lineup also includes guitarist Chris Traynor, bassist Corey Britz and drummer Nik Hughes.

The group, which broke up in 2002 but reunited in 2010, has released four albums since reforming.

The first single from "The Kingdom", "Flowers On A Grave", was unveiled in March 2020. The track, co-produced by Erik Ron and Rossdale, was the follow-up to "Bullet Holes", heard atop the end credits to "John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum".

Rossdale recently announced that he will host a cooking show. The program, dubbed "E.A.T. With Gavin Rossdale", will feature the musician inviting luminaries, celebrities and other members of the public to his home in the Hollywood Hills, where he will provide them with a dish he prepared himself.

Rossdale has already reportedly started filming the show, with Roundtable Entertainment producing the series.

The singer said: "Roundtable are the exact partners I've been looking for to produce this project. They understand my vision and will help execute a compelling series in which we get to see behind the public persona of people we know and admire for their work.

"This show is about connecting more deeply with them, hearing their stories, walking in their shoes. It's hard to be surprised anymore, but the simplest surprises are the human revelations that occur over food and drink."

Later this week, BUSH will embark on the "Under The Southern Stars" tour of Australia with CHEAP TRICK, STONE TEMPLE PILOTS, ROSE TATTOO, ELECTRIC MARY and BLACK REBEL MOTORCYCLE CLUB.

MÖTLEY CRÜE's Nikki Sixx says that he doesn't understand why PEARL JAM's Eddie Vedder felt it necessary to "take a swipe" at his band.

A month and a half ago, Eddie gave an in-depth interview to The New York Times to promote his recently released solo album and he discussed a variety of topics, including what "ripples" of change he believes the Generation X / alternative rock culture of the early '90s may have been responsible for.

"You know, I used to work in San Diego loading gear at a club," Vedder said. "I'd end up being at shows that I wouldn't have chosen to go to — bands that monopolized late-'80s MTV. The metal bands that — I'm trying to be nice — I despised. 'Girls, Girls, Girls' and MÖTLEY CRÜE: [expletive] you. I hated it. I hated how it made the fellas look. I hated how it made the women look. It felt so vacuous."

The PEARL JAM singer continued: "GUNS N' ROSES came out and, thank God, at least had some teeth. But I'm circling back to say that one thing that I appreciated was that in Seattle and the alternative crowd, the girls could wear their combat boots and sweaters, and their hair looked like Cat Power's and not Heather Locklear's — nothing against her. They weren't selling themselves short. They could have an opinion and be respected. I think that's a change that lasted. It sounds so trite, but before then it was bustiers. The only person who wore a bustier in the '90s that I could appreciate was Perry Farrell."

A few days after Vedder's interview was published, Sixx took to his Twitter to respond to Eddie's comments, writing: "Made me laugh today reading how much the singer in PEARL JAM hated @MotleyCrue. Now considering that they're one of the most boring bands in history it's kind of a compliment isn't it?"

In response to fans' tweets, Sixx compared Vedder's vocal technique to singing with "marbles in your mouth", and wrote to a PEARL JAM fan who tweeted in defense of Vedder: "Remember there were zillions of brown haired bands for brown haired fans…..Go find them. You will know them by the bored look on their face."

Nikki elaborated on his PEARL JAM comments during a recent interview with Brazilian entrepreneur Paulo Baron and music critic Regis Tadeu. In a chat that was recorded on February 25, Sixx initially broached the subject while discussing how he has evolved as a songwriter since MÖTLEY CRÜE's inception more than 40 years ago. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "I'm not trying to be the guy that wrote [the CRÜE song] 'Bastard' [from 1983's 'Shout At The Devil' album], 'cause I'm not the guy that wrote 'Bastard'. I wrote that song about somebody that ripped us off. I am the guy that if you fuck with me, I will fuck with you back. And that's what that song is about. You take a swipe at my band; I'll take a swipe at your band. You try to hurt my family, which is my band; I will try to hurt you. That's not something to be proud about. [Laughs]"

Asked specifically about his PEARL JAM criticism and why he felt compelled to respond to Vedder's comments, Nikki said: "I remember going to MTV with [a copy of] 'Nevermind' before it had come out, NIRVANA. Me and Tommy [Lee, CRÜE drummer] were on there. We were, like, 'Hey, you guys gotta check out this band. You gotta check out this band.' And they were bands that were coming. I remember having a cassette — I think it was demos; it might not have been; it might have been early recordings — for RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE, and I remember telling everybody about that.

"We've never been afraid to embrace music changing because that's the whole idea behind music," he continued. "If you listen to 'Too Fast For Love' and then you listen to 'The Dirt', you're, like, 'Well, it's the same band, but it has grown.' So we never had a problem with that.

"My only thing is, you wanna take a crack at my band, I'm probably gonna say something back. But what I don't understand is why's the guy even talking about my band? He's a successful guy.

"Listen, let's face it: the guy flies around in private jets; he lives in a mansion in a gated community; he sells out stadiums; and then he dresses at the thrift store and tries to pretend some guy in the '90s. Don't take a swipe at my band, dude. I mean, I'm at least being honest."

Back in 2019, Sixx spoke to U.K.'s Kerrang! spoke about how the rise of grunge in the early 1990s forced most hard rock bands off the radio and MTV, with album and tour sales plummeting. Asked if it was fair that CRÜE was lumped in with bands such as POISON and WARRANT, Nikki replied: "I have to say that I don't think that NIRVANA and PEARL JAM killed the bands you mention, I think that they killed themselves. They were making copycat music. We, on the other hand, simply imploded."

He continued: "Forget about the lifestyle for a minute — the thing that ultimately allowed us to pull ourselves through was the music that we made, and how good we can be when we really put it together. Every great band has hills and valleys; they start at the bottom and if they're lucky they make it to the top of the mountain. But eventually you have to go down. Very few bands are lucky enough to become popular and stay popular forever. That's just the way music is — it changes, technology changes, fashion changes, and social outlooks change. But again, today a lot of bands are just so fucking safe."

Upon release in September 1991, NIRVANA's "Smells Like Teen Spirit" wreaked confusion upon the hair metal vanguard, putting an end to an era dominated by glamorous, androgynous and sparkly rock stars who absolutely saturated the radio waves and were almost exclusively what aired on MTV.

Former MÖTLEY CRÜE singer John Corabi told Newsday in a 2014 interview that the CRÜE album he sang on was a commercial disappointment because the music scene had changed, with hair metal brushed aside for grunge. "Everybody was listening to ALICE IN CHAINS and SOUNDGARDEN," Corabi said. "At that point, we were considered passé."

According to Corabi, CRÜE's ill-fated 1994 American tour " was a nightmare. We weren't selling tickets. It was just horrible," he said.

After working with Corabi for two years on a follow-up album, "Generation Swine", CRÜE dropped the singer and reunited with Vince Neil.

Despite Neil's return, "Generation Swine" sold poorly when it was released in 1997.

Nikki Sixx photo credit: Jason Shaltz of SiriusXM / Eddie Vedder photo credit: Danny Clinch

In a new interview with The Hype Magazine, punk rock icon Henry Rollins was asked about his involvement with VAN HALEN singer David Lee Roth's "Crazy From The Heat" 1997 autobiography. He said: "I worked with DLR closely on that project. At one point, he expressed interest in being onstage and telling stories from the book, I think. As I remember, I suggested that he have someone onstage with him to ask him questions that would prompt the stories. I think the record idea sprang from the fact that he did the book out loud on to tape. Almost 100 hours, which I have listened through three times.

"The man has a blazing intellect," Henry continued. "He is a multi-lingual, multi-disciplined self-starter. He is a voracious reader and student of history. Mark Twain meets Groucho Marx, who's also a black belt. That's DLR. The book came out and did really well. It's a great read and only a fraction of what he put on tape. He's had an eventful life."

This past January, Roth canceled the remaining farewell concerts he was set to play at the House Of Blues at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, Nevada.

In a statement, event organizers said the cancelations were made "due to unforeseen circumstances related to COVID and out of an abundance of caution for those working and attending the shows."

In March 2020, Roth postponed the final six shows of his Las Vegas residency due to the coronavirus pandemic that is spreading across the globe.

Roth's last Vegas residency kicked off on January 8, 2020 with a 15-song set that included 10 VAN HALEN classics and five songs from his solo career. Backing the singer were lead guitarist Al Estrada from the VAN HALEN tribute band ERUPTION, rhythm guitarist Frankie Lindri, bassist Ryan Wheeler, keyboardist Danny Wagner and drummer Mike Mussleman.

Roth explained that he chose Vegas as the place to debut his new band because "this is where you come to celebrate and do the victory dance, whatever that means to you."

In a February 2020 interview with StarTribune, Roth openly wondered whether his first tour since VAN HALEN completed its 2015 run of shows would be the last time he would perform.

"I'm calling it 'The Last Tour'," he said at the time, "and then underneath it in parentheses: 'Unless It Isn't'. ... At my age, everything is a possible farewell tour."

"It's been a long great trip, a long great run," he continued. "But this kind of music requires the kind of energy that people in their 20s bring. You know what NFL stands for: Not For Long. It's similar in rock. I remember the days when we would stand around and say, 'Let's go have a cigarette.' And that's what we did: Four guys having one cigarette. I remember those days. They go by fast, so enjoy them while you're in them."

In February/March 2020, Roth performed as the opening act for the North American leg of KISS's "End Of The Road" farewell tour.

Roth's 2020 Vegas residency wasn't the first time he had set up shop in Sin City. Back in 1995, Roth completed a Las Vegas engagement at Bally's Hotel and Casino and another short run at MGM Gr

Swedish occult rockers GHOST will hold a special "Impera" record-release event, dubbed "Live From The Ministry", this Thursday, March 10 at 2 p.m. EST on their YouTube channel. The LP, GHOST's fifth , will arrive on March 11 via Loma Vista.

According to a press release, "Impera" "finds GHOST transported literally hundreds of years forward from the 14th century Europe Black Plague era" of its previous album, 2018's "Prequelle". "The result is the most ambitious and lyrically incisive entry in the GHOST canon: Over the course of 'Impera''s 12-song cycle, empires rise and fall, would-be messiahs ply their hype (financial and spiritual alike), prophecies are foretold as the skies fill with celestial bodies divine and man-made… All in all, the most current and topical GHOST subject matter to date is set against a hypnotic and darkly colorful melodic backdrop making 'Impera' a listen like no other — yet unmistakably, quintessentially GHOST."

Produced by Klas Åhlund and mixed by Andy Wallace, "Impera" consists of the following 12 songs:

01. Imperium

02. Kaisarion

03. Spillways

04. Call Me Little Sunshine

05. Hunter's Moon

06. Watcher In The Sky

07. Dominion

08. Twenties

09. Darkness At The Heart Of My Love

10. Griftwood

11. Bite Of Passage

12. Respite On The Spital Fields

In a recent interview with El Paso Inc., GHOST mastermind Tobias Forge spoke his decision to record "Impera" with Åhlund, who also sat behind the desk for 2015's acclaimed "Meliora" effort. Asked why he chose to end his streak of working with a different producer on each new GHOST LP, Tobias said: "The thing is you need to keep moving so that you don't get stuck in friendly comfortable mode. 'Meliora', the record I made with Klas, was really good, but the recording and the production itself left a few things to be improved. When time came to record 'Impera', the writing and demoing had been done in 2020. But in early 2021, the American producer who was supposed to make the record couldn't come because of the travel restrictions, and I couldn't go to America. And because Klas is also a very scheduled person, he had a project lined up that fell through. All of a sudden, he had a few months off, and I was, like, 'That is well-timed, because I don't have a producer. Would you like to produce the record?'"

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

Regarding his collaboration with Åhlund, Al Fakir and Pontare, as well as OPETH's Fredrik Åkesson who was brought in to sharpen the album's guitar attack, Forge recently told St. Louis Post-Dispatch: "I found that I can work really well with someone I respect, who is always pushing for the best. They make me want to write better, to get my game up a little."

GHOST has just completed its co-headlining tour with VOLBEAT. The 26-date trek kicked off on January 25 at the Reno Events Center in Reno, Nevada and ended on March 3 in Anaheim, California.

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

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

Photo credit: Mikael Eriksson

Former JUDAS PRIEST guitarist K.K. Downing spoke to "The Cassius Morris Show" about the fact that he has been nominated for the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame induction for the third time. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "You kind of blow hot and cold with it because when you think of the people that are still not in there but when you think of the people that are in there, it's a bit of a conflict for me. And it's all a bit weird. But there are certain awards that you can achieve in your lifetime, like a Grammy — I've got one; I've got three nominations for Grammys. And when all's said and done about that situation, it's still kind of nice to have something on the mantel piece you can look at and hopefully you can pass it on and say, 'K.K. was here.' It's kind of something to look at."

He continued: "These kind of accolades, I think it's better to have them than not to have them, I suppose, when you get later on in life, as I am. With the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame, would I like to join the other people that are in there — great names? Yes. But if it came down to it, I'm just as happy to sit out here with the other great names that are not there also, if that makes sense."

JUDAS PRIEST was previously on the ballot for Rock Hall induction in 2020, but failed to receive enough votes to make that year's class.

Having been eligible for induction since 1999, PRIEST was also on the ballot for the 2018 class of the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame, but was ultimately left out of the inductee list.

On February 2, it was announced that JUDAS PRIEST is among the nominees for the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame's class of 2022. Inductees will be announced in May. The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame 2022 induction ceremony will take place this fall. The date, venue, and on-sale information will be announced later.

Once again, the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame has named the individual bandmembers that will enter should their group get inducted.

For JUDAS PRIEST, they picked current members Rob Halford (vocals), Ian Hill (bass), Glenn Tipton (guitar) and Scott Travis (drums), along with former members K.K. Downing (guitar), Les Binks (drums) and late drummer Dave Holland.

Regarding what his expectations are for the induction ceremony should PRIEST get chosen for the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame's class of 2022, Downing told "The Cassius Morris Show": "I think the big thing for me is, and I don't know how it works with the induction ceremony and all of that… That's another thing, because, obviously, there's gonna be people [being inducted] there that are not gonna be there, which is all a bit kind of strange. Obviously, with the great drummer of the age, Dave Holland, he's no longer with us; he's passed away. And he will be a part of it. So I suppose it's quite an emotional kind of experience, really. But I think that it's something that… I suppose it's a historical moment… I guess it's the big one, really. So we'll see what happens."

Last month, Hill and Halford told Billboard that they would be happy to stand alongside Downing at a hypothetical Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame induction later this year. "It's not a problem to us, no," Hill said. "Ken was an integral part of this band for a very, very long time. He deserves to be there along with the rest of us." Halford predicted that, "It won't be as awkward as Ace [Frehley] and Peter [Criss with KISS's Rock Hall induction]. I don't think it'll be awkward at all. I think you have to let all of that go because it's the night that matters. It's the moment that matters — but, again, the proverbial saying, we'll cross that bridge when we get to it."

In 2019, Halford was asked by Fox Sports 910's "Freak Nation" if fans could expect to see any of the former PRIEST members joining the band on stage during a hypothetical Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame induction. He responded: "With something like the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame, there's a tinge of 'what if' [and] 'whatever.' It's an open book.

"I know what you're alluding to, and as I've had to [say] in the past, it's just a case of 'wait and see,'" he continued. "But it's a celebration, and it's 50 years of PRIEST, and, man, it's gonna be great. Should we get in, it's gonna be amazing."

After host Kenny Sargent brought up the original KISS lineup's controversial 2014 Rock Hall induction which was at least partly overshadowed by the musicians' decision not to perform, Halford said: "[PRIEST is] not the first band that this has happened to, and on the day, some things turn out the way a lot of people want 'em.

"I was thinking about this the other day," Halford added. "And this thing came into my head: 'Jim, the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, or of the one.' Spock [in] 'Star Trek'. When he goes in the radiation room. Isn't that great? … That's a t-shirt, or an inspirational card."

Downing previously told Rockin' Metal Revival that there is a very good chance that he would perform with his former bandmates again if PRIEST gets the nod. "Oh, I think absolutely," he said. "I mean, why wouldn't you, really? It's a special thing. We're all of an age now. These opportunities only come once in a lifetime. And it seemingly takes a lifetime to get into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame. I've always said, there's no such thing as a young legend, right? [Laughs] So, while we're still here, it would be great to receive that accolade and put on a great performance and put that one to bed."

Downing left PRIEST in 2011 amid claims of band conflict, shoddy management and declining quality of performance.

In 2019, Downing said that he reached out to JUDAS PRIEST about taking part in the band's 50th-anniversary tour but that their response was that they were not interested in including him in the celebrations.

In 2018, Downing revealed that he sent two resignation letters to his bandmates when he decided to quit JUDAS PRIEST. The first was described as "a graceful exit note, implying a smooth retirement from music," while the second was "angrier, laying out all of his frustrations with specific parties."

Downing later said that he believed the second letter was "a key reason" he wasn't invited to rejoin PRIEST after Tipton's decision to retire from touring.

A clip from TRIUMPH's first-ever feature documentary about the band's dramatic career, "Triumph: Rock & Roll Machine", can be seen below. In the preview clip, fans can hear the story of how TRIUMPH rose to the occasion and delivered a legendary performance at the US Festival in May 1983 in San Bernardino, California.

Produced by Emmy and Peabody award-winning Banger Films, "Triumph: Rock & Roll Machine" is a Crave original documentary that has been described as "a celebratory, exhilarating thrill ride through the history of one of rock's most unsung acts." The film covers TRIUMPH's humble beginnings as staples of the GTA circuit in the mid-'70s to their heyday as touring juggernauts, selling out arenas and stadiums all across North America with their legendary spectacular live shows — and way beyond. The film is now available for streaming in Canada, only on Crave.

Last September, TRIUMPH guitarist/vocalist Rik 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 [Moore, TRIUMPH drummer] 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.






A must-see for rock and roll fans.

Canadian rock band @TriumphTheBand revisit their ‘80s heyday in the new Crave Original documentary #TriumphRockAndRollMachine. Stream it February 7, only on Crave. pic.twitter.com/wWry4GBcM6

— Crave (@CraveCanada) February 2, 2022

San Francisco Bay Area thrashers EXODUS were joined by Robb Flynn (MACHINE HEAD) and their former guitarist Rick Hunolt on stage during their March 6 concert at 3rd And Castro in West Oakland, California. Fan-filmed video of the performance can be seen below.

Flynn commented: "What a night.

"Beyond honored to be asked to sing one of my favorite songs of all time 'A Lesson In Violence' with one of my favorite bands of all time. Absolutely EPIC EXODUS show [Sunday night] in the streets of Oakland as part of the Oakland Metro's street fair. Pure mayhem!

"Seeing Tom Hunting alive, cancer free, and kicking ass is one of the greatest things on earth. Watching original H-Team guitarist Rick Hunolt slay up there right alongside the mighty Lee Altus, paying tribute to Paul Baloff was amazing. Long-time scene-veteran Brian Lew has produced some Paul Baloff action figures which frankly, are simply awesome, Zetro up onstage hoisting it in the air for all to see was a fantastic sight.

"This was some dream come true shit for me. EXODUS was and always will be a more-than-words-can-express inspiration to the music I write. It was a leave-it-all-on-the-stage moment for sure

"So many friends to hang out and sing-a-long with including Sean from VIO-LENCE, Sven ex-MERCENARY, Lars from RANCID, ALL of DEATH ANGEL, Wayne from HATEBREED, Chris Kontos (sick stage dive!), and so many other friends, plus took [my son] Wyatt to his first EXODUS show to see the thrash carnage firsthand.

"Gary Holt you da man!"

EXODUS's setlist was as follows, according to Setlist.fm:

01. The Beatings Will Continue (Until Morale Improves)

02. Piranha

03. Brain Dead

04. Body Harvest

05. Clickbait

06. Deathamphetamine

07. Blacklist

08. No Love

09. Children Of A Worthless God

10. A Lesson In Violence

11. The Years Of Death And Dying

12. Only Death Decides

Encore:

13. Bonded By Blood

14. The Toxic Waltz

15. Strike Of The Beast

Back in 2009, Flynn discussed his love for early EXODUS in an interview with Rock Hard magazine. He said: "I lived and died by [EXODUS's debut album, 'Bonded By Blood']. Those songs and the fact that [late EXODUS singer Paul] Baloff was a freakin' madman. I mean, we'd go see them and it was so insane; those shows were so violent. We were still kind of like gangly kids going to Ruthie's and there's all these big dudes there just beating the shit out of each other, running or climbing across people's heads. I remember one of the first times I went to Ruthie's, there was a dude running around in the pit and he had a cow's leg bone and he was just bashing people with it in the pit and I was, like, 'What the fuck?!' [Laughs] There were guys setting up chairs about fifteen feet away from the stage, then running from the rear of the club and using the chairs to launch themselves on stage, taking out the guitar player... and that was them showing affection. [Laughs]"

Hunolt — the other half of the famed EXODUS "H-Team" who is on every studio recording from 1985 through 2004 and co-wrote some of the band's best-known songs such as "A Lesson In Violence" and "Deliver Us To Evil" — left EXODUS after the band's highly acclaimed 2004 reunion album, "Tempo Of The Damned". Following his departure, Hunolt was replaced by HEATHEN guitarist Lee Altus.

Rick discussed his exit from EXODUS during a November 2021 appearance on "Put Up Your Dukes", the new podcast hosted by ex-EXODUS singer Rob Dukes. He said: "During the recording of 'Tempo', Gary [Holt, EXODUS guitarist] had just gotten clean a little while prior to that, and I was still using. But I've gotta say, Gary Holt — my hat's off to the man for… He never sweated me. Not once did Gary say, 'Dude, you're a piece of shit. I'm gonna fire you from the band if you don't get your shit together.' He never said nothing. He let it take its course, you know what I mean?

"I was a mess," Rick continued. "We all were, but everybody got better, and I didn't. I fell down the rabbit hole even worse, I think, because I was just so depressed. I couldn't stop. I don't know what was up… To the point where I was gonna lose my position in the band I'd been in for over 20 years — my best friends, my life. Yeah, it was dark as fuck.

"One day, after spending my life, giving everything that I had and the whole world to EXODUS, one day I woke up and I wasn't in EXODUS anymore," Hunolt added. "And that morning was, like… Dude, I can't even describe the emotions that I [was feeling]. I woke up and I wasn't in EXODUS anymore, dude. It damn near took me out, bro."

Rick revealed that he went through a particularly difficult period after splitting with EXODUS. "I had to reinvent myself at 40-plus years old, [with] two little kids," he said. "I ended up moving out of Oakland. I had to get the fuck out of there, 'cause we were living at the studio; it was bad. And then we moved in with my wife's mom and I got a job at the [discount chain] Dollar Tree and I ended up working there for, like, two or three years. I mean, I can go on and on and on. But long story short, I met a guy who knew who I was and offered me a job on his ranch. And the rest is history. He taught me how to live my life and make money."

Hunolt makes a guest appearance on EXODUS's new studio album, "Persona Non Grata", which was released in November via Nuclear Blast Records.

The San Francisco Bay Area thrashers' latest disc is the follow-up to 2014's "Blood In Blood Out", which was their first release since the departure of Dukes, the group's lead singer of nine years, and the return of Steve "Zetro" Souza, who previously fronted EXODUS from 1986 to 1993 and from 2002 to 2004.

The original lineup of EXODUS consisted of guitarists Kirk Hammett (now in METALLICA) and Tim Agnello, Hunting and vocalist Keith Stewart. Holt joined the band in 1981, while Kirk left two years before EXODUS's debut album, "Bonded By Blood", saw the light of day.
















Rick E Hunolt sure was one sharp dressed man on stage with Exodus this evening!

Posted by DieHumane on Sunday, March 6, 2022



I gotta say I don’t know Rick E Hunolt for very long but I can say he is genuinely a sweetheart of a human being. Very…

Posted by Sal Abruscato on Monday, March 7, 2022



Exodus. Old home week. #dayonthrdirtreunion Rick E Hunolt Brian Lew Pam Peters-Behrhorst Gary Holt Jack Gibson Steve…

Posted by Adam Segen on Sunday, March 6, 2022

In a new interview with Tone-Talk, former PANTERA bassist Rex Brown was asked if there are any guitarists he would still like to work with. He responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "I did a record — it's not out yet — I did it with Richie Faulkner [of JUDAS PRIEST]. Richie and I have become really good friends. And it's really progressively heavy and cool. Richie is a very melodic player, and then it's got my drummer that played on my first solo record. They tracked him playing on one of those electronic kits, and they sampled the sounds into a real kit — which I'm not too crazy about; that's not the way I would do it. But it's Richie's record. And he's got a new singer now. I don't know when that's coming out. Those guys [PRIEST] are still touring. That was a real thrill."

Brown previously hinted at a collaboration with Faulkner during a February 2021 interview with Antihero. At the time, he said that he had just gotten out of the studio with a good friend of his whom he described as "one of the best guitar players in the business that you would know." Asked if the recordings were going to be used for another Brown solo album or if it was more of a band project, Rex said: "[It's] more for another kind of deal. And I don't want to really talk about it… But the tracks are fucking badass." After Rex asked the interviewer Mark Dean where he lived, Dean responded "just outside Manchester in the U.K.," to which Brown said: "Then you would know this guy very, very well. He moved to Nashville and became a very, very good friend of mine. And we just cut six just blazing fucking tracks. Un-goddam-real."

The British-born Faulkner moved to Nashville in 2019 after spending several years living in Florida.

During an appearance on the "In The Trenches With Ryan Roxie" video podcast in February, Richie confirmed that he had used some of the coronavirus downtime to work on a solo project. He explained: "I haven't really spoken much about it publicly, but there is something I've kind of been [putting] together during the COVID period. I mean, I know we're still going through it but there's been a lot of downtime. So I've used that time to kind of get some songs I've been working on, get them together, polish them up, get some people together that I respect in the music business and record some stuff. And I haven't spoken a lot about it. It's in the process of being finalized, and we're looking for deals and stuff. We're looking for deals at the moment, we're looking for record labels, so I don't wanna get too far ahead of myself."

Asked if the album will feature guest musicians or it will be presented as a complete solo effort, Richie said: "Well, I've always been into the band. It's never been like RICHIE FAULKNER'S RAINBOW or anything like that. I've always been into the band — with the band name and the four or five guys or girls in it rather than a solo project. But also, when I joined PRIEST, I didn't wanna sort of get the gig and then, straight away, 'Oh, now listen to my solo thing.' PRIEST, they welcomed me in, they gave me a voice, they gave me an opinion, and I felt like this was my band. They've made me a part of it and I gave back a thousand percent. So I didn't wanna sort of then do my own thing and abuse that opportunity, if you know what I mean. But 10 or 11 years in, I feel that fans know that I'm not gonna abuse that opportunity. I've given 10, 11, almost 12 years [to PRIEST] now, so I felt, with the pandemic as well, with a bit of downtime, maybe put some stuff into that."

As for the musical direction of his solo album, Faulkner said: "As far as stylistically, it's always hard to tell, really. You just do what you do. You can hear where the roots are, from PRIEST, but I think it's different enough to be its own monster. And then hopefully someone else interprets it in their own way and hears something completely different to what I hear, hopefully."

Faulkner joined PRIEST in 2011 as the replacement for original guitarist K.K. Downing.

Richie was once the guitarist in the backing group for Lauren Harris, daughter of IRON MAIDEN bassist Steve Harris.

Faulkner and his girlfriend Mariah Lynch, daughter of former DOKKEN guitarist George Lynch, welcomed their first child, a baby girl named Daisy Mae, in July 2020.

Last September, Faulkner suffered an acute cardiac aortic dissection during PRIEST's performance at the Louder Than Life festival in Louisville, Kentucky. Faulkner was rushed to the UofL Health - Jewish Hospital where the cardiothoracic surgery team needed approximately 10 hours to complete a life-saving surgery.

Rex, who is currently promoting the 30th-anniversary of PANTERA's sophomore major label album, "Vulgar Display Of Power", recently completed work on a "a really introspective" follow-up to his debut solo album, "Smoke On This…", which was released in July 2017 via Entertainment One (eOne). The effort marked the first time in Brown's career where he served as both lead vocalist and guitarist in a band.

In a 2019 interview with Loudwire, Rex stated about his upcoming second solo album: "I went through a totally different songwriting process on this one and yes, it's very introspective, but at the same time it's kind of dark… It's a darker record for me, but it's one of those things where you've just got to let it out when it comes out… I'd say it's still bluesy, but the songs are more well rounded. We just wanted to get my feet wet the first time. But this one's got its rockers on there and some doomy kind of [PINK] FLOYD stuff on it — that kind of vibe. I wanted to use the studio kind of more as a palette for what I was doing rather than the other way around… It's a trippy record."

During an appearance at last month's installment of Days Of The Dead, a fan-run and fan-oriented horror convention, at the Sheraton in Atlanta, Georgia, SLIPKNOT singer Corey Taylor discussed his new mask which he debuted last September at the Rocklahoma festival in Pryor, Oklahoma. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "My new [mask is] pretty rad. I really sat down and tried to figure out… I worked with a guy named Conor Deless. He's a young kid; he's actually a fan. And I can remember laying out traits that I wanted to see and a lot of the stuff that inspired him. And when he sent me the preliminary sculpt — he didn't even sketch it out; he sent me a tiny sculpt — and it was so killer that I was, like, 'Yes. That's it.' I mean, he nailed it so quickly that I'd never… I've always had to go back and forth and do a bunch of tiny manipulations and changes and stuff, but he was so dialed in and he immediately got it that we were just, like, 'All right. Let's do this, man.' He drove in, did a mold of my head, and the rest is history."

Asked if there had been any masks in the past that he "absolutely hated" and "couldn't wait to get off," Corey said: "No comment."

Taylor previously talked about his new mask at the Texas Frightmare Weekend 2021 in Dallas, Texas in September. At the time, he said: "I spent three months designing that specifically. 'Cause the last one was — it was cool but it wasn't exactly what I wanted to do. So this time around, I started early. I actually started designing this before the end of the 'We Are Not Your Kind' cycle, just to make sure that I was ahead of the game and making sure I could dial in all the details and whatnot. And I actually did it with a young man named Conor Deless, who's super cool. And he flew out. I walked him through everything that I wanted to have on it. And he was able to mock something up really quick, man. And he really got to the essence of what I was trying to configure. It was almost immediate. And then, really, it was just a matter of waiting for him to build the damn thing… We did the mold. We built it right to my face, so it fits like a glove. And it's hot as balls, but it's so rad on stage; it just looks really, really cool. I'm calling it the smiling skull mask."

Last May, Taylor spoke to Andy Hall of the Des Moines, Iowa radio station Lazer 103.3 about the evolution of SLIPKNOT's masks and what fans can expect to see during the band's current touring cycle.

"The mask has been a part of us forever," he said. "The mask is king. And for us, especially people like me and Clown and the guys in the band that really allow those masks to evolve, it's important for it to be a reflection of who we are in that music. And I can tell you that the mask I'm working on is very disturbing. It's gonna be hard to look at. And it'll probably be my favorite mask that I've ever put together. It's little bits and pieces of things that have intrigued me, of masks that I've had in the past. And it's gonna have a devil-may-care kind of terror to it, let's put it that way."

Corey worked on his previous mask with special effects legend Tom Savini, whose extensive career in the film industry and especially the horror genre dates back to the late 1970s, including in such films as "Friday The 13th", "Dawn Of The Dead", "From Dusk 'Til Dawn" and many others.

Most of the other members of SLIPKNOT performed with their current masks for the first time in May 2019 when they appeared as the musical guests on "Jimmy Kimmel Live!"

During a 2017 appearance on an episode of Viceland's "The Therapist", Taylor was asked about the significance of wearing a literal mask when he is performing with SLIPKNOT. He responded: "With SLIPKNOT, at least for most of us in the band, the mask is part of the art — it's not just the visual and the shock; it's a representation of who I am in that album. So, for me, it's as natural as having a different hairstyle for one album and tour cycle, wearing different clothes for an album and tour cycle. It's a part of the dynamic. It's one of the things that you look forward to. Not just writing the songs, not just putting the music together, not just putting the visuals together, but what… who am I in this album?"

Corey spoke about the changes in the SLIPKNOT bandmembers' masks in a 2014 interview with Metal Mania Radio. "With every album, some of us have evolved our masks more dramatically than others, but there's always a difference, they've always changed a little bit… This band evolves with every album, and it just makes sense that our masks [would as well], because we're not the same people. It's not something that we sit down and we talk about as a group, we just kind of do it. As unified as we all are, the mask is really something that we trust each other to do individually and we trust them to do the right representation."

SLIPKNOT will kick off the 2022 iteration of its "Knotfest Roadshow" tour on March 16. The "Knotfest Roadshow" tour will take place over two legs, both headlined by SLIPKNOT. The first leg will feature special guests IN THIS MOMENT and WAGE WAR. The second leg will feature special guests CYPRESS HILL and HO99O9. The first leg of the 38-date run, produced by Live Nation, kicks off in Fargo, North Dakota on Wednesday, March 16 and hits a further 17 cities before wrapping up in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada on Sunday, April 17. The second leg kicks off on Wednesday, May 18 in University Park, Pennsylvania and hits a further 17 cites before culminating on Sunday, June 18 in Chula Vista, California.

Sweden’s Liar Thief Bandit have dropped the third single from their upcoming mini-album. The new song, titled ”The Art Of Losing Battles”, shoots straight into the familiar intensity and energetic feel that supporters of the band have grown to love. A raw setting with catchy melodies and honest lyrics is topped off with a raging guitar solo, followed by the three musicians kicking it into an even higher gear.





Liar Thief Bandit’s mini-album Diamonds will be released on The Sign Records later this year. Check out the previously issued songs "Better Days" and "Ain't Fit To Live Here":










 

SHINEDOWN guitarist Zach Myers spoke to Ethan Jackson of Topeka's rock radio station V100 about the lyrical inspiration for the band's latest single, the title track of SHINEDOWN's upcoming seventh studio album, which will arrive on April 22 via Atlantic Records. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "We're living in a world where there's no shortage of things to talk about. But 'Planet Zero' is kind of about people being silenced of their opinions.

"We live in a society now where everything has to be a hardline," he continued. "Listen, I vehemently disagree with 80 percent of what Eddie Vedder says politically; I'm still gonna listen to PEARL JAM. We live in a society where if you disagree with someone, that means you don't respect them and you can't be friends anymore. And that doesn't have to be that way; I don't think so. I enjoy disagreeing with people because maybe I'll learn something.

"You've got people who, if they have an opinion about something, it doesn't matter what it is, but if it's not the popular opinion of what's going on right now, they're silenced or they're told to shut up," Myers added. "It just feels like the planet [is] kind of headed into this weird future, and we felt like we had to say something about it.

"If you're a ridiculous person and you're spewing hate speech or whatever, that's a different ballgame. But if you just say, 'This is what I think,' and you're not a bigot or a racist and you're [not] throwing our hate speech, you shouldn't be canceled for your opinion. I think that's a real wide range. Like I said, we live in this hardline society. That's kind of what the song is about."

The official music video for "Planet Zero" was released on March 3. The clip arrived as "Planet Zero" hit No. 1 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Airplay chart.

"Planet Zero" is SHINEDOWN's 17th No. 1 and sixth consecutive chart-topper, breaking a new record for the most No. 1s in the 40-year history of the chart.

Directed by Charles De Meyer, the video brings to life a glimpse of a dystopian future (complete with a menacing A.I. character named Cyren from the album's interludes whom we hear at the end of the music video) that warns of the dangerous dehumanizing consequences of cancel culture run rampant.

On "Planet Zero", SHINEDOWN is serving up an incisive look at some of society’s most critical issues, including the increasingly toxic division among those of differing ideologies, the need for honesty in our public discourse, and the corrosive effects of social media and cancel culture on mental health and humanity. The "Planet Zero" single rings the alarm with a cautionary warning that if we shut each other down, we risk losing empathy, respect for one another, and our ability to communicate and unify in a way that leads to actual progress and understanding.

Over the last two decades, SHINEDOWN has cemented its status as one of the most vital and forward-thinking powerhouses in modern rock. Their most ambitious and masterfully realized work to date, "Planet Zero" is a high-concept, ultra-vivid, viscerally charged saga. A critical yet optimistic look at the fractures and frays of a society that has undergone many challenges in recent years, the album is part social commentary and part in-depth exploration of the human psyche.

"Planet Zero" was produced by SHINEDOWN's own Eric Bass (who also helmed the band's 2018 album, "Attention Attention"), and recorded at Bass's newly built Big Animal Studio in South Carolina.

SHINEDOWN will kick off "The Revolution's Live" tour on April 1. Following this April and May run with special guests THE PRETTY RECKLESS and DIAMANTE, SHINEDOWN will head to Daytona Beach for Welcome To Rockville 2022 where they'll headline Saturday, May 21 alongside GUNS N' ROSES and RISE AGAINST. In June, SHINEDOWN will head overseas for a European run featuring festival appearances at Rock Im Park and Rock Am Ring in Germany, Download festival in the U.K. and Hellfest in France along with select shows with IRON MAIDEN. The band will then embark on a run of Canadian dates beginning in July with support from POP EVIL and AYRON JONES.




This is the fucking largest click bait headline I have ever seen involving myself ??? https://t.co/UAilXOetGK

— Zach Myers (@ZMyersOfficial) March 5, 2022








Same https://t.co/xGp1rnaWhi

— Zach Myers (@ZMyersOfficial) March 5, 2022










I love how all you clowns think if you don’t like Biden then you must love trump

Ones a fucking idiot and the others a fucking douchebag …..

2 turds can live in the same punch bowl ?

— Zach Myers (@ZmyersOfficial) August 20, 2021








The fact that this is a real goddamn tweet blows my goddamn mind https://t.co/zbP6gwz87I

— Zach Myers (@ZmyersOfficial) May 14, 2021








I love that we’ve made a world where you can’t think TWO people can be fucking bafoons

It’s fucking so ridiculous

“Better by comparison” doesn’t mean good

And 2 turds don’t make a grilled cheese

— Zach Myers (@ZMyersOfficial) May 14, 2021








After these last 2 fellas ….

How about we just skip Presidents’ Day for a bit?

— Zach Myers (@ZMyersOfficial) February 21, 2022








Honestly .. If Trump becomes president. . . You guys set yourselves and this country up for it … By making Pitbull have so many # 1 songs

— Zach Myers (@ZmyersOfficial) September 30, 2016

Who wouldn't want to quit their job like this? "Got To Give In" is the latest video from Wayward Saints - a brand new, old-school rock band from Toronto, Canada. 





With influences such as Humble Pie, Allman Brothers, Faces and The Rolling Stones to name a few, Wayward Saints will take you on a journey back in time to the glory years with a fresh, stylish command.




Wayward Saints features the powerhouse vocals of Lindsay Coleman, the twin lead and rhythm guitar work of Darren Flower and Justin Bennett, and the tight, thunderous rhythm section of Bil Bertram on bass and Aaron Bennett on drums.


Previously, Wayward Saints issued videos for "In The Wild" and "Pay No Mind":








For further details, visit Wayward Saints on Facebook, or their official website.





 

In a new interview with Pierre Gutiérrez of Rock Talks, Phil Demmel reflected on his final album with MACHINE HEAD, "Catharsis", which got mixed reviews upon its release in January 2018. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "The record is what it was. I thought that there was some good stuff on that record. I enjoyed a lot of the stuff that I wrote. 'Heavy Lies The Crown', I fucking love the riffs that I did for that. 'Hope Begets Hope' I wrote; I love the music for that. [There are] a lot of good moments on that record, man. Sometimes it just doesn't happen, and it just didn't for me on that record. But I love 'Bloodstone & Diamonds' [2014], I love 'The Blackening' [2007], I love 'Unto The Locust' [2011], I love 'Through The Ashes Of Empires' [2003]."

Demmel, who previously said that he hated "Catharsis", insisted that he doesn't have anything negative to say about his former group.

"I've almost been out of the band four years now," he said. "[MACHINE HEAD frontman Robb Flynn], he started the band in '92. It's been 30 years, man — it's been 30 years, and still going so strong. There's things that I don't like that I was in the band for, but the dude is an amazing musician; he knows how to write a song. He's such an underrated guitar player — fuck, such a good guitar player — and he's got that band still clicking 30 years later, man. I can't hate on that. I won't.

"Everything that I've said before I felt like because I wasn't able to do press for awhile that it needed to be my side of the story or there was parts that needed to be answered, there was questions that needed to be answered," he explained. "I don't think that I really slammed him. I told the truth about some stuff, but it hasn't been, 'Oh, he sucks.' I'm not gonna do that because it's just not fucking true. So it's time to move on."

Demmel left MACHINE HEAD at the end of the band's fall 2018 North American tour. He was in MACHINE HEAD for nearly 16 years, during which time he played on the aforementioned five of the group's studio albums.

In 2019, Demmel told the "In The Pitts Of Metal And Motor Chaos" podcast that MACHINE HEAD ended up becoming a Robb Flynn solo project toward the end of his time with the group. "We weren't a band," he said. "That was Robb's trip, and we were basically just being told what was gonna happen… Everything had changed over time. Shit, we were together for 16 years and stuff changes after that. It's been the band that he started. So things shift, and as they weren't what we agreed to or what we wanted to be a part of, [drummer Dave McClain and I] just left. So we do our own thing, and [Robb] does his thing."

Demmel told SiriusXM's Liquid Metal that there were "a lot of things" that he couldn't do while he was a member of MACHINE HEAD, including speak to the press. "There was a point where we were taking liberties and still doing [interviews]," Phil said. "It got to be where the talks that came along with it, it was unbearable. It was just like, 'Man, I'm punching the clock here. I'm gonna show up. What songs do you wanna play? Okay. Cool. We're gonna play the songs. When are the dates? Okay. Cool.' For the last cycle, it was the paycheck. That was my living. I didn't like my job anymore."

Phil also revealed that he decided to quit MACHINE HEAD after spending "many stressed-out nights" talking with his wife and occasionally "losing sleep" over everything that was going on with the band. "And it just got to the point to where I [couldn't] do this anymore," he explained. "It's unhealthy for me physically, it's totally unhealthy for me mentally, and it's taking its toll on my family now, and there's where I've gotta draw the line," he said. "This isn't fun, and I've gotta quit my job. And there was a straw that broke the camel's back."

Demmel announced his exit from MACHINE HEAD in October 2018, explaining at the time that he wanted "to step away and do something else musically." Phil, who first played with Robb in VIO-LENCE in the late 1980s and early 1990s, went on to complete MACHINE HEAD's "Freaks & Zeroes Tour" before officially leaving the band.

Demmel spent most of 2019 and early 2020 playing sporadic shows with the reunited VIO-LENCE, which recently inked a deal with Metal Blade Records. The band's new EP, "Let The World Burn" — featuring the first all-new VIO-LENCE music in more than three decades — came out on March 4.

Although Flynn was part of VIO-LENCE's classic incarnation and played on the band's debut album, "Eternal Nightmare", he wasn't approached about taking part in any of the comeback shows.

In January 2021, Demmel said during an appearance on Dean Delray's "Let There Be Talk" podcast that he didn't have "any desire or need to talk to [Flynn] ever again."

In a new interview with Metal Mayhem ROC, MASTODON drummer Brann Dailor reflected on his band's recently completed U.S. tour with OPETH. The trek kicked off on November 16 in Asheville, North Carolina and concluded on December 5 in Denver, Colorado.

Brann said: "We dipped our toes in touring. I think it went pretty well. But there was still a lot of… The omicron variant has just been popping off, so there was a lot of tickets sold that people just didn't come; they just stayed home. So it was kind of crazy. I mean, the shows were great and they were pretty packed, but the promoters noticed that people were buying tickets and just not coming, because they were just frightened of being… Obviously, our industry is the last one to come back. It's, like, 'Let's get thousands of people together in a room and put 'em real close to each other.' So if you're nervous about COVID, that's not gonna be for you. Plus, there's still a lot of people that are unvaccinated and don't wanna get vaccinated. Most concerts, you have to prove that you are vaccinated to be able to get in there. So it's still kind of difficult at the moment."

Dailor also confirmed that MASTODON has more shows booked later in the year following the recently announced second leg of the band's co-headline tour with OPETH. The North American jaunt resumes on April 21 at Place Bell in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, stops in major markets coast-to-coast, and comes to a close on May 11 at Municipal Auditorium in Riverside, California.

"We'll go over and do the summer festivals," Brann said. "Just fingers crossed that some crazy variant doesn't show back up and shut everything down again. But I think it looks like everything's turning in the right direction to where we're gonna be able to go do that in the summer. And then I don't know from there."

Two months ago, Dailor revealed that he contracted COVID-19, the disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, immediately after the fall 2021 U.S. tour with OPETH. "Right when I got home from tour, I had COVID — like the day I got home," he told Art Of Rock. "I tested positive. I got pretty sick, actually. I was sick for a couple of weeks. I was down and out. But I guess the good news of it was it didn't happen while we were on tour and it happened when I got home. So I was, like, 'Oh, I'm sick.' And I had the opportunity to be sick and I didn't have to get on stage and play and stuff, which I've done with the flu many times; it's one of the worst feelings ever, but you've gotta bring the music to the people. It doesn't matter how you feel — do it."

This past November, MASTODON was announced as one of the "Best Metal Performance" nominees at the 64th annual Grammy Awards, which will be held on April 3 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. The progressive metallers were nominated for their song "Pushing The Tides", the first single from their latest album, "Hushed And Grim", which came out in October.

The follow-up to 2017's "Emperor Of Sand", "Hushed And Grim"was recorded at West End Sound, which is located inside of Ember City, the rehearsal facility that members of MASTODON manage in Atlanta. Helming the effort was Grammy-winning producer/mixer/engineer David Bottrill, who has previously worked with MUSE, DREAM THEATER and TOOL, among many others.

The "Hushed And Grim" artwork was created by longtime MASTODON collaborator Paul Romano, who also designed the sleeves for "Crack The Skye", "Blood Mountain", "Leviathan" and more.

"Emperor Of Sand" debuted at No. 7 on the Billboard 200. That LP was nominated for the 2018 Grammy Award for "Best Rock Album," and its opening track, "Sultan's Curse", won the Grammy Award for "Best Metal Performance."

Texas-based rock band Blacktop Mojo has released a live video of their harrowing cover of The Temptations' classic hit single, "My Girl". Originally revealed on Valentine's Day, "My Girl" is available to download / stream online now at this location.


”We wanted to play the song live in a place where you could really feel the dilapidation of a broken heart. We snuck into this old church here in Palestine and the natural reverb in the room was incredible. The cracked stained glass and paint peeling from the walls of a place that was once so magnificent was definitely reminiscent of a love that had been lost,” says vocalist Matt James.







"We love the original tune. Everyone grew up listening to it. There’s definitely something special about Motown and that era of music and there’s a reason why artists like The Temptations have stood the test of time. However when you’re having a bad day, or maybe having it out with your lady, and a song like 'My Girl' comes on, while nine times out of ten it’ll cheer you up, sometimes you just don’t want to hear a happy love song. Sometimes you’re in the ‘Lonely Hearts Club’ instead, and that’s where our version comes in." - Blacktop Mojo





Catch Blacktop Mojo live at the following shows:


March
10 - Little Rock, AR - Stickyz Rock N' Roll Chicken Shack 
12 - Lincoln, NE - 1867 Bar 
13 - Watertown, SD - The Goss Opera House 
15 - Minot, ND - The Original Bar and Nightclub 
16 - Fargo, ND - The Aquarium 
18 - Sioux City, IA - The Marquee 
19 - Minneapolis, MN - The Cabooze 
20 - Iowa City, IA - Wildwood BBQ & Saloon 
22 - Westland, MI - The Token Lounge 
23 - Battle Creek, MI - The Music Factory 
25 - Louisville, KY - Diamond Pub Highlands and Concert Hall 
26 - St. Louis, MO  - Red Flag 
27 - Springfield, MO - Odyssey