German newcomers Cobrakill have signed a deal with Iron Oxide Records. Their debut album entitled Cobratör will be released on CD and Digital on April 8, 2022 (release date of the vinyl version will be confirmed later).





First single and music video entitled "Electrifier" will have an exclusive online premiere on February 5 in the 13th episode of the Keep It True TV, and will be officially released on all digital platforms on February 7. Pre-save the single here.




Cobrakill was founded in the early 2020 by guitarist Randy White, and few months later released same titled debut demo EP. In 2021, the band feat. Randy White (lead guitar), Tommy Gun (rhythm guitar), Nick Adams (vocals), Crippler Ramirez (bass) and Toby Ventura (drums), headed back to the studio to record first full album entitled Cobratör. Inspired by such heroes of the ‘80s as Judas Priest, (early) Motley Crüe, W.A.S.P. or Ratt, Cobrakill combines the classic heavy metal sound with elements of glam.

ALL THAT REMAINS will be rejoined by bassist Matt Deis for its upcoming U.S. tour celebrating the 15th anniversary of "The Fall Of Ideals" album.

Deis was previously in ALL THAT REMAINS between 2003 and 2005, and also a member of CKY between 2005 and 2019.

Matt is stepping back into ALL THAT REMAINS as the replacement for Aaron "Bubble" Patrick who announced his exit from the band last September.

On Wednesday (February 2), ALL THAT REMAINS issued the following statement via social media: "ALL THAT REMAINS is thrilled to welcome back to the stage Matt Deis on bass and backing vocals. Some of you may remember Matt from our earlier material, we're stoked he is here, make sure to send him some love!"

Patrick joined ALL THAT REMAINS in 2015 following the departure of Jeanne Sagan.

ALL THAT REMAINS will embark on "The Fall Of Ideals" 15th-anniversary trek this spring, kicking off on March 12 in Worcester, Massachusetts, and running through May 20 in Hartford, Connecticut. MISS MAY I, VARIALS and TALLAH will serve as support. ALL THAT REMAINS will perform "The Fall Of Ideals" in full on this run.

"The Fall Of Ideals" was reissued last November. The best-selling title features such fan favorites as "This Calling", "Six" and "The Air That I Breathe". In addition to the wide release, the band has exclusive colored vinyl variants with deluxe packaging available only at the band's webstore.

In 2020, ALL THAT REMAINS vocalist Philip Labonte confirmed to the FM99 WNOR radio station that the band has commenced the songwriting process for the follow-up to 2018's "Victim Of The New Disease" album.

"Victim Of The New Disease" was released via Fearless in North America and Eleven Seven in Europe.

ALL THAT REMAINS guitarist Oli Herbert was found dead in October 2018 at the edge of the pond on his Stafford Springs, Connecticut property. He was reported missing by his wife and his body was found by police face down at the edge of the pond where the water was only a few inches deep. He has since been replaced by Jason Richardson, who has previously played with BORN OF OSIRIS and CHELSEA GRIN.


All That Remains is thrilled to welcome back to the stage Matt Deiss on bass and backing vocals. Some of you may...

Posted by All That Remains on Wednesday, February 2, 2022

ANTHRAX singer Joey Belladonna joined the all-star band THE STOWAWAYS during their ShipRocked concert aboard the Carnival Breeze on January 24 to perform at cover of the FOREIGNER classic "Cold As Ice". You can now watch fan-filmed video of the performance below (courtesy of YouTube user PGMD).

Lineup for the performance:

Vocals: Joey Belladonna (ANTHRAX)

Guitars: C.J. Pierce (DROWNING POOL), Dameon Aranda

Bass: Jasen Moreno (DROWNING POOL)

Drums: Mike Luce (DROWNING POOL)

Keyboards: Tyson Leslie (VIXEN)

When he is not busy touring and recording with ANTHRAX, Belladonna has been spending time playing drums and singing for a classic-rock covers band called CHIEF BIG WAY. The upstate New York-based group, which also features Dave Mickelson on bass, Joe Precourt on guitar and John Goodwin on keyboards, plays versions of songs from JOURNEY, AC/DC, ZZ TOP, BOSTON, CHEAP TRICK, FOREIGNER, PINK FLOYD, VAN HALEN, COLLECTIVE SOUL, THE WHO, THE DOORS, SHINEDOWN and BON JOVI, among others.

Last year, Belladonna told "The Johnny Dare Morning Show" that his recently launched JOURNEY tribute band called JOEY BELLADONNA'S BEYOND THE BAND (formerly JOURNEY BEYOND) was "working on some recordings."

JOEY BELLADONNA'S BEYOND THE BAND, which also features keyboardist Doug Carter, bassist Paul Arntz, guitarist Matt Basford and drummer Justin Ward, made its live debut in March 2020 at The Beacon Theatre in Hopewell, Virginia.

Belladonna also touched upon his reasons for launching a JOURNEY tribute band, saying: "People ask why the hell I do it. I just like the songs. I've liked the band forever. And I just wanted to do it because I think it's a cool challenge and it's just fun music. I can't think of many bands that I'd like to do a whole evening of without trying to dress up and do everything they do. We just wanna be a band that plays that music. I don't care about the whole lookalike-type stuff. It's just about music. That's really all it is."

In an April 2020 interview with SiriusXM's "Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk", Belladonna stated about his approach to singing material that was originally written and recorded by Steve Perry: "Obviously, when you do [something like this], there's always open ground for [people to say], 'You didn't do that part, 'You didn't do this.' [But] I didn't wanna copy it note for note. Sometimes I just like to do my own thing with it. Represent it and do what you can, but I love to mess around with things. Not so much to try to be too different, but just make it cool and do it your own way versus trying to get every note. I'm sure some guys study every second of it. Even with ANTHRAX, I do songs different a lot of times. It's just fun that way. To do things off the cuff is fun for me versus trying to follow everything… I can study it all day, but I just don't feel like doing that. I wanna have a little fun doing my own thing with it."

In a 2005 interview with MusicDish, Belladonna was asked about the rumor that he came to the table with a JOURNEY tune during his 1985 audition for ANTHRAX. "Actually, what happened was I went into the room and they said, 'Just go on in,' and they hadn't heard me sing," he said. "They'd heard of me and they asked me to come in, but we were going in to start tracking and stuff, to get the mic set up and all that and they said, 'Let's get you in there and get you warmed up.' I hit the mic and belted out some JOURNEY… I think it was [the song] 'Lights'. I didn't know what the hell I was getting into in the first place. I just wanted to lay some vocals or something. Just to kinda give an idea and that's what happened. It wasn't really anything more than that. I just kinda belched it out. I think I did 'Oh Sherrie' [written by Steve Perry], too, or something. I dunno why, but I just did. It was something off the top of my head I could do a cappella and it was kinda challenging. I thought maybe in range or something that would be kind of intriguing. It was definitely one they weren't expecting."

ANTHRAX's 2013 EP "Anthems" EP included the band's cover version of JOURNEY's "Keep On Runnin'" alongside classics by RUSH, THIN LIZZY, AC/DC, CHEAP TRICK and BOSTON.

Swedish heavy metal outfit Perpetual Etude have released a lyric video for their song "Our Love" - the closing track from their debut album, Now Is The Time, which was released last autumn.





Perpetual Etude was formed in 2019 by Magnus Mild with the sole goal of bringing back the best heavy metal of the ’80s. Influenced by the genre when growing up, Magnus teamed up with members from NorthTale, ex-members from Dionysys, Nation, and Shadowquest, as well as Göran Edman on “Sail Away” to complete the vision. The result is the best of a whole decade in the forthcoming debut, Now Is The Time, an album filled with catchy choruses. Now Is The Time will see an October 15th release via Black Lodge.







"Sail Away":





"Show Me" lyric video: 

Madman's Lullaby have released the video for their new single "Love Don't Come Easy", taken from their EP Nocturnal Overdrive Part 1 that was released worldwide on MR Records.





Mr. Brett, from Madman's Lullaby, recently discussed the new single, "‘Love Don't Come Easy’ is a great tune. We thought the lyrics in the song offered some interesting possibilities for a video. This made it a logical choice."







"In Your Mind", the first single from Nocturnal Overdrive Part 1, recently hit #1 on the SpiderwebRadio Top 25.


Nocturnal Overdrive Part 2 the follow up EP will be released this spring.


Stream/purchase the EP here.

On the 27th episode of "The Album Review Crew" of the "Shout It Out Loudcast", FOZZY frontman and wrestling superstar Chris Jericho joined hosts Tom, Zeus and Sonny to review the second album from SKID ROW, 1991's "Slave To The Grind". You can now listen to the discussion below.

Speaking about SKID ROW's untimely 1996 split with singer Sebastian Bach, Jericho said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Had there not been a complete sea change and shift in musical styles, and had Sebastian and the guys not completely broken up forever, they could have been a GUNS N' ROSES level, a JUDAS PRIEST level. Not an IRON MAIDEN level — not a GUNS N' ROSES either — but they could have been that second tier of main-event-level bands. Because, two reasons — one, dudes like us like the music; heavier guys like PANTERA like the music; and here's the most important thing. You know what I'm gonna say. The chicks love the music and they love Sebastian Bach, who, at the time… I used to say, if you could into a laboratory and you were a mad scientist and create the perfect rock star, Sebastian Bach would be the perfect rock star — all cross the board; he checks every box in everything. And so I think that's another reason why SKID ROW was able to bridge the gap. It could have even gone farther because the girls really enjoyed the band as well."

He continued: "The first [SKID ROW] album, pictures aside — you look at the first GUNS N' ROSES album pictures; there was a lot of hairspray and all that sort of stuff — but they had an East Coast GUNS N' ROSES vibe, where even though Sebastian Bach was pretty, he was tall, we know he was off his rocker because we heard the stories. Other guys looked pretty nutty. Rachel [Bolan, bass] was very punk rock. They weren't pretty guys. Snake [guitarist Dave Sabo] is not a good-looking guy. And if he was on the show right now, he'd be laughing, saying, 'I'm the ugliest guy ever.' Best guy in the world, by the way — Snake and Rachel are just amazing guys… But they never tried to be that way; they weren't trying to shove it into the bag. They knew what they looked like, and they knew it was cool, 'cause they did look cool. But they didn't look pretty. But that worked to their advantage, much like GUNS N' ROSES as well."

Less than two years ago, Bach blasted Jericho over allegations that the FOZZY frontman uses pre-recorded vocal tracks during live performances.

Bach initially accused Jericho of "miming to a tape" at FOZZY concerts in a social media post in July 2020. In response, the wrestler-turned-rocker insisted that he had "never mimed anything ever" and challenged Bach to a "singoff" with "no effects, no tuning, no bullshit", saying "Bas is a great singer...but I'm better".

In the months that ensued, Bach brought up Jericho's alleged lip syncing on several occasions, most recently in January 2021 in an interview with The Aquarian Weekly. Asked specifically about his feud with Chris, Sebastian said: "I have an open mind about everyone. If I read on Blabbermouth.com [sic] that some band says, 'We're the future of rock 'n' roll and we are the next thing after THE ROLLING STONES,' I think, this must be incredible! What have I been missing out on? So, I checked out one video during which the singer was 100% miming to a tape on stage at The Rockpile in Toronto. I thought to myself, 'That's weird, that's not the next ROLLING STONES.' So, I watch another video where he was opening up for NICKELBACK in an arena and, again, he's miming to a tape. You can go watch it for yourself. Then someone said, 'Here's a clip of him singing live. Legit, bro.' And it's him miming to a tape again. It's crazy obvious. It is not my opinion, it's fact. It is not me starting a fight. But don't tell me what singing live is, 'cause I have never used tape. I don't even know how to do that."

Bach also addressed the fact that Jericho accused him of having a less-than-original stage name after Sebastian slammed Jericho for copying the name of a SKID ROW tour for FOZZY.

"I switched a couple of letters of my legal last name [Bierk]. Who's Mongoose McQueen?" Bach asked, referring to Jericho's original FOZZY stage name. "What kind of a stage name is that?

"How about this: professional wrestling sucks," he added. "Everyone wishes they were a rock star. It hilarious. Evidently, all you have to do is [record] a tape, go on stage, and jump around. You can jump off the drum riser and do jumping jacks. It doesn't matter if you are miming to tape."

Jericho's most public reaction to Bach's criticism came in a January 2021 tweet. At the time, he wrote: "I've been told that @sebastianbach continues to go out of his way to bury me. My response is this...be my guest! You are entitled to ur opinion & it doesn't affect me either way. I still dig ur work on the first 3 @OfficialSkidRow albums & look forward to ur new record."

When Bach first went public with his Jericho accusation, FOZZY guitarist Rich Ward called Sebastian "universally disliked" and said that seeing Bach "publicly go after the only guy that I have ever witness utter a nice word about him is sad."

Sebastian, who has been outspoken about rock bands using pre-recorded backing tracks during live shows, later tried to explain his outburst, writing: "I'm not trying to beat anybody at anything. I'm actually trying to say hey Chris maybe you're right maybe I'll stop singing live and prance around while the tape is playing just like you do Chris. I'm tired of trying so hard it's like beating my head against the wall."

After a self-proclaimed Bach fan called Sebastian "an asshat" on Twitter for firing "the first shots" in his war of words with Jericho, Bach came back with: "Hey man f*** you. I have spent my life learning how to sing live on stage. When someone comes along and mimes to a tape it sucks for all of the rest of us that don't. You want to go see a wrestling match good. Don't call it rock and roll".

King Crimson founder Robert Fripp and his singer wife Toyah Willcox are back with another episode in their "Toyah & Robert’s Sunday Lunch" series. This time they take on "White Wedding" by Billy Idol. Watch below:





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



















 

South Of Eden has a new song out now! Stream "Lone Riders" here and share it with your friends. "It’s been a long time coming, but there’s so much more we have to show you," says vocalist Ehab Omran. "We will be releasing more music this year than ever before, so be on the lookout."





Iin live news, South Of Eden will be playing The Southgate House Revival in Newport, KY on February 18th.




(Photo courtesy of Payne Productions)


 

STAIND frontman Aaron Lewis has railed against COVID-19 vaccine mandates, calling the life-saving jab an "unproven" drug which hasn't been "tested."

Lewis, an outspoken conservative rocker who reinvented himself as a solo country artist in the last decade, voiced his views on vaccines before performing his new single called "Am I The Only One" during his January 23 concert at Shreveport Municipal Auditorium in Shreveport, Louisiana.

Aaron told the crowd (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "I can't sit here while every voice with integrity is silenced while they indoctrinate our children to think that this country's bad, while they tell us that we need our children up with vaccines that aren't proven, that aren't tested, that we need to practice…" When someone in the crowd shouted "safe sex," Lewis laughed and went on to reference Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), who has made numerous important discoveries related to HIV/AIDS and is one of the most-cited scientists in the field. "Safe sex. Yes. Of course. Because Dr. Fauci gave us AIDS," he said.

"Do your homework. Do a little searching. Fauci's lied about everything since 1980-fucking-three. He fails at everything he does and gets promoted every time he does it.

"Anyways, all I'm trying to say is that everybody needs to wake the fuck up," Lewis continued. "This ain't about left or right; it's about good and evil. These are biblical times that we're living, people. I would suggest that if you've lost touch or lost faith with the Lord, I would highly suggest that you seek some reattachment. Because the most evil and lecherous people in the world are who are in control right now. Because while we've been sleeping, enjoying this amazing, amazing life that we take for fucking granted every goddamn day, they've been scheming. They never had the tools to do it throughout history; they do now. It's in your fucking hand right now. That phone that you're holding up recording what I'm saying right now, that is how they do it. That's how they win.

"I love this country very much. I'm very grateful for what this country has afforded me in life. We're about to lose it, people," Aaron added. "If we don't stand up."

After someone in the audience started chanting "U-S-A", Lewis said: "It's not a fucking chant. It's not a chant. This is real. This is fucking real, people. If we don't wake the fuck up…

"This country is the only country designed the way that it is designed. We hold the power," he said. "Not the government. We put them there to honor our wishes because we trust them with our lives. And if you think for one second that any politician, minus a handful — Madison Cawthorn being one; that motherfucker is a badass," Aaron said, referencing the North Carolina representative who drew the ire of liberals on social media earlier this month after cleaning his gun during a veterans affairs hearing. "Marjorie Taylor Greene," Lewis added, referencing the Republican Georgia representative whose Twitter account was recently "permanently suspended" for violating the company's policy against sharing misinformation about COVID-19. "There's a few.

"I'm high. I've been drinking. I can't remember 'em all," Aaron continued. "But there's a few that it's really not about a power grab; it's doing what we're supposed to do with the design that we have of this country.

"What we have forgotten as people is that we have a responsibility to keep this country too. If we just leave it in the hands of the government, then you can expect this country to go fucking headfirst into the toilet. Because they're not in it for us. These are people that have never held a real job in their fucking lives. They got into politics straight out of college and never fucking had a responsibility in life like you do in this fucking room. And you trust these people.

"Whatever side…. Whatever side… The fucking Republicans are just as disgusting and just as fucking responsible for where we are as the Democrats are," Aaron added.

"What it is is that we sit back and we allow a government full of lecherous people to make decisions on our behalf, and we can't allow that anymore.

"I think that's about as middle down the road as I can fucking get."

Lewis, who is widely considered to be one of the most politically conservative musicians in rock, made headlines in September when he urged his fans to chant "Fuck Joe Biden" during a STAIND concert in Pennsylvania.

Aaron told the Anchorage Press in a January 2020 interview that he considered the first Donald Trump impeachment by the House Of Representatives as the clearest representation of what's wrong with America these days.

Lewis was a staunch critic of President Barack Obama, telling a crowd at one of his solo concerts in 2016: "Barack Obama should have been impeached a long fucking time ago. Every fucking decision he makes is against the Constitution, it's against what's good for our fucking country, and he is truly the worst fucking president that we have ever had in the history of this fucking country."

That same year, Lewis told Billboard that he would support Trump in the U.S. presidential race, even though he was "disappointed" by the real estate mogul "with the bickering and the name-calling." Lewis added that he voted for Senator Ted Cruz, Trump's closest competitor in the Republican nomination race, in the Massachusetts primary.

For much of the past year, George Lynch has been rejoining DOKKEN on stage at various shows to perform three of the band's classic songs: "Kiss Of Death", "When Heaven Comes Down" and "Tooth And Nail". Asked in a new interview with SiriusXM's "Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk" what the experience has been like for him, George said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "It has been [fun], actually, more than I would have thought. I would have thought there… 'Cause Don [Dokken, DOKKEN leader] and I had had animosity towards each other at a couple of different levels over the decades. And it's kind of a weird thing, when you think about it. And sometimes, it is uncomfortable for me, because when I show up, I have to sit there, and, of course, they're playing the songs that I wrote. And the [current DOKKEN] guitar player, Jon [Levin], is a wonderful guy; we're friends. But they're doing my whole thing, and then I walk out.

"I think it comes down to, we're entertainers, and if I'm gonna spend my time crying about anything, I'm just gonna hurt myself and the fans, and that doesn't do anybody any good," George continued. "And so I try to keep positive about the whole experience. And it has been, actually, good for everybody. The fans love it. I love doing it because the easiest thing I can do is play DOKKEN songs — songs that I helped write 35, 40 years ago that I can play in my sleep with one arm tied behind my back and go out and enjoy it and not have to work that hard and just really enjoy what I'm doing, enjoy the moment. And it's the path of least resistance. A lot of these other projects I do, they're not as easy of a sell. When I'm doing a KXM project or whatever it is, I sometimes have to work at it a little bit — I do have to work at it a bit harder. What is this supposed to be? How am I supposed to write? How am I supposed to look? How am I supposed to sell this? With DOKKEN, I don't have any of those issues or concerns because all the work's been done, we've already established what we are and I know what to do. So it's really, like I said — the path of least resistance sometimes is the right one."

As for why he only performs three songs with DOKKEN as opposed to playing the entire set, George said: "Well, that's probably an economic issue on Don's side. I mean, Don owns the name of the band. It works on me on all levels at this point, and obviously it works for Don, so if it's not broken, why fix it? And I don't know… I would just be speculating that he's concerned maybe that something could pop up if he gets in bed with me and then now he doesn't have what he's built over all these years. So there's that. And maybe financially it would be not as — I don't know — not as [much of] a positive outcome for him. I'm not sure; we haven't talked about it. But what we're doing now works. Obviously, what you just brought up is something that everybody's thinking about, but, hey, it's not up to me to decide. But I certainly feel that would probably make sense [for me to play the whole set]; I could see that making sense. I'm already there — why don't I just go out and finish playing the rest of the songs that are part of my legacy? People would like that. There's a lot of different ways to think about that. There's what we do as a business, and I'm not ashamed of that. I don't think it's a bad thing to talk about the business side of music. It doesn't take away from the art; it doesn't take away from the creative part of it. Those are two different sides of the same coin. We all need to make a living. But you have to have that balance of appreciating and producing music that you love and that people enjoy, and at the same time, it has to make sense financially. So I'm not sure which one that is, as to why we're not back together on a more complete basis, where I'm playing the whole set, but I've got a feeling it's probably financial."

Asked if there has been any talk of the classic DOKKEN lineup reuniting once again to write and record new music, George said: "We have [talked about it], and the opportunity has come up every couple [or] few years. And we had offers, and they're good offers. But it's tricky at this point in all our careers, when we've all kind of established ourselves on other paths, to bring us all together. And even though the offers are good, it's not enough to make us all just stop what we're doing in our tracks and re-route our careers to do that. Every time it comes up, we always run into these obstacles. They're not anybody's fault in particular, but it just seems like an impossibility."

In October 2016, the classic lineup of DOKKEN — Don, George, Jeff Pilson (bass) and Mick Brown (drums) — reunited to play the Loud Park festival in Japan. Fortunately for fans outside of Japan, cameras were there to capture the performance and Frontiers Music Srl issued "Return To The East Live 2016" in April 2018. In addition to the Japanese performance, the set featured footage from the classic lineup's only U.S. show in September 2016 at Badlands in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. The package also included a new song called "It's Just Another Day", the first DOKKEN track featuring the group's classic lineup since 1997's "Shadowlife", and two acoustic re-workings of classic tracks.

Since completing the Japanese reunion dates, DOKKEN has continued to perform with the group's current lineup — including bassist Chris McCarvill, Levin and drummer BJ Zampa (HOUSE OF LORDS).

DOKKEN recently finished recording a new studio album, tentatively due later this year via Silver Lining Music, the label owned by Thomas Jensen, one of the founders of Germany's Wacken Open Air festival. It will mark the group's first disc since 2012's "Broken Bones".

Over the past several years, Lynch has appeared on recordings by THE END MACHINE, KXM, ULTRAPHONIX and SWEET & LYNCH. He released his first-ever full-length instrumental album, "Seamless", last August via Rat Pak Records.

In an interview with Antihero Magazine, SIXX:A.M. guitarist DJ Ashba, who is currently promoting his ASHBA solo project, spoke about whether there are any plans for SIXX:A.M. to record more new music or play live shows in support of the recently released compilation album "Hits". He said: "SIXX:A.M. has always been a labor of love. It's weird with SIXX:A.M., we all three are currently still full-blown members and we are very proud of everything we've created. James [Michael, vocals] has mentioned recently that he's kind of retiring, kind of stepping away from music, which is sad to hear, but the guy has done so many great, great things in his career and the songs he has been a part of. He has a lot to be proud of.

"Now, that being said, the three of us at any given time could call each other and go, 'Hey, let's do one more tour. Let's write a new song,'" he continued. "That's just how we are. We don't ever plan anything. So, I would say, never say never, but I have no intention of doing anything further with it. I think we've put a nice bookend to SIXX:A.M. with the greatest hits and if something else were to happen so be it, but I think we're all pretty satisfied with what we've done with that."

Last month, James also told Australia's Rock Lives Here that there are no plans for SIXX:A.M. to do anything else at the moment. He said: "It's funny — every time SIXX:A.M. made an album, we said to ourselves, 'This is the last album we're gonna make.' We said that on 'The Heroin Diaries' soundtrack. We said, 'This is a one-off. We'll never do this again.' Then we did 'This Is Gonna Hurt', and it was, like, 'Yeah, this is gonna be our last album, for sure.' And then we did 'Modern Vintage', [and it was], like, 'This is gonna be our last one.' So we've been saying that since the beginning.

"When we put together this 'Hits' album, of course, we had in mind that if this was the last thing that SIXX:A.M. does, we want it to be right and we want it to thoughtful and we want it to be meaningful," he explained. "And so we really set out with that intention; we wanted to kind of put a nice bow on this decade of music that we've created.

"So, as of right now, we don't have any plans for anything — no touring, no new music or anything. And that's why we're so excited to be sharing this 'Hits' album with everyone because it may be the last thing we do. I don't know. We'll see. That's one thing I've learned with SIXX:A.M. — I never say never."

In addition to Michael and Ashba, SIXX:A.M. features MÖTLEY CRÜE bassist Nikki Sixx. The name SIXX:A.M. is a combination of all of the members' last names (Sixx, Ashba, Michael).

"Hits" was released in October via Better Noise Music. The album is a retrospective celebration of SIXX:A.M.'s biggest hits and fan-favorite songs that alsos include five previously unheard tracks and mixes, marking the band's first official album with new material since 2016.

Inspired by the release of Sixx's "The First 21: How I Became Nikki Sixx", SIXX:A.M. members Michael, Ashba and Sixx made "Hits" available as a companion piece to the book.

To date, SIXX:A.M. has three U.S. Billboard top 20 albums and a string of hit singles, with its full catalog consisting of five studio albums — "The Heroin Diaries Soundtrack" (2007), "This Is Gonna Hurt" (2011), "Modern Vintage" (2014), "Prayers For The Damned" and "Prayers For The Blessed" (2016) — and three EPs, "X-Mas In Hell" (2008); "Live Is Beautiful" (2008) and "7" (20

Former SKID ROW drummer Phil Varone has once again responded to ex-SKID ROW singer Sebastian Bach's claim that Varone's decision to pose nude for an Playgirl is "further proof that the name 'SKID ROW' has completely lost all credibility, cool, accuracy and is now devoid of all meaning in every way."

Varone, who was one of eight patients featured on the "Celebrity Rehab" spin-off series "Sex Rehab With Dr. Drew", was featured on the cover of Playgirl more than a decade ago. The publication, which included a 16-page spread on Varone, hit newsstands in December 2010.

A short time after Varone's appearance in Playgirl was announced, Bach took to his Twitter to write: "[This is] further proof that the name 'SKID ROW' has completely lost all credibility, cool, accuracy and is now devoid of all meaning in every way."

Varone reflected on Bach's comments in a brand new interview with Sofa King Cool. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Baz is very ironic. I've known him for… I knew those guys 10 years before I joined the band. I mean, they were friends of mine. Before I joined the band, I knew Sebastian. And I never really understood why he said anything. This is a guy who wore a shirt that said 'AIDS Kills F**s Dead'. This is a guy that threw a bottle into a crowd and almost killed a girl. And the band had to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars to keep his ass out of jail and pay all these things in medical. And he's talking about me on Playgirl?

"He's in a war with himself, 'cause I've got nothing to say," Phil continued. "The guy was a tremendous rock star — legendary — and he's always gonna be that way. And I just don't understand at what point the people go the extra mile to say anything when it's, like, 'Dude, you already have the gig. Just shut up. People like you already. Don't ruin it.' 'Cause people like him, he can just talk himself into a hole.

"What does me doing Playgirl have anything to do with SKID ROW or hurting SKID ROW? Not to mention that one of his favorite bands, TYPE O NEGATIVE, Pete Steele did it. Bret Michaels did it. Brad Pitt did it. I mean, so many people have done Playgirl. It was a bucket list thing for me. I mean, granted, yeah, my dick is bigger than his, so don't be mad at me about that. Scream at whoever you believe the maker is.

"I don't know what his deal is," Varone added. "I just thought it was funny. 'Cause it's very hypocritical. If anything was gonna ruin the band, it would have been him back then. And doing Playgirl is not porn at all. It's a naked body. When did naked bodies become pornography? I don't know. Because in Europe no one gives a shit. Everyone's naked over there."

Varone joined SKID ROW in 2000 — about four years after Bach parted ways with the group.

Back in February 2010, Varone filed a lawsuit against SKID ROW guitarist Dave "Snake" Sabo and bassist Rachel Bolan, accusing his former bandmates of "spreading lies" and destroying his reputation. He claimed Sabo and Bolan "embarked on a crusade to spread vicious lies about Varone in an effort to destroy his professional and personal reputation" and "to prevent him from truthfully describing his career history as the drummer for SKID ROW, by contending that his use of the band name is trademark infringement." In addition, he claimed the pair "had falsely informed people that Varone had slept with Sabo's wife, that Varone is a cocaine addict and that Varone is a liar," adding, "Its (SKID ROW's) complete omission from a description of Varone's professional experience deprives Varone from the benefits of his experience as a professional studio and live musician and rock star who toured the world, gave countless interviews, made hundreds of appearances and amassed thousands of fans worldwide." According to the complaint, Sabo, Bolan and their lawyer contacted night clubs and both Oprah Winfrey's and Tyra Banks' talk shows in advance of his appearance in connection with "Sex Rehab" and successfully prevented Varone from being identified as a former drummer of SKID ROW.

In 2014, Varone slammed his former bandmates in SKID ROW as "clueless, jealous dummies" whose recent "piece-of-shit records" are best used as "a set of drink coasters."

During an interview on "The Classic Metal Show", Sabo was asked about "Waking Up Dead", the 2007 documentary from Varone which followed Phil through four years of drug abuse and wall-to-wall sex with groupies while drumming for the band. "I thought it was gross, man, to be quite honest with you," Sabo said. "See, that's just a lifestyle I never cared for or partook in. I never did drugs. The worst thing I ever did was drink too much vodka and puke, and that's basically the extent of my shit. So to live that and to see that, I thought it was pretty gross and disgusting, to be honest with you. I don't have any empathy for that situation at all, because you have choices. You make choices in life, and that was the choice that he made. And I don't wanna be a part of that or a party to it. So, I guess the only thing I can say is that I thought it was pretty gross."

In a 2006 interview with Metalshrine, Bolan stated about "Waking Up Dead": "I haven't [seen it] and I don't support it at all… That's [Phil's] world. I don't do drugs and the guys in the band don't do drugs. I don't endorse it. That's his world and he wanted to put our image in it and being the fact that the guy was only in the band for two years.... The fact that he thinks he has the right to go out and use the SKID ROW name is preposterous. Yeah, that's his world, not ours."

Shark Island was once the house band at the world-famous Gazzaris on the Sunset Strip. Signed to Epic Records in 1989 the band released their debut album, Law Of The Order, and also saw the tracks "Dangerous" and "Father Time" featured in the movie Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure, as well as the song "My City" from the movie Point Break.


Lead Singer Richard Black would go on to be part of the short-lived supergroup Contraband, which also featured Michael Schenker (Scorpions, UFO), and members of L.A. Guns, Ratt, and Vixen. They released one album in 1991 before disbanding.


S’cool Bus is where it all started, with tracks produced by Rick Derringer and capturing the band during the heyday of the Sunset Strip. This hidden gem is remastered and repackaged along with bonus tracks "Bang A Gong" (Live) and "I'm Electric" (Original Studio Recording). Both are taken from the same time period and make for a great addition to the original recordings for this Deluxe Edition.




About this release, “What a powerful souvenir of a bygone era on the sunset strip, and a real gem for those who wish they were there. It will never happen again,” says Richard Black (the eye witness).


You can pre-save the Deluxe Edition here


Limited edition S’cool Bus bundles are available for pre-order that include the classic Shark Island poster signed by Richard Black. You can also order the band’s latest album Bloodline 2.020’and other cool merch at the store. UK/European pre-orders here.


S’cool Bus bundle includes:


- One (1) S'Cool Bus (Deluxe Edition)
- One (1) Autographed Poster
- One (1) Sticker





S’cool Bus tracklisting:


"Déjà Vu"
"Sex Drive"
"Excess Marks The Spot"
"Here Come Trouble"
"Puss N Boots"
"Read My Lips"
"Automatic Girls"
"New York, New York"
"Palace Of Pleasure"
"Bang A Gong" (Live)
"I'm Electric" (Original Studio Recording)