STAIND frontman Aaron Lewis has opened up about his recent COVID-19 diagnosis, saying that he beat the virus by taking ivermectin, a drug with no evidence of being a safe or effective treatment for COVID-19. He said he also used Z-Pak, an antibiotic used to treat bacterial infections by inhibiting the growth of bacteria in the body.

Lewis touched upon his COVID-19 battle publicly during his solo performance last night (Saturday, November 20) at the The Event Center at Hollywood Casino at Charles Town Races in Charles Town, West Virginia. Addressing the sold-out crowd at the 1,200-person-capacity venue, Aaron said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "So, I really… I wasn't very vocal about it 'cause at this point I think it's just an attention ploy. But it's important to share information with people. That's the foundation of this country, is communicating.

"So I just had COVID," he continued. "And it was in my body for a week. It took a week for me to go from testing positive to testing negative. And at the risk of being called a conspiracy theorist, I took ivermectin and a Z-Pak — two things readily available. And if they weren't locking up all the ivermectin, you could get it from any doctor. It won awards for its applications on humans long before it ever went to a veterinarian application. It's not just a horse dewormer.

"So, yeah, I took ivermectin and a Z-Pak and a whole bunch of supplements, and I sat in an infrared sauna and I sat in one of those hyperbolic or hyperbaric oxygen chambers. And I got a bunch of I.V. stuff. And in a week, it was gone. It worked a hell of a lot better than the vaccine seems to be. But that makes sense because it's readily available drugs that are cheap and don't make anybody any money."

Vaccines against COVID-19 have proven to be a safe and effective tool in fighting the virus that's killed more than 770,000 Americans.

In recent months, ivermectin has become a popular medication to treat COVID-19 among people who oppose vaccinations.

While ivermectin is used to treat horses for parasites and worms, it has been approved for human use to treat infections such as head lice and skin conditions like rosacea.

The Food and Drug Administration has not authorized or approved ivermectin for use in preventing or treating COVID-19 in humans and has warned against taking the veterinary form of the drug. The FDA said clinical trials are ongoing but currently available data does not show ivermectin is safe or effective against the virus.

Back in May, fellow conservative rocker Ted Nugent revealed that he also used ivermectin, along with hydroxychloroquine and various vitamins, to beat COVID-19. He added that he "took intelligent, professionally guided care" from the Frontline Doctors, a group of doctors who made a video in July 2020 calling for the use of hydroxychloroquine to battle the novel coronavirus, despite warnings from public health experts.

Podcaster Joe Rogan recently sparked backlash when he said that he had taken Z-Pak, prednisolone and ivermectin following his own coronavirus diagnosis.

There are only three vaccines approved by the FDA to prevent COVID-19: Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson.

In a recent interview with RadioactiveMike Z, host of the 96.7 KCAL-FM radio program "Wired In The Empire", MASTODON drummer Brann Dailor was asked about the first time he heard METALLICA's music. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "I think my entry point to METALLICA was 'Ride The Lightning'. That's where I started with them, and I think it was my cousin Randy who showed me my first METALLICA tape, which was 'Ride The Lightning'. He just gave it to me. And so thanks, cousin Randy, for showing me the way. And, man, the title track, 'Ride The Lightning', that's the one for me. I was already into [JUDAS PRIEST] and [IRON] MAIDEN, and he was, like, 'This is the next step.' So I was, like, 'Okay. Cool.'"

Calling METALLICA's Lars Ulrich "one of my main influences growing up," Brann went on to discuss the impact of the band's mega-selling self-titled album, better known as the "Black Album," which celebrated its 30th anniversary this year. He said: "That album solidified them. Any time that they wanna go play at any stadium in the world, they can do it, and it's because of the 'Black Album.' So kudos to them."

Dailor previously singled out Ulrich as one of his musical inspirations during a 2017 chat with the "Let There Be Talk" podcast. He said at the time: "Lars was one of my guys, I love Lars and I love his playing. I don't know why [he is constantly being criticized for him playing ability]. It really bothers me. If someone talks shit about him — I stuck up for him in middle school and I'll stick up for him now.

"I once got in a fight in middle school for him. We went to see METALLICA [on the '…And Justice For All' tour]. QUEENSRŸCHE was opening, and their drummer was Scott Rockenfield — [a] great drummer. The next day, some kid talked smack about Lars: 'Scott Rockenfield's way better. Lars sucks.' I was, like, 'Fuck you!' We got into it, tussled a little bit. I told Lars about it. He was proud of me. [Laughs]"

Dailor is not the only member of MASTODON who has publicly praised METALLICA. Back in 2015, MASTODON bassist/vocalist Troy Sanders told ARTISTdirect: "METALLICA is a giant reason why I picked up the bass and why I'm where I'm at today. [We later supported] them in front of a hundred thousand people at Wembley Stadium. That was magnificent. If you flashback and told 13-year-old Troy this information, my head would've exploded."

MASTODON's new album, "Hushed And Grim", was released on October 29. The follow-up to 2017's "Emperor Of Sand" 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.

Last month, BRITISH LION, the side project of IRON MAIDEN bassist and founder Steve Harris, withdrew from the previously announced U.K. tour with THE DARKNESS, citing "completely unacceptable" tour "protocols."

THE DARKNESS's U.K. trek kicked off on November 17 in Brighton and will conclude on December 17 in London.

Asked in a new interview with TotalRock about BRITISH LION's decision to pull out of the tour, THE DARKNESS frontman Justin Hawkins said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "It's very important that we remain COVID-free. We don't wanna end up having to cancel shows. So we're testing every day and bubbling very strictly. Nobody's allowed their wives, girlfriends, partners, lovers. So it's very much an insular experience. It's unusual for us; we're normally the party band."

"The thing about BRITISH LION is I think that they were… [Steve] very successful with his other band. We can't afford to walk away from a tour because of disagreement about COVID measures, but he obviously can, and that's their prerogative. I think they're doing their own stuff now. I'm just really pleased that we've got [fellow British rock band] MASSIVE WAGONS on [the tour as BRITISH LION's replacement], who don't mind testing themselves every day. That's all we're asking, really."

When BRITISH LION first announced that it was withdrawing from THE DARKNESS tour, the Harris-led band said in a statement: "Due to circumstances beyond our control BRITISH LION are really sad and disappointed to announce that we will not be able to participate in the tour with THE DARKNESS. Very recently we received their own protocols that are not Government protocols which are completely unacceptable to us. Therefore, we have no alternative but to withdraw from the tour."

Last month, BRITISH LION announced that it would stage its own U.K. headlining tour in November/December 2021.

BRITISH LION's second album, "The Burning", came out last year.

The band completed its first U.S. tour in January and February 2020.

"The Burning" was released on January 17, 2020 in digipack CD, double gatefold vinyl and digital download formats via Explorer1 Music (E1). The LP was recorded, engineered and mixed at Barnyard Studios by Tony Newton and produced by Steve Harris.

BRITISH LION comprises singer Richard Taylor, guitarists David Hawkins and Grahame Leslie, Harris on bass and keyboards, and drummer Simon Dawson.

SEETHER guitarist/vocalist Shaun Morgan was the featured guest on BBC's "The Rock Show With Johnnie Walker" during the "Rock God" segment. Shaun picked NIRVANA frontman Kurt Cobain and stated about his choice: "I first heard of NIRVANA in 1993, because, growing up in South Africa, there were sanctions against the country up until '92, so a lot of American music didn't make it through to us. But a friend of mine's parents had been to England and they brought me the CD one day, and there was this naked baby on the front. I went home and put it on and immediately fell in love with the opening to 'Smells Like Teen Spirit' and felt this real ethereal visceral rage that was being spoken about for me. Kurt's voice, the anger with which he played, the lyrics that he wrote all spoke to me as a teenager, and it was perfectly timed with my teenage self and my father not getting on very well. I felt like Kurt's music was speaking for me. I immediately listened to the CD from start to finish and I think I put it on repeat and it must have played 10 or 12 times till I eventually fell asleep that night. The very next day, I went to school and I asked the kid who gave me the CD if I could keep it for a while. And then I said, 'Okay, now I need to find a guitar.' I went and bought myself my first guitar and immediately started teaching [myself how to play]. After I learned how to play 'Polly' through a friend of mine who taught me to play, I started teaching myself the rest of the album, just kind of fumbling about, trying to figure out how to play guitar at the same time.

"That music was so powerful to me as a child that I didn't feel like I was alone anymore," he continued. "'Cause we lived out on a farm and my brother was a bit younger, my parents and I weren't getting on very well, I wasn't particularly popular at school. It felt to me like somebody had my back. And I'd always spent my childhood wishing I had an older brother, so it kind of fit the whole picture for me. And I was a fan for a really long time of the band, right up until [Kurt] died. I remember when he died, I was about 16, and it was a traumatic experience for me. I really felt like I'd lost a friend and a voice. For all those reasons and for being the inspiration for me to pick up a guitar and become a musician, Kurt Cobain was, at the time, my rock god."

SEETHER's eighth album, "Si Vis Pacem, Para Bellum" ("If You Want Peace, Prepare For War"), was released in August 2020. An EP, "Wasteland - The Purgatory", was issued digitally and on CD in July. The five-track set, which was written and produced by Morgan, engineered by the band's newest member Corey Lowery, and mixed by Matt Hyde, also included three never-before-heard songs, and an alternate/stripped down version of "Wasteland".

In July, SEETHER joined 3 DOORS DOWN on the latter band's "The Better Life" 20th-anniversary tour as special guests on select dates throughout the sum

David Draiman of DISTURBED, which recently played its first pandemic-era shows, spoke to Lou Brutus of HardDrive Radio about the progress of the songwriting sessions for the band's follow-up to 2018's "Evolution" album. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "It's on in a big, big, big fucking way. It really, really is. I mean, we are so genuinely excited.

"They asked me going in, 'Where do you wanna go with this?' And I'm, like, 'I wanna go back. I wanna go back to our meat and potatoes. I wanna go back to where we came from.'

"The week in between the Indiana shows and the [Welcome To Rockville] show was amazing," Draiman added. "We pumped out six new DISTURBED songs. They are rhythmic, they are anthemic, they are polysyncopated, they are meat-and-potatoes DISTURBED. It's somewhere between 'The Sickness' and 'Ten Thousand Fists' as far as vibe. And it's can't-stop-but-bob-your-head kind of thing. I couldn't be more happy. And we're so genuinely excited that we don't wanna wait. We're gonna track it after the New Year. We're guns blazing right now."

Asked if DISTURBED has already decided on a producer and studio for its upcoming sessions, Draiman said: "We're still trying to suss all that out. We've written with a couple of guys. We're trying to just kind of go wherever we're gonna be able to find a little spark of inspiration here and there. So we're still trying to suss everything out.

"The way that I see it happening is we're probably not gonna put out something in the traditional full-length; we're probably gonna be doing two separate releases," he explained. "So we'll probably have one geared for release — if everything works as planned — by the fall, and then maybe something the following year as well."

When Brutus asked Draiman to clarify if that means that the next DISTURBED release will be an EP, David said: "Define it what you want, but it would like five or six songs at a pop — something like that.

"We live in an environment right now and in an age where people's consumption of music has been very soundbitish and very track-driven and very single-driven," he continued. "And there's definitely some beauty towards continuing to try and [make] things like concept records and telling a long story over the duration of a series of songs — there's huge merit to that — but I think that when you write 10 songs and three of them actually get worked at radio and maybe, if you're lucky, the fans are really familiar with half the record and the rest ends up sitting on a shelf, and if you do end up pulling it out one day, it's like an obscure, weird moment during the set, and it's almost like gratuitous for yourself. I don't wanna do that anymore. I wanna make everything count. I wanna make sure that we get the biggest bang for everything we're putting out there. I think that that should be easily attainable. It seems to be where the environment is going, and it seems to be — whether we like it or not — what the digital age has funneled us into."

In October 2020, Draiman told "Loudwire Nights" that DISTURBED's new music would be "blisteringly angry" and added that he was "dying" to sink his teeth into "new, original, angry, ferocious, brutal material."

DISTURBED performed live for the first time in nearly two years on September 25 as one of the headliners of the Louder Than Life festival in Louisville, Kentucky.

In March, DISTURBED's "The Sickness 20th Anniversary Tour" was officially canceled. The amphitheater tour, with very special guest STAIND and BAD WOLVES, was originally slated to take place in the summer of 2020 but was rescheduled to 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic. It was eventually scrapped altogether.

"The Sickness 20th Anniversary Tour" was supposed to celebrate the 20th anniversary of DISTURBED's seminal album "The Sickness". On this tour, the band was expected to perform songs off the album, as well as tracks from "Evolution" and DISTURBED's extensive catalog.

In September 2020, DISTURBED released a cover version of Sting's 1993 single "If I Ever Lose My Faith In You".

Julien's Auctions held "Icons & Idols: Rock N' Roll", the world-record breaking auction house to the stars' annual two-day music event on Friday, November 19 and Saturday, November 20, 2021 live in Hard Rock Cafe New York and online at JuliensAuctions.com in front of a global audience of music fans, investors and collectors bidding live in person, on the phone, and online. The sale for over 1,000 sensational artifacts and memorabilia owned and used by some of the world's legendary music artists of all time, including Eric Clapton, THE BEATLES, Elvis Presley, David Gilmour, Keith Richards, Eddie Van Halen, U2, GUNS N' ROSES, Whitney Houston, Michael Jackson, Madonna, LED ZEPPELIN, and more brought in a total of nearly $5 million U.S. dollars.

Some of the most storied guitars in rock history ruled the stage once again with the sale of the 1968 Martin D-45 acoustic guitar, previously owned and stage-played by the legendary guitarist and rock icon Eric Clapton as the weekend's biggest moment. The instrument sold for an incredible $625,000, more than twice its original estimate which was used by the guitar legend of seminal bands THE YARDBIRDS, JOHN MAYALL'S BLUESBREAKERS, CREAM and BLIND FAITH, at the historic debut live concert performance of DEREK AND THE DOMINOS at the Lyceum Theatre in London on June 14, 1970. DEREK AND THE DOMINOS would later go on to write and record some of the most iconic songs of Clapton's career, including the classic ballad "Layla" whose handwritten lyrics on The Thunderbird Motel, Miami Beach, Florida, stationery also sold at the auction for $37,500. An off white Squier Stratocaster Fender Affinity Series electric guitar signed by THE YARDBIRDS band members Jimmy Page, Jeff Beck and Eric Clapton also sold for $16,000, eight times its original estimate.

Sensational guitars from U2 took the spotlight in the sales of The Edge's 1976 Gibson Explorer electric guitar, stage-played and photo matched selling for $437,500, the U2 legendary guitarist's concert used Gibson Les Paul Standard electric guitar selling for $96,000 and a 2005 Gretsch Irish Falcon model G61361 electric guitar, stage-played and signed by U2 frontman Bono on the neck of the guitar selling for $115,200.

A prized cream Fender Stratocaster Vintage '57 reissue electric guitar owned and stage played by David Gilmour took in $200,000. One of six vintage Stratocasters purchased in the mid-eighties by the legendary PINK FLOYD guitarist, the electric guitar was customized and set up to his personal specifications. Known as Cream No. 2 as a backup for Cream No. 1, the guitar was taken on the PINK FLOYD "A Momentary Lapse Of Reason" tours 1987, 1988, 1989 and at Knebworth in 1990 and PINK FLOYD's "The Division Bell" tour in 1994 as well as exhibited at Fender's exhibition in the USA in December 1993 and EMI's 1997 Music 100 exhibition in London. A custom-made black Fender Stratocaster electric guitar signed by Gilmour also sold for $51,200 with all proceeds of this sale going towards Teenage Cancer Trust.

The King Of Rock And Roll reigned the auction stage once again in the sale of his 1972 Martin D-28 acoustic guitar that was played by Elvis Presley during the mid-to late 1970s both on and off stage, which sold for $187,500. His show-stopping jewelry and wardrobe also made appearances in the sale of his black Fred Segal shearling leather jacket that sold for $43,750, his gifted 14K yellow gold ring centering an oval star sapphire (sold for $12,800), a Lord Elgin watch given to Presley by Jean and Julian Aberbach of Hill And Range Music Company (sold for $12,800), his sterling carved eagle silver ring (sold for $10,2400) as well as a page of Elvis Presley's "Jailhouse Rock" movie contract from March 12, 1957, signed by Presley which sold for $25,000, eight times its original estimate of $7,000.

Amy Winehouse's Fender Stratocaster electric guitar finished in Daphne Blue was another auction sensation which sold for $153,600. The five-time Grammy Award-winning retro-soul music superstar and pop diva played the guitar in many of her early performances, including the television show "Later... With Jools Holland" in November 2003 and in the 2003 video for "Take The Box". "The Property From The Life And Career Of Amy Winehouse" recently took in a record $4 million U.S. dollars for Julien's Auctions two-day event, the highest total amount of the icon's items sold at any auction. Her figure-hugging floral print white cotton ruched mini dress worn by Amy Winehouse while performing during the Oxegen Festival 2008 at Punchestown Racecourse, Naas, County Kildare, Ireland also sold for $21,875, seven times its original estimate of $3,000.

An EVH Fender "Frankenstrat" guitar stage played by guitar god Eddie Van Halen signed by him and his brother Alex Van Halen sold for $83,200. The historic ax, gifted to Kevan Hill, a childhood friend and first bandmate of Eddie and Alex Van Halen in their first band BROKEN COMBS in 1964, consists of a guitar strap attached to screw eyes, bicycle reflectors on the back used to reflect the stage lights, five VAN HALEN 2012 guitar picks taped on the body and an image of Eddie printed on metal.

Hard rock and heavy metal iconography made some noise as pieces such as the original artwork for the cover of the 1983 QUIET RIOT album "Metal Health" hand-painted by Stan Watts sold for $44,800 as well as the original metal "asylum" mask that Watts wore to create the iconic image sold for $50,000, six times its original estimate of $8,000. Other items rocking the auction stage (with winning bids) included: the 1989 MTV VMA Moonman presented to GUNS N' ROSES for "Best Heavy Metal Video" for "Sweet Child O' Mine" ($37,500); a 1964 Fender Precision Bass guitar stage-played by Cliff Williams during live concert performances with AC/DC ($50,000); an electric guitar, owned and used by Joe Strummer, who, according to prior owner and former manager Gerry Harrington, used it in the studio for the "Grosse Point Blank" soundtrack and on his solo 1989 album "Earthquake Weather" ($34,375); a custom-made 2007 Gretsch drum kit in black that was played by drummer Taylor Hawkins for FOO FIGHTERS and Dave Grohl, most notably with LED ZEPPELIN in London ($50,000); two NIRVANA concert set lists in Kurt Cobain's hand, one from a NIRVANA performance at Calton Studios in Edinburgh on November 29, 1991, along with a ticket and one on a tablecloth handwritten and signed by Kurt Cobain, additionally signed by Dave Grohl, Krist Novoselic and others (each $16,000); and others.

Other top highlights included (with winning bids):

* Iconic pieces from the Queen of Pop including a hot pink charmeuse silk headband with bow embellishment worn by Madonna in her iconic 1984 "Material Girl" music video which sold for an astonishing $28,125, fourteen times its original estimate of $2,000, her MTV Video Music Award Moonman Award presented to Madonna for "Best Female Video" of 1986-1987 for "Papa Don't Preach" ($22,400) and her charcoal grey skirt suit circa 1940s worn in her Golden Globe-winning role as Eva Peron in "Evita" ($10,000);

* A yellow vintage THE GERMS cropped t-shirt owned and worn by Belinda Carlisle of THE GO-GO'S which sold for an impressive $22,400, twenty-eight times its original estimate of $800;

* Keith Richards's red with gold embroidery and rhinestone cropped jacket worn on the "Get Yer Yas-Yas Out" album, as well as on stage during the infamous Altamont concert, where an audience member was stabbed to death by the Hell's Angels, and was featured in the Maysles Brothers documentary film "Gimme Shelter" ($38,400);

* A framed colorful rendition of a clown hand painted by Frank Sinatra on canvas in oil, and signed "Sinatra" ($56,250);

* A Duesenberg Starplayer TV-MC guitar owned and played by JJ Cale ($32,000);

* A custom Gibson Mastertone banjo owned and played by Jerry Garcia during his years with the OLD & IN THE WAY band and signed by Garcia and David Grisman ($22,400);

* A Custom Shop 50th-anniversary 1954 reissue Fender Stratocaster, made for Carlos Santana ($25,600);

* A cream-colored Fender Telecaster guitar from the 1990s, signed by THE ROLLING STONES members Mick Jagger, Ronnie Wood, Charlie Watts and Keith Richards who has inscribed "Time Is On My Side" ($19,200);

* A custom Washburn PS2000 electric guitar personally owned, used, signed, and inscribed with handwritten lyrics by Paul Stanley ($25,000);

* Neal Schon's 1965 Fender Stratocaster Sunburst Solid Body Electric Guitar ($28,800) and 1962 Gibson Les Paul SG electric guitar ($31,250);

* A 1962 Britain pressing 7" record single of THE BEATLES "P.S. I Love You" signed by John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr ($22,400);

* A pair of custom drumsticks owned by LED ZEPPELIN drummer John Bonham which sold for $28,125, fourteen times its original estimate of $2,000;

* A Gibson Les Paul custom 80th-birthday electric guitar with the custom serial number LP1915 referring to Paul's birth year ($57,600).

Julien's Auctions is the world-record breaking auction house. Collaborating with the famous and the exclusive, Julien's Auctions produces high profile auctions in the film, music, sports and art markets. Julien's Auctions has received international recognition for its unique and innovative auction events, which attract thousands of collectors, investors, fans and enthusiasts from around the world

PUDDLE OF MUDD frontman Wes Scantlin reportedly walked offstage midconcert last night (Saturday, November 20) at the EPIC Event Center in Green Bay, Wisconsin after complaining about the venue's lights.

The episode, which happened early in the band's set, was captured in a video that was uploaded to Facebook by a fan who who attended the show, Mitch Andre. At the beginning of the three-minute clip, Scantlin can be seen holding both his hands in front of his face while attempting to sing one of the band's songs. At the end of the track, he tells the crowd: "I don't know why the lights have to be blinding me for this whole show. Now I can see all you people. But if you guys were standing up here where I'm at right now, it's like a fucking flashlight blinking in your fucking head, and I don't think that's fucking cool, really." He then apparently addresses the in-house light technician directly, saying: "Sounds like a fucking motherfucking idiot to me. Fuck you, motherfucker. Out of nowhere, here's another fucking douchebag fuck. I've got a flashlight too, motherfucker."

Andre, who made his video public on Facebook, included the following comment in his post: "PUDDLE OF MUDD, I sincerely hope that Wes gets the help he needs. This was one of my favorite bands growing up.. That being said, my friends and I couldn't take it and had to walk out on your second song, making it the ONLY concert I have ever walked out on due to poor performance. On top of that, you showed up half hour late to your own show... This was my second time seeing you, and will be my last. Last night's show, before Wes walks off in the middle of their 4th song...."

Another fan who attended last night's concert, Tyler Patnode, shared Andre's video and added the following message: "This was by far the WORST performance I have ever seen and attended . I seriously feel bad for the EPIC Event Center for hosting this crap show. This man needed to retire 10 years ago. PUDDLE OF MUDD such a shame."

Wes had almost non-stop problems with the law, alcohol, finances and other issues, before claiming to have gotten sober in 2017. Scantlin said that he ended up going back to rehab and receiving treatment "because there's really nowhere else to go." He also credited his family and fans for giving him the strength to try to get better.

Scantlin was arrested at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) in September 2017 after he attempted to board a plane with a BB gun. He pleaded no contest and was banned from LAX unless it involved traveling for work.

Before that, there have been a few tumultuous years for the singer and guitarist. In January of 2016, he was arrested on suspicion of breaking into his former home and vandalizing some of the property.

He skipped two court dates related to the charges later that spring, which led to another arrest.

Prior to that, Scantlin was arrested in December 2015 for possession of a controlled substance and had several previous busts that same year for driving under the influence.

Additionally, he was arrested at a Denver airport in 2015 for taking a joyride on a baggage carousel and taken into custody as far back as 2012 for an altercation with a flight attendant.

He also ended a number of PUDDLE OF MUDD shows in 2016 early with various meltdowns, including one in which he accused a fan of stealing his house

PUDDLE OF MUDD was formed in 1991 in Kansas City by Scantlin, the only original member still with the band. The group into the mainstream with 2001's "Come Clean", which yielded three hits — "Control", "Blurry" and "She Hates Me".

PUDDLE OF MUDD's latest album, "Welcome To Galvania", was released in 2019 via Pavement Entertainment.




Puddle of Mudd, I sincerely hope that Wes gets the help he needs. This was one of my favorite bands growing up..

That being said, my friends and I couldn't take it and had to walk out on your second song, making it the ONLY concert I have ever walked out on due to poor performance.

On top of that, you showed up half hour late to your own show... This was my second time seeing you, and will be my last.

Last night's show, before Wes walks off in the middle of their 4th song.....

- not my video, just editied.

*viewer digression is advised*

Posted by Mitch Andre on Sunday, November 21, 2021

With the uncertainties of possible lockdowns and rising infection numbers, planning a Pan-European Tour as glam metal sensation Deathstars have done is getting nearly impossible and a massive risk for bands around the globe. For this reason, the Swedes see themselves forced to once more postpone their upcoming shows - yet the time will come for you to finally witness the combo live on stage with the songs from their new, still untitled album that has been quietly in the making within the past years.


"It’s been a frustrating couple of years, yet because of too much uncertainty regarding the pandemic we need to postpone the European tours again. We of course regret to inform you this but it’s not in the hands of the band. We like to thank the fans for patience and hope to see you all during the upcoming shows," states Whiplasher Bernadotte. 


New tour dates are as follows:




November 2022
17 - Stockholm, Sweden – Klubben
18 - Gothenburg, Sweden – Pustervik
19 - Malmö, Sweden - KB


December 2022
14 - Kiev, Ukraine – Atlas
16 - Yekaterinburg, Russia - Fabrika       
17 - Moscow, Russia – Urban
13 - St. Petersburg, Russia – Aurora Hall


January 2023
26 - Berlin, Germany – Hole 44
27 - München, Germany – Hansa39
28 - Stuttgart, Germany – Im Wizemann
29 - Zürich, Switzerland - Plaza
30 - Milan, Italy – Legend
31 - Rome, Italy – Largo   


February 2023
2 - Lyon, France – Rock N Eat Live
3 - Barcelona, Spain – Razzmatazz 2
4 - Madrid, Spain – Shoko Live
5 - Toulouse, France – Connexion Live
6 - Paris, France – La Maroquinerie              
8 - Nottingham, UK – Rescue Rooms
9 - Glasgow, UK – G2
10 - Manchester, UK – Academy 3
11 - London, UK – O2 Academy Islington
12 - Antwerp, Belgium – Kavka
14 - Esch-Sur-Alzette, Luxembourg – Rockhal
15 - Köln, Germany - Luxor
16 - Utrecht, Netherlands – Tivoli Vredenburg
17 - Hamburg, Germany – Grünspan


March 2023
15 - Tampere, Finland – Olympia
16 - Helsinki, Finland – Tavastia
17 - Tallinn, Estonia – Tapper Club
18 - Riga, Latvia - Melna Piektdiena
19 - Vilnius, Lithuania – Vakaris
20 - Warsaw, Poland – Hydrozagadka
22 - Budapest, Hungary - A38 Ship
23 - Cluj, Romania – Form Space
24 - Bucharest, Romania – Quantic      
26 - Ljubljana, Slovenia – Orto Bar
27 - Vienna, Austria – Szene
28 - Prague,Czech Republic – Meet Factory
29 - Leipzig, Germany – Anker
30 - Hannover, Germany – Musikzentrum
31 - Copenhagen, Denmark – Pumpehuset

Redemption is the second full-length album from Switzerland's Rage Of Light. It's also the first release featuring the new singer, Martyna Halas, who replaced Melissa Bonny (Ad Infinitum). It is dueto be unleashed on December 8th.


The new album showcases the band's new synergy with a heavier, more mature sound. It digs deep into the internal battles that torment nearly everyone in the digital age, yet with a refreshing ray of hope. Check out the official video for their new single "Breaking Infinity" below.


Redemption was recorded, mixed, and mastered by Vladimir Cochet (Conatus Studios).







Tracklist:


"Iciness"
"2.0"
"Crusade for the Sun"
"Lead the Riot"
"Chasing a Reflection"
"Exploder"
"Breaking Infinity"
"Aspiration"
"Beyond"


"Breaking Infinity"





Line-up:


Lead vocals: Martyna Halas
Synthesizers and vocals: Jonathan Pellet
Guitars and bass: Noé Schüpbach

DEF LEPPARD drummer Rick Allen, who has been expressing himself in recent years through his art, recently spoke to Joe Rock about one of the main themes of his artwork, which is actually his right arm. The 58-year-old musician famously lost his left arm to amputation after a near-fatal auto accident in England in 1984.

"Not too many people know this, but I broke my right arm really badly [in the 1984 accident], and during the healing process, the hospital, they said, 'There's a chance that you may lose your right arm as well,'" Rick recalled (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET). "So when I was able to get through that horrible period in time and get all the infection out of there and then actually fix the bone and the arm, you can imagine I was so grateful. And I think that's something that speaks to that. The handprint is really, for me, a sign of gratitude, that I can still do what I do. And I put my hand through a lot — from drumming to the artwork and, obviously, everything that I do. So it's pretty symbolic. It's the only one I've got, but I'm really blessed to have it. [Laughs]"

Allen lost his arm after he was thrown through the sunroof of his car, and his left arm got caught in the seatbelt when it came undone during the crash. As a result, the arm was severed from his body. Initially, doctors reattached the arm but they would eventually have to amputate because of an infection.

After Rick's life-altering accident, he had to relearn how to play drums and drum manufacturer Simmons worked with him to build a kit. His DEF LEPPARD bandmates stuck with Allen through the difficult time and the drummer persevered through an accident that would have ended most people's careers.

Allen spoke about his accident during an interview with Modern Drummer. He said: "I remember coming around in the hospital and then realizing what had happened to me after the accident, and honestly, I wanted to disappear. I didn't wanna do this anymore. And then I started getting these letters from all over the world… I got encouragement from everywhere — from my family, from the guys [in the band], from people all over the world. And I don't know what happened, but I discovered the power of the human spirit and just said, 'You know what? I can do this.' It was really a collective thing. It was all this encouragement I was getting from other people, and then it just manifested in wanting to succeed. And that's exactly where it came from."

Rick also talked about the support he received from his bandmates in DEF LEPPARD who stuck by him through his recovery and waited patiently for his return.

"They left the decision to me, whether I wanted to go on or not, and they gave me time to grow and develop, really, a whole new style [of playing]," Allen said. "And that's all I needed — I just needed the time. I needed the time to build my confidence and realize that I could do it. Nobody ever said, 'Well, you have to make a decision now.' I think that was the most important thing — just that time that they gave me just to find myself."

After visiting the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in 2006, Allen dedicated himself to helping war veterans who suffer from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) as a result of sustaining injuries similar to his own.

Allen told ABC News in 2012: "I didn't know what my life would be like after that terrible day. It was the darkest time in my life… My desire is to encourage a support system for warriors, de-stigmatize PTSD, share their stories and offers alternative ways to pave the road to resiliency and health."

SAMMY HAGAR & THE CIRCLE have completed work on a new studio album tentatively titled "These Crazy Times".

Hagar and his bandmates — drummer Jason Bonham, bassist Michael Anthony and guitarist Vic Johnson — recorded the effort with Grammy Award-winning producer Dave Cobb, who has previously worked with RIVAL SONS and SLASH FEATURING MYLES KENNEDY AND THE CONSPIRATORS, among others.

Sammy broke the news of a new CIRCLE album during a chat with Joe Rock. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "We just finished a whole freakin' record. Right now it's tentatively called 'These Crazy Times'. And it is all brand new songs. We went in with Dave Cobb, the producer in Nashville. And it's not a country record. He's a great producer. He's a rock guy to the bone. He just happens to produce Chris Stapleton and Brandi Carlile. RIVAL SONS, he produces that band too. Anyway, he's a great producer. We went in and did a whole new record with THE CIRCLE. And it's so badass, I just can't wait to get it out."

THE CIRCLE's first album of all-original material, "Space Between", was issued in May 2019 via BMG.

Earlier this year, SAMMY HAGAR & THE CIRCLE released their massively popular "Lockdown Sessions" as an album collection titled "Lockdown 2020".

"Lockdown Sessions" began in March 2020, when the COVID-19 shelter-at-home order went into effect. With time on their hands and their upcoming tour in limbo, Bonham challenged Hagar, Anthony and Johnson to record a warmup jam they'd been playing backstage before concerts for several years. Equipped with iPhones and their respective instruments, they each laid down their individual tracks from the den, music room, closet and even showers of their homes, and "Funky Feng Shui" and the band's "Lockdown Sessions" were born.

Over the next eight months, their "Lockdown Sessions" became a hit with critics and fans alike, producing 10 tracks and reaching an online audience approaching 30 million. The sessions gave the band the opportunity to throw down raw and raucous compact covers of classic hits that they'd jammed to backstage but never planned to record, including THE WHO's "Won't Get Fooled Again", Bob Marley's "Three Little Birds", AC/DC's "Whole Lotta Rosie" and more. When plans for an album came to fruition around the holidays, the band came together to record one more track, a cover of David Bowie's "Heroes" which they'd offer as an instant download or single purchase.

For more than four decades, Hagar has been recognized as one of the best and most accomplished lead singers and songwriters in rock music. From breaking into the industry with the seminal hard rock band MONTROSE to his multi-platinum solo career to his ride as the frontman of VAN HALEN, CHICKENFOOT and his latest supergroup THE CIRCLE, Hagar has amassed 25 platinum albums on sales surpassing 50 million worldwide. Along his journey, he has set the tone for some of the greatest rock anthems ever and earned the highest respect of the music industry with a Grammy Award and induction into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame.

At THE CIRCLE shows, fans experience the legendary artists performing some of Hagar's greatest hits, spanning more than four decades, including songs like "I Can't Drive 55", "Dreams", "Your Love Is Driving Me Crazy", "Mas Tequila", "Why Can't This Be Love", "Right Now" and many m

JUDAS PRIEST singer Rob Halford has confirmed to the "SpeedFreaks" radio show that he was one of several people who received a bullet from late MOTÖRHEAD frontman Ian "Lemmy" Kilmister as a personal gift. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "When Lemmy passed away, I had this beautiful opportunity to speak at his memorial. We had a great get-together; all of us musicians from all over the world, we met in Hollywood and we talked about Lemmy and his great life and the things that he's left us. And then, not too far back, I get something in the mail from the Lemmy people; Lemmy's office, his manager and everybody still work tirelessly to keep his name with us, as he always will be. They sent me — it's a bullet [laughs], it's a bullet with some of Lemmy's ashes inside of it."

He continued: "This is nuts. This is the kind of thing that Lemmy would have loved to have done. However you choose to interpret what I've just said, that's entirely up to you. But to be thought of, to be brought into this small circle of friends where you actually own a little bit of Lemmy's ashes and you wear it around your neck on a pendant and he's close to your heart in the truest sense in terms of his mortal remains, that's just mind-blowingly powerful. To use an object like that to carry his remains is just so Lemmy — it's provocative, it makes you think, it makes you talk. But as far as having a beautiful part of Lemmy physically with me right now in my house, that's just magical."

Halford's bullet is not the only one whose existence has been publicly revealed. Six months ago, German metal queen Doro Pesch confirmed she also got a bullet, saying she "almost dropped dead" after opening the package and realizing what it was. "It was, like, 'Wow,'" she said. "And then I heard that somebody said Lemmy wrote a list and he wanted his closest friends or family to have his ashes. And I've got this bullet right here. I had no words for it. It's pretty moving and touching. But in the letter, it said, 'He liked you a lot' or 'he loved you a lot,' and I thought, 'Oh, man. That feels so good.' That makes you feel like… Now I'm motivated for the next hundred years to do good and to rock the fans. That gave me so much love and so much energy."

Back in March, former "Headbangers Ball" host Riki Rachtman said that he was also mailed a bullet, calling it "the greatest gift I've ever received in my life." He added that he was "getting it made into a necklace so I can keep it on me everywhere I go." Last year, tennis player Pat Cash shared a photo of another Lemmy bullet, saying it had been gifted to UGLY KID JOE singer Whitfield Crane.

"#Lemmy (RIP) from #Motörhead asked that his ashes be put in some bullet and given out to his closest friends, last night one was presented to my mate #whitefieldCrane whilst we were having dinner at 'Lemmys bar' in 'The Rainbow'," Cash wrote on Instagram in February 2020.

Lemmy died in December 2015 at the age of 70 shortly after learning he had been diagnosed with cancer.

He had dealt with several health issues over the last few years of his life, including heart trouble, forcing him to cut back on his famous smoking habits.

MOTÖRHEAD had to cancel a number of shows in 2015 because of Lemmy's poor health, although the band did manage to complete one final European tour a couple of weeks before his death.

In June 2020, it was announced that Lemmy will get the biopic treatment. The upcoming film, "Lemmy", will be directed by Greg Olliver, who previously helmed the 2010 documentary of the same name, "Lemmy".

"Lemmy" will follow Kilmister's life growing up in Stoke-on-Trent, becoming a roadie for Jimi Hendrix and a member of seminal psychedelic rock band HAWKWIND before forming MOTÖRHEAD.

A custom-made urn containing Lemmy's ashes is on permanent display in a columbarium at Forest Lawn Cemetery in Hollywood, California.






Before his death #Lemmy asked for his ashes to be put in some bullets & handed out to his closest friends Today I received a bullet & was literally brought to tears Thank you @myMotorhead pic.twitter.com/gnI9aWe4iU

— Rev. Riki Rachtman (@RikiRachtman) March 22, 2021








Motorhead frontman Lemmy Kilmister’s ashes were placed into bullet casings and distributed to his closest friends. pic.twitter.com/vlsqYYCZWY

— Eric Alper ? (@ThatEricAlper) March 25, 2021

In a new interview with "The Dan Chan Show", BEHEMOTH frontman Adam "Nergal" Darski spoke about his folk/blues/Americana-influenced solo band ME AND THAT MAN and the various business ventures he is pursuing away from the music business. Asked what he looks for when deciding which projects he gets himself involved with, Nergal said: "As human beings, we're very complex. It's pretty much just to ask if we let ourselves try things out.

"I love my heavy metal cage, and that is my mother womb, so to say, but I'm really willing to try things out. I'm not saying I'm gonna be a good actor, but I really wanna play in a theater at some point. If I fail, I fail, but let me fucking try.

"My mind is really all over the place," he continued. "Some people, they can't really split their mind — they just focus on one thing and that's it. I can really do three things at the same time — almost like Napoleon [Bonaparte, who reportedly could think and speak so fast that he was able to dictate five letters to his secretaries at the same time]; I'm just a little taller than him.

"Yesterday I had dinner with [IRON MAIDEN singer] Bruce Dickinson. If you ask me what I look up to, I look up to Bruce Dickinson. He's the renaissance man. He's someone who's, like, holy shit. That is awesome. I mean, what all he does — all he captures, all he embraces. All the knowledge, all the curiosity, all that hunger for life and all its dimensions, that is a way to go for me.

"There's people that tell me, 'Ah, you do this for money. You do this for that. You're just cashing in, monetizing.' I'm, like, 'No.' I'm having fun with bringing — I don't know — BEHEMOTH whiskey. It's fun. I play with it. Do I need to do it? No. But I have a need to do that, so I will. As long as I'm having fun with that, I bring it along."

ME AND THAT MAN will release its third full-length studio album, "New Man, New Songs, Same Shit, Vol. 2", on November 19 via Napalm Records.

Last month, BEHEMOTH celebrated its 30-year career with a massive livestream event called "XXX Years Ov Blasphemy". The event featured three separate sets in three spectacular locations, commemorating the band's three decades making music and art.


























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During an appearance on the latest episode of "Landry.Audio", SUFFOCATION guitarist Terrance Hobbs discussed the relative lack of racial diversity among heavy metal musicians, with the genre primarily dominated by white men. Asked why he thinks there aren't more black hard rock and heavy metal musicians, Terrance said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "I don't know. I think that they're out there — don't think that they're not. I just think that a lot of 'em haven't had the time or a chance or a band that people have taken notice to, to say, 'Hey, there's a black guy in the band.' You look at old ENTOMBED — they had a black guy in the band. You look at HIRAX. Howard [Jones] from KILLSWITCH [ENGAGE]. You look at CYCLONE TEMPLE, another band from Chicago — they had a black guy. OCEANO has a black guy. LENG TCH'E has a black guy. So there's bands out there that have black guys. JESUS PIECE, another band from Philadelphia out here — a black guy in the band. VULVODYNIA from South Africa — a black guy in the band. So, the brothers are out there, man. They're making heavy shit — don't think they're not. They may not be playing hockey that much, but they're still out there.

"I think for us [in SUFFOCATION], the time and place, it was just an oddball thing. Me, I happened to just pick up a guitar when I was, like, 10 or 11 years old, and by 13, everything I wanted to do was just play guitar. So I locked myself in a room and was just listening to things that had guitar; it wasn't dance music. And it was heavy. And then when we were in high school — me and Frank [Mullen, vocals] and Mike Smith [drums] and Doug Cerrito [guitar] — we would play the 'Battle Of The Bands', and we all wanted to play heavy music. For us, it was just that's what we wanted to do; it didn't matter about color or anything. For [SUFFOCATION's first record label] Roadrunner, back at the time, Nuclear Blast, Relapse, I was happy that they paid attention to us even though it was that way. Because we never knew if it was gonna be… Are we gonna get signed, and are they gonna look at us like we're fucking shot? … You just never knew how anybody was gonna take it. And we were very fortunate to not really have any of those problems."

In a 2020 interview with Loudwire, SEPULTURA frontman Derrick Green, who is black, said the subject of racism in the music industry can be hard to understand if it's not something that affects you directly. "Unless you really experience it, then it's hard for you to really imagine it's happening," he said. "But it's consistently happening. It exists all around the world." BAD WOLVES guitarist Doc Coyle concurred, saying: "Go to a GOD FORBID music video on YouTube and look at the comments and ask yourself if there's racism in metal. There's this idea that if I haven't experienced it, then it must not exist. It kind of speaks to this idea of the limitations of empathy. You can try to see the world through someone else's eyes, but you just can't. And the truth is if someone feels like that's their experience, even if I haven't experienced it, I have to give them the latitude to express their experience. By saying it doesn't exist — that's the definition of gaslighting."

As previously reported, SUFFOCATION will release a live album, "Live In North America", on November 12 via Nuclear Blast Records.

SUFFOCATION created the template for the brutal death metal genre in the early 1990s. Landmark albums such as "Effigy Of The Forgotten" and "Pierced From Within" also went on to inspire the birth of the tech-death and slam death metal genres.

SUFFOCATION's latest studio LP, "...Of The Dark Light", came out in 2017.

In a new interview with "R.A. Nation", ANTHRAX singer Joey Belladonna touched upon the fact that the none of the "Big Four" bands of 1980s thrash metal — METALLICA, ANTHRAX, SLAYER and MEGADETH — sound alike despite the fact that they had a lot of the same influences. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Speaking of the 'Big Four', the whole lineup and that stuff, it was really nice to have differential type of bands and different sounds and vocals and just the whole aura of it all; I love that part."

Joey also attempted to explain how ANTHRAX has managed to keep producing quality music several decades into its career, with many people calling the band's latest album, 2016's "For All Kings", the group's strongest effort to date. "I think that we just have such a good vision of what we wanna sound like and how we just, as a group, go into a record," he said. "I just think it's so fun because there's such great ideas, and we have a wide ability to take on all kinds of things. We're not just stuck in one zone; I think we have a lot to offer. Every record you feel it. Like right now, I can't wait to do another one because it's just an adventure every song. And you never know what you're gonna get too. I mean, we really take our time. Obviously, it takes us a little longer [to put out a new album] than most bands sometimes, I think, because it's just not that straight-ahead thing. There's so much going on to the songs, we just want it to be really, really hot and heavy and strong and everything."

As for how he personally approaches making albums, Belladonna said: "I always just kind of go in there and just do my thing. I don't really do anything different. I think I'm just as focused as I can possibly be. I think I'm a lot more relaxed about it. I don't seem to worry about it as much as I would before. You do what you do and you just kind of strive [to do the] best you can with [each] record."

Formed by guitarist Scott Ian and bassist Dan Lilker in Queens, New York on July 18, 1981, ANTHRAX was one of the first thrash metal bands to emerge from the East Coast and quickly became regarded as a leader in the genre alongside METALLICA, SLAYER and MEGADETH.

Active over the past five decades, ANTHRAX has released 11 studio albums, been awarded multiple gold and platinum certifications, received six Grammy nominations, toured the world since 1984 playing thousands of shows, including headlining Madison Square Garden and playing Yankee Stadium with the "Big Four".

"For All Kings"'s arrival followed a five-year period during which the group experienced a rebirth of sorts, beginning with ANTHRAX's inclusion on the "Big Four" tour, and continuing with the 2011 release of comeback LP "Worship Music".

Belladonna, whose most recent return to ANTHRAX was officially announced in May 2010, was originally the lead singer of ANTHRAX from 1984 to 1992, and was considered part of the band's classic lineup (alongside Dan Spitz, Ian, Frank Bello and Charlie Benante), which reunited and toured during 2005 and 2006. His voice was featured on over 10 albums, which reportedly sold eight million copies worldwide.

Belladonna had been critical of ANTHRAX's decision to fire him at the height of the band's success, telling MikeJamesrRockShow.com five years ago: "Personally, it sucks just to think all those years went by that I didn't really have a chance to do anything. 'Cause I could have sang on any of those records [that were made during the John Bush era]. Not to say that what they did was… whatever reason and whatever style and all that stuff. I could have easily sang that regardless, no bones. It would have been easy to sing. It's just I think they were chasing some other idea. I always say that, whether they disagree. I don't think there was any reason to move. But you know what? We're here now."

Phil Lewis has commented on the out-of-court resolution of the legal dispute over the rights to the L.A. GUNS name. Under the terms of the April 2021 settlement agreement, he and guitarist Tracii Guns will continue to operate under the L.A. GUNS trademark, while Steve Riley and his bandmates from the other version of L.A. GUNS will now operate under the new name RILEY'S L.A. GUNS.

Speaking to Jeff Gaudiosi of MisplacedStraws.com, the singer said: "Unfortunately, it required us going to court, spending a lot of money on lawyers. And it actually required him" — referring to Steve — "spending a lot of money on lawyers when he could have just been a gentleman about it in the first place and put his name to make it clear. But he was adamant in interviews, that he goes, 'No, we're not changing our name. Why should we? We've got every bit as right, as much right to it as they do.' And it was fucked up. And so it was necessary for us to spend a shitload of money to resolve this. Now it's resolved, I don't give a fuck. He can go out. It doesn't bother me as long as he's got that 'Riley' prefix and there's no confusion. 'Cause they were exploiting it, and it was put together to exploit confusion. It was put together for horrible, horrible reasons, and when you do something for all the wrong reasons, it rarely works out.

"Since the reunion [between Tracii and me], we've been on such a roll, and it was kind of fucked up that we had to stop and deal with that," Phil added. "But the pandemic actually worked in our favor, because it stopped both of us from playing. And it's resolved, and now we just move on."

RILEY'S L.A. GUNS features Riley alongside Orlando, Florida-based guitarist/vocalist Kurt Frohlich, bassist Kelly Nickels (a member of L.A. GUNS' "classic" incarnation) and guitarist Scott Griffin (who played bass for the band from 2007 until 2009, and then again from 2011 to 2014).

In January 2020, Riley was sued by Lewis and Guns in California District Court. Joining Riley as defendants in the case were the three musicians who performed in his rival version of L.A. GUNS; that group's manager, booking agent and merchandiser; and Golden Robot Records. The complaint, which requested a trial by jury, alleged that Riley's version of L.A. GUNS (referred to in the case docket as "the infringing L.A. GUNS") was creating "unfair competition" through its unauthorized usage of the L.A. GUNS trademark. In addition, Guns and Lewis were seeking relief from and/or against false advertising, breach of contract and unauthorized usage of their likenesses.

Back in May, Tracii told The SDR Show about the legal dispute with Riley: "We ended up settling in a way where, basically, [Steve] licenses the words L.A. GUNS for free; I'm not even asking for a percentage of when he plays. I'm just saying, 'Hey, I could have taken your house. I could have taken anything you own. But I don't want you to die in the street, and I don't want you to be poor.' And I really love his son, Cole. It just got to the point with all this litigation…

"I live in Denmark half the time, so when we did this thing called a mediation, that mediation started at 11 p.m. Denmark time, and it was nine hours," he continued. "And I just had a baby. And my wife and my baby were in the bedroom, and I'm in the living room, and this is our first apartment there, which is, like, 72 square meters — it's tiny. And I'm up, and I'm doing this mediation. And finally, it just got to the point where [we were] just going back and forth, and I'm, like, 'How can I easily make it just make sense?' 'Cause in the end, they had no argument. 'Well, I'm in L.A. GUNS.' That was the argument. No, you're not — you're not in L.A. GUNS. You were hired by me. The bass player guy was hired by me. And it's as simple as that. But if you wanna pretend that you came up with the name or you formed the band or it was your musical vision or that you even wrote one fucking song, you can go live in that fantasy, as long as it doesn't infringe on my business."

L.A. GUNS' new studio album, "Checkered Past", has just been released via Frontiers Music Srl.

In a new interview with The Rock Experience With Mike Brunn, KISS's longtime manager Doc McGhee spoke about David Lee Roth's absence from the rescheduled U.S. leg of the band's farewell tour.

Roth performed as the opening act for the February/March 2020 North American leg of "End Of The Road", but is not making any appearances on the latest KISS run of shows which kicked off in August. McGhee explained Roth's non-participation in the trek by saying (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "It was just a year and a half later. He had commitments that he had to do. And we just, 'We get it. You've got stuff that you have to do.' We talked about it eight months ago. And I said, 'Listen, don't worry about it, David. If you've got things that you have to do, that you wanna do, it's been a year and a half later, don't worry about it.' And he said, 'Thanks.'"

McGhee also addressed the controversy surrounding KISS bassist/vocalist Gene Simmons's recent comments about Roth. In August, Simmons told Rolling Stone: "[Roth] took being a frontman way beyond anything. And then, I don't know what happened to him … something. And you get modern-day Dave. I prefer to remember Elvis Presley in his prime. Sneering lips, back in Memphis, you know, doing all that. I don't want to think of bloated naked Elvis on the bathroom floor."

Doc insisted Gene's words were misinterpreted, explaining: "We really, really enjoyed having David out.

"The press drives me crazy, because they sensationalize every fucking thing you say or do, and they take things out of context to make it more sensational than what it is.

"In no way did Gene or anybody say — would say anything against David Lee Roth," McGhee continued. "Actually, if you ask Paul Stanley or Gene Simmons, in the '70s and '80s, the best front guy in the entire world was David Lee Roth — by far, hands down. [He] blew everybody away. There wasn't anybody that didn't look up to David Lee Roth and go, 'Holy fuck.' Robert Plant, anybody — I don't care who it was. That guy [Roth], he was the shit. So we have all the respect in the world [for him].

"I loved listening to all the VAN HALEN stuff [when David was performing it on the 2020 tour]; I really did. I had a good time with it."

Roth was apparently irked enough at Gene's original Rolling Stone comments to take to his Instagram to share an image of a young boy wearing shades and extending the middle finger to the camera along with the words "Roth to Simmons:" Dave posted the image 18 times.

Simmons later clarified his original statement, telling the 95.5 KLOS radio station that his words were misconstrued.

"It doesn't matter if somebody misunderstood what I meant; it only matters if I hurt somebody," he said. "So I'm deeply sorry I hurt Dave's feelings. Obviously, that was not my intention, because privately and publicly I've always said nobody touched David in his prime — not [Mick] Jagger, not Robert Plant. Nobody. He changed what a modern frontman was. And then the subject went onward to other subjects, and Elvis came up.

"The point was if a truck runs you over, it doesn't matter if the guy says, 'I'm sorry I ran you over,' because what's the difference? You've been run over. So Dave's feelings were hurt. I'm profoundly sorry I hurt his feelings. That was certainly not my intention."

Asked if he had been in contact with Roth in an effort to smooth things over, Simmons said: "I haven't. I've tried to reach out. I haven't been able… I never had Dave's contact info, but historically speaking, I'm the guy that put the band originally on the map — signed them to my deal, produced a 24-track demo. And with that I'm told how that's how they got their deal with Warners. I never asked for a dime. That was out of my pocket, and I forgave them whatever they owed me contractually. I just tore up the contract and said, 'God bless.'"

As for whether it was David that bowed out of the KISS tour or it was KISS that dismissed him from the latest run of shows, Gene said: "Neither. The tour ended because of COVID — we all went home — and then we all made different plans. We didn't know when we were gonna go out on tour [again], and so we decided this time to go back out with [David] Garibaldi, who's a painter."

In a January 2020 interview with Eric Blair of "The Blairing Out With Eric Blair Show", Paul Stanley was asked what the best part was of having Roth opening for KISS. Stanley said: "Well, Dave's got so many great songs. All the VAN HALEN catalog is terrific, and that's what he's doing. So, people get to hear all those great songs, and it was something that really appealed to us."

Simmons has repeatedly taken credit for "discovering" VAN HALEN and flying the band to New York to record demo at Electric Lady Studios, with Gene at the production helm. But he ended up not working with the group after his KISS bandmates and manager, Bill Aucoin, expressed little interest in his demos.

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

Last month, the legendary VAN HALEN singer announced that he was ending his career with his Vegas shows during the first weeks of January 2022.

SKID ROW has partnered with the team at Dead Sled Coffee to bring their fans the officially licensed "Slave To The Grind". The coffee is a perfect blend of beans from both Costa Rica and Brazil. The blend of high-quality coffee is a rich and bold French roast that creates a smooth sipping coffee without the bitter aftertaste.

The pre-orders include a 12 oz. bag of "Slave To The Grind" coffee and a guitar pick featuring the SKID ROW logo.

Diana Whittles, founder, co-owner and CEO at Dead Sled Coffee, said: "Here at Dead Sled Coffee, we're known for creating distinguished coffee for the exceptional and unconventional. This time around we are blending our passion for music into our new coffee line, 'Slave To The Grind', a partnership with rock legends SKID ROW.

"The first time I heard SKID ROW, I thought, 'These guys are amazing.' Each song felt like a fist-in-the-air rock and roll battle cry. They quickly became part of my heavy rotation, and with every mixtape, I made there were at least two or three of their songs that got rewound and listened to multiple times in a row.

"It is my honor and pleasure to welcome the powerhouse that is SKID ROW to the Dead Sled Coffee family. I am excited to be working with a band that I have so much love and respect for, and who set the soundtrack to a huge portion of my teen years. My inner 15-year-old is completely freaking out."

Mitch Malloy, who auditioned to replace Sammy Hagar in VAN HALEN in the summer of 1996, celebrated Eddie Van Halen's musical legacy with MITCH MALLOY'S VH EXPERIENCE on October 9 at Mattie Kelly Arts Village in Destin, Florida. Mitch was backed by a band featuring Pete Thorn (Chris Cornell, Don Henley, Melissa Etheridge) on guitar, Daniel Spriewald (Phil X of BON JOVI) on bass, and Wayne Killius (Keith Urban, BIG & RICH, Luke Bryan) on drums.

Multi-camera video footage of MITCH MALLOY'S VH EXPERIENCE performing the VAN HALEN classic "D.O.A." at the Destin concert can be seen below.

Malloy told the story of his day at Eddie Van Halen's 5150 studios to Melodic Rock: "A guy who worked for their management at the time used to be my road manager and he kept calling me and telling me they were going to fire Sammy and that I was going to be the next singer in VAN HALEN. And he was calling and calling and finally I got annoyed by this and told him to stop and that I didn't think I was a good fit in VAN HALEN and that if he was serious, he should have Ed call me. A week later, Desmond Child calls me and says he has just left Ed's house and was writing with them and that they were talking about me and that they were watching my 'Anything At All' video, and that he told them that I was perfect for them, and that they would be lucky to get me. And before I knew it, I was on a plane to L.A. Ed did call, a bunch of times. He was great."

According to Malloy, Eddie told him he was in the band on his third day in the studio. But when Eddie, Michael Anthony and Alex Van Halen stepped onstage with their estranged singer David Lee Roth for the first time in 12 years at the 1996 MTV Video Music Awards, Mitch knew that his dream gig had fallen apart.

"I'm sitting, watching TV there by myself," Mitch told Rolling Stone. "It wasn't good. I think literally, my jaw dropped. So in that moment, I was shocked. And you know how sometimes as humans we just know some things? You just know it. You don't have to say it. Nobody has to say anything. People just know things. And that moment that Roth walked out behind them, I knew it was over. I am not going to be in VAN HALEN. I just knew somehow. And so that was it for me. I was just like, 'That's it. This can't happen now.' I just knew it. It was just … a wall came down. But it just felt like it was over, somehow. It was like, 'This can't work now.' Not because people won't accept me. But there's just something else going on that I didn't even fully understand at the time. You know what I mean? It was like a knife sliced through and just, it was over. I think it's the only time it's ever happened to me in my life, where it was that definitive. And I had a lot going on at the time, aside from VAN HALEN. Real promise with my career moving forward. So it wasn't, for me, my only thing. I wasn't like, 'Oh, my God! This has got to happen,' kind of thing. Of course, I really did want it to happen. But who wouldn't?"

VAN HALEN's next singer ended up being Gary Cherone, former frontman for the band EXTREME. His only album with the group was "Van Halen III", which was a critical and commercial disappointment. Hagar and Roth both rejoined VAN HALEN at various points since 2003, with the latter appearing on VAN HALEN's final album, 2012's "A Different Kind Of Truth".

Malloy's involvement with VAN HALEN is the focus of a short documentary, "Mitch Malloy: Van Halen's Lost Boy", which was uploaded to YouTube in 2013.

In 2018, Malloy joined GREAT WHITE as the replacement for Terry Ilous.

Mitch relocated to Destin, Florida from Nashville, Tennessee in 2019.








pic.twitter.com/J1xXWm3faT

— Mitch Malloy (@mitchmalloy) September 9, 2021

In a new interview with E. Curtis Johnson of the 105.1 The Blaze radio station, Jerry Cantrell reflected on ALICE IN CHAINS' rise to international fame as part of the grunge movement of the early 1990s, along with other Seattle bands such as NIRVANA, PEARL JAM and SOUNDGARDEN. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "We were aware that something was happening in our town that we all sprung from, from various directions — north, east, south and west, around Seattle. You could feel that there was something happening, and it was a little different and it was a little grittier and it was a little bit more raw than what was going on at the time. But we were also aware of a lot of bands that were making kind of a new sound as well. I remember seeing FAITH NO MORE come through the Central Tavern and seeing JANE'S ADDICTION at the Moore Theatre and GUNS N' ROSES, of course, and NINE INCH NAILS 'Head Like A Hole' on MTV. There was something happening collectively across the world, and we had our little bubble of it, and we wanted to be a part of that. It wasn't some sort of a planned event or anything like that, but I think we were all on a similar wavelength. And music is always changing — the world is always changing and music is too, and it was pretty wild to be part of one of those changes."

Five years ago, Cantrell told the "Jonesy's Jukebox" radio show SOUNDGARDEN was the group that gave the grunge movement its momentum to become something much bigger. "The first band that started it all, as far as like the rest of the world kind of getting opened up to it, is SOUNDGARDEN, absolutely," he said. "SOUNDGARDEN got signed to A&M [in 1988]. That was the first major-label signing, and they put out a record. And MOTHER LOVE BONE was second, on Polygram, I believe. And, unfortunately, [MOTHER LOVE BONE frontman] Andy [Wood] passed away right as that record came out. And we were the third major band signed to Columbia, and our records kind of came out in quick succession. NIRVANA and PEARL JAM came after."

He continued: "It was all happening. All of these bands were making great music. It was so cool, because it was just our thing, man, and we weren't trying to impress anybody other than the people in our town. That was pretty much the scope of our goals, you know — to be able to sell out the Central Tavern and to play the local bar that everybody played. Meeting each other and hanging out with each other and going to each other’s shows… it was a really cool and supportive thing. Nobody was trying to be like you; they were just trying to be like them. That's what you respected about them and that's also what made you want to do your own thing as well. I think that's why all of the bands that came out during that particular time, including MUDHONEY and the SCREAMING TREES, and a few others out of that time, not one band sounds like the other."

ALICE IN CHAINS released three albums with singer Layne Staley, who died of a drug overdose, before the surviving members — Cantrell, bassist Mike Inez and drummer Sean Kinney — brought guitarist William DuVall onboard in 2006. After that, they issued three well-received albums: the 2009 Grammy-nominated "Black Gives Way Too Blue", 2013's "The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here" and 2018's "Rainier Fog".

Cantrell's new solo album, "Brighten", was made available on October 29.

DEEP PURPLE's next studio effort will be an album of covers titled "Turning To Crime". Due on November 26 via earMUSIC, the LP will contain DEEP PURPLE's versions of great rock classics and musical jewels — including songs originally recorded by Bob Dylan, FLEETWOOD MAC, Bob Seger, CREAM and THE YARDBIRDS — carefully chosen by each member of the band.

Produced by Bob Ezrin, "Turning To Crime" arrives only 15 months after "Whoosh!", DEEP PURPLE's 21st studio album, which received acclaim by critics who praised the creative strength of a band that continues evolving with every release, and prestigious chart achievements (third consecutive No. 1 in Germany, No. 4 in the U.K., and topped the U.S. Independent Album and Hard Music Albums charts).

The official music video for the latest single, "Rockin' Pneumonia And The Boogie Woogie Flu" — originally written and recorded by Huey "Piano" Smith — can be seen below.

DEEP PURPLE keyboardist Don Airey commented: "I'm supposed to say it's a song I always wanted to do since I was a child, but at the same time it was quite new to me. I didn't know the original very well, but I knew Professor Longhair's version, which is the one that inspired my arrangement. I just love the whole thing, that style of piano playing... Very, very hard to replicate. It was a bit of a challenge. And when it came back from the other members of the band with all this other music on it, I just thought: 'Wow, that worked out. What an insane arrangement.'"

"Turning To Crime" track listing:

01. 7 And 7 Is (LOVE)

02. Rockin' Pneumonia And The Boogie Woogie Flu (Huey "Piano" Smith)

03. Oh Well (FLEETWOOD MAC)

04. Jenny Take A Ride! (MITCH RYDER & THE DETROIT WHEELS)

05. Watching The River Flow (Bob Dylan)

06. Let The Good Times Roll (Ray Charles & Quincy Jones)

07. Dixie Chicken (LITTLE FEAT)

08. Shapes Of Things (THE YARDBIRDS)

09. The Battle Of New Orleans (Lonnie Donegan/Johnny Horton)

10. Lucifer (BOB SEGER SYSTEM)

11. White Room (CREAM)

12. Caught In The Act [Medley: Going Down / Green Onions / Hot 'Lanta / Dazed And Confused / Gimme Some Lovin']

Last December, DEEP PURPLE bassist Roger Glover revealed during a virtual meet-and-greet with Finnish fan Anssi Herkkola that the band was planning to enter the studio in 2021 to begin work on another album. Speaking about how he and the other members of PURPLE have been spending their coronavirus downtime, Roger said: "All this COVID situation has meant that we can't tour. We're twiddling our thumbs, really, for over a year, and the idea was to possibly go back in and do another album. And so we're just working towards that. It's so quick after we'd done the last album, [and] maybe that will spoil things, but we're gonna try and do another album at some point next year. We're experimenting with stuff."

DEEP PURPLE's latest album, "Whoosh!", was released in August 2020 via earMUSIC. The LP was once again helmed by Canadian producer Bob Ezrin (KISS, PINK FLOYD, ALICE COOPER), who also worked on the band's previous two studio albums, 2017's "Infinite" and 2013's "Now What?!"

Glover told Den Of Geek about the PURPLE songwriting process: "All our songs come from jamming. We don't actually write songs, they just evolve as we play. The first writing session is usually a lot of fun. We just explore different rhythms and riffs and whatever, and then take a break to listen to them, and figure out which ones we really want to work on, and that's the second writing session. And then we go to the studio and record them, but at this point, we rarely have finished vocals or lyrics. It's usually when the album has been all recorded instrumentally that [singer] Ian Gillan and I go off on our own somewhere for a couple of weeks and we write the words. Sometimes he writes on his own, sometimes I write my own. Sometimes we write together. And that's how it comes out.

He added: "You don't go to a PURPLE session with anything like a finished song. You go with an idea, and we all work on it together. It's got to be a collective. That's the point of the band — it's a collective. So, one person couldn't write a DEEP PURPLE song. It takes five of us.

"We've always done it that way. It's a strange way to write songs, I know. Most people write the songs before they go in the studio, we write them after we've been in the studio. But it was like that in '69 when I joined the band. It's been the same ever since."

In the Den Of Geek interview, Glover also said that DEEP PURPLE has "always" been a democratic group. "It was right from when I first joined the band," he explained. "We decided that whoever writes any particular idea, we all share, because we all contribute. The way we play is almost as much a part of the writing process as what the riff or the lyrics are. So we all shared everything. It didn't last that way. When I left the band, and Gillan left the band, it changed. It changed up until when Steve Morse joined. When Steve Morse joined, we said, 'Right, let's share everything.' It takes away stress, it takes away ego, it takes away jealousy, it takes away bad vibes. And I think we all share and we all write for it. We all work our bits. So that's the way we do it, and it is a democratic band."

Professionally filmed video footage of METALLICA performing the song "Fade The Black" on the second night of ATLive on November 6 at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia can be seen below.

The band's setlist was as follows:

01. Whiplash

02. Ride The Lightning

03. The Memory Remains

04. Seek & Destroy

05. Holier Than Thou

06. One

07. Sad But True

08. Moth Into Flame

09. No Leaf Clover

10. For Whom The Bell Tolls

11. Fuel

12. Fade To Black

13. Master Of Puppets

Encore:

14. Blackened

15. Nothing Else Matters

16. Enter Sandman

When the event was first announced in July, METALLICA said in a statement: "We're honored to be part of the second annual ATLive two-day festival — featuring two unique, separately ticketed events — this fall when we'll be hitting the stage with our friends CAGE THE ELEPHANT and GRETA VAN FLEET. Night one features country music's finest with George Strait, Eric Church and Caitlyn Smith kicking off the weekend.

"Presented by AMB Sports and Entertainment, the organization will generously be donating a portion of the proceeds from ATLive to All Within My Hands to help our foundation further its work in the fight against hunger."

The second annual ATLive feature iconic artists from both country and rock on back-to-back nights.

ATLive, a multi-genre concert series developed and promoted by AMB Sports and Entertainment, is the premier destination concert series for the city of Atlanta. The event also provides the opportunity to give back through purpose-driven philanthropic initiatives, aligning with the organization's core values. This year, AMBSE is partnering with George Strait and his longstanding partners at the Military Warriors Support Foundation as well as METALLICA's All Within My Hands nonprofit to donate a portion of the proceeds from ATLive to providing housing for wounded veterans and feeding the hungry.

Tim Zulawski, chief revenue officer for AMB Sports and Entertainment, told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that the idea for ATLive began percolating about five years ago.

"You have 365 days in a calendar year and yes, we want to make the stadium full every day to make money, but also because it means you're putting on great content," Zulawski said. "There are only so many pieces of content that puts 50,000 people in a building and [live music] is one of them."

MEGADETH's new album, "The Sick, The Dying And The Dead" is tentatively due in the spring of 2022.

MEGADETH leader Dave Mustaine revealed the timeline for the upcoming LP's release in an interview with American Songwriter magazine. In the chat, which also covers Mustaine's battle with cancer and his recent endorsement deal with Gibson, the 60-year-old musician said the "The Sick, The Dying And The Dead" title track is about the plague, but not solely centered around the current pandemic. A broader, more historical scope of the diseases that have plagued humankind throughout time, "The Sick The Dying And The Dead" covers the current virus, swine flu, and other epidemics from centuries past.

"The song itself was a historical journey of how the plague started and where it went, starting with rats on ships carrying the disease, coming ashore in Sicily," Mustaine said.

According to Mustaine, the music for "The Sick, The Dying And The Dead" was assembled from riffs and music he has had archived for years, some as far back as his teens. "A lot of the riffs have been saved over time," he said. "A brand new song can be made up of something I wrote when I was 15 or 55. If It's a good riff, I'll save it."

Mustaine added that guitarist Kiko Loureiro and drummer Dirk Verbeuren were both involved in piecing together the songs on the album, which was recorded mostly in Nashville, with Loureiro working on his parts from his home in Finland.

Mustaine has yet to reveal who played bass on the new MEGADETH album after David Ellefson's tracks were removed from the LP following his dismissal from the band in late May.

Ellefson laid down his bass tracks on MEGADETH's sixteenth LP in May 2020 at a studio in Nashville, Tennessee.

In July, Mustaine announced during an episode of his Gimme Radio program "The Dave Mustaine Show" that Ellefson's bass tracks would not be used on the new MEGADETH LP.

In early May, on the same day that sexually tinged messages and explicit video footage involving Ellefson were posted on Twitter, he released a statement on Instagram denying all social media chatter that he "groomed" an underage fan. He also filed a report with the police department in Scottsdale, Arizona alleging unlawful distribution of sexually explicit images of Ellefson by unknown offenders. In the report, Ellefson admitted that he had been exchanging sexual text messages with a Dutch teenager, who captured a video of several of their virtual "masturbating encounters" without his consent and shared them with friends. (According to Ellefson, the woman was 19 at the time of their first virtual sexual encounter.) The 56-year-old Ellefson, who lives in Scottsdale, first became aware of the video on May 9, when the claim "David Ellefson of MEGADETH is a pedophile" appeared on Instagram. Ellefson told police he was notified on May 14 by MEGADETH that the band would be parting ways with him. Three days later, he was fired.

MEGADETH recently completed "The Metal Tour Of The Year" with LAMB OF GOD, TRIVIUM and HATEBREED.

Ellefson was in MEGADETH from the band's inception in 1983 to 2002, and again from 2010 until his latest depart

BRITISH LION, the side project of IRON MAIDEN bassist and founder Steve Harris, kicked off its U.K. headlining tour on November 18 in Hornchurch. The first behind-the-scenes video from the trek, which was uploaded to BRITISH LION's YouTube channel, can be seen below.

Remaining BRITISH LION U.K. tour dates:

Nov. 22 - Bristol, The Fleece

Nov. 23 - Southampton, Engine Rooms

Nov. 25 - Leeds, Warehouse

Nov. 26 - Buckley, Tivoli

Nov. 28 - Nuneaton Queens Hall

Nov. 29 - Manchester, Rebellion

Nov. 30 - Newcastle, Riverside

Dec. 02 - Grimsby, Yardbirds

Dec. 03 - Wolverhampton, KK's Steel Mill

Dec. 04 - London, Underworld

Dec. 06 - Reading, Sub 89

Dec. 07 - Milton Keynes, The Craufurd Arms

Dec. 08 - Colchester, Arts Centre

Support act for the tour is AIRFORCE. There will be no support in London.

Last month, BRITISH LION withdrew from a U.K. tour with THE DARKNESS, citing "completely unacceptable" tour "protocols."

BRITISH LION's second album, "The Burning", came out on January 17, 2020 in digipack CD, double gatefold vinyl and digital download formats via Explorer1 Music (E1). The LP was recorded, engineered and mixed at Barnyard Studios by Tony Newton and produced by Steve Harris.

BRITISH LION completed its first U.S. tour in January and February 2020.

BRITISH LION comprises singer Richard Taylor, guitarists David Hawkins and Grahame Leslie, Harris on bass and keyboards, and drummer Simon Dawson.

Asked by the Tampa Bay Times what the itch is that BRITISH LION scratches that he doesn't get in his job with MAIDEN, Harris said: "I suppose playing small clubs and being close and personal with the audience. I love playing big places as well. I enjoy them all, and I'm very lucky that I can do them all. But also, it's clubs that I never played with MAIDEN, even in Europe. There's a famous club called the Milky Way in Amsterdam, which I managed to play with BRITISH LION, but I never did that with MAIDEN. There's places now that I'm going to be playing on this [U.S.] tour that I've never played before. So it's all new ground. It's a challenge. It's nice. I like a challenge."

SHINEDOWN's Brent Smith has praised Adele for getting streaming giant Spotify to remove the shuffle button from album pages after the pop superstar commented that the order tracks were placed in was supposed to "tell a story."

As a result of Adele's request, the shuffle button — signified by two crisscrossing arrows — is no longer the default option for album listening on Spotify; instead, listeners will hear the tracks in their originally intended order.

"This was the only request I had in our ever changing industry!" Adele wrote on Twitter earlier today (Sunday, November 21). "We don't create albums with so much care and thought into our track listing for no reason. Our art tells a story and our stories should be listened to as we intended. Thank you Spotify for listening."

Smith was thrilled with the move, taking to Instagram to thank Adele and Spotify for giving "value back to the music and the artist."

"If anyone understands the importance of what an 'album' truly is, it is myself, @ebassprod @bkerchofficial @zmyersofficial and ALL of the @shinedown Family," Brent wrote. "The fact that @adele was able to get @Spotify to remove the shuffle button on album pages is massive. Simply put, albums do tell a story whether they are conceptual, or not. They are a snapshot, 'a window in time' into the hearts, and minds of the artist.

"Now some opinions of this will be what's the big deal, and why does it matter. It matters because it gives value back to the music, and the artist. Ultimately it comes down to respect. So with that being said, we applaud you @adele and @spotify… MUCH RESPECT".

A Spotify spokesperson told CNN about the decision to make the change: "As Adele mentioned, we are excited to share that we have begun rolling out a new Premium feature that has been long requested by both users and artists to make play the default button on all albums. For those users still wishing to shuffle an album, they can go to the Now Playing View and select the shuffle toggle. As always, we will continue to iterate our products and features to create the best experiences for both artists and their fans."

While many fans thanked Adele online for the update, a significant number of them were less enthusiastic about the move, with several fans criticizing the singer for making it more difficult for users to listen to the songs on her new album, "30", in a random order.

"30", which was reportedly streamed 60.7 million times on the first day it was available, details the breakdown of Adele's marriage to Simon Konecki, with whom she has a son, Angelo.
























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WHITESNAKE has parted ways with longtime bassist Michael Devin.

The David Coverdale-fronted outfit shared the news of Devin's departure in a social media post earlier today (Sunday, November 21).

The band wrote: "WHITESNAKE & bassist Michael Devin have decided to go their separate ways after an amazingly successful decade together…

"We all wish Michael every success in his life & all his endeavours. Apart from numerous tours, Michael applied his talent to studio albums 'Forevermore'... 'The Purple Album' & 'Flesh & Blood'. We sincerely thank him for being part of our journey & for all his exceptional gifts he brought to WHITESNAKE...

"God speed, Michael... Know we love you & will miss you...& we wish you well. Once a snake...always a snake...

"WHITESNAKE have secured a new bass player who will be announced very soon."

In a 2015 interview with Heavy Metal Hill, Michael spoke about how he landed the gig with WHITESNAKE. "I became a member of WHITESNAKE in 2010 while I was on tour with LYNCH MOB," he said. "Brian Tichy was the drummer and my good friend. He had already secured his position with WHITESNAKE and they were already talking to another bass player — a friend of ours. And it looked very promising for this bass player and I just assumed that he was going to be the guy. I was also working toward going out with Jason Bonham in the LED ZEPPELIN EXPERIENCE. I had two jobs going on. I was pretty happy with that. I never even imagined my name would be put in the hat with WHITESNAKE. Long story short, David Coverdale decided to keep looking for bass players and Brian had mentioned he was out and about with LYNCH MOB and David asked him who was on bass. Brian mentioned me, so I sent some video of me playing live and then one thing led to another and I found myself up in Tahoe auditioning for David live. Then he called me while I was in Seattle and asked if I wanted to join the band. That was a great day… I had three jobs, WHITESNAKE, LYNCH MOB and the LED ZEPPELIN EXPERIENCE with Jason [Bonham]."

Coverdale, who turned 70 in September, recently confirmed that he plans to retire from touring after WHITESNAKE's next batch of concerts around the world.

David discussed his plans to stop performing with WHITESNAKE while accepting the inaugural "Rocks Honours" award as part of The Rocks 2021 awards ceremony in June.

Speaking to Planet Rock's Wyatt about his five-decade-plus career, which included a stint with legendary British hard rockers DEEP PURPLE, Coverdale said: "I've been very passionate about what I do. I try not to let my audience down. We've got a really loyal hardcore fanbase around the world.

"Last year, we were supposed to do what was gonna be my farewell tour, and it was sold out; it was amazing. Of course, everything was canceled due to COVID. So, God willing, I'll be able to do it hopefully next year. I'm gonna show my appreciation and gratitude for the support that I've had, 'cause you can't do it without an audience supporting you — it's that simple. And they know — the hardcore [fans] who follow me know — I do my best, the best I can do at that time. And that's been my work philosophy for as long as I can remember."

After Wyatt brought up other bands who previously announced "farewell" tours, only to change their minds, David replied: "Mine's gonna be the farewell tour 'cause I'm knocking on 70. Are you kidding?! It's hard enough now to get into my jeans."

Although Coverdale will no longer perform with WHITESNAKE, he is still planning on writing and recording fresh material once he has retired from the road. "I'll be still involved in music," he said. "We've got a relatively long-term deal with Warners. We have a poopload of projects to do under the WHITESNAKE banner. It's just the touring. It's not the performing so much that is exhausting, it's the touring, and I can't tour any more comfortably than I do. So I spoke to my agent and said, 'I wanna do this [farewell tour] more than anything. It's after 50 years of incredible support for me.' Not to be able to say thank you to the U.K., not to be able to say thank you to Germany, to Japan, Brazil, it would be heartbreaking.

"I'm getting up there for this kind of stuff, and so it's gonna have to be an easier tour schedule for me to be able to handle and recharge the batteries so I'm not hobbling around or doing wheelies in a chair," he explained.

"I play guitar every day. The moment I start playing, I come up with ideas for songs. It's impossible for me not to [play music]. It's like my hobby. It's something that I'm supposed to do; otherwise, I think I wouldn't receive all these amazing ideas for melodies and naughty lyrics, including 'Slide It In', darling."

Early last year, WHITESNAKE was forced to cancel its U.S. tour with SAMMY HAGAR & THE CIRCLE and NIGHT RANGER so that Coverdale could undergo surgery for bilateral inguinal hernia. Eventually, all of the shows were canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Coverdale had both his knees replaced with titanium in 2017 after suffering from degenerative arthritis. He later explained that he was in so much pain with arthritis in his knees that it hampered his ability to perform live.

WHITESNAKE had been touring in support of its latest album, "Flesh & Blood", which was released in May 2019 via Frontiers Music Srl.
























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Ted Nugent has defended Kyle Rittenhouse, the teenager who fatally shot two people in August 2020 during unrest in Kenosha, Wisconsin, saying he "did everything right."

Rittenhouse, 18, is on trial for reckless homicide in the slaying of Joseph Rosenbaum, 36, and intentional homicide in the death of Anthony Huber, 26, on August 25, 2020, during unrest that followed the shooting of a black man, Jacob Blake, by a white Kenosha police officer. Rittenhouse, a then-17-year-old former police youth cadet, said he went to Kenosha to protect property from rioters. He is facing life in prison if convicted of the most serious charge against him.

Nugent weighed in on the Rittenhouse trial this week, taking aim at the prosecutors and insisting the teenager acted in self-defense. Speaking to Eric Bolling, the host of Newsmax's "Eric Bolling The Balance", the outspoken conservative rocker said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "That this court case even exists is a manifestation of cultural abandonment in America. The prosecutor — pure rot. The rioters — rotten human beings; just nasty, nasty thugs.

"Kyle Rittenhouse, I'm sending him a lifetime supply of good ammo. This guy, this young 17-year-old kid was exactly what the founding fathers wanted all Americans to be — to stand up good over evil. Kyle Rittenhouse — good; rioters and thugs and attackers and assaulters and career criminals — evil.

"Our court system, our totally failed court system is intentionally engineering recidivism," Nugent continued. "They know these people are gonna repeat their vicious, violent crimes, and the so-called justice system continues to let them out to do it. And when a good citizen stands up and goes, 'No. I have an instinctual moral obligation to try to neutralize evil,' this court case happens and it breaks the hearts and sickens good Americans that know the purest instinct to man is to defend oneself. And that's all Kyle Rittenhouse did.

"I'd just like to salute Kyle Rittenhouse. What a tactically trained young man. He did everything right. And our society is coming down against good, and these numbnuts are supporting evil.

"Gob bless Kyle Rittenhouse — [a] great, great American."

A jury is deliberating the charges against Rittenhouse, who is white, as were the three men he shot.

During two weeks of trial, Rittenhouse took the stand in his own defense and said he opened fire because he feared for his life. "I did what I had to do," he told the court. According to Time, his attorney claimed Rittenhouse was justified in his actions and that he "didn't shoot at anyone until he was chased and cornered." But prosecutors said none of the men who Rittenhouse shot posed imminent threats. Instead, they say Rittenhouse lost the right to claim self-defense because he provoked the attacks and created his own danger when he brought a semi-automatic rifle to the protests, crossing state lines from Illinois to do so.

Germany's WDR Rockpalast has shared pro-shot video of The Dust Coda performing at the WDR Crossroads Festival 2021 on October 4th in Bonn.


The setlist on the night was as follows:


"Demon"
"Jimmy 2 Times" 
"Dream Alight" 
"Breakdown" 
"Call Me" 
"Sweet Love Is Gone"
"All I Got"
"Sun Goes Down"
"I've Been Waiting" 
"Rolling"
"Bourbon Pouring" 
"Down In The Valley" 
"Best Believe It" 
"It's A Jam" 
"Limbo Man" 







Earlier this year, The Dust Coda released the official video for "Demon", the opening track of the band's latest album, Mojo Skyline, out now via Earache.


The vivid album cover for Mojo Skylin is extracted from the mind of artist Nick Dwyer, who is best known for his eye-catching designs for Beavertown Brewery's beloved brews such as Neck Oil and Gamma Ray. "I was trying to put across how these guys, who live and breathe destruction, dirt and chaos through their music might also spend their 'down time' inhaling weirdness from other not-so-obvious places," says Nick of the artwork. "They are on some sort of Natural Born Killers-esque trip, making a quick stop to watch a horror movie in the desert as the city disappears behind them.  It's a peyote sandwich washed down with whiskey and desert dust."





Tracklisting:


"Demon"
"Breakdown"
"Limbo Man"
"Dream Alight"
"Jimmy 2 Times"
"Rolling"
"Bourbon Pouring"
"I've Been Waiting"
"She's Gone"
"They Don't Know Rock N Roll"
"Best Believe It"
"It's A Jam"


"Demon" video:





"Jimmy 2 Times" video:





"Limbo Man" video:





"Breakdown" video:

Giant, the powerhouse rock quartet, are set to unleash their fifth studio album, Shifting Time, on January 21. Now, anchored by founding members David Huff and Mike Brignardello, the two are joined by guitarist John Roth (Winger, Starship featuring Mickey Thomas, Jimi Jamison) and vocalist Kent Hilli (Perfect Plan).


After more than a decade since their last album, the band is back with new music that showcases their perfect blend of the melodic rock sound. Founding member Dann Huff has given his seal of approval and appears on lead guitar on the song "Never Die Young".


Fans can get their first taste of Shifting Time with the release of the single and video for "Let Our Love Win". Watch the video below, and pre-order/save Shifting Time on CD/LP/Cassette/Digital here.




It has been over a decade since Giant has released new music and drummer David Huff says, "We are very excited for people to hear "Shifting Time"! It has been way too long in between Giant albums and we hope you find it worth the wait. Thanks to everyone at Frontiers and especially the fans for their undying support of Giant!! We would love to follow up with some live dates in 2022, if that is something the fans would like to see, so hopefully we'll see you out there!"


"We have worked so hard and we are very happy and proud of this record", continues Huff. "I was so impressed with Kent’s vocals when I first heard him! He was a natural fit with our sound and we are thrilled to have him on board," he adds about new vocalist Kent Hilli.


”Wow, man, what can I say? To be asked to be the new singer for my all-time favorite band Giant was, and still is, mind-blowing! I still have a hard time grasping it all. I am tempted to use a certain film quote ("You know, I'm just a regular guy who grew up with the posters of these guys on my wall...and now I'm one of them! That's right, I'm standing here, living proof that if you work hard enough, and you want it bad enough…dreams do come true, so follow your dreams.”), but I won’t, haha. But seriously, that is exactly how I feel. I still remember hearing Giant's first album, ”Last Of The Runaways”, in 1989 which totally blew me off the chair I was sitting on. Since then, I have probably listened to their music every week. And now working with David, Mike, John, and also Alessandro has been a blessing and I am very proud of the album and the music we have created together. These guys are true professionals and I am blessed beyond words to be a part of this and David, Mike, and John have been so supportive and welcoming. I am also very grateful to Frontiers for making this happen and giving me and us this opportunity and I can’t wait to release the songs for everyone to hear,” says Kent Hilli of joining Giant.


Originally formed in the late '80s by brothers Dann and David Huff, together with the experienced jazz and rock keyboardist Alan Pasqua and Nashville session bass player Mike Brignardello, Giant would become, with the release of their debut album "Last of The Runaways" (A&M Records, 1989), one of the most respected bands of the melodic hard rock scene. Following countless live performances in support of their debut, the band released the follow-up "Time to Burn" (Epic, 1991), an album still regarded as a main source of influence for many melodic and hard rock bands who came after. With the sudden change of musical climate in the early '90s, Giant disbanded with their members becoming involved in different projects, with both Dann and David Huff becoming well respected producers.


In 2001, Frontiers prompted Giant to release "III", an album that would prove to be a landmark in the growth of the new era Melodic Rock scene, particularly in Europe. Unfortunately, Dann's busy schedule along with the other members' commitments, made the reunion impossible to carry on as had originally been planned; however, the vision of bringing Giant back as a band with a recording and touring line-up was something that the band was still open to exploring, even if Dann had to step away. Thus, original members, drummer David Huff and bassist Mike Brignardello, with the blessing of Dann started an endless research for the right musicians that could be part of a renewed Giant line-up. In the end, the choice fell on vocalist Terry Brock (Strangeways, Seventh Key) and guitarist John Roth (Winger, Starship). The resulting album, “Promise Land” soon became a fan favorite, showcasing top quality songwriting and performances. Giant, however, went into hibernation again, with the exception of a one-off show in 2017, where the original band members reunited on a Nashville club stage for a charity event.


Even prior to that one-off live appearance, Serafino Perugino, President and Head of A&R for Frontiers Records, had been persistently contacting David Huff to do another Giant album. (Literally, years and years spent convincing David that fans wanted another Giant album.) With the one-off live event piquing fan interest again, Serafino and David Huff resumed talks to see if they could manage to find the right formula for a new album from Giant. When the Swedish band Perfect Plan released a cover version of the Giant’s original hit “Stay” in 2019, then all pieces of the puzzle started to fall into place. Serafino knew Giant was Kent's favorite band of all-time and vocally, Hilli certainly had the chops to fill the very big shoes of Dann Huff, so he presented him to David Huff and Mike Brignardello. They were impressed with Hilli and were keen on the idea of him handling lead vocals for the next Giant release. Kent also brought his songwriting talents to the fold and together with other songwriters such as Alessandro Del Vecchio, Kristian Fyhr, and Pete Alpenborg (and contributions from Jonas Eriksson and Mike Palace), the resulting album will be an absolute joy and delight for melodic rock lovers.


Truly, the production, songwriting, and performances shine throughout Shifting Time.


Shifting Time was produced by David Huff, Mike Brignardello and Alessandro Del Vecchio. Mixing and mastering was done by Del Vecchio for Frontiers Productions. Serafino Perugino serves as executive producer.





Tracklisting:


"Shifting Time"
"Let Our Love Win"
"Never Die Young"
"Don’t Say A Word"
"My Breath Away"
"Highway Of Love"
"It’s Not Over"
"The Price Of Love"
"Standing Tall"
"Anna Lee"
"Don’t Wanna Lose You"
"I Walk Alone"


"Let Our Love Win" video:





Lineup:


Kent Hilli - Lead Vocals
John Roth - Guitar
Mike Brignardello - Bass
David Huff - Drums


Special Guest:


Alessandro Del Vecchio - Keyboards, Background Vocals

Former ACCEPT guitarist Herman Frank hasn't closed the door on returning to the band.

Herman joined ACCEPT in 1982 shortly before the release of the band's "Restless And Wild" album and exited the group for the first time after the arrival of 1983's "Balls To The Wall" LP. When ACCEPT reunited for festival appearances in 2005, Herman handled second-guitar duties alongside founding axeman Wolf Hoffmann, with Stefan Schwarzmann sitting behind the kit. Frank and Schwarzmann were involved in ACCEPT's comeback with singer Mark Tornillo and appeared on the reunited group's first three studio albums: 2010's "Blood of the Nations", 2012's "Stalingrad" and 2014's "Blind Rage".

Asked in a new interview with "The Rock Is George" podcast if he can ever see himself going back to ACCEPT, Herman said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Never say never. It's a small world, and it's a crazy world. You never know what's gonna happen. I mean, HELLOWEEN did this nice reunion with three singers and, I guess, hundreds of guitar players or whatever [laughs] — three bass players and five drummers. [Laughs]

"I mean, it would be a great thing," he continued. "Once in a while, a couple of people start thinking about this — doing a reunion with [original ACCEPT singer] Udo [Dirkschneider] and Mark Tornillo and a couple of guitar players and maybe two bass players or whatever.

"You never say never. Actually, right now I'm concentrating on my own thing, and I guess Wolf Hoffmann is concentrating on his ACCEPT."

Back in 2016, Herman told All That Shreds that his most recent departure from ACCEPT came about because "it was just time to leave the band. Let's put it this way: I wanted to do music the way I started to. I wanted to have my own band. I wanted my own music and just wanted to just play my own leads. Not to follow somebody's guitar. I was getting too old for it. It's fine to be a backup, but after a couple of years, it's time for a different thing."

Asked how it was different playing with Tornillo after performing with Dirkschneider during the band's early years, Herman told All That Shreds: "Mark is a really nice guy and really promising. It's kind of a different voice and Mark really doubles Udo in his personal way. I prefer the style of Udo's singing. He is original ACCEPT. There is this voice sticking in your head. On the new songs, which Mark sings for the first time in ACCEPT, it's a different character, but it's very good. You can't compare them, really. They are a match for certain things, but they are quite different people. I do like them both. I couldn't have the decision which one I would prefer. It would have been great if they would put a couple of albums with Udo and Mark together. That would be awesome."

Frank and former ACCEPT singer David Reece recently joined forces in a new band called IRON ALLIES. Also involved with the project are bassist Donnie Van Stavern (RIOT) and drummer Francesco Jovino (U.D.O., PRIMAL FEAR, VOODOO CIRCLE, JORN).

Frank's fifth solo album, "Two For A Lie", was released in May via AFM Records.