Doomers Clouds present a renovated line-up with Daniel Neagoe (still) in the leading role. From now on Alin Iordache and Mihai Dinuta will be handling guitars, Alex Costin bass, Casian will take over the drums and Andrei Oltean the woodwinds.

Statement from the group: ''We are proud to present you with a brand new line-up in the year of our Doom 2021. In this formula we have had a private show this past weekend, a wonderful opportunity for two very lovely people (she said YES 😃) and it went amazingly. These amazing musicians are now part of our family and we can only hope things will clear out with the world so we can get on the road and play our hearts out to you!''

U.S. Customs And Border Protection officers at Washington Dulles International Airport seized 36 counterfeit guitars recently that if authentic, would have had a manufacturer's suggested retail price of $158,692.

The guitars arrived in 36 different shipments from China on December 15. Officers suspected the guitars to be counterfeit and detained them to continue their investigation. The collection consisted of 27 Gibson, six Fender, two CF Martin and one Paul Reed Smith guitars.

Many of the Gibsons were of the Les Paul line of custom guitars. Even Jimmy Page's Gibson double neck made the collection, as did an axe purportedly autographed by GUNS N' ROSES guitarist Slash. The most expensive was a Gibson Ace Frehley guitar valued at an MSRP of $9,000. The collection of counterfeit guitars included two acoustic models as well.

The guitars were destined to address in 21 states and to Australia.

CBP import specialists worked with the trademark holders and confirmed the guitars to be counterfeit. CBPO officers completed the seizure on January 20.

Counterfeit consumer goods are illegal, violate lawful property rights, result in job loss, steal tax revenues from our nation's economy, and are often constructed in unregulated facilities with potentially harmful materials that could threaten consumers' health. CBP encourages consumers to protect themselves and their families by always purchasing safe, authentic goods from reputable vendors.

"Transnational criminal organizations will counterfeit anything that generates illicit revenues, and unscrupulous vendors line their pockets by preying on unsuspecting consumers," said Keith Fleming, CBP's acting director of field operations in Baltimore. "Protecting intellectual property rights is a Customs And Border Protection trade enforcement priority, and CBP officers will continue to seize counterfeit and potentially unsafe consumer goods when we encounter them."

CBP officers have not encountered any additional guitars since these 36 arrived.

CBP protects businesses and consumers every day through an aggressive Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) enforcement program. Importation of counterfeit merchandise can cause significant revenue loss, damage the U.S. economy, and threaten the health and safety of the American people.

On a typical day in 2019, CBP officers seized $4.3 million worth of products with Intellectual Property Rights violations.

CBP officers and Homeland Security Investigation (HSI) agents seized 27,599 shipments containing counterfeit goods in Fiscal Year (FY) 2019, down from 33,810 seizures in FY 2018. However, the total estimated manufacturer's suggested retail price (MSRP) of the seized goods, had they been genuine, increased to over $1.5 billion from nearly $1.4 billion in FY 2018.

E-commerce sales have contributed to large volumes of low-value packages imported into the United States. In FY 2019, there were 144 million express shipments and 463 million international mail shipments. Over 90 percent of all intellectual property seizures occur in the international mail and express environments

The People's Republic of China (mainland China and Hong Kong) remained the primary source economy for seized counterfeit and pirated goods, accounting for 83 percent of all IPR seizures and 92 percent of the estimated MSRP value of all IPR seizures.

Courtesy photos / U.S. Customs And Border Protection

Pictured below: Counterfeit Slash, Ace Frehley and Jimmy Page guitars

Ultimate Guitar caught up with guitarist Roine Stolt (Transatlantic, The Flower Kings) to discuss the new Transatlantic record, The Absolute Universe, which is out now. Following is an excerpt from the interview.

UG: What was it like working with Mike Portnoy, Neal Morse, and Pete Trewavas again for the first time since the last album, 'Kaleidoscope,' in 2014? How did it turn into essentially two albums?

Roine: "We have certainly found a method of working - and we always end up with a great result. The creativity is indeed stunning, we're the rather odd combination of characters - and that's probably the strength. We've become a team over the years - however geographics and the difference in our personalities also means that we may not be the natural 'hang' while not working together - but as Transatlantic, we're indeed a strong and magic team."

The 'long version' was the initial recording - what we started working on, in September 2019 - that went on until summer 2020 - then Neal felt that the album was 'too long.' But myself and Mike wanting to keep the long version - 'Forevermore' because it was just brimming with crazy and cool ideas - while Neal and Pete felt we should do a shorter more digestible album 'The Breath of Life.'

So it was Mike who suggested, 'Let's do both' ... let us do two albums at once! Crazy, right?"

UG: For those of our readers who are new to the Prog genre, what are five essential prog records they should listen to?

Roine: "Oh, that isn't easy... all depending on taste and what you classify as 'Prog.' "I would say King Crimson, Red; Yes, Relayer; Frank Zappa/The Mothers, Live At The Roxy; Soft Machine, Bundles - with Allan Holdsworth; and Jon Anderson, Olias of Sunhillow.

I know these are not really into the more metal side of prog - these are all truly classic old school and daring music with fantastic playing and inventive writing."

Read more here.

Transatlantic - the prog supergroup featuring Neal Morse, Mike Portnoy, Roine Stolt & Pete Trewavas - released their fifth studio album, The Absolute Universe, on February 5th. Below is a clip from "The Making of The Absolute Universe," available on the Blu-ray and the Ultimate Edition.

Representing the band’s first new music since 2014’s Kaleidoscope, with The Absolute Universe the band have done something unique and created two versions of the record: The Absolute Universe: The Breath Of Life (Abridged Version) & The Absolute Universe: Forevermore (Extended Version).

Each album will be available on CD, LP & digitally. But there will also be what has been called The Absolute Universe: The Ultimate Edition, which collects both versions together in one lavish package that includes 5LPs, 3CDs & a Blu-ray that contains a 5.1 surround sound mix with visuals & a behind the scenes documentary. All editions have unique artwork created by Thomas Ewerhard featuring the airship by Pavel Zhovba.

As Portnoy explains: “We've got two versions of this album. There is a two CD presentation, which is 90 minutes long, and a single one - that's 60 minutes. However, the single CD is NOT merely an edited version of the double CD. They each contain alternate versions and even in some cases, new recordings. We wrote fresh lyrics and have different people singing on the single CD version tracks as compared to those on the double CD. Some of the song titles have also been changed, while others might remain the same, but compositionally what you'll hear has been altered. You must appreciate that what we have done is unique. We revamped the songs to make the two versions different.” Pete Trewavas adds: “We did write some new music for the single CD, what's more, there are also differences in the instruments used on some of the tracks across the two records.”

The full list of formats is below, and you can pre-order here

The Absolute Universe: The Breath Of Life (Abridged Version):
- Special Edition CD Digipak
- Gatefold 2LP+CD
- Digital Album

Tracklisting:

"Overture"
"Reaching For The Sky"
"Higher Than The Morning"
"The Darkness In The Light"
"Take Now My Soul"
"Looking For The Light"
"Love Made A Way" (Prelude)
"Owl Howl"
"Solitude"
"Belong"
"Can You Feel It"
"Looking For The Light" (Reprise)
"The Greatest Story Never Ends"
"Love Made A Way"

The Absolute Universe: Forevermore (Extended Version):
- Special Edition 2CD Digipak
- 3LP+2CD Boxset
- Digital Album

Tracklisting:

Disc 1:
"Overture"
"Heart Like A Whirlwind"
"Higher Than The Morning"
"The Darkness In The Light"
"Swing High, Swing Low"
"Bully"
"Rainbow Sky"
"Looking For The Light"
"The World We Used To Know"

Disc 2:
"The Sun Comes Up Today"
"Love Made A Way" (Prelude)
"Owl Howl"
"Solitude"
"Belong"
"Lonesome Rebel"
"Looking For The Light" (Reprise)
"The Greatest Story Never Ends"
"Love Made A Way"

The Absolute Universe: The Ultimate Edition:
- Limited Deluxe Clear 5LP+3CD+Blu-Ray Box-set – contained within a foil-finished lift-off box with extended 16-page LP booklet & 60x60cm poster

Blu-Ray tracklisting:

"Overture" (5.1 Surround Mix)
"Reaching For The Sky" (5.1 Surround Mix)
"Higher Than The Morning" (5.1 Surround Mix)
"The Darkness In The Light" (5.1 Surround Mix)
"Take Now My Soul" (5.1 Surround Mix)
"Bully" (5.1 Surround Mix)
"Rainbow Sky" (5.1 Surround Mix)
"Looking For The Light" (5.1 Surround Mix)
"The World We Used To Know" (5.1 Surround Mix)
"The Sun Comes Up Today" (5.1 Surround Mix)
"Love Made A Way" (Prelude) (5.1 Surround Mix)
"Owl Howl" (5.1 Surround Mix)
"Solitude" (5.1 Surround Mix)
"Belong" (5.1 Surround Mix)
"Lonesome Rebel" (5.1 Surround Mix)
"Can You Feel It" (5.1 Surround Mix)
"Looking For The Light" (Reprise) (5.1 Surround Mix)
"The Greatest Story Never Ends "(5.1 Surround Mix)
"Love Made A Way" (5.1 Surround Mix)
The Making of The Absolute Universe (Documentary)

"Looking For The Light" video:

"The World We Used To Know" video:

"Overture / Reaching For The Sky" video:

Trailer:

In a new interview with the "Nothing Shocking" podcast, former MEGADETH, BLACK LABEL SOCIETY and WHITE LION bassist James LoMenzo commented on the recent trend of rock artists releasing new singles every few months as opposed to putting out an album every few years.

"I'm on both sides of that fence," James said (hear audio below). "When I was a kid — before I could actually play an instrument — I was delighted to go and pick up a 45. A 45 is, for you young kids out there, a little circular seven-inch disc with a giant hole in the middle… I loved singles when I grew up. I used to listen to AM radio, and AM radio was wonderful because you'd hear all kinds of music right next to each other. So you'd hear THE BEATLES right next to THE ROLLING STONES right next to Ray Charles right next to Frank Sinatra. And I could go on and on. And to me, that appealed to me — all these different styles of music coming at you [one after the other]. Now, having said that, as we moved into the '70s and '80s, when albums started actually saying things — I guess right after [THE BEATLES'] 'Sgt. Pepper's [Lonely Hearts Club Band]' is when you started making a statement with a whole collection of music — there was something almost spiritual about that; that was a church of sorts. You'd pick up an album and you'd go from cover to cover, and you’d listen to that album half a side. I mean, we used to just lay in our beds, individually in our rooms, and really get lost in these albums — especially when bands like PINK FLOYD came around and stuff like that, where it was really deep stuff. And that was an experience, And, like I said, it was sort of a religion. That got tossed out when MTV came along and lowered everybody's attention span — along with everything else."

Full-length albums seem to be a dying art these days, with streaming services like Spotify altering the way people consume music.

Even though digital downloads had a short run as the top-selling format in the music industry, they were overtaken by music streaming services just a few years later. As a result, an increasing number of artists no longer release full-length albums, but continue to issue singles in a time where iTunes, Spotify and YouTube are the primary access points for music.

LoMenzo joined MEGADETH in 2006 and appeared on two of the group's studio albums, 2007's "United Abominations" and 2009's "Endgame". He was fired from the band in 2010 and replaced with returning original MEGADETH bassist David Ellefson.

For the past seven years, LoMenzo has been performing with iconic rocker John Fogerty. James is also a member of FIRSTBORNE, which features ex-LAMB OF GOD drummer Chris Adler, singer Girish Pradhan and guitarist Myrone.

Melodic death/doom metal band, Coldbound, have released their new single and music video, "Slumber Of Decay". Mastermind / multi-instrumentalist Pauli Souka, vocalist Liv Kristine (ex-Leaves' Eyes, ex-Theatre of Tragedy) and former Ensiferum keyboardist Meiju Enho spoke with BraveWords writer Carl Begai about the new single and plans for their forthcoming album. Following is an excerpt from the interview. 

BraveWords: Coldbound was launched as a project solely under your control. What do Liv and Meiju bring to the creative process that you couldn’t achieve on his own?

Pauli Souka: “That’s a very interesting question. For this album recordings I’ve had the privilege and honour to work with almost 43 people; 43 wonderful musicians and fantastic personalities. Some of these people had a huge impact on the way I see music. Two of them were definitely Liv Kristine and Meiju. The main reason I brought them into this is that I knew I could trust the project in their hands 100%. The results I received left me speechless, as the sounds they created were unique and definitely beyond any expectations I had. To be able to co-exist in the same project with these two fantastic ladies is a huge honour. They’re both unique and exceptional in their fields.”

BraveWords: I know that in Liv’s case, the whole Leaves’ Eyes fiasco from 2016 made the music business unappealing to her for a while. And I know that Meiju left Ensiferum to focus on other things. So, what convinced them that Coldbound was worth returning for?

Meiju Enho: “I really liked the megalomanic touch of the project a lot, combined with a progressive approach to make music. But what really caught my heart was the ambition to create a genuine and authentic flow of music together, as a tribe and a family without the traps of the ego.”

Liv Kristine: “The feeling of being at home with both musical compositions and my band members. This raises creativity immensely. Moreover, there is this fine, compassionate connection and communication between Meiju, Pauli and me. It’s a very healing process for me.”

Read the complete interview here.

Coldbound recently issued the following update:

"Upon discovering new ways to express our visions, finally we discovered this genuine portal of innocence, freedom but also of hardships. We have completed a very tough musical work for this release by capturing the moment and expanding our vision. A vision that resonates within our music in a mysterious way. A way that is capable of putting our audience into a unique trance of thinking through all kind of situations; whether these emotions are connected to a mysterious approach, freedom, fantasy or of inner struggles. This is 'Slumber Of Decay'."

Tracklisting:

"Slumber Of Decay" (album version)
"Slumber Of Decay" (radio edit)
"Slumber Of Decay" (Analogue Knobs & Orchestra Reprise)

Personnel:

The Band:
Liv Kristine - Vocals
Pauli Souka - Vocals, Guitars, Bass, Orchestration, Keyboards, Drums
Meiju Enho - Keyboards, Orchestrations

Session musicians:
Markus Riihimäki - Kantele
Lotta Sofia Kyrönaho - Woodwinds
Pasi Sipilä - Lead Guitar

Main Crew:
Pauli Souka - Production, Recording, Mixing at 'Stairway To Sound'; Hudiksvall, Sweden
Antti Välimäki - Recording at 'Studio Sampolaaris'; Tampere, Finland
Øystein G. Brun - Stem Mastering at 'Crosound Studio'; Bergen, Norway.

Artwork/Photography:
Balsara Inc - Xeniya Balsara Photography

In a new interview with Guitar World, Gene Simmons was asked about KISS's much-maligned 1981 concept album "Music From 'The Elder'".

"It was a time of flux," he said. "A lot of bands were trying to figure out who they were and so were we. Sometimes if you do the same thing forever, you think, like that Peggy Lee song, 'Is that all there is?' We did try to fool around on some tracks like ['Destroyer' song] 'Great Expectations' [sings chorus in falsetto].

"Every once in a while, we would try a little off the beaten track kind of thing. 'I Was Made For Lovin' You' was really an experiment. We were not a dance band, but obviously it worked well around the world. We didn't go back to that because we'd heard it.

"Every once in a while, we'd stick out a ballad like 'Beth'. But the early '80s was a time of flux. People couldn't figure out what was going on. It was before the hair bands came in, the BON JOVIs and the WARRANTs; that was a movement where the guys in the bands looked sexier than their girlfriends. And we were affected by that as well, don't kid yourself.

"That's why you have to give your thumbs up to the bands that just never changed. [IRON] MAIDEN, AC/DC, METALLICA… they just didn't give a fuck what was going on around them. You've got to tip your hat to people who just say, 'This is who we are!' We believe in that and but there's some musical stuff in the band that we don't put in our records.

"Music is best served hot but varied. If you keep eating the same thing all the time, I think you get bored. 'Music From 'The Elder'' was a chance for us to show we could do other things and felt like we were tied to nothing. But soon thereafter, within an album or two, we got back to business and did 'Creatures Of The Night' and all that stuff."

Upon its release in November 1981, "Music From 'The Elder'" was confusingly received by both KISS fans and the general public. By the time the calendar turned to 1982, the album was essentially a commercial failure. And KISS were already ready to move on.

"My sense was always that KISS was about having no rules," frontman Paul Stanley later told journalist Jon Wiederhorn. "And although I hold the fans in the highest of esteem, I also expect them to understand that everything we do may not be to their liking, and the way they can show it is by not buying it. Well, they spoke loudly and clearly when that record came out."

Forty years later, "Music From 'The Elder'" has attained a cult-classic status among a segment of diehard KISS fans. A great part of the album's appeal lies in the mysterious conditions under which it was created. But the general consensus is that the record was a monumental disaster and by far the band's worst.

Two years ago, former KISS guitarist Ace Frehley stated about "Music From 'The Elder'": "During the recording process, I kept telling all those guys — [producer] Bob [Ezrin, Paul and Gene — I go, 'This is the wrong album for this period of time. I think fans want to hear a heavy hard rock album.' They just had a deaf ear to me. I said, 'It's not going to work,' and of course, the album bombed. I guess I had a handle on what was happening. Those guys never had any street sense. It's no fault of their own — Gene grew up in Israel, and Paul grew up in Queens, but he wasn't a guy like me who hung out on the corner and got into fights and did crazy stuff. I always had my pulse on what was going on, and I knew at the time — I would have bet a million dollars that the album was going to fail. I didn't want it to fail, and actually, if you take that album out of sequence with the KISS records, it's not a bad record. I did some great solos on it and there's some really good songs, but it wasn't the right record for the time. I was doing an interview with Billboard magazine, and they said, 'What would happened if 'The Elder' never happened, and you went from [1980's 'Unmasked'] to [1982's] 'Creatures Of The Night'?' I thought for a second, because I like 'Creatures Of The Night' — it's heavy, it's powerful, it's everything I said we should be doing when we recorded 'The Elder'. I may not have quit the band, but you can't rewrite history unless we go into a time warp or a black hole."

PANTERA's early pre-fame output will never be properly reissued, according to Rex Brown. Calling their four-album glam rock catalog "[like] looking at your old high school notebooks", the bassist made the revelation to Eonmusic while talking about the just-released "Reinventing The Steel" 20th-anniversary edition.

Breaking internationally with major-label debut "Cowboys From Hell" in 1990, the Texan act released three albums — "Metal Magic" (1983), "Projects In The Jungle" (1984) and "I Am The Night" (1985) with original vocalist Terrence Lee "Terry" Glaze, as well as 1988's "Power Metal", which introduced frontman Philip Anselmo, on their own Metal Magic Records imprint, in limited quantities. The original releases have since become highly desired collectors' items.

Although a far cry from what was to come, PANTERA's '80s releases made a huge splash in their native state, and showed off the prodigious skills of guitarist "Dimebag" Darrell Abbott — then known as Diamond Darrell — in particular, on gems such as "All Over Tonight" and "Hot And Heavy".

Talking about those formative years, Rex said: "This is like going back and looking at your old high school notebooks and going, "Look at how far you've come in between."

Pointing to band's early work ethic, he admitted that although they worked hard, he did not expect that the albums would still be being talked about today.

"I will say this: a lot of bands didn't have the opportunity at 17 years old to fuckin' put a record out," he noted. "We just happened to do it, and we paid for every fuckin' lick of it; none of it was given to us. We paid for the studio time, we paid for the pressing of the record, and we never thought that that would go anywhere, nationally, globally, so it's almost like, after the fact. But we really learned how to write a song, and be a band."

Dismissing the first three albums, Brown said it was with the addition of Anselmo that the PANTERA story really began.

"The old singer? Shit, it was going nowhere really quick," Rex said. "He just was not on the same wavelength as the three of us. The dude's never had a job in his life. I see him shootin' his mouth off in some of these magazines, and it's, like, 'Dude, you were in the band for fuckin' four years,' you know what I'm saying? 'Now you're wanting claim to fame 35 years later? Sorry, pal, you missed the boat!' So I don't want to give any credit where it's fuckin' undue, you know? Once we got Philip in the band, it developed into something else, and that was the PANTERA that we know now, and that's why we never talk about those old records."

Looking back, Brown conceded: "Hey, look, it's great to go back memory lane and all that kind of stuff, but those are the farthest things that I wake up for in the first of the morning. 'Oh, remember that one tune 'Nothing On (But The Radio)', and the singer?' No! I mean, I hate fucking songs like that, but it was a growing process, and now, because the things are out, and they've been bootleged a hundred thousand times, people consider it a part of our history. It's not. Unless Philip's singing on it, it's not PANTERA. That's the way I look at it."

When asked outright to clarify that he had absolutely no desire to ever see those records reissued, officially, Rex was emphatic; "God no, god no! The brothers were against that, and I'm against it, and that's just it. Period. It ain't coming out."

Read more at Eonmusic.

Last fall, Glaze said that he hoped PANTERA's early albums could receive a proper release one day. He told the "Drag The Waters: The Pantera Podcast": "It would be amazing to share that music with the rest of the world. I think everybody would really be interested in listening — especially listening to Darrell's guitar playing. With with the loss of Darrell and Vince [Paul Abbott, drums], I guess it would come down to their father [Jerry Abbott] and Rex. I don't have possession of the master tapes, and with Vince gone… It'd be a great thing for the fans — I'd love to be part of that — but as of right now, I haven't spoken to Jerry Abbott or Rex about it."

Glaze went on to suggest a possible new PANTERA box set featuring the three albums he performed on plus 1988's "Power Metal", which marked the recording debut of his replacement, Philip Anselmo. "Put all four together in a box," he said. "The rhythm section and the guitars — bass, drums and the guitars — are consistent through the whole project. And you could see the growth through them. It'd be really cool. I would love to help out in that in any way I could. But we'll see. Hopefully someday."

During the same chat, Glaze was asked if he left PANTERA on good terms or if he was done dealing with the Abbott brothers. He responded: "A lot of times, when you hear those things, where they'll say 'musical differences,' I don't remember any musical differences. The two hours of the day that we were on stage was the best — but you hear that from a lot of touring bands. It was the other 22 hours of the day that was tough to get on. Ultimately, there were four guys in the band, plus their father was the manager, and three of the five had the same last name. And they never split their vote, so you didn't really have any say. And so that ultimately started to wear, and ultimately, I just chose to go in a different direction. But I loved the music and I loved playing all of them, especially Darrell."

Back in February 2018, Glaze said that the last time he saw Vinnie was when he attended Darrell's funeral in December 2004, just days after the PANTERA guitarist was killed while performing with DAMAGEPLAN at the Alrosa Villa in Columbus, Ohio, Dimebag was shot onstage by Nathan Gale. He was 38 years old.

In April 2010, Glaze joined Brown on stage at the debut gig from Rex's then-project ARMS OF THE SUN in Dallas, Texas (see video below). They performed a couple of early PANTERA songs — "Come-On Eyes" from 1985's "I Am The Night" and "All Over Tonite" from "Projects In The Jungle".

Behemoth frontman Adam "Nergal" Darski appears to be in hot water, again. According to Super Express, the District Prosecutor's Office in Warsaw, Poland has brought an indictment against him. Nergal is accused of "publicly insulting the object of Christian religious worship in the form of the person of the Mother of God."

This stems from an image he posted in 2019, from a photo shoot for his Me And That Man project, which depicts Nergal stepping on an image of the Virgin Mary.

According to the report (translated), Prosecutor Aleksandra Skrzyniarz informed PAP that the indictment was directed against the musician: Adam D. is accused of having on September 25, 2019, acting via the Internet, publicly insulted the object of Christian religious worship in the form of the person of the Mother of God, in in such a way that on the social networking site Facebook, on the official profile, he placed a photo presenting a damaged image of the Mother of God with the face of the indicated figure of a shoe placed in the place of the indicated figure.

The Warsaw prosecutor added that in the course of the investigation the victims were questioned and an expert in the field of religious studies was appointed: The opinion clearly concludes that treading with a shoe on the image of the Mother of God is an offence to religious feelings. Nergal did not plead guilty to the alleged offence and also refused to provide statements.

Yesterday (February 8), Nergal took to Facebook to comment on the charge against him, stating: "Another lawsuit in the process. Reason? In every case the same: offense of RELIGIOUS FEELINGS! Can u imagine this nonsense in XXl century? Poland is mentally soooo fuckin’ behind the civilized Europe that we r literally THE last bastion of so called “blasphemy casus”. Even extremely Catholic Ireland removed this paragraph from constitution lately. It WILL happen in Poland at some point .... and yea, I’m willing to be that stepping stone. FUCK religious fundamentalism in every fuckin hole. And frankly, I’m sure I will win this and EVERY other case. Just wait and see."

Revolver magazine recently connected with KORN guitarist Brian "Head" Welch via Instagram for a candid chat about creativity, inspiration and the challenges of staying sane in our crazy times.

Asked what advice he had for people who were losing hope during the coronavirus pandemic, Welch said (see video below): "There's a wise text from way back in the past that says, 'Let patience have its perfect work, and then you'll be lacking nothing.'

"I think all of this that we're going through is like a reset for us. And if we [can hold on] and be patient — I know everyone's been patient, waiting for this to go away. But I don't think it's gonna be much longer. Hopefully by summer, it's just gonna start opening and whatnot.

"Patience is such a virtue — it really is. It may be a cliché, but it's really true. And so just dig deep within yourself and do whatever you have to do to find that strength."

Welch's LOVE AND DEATH project will release its new album, "Perfectly Preserved", on February 12 via Earache Records.

To coincide with "Perfectly Preserved"'s release, LOVE AND DEATH will play a livestreamed concert on February 12. Joining the band for the streaming event will be Lacey Sturm of FLYLEAF, Keith Wallen of BREAKING BENJAMIN and Matty Mullins of MEMPHIS MAY FIRE. Tickets for the show, along with album merchandise bundles, are available at this location.

"Perfectly Preserved" marks the introduction of guitarist, bassist and co-songwriter Jasen Rauch as a full-fledged member of the band, as well as second time producer for LOVE AND DEATH (co-produced by Joe Rickard). Jasen, best known as an integral part of chart-topping rockers BREAKING BENJAMIN, produced LOVE AND DEATH's first album in 2013. The duo first met a year or two after the release of Head's solo album, "Save Me From Myself" (2008). As Head experimented with synthesizers, it was Rauch who encouraged him to pick up his guitar and churn out new riffs.

In a new Guitar World feature, guitarist Steve Lukather (Toto) pays tribute to his friend and late Van Halen guitar legend, Eddie Van Halen, who passed away in October 2020. An excerpt follows:

"I first met Eddie at the CaliFFornia World Music Festival in 1979. Van Halen was headlining one night after their first album. Toto’s first album was out and we had a hit with 'Hold The Line'. I loved him from the moment we met. It was like I’d known the guy my whole life.

"I was close with Ed for 40-plus years. And he was more than my guitar buddy. Of course, we played each other whatever we were working on, just showing off our shit and going, 'Look what I’m doing!' But we didn’t speak about guitars a whole lot.

"With Ed, he always showed me love, and I had the deepest respect for him. And there’s no doubt he was one of the greatest of all fucking time. Who could ever dispute that – how he changed everything?

"But he was just a humble little guy who just loved to mess with shit and do things different. Like, the worst thing that could have happened to Eddie Van Halen would have been guitar lessons. When it came down to details about equipment and how he liked to do things, he always had an “adventure” mentality. He knew what he wanted. And he wanted really weird shit."

Read Steve's full tribute to Eddie at Guitar World.

(EVH photo - Mark Gromen)

THE PRETTY RECKLESS frontwoman Taylor Momsen says that she is optimistic that, in a post-pandemic future, concerts will be "bigger and better than ever."

Momsen, who is promoting THE PRETTY RECKLESS's upcoming album, "Death By Rock And Roll", tells NME that she has a bright perspective of where the touring industry will be once the coronavirus crisis has subsided.

"Yeah, I think I'm always hopeful," she says (see video below). "I've got a little hippy in me, so I'm maybe at times naïve, but I think that peace, love and understanding and compassion are things that, as a society, we need to focus on. And I am very hopeful for change and that the world will start to right itself and we'll get back on track and not be back to where we were, but be in a better state of living than we were before the pandemic. That's my hope — that everyone can really just start to come together and move forward in the most positive way possible. And I think that that's still gonna require a lot of patience. That's what 2020 and the beginning of 2021 has certainly taught me — it's taught me to be patient."

She continues: "I don't wanna get too deep into politics, but on the shallow side of things, we all miss concerts. I miss playing live. It's been way too long. It's very, very bizarre putting out new music and not being able to play it live. It's crazy. But at the same time, concerts aren't gone forever. We just have to do our part, be patient and eventually they'll come back. And my joke is when they do, it's like tantric sex — we've been depriving them for so long, when they come back, they're just gonna explode; it's gonna be bigger and better than ever. So, if everyone stays patient, and if collectively work on healing, I think that we'll get to a much better place than we started off at."

"Death By Rock And Roll" will be released on February 12 via Fearless Records in the U.S. and Century Media Records in the rest of the world.

The LP is THE PRETTY RECKLESS's first to be made without longtime producer Kato Khandwala, who died in April 2018 from injuries sustained in a motorcycle accident.

The latest single from "Death By Rock And Roll" is "And So It Went", which features guitarist Tom Morello (RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE). Other guests on the album include Kim Thayil and Matt Cameron from SOUNDGARDEN. The song with Cameron and Thayil, called "Only Love Can Save Me Now", was recorded at Seattle's legendary London Bridge Studios, where seminal LPs like PEARL JAM's "Ten" and SOUNDGARDEN's "Louder Than Love" were laid down.

The film "Long Live Rock…Celebrate The Chaos" will premiere worldwide on March 12 as a Watch Now @ Home Cinema Release via global distributor Abramorama.

"Long Live Rock…Celebrate The Chaos" is a deep dive into the culture of hard rock music. This genre, beloved by its millions of fans, is often misunderstood and maligned by media and the music industry. In intimate interviews, titans of rock discuss the genre and the special relationship they have with their diehard audience. Featuring members of METALLICA, GUNS N’ ROSES, SLIPKNOT, KORN, ROB ZOMBIE, FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH, RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE, GRETA VAN FLEET, HALESTORM, Machine Gun Kelly, SHINEDOWN and many more, "Long Live Rock" was filmed over the last few years at various U.S. rock festivals, following passionate fans as they take time out from their everyday lives to commune with their "rock families."

Veteran film, TV producer and longtime music supervisor Jonathan McHugh makes his directorial debut with "Long Live Rock", and also co-produced the film, along with Gary Spivack and Jonathan Platt.

McHugh says: "Gary Spivack and I wanted to make a film celebrating the chaos of rock culture. Growing up in New York City, I would do whatever it took to get in to see bands like [LED] ZEPPELIN, BLACK SABBATH and other rock icons. We are so proud to shine a light on the most passionate fans in the world and the music that drives them."

"Jonathan and Gary did a terrific job showing how powerful the communal experience is at rock shows everywhere," says Abramorama's head of music Evan Saxon. "All skin colors, religions, professions, political views and levels of financial status are welcomed into this one family…the audience. Our team at Abramorama is very pleased to share 'Long Live Rock…Celebrate The Chaos' with fans around the globe."

"Long Live Rock" will launch with an online global premiere screening event March 11, including a question-and-answer session with the filmmakers, bandmembers and some surprise guests. The following day, "Long Live Rock" will be available to music fans around the world @ LongLiveRockMovie.com.

The first trailer for Glenn Danzig's upcoming homage to Italian spaghetti westerns and classic vampire films, "Death Rider In The House Of Vampires", can be seen below. It is the follow-up to his "Verotika" feature film directorial debut, which received its premiere in June 2019.

"Death Rider In The House Of Vampires" was written and directed by Danzig, with Glenn also acting as the executive producer, along with James Cullen Bresack. The cinematography is by Danzig and Pedja Radenkovic. The film follows the Death Rider, who travels to the desert Vampire Sanctuary, ruled by Count Holliday. The price of admission… one untouched virgin.

According to The Wrap, "Death Rider In The House Of Vampires" stars Devon Sawa as the Death Rider, Julian Sands as Count Holliday and Kim Director as Carmilla Joe. Joining them are Eli Roth as Drac Cassidy, Ashley Wisdom as Mina Belle, Victor DiMattia as Kid Vlad, Danny Trejo as Bela Latigo, and Danzig himself as the vampire gunslinger Bad Bathory.

Glenn spoke about his new project during a question-and-answer session for the Philadelphia screening of "Verotika" in December 2019 at the Philadelphia Film Center. He said: "We just finished my vampire spaghetti western. It's much different [from 'Verotika'], of course, because there's no comic book to follow. So we had pretty free rein in the movie… All the characters have like a traditional vampire name and a traditional western name… A lot of guest cameos in it — some friends of mine came in and did some cameos in the movie. It's, again, based on the European cinema."

He continued: "A spaghetti western is, basically… The Italians loved American westerns so much, they started doing their own westerns. And they got Clint Eastwood and Henry Fonda and a bunch of other actors — Charles Bronson — to come over and do these wild Italian westerns. And we eventually started calling them spaghetti westerns. In mine, everybody's a vampire. So you don't have to wait around to see the vampire — everybody's a vampire. You don't have to wait around to see blood — you're gonna see lots of blood… It's pretty crazy."

Glenn also confirmed that he has an acting role in his new movie. "It's such a small part," he said. "But it was a lot of fun. I get to get all bloody, which I love being bloody — it's part of what I do."

Glenn previously spoke about his upcoming movie during a question-and-answer session at at the Cinepocalypse festival in Chicago. He said: "The soundtrack has been done [since 2017] and, of course, it sounds almost exactly like an Ennio Morricone soundtrack."

When it debuted at the Cinepocalypse festival in Chicago, "Verotika" was compared by some reviewers to Tommy Wiseau's "The Room", the so-bad-it's-amazing drama which is considered one of the worst movies ever made.

"If you do something you love, it's difficult," Danzig said at Cinepocalypse. "On a movie set, there are tons of problems that happen that you would never foresee. So, you have to hit the ground running… Right from the start, it was very clear we're not making a Hollywood movie. A lot of my influences and the different films I like, especially European films, you can see them in here, and, lighting, colors, it's much different from a movie you will see nowadays."





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Ozzy Osbourne sat down with co-host Billy Morrison for another episode of "Ozzy Speaks" on SiriusXM's Ozzy's Boneyard. During the episode, Ozzy and Billy played some of their favorite hard rock and heavy metal songs, discussed 2021, the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, their love for AC/DC and more.

Ozzy, who turned 72 in December, confirmed that he is planning to get the COVID-19 vaccine as soon as he is able to.

"I look at it like this: if I don't get the shot and I get the virus, there's a good chance I ain't going to be here," he said (hear audio below).

The "Ozzy Speaks" episode, which premiered on Ozzy's Boneyard on Monday, February 8, is available on the SiriusXM app and will rebroadcast on Ozzy's Boneyard throughout the week.

Last November, Ozzy told GQ magazine that he suffers from a respiratory disease which puts him at an increased risk of severe pneumonia and poor outcomes if he was to develop COVID-19.

"I've got emphysema, so if I get this virus, I'm fucked," he said, referring to the type of COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) lung disease that makes it hard to breathe and gets worse over time.

Asked how his health is at the moment, Ozzy said: "The surgery I had knocked the crap out of me. But I broke my neck in a quad bike accident [in 2003] and when that healed it squeezed my spinal column, so I was getting all kinds of weird things happening to me. I'd be on stage and I'd suddenly get a sharp shock down one side of my body. Then one night 18 months ago I went to the bathroom in the dark and just hit the ground. I said [to my wife], 'Sharon, I'm on the floor,' and she said, 'Well, get up then!' But I couldn't. Once you're 70, the floodgates open and everything goes downhill. Mind you, I've got away with it for a long time."

Ozzy went on to say that he is trying his "hardest" to stay shielded at the moment. "If I go out, I wear a mask, but I don't like wearing a mask, so I don't go out much," he said. "The producer on my album [Andrew Watt] got the virus. I'd phone him up every day and he said he couldn't sleep, because as soon as he went to sleep, he'd stop breathing. He's not the same person now... It's like anyone who's had a near-death experience: he's become a bit careful with life. But my two granddaughters caught it and you wouldn't think they had anything wrong with them. It just bounced off them."

Last July, Ozzy said that he was still "not back to 100 percent" after suffering from several medical issues in 2019, including a fall, neck surgery and hospitalization for the flu. Ozzy also said that he was looking forward to performing again once he has regained his health and the coronavirus pandemic has subsided.

In August, Ozzy blasted Donald Trump's coronavirus response, saying that America's 45th president was "acting like a fool." In an interview with Rolling Stone, Ozzy said: "In my lifetime, I've never known anything like this. It's getting worse, not better. And this guy's acting like a fool. I don't really like to talk politics that much, but I've got to say what I feel with this guy. There's not much hope left. Maybe he's got a trick up his sleeve and he's going to surprise us all, and I hope he has. [Recently], over a thousand more people died in one day [in America]. That's fucking crazy. People got to get with this social distancing and mask-wearing or else it's never gonna go away."

When the pandemic struck, Ozzy had just released his first solo album in a decade, "Ordinary Man", which he recorded in late 2019 while recovering from surgery and related illnesses. The BLACK SABBATH singer had previously canceled all his 2019 tour plans, and the rescheduled 2020 shows were also scrapped.

DEATH ANGEL drummer Will Carroll has once again spoken out about his battle with COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus. The musician, who spent almost two weeks on a ventilator in an intensive care unit at a Northern California hospital, first got sick when he and the rest of DEATH ANGEL spent more than a month on the road in Europe with TESTAMENT and EXODUS as part of "The Bay Strikes Back 2020" tour.

Carroll discussed his experience of testing positive for the life-threatening illness during an interview with Pierre Gutiérrez of Rock Talks. Asked if there was any lung damage as a result of COVID-19, Carroll said (see video below): "No. I recovered… I had heart failure, too, during the coma, so that was the big issue — my heart took some damage. But after a couple of months of just laying low and taking it easy and trying to live a healthier lifestyle, my heart recovered completely. My last checkup with my doctor, they said my heart was fine. My lungs didn't take that much damage, surprisingly — it was my heart that took the brunt of the attack. But everything is recovered, and I don't have any lingering effects, surprisingly. I'm very lucky. I've been playing drums, and I'm not getting winded [and] I don't feel any weird sensation. So I'm doing okay."

Regarding how his drumming ability has been affected by his COVID-19 battle, Carroll said: "Oddly enough, I'm playing drums better than I ever have in my life right now. It's really strange. Maybe because I'm not drinking as much as I used to — I'm just not partying. I'm taking care of myself a lot more nowadays, so that probably plays a big part in it. And I'm taking drumming a lot more seriously. Because after I got out of the hospital, I couldn't walk — I had to learn how to walk again. The was the most scariest [sic] aspect of this whole thing — was not being able to walk. And I was just really concerned that I wouldn't be able to drum — especially do double bass; that I wouldn't be able to do double bass again. So I had a therapist come over for a few weeks, and I just did my exercises and stair stepping and stuff like that, and I was able to walk within, like, a week afer being in the hospital. They thought it was gonna take maybe a month, but I was able to walk — a week, a week and a half maybe, I was on my feet and walking without any assistance. So I was pretty determined, and I worked hard at it — I didn't waste any time in that aspect.

"I don't take my health for granted," he continued. "I don't take my drumming for granted either now. So I'm practicing more and I just have more speed and I'm just playing with more determination and more focus. And the guys in DEATH ANGEL have totally noticed that. We did a live stream for Christmas, like, a month ago — we did two shows for our annual Christmas shows. And they noticed that I was just playing with a new sense of urgency and just more power and more consistent. So that's definitely the silver lining in all of this. I'm taking the good out of this. Just being healthier and playing drums more efficiently is what I'm all about right now."

Carroll woke up from a medically induced coma on March 30, 2020 after spending nearly two weeks on a ventilator. His doctors at the California Pacific Medical Center told the San Francisco Chronicle he was in critical condition and came close to dying. They said that the hospital "tried every treatment they had heard about, from hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin to the experimental drug remdesivir."

"He still was near the limits of what we could do with our supportive care, and we were very worried about him," said Dr. George Horng, a pulmonologist.

"He wasn't getting worse, but if he were to get worse, there wasn't much more that we could have done."

On March 22, 2020, TESTAMENT singer Chuck Billy revealed that he had tested positive for COVID-19. Several days later, EXODUS guitarist Gary Holt also said that he was infected with the new coronavirus. Both had spent more than a month on the road with DEATH ANGEL as part of "The Bay Strikes Back 2020" European tour in February and March of last year.

DEATH ANGEL had been touring in support of its ninth album, "Humanicide", which came out in May 2019 via Nuclear Blast.

Carroll joined DEATH ANGEL in 2009 as the replacement for the band's original drummer, Andy Galeon.

Will can be heard on the last four DEATH ANGEL studio albums: "Relentless Retribution" (2010), "The Dream Calls for Blood" (2013), "The Evil Divide" (2016) and the aforementioned "Humanicide".

In the latest episode of the 80's Glam Metalcast, host Metal Mike talks Pretty Maids guitarist / keyboardist Chris Laney. They discuss Laney's ongoing At The Movies project, Pretty Maids, working with Zan Clan, working with Randy Piper's (ex-W.A.S.P.) for Animal, his production work, and more. Check out the interview below.

On Pretty Maids:

"The band is turning 40 years old this year. It would be a big shame if we didn't do something. There are so many sides to this. Our singer Ronnie has stage 4 cancer. This whole virus thing makes it harder because of his health. He just can't get this. It's in our heads, we want to do something special this year, but I can't say any more than that. Ronnie is such a great guy, we talk everyday. I am producing his solo album that will be out in March. You '80s fans will love this album! He is in good spirits and feels good right now. I'm a huge Pretty Maids fan since back in the day. For me to get in the band is like the movie Rock Star. My absolute favorite album by the band is Jump The Gun. The sad part is we don't play many songs from it....but I fucking love that album! Pretty Maids have never made a bad album. Even if the recording budgets weren't there as the '90s progressed, the songs have always been there. To be part of the whole thing is just a dream come true."

On playing with Zinny Zan from Shotgun Messiah in Zan Clan:

"Working with Zinny was the best. We had so much fun. I'm a huge Shotgun Messiah fan. Their first album is like my DNA. Zinny is like a brother to me. We are still like family, even if we still don't play together." 

On the bands he grew up on:

"I'm such a fanboy! I love Stryper, I love Shotgun Messiah. I like the first three Warrant albums. Vinnie Vincent...holy shit, he's my hero. That first Bullet Boys album is amazing. TNT is fantastic. I'd even stretch it out into the early '90s and include bands like Heaven's Edge. Can't forget W.A.S.P., they were a major influence of mine." 

On his time in Randy Piper's Animal:

"I got his album called 900 Lb Steam (2002) and it was horrible. It was mixed in mono and it sounded like someone recorded it on their iPhone. I sent an e-mail to his manager and told him that I can't see my idols this way. I told him I'd gladly remix it for free. Piper called me up and we talked. I recorded a demo of one of the songs to show him how it would sound. Eventually they fired their band and reached out to work with me. I wrote two albums for them, Violent New Breed (2006) and Virus (2008). It's like W.A.S.P. but a little more melodic. I am really proud of these albums. The only thing is it all ended in a bad way. Piper and I haven't spoken in like five years. The label that released these went bankrupt so you can't get them on CD. I would like to get on speaking terms with Piper because I want to re-release them. I don't know what he is up to these days, but I heard he is sober, which is a good thing. I hope his health is good now, because when we were working together he was drinking like 19 beers a day. Piper was a big part of the W.A.S.P. sound. He wasn't the songwriter, but his guitar playing and background vocals were really important. I love that first W.A.S.P. album, that's my favorite." 

During a new appearance on the "Talk Toomey" podcast, KILLSWITCH ENGAGE bassist Mike D'Antonio spoke about what he and his bandmates have planned for the coming months as artists and fans alike look forward to a hoped-for return to something resembling pre-COVID normalcy.

"We have so many touring opportunities that we can't take advantage of, so it's just a matter of when we're gonna be able to get back on the road," Mike said (see video below). "When we do, it's all guns blazing — let's go; let's do this thing again. Who knows what it's gonna look like?! But as of now, all we're doing is kind of looking forward and excited for the future, to get back on the road. You never know if we're gonna do a live show on the Internet or not. We'll see how that goes. There's definitely talks of something like that. No real new music per se yet. But we'll get bored sooner or later. [Laughs]

"But, yeah, KILLSWITCH has kind of been on hiatus since last March, unfortunately, except for dropping the 'Atonement II' rarities CD that we did for charity," he continued. "It felt really good to be able to give back, with songs that we kind of didn't know what to do with, so we just released that real quick, gave some money to charity and hopefully helped out some people. But right now, we're just bare-knuckling, ready to get back on the road, really."

Asked if he still enjoys being on the road, Mike said: "To a point. [Laughs] Those first few, like, five or six tours are usually really, really fun, and then it starts to become a job after a while. But we're just so lucky to be able to do something like that. I think especially now with the climate and the COVID that's been going on right now, it makes you appreciate those times and makes you think back to how whiney you could have been thinking your life was so terrible being on the road and having fun and doing what you love. I have a new perspective on that, and I cannot wait to get back out and do it again."

KILLSWITCH ENGAGE's latest album, "Atonement", was released in August 2019 via Metal Blade Records in the U.S. and Sony Music Entertainment in the rest of the world. The disc features guest appearances by the band's former lead singer Howard Jones and TESTAMENT frontman Chuck Billy. It marks the band's third full-length release since the return of frontman Jesse Leach, who rejoined the group in 2012.

Last summer, three singles from KILLSWITCH ENGAGE reached new sales milestones in the U.S. "My Curse" was certified platinum by the RIAA (Recording Industry Association Of America) on September 10 for accumulating a million certified units. That same day, "The End Of Heartache" and KILLSWITCH's cover of the DIO classic "Holy Diver" were both certified gold for accumulating half a million units.

According to the RIAA, one equivalent song unit is equal to a single digital song sale, or 150 on-demand audio and/or video streams.

KILLSWITCH ENGAGE recently celebrated two decades as a band with a comprehensive and in-depth 20-year timeline that documented so many of the band's memorable career milestones and storied history with plenty of captivating images. The clickable, scroll-through timeline boasts flyers from early shows, live shots from festival appearances, and fan tattoos. It also traces major tours, video shoots, album releases, Grammy nominations, lineup changes, and beyond. The timeline functions as a digital museum that effectively tells the complete KILLSWITCH ENGAGE story. The timeline was created specifically for KILLSWITCH ENGAGE fans to enjoy and to reminisce.

LIQUID TENSION EXPERIMENT, the instrumental progressive rock/metal project featuring DREAM THEATER keyboardist Jordan Rudess and guitarist John Petrucci, alongside ex-DREAM THEATER drummer Mike Portnoy and progressive rock icon Tony Levin (bass) of KING CRIMSON and PETER GABRIEL fame, will release its third album, "LTE3", on March 26 via InsideOut Music. The effort will arrive 22 years after the release of 1999's "Liquid Tension Experiment 2".

Speaking about why now was the right time to resurrect LIQUID TENSION EXPERIMENT, Portnoy told Revolver: "The main reason is the insanity of 2020. The pandemic and the lockdown is pretty much what allowed it. But we've been talking about it for many, many years. It's been 10 years since I left DREAM THEATER, and it didn't make sense to do LTE while I was still in DREAM THEATER. Because it was three members of the same band. Then after I left, it took many years of healing and all the drama to pass and the dust to settle before the relationships with John and Jordan got real good again. And musically, Jordan and I played together a few years ago on the Cruise To The Edge, and then obviously John Petrucci and I played together last year for his solo album ['Terminal Velocity']. So it seemed like the time was right to finally do it. And the pandemic, for better or worse, gave us a window of opportunity where none of us were on tour and we could actually align the schedules and do it."

On the topic of his musical chemistry with Petrucci, Portnoy said: "Well, John and I were writing partners and producing partners for 25 years. And when we reconvened last year for his solo album, I guess I will say the difference was that the roles were redefined, because it was his album. It wasn't like DREAM THEATER where we wrote together and produced together. When I got together with him for 'Terminal Velocity', I was coming in and playing a much different role, as was he. John had written it all and I was there to do a service for him. And I'm very comfortable playing that role, being a session guy or a hired gun. But then when we got together to do LIQUID TENSION EXPERIMENT a few months later, that was more of the natural chemistry of us writing together, working together, making decisions together. Once we got to that relationship, it was exactly as it had been when I left DREAM THEATER. It was just so immediately comfortable."

"LTE3" track listing:

01. Hypersonic (8:22)

02. Beating The Odds (6:09)

03. Liquid Evolution (3:23)

04. The Passage Of Time (7:32)

05. Chris & Kevin's Amazing Odyssey (5:04)

06. Rhapsody In Blue (13:16)

07. Shades Of Hope (4:42)

08. Key To The Imagination (13:14)

The bonus disc includes almost an hour of improvised jams.

The album will be available as:

* Limited deluxe hot pink 3LP+2CD+Blu-ray Box Set (including a poster and 4 artcards, Blu-ray includes a 5.1 surround mix with visuals, and full band interview from the studio)

* Limited 2CD+Blu-ray Artbook

* Limited 2CD Digipak

* Gatefold black 2LP+CD

*Digital album (2CD)

In February 2019, Portnoy and Rudess reunited on stage during the Cruise To The Edge to perform "Instrumedley" from DREAM THEATER / LIQUID TENSION EXPERIMENT. They were joined by NEAL MORSE BAND guitarist Eric Gillette and HAKEN bassist Conner Green.

Back in April 2015, Portnoy and Rudess both joined the British progressive metal band HAKEN on stage in New York City. Three months earlier, they were photographed having what appeared to be friendly banter at the 2015 NAMM show in Anaheim, California.

Four years ago, Portnoy posted a photo of him hanging out with Petrucci in a move that clearly represented a thawing of tensions between the two musicians who had been friends for more than three decades.

In November 2017, Mike told Loud that he left DREAM THEATER because he wanted to expand his musical horizons. "[I didn't] want to go to my grave and just be the drummer from DREAM THEATER," he said. "I knew there was way more to what I had to offer."

Photo credit: Tony Levin

MR. BIG will release a new live set, "Raw Like Sushi Mega Edition - Revive 2017: 2017 Japan Tour Official Bootleg Box", on February 24. A complete collection of MR. BIG's 2017 performances in Japan, it features all nine concerts which took place between September and October of that year.

Speaking to Rodrigo Altaf of Sonic Perspectives about how the live release came about, MR. BIG singer Eric Martin said: "A couple of months ago, I got an e-mail from our record company in Japan saying that they recorded all nine concerts — Pat Torpey's last shows, as well, in Japan — but all nine concerts in Japan. I even called Michelle Sabolchick, who's our sound engineer, and has been for the last 10 years — live sound — and I go, 'Did you see any Pro Tools equipment? You're front of the house. Did they record?' And she goes, 'Nobody was recording around me.' And I'm, like, 'How did you guys do that? We didn't even sign off on it or anything.'

"I didn't realize this, but they kind of did it every year that we were there; I just never knew it," he continued. "And they did it on the monitor board. So they have the monitor mix of all nine concerts. Anyway, that being said, they mixed it, and what it is is nine shows, a lot of the same songs, different energy in different cities, and there's about three or four shows that have a medley of songs that we never freakin' play live — switching instruments and that kind of thing, if you've ever seen a MR. BIG concert. It's pretty good. I'm glad that they captured it. And I'm glad I didn't know about it, because if I knew about it, I'd get all scared."

Last November, MR. BIG bassist Billy Sheehan said that no decisions have yet been made regarding the band's future following the passing of Pat Torpey. The drummer died in February 2018 at the age of 64 from complications of Parkinson's disease.

Speaking to FOX17 Rock & Review about MR. BIG's legacy, Sheehan said: "It was quite a band. We had incredible success with the band, especially internationally, which worked out really nice for us, 'cause right around the mid-'90s, the world went grunge — well, the U.S. and Europe kind of went grunge, but everywhere else, it didn't, so South America, Southeast Asia and all those places, we could still sell out shows and do really well.

"We had a great run," he continued. "We still exist, but, as you know, sadly we lost our drummer, and we don't have any plan at this point for anything. We'll just let nature take its course. At some point, maybe we'll do something again. We don't know. Maybe me and Paul [Gilbert, guitar], maybe me and Eric [Martin, vocals], maybe Eric and Paul, maybe us with a different drummer — it could be anything — but we have not discussed it at all, and we're just kind of letting it go.

"It was tough for us [to deal with Pat's death]. The four component parts had to be there in order for it to be MR. BIG. But we appreciate [the support]. I still get a lot of e-mail every day regarding MR. BIG and our songs. Some amazing e-mails from people that, you begin to realize how you touch people around the world. Some little girl in Pakistan is having a hard time, and she listens to our music, and now everything's okay again. [It's] pretty amazing."

Last May, Sheehan gave an interview to the "Music Mania" podcast in which he claimed that a "mastering problem" with MR. BIG's latest album, "Defying Gravity", which came out three years ago, made the LP "unlistenable." He went on to say that "the label ruined the record" by insisting on having the album and "putting it out when it's not ready." He explained: "If we had another day to get it to proper mastering and get it done right, it would have been fine. 'Cause I was there for the final mixes — I went in there every day and listened to mixes. Pat was there with us too. We went through the mixes, and they were sounding great. And, unfortunately, we got screwed.

"I've seen it before in many other situations with many other bands," he added. "We've got the marketing department and they're ready to go and they've gotta have the record now. And then I've also seen other bands just say, 'No. The record is not done. You're out of luck.' And I wish we would have just said that, because I just don't think the record had the kind of life it had when I heard the final mixes."

A short time later, Frontiers Music Srl released a statement clarifying that it wasn't the label responsible for "ruining" "Defying Gravity", which marked Torpey's final recorded appearance with MR. BIG.

"Defying Gravity" was released via Wowow Entertainment, Inc. in Japan and Frontiers Music Srl in most of the rest of the world.

After announcing his Parkinson's diagnosis in 2014, Torpey continued to write, record and perform with MR. BIG, who also recruited Matt Starr to share drum duties.

MR. BIG, formed in 1988, produced numerous hit songs that ranged across a wide array of rock genres — be it ballads, heavy metal, or blues rock. Their hits include "Alive And Kicking", "Just Take My Heart" and the chart-topping ballad "To Be With You".

Grammy-winning and Emmy-nominated songwriter-producer Desmond Child, who is widely recognized as one of music's most accomplished hitmakers, has revealed that he is working on new music with HALESTORM singer Lzzy Hale.

Earlier today (Monday, February 8), Desmond took to his social media to share a couple of photos of Lzzy sitting on top of a piano with Child playing, and he included the following message: "HALE TO THE QUEEN OF ROCK! No not me… the gorgeous and brilliant @officiallzzyhale from the band @halestormrocks. Lzzy is not only an incredible singer and guitarist... she is an accomplished inspired songwriter. We are coming up with some great music together. FUN!"

It is not presently clear if Hale and Child are collaborating on music that is intended to appear on HALESTORM's upcoming follow-up to 2018's "Vicious" album.

Last September, Lzzy confirmed to U.K.'s Rock Sound that she has been using her coronavirus downtime to compose material for the new HALESTORM LP. "I've been writing, honestly, some of the best songs I've ever written, because I've just had the time, and there isn't any deadline and nobody's breathing down my neck, saying, 'Hey, where are those demos?'," she said.

Desmond — born John Charles Barrett — has worked with AEROSMITH, ALICE COOPER, KISS, SCORPIONS, DREAM THEATER and MÖTLEY CRÜE singer Vince Neil, among many others.

Child's list of accolades includes Grammy awards, more than 80 Top 40 singles, and songs that have sold over 500 million copies worldwide in addition to downloads, YouTube views and streaming plays in the billions. AEROSMITH's Steven Tyler told Rolling Stone magazine about Desmond, "The first time we met, we wrote 'Angel' in about an hour and 45 minutes — and I'm not bullshitting. The guy's a fucking genius."

KISS guitarist/vocalist Paul Stanley asked Desmond to co-write a track for the band's 1979 "Dynasty" album. The result was "I Was Made for Loving You", which is still one of the biggest hits in the KISS catalogue.

"Halestorm Reimagined", a collection of reworked HALESTORM original songs as well as a cover of "I Will Always Love You", the love ballad made famous by Whitney Houston and Dolly Parton, was made available in August.

Lzzy and her brother Arejay (drums) formed the band in 1998 while in middle school. Guitarist Joe Hottinger joined the group in 2003, followed by bassist Josh Smith in 2004.

In December 2018, HALESTORM was nominated for a "Best Rock Performance" Grammy Award for its song "Uncomfortable".

In 2012, the band won its first Grammy in the category of "Best Hard Rock/ Metal Performance" for "Love Bites (So Do I)". According to the Grammy web site, Lzzy became the first woman to earn a Grammy in the category.
























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