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26 июл 2024


SLASH Names His Favorite Early AC/DC AlbumsIn a recent interview with Matt Pinfield of 95.5 KLOS's "New & Approved" show, legendary GUNS N' ROSES guitarist Slash was asked to name his favorite AC/DC album starting out. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "[1978's] 'Powerage'. Still probably one of my favorite AC/DC records. But at the time when I got into 'em, the record that came out was [1979's] 'Highway To Hell'. And that's how I became familiar with them. And then, because of that record, I heard 'Powerage', and I was like, 'Whoa, this record.' That was, really, that got me into the whole AC/DC catalog. And then [AC/DC singer] Bon Scott died. And that was just… It was, like, 'I just got into these guys.' And then really in pretty quick succession, Brian [Johnson, current AC/DC singer] came into it."
Slash continued: "One of the biggest years for metal in the '80s was 1980, and you had 'Back In Black' come out and then you had Ozzy's [Osbourne] 'Diary Of A Madman' come out and all that. And [BLACK] SABBATH's 'Heaven And Hell'. It was a huge, huge year for rock.'
Circling back to his love for "Powerage", Slash said: "'Down Payment Blues' was the song that really stuck with me. It's still, to this day, one of my favorite all-time rock and roll songs."
Back in November 2020, Slash praised the then-just-released AC/DC album "Power Up", calling it "a really inspired" effort.
The GUNS N' ROSES guitarist was asked for his opinion on AC/DC's latest LP during an interview with Consequence Of Sound. He said: "I obviously have a long history with AC/DC, and then Axl [Rose, GUNS N' ROSES frontman] was singing with them for a minute when Brian was out, so we got reacquainted during that period. So, the first bit of great news, I talked to Brian and he was telling me about this hearing [device] that he got, and that he's back in AC/DC. And that was just fucking awesome news."
He continued: "And the tragedy of losing Malcolm [Young, AC/DC's founding rhythm guitarist]… the fact that Angus [Young] and company would survive that and keep it going, in the spirit of probably what Malcolm would have done, was great. I just love those guys because as far as rock 'n' roll is concerned, they just are driven.
"They're a great influence on people who think that rock 'n' roll is sort of just fun and games, and then as soon as any kind of mishap happens, [bands] break up or they fall apart or they quit," he said. "AC/DC is a great example of longevity. They're a great example of tenacity and perseverance, a great example of talent, and a great example of what rock 'n' roll is all about. So, I'm so stoked that they just continue to do it."
Touching upon "Power Up" specifically, Slash said: "Then, on top of it, they make such a great fucking record at this point in the game. It's a really inspired album. I've had it in the car for the last couple of days and it's probably gonna sit there for a while. It's exciting for me. I'm happy for them, and I can't wait for this virus situation to end so we can go check them out on tour somewhere."
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26 июл 2024


RUDOLF SCHENKER Promises 'Interesting Things' For SCORPIONS' 60th-Anniversary Celebration In 2025In a new interview with Spain's Mariskal Rock, SCORPIONS guitarist and founder Rudolf Schenker spoke about the band's upcoming 60th anniversary in 2025. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "60 years of SCORPIONS. Sounds like very old band. Maybe on one hand it is, maybe. But on the other hand, we always kept our mind fresh, to be on the spot. That's the very important point. Many bands came up and exploded and were so successful. But the problem is success is a very dangerous thing because the egos fighting in the band together. [THE] BEATLES, as an example. [THE ROLLING] STONES managed to stay together. So, and the same with the SCORPIONS. We started from Germany, very slowly. It was not easy for us to go in other countries then, but we managed it. By doing this, we made our personal SCORPIONS logo so strong that we, as people, Klaus [Meine, SCORPIONS singer] and me, and Matthias [Jabs, SCORPIONS guitarist], we became partners in crime, partners in friendship. And because we know how difficult it is to go around the world and make it, make success happening, but we made it with our own power, not make big managements or stuff like this in the first place. No — we did by our own. Out of that, we know what success is all about, and I think that's the important point. And that's the situation, is that when we celebrate next year's 60 years of SCORPIONS, there will be some interesting things happening."
Earlier this month, Jabs told Graspop Metal Meeting about the secret to SCORPIONS' longevity: "Uh, we don't know when to finish. No, we tried. In 2010, we announced the final tour, which lasted only two and a half years. And then, you know, nobody wanted to let us go, which is nice. All the promoters from around the world said, 'You can't leave us now.' And the fans especially said, 'SCORPIONS, don't stop.' And that's 12 years ago [since the completion of the 'final' tour]. And we have so much fun doing what we are doing. And this year is the 'Love At First Sting' anniversary tour, a great new show. And then we are looking forward to next year where we are planning a few things like the big birthday parties with SCORPIONS and friends, but nothing definite yet."
Jabs also talked about the importance of making new music for a band like SCORPIONS, which released its latest studio album, "Rock Believer", in 2022. He said: "It's always to have good song material when you go out on the road, because, of course, we have to play the hits again and again and again; we couldn't do it without it. But for us it's nice, and I think for the fans too, to hear one or the other new songs. The 'Rock Believer' tour, we started with five or six new songs from that album. Now, since it's the 'Love At First Sting' anniversary tour, 40 years of 'Love At First Sting', we concentrate more on those songs and cut out a few of the 'Rock Believer' ones. But it's for us also — to keep being creative and play something that is new on stage."
During an April 2024 appearance on SiriusXM's "Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk", Schenker confirmed that there was no more talk of retirement within SCORPIONS, as there was back in 2010 with what was purported to be a final album and a farewell tour that never quite took hold. He said: "You have to think about that what we didn't know when we made [that] farewell tour [almost 15 years ago], it was exactly the time when WhatsApp came up, when all this new technology [on the] Internet came, that people watching the SCORPIONS on WhatsApp and seeing young kids between 16 and 24 or whatever, [they were] finding [out about] the SCORPIONS. So, and what was happening on the final tour, on the tour, kids were in front of the stage. We said, 'What's happening here?' The older [fans] were up in the balcony or whatever, and we said, 'Hey, it's a complete new feeling on stage.' So then 'MTV Unplugged' came and then we said, 'Hey…' The chemistry was right, no question about this. That's a very important point, when the band has a great chemistry. And then you have fun when you go on the road."
Last September, Rudolf also seemingly dismissed any talk of possible retirement but acknowledged that SCORPIONS would not be able to continue indefinitely. The 75-year-old guitarist told Vikram Chandrasekar of Tales From The Road: "It's not a never-ending road. The road will be finished sooner or later; it's up to you and to our gods. But in 2025, that could be a great time for our 60th anniversary. 2025, it's the time when SCORPIONS is 60 years old. So, then, to celebrate 60 years of SCORPIONS could be a possibility, because I'm in contact with our very old drummer, who was playing on [SCORPIONS' 1972 debut album] 'Lonesome Crow', and the bass player, and use them also on stage to see the different kind of states we went through. Because we are very much connected still in all the different musicians, and that shows again, when we can make it, that music is always there for making friendships."
Back in May 2022, Meine told Jorge Botas of Portugal's "Metal Global": "We scratched that word [retirement] out of our [vocabulary]. It's not there. We don't think about it and we don't talk about it and we take it as it comes.
"We're just growing older and we do what we do and we hope our fans enjoy it as much as we do," the now-76-year-old Klaus continued. "But who would have thought we're still around after celebrating 50 years of being recording artists — our first album came out in 1972 and now 'Rock Believer' looks like it hits the big time with the fans and so many positive reviews from all over the world. And after all these years, who would have thought? And it's a wonderful thing.
"But all we know is [that] the road ahead is way shorter than what's behind us," Meine added. "And we never take it for granted — we never take success for granted. We work hard on what we do because we still love it and we still enjoy it. But it's what it is. And I think every artist knows what I'm talking about, because to go out there, play a great show for the fans and not let 'em down, it takes a lot of preparation, takes a lot of work. And being the singer, you try to make sure your pipes are in a good condition.
"It's a lot of things," Meine said. "And we don't know what the future will bring. Take a look at the next corner, and you never know what's going on. But right now, life is good. We have a great new album out there. And we have a lot of fun. We enjoy it."
Meine previously discussed SCORPIONS' aborted retirement in a 2018 interview with SiriusXM. "The thing is we have a much different view now," Klaus said. "And it's a young generation — that's the fuel that keeps us going, and it's really motivating.
"To be honest, every other year, you take a look around the corner: 'Can we do this?' 'Can we still deliver on the same high level, the way we used to do it?'" he admitted. "And that's the only way, and it's only fun if you can go out there and play a great rock show, wherever you do it. Like in the last couple of weeks, we had so much fun. But then you get sick on the road, like I did last year with the severe laryngitis. What can you do? There's not a chance. And then sometimes, of course, you ask yourself, 'How long can we do this?' Especially for singers — and I know I'm not the only one. But it's always, sometimes you ask yourself, 'Klaus, c'mon, how long can you keep up this level?' And then you go out there, everything feels good."
Circling back to SCORPIONS' 2010 "farewell tour" announcement, Klaus told SiriusXM: "Of course, we had our moment of doubt when we said, 'Okay. Maybe we should retire. Maybe this is a good moment.' And then we realized we were wrong, because there's still a lot of sting in the tail, so to speak, and it still feels good. There's such a demand for the SCORPIONS, and we're one of the few bands who play this global stage. If there wasn't this kind of demand, of course, there's no point after so many years, and you'd better go, 'Well, I go home and take it easy.' But there's such a strong demand and that really feels good and challenging — it's a challenge. Of course, you don't do it for the business. It's a good business, yes, but you don't do it for the business and for the money — you do it for the fun, you do it for what's inside of you, what's in your blood, what's in your veins, and that's the rock and roll music. And you wanna go out and play in front of an audience, because that's what it's all about."
SCORPIONS' only continuous member has been Schenker, although Meine has appeared on all of the band's studio albums, while Jabs has been a consistent member since 1978, and bassist Paweł Mąciwoda and drummer Mikkey Dee have been in the band since 2003 and 2016, respectively.
"Rock Believer" was released in February 2022. The album was recorded primarily at Peppermint Park Studios in Hannover, Germany and was mixed at the legendary Hansa Studios in Berlin, Germany with engineer Michael Ilbert, who has earned multiple Grammy nominations for his mix work with producer Max Martin on albums by Taylor Swift and Katy Perry.
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26 июл 2024


See ANVIL's Entire Summer 2024 U.S. Tour Kick-Off ConcertCanadian metal legends ANVIL kicked off their summer 2024 U.S. tour on July 10 at Stone Church in Brattleboro, Vermont. Fan-filmed video of the entire concert can be seen below (courtesy of Airrick Nh).
ANVIL released its 20th studio album "One And Only", on June 28 via AFM Records. The effort was recorded in the summer of 2023 with longtime producer Martin "Mattes" Pfeiffer and Jörg Uken at Uken's Soundlodge studios in Germany. The same production team was responsible for ANVIL's last four albums, "Anvil Is Anvil" (2016),"Pounding The Pavement" (2018),"Legal At Last" (2019) and "Impact Is Imminent" (2022).
When it comes to the most influential bands in the history of heavy metal, authorities on the subject regularly vote ANVIL among the top positions. The group from Toronto, Canada, with its two masterminds, guitarist/vocalist Steve "Lips" Kudlow and drummer Robb Reiner, and bassist Chris Robertson, not only looks back at an impressive career with countless highlights — as well as a number of well-documented difficulties — but has also had a lasting influence on lots of internationally renowned musicians, from METALLICA to SLAYER and beyond.
ANVIL are and will always be one of a kind and are continuing to shape the contemporary metal scene just as impressively as they did at the beginning of their career. How they achieve this? Thanks to their straightforward metal fueled by cutting riffs and catchy hooks, which the musicians continue to celebrate with admirable effortlessness and great passion.
"We're more like our old selves than weve been in years," comments Lips on the new album, adding: "We've dropped all our more modern aspects, particularly the '90s version of ANVIL. No sexual topics and no thrash speed songs like they featured on past albums."
"One And Only" sees the band provide first-rate ANVIL entertainment: While Lips is considered to be one of the most creative and interesting storytellers of the metal genre, Robertson and Reiner keep the up the pace with their usual confidence, providing the perfect rhythm section for Lips. Although they have experienced the tough and frequently merciless side of the music industry on a number of occasions, ANVIL never lost their idealism, motivation and energy, which is immediately evident on "One And Only".
Regarding ANVIL's continuing collaboration with Pfeiffer and Uken, Lips said: "[Pfeiffer and Uken are] our one and only choice. As usual, Mattes and Jörg did a great job in choosing our best playing and making sure it has top notch sound. Great guys who understand the band and know what suits us best."
In a recent interview with rob wog, Lips spoke about the band's new LP. He said in part: "What's really fascinating, this particular album, and I'm not gonna be like most musicians, you always hype up what you've done most recent. Usually I don't — usually, and most usually, like on the last album, I just said it's another ANVIL album. What the hell do you want? And the album, a couple of albums ago, [we called it] 'Anvil Is Anvil'. Fuck it. You know what I mean? You want something different? You're not gonna get it. It's almost like tongue in cheek. And after 45 years, you're not thinking about things like you did when you're 20."
He continued: "This particular time, I went about it from a different perspective. And what do I mean by that? In going in, instead of going into rehearsal with bits and pieces and then work my way through it, I put everything together at home before I went there. I knew exactly how many riffs go in the verse, how many choruses, where they go. The songs were totally written before I went in and showed the other guys. And that's something that I never really — only the last two albums have I done that with. And the difference is they're pure, and they're not interrupted, because they're uninterrupted writing.
"When you write with a group of guys, there's interruptions. And I can give examples. And not only are there interruptions, but also interjection of parts and stuff that doesn't actually really belong, and you end up with early ANVIL. Well, actually, middle-era ANVIL where I've got — there's too many cooks. There's just too many cooks. And it's actually so true. But I'm two in one — I'm the vocalist and the guitar player. That's usually what writes in a band. Why are you asking a bass player for parts — unless you're gonna have the song really predominantly be bass. And having said that, it's the same thing as you're expecting the drummer to write the songs, or help you write the songs, but there's no musicality. It's only arrangement or tempos or segments of songs or bridges. So it's not like asking the vocalist, which is the most important guy to ask when you're writing a song. Where does the singing go? That's what you're doing. The singing is the most important thing. Why are you putting the thought for singing in last? It's a great instrumental, and now you're gonna stick some vocals on it and hope it works… [But] you don't say intervention is bad. It depends on what it is. But as the main songwriter, it's gonna have to be up to me. And you have to take the bull by the horns and you have to take the responsibility for this shit. Plain and simple."
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26 июл 2024


MÖTLEY CRÜE's NIKKI SIXX: 'What I Don't Like About Media Is They Don't Do Their Research'In a new interview with Razor of the Tucson, Arizona radio station Rock 102.1 KFMA, MÖTLEY CRÜE bassist Nikki Sixx clarified his recent comment about not seeing "a reason right now to go" back "in the studio" with his bandmates and record more new music. He explained (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "I don't have a lot of respect for the way media handles themselves in general, whether it's political or rock media or whatever it might be."
Nikki continued: "When somebody takes a conversation of mine and they say, 'Hey, are you planning on going in the studio?' And I say, 'We don't see a reason to go in the studio right now.' 'Cause we just recorded three songs [in April 2023]. We were just in the recording studio. We have a second single coming. We have a third single coming. So we're not in a rush to… Vince [Neil, MÖTLEY CRÜE singer] lives in Tennessee. I live in Wyoming. We're on tour. So what I said was, like, well, first of all, we're always creating — always creating. And I was working on something this morning. I was just playing bass. My daughter was getting ready for school and I'm, like, 'Whoa, what's that?' And I put it on my little voice messages and I will eventually show it to the band or [our longtime producer] Bob [Rock] or whatever.
"But that's what I don't like about media is they don't do their research," Sixx continued. "And then people are going, 'Oh, MÖTLEY CRÜE is not going in the studio.' We didn't say that. We said we just got out of the studio. So if LED ZEPPELIN just got out of the studio and you ask Jimmy Page, 'Hey, when are you going back to the studio?' and he goes, 'Well, I don't really see the need to. I just recorded an album.' And they're, like, 'Jimmy Page says LED ZEPPELIN's never gonna make music again.' It's really messed up. But I hate that for the fans."
Sixx also addressed his recent tongue-in-cheek comment that new music from his band had been described as "a powerful cross between country and hip-hop". The 65-year-old CRÜE bassist, who is the band's chief songwriter, said: "I have a personality disorder called sarcasm, and sometimes it doesn't come across in a tweet or a Facebook post. And somebody just asked me, 'What's the new MÖTLEY CRÜE record sound like?' And I said, 'Country and hip-hop.' And I think I even put a smiley face, and it took off.
"Now what's really interesting is when we were doing the media for [MÖTLEY CRÜE's new single] 'Dogs Of War' coming out, that was the main question for everybody. So here's the question to you: is maybe not doing stupid stuff the only way to reach people now? It's, like, crazy. So you struggle — you struggle with it."
Sixx's original comment about not seeing a reason for MÖTLEY CRÜE to return to the studio at the moment came during a June 2024 interview with Riff X 's "Metal XS". He said at the time: "We have a few singles [already recorded], so I don't see us [recording any new music right now]… We're not gonna be around. I live in Wyoming and Vince lives in Tennessee, two guys in California, so I don't… I don't actually see a reason right now to go in the studio, 'cause we've got two more singles [recorded and ready] to [release]. And I always wanna be sure that if we go in the studio, we have a reason or we have something we're really inspired by, but it's a lot of scheduling, and we tour and we have families. For me specifically, I have a five-year-old daughter, and I really wanna be with her as much as possible. So when the time came to go do these demos of these three songs and then go in the studio with [producer] Bob Rock, it was like a perfect time. And that time will happen again, but there's no rush."
Nikki previously explained the "country and hip-hop" comment as it relates to MÖTLEY CRÜE's new music in a June 2024 interview with Janne Innanfors of the Swedish radio station Rockklassiker. He said at the time: "When we were doing some interviews, when we were getting ready to drop the ['Dogs Of War'] single, I said to Tommy [Lee, MÖTLEY CRÜE drummer], I said, 'You know…' 'Cause we kept getting asked that question [about the sound of the new CRÜE music]. And I said, 'Man,' I go… I'm the most sarcastic human being I know. And that sometimes doesn't always come across in a tweet or something. And I said we got so much media because it was such a lark, such a weird thing that was a joke. And I'm, like, God, that's really kind of fucked up where we're at today. No media checked, nobody called the office and said, 'What's going on? I hear they got new music. It sounds like country and hip-hop.' I mean, everybody at the label and management company would have just started laughing. They would have gone, 'You fell for one of Nikki's jokes.' But the irony is, isn't that how people get pressed now? People just love negativity. And I find it interesting. I don't wanna play in to it, to be honest with you, but that was a fun one… People run with whatever they think they can get some juice out of, and it's okay. Hey, if you're talking about our band, that's a good thing, negative or positive."
Regarding the mixed response to "Dogs Of War" from the MÖTLEY CRÜE fans, Nikki said: "We like the fact that there was kind of a knee-jerk reaction, because at least people were listening. It's a very strange time now where, whether it's a news cycle or socials, everybody has turned into a critic. And I always say, they've never erected a statue of a critic. It's never happened, right? It's always the artist. But now everybody's a critic. So within a short amount of time, we get, 'We love it.' 'We hate it.' 'You're over.' 'You've reinvented yourself.' 'It sounds like 'Shout At The Devil'. 'It sucks.' And we just kind of sit there and go, 'That's cool, guys, but we didn't really ask for any input from you.' We're just artists writing music, and we're pretty cool. I'm happy with it. I like it."
"Dogs Of War" was made available on April 26 via the band's new deal with Nashville's Big Machine Records
The "Dogs Of War" music video is an animated, all-CGI affair directed by Nick DenBoer.
In addition to "Dogs Of War", MÖTLEY CRÜE's April 2023 recording sessions with Rock produced a new song called "Canceled" and a cover of BEASTIE BOYS' "(You Gotta) Fight For Your Right (To Party!)", the latter two of which have not yet been released.
MÖTLEY CRÜE's deal with Big Machine sees the band and the label working together again after making the 2014 project "Nashville Outlaws: A Tribute To Mötley Crüe", which featured CRÜE tracks covered by country stars RASCAL FLATTS, FLORIDA GEORGIA LINE, Darius Rucker and more. Big Machine also partnered with MÖTLEY CRÜE's new guitarist John 5 for the release of his 2021 album "Sinner".
MÖTLEY CRÜE's last studio album was 2008's "Saints Of Los Angeles", which was followed by a 2009 "Greatest Hits" compilation.
In 2018, MÖTLEY CRÜE recorded four new songs for "The Dirt" movie, including the single "The Dirt (Est. 1981) (Feat. Machine Gun Kelly)", "Ride With The Devil", "Crash And Burn" and the band's own spin on Madonna's "Like A Virgin".
John 5 joined MÖTLEY CRÜE in the fall of 2022 as the replacement for the band's co-founding guitarist Mick Mars. Mick announced his retirement from touring with MÖTLEY CRÜE in October 2022 as a result of worsening health issues.
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26 июл 2024


CHEVELLE Signs With ALCHEMY RECORDINGS, Plots September/October Release For New AlbumCHEVELLE drummer Sam Loeffler has told TribLive.com that the band's new album is tentatively due in September or October. The follow-up to 2021's "Niratias" will mark CHEVELLE's first release through Alchemy Recordings following a long run with the Epic label. Alchemy Recordings is a record label created in partnership between Dino Paredes, former American Recordings vice president of A&R, and Danny Wimmer, the founder of Danny Wimmer Presents, the premier production company for rock music festivals in the United States.
"We kind of did expect to have it done [already]. It's like pulling teeth," Sam told TribLive.com about the progress of the recording sessions for the new LP. "This is what I described: Writing an album and doing all that is like pulling your hair out and then trying to put it back in. Writers love having written, is what I learned. It's just torturous on my brother [CHEVELLE frontman and main songwriter Pete Loeffler]. It's torturous because there's just so many factors to making something great. And then the longer you can live with it, the more changes you're gonna make. So that makes you never want to put it out. You never want to pull the pin and throw the grenade because you're like, well, it gets better every time I look at it."
As for what the 10-song album — which was produced by the CHEVELLE members themselves — sounds like, Sam said: We're always skewing towards heavy. [But] these [last] two songs that we've been working on right now are definitely different from everything we did, although 'Niratias', our last album, I think was a really important snapshot of what we've been learning about writing and about music and stuff. This one definitely sounds different than just rock music, definitely different."
Back in 2022, Sam told Knotfest's Cori Westbrook about CHEVELLE's songwriting process: "Well, Pete's our songwriter so he's our lyricist and everything. Basically, he just writes about what's going on around him. If he's taking the garbage out that night or has a bad day driving, he's watching a documentary that really affected him, he hears a podcast — so he's writing about those kinds of things. So if you're able to internalize that kind of a thing, I think you have a lot to write about. It doesn't just have to be a relationship that — a relationship with your dad or your significant other. I think those are some pretty powerful feelings — I get it — but if you are able to bring in all those other things in from your everyday life, there's a lot more to write about. So as far as inspiration goes, it's not hard to find; it's everywhere; it's all around you. And especially nowadays, we have so much access to what's going on around us that there's even more ideas to pull from."
In a separate interview with Heavy New York, Sam said that he and Pete had "a whole bunch of music written... Because that's what we do — you put music out, you write… It'll be our first record in a long time not with a major label, which is just neither here nor there," he added. "Epic Records did a lot of good stuff; we were with them for a long time, but we're finished with that contract now. So now we're doing something different. And we'll see how different it is."
Released in March 2021 via Epic Records, "Niratias" was recorded throughout 2019 and 2020 with longtime producer Joe Barresi (AVENGED SEVENFOLD, QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE). The album artwork was designed by Boris Vallejo — the famed and award-winning artist is responsible for the posters used for films like "Knightriders" and "National Lampoon's Vacation", as well as iconic '70s and '80s science fiction novel covers and magazines (such as Heavy Metal).
Over the course of its career, the Chicago rockers have generated nearly half a billion streams, notched seven No. 1 hits, and sold out shows worldwide. Their catalog spans the double-platinum "Wonder What's Next", which boasts the double-platinum smash "The Red" and the platinum hit "Send The Pain Below". "This Type Of Thinking (Could Do Us In)" attained platinum status, while "Vena Sera" was certified gold. CHEVELLE has landed four Top 10 debuts on the Billboard 200, including "Sci-Fi Crimes" (2009),"Hats Off To The Bull" (2011),"La Gárgola" (2014) and "The North Corridor" (2016). The latter two each captured the No. 1 slot on the Top Rock Albums chart.
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26 июл 2024


DARK ANGEL Begins Recording First New Album In More Than Three DecadesReunited California thrash metal pioneers DARK ANGEL have officially entered the studio to begin recording their long-awaited new album.
Earlier today, DARK ANGEL shared a video message from drummer Gene Hoglan from the studio, in which he said: "Hey, everybody. It's your big buddy Gene here, and I just wanna let you know that I just finished the drums to the new DARK ANGEL record. It's coming."
This past May, Hoglan told Rocking With Jam Man, Gene Hoglan that he had "been working diligently for the last couple of years on some projects that are gonna make DARK ANGEL fans really happy, I think. So, everybody, just sit tight," he said. "I just don't wanna nebulously announce something and then have circumstances beyond my control come along and make things delayed. I just wanna be able to be able to say, 'Yes, this is gonna be a solid date that we can announce for people, and we're gonna be able to stick to that date.' That's what I'm all about. So, keep your eyes and ears peeled, everybody."
Asked what it has been like making new DARK ANGEL music more than 30 years after the release of the band's last album, 1991's "Time Does Not Heal", Gene responded: "Well, that's one thing. It's like we had a choice. I had an entire DARK ANGEL album written that was ready to start getting recorded after the 'Time Does Not Heal' record, and circumstances occurred where the band just had to dissolve. So, I had a bunch of material written. And when [DARK ANGEL guitarist] Jim Durkin and myself — Jim is no longer with us, but when we put DARK ANGEL back together and we started talking about, like, 'What do we wanna do for the future? Do we wanna write some new material?' And 'I've got some ideas, Gene, and you probably have some ideas.' And I have a number of songs that I sent to Jim. And when Jim heard that — I sent it to him on a CD — he freaked out and he was, like, 'My God, here's our new album. This is gonna be our next record. Hell yeah.' And he got really excited about that material. But I was, like, 'Hey, Jim, tell you what. I feel really strongly about my writing chops, and the songs I'm hearing from you right now are crushing. So how about we just write new stuff, get together and start writing new material?' And so we kind of went that route."
He continued: "For my elements of what I wanted DARK ANGEL to sound like, Jim Durkin is a huge influence on my writing style. So I wanted this to have a lot of the Jim Durkin influence on it. In terms of riffs, there's not as many from Jim as we were hoping for, but Jim's entire presence is all over the new DARK ANGEL material that I've been working on. And he's a huge guitar influence on me, as well as a lot of people. So, there's definitely gonna be a pretty hardy Jim Durkin influence. And I just wanna write a kick-ass metal album. So what I've tried to do is not go back 35 years or 37 years or whatever, 'Darkness Descends' or even 'We Have Arrived', those early albums, or 'Leave Scars' or 'Time Does Not Heal', I've not tried to duplicate anything from any of those albums, but I tried to put myself in the mindset of what if DARK ANGEL just kept writing albums for the last 30-whatever years, 32, 33 years, where would we be at now? And so that has been my approach on the new DARK ANGEL material."
Durkin died on March 8, 2023 at the age of 58. An original member of DARK ANGEL, Durkin played on the band's first three albums — 1985's "We Have Arrived", 1986's "Darkness Descends" and 1989's "Leave Scars" — before departing the group in 1989. He was part of DARK ANGEL's lineup when the band reformed in 2013, and had been playing with them, on and off, ever since.
Prior to his death, Durkin had been sitting out some of DARK ANGEL's gigs. He was replaced at the shows by Hoglan's wife Laura Christine, who has since joined DARK ANGEL as a permanent member.
DARK ANGEL released two albums with Don Doty on vocals — the aforementioned "We Have Arrived" and "Darkness Descends" — before he exited the group and was replaced by Ron Rinehart (after a brief stint with Jim Drabos in 1987). The band issued two more studio LPs — "Leave Scars" and "Time Does Not Heal" — before calling it quits in 1992.
Hoglan previously talked about DARK ANGEL's upcoming LP in May 2023 in an interview with Friday 13th. He said at the time: "Jim and I, we had gotten together a number of times to write some new material for DARK ANGEL. And we weren't able to get it down on tape too much. If DARK ANGELhas any new material, there's a song that he's got on there that is pretty darn DARK ANGEL-esque.
"In tribute to Jim, DARK ANGEL's new material will have a ton of his spirit all over it — his feel. Whether he actually wrote stuff on the new stuff or not, his spirit is very there. His imprint is felt throughout thrash metal, I feel. Even before I was in DARK ANGEL, I'd see Jim's influence on bands. Absolutely. So his legacy will live forevermore in the realm of extreme metal. His style will always be a part of DARK ANGEL, absolutely, big time."
Asked how the next DARK ANGEL album will compare to the band's previous efforts, Hoglan said: "Well, I can't really even comment on the fact that there might or might not be an album yet. But put it this way — if I were to have any new DARK ANGEL material, I would want it to be an extension of where the band is at now and where I'm at now. And I would probably approach the writing of it in a way as if DARK ANGEL never disappeared for a decade, two decades, three decades, or whatever it's been. It's just like we just kept doing what we do, and this would be where we're at right now. Which I would want to be putting out the most savage, heaviest material that DARK ANGEL could. And I'm no slouch with writing psychotic, heavy material. So I would be very, very excited with where DARK ANGEL's new material would be if that would be able to confirm."
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26 июл 2024


GHOST Releases Animated Music Video For 'The Future Is A Foreign Land'GHOST has released an animated music video for a new song called "The Future Is A Foreign Land".
The Swedish band's "newly uncovered 1969-era" track is featured on the soundtrack to GHOST's debut film, "Rite Here Rite Now".
According to GHOST, "The Future Is A Foreign Land" was penned by the fictional character Papa Nihil, who also "wrote" previously released GHOST songs "Mary On A Cross" and "Kiss The Go-Goat" but the track but had never been made available — until now.
While its wicked twangy guitar figures and portentous lyrics of an impending 1984 render the song instantly recognizable as an artifact of the era, "The Future Is A Foreign Land" is suffused with presciently modern signatures of the contemporary GHOST sound. Ending with an optimistic nod to 2024, "The Future Is A Foreign Land" was revealed to the children of the world during the end credits of "Rite Here Rite Now"'s world premiere, and is the sole previously unreleased studio track to be included on the movie's original soundtrack.
"The Future Is A Foreign Land", like the animated video for "Mary On a Cross", was directed by animator Sean Donnelly.
"Rite Here Rite Now" premiered globally in cinemas on June 20 through 23, with additional screenings added due to insatiable fan demand. It's an unforgettable, immersive event that combines narrative storytelling with live performances from the sold-out two-night finale of the band's "Re-Imperatour" U.S.A. 2023 at Los Angeles's iconic Kia Forum.
A phantasmagorical blend of live performance and cutaway sequences that immerses viewers in the technicolor melodrama of GHOST's vaunted live rituals, the film picks up plot threads from the band's long-running Chapters webisode series. It captures flesh and bone renditions of fan favorites from all five of GHOST's albums, as well as the RIAA platinum-certified "Mary On A Cross", interwoven with the silver screen debuts of familiar faces — all interacting behind the scenes with GHOST's Papa Emeritus IV, as his future and fate lay in the hands of the Ministry.
Whether a devoted disciple reliving treasured memories of the GHOST live spectacle or a curious newcomer, "Rite Here Rite Now" transports viewers into the heart of the performance. The film captures the essence of living in the moment, with a shadow of uncertainty looming, leaving the audience completely spellbound and enthralled by this bombastic yet intimate cinematic portrait of GHOST.
For its theatrical run, which was distributed by Trafalgar (Taylor Swift's "Eras" tour and Beyoncé's "Renaissance"),"Rite Here Rite Now" entered the Top 10 of the North America box office with a cumulative total gross of $2.65 million, making it the highest-grossing hard rock cinema event ever in North America. After its opening weekend, it entered the worldwide Top 10 box office at No. 9 with a total gross of $5.04 million worldwide. Regional highlights also included U.K. and Ireland with a $606,000 gross and No. 5 at the box office, Germany with a $332,000 gross and No. 3 at the box office, Mexico with a $326,000 gross and a No. 5 box office position for the weekend, and Australia with a $178,000 gross and No. 6 at the box office. The film has captivated audiences, receiving a stellar 99% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes.
"Rite Here Rite Now: The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack", mixed by Rich Costey, will be released worldwide on July 26 via Loma Vista Recordings. A fitting 18-song complement to GHOST's debut feature film, the band's first ever original soundtrack will be available on all formats (digital, CD, 2xLP). Pre-orders are live now, and include the brand new studio recording "The Future Is A Foreign Land", revealed to the world during the film's opening night, and the live version of "Absolution" as instant-grat tracks.
Last October, GHOST mastermind Tobias Forge confirmed that footage from the band's September 2023 two shows at the Kia Forum in Inglewood, California would be used as part of the film.
"When I first started putting it together, I was, like, 'Oh my god, I'm going to faint because there's so much to think about,'" Forge told Metal Hammer magazine. "Then it was, like, 'No, no, just don't think about it at all.'"
Both GHOST shows at the Forum were device-free experiences. Use of phones and smart watches was not permitted in the performance space. Upon arrival at the venue, devices were secured in individual Yondr pouches that were opened at the end of the event.
"I have never seen a crowd interact the way that they did since I was in a club band," Forge said. "They were the best shows I've ever done with GHOST, just because I didn't have to see those fucking mobile phones."
At the Forum shows, GHOST performed the song "Twenties" live for the very first time live. They also played their cover of Roky Erikson's "If You Have Ghosts", which was originally reimagined by GHOST for their 2013 EP "If You Have Ghost". The band's version of the track at the Forum featured two cellists with a piano playing, and it was performed on a separate stage from the rest of the set.
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26 июл 2024


Watch: KERRY KING Performs In Orlando During 'Ashes Of Leviathan' TourFan-filmed video of Kerry King's July 24 performance at the Orlando Amphitheater in Orlando, Florida can be seen below.
The setlist for the concert was as follows:
01. Where I Reign
02. Trophies Of The Tyrant
03. Residue
04. Toxic
05. Idle Hands
06. Shrapnel
07. Raining Blood (SLAYER song)
08. Black Magic (SLAYER song)
09. From Hell I Rise
The SLAYER guitarist's solo band played its first concert as the support act for LAMB OF GOD and MASTODON on July 19 at the Texas Trust CU Theatre in Grand Prairie, Texas.
Earlier this month, LAMB OF GOD guitarist Mark Morton told the Heavy Consequence's "Two For The Road" series about the fact that King's new group is serving as the support act for the North American "Ashes Of Leviathan" tour: "It speaks to the character of Kerry King, a legend in this game. [I have the] utmost respect [for him]. [He was] part of some of the greatest metal songs in history. SLAYER [was] absolutely formative in my understanding and my love for metal. And SLAYER has taken LAMB OF GOD out on multiple occasions, MASTODON out on multiple occasions, at some point together. And so now SLAYER is defunct or on hiatus, whatever it is that they're doing, or not doing. I don't know how to characterize that, but they've not been around, they've not been actively working."
Morton continued: "First of all, it speaks to who he is as a musician and as a songwriter and as an artist and as a performer that he doesn't just like kick back and go play with the snakes or whatever he does for fun. He puts a new band together, writes a new album, records a banger of an album, and now he's gonna go out on tour opening for these guys that opened for him. No pretense, no ego, none of the behind-the-scenes stuff, prima donna stuff — none of it. Because that's who he is.
"If there's any question, to the fans that are watching this or hearing this, but understand that that dude is a real one," Mark added. "He's an absolute real one. He's doing this not for the money — it's none of that. He's doing this because that dude is, in the truest, realest, most genuine sense of the concept, a heavy metal guitar player, songwriter. And if he can't do it with that band [SLAYER], he's gonna do it with this band. And if he can't do it headlining, he's gonna open up. It does not fricking matter. 'Cause that's who he is. And out of all the things I could say out of respect and accolades for Kerry King, that, to me, hits the hardest. That is the most impressive thing to me."
The six-week "Ashes Of Leviathan" tour will wrap on August 31 in Omaha, Nebraska.
Joining Kerry in his new band are Mark Osegueda (vocals; DEATH ANGEL),Phil Demmel (guitar; MACHINE HEAD, VIO-LENCE),Kyle Sanders (bass; HELLYEAH) and drummer Paul Bostaph (SLAYER, TESTAMENT, EXODUS).
In early May, the KERRY KING band performed its first live show at Reggies in Chicago. In the days following, the band went from playing an intimate venue to performing at the huge U.S. festivals Welcome To Rockville (Florida) and Sonic Temple (Ohio).
KERRY KING launched a European tour on June 3 — King's 60th birthday – in Tilburg, The Netherlands. The trek combined headline shows in the U.K., The Netherlands, Germany, Italy and Spain but also festival appearances such as Rock Am Ring, Hellfest, Tuska, Download, Sweden Rock Festival and many more.
King's debut solo album, "From Hell I Rise", was released in May. All material for the LP was written by the 60-year-old SLAYER guitarist. Helming the sessions at Henson Recording Studios in Los Angeles last year was producer Josh Wilbur, who has previously worked with KORN, LAMB OF GOD, AVENGED SEVENFOLD and BAD RELIGION, among others.
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26 июл 2024


TESTAMENT's CHUCK BILLY Says Seeing KISS In 1970s Changed His LifeOn a recent episode of the "Talk Louder" podcast, hosted by veteran music journalist "Metal Dave" Glessner and lifelong hard rock/metal vocalist Jason McMaster (DANGEROUS TOYS),TESTAMENT singer Chuck Billy was asked what album or concert or TV appearance had such a big impression on him that it got him into playing rock and roll. Chuck responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Well, I think it's probably like every musician I hear. It was my first KISS concert when I was 12 years old. My aunt dropped me and my cousin off in San Francisco at the show. I didn't smoke weed and [it was] the first time I see smelled weed and people were smoking weed around us. And we made our way down, and I think I got a shirt with Gene Simmons spitting blood on me and it was something, like, 'Oh my God.' Spitting fire, spitting blood, just this demon up there, and it really captured me. So after that point, I was in my garage of the backyard with my tennis racket, trying to be Gene Simmons. And originally I wanted to be a guitar player. I started playing guitar early and apparently I wasn't good enough. So I had to switch up to trying to be a singer, make my way to do that. But, of course, I think it was probably KISS. But I was always a guitar player. I loved UFO. Michael Schenker's one of my favorite guitar players of all time. And THIN LIZZY — I'm big THIN LIZZY fan. I love that stuff. And I still listen to that stuff today. I'm not much of a [fan of] modern-day [music]; [I don't] go out and buy and see what's current. I listen to what brings a smile and brings some cool memories back to me."
TESTAMENT is working on the follow-up to 2020's "Titans Of Creation" album for a tentative 2025 release.
Last month, Billy told Nikki Blakk of the San Francisco, California radio station 107.7 The Bone that TESTAMENT's next LP will likely contain 11 tracks along with "some covers".
The remastered versions of TESTAMENT's seminal albums "The Legacy" and "The New Order" are available both digitally and now on vinyl via Nuclear Blast Records.
"The Legacy" and "The New Order" were remastered by Justin Shturtz at Sterling Sound. Each album is available digitally and on 180-gram vinyl. "The Legacy" on red and white swirl with black splatter and "The New Order" on blue and purple swirl with black splatter, both limited to 1500 units worldwide. These special, limited-edition remastered LPs include alternate cover artwork, gatefold packaging with new liner notes, and an oversized booklet with never-before-seen images.
This fall, TESTAMENT and KREATOR will join forces for the "Klash Of The Titans" North American tour. The 33-date trek will kick off on September 12 in Reno, making its way across the U.S., and will include seven Canadian dates before concluding in San Francisco on October 27. Special guests on the run will be Bay Area death metal pioneers POSSESSED.
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26 июл 2024


GOJIRA To Perform At 2024 Paris Olympics Opening CeremonyFrench progressive metallers GOJIRA will perform at tomorrow's (Friday, July 26) Paris 2024 Olympics opening ceremony.
According to the French newspaper Le Parisien, GOJIRA's appearance at the event will consist of an "original" collaboration with opera singer Marina Viotti.
Sortir À Paris reported on GOJIRA's inclusion at the ceremony under the headline: "Who is GOJIRA, the metal band tipped for the opening ceremony?" The site goes on to say that the rumored collaboration with Marina is "a wonderful artistic proposition, and one that will surprise many if it is confirmed!"
According to the biography on her web site, Marina has previously "experimented with jazz, gospel and heavy metal".
Also set to perform at the ceremony are Céline Dion, Lady Gaga and Aya Nakamura.
"The opening ceremony is orchestrated by renowned stage director Thomas Jolly," Time Out reports, "who has invited a stellar cast of local and international stars to celebrate the rich history and diversity of French musical culture."
The opening ceremony of the 2024 Paris Olympics will air on NBC beginning at 1:30 p.m. EDT Friday and stream on Peacock and NBC Olympics platforms.
GOJIRA's latest album, "Fortitude", entered Billboard's Top Albums chart at No. 1 in May 2021, while also claiming the No. 1 spot on Billboard's Top Current Albums, Current Rock Albums and Current Hard Music Albums tallies. The release also marked a career high debut on the Billboard 200 for GOJIRA, arriving at No. 12, with several career high chart positions and Top 10 debuts in countries around the globe including: France (No. 2),United Kingdom (No. 6),Australia (No. 3),Germany (No. 8),Belgium (No. 2),Netherlands (No. 4),Denmark (No. 3),Portugal (No. 4),Finland (No. 2) and Norway (No. 10).
"Fortitude" is highlighted by the singles "Another World", "Born For One Thing", "Into The Storm", "Amazonia" and "The Chant", a slow-burning track featuring some of GOJIRA's most melodic material to date.
Furthermore, GOJIRA concluded a month-long fundraising initiative in support of the indigenous-owned NGO The Articulation of Indigenous Peoples of Brazil (APIB) who advocate for environmental and cultural rights of indigenous tribes in the Amazon. Working with the social good-focused digital platform Propeller, the charitable campaign raised over $300,000 through an auction and raffle of one-of-a-kind items from the band and their friends in METALLICA, TOOL, SLIPKNOT, SLAYER, Slash and more. All proceeds were donated to APIB to support their work aiding the indigenous tribes of the Amazon who have suffered immensely — victims of deforestation, land loss, forced labor, violence, and harassment.
Recorded and produced by Joseph Duplantier at Silver Cord Studio — GOJIRA's Ridgewood, Queens, New York headquarters — and mixed by Andy Wallace (NIRVANA, RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE),"Fortitude" is GOJIRA's first album in five years and the follow-up to 2016's Grammy-nominated LP "Magma". A collection of songs urging humanity to imagine a new world and then make it happen, "Fortitude" has been earning widespread critical praise with Rolling Stone naming it one of their best albums of April 2021 and remarking "It's all the rage of death metal mixed with the conscience of punk rock and the musicality of progressive rock." NPR hailed "Another World" as "an apocalyptic banger," and Paste called "Into The Storm" a "much-needed revolutionary anthem." Stereogum declared, "hearing this band operating at their peak is a life-affirming thing," while Revolver attested "Fortitude" "could spark a revolution."
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25 июл 2024


BILL WARD: 'I Would Love To Play' One Final Concert With BLACK SABBATHOriginal BLACK SABBATH drummer Bill Ward says that he "would love to play" one final concert with the band.
Earlier today (Thursday, July 25), Ward took to his social media to write: "Hey ya, Bill Ward checking in regarding all the updates on a possible SABBATH show in England.
"I'm in for playing some of everyone's old favorites. Loved playing them then, I'd love to play them one last time.
"I'm not going to talk about my health publicly except to say, everyday I'm pretty good for 76 years old, I'm active musically every day, and I have a very busy and gratifying life.
"Love you all, all the fucking time."
During an appearance on the May 22 episode of SiriusXM's "Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk", BLACK SABBATH guitarist Tony Iommi was asked about Ozzy Osbourne's recent comment that he would like to play one final SABBATH concert with Ward. Tony said: "It's a funny old thing, really. I mean, God, we'll be 90 by the time we do that. [Laughs] It'd be a nice idea, but you're gonna get everybody going, 'Oh, they're doing it for the money. They're doing it for this, they're doing it for that, they're doing it…' Well, it wouldn't be. I mean, it'd be something that'd be a nice thing to actually do, but whether it happens will be another thing. But we'll see. I mean, who knows?"
Asked if he misses performing live, Tony said: "It's great to see the audience. I love to play live. But I have been playing. You obviously know about the BLACK SABBATH ballet. And it was great for me to go on at the end — I was playing on the end of the show, which was really good to get out and play live again. And then I did a gig with Johnny Depp when he came over [with HOLLYWOOD VAMPIRES]; I played on one of their shows, which was great. It's really good to be able to do that. But, yeah, for me, I've always loved playing live. But I have to look at it realistically at my age. I can't go out and do a two-year tour like we were doing before. And to put something together like the original SABBATH or this or that or the other, you've gotta do it a long time because of the cost of everything. But it would be nice, yes, to do a one-off, if that ever happens, yeah."
On the topic of his health, Iommi — who was diagnosed with lymphoma in early 2012, shortly after SABBATH announced a reunion tour and album — said: "It's up and down at the moment, to be honest. I'm going for a heart check tomorrow. I've been getting these, like, sort of, um… I can't breathe properly and can't get my breath out, so they recommended I go and get this checked tomorrow. But, apart from that, yeah, I've been fine."
Ozzy discussed Ward's absence from SABBATH's final album, "13", during a recent episode of the new Internet TV show "The Madhouse Chronicles". Released in 2013, it was SABBATH's first LP in 35 years to feature Osbourne, Iommi and bassist Geezer Butler. Ozzy said: "I can't remember why Bill didn't do it. I've gotta be truthful. It wasn't really BLACK SABBATH because Bill wasn't there. I mean, if you had Ginger Baker playing with THE BEATLES, it wouldn't be THE BEATLES."
Ozzy also talked about the final show of SABBATH's "The End" tour, which took place in February 2017 in the band's original hometown of Birmingham, England. Asked if he was glad it was done at that moment, Osbourne said: "Yeah, but I was sad that Bill wasn't there. I mean, I mean, Tommy [Clufetos], my drummer [for my solo band], did a great job [stepping in for Bill], but he ain't Bill Ward."
Pressed about whether he is happy with the arc of the legend of BLACK SABBATH, Ozzy said: "No. Because it wasn't BLACK SABBATH that finished it. It's unfinished. If they wanted to do one more gig with Bill, I would jump at the chance. Do you know what would be cool? If we went to a club or something unannounced and we just got up and did it. We started up in a club."
Back in September 2022, Ozzy was asked by Stereogum if he still feels good about where "13" left things with SABBATH. He responded: "Not really, because, to be perfectly honest, I didn't really get a charge from the album. Although ['13' producer] Rick Rubin is a good friend of mine, I wasn't really… I was just singing. It was like stepping back in time, but it wasn't a glorious period. Though Geezer did a lot of lyric writing for me, which he's very, very good at. It wasn't an earth-shattering experience for me."
As for whether BLACK SABBATH is "totally done" in his mind, Osbourne: "I would like to say it's completely done. I think it's time. The only thing I really regret, to be honest, is that Bill Ward didn't play on the ['13'] album. It wasn't really a BLACK SABBATH album. I'm not saying that one day we might not all go in a room and come up with the perfect BLACK SABBATH album. But I'll say, ['13'] wasn't recorded the way BLACK SABBATH recorded records. We'd gone right back past the point where we took charge, back to when someone else had full control of our recording. Which we never did from 'Vol. 4' onwards."
Ward in May 2012 announced that he was declining to join his former SABBATH bandmates for its scheduled dates, as well as the recording of the new album, due to a contractual dispute. After SABBATH shot down Rubin's suggestion to replace Ward with Ginger Baker (CREAM) ("I thought, 'Bloody hell?'" Iommi told Rolling Stone magazine. "I just couldn't see that."),Rick suggested RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE drummer Brad Wilk.
In March 2021, Bill admitted to SiriusXM's "Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk" that he no longer had the "chops" and the "ability" to perform with BLACK SABBATH. "I have to be back to 60 years old to be able to do that," he said.
"I would love to do a studio album with SABBATH, with all the original members," he continued. "I'm just saying that — I'm just floating that out there. But I'm not done. So, the other three might be done, and I respect that, but no, I'm not done. I think as long as we all exist [laughs] and we're still breathing in air, I think we have every possibility of making some great music together."
Ozzy told The Pulse Of Radio during SABBATH's last tour that Ward was not in shape to participate. "Bill Ward has got the most physically demanding job of the lot of us, 'cause he's the timekeeper," he said. "I don't think personally he had the chops to pull it off, you know. The saddest thing is that he needed to own up to that, and we could have worked around it, whether we had a drummer on the side with him or something."
It was rumored that SABBATH wanted to bring a second drummer on the road to share duties with Ward, something that Iommi confirmed in 2017 during a question-and-answer session about SABBATH's "Ten Year War" box set.
Hey ya,
Bill Ward checking in regarding all the updates on a possible Sabbath show in England.
I’m in for playing some...
Posted by Bill Ward on Thursday, July 25, 2024
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25 июл 2024


BLACK SABBATH's GEEZER BUTLER: 'Unless You've Experienced True Depression, You Can't Describe It'In a recent interview with TalkShopLive, legendary BLACK SABBATH bassist Geezer Butler opened up about his past battles with depression. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Unless you've experienced true depression, you can't describe it. It's like you're going to this awful black hole. And people would say, like, 'Oh, just go and have a drink or take the dog for a walk.' That's what the doctors used to say. 'Well, go and watch television or read a book.' And, of course, you've got no interest in anything. So the only way I could express myself was writing the lyrics for [BLACK SABBATH's classic song] 'Paranoid'. I mean, I wasn't depressed all the time, but when I used to get the bouts of depression, you just couldn't explain it to anyone, and you were terrified that you go to a mental health person, maybe, and they put you in hospital for years, in a mental institution. So you'd never go to doctors or anything like that. And so you just had to get on with it. And the only way I could get it out of my system was to write the lyrics."
Asked how he is doing today, Geezer said: "Good now, yeah. 'Cause in 1999, I was finally properly diagnosed, and they put me on Prozac for six weeks. And the doctor says, 'It's not gonna work straight away. Keep taking it for six weeks and eventually you'll start feeling like normal again.' And I said, 'Well, what's normal?' After six weeks, this big cloud seemed to lift off me. It was great."
Butler previously discussed his depression battles last August in an interview with NPR's "Bullseye With Jesse Thorn". He said at the time: "Well, I wasn't depressed all the time. Just the occasional bout would come on me. At first, when it was getting really bad… Back then nobody ever said anything about depression or anything like that, and people were terrified to mention that you might be depressed 'cause you automatically thought you were gonna be taken away to a mental hospital and be locked away forever. So you couldn't talk about it to people in case that happened. One day I got a really bad bout of depression and I went to the doctor and he said, 'Oh, go down the pub and have a couple of pints. Or take the dog for a walk or something. You'll be all right.' And it was, like, 'No, I'm not gonna be all right. It doesn't work like that.' And that kept happening. And it wasn't until, I think in the 1990s. I was living in St. Louis at the time, and I had a bit of a nervous breakdown. And I went to this doctor, the usual doctor, and I just explained everything to him and he told me that I was clinically depressed and he put me on Prozac. And after six weeks, I finally came out of the depression. And I thought, 'Oh, yeah. This is what I'm supposed to feel like.' And ever since that, I've been okay."
Butler reiterated that he "couldn't talk about" his depression with anyone. "And when I did get depression, people used to think I was moody and miserable," he said. "And they'd be going, 'Well, what's the matter with you? What's happened to you?' And nothing bad had happened. So they were saying, 'You've got all the money you want, you've got your house, you've got your cars and everything. What's wrong with you? Cheer up.' And they couldn't understand that it's nothing like that. You can have everything you can possibly want in the world, but when you get into those dark, depressing days, nothing matters. All you think about is, like, 'So I'll just end it or what.' And luckily I used to come out of it."
Asked if he felt any shame about the way that he had felt and behaved when he was depressed, Geezer said: "Not really shame. I just wish people could have [understood] that I wasn't miserable at the time. 'Cause if you're a rock star or whatever, if you're in a band, you're supposed to be this happy person and you're up all the time and everything is available to you and you can do this, you can do that. And you're not supposed to get depressed if you're a rock star and all that kind of thing. It was just hard coming to terms with it and admitting that's where it was. And it was just the occasional thing. I wasn't depressed all the time or anything like that. It's just that when I'd get into those black holes, I just couldn't get out of it. And it wasn't until it was diagnosed that I finally found a way out of it."
A couple of months earlier, Geezer told Uncut that he "started cutting" himself to get relief from his depression because he couldn't talk to anybody about how he was feeling. "Nobody talked about it and nobody understood it," he said. "One day I cut myself so deeply that I couldn't stop the blood. People used to think I was really moody, but it was when the depression hit me I couldn't get out of it, I couldn't talk to people. People used to think I was miserable.”
Butler explained how he started taking antidepressants during a tour of America and has remained medicated since. He said: "Then I wrote the song 'Paranoid' which is all about mental health stuff and it wasn't until ages after that that I went to the doctor and they gave me pills. I had a mental breakdown, went to a doctor in America and he put me on Prozac. After about six weeks on that, the depression started lifting. I've been on various antidepressants ever since."
The bassist added that he has a "big black hole" inside of him and called it a disease. Butler added: "I enjoyed the success of the album, absolutely. People would say, 'You've got all this money coming in. You've got a No 1 album. What have you got to be depressed about?' It's like a disease. There's nothing you can do about it, no matter how much money you've got or how happy you are with your job.
Butler continued: "When you're in it, you don’t think you're going to get out of it. I'd go into this big black hole. And once you're in it, you can't remember what normal life was like. People used to think if you were depressed, that you were antisocial, miserable."
Butler is promoting his autobiography, "Into The Void: From Birth To Black Sabbath – And Beyond", which was released in June 2023 in North America via HarperCollins imprint Dey Street Books.
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25 июл 2024


TONY IOMMI On His Upcoming Single 'Deified': It Came Together 'The Same Way As I've Done Most Stuff'BLACK SABBATH guitarist Tony Iommi recently announced a new signature cologne, another collaboration with Italian luxury perfume house Xerjoff.
A combination of forces that play on the palindromic nature of sound, scent and sensorial sequences, Tony Iommi Deified is the new Xerjoff venture that presents Deified perfume with a soon-to-come soundtrack and music video.
Created on a duality of leather and spice, Deified plays in a loop with no beginning and no end, accompanying the wearer with its omnipresent aura. Authentic and warm accents of saffron meet powdery and leathery facets that dance with the delicate touch of gourmand freshness. Cinnamon exalts spicier notes, complemented by gentle rose at the heart. The woody base of papyrus and patchouli leaves the senses longing for more in a rhythmic exchange of back and forth.
Step into a parallel universe where mystery possesses the mind in a dark and decadent experience that casts subliminal shadows on the wearer.
The official "Deified" soundtrack and music video will arrive on Friday, July 26 at 4 p.m. BST.
A new video in which Iommi and Sergio Momo, acclaimed perfumer and designer for Xerjoff, chat about "Deified" — the new track, perfume and music video — with Julian Marszalek and Suzy Nightingale can be seen below.
Regarding how the "Deified" song came together, Iommi said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Well, it's the same way as I've done most stuff, really. I come up with a riff, and then [my engineer] Mike Exeter, I'd put the riff down, and he'd put a programmed-drum thing to it. And he'd play bass or keyboards or something, just to make it something to present, really. And then, in our case, then it would go to Sergio and see if he likes it, and then he'd do his part. And then we'd go in the studio with the drummer, and he'd put the drums on and bass. So we do it that sort of way, really."
He continued: "Doing the [recordings] live [in the studio], I haven't done [anything] where we all played live for a good many years. Well, the last album, '13', when we'd done that with SABBATH, was all live. But you tend to sort of, especially in our state, where Sergio's in Italy and we're here in England. It works just to send the ideas and see what he thinks. Or when he's come over, play him something. And he said, 'Oh, I like that.' As we did with [our first collaboration] 'Scent Of Dark'. We played a few things. And that's it. And he went away and came up with some bits."
For more information, visit www.xerjoff.com.
Iommi's first signature cologne arrived in 2021. At the time, it was described as the product of a friendship struck up during the pandemic between Iommi and Momo. Sergio is also an accomplished guitarist, and his fine fretwork could be heard on "Scent Of Dark", a song Iommi released to promote is first cologne.
While the realm of high-end fragrancies and the uncompromising heavy music that Iommi is known for might not at first seem to make viable bedfellows, the guitarist's interests in fragrances actually stretches far back to the early days of BLACK SABBATH.
"It's something I've always been interested in, ever since the early days of products like Brut and Old Spice, which I'd always get given for Christmas," remembered Tony. "Once I started touring the world with SABBATH though, I started discovering different sorts of fragrancies from other countries and began collecting them on tour.
"I met Sergio through another friend of mine Jimmy Crutchley (who plays bass on 'Scent Of Dark') and Sergio kindly sent me a box of his fragrances and asked if I'd be interested in creating my own, which I certainly wasn't expecting," laughed Iommi. "I had no idea how that would work, but Sergio suggested I come up with a list of things I like the smell of, which I did. He developed some different samples made up from my suggestions and I picked the one I liked; the project moved forward from there."
For his first cologne, Tony brought in the aromatic reminiscence of rock in the 1960s and 1970s, festivals and gatherings, amber and patchouli. The final result harmoniously characterized the dark sound of Iommi's original famous '64 Monkey Special guitar with the spicy and seductive scents.
From the start, Tony has been instrumental in creating his fragrance. "I wouldn't put my name to something that I haven't been involved in and didn't personally like or use," he explained. "That's been the same with all of the projects I've done from guitars onwards, this is no different."
In a November 2021 interview with Rolling Stone, Iommi stated about his interest in cologne: "Ever since [BLACK SABBATH] went on tour to the States, really, I started getting more and more into it. I'd go to the mall or stores, and I'd buy some different perfumes and scents until I'd find one that I really like. And then I'd stick to one for a while. Then I'd change, from Cartier to Tom Ford, or whatever. I've been doing that for years. Now I've got my own custom ones — an abundance of them now."
Asked which aromas he liked best when he first started working with Sergio, Tony said: "Oh, God. I think some of them threw him because a couple of the samples were horrible. But others were great. I like the smell of when you get in a new car, the leather smell, and obviously coffee and just stuff like that. Patchouli is the main ingredient in this perfume, which just goes back to the '60s. I knew the smell of patchouli in them days; they used to use it to mask the smell of people smoking dope. [Laughs]"
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25 июл 2024


Watch: KINGS OF THRASH Kick Off 2024 Australian Tour In Canberra (4K Video)KINGS OF THRASH, the band featuring former MEGADETH members David Ellefson (bass) and Jeff Young (guitar),kicked off a five-date tour of Australia on July 23 at The Baso in Canberra. 4K fan-filmed video of the entire concert can be seen below.
For his first time in Australia, another former MEGADETH member, guitarist Chris Poland, has joined KINGS OF THRASH to perform the MEGADETH album "Peace Sells... But Who's Buying?" in its entirety plus a best-of set.
If you were lucky enough to catch KINGS OF THRASH on the band's last tour of Australia in 2023, the shows were packed to the rafters and the VIP experience packages were sold out across the board. The fans were left wanting more. So, the promoters asked the fans: What would they want for a follow-up tour of KINGS OF THRASH in Australia? The resounding, definitive answer was what will now be known as the KINGS OF THRASH "Wake Up… Australia!" tour.
Remaining tour dates:
July 25 - Sydney - Crowbar
July 26 - Adelaide - Lion Arts Factory
July 27 - Melbourne - Max Watts
KINGS OF THRASH recently completed a couple of tours during which it performed MEGADETH's classic albums "Killing Is My Business… And Business Is Good!" and "So Far, So Good… So What!" A live CD/DVD package called "Best Of The West…Live At The Whisky A Go Go" was recorded and filmed live at the legendary Whisky A Go Go in West Hollywood, California on October 15, 2022 and was released in March 2023 via Cleopatra Records. The DVD, which was directed by Michael Sarna for Inmotion Entertainment, includes an appearance by Poland.
"Let me put it this way: What's happening now is a win for all of us — Dave [Mustaine, MEGADETH leader] included," Young told Metal Edge in August 2023. "He gets to make money off the publishing from the MEGADETH songs we play. Dave knows that, so he's very aware of us."
Young continued: "He hates what KINGS OF THRASH is doing. But it doesn't matter because, eventually, we'll delete a lot of the MEGADETH from our set, and we'll keep writing new stuff. But Dave is feeling the heat because we're getting attention, and the KINGS OF THRASH album will be better than anything MEGADETH has done recently. And we're playing all the MEGADETH songs better than he has in years. It's not just me saying that — read the reviews."
In January 2023, Young told Ultimate Guitar that he and Ellefson had not received any feedback from Mustaine about their new band or their recent live shows. "We couldn't care less… and it's a win-win for him," Jeff said. "Because all the publishing, for example, on the 'Best Of The West', he's getting all that money. We're making him money and he doesn't have to do anything. So, we're performing the songs because they're part of our history and the fans want to hear them and we will benefit from that, and so will he, so it's a win-win. How much cooler can anything be than that? So, if he has something to say about it… I wouldn't imagine it would be very objective… not that anything he's ever said has been objective."
Jeff's recent comments were similar to those he made in 2022 when he told Thomas S. Orwat, Jr. of the Rock Interview Series that he and Ellefson were "really not concerned" about Mustaine's reaction to KINGS OF THRASH. "I don't pay attention," he said. "I haven't really paid attention or followed MEGADETH since, I think, I heard the 'Rust In Peace' album a couple of times, and then what you might hear on the radio or in the press.
"For us, this isn't about any spite or retaliation; it's a celebration of the music that we were all a part of, that we helped create," he explained. "And it's fun for us to do this.
"People said, 'You should do this.' And we said, 'Hey, yeah, you're right. We should do this.' It's a win-win — it's a win for us, and it's a win for [Mustaine], because any performance royalties, anything… If we did include live tracks, he would make money off that. It's promoting albums that hopefully fans will go back and buy, which is putting money right in his pocket. Especially 'Killing Is My Business', I think a lot of people are gonna go back and wanna rediscover that album after this tour.
"For us, it's all about positivity," Young added. "We're all in this moment — we're living in the moment, and we're not looking beyond. We're not reading any of the comments on Blabbermouth or any of the stuff. Because we know what our intent is, and intent is everything. And our intent's positive. We like playing together. We know we're crafting original music. We're not relying on this; we don't need to ride the coattails of this. This is just something that the fans wanted, and you wanna give fans what they want."
Ellefson told Yes! You CAN Play Guitar! that the intention behind KINGS OF THRASH is not to stick it to his former bandmates. "This is a celebration, not a retaliation," he explained. "This is a good moment. This is a happy moment, to celebrate these songs and these tracks and these records. So we go at it with just fun… It's, like, 'Wow. Wouldn't it be fun if we went out and played these records?' And we're doing it. So it's meant to be this celebration and bringing people together. And honestly, that was kind of always my role in MEGADETH. Dave [Mustaine] always called me 'The Ambassador', and I was always that guy, and I am that guy. So it's, like, let me just continue that role in our community and have one of good will."
Ellefson was fired from MEGADETH almost three years ago after sexually tinged messages and explicit video footage involving the bassist were posted on Twitter.
David was in MEGADETH from the band's inception in 1983 to 2002, and again from 2010 until his latest exit.
In 2004, Ellefson filed an $18.5-million lawsuit against Mustaine, alleging the MEGADETH leader shortchanged him on profits and backed out of a deal to turn Megadeth Inc. over to him when the band broke up in 2002. The lawsuit was eventually dismissed and Ellefson rejoined MEGADETH in 2010.
Young's entire career with MEGADETH was spent recording and touring in support of the band's 1988 platinum-selling album "So Far, So Good...So What!"
Jeff made headlines in December 2009 for accusing Mustaine of, among other things, "dissing, exaggerating and just plain lying on some level about nearly every talented musician that has passed through his dysfunctional little ensemble." He also disputed Mustaine's claim in an interview that Young's drug problem led to MEGADETH's 1988 Australian tour being called off and the group being "banned" from performing in the country.
In some recent interviews, Ellefson suggested that the upcoming original material from KINGS OF THRASH, which also includes drummer Fred Aching as well as guitarist/vocalist Chaz Leon, may be released under a different moniker. "Because, look, it doesn't have to be thrash," he told KNAC.COM. "It doesn't even have to be from a MEGADETH origin, really. Even though that was kind of the origin story, it doesn't have to sound like that. It should be us, who we are now today, I think. So, we've decided KINGS OF THRASH, for sure, is this [touring project] playing the music of yesterday. And then we're just deciding now, okay, this new music, to fit within that, should it be Jeff Young and David Ellefson doing something together? You know — ELLEFSON-YOUNG."
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25 июл 2024


LACUNA COIL Is Putting Finishing Touches On New Studio Album: We Are 'Super Happy About The Result'Italian metallers LACUNA COIL are putting the finishing touches on their new studio album.
Earlier today (Wednesday, July 24),LACUNA COIL bassist and main songwriter Marco "Maki" Coti-Zelati took to Instagram to share a photo from the studio, and he included the following message: "Getting closer to the end of the new album. I'm super happy about the result and super proud about my fellas! Few more days of editing, arrangements and mixing then finally we will be ready for the mastering. Thank you guys".
Last month, LACUNA COIL announced the departure of guitarist Diego Cavallotti.
Cavallotti, who joined LACUNA COIL in 2016, initially as a fill-in guitarist following the exit of Marco "Maus" Biazzi, later said in a social media post that "this decision is not the result of my dissatisfaction or desire to explore new opportunities."
When LACUNA COIL announced Cavallotti's departure on June 17, the band wrote in a statement: "As we step into a new cycle, writing and recording our next album, we are parting ways with Diego 'DD' Cavallotti. We thank him for the many unforgettable moments shared over the years and wish him the best of luck in his future endeavours.
"All future live plans remain unchanged and the new songs are taking form, we can't wait to share them with our fans."
LACUNA COIL recently completed the "Ignite The Fire" U.S. tour with support from NEW YEARS DAY and OCEANS OF SLUMBER.
In April, LACUNA COIL released another new single, "In The Mean Time", featuring Ash Costello of NEW YEARS DAY. The song's title is a reference to the mean times the world is living in, as well as a reference to the state the band itself is in, between cycles.
Last July, LACUNA COIL released the official lyric video for a new track called "Never Dawn". For the song, the band partnered with CMON, the renowned board game publisher behind the popular game "Zombicide".
In a recent interview with Brazil's Sonoridades Inc., LACUNA COIL singer Cristina Scabbia spoke about the progress of the writing and recording sessions for the band's follow-up to 2019's "Black Anima" album. She said: "I can't really tell you a lot. I can tell you that we are progressing very fast. We are almost, like, 100… We completed, let's say, the demoing. We still have to record the rest of the songs, but we will soon — probably after the tour, after the [May 2024] North American tour. And if everything goes as projected, before the end of the year [it] will be released. And that's already a big news, because we always say, 'We don't know. Maybe.' … I absolutely love the songs. I'm part of the process. But I'm very pleased."
Asked if "Never Dawn" will be on the upcoming album, Cristina said: "I think it will be. I think it will be, 'cause it will make sense. And it also fits with the other songs — it really fits with the other songs. Many heavy songs."
LACUNA COIL has spent some of the last couple of years promoting "Comalies XX", the "deconstructed" and "transported" version of the band's third album, "Comalies".
"Comalies XX" was made available on October 14, 2022 via Century Media Records.
LACUNA COIL celebrated the 20th anniversary of "Comalies", by performing it in its entirety at a one-night-only concert on October 15, 2022 at Fabrique in Milano.
"Comalies" was originally released on October 29, 2002 through Century Media Records. The LP, which featured the band's breakthrough single "Heaven's A Lie", has reportedly gone on to sell over 300,000 copies in the United States alone.
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25 июл 2024


Watch: LAMB OF GOD Performs Entire 'Ashes Of The Wake' Album In HoustonFan-filmed video of LAMB OF GOD's entire July 21 performance at the 713 Music Hall in Houston, Texas can be seen below.
The band's setlist was as follows:
"Ashes Of The Wake" album
01. Laid To Rest
02. Hourglass
03. Now You've Got Something To Die For
04. The Faded Line
05. Omerta
06. Blood Of The Scribe
07. One Gun
08. Break You
09. What I've Become
10. Ashes Of The Wake
11. Remorse Is For The Dead
Encore:
12. Memento Mori
13. Redneck
LAMB OF GOD launched its "Ashes Of Leviathan" co-headlining tour with MASTODON on July 19 in Austin, Texas. The trek, dubbed "Ashes Of Leviathan", also features openers KERRY KING and MALEVOLENCE.
"Ashes Of Leviathan" celebrates the 20th anniversary of LAMB OF GOD's "Ashes Of The Wake" and MASTODON's "Leviathan" albums, both of which were released on the same date in 2004 (August 31).
Roundly regarded as a cornerstone of modern metal, "Ashes Of The Wake" also features beloved songs such as "Now You've Got Something To Die For", "Omerta" and the blistering "Hourglass". On August 30, Epic Records and Legacy Recordings mark the two-decade anniversary of the pivotal release with "Ashes Of The Wake (20th Anniversary Edition)", featuring new mixes by Justin K Broadrick (GODFLESH, JESU),HEALTH and KUBLAI KHAN TX and MALEVOLENCE, as well as demo and live versions of the album's classic songs.
LAMB OF GOD's webstore features a trio of exclusive items marking the 20th anniversary: Yellow Smoke 2LP vinyl, a 2CD set, and a commemorative "Ashes Of The Wake" t-shirt. Two additional vinyl variants, a standard black and a Project M exclusive white/black/red swirl offering, as well as 2CD, and digital, are also available now for preorder/pre-saves at this location. All formats include the trio of new remixes and live recordings of "Remorse Is For The Dead" and "Now You've Got Something To Die For", while the 2CD and digital versions include demo versions of "Laid To Rest", "Ashes Of The Wake" and "Remorse Is For The Dead".
Revolver recently announced a special issue dedicated to LAMB OF GOD and "Ashes Of The Wake". The limited-edition print magazine features commentary from JUDAS PRIEST's Rob Halford, GOJIRA's Joe Duplantier and "Ashes Of Leviathan" touring partner Troy Sanders (MASTODON),as well as multiple behind-the-scenes photos and the history behind the seminal album.
LAMB OF GOD is Randy Blythe (vocals),John Campbell (bass),Mark Morton (guitar),Willie Adler (guitar) and Art Cruz (drums). Formed in 1994, the Richmond, Virginia-based band have released nine critically acclaimed albums, received five Grammy Award nominations and are widely regarded as one of the most influential and innovative forces in heavy music. The band's most recent collection, "Omens", arrived in late 2022, with Kerrang! noting that the album finds the band "as reliably heavy, violent, and pissed off as ever," and Consequence saying the "album will break you down to nihilistic pieces."
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25 июл 2024

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25 июл 2024

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25 июл 2024


See Pro-Shot Video Of AC/DC Performing 'If You Want Blood' In Bratislava During Summer 2024 TourProfessionally filmed video of AC/DC performing the song "If You Want Blood (You've Got It)" on July 21 at Old Airport Vajnory in Bratislava, Slovakia can be seen below.
The setlist for the show was as follows, according to Setlist.fm:
01. If You Want Blood (You've Got It)
02. Back In Black
03. Demon Fire
04. Shot Down In Flames
05. Thunderstruck
06. Have A Drink On Me
07. Hells Bells
08. Shot In The Dark
09. Stiff Upper Lip
10. Shoot To Thrill
11. Sin City
12. Rock 'N' Roll Train
13. Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap
14. High Voltage
15. Riff Raff
16. You Shook Me All Night Long
17. Highway To Hell
18. Whole Lotta Rosie
19. Let There Be Rock
Encore:
20. T.N.T.
21. For Those About To Rock (We Salute You)
The "Power Up" European tour marks AC/DC's first with the band's new touring lineup consisting of singer Brian Johnson, guitarists Angus and Stevie Young, drummer Matt Laug and the latest addition to the group's touring lineup, bassist Chris Chaney.
The 24-date trek will run through August. The trek will move on to Germany, Belgium and Paris before winding down at Croke Park in Dublin, Ireland. The European tour is the first run of gigs since AC/DC's return to the stage at last year's rock Power Trip festival in Indio, California.
AC/DC's last tour took place in 2015 and 2016 and had a $180 million gross, with 2,310,061 sold tickets reported to the Pollstar box office.
Laug is an American drummer who has played with many bands/artists such as Alanis Morissette, Alice Cooper, SLASH'S SNAKEPIT and Vasco Rossi. Matt moved to Los Angeles after graduating from South Florence High School in 1986 and after attending college in L.A., Matt became a sought-after studio drummer.
In 2001, Laug supported AC/DC as part of SLASH'S SNAKEPIT on the North American and European legs of the "Stiff Upper Lip" tour.
In its announcement about Laug's addition to the band's Power Trip lineup, AC/DC offered no explanation for the absence of the band's longtime drummer Phil Rudd, who rejoined AC/DC for the recording of the group's comeback album, "Power Up", which came out in November 2020.
Rudd was ousted from AC/DC when he was sentenced to eight months of home detention by a New Zealand court in 2015 after pleading guilty to charges of threatening to kill and drug possession. He was replaced on the band's "Rock Or Bust" tour by Chris Slade, who had previously served as AC/DC's drummer between 1989 and 1994, playing on the album "The Razor's Edge".
Rudd, who appeared on all but three of AC/DC's 18 previous studio albums, toured in support of his 2014 solo debut, "Head Job". It was the release of that album that led indirectly to Rudd's arrest, with the drummer allegedly so angry at a personal assistant over the way the record was promoted that he threatened to have the man and his daughter killed.
AC/DC postponed the last 10 dates of its spring 2016 North American trek after Johnson was advised to stop playing live or "risk total hearing loss." The band went on to complete the European and North American legs of its "Rock Or Bust" tour with GUNS N' ROSES frontman Axl Rose as a "guest vocalist." At the time, Johnson had been AC/DC's singer for 36 years, ever since replacing the late Bon Scott in 1980 and making his debut on the classic "Back In Black" album.
To enable him to perform live with AC/DC again, the now-76-year-old Johnson worked with audio expert Stephen Ambrose, who said he could help resolve the singer's hearing problems.
Ambrose, who invented the wireless in-ear monitors that are widely used by touring artists today, claimed to have invented a new type of ear-bud that would allow Johnson to perform without causing further damage to his eardrums. After three years of experimenting and "miniaturizing" the equipment, Johnson previously said the technology could allow him to tour again.
Chaney is best known as the bassist of JANE'S ADDICTION and as a member of Alanis Morissette's touring and recording band. Chaney was also a member of TAYLOR HAWKINS AND THE COATTAIL RIDERS and CAMP FREDDY, as well as being a prolific and versatile session musician, having played with artists including Joe Cocker, Shakira, Slash and Avril Lavigne to Sara Bareilles, Gavin Degraw, Cher, SHINEDOWN and Celine Dion. Chaney is also a founding member and partner in the all-star supergroup ROYAL MACHINES along with Dave Navarro (JANE'S ADDICTION),Mark McGrath (SUGAR RAY),Josh Freese (FOO FIGHTERS) and Billy Morrison (BILLY IDOL).
Bassist Cliff Williams announced his retirement at the end of AC/DC's 2015-2016 "Rock Or Bust" tour, which also saw Johnson leaving. However, Williams — and Johnson — took part in the recording sessions that resulted in "Power Up". Both of them were also part of the AC/DC lineup that performed at Power Trip.
During an October 2020 interview with Dean Delray's "Let There Be Talk" podcast, Cliff was asked if Johnson's departure from the road was what led to his desire to stop touring. Cliff responded: "It was before then. I spoke to Angus about it initially. I was at a point — and this is at the beginning of the 'Rock Or Bust' tour — that I just felt, for me, it was time to hang it up. I knew that I didn't wanna keep doing these two-year tours, and I didn't wanna hold them back, so I made them aware of the fact that this was gonna be my last go-round. It was a tough tour to finish. God bless Axl for coming in and helping us out, finish it up. He did a great job. And at the end of that, I was definitely — that was it for me. Done — just done. That compounded the whole thing."
According to Williams, he wanted to take part in the recording sessions for "Power Up" as a tribute to Angus's late brother, founding AC/DC rhythm guitarist Malcolm Young, who died in 2017 from effects of dementia at age 64. Malcolm is credited as a writer on all 12 tracks on "Power Up".
"If 'Back In Black' has [late AC/DC singer] Bon Scott all over it, for me, 'Power Up' has got Malcolm Young," Cliff said. "This is for him. And it's the band that we played together with for 40-plus years. And I wanted to do that — I wanted to come back and do that.
"We did some rehearsals earlier [in 2020] before this darn COVID thing popped up, and we had great rehearsals," he continued. "The band was playing really well. So [they asked me], 'Do you wanna do a few shows? 'Sure'. A few shows. We were planning on doing that. Everyone goes home to their respective homes, and bang, we've been here ever since [because of the coronavirus-related shutdown]."
Cliff went on to confirm that his commitment to AC/DC was only for "a few" dates in support of "Power Up".
"For both [my mental and physical] health," he said. "I definitely have some physical issues, which I won't bore you with the details of. But, yeah, it's tough. I'm very grateful for everything. It's been fantastic. But I just don't wanna do that anymore."
Williams previously revealed that a "terrible" bout with vertigo contributed to his 2016 retirement. He also admitted the return of both Johnson and drummer Phil Rudd convinced him to rejoin the group. "It was like the old band back together," he told Rolling Stone. "It was not like starting over again, but as close to the band that's been together for 40-plus years as we can possibly make it. I didn't want to miss that."
The follow-up to 2014's "Rock Or Bust", "Power Up" was recorded over a six-week period in August and September 2018 at Warehouse Studios in Vancouver with producer Brendan O'Brien, who also worked 2008's "Black Ice" and "Rock Or Bust".
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25 июл 2024

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25 июл 2024


Biography On MOTÖRHEAD Legend 'FAST' EDDIE CLARKE Coming In SeptemberComing in a robust box via BMG on September 6, "Make My Day: The Rock 'N' Roll Story Of Fast Eddie Clarke" celebrates the late MOTÖRHEAD/FASTWAY guitarist with a four-CD career retrospective and 320-page book written by veteran rock journalist Kris Needs with Clarke's widow Mariko Fujiwara.
The book that named the set, "Make My Day: The Rock 'N' Roll Story Of Fast Eddie Clarke" charts the guitarist's life and career including his epiphany seeing THE YARDBIRDS at Eel Pie Island, playing with assorted bands, recording two albums with former Jimi Hendrix associate Curtis Knight, riding with MOTÖRHEAD's most revered lineup between 1976 and 1982, forming FASTWAY and releasing two solo albums. Mariko and Eddie's closest friends provide detailed insights into Eddie's life, including growing up in Twickenham, topping charts with MOTÖRHEAD, overcoming personal problems, finding happiness with Mariko and becoming the smitten co-owner of Cookie, the Maltese-Shihtzu cross.
As editor of the U.K.'s first serious music monthly Zigzag and one of MOTÖRHEAD's earliest press champions, Kris Needs spent five years close to the band during its most successful period and beyond. To this end, Needs also interviewed close friends, bandmates, associated bands including GIRLSCHOOL and SAXON plus collaborators from different stages of Eddie's roller-coaster life and career, emerging with a definitive account that ends up a love story.
The CD boxset covers Fast Eddie's recording career of over 40 years, including tracks requested by Mariko, starting with "The Early Years", which includes Zeus and his subsequent band CONTINUOUS PERFORMANCE, along with three tracks from the legendary MUGGERS, who Eddie and Philthy "Animal" Taylor played with in 1978 along with "Speedy" Keen and HEARTBREAKERS bassist Billy Rath.
CD2's MOTÖRHEAD highlights Eddie's most outstanding performances with the "classic lineup" of Lemmy, Philthy "Animal" Taylor, including "Ace Of Spades" and other much-loved rampages, three previously unreleased "Bomber" album demos and his vocal performances on the HEADGIRL project with GIRLSCHOOL and "Stone Dead Forever".
CD3's FASTWAY straddles different incarnations of the band Fast Eddie formed with UFO bassist Pete Way after departing from MOTÖRHEAD in 1982, including demos, remixes and tracks from their eight albums.
CD4 "The Solo Years" mainly draws from Fast Eddie's two solo albums, "It Ain't Over 'Till It's Over" and his final work with underrated peak "Make My Day: Back To The Blues", created with SHAKATAK's Bill Sharpe.
"Make My Day: The Rock 'N' Roll Story Of Fast Eddie Clarke" track listing:
CD One: The Early Years
01. Intro - Fast Eddie Clarke
02. Cloud - Curtis Knight Zeus
03. The Confession - Curtis Knight Zeus
04. People Places And Things - Curtis Knight Zeus
05. Takin' It Easy - Continuous Performance
06. In The Morning - Continuous Performance
07. White Lightning - The Muggers
08. (Just A) Nightmare - The Muggers
09. Summertime Blues - The Muggers
CD Two: Motörhead
01. Ace Of Spades
02. Step Down (Eddie vocals)
03. Lawman ("Bomber" demo)
04. Alligator ("Bomber" demo)
05. Dead Men Tell No Tales ("Bomber" demo)
06. Emergency (Eddie vocals)
07. Motörhead (Live)
08. Stone Dead Forever (Eddie vocals)
09. Iron Fist
10. Bomber
11. The Chase Is Better Than The Catch
12. The Hammer
13. Overkill
CD Three: Fastway
01. All I Need Is Your Love (Pete Way demo)
02. Say What You Will
03. Feel Me, Touch Me (Pete Way demo)
04. Easy Livin' (Live, Loudpark 07)
05. Trick Or Treat
06. Heft
07. All Fired Up
08. Change Of Heart
09. Deliver Me (Remix)
10. Fade Out (Remix)
11. Leave The Light On (Remix)
12. Lovin' Fool (Remix)
13. Sick As A Dog (Remix)
CD Four: The Solo Years
01. Snakebite (new version)
02. Laugh At The Devil (new version)
03. All Over Bar The Shouting
04. No Satisfaction
05. Make My Day (feat. Bill Sharpe)
06. Heavy Load (feat. Bill Sharpe)
07. Walking Too Slow (feat. Bill Sharpe)
08. Ethereal Blue (feat. Bill Sharpe)
09. Mountains To The Sea (feat. Bill Sharpe)
10. My New Life (feat. Bill Sharpe)
11. Over And Out
12. 21st Century (Alternative Mix) - Black Electric
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25 июл 2024

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25 июл 2024

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25 июл 2024


EXODUS Bassist JACK GIBSON: 'I'm A T-Shirt Salesman. I'm Not A Musician.'In a new interview with Danielle Bloom, EXODUS bassist Jack Gibson was asked what advice he would give to musicians who are just starting out, as well as to those musicians who maybe are a little jaded at this point in their career. He responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "I don't know what to tell young musicians today because I am jaded. And it isn't that I'm just jaded, it's that there's no music business anymore.
"When I was young, there was a path, there were steps to take," he explained. "You got your band together, you put your music together, you started looking for shows, and if you could draw people to your shows, then the next step was that label people would be interested. Then you had to get your promotional pack together to give to the labels that were interested. And then you tried to get signed and then you tried to make records and sell records And those steps don't exist at all anymore. Now the step is make a band — or not even make a band. Let's just go viral. I don't know to do that. Don't ask me how to fucking do that. I'm in my fifties. I don't know how to do that shit. It's totally a mystery to me. I don't know how things get popular now, other than just total luck. So I don't know.
"Here in Nashville [where I live now], young musicians, they ask me that all the time," he continued. "And I kind of feel like a dick when I'm answering, because I'm, like, 'Guys, I don't know.' I don't know what makes things tick. The bands that are real popular, I don't know why those bands are popular. And I'm not saying that they're not good; I just don't know why those ones are the ones that stand out from the other ones right now. It all kind of sounds the same to me. I guess it's probably because I'm just old. But I don't know what direction to give anybody."
When Bloom noted out that "we are living in different times" right now, Gibson concurred. "There's no business," he said. "Once they started giving the music away, there's no business. We don't sell shit for records. If we don't go out and sell t-shirts, we don't make money. I'm a t-shirt salesman. I'm not a musician. I'm literally a traveling tchotchke seller. That's what we do. We play music to try to get people to the store and sell them our fuckin' stuff with stuff printed on it. That's the business. If you can't fill up a room, 50,000 units moved on the Internet, then they don't wanna talk to you. And any day now, we're all gonna lose our jobs to these fuckin' robots. Once the A.I. figures out how to actually make music that people enjoy, they're not gonna pay us to do shit."
After Bloom expressed her belief that people will always be interested in seeing live music being performed by humans, Jack said: "Well, that's true. But at this point in time, most of the music business isn't that; most of it is licensing and commercial jingles and music editing and music recording. All that's gonna just disappear. There's gonna be 50 people out there who make music that people are interested in that can't be reproduced. And then the rest of it… Like, who's gonna pay somebody to write music for a movie? Or pay an orchestra, pay 60 people to come in and perform it when one guy can just go [punch a few commands into a computer] and it comes out. And we're not gonna know the fucking difference. Things are changing so fast that I don't really know what to say."
EXODUS will embark on "The Battle Of '24" North American tour in the fall. The trek marks the band's first headlining run in many years and will feature support from thrash metallers HAVOK, metallic hardcore outfit CANDY and crossover thrashers DEAD HEAT. The tour kicks off on November 2 in Tampa, Florida and will thrash across North America, ultimately concluding on December 7 in Los Angeles, California.
EXODUS released its latest album, "Persona Non Grata", in November 2021 via Nuclear Blast Records. The LP was recorded at a studio in Lake Almanor, California and was engineered by Steve Lagudi and EXODUS. It was produced by EXODUS and was mixed by Andy Sneap.
"Persona Non Grata" was the follow-up to 2014's "Blood In Blood Out", which was the San Francisco Bay Area thrashers' first release since the departure of EXODUS's singer of nine years, Rob Dukes, and the return of Steve "Zetro" Souza, who previously fronted EXODUS from 1986 to 1993 and from 2002 to 2004.
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25 июл 2024


Watch: METALLICA Members Learn To Press Vinyl While Creating Their Own Copies Of 'Ride The Lightning'Even with 43 years and 12 LPs under their belts, METALLICA can still learn a thing or two about making a record from the fine folks at Furnace Record Pressing.
In the video below, METALLICA's James Hetfield, Lars Ulrich, Kirk Hammett and Robert Trujillo learn to press vinyl while creating their own copies of "Ride The Lightning" (splatter vinyl). Also available is a full video tour of the facility.
In March 2023, it was announced that METALLICA had acquired the majority interest in Furnace Record Pressing, a leading provider of high-quality vinyl records and related services. The acquisition formalized a long-standing relationship between the band and Furnace that has produced more than five million pieces of METALLICA vinyl since 2014.
Having worked together on such landmark projects as the highly acclaimed definitive deluxe box set editions of METALLICA's "Kill 'Em All", "Ride The Lightning", "Master Of Puppets", "…And Justice For All", "Metallica" (a.k.a. The Black Album) and "S&M2", METALLICA and Furnace have long enjoyed a prolific and productive relationship — one rooted in a shared fiercely independent ethos and passionate dedication to quality. This partnership between METALLICA and Furnace represents yet another example of the band's unflagging commitment to artistic control of all aspects of its career, as well as its devotion to its fans: The capacity to meet the massive demand for METALLICA vinyl via trusted partner and industry leader Furnace will enable the band and its Blackened Recordings label to better serve the needs of any and all vinyl lovers in the METALLICA family — as well as those of the various artists and record labels who will continue to utilize Furnace's services.
Founded by Eric Astor in 1996, Furnace is known for making extremely high-quality records at its 70,000 square foot, state-of-the-art facility in Alexandria, Virginia. With its 12 Pheenix Alpha presses and two Finebilt presses, Furnace is one of the largest record pressing companies in the U.S. Furnace offers standard and heavyweight pressings, color vinyl, special effect color vinyl, and custom vinyl etching to meet the creative needs of any music artist. Furnace also oversees other services related to the creation and packaging of records. In addition to METALLICA, Furnace counts many major artists, global music companies, record labels and indie/punk acts as clients. Eric Astor (founder and CEO),Ali Miller (COO) and Mark Reiter (VP - operations) have continued in their respective roles leading Furnace. Each remains an equity owner of the company and each will be a member of the company's Board Of Directors.
"Building Furnace into the dedicated and experienced family of experts that it is today has been a huge effort, but immensely gratifying," Eric Astor, founder of Furnace, said at the time of the announcement. "Knowing our long-term future is secured while also being better able to take advantage of growth opportunities is really exciting for every member of the Furnace staff." Ali Miller, chief operating officer of Furnace, added: "We have found ideal partners in METALLICA. They want us to continue our customer driven focus. To that end we look forward to providing even greater capacity and service to each of our customers in the future."
"We couldn't be more happy to take our partnership with Furnace — and Eric, Ali and Mark specifically — to the next level," said Lars Ulrich, co-founder of METALLICA. "Their indie spirit, the passion they have for their craft… culturally we're kindred souls." James Hetfield, co-founder of METALLICA, added: "Furnace has been great to METALLICA and more importantly to our fans. This deepened relationship between METALLICA and Furnace ensures that fans of vinyl everywhere, particularly our Fifth Members, will have continued access to high quality records in the future."
METALLICA was represented by its affiliated growth equity and content investing platform known as Black Squirrel Partners ("Black Squirrel"),with Kirkland & Ellis acting as counsel and Citrin Cooperman assisting with financial due diligence and tax advisory. Dunlap, Bennett & Ludwig acted as counsel to Furnace.
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25 июл 2024


TESTAMENT's CHUCK BILLY Says His Debut Solo Album Could Be Produced By HATEBREED's JAMEY JASTADuring an appearance on a recent episode of Full Metal Jackie's nationally syndicated radio show, TESTAMENT frontman Chuck Billy confirmed that he is still planning to release a solo album. He said: "Actually, at the Milwaukee Metal Fest [in May], I spoke with [HATEBREED frontman and Milwaukee Metal Fest organizer] Jamey Jasta. I've sang on Jamey's solo records and did some stuff [with] him, and it was some really good stuff. And so I spoke to him about possibly him producing a record for me and working on some songs. And we spoke shortly just about — he'll get some guys together, we'll put some music together, and then we'll do something. But I wanna do something that isn't TESTAMENT, for sure. I've done enough [TESTAMENT] records and songs. I wanna do something more really simple, old school-sounding, like the old records we used to listen to in the '70s and '80s. Just clean and raw rock and roll, maybe a little bluesy — just something where I don't have to really push the voice, just something that's real comfortable and natural, I think."
He added: "There's a different side of me that I don't push into TESTAMENT because I don't wanna change it. But as a solo record, I think I will have that opportunity to do that."
Jasta has previously produced solo records for former JUDAS PRIEST singer Tim "Ripper" Owens and TWISTED SISTER frontman Dee Snider.
Back in October 2022, Billy said that he had talked to "over a dozen guitar players that have songs… that they're writing and creating" for the singer's solo album. "But TESTAMENT takes priority first," he explained. "Once I have time — it's not a big priority; it's just something I'd love to do. 'Cause I've only wrote music with Eric [Peterson, TESTAMENT guitarist] for 35-plus years, and I wanna write something and do something that's not TESTAMENT, that's totally different. I want it to be old-school-sounding, [with] dry drums, no samples, no triggers, like the old vinyls we used to have when we were younger. I just want it to be raw and real, one-take kind of stuff. So that's in the books. And I'm slowly working on that. But that'll be down the line."
Billy previously talked about his upcoming solo LP in past April 2022 in an interview with Shawn Ratches of Laughingmonkeymusic. At the time he said: "I recruited guitar players and I told guitar players that I've recruited, 'Just write me a song. But don't write a TESTAMENT song and a thrash song. I wanna write something different than that. Write me something either bluesy, real heavy, more rock. I grew up in an era of loving THIN LIZZY and UFO and bands like that, so write some cool THIN LIZZY-style riffs.' But I really wanted it to be a record where it really took it back, kept it simple, kept it dry — no sampled drums and triggered kicks. Just make it rock, like the old records you used to be — just clean, that you can crank up and they sound good. I want it to be where someone puts it on and goes, 'Oh, that's Chuck?' Kind of listening to it. That's kind of what I'm looking for."
Elaborating on how different his vocal approach might be on his solo album compared to the music he has written and recorded with TESTAMENT, Chuck said: "Speed metal and thrash metal is based on a lot of cadence — it's the timing and the beat of the song — so I've learned how to sing in cadence, really, where other rock songs [have] more melody or maybe there's more note changing in the guitar playing where I can carry different melodies and things like that. I guess I'm looking for a challenge and something that I'll actually be proud of."
Billy went on to say that his debut solo album will "definitely happen. I just thought maybe during COVID [I would have more time to work on it… But you just get busy in life, and I just didn't focus on it," he explained. "But I do have a lot of people reaching out to me going, 'I'd like to contribute a song.' It's, like, 'Write it and just send it to me. And we'll take it from there.'"
In March 2022, Billy told the "Let There Be Talk" podcast that he had spoken to such guitar players as Gary Holt (EXODUS, SLAYER),Mark Morton (LAMB OF GOD) and Joe Bonamassa about collaborating with him on his solo album.
Billy originally discussed his plans for a solo album during a summer 2021 appearance on the "Not These Two Fucking Guys" podcast. At the time, he said: "Well, it started [to be] in the works, but then things just kind of got held up. I was recruiting some guitar players over the last six months to write a record with me, and I was gonna use a different guitar player on every song to help me write songs. Mark Morton, I've talked to him; he wants to work [with me]. I also want Gary Holt to write some songs with me. Glen Drover [ex-MEGADETH] is gonna write some songs… I haven't approached my cousin Stef [Stephen Carpenter] from the DEFTONES yet, but I'm gonna see if he'll wanna write a song with me. I tried to reach out to Joe Bonamassa [to see if he wants to] write a song with me."
As for the musical direction of his solo LP, Billy said: "I want it to be different. And what I've told all these guys [is] that I wanna do a solo record, but I don't want it to resemble TESTAMENT; I wanna do something different. And the direction I wanna go is the old classic vinyl-sounding records — just real, clean and dry and big. Real tones — not compressed digital stuff. I want it to be classic sounding, but have it rock, have it bluesy. Have some metal, but just have it where [it doesn't sound like what people are used to hearing from me]."
He continued: "I've done these compilation records for this Cleopatra label, and I've done anything from Michael Jackson to Christmas songs. And every time people hear it, they go, 'Man, that's kind of cool.' And I was thinking about it — it's fun to do, and it's challenging and different. So when I think of a solo record, I want it to be different — I want every song to kind of have its own personality and stand on their own. So that was kind of my goal. If I do a solo record — maybe I'll do a few, but if I do one solo record, I want it to really be something that [is] challenging to me, different for me and different from [people's] expectations, when somebody puts it on, [but] that they'll enjoy it still.
"So that's what I wanted to do," Chuck added. "So I've been telling [the various guitar players], 'Just start writing. Put the song together for me. But don't think metal. Don't think TESTAMENT. Don't think the bands you're in. Just write something cool that's got a vibe. And give it to me. Let me do my thing on it.'"
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25 июл 2024


JOHN BUSH Has Some 'Newer Ideas' About How He Can Celebrate His Era Of ANTHRAX On TourIn a brand new interview with Eonmusic, former ANTHRAX and current ARMORED SAINT frontman John Bush was once again asked whether he is still open to the idea of embarking on a special tour — either with the current ANTHRAX band or with a specially chosen set of musician friends — during which he would perform material from his time as the singer of ANTHRAX. He responded: "I have some ideas about it, some more recent ideas about it, and in conjunction with, for players, we could even maybe do something in conjunction with [my new project] CATEGORY 7, although I don't know about that yet, which means we could play some of these songs, but then we could also play some of the songs from everybody's other projects, right? I don't know yet. Now I have this other thing with CATEGORY 7 and SAINT and like, how do I make it work? I do want to do that one day, I really do. I certainly believe that from '[Sound Of] White Noise', 'Stomp [442]', 'Volume 8', 'We've Come For You All', there's great songs that certainly could do a really cool support slot or even a headlining show. I don't necessarily want to go out and do sixty dates, quite honestly, but I do want to go out and play maybe some specific shows, maybe some festivals. I have some ideas, newer ideas in conjunction with it. It's just about making it work."
He continued: "Time is not on my side with a lot of things. I'm 60 years old, but I'm still doing pretty good — I did Pilates yesterday and held my own. I still try to be physically active, and I feel great, the voice is good, as long as I stay healthy. I want to make this work. I don't know; next thing I know, it's going to Blabbermouth tomorrow, because they're gonna be, like, 'He said that before, but he hasn't done it, so, like, shut up already!' So I want to. I just don't know when."
This past March, Bush told Nikki Blakk of the San Francisco radio station 107.7 The Bone that he would "love" to perform material from his time as the singer of ANTHRAX. "It wouldn't be some long tour; it would probably be like a handful of shows of doing my era in ANTHRAX," he explained. "'Cause they don't play too many of the songs — they play 'Only', and they just don't play too many. And I get it, because there's a large catalog that ANTHRAX has, not only from the beginning, but now they've made — they're about ready to make their third record, I believe, after that. So, I understand. I really do. I totally get it. But there are some songs that would be fun to hear, I think, for fans and for myself. It just has to kind of work with time, really; that's the key component. But it would be fun, for sure. I just don't know at this point when that would happen. And I don't know — they've kind of got their own thing going on, too. They're busy, they're making a new record. One day maybe something. Maybe it'll be me with various musicians doing it. Probably not with the band, actually. Or if they ever wanted to say, 'Hey, you wanna come out and sing a couple songs?' Yeah, I'd be into that. But I always say it's something that [current ANTHRAX singer] Joey Belladonna should be wanting to do. If this is something that he's not into and he's uncomfortable, then it shouldn't be done, because there's no point. But who knows? '
After Blakk suggested the possibility of ARMORED SAINT opening for ANTHRAX and Bush jumping up on stage and doing a couple of songs with the headliners, John said: "I would love ARMORED SAINT to go out and play some shows or do a tour with ANTHRAX. I think that would be killer. I've said it. It'd be really fun…
"Who knows?" he continued. "Like I said, I have other things that I'm thinking about, and ARMORED SAINT is, too. I'm just saying I would be open to doing something really fun and cool and not some long, extended thing, but it has to jell for everybody, including the SAINT guys. It has to be something that everybody wants to do and feels comfortable doing, and then if it does, then great. If it doesn't, maybe — I don't know — then it just doesn't. And then people will be, 'Damn, that never happened.'"
ANTHRAX has had a number of vocalists — including Bush, Belladonna, Neil Turbin and Dan Nelson — over the last 42 years, with guitarist Scott Ian and drummer Charlie Benante remaining the sole bandmembers who have appeared on every one of the group's studio albums.
Turbin sang on ANTHRAX's debut LP, 1984's "Fistful Of Metal", before getting booted and being replaced by Belladonna. Belladonna performed on four ANTHRAX albums, including the fan favorite "Among The Living" (1987) before he himself was fired over creative and stylistic differences. Bush fronted ANTHRAX between 1992 and 2005 but was sidelined when the band reunited with Belladonna for a 20th-anniversary tour. When that collapsed, and relationships disintegrated with next frontman Nelson, Bush returned for a time before Belladonna took the job back in 2010.
Bush previously talked about a hypothetical tour during which he would perform ANTHRAX material in a June 2023 interview with Rock On The Rise Radio. At the time, he said: "It's something I've talked about for a long time. I haven't really put it into motion. I've talked to my booking agent about it. He kind of comes in and out of being behind it with me. Because he goes, 'Okay, let's do it.' And I'm, like, 'Ehhh.' And then I'll come to him and go, 'Well, what do you think? Do you think there'll be interest?' And he's, like, 'You wanna do it now?' And I'm, like, 'Well, I don't know.' And he's, like, 'Get outta here.'
"I like the idea of doing it," he continued. "I don't know if I'm ready to tackle going out for three to four weeks and doing a run because I just don't know, quite honestly, what the interest would be. So I was kind of trying to do a handful of shows, maybe, in some different territories. But, unfortunately, when you do things like that, you sometimes can't make money. Not that I need to make a lot of money, but you certainly don't wanna lose money. So that was one of my ideas and that was where one of the conflicts came, and so we stopped talking about it again.
"Again, right now it's on the backburner," Bush added. "But it's something I would like to do before I die. And I'm not getting any younger, 'cause we know that [ANTHRAX's first album with Bush] 'Sound Of White Noise' is 30 years [old in 2023], so everybody can do the math. The bottom line is I'm turning 60 this year, which is insane; I can't even believe it. But still I feel like I'm still singing better than ever. But at the end of the day, tackling 'Room For One More', 'What Doesn't Die' and 'Reign Of Fire' when you're 70, that sounds pretty daunting; I'm not gonna lie. They're demanding. It's like you are a hockey player. It's a real physical thing, and I think most metal singers can attest to that and relate. You've gotta take care of yourself and you've gotta be in shape, in vocal shape, and rest and all that crap.
"It might be one of those things where all of a sudden where it's, like, 'Oh, he's doing that.' Not to give people false hope, but maybe that would be the case. And it's also about timing, really."
In October 2022, John told The Metal Voice that a special tour during which he would perform material from his time as the singer of ANTHRAX "would be great. I don't really wanna go out and do like a 30-date tour with it, but it would be cool to do a handful of shows in some key markets," he said. "We can certainly play those songs for a support slot or even a headlining slot, let's face it. I think there's enough songs of the four records [I recorded with ANTHRAX] that would make for a great show. Who [would be] in the band, I'm not exactly sure. I talked to [former ANTHRAX guitarist] Paul Crook about it, 'cause I love Paul; he's a great guy. He was actually there when I made a couple of those records, as far as engineered and played guitar on it. And I have done some stuff with the METAL ALLEGIANCE guys; we've done 'Only' and 'Room For One More' at various shows. Rock In Rio would be one, [which] we just played… I'm open to it. It's just a matter of… the timing, I think. Really, that's what it comes down to."
Regarding the fact that ANTHRAX played "Only" live on its recent U.S. tour, with Joey Belladonna on vocals, Bush said: "I always support Joey singing those songs. I wish they would do more, to be honest… I have no qualms with that. I support that. And Joey, we're not the best of friends, because we just aren't. It's funny, 'cause my wife and his wife have become pretty good text friends, so they're closer than him and I. But I always endorse it and tell him he did a great job and support whatever he does. He has his own backlog of stuff, and he also has the new songs and the new records that he's done. So I understand, and I'm not offended by it. But if they wanna play some songs from the John Bush-era albums, I'm great with that as well."
In September 2020, Bush told The Metal Voice that he first talked to his booking agent about the ANTHRAX tour idea "several years ago." He said: "We talked about it, and I think he sniffed around for some feelers to see what people would think. And I don't think we got the response that we really wanted to. It wasn't like we were looking for millions of dollars or anything, but we wanted to make it worthwhile to do it, and do the proper shows. It's not like something I wanna go out and do six months of touring with. It'd be fun to do some sporadic shows. I'd have to put a band together to do it. I'm probably a little lazy about that, quite honestly. But that's what would be involved in doing it. And I don't think we were pleased enough with the response that we tried to push it ahead and make it happen."
Bush went on to say that he was "caught by surprise" by ANTHRAX guitarist Scott Ian's comment that was not opposed to taking part in a special concert featuring most of the singers that have fronted the band over the course of its nearly four-decade existence. "I was, like, 'Wow. Okay.' And I thought that's a great idea. That would be really cool," Bush said. "I think that would be an amazing thing for the fanbase. But what I keep saying is that Joey Belladonna is the singer of ANTHRAX, and Joey should be the singer of ANTHRAX, as far as I'm concerned. And if this happens, it needs to have his approval, really, quite honestly. Because I wouldn't want him to feel like, 'Well, this is not my idea, and I don't wanna do this,' because he is the singer who'd be sharing the stage [with the rest of us], quite honestly. So I think it would be something that Joey would have to give endorsement to, for that to happen, if that's an idea. And again, I think it would be a fun thing to do a couple of handful of shows, sporadic stuff."
Bush is joined in CATEGORY 7 by former MACHINE HEAD and current KERRY KING guitarist Phil Demmel, ex-ADRENALINE MOB guitarist Mike Orlando, OVERKILL/SHADOWS FALL drummer Jason Bittner and EXODUS bassist Jack Gibson.
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25 июл 2024


MICK FLEETWOOD Teams Up With Ukulele Virtuoso For 'Blues Experience' AlbumRenowned ukulele virtuoso Jake Shimabukuro has teamed up with drumming legend and FLEETWOOD MAC co-founder Mick Fleetwood to announce the release of their forthcoming album, "Blues Experience", due October 18 via Forty Below Records.
Relix magazine has premiered the first single, "Rollin' N Tumblin'", from this eagerly anticipated collaboration. Check it out below.
This groundbreaking project sees Shimabukuro and Fleetwood breathe new life into classic blues tunes, resulting in an exhilarating and unique reinterpretation of some of the genre's greatest hits. The album also features a new song written by Jake, "Kula Blues", which is about the area of Maui where Mick lives.
"I've always wanted to do a blues album, and when Mick and I started talking about working together, I thought who better to work with than Mick Fleetwood?" says Shimabukuro. The result is a dynamic fusion of their distinct musical styles, blending Shimabukuro's innovative ukulele mastery with Fleetwood's powerful and inspiring drumming.
The roots of this remarkable collaboration date back to the late 1990s when a young Shimabukuro met Fleetwood at the Na Hoku Hanohano Awards (Hawaiian Music Awards) ceremony, performing alongside singer-songwriter Kenny Loggins. Their paths crossed again a few years later, at a FLEETWOOD MAC reunion concert in Nashville, where a mutual friend reintroduced them. That night, the seeds of their new project were sown, leading to recording sessions in Maui.
Joining Shimabukuro and Fleetwood on the album are bassist Jackson Waldhoff and keyboard player Michael Grande. Special guest Mark Johnstone from THE MICK FLEETWOOD BLUES BAND also lends his keyboard prowess to "Need Your Love So Bad" and "Rockin' In The Free World". Over two intense three-day sessions, the band recorded nine tracks live in the studio, with Sonny Landreth contributing slide guitar to the Jeff Beck/Stevie Wonder classic "Cause We've Ended As Lovers".
The album's debut single, "Rollin' N Tumblin'", showcases the duo's innovative approach. The track opens with Shimabukuro's swirling, delay-drenched psychedelic ʻukulele, set against Fleetwood's tribal drumming pattern, epitomizing why Shimabukuro is often hailed as the "Jimi Hendrix of the ukulele." The song then transitions seamlessly into a more traditional blues theme, with the Hammond Organ complementing Shimabukuro's experimental and otherworldly playing, which ascends into a fusion of psychedelic jazz-rock.
"Mick's energy when he plays is so infectious. He's such an intense musician. He pushes everyone around him, and it's inspiring to see his facial expressions and watch his movement and the way he hits the drums," Shimabukuro shares enthusiastically.
Mick effused, "Jake and I had a full let-it-all-go moment on this one!! Jake let his hair down. A blues standard being given a wake-up call!"
"Blues Experience" promises to be a landmark release. It combines the formidable talents of Jake Shimabukuro and Mick Fleetwood with fresh, innovative interpretations of blues classics. Fans can expect a bold and forward-looking album deeply rooted in tradition.
Over the past two decades, Shimabukuro has proved that there isn't a style of music that he can't play. While versatility for any musician is impressive, Jake showcases his transcendent skills as he explores his seemingly limitless vocabulary through a variety of genres — on perhaps the unlikeliest of instruments: the ukulele. Called "one of the hottest axemen of the past few years [who] doesn't actually play guitar" said Rolling Stone, Jake Shimabukuro has become one of the most exceptional and innovative ukulele players in the history of the instrument — an artist who has drawn comparisons to musical titans such as Jimi Hendrix and Miles Davis.
As drummer and co-founder of one of the best-selling bands of all time, FLEETWOOD MAC, Fleetwood has sold over 100 million records worldwide and established his place in rock ‘n roll music history. Having created a distinctive sound that endures today, the Grammy Award-winning artist was inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame in 1998. With countless chart-topping albums and singles, the band's 1977 album "Rumours" remains one of the best-selling albums of all time. Fleetwood completed the "An Evening With Fleetwood Mac" tour in 2019 and, in 2015, the "On With The Show" world tour, where he toured as a five-piece for the first time since 1998, featuring the five band members from the classic and most successful lineup back together, with Christine McVie rejoining band mates Fleetwood, John McVie, Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks. The tour sold out arenas across the globe and showcased the classic hit songs from the band's career that spans more than four decades.
"Rollin' And Tumblin'" track listing:
01. Cause We've Ended As Lovers
02. Rollin' N Tumblin'
03. Need Your Love So Bad
04. Kula Blues
05. Whiter Shade Of Pale
06. I Wanna Get Funky
07. Still Got The Blues
08. Rockin' In The Free World
09. Songbird
10. Songbird (Mick spoken word)
Mick Fleetwood photo by Daniel Sullivan / Jake Shimabukuro photo by Sienna Morales (courtesy of Forty Below Records)
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25 июл 2024


DOROTHY Says Streaming Services Need To Pay Artists 'A Lot More For The Songs'In a new interview with Ned of the Rock 108 radio station, Dorothy Martin, the Hungarian-born frontwoman of her eponymous outfit DOROTHY, spoke about the importance of streaming in supporting music industry revenues. She said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "I think artists need to unionize and I think the streaming services need to pay us a lot more for the songs. It's great, because the streaming services, the pros of that are you have a much broader reach. You reach a lot of people. I mean, you can get a billion streams, right? So you're reaching people all over the world in every country. But we need to get paid more for it because now artists are sort of forced to tour. Not that we don't love to tour and see our fans, but I feel very strongly that we deserve to get paid for our art and it should be fair. And I think that the United States government needs to legislate a little bit on our behalf and get artists paid a fair amount for the streaming numbers. And then it's great. Then we can come on tour. You can buy physical merch, vinyl CDs, cassettes. We'll sign it for you. We love it. We'll kiss you on the forehead and sign your boobies. But touring is a grind, and while it's fun, it has its ups and downs. But also it's just fair at the end of the day. And I think artists should pull together and unionize and not be so competitive with one another, but have each other's backs. 'Cause when the artists start talking, all the business folks in the industry are like, 'Uh-oh. They banded together and they're rebelling.' [Laughs]"
For years, Spotify has been criticized for offering paltry payouts to musicians and songwriters, with some claiming that the service gives major-label artists an unfair advantage via playlist placement and other promotional avenues.
In recent years, Spotify CEO Daniel Ek has been trying to defend Spotify's payouts, telling CBS News in early 2023: "We don't pay artists directly. [Artists] have their deals with their record companies and their deals with their publishers, et cetera. And what Spotify does is we pay out to those record companies and these publishers, and don't know what individual deals these artists may have."
Three years ago, Spotify created a web site called Loud&Clear to clarify exactly who receives payments.
According to Forbes, "Spotify has been paying back nearly 70% of every dollar generated from music as royalties to rights holders who represent artists and songwriters. These organizations, which include independent distributors, publishers, performance rights organizations, record labels, and collecting societies, then pay the artists and songwriters based on their agreed terms."
Earlier today, Spotify reported an operating income of 266 million euros ($289 million) in the second quarter, compared with a loss of 247 million euros ($268 million) a year ago. Monthly active users grew 14% annually to 626 million.
Earlier this month, Dorothy released a new single called "Mud". The track was produced by Scott Stevens (HALESTORM, SHINEDOWN, NOTHING MORE).
The details of Dororthy's forthcoming fourth studio album will be announced in due course. Dorothy's discography thus far includes "Gifts From The Holy Ghost" (2022),which was inspired by a spiritual awakening, as well as "ROCKISDEAD" (2016),which inspired Roc Nation to sign the artist to the label, and "28 Days In The Valley" (2018). The Budapest, Hungary-born stunner has enjoyed over one billion global streams combined across her career and has participated in high-profile collaborations with everyone from STAIND to Slash of GUNS N' ROSES to Scott Stapp of CREED to ALICE COOPER guitarist Nita Strauss, earning and ultimately cementing her place among the hard rock elite.
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25 июл 2024


MORK Announce Syv Album; “Utbrent” Single StreamingBlack metal legends Mork have announced their new album Syv today, set for release on September 20 on Peaceville. Alongside the news, the band have shared the album’s first single “Utbrent”.
Speaking about the new single, Mork creator, frontman and mastermind Thomas Eriksen said “Utbrent is a depiction of getting burnt out and the struggle of holding oneself standing. Even whilst silently knowing the day will actually come and break you down…the harsh punishment of living as life breaks you down and burns you out.”
Following on from Thomas Eriksen’s self-titled Udåd project debut earlier this year; a dark release which explored the more underground & murkier-sounding waters of primitive black metal from a by-gone era, Syv emerges as the new pinnacle of Mork’s and Eriksen’s ever-evolving journey, as well as a creative expansion both sonically & compositionally over all prior works.
Syv also undoubtedly represents Mork’s most expressive and diverse works to date, with exquisite melodies interspersed with brutal and even occasionally progressive riffs amid an ever-present air of melancholy. This forms a perfect backdrop for Eriksen’s thematic dive through the contemplations of looming mortality, and digressions through the depths and contrasts of human existence; from the blackness of despair, to the pride & strength in overcoming, as well as absorbing additional inspiration from tales of old.
“We have reached the seventh chapter of the Mork saga. As I have stated earlier, it has been important for me to let the music evolve over the span of albums. It has really been a rewarding couple of years writing and recording Syv. When listening back the finished product I felt a great satisfaction. Brutal riffs meeting melancholy and melodic passages with a slight progressive approach. Lyrically scraping the bottom of human existence and frailty as well as touching an immense pride and strength. This is probably my most varied album to date. Which in my mind makes a perfect outcome and addition to the Mork catalogue.” – Thomas Eriksen
Syv was performed, recorded & mixed by Eriksen himself, with engineering assisted by Freddy Holm (who also contributes with strings and synths). Mastering work on the album was carried out by studio mastering guru Maor Appelbaum (Sepultura) in collaboration with Jack Control at Enormous Door (Darkthrone).
Syv will be released on black vinyl gatefold LP, cream white vinyl gatefold LP, jewel case CD with 12-page booklet and digitally on September 20. Preorder at this location.
Tracklisting:
“I Tåkens Virvel”
“Holmgang”
“Heksebål”
“Utbrent”
“Med Døden Til Følge”
“Ondt Blod”
“Tidens Tann”
“Til Syvende Og Sist”
“Omme”
“Utbrent” video:
(Photo: Daniel Pedersen)
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