Find Me, the AOR Trans-Atlantic alliance featuring Robbie LaBlanc and Daniel Flores, are delighted to announce their fifth studio album, Nightbound, set for release on September 13 via Frontiers Music Srl.


The first single and accompanying music video, "Never Be Alone", are out today, offering an enticing taste of the anthemic AOR sound that defines the record. Watch the video below, and pre-order the album here.


“Our new single 'Never Be Alone' is a nice little rocker. Classic Find Me vibe to it!!! It really hits home for me as it reflects on years gone by up to the present. Losing someone in the past that you wish you could have back in the present and let them know you will be there as long as forever lasts”, says Robbie LaBlanc.




“The new Find Me is my favourite to date, I know it seems cliche to say that, but I really believe it! There is a good mix of songwriters on the album, including three songs from Jim Peterik, how lucky am I to sing three of his songs!!!” continues Robbie. “Danny did an amazing job on the production and arrangements. All of the musicians were amazing as well. All I had to do was sing on top of this great bed! I am certain that our fans will absolutely love this new offering from us, we poured our hearts into this one.”


Daniel Flores adds: “It's been a couple of years of silence, but Serafino of Frontiers has once again gathered some of the best song writers on earth for this record, including the always enigmatic Jim Peterik of Survivor fame and many of the usual awesome suspects. It's been a blast to work with these songs and bringing the demos to life so they fits with Robbie's enormous voice and I dare say that this is by far Robbie's best performance to date, that also shines in the music, and the band is in rare form as we inspire each other. This is the most playful and hard rocking album we've made so far and we hope you'll enjoy it as much as we did while recording it. Hopefully we will tour with this one!”


Find Me is the ongoing collaboration between Swedish musician, songwriter and producer Daniel Flores (Issa, The Murder of My Sweet, Seventh Wonder) and singer Robbie LaBlanc, the “voice from heaven” from Blanc Faces, who has also recently appeared on the T3nors’ debut album, Naked Soul.


Robbie La Blanc, best known as vocalist with Blanc Faces, Find Me and as a solo artist, has been singing and playing instruments since he was a young kid. His first influences (besides his dad always singing and playing the guitar) were Trini Lopez and the Beatles. Shortly after, bands like Creedence Clearwater Revival and Grand Funk Railroad.


Robbie’s first break in the music business came when he met Rock and Roll Hall Of Famer Felix Cavaliere of The Rascals, who produced the album Fury with a slew of great musicians. Afterwards, Robbie signed with a management company that had Michael Bolton ties and the duo recorded at least four albums worth of material. A few years later, Robbie signed with Frontiers Records and the two Blanc Faces records were done in 2005 and 2009, followed by the Find Me project. Robbie’s singing credits also include East Temple Avenue and Cannonballz (with Vince Dicola, Doug Wimbish and Alan Friedman).


Accomplished musician, songwriter and arranger Daniel Flores made a claim to fame with bands such as Mind’s Eye, Find Me, and The Murder Of My Sweet. Flores.  He creates his magic at the Sound vs. Science studios located in Stockholm.


Envisioned by Frontiers President Serafino Perugino, in his relentless quest for the perfect melodic rock album, their partnership resulted in some absolute melodic rock gems, starting with Find Me’s debut album, Wings of Love and the follow-up release Dark Angel, that were greeted with rave fan and critical reviews.


The project went on to release Angels In Blue in 2019 and Lightning In A Bottle in March 2022, touching on both the classic melodic rock/AOR style, while also showing influences from the new guard of the genre.


Fans of the genre can expect another AOR jewel, a first class AOR album, featuring Robbie’s soaring vocals and an awesome performance from Flores and his musicians.





Nightbound tracklisting:


"Never Be Alone"
"I See You In Everyone"
"Can't Wait Here Anymore"
"Distant Lovers"
"Nightbound"
"Love Always Finds A Way"
"Speechless"
"Walk Through The Fire"
"Said And Done"
"Savage Blue"
"The Time Has Come"


"Never Be Alone" video:





Lineup:


Robbie La Blanc - Lead and backing vocals
Andi Kravljaca - Lead and rhythm guitars, acoustic guitars
Jonny Trobro - Bass and fretless bass
Rolf Pilotti - Piano and organ
Daniel Flores - Keyboards, backing vocals and drums
Fernando Brito - Percussion

The Sound Of Vinyl has set September 13 as the release date for a limited edition smoke colour 2LP edition of Bon Jovi’s best-selling greatest hits compilation.


The set features the group’s biggest hits, from “Runaway” to “Living On A Player”, “Bad Medicine” to “It’s My Life,” and much more. One of three unique lithographs included.


Pre-order here.







Tracklisting:


LP1 - Side A
"Livin' On A Prayer"
"You Give Love A Bad Name"
"It's My Life"
"Have A Nice Day"
"Wanted Dead Or Alive"


LP1 - Side B
"Bad Medicine"
"We Weren't Born To Follow"
"I'll Be There For You"


LP2 - Side C
"Born To Be My Baby"
"Blaze Of Glory"
"Who Says You Can't Go Home"
"Lay Your Hands On Me"


LP2 - Side D
"Always"
"Runaway"
"What Do You Got?"
"No Apologies"

In a new interview with Jeff Gaudiosi of
MisplacedStraws.com, former IRON MAIDEN singer Paul Di'Anno has commented on the band's nomination for the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame's class of 2021 and 2023.

While MAIDEN has been eligible to join the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame since 2004, Di'Anno and several other former and current members of the band have only been nominated the above-mentioned two times.

According to the Hall Of Fame, the IRON MAIDEN members that would get inducted include the current lineup of singer Bruce Dickinson, bassist Steve Harris, drummer Nicko McBrain, and guitarists Adrian Smith, Dave Murray and Janick Gers, along with former guitarist Dennis Stratton, Di'Anno and former drummer Clive Burr.

Asked if he would attend the ceremony should IRON MAIDEN be inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame, Paul said: "None of us are interested, to be honest with you. I think I can safely say that for MAIDEN as well — we think it's a load of bollocks, to be honest with you. You've got people, you've got all these soul singers and all that stuff in the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame. Fuck off. You're joking. You know what I mean? They wouldn't let me go into like a Black Music Award. So I don't get it. I really don't get it. It's a bit of a travesty, really, since it doesn't mean that much. I won a heavy metal award the other year — I can't remember; I think it was from The Metal Voice or something. I've got the Metal Hall Of Fame thing. That means more to me than anything."

Even though artists are eligible for the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame 25 years after the release of their first album or single, iconic hard rock and metal bands like MAIDEN and MOTÖRHEAD have yet to be recognized by the institution, which inducted GUNS N' ROSES in that group's first year of eligibility.

IRON MAIDEN was on the ballot for the second time in 2023, but the institution's voters snubbed them once again.

The only metal or metal-adjacent acts to have made it into the Rock Hall so far have been BLACK SABBATH, LED ZEPPELIN, METALLICA, AC/DC, JUDAS PRIEST, KISS, VAN HALEN, RUSH, GUNS N' ROSES and DEEP PURPLE.

IRON MAIDEN finished in the fourth place in the fan vote for the 2023 Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame induction class.

George Michael led the fan vote with more than 1,040,000 ballots while Cyndi Lauper came in second with more than 928,000 votes. Warren Zevon came in third with more than 634,000 votes, with IRON MAIDEN landing more than 449,000 votes. Coming in the fifth place was SOUNDGARDEN with more than 427,000 votes.

Five years ago, IRON MAIDEN bassist Steve Harris said that he didn't care that his band had yet to be inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame despite the fact that it had been eligible since 2004.

"I don't mind that we're not in things like that," he told Rolling Stone in an interview. "I don't think about things like that. It's very nice if people give you awards or accolades, but we didn't get into the business for that sort of thing. I'm certainly not going to lose sleep if we don't get any sort of award, not just that one, any award. I don't think we deserve to have this or that necessarily. With what we do, whatever comes of it is great. Whatever doesn't come of it is great, too."

MAIDEN singer Bruce Dickinson made headlines in 2018 when he referred to the Rock Hall as "an utter and complete load of bollocks" during a spoken-word gig in Australia, insisting that the Cleveland-based institution is "run by a bunch of sanctimonious bloody Americans who wouldn't know rock and roll if it hit them in the face."

Bruce later told The Jerusalem Post that he was "so annoyed with that coverage because they took my statement out of context to make it seem like I was upset that we weren't in the Hall Of Fame.

"I'm really happy we're not there and I would never want to be there," he continued. "If we're ever inducted, I will refuse — they won't bloody be having my corpse in there.

"Rock and roll music does not belong in a mausoleum in Cleveland," Bruce added. "It's a living, breathing thing, and if you put it in a museum, then it's dead. It's worse than horrible, it's vulgar."

Harris previously told "Rock Talk With Mitch Lafon" that he wasn't concerned about whether IRON MAIDEN would eventually be inducted into the Rock Hall. "I don't really think about it, to be honest. I think awards are things that are nice to have when you get them, but it's not something you're really striving for — it's not what it's about it," he saId. "It's never been about that. It's aways been about just trying to make good music and go out and play good live shows, and that's it, really. Hopefully people will appreciate it. It's probably nice when people give you awards — don't get me wrong; I think it's great — but it's not something that you would lose sleep over if you didn't get any.

"It's the way that I am," Harris added. "I don't know. Maybe the rest of the guys [in the band] might think differently to me, but that's the way I think. It's not that I don't care about [awards]. It's just… And it's not that they're not meaningful when you do get 'em — it's nice. But I certainly don't worry about it or anything like that. I think other people are the ones that make a bigger deal out of it than us, about whether we got one or not."

Having been eligible for induction for nearly two decades, IRON MAIDEN is one of the biggest bands on the planet. Since the release of their self-titled debut album, the British heavy metal legends have released a further 16 full-length studio records, and sold over 100 million copies.

Rock Hall rules state that artists become eligible a quarter century after their first records were released, but the Hall also claims that other "criteria include the influence and significance of the artists' contributions to the development and perpetuation of rock 'n' roll," which is, of course, open to interpretation.

Eligible for induction since 1999, KISS didn't get its first nomination until 2009, and was finally inducted in 2014.

Northern California extreme metallers ALL SHALL PERISH played their second concert in 10 years this past Saturday (July 20) at the Inkcarceration Music & Tattoo Festival at the Ohio State Reformatory in Mansfield, Ohio. Fan-filmed video of the show can be seen below.

ALL SHALL PERISH's first appearance of 2024 took place in late May at the Big Texas Metal Fest in Austin.

When ALL SHALL PERISH's comeback was first announced back in February, the band said in a statement: "Deathcore LIVES.

"We are so back. The cyclical nature of things has come to pass over even The Deathcore. Perhaps the genre never died but zombified?

"The first ALL SHALL PERISH record was released in 2003 and the 'last' in 2011; and now only 9 years after we announced our (failed) reunification and almost 13 years since our last album, we can finally say of the end…. It is finished. We have awoken from our dogmatic slumbers to find ourselves in a strange world, where Deathcore lives and the kids are alight. The blood of the martyrs has been the seed of revival.

"Thank you to all the bands, old and new, who kept the torch burning for a genre that faced straight up hate and has emerged re-discovered and sick AF, much to the chagrin of purity-spiralers worldwide.

"To all the fans, who every single day of our absence, never stopped expressing their discontent, this is for you."

ALL SHALL PERISH's 2024 touring lineup consists of singer Hernan "Eddie" Hermida, guitarists Chris Storey and Ben Orum, bassist Adrian Oropeza and drummer Andrew Baird.

Back in October 2013, then-ALL SHALL PERISH bassist Mike Tiner told Metal Injection that the band had no choice but to fire Hermida after the singer joined SUICIDE SILENCE as the replacement for the late Mitch Lucker. Tiner said: "I first heard of Eddie potentially joining SUICIDE SILENCE in March [2013] while we were on tour in Japan. When he first brought it up, he made it seem as if he was only considering recording with them, but then as he further explained everything, it became very clear that he wanted to join SUICIDE SILENCE. Everyone in that room had the same reaction: 'How are you going to possibly have time to do both bands?' Eddie reassured us a dozen times over that both bands would be able to coexist and work together with one another, with him as the vocalist of both bands.

"As we had always trusted Eddie before, after a lot of long conference calls, we gave him the benefit of the doubt and decided to wait till there was an actual scheduling conflict and cross that bridge then. We already had METALLICA's Orion Music + More and our own 'MTL: South Of The Border' tour on the books, so we went ahead with Eddie for those shows, and they all turned out very well. It seemed like maybe everything would actually work out okay. Then, after Eddie was officially in SUICIDE SILENCE (but before it went public),we got an offer from DEATH ANGEL to play two or three shows with them, all in California. Eddie in particular wanted to do these shows and pushed hardest for them, so we confirmed them. Then a week or two later he tells our management that he actually can't do the shows… because of SUICIDE SILENCE. That's when SUICIDE SILENCE's management informed us of all of the things ALL SHALL PERISH would and would not be 'allowed' to do. ALL SHALL PERISH could not play a show until Eddie was well 'established' as the new singer of SUICIDE SILENCE. SUICIDE SILENCE's management told us that they would have to be well into their new album and touring cycle before ALL SHALL PERISH could be seen again with Eddie. That is easily a year of ALL SHALL PERISH not being 'allowed' to do anything; possibly more than a year. There were other rules, too, but this one was huge. When we heard this, we immediately all got on the phone with Eddie and asked him how him being in both bands could ever work, especially after this whole DEATH ANGEL thing. Eddie still insisted it could work but also maintained that SUICIDE SILENCE would be his priority. We asked Eddie if he was quitting and he said, 'No, I'm not. If you want me out of ALL SHALL PERISH, you'll have to fire me.'

"Now, I ask all of you reading this, both ALL SHALL PERISH fans and SUICIDE SILENCE fans: what would happen if you worked at Starbucks and you told your boss that you took a job at Coffee Bean across the street, that Coffee Bean would be your new priority and that you wouldn't be able to pick up a single shift at Starbucks for at least a year or more, followed by: 'But I'm NOT quitting!'

"Did Eddie 'quit' ALL SHALL PERISH or was Eddie 'asked to leave' ALL SHALL PERISH? You tell me."

A few days earlier, Hermida spoke to Metal Injection about his decision to join SUICIDE SILENCE. Regarding how SUICIDE SILENCE approached him to join the band, Hermida said: "At first, their manager contacted me and said, 'Hey, Ed, the guys are thinking about picking themselves up and would like to hear what someone else sounds like on a previously recorded track.' They said it was more for the reference than anything else. After I recorded the 'You Only Live Once' track, they liked it so much that we started exploring ways to make something work."

He added: "Mitch and SUICIDE SILENCE were always like a surrogate family to me so when they asked me to help with the track, I was honored. When they officially asked me if I'd be interested in joining the band, it definitely put me in a tough spot as I had many things to consider."

On the topic of when he decided that he would have to do this full time and depart from ALL SHALL PERISH, Hermida said: "The full-time aspect for SUICIDE SILENCE was always part of the deal. Just know that I did everything in my power to stay in ALL SHALL PERISH and work both projects. The ALL SHALL PERISH boys will say that I quit when I decided to take the reins in SUICIDE SILENCE. I will say that I was asked to step away by my bandmates because they didn't want my schedule with SUICIDE SILENCE to interfere with their future. Either way, ALL SHALL PERISH has my heart and soul built into it and I will always support the work we did together."

In October 2015, ALL SHALL PERISH announced the return of Hermida and Storey, alongside founding members Matthew Kuykendall, Caysen Russo and Orum. The group's press release noted that original vocalist Craig Betit would participate in some fashion as well. The band stated that Tiner declined a personal invitation to participate.

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In a new interview with Paltrocast With Darren Paltrowitz, Ian Paice addressed the fact that DEEP PURPLE is largely considered to be an underrated rock band in America, unlike in Europe where they have always been able to headline bigger venues. The drummer, who turned 76 last month, said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Yeah, well, there's no logical reason to it. There's times when you are the flavor of the month and times where you're not the flavor of the year. You just have to accept that. And that can change with a border crossing. You can go from Germany to France and in one country you're bigger than the other one. And next year it's the other way around. It's down to the public's taste. It's also down to what they are subjected to, what they hear, what they see. As yourself, you know, media has a great control in our lives these days. And if half a dozen really big radio stations want to start playing a track, you're in with a chance. If they all ignore it, hey, not much you can do about it. Relying on social media will get you so far. But you need to be driving down the freeway and hear something come on the radio and crank it up and go, 'I like that.' If you're not given the chance, well, there you go. And there's not much the artists can do about that."

He continued: "I don't think we've actually seriously worried about any one particular market, although everybody understands the U.S. is incredibly important. It is the biggest market. And if you can get it on your side, it makes life a lot easier. But we're lucky that we do have the rest of the world. And so long as we believe in what we're doing, and the audience believe that we believe what we're doing, we're okay. 'Cause that's the real secret of it. If the audience don't believe the artist, then the artist's got no chance. You've got to let them know that you are doing it for the right reasons. And for us, it's not even a financial consideration now, though nobody refuses a check. We have a great deal of fun, and we keep saying it could be one, two years and that fun won't be there anymore. And so every day we can get on stage and be part of this circus, this glorious rock and roll circus, is a good day. We've been blessed with a life which has been superb to us and given us so much enjoyment, looked after our families. You can't say anything negative about it. It's been good, and I want it to be good for a little while longer."

DEEP PURPLE's latest album, "=1", came out on July 19 via earMUSIC. The LP marks DEEP PURPLE's first material with new guitarist Simon McBride, who stepped in two years ago following Steve Morse's departure.

DEEP PURPLE continues its charge of recent years, releasing hit albums and filling arenas around the world, adding yet more layers to its 100-million-album-selling legacy. The band is credited as one of the key originators of heavy rock and has constantly progressed its boundaries of music. They are fronted by Ian Gillan, whose vocals have defined generations, accompanied by the masterful bassist Roger Glover, the powerhouse drummer Ian Paice, and the maestro on keyboards Don Airey.

With three consecutive No. 1 albums in their back pocket and a resurgent new energy powering them forward, this is DEEP PURPLE at their pinnacle. "Now WHAT?!" (2013),"inFinite" (2017) and "Whoosh!" (2020) have sold over one million copies worldwide, making DEEP PURPLE one of the most successful rock bands currently active. The previous studio album, "Whoosh!", reached No. 1 on the album charts in seven countries and charted in the top 10 in another 12.

There simply aren't enough superlatives to properly acknowledge the contribution DEEP PURPLE has made to rock music. Having sold more than 100 million albums and filled global arenas for decades, there's little wonder that the respected British radio station Planet Rock named the group the "Fifth Most Influential Band Ever". The band were also presented the Legend Award at the 2008 World Music Awards and were inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame in 2016. DEEP PURPLE truly are "rock royalty".

With a body of work spanning seven decades, DEEP PURPLE has helped pioneer and define the hard rock genre while progressively moving into new areas, both keeping their sound fresh and attracting new fans to the legions who have remained loyal since the band's inception. The celebrated MKII line up of Ian Gillan, Roger Glover, Ian Paice, Jon Lord and Ritchie Blackmore were responsible for creating many of the defining rock albums of the early 1970s, including "Made In Japan", universally accepted as one of the most important and influential live albums of all time.

Photo credit: Jim Rakete

In January 2023, Nicko McBrain, who has been the drummer for the heavy metal band IRON MAIDEN since 1982, was at his home in Boca Raton when he suffered a stroke with partial paralysis. That was the beginning of a challenging journey of physical rehabilitation that followed rapid and precise treatment by stroke specialists at Marcus Neuroscience Institute at Boca Raton, Florida's Boca Raton Regional Hospital, part of Baptist Health.

McBrain addressed his health issues during the July 19 concert by his side project TITANIUM TART at Piper's Pub in Pompano Beach, Florida. He told the crowd (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "I've gotta be honest with you, it was a touch and go last year for me, because, as you probably know… If you don't, TIA [transient ischemic attack] strokes aren't fun. Some people get really bad reactions to 'em, like [they become] paralyzed, they can't speak, they can't walk and do whatnot. I couldn't play — I was paralyzed on the right side. Fortunately, the Boca Raton Regional Hospital had this incredible OT [occupational therapy] section, and there's a girl called Julie Blum that looked after me, and in three months, she had me playing again. And it ain't the old Nicko, it's not the old one by a long shot, but at least it's part of me. And my band, bless their hearts, [IRON MAIDEN bassist] Steve Harris and the rest of the guys turn around and say, 'If you can't do something in a song, we just won't do that song.'"

Elaborating on the physical limitations caused by his stroke, Nicko said: "When we were rehearsing last year for 'The Future Past Tour', we were doing 'Caught Somewhere In Time' to open. Now there's a middle section, it's all snare drum on the record. I can't play it. As you probably noticed, those of you nerds that are in the audience that go, 'He didn't do the drum fill.' Well, that's why, 'cause I fucking can't do it. So anyway, Steve turned around to me and I said, 'Okay, I've got an idea. if I do the double on the snare,' and I played it for him and he went, 'No. Have you got anything else?' I went, 'Yeah I'll play it on the cymbal.' 'No. You got anything else?' 'That's me spent, mate.' So he turned around and he thought about for about half a minute. He's standing in front of my drum set and he's going, 'Why don't you play it straight?' I went, 'What?' 'Play a straight fill through it. Go ahead.' I went, 'You're a fucking genius, Harry.' And there's me, the drummer, supposedly, [I'm] supposed to come up with all these ideas, and there's Harry: 'Play it straight, Nick.' I didn't even think of that. And so we rehearsed it from thereon in, and we play it straight, which I'm sure 90 percent of you don't give a fuck about that bit anyway."

Two months ago, Nicko reflected on that fateful morning when he suffered a stroke in an interview with Baptist Health. He said: "It was about probably 8, 8:15. I had a sleep. I woke up about quarter to 9. And as I got turned over, my arm wasn't moving. And I thought, 'What's going on?' And I pulled my hand up. I could feel — I had sensation in my hand. And I thought, 'Well, where's the pins and needles? Why has it gone to sleep?' And I started to [squeeze my hand]. And I let my hand go, and it just dropped. And I thought, 'Uh oh.'"

Nicko went on to say that he didn't know if he would be able to recover from the stroke quickly enough to join his MAIDEN bandmates on a tour they had scheduled for that spring.

"I did honestly think that was it," he admitted. "Now I'm laying in the bed, and I'm trying to move, move my hand, at least my fingers or something, encourage my body to, 'Come on, you can do this. You can do this.' Because we had scheduled this tour two years prior. And we were starting in May, and we were gonna do rehearsals starting the last week of April. So I thought, 'Well, I've got three months to see if I can at least play again.' And even holding a drumstick, there was nothing there."

McBrain previously talked about his post-ministroke recovery last December in an interview with Metal Hammer magazine. At the time, he said: "Well, it was very, very difficult. When it first happened, I thought, 'This is it. I'm not going to be able to play. I've got a tour coming up in three months' time.' I had a lot of time for reflection in the hospital. My wife was really my bastion of strength and encouragement and she was with me throughout. I did a lot of strength exercises, a lot of stretches with weird weights that they have and I got my stamina back."

McBrain told Metal Hammer that his MAIDEN bandmates, especially Harris, were very supportive during his recovery.

"Through all this period of time I was in touch with Steve, obviously all the guys, and I'd have a bit of a chat with them on the phone and they were all very, very encouraging, and none more so than Steve," Nicko said. "He said, 'Look, the most important thing is that you get well and work on getting yourself together.'"

Last October, Nicko spoke about his latest health scare during an appearance on SiriusXM's "Trunk Nation Power Trip Special". Asked how the shows on MAIDEN's "The Future Past Tour" have been, Nicko said: "It's going great. It started off a little shaky for me, but as the time [went on] and the more shows we performed, I started to get a little bit more strength and they'd been really rocking out well. And the last couple of months have been fantastic."

The 72-year-old McBrain also talked about his recovery in more detail and touched upon how his health setback affected his drumming. He said: "[I'm] doing good [right now]. I'm still probably — I'd say I'm 85 to 90 percent back to strength, but I still have a little less dexterity with speed in my fingers. My fingers are the ones that — this is the last thing to strengthen up. But I had to change certain drum fills. Some fills that everybody knows me for on certain songs, I've had to improvise those at rehearsals to be able to actually play the songs. So now I'm starting to actually be able to kind of embrace it a bit more. And I can't do that live. I have to wait until we start doing some rehearsals again or whatever it is. But I'm definitely getting stronger. And I've had great support from [MAIDEN manager] Rod [Smallwood], the band, and all of the fans out there. They've been absolutely — they've shown me so much love, it's amazing."

When Nicko first went public with his stroke in August 2023, the drummer said in a statement that the episode left him "paralyzed" down one side of his body and "worried" that his career with the band was over.

McBrain's statement read as follows: "I hope this message finds you all well!

"The reason I'm writing to you all today is to let you know of a very serious health problem that I have been through. In January I had a stroke, thank the Lord it was a minor one referred to as a TIA. It left me paralyzed on my right side from my shoulder on down, of course I was very worried that my career was over but with the love and support from my wife, Rebecca and family, my doctors, especially Julie my OT (Occupational Therapist),and my MAIDEN family I was able to bounce back to somewhere near 70% recovered. After 10 weeks of intense therapy it was almost time to start rehearsals for our tour.

"I feel it's important to let you know about this now instead of earlier as I was mainly concerned with doing my job and concentrating on getting back to 100% fitness. I'm not there yet but by the grace of God I'm getting better and stronger as the weeks go by.

"Thank you all for a most wonderful and magical tour so far, you have all been so amazing.

"Well that's it from me. God bless you all, stay safe and well and I look forward to seeing you all somewhere in time. "

Smallwood added: "The rest of the band and l think that what Nicko has been able to achieve since his stroke shows incredible belief and willpower and we are all very proud of him. With this new and musically very complex set to learn ahead of him, he just got his head down and concentrated on recovery. We honestly did not know if he would be able to play a whole show until band rehearsals started in May and there was just so much support for him from the band and then genuine relief for all when we saw he was going to be able to do it!

"Nicko being Nicko he did not want to make a fuss and cause any distraction to the tour at the time but, now that he is sure he will soon get there, he thought you fans should know straight from him rather than by any rumours! We are all of course delighted he battled through this so well and look forward to many more tours together!"

Four years ago, McBrain was diagnosed with stage 1 laryngeal cancer and opened up about it in a single interview in 2021 but otherwise kept it mostly under wraps. The musician received his cancer diagnosis after undergoing an endoscopy at the Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center, part of the University Of Miami Health System and the Miller School of Medicine. Within a week, McBrain's cancer was surgically removed and he now gets check-ups every few months to make sure the cancer hasn't returned.

McBrain, who had the cancer in a part of his vocal cords, isn't the first member of MAIDEN to beat cancer. Back in late 2014, IRON MAIDEN's Bruce Dickinson was diagnosed with throat cancer. The singer, who had a golf gall-size tumor on his tongue and another in the lymph node on the right side of his neck, got the all-clear in May 2015 after radiation and nine weeks of chemotherapy.

In a 2015 interview with Overdrive, McBrain admitted that he thought MAIDEN was over when it was discovered that Dickinson had a cancerous tumor. "Well, I'd be a liar if I didn't think for a minute that IRON MAIDEN [was] finished," he said. "[But] I thought more about the possibility of losing my friend than anything else, to be honest. Then later, I was thinking, 'God forbid if the worst ever happened, the legacy would be the last 16 albums.'"

McBrain, who is a dedicated Christian, continued: "I've got to be honest, I did question his mortality at one point and thankfully that didn't last long. Honestly, I got down on my knees and said a prayer, picked my thoughts up and got positive about it all, thinking to myself, 'If anyone can beat this, it's Bruce.' He's so positive about everything he's ever done in his life, or whatever he is about to do. Basically, I prayed for him and my prayers were answered, as well as everybody else that knows and cares for him."

In anticipation for their upcoming return to Europe, East Bay thrash metal legends, Sadus, have revealed a new lyric video for "The Devil In Me", from their latest album, The Shadow Inside, available from Nuclear Blast Records. Watch below:





The band will be perform a hometown warm up show in Petaluma, CA on July 27 before heading across the Atlantic for European festivals.




Dates:


July
27 - Petaluma, CA - Phoenix Theater


August
8 - Nottertal-Heilinger Heights, Germany - Party San Open Air Festival
9 - Kortrijk, Belgium - Alcatraz Metal Festival
10 - Josefov, Czech Republic - Brutal Assault Festival
11 - Derbyshire, UK - Bloodstock Open Air Festival


Sadus is currently touring in support of The Shadow Inside, which was released in November 2023. The band’s 6th full-length was recorded with Juan Urteaga at Trident Studios and features ominous artwork by accomplished artist Travis Smith.


Their first record in 17 years is a contemporary thrash classic with colossal, groove-laden riffs at break-neck rhythm and blistering solos as heard on blistering tracks like "Scorched And Burnt", "It’s The Sickness" and "Ride The Knife", that further cement the band’s legacy as one of thrash metal’s most quintessential bands.


Order The Shadow Inside here.





The Shadow Inside tracklisting:


"First Blood"
"Scorched And Burnt"
"It’s The Sickness"
"Ride The Knife"
"Anarchy"
"The Devil In Me"
"Pain"
"No Peace"
"New Beginnings"
"The Shadow Inside"


"Anarchy" video:





"Scorched And Burnt":





"Ride The Knife" lyric video:





"It’s The Sickness" lyric video:

In a new interview with Seb Di Gatto of The Metal Gods Meltdown, OVERKILL bassist D.D. Verni admitted that he prefers physical product to downloads/streaming. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "When I buy music now, I'm not like a Spotify guy or whatever…. If I hear something on the radio, it's, like, 'Oh, there's a new track from JUDAS PRIEST,' I'll be, like, 'Oh, wow. And I'll go, I'll buy the record. And I'll play it in the studio. I've gotten into some Spotify stuff now for the first time, 'cause my kids put it on my phone. I'm, like, all right, it's pretty convenient, I've gotta say. But I still get the disc. And I still find out about music the same way — somebody tells me, or I saw a video, or I saw something on Blabbermouth and I was, like, 'Wow, that's a great song.' Yeah, that's still the same way for me."

D.D.'s solo project VERNI will release its second album, "Dreadful Company", on July 26 via M-Theory Audio.

D.D. has held the bottom end of OVERKILL for four decades and been key in writing the band's material and overseeing much of their business over the years. VERNI gives D.D. the chance to step more into the spotlight and express himself without limitations.

"Dreadful Company" will be released on digital, CD and limited-edition vinyl (either black/white marble or traditional black) with insert and digital download card. As a bonus, if you preorder via M-Theory Audio's webstore or through Bandcamp you'll get an individually signed D.D. Verni photo, while supplies last.

Much like his first solo album, 2018's "Barricade", D.D. wrote all the songs on "Dreadful Company" in addition to singing, and playing guitar and bass. While this album bears some resemblance to "Barricade", D.D. lets his punk roots shine through on this album, which leads to 11 blistering tracks chock full of electrified songs and infectious sing-alongs.

Verni enlisted a few famous friends to appear on the forthcoming record, including the diverse bunch of Charlie Benante (ANTHRAX, PANTERA),Virus (DOPE),Michael Romeo (SYMPHONY X) and Charlie Calv (ANGEL, THE BRONX CASKET CO.).

D.D. even produced and engineered "Dreadful Company", with mixing and mastering by Chris "Zeuss" Harris (HATEBREED, MUNICIPAL WASTE, SOULFLY) and cover artwork/design by Travis Smith (OPETH, DEVIN TOWNSEND, NEVERMORE).

The Jordan's Rock Vault YouTube channel has uploaded video of GREAT WHITE's entire July 19 performance at Promenade Pavilion in Toledo, Ohio. Check out the footage below.

Featured songs:

00:00 Desert Moon
05:50 Lady Red Light
10:30 House Of Broken Love
16:50 Stick It
21:45 Gonna Getcha
26:25 Save Your Love
31:10 Rock Me
39:45 Once Bitten, Twice Shy

In an April 2024 interview with George Dionne of KNAC.COM, GREAT WHITE guitarist Mark Kendall confirmed that he and his bandmates are working on material for the follow-up to 2017's "Full Circle" album. He said: "I've been having [our new singer Brett Carlisle] out recording new stuff. Because I want him to be inspired and just not singing our [old] songs perfect but put his name on some new stuff. So we've been recording. I got a friend, his studio is a little bit more upgraded than mine. This guy Tracy G [Grijalva], he's like a teenage friend of mine who was in DIO. He just has a better studio. So I go down there and lay down ideas and then I have Brett out and go, 'Check this out,' and we sit together. And it's coming out amazing."

Regarding how GREAT WHITE is planning to release its new music, Mark said: "We're not sure how we're gonna put it out, with this day and age. We're talking to a lot of people about it. 'Cause we don't want the music to kind of get lost, with this downloading world. It's not like when we were growing up, we'd buy a record and sit there and listen to [LED ZEPPELIN's] 'Physical Graffiti' all day. Now they just download a couple of songs from this [album], a couple of songs [from that record]. So we're thinking maybe the idea could be [to] just put two or three songs out, maybe a video, and just keep coming with three at a time or something. That way, the music isn't wasted; it actually gets to the people. That's all we're concerned about. We know it's gonna be free on the Internet immediately."

He continued: "Even in our heyday, I was always more interested in the feedback. I want people to tell me, 'Man, I really like this song' or, 'I hate it,' or whatever. I used to go straight to a friend of mine, as soon as we were done, before it was out or anything, because you've gotta wait about four months. So I'd ask him, I go, 'Man, please tell me I'm great. Tell me something good.' He would always pick the singles. And the guy can't — he can't hold a tune in a bucket. I mean, he's so tone deaf, it's insane. But he can listen and he could always pick the singles. I'm going, 'What are you judging by? Is it the beat?' He goes, 'I don't know.' So there's no answer there. But I always like to get the feedback 'cause I wanna know… You have to wait this waiting period after you finish a record to find out if you're good or not, or if people are gonna be accepting. So it is a frustrating time. So I always race all my friends and play it for 'em. So that's what I'm more interested in than the dollars, really, is what people think. And maybe we have a chance to create some more memories."

Asked if he and his bandmates were "a little bit apprehensive" about the fact that Carlisle is only 27 years old while GREAT WHITE, as a group, has been in existence more than four decades, Mark said: "He's in his late 20s, but, believe it or not, he's kind of an old soul in a way. Nothing overwhelms the guy. He just goes out and just totally handles it every night, engages the crowd. He's real good with the interaction. He sings perfect all the time. And he's got really good song sense for a young man. I'm used to feeding people melody ideas when I write a song because that's the way I do it. Everybody has their own way to do it, but I always know that there's a lot of melody available, and he sometimes comes up with something way better than I had. So that's a good sign. And the way he delivers the new stuff, he really has a good handle on the music. And I don't know — I think he was born in the wrong time or something. In other words, we can stand together. It's not like he's standing next to his grandpa or something. It's not like we're CROSBY, STILLS & NASH, and, 'What's that 13-year-old doing there?' When we stand together, it just looks like a band. It doesn't look like we're with a little kid or anything. He's a little better-looking than us, but apart from that…"

Carlisle was officially named GREAT WHITE's new vocalist in October 2022. Brett joined the group as the replacement for Andrew Freeman (LAST IN LINE),who sang for GREAT WHITE for only five months.

Regarding what it has been like working with a singer who wasn't even born when some of GREAT WHITE's classic songs were written, the band's rhythm guitarist and keyboardist Michael Lardie told Robert Miguel of Uvalde Radio Rocks: "Well, I think he gets what we're trying to do. It's been a godsend to have someone with his youth, but at the same time he has what a lot of people would deem as an older soul. His parents did a great job bringing him up on '70s and '80s rock, so he's pretty well versed in that. And he comes from the South, so he's got a little bit of that blues and gospel edge to him."

Michael went on to say that he is "really looking forward" working on the new GREAT WHITE album with Carlisle. "In fact, before we were going on the other night, I was playing him a little bit of a thing that he and I are working on, and he's going, 'Oh, yeah, I got this idea,'" Lardie said. "So he's really psyched about working with us. And it's a joy to be onstage with him. He's turned into a great little performer, and when he's offstage, he's the most down-to-earth, righteous young man that I've come across in a while. And it's been a joy."

Michael added that Carlisle has the singing ability to handle anything from GREAT WHITE's catalog. "With his energy and his vocal range, we can do pretty much anything," he said. "If somebody throws out a tune, no matter how obscure it might be or how high it might be in terms of range, he's, like, 'Yeah, I can do that.' Like one of the songs we are doing from the very, very first record is 'Stick It'. And he hits every one of those notes spot-on every night. So it's awesome."

Regarding the musical direction of the new GREAT WHITE material, Lardie said: "It's hard to say. I would love the album to be kind of an amalgam of '...Twice Shy' [1989], 'Hooked' [1991] and 'Psycho City' [1992]. I mean, that, to me, would be a great combination of things."

In March, Kendall told The Logan Show about Carlisle: "Even though he's younger than us, he's kind of, like… Nothing overwhelms the guy. He's respectful and everything, but he's not, like, 'Oh, my god. Look at this. Oh, my god. [Look at] that.' He just goes out and just totally handles it every night. Yeah, he's younger than us and whatnot, and, like you said, he wasn't even born in our heyday or whatever, probably, but he just goes out, he really brings the crowd into the show. He's really good and natural at… He doesn't have a script when he goes out there; he just kind of whatever he's feeling, and he sings like perfect, no matter what. It's pretty incredible, really. We're looking forward to doing an album with him, I can tell you that much."

After interviewer Logan Crosland noted that "quite a few people online" have commented that Brett is "probably the closest-sounding singer to Jack Russell," GREAT WHITE's original vocalist, and asked if that was a criteria when hiring Brett to front the band, Mark said: "Not necessarily. What it was is he just sang the songs correctly and he has the range to sing 'em. I don't think his voice sounds that much like Jack, but he has the range of Jack in his heyday. And so we're able to play anything we want, and we really haven't been able to do that in the past. Like we're playing 'Stick It' off the first album, which is up in the astral planes with the vocal range, and he's hitting all those notes full power. I mean, it's not like a falsetto, weak high notes. He's like straight from the gut just like screaming these notes, like full power from A to Z. There's not a song in our catalog that he can't totally handle. And I've been writing with him."

Regarding whether he has any songs already completed, Mark said: "Oh, yeah. I probably have seven complete songs on tape right now. [They're] just absolutely killer. But we haven't collaborated. The way we do it is we get together and we sit in a circle and say, 'What do you got? Let's hear it. What do you got?' And if a riff kind of pokes out, we say, 'Let's work on that. That's badass, dude. That's killer.' And that way it's more of a group effort."

Carlisle made his live debut with GREAT WHITE on September 24, 2022 at the Cannery Casino Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada.

According to Brett, he felt welcomed by his new bandmates and the GREAT WHITE fans from the get-go.

"After meeting [the GREAT WHITE guys], they're all super-cool dudes," he told Kevin McKay of the 99 Rock WKSM FM radio station. "In Vegas, we had a rehearsal the day before, and I already knew half the songs well enough to be able to do it. So I wanted to do the best that I could on 'em. But after we hung out, everybody was cool and stuff. I mean, it's a big crowd. I love big crowds; they're fun."

Carlisle has been playing guitar and singing since the age of eight and counts bands like VAN HALEN, SKID ROW and METALLICA as his main influences.

In May 2022, GREAT WHITE announced that it had parted ways with singer Mitch Malloy and had replaced him with Freeman. Malloy had been in GREAT WHITE for nearly four years, having joined the group in 2018 following the departure of Terry Ilous.

Ilous, frontman of '80s L.A. hard rockers XYZ, joined GREAT WHITE in 2010 after stepping in for touring vocalist Jani Lane (WARRANT).

The Ilous-led GREAT WHITE released two albums, 2012's "Elation" and 2017's "Full Circle", before Terry was dismissed from the group.

This version of GREAT WHITE is not to be confused with JACK RUSSELL'S GREAT WHITE, which featured original GREAT WHITE singer Jack Russell.

In January 2023, Kendall told the "Mark 2.0" podcast that he was surprised by the overwhelmingly positive response to Carlisle's addition to GREAT WHITE. "It was world news," he said. "I'm seeing stuff on the Internet from Italy, Germany, the U.K. And even some of the more online dirt-seeking-type entities that normally are just huntin' for the headline to say, 'He said his singer sucks'. That's the article. That's the way it starts. These guys actually said good things and posted some of the [fan-filmed videos]. They're cellphone cameras, so the quality probably isn't… But you can hear it. You need to sing great."

In October 2022, Carlisle was asked in an interview with AL.com about his approach to singing GREAT WHITE's classic songs. He said: "I just want to do the songs justice, because that's what people expect to hear. They want to go to the shows and hear the songs the way they remember them, the way they know them. It's not about me and how many high notes I can hit or anything like that. I just want to do the give the people, and the band, what they want."

Brett went on to say that he is honored to be singing for a band whose songs — including "Save Your Love", "Rock Me" and "Lady Red Light" — he had previously covered with his other band ALL OR NOTHING.

"I just want to learn from them," Carlisle said of his new bandmates "It's just really cool to be included in what I've grown up listening to, like looking at the CDs and everything. And then now people are coming up after the shows asking me to sign like original GREAT WHITE cassettes and stuff. And I'm sitting here feeling like I'm not worthy. Because I didn't record that. But I'm like, I just sang with them, so, sure, if you want me to."

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Posted by Promenade Pavilion by HB Concerts Inc. on Monday, June 17, 2024

For the first time in over three decades, JANE'S ADDICTION's classic lineup consisting of vocalist Perry Farrell, guitarist Dave Navarro, drummer Stephen Perkins and bassist Eric Avery has reunited to release the new studio single, "Imminent Redemption", available today across all digital streaming platforms.

Recorded at Sweetzwerland Studios in Hollywood, California, the high-energy, rock-infused single feels like an instant classic from the rock legends, though distinctly current, breathing fresh air into a new chapter of JANE'S ADDICTION.

"It is different this time," says the band. "To have everyone back together, releasing new music. It's time. Welcome to the next chapter of JANE'S ADDICTION. 'Imminent Redemption' is only the beginning."

Prior to "Imminent Redemption"'s arrival, Avery's last time in the studio with JANE'S ADDICTION was for the classic 1990 album "Ritual De Lo Habitual".

"Imminent Redemption" was first performed live when JANE'S ADDICTION's classic lineup played its first show in 14 years on May 23 at London, United Kingdom's Bush Hall.

At the London gig, Navarro, Farrell, Perkins and Avery – who had left the band in 2010 but returned in 2022 — also played another new track, "True Love", which they had premiered last year. They also opened with "Kettle Whistle", marking JANE'S ADDICTION's first performance of the song with Navarro since 2001.

"True Love" was reportedly written by Farrell, Avery and Perkins, with assistance from touring guitarist Josh Klinghoffer.

Navarro sat out JANE'S ADDICTION's 2022 and 2023 shows due to his battle with long COVID. He was replaced at last year's gigs by Klinghoffer, a former member of RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS who also records with Eddie Vedder and performs with PEARL JAM. 2022 saw QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE's Troy Van Leeuwen step in for Navarro.

The fall 2022 "Spirit On Fire" tour marked the first JANE'S ADDICTION run of shows in more than a decade to feature returning Avery. Prior to that, Avery last played with the band for a short stint in the 2000s before departing again in 2010.

In the fall of 2022, Farrell told Alternative Press that it wasn't easy finding a temporary replacement for Navarro. "At first, there was a lot of weight on my shoulders," he said. "This was our return tour right after COVID, and we didn't have Dave. JANE'S is a unique band, and you can't just grab any guitar player and they'll pick it up. That's Dave Navarro we're talking about — those are big shoes to fill."

When it was first announced that Van Leeuwen would fill in for Navarro for the fall 2022 tour, Dave said in a statement: "He is a great guy and I am honored to have him help make this tour happen. Though I am saddened to not make this tour, I am focused on making a full recovery and rejoining the guys when I am able. I truly wish the band well on this tour and I am confident they will bring everything to make it a fabulous show! Go get 'em, guys!"

JANE'S ADDICTION and LOVE AND ROCKETS will hit the road for their 2024 co-headline tour. Produced by Live Nation, the 23-city trek kicks off on August 9 at Fontainebleau Las Vegas making stops across North America in Los Angeles, New York, Toronto, and more before wrapping up in St. Louis at Evolution Festival on September 29.

The world of rock guitar has always been illuminated by a few virtuosic stars who shine brighter than the rest, and among them, Michael Schenker stands out as a comet blazing across the night sky.

His tenure with the British hard rock band UFO during the 1970s remains one of the most celebrated periods in the annals of rock, elevating UFO from underground sensations to rock legends.

Now, in 2024, Michael Schenker is set to celebrate those glory days with his new album "My Years With UFO" alongside today's rock elite.

Produced by Michael Schenker and Michael Voss, the new album marks the 50th anniversary of Schenker's era with UFO, spanning from 1972 to 1978. The "German Wunderkind" was asked to join UFO at just 17 years old. Touring the globe as a teenager, Schenker became a driving force behind some of UFO's most loved tracks, such as "Doctor Doctor", "Rock Bottom" and "Only You Can Rock Me".

The second single off the new album, "Rock Bottom", is an epic, 11-minute track once again showcasing an incredible lineup featuring Kai Hansen (GAMMA RAY, HELLOWEEN) on vocals, Derek Sherinian on keys, Brian Tichy on drums and Barry Sparks on bass.

Although Michael Schenker's era with UFO spanned only six years, his influence as a young songwriter and exceptional guitarist had already left a lasting mark on rock. During these meteoric years, the UFO albums "Phenomenon", "Force It", "No Heavy Petting", "Lights Out", "Obsession" and the seminal live album "Strangers In The Night" were recorded, each contributing significantly to the genre. "Strangers In The Night" particularly stands out as one of the most influential live rock albums of all time and is still regarded as a cornerstone in any rock enthusiast's collection.

In this celebratory album, Michael Schenker presents 11 of UFO's greatest hits from this magical era with an impressive lineup of guest stars. Joining Schenker on this journey are Derek Sherinian on keyboards, Brian Tichy on drums, and Barry Sparks on bass.

The stellar roster of guest artists includes Axl Rose (GUNS N' ROSES),Slash (GUNS N' ROSES),Kai Hansen (HELLOWEEN),Roger Glover (DEEP PURPLE),Joey Tempest (EUROPE),Biff Byford (SAXON),Jeff Scott Soto (YNGWIE MALMSTEEN, JOURNEY),John Norum (EUROPE),Dee Snider (TWISTED SISTER),Joel Hoekstra (WHITESNAKE),Joe Lynn Turner (RAINBOW),Carmine Appice (VANILLA FUDGE, CACTUS),Adrian Vandenberg (WHITESNAKE),Michael Voss, Stephen Pearcy (RATT) and Erik Grönwall (SKID ROW).

This album is the introduction to an upcoming trilogy, as Michael Schenker has signed an exclusive three-album deal with earMUSIC, with additional albums to follow in 2025 and 2026.

"My Years With UFO" will be released worldwide on September 20 via earMUSIC and is available for pre-order.

"My Years With UFO" track listing:

01. Natural Thing (feat. Dee Snider, Joel Hoekstra)
02. Only You Can Rock Me (feat. Joey Tempest, Roger Glover)
03. Doctor, Doctor (feat. Joe Lynn Turner, Carmine Appice)
04. Mother Mary (feat. Slash, Erik Grönwall)
05. This Kids (feat. Biff Byford)
06. Love To Love (feat. Axl Rose)
07. Lights Out (feat. Jeff Scott Soto, John Norum)
08. Rock Bottom (feat. Kai Hansen)
09. Too Hot To Handle (feat. Joe Lynn Turner, Adrian Vandenberg, Carmine Appice)
10. Let It Roll (feat. Michael Voss)
11. Shoot, Shoot (feat. Stephen Pearcy)

A little over three years ago, Michael detailed events which led to his final exit from UFO in 2002, saying that "the natural flow of the chemistry was destroyed" by the time he left the band.

Schenker, whose original tenure with the British rock institution lasted from 1973 to 1978, rejoined UFO in 1993, recording the "Walk On Water" (1995) album with the classic lineup of the band that also included lead singer Phil Mogg, bassist Pete Way, drummer Andy Parker, and guitarist/keyboardist Paul Raymond.

Explaining how the reunion came about, Michael told Eonmusic: "Phil Mogg came to Los Angeles in '93, begging me to refuel UFO because he completely had destroyed it. I said, 'I have a few conditions. One is, you have to give me 50 percent of the UFO name so you don't destroy it again, especially if I put my energy into it."

The onetime SCORPIONS man went on to say that initially, things were great within the camp, and that he noticed a change in the formerly dejected Mogg almost immediately. "I tell you, when I saw Phil the next time when we started recording, he looked like an one hundred and eighty degree different person," Schenker said. "He was happy, healthy. He was unbelievably fit."

But it was a harmony that wasn't to last. "'Walk On Water' was a blessing after 17 years," Michael said. "It was such a beautiful record that famously carried on from 'Strangers In The Night' [1979]. And then, of course, we went on the road, and then Phil lost it, and wanted control again and destroyed everything."

Despite going on to record two further albums with the band — 2000's "Covenant" and 2002's "Sharks", Michael said that it was further lineup changes (the ousting of both Parker and Raymond) which ultimately destroyed the band.

"I always said to him, 'Never do a reunion with UFO unless it's the original setup, including the producer,'" Michael said. "Because if you take one piece out, the chemistry is finished."

Bringing in producer Mike Varney for "Sharks" in place of Ron Nevinson, the man behind their greatest '70s triumphs, for Michael, the end was nigh. "I said to Phil, 'Don't do this. It will backfire. It will not succeed.' And it did not. The natural flow of the chemistry was destroyed, and basically, we were just limping towards the end."

Despite this, Michael made one final gesture of good will toward Mogg. "I'd had enough of UFO at that point, and in 2002, Phil Mogg asked me, 'Michael, I need the name UFO back.' I said to Phil, 'You know what? God bless you. I'll give you the name back for free. Enjoy your life.' And then that was it. That was the end of it."

Photo credit: Tallee Savage

Tubi Films has released the first trailer for its upcoming dark western thriller "The Thicket", which includes a role by METALLICA's James Hetfield. Check it out below.

Based on Joe R. Lansdale's novel of the same name, "The Thicket" will be released in theaters on Friday, September 6.

Peter Dinklage plays Shorty, a bounty hunter enlisted to find a woman who has been kidnapped by a violent killer. The movie, which is set at the turn of the 20th century, follows Shorty and his fellow trackers as they travel into a violent and chaotic place known as the Big Thicket.

"The Thicket" also stars Juliette Lewis ("Yellowjackets"),Esmé Creed-Miles ("Hanna"),Levon Hawke ("The Crowded Room"),Leslie Grace ("In The Heights"),Gbenga Akinnagbe ("The Old Man"),Macon Blair ("I Care A Lot"),Ned Dennehy ("Peaky Blinders"),Andrew Schulz ("Infamous") and Arliss Howard ("Mank").

Production on the film took place last year with "Blitz" director Elliott Lester behind the camera and Christopher Kelly penning the script.

Lester told Collider about adding Hetfield to the film: "The casting of James Hetfield in 'The Thicket' is a story that feels almost destined. It all began with a dream — one morning I woke up with a clear vision that James had to be in the movie. James Hetfield, a Rock God, embodies a raw poetry that fit perfectly with the character we envisioned. From that moment, Peter Dinklage and I were relentless in our pursuit. We tried every possible avenue: his manager, mutual friends, anyone who could help us reach him. Our breakthrough came when writer/director Sacha Gervasi ['Anvil! The Story Of Anvil'], who had a connection to James, stepped in. Despite our efforts, we were unsure if James would even consider the role. We sent him the script, along with a Hail Mary, and waited. To our delight, within days we heard that James was interested. The meeting that followed confirmed our hopes. James could not have been more humble. He revealed that he had always wanted to do a dark western, aligning perfectly with our film's vision. From that point on, James was incredible. He was hard-working, diligent, and fully embraced his role with a passion that brought a unique intensity to the film. The journey with James has been extraordinary, and his presence truly elevates 'The Thicket' to a new level."

Back in 2019, Hetfield had a part in the Netflix thriller "Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil And Vile". That film followed the relationship between notorious serial killer Ted Bundy, played by Zac Efron, and his longtime girlfriend, played by Lily Collins, who at the time had no knowledge of the crimes. Hetfield played officer Bob Hayward, a no-nonsense Utah highway patrol veteran who was the first law enforcement officer to arrest Bundy in 1975 after pulling the killer over and discovering burglary tools in his car but wisely suspecting much worse. While Hetfield had played himself in other films and television productions, this was his first dramatic role taking on a different character.

Five years ago, Efron praised the METALLICA guitarist/vocalist's acting chops during an appearance on "Jimmy Kimmel Live!", saying: "James Hetfield, to his credit, and absolutely nailed the part, he just crushed it. It's like he’s been acting his own life. He had no fear. He did a great job. I was ready to maybe give James Hetfield [an acting] tip, but he didn't ask for a single one. James Hetfield is the shit!"

first look at The Thicket - a Tubi film starring peter dinklage & juliette lewis

Posted by Tubi on Thursday, June 27, 2024

In a new interview with Monterrey Rock, DEATH ANGEL bassist Damien Sisson spoke about the progress of the songwriting sessions for the band's follow-up to 2019's "Humanicide" album. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET):  "We are currently in the writing process right now. I wanna say we're probably a good — I wanna say we're, like, six or seven songs in. And, gosh, I shouldn't say too much about the album because so much — as I've found from the four albums I've done with DEATH ANGEL, from when you first get the first riffs or the first demo tapes to when it's done, so much changes. Art changes, direction changes, lyrics change, structure changes."

He continued: "Ambitiously, we'd love to go the LED ZEPPELIN route and have like a 'Physical Graffiti' double album. We're not sure if we're gonna have enough material, 'cause it's gotta be good material. You can't just stuff two albums' full of riffs; it's gotta be good material. So, in the event that we don't get two albums, a double album, done, then we hope to really just come through with 10 really strong songs on a new album."

As for a possible release date for the new DEATH ANGEL album, Damien, who has lived in Mexico since 2019, said: "I can't really say when the release is; we're not in the recording studio yet. Knowing the way the industry works, I can't imagine this album getting out in 2024, which means probably and hopefully an early release of 2025. I would hope for in the first quarter, somewhere around March, April of 2025, hopefully a new album is dropping. We're engaging in a new touring cycle. We're ramping up and trying to hit all the markets again, hopefully Southeast Asia, Europe. It'd be great to have the opportunity to come back to South America or Latin America. But I know once we have a new album out, the idea is to try to support it as much as we can."

This past March, DEATH ANGEL guitarist Ted Aguilar told El Planeta Del Rock that there were "a bunch of songs, a lot of skeletons" for the band's next album. "We spent the first three months of this year writing. We didn't do any activity — just writing… There's a bunch of skeletons, as we call it. There's a lot of ideas that we're waiting for [singer] Mark [Osegueda] to put some vocals on."

Osegueda is the featured singer on SLAYER guitarist Kerry King's debut solo album, "From Hell I Rise", which arrived on May 17 via Reigning Phoenix Music.

Earlier in March, Osegueda told El Planeta Del Rock about the songwriting process for DEATH ANGEL's next LP: "It's going great. And we're excited about it."

Asked if there is any chance of DEATH ANGEL releasing a new single this year, Mark said: "That's a good question. I don't know. We're more of an album band. 'Cause we wanna write a whole bunch of music and cherry pick the best songs that we think will make a solid, solid, vicious record, especially after — [it being] the follow-up to 'Humanicide' and being that it's already been, we're going on five years since the last [studio album]. So I think we wanna get the best product possible."

In a separate interview with Elevar, Cavestany confirmed that new DEATH ANGEL music was in the works. "I don't like divulging the 'play by play'; I'd rather news came out when there is substantial information to speak of," he explained. "That being said, I can tell you there are around seven songs we are currently working on and I'm currently getting deep into the writing zone, which is my happy place. If we can manage to stop saying yes to every tour offer (we love to tour),then maybe we can finally get this new album done. The plan is to record it this year."

Also in march, DEATH ANGEL drummer Will Carroll said that he was "stoked" about how the band's new music was shaping up. "The creative juices are flowing and things are moving along at a very productive rate," he wrote on social media.

He added: "I can't wait for the DA fans around the world to hear this new material and hopefully we'll make some new ones along the way. Exciting times indeed."

In January, Will said that he and his DEATH ANGEL bandmates were "hard at work getting" the band's next album "written and completely demo'd."

"It felt good to get back to work with Rob Cavestany," Will wrote. "It's a real challenge to not rehash the same ideas and beats from previous albums but I think so far things are sounding fresh and inspired."

Last July, Aguilar told Vikram Chandrasekar about the band's songwriting process: "Well, when it comes down to writing, it's all Rob. It's all Rob. It starts with him. He comes up with a basic structure and him and Will get together and they hash it all out and they record it. And when they get it to a point where, 'Oh, yeah, this is great,' then they send it off to everyone else. And Damien does his parts and Mark will listen to it and try to write lyrics and melodies. And I'll listen to it and I'll touch base with Rob: 'What do you want me to do here? Do you want me to play something here? Or do you want me to do something different?' 'Cause Rob has a vision and you kind of wanna see his vision. And as soon as the song comes together to where we play it quite a few times, then we could throw in our ideas, like, 'Hey, maybe that part should be a little longer,' or, 'Maybe cut that out,' or Will will go, 'I wanna do something different here instead.' So, you know, Rob has a vision, we listen, we play along with it. Then if we feel like there needs to be changes, we express our concern, and Rob is really good at, 'Yeah, let's give it a try.' So we try everything. And it comes down to, 'All right, this is what works.' So it starts with Rob. And with regarding the lyrics, every now and then Rob will pick out a song: 'I wanna write lyrics for this song.' And Mark goes, 'Go ahead.' But Mark writes all the lyrics, and what he does is with the music, he'll listen to it over and over by himself. I don't know where he goes. He goes into the far corners of the earth by himself, with the headphones and music, and he'll come up with so many types of different melodies and stuff, and then come up with the ones he's happy with and lay it down on the demo form. Then when we get into the real studio, then things start to evolve 'cause we've played it so many times or we listened to it so many times that when we get in there, [we go], 'All right, let's try this.' It's always evolving to the point where it's handing it in to get mastered. Some songs stay kind of the same from what it was, but we just put more energy into it. Some songs have been rewritten quite a few times, so it differs. Rob's the songwriter, and on the last album I wrote one song. Yeah, it's how it is. And right now I'm writing some stuff, and how it goes is I'll write some stuff, I'll send it to Rob. I always tell him, 'If it's good, use it. If not, if you find parts are good, use it. If it's not good, it's okay, dude.' I'm just throwing some stuff out there, 'cause he knows what the DEATH ANGEL sound should be. And if he likes it, he'll use it. If he doesn't, my feelings are not broken."

DEATH ANGEL released a live album titled "The Bastard Tracks" in November 2021 via Nuclear Blast. Recorded live at The Great American Music Hall in their hometown of San Francisco on May 22, 2021, and streamed live soon after, "The Bastard Tracks" was described in a press release as "a deep-cuts collection of rarely and never performed songs from the band's catalog" that was released digitally and on CD, vinyl and Blu-ray.

In October 2020, DEATH ANGEL released a four-song EP, "Under Pressure". The effort included a cover of QUEEN + David Bowie's "Under Pressure", followed by a new track titled "Faded Remains", plus acoustic versions of "Act III"'s classic "A Room With A View" and "Humanicide"'s "Revelation Song". The EP was mixed by Max Norman (OZZY OSBOURNE, MEGADETH, BAD COMPANY) and mastered by Ted Jensen (LAMB OF GOD, MACHINE HEAD, HALESTORM).

Released in May 2019 via Nuclear Blast, "Humanicide" saw DEATH ANGEL returning to producer and friend Jason Suecof (DEICIDE, TRIVIUM) of Audiohammer studios for the recording and mixing, along with the mastering of the legendary Ted Jensen (SLIPKNOT, PANTERA) of Sterling Sound, who added the final touches and brought it all to life, with artist Brent Elliott White (LAMB OF GOD, MEGADETH) providing the ominous cover artwork.

In March 2020, Carroll spent almost two weeks on a ventilator in an intensive care unit at a Northern California hospital after being diagnosed with COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus. He first got sick when he and the rest of DEATH ANGEL spent more than a month on the road in Europe with TESTAMENT and EXODUS as part of "The Bay Strikes Back 2020" tour.

DEATH ANGEL was nominated for a Grammy Award for "Best Metal Performance" for the "Humanicide" title track. It was the group's first Grammy nomination.

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

In a new interview with Cutter's RockCast, world-renowned CREED and ALTER BRIDGE guitarist/songwriter Mark Tremonti confirmed that he has completed work on the sixth album from his solo band TREMONTI.  "We have a record mastered, ready to go," he said. "We have the album artwork done. [It's] mixed [and] mastered. It comes out January 9th."

TREMONTI's fifth album, "Marching In Time", came out in September 2021 via Napalm Records. The LP was produced by longtime friend and collaborator Michael "Elvis" Baskette — the producer Mark has worked with exclusively since 2007.

At the time of "Marching In Time"'s release, Tremonti told American Songwriter that he had completed 18 songs for the record but ended up cutting out six tracks.

"We had to whittle it down and get rid of some songs, which is always terrible," he said. "It's like losing your children. These are things you've worked on and developed an emotional relationship to… Usually, you'll leave them a little looser so you have some kind of push or pull in the studio, but this time these songs were airtight before we hit the studio."

In a separate interview with Classic Rock, Tremonti talked about his evolution as a vocalist, saying: "I wasn't a good singer. But I wanted to be. As a new frontman you have to throw yourself to the wolves. You gotta get up there and do it. Nowadays you can get on YouTube and learn how to do almost anything. How to fix your car, whatever you want. But you can't learn how to be a public entertainer. You could watch Freddie Mercury, or say, 'Well, Roger Daltrey did this.' But you've just got to do it for yourself.

"In my early days as a frontman, I was like a WWE wrestler, like, 'Come on!' But as you get more confidence, I think you get calmer on stage. I think a good first step to dipping your toe in the water is to go find a karaoke place. On vacation I'll find the band on the cruise ship and sing with them. I don't mean metal songs, I mean songs like 'Purple Rain' and 'Dock Of The Bay'."

Tremonti went on to say that he sharpened up his vocals for "Marching In Time" by singing along to Frank Sinatra. "I'm serious," he insisted. "When I'm making these solo records, I'm singing above my vocal range, and I'm having to push. I think people like to hear that desperation in your voice when you're trying to hit a note. But when I sing Sinatra stuff, his vocal range is my vocal range. I can practice my pitch, my vibrato, my control, my phrasing, my pronunciation. Sinatra is probably my favorite singer of all time."

BLACK SABBATH's Ozzy Osbourne and Geezer Butler are featured in a new commercial for the home kit for the Aston Villa football (soccer) club.

Soundtracked by BLACK SABBATH's "Paranoid", the one-minute clip sees the Birmingham, United Kingdom heavy metal legends promote the the 2024/2025 season home kit from their local Premier League club. Also featured in the commercial are Aston Villa stars like coach Unai Emery, Ollie Watkins, Emiliano Martinez and John McGinn.

The video starts with Osbourne calling up Butler and telling the bassist SABBATH should play Villa Park, with Butler responding, "As long as I'm left wing."

Later in the clip, Ozzy describes himself as "the biggest frontman to ever come out of Birmingham," while sporting the new kit.

Ozzy and Geezer grew up close to Aston Villa's ground Villa Park and are lifelong fans of the team.

Last month, Geezer fulfilled his childhood dream of playing Villa Park when he made a guest appearance with FOO FIGHTERS on a rendition of "Paranoid".

Earlier this year, Sharon Osbourne revealed that Ozzy was hoping to play two farewell concerts for his hometown fans at Villa Park. "He won't tour again but we are planning on doing two more shows to say goodbye as he feels like, 'I have never said goodbye to my fans and I want to say goodbye'," she said at the time.

Aston Villa's new home shirt is made by Adidas and is in the club's traditional claret and blue. It also features a special "AV150" symbol to mark the club's 150th anniversary.

Chris Heck, president of business at Aston Villa, said: "We are immensely proud to unveil our new playing kit which marks the start of not only a landmark partnership with one of the world's most recognizable sports brands but an historic year for our football club.

"The new jerseys feature the latest Adidas technology and have been developed in close collaboration with Aston Villa's men's and women's teams."

BLACK STAR RIDERS will headline a special show at KK's Steel Mill in Wolverhampton, United Kingdom on Friday, November 15, 2024 to celebrate the 25th anniversary of U.K.'s Planet Rock radio.

BLACK STAR RIDERS' Ricky Warwick said: "As you all know, we have been taking a bit of a BLACK STAR RIDERS hiatus, but this is the perfect show for us to come back and play for you all. This will be a one-off date featuring Jimmy DeGrasso, Sam Wood and myself, and we are very pleased to have Marco Mendoza back into the fold due to Robbie Crane having existing commitments.

"Planet Rock have gone beyond in their support of BLACK STAR RIDERS over the years and we can’t think of a better event to come back and play for all of you who have been wanting to see BLACK STAR RIDERS live again."

In addition, BLACK STAR RIDERS will release a brand new single titled "Why Are The Rats?" on all digital platforms on July 26. The track will be available as a free download from July 26 at 10 a.m. U.K. time to anyone to who visits www.earache.com/blackstarriders.

"Why Are The Rats?" was recorded back in 2021 as part of the "Wrong Side Of Paradise" sessions featuring Ricky Warwick on lead vocals and guitar, Robbie Crane on bass, Christian Martucci on lead guitar and Zak St. John on drums.

It was in 2012 that BLACK STAR RIDERS was formed by four members of THIN LIZZY — Warwick, guitarist Scott Gorham, co-lead guitarist Damon Johnson and bassist Marco Mendoza — plus former MEGADETH and ALICE COOPER drummer Jimmy DeGrasso. The band’s debut album, "All Hell Breaks Loose", was released in 2013, and drew widespread acclaim in Classic Rock, Mojo, Metal Hammer and Kerrang!

In 2021, Gorham stepped down from BLACK STAR RIDERS to devote more time to THIN LIZZY.

Former ANTHRAX and current ARMORED SAINT singer John Bush may be best known as one of the finest voices in metal, but he's planning something very different. Once sought out to replace James Hetfield in METALLICA, the vocalist is keen to secure a release for a new rockabilly project.

Speaking to Eonmusic about his new band CATEGORY 7, Bush revealed that he's working with guitarist Tara Novick in a project called ELECTRIC SPAGHETTI.

"I have this kind of blues country band that I also would like to put out a record with because we've written a bunch of songs," Bush said. "We have, like, ten songs, but they're very different [to what I usually do]."

John went on to say that working on the ELECTRIC SPAGHETTI project gives him a chance to do something unexpected.

"It was really helpful for my brain to write these different types of songs," he said. "CATEGORY 7 is metal, of course, and then ELECTRIC SPAGHETTI, some songs sound like Little Richard meets Steve Earle."

Bush also revealed that ELECTRIC SPAGHETTI has played a number of low-key gigs, and even incorporated a rare ANTHRAX 1990s gem into their set.

"What was cool is, when we played live, we did, like, three shows, and we played 'A Toast To The Extras'. It was perfect because I was like, I have this song with ANTHRAX that we never played, and I played it for the band, and they're, like; 'That's great. Let's do it.' And so we played it live, and it was awesome."

Read the interview at Eonmusic.

Tara emerged from the Los Angeles punk and rockabilly scene, and in 1989, he was a founding member of ROYAL CROWN REVIEW, which helped pioneer the neo-swing revival. In 1992, he played lead guitar for El Vez (the self-proclaimed Mexican Elvis),and two years later joined West Coast punk band YOUTH BRIGADE. In 1996, he formed his own band THE VOODOO BOYS. From 2000 to 2005, Novick played lead guitar, co-wrote, recorded four albums, and toured the world with Lee Rocker of THE STRAY CATS. He's also toured and been the lead guitarist for Billy Idol, Slim Jim Phantom and the JOHN CORBETT BAND, for whom he produced the Billboard hit single "Good To Go", which came out in 2006. Tara's extensive solo work includes two albums, "Six Pack And Smokes" and "Tomorrow".

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Last night shenanigans. John Bush Electric Spaghetti country rock band kicks ass. Partay

Posted by John Ayala on Saturday, September 30, 2023

Fan-filmed video of AC/DC's July 21 concert at Old Airport Vajnory in Bratislava, Slovakia can be seen below (courtesy of the Milos Pavlik YouTube channel).

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".

Mourning Wood boasts a seasoned lineup with a combined arsenal of musical knowledge spanning vocational studies to university degrees. Their experience translates to a tight and polished sound, honed through countless gigs and an undeniable musical chemistry that stretches back to 2013 (officially forming in 2021).  Drawing inspiration from metal giants like Sentenced, Judas Priest, Ozzy Osbourne, and Billy Idol, the band delivers a fresh take on classic Finnish metal with a twist of their own. Mourning Wood's songs are about life, death, and mental illness with a twist of dark humor.


The new EP, Fill Your Grave, delves into the raw pain of letting go. Each track explores the different stages of grief, from the initial shock to the simmering frustration that fuels the human condition. The journey began back in 2021 with guitarist Eino-Akseli Koski's searing demos. The band meticulously crafted their sound, recording "Gone At Last" in 2022 and completing the EP in 2023.


Fill Your Grave will be released on August 2nd via Wormholedeath Records.







Tracklist:


"Fill Your Grave"
"Last Drop"
"Sociopath"
"Ave Mania"
"Gone At Last"





Line-up:


Jussi Holopainen – vocals
Eino-Akseli Koski – guitar, backing vocals
Lari Lämpsä – bass, backing vocals
Hanna-Leena ”Hanska” Lassila – drums

Legendary rock band SWEET will release its new studio album, "Full Circle", on September 20, 2024 via Metalville Records. According to a press release, the LP will be SWEET's final studio album ever.

SWEET is a rock music phenomena that has taken the world by storm for more then five decades. Over the years, SWEET sold more than 55 million records and earned 34 No. 1 chart positions worldwide. The golden thread that links the past through to the present and into the future is SWEET founding member Andy Scott with all his determination to maintain high standards with the band's musical legacy, recording and touring. The band today has still an illustrious pedigree recreating "live" the high energy and soaring vocals associated with the SWEET sound that is the band's trademark.

SWEET began writing songs for the "Full Circle" album in 2019, before the pandemic. The project was shelved, and the band released "Isolation Boulevard" instead.

"Isolation Boulevard" featured all the SWEET's classic hit singles and was recorded with the new lineup during lockdowns between September and October 2020. It was a reworking of SWEET's 1975 album multi-million-selling "Desolation Boulevard". This involved remote recording sessions which put a new spin on the material. The album was well received, and a single, "Set Me Free", appeared in many heritage rock charts.

With the COVID period of isolation behind us, SWEET started the sessions for "Full Circle" in earnest. The band's touring schedule split the sessions but by the spring of 2024, the recordings were done. The band's performance is outstanding and producers Andy and Tom are very proud of the result.

"Full Circle" track listing

01. Circus
02. Don't Bring Me Water
03. Burning Like A Falling Star
04. Changes
05. Defender
06. Everything
07. Destination Hannover
08. Rising Up
09. Fire In My Heart
10. Coming Home
11. Full Circle

In a 2021 interview with VWMusic, Scott stated about SWEET's place within the rock and glam history: "I think we were probably underrated, and though we have respect from our peers, the other bands and musicians, I feel that if the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame came knocking, it would be a shame, almost too late, as I am the only one left. But hey, the legacy lives on."

Regarding SWEET's influence on the 1980s hair metal era, Andy said: "When bands like MÖTLEY CRÜE broke through, it was like looking at a snapshot of SWEET ten years on. The music was heavier and more reminiscent of our albums and B-sides than the singles. But in cultural/fashion terms, it is a direct line, a pure connection."

SWEET is:

Paul Manzi - Lead Vocals
Lee Small - Bass Guitar/Vocals
Tom Cory - Guitars/Keys/Vocals
Adam Booth - Drums/Percussion
Andy Scott - Guitars/Vocals

Milwaukee-based deathcore quartet Dark Deeds are preparing to release their debut EP, Death Keeps.


Recorded along the highways of Wisconsin in the band's mobile studio, Death Keeps offers seven tracks of darkly aggressive metal.


The band comments on their unorthodox recording process, "We wanted to make the recording process unique and memorable, so we hit the road in a 14-foot camper, traveling around Wisconsin to write and record our music. This mobile studio experience was fun and inspired us in ways we hadn't imagined."




Death Keeps is out digitally August 10; pre-save here.





Tracklisting:


“Found Underneath A Cold Knife”
“Leech”
“Apostate”
“Dogma”
“Remorse”
“King Of Pentacles”
“Death Keeps” (feat. Bind The Sacrifice)


“Found Underneath A Cold Knife”:





Lineup:
Ben Prendergast - Guitar/Vocals
Allan Barth III - Vocals
Shane Garski - Bass
Kevin Giersch - Drums

Atlanta foursome Pistols At Dawn — Adam Jaffe [drums], Will James [lead guitar], Gabriel Cuevas [bass], and Jon Sookdew Sing [lead vocals]— are entering their unapologetic era with their new single "Not Sorry."


Be forewarned, though! It's a banger with a hard rock and industrial-tinged edge, and dreamy vocals. It's an unexpected mix and it slays.







"Obsessed much?," the band states about the song's subject matter, with tongue planted firmly in cheek. "We all have crazy, toxic people in our past that try to manipulate and intimidate us. And the only way to deal with them is to unapologetically tell them that they are most definitely the problem." #TRUTH


As for the video, the band continues, "It encapsulates every relationship or moment in your life that have been abusive and corrosive to the soul. Dark themes are counterbalanced by the driving energy to overcome adversity. Poisonous elements and dark spaces represent the internal struggle and the focused intensity to become your own champion. It's an in-your-face lack of apology for moving forward and making your life your own."


Pistols At Dawn craft the kind of rock music that doesn't just reach the rafters; it breaks through the ceiling. Sky-high hooks stretch into the heavens, a powerful low-end rumbles without apology, and riffs roar at all the right moments. Thus far, the Atlanta band have emerged as a phenomenon. They've amassed nearly 10 million global streams and views, infiltrated the Billboard and Mediabase Top 40 Active Rock charts, earned acclaim from American Songwriter, Brave Words, and the Atlanta Journal Constitution, and embarked upon global tours alongside heavy-hitters such as Alter Bridge, Mammoth WVH, and Fozzy, to name a few. The quartet canvased the world throughout 2022 and 2023. Upon returning stateside, they opted to decamp to Los Angeles in order to assemble new material. Stayed tuned for more, because Pistols at Dawn are leveling up.


Pistols At Dawn live:


September
14 – Atlanta, GA – Smith’s Olde Bar

Join Denver’s Siege Perilous as they embark on a journey through the annals of history and myth with their latest single “Across The Rubicon”. The single comes from the upcoming EP Creation’s Call, which is being unleashed on August 23, 2024. The single is inspired by the legendary crossing of Julius Caesar, this epic anthem transports listeners to the brink of destiny, where the fate of empires hangs in the balance. 


Vocalist Shaughnessy McDaniel comments:


“This was one of the first songs we wrote for the EP. This was a fun opportunity for me to get to write in Latin which I hadn’t done in a while and to reconnect with some of my friends from the academic world. I’ve always thought that the story of Julius Caesar and the fall of the Roman Republic was fascinating, so getting to tell that epic story in a new format was a genuine delight and I think fans will really enjoy the combination of metal and historical storytelling in this one, channeling bands like Sabaton while forging our own pathway.”




With its thunderous drums and soaring vocals, “Across The Rubicon” captures the drama and intrigue of one of history's most pivotal moments. As guitars blaze like the fires of war and basslines march in unison, Siege Perilous paints a vivid portrait of ambition and defiance, inviting fans to witness the turning of the tide. 


This single will captivate power metal fans and history buffs alike and is sternly recommended for fans of Iron Maiden, Wind Rose, and Alestorm.


Pre-save at distrokid.com and preorder at siegemetal.com.





Tracklisting:


“Oathsworn”
“Across The Rubicon”
“Sons Of The Verdant”
“Creation’s Call”
“Brothers Of The Five”


"Across The Rubicon" video:





"Oathsworn":





“Sons Of The Verdant” lyric video:





Band Lineup (Album and Live): 
Shaughnessy McDaniel - Vocals 
Scott Hancock - Guitar
Cody Martinez - Guitar 
Eric Fischer - Bass 
Mark Girard - Drum


(Photo – Underhill Imagery)