In a new interview with Radioactive MikeZ, host of the 96.7 KCAL-FM program "Wired In The Empire", Glenn Danzig was asked if he would ever consider playing one big final show before calling it quits, like Ozzy Osbourne has announced he will do in early July in Birmingham, England. The 69-year-old singer responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Yeah, I don't know. I mean, I remember when DANZIG went out with Ozzy, that was supposed to be his final tour. [Laughs] And then he's done a bunch of final tours since then. So I don't know.

"If it's gonna be final, it should be final," Glenn added. "If you say it's gonna be final… You'll see all these bands [announcing what they say will be] the last tour, and then they're back again two years later. And it's kind of a scam, I think. So, when it's final, and if I say it's final, it'll be final."

Referencing DANZIG's upcoming string of live shows on the U.S. West Coast, which are set to take place in late March, Glenn said: "Right now, pretty much what I've said is kind of what I'm doing. I don't really tour anymore. I'll do a string of shows, which I don't consider a tour. If it's, like, you know, six to 10 shows, I don't really consider that a tour. When I used to go out on tour, we would go out for three or four months at a time, come home for a couple of weeks or a month and then go back out again for another couple of months. That's touring, where you're hitting every city in the United States or in Germany or Europe or Scandinavia, wherever you're going. That's a tour. I mean, this is just a small string of shows here on the West Coast."

Asked if he would ever want to do that one final show and have it be a big celebration where he would play with both DANZIG and MISFITS, Danzig said: "Uh, I don't know. [Laughs] I'm not thinking about that right now."

During a recent appearance on Full Metal Jackie's nationally syndicated radio show, Glenn spoke about DANZIG's upcoming West Coast shows. Support on the trek, which will include cities DANZIG has not played in many years, will come from DOWN, ABBATH and CRO-MAGS. Asked if the upcoming dates will be all that DANZIG will do this year, Glenn said: "I don't really like going on tour. As you can see, I'm only doing six shows. So just trying to get me to go and do a bunch of shows — I don't mind doing a one-off here or there or whatever, but doing a bunch of shows, riding around on the bus, I've said it before… I know that we had to make up a Phoenix show last time that had to get canceled because we there was a bus shortage. And so basically in order to get a bus, we had to move all our first dates on the tour to the end of the tour. And there wasn't an available venue in Phoenix that time period. We'll make up the Phoenix show. And then we had a lot of fans asking why we haven't come up to the big Northwest and San Francisco. So we're trying to make that up. And it'll be it for a while."

Danzig also talked about the changes in touring since his early days, saying: "Well, everything's more expensive. The last time I went out — I think it was 2022 or 2023, again just a handful of shows — and prices on buses and gas had just gone [way up]. And then this last time we went out in 2023, they went up three times what we normally pay. And this time it's even crazier. So, I think it's also become really hard for a lot of bands to go out there and tour. I've said it before — a young band just going out there, they would have to go out in a van, well, kind of how we did back in the day with DANZIG and SAMHAIN and the MISFITS. I mean, we would go out in a van. It was all we could afford."

Asked if he enjoyed touring in a van at that time, Glenn said: "No. No one loves being in a van with a bunch of other people and a limited amount of space. I'd have to be driving, too. A lot of times we'd have the stick shift, and me and maybe one other person in the van would know how to drive a shift. So I'd have to drive most of the time also. You're driving and you're loading equipment in and you're doing everything, pretty much."

He added: "But anyway, I'm looking forward to these shows. It's been a while. And hopefully all the fans will be digging it. And I'm sure they'll have a great time. The lineup is insane. So, I don't know what else we can do except come out there and knock you on your ass."

DANZIG tour dates with DOWN, ABBATH and CRO-MAGS:

March 21 - Las Vegas, NV - The Virgin Theater at Virgin Hotels Las Vegas
March 22 - Lincoln, CA - Thunder Valley Casino Resort
March 25 - Seattle, WA - Wamu Theater
March 26 - Portland, OR - Moda Center-Theatre of the Clouds
March 29 - Los Angeles, CA - Kia Forum
March 30 - Phoenix, AZ - Arizona Financial Theatre

DANZIG's latest album, "Black Laden Crown", came out in May 2017 via Evilive Records/Nuclear Blast Entertainment.

Danzig released a collection of Elvis Presley covers, "Danzig Sings Elvis", in April 2020 and has been focusing on making films, including "Death Rider In The House Of Vampires" and his feature film directorial debut, "Verotika".

When it debuted at the Cinepocalypse festival in Chicago in 2019, "Verotika" was compared by some reviewers to Tommy Wiseau's "The Room", the so-bad-it's-amazing drama which is considered one of the worst movies ever made.

Glenn has been talking about the end of his touring career since at least 2015. At that time, he told Cleveland Scene: "I love being on stage and that's the great part of touring. I'll always do that. It's the bouncing around on a bus. That's the part I hate."

When DANZIG, the band, grew out of the MISFITS/SAMHAIN lineage in 1987, Glenn went into the new project with even grander ambitions and a long-term design. Between 1977 and 1987, the MISFITS' horror-punk morphed into the darker, occult-steeped SAMHAIN. When producer and record mogul Rick Rubin showed interest in signing SAMHAIN to his Def Jam label and producing their first record, the band yet again evolved, and DANZIG was born.

In a new interview with Jonathan Clarke, host of "Out Of The Box" on Q104.3, New York's classic rock station, Alex Lifeson was asked if he and his RUSH bandmate Geddy Lee have ever had "a casual conversation" about possibly finding a new drummer to play with following the passing of longtime RUSH drummer Neil Peart in January 2020. Alex, who is currently promoting the second album, "Stygian Wavz", from his ENVY OF NONE project , said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Oh, well, yeah, of course, because we're bombarded by it all the time. After Neil passed, it didn't take more than a few minutes before we started getting e-mails from all kinds of drummers who wanted to audition for the band, thinking that we were just gonna replace somebody that we played with for 40 years who wrote all the lyrics for our music. I don't know what some of these people were thinking.

"So, yeah, we've had the conversation, because we can't avoid it," he admitted. "But honestly, Ged is my best friend. I talk to him — I must talk to him every day. We get together for dinner, we play tennis, we're doing all this charity work together. He's my best bud, so, yeah, I go over there. He plays bass, I play guitar — yeah, we'll play a little bit. I go over there ostensibly to play with him and we end up just sitting and drinking coffee and laughing the whole day. So it's not just RUSH, RUSH, RUSH, RUSH, RUSH. I have a deep loving relationship with this man, and it's not all about creating something that we did from the past. You never know what life brings you. Right now I'm super happy doing what I'm doing. I'm engaged with a lot of musical stuff. I love being a musician. I love playing guitar. I love playing guitar so much. It's not just a vehicle for making a living. It's me. It's at the core of my essence. So it doesn't have to be about RUSH or ENVY OF NONE. I mean, I do what I do."

Back in January 2024, Geddy reflected on the number of musicians who reached out to him in the days after Neil's passing. He said during an appearance on "Strombo's Lit", Apple's book club curated by Canadian media personality and Apple Music Hits host George "Strombo" Stroumboulopoulos: "Oh, yeah, I heard from all kinds [of people]. That was a very weird moment. My little black book got filled up really quickly." When Stroumboulopoulos noted that these were "people you thought were friends," Lee said: "Yeah, yeah, yeah. I was, like, 'Whoa, that's just so inappropriate right now. Dude, wait two months. At least two months — if ever.' It still happens, now that the clickbait freaks are out there talking about Alex and I getting a new drummer and starting RUSH again."

This past January, Alex confirmed to U.K.'s Classic Rock magazine that he had been jamming with Geddy at the bassist/vocalist's house in Toronto.

"It's good to jam with friends as you get older," the guitarist said. "I need to play. Once a week I go to Ged's — it's in the calendar — keep my fingers moving, play RUSH stuff, new jams. We do record it, but I couldn't even begin to tell you where it'll go."

Lifeson also spoke about reuniting with Lee for 2022's star-studded tribute concerts — one in London, one in Los Angeles — to pay tribute to late FOO FIGHTERS drummer Taylor Hawkins. They enlisted a few drummers — TOOL's Danny Carey, Omar Hakim, RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS' Chad Smith and FOO FIGHTERS' Dave Grohl — to join them at the gigs, the second of which took place at L.A.'s Forum, the same venue where RUSH played its final concert in August 2015.

"The energy was fantastic around that show, I know, and some days I wake up wanting to go out and tour again and some days I don't," Lifeson said. "For forty years RUSH included Neil [Peart, late RUSH drummer], and I don't think putting some new version together would have the same magic.

"After those two gigs and the months of prep Ged and I went through, I was excited by the response and to be in the dressing room again with so many fellow artists in Wembley and L.A. I respected and felt a kinship towards. But after a few weeks that wore off and it occurred to me that despite all the pain of loss, RUSH went out on a high note playing as well as ever with one of our best stage shows on 'R40'. I guess I'd rather be remembered for that legacy than returning as the top RUSH tribute band."

Last May, Lifeson told Rolling Stone that he had been "playing a lot of RUSH songs" with Lee at the bassist/vocalist's house. "We're together in a room like we've always been," the guitarist said. "That's been really good, but there's no chance that we're going to get a drummer and go back on the road as the rebirth of RUSH or something like that. And if we wanted to write new material, nobody cares about new material anymore. They just want to hear the old stuff from guys like us."

When the interviewer noted that RUSH fans "would care", Lifeson clarified: "Maybe the feeling is that it's just really about taking people back to an earlier time in their lives that they have very fond and vivid memories of, and I get it and that's great. And then you do it for the money. And that's not what we were ever about or what we would want to do. Offers come in all the time, but I don't know. I don't think that's something that we're really interested in."

Elaborating on why he is opposed to the idea of performing RUSH music with a new drummer, Lifeson said: "I just don't know if doing something like that would wreck it. Or wreck the legacy that RUSH has left. When it happened, it was disappointing for us. And then Neil got sick and all of that stuff, but our legacy is intact that we went out on a high note. That tour was great. It looked great. We played really well. We bonded even more so with our audience. I'd rather have that and the sadness of not doing it again, than doing it again and sitting on a chair on stage because I can't stand. [Laughs] I'd rather be remembered for that than something that's more current."

Alex went on to say that he and Geddy are continuing to have conversations about the possibility of performing together again. "We talk about it, but at the same time, he's my best friend and he loves me and he cares for me," he said. "He knows that I do have issues both physical and emotional with this whole idea. And he respects that we have so much respect and love for each other. I would do something like that, that he wanted to do, because I love him and I want to make him happy. But he knows that I wouldn't be happy. It's the bond that we have."

He added: "I don't think I would be happy in my heart if we were to do something like that. I really would feel like we were doing an injustice to our fans and that would be just a money grab.

"We get offers all the time, and they're pretty substantial, but I don't know. It's not enough for me. How much do you need? I'm trying to get rid of stuff. I sold the bulk of my guitars. I had some cars. I sold those. I had a house in the country that I sold. I want to be slimmer and a little tighter in, in my life with fewer anchors around my neck."

In January 2024, Lifeson didn't rule out the possibility of playing with Lee again, telling Greg Prato of Ultimate Guitar: "There's certainly a lot of interest in us doing something. I think for a lot of RUSH fans, they've been hoping for… Geddy had his book tour. I went out on a few of those dates with him. I think that's kind of sparked more interest in us working together.

"Ged's a very busy guy," Alex continued. "He's written a couple of books over the years. He has a lot of stuff that he's into. This is my studio in my apartment. I've been working on the ENVY OF NONE stuff as well as a few other projects. So I've been playing and recording for all these years.

"When he's ready, he always says, 'Come over for a coffee and we'll go down to the studio and bash around a few notes.' Yeah, call me. And so far he's been so busy, but I think maybe in the new year — or this is the new year — maybe soon we'll find the time to sit down and see what happens," Lifeson added. "Maybe nothing happens. Maybe it's not there anymore. Maybe it's gonna be amazing. I don't know. We'll see. Honestly, it's not a priority for us. We're happy in our lives. So, it's not like we need to go back to something. And that's my fear. That if we — that would be the expectation, this is like RUSH 2. But by necessity it has to be something different. And it can never be RUSH. Without Neil, it can never be RUSH. That's it. It's over. But you never know what can happen. So we'll see."

For the past couple of decades, Lifeson has been suffering from psoriatic arthritis, a chronic, autoimmune form of arthritis that causes joint inflammation and occurs with the skin condition psoriasis. During an appearance on the January 10 episode of SiriusXM's "Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk", the now-71-year-old Canadian musician opened up about the severity of longtime physical ailments, saying: "I would say that's slowly getting worse, as to be expected. I have psoriatic arthritis, and I've been dealing with it for quite a while — for almost 20 years. I'm on two biologics [biologic drugs for the treatment of arthritis], so sort of like a double whammy in dealing with it. And it's been very, very effective. Despite the side effects and all of that, it's been a really effective regimen for me, and it's really helped my hands. I have times where the inflammation has its own mind, and that's when you'll see me shaking my hands [while I am playing]. But it is what it is, and I can still get by, and I'm so used to it, I don't really even think about it that much anymore. "

Lifeson also talked about the possibility of him returning to the road, either with Lee or with another project. He said: "[After] 40 years of touring, I'm not interested in touring anymore. I enjoyed it when we did it. There were lots of ups and downs. The gig is great, the show is great, and for the other 21 hours in a day, you're just waiting for those three hours. And it gets tiring, especially when you have a family and you have loved ones at home that you're estranged from for months and months and months at a time. I don't miss that aspect of it. Do I like playing in front of people? Yeah. I still like that — maybe not to the point where I have to do it. But when [Geddy and I] did the Taylor Hawkins benefits and we did the 'South Park' thing in Denver, and I do these Christmas shows with Andy Kim and lots of great musicians that I get to play with, then it's fun. I really enjoy that, and it's controlled, and it's great. To make a big deal and do a tour and get back into that thing, I don't really have an interest in that. I know Ged would like to play again and he would like to spend some time writing. But beyond that, honestly, we haven't talked about anything beyond just getting together and having a coffee and just bashing out a few notes."

Alex continued: "[Geddy] has a lot of stuff in his life. He's a very busy person. He's really enjoying this phase of being [a book] author. He's on the go, go, go, go all the time. And I'm here, and I'm playing on all these different projects. So, in a way, I've continued being that musician, and he's gone off to do other things. So, whenever he's ready, like usual, I only live five minutes away from him, like we have all our lives. I go over and hang out and we'll turn the recorder on and do some stuff, but there's no plan for a tour. There's no plan for anything. And I know rumors get started and people have their desires and lots of people would love to see us get back and play again. Well, I don't know. I don't know. Who knows? Maybe if we're together, we're messing around and we get excited… Certainly after we did those gigs, it was quite heady and very exciting. But I really love my life right now, and I don't know if I'm gonna disrupt it by being away from the things that I'm really enjoying, for any reason."

Lifeson also reflected on RUSH's final tour, which concluded in August 2015 in Los Angeles. According to Rolling Stone, the trek took the novel approach of presenting the band's music in reverse chronological order, meaning Alex and his bandmates — Lee and drummer Neil Peart — began the show with songs from their most recent albums and slowly worked back to their earliest material. As time went backwards, stagehands would swap out the backdrop to match the period they were visiting. That meant by the time they reached the encores, it looked like they were playing in the high school gyms of their youth.

"The last tour I thought was a terrific tour for RUSH," Alex said. "I thought we played really well. I thought the show was really fun. Going back in time to the beginning was a great way to celebrate the end of the band. I don't know if, at 70 years old, 10 years later, if I can play like I played back then. I haven't played that material in nine years. And if I can't play it like I played it nine years ago, then I really have no interest in doing it. I think RUSH has a strong legacy because of the way things ended. We ended on a high note, and that's the way people remember us. And I think that that also is partly the reason why so many people would love to see us back out, because that's the memory they have of us. We were dedicated to what we were doing. We practiced a lot. We were passionate. We played our hearts out. Physically, ten years later, at this stage, [after] these ten years, I don't know if we can do that. I don't know, can Ged sing like he did? Can I play guitar? Can he play bass like he did? I don't know. Unless we did a big rehearsal and tried to do all that stuff, we'll never know. But just thinking intellectually how this would work, I'm not keen on doing it, really."

Peart died on January 7, 2020, after quietly battling brain cancer for three and a half years. RUSH waited three days to announce Peart's passing, setting off shockwaves and an outpouring of grief from fans and musicians all over the world.

In 2022, Geddy revealed that Neil wanted to keep his cancer diagnosis a secret prior to his death.

Lee went on to say that he and Lifeson had to be "dishonest" to fans in order to protect Peart's privacy.

Oran O'Beirne of Fistful Of Metal magazine spoke with ARCH ENEMY guitarist and founding member Michael Amott about the band's upcoming album "Blood Dynasty", resulting in a candid interview that saw Amott speaking not only of the new album, but his time in CARCASS, the addition of new ARCH ENEMY guitarist Joey Concepcion and the apprehension of new vocalist Alissa White-Gluz taking over from Angela Gossow. Below are some excerpts from the interview which can be found in the latest issue of Fistful Of Metal, available online and at WH Smiths (U.K.) and Barnes & Noble (Canada and USA).

On new member Joey Concepcion and if he was an instant fit:

Michael: "To be honest, it was a really easy fit. Of course, it helps that he knew how to play a number of our songs already. Joey was actually a student of my brother [Christopher Amott, ARCH ENEMY guitarist from 1995 to 2005 and from 2007 to 2012] in New York, and eventually were in a band together, so he plays very close to Chris's style and has a lot of the same phrasing. ARCH ENEMY was also one of the first metal bands that Joey got into… He's younger than all of us."

On whether Joey contributed anything to the songs on "Blood Dynasty":

Michael: "No. All the tracks were pretty much written to how they are on the album. Joey just came in and laid down his solos in Sweden. It was a great experience to have him in on that end of things, and the energy in the studio was great."

On touring with CARCASS back in 1991:

Michael: "I had been playing in bands since I was about 13 or 14 years of age, and it was more like a gig here, and a gig there, but as soon as I moved to the U.K. to join CARCASS, that's when I really started to get comfortable with playing live and my guitar skills developed so much more. Those were early days for CARCASS as a touring band also. They were a three-piece at that point. Regarding that tour with DEATH, I remember everything from those shows. I was a huge tape trader and was very much neck deep in the death metal scene, as I had my band in Sweden, CARNAGE, since 1998. So, when I got to actually meet Chuck [Schuldiner] on that tour, it was kind of amazing to say the least.

"There were not many extreme metal bands that had full albums out during that time, so when [DEATH's] 'Spiritual Healing' came out, it was kind of a big deal. I remember hanging out with Chuck and the rest of the guys on that tour. We used to listen to loads of cool music in their bus, and when I say 'bus', I'm talking about a glorified people carrier. I met so many great people on that tour from the guys in MORBID ANGEL to NOCTURNUS and CYNIC (to name but a few). It was such a sick time and I cherish those memories. It was awesome."

On Alissa replacing Gossow and which album he believes solidified White-Gluz's role as the new front person for ARCH ENEMY:

Michael: "I'd have to say 'War Eternal' [2014]. We had to tour so much between that album and 2017's 'Will To Power'. We must have performed about 450 live shows over those two albums, so we all clicked pretty fast into the touring family that we've become. To be honest, when we lost Angela, I thought people were going to be overly critical because she had such an iconic presence. I thought people were going to be overly critical of Alissa, but, thankfully, it all worked out pretty great."

On the possibility of a new SPIRITUAL BEGGARS album:

Michael: "Besides a few reissues in the past, there's been nothing really significant happening with that project. The problem is that SPIRITUAL BEGGARS back catalog is spread out over many different labels and it's just a complicated situation. As far as new material, nothing has really happened and as of now, there are no plans. I hate to say it, but who knows what will happen. We are all kind of busy with other projects, but you just never know. Right now, all of my focus is on ARCH ENEMY and the new album."

"Blood Dynasty" will be released on March 28 via Century Media Records.

ARCH ENEMY played its first concert with Concepcion on April 24, 2024 at Musinsa Garage in Seoul, South Korea. The show was part of ARCH ENEMY's 2024 Asian tour.

In December 2023, ARCH ENEMY announced that it had "amicably" parted ways with longtime guitarist Jeff Loomis.

Jeff, who was the main songwriter in his previous group, NEVERMORE, joined ARCH ENEMY in late 2014, but was not involved in the writing for the latter act's last two albums, 2017's "Will To Power" and 2022's "Deceivers".

Photo credit: Katja Kuhl

Our new Official Motörhead issue is available at London's only true Heavy Metal VINYL / C.D RECORD SHOP- Raven Records...

Posted by Fistful Of Metal Mag on Friday, March 7, 2025

Sireena Records has announced that Krokus will see their Round 13 album released for the first time on vinyl on April 11.

1970s Platinum-selling Swiss hard rock/metal band, Krokus, successfully broke the US market in the ’80s and forged a path through the live sector there and on continental Europe that has continued one way or another to this day. In 1999, the band was back in the studio for 13th album, the appropriately-titled Round 13.

Welsh vocalist Carl Sentance (ex-Persian Risk, Geezer Butler Band) joined co-founder Fernando von Arb (guitars, keyboards), Chris Lauper (guitars), ex-Killer’s Many Maurer (bass) for Round 13, with ex-Calhoun Conquer drummer Peter Haas returning.

Fernando von Arb recalls: “I had wanted to revive the old Krokus but the band had all had babies and wanted to stay at home! So we stopped for a few years and then I went to the UK and found Carl: such a pro, a pleasure to work with. It’s a good album though on reflection I would have chosen a bigger studio: it was tiny!”

Half California, half the Netherlands-based instrumental progressive metal-fusion quartet, Quadvium, formed by American bass player Steve Di Giorgio (Testament, Death) and Dutch bass player Jeroen Paul Thesseling (Obscura, Pestilence), reveals details of its debut studio album, Tetradōm, set for release on May 30 via Agonia Records. The band is currently filming a music video for the album’s first single, which will be released later this month.

“We had an intention many many years ago to make some music together… to feature two predominately multistring fretless bass players playing in duet form,” Quadvium bassists Steve and Jeroen comment. “That is to say, neither being «rhythm bass & lead bass» nor some trading off hot solo licks mess. But easier said than done! While hanging out, we exchanged some thoughts about how it would be to form a group to support our bass-ic needs. At that time it was just a spontaneous idea, but over the years the topic was brought up again and again. This vision was blurry at best and it took us a long time to not only imagine how to feature the bass in this way, but more importantly – who would share in this concept with us. Yuma is an old acquaintance and lucky for us, he needed this project to add to his list of a thousand others! But having a drummer that understood that 2 bass players would be filling the sonic spectrum, he was undaunted in contributing the backbone as well as keeping our outlandish ideas in check. After a long search for the next musician, a gold mine was found on Instagram reels by the name of Eve. Some of the most insane guitar (and bass!) videos we ever saw inspired us to ask if this was a project worth joining… not only did we have our final member aboard, but a studio genius and the main composer of this strategy we had so long ago, who brought it all together and focused everything into the album we are so proud to share with you now. Thanks to the solid support from Agonia Records for supporting our dream and making this album a reality! Fans of instrumental progressive metal fusion – and fretless bass! – will surely enjoy these musical journeys.”

Steve Di Giorgio and Jeroen Paul Thesseling are both innovators in bringing a different style of fretless bass playing to metal. Launching a band with two predominantly multi-string fretless bass players is no common occurrence, and the bass-duo felt they needed to take very special and deliberate time to get the right alignment with who is participating and what will be the end result – meaning the right sound and composition to represent this rare vision. Over time, together with Dutch master drummer Yuma van Eekelen (Our Oceans, Pestilence) and American guitar virtuoso/composer Eve (Myth Of I, Kaathe) – whose contribution and expertise play a huge part of Quadvium – the music began to take shape. The line-up is just the right blend to mix the delicate balance of such a heavy aural offering and a full vocabulary of high level constructed pieces.

Tetradōm was recorded and produced by Eve and co-produced by Yuma van Eekelen. The album was mastered by Dereck Blackburn at Quiethouse Recording. Travis Smith (Amorphis, King Diamond, Cynic) created the album’s artwork and layout.



Tracklisting:

“Moksha”
“Náströnd”
“Apophis”
“Ghardus”
“Adhyasa”
“Sarab”
“Eidolon”

Pre-orders and first single coming in late March.

Lineup:

Eve – guitar, sound design
Steve Di Giorgio – bass
Jeroen Paul Thesseling – bass
Yuma van Eekelen – drums

In a new interview with Belgian Jasper, JETHRO TULL mastermind Ian Anderson was asked if the "more personal" nature of the band's latest album, "Curious Ruminant", was in any way influenced by the social, political and economic complexities that characterize the "rapidly changing" world. He responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Not really to a great degree. I absorb a lot of news and documentary material every day of my life. I mean, I read seven or eight newspapers every day — everything from the right-wing elements to the left. And it's not just British newspapers, but internationally too. I watch frequently Al Jazeera or Fox TV when I can see it. And, of course CNN, which is more common in our part of the world to be able to see. Along with the online versions of many major newspapers, from the Ukrainian English-language newspaper and the Washington Post through to the right-wing material that we find in the U.K., which is perhaps not as hard right as the hard right of the U.S. is, but nonetheless is quite often demonstrating populism, extreme populism, which is a rising force throughout Europe as well as in the USA. But, yeah, I take in all that stuff and, obviously, it does infuse some of the songs that I write, but I am not a musical version of CNN. I'm not there to deliver the world's news in song and dance. Certain elements will spin down into lyrics, but I don't think the topicality is a good thing to dwell on because so often you can become out of date by the time you've recorded something and it finally makes it into the public domain. It's nine months or a year later. So things could be ridiculously out of date by then."

Ian continued: "I didn't do anything back then when I was talking about, or thinking about something that might touch upon the situation in Ukraine, because I had to cancel my concerts in Ukraine and Russia a couple of years ago following the 2022 full-scale invasion. And I am deeply disappointed about that. It would have been, in a way, a natural thing to have somehow touched upon in a song. But because of the enormity of that ongoing war, and the way in which things hang by a thread, it is… I mean, today the Russians, we are told, actually did hit the the containment dome around Chernobyl reactor number four, causing, as it happens, a minimal amount of damage and no meaningful radiation leak, but it could have been so much worse. There are these things that everything could change dramatically. And, of course, with the intervention of Orange Man in politics by speaking to Putin and perhaps giving the impression that somehow he is going to be negotiating on the matter for everyone, which obviously upsets Zelensky and a lot of people in Ukraine, we could be moving into, if not an endgame, certainly into a radical change in what's happening in Ukraine. And so if I'd written about it, a month from now it could all be out of date. And therefore you've gotta be a little careful about what you choose to write about, because the more specific you are, the more chances… times change. Or perhaps even as a songwriter, my own thoughts might change, my own opinions might change. I might change my mind completely about something. And so you don't wanna get caught out by saying things that you then regret with the passing of time because you take a different viewpoint."

JETHRO TULL's 24th studio album, "Curious Ruminant" was released on March 7, 2025.

"Curious Ruminant" consists of nine new tracks varying in length from two and half minutes to almost seventeen minutes. Among the musicians featured are former JETHRO TULL keyboardist Andrew Giddings and drummer James Duncan, along with the current bandmembers David Goodier, John O'Hara, Scott Hammond and, making his recording debut with JETHRO TULL, guitarist Jack Clark.

"Curious Ruminant" is available on several different formats, including a limited deluxe ultra clear 180g 2LP + 2CD + Blu-ray artbook and limited deluxe 2CD+Blu-ray artbook. Both of these feature the main album, alternative stereo mixes and a Blu-ray containing Dolby Atmos and 5.1 Surround Sound (once again undertaken by Bruce Soord of THE PINEAPPLE THIEF),as well as exclusive interview material. The limited deluxe vinyl artbook also includes two exclusive art-prints. The album is also be available as a special edition CD digipak, gatefold 180g LP + LP booklet and as digital album (in both stereo and Dolby Atmos).

Anderson had been saying for months following the release of "RökFlöte" that he would embark on a new project in late 2023. He waited only a few weeks before the first notions began to solidify into some drafted words of intent and in May 2024, some unfinished music recorded earlier with John O'Hara, David Goodier and James Duncan became the starting point for the new songs as they took shape.

Writing the lyrics and melodies for all the newly written material came very quickly once he began in earnest during June and just seemed to slot right in to the musical feel and styles of the earlier recordings.

Anderson's writing here is often on a more personal level of lyric content than we are used to hearing. Interspersed with his usual observational descriptions are the slightly more heart-on-sleeve moments of soul-baring — albeit not on the topics more often paraded by the usual I-me lyric merchants of pop and rock.

Some of the songs are developed from unfinished instrumental demos made some years ago although this does not result in a huge stylistic divide to jump out at the listener. Apart from the signature flute solos and melodies, accordion, mandolin, acoustic and tenor guitars feature on several tracks too, so the subtle backdrop of acoustic and folk rock serves to remind of the TULL heritage of the 1970s.

In a March 8 interview with original MTV VJ Mark Goodman aboard this year's The 80s Cruise, DOKKEN leader Don Dokken commented on the recent trend of rock artists releasing new singles every few months as opposed to putting out an album every few years. Don said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET):  "You and I come from the school of kicking back at home after a long day at work, getting a new album, put it on, flip it over and listen to side A and B. I wanna hear the whole record. And that was my disappointment when a lot of my peers were putting out records [in the 1980s], and I'm, like, 'Okay, there's the hit,' usually track two or three on side A. I'm not going to name names, but then I listen to the rest of the record and I'm, like, 'It's not very good.' They had the hits you could see that they bought from somebody. A lot of these musicians were buying from … a very famous song guy. And you go into a studio, and they'll say, 'Well, I got the choruses over here, I got a guitar riff over here.' … We never did that. Why would I want to record a song that somebody else wrote pieces and I have to stick it together. Every song on DOKKEN's albums was always written by us."

Dokken continued: "I can throw a lot of people under the bus… So-and-so wrote… Look at the credits. This person wrote this song, this person wrote this song, this person wrote this song. So then we had a little bit of a tiff, because [on DOKKEN's third album, 1985's] 'Under Lock And Key', it just said [in the songwriting credits] 'Don Dokken', 'Don Dokken', 'Don Dokken', 'Don Dokken'. And George [Lynch, then-DOKKEN guitarist] went ballistic. So at the last minute, you can look at the back and it says, 'All songs written by DOKKEN, and DOKKEN is George Lynch, Jeff Pilson...' And I went, 'Oh, that's so petty.' I mean, it didn't matter who wrote the song 'cause I made a deal with the devil."

Don added: "I remember my son's mother, when he was in high school, she was in the record business, [and she told me], 'Whatever you do, keep your publishing.' I ended up splitting the publishing four ways. I really didn't know how much publishing generated. So basically what I did was I gave up 75 percent of every song. 'In My Dreams', 'It's Not Love', 'Alone Again', 'The Hunter', 'Kiss Of Death', all those songs that I wrote, we split it four ways… Well, 'cause we were fighting all the time, me and George. And George was going this way, left, and he was listening to MONSTER MAGNET. And I'm, like, 'I like MONSTER MAGNET. But I'm going 'In My Dreams'.' So we just said, 'Okay, everything's split four ways. Stop bitching.' And that was it. That's how it went down. But I never realized who would write the hits. Fortunately, I wrote a lot of the hits."

In a February 2024 interview with Full In Bloom, former DOKKEN bassist Jeff Pilson was asked to respond to Don's claim that the singer wrote "80 percent" of the "Under Lock And Key" album. Jeff said: "Bullshit. That's total bullshit. He did not write all the records. No fricking way. He is a valuable contributor. And he wrote much of — like 'In My Dreams', he came in with the chorus, and that chorus is great. But he had nothing to do with 'It's Not Love', nothing to do with 'Unchain The Night', pretty much nothing to do with 'Lightnin' Strikes Again'. He did not write the whole record. He had a lot to do with a lot of it, as he should, but to say he wrote the whole thing, that's absolute bullshit. And he knows it deep down inside.

"It sounds like he's been trying to stir up attention to himself because he's got a new [DOKKEN] record [to promote]," Jeff continued. "Because it seems kind of desperate and weak. I just have to laugh. I mean, I don't understand it. I think it's kind of weird. I know he's resentful of the fact that we split everything equally, but if you would have broken it down to what we did, I'm not sure — maybe he would get a little, yeah, he'd get more than a quarter if it was really broken up, but not enough more to make all the noise he's making now 30 years later, 40 years later."

When the interviewer pointed out that guitarist Lynch has said that he and Pilson even came up with a lot of the melodies and lyrics for DOKKEN's early hits, Jeff said: "Yeah, we wrote all the melodies and lyrics for 'Unchain The Night' and 'It's Not Love'. I will say the song 'Will The Sun Rise' is a great example of when we do collaborate as a band, because George came up with the music and then Don came up with that amazing chorus; I think the chorus on 'Will The Sun Rise' is amazing. I think the music that George came up with was amazing, but I thought Don's chorus was just amazing. And that's when DOKKEN was working, when things like that happened. 'Into The Fire', George came up with the music to the chorus, and Don came up with the chorus. It's great."

Asked specifically about whether he contributed to the songwriting of DOKKEN's classic ballad "Alone Again", Jeff said: "I did. Once again, Don had that great chorus. When a song starts with a chorus as strong as that, you kind of can't go wrong. And I contributed. I came up with the beginning thing, helped come up with the music for the — well, for all the music. But like I say, Don really did have that chorus. I give him a lot of credit for that. But let's be honest, you didn't write the whole thing. I suppose he could have — he could have finished a song with that chorus, but he didn't.

"At this point, it's just so ridiculous, for me, that he's resentful," Jeff added. "But that's dark energy that he's carrying around that he doesn't need to."

After the interviewer said that Don also allegedly said he wrote "80 percent" of DOKKEN's second album, 1984's "Tooth And Nail", Pilson fired back: "'Tooth And Nail'? You've gotta be kidding me! He had nothing to do with the song 'Tooth And Nail' except that we knew that that was gonna be the title of the record, so we wrote the song around that. But he had nothing to do with that. He had nothing to do with 'Just Got Lucky'. He did make valuable contributions to 'Into The Fire' and he made the most valuable contribution to 'Alone Again'. But then there's other songs on 'Tooth And Nail' that he — I mean, 'Don't Close Your Eyes' he had nothing to do with, 'Heartless Heart' he had nothing to do with. I mean, there's a lot of songs he had nothing to do with. So for him to say he wrote 80 percent of any of the DOKKEN records is crazy."

When the interviewer also raised Don's gripes about drummer Mick Brown's contributions to the songwriting, with the singer claiming that Mick got an equal part of the publishing when he had very little input in the creative process, Jeff defended his former bandmate. "For instance, on 'Tooth And Nail', George and I would be working all day, Mick would go out to the clubs, he'd come back at two in the morning and listen to what we did, and he'd very often have a great suggestion. So, to say that Mick was not involved is not accurate. Was he as involved as the three of us? No. And did he get a quarter of the publishing? Yes. Does Don have a bone of contention there? Sure. I mean, if you wanna get down to it, Mick got 25 percent and did not probably contribute 25 percent, but he certainly contributed somewhere between 10 and 15 solidly. And when you have a band, sometimes it's better to just eliminate the arguments. It was management's idea to split everything equally 'cause they saw all this coming, and I thought it was a brilliant idea. And I would say Don, George and I probably all sacrificed a little bit, although I kind of — I feel very happy with my 25 percent. That's kind of about where I land in my contributions. Maybe a little bit more in the totality of things, but I'm very comfortable with it. And I understand where Don would be resentful about that. But I mean, after all this time? Really?"

In December 2023, Lynch also dismissed Don's assertion that DOKKEN's namesake frontman wrote "a lot" of the group's biggest songs, telling the 80's Glam Metalcast: "[Jeff, Mick and I] wrote almost everything. There was a point where the manager… This is always a thing with Don. He goes off about how he wrote everything. That's bullshit. Jeff and I, and Don and Jeff wrote some things, and Don wrote a thing, something on his own here and there, and important songs, but the bulk of the material was written by Jeff and I, and that's just the truth. And even the lyrics and the melodies and the titles were… Jeff and I joke all the time. There was a thing called the TV Guide, and I would get all my titles and the lyrics, obviously, flowed from the titles, from TV Guide. So you look and see a lot of those early records, they were either reworked XCITER [George's pre-DOKKEN band] songs or new stuff that Jeff and I wrote — sometimes with Mick's help — and then we'd end up with Don too; we'd collaborate with Don at the end of the process. But for 90 percent of material, that was the case. And these titles were out of the TV Guide — they were movies."

He continued: "On 'Tooth And Nail' and the record after that, a lot of these were — I think especially 'Tooth And Nail'; I think it was allTV Guide titles, pretty much. 'Without Warning', 'Tooth And Nail', 'When Heaven Comes Down', 'Don't Close Your Eyes' — those were all movies. I remember looking at the TV Guide and seeing the names of those movies — they were old movies, usually. [And I'd go] 'Oh, that's a cool name. We'll name a song that.' So 'Tooth And Nail' was me and Mick and Jeff sitting around just going ''Tooth And Nail', okay. Run around the streets and start a fight.' Silly fucking lyrics, but whatever. It worked. 'Don't close your eyes or I'll be there.' I remember having that whole hook and that melody and everything in my head. And we based it on that. 'When Heaven Comes Down', I wrote that. I spent a whole night; I stayed up all night. And Jeff had gone home. We were working in Anaheim in my home studio. And I was really frustrated with the song and I wanted to finish it. And I had an idea for 'When Heaven Comes Down'. 'When Heaven Comes Down' was a movie. I stole the title from it. And then I came up with the lyrics. And then I sang it all into a harmonizer, an octave low, so it sounded like the devil, with all this echo on it… I was really proud of it. Of course, that got redone and everything, but… I can't sing."

In a separate interview with the "On The Road To Rock With Clint Switzer" podcast, Don explained why he and his DOKKEN bandmates decided in the beginning to split their songwriting royalties equally between the four members of the group. He said: "DOKKEN was a very unusual band. When I formed the band, even though I'd been DOKKEN for years and years before I met George and Jeff and Mick — I'd already toured Germany twice — but when we finally came together, I said, 'Let's make it simple. You write a hit, you write a hit, you write a hit, we'll just split it four ways. It doesn't matter who writes what. May the best songs win.' And that's how it was. Now, looking back, I could say it was a stupid thing to do, because I wrote a lot of the hits and I gave up 75 percent to the three of them. So instead of me getting four bucks, I got a dollar and Mick got a dollar and George got a dollar and Jeff got a dollar and the management took theirs and the accountants took theirs, and I thought, 'Jesus.' I go, 'I lost millions' writing 'In My Dreams' and 'Just Got Lucky' or 'Alone Again'. I mean, I can name a bazillion songs that I wrote by myself on the guitar and wrote all the music. But that's the deal we made. We were nobody. We weren't famous. Hey, if George wrote a hit, I get money. Jeff writes a hit, I get money. Mick's the one that scored. He didn't write. We rehearsed the songs for a week, go into a rehearsal studio, flesh it all out, pick the 12 best songs, Mick comes in the studio for four or five days, knocks out his drums and he goes to the drug dealer and then he heads off for the Rainbow [Bar & Grill in West Hollywood]. I said, 'Mick, you scored. You made millions of dollars and all you had to do was spend a couple of weeks playing drums.'"

A decade ago, Lynch spoke about the breakup of the classic DOKKEN lineup in 1989, telling Guitar Interactive magazine: "Here's the things that happens in a band… especially in our era, in the '80s, and I don't know, even now probably… But if you have a record deal, or a master deal, for a certain amount of time, and you have increasing record sales, and then you get to the point where the deal ends, your managers come in and renegotiate and you get paid. Then you're set for life — possibly. That's when everything changes. That's what you worked for for those however many years. This is where all your… Everything you've invested in time and energy, you get paid back for. And the singer [Don Dokken], at that point, decided that he wanted it all, he didn't wanna share it with [the rest of] us, and he let us know that. So after this [Monsters Of Rock] tour [in 1988 with VAN HALEN, METALLICA and SCORPIONS], where we were gonna go out and play in front of hundreds of thousands of people and get paid lots of money, [he basically said] 'I'm gonna try to take the whole thing and run with it, and you guys are gonna get left in the dust, and if you're lucky, I might hire you [to play in my band].' And you have to go on stage like that."

He continued: "The reason that we were on fire before that — we were so dedicated, we kept persevering — was because we were all working for something. It wasn't even for the money, it was just to get to that point. And success on all levels — musically and financially, so we could be secure, and all these things, for all the right reasons. And we took care of each other, and we were an equal-split band, and I fought for that. And by Monsters Of Rock, when Don announced that he was gonna, basically, try to grab the negotiation brass ring and keep it to himself, that backfired on all of us. Financially, it backfired on all of us, 'cause we didn't get that massive… At that point, I think, that year MÖTLEY CRÜE got a 25-million-dollar deal, ANTHRAX got a 12.5-million-dollar deal, we would have been fine. Basically, we had a lot of leverage. We were gonna be a free agent, so it was really a shame. It just didn't go right for anybody. So I went on to form LYNCH MOB, which did pretty well."

DOKKEN's current lineup consists of Don alongside bassist Chris McCarvill, guitarist Jon Levin and drummer BJ Zampa (HOUSE OF LORDS).

Drowning Pool, the band known for their high-octane performances and chart-topping hits, is celebrating the enduring legacy of their iconic 2001 single, “Bodies”, with the release of an official lyric video. The track, from the band’s debut album, Sinner, is featured in the trailer for the upcoming season of the Paramount+ thriller drama series, Yellowjackets.

“Bodies” also made it’s way on to the American Idol stage as contestant Kobyn Melton performed the track with Carrie Underwood offering support.

Released on June 5, 2001, Sinner went platinum the same year, and “Bodies” remains one of the band’s most popular tracks. As the album approaches its 25th anniversary, Drowning Pool is continuing to maintain their place in rock history with an exciting lineup of new releases and live shows.

“Bodies” faced misinterpretations and controversy, with its lyrics taken out of context. Nevertheless, their music has persisted, embraced by the very culture that birthed it. “Bodies” remains an enduring anthem, not just for Drowning Pool but for metal culture as a whole. Its legacy lives on, inspiring new generations of fans. Guitarist C.J. Pierce captures the essence of their dedication: “I’d play ‘Bodies’ five times a night if people really wanted it that bad!” The song’s timeless appeal transcends generations, resonating with both the seasoned and the fresh-faced.

The Grateful Dead celebrates its diamond 60th anniversary this year with Enjoying The Ride, a sweeping 60CD collection that maps an epic cross-country road trip along the “Heady Highway” with stops at storied venues where the music, the moment, and the magic of the Grateful Dead reliably converged.

Spanning 25 years of legendary live performances, this expansive collection spotlights defining shows from 1969 to 1994 at 20 venues that consistently inspired the band to new heights – Winterland, Frost Amphitheatre, Madison Square Garden, and Hampton Coliseum, among them. Whether playing the intimate confines of Fillmore West or beneath the open skies at Red Rocks, the Grateful Dead never played the same show twice. Enjoying The Ride is a thrilling testament to that adventurous spirit.

With the exception of a few tracks from earlier releases, virtually all of the music on Enjoying The Ride is previously unreleased, spanning more than 450 tracks and over 60 hours of music. Of the 20 shows in the collection, 17 are presented in full, with some featuring additional material from the same venue. The remaining three – Fillmore West, Fillmore East, and Boston Music Hall – are curated from multiple performances at each venue, capturing key moments on those legendary stages.

Enjoying The Ride will be available exclusively from Dead.net on May 30. This 60CD boxed set is limited to 6,000 individually numbered copies. Pre-order here. ALAC and high-res FLAC downloads will also be available on the same day.

Unreleased versions of “Scarlet Begonias,” “Touch Of Grey,” and “Fire On The Mountain,” recorded live at the Greek Theatre on July 13, 1984, are available today digitally. Listen here.

For those seeking a concise itinerary, The Music Never Stopped distills Enjoying The Ride into a shorter route through the band’s diamond anniversary celebration. Featuring at least one song from every venue in the deluxe set, it offers a briefer – but no less illuminating – journey through the music that shaped the Grateful Dead’s live legacy. It will be available on May 30 from Rhino.com on 3CDs, 6LPs, and digitally. Pre-order here.

Rhino Records President Mark Pinkus discusses the band’s legacy and his personal connection to Enjoying The Ride, “I truly believe that Enjoying The Ride captures both the spirit of following the Grateful Dead and the magic of their live performances at these storied venues. The collection David has curated is even more meaningful to me because it includes the official release of my first-ever Dead show – July 13, 1984 at the Berkeley Greek Theatre – with its epic ‘Dark Star’ encore. This show marked the start of a lifelong journey for me, and I’m willing to bet there are many shows in this fantastic set that will resonate with fans who also found community on the road. I am forever honored to work alongside David and the Grateful Dead to keep this long, strange trip alive.”

Grateful Dead archivist and legacy manager David Lemieux says narrowing the list to 20 venues wasn’t easy, but the final selection represents places where the band always brought their A-game – destinations that drew Dead Heads from far and wide, all hoping to witness something transcendent.

Beyond the extraordinary music, he says Enjoying The Ride is a celebration of the journey itself. “On these 60 CDs, you’ll find music spanning more than 25 years, from 1969 to 1994, with the venues and the millions of journeys to get to them, making an essential part of the story. Going to see the Grateful Dead, following them from city to city, was likened to the modern equivalent of running away and joining the circus. These 20 venues are where the circus took us, and the show was something we never wanted to miss.”

The collection is housed in a custom keepsake box inspired by the experience of traveling from city to city to see the Dead at legendary venues across America. Inside, a beautifully detailed tour guide features liner notes by Jesse Jarnow (author and co-host of the Good Ol’ Grateful Deadcast) and a producer’s note from Lemieux, an essay by the Owsley Stanley Foundation, and more. The set is richly illustrated with photos, including many taken at the shows featured in the collection.

These performances were originally recorded by Owsley “Bear” Stanley, Betty Cantor-Jackson, Kidd Candelario, Dan Healy, and John Cutler. David Glasser and Jeffrey Norman restored and mastered the performances, with select ones using Plangent Processes tape restoration and speed correction for optimal sound quality.

Like the music itself, the Grateful Dead was never static, and that constant reinvention can be heard across Enjoying The Ride, which reflects the band’s evolution across multiple eras. The performances featured here include contributions from Jerry Garcia, Ron “Pigpen” McKernan, Bob Weir, Bill Kreutzmann, Phil Lesh, Mickey Hart, Keith Godchaux, Donna Jean Godchaux, Brent Mydland, Tom Constanten, and Vince Welnick.

Certain venues weren’t just stops along the road – they were catalysts, places where the Grateful Dead discovered new heights of inspiration. That spirit is reflected in Enjoying The Ride with selections from an April 1969 performance at the Avalon Ballroom, a hub of San Francisco’s psychedelic underground. That night, Garcia and Weir opened acoustically with “Dupree’s Diamond Blues” and “Mountains of the Moon,” leading into a spellbinding “Dark Star.” Available exclusively on cassette, this recording pays tribute to the countless tapers whose grassroots recordings helped fuel the band’s legend.

A few months later, in June 1969, the Dead took the stage at the Fillmore West, a cornerstone of the band’s early years. Originally known as the Carousel Ballroom, the venue was briefly operated by the Dead and other San Francisco bands before Bill Graham took over in 1968, transforming it into the city’s premier rock hall. The Fillmore West recordings include the first live performance of “Dire Wolf,” a song that would find its way onto Workingman’s Dead a year later.

In February 1971, the Dead staged a six-night run at the Capitol Theatre in Port Chester, New York. The shows, originally recorded for the live album Skull & Roses (but ultimately set aside), delivered unforgettable moments. On February 20, the band played a rare electric “Ripple” – one of just three times the song was ever played that way. On February 24, they worked through early versions of “Bird Song,” “Greatest Story Ever Told,” and “Wharf Rat” before closing the residency with Pigpen leading a fiery 20-minute “Turn On Your Lovelight.”

As the Godchaux era neared its end in May 1978, the Dead turned a Saturday night at the Spectrum in Philadelphia into an unforgettable party. The second set’s “Playing in the Band” built in intensity before giving way to “Drums,” where the full band joined in on Hart’s developing Rhythm Devils concept. Even basketball great Bill Walton joined the percussive frenzy as the music spiraled into one of the Dead’s earliest delineated “Space” segments.

By August 1979, Brent Mydland had taken over on keys when the Dead returned to Red Rocks Amphitheatre under open skies, testing new material with early live airings of “Althea” and “Lost Sailor.” That night, they also delivered a crisp, lyrical “Brown-Eyed Women,” a swelling “Looks Like Rain,” and an “Estimated Prophet” that flowed seamlessly into a fluid, up-tempo “Eyes of the World.”

The ’80s brought fresh songs, new venues, and unexpected revivals, including the live debut of “Touch of Grey” on September 15, 1982, at the Capital Centre in Landover, Maryland – a song that would become one of the band’s most recognized anthems. Before that, in August 1980, the Dead arrived at Alpine Valley Music Theatre for the first time, beginning a love affair with the scenic outdoor venue that lasted throughout the decade. That night, Garcia’s solo on “Big River” rippled across the hillside, while Weir’s “Lazy Lightning” > “Supplication” crackled with energy. Unlike the Alpine shows that followed, this performance never widely circulated among tapers, making its inclusion in Enjoying The Ride a rare and long-awaited addition.

Two years later, on July 13, 1984, at the Greek Theatre in Berkeley, the band revived “Dark Star” for the first time in nearly three years. Under a full moon, the band slipped into the mesmerizing, cosmic jam, with NASA-sourced visuals illuminating the backdrop. The appearance of “Dark Star” was an increasingly rare event – one that wouldn’t happen again for another five years.

By fall 1985, the Dead were back in the Bay Area at the Henry J. Kaiser Convention Center, marking their 20th anniversary – Twenty Years So Far – with a run that leaned into their Warlocks-era roots. They opened the November 21 show with “Big Boy Pete,” a rarity not played since 1978, and closed with another throwback, “Walking the Dog,” making its final appearance in the band’s repertoire. Along the way, they revisited other Warlocks staples like “In The Midnight Hour” and “She Belongs To Me.” Now, with Sixty Years So Far, the journey continues.

Closing out the decade, the Dead made their first appearance at Deer Creek Music Center, a newly opened amphitheater in Indiana that instantly became a Midwestern hub for Dead Heads. With a smaller capacity than the stadiums they were filling elsewhere, the setting lent an intimate energy to the show. That night’s extended “Space” sequence took a surreal turn when Garcia summoned the Close Encounters of the Third Kind five-note motif for the first time in over a decade, sending a ripple of recognition through the crowd.

By the 1990s, the Grateful Dead were at the peak of their popularity, playing to massive crowds while still finding ways to surprise even the group’s most devoted fans. In May 1991, the band returned home to Shoreline Amphitheatre with its biggest lineup in years, featuring Welnick on keyboards and part-time member Bruce Hornsby on piano and accordion. The expanded sound gave the band new depth, from the textural interplay of “Picasso Moon” to Weir’s “Black-Throated Wind,” back in rotation after a 16-year absence. The second set featured a 24-minute “Terrapin Station” that drifted into an intimate jam between Garcia, Hornsby, Kreutzmann, and Hart before dissolving into “Drums” and “Space.”

March 17, 1993 – St. Patrick’s Day – found the Dead at the Capital Centre, weaving in originals from a never-completed studio album. Among them were “Eternity” (co-written with blues legend Willie Dixon) and “Days Between,” placed with intent after the night’s deepest psychedelic dive – a 44-minute jam linking “Playing In The Band,” “Dark Star,” and “The Other One.” This was the last of only six times these three centerpieces ever appeared together in a single show. For the encore, the Dead winked at its own psychedelic past, debuting The Beatles’ “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds.”

In the fall of 1994, the Dead returned to Boston Garden for what would become their final show in the city, a performance that captured the band’s still-changing sound. The night balanced old and new, with Lesh’s “Childhood’s End” – his first lyrics since 1966 – standing alongside a luminous “Bird Song” and an affecting “Attics of My Life.” For the encore, “Brokedown Palace” took on added resonance beneath the Garden’s crumbling ceiling, a poignant farewell to both the venue and an era. As always, the Dead embraced the moment, finding beauty in the impermanence of it all.

Premiering on March 13, the 11th season of the Good Ol’ Grateful Deadcast opens with a two-part heartfelt tribute to Phil Lesh, who passed away last October, featuring archival interviews with Lesh, Phish’s Mike Gordon, Dead & Co.’s Oteil Burbridge, and other collaborators. Then, beginning April 10, the season shifts its focus to celebrating the band’s 60th anniversary and exploring the music featured in Enjoying The Ride. With more than five million downloads and counting, the official Grateful Dead podcast uses immersive storytelling to bring the band’s legacy to life through rare archival audio, fresh interviews, and deep dives into its history. Listen and subscribe to the Good Ol’ Grateful Deadcast’s Season 11 here.

Enjoying The Ride Show List

Avalon Ballroom, San Francisco, CA (4/5/69) – Cassette
Fillmore West, San Francisco, CA (6/5/69)
Fillmore West, San Francisco, CA (6/7/69)
Fillmore West, San Francisco, CA (6/8/69)
Capitol Theatre, Port Chester, NY (2/24/71)
Capitol Theatre, Port Chester, NY (2/20/71)
Fillmore East, New York, NY (4/25/71)
Fillmore East, New York, NY (4/27/71)
Boston Music Hall, Boston, MA (9/15/72)
Boston Music Hall, Boston, MA (9/16/72)
Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum, Uniondale, NY (3/16/73)
Winterland, San Francisco, CA (3/20/77)
Philadelphia Spectrum, Philadelphia, PA (5/13/78)
Red Rocks Amphitheatre, Morrison, CO (8/12/79)
Alpine Valley Music Theatre, East Troy, WI (8/23/80)
Alpine Valley Music Theatre, East Troy, WI (7/11/81)
Hartford Civic Center, Hartford, CT (3/14/81)
Hampton Coliseum, Hampton, VA (5/1/81)
Frost Amphitheatre, Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA (8/20/83)
Greek Theatre, University of California, Berkeley, CA (7/13/84)
Henry J. Kaiser Convention Center, Oakland, CA (11/21/85)
Henry J. Kaiser Convention Center, Oakland, CA (11/22/85)
Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY (9/16/87)
Deer Creek Music Center, Noblesville, IN (7/15/89)
Oakland Coliseum Arena, Oakland, CA (12/27/89)
Shoreline Amphitheatre, Mountain View, CA (5/12/91)
Capital Centre, Landover MD (3/17/93)
Capital Centre, Landover MD (9/15/82)
Boston Garden, Boston, MA (10/3/94)

The Music Never Stopped 6LP tracklisting:

LP One

Side One
“The Music Never Stopped” – Spectrum, Philadelphia, PA (5/13/78)
“Althea” – Hartford Civic Center, Hartford, CT (3/14/81)

Side Two
“Playing In The Band” – Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum, Uniondale, NY (3/16/73)

LP Two

Side One
“Hard To Handle” – Fillmore East, New York, NY (4/25/71)
“Wharf Rat” – Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY (9/16/87)

Side Two
“Doin’ That Rag” – Fillmore West, San Francisco, CA (6/5/69)
“My Brother Esau” – Frost Amphitheatre, Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA (8/20/83)
“Deal” – Shoreline Amphitheatre, Mountain View, CA (5/12/91)

LP Three

Side One
“Scarlet Begonias” – Greek Theatre, University of California, Berkeley, CA (7/13/84)
“Touch Of Grey” – Greek Theatre, University of California, Berkeley, CA (7/13/84)

Side Two
“Fire On The Mountain” – Greek Theatre, University of California, Berkeley, CA (7/13/84)
“Lazy Lightning”> – Alpine Valley Music Theatre, East Troy, WI (8/23/80)
“Supplication” – Alpine Valley Music Theatre, East Troy, WI (8/23/80)

LP Four

Side One
“Attics Of My Life” – Boston Garden, Boston, MA (10/3/94)
“Estimated Prophet” – Red Rocks Amphitheatre, Morrison, CO (8/12/79)

Side Two
“Eyes Of The World” – Red Rocks Amphitheatre, Morrison, CO (8/12/79)
“Brown-Eyed Women” – Winterland, San Francisco, CA (3/20/77)

LP Five

Side One
“Truckin’” – Deer Creek Music Center, Noblesville, IN (7/15/89)
“Smokestack Lightnin’” – Deer Creek Music Center, Noblesville, IN (7/15/89)
“Big Boy Pete” – Henry J. Kaiser Convention Center, Oakland, CA (11/21/85)

Side Two
“Bird Song” – Boston Music Hall, Boston, MA (9/15/72)
“Let It Grow” – Hampton Coliseum, Hampton, VA (5/1/81)

LP Six

Side One
“Black Muddy River” – Oakland Coliseum Arena, Oakland, CA (12/27/89)
“Days Between” – Capital Centre, Landover MD (3/17/93)

Side Two
“Not Fade Away” – Capitol Theatre, Port Chester, NY (2/24/71)
“Goin’ Down The Road Feeling Bad”> – Capitol Theatre, Port Chester, NY (2/24/71)
“Not Fade Away” – Capitol Theatre, Port Chester, NY (2/24/71)

“People tell me they like my music. People tell Cherie she changed their lives,” says punk stalwart Frank Meyer about Cherie Currie of The Runaways. “I get it. She certainly changed mine.”

While it’s common for normal everyday people to fanboy/fangirl over their favorite musicians, it’s always refreshing to hear celebs gushing over other celebs. So when he was writing his new single, “Piece Of Me”, from his solo debut Living Between The Lines, he asked Cherie to sing with him. “It was an honor to have her write and sing this duet with me.”

“The Runaways were a gigantic early influence on me and she has been instrumental in my music career,” he says. “At one of the earliest gigs by my band the Streetwalkin’ Cheetahs, Cherie jumped onstage with us and sang her hit ‘Cherry Bomb’ and shortly after asked us to support her and be her backing band on the road.”

Adds Cherie, “We just clicked when I met Frank at a Sandy West show at the Coconut Teaser in the early ‘90s. Frank has turned me on to so many memorial gigs, sessions, and people during our three decades of friendship. He is an exceptional player, performer, singer and songwriter. A selfless human being that I am so proud to call one of my very best friends!”

While the late-night sway of “Piece of Me” hearkens last call ​in a dive bar while the ​final song is playing on the juke, the narrative of the song relates more to the push and pull of social media. “When I wrote the first pass at ‘Piece Of Me,’ I was thinking about social media and how addicted we all have become to sharing our lives. It’s as if we are constantly giving a piece of ourselves away. But what do we keep for ourselves? At what point do we give it all away? What’s left?”

When Frank sent an early demo to her to help him finish out the lyrics, he kept the theme of the song close to his chest, resulting in musical kismet. “I didn’t tell her what inspired my parts,” he explains, “I just gave it to her to interpret on her own. When I got her parts back, I was blown away. When I read her lyrics, I felt like she was commenting on fame. Like, she has given so much of herself away on stage and in music and acting for so many years, what’s left for her?”

One of three duets with renowned musicians (the other two are “Partners In Crime” featuring Supersuckers’ Eddie Spaghetti and “Living Between The Lines” featuring Bellrays’ Lisa Kekaula), “Piece Of Me” joins the other ten albums track in Frank’s first foray into solo material. While he has fronted seminal West Coast punk bands The Streetwalkin’ Cheetahs and Trading Aces and played sideman in Fear, Wayne Kramer and Cheetah Chrome, and lead vocalist for James Williamson (Iggy & The Stooges), Frank’s debut album fully displays his wide-ranging musical prowess which Rebel Noise calls “high-energy rock roots by adding shades of blues and soul.”

“Piece Of Me”
(Meyer/Currie)

It’s hard living in the spotlight when the spotlight’s ever shining
It’s gets so bright you wanna fade away

I get tired of the deadlines and the headlines
And they all go up in smoke
These things they don’t come for free

A piece of you, a piece of me
We give everything away for all to see
But what’s left for me?

Sometimes I feel frozen from the pressure
And the pressure ain’t just you, my friend
It’s from knowing that I’m always second best
And second best doesn’t feel so good in the end

A piece of you, a piece of me
We give everything away for all to see
But what’s left for me?
What’s left for me?

A lyric video for original Whitesnake guitarist Bernie Marsden’s take on the Jimi Hendrix classic, “Purple Haze”, is available for streaming below. Bernie Marsden passed away peacefully, surrounded by his family, on August 24, 2023 at the age of 72.

Marsen’s Purple Haze EP was released digitally on February 28 via Conquest Records Limited. The EP is available via Apple Music, Tidal, Deezer, Spotify, etc.



Tracklisting:

“Purple Haze”
“Sitting On Top Of The World”
“On The Road Again”
“Joe’s Place”
“Pick It Up”

Trooper Beer fans, it’s time to upgrade your home bar to legendary status. The all-new Trooper Warrior Pack has just landed, and this isn’t just any bundle – it’s a collector’s arsenal, built to honour the beer that started it all.

The Trooper Warrior Pack is an all-new exclusive collector’s bundle built for true Iron Maiden and Trooper Beer fans. This is not just any merch—it’s the ultimate battle gear for those who live and breathe the Trooper legacy.

With the legendary Trooper Original Ale reaching new heights, we’re taking things up a notch with the brand-new Trooper Original Bar Mat & Coasters – designed to honor the flagship beer that started it all.

Here’s what’s inside your Warrior’s Arsenal:

– 1x Trooper Pint Glass Set (2 glasses) – The ONLY way to drink your Trooper beer! Featuring Eddie in full battle mode, these high-quality pints bring the power of Trooper to your hands.
– 10x All-New Trooper Original Coasters – The freshest, most badass coasters yet! Inspired by the bold, untamed spirit of Trooper, these coasters bring an arena-sized attitude to your bar.
– 1x All-New Trooper Original Bar Mat 89cm x 25cm (35.04″ x 9.84″) – Your home bar isn’t complete without it. This high-quality, ultra-durable bar mat is built to withstand the mightiest of beer sessions, keeping your surfaces clean, stylish, and worthy of a Trooper!

This is a limited edition set. Once it’s gone, it’s gone.

Pre-order here. Ships by the end of March.

In a new interview with Chris Akin Presents, DESTRUCTION bassist/vocalist Schmier was asked why he thinks American thrash bands like METALLICA and SLAYER achieved greater success than German bands such as DESTRUCTION and KREATOR, even though they all came out in the early 1980s. He responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "You have to see that the States are a huge music market — the biggest music market in the world. So, when you're big in America, you can be big everywhere. Basically, that's what they do with a lot of the pop artists too — they make them big in the States first, then they come over to the U.K., they come to Europe and then they conquer the world.

"I think a lot of the European bands that got big in Europe had to be big in America first, like SCORPIONS," he continued. "SCORPIONS went big in America and also big in Japan, and then they finally got recognized in Germany also. So I think America, as a music market, it's the most powerful music market in the world. And if you're big in America, you can be big everywhere. So METALLICA and SLAYER, they broke through and MEGADETH, they broke through in America, because also back in the day, remember you had MTV, you had 'Headbangers Ball', and that shit was playing all over, in every home in the States, and it was huge. And I think Europe was a little bit behind with the kind of [support from the media]. Later on, we had had 'Headbangers Ball' too, but it never went as big as in America.

"METALLICA became commercial at one point with the 'Black Album'," Schmier added. "They made a big step working with [producer] Bob Rock, and he made an amazing album with the band, with very catchy songs. And the European bands stayed filthy — we kept on thrashing. And the same goes with MEGADETH — they had some really commercial albums. And 'Symphony Of Destruction' is just a simple fucking hit. You also have to see that the American bands are all older than us. They are our bigger brothers. We're basically the little brothers of the American bands. We came out in almost the same time — there's not a big time difference in between those albums; our first demo came out '83 already also — but the guys were a little bit older, more experienced musicians at that time already. And I think this is also a little plus for the Americans. Also in America, [you had] the big producers. The first ANTHRAX, the first METALLICA, they sound amazing. Maybe the first MEGADETH doesn't sound that good, but in general, America had early great producers for metal, which Europe was lacking. But at the end of the day, now Europe has been picking up big time. We have a lot of big festivals. We have a lot of big metal festivals that you guys in America don't have. I mean, you have some of them, but like something like Wacken [Open Air in Germany], with 100,000 metalheads [doesn't exist in America]."

Schmier previously talked about why American thrash bands were more successful than their German counterparts during a December 2019 interview with Finland's Rauta. He stated at the time: "You have to understand the Americans are sellers — they know how to sell themselves when it comes to image, when it comes to catchy songs. I mean, look at METALLICA — they started to write catchy songs, and then they became famous… They still fill stadiums. And SLAYER, of course, they had their 'cult' status at one point, and then they were up on this [level] that is kind of untouchable, basically. I think the American bands, if you look at the age, they are all a little older than us. We were the little kids when the American bands were, like, two years older than us, three years older. So, they were all technically also the better players at that time, because we were just 17 and they were already 21. So, I think that is one of the reasons why the American metal was more famous. The big wave came from America; the big labels were from America. The productions were flawless at the time. The first METALLICA albums still sound great. Even the guy was a Danish guy who produced them. They did a lot of things right. And I think that made the American bands, of course, a little bit ahead of the time, ahead of the schedule. And that's why they're so legendary nowadays."

Last September, Schmier spoke to former THE HOURGLASS guitarist Rudi Messiah about METALLICA's evolution from thrash metal pioneers to one of the biggest rock bands in the world with their 1991 self-titled LP, commonly known as the Black Album. He said: "I think they've always been the first ones doing something. I think when they created their style of thrash metal, they've been one of the first bands and they did it very good. They made the right decisions on producers and stuff. And also when they changed, when the big change came with the Black Album, they chose the right producer for it. And it was a very different album, but it has great songs. So, I think it's a lot of making the right decisions and having the right producer, having the right team around you. But also, you have to write good songs. And they've been writing a lot of great songs. In the last years, not so much, I think. The last years of METALLICA, the last albums, they don't really touch me so much. The last album [2023's '72 Seasons'] is not bad, I have to say… There's this one song that sounds like DIAMOND HEAD, the first single ['Lux Æterna']. It's actually a pretty cool song. But, yeah, I think they're there because they were one of the first bands doing something new. And when they changed, they changed to amazing songwriting and amazing production with Bob Rock at that time. So they did they did a lot of things right, of course, at the right time. And that's how the world works — the right timing is always most important."

DESTRUCTION's 16th studio album, "Birth Of Malice", was released on March 7 via Napalm Records.

Schmier is joined in DESTRUCTION's current lineup by guitarists Martin Furia and Damir Eskić, along with drummer Randy Black.

"Birth Of Malice" was recorded at Switzerland's Little Creek Studio by V.O. Pulver. Guitarist Martin Furia mixed and mastered the masterpiece at The Black Mancave in Hannover, Germany.

DESTRUCTION's massive career has seen many successes, with the band hitting stages at the world's biggest festivals around the world like Hellfest, Wacken Open Air, Graspop Metal Meeting and México Metal Fest.

DESTRUCTION, known as one of the "Teutonic Four", alongside KREATOR, SODOM and TANKARD, were reunited with the other three acts at the "Klash Of The Ruhrpott" concert on July 20, 2024 in Gelsenkirchen, Germany.

In August 2021, DESTRUCTION officially parted ways with founding guitarist Michael "Mike" Sifringer and replaced him with Martin Furia. The Argentinian-born, Belgian-based Furia is best known for his work as sound engineer and producer for such bands as NERVOSA and EVIL INVADERS.

Sifringer was the only member of DESTRUCTION to have remained constant throughout the band's career. Schmier appeared on DESTRUCTION's first three albums before exiting the band and being replaced by POLTERGEIST vocalist André Grieder. André's sole recorded appearance with DESTRUCTION was on the "Cracked Brain" album, which came out in 1990. Schmier rejoined DESTRUCTION in 1999.

Photo credit: Jennifer Gruber

In a new interview with Brazilian music journalist Igor Miranda, THE CULT frontman Ian Astbury was asked if there are any plans for the band to release new music as the follow-up to THE CULT's 2022 album "Under The Midnight Sun". Ian responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "If it happens, it will happen organically. And there's no hard plans, but there are recordings that are already nearly finished, things that we were working on previously.

"We released [the songs] 'Flesh And Bone' and 'C.O.T.A.'. That only came out as a seven-inch. Nobody even knew it came out. I decided they were DEATH CULT [a stepping stone between Astbury's previous band SOUTHERN DEATH CULT and THE CULT] songs. Call it whatever you want. For me it felt like DEATH CULT songs. And now people are beginning to listen to those songs and go, 'Oh, these are really interesting. Do you have any more?' And we go, 'Well, we have a few more from that period.' And there's plans to drop some other recordings, maybe from DEATH CULT. But definitely THE CULT…"

"I mean, there's definitely plans to do things, but a formal album in the studio? I don't know," he continued. "It could happen. It may not happen. We're talking about music right now. We're always talking about music. But… I don't know. There's no formal plans to go in the studio and make an album right now.

"If you know about the way the streaming works, the algorithm, you can spend so much time, you can make a masterpiece, and you can put it out in the world and the algorithm doesn't like it, and then it disappears very quickly. You're competing with thousands and thousands and thousands of thousands and thousands of individual artists.

"[It] seems to me there's a decline in bands, and there's an increase in artists who are making records in their bedrooms and studios, small studios.

"I'll definitely be releasing music," Ian added. "There will be CULT music this year of some description. But it's not gonna be in a conventional format. There will be one record released maybe in the middle of the year that will be in conventional format, a live concert, but I can't say much more than that. You have to wait for that. We'll see. We have to do some negotiations to get it finished.

"With THE CULT, we're very intuitive in that way. We don't follow a plan or a schedule. We kind of work in harmony with the rhythm of what's happening around us.

"'Under The Midnight Sun' is referring to the pandemic 'cause it was this anomalous moment where a once-in-a-lifetime experience — not even once-in-a-generation [or] once-in-a-lifetime; once-in-a-century experience — so it was this anomalous moment. There's just so many layers. But ultimately, it has to translate with four musicians on stage and then you have to use your emotional intelligence to convey this. So, a lot of time is spent living, documenting, studying, reading.

"I don't really watch — I don't watch TV. I have two TVs in my house. They're never on. Maybe football, and that's about it. Everyone's saying, 'Have you seen this TV show, seen this TV show, seen this film, seen this TV show?' I'll go to a theater to see a film, like the last 'Dune' film. I had to see that on a big screen, 'cause on TV it's just blergh. I don't watch much television. I've watched a lot of film in my life, but if it's an important film, I'll watch it or I'm interested in it. But mostly I'm reading and listening to music. And then training in martial arts. And then doing creative direction for the band. And then working on other projects — my material. I wouldn't even call it solo projects. They're collaborations.

"So my intention is there'll be more CULT at some point, there'll definitely be DEATH CULT, there'll be more CULT, and then I'll be working on other things myself, other collaborations," Astbury concluded.

THE CULT holds a significant place in musical history due to its pioneering use of post-punk, hard rock, and experimentalism, pushing boundaries and influencing countless bands across multiple genres. With their musical prowess, uncompromising attitude and captivating stage presence, they forged a distinct identity while charting new territory for bands to explore. From guitarist Billy Duffy's formative, and influential, years in the Manchester underground, to Astbury's groundbreaking "Gathering Of The Tribes", the duo has left an indelible mark on modern music, shaping its trajectory in profound ways.

"Under The Midnight Sun" arrived in October 2022 via Black Hill Records. The LP was produced by Tom Dalgety (PIXIES, GHOST, ROYAL BLOOD). Dalgety is the first British producer THE CULT has worked with since its second album, "Love" (1985).

Born out of the ashes of the U.K. post-punk scene, THE CULT evolved to become one of the most influential and controversial rock bands of the late 20th century, selling millions of albums, headlining arenas and stadiums around the world, infusing innovative possibilities into the worlds of music and art, and quickly ascending through the ranks of the indie music world to achieve global status. THE CULT, whose music transformed from punk rock to post-punk, psychedelia, heavy dance music and transcendental hard rock, became one of the handful of important bands in the U.S. post-modern and hard rock communities, and was embraced by a generation that was waking up to the influence of 1960s and 1970s rock icons like LED ZEPPELIN, THE NEW YORK DOLLS and David Bowie.

The constant core of THE CULT is the "head and heart" of the band, Astbury and Duffy. Attitude incarnate, the chemistry between these two vastly different artists — equal parts genuine affection and palpable tension — remains the source of their long-standing partnership. Duffy grounds Astbury's esoteric side with a hard rock perspective, and there is no doubt that at all times, these two have each other's back. THE CULT's current lineup also includes former WHITE ZOMBIE, EXODUS and TESTAMENT drummer John Tempesta.

In a new interview with Guitar Interactive magazine, Zakk Wylde once again spoke about the possibility of the reformed lineup of PANTERA — featuring surviving members Philip Anselmo (vocals) and Rex Brown (bass),alongside Wylde and Charlie Benante (drums) — making new music. Asked if he would be open to working on new material with PANTERA, Zakk responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Well, the fellows [Philip and Rex] were talking about doing something, and Rita [Haney, longtime girlfriend of late PANTERA guitarist 'Dimebag' Darrell Abbott] has tons of cassette recordings of Dime writing riffs and stuff like that. So, I guess if it would be like something like, let's say if it's Eric Clapton playing with [JIMI HENDRIX EXPERIENCE drummer] Mitch [Mitchell] and [bassist] Noel [Redding], 'cause if Eric went out and did what we're doing right now, did a Jimi Hendrix celebration, and Mitch and Noel asked Eric Clapton to come out 'cause he was buddies with Jimi and they were just, like, 'Would you go out and sing and play Jimi's stuff?' And Eric does it, and then after that, it's just, like, 'We've got these recordings [that] Jimi never finished, a song called 'Purple Haze' and a song called 'The Wind Cries Mary' and this song called 'Little Wing' or whatever,' and we'll properly record 'em [with Eric], because if they were just Jimi just jamming on a tape recorder, just him playing 'em. If they were, obviously, Dime's original riffs and ideas, yeah, of course. But PANTERA is those four guys. You're gonna call it the Jimi Hendrix band and you've got Eric playing and singing. It's just Mitch and Noel. If it's Jimi's original ideas, and they're just gonna properly record 'em, take it from the little tape recorder from a cassette, yeah, that would be cool. 'Cause if it was something Dime wrote and him and Vinnie were working on or whatever..."

Zakk previously discussed the prospect of making new music with PANTERA during a February 2024 appearance on SiriusXM's "Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk". Asked if he would be open to working on new material with PANTERA, Zakk said at the time: "No. I think you would have to call it something else. You know what I mean? PANTERA is those four guys. So, yeah, you can't replace that."

Pressed about whether he would want to do it under an altered name rather than calling it PANTERA, Wylde said: "Yeah. If that was ever a bridge we crossed, we'd have to wait until we get there. But right now, it's just the four of us celebrating what the fellas [from the classic lineup] created."

Zakk went on to say that he was open to making new music with Anselmo, Brown and Benante, provided that it was presented differently than just PANTERA. "Yeah, of course," he said. "I mean, how could you call it PANTERA unless it was just pre-existing material and we were gonna record it — stuff that was in demo state or whatever, and it is songs that the guys wrote. But as far as new songs, it would have to be — you'd call it something else."

Back in January 2023, longtime PANTERA producer Sterling Winfield, who is reportedly one of the people who control PANTERA drummer Vincent "Vinnie Paul" Abbott's estate, told Reckless Rock Radio 89.3 KNON FM about the possibility of the reformed PANTERA recording new music: "It's not unheard of, it's not blasphemous. I will say that it is entirely plausible, it is entirely possible, but at this point in time, I don't know that anybody's looking that far down the road. They've got a world tour to tackle, man, for the next two years, and they are gonna be busy doing that. Now, could it happen? Yes."

Asked if he "would be cool" with Brown, Anselmo, Wylde and Benante making new music together, Sterling said: "It depends, man. Again, it has to be done right, like this whole thing; the whole tour that's happening has to be done properly. And I don't really feel comfortable — if it were to happen, I would not feel comfortable calling it PANTERA. I don't think that would be classy. I'll put it that way. And I'll just leave it at that for now. [But] this lineup could make some very badass music. And the music is all that matters."

Back in 2016, Vinnie Paul said that he would eventually release music that was planned for DAMAGEPLAN's second album.

The drummer formed DAMAGEPLAN with his brother "Dimebag" Darrell Abbott after PANTERA's split in 2003 and released the debut DAMAGEPLAN album, "New Found Power", a year later.

Vinnie Paul told "Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk": "The first [DAMAGEPLAN] record, I think, was pretty diverse. We wanted to do something that didn't sound exactly like PANTERA, and with [the material that was written for] the second record, it was really focused, man. I've got the demos and someday they'll come out. But I really feel like we had turned a corner. We'd been out, the fans had seen us, and they'd accepted the fact that this was our new thing at this point."

The reformed PANTERA is headlining a number of major festivals across North America, South America and Europe and staging its own headline concerts. They are also supporting METALLICA on a massive stadium tour in 2025.

It was first reported in July 2022 that Anselmo and Brown would unite with Wylde and Benante for a world tour under the PANTERA banner.

According to Billboard, the lineup has been given a green light by the estates of Vinnie Paul and Dimebag, as well as Brown, who in 2021 said Wylde wouldn't tour with PANTERA if a reunion were to happen. It's unclear what changed his mind.

Anselmo and Brown spoke about PANTERA's return to the stage during an appearance on "The Metallica Report", the podcast offering weekly insider updates on all things METALLICA. Philip said: "It's empowering. It is incredibly beautiful, and you feel so much love when you're up there. And if you take it in, it's a great feeling, man. These days, man, that's where me and Rex, you know, we get to dig the shows more."

He continued: "When we were younger, we were at war and when we were on stage; we were just angry and at war, man. Now it's — the songs are there. I can concentrate on singing the fricking songs, number one. Geez, that's a relief for me, man. I don't have to break my fricking body in part anymore."

Anselmo and Brown also talked about Charlie and Zakk being part of the PANTERA team. Philip said: "Them two dudes, so enthusiastic. And they got their damn thing and they got their own damn legacy, both of them, without us. It's an honor to play with them. They're the nicest frickin guys in the world, man. I'm just so... [Laughs] Zakk, he's a crack-up, man. He's a sweetheart. And fricking Charlie, we've known Charlie since '87, man. It's a long time."

Rex chimed in: "The way [Charlie] plays Vinnie's parts is uncanny. I don't think there's any drummer out there that could play the way that Vinnie did. I would close my eyes, because I was trying to get tight, and sometimes if I close my eyes, I can hear a little better; I think I can. And there'd be a tear of joy just coming down, because that was so close to what Vinnie and I used to play. So you have the foundation."

Philip concurred, saying: "The low end sounds so PANTERA, man. It's freaking me out."

When the interviewer suggested that the reformed PANTERA had Vinnie Paul and Dimebag's "spirit inside it", Philip said: "Only thing I can say is, man, I know for a damn fact Vince and Dime would want us to do this, hands down. They would want the PANTERA brand or the legacy to go on. And I don't know what you believe in, but sometimes, you know, you would like to think that them old fellas are looking down on us, giving us the thumbs-up."

While he was alive, Vinnie Paul had repeatedly dismissed talks of a PANTERA reunion, telling Germany's EMP Rock Invasion in 2014: "People are selfish, man. They want what they want; they don't care what you want. And it's unfortunate that people go, 'Oh, wow, man, they can get Zakk Wylde to jump up there on stage and it's PANTERA again.' No, it's not, you know. It's not that simple. If Eddie Van Halen was to get shot in the head four times next week, would everybody be going, 'Hey, man, Zakk, go play for VAN HALEN. Just call it VAN HALEN.' You see what I'm saying? I mean, it's really selfish for people to think that, and it's stupid. It's not right at all."

He continued: "They call it a reunion for a reason. It's called bringing the original members back to what it was. So there's a lot of these things that they call reunions that aren't really reunions. They've got one dude from the band floating around in them, you know. That's not a true reunion. With PANTERA, it'll never be possible."

He repeated those same sentiments a few months later, telling PlanetMosh in a separate interview: "Without Dimebag Darrell, there is no [PANTERA] reunion. And that's all there is to it. We were a very influential band, and we touched millions and millions of people with that band, but it's over. People really have to come to grips with that, and that's all there is to it. If all of us were still here, then the possibility would truly be there, but since it's not, you know… It's selfish of the fans to want something that they can't have. And they don't ever understand that, and I get it. There's things I want in this world too. You know, people in fucking hell want ice water, but they're not gonna get it."

Up until his passing in June 2018, Vinnie remained on non-speaking terms with Anselmo, whom the drummer indirectly blamed for Dimebag's death.

Vinnie Paul and Dimebag co-founded PANTERA. On December 8, 2004, while performing with DAMAGEPLAN at the Alrosa Villa in Columbus, Ohio, Dimebag was shot and killed onstage by a troubled schizophrenic who believed that the members of PANTERA were stealing his thoughts.

Haney in 2011 called on Vinnie and Philip to settle their differences in honor of Dimebag.

Vinnie, who was Dimebag's brother, and Anselmo had not spoken since PANTERA split in 2003. But the relationship got even more acrimonious when Vinnie suggested that some remarks the vocalist had made about Dimebag in print just weeks earlier might have incited Dimebag's killer.

Haney told the producers of "Behind The Music Remastered: Pantera" that she forgave the singer after they found themselves unexpectedly face to face at a concert in California.

In a new interview with Audacy Music, SPIRITBOX frontwoman Courtney LaPlante spoke about the fact that her band lost out to GOJIRA in the "Best Metal Performance" category at the 67th annual Grammy Awards, which was held on February 2 at the Crypto.com Arena (formerly the Staples Center) in Los Angeles, California. GOJIRA was nominated for "Mea Culpa (Ah! Ça Ira!)" — a version of the French Revolution-era standard "Ah! Ça Ira!" — which the band performed at last year's Olympic Games opening ceremony. She said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "In my opinion, [GOJIRA's performance at the Olympic Games] was the biggest mainstream moment in the history of metal. Most metal bands don't hit mainstream in any capacity like that until they make more mainstream music. And I don't mean 'mainstream' in a bad way. I just mean more accessible to lots of people. But GOJIRA, that's why it was so shocking to me, and I think to the world, who's kind of scared of that performance, is that they didn't do anything — I don't think they compromised anything. I think it might be the most metal thing to ever happen on TV — ever, ever — 'cause a billion people watched it."

Regarding the fact that GOJIRA won over SPIRITBOX, Courtney said: "It was funny 'cause [the guys in GOJIRA] are very humble people and they are really nice and really supportive of us. And so we were all in the lineup to go do the Getty Images together… And we were, like, 'Guys, you opened the Olympics. You're winning.' … I really think they thought they weren't gonna win because they sat so far in the back, they almost didn't get to do their speech. I'm, like, 'Guys, at least come to the 10th row.' … So I'm really happy for them.

"Of course, I'd love to win a Grammy," Courtney clarified. "That sounds awesome. But when there's only one metal award, all the other people in there are awesome, and I don't think anyone is sad to lose to those other people, because there's only five bands that get to be picked to be nominated for that every year. That's the only award for metal."

SPIRITBOX's sophomore album, "Tsunami Sea", came out on March 7 via Pale Chord / Rise Records.

SPIRITBOX kicked off its sold-out European tour on February 13 at London's iconic Alexandra Palace, marking the band's largest headline show to date, with 10,000 tickets sold. From there, they continued across Europe before launching into the "Tsunami Sea" North American tour, beginning April 3 in Dallas, Texas. The 24-date trek — produced by Live Nation — brings LOATHE, DYING WISH and GEL along for the ride, tearing through cities across the U.S. and Canada. This summer, SPIRITBOX will step onto even bigger stages, joining LINKIN PARK for select stadium dates in Italy, the Netherlands, and the U.K.

Formed in 2017 in the picturesque yet isolated region of Victoria, British Columbia, Canada by vocalist Courtney LaPlante and guitarist Mike Stringer, SPIRITBOX would fully cement themselves as a household name in the summer of 2020 with the release of their blistering breakout single "Holy Roller", along with a host of other captivating singles shortly after, resulting in a media firestorm of hype.

With new and existing fans eagerly watching their next move, SPIRITBOX exceeded every expectation imaginable in 2021 with the release of their genre-defining debut studio album "Eternal Blue" via Pale Chord/Rise Records. "Eternal Blue", which debuted at No. 13 on the Billboard 200, kicked open the doors of the heavy metal scene and rewrote the genre's playbook with 12 stunning tracks that incorporated everything from djent and post-metal to infectious synth-laden pop sensibilities and cinematic arrangements, brought fully to life by the inimitable LaPlante's ethereal and commanding vocal performances.

The album cycle for "Eternal Blue" saw SPIRITBOX not only grace the covers of esteemed music publications such as Revolver, Alternative Press, Rock Sound and Kerrang!, among many others but would also solidify the band as one of the most in-demand groups in live music today with their one-hundred percent sold out, first-ever headlining tour in support of the album which saw ticket sales over 40,000. The band would also share the stage with seasoned metal veterans such as LIMP BIZKIT and GHOST and win "Best International Breakthrough Band" at the 2021 Heavy Music Awards.

In 2022, SPIRITBOX secured highly coveted spots at numerous major U.S. rock and metal festivals and were nominated for two Juno awards. SPIRITBOX would also round out their current lineup with the inclusion of drummer Zev Rose and bassist Josh Gilbert in addition to releasing their sonically experimental EP "Rotoscope" in June of that year as well as a cross-genre collaboration with dubstep artist Illenium for the track "Shivering".

During another whirlwind year for the band, including a U.S. tour with SHINEDOWN and PAPA ROACH, SPIRITBOX wrote and recorded their critically acclaimed EP "The Fear Of Fear", released in November 2023. The EP features the single "Jaded", which was nominated for "Best Metal Performance" at the 66th annual Grammy Awards. In the same month, the band would make another genre-bending splash with a high-profile collaboration with rapper Megan Thee Stallion for a remix of her song "Cobra".

BraveWords Records is excited to release the new Jack Starr music video for the lead track “Rise Up”. The single is taken from his new solo album, Out Of The Darkness Part II, which will be released on April 25.

Jack Starr talking about the new single and video, “‘Rise Up’ is a song about the centuries old fight for freedom and liberty that has been going on since the dawn of time. There have always been injustice and leaders who rule by fear but at the same time there have been brave men who have stood up and asserted their right to live free. ‘Rise Up’ has a universal message of the importance of personal liberty that will appeal to all people of all political persuasions because even though it may be expressed differently at the end of the day people want to live their lives in peace even if it is sometimes requires a struggle to achieve that.”

Watch the new video below, and stream/download the single here.

Early reviews for Jack Starr’s Out Of The Darkness Part II.

“Part 2 will blow the world with those catchy rhythms, heavy vocals, and blasting solos.” – The Metal Mag

‘Prepare for total devastation and exploding your stereo, a must-have 100/100.” – The Metal Mag

“The new Jack Starr song is awesome, and Giles Lavery is a welcome addition to Jack’s songwriting.” – The Metal Command Podcast

Jack Starr talking about the new album, “This is the album I always hoped I would make, one that would be filled with power and glory but also melodic and passionate at the same time. This is the sequel to my 1984 album Out Of The Darkness, and it truly is a worthy successor that I believe will be embraced with the same affection that greeted the original. So yes, Out Of The Darkness Part II is here, and I urge everyone to listen to it. Keep the metal burning.”



Out Of The Darkness Part II tracklisting:

“Hand Of Doom”
“Endless Night”
“Into The Pit”
“Rise Up”
“Underneath The Velvet Sky”
“Tonight We Ride”
“The Night Has A Thousand Eyes”
“Sahara Winds”
“The Greater Good”
“Soulkeeper”
“Savage At The Gate” (Bonus Track)
“The Lesson” (Bonus Track)

Lineup:

Giles Lavery – Vocals (Warlord, Alcatrazz)
Jack Starr – Lead Guitar
Eric Juris – Lead Guitar (Warlord)
Gene Cooper – Bass
Rhino – Drums (ex-Manowar)

Guests:

Mark Zonder – Drums (Warlord, ex-Fates Warning)
Jimmy Waldo – Keyboards (Alcatrazz, Warlord, New England)

– Produced and mixed by Thomas Mergler
– Co-Produced by Giles Lavery & Jack Starr

Machine Head have launched their new Shotgun Blast Whiskey.

Batch #1 Limited Edition Collector’s Box, comes with 2 (two) Sawed-off Shotgun shaped bottles and 2 (two) Shotgun Shell shot glasses. An ultra-premium blend of 11 year aged and 4 year aged bourbon. 60% corn, 36% rye, 4% malted barley. This exceptional mash bill and aging process was handpicked by Robb Flynn himself, coming in at a powerful 94 proof, delivering a shot of rich bourbon flavor straight to your pallet.

Shop now, here.

Adds guitarist/vocalist/founder Robb Flynn, “We are beyond stoked to be doing this. As most of you know, Machine Head has always been a drinking band, from our first shows playing kegger parties, to sending out a hearty “cheers” to 70,000 of our friends while headlining Hellfest last year, both Machine Head and the Head Cases like a drink or 3. So last year when the opportunity presented itself to deliver a premium bourbon whiskey, it was a bit of a no-brainer.”

“Aged in first-use, charred American oak. The nose opens with layers of caramelized vanilla, toasted oak, and dark honey, complemented by notes of leather, baking spices, and a touch of dark cherry. On the pallet waves of rich toffee, brown sugar and toasted pecan, meet nutmeg and clove, balanced by the younger bourbon’s bright butterscotch and caramel corn. Hints of dark chocolate, black pepper, and dried orange peel add depth, while a velvety mouth feel leads to a long, warming finish of cinnamon spice, and smoky oak.

“To Machine Head fans everywhere may these bottles serve as a reminder to stand tall, speak loud and let freedom ring like never before. This is Shotgun Blast Whiskey, the first round is on us.

“Let freedom ring with a shotgun blast.”

US orders happening now, here. Find the EU pre-order page here.