British heavyweights ARCHITECTS are back with a relentless new single, "Brain Dead", featuring boundary-pushing new duo HOUSE OF PROTECTION — the latest glimpse into ARCHITECTS' highly anticipated 11th studio album, "The Sky, The Earth & All Between", dropping this Friday, February 28 via Epitaph Records. Just days after surprising fans with "Everything Ends", which revealed a more vulnerable side to the band, "Brain Dead" flips the script with a volatile mix of punk attitude and crushing intensity. Produced by Jordan Fish, the track showcases Sam Carter's unmatched vocal range, seamlessly shifting from frenetic screams to guttural growls to soaring melodic cleans. ARCHITECTS are pulling no punches with this one-two combo of new music leading up to their album release.

With Aric Improta and Stephen Harrison of HOUSE OF PROTECTION adding an intriguing layer of musical complexity, "Brain Dead" surges forward with pummeling drums, razor-sharp riffs, and an unrelenting pace that doesn't let up until it crashes into a mercilessly crushing breakdown. Lyrically, the track delivers a scathing take on modern disillusionment, wrapped in a chaotic, high-energy delivery that embodies ARCHITECTS at their most explosive.

The single arrives alongside a fast-moving, visually striking music video, mirroring the song's high-adrenaline energy. Shot in true guerilla, L.A.-skate style, the video follows Carter, Improta and Harrison as they tear through the city — skating outside, roaming stadium stands, weaving through tunnels, and lounging on rooftops. Packed with collage-style overlays, glitchy effects, and rapid cuts, the video captures the raw, electrified spirit of the track while delivering a gritty, high-impact visual ride that feels like a skate edit on steroids.

"Brain Dead" pushes ARCHITECTS' next chapter into overdrive, following the high-octane run of "Blackhole", "Whiplash", "Curse" and "Seeing Red" — a streak that has racked up over 90 million streams and landed the band on Alternative Press, Kerrang!, Revolver and Idobi's "Most Anticipated Albums of 2025" lists. If the first four singles are any indication, "The Sky, The Earth & All Between" is shaping up to be their most impactful record yet.

With "The Sky, The Earth & All Between" dropping on February 28, ARCHITECTS are gearing up for a massive year on the road. The band will celebrate the album's release with a string of special U.K. shows, before heading out on a spring headline tour across Europe. They'll then link up with LINKIN PARK for select dates on their anticipated world tour and make a festival run through the U.S., hitting Rock Fest, Upheaval and Inkcarceration — with even more dates on the horizon.

"The Sky, The Earth & All Between" track listing:

01. Elegy
02. Whiplash
03. Blackhole
04. Everything Ends
05. Brain Dead (feat. House of Protection)
06. Evil Eyes
07. Landmines
08. Judgement Day (feat. Amira Elfeky)
09. Broken Mirror
10. Curse
11. Seeing Red
12. Chandelier

In a new interview with Sophie Dobschall of the Eyes Closed blog and Messed!Up Magazine, RISE AGAINST frontman Tim McIlrath spoke about how he injects political activism into his songwriting. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Very simply, I hope that people walk away feeling hope. The way I look at songs, as a songwriter, is that RISE AGAINST is a band that, like maybe many other bands, we are writing a song and we might take you to a dark place, we might bring you down into this dark cave and show you problems and conflict and sadness and that kind of thing, and then maybe where we're different, or I hope we are at least, is that before that song is over, I hope that there's a trail of breadcrumbs that will lead you out of it. We're not gonna leave you in the dark. We want you to see the underbelly, we want you to see the problems of the world and society and the human condition, but, at the same time, because I think, as a songwriter, I do feel real hope and a lot of our fans give me that hope, I wanna make sure the song is laced with that hope as well. And so by the end of it, it's, like, yes, these are problems, but they're not something we haven't seen before and not something that we can't tackle and not something that we can't get through."

He continued: "So living in a moment — right now we're watching this rise of a radical right wing sort of ideology sort of consuming the planet. That's something RISE AGAINST has spoken about since our inception. We're not a band that veered into politics late in our career; we're a band that came out of the gates with politics. And so I think we've been unapologetic about our position. And I think what I'm focused on now is sort of reminding people the punk and hardcore values that exist in a band like ours have always been anti-racist, anti-sexist, anti-homophobic. Punk has been pro science, punk has been pro truth and pro facts. And there is some of that that that gets twisted in the world we live in nowadays with disinformation and lack of critical thinking, or just really misinformed critical thinking that turns into conspiracy theories. As a band now, I think our mission is to kind of remind people that there's a lot of different people out there trying to pull you into their revolution. But if that revolution, if there are elements of racism and sexism and homophobia in that revolution, that's something that punk and hardcore has always rejected. And that's a good way to find out if you are in some sort of bullshit revolution or going down the wrong path. And that's something that we'll just kind of continue to sing about."

When Dobschall noted that she "having a really hard time right now being hopeful," Tim said: "I think that's normal. I think that there's stress and anxiety in turning on the news these days, especially for somebody who cares about people and cares about the direction of the planet. And so, yeah, there are moments that I think that we are going to feel a lot of anxiety, and this is when we double down. This is when we put up a fight.

"I think I look at it as sometimes things have to get really bad for us to shake ourselves out of the sort of apathy, and I think there was a lot of apathy that allowed the White House to turn into what it has turned into," Tim explained. "I think the silver lining is that I think that we're going to expose what a radical right really looks like and what they really want, something that they've been good at kind of keeping secret, but now the secret's kind of out and we're seeing all these sort of racist and sexist underpinnings to the policies. And I think people are good and they're going to reject that, when they get a chance to reject that. And in the meantime, we get to see on full display how backwards, how anti-science and anti-fact like a lot of these ideologies are. And that's something that I hope is one of the silver linings in this."

RISE AGAINST recently released a new single, "Nod", via Loma Vista Recordings. The track, which marks RISE AGAINST's first new music in three years, will appear on the band's upcoming follow-up to 2021's "Nowhere Generation" album, tentatively due later in the year.

"Nod" was produced by Catherine Marks (BOYGENIUS, FOALS, MANCHESTER ORCHESTRA, ST. VINCENT) and mixed by Alan Moulder (NINE INCH NAILS, PARAMORE, QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE, THE KILLERS).

Last month, bandmembers McIlrath (lead vocals/guitar),Joe Principe (bass/vocals),Zach Blair (guitar/vocals) and Brandon Barnes (drums) hit the road for an extensive run of shows across Europe, before playing dozens of U.S. arenas, amphitheaters and pavilions with PAPA ROACH, as part of the co-headline "Rise Of The Roach" tour.

In a separate interview with Germany's Rock Antenne, McIlrath was asked if America's political turmoil has made the community at RISE AGAINST's concerts stronger. He responded: "I've noticed that. It sort of sharpens the blade a little bit. It sort of hones the mission. It reminds me why we started RISE AGAINST in the first place, in a post 9-11 America with the Bush administration. It reminds me of that era. It makes you hear the songs differently. It makes people come to the shows in a different way.

"I like to think that people come to our shows no matter what, but there's something about people coming to our shows now where they need it," he continued. "They need to be at the show, under the same roof with like-minded people who are concerned about the future of the world. And we're concerned about the future of America and the future of the world."

Tim, who has never been shy about expressing his social and political beliefs, added: "A Trump White House is a disaster. It's been a disaster every single day it's been there. Lots of sad things are happening, lots of things that make you really angry. And so this is the kind of era that our band was built for. This is what we were made for, this is why we're here. So we have these songs to play to kind of talk about the same things we've been talking about for 25 years."

Asked how the current political situation in America has changed his everyday life, Tim said: "I guess to answer your question, yeah, you walk out of your door into an ecosystem of a lot of anger. A lot of the things in the news are enraging you. People are divided. What's happening in America tends to be contagious and it spreads across other borders. And so that kind of stuff, it makes you concerned. People look at you differently as Americans, 'cause they're watching the news and they're angry about it, and they should be angry about it. So, yeah, it affects everybody. It's definitely — it's concerning."

Last October, McIlrath told RVA Magazine about RISE AGAINST's political activism: "Navigating this band politically in such a divisive era is a little trickier, but it is also more important than ever. We have a direct connection to our fan base, whatever size it is, and I want to be part of the solution and not the problem. I feel a responsibility to steer our fans in the right direction — at the very least, not steer them in the wrong direction."

Tim further explained that the band started out in punk rock which was "synonymous" with politics. "It was something that was very close to my heart as the lyricist," he said. "If you would accuse us of anything back then, it was preaching to the converted. It wasn't that radical to be the guy from RISE AGAINST saying, 'fuck the war in Iraq.'"

In a new interview with Ethan Dometrius, TESLA bassist Brian Wheat once again took issue with the label "hair metal," saying that the pejorative term was coined as a way to disparage acts thought to have been all flash and no substance. Regarding TESLA being unfairly lumped in with such acts as MÖTLEY CRÜE, RATT, SKID ROW and L.A. GUNS, Wheat said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "I think TESLA probably has more in common with THE BLACK CROWES than we would some of the other bands that they call 'hair' bands.

"It used to drive me nuts because I used to take it, when people were saying it in kind of a derogatory, condescending way, 'Oh, they're a hair band,' which we never were," he explained. "We were no more a hair band than THE BLACK CROWES are. THE BLACK CROWES and TESLA are both blues-based rock bands. We both are heavily rooted in blues-based English rock. I mean, TESLA was like HUMBLE PIE or BAD COMPANY or LED ZEPPELIN, with two guitar players. Or AC/DC or UFO. Those were the things we grew up on. We weren't of that thing, but they wanna put us in there. And I'm over it now. It doesn't bother me. It used to really piss me off, but these days, last 10 years, I've just kind of said, 'Okay, whatever you wanna call us. As long as you're calling us something and talking about us and coming and seeing us play, then I don't care. Call us whatever you wanna call us.'"

When Dometrius noted that TESLA is probably benefiting from the fact that "hair metal" is "having a bit of a resurgence" right now and is becoming more popular again, Wheat said: "I guess. I wasn't aware it's popular. I didn't know if there was a resurgence. I mean, TESLA have kind of been doing the same thing we've always been doing for the last 20 years — playing anywhere from 60 to a hundred shows a year, depending on how we feel and what the climate is.

"When you say 'hair' bands to me, when you say RATT, their [debut] record came out — what? — in '84? There was no 'hair band' term then," Brian continued. "I mean, the SCORPIONS were out in '84. They had a huge record. VAN HALEN came out — VAN HALEN's '1984' was a huge album. Was VAN HALEN a hair band? They had long hair.

"It's kind of a slight in a way, which is the thing that kind of annoys me about it," Wheat added. "It's, like, well, how about we're just all playing rock music."

Wheat previously discussed TESLA's supposed association with "hair metal" during a March 2021 interview with "The Cassius Morris Show". Wheat said at the time: "I find [the term 'hair metal'] condescending. What does fucking hair have to do with the music? Should we be called 'cock metal' because we all have big dicks? Seriously, it's, like, 'hair metal' — what does that have to do with [anything music-related]? It's condescending. It's a putdown. It's almost like saying, 'Well, the music's not valid. They just had good hair.' That's what it's like.

"You can take the greatest hair metal band, whoever it is. I don't even know — who's hair metal? Would MÖTLEY CRÜE be considered hair metal? I guess they would. Well, 'Home Sweet Home' was a great song. What did fucking hair have to fucking do with that song? 'Dr. Feelgood' was a great song. So it's condescending. It's a putdown. Should we say about NIRVANA 'uncleanly music,' 'cause they look like they didn't bathe?

"I don't like it," he reiterated. "Just talk about the music, because that's what what matters. Not about the hair. If you wanna call it anything, call it '80s metal — call it 1980s rock. 'Cause that's what it was — it was rock that came out of the '80s and early '90s. THE BLACK CROWES came out a year later than TESLA, and they're not called a hair metal band.

"Why call us a hair metal band when all we were doing was imitating AEROSMITH?" Wheat added. "I think we're very parallel to an AEROSMITH. I think, personally, if you can't go see AEROSMITH and you wanna see a good version of AEROSMITH, go see TESLA. They're very similar. I mean, Jeff Keith looks like Steven Tyler; he sings like Steven Tyler."

Earlier this month, TESLA released the official music video for the electric version of "All About Love", the title track of the band's latest six-song EP, "All About Love".

Released last November, "All About Love" includes four versions of "All About Love" (acoustic, electric, hybrid, live); a live version of "Walk Away", a concert favorite from "Reel To Real, Vol. 1"; and another new song, "From The Heart", an instrumental track by guitarist Frank Hannon.

Some fans criticized TESLA for adopting a 1980s-style polished production for the band's latest album, 2019's "Shock". The follow-up to June 2014's "Simplicity" was helmed by DEF LEPPARD guitarist Phil Collen, whose own group is no stranger to slicked-up, glossy-sounding recordings.

In September 2023, TESLA released the official music video for its cover of AEROSMITH's "S.O.S. (Too Bad)". The song is a bonus track on TESLA's live album, "Full Throttle Live!", which arrived in May 2023. The LP includes the band's "Time To Rock!" single, plus other songs, all recorded in August 2022 at Full Throttle Saloon in Sturgis, South Dakota.

In September 2021, original TESLA drummer Troy Luccketta announced that he would "take a little time from the road" to spend with family and friends. He has since been replaced at TESLA's gigs and in the recording studio by Steve Brown, the younger brother of former DOKKEN drummer Mick Brown.

TESLA's debut album, 1986's "Mechanical Resonance", went platinum on the strength of the hits "Modern Day Cowboy" and "Little Suzi". The 1989 follow-up album, "The Great Radio Controversy", produced five hits, including "Heaven's Trail (No Way Out)" and "Love Song", which hit the pop Top Ten.

Dutch guitar legend Adrian Vandenberg is celebrating his iconic years with WHITESNAKE during a special, one-off tour called "My Whitesnake Years". In 2025, it has been 35 years since WHITESNAKE toured the world with the "Slip Of The Tongue" album, and Vandenberg looks back on highlights such as the legendary WHITESNAKE "Live At Donington" 1990 show.

Fan-filmed video of Vandenberg's February 27 concert at Infinity Music Hall in Hartford, Connecticut as part of the "My Whitesnake Years" tour can be seen in the YouTube playlist (containing 16 separate clips) below.

Vandenberg's touring band for "My Whitesnake Years" is as follows:

Adrian Vandenberg - Guitar
Mats Levén - Vocals
Sem Christoffel - Bass
Joey Marin De Boer - Drums
Len Van De Laak - Keyboards

Vandenberg joined WHITESNAKE in 1987 and played the famous guitar solo on worldwide hit "Here I Go Again". He also co-wrote the entire "Slip Of The Tongue" album and toured with guitar virtuoso Steve Vai. Before his WHITESNAKE years, Vandenberg made his international breakthrough with his own band VANDENBERG, known for the hit "Burning Heart", and shared the stage with rock greats such as OZZY OSBOURNE, KISS and SCORPIONS. After his WHITESNAKE period, he launched the successful VANDENBERG'S MOONKINGS and made a successful comeback in 2020 with his renewed VANDENBERG band. Now he returns to his WHITESNAKE glory years one more time, enabling fans to relive old times.

In a November 2024 interview with Alma Hard, Vandenberg was asked why he took a decade-and-a-half break from recording music prior to the 2014 release of the debut album from his band VANDENBERG'S MOONKINGS. He said: "Well, I stayed together with David [Coverdale, WHITESNAKE leader] up until 1998, because we did tour — we toured in 1994 and we toured in 1997, '98. So, the end of 1998, David wanted to stop with everything because he wasn't feeling well and he wanted to stop touring because he didn't seem to enjoy it anymore. So, in 1999, I was with a girlfriend at the time and she got a baby. Or actually we got a baby, and she got pregnant and I thought, 'That's great. I wanna be there for that.' Of course, I didn't wanna tour and then record records because that's a very important thing. But when the baby was three years old, the relationship fell apart, and we weren't married. And it appeared to be a very difficult period. And I thought, 'If I'm gonna record now and start a band and start touring, then I will be one of those fathers who sticks his head around the corner of the door and goes, 'I'm your father, but I have to go.'' So when that relationship went wrong, I wanted to be an important part in the life of my daughter. I thought, 'You know what? I'm gonna live off my paintings for about 10, 11 years,' which is what I did, 'until she's old enough that I can explain to her what I actually do and what I did before.' So, when my daughter was about 11 or 12, she was old enough to explain and she thought it was really cool because there were kids at her school who go, 'Oh, is that your dad? He's famous and he's got long hair' and all that stuff. So before, until she was 11 or 12, for her it was totally normal that I played some guitar and there was painting and all that stuff. So, that's when I started MOONKINGS. She must have been 12 or something. And I really missed playing and touring and doing shows and all that stuff, so I was happy to pick it up again. And I thought, 'Well, the world will have forgotten about me, of course.' That would have been totally normal, because that's how it goes. Pop music is called pop music because people, when it started, with bands like THE BEATLES and pop artists and stuff in the '60s, people thought, 'Oh, you know, that's the kind of music you throw away. It's pop music, popular music. That's music you forget after about a couple of months.' But it's never gone away, fortunately, because that's why I didn't go away either. I'm still here."

Vandenberg was a member of WHITESNAKE for 13 years at the height of the band's fame, contributing the solo on "Here I Go Again". He was also part of supergroup MANIC EDEN, and more recently released a number of albums with VANDENBERG'S MOONKINGS.

Vandenberg's namesake band released its comeback album, titled "2020", in May 2020 via Mascot Records/Mascot Label Group. A follow-up LP, "Sin", arrived in August 2023.

The group's fifth full-length offering, "Sin", was produced by Bob Marlette (OZZY OSBOURNE, ALICE COOPER, ROB ZOMBIE).

Recalling his refusal to return to WHITESNAKE when Coverdale resurrected the band in 2002, Vandenberg told "White Line Fever" that the singer "wanted to stop altogether because he was kind of worn out on the road. He didn't want to do it anymore… When he called me up and said he wanted to start it up again, I couldn't do it because I had all kinds of obligations for exhibitions for my paintings. And those are always planned a year ahead, because art galleries reserve the space a year ahead because exhibitions usually last three to six months or something. I couldn't do it but we did keep in touch always. We still do."

The guitarist added that he and Coverdale became "very good friends over the years, [so] you never know what might happen... We actually have pretty specific ideas about maybe doing a blues album or an acoustic thing or whatever… Sooner or later it might happen, but right now we're really involved in [other projects]. So this is probably not the time. But I wouldn't be surprised if, sooner or later, we end up doing something together in some kind of format. I was in WHITESNAKE for 13 years, which is quite a long time. I still hold the record, I think."



Here we come Ardmore, Hartford, Derry, Portland New York, Redbank, Homer, Patchogue, Warrendale, Leesburg and the @monstersofrockcruise to the Bahama’s. Got our toothbrushes polished!
Hope to se you guys there!
☠️🏴‍☠️🎸💥🥂

#vandenbergband #mywhitesnakeyears #whitesnake #monstersofrockcruise #larrymorand #relianttalent #matsleven #joeymarindeboer #semchristoffel #lenvandelaak #adrianvandenberg #ralphroelvink #raymondtabak #willemvanroekel

Posted by Adrian Vandenberg on Thursday, February 20, 2025

LAMB OF GOD frontman D. Randall "Randy" Blythe's second book, "Just Beyond The Light: Living With The War Inside My Head", has landed at position No. 15 in the "Hardcover Frontlist Nonfiction" category on the Publishers Weekly bestsellers list.

Publishers Weekly, a cornerstone publication in the book industry, publishes multiple bestseller lists based on data from Circana BookScan. Circana BookScan is the gold standard in point-of-sale tracking for the publishing market, covering approximately 85% of trade print books sold in the U.S., through direct reporting from all major retailers, independent bookstores, and many others.

On Saturday (March 1),Blythe took to his social media to write: "I am very proud to announce that for the SECOND TIME, I am officially a bestselling author! My new book, 'Just Beyond The Light', made the Publishers Weekly nonfiction bestsellers list, debuting at #15 out of the top 25 nonfiction books for sale in the country. I cannot thank everybody that bought a copy of 'Just Beyond The Light' enough!

"Interestingly enough, once again, I was denied a spot on a certain other bestsellers list, even though just like with my first book, 'Dark Days', I outsold several books on their 'bestseller' list. According to BookScan, the gold-standard data service that tracks actual weekly retail sales of trade print books in the US, this time I outsold the ENTIRE BOTTOM HALF of their list, slots #8-15. That’s not one or two of the bottom of the list, that's HALF the list. That's ok though- I did not expect them to give it to me anyway. After all, I am a singer in a heavy metal band, and therefore am looked at as a caveman— I am used to condescending attitudes. This is slightly irritating, but I know the numbers…

"Regardless, I don't write books for 'prizes' or places on lists, just like I don't write music for trophies or chart placements. I do this because I am AN ARTIST, and I do this to hear stories like this one told to me by a man with tears in his eyes at a signing the other night:

"'I had tried to kill myself, and was in a mental hospital. I could not name you a single LAMB OF GOD song, but they had your book 'Dark Days' in there. I read it, and it helped me put my own struggles in perspective. I cannot thank you enough- it helped me get out of a very dark place. It still helps me today.'

"THAT is why I do that I do. To hear THAT, & to know that I have made a difference in someone's life. Right now is a very scary & fucked up time in the world. Let's stay present and hold each other up, ok? Because in the end, WE are all WE have."

During a recent appearance on B&H Event Space's "Leica Stories", Blythe stated about "Just Beyond The Light: Making Peace With The Wars Inside Our Head", which came out on February 18, 2025 via Grand Central Publishing (GCP): "My first book, the main theme was personal accountability, about some legal problems I had, that I went through, that some people are probably familiar with. But the second book is about perspective, as far as I can tell after writing it, because I didn't have a very clear plan when I started writing it. It's about looking for outside perspectives from people or experiences I've had in order to have me course correct and not to make so many of the stupid mistakes I've made over the years.

"For me, the only way I've ever been able to shift my perspective to a more balanced perspective is listening to people who have experienced things and come out on the other side of it a better person," he explained. "So that's what I was trying to do. And there is a lot of self-searching in it. I don't know if you would describe the book as a memoir, but it's a collection, maybe, of essays or something. And I'm writing about my experiences that I've had with other people or just in life. And so I'm questioning myself, and I was questioning myself as I was writing the book. I knew I wanted to write about a couple of things, but everything else was a mystery. So, it's a lot of self-questioning.

"Something I really want for the reader — hopefully that's the main point — is to think about their own perspective on life and to ask themselves about their own perspective and how they can change it for the better."

Blythe went on to say that learning from past experiences is a fundamental aspect of personal growth and development.

"Nobody, as far as I know, has ever lived a perfect life, at least no one that I've met," he said. "And God knows I haven't. But that doesn't mean I need to sit here and castigate myself and flagellate myself and crucify myself forever. I need to learn from these experiences and hopefully become a better person. If I just sit there and [say things to myself], 'Oh, you're horrible,' and beat the crap out of yourself, it's really just the other side of the egomaniacal narcissism coin, really. Because if I'm just sitting there thinking I'm just the worst person in the world because I did something wrong, then I'm still just thinking about one person — myself. And I think as I grow older, my life goes a lot smoother the less I think about me. [Laughs] When I try and reach out and think about other people, my life tends to go a lot smoother. If I'm stuck here up in my head, it's no good. My head's a bad neighborhood. I should never go up there without adult supervision."

"Just Beyond The Light" was previously described by Blythe as a "tight, concise roadmap of how I have attempted to maintain what I believe to be a proper perspective in life, even during difficult times."

In December, Blythe announced more spoken-word and question-and-answer events to promote "Just Beyond The Light". The special "evening with" event includes a spoken-word performance, an audience question-and-answer session, a copy of "Just Beyond The Light" and an opportunity to have the book signed.

In a separate interview with Radioactive MikeZ, host of the 96.7 KCAL-FM program "Wired In The Empire", Blythe was asked if "Just Beyond The Light" picks up where his debut book, "Dark Days", which focused on his ordeal in a Czech Republic prison and his subsequent acquittal, left off or if it's a completely different book. Randy said: "It's a completely different book. It's a collection of — I wouldn't call 'em essays, but different chapters about, basically different people and experiences who have [changed] my perspective for the better.

"As I get older, I try not to make the same stupid mistakes again and again and again and again," he explained. "And surprise, surprise, if you look at people who — you look at them and you think, 'Man, this person has their life together,' or, 'They've acted in a manner that I find admirable,' if you pay attention to them and follow their example, you don't do stupid things yourself. I'm not saying that I don't still do stupid things, but I'm trying fully in my old age to learn from others more."

When Radioactive MikeZ noted that it's "interesting" that Randy actually interviewed his then-94-year-old grandmother for the book, Blythe said: "Yeah, she passed away. There's a chapter. Well, I didn't interview her for the book. I interviewed her because she was 94. She lived to be a hundred and a half. And there's a whole chapter about her. She raised me for part of my childhood and she was raised during the The [Great] Depression. She did not screw around. She was a very real person who lived through a whole lot. But I interviewed her when she was 94, just for the fact that I heard so many stories from her of growing up in a different time. And I was, like, 'She's not gonna be here forever. I might as well get all this stuff down,' just for my own purposes and for my family to have. She was the last of that generation in my family. So when I started to write this book on perspective and people I've learned things from, she was a natural choice. Luckily, I had that interview to draw on. So if you have old people in your life — this is what I'm gonna tell you — if you have old people in your life, interview them now… I'm gonna have to do that with my parents soon. I mean, they're not ancient or anything, but your memory starts failing as you get older. So it's time to get that stuff before it disappears."

Blythe told RVA Magazine about "Just Beyond The Light": "It is about trying to maintain a balanced perspective in the world right now, and in order for me to do that, I have to look to other people I admire. One of those people I write about is my grandmother, who was 94. I was beside her when she died, and I was grateful for that because it was post-COVID. I interviewed her over the course of two days and learned about her life. I asked her what the biggest difference is between [her generation] the modern age we're in right now — she didn't say computers or globalism; she said people are not as close as they used to be."

Asked if he feels like we've lost that sense of interpersonal connection between people," Randy said: "In many ways, but I don't think it's totally gone. I think it's dormant. I think it's buried under the iCloud of bullshit, and it's going to come back and bite us on the ass. In one way or another, you're going to need help. People don't know their neighbors; there's not the sense of community there used to be. In this hyper-connected world, people are lonelier than ever — particularly young people. They're interfacing with the world through this digital medium, and it's providing an illusion of connection, but real connection requires friction. There has to be a push and pull when you're in person, and that is absent via digital communications when there is a wall of anonymity."

In 2012, Blythe was arrested in the Czech Republic and charged with manslaughter for allegedly pushing a 19-year-old fan offstage at a show two year prior and causing injuries that led to the fan's death. Blythe spent 37 days in a Prague prison before ultimately being found not guilty in 2013.

Blythe's prison experience inspired two songs on LAMB OF GOD's 2015 album "VII: Sturm Und Drang": "512", one of his three prison cell numbers, and "Still Echoes", written while he was in Pankrac Prison, a dilapidated facility built in the 1880s that had been used for executions by the Nazis during World War II. It also led him to write the aforementioned "Dark Days", in which he shared his whole side of the story publicly for the first time.

I am very proud to announce that for the SECOND TIME, I am officially a bestselling author! My new book, Just Beyond the...

Posted by D. Randall Blythe on Saturday, March 1, 2025

Legendary rockers HEART kicked off the 2025 North American leg of the "Royal Flush" tour Friday night (February 28) at the BleauLive Theater in Las Vegas. The show marked HEART's first live performance since the band postponed the remaining dates of its 2024 North American tour in July in order for singer Ann Wilson to undergo cancer treatments.

HEART's 13-song set opened with the title track off HEART's fifth studio album, 1980's "Bébé Le Strange", and included such classics as "Crazy On You", "Magic Man", "Barracuda", "These Dreams", "Alone" and "What About Love". HEART also played a cover of LED ZEPPELIN's "Going To California", a rendition of HEART guitarist Nancy Wilson's Eddie Van Halen tribute song "4 Edward" and "Sand" from the Wilson sisters' late 1990s side project LOVEMONGERS.

Fan-filmed video of the concert can be found below.

The setlist was as follows, according to Setlist.fm:

01. Bébé Le Strange
02. Never
03. Love Alive
04. Straight On / Let's Dance
05. These Dreams
06. Crazy On You
07. Dog & Butterfly
08. Going To California (LED ZEPPELIN cover)
09. 4 Edward (Nancy Wilson song)
10. Alone / What About Love
11. Magic Man

Encore:

12. Sand (LOVEMONGERS cover)
13. Barracuda

In a new interview with Orange County Register, Nancy Wilson stated about what it is like for HEART to tour in 2025: "Oh, god. [Laughs] Unless you're at the private jet level — we're on the bus level — the inconveniences almost outweigh the reward of getting up on a stage for two hours. It's like everything is aimed for those two hours. The bad pizza, the no sleep, the potholes, overnight in the bus, trying to sleep. You can't even watch TV half the time because it's bad reception. All the scheduling of it. Trying to see your family when you're home between their school breaks. It's just a lot of moving parts that you have to be good at. It's an obstacle course, basically, and you just have to run with your suitcase and get to the stage.

As for those two hours on stage, Nancy said: "It's everything my whole life is aimed to be able to do well, or at least as well as possible. People are there. They're loving you and they love those songs. And it's a moment that only happens that one time, so you can't just rewind it, rewatch it. It's beautiful, sort of like a mindfulness that happens on stage. You really have to be in the moment. You can't be thinking, 'Well, I think I'll do my laundry later in the sink on the bus or in the hotel room.' Because then you're like, 'Wait, what's the next chord? I was thinking about my laundry.' There's just certainly magic that is transferred in that setting."

The rescheduled "Royal Flush" will wrap up on April 16 in New York City.

The current members of HEART feature Nancy Wilson (rhythm, lead and acoustic guitar, backing and lead vocals),Ann Wilson (lead vocals and flute),Ryan Wariner (lead and rhythm guitar),Ryan Waters (guitars),Paul Moak (guitars, keyboards and backing vocals),Tony Lucido (bass and backing vocals) and Sean Lane (drums and bike).

In December 2023, HEART played its first three concerts in more than four years — in Highland, California, at Greater Palm Springs in Palm Desert, California, and in Seattle, Washington.

Prior to HEART's December 27, 2023 show in Highland, the band's last performance took place in October 2019 in St. Paul, Minnesota.

The 2024 leg of "Royal Flush" featured CHEAP TRICK as support on most of the North American leg. HEART was also scheduled to join DEF LEPPARD and JOURNEY for summer stadium shows in Cleveland, Toronto and Boston.

HEART toured North America in the summer of 2019 after a nasty split that kept the Wilson sisters estranged for three years.

Ann and Nancy had a falling out during HEART's 2016 tour, when Ann's husband Dean Welter was arrested for assaulting Nancy's then-16-year-old twin sons in a backstage altercation at a gig near their hometown of Seattle. He pleaded guilty to two lesser assault charges to avoid jail time.

HEART's 2013 induction into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame saw Ann and Nancy reunited with the four musicians who helped HEART achieve its initial success in the mid-1970s — guitarist Roger Fisher, bassist Steve Fossen, drummer Michael DeRosier and longtime guitarist-keyboardist Howard Leese.

The Wilson sisters' reunion with HEART's original lineup at the Rock Hall ceremony marked the first time the group played together in 34 years.

When Ann and Nancy formed HEART, the idea of two women leading a rock band was still groundbreaking. From the moment 1975's "Dreamboat Annie" was released, they became stars. With hits like "Magic Man", "Crazy On You", "Barracuda", "Alone", "What About Love" and "These Dreams", the band became one of the biggest hit-makers in the Seventies and Eighties, selling more than 35 million records. In 2012, their memoir "Kicking & Dreaming: A Story Of Heart, Soul And Rock & Roll" became a New York Times bestseller.

Get ready to see Heart take the stage at BleauLive on 2/28/25!

Expect iconic hits and electric energy from the beloved...

Posted by Fontainebleau Las Vegas on Monday, September 23, 2024

The Metal & Rock Concerts in 4K YouTube channel has uploaded video of DISTURBED's entire February 27 concert at Ball Arena in Denver, Colorado. You can check it out below.

Featured songs:

"The Sickness" album

00:00 Into
03:20 Voices
07:20 The Game
11:48 Stupify
16:36 Down With The Sickness
21:56 Violence Fetish
25:58 Fear
30:02 Numb
34:20 Want
38:05 Conflict
42:45 Shout (TEARS FOR FEARS cover)
48:05 Droppin' Plates
54:20 Meaning Of Life

Greatest hits

1:02:40 Ten Thousand Fists
1:06:17 I Will Not Break
1:11:09 Bad Man
1:15:09 Land Of Confusion (GENESIS cover)
1:20:35 Indestructible
1:26:15 The Sound Of Silence (SIMON & GARFUNKEL cover)
1:33:22 The Light
1:38:34 Inside The Fire

DISTURBED kicked off the U.S. leg of "The Sickness 25th Anniversary Tour" on February 25 at Ford Idaho Center Arena in Nampa, Idaho. The trek celebrates 25 years of DISTURBED's seminal debut album which launched the band into public consciousness and is one of the most important and influential heavy metal albums of all time. Each night features two sets of music, opening with DISTURBED playing the five-times-platinum "The Sickness" in full, followed by a full set of greatest hits. Openers on the U.S. shows include THREE DAYS GRACE, SEVENDUST, DAUGHTRY and NOTHING MORE, depending on the date.

A few days prior to the launch of "The Sickness 25th Anniversary Tour", DISTURBED singer David Draiman told the 100.3 The X Rocks radio station that getting ready for the trek was "a ton of work," requiring "a ton of preparation. Lots of little Easter eggs, so to speak, [are] part of the performance. Definitely dipping heavily into the nostalgia. So, getting into it, it's been a nice little trip down memory lane, it's been sort of a humbling experience kind of, 'cause we've never actually played the first record front to back before. This is gonna be our first time doing it. Some of these songs we haven't played in — I don't know — 15, 20 years. So it's been a while. It was nice running through everything with the guys last week. It's like revisiting old friends. It's really, really cool. I'm really looking forward to the whole entirety of it. There's definitely lots of production-element surprises that are complex and theatrical, definitely hearkening back to the whole 'Sickness' era, but done in a new and modern way. So it's definitely been a challenge, but one that we've been enjoying as we've been going along."

Asked how much fun he and his DISTURBED bandmates have in coming up with ideas and trying to push the limits of what they can make happen on the stage during a live show, Draiman said: "Well, that all depends. Unfortunately, things like that cost money [laughs], and a lot of it, and if we had an unlimited amount of money, it wouldn't be a problem. Unfortunately, we do have a limited amount of money. And if we were able to do everything we wanted to, we would be accomplishing all of my dear guitar player's wildest dreams and production fantasies coming to life. He's definitely the mad scientist when it comes to that kind of stuff. He's got a great vision for that sort of thing, and he's been working closely with our production staff, and I've been kind of hanging back, seeing what he's coming up with and what they're coming up with… But it's been challenging, because the environment is tough, and we wanna put on as big of a show as possible, but we don't wanna have to pay from out of our pockets to do it. We'd like to actually make some revenue on it. So it's been challenging, but I can pretty much guarantee everyone, from everything that I've seen over the course of the past couple of weeks, that it is going to be a huge-looking show. It's going to be impressive as hell. And I think that everyone's really going [to enjoy it]."

Last week, DISTURBED announced the European leg of "The Sickness 25th Anniversary Tour" with support from MEGADETH.

Since "The Sickness" was released in 2000, the album was certified five times platinum by the RIAA, spent a total of 106 weeks on the US Billboard 200 chart, and Revolver named it one of "Top 25 Debut Hard Rock Albums." Billboard said of the title track upon release: "'Down With The Sickness' is, of course, the quintessential DISTURBED song, harnessing all the band's seethe and its now-famous tribal beat and guitar chug into three and a half minutes of alt-metal mayhem. It's menacing, it's rhythmic, it's rebellious."

DISTURBED recently announced the 25th-anniversary edition release of "The Sickness". To commemorate the anniversary, the band will reissue the five-times-platinum-certified LP on March 7, exactly 25 years to the date of their original release, in editions including:

* A limited edition 1-LP (silver vinyl) and 3-CD box set. It includes the original album, B-sides, unreleased demos, and an unreleased 14-track concert from The Palladium in Los Angeles from April 2001 as well as songs recorded at Chicago's Metro in March 2000 and the London Astoria in February 2001. The box includes a poster, cloth patch, backstage pass, and a set of guitar picks. It also includes a book featuring rare photos and memorabilia, and an extensive essay with new interviews with the members of DISTURBED, and producer Johnny K. An exclusive lithograph signed by the band is included with the limited-edition D2C format.

* A 2-CD deluxe edition that includes the original album, plus a disc of B-sides, unreleased demos, and rarities. The booklet features an essay with new interviews with the members of DISTURBED and producer Johnny K.

* Vinyl editions, including variants in limited edition green vinyl, limited edition orange vinyl (Germany/Central Europe exclusive),and limited edition milky clear vinyl (Spotify Fans First).

* Digitally, which includes all 40 tracks included in the limited-edition box set.

"The Sickness" 25th-anniversary edition is available to pre-order on all formats. The deluxe box set will be available via the band's web site and digitally on March 7, and via all retailers in North American on March 21.

On February 21, DISTURBED released a new single, "I Will Not Break", via the band's own label, Mother Culture Records.

DISTURBED has become one of the most celebrated and commercially successful metal acts of all time. To date, DISTURBED has seen record-breaking success with sales of over 17 million units and 14 billion streams. It all began with "The Sickness", which includes their songs "Down With The Sickness" (recently certified eight times platinum),"Stupify" (two times platinum),"Voices" (gold),and "The Game" (gold). The album peaked at No. 29 on the Billboard 200 chart and spent a total of 106 weeks on the chart. To date, "The Sickness" has been streamed 2.5 billion times worldwide. It was included as No. 24 on Loudwire's "Top 25 Debut Hard Rock Albums" list, one of Metal Hammer's "20 Best Albums Of 2000," and was highlighted in Revolver magazine's "20 Essential Nu Metal Albums" list. Billboard said of the title track upon release: "'Down With The Sickness' is, of course, the quintessential DISTURBED song, harnessing all the band's seethe and its now-famous tribal beat and guitar chug into three and a half minutes of alt-metal mayhem. It's menacing, it's rhythmic, it's rebellious."

Emerging out of Chicago at the turn of the century with an insidious, infectious, and inimitable vision without comparison, DISTURBED have quietly dominated hard rock on their own terms. They make the kind of music that pushes you to hold on tighter, fight harder, and persevere forever. It's why they've claimed a place at the forefront of 21st century rock with record-breaking success, sales of over 17 million-plus units, nearly eight billion streams, and sold out shows around the globe. The band have six RIAA album certifications, and singles from all eight albums have reached the top ten of the Mainstream Rock chart.

The two-time Grammy Award-nominated quartet have notched five consecutive No. 1 debuts on the Billboard Top 200 for "Believe", "Ten Thousand Fists", "Indestructible" and "Asylum", occupying rarified air alongside METALLICA — the only other hard rock group to accomplish this feat. Since their influential five-times-platinum debut "The Sickness" in 2000, they have built a bulletproof catalog highlighted by a procession of smashes, including the platinum "Stupify", "Inside The Fire" and "Land Of Confusion", two-times-platinum "Stricken", six-times-platinum "Down With The Sickness" and seven-times-platinum "The Sound Of Silence" to name a few. The latter notably received a Grammy Award nomination in the category of "Best Rock Performance" as the band earned "Best Rock Artist" at the 2017 iHeartRadioMusic Awards. Still, DISTURBED never stop, and their most recent 2022 album "Divisive" featured their 17th No. 1 at Rock Radio "Hey You", "Unstoppable" and more.

Repost from @disturbed
•
Epic night in Denver! Thank you, Disturbed Ones! 🤘

📸 @britt_bowman

#Disturbed #TheSickness25 #Denver #Colorado #USA

Posted by Mike Wengren on Friday, February 28, 2025

SEPULTURA guitarist Andreas Kisser is celebrating the fifth anniversary of his getting sober.

On Saturday (March 1),the 56-year-old Brazilian-born musician took to his Instagram to write: "March 1st, today I celebrate 5 years without alcohol in my life! The best feeling ever! Much love to you all!"

Less than four years ago, Kisser told A&P Reacts that he "quit alcohol right before the pandemic hit. It was one of the best decisions I made in my life," he said. "Not that I was a fucking out-of-control alcoholic, but alcohol was a part of my life, of everything I did. In certain degrees less and more, but it was there. It was taking control of my life, of my choices, of how I dealt with people or with a special occasion or something. Alcohol was involved in everything. And I don't need that. And I proved now that I don't, because I'm having a better life. I'm doing exercises. I have the routine I never had touring."

According to Kisser, "it was very easy" for him to give up the bottle. "Once you have a clear idea in your mind, there's no discussion," he explained. "I didn't put the responsibility on a saint or, let's say, in a church, or 'I will stop for a year' or 'I promise you, my wife, I don't drink anymore.' No. It's not for them. It's a very personal attitude. It's me with me — not more. I don't have to put the responsibility away from myself, in a time period or in a certain religious belief or my family. They don't deserve that. This is my problem, and I resolve it with myself. So I'm in peace with myself with that. It's not something that bothers me. I can be around alcohol, I can be around parties, I can be around backstage, as I did with my KISSER CLAN band here and stuff. People drink around [me], [and] I don't care. I don't even feel the wish to drink, which is great. So I don't have a battle, let's put it that way. I'm not running away from anything. I just decided to stop. That's it."

Kisser is not the only member of SEPULTURA's classic lineup to have gotten sober. Back in 2016, former SEPULTURA frontman Max Cavalera told Metal Insider that he had been "straight edge" at that point for a decade. "I was kind of a mess 10 years ago, drinking and doing a lot of drugs, and it was affecting some of my touring," he stated at the time. "I'm a very extreme guy, so when I do something, I do it all the way. I quit drinking and doing drugs entirely, and when I did it, I realized my passion for metal grew even more. I became more into metal, into new bands and stuff."

Cavalera reflected on his 16-year battle with drug and alcohol addiction in a 2016 interview with Metal Hammer. He told the magazine that he became hooked on prescription drugs not long after his father's death. "I was taking too many of them on a daily basis and then drinking on top of it," he said. "It's a lethal combination, and then I added sleep medicines on top of all that. It's a miracle I am still alive.

"There's a lot of pressure that comes with fame. Record label pressure, fans pressure, and we don’t have a manual or a guide to surviving this shit."

Max continued: "I think for some musicians the pressure of fame gets to them. For me, it started with the death of my father. I became very sad and drinking was one way to deal with my sadness. The drugs — I just liked them. I liked the buzz of a painkiller. The energy it gave me."

Andreas's wife Patricia Perissinoto Kisser passed away on July 3, 2022 after a battle with colon cancer. She had just turned 52 years old one day earlier.

Andreas and the couple's three children, Giulia, Yohan and Enzo, announced Patricia's death in a social media post. They wrote: "It is with deep sadness that we have to share that Patricia Perissinoto Kisser passed away this morning. She will remain in our memories forever."

Andreas and Patricia had been together for 32 years after first getting together in 1990. They married in 1994.

In June 2022, Andreas left SEPULTURA's European tour due to what was described at the time as a "family emergency." He was temporarily replaced on the road by Jean Patton of fellow São Paulo, Brazil-based heavy metal act PROJECT46.

SEPULTURA's current lineup comprises Kisser, vocalist Derrick Green, bassist Paulo Xisto Pinto Jr. and drummer Greyson Nekrutman.

SEPULTURA kicked off its farewell tour on March 1, 2024 at Arena Hall in Belo Horizonte, Brazil. The sold-out show marked the band's debut performance with Nekrutman, who previously played with SUICIDAL TENDENCIES.

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A post shared by Andreas Kisser (@andreaskisser)

During an appearance on the latest episode of "Talk Is Jericho", the podcast hosted by wrestling superstar and FOZZY frontman Chris Jericho, KISS guitarist Paul Stanley was asked why there weren't any guest appearances by former KISS members at the band's final shows at New York City's Madison Square Garden in New York City in December 2023. Paul responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "To be somewhat diplomatic, there were people who made unrealistic demands of what they required. And it's not about that. It wasn't, for example, a celebration of the beginning of the band; it was a celebration of 50 years of a band, as opposed to a tribute to the start. So, as far as Ace [Frehley, original KISS guitarist] and Peter [Criss, original KISS drummer], they weren't there for many reasons. And I've said it a hundred times and I'll say it another hundred times. We couldn't be here today without what those guys did, and we couldn't be here today with them."

Asked by Jericho about the lack of any mention of other former KISS members, such as Eric Carr, Bruce Kulick and Mark St. John, Stanley said: "What are you gonna do? I think the best way to honor everyone is to be the best we can be. What are we gonna have — videos up on the screen or draped photos? The fact that we were there, we were there because of everybody who participated, some more than others, but the tribute to everyone is us existing."

Regarding how he feels about KISS's legacy, especially in light of the fact that bands like THE ROLLING STONES are still continuing to play and record music, Paul said: "I think the legacy is only gonna grow. I think it's only gonna get bigger. THE STONES are an interesting one. At some point, what's it gonna be? THE STONE? 'I'm gonna see THE ROLLING STONE.' They have survived more decades than us, certainly, and are an institution. People go to see them because it's THE STONES. So, I think that over time we'll only get bigger because you become more powerful the longer you exist."

Paul added: "When we were doing the 'End Of The Road' tour, I think we became almost superheroes because we were timeless and we didn't change that greatly. People would come to see us and go, 'Wow, they look like they did 40 years ago.' You didn't get that close to us. But, yeah, I think KISS is timeless and that KISS will just transcend everything it's been."

Last year, ex-KISS guitarist Bruce Kulick told Finland's Chaoszine that Stanley and fellow KISS founder Gene Simmons "missed a really huge opportunity" when they failed to acknowledge any of the band's former members during the final concert. "It's not just about me," Bruce clarified. "[They also didn't mention late KISS drummer] Eric Carr, Ace and Peter, and [late KISS manager] Bill Aucoin. Come on. Terrible. They really missed making a better feel-good evening for everyone when it was much closer to every night before. And those who say, 'Well, I saw you up on the screen.' They'd been doing that for years where they'd have little things. So they didn't feel it was important. I feel they missed an opportunity."

In January 2024, Frehley explained to Rock Candy magazine why he never made it on stage with KISS for their final show at Madison Square Garden after last leaving the band back in 2002.

"Fans would constantly reach out to me and say, 'Ace, please come back to the band,'" Frehley explained. "So the fans were and are my primary motivators, and I want them to know that I did try, but I couldn't make it happen. They never asked me."

Frehley dismissed the idea that his well-documented troubles with drugs and alcohol could ever have been a reason for Simmons and Stanley not reaching out to him.

"I'm sober, and all my friends and associates will tell you as much," he stated categorically. "I got to the point in life where drugs and alcohol had taken me over, and I'm just so happy to be away from all that."

Despite the much-reported rifts with Simmons and Stanley over many years, nevertheless Frehley insisted that he still had affection for both of them.

"I want people to know that I do love Paul and Gene," he said. "I wish things would have been different, but it wasn't to be…" Nor does Frehley hold any animosity towards his replacement Tommy Thayer. "He's a good guy and deserves a break," Ace said. "He's not me, but he was never going to be me. In a lot of ways, his task was impossible."

In November 2023, prior to KISS's final concert, Frehley told Mark Strigl of SiriusXM's Ozzy's Boneyard that he didn't hold a grudge against KISS, despite all the badmouthing that had gone on between him and some of the other original KISS members in recent years.

"I wish KISS the best, all the best on their final shows for the 'End Of The Road' tour," he said. "There's really no hard feelings. We say things sometimes in the heat of passion or sometimes our memory isn't… [we don't] recall things. But I love those guys. We're all getting old, our memory isn't what it used to be, so I just let it roll off my back."

Also in November 2023, Simmons lamented the absence of Frehley and Criss at KISS's final shows, telling 519 Magazine: "I feel sad. I feel sad and angry that both Ace and Peter aren't here. I mean, they're alive, but they're not here to enjoy this unbelievable journey with us. They were there at the beginning and deserve all the credit. And when they look in the mirror, the only reason they're not here with us is themselves.

"Inviting them was as much for the fans as it was for us. KISS has always been about the whole, not the individual. It would've been fitting to have all of us there, one last time."

In June 2023, Gene was asked by Barbara Caserta of Linea Rock about the possibility of Ace and Peter making guest appearances at the band's last-ever concerts in December 2023 at Madison Square Garden in New York City. He responded: "For the fans — the older, older fans — the ones who've been around for 50 years, they're old, and some of them wanna see Ace and Peter. The newer fans never saw them and they don't know. But the older fans wonder about Ace and Peter. Well, I asked both Ace and Peter a few times: 'Do you wanna come out for the encores? Do you wanna do some shows?' And they both said 'no.' So, I don't know what to say about that… But it's always welcome. But there are many other big stars, superstars, who wanna jump up onstage and play a song. But we're not sure about that. Maybe the best thing to do is to end the way we started: four guys with guitars. No keyboards, no synthesizers — nothing. Just playing."

In April 2023, Frehley told SiriusXM's "Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk" that he was still open to playing with KISS at the band's final shows in New York City. "Money motivates me, just like it motivates them, but I don't put money before God," he explained. "If I got a quarter of a million dollars a night, and I can make half a million dollars for playing three or four songs, five songs, I'd take the money. [I'd] buy a Ferrari… buy a Maserati. [Laughs] I don't really wanna play with those guys ever again after what they've done, but money can change my mind."

Frehley continued: "Look, I'm a capitalist. I grew up in America. But I'd never put money before people's feelings. I like money as much as the next guy does, but money isn't my God, like it is theirs. They're all atheists. Whatever they can do or say, whether it's true or false, as long as it makes them the most amount of money, they're gonna do [it]."

Ace also addressed the issue of whether he would perform with KISS at the band's final concerts while wearing his trademark "Spaceman" makeup — the same makeup his replacement Tommy Thayer had been sporting for more than two decades. "Sure. For a quarter of a million dollars," he said, explaining that "I'm a good-looking guy. I don't need the makeup."

When Trunk pressed Ace about what he thought the odds were of him playing with KISS at the final concerts in New York, Frehley said: "It all depends on money. If I get a formal invitation with a check, I'll be there. But they've gotta have deep pockets… If they don't wanna pay me, I won't be there, ladies and gentleman."

Ace also once again confirmed that he had never received a formal invitation to join his former bandmates at their last-ever shows. "Absolutely not," he said. "From what I understand, the shows are sold out. The only reason they sold out is they made innuendos that me and Peter were gonna be there, [that] they invited us. I wasn't invited. They lie all the time. Haven't they said, 'We're inviting Ace and Peter to come up and play?' Or at least me? Multiple times. So, people bought the tickets. But I haven't been given a formal invitation or given an offer monetarily. And I'm probably not gonna get one now after this interview. And guess what: I don't give a shit."

Despite everything that has been said between all the parties, Ace claimed that he still looked back fondly on his time with KISS and he didn't hate his former bandmates.

"Look, the bottom line is this: deep down in my heart, I love those guys, because we created something so special that it will be remembered for years," he said. "When we're all dead and buried, there will still be people listening to KISS music. And I'm overjoyed. But I want my legacy to be cleared of any of this bullshit and lies."

KISS launched its farewell trek in January 2019 but was forced to put it on hold in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

"End Of The Road" was originally scheduled to conclude on July 17, 2021 in New York City but was later extended to late 2023. The trek was announced in September 2018 following a KISS performance of the band's classic song "Detroit Rock City" on "America's Got Talent".

In a June 2022 interview with Finland's Chaoszine, Simmons was asked if Frehley and Peter would have any involvement in KISS's final concerts. He responded: "We've tried. I keep trying. Paul and I met with Ace, trying to convince him to come back. He said, 'I want this. I want that.' Well, we can't do that. I asked Ace and Peter to be in the documentary ['Biography: KISStory', which premiered on A&E in June 2021]. They said no. They might do it if they have complete control of the edit. I said, 'We can't do that, because even we don't have that. But I won't control what you say; you can say whatever you want.' The answer is no — both of them. I asked Ace and Peter, 'Come out on tour. We'll get you your own room and everything. Come out on the encores.' Ace said, 'No. The only way I'll come out is if I'm the Spaceman and you ask Tommy [Thayer, KISS's current guitarist] to leave.' I go, 'Well, that's not gonna happen.' First of all, I care about Ace, but he's not in shape — he can't play that way and doesn't have the physical stamina to do that…

"Look, we care about them," Gene added. "We started this thing together and they were equally important to the beginning of the band with Paul and I — no question. But as time went on… Not everybody is designed to run a marathon. Some people are designed to be in a band for a year or two, or a few years, and then that's all they can do. And both of them have been in the band three different times. How many chances in life do you get? All I know is when I put my hand in fire the first time, I got burnt; I didn't get a second or third chance.

"So, the answer is the door's always open," Simmons said. "If they wanna jump on stage at any time and do the encores with us, terrific. But no, we're not gonna get rid of Tommy or Eric [Singer, current KISS drummer]. In fact, Tommy and Eric are the best things that happened to us. They gave us new life [and] new appreciation for what we do because they were fans first. And every once in a while, Eric or Tommy will turn around and say, 'Wow! Isn't this great?' And it makes us realize, 'Yeah! Wow! Isn't this great?'"

Gene was also asked if he saw any of the video footage from the May 2022 Creatures Fest in Nashville where Criss, Frehley and fellow former KISS members Vinnie Vincent and Bruce Kulick all performed. He responded: "Somebody showed me about 30 seconds, yeah. It was very sad. I felt sad for Peter… When I called to invite Peter to be in the documentary, his health isn't what it should be. I don't wanna get too specific because it's part of his private life. But no, physically, he wouldn't be able to do it. Neither would Ace."

AEROSMITH bassist Tom Hamilton's new band CLOSE ENEMIES has released its second single, "Inside Out", via TLG|ROCK, distributed by Virgin Music Group. You can now stream the song, which will be available via all streaming services on Friday (February 28),in the YouTube clip below.

"Inside Out" is now available for free download to BLABBERMOUTH.NET users — for the next 24 hours only — at this location.

Joining the 73-year-old Hamilton in the new group his bass tech Trace Foster, who plays guitar in CLOSE ENEMIES alongside Peter Stroud, who has been playing with Sheryl Crow for 25 years. CLOSE ENEMIES' drummer is Tony Brock, who had a band called THE BABYS and then played with Rod Stewart for 12 years. Fronting CLOSE ENEMIES is Chasen Hampton, a performer from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma with a strong background in the country music scene. CLOSE ENEMIES is also working with "a great lyricist" named Gary Stier.

CLOSE ENEMIES said about the new single: "'Inside Out' puts the feeling of a whirlwind toxic relationship into three-plus glorious minutes. The speedball beginning, the narcotic-fueled middle, and the inevitably spectacular crash landing end — it's all there in the song."

CLOSE ENEMIES released its debut single, "Sound Of A Train", on January 17, garnering overwhelming praise from both fans and the press. They recently wrapped up a successful string of tour dates, met with enthusiastic crowds and glowing reviews.

In other news, CLOSE ENEMIES has signed with TKO (The Kirby Organization) booking agency. This marks a significant milestone as the band sets its sights on bringing their music to audiences worldwide.

Foster and Stroud recently spoke to the "Is Breakfast Included?" podcast about how the band came together two years ago. Peter said in part: "I'm sure each of us have our own perspective. It was sort of in layers. Trace and I had already been working on another band project, trying to get something off the ground, and then just out of the blue — I think it was at the when an AEROSMITH tour had to go on a hiatus — apparently Tom and Trace had been speaking where Tom said, 'Man, I got all these songs I would love to try to do something with,' and the light bulb goes off in Trace's head, and he goes, 'I know just the guy to come up, and maybe we can get together and help you with that.' So he asked if I'd be interested in going up there and just jamming around, and I said, 'Yeah, well, I think I know just the drummer who would be into it.' And that was Tony Brock, who's a longtime buddy of mine. And we had always been trying to figure out some way to play together. And I figured that Tony and Tom might find some common ground and a good comfort zone playing-wise. So that was sort of the initial get-together."

Trace added: "I had this other band, and I thought we're riding around in a van, doing shows and not making any money. And I'm, like, if I'm gonna do this, I need to up my game, because at our age to be driving around in a van, not to make any money… So I called Peter. Why not? Why not start there? I just thought we could add him to the band I was already in. And then we did it. And it started to work really well. And then, of course, like every other band that you've been in in your life, somebody does something wrong and they're out of the band. Me and Peter were, like, 'This isn't worth it. Let's just wait.' And then, like he said, we started putting this other project together, 'cause we did all kinds of writing and we got the guy from Atlanta, Gary Stier, that was in my original band in Atlanta. I started writing with him, and then I brought Peter in. Peter knows Gary, of course. So the band that I was in in Atlanta all knew Peter, but I didn't so that's the weird thing. And then it just kind of went from there. Everybody's schedule didn't always jibe, and we just tried to make it work, and then we were in Las Vegas with AEROSMITH and I literally went, 'Man, we really gotta do something.' And then I just looked at Tom, and it was one of those moments where you go, 'This is the guy. He's asking for some help,' and this and that. I just walked up and I said, 'Hey…' I didn't ask him. I basically told Tom, I said, 'Hey, we're gonna come to Boston and work on your songs.' And he was, like, 'Well, let me think about that.' And then like an hour later, he was, like, 'I think that's a really good idea.' So that's how it started. And once Tom and Tony played together, it was pretty much a given."

Peter continued: "That was a great five days. I loved it, too, where Trace suggested to Tom, 'Hey, why don't we come up for a couple days, two or three days?', and he goes, 'How about five?' First he was, like, 'Well, let me think about it.' He was like, 'How about five? You guys wanna move up here?' I was, like, 'Man, there you go. I said, 'That's a reflection of somebody who knows hard work right there.'"

CLOSE ENEMIES made its live debut on October 11, 2024 at Eastside Bowl in Nashville, Tennessee.

In a recent interview with Ultimate Classic Rock, Tom said about CLOSE ENEMIES' debut gig: "I was a little bit nervous, you know. But that feeling, it energizes you. It doesn't hold you back. It makes you want to dive in deeper and deeper."

Speaking to AARP, Tom described Hampton as "a gifted singer who really made the songs come to life."

"When I joined, these guys had worked up a bunch of great songs, and I was able to contribute something I had," the bassist continued. "Hopefully, when the time comes, we'll work up some others I've had in my pocket for a while. All of these guys are great musicians, and it's an honor and a challenge to be part of it all. I'm looking forward to seeing how people like it. I think they'll be pleasantly amazed."

The members of AEROSMITH made the announcement that they were retiring from touring on August 2, 2024 — nearly one year after singer Steven Tyler fractured his larynx during a September 2023 show.

The "Peace Out" tour came to a halt after what turned out to be a final gig in Elmont, New York on September 9, 2023. That show came just three dates into the trek, which was supposed to last through February 2024. Tyler said in a statement at the time that the injury caused bleeding but that he hoped he and his AEROSMITH bandmates would be back on the road after postponing a few shows.

The rescheduled "Peace Out" tour was due to begin September 20, 2024 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, with special guests THE BLACK CROWES.

Photo credit: Eduardo Andrade

GARBAGE will release its eighth studio album, "Let All That We Imagine Be The Light", on May 30. The LP was recorded at Red Razor Sounds in Los Angeles, Butch Vig's studio Grunge Is Dead, and Shirley Manson's bedroom. The record was produced by the band and longtime engineer Billy Bush.

"Let All That We Imagine Be The Light" is the follow-up to 2021's critically acclaimed "No Gods No Masters", which charted at No. 5 on the U.K. album charts and led to some of the best reviews of GARBAGE's career.

Speaking about GARBAGE's new album, singer Shirley Manson says: "Going into making this record, I was determined to find a more hopeful, uplifting world to immerse myself in. The title of the album, 'Let All That We Imagine Be The Light', is the perfect descriptor for this new record as a whole. When things feel dark it feels imperative to seek out forces that are light, positive and beautiful in the world. It almost feels like a matter of life and death. A strategy for survival."

She adds: "Our last album was extremely forthright. Born out of frustration and outrage — it had a kind of scorched-earth, pissed off quality to it. With this new record however, I felt a compulsion to reach for a different kind of energy. A more constructive one. I had this vision of us coming up out of the underground with searchlights as we moved towards the future. Searching for life, searching for love, searching for all the good things in the world that seem so thin on the ground right now. That was the over-riding idea during the making of this record for me — that when things feel dark, its best to try to seek out that which is light, that which feels loving and good.

"When I was young, I tended towards the destruction of things. Now that I'm older I believe it's vitally important to build and to create things instead. I still entertain very old romantic ideals about community, society and the world. I don't want to walk through the world creating havoc, damaging the land and people. I want to do good. I want to do no harm."

"Let All That We Imagine Be The Light" is unmistakably GARBAGE. All the hallmarks and signatures for which they are known are present here. Big angular guitars, precise, propulsive beats and cinematic soundscapes all lurk beneath Shirley Manson's unmistakable voice, her lyrics bristling with attitude. This is the sound of a group at the peak of their creative powers — characteristically harnessing sonic juxtapositions and moods to create an album that thrums equally with both light and shade.

Butch Vig says: "We used a lot of analogue synths and sound design on the album, as they seemed to fit the dystopian vibes we were all experiencing. We started recording the album with a clean slate, although given what's happening in the U.S. and the rest of the world, it's inevitable that the madness starts to infiltrate the songs. But we definitely wanted the record to have some hope, some light, to convey the feeling that people have the power."

Speaking about the album's opening track "There's No Future In Optimism", Shirley says: "I really wanted that song to open the album. It starts out with an anthemic call to arms, a clarion call. It's pretty much a rallying cry to all likeminded people. If you are interested in meeting this world with love, if you are willing to invest in tenderness and not violence or hate, then we are with you. You should come with us."

She adds: "I have to believe that music and art can still impact culture. I know it still impacts me — that mysterious power which no government on earth can co-opt or buy. Great music exists entirely within its own microcosm in a way — without any interference or corruptive influences. That's what always makes it so pure and precious. Even though all the pointers in our society say otherwise, I do feel music still has the power to shift atoms, shift thinking and shift positions."

Discussing the record's final track, "The Day That I Met God", Shirley adds: "This is the opus on the record and explores the grand theme of great love, something I haven't written about very much before now. The idea came to me when I was recovering from major surgery and I felt so raw, vulnerable and scared. I was on the treadmill for the first time following an operation when I suddenly felt this powerful sensation of healing love around me — it was a moment that uplifted me. It took me out from what had felt like hell. The vocal you hear is the writing demo, the first take. Just me sitting on the edge of my bed, in recovery, singing into a handheld microphone. I was feeling so vulnerable and I think that's what lends the song added poignancy. It's really a song about mortality but it's also an expression of gratitude. Gratitude for getting older, gratitude for the longevity of our band, for good health, for the great mystery and for the ongoing, creative adventure of life."

GARBAGE consists of all four original band members, Shirley Manson, Duke Erikson, Steve Marker and Butch Vig. Over the 30 years since their inception in 1995 they have sold over 20 million albums. Their unique sound, songwriting and electric live performances have inspired worldwide adoration, chart success and critical acclaim. They are considered one of the most influential bands of their generation.

"Let All That We Imagine Be The Light" track listing:

01. There's No Future In Optimism
02. Chinese Fire Horse
03. Hold
04. Have We Met (The Void)
05. Sisyphus
06. Radical
07. Love To Give
08. Get Out My Face AKA Bad Kitty
09. R U Happy Now
10. The Day That I Met God

In a recent interview with The Rock Experience With Mike Brunn, L.A. GUNS guitarist Tracii Guns spoke about how the rise of grunge in the early 1990s forced most hard rock bands off the radio and MTV, with album and tour sales plummeting. Asked how he thinks it would have been different for L.A. GUNS had grunge not come around, Tracii said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "I don't think it would have been any different for us. Maybe that's why I don't have the same thing."

He continued: "I think the people that are pissed are the people that are doing music for the wrong reason. You're supposed to write and record and perform because you love what you do. The audience isn't important. The audience is a bonus. You're lucky if you have an audience. You know how many great musicians there are, and bands? So, all the whiny bitches out there, it's, like, 'Oh, sorry.'"

Guns added: "The way that I look at it, too, if you wanna look at it from a real practical point of view, is the '80s thing just turned into a wild party, basically; that was the perception. And then the grunge movement, or whatever you wanna call it, it was just a hangover. 'Okay, we're tired now. I've got bills and relationships.' And people relate to that — people relate to a good time and they relate to a bad time. And music really is that kind of emotional background sound. When we're 15 through 22 and we break up with a girlfriend or something and we're sad, whatever music's playing, when we're 35 and we hear that music, we're, like, [you're brought right back to that time again]."

Tracii said: "So, yes, NIRVANA and SOUNDGARDEN and ALICE IN CHAINS and PEARL JAM and all these things, it was musical expression. How can you go 'boo hoo' at something that… And more so than anything, those bands were not initially in it to be rock stars. So they were really doing it for all the right reasons, and boom — it happened. Same with PANTERA — they changed the landscape in a way that was so refreshing for me. Especially when I first met those guys, right in the beginning, they were these super-happy VAN HALEN-ish kind of dudes. And they were very open and transparent and they weren't snotty. They didn't have this kind of machismo kind of thing going on. Even Phil's like that, Anselmo, man — he's fun and he's funny. And I always appreciated the guys that are just really doing what they love 'cause it really shows. It shows that they love what they're doing."

Back in October 2021, L.A. GUNS singer Phil Lewis told The Rock Experience With Mike Brunn about how his band was affected by the rise of grunge in the early 1990s: "The whole thing, the whole L.A. music scene was becoming more about the hair and the silliness of it. We weren't really silly. I mean, we did some silly stuff, but we always fancied ourselves to be more of a biker, leathery, dirty band. We were quite happy being dirty.

"The trend towards — and this is definitely, I swear, it's not a knock — but when you get guys like Kip Winger; he's like a model, he's so fucking handsome [with] big hair and big teeth, and we're quite dirty and ugly, and we've got missing teeth.

"I didn't like the direction it was going," Phil admitted. "And I think it was probably about time to cull it. And these things have a two- or three-year cycle. And I felt like we'd run ours. We got lumped into what they call 'hair metal,' 'cause we were around at that time. But we never were."

Upon release in September 1991, NIRVANA's "Smells Like Teen Spirit" wreaked confusion upon the hair metal vanguard, putting an end to an era dominated by glamorous, androgynous and sparkly rock stars who absolutely saturated the radio waves and were almost exclusively what aired on MTV.

In 2020, TWISTED SISTER singer Dee Snider told Ultimate Guitar that he didn't blame grunge for the death of hair metal. "Hair metal did it to itself," he said. "It became too commercialized, and then it got unplugged and became nothing but power ballads and acoustic songs, and it wasn't metal anymore. It had to go; it had to change."

Snider's TWISTED SISTER bandmate Jay Jay French told Daniel Sarkissian of the "Rock Is Dead?" documentary about the death of hair metal and arrival of grunge: "The only band that leapfrogged and saved themselves was GUNS N' ROSES. And my theory is that GUNS N' ROSES was not perceived as a joke. They came out of L.A., but I think that Axl [Rose], first of all, had a great voice. I think that they were perceived as real, not fake. Like, they were real junkies, not pretend junkies. So there's an authenticity. It's all about authenticity, and grunge is all about authenticity. People wanted authenticity, so they got it with grunge. It wiped out the perceived frivolousness of hair metal, which is, 'Hey, man. Let's party. Let's get the girls and drink.' I think people just got sick of that, and they wanted [something more] authentic."

Former MÖTLEY CRÜE singer John Corabi told Newsday in a 2014 interview that the CRÜE album he sang on was a commercial disappointment because the music scene had changed, with hair metal brushed aside for grunge.

"Everybody was listening to ALICE IN CHAINS and SOUNDGARDEN," Corabi said. "At that point, we were considered passé."

According to Corabi, CRÜE's ill-fated 1994 American tour " was a nightmare. We weren't selling tickets. It was just horrible," he said.

In 2019, former TNT singer Tony Harnell said that the rise of the grunge movement, which symbolized the working-class spirit and focused on music over image, was ultimately a positive thing for the rock genre because it "shined a really harsh light on how boring and repetitive" the '80s glam metal scene had become. He explained: "It was the same look, the same songwriters, the same producers, and it just started to be… Nobody was offering anything… Don't get me wrong, there were a few that got in there that were interesting and different, but, for the most part, they were all just sort of rehashes, slightly, of other bands."

RILEY'S L.A. GUNS, the band originally formed in 2018 by Steve Riley, is "calling it quits", nearly a year and a half after the drummer's passing.

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

Earlier today (Friday, February 28),Nickels released the following statement via social media: "What up everybody? So I just wanted to officially say that RILEY'S L.A. GUNS are calling it quits. For obvious reasons and some not so obvious reasons it's time to move on.

"We'd like to thank all of you that helped us along the way. All of you that kept an open mind and gave us a chance, for your support and positive vibes.

It was an amazing experience playing together and we all had a great time every time we got together. Meeting old friends and making new ones is all the inspiration you need to keep going but not when your heart isn't in it anymore, especially without Steve at the helm. Personally, I am not into this old rocker thing that's happening… Not digging seeing some of my heroes fat, bald, not being able to sing or play like they did or now looking like some f**ked up Santa Clause, nope… not digging it…!!! Doesn't mean you won't see me at some old Honky tonk joint jammin around, but for now...we'll have to wait and see what the future holds.

"Thank you again and have a great weekend."

RILEY'S L.A. GUNS played its first concert without Riley on January 20, 2024 at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut. The performance was booked prior to Steve's tragic death.

In January 2024, RILEY'S L.A. GUNS released its sophomore album, "The Dark Horse", via Golden Robot Records. The effort arrived more than two months after the death of Riley who would have celebrated his 68th birthday on January 22, 2024, the day of "The Dark Horse"'s release.

In September 2023, RILEY'S L.A. GUNS released "The Dark Horse" title track via Golden Robot Records. The track came seven months after RILEY'S L.A. GUNS issued another new song, "Rewind", digitally via Golden Robot. In October 2022, RILEY'S L.A. GUNS released a single called "Overdrive".

Riley died on October 24, 2023 at the age of 67. Prior to his passing, Steve had been battling a severe case of pneumonia for several weeks. His wife Mary Louise and son Cole were by his side in his final moments.

Riley was the drummer for W.A.S.P. on the band's second and third albums — 1985's "The Last Command" and 1986's "Inside The Electric Circus" — and world tours from 1984 to 1987. After leaving W.A.S.P., Riley joined L.A. GUNS and played on that group's most commercially successful LPs.

In 2016, singer Phil Lewis and guitarist Tracii Guns reunited in a new version of L.A. GUNS that didn't include Riley. Steve later launched his own version of L.A. GUNS, which played its debut concert at the M3 Rock Festival in Maryland in May 2019.

In April 2021, an out-of-court resolution was reached between Riley and Guns and Lewis over the rights to the band's name. Under the terms of the settlement agreement, Tracii and Phil continued to operate under the L.A. GUNS trademark, while Riley and his bandmates from the other version of L.A. GUNS carried on under the new name RILEY'S L.A. GUNS.

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

Photo credit: Mark Weiss (courtesy of Golden Robot Records)

What up everybody?

So I just wanted to officially say that Riley's L.A.Guns are calling it quits. For obvious reasons...

Posted by Riley's L.A. Guns on Friday, February 28, 2025

In a new interview with Kati Rausch of Music Interview Corner, QUEENSRŸCHE guitarist Michael Wilton was asked what it was like for him and his bandmates to complete a couple of different U.S. tours as the support act for JUDAS PRIEST. He responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET):  "As a fan, I love it because I grew up listening to JUDAS PRIEST. When I was 16, 17, 18 years old, I was listening to 'Sad Wings Of Destiny'. Those old JUDAS PRIEST albums, they were super cool, and, obviously, [PRIEST singer] Rob Halford had the most amazing voice. And then, in my future endeavor with QUEENSRŸCHE, to play with them, it's mind blowing. But in touring with them, they're professional, they're great guys, and we hope to do — I think we are doing a show with them [in April] down in South America, so we'll see them again… But it's great. They're still touring and we follow them on social media and really respect what they do… I mean, Rob Halford, he's like the definition of metal. He's awesome."

After QUEENSRŸCHE completed its first tour with JUDAS PRIEST in the fall of 2022, Wilton told Sea Of Tranquility about the trek: "JUDAS PRIEST was one of my influences when I was [in my] late teens, early 20s. So I was gravitated to the two-guitar hard rock/metal bands. I was listening to these guys — all their old albums, I still have 'em, the LPs. And for me, since we've been able to tour with them, they're just really nice guys; they're super easy to work with, and they bring it every night. They kick ass. Rob has still got it. And for me, it's a good package. And our music complements each other in some way. But for me, it's just, like, 'Yeah, I grew up listening to these guys, and now I'm on tour with them. It's pretty damn cool.'"

Added QUEENSRŸCHE singer Todd La Torre: "Yeah, it's awesome. And thing is, too, anything can happen. We turn on the news or the Internet, and somebody's passed away, something tragic happened. And to see a band that's been around as long as JUDAS PRIEST has, to be on a tour with them, you're, like, 'How many more tours does anybody have?' You don't know. So to be able to get two tours with them was really awesome. And they changed the set up on both legs; it was totally different. And getting to know them, like Michael said… We'll be going to our dressing room and we'll hear them rehearsing in one of the little side rooms. Scott [Travis, PRIEST drummer] has a practice kit and they would all be in there and they'd be rehearsing a part to a song. And we're, like, 'Oh, yeah.'

"It was a lot of fun," he continued. "[We have] so much respect for them. And the organization treated us so well. It was a real treat, and we're very honored that they not only chose us one time, but I think that they saw we did deliver… And behind the scenes, our crew… There was a 10-minute changeover for us, so we had to have everything off — boom, boom, boom — and done. And adhering to that timeline and being professional and out of their way… We're a totally self-contained unit, so we don't rely on them for a bunch of stuff. We have all our own everything. And it was just a seamless thing. We couldn't have asked for a sweeter situation."

QUEENSRŸCHE kicked off the European leg of "The Origins Tour" on January 31 at Kulttuuritalo in Helsinki, Finland.

Although QUEENSRŸCHE would score multi-platinum albums and hit singles over their career, their fans have developed an undeniable love for the group's early releases, the 1983 EP and 1984's "The Warning" album, when they helped trailblaze a style of rock that combined elements of metal and prog. And for the first time ever, QUEENSRŸCHE is performing both classic releases in their entirety as part of "The Origins Tour".

Guitarist Mike Stone, who rejoined QUEENSRŸCHE in 2021, contributed guitar solos to the band's latest studio album.

Since late May 2021, Stone has been handling second-guitar duties in QUEENSRŸCHE, which announced in July 2021 that longtime guitarist Parker Lundgren was exiting the group to focus on "other business ventures."

Stone originally joined QUEENSRŸCHE for the 2003 album "Tribe" and stayed with the band for six years before leaving the group.

For the past eight years, drummer Casey Grillo has been filling in for original QUEENSRŸCHE drummer Scott Rockenfield, who stepped away from the band's touring activities in early 2017 to spend time with his young son.

In October 2021, Rockenfield filed a lawsuit against Wilton and bassist Eddie Jackson, alleging, among other things, breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duty and wrongful discharge. A few months later, Wilton and Jackson filed a countersuit against Rockenfield, accusing him of abandoning his position as a member of the band and misappropriating the group's assets to his own personal benefit. That dispute has since been settled out of court.

Former DREAM THEATER drummer Mike Mangini has formed a new band, MONOLITH, with Hernán "Motley" Rodríguez on bass and vocals, and Andy Barrow on guitar.

The official music video for the group's debut single, "Oligarchs", can be seen below.

Mangini released his debut solo album, "Invisible Signs", in November 2023. Accompanying Mangini on the LP were Tony Dickinson on bass, Ivan Keller on guitar, Gus G. (FIREWIND, OZZY OSBOURNE) on lead guitar and former EVANESCENCE guitarist Jen Majura on vocals.

Mangini joined DREAM THEATER in late 2010 through a widely publicized audition following the departure of Mike Portnoy, who co-founded DREAM THEATER 40 years ago. Mangini beat out six other of the world's top drummers — Marco Minnemann, Virgil Donati, Aquiles Priester, Thomas Lang, Peter Wildoer and Derek Roddy — for the gig, a three-day process that was filmed for a documentary-style reality show called "The Spirit Carries On".

Mangini made his name in the hard rock world in the mid-1990s when he played with EXTREME, before landing the gig with guitar legend Steve Vai in 1996. Nearly a decade later, Mangini took up a full-time teaching position at the world-renowned Berklee College Of Music.

In a recent interview with Loaded Radio, DREAM THEATER singer James LaBrie was asked how Mangini took the news in October 2023 when LaBrie and the rest of DREAM THEATER broke it to the drummer that Portnoy was coming back. James said: "Well, he was very professional about it. [It was] very admirable of him to have been… He took it in style and class. I mean, obviously, I think it would have been upsetting — it must have been upsetting — but he took it for what it's worth and even saying things like, 'It kind of makes sense, guys. I see why this should be happening and why this would maybe inevitably be happening. It just makes sense for the band and the amount of history that you all have together. It seems natural.' So, yeah, no, he was a class guy. Classy. Yeah."

In a January 2024 interview with Chris Akin Presents…, Mangini was asked if he had any "advance notice" that Portnoy would return to DREAM THEATER in the fall of 2023 or if it was "really immediate". He responded: "Immediate. But it's like… So the fish comes up out of the water, it's immediate, but the fish was swimming for a while. Where was the fish? Whatever."

He continued: "The reason it was easy for me to deal with — very easy, actually — I was, like, 'Oh, okay. Yeah. Yeah. Original guy back in band.' I got I got it. And I didn't have to go do through a drop-down menu; I didn't have to do it. It was just I looked at it and went, 'Okay.' And plus I don't know whether it was intuitive, instinctual [or] intellectual… but I have left so many things on the table for so many years — the publishing of more books, the classes that I wanna teach, the interaction that my own self-development comes largely from me having to teach and talk about it to people. At some point, I mean, I see the whole picture, the grid, and I know what I can't do, and that inspires me.

"But anyway, the answer to your question is, I got a call and understood the call, and said, 'Okay, let's do a joint statement,'" he explained. "And then the next day, I'm, like, 'Okay.' I'm having coffee and quite literally, at my think tank, looking at my list and going, 'How am I gonna complete this job now? I've gotta fix this or do that. I've got a lot to do.' My studio facility had construction, there was stuff that had to be fixed. I was, like, 'Let me just let all of this stuff happen and breathe and just finish these things.' So that's what my mindset was. I can't tell you anything different because that's what it was."

Asked how he managed to avoid being angry over the fact that he was being pushed out of DREAM THEATER when Portnoy wanted to come back, even though Mangini was the drummer that helped the band win its first Grammy Award, Mangini said: "Well, a) because I don't know that that's what is the full picture. I don't know that that is what happened indeed. And I don't let myself even think about it. People decide things and I respect that. It's just it is what it is."

In early November 2023, Mangini told SiriusXM's "Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk" about his exit from DREAM THEATER and the return of Portnoy: "All I know is the decision was made and when I heard it, all I pictured was, 'Oh, this is an original guy going back to his band. Uh, okay. All right. Let's go to the next thing.' It was nothing more. I was told. It was just nothing more than — it seemed so simple to me. And maybe intuitively it's, like, 'Oh yeah, I get it.' And that was that. That's really it… So that's really the crux of it all is it was an easy thing for me to understand. And then once the news hit and it became real, which is when it set in, because once I knew about it, I just got busy. I was, like, 'Okay, I've got all these videos to finish.'"

The 61-year-old Mangini, who joined DREAM THEATER in 2010, continued: "I'm actually doing like a lot of stuff for my [recently released solo] album. I'll do some drum playthroughs. Not to yap and yap and yap about it, but I have a lot on my cork board and my lists and things to do and things to accomplish and things to complete. There's so much there I haven't been able to do. But once it hit and it became real, it was real quick for me. I'm, like, 'Okay, I get it.'"

When host Eddie Trunk noted that everything about his exit from DREAM THEATER, from the way it was handled to the fans' response to Mike's attitude about it, was "about as good as it could be," Mangini concurred. "It is as good as it could be," Mike said. "I think people are where they need to be. It's, like, there's stuff to do, there's places to be, there's people to see, there are things to accomplish and roles to fulfill and tasks to do. And that's what it is. That's really what it is.

"How lucky am I, how fortunate am I to be just a part of that history, to have all this amazing stuff happen?" he continued. "It's positive, positive, positive.

"I know I've accomplished some things with my career, and I've had a lot of struggles and a lot of things that didn't work or whatever, but for my parents to be in their 90s, to see this happen, and I'm not talking about career stuff; I'm talking about how I've treated people and how they treat me. I mean, I think that's what I want for my kids — I wanna feel well about how they are with people and how people treat them at the end of the day. I think that's just awesome."

May we introduce you to the first stop of this story we’re about to tell you. 📠

‘Oligarchs’ out this Friday 28th.

#Oligarchs #TheyAreWatching #Monolith

Posted by Monolith Band on Tuesday, February 25, 2025

Former BON JOVI guitarist Richie Sambora and the man who replaced him in BON JOVI, Theofilos Xenidis, better known as Phil X, were among the performers at the Rock For Responders benefit concert, which was held on Thursday, February 27 at the Battleship IOWA Museum in San Pedro, California. Sambora and Phil X played a couple of songs together, including the BON JOVI smash hit "Livin' On A Prayer", with Orianthi on guitar and Matt Sorum (GUNS N' ROSES, VELVET REVOLVER) on drums. Video of the performance, courtesy of the Phil X Official Fan Club, can be seen below.

The Rock For Responders benefit concert celebrated and supported firefighters, police, military, and disaster response agencies, highlighting their critical roles in ensuring community resilience and recovery.

Last May, Richie shared his thoughts on the BON JOVI docuseries "Thank You, Goodnight: The Bon Jovi Story", which dropped on April 26, 2024 via Hulu. During an appearance on the 50th episode of "The Allison Hagendorf Show", the now-65-year-old former BON JOVI guitarist stated said: "Hey, look, this obviously was [BON JOVI singer Jon Bon Jovi's] personal perception. And this documentary was his perception, his baby. I really had nothing to do with it. And there were some incongruencies about time periods and this and that, and it continues on. But, yeah, I think that… I disagree with a lot of stuff or whatever, but I'm not really shaken by it at that point. And it gave me a platform to go, 'Yeah, here's some new music now,' where now it's relevant because I think a guy that's been around a block like me in my age needed a platform."

When host Allison Hagendorf noted that the docuseries is a celebration of BON JOVI, Richie said: "It could have been more of a celebration. We could have cut that down to about two hours, because, to me, the celebration would have been the great songs that we wrote and how we sold all those millions of records and played for people for… I was in the band for 32 years, which is unbelievable anyway. [That] five guys could be married for 32 years, it's incredible. That celebration of those great songs that people really took into their lives, that's what I believed the 40-year celebration would be myself. But, like I said, it was his baby."

Hagendorf also spoke to Sambora about his quote in the documentary that he didn't regret his departure from BON JOVI but that he regretted how he did it. Asked what he would have done differently if he could go back, Richie said: "I probably would have left earlier. I might have left a couple of albums before because… I think Jon was moving into a place where he wanted to not really be a band.

"When we first met, he was thriving to be a kind of a solo artist in a Bruce [Springsteen] way or a Rick Springfield way," Sambora explained. "And quite frankly, it was an ultimatum for me when I just, before [BON JOVI's 1986 album] 'Slippery [When Wet]' [was made], I went, 'Come on, man. Let me in. We have to do this. We have to make this a band situation if we wanna invade the planet and have people accept it.'"

Asked what he feels isn't in the docuseries that not he really wishes people would know, Richie said: "Everything. There's one thing that's not in there, and it's everything. Like I said, to me, this is Jon's baby."

When asked by Hagendorf about the prospect of him rejoining BON JOVI, Sambora seemed to be open to the possibility. "The fans would just love it," he said. "It's not finance. It has nothing to do with that. The world could use it. But, as Jon said, he's been having problems with his voice. And now he had that operation with some plastic thing in his larynx. And it's an iffy thing at best. I don't know if there's anybody that has ever had that be successful. I'm not really sure about that. And I went to his house and we talked about it. I said, 'How is that now? What's going on?' Physiologically, it doesn't seem almost possible, where your brain teaches this plastic thing how to… almost like you've gotta relearn speech in a way, and things like that. So, like I said, first time I've ever really heard of that operation or something like that. So, I would definitely go. [My new solo single] 'I Pray' was earmarked almost for BON JOVI. It was almost gonna be that 'It's My Life' moment. So if he gets [his voice] back, I'll go play. I got songs."

The four-part "Thank You, Goodnight: The Bon Jovi Story" series was directed and executive produced by Gotham Chopra. Jon Bon Jovi is not credited as a producer on the project.

Before the premiere of "Thank You, Goodnight", Jon revealed to People that he and Richie watched some of it together. "He came over and watched three parts of the docuseries at my house," Jon said, adding, "There's never animosity."

The BON JOVI frontman also shared that "there was nothing but love" when Sambora left the band to focus on raising his daughter Ava, now 27, amid his divorce from ex Heather Locklear.

"There was never a fight," the singer said. "Ultimately being in a rock band is not a life sentence. He had to deal with his other issues."