Billy Howerdel, fulfilling his promise to release a new song per week in the lead-up to the arrival of his solo album, What Normal Was (June 10, Alchemy Recordings/Rise Records/BMG), has debuted the song “Selfish Hearts”.
“No matter how many different track listings I tried, ‘Selfish Hearts’ always felt like the right song to welcome listeners to What Normal Was,” said Howerdel of the track. “Sometimes a chord change can give me chills. ‘Selfish Hearts’ does that for me.”
The latest song arrives as the L.A. experimental duo VOWWS have been announced as the support act for Howerdel’s upcoming tour, which begins June 11 in Ventura, CA. (dates below). The five-week trek finds Howerdel joining his APC bandmate Maynard James Keenan’s Puscifer for two shows: June 12 at the Greek Theatre (Los Angeles) and July 1 at Meadow Brook Amphitheatre (Rochester Hills, Mich). Tickets, and VIP packages, for all headlining dates are on-sale now.
What Normal Was album pre-orders and pre-saves, which include an array of limited-edition vinyl variants, and other physical formats, are available here.
What Normal Was tracklisting:
"Selfish Heart"
"Free And Weightless"
"Ani"
"Beautiful Mistake"
"The Same Again"
"Poison Flowers"
"Follower"
"Bring Honor Back Home"
"EXP"
"Stars"
“Beautiful Mistake” visualizer:
"Poison Flowers" video:
"Free And Weightless" visualizer:
For tickets and ticket info for Hwerdel's upcoming tour, including VIP packages, please visit billyhowerdel.com.
Tour dates:
June
11 - Ventura, CA - Ventura Music Hall
12 - Los Angeles, CA - Greek Theatre *
14 - Solana Beach, CA - Belly Up
15 - San Francisco, CA - The Independent
16 - Roseville, CA - Goldfield Trading Post
18 - Portland, OR - Wonder Ballroom
19 - Seattle, WA - Neumos
21 - Salt Lake City, UT - Metro Music Hall
22 - Denver, CO - Gothic Theatre
24 - Minneapolis, MN - Fine Line Music Café
25 - Milwaukee, WI - Summerfest
26 - St. Louis, MO - Delmar Hall
28 - Chicago, IL - Cabaret Metro
29 - Columbus, OH - Newport Music Hall
July
1 - Rochester Hills, MI - Meadow Brook Amphitheatre *
2 - Toronto, ON - Axis Club
3 - Montreal, QC - Café Campus
5 - Allston, MA - Brighton Music Hall
6 - New York, NY - Gramercy Theatre
8 - Philadelphia, PA - Theatre of the Living Arts
9 - Baltimore, MD - Baltimore Soundstage
10 - Charlotte, NC - The Underground
12 - Atlanta, GA - Masquerade
14 - New Orleans, LA - House of Blues
15 - Houston, TX - White Oak Music Hall – Inside Downstairs
16 - Dallas, TX - The Echo Lounge & Music Hall
17 - Austin, TX - Emos
20 - Phoenix, AZ - Crescent Ballroom
* with Puscifer
New Jersey-born and Los Angeles-based vocalist, multi-instrumentalist, producer, and composer Billy Howerdel has quietly asserted himself as an alternative music auteur whose knack for massive hooks believes a keen emotional understanding and sonic acuity. Devoting his life to music after witnessing Pink Floyd live, he acted as something of a behind-the-scenes journeyman, working as an in-demand touring and studio tech for the likes of David Bowie, Guns N’ Roses, and Nine Inch Nails.
Striking up a friendship with Maynard James Keenan when Tool opened for Fishbone (for whom Billy served as a tech), he occupied a room in a North Hollywood cottage with Maynard. Billy founded A Perfect Circle with Maynard in 1999. The group’s seminal full-length debut, Mer de Noms, went platinum and made history as the “highest Billboard Top 200 bow for a rock band’s debut.” They followed it with the platinum Thirteenth Step [2003] and gold Emotive [2004]. The group made their return with 2018’s Eat The Elephant, marking their fourth consecutive Top 5 debut on the Top 200.
In between, Billy’s music has also appeared in video games and on the big screen. During 2008, he made his first solo statement under the moniker Ashes Divide with Keep Telling Myself It’s Alright. In the next decade, the album quietly pervaded as a cult favorite with millions of streams and the odd sold out “reunion” show. On his 2022 proper full-length solo debut, What Normal Was [Alchemy Recordings/Rise Records/BMG], he inhabits a space that’s reverent of his past, present, and future all at once. After all of these years, songs, and shows, Billy is ready to introduce himself.
Guitarist Thomas Zwijsen has released the new video below, in which he performs an acoustic guitar cover of the title track of Iron Maiden's seventeenth studio album, Senjutsu.
More of Zwijsen's Maiden covers can be found below:
Legendary rock band DEF LEPPARD played a special invitation-only concert in Los Angeles at the Whisky A Go Go for SiriusXM listeners. The intimate performance, part of SiriusXM's Small Stage Series, took place yesterday (Thursday, May 26) in celebration of DEF LEPPARD's new album "Diamond Star Halos" which is being released today (Friday, May 27). Fan-filmed video of the show can be seen below.
Prior to DEF LEPPARD's upcoming "The Stadium Tour" with MÖTLEY CRÜE, POISON and Joan Jett, this was the first time fans could see the band perform new songs live from its latest album live in addition to the stadium anthem hits that cemented DEF LEPPARD as rock icons.
The setlist was as follows:
01. Take What You Want
02. Animal
03. Foolin'
04. Armageddon It
05. Kick (live premiere)
06. Love Bites
07. Excitable
08. Rocket
09. Bringin' On The Heartbreak
10. Switch 625
11. Hysteria
12. Pour Some Sugar On Me
Encore:
13. Rock Of Ages
14. Photograph
The performance will premiere on SiriusXM's Def Leppard Radio and Howard 101 on Friday, May 27 at 5:00 p.m. ET and PT. Additionally, the concert will broadcast throughout June on Classic Rewind (ch. 25) and '80s On 8.
Def Leppard Radio will launch on Friday, May 27 and run through Saturday, June 25 on the SiriusXM app. The channel will also be available on satellite (channel 39) on Friday, May 27 through Thursday, June 2.
Featuring a slew of guest hosts, Def Leppard Radio will delve into the band’s 40-year music career, providing insight behind both their greatest hits and their new album. Def Leppard Radio will also spotlight other artists performing on their stadium tour like MÖTLEY CRÜE, POISON and Joan Jett, as well as artists who influenced DEF LEPPARD, including David Bowie, QUEEN, T.REX, MOTT THE HOOPLE and more.
SiriusXM's Small Stage Series features performances with premier artists spanning music genres and styles, and comedy, and held in small iconic venues. SiriusXM launched its Small Stage Series in August 2021 and to date has announced performances by Alicia Keys, Avril Lavigne, Brandi Carlile, COLDPLAY, Dave Matthews, Ed Sheeran, GLASS ANIMALS, THE GO-GO'S, H.E.R., J Balvin, J. Cole, Jason Aldean, John Mayer, John Mulaney, Kane Brown, Kenny Chesney, Michael Che, Nathaniel Rateliff & THE NIGHT SWEATS, OLD DOMINION, Shaggy and TWENTY ONE PILOTS.
SiriusXM is available to subscribers nationwide on SiriusXM radios, the SXM App, and with Amazon Alexa, the Google Assistant or however they stream at home. Streaming access is included with all of SiriusXM's trials and most popular plans.
We’re going to Fire It Up TONIGHT 🔥 at Whisky A Go-Go w/ SiriusXM's #SmallStageSeries 🤘 Hear the concert on Def Leppard Radio on the SXM App tomorrow (5/27)
Thank you Whiskey-A-Gogo & SiriusXM Eddie Trunk🤘💯 Def Leppard Radio launches tomorrow at 12pm (ET) on SiriusXM and the live concert small stage series performance premieres at 5pm (ET) and (PT).
DEEP PURPLE played its third show with new touring guitarist Simon McBride Wednesday night (May 25) at Life Park Sarıyer in Istanbul. Fan-filmed video of the concert can be seen below.
DEEP PURPLE's setlist was as follows:
01. Highway Star
02. Pictures Of Home
03. Strange Kind Of Woman
04. Nothing At All
05. Uncommon Man
06. Lazy
07. When A Blind Man Cries
08. 7 And 7 Is (LOVE cover)
09. Throw My Bones
10. Time For Bedlam
11. Blue Rondo À La Turk (THE DAVE BRUBECK QUARTET cover) (with Don Airey)
12. Turkish March (Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart cover) (with Don Airey) (Keyboard solo)
13. Katibim (Dimitri Cantemir cover) (with Don Airey) (Keyboard solo)
14. Perfect Strangers
15. Space Truckin'
16. Smoke On The Water
Encore:
17. Caught In The Act
18. Hush (Joe South cover)
19. Bass Solo (with Roger Glover)
20. Black Night
McBride, who has previously toured with both Ian Gillan and Don Airey, among others, is filling in for longtime DEEP PURPLE guitarist Steve Morse. Steve is taking a temporary hiatus from live shows but remains a full member of the band.
Morse's hiatus from the classic rock icons was announced on March 31. In a statement, he said that his wife Janine is battling cancer and added that he hopes he can rejoin PURPLE on tour "after she gets a clean bill of health."
Added the rest of the band: "All of our thoughts are with Janine during her fight against cancer and also with Steve while he supports his wife at a very difficult time. We hope that Steve will be able to join us back on the road later this year."
McBride said: "I'm deeply honored to be asked to stand-in for Steve and play for such an iconic rock band like DEEP PURPLE. They are amazing musicians and amazing people… I'm very excited to get out and play all those iconic songs and rock the stage with such legends. My thoughts are with Steve and Janine and their family."
Morse effectively took over Ritchie Blackmore's DEEP PURPLE slot in 1994 and has since been in the group longer than Ritchie.
In a 1997 interview, Blackmore stated about Morse: "I'm just glad they [DEEP PURPLE] found a guitar player to carry on because I thought I was going to be shackled to this band for the rest of my life. It was like a ball-and-chain thing, and luckily, they said, 'Well, we found someone.' 'Thank God, I can get out!'
"I haven't listened much [to DEEP PURPLE's recent recordings]. I just know that Steve Morse [is a] brilliant player. I remember Steve Morse with the DIXIE DREGS; they're fantastic."
Morse's solo career has encompassed rock, country, funk, jazz, classical and fusion. Having started playing guitar around the age of 11, he later on attended University of Miami's School of Music, where he studied classical guitar and jazz. A "guitarist's guitarist", he was voted "Best Overall Guitarist" in the Guitar Player Readers' Poll for five consecutive years, before being removed from eligibility to open the award to other musicians, and being inducted into their Gallery Of Greats. His work has received seven Grammy Award nominations, and he has appeared on over 200 albums.
DEEP PURPLE's latest album, "Turning To Crime", came out in November via earMUSIC. The LP contains DEEP PURPLE's versions of great rock classics and musical jewels — including songs originally recorded by Bob Dylan, FLEETWOOD MAC, Bob Seger, CREAM and THE YARDBIRDS — carefully chosen by each member of the band.
Baltimore progressive tech-death metal quintet Greylotus are back with the next single from their upcoming album. Fans can check out the new music video for "Chiaroscuro" (feat. Gareth Mason) below. The debut full-length from Greylotus, titled 'Dawnfall', will see a July 8, 2022 release via The Artisan Era.
Speaking about their new album, the band comments: "Dawnfall serves as a follow-up statement to the Savior EP, which dealt with thrusting inner demons borne of trauma and mental health struggles out into the open, and accepting the reality of existing with them.
In the metaphor of the lotus’ life-cycle, Savior represented the stage in which the seed is buried under the mud - shelled in, unaware, and unable to budge from what it has known. Dawnfall embodies the process of breaking out of the shell and traveling toward the sun’s light, reaching through murky waters and currents, struggling to separate True North from tricks of the refracted light.
Dawnfall’explores the self-doubt that accompanies the realization that healing is a non-linear process. It wanders through the pits of self-judgment and confronts what follows when an individual accepts that the best version of themselves is not constrained by perfection."
Dawnfall will see a July 8 release via The Artisan Era.
Long-running Sacramento, California post-hardcore/noise metal act WILL HAVEN released a new single, "Wings Of Mariposa". The song's official music video was directed by David Owen Blackley of Her Name Is Murder Productions, who also directed WILL HAVEN's recently released "Foreign Films II" documentary.
"Wings Of Mariposa" marks WILL HAVEN's first new music since the 2018 LP "Muerte" and is a precursor to the band's upcoming seventh album, which is in its final stages of production. WILL HAVEN has been recording the new LP with Joe Johnston at Pus Cavern in Sacramento over the past several months, and the effort is now in the mixing stage, soon to be completed and prepared for release through Minus Head Records in the months ahead.
WILL HAVEN guitarist Jeff Irwin states: "We're excited to get some new music out!
"'Wings Of Mariposa' is a nice little glimpse of what this new record is about.
"I love this new record and am looking forward to playing most of these songs live!
"The video was done by our good friend Dave Blackley. He has done a few of our last videos, I love his vision and his edits are awesome. It's been awesome working with him."
WILL HAVEN is preparing to hit the U.K. on a short run of tour dates. The band will play Bournemouth on June 8, followed by a special set in London the following evening where they'll play their Revelation Records-released third album "Carpe Diem" in its entirety. June 11 will see WILL HAVEN perform at the massive Download festival.
"We are beyond ready to get back to the UK; it's our second home," Irwin continues.
"We are excited to play 'Carpe Diem' in full, from front to back. We have never done that live before and it's been fun putting it all together.
"To be able to finally play Download is an absolute honor. It's the one festival we have always wanted to play. We are going to play a few new songs there and some oldies. It should be amazing.
DEF LEPPARD has released the official music video for its new single, "Fire It Up". It is the third single from the band's latest album, "Diamond Star Halos", which is being released today (Friday, May 27) via UMe.
In a recent interview with Germany's Rockland Radio, DEF LEPPARD singer Joe Elliott was asked why fans of his band should listen to "Diamond Star Halos". He responded: "If you're a DEF LEPPARD fan, I would imagine there's always a need to listen to some new music, because as much as it's great to have this massive back catalog of music, new music is what keeps a band alive, so we wanna share that with our fans.
"Why would they wanna listen to it?" he continued. "Well, I believe that this is a career-defining album. For a band that's been around now for 45 years, to make an album that's this strong, I believe, at this point of our career is actually quite an achievement.
"I've been comparing the situation — not the album, but I've been comparing the situation — 'Diamond Star Halos' for DEF LEPPARD, I think, is capable of being what 'Hotel California' was for THE EAGLES or 'Rumours' was for FLEETWOOD MAC. And what I mean by that is what came before was fine; there was nothing wrong with it. In fact, THE EAGLES' 'Greatest Hits', which was their previous album to 'Hotel California' is one of the biggest-selling records of all time; it speaks for itself. And the FLEETWOOD MAC scenario — the Peter Green years, the Jeremy Spencer years — it was all brilliant stuff. But then they put out 'Rumours' and THE EAGLES put out 'Hotel California', and it was a quantum leap."
Circling back to "Diamond Star Halos", Elliott added: "I believe that this album is a quantum leap. It's not a rehash of 'Pyromania' or 'Hysteria' or any of our albums. It's got all the flavors that DEF LEPPARD have had in the past, but it's got some new explorations that we've never done that I think our audience are ready for this journey. Because it's 35 years since 'Hysteria' is released, it's 39 since 'Pyromania' came out, and our audience are also older, like we are. So I think they're ready to hear something a little different. It's still got plenty of DEF LEPPARD stuff — 'Gimme A Kiss', 'SOS Emergency', 'Fire It Up' [and] 'Kick'; they're all classic DEF LEPPARD — but there's some stuff that, like our heroes QUEEN, it just goes off on tangents that are a little different to the stuff that they'd done in the past."
The artwork for "Diamond Star Halos" follows pedigree with DEF LEPPARD's instantly recognizable album covers from their celebrated past. With images by world renowned photographer and director Anton Corbijn, styling concepts by Maryam Malakpour and graphics by the U.K.-based Munden Brothers, the design truly follows the band's influence through their eyes today.
Over the past two years, DEF LEPPARD recorded "Diamond Star Halos" simultaneously in three different countries with Elliott in Ireland, Rick Savage (bass) in England, and Phil Collen (guitar),Vivian Campbell (guitar) and Rick Allen (drums) in the United States. Without the pressure of timelines or a fixed schedule, they poured all of their energy into crafting 15 meaningful tracks with a mixture of classic spirit meets modern fire. Thematically, they nodded to their earliest collective influences such as David Bowie, T.REX and MOTT THE HOOPLE, among others. The title itself notably references T.REX's "Bang a Gong (Get It On)". However, they didn't embark on this journey alone. The multi-Grammy Award-winning and legendary artist Alison Krauss lent her instantly recognizable and angelic voice to "This Guitar" and "Lifeless", while David Bowie pianist Mike Garson performs on "Goodbye For Good This Time" and "Angels (Can't Help You Now)".
In March, DEF LEPPARD released "Diamond Star Halos"'s first single, "Kick". The song thrusts into an anthemic stadium-ready frenzy kickstarted with driving guitars and bombastic drums woven into its musical fabric. Meanwhile, the chorus has all the makings of another iconic LEPPARD hit with its skyscraping vocals and melodies the band has become synonymous for.
DEF LEPPARD guitarist Phil Collen, who came up with "Kick" as an additional track after the first 14 songs were already completed, told Billboard that "'Kick' represented where we were at as well. It's got that glam rock feel, that hand-clap groove, big vocals. It was just a no-brainer. It was not only that it's got to be on the album, it's got to be the first single as well."
"It's a stadium anthem, and we were about to go into stadiums," Elliott said. "We didn't write it for that reason, but Phil's always trying to write the next 'Sugar' or 'We Will Rock You' or 'I Love Rock 'N' Roll'. We all are, but he actually came up with one, and it's, like, 'Yeah, we've got to do that,' so now it's a 15-song record."
"Diamond Star Halos" track listing:
01. Take What You Want
02. Kick
03. Fire It Up
04. This Guitar (feat. Alison Krauss]
05. Sos Emergency
06. Liquid Dust
07. U Rok Mi
08. Goodbye For Good This Time
09. All We Need
10. Open Your Eyes
11. Gimme A Kiss
12. Angels (Can't Help You Now)
13. Lifeless (feat. Alison Krauss)
14. Unbreakable
15. From Here To Eternity
DEF LEPPARD's "The Stadium Tour" with MÖTLEY CRÜE, POISON and JOAN JETT & THE BLACKHEARTS was originally scheduled to take place in the summer of 2020 but ended up being pushed back to 2021, and then to 2022, due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Invictus, the new solo project from Maurizio Iacono, has released a video for "Exiled". The stand-alone single serves as the first taste of what’s to come from the band’s as-yet-untitled forthcoming new full-length, set for release later this year via MNRK Heavy.
Well-respected as the singer of Kataklysm and Ex Deo, head of Hard Impact Artist Management, founder of Distortion Music Group, and co-owner of hard-and-heavy booking agency Continental Touring, Iacono delivers dynamic new layers of heaviness and melody with his latest creative vehicle.
A Latin epithet for various Roman deities, “Invictus” translates to “unconquered” or “invincible,” a theme present throughout Iacono’s latest output. “I’ve explored many facets of the music business, from performing, writing, and producing to managing,” he explains. “But I’d never explored that deep down energy inside my thoughts which drives me to compete and, in many ways, survive everything thrown at me.”
Notes Iacono of “Exiled,” “‘Exiled’ deals with feeling completely disconnected with your surroundings and society in general, where nothing is logical to your understanding of life and in return standing your ground for what is real to you and makes sense to your life and survival. The song is personal to me on more than one level, but people can interpret this how it fits best their own world, it has an open concept.“
The "Exiled” video was directed by David Brodsky (Cannibal Corpse, Goatwhore, Clutch), and can be viewed below:
Iacono stands among the most prolific and hardest working soldiers of the metal underground. With Invictus, the frontman tackles a new personal quest exploring a deeper and more personal outlook on his upbringing and the struggles within and around him. Iacono executes his vision alongside longtime collaborator J-F Dagenais (guitarist for Kataklysm and Ex Deo), producer/main songwriter Chris Clancy (Mutiny Within), and powerhouse drummer Jeramie Kling (Venom Inc., Inhuman Condition). Stand by for further details on Invictus to be revealed in the months to come.
Final Light, the one-time only project featuring Perturbator and Cult Of Luna’s Johannes Persson, will release their self-titled album on June 24 via Red Creek. The pair have unveiled a second preview from the album, releasing the eponymous title track and its accompanying video (see below).
Final Light was born out of Roadburn 2020, a festival that ultimately did not happen but served as the impetus for this one off project. Festival curator Walter Hoeijmakers asked James Kent (aka Perturbator) to do a commissioned piece with a musician of his choice for the festival, which immediately brought Persson to mind. “I immediately thought of Cult of Luna. Even though my music is mostly electronic and synth-based, we both have a knack for creating atmospheres, so I thought it would be a very interesting match.” Johannes, reflecting on his relationship with Perturbator added, “I’ve been a fan for a long, long time. We had this creative discussion back and forth and we hit it off.”
As soon as the pair began work on their boundary-decimating songs, they knew that they had to be immortalized as an album. “It was immediate,” states Kent. “We had almost an hour of interesting music, so it would’ve been a shame to simply perform it and not do anything with it afterwards. It’s a project that I really want to share; it’s not only the fruit of a collaboration between me and one of my favourite musicians, but also very unique and once-in-a-lifetime.”
Final Light made their live debut at Roadburn 2022.
The duo previously released the song “In The Void”, a nine-minute track that incorporates the best of the two forward-thinking musicians. All-consuming, electrified bass notes are answered by creeping six-string melodies, before alien synth lines dance beneath anguished screams. Listen below.
Final Light physical and digital preorders are available now with the album available on a variety of limited-edition, color vinyl variants via Red Creek’s webstore with digital preorders available here.
Tracklisting:
“Nothing Will Bear Your Name”
“In The Void”
“It Came With The Water”
“Final Light”
“The Fall Of A Giant”
“Ruin To Decay”
Poland's Decapitated have released their diverse follow-up to 2017’s Anticult, entitled Cancer Culture, today (May 27th) via Nuclear Blast.
Guitarist and songwriter Vogg states: "Cancer Culture is out today!!! We've been waiting for this special moment for a very long time. It seems like ages, five years since our latest release, Anticult, sixteen months of working on the Cancer Culture album and waiting almost a year to be able to share it with you finally.
You can expect to hear various tracks, outstanding production, fantastic artwork, and of course, as always, something you have not likely to hear on the Decapitated album before.
To celebrate this day, we decided to release a video for 'Iconoclast'. For this occasion, we returned to the studio where all had started, where we recorded drums for the album, to feel an incredible energy and cool vibes again, while making the video. As you probably know, we have an exceptional guest, the metal legend and friend of ours, one and only Robb Flynn (Machine Head). His part of the track became one of my favorite parts of this album.
It's a huge honor to have Robb in this project, and I hope you will dig a song. It's a different song, not blasting madness as most of the songs on this record but still powerful, fast, and crushing.
We are giving you today the Cancer Culture. Decapitated is back, strong and alive! From pain to strength! Enjoy!"
Flynn comments on the collaboration as follows:"When Vogg asked me to sing on this Decapitated track, I was honored to jam with pioneers and such insane musicians. When he sent the track I was blown away at this incredible melodic section in the middle. When he told me the song was called Iconoclast, I knew exactly what needed to be said. An Iconoclast is 'a destroyer of images used in religious worship.' This song had to address the hateful, growing fascist Evangelical movement growing around the world. The cruel men who wish to hide their cruelty under a cloak of faith and zealotry."
Tracklisting:
"From The Nothingness With Love"
"Cancer Culture"
"Just A Cigarette"
"No Cure"
"Hello Death"
"Iconoclast"
"Suicidal Space Programme"
"Locked"
"Hours As Battlegrounds"
"Last Supper"
"Iconoclast" video
"Hello Death" video
"Cancer Culture" video:
The band is also pleased to announce re-scheduled Irish/UK dates for their 25th Anniversary Tour, which was recently postponed due to the ongoing pandemic situation. The masterly death metallers will hit the stages throughout this March and April, accompanied by new special guests Signs Of The Swarm and Harbinger.
Dutch powerhouse singer Floor Jansen has just released her second solo single, "Storm". The track is the follow-up to "Fire", which was made available in March via ADA, the division of Warner Music Group dedicated to independent label and artist distribution.
Earlier this month, Floor was asked in a new interview with FaceCulture if she is planning to eventually release a full-length solo album. She said: "There are a lot more songs ready. There's not an album ready, but also because it would make no sense to have one. Due to the pandemic, there's an entire NIGHTWISH still not done and still yet to be done; as it looks like, we actually are gonna do that now. So before that, I cannot say, 'Okay, I come [out] with a solo album.' 'Cause then you also would like to do some more [solo] shows and do the right promotion and all of that, so there's no time for that — which is a luxury problem on itself. But it's fun. And that's also a big difference with this pop music thing — you can release singles. It's not an album-based world; it's completely different."
Jansen went on to call "Fire" "a statement and "the kick-off of everything. And from there I'll keep releasing singles. And the aim is to release the album in '23," she explained before clarifying that there are a lot of variables involved that could affect the timeline of the LP's arrival. "But the ambition is there. And everything is geared up to do that."
Jansen is best known as the frontwoman in the multi-million selling and internationally successful symphonic metal band NIGHTWISH. As part of the band, Jansen has landed two number one albums in Finland, and Top Five albums in Austria, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland.
Born in the Netherlands, Jansen joined her first band, one of the world's first symphonic metal bands, AFTER FOREVER, when she was only 16 years old. The group went on to release five albums from 2000 to 2007, before they broke up in 2009.
Jansen's next band, REVAMP, released two albums in 2010 and 2013, before she joined NIGHTWISH as a full-time member. NIGHTWISH's first album with Jansen as the lead singer was 2015's "Endless Forms Most Beautiful", which landed in Top 10s around the world. This was followed by 2020's "Human. :II: Nature." , which was also an international success.
Jansen has toured extensively with the band and appeared on three of NIGHTWISH's live albums "Showtime, Storytime", "Vehicle Of Spirit" and "Decades: Live In Buenos Aires".
In 2019, Jansen participated in the popular Dutch TV show "Beste Zangers" where she scored a big hit with "Phantom Of The Opera" together with Henk Poort. She was recognized with a Dutch Popprijs award — a prestigious accolade for artists that has made important contributions to Dutch music. In the same year, her first solo tour sold out in less than 24 hours.
Jansen performed live with NIGHTWISH for the first time on October 1, 2012 at Showbox Sodo in Seattle, Washington following the abrupt departure of the band's lead singer of five years, Anette Olzon. Jansen officially joined NIGHTWISH in 2013.