Monday, November 6, 2017
Tim Abrigg Jr.'s Rock and Roll News Of The Day!: Today's Day In Rock News!
Tim Abrigg Jr.'s Rock and Roll News Of The Day!: Today's Day In Rock News!: Today's Day in Rock Stories Guns N' Roses And Pearl Jam Supergroup Share New Song(Radio.com) The Levee Walkers are a new rock ...
Today's Day In Rock News!
Today's Day in Rock Stories
Guns N' Roses And Pearl Jam Supergroup Share New Song(Radio.com)
The Levee Walkers are a new rock super-group featuring bassist Duff McKagen of Guns N' Roses, guitarist Mike McCready from Pearl Jam and Screaming Trees' drummer Barrett Martin.
For the band's latest track, "All Things Fade Away," the Seattle-based band tapped local singer Ayron Jones to handle vocals. "The three of us [conceived the Levee Walkers] to make music with guest vocalists," Mike McCready told Rolling Stone. "It's been a cool, enlightening experience for me as Duff and Barrett push me to be a better musician."
"We've been lucky enough to have Jaz Coleman from Killing Joke and Latin artist Raquel Sophia sing with us," McCready continued. "Our latest great singer and guitar player is Ayron Jones from Seattle. Ayron is a super-talented singer-songwriter who has added a new fuel to the fire of Levee Walkers songs. He is also a smokin' guitar player that needs to be heard."
"Ayron is such a special and badass new Seattle artist," added Duff McKagan. "I went to a show of his last year in Seattle, and it was one of those that just simply made me realize how glad I am that I chose music as a path. Mike and Barrett are, of course, the best at what they do as well. I'm a proud Walker of Levees!" Check out the song here.
Bon Scott Allegedly Planned To Leave AC/DC Before His Death(Gibson)
It's been almost four decades since original AC/DC frontman Bon Scott passed away. He made six albums with the Australian hard rockers, but just as the band was set to make their international breakthrough, Scott died in London in 1980. His replacement, Geordie vocalist Brian Johnson would step in and help continue AC/DC's upward trajectory that saw them become one of the world's biggest bands and a live tour de force over the next few decades.
Now, a new book suggests that Scott was in fact planning on quitting AC/DC before his untimely death. In the book Bon: The Last Highway, the author Jesse Fink recounts an interview with Roy Allen, a friend of Scott's from Texas, who received a call from the AC/DC frontman in late 1979, at the end of the band's Highway To Hell tour.
According to Allen, the singer called him suggesting he was tired of the hard rock life, saying, "Roy, I want to come to Texas. I'm coming into a good bit of money soon. I've had it: the living on the road, the shows, the drinking. I'm ready to leave the band. I've got to get out. It's all killin' me and I know it. I want to know if I came to Texas, I could stay with you. We could try quit drinking together."
Allen didn't make much of it at the time, not knowing that it would be the last conversation he'd have with Scott. Read more here.
Lynyrd Skynyrd Cancel 2017 Dates Over Medical Emergency(hennemusic)
Southern rock legends Lynyrd Skynyrd have cancelled the final three dates of their 2017 schedule due to a medical emergency involving guitarist Gary Rossington.
According to the Tallahassee Democrat, details of Rossington's health issue were not released when a November 3 date at the Capital City Amphitheater in Tallahassee, FL was shut down on the day of the show.
The situation also forced the group to cancel a November 4 appearance at the RP Funding Center in Lakeland, FL, and a November 5 headlining slot at the Rock Fest 80s event in Pembroke Pines, FL that will see .38 Special perform in their place,
The lone original member of the Southern Rock icons, Rossington has battled health issues in recent years, including heart surgery this past August "to address some blockage in his arteries", which followed a similar procedure in the summer of 2016 after the guitarist suffered a heart attack in late 2015. Read more here.
Rarest Ever Beatles LP Album Being Auctioned(Gibson)
A copy of a rare Beatles album once owned by John Lennon, complete with hand-drawn sketches, and three Beatle signatures, is expected to sell for more than $200,000 at auction later this week.
The early edition of Yesterday And Today features an infamous photo of the group dressed as butchers, and remains one of the only copies in existence. It will be auctioned as one of the star lots of Heritage Auctions' Entertainment Signature Auction, which takes place in Dallas on November 11. At the time of writing, the Current Bid is listed as $100,000.
Lennon gave it to Beatles collector Dave Morrell in 1972 in return for memorabilia and bootleg material. The message states "To Dave, from John Lennon," alongside a date of December 7, 1971. The album was later also signed by Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr. Read more here.
Metallica Release Live Video Of Rare Song Performance(hennemusic
) Metallica delivered the rarely-performed "...And Justice For All" track "The Shortest Straw" at Genting Arena in Birmingham, England on October 30, and the band are sharing professional footage from the event.
The song, which made its first appearance in Metallica's set since 2013, was featured on the group's 1988 album as the project peaked at No. 6 on the Billboard 200 on its way to US sales of more than 8 million copies.
The Birmingham stop landed in the final week of Metallica's European tour in support of their latest effort, "Hardwired…To Self-Destruct." Produced by Greg Fidelman, drummer Lars Ulrich and guitarist James Hetfield, the group's tenth album topped the charts in 57 countries around the world last fall. Watch the video here.
Eric Clapton Documentary Hitting Theaters For One Night(Radio.com)
Film distributor Abramorama has teamed up with the Showtime network to bring Life in 12 Bars, the Eric Clapton documentary, to select movie theaters on November 24.
A limited theatrical release will qualify the film for awards consideration in the new year. It's already one of the 170 films submitted for Oscar consideration, which will be narrowed down to 15 before the nominees are selected.
Directed by Lili Fini Zanuck, The Hollywood Reporter reports that Life in 12 Bars is "an unflinching and deeply personal journey into the life of the legendary musician." The film explores Clapton's difficult childhood and struggles with substance abuse, as well as his role in shaping the rock landscape." Read more here.
Jeff Lynne's ELO Stream 'Telephone Line' Live Video(hennemusic)
Jeff Lynne's ELO are streaming video of a 2017 performance of their classic, "Telephone Line", ahead of the November 17 release of the live album and concert film package, "Wembley Or Bust."
The fourth and final single from the Electric Light Orchestra's 1976 set, "A New World Record", was a Top 10 hit in the US and the band's native UK while the project went on to Platinum sales in both countries.
Multi-instrumentalist Lynne has been touring in recent years under the banner Jeff Lynne's ELO. Directed by Paul Dugdale, "Wembley Or Bust" captures Lynne's sold-out show before 60,000 fans at London's Wembley Stadium this past June, where he delivered material from the group's extensive hit-filled discography; the show also includes tracks by The Move and The Traveling Wilburys.
"It's the best time I ever had in music," says Lynne of the Wembley event. "It is beyond anything I could have imagined." The new live package will be available in multiple formats, including 2CD/Blu Ray, 2 CD/DVD, 2CD and 3LP packages. Watch the video here.
Billy Corgan Goes Virtual Reality With 'Aeronaut' Video(Radio.com)
Billy Corgan has shared the music video for "Aeronaut" from his recently released full-length, Ogilala. The video also serves as a preview of a forthcoming immersive virtual reality experience for Corgan's Ogilala album.
The video was created inside a 3D world that was imagined by San Francisco artist and filmmaker, Danny Bittman and brought to life by the joint Viacom NEXT and Isobar team. By capturing Corgan's three-and-a-half-minute performance in volumetric video at Microsoft's Mixed Reality Capture Studios, Isobar, Viacom and Bittman, were able to use the Unity creation engine and Tilt Brush to create a world around him. The project is due for release in early 2018.
Corgan fans will also want to tune in to The Late Late Show with James Corden on Wednesday, November 8 to catch his live performance of "The Spaniards." Check out the clip for "Aeronaut" here.
Dave Grohl Mashes Up 'Snowman' and 'Enter Sandman'(Radio.com)
When Dave Grohl guest hosted for Jimmy Kimmel on his late-night talk show wearing a bearded David Letterman costume and welcomed his guest Kristen Bell things got a little weird- in a cool way.
The Foo Fighters frontman revealed to the actress, who was dressed as Tom Selleck in Magnum P.I., complete with Hawaiian shirt and hairy chest, "If I was to jam a song with you, I would become the coolest dad in the world."
Bell who voiced Anna in the movie Frozen, replied, "I would love to jam with you." Grohl asked her if they could play "Do You Want to Build a Snowman?" Bell dedicated the performance to Grohl's daughters: "Violet, Harper and Fifi, this is for you." She started the beautiful song on her own, then partway through, Grohl joined on drums and the tune morphed into Metallica's "Enter Sandman." Check out the collaborative performance here.
Morrissey Live Debuts The Smith's 'I Started Something I Couldn't Finish'(Radio.com)
Fans at a recent Morrissey show in Portland, OR, were treated with the live debut of "I Started Something I Couldn't Finish" and video of the performance has been shared online
"I Started I Something I Couldn't Finish" was the second U.K. single from The Smiths' fourth and final studio album, Strangeways Here I Come, released in 1987.
It's the first time a former member of the Smiths has performed the song live, according to NME. Morrissey rolled out The Smiths' chestnut at Portland's Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall on Halloween night (Oct. 31). Check out the performance here.
Neil Young Streaming New Song 'The Visitor'(hennemusic)
Neil Young is streaming audio of "Already Great" as the lead single from his forthcoming album with The Promise Of The Real, "The Visitor", ahead of its release on December 1.
The 10-song project pairs the rocker with the band fronted by Willie Nelson's son Lukas, who also backed Young on 2015's "The Monsanto Years" and the 2016 live set, "Earth."
"The Visitor" also follows the recent issue of an unreleased 1976 album by Young called "Hitchhiker." The acoustic set was originally recorded in one session at Indigo Studios in Malibu, CA on August 11, 1976.
This summer, Young revealed plans to launch an online archive tracing his entire musical history. "Every single, recorded track or album I have produced is represented," he writes as an introduction to neilyoungarchives.com. "It is always current. You can browse the music I made between today's date and 1963, when I made my first recording in Canada and it was released as a 45 RPM single."
Billed as "coming soon", Young and his team have been diligently compiling detailed information about his recordings for the project. Stream the new song here.
Singled Out: Russkaja's Kosmopoliturbo
Russkaja recently released their new album "Kosmopoliturbo" and to celebrate we asked guitarist Engel Mayr to tell us the story behind the song "Hey Road" from the new studio effort. Here is the story:
The song "Hey Road" from Russkaja's new record "Kosmopoliturbo" was actually one of the first ones that Georgij (singer) and me finished. It started with my basic idea of a midtempo song combining Acoustic and Electric guitar in the intro (and also later on in the Tango C-part, but that came around later). I already had Intro/Verse without vocals and the Chorus with a vocal melody. I wanted the chorus to be really hooky. When I played my demo to Georgij he immediately came up with the Intro/Verse vocal melody which I totally fell I love with.
Georgij also liked the hooky Chorus and on one of the following tours I noticed that he was sitting in the back of the bus and writing lyrics to that song. When I realized that he was actually writing about being on the road I thought that's really cool since we're touring a lot and it really fits the song! "Hey Road" brings up a feeling that everybody in the band can really identify with!
A few weeks later the Tango melody in the C-part came to my mind and at first I recorded it with heavy guitars in the demo but then I felt it should retain a more traditional Tango feel with the horns and violin playing the melody and the rhythm section playing the Tango groove behind with a strong Steelstring guitar.
When we were in the studio recording the song I wasn't sure anymore if the Intro should be Acoustic or Electric guitar, so I recorded both and when the album was mixed I really liked the way it sounded with Electric AND Acoustic guitar simultaneously and we did it that way!
I think "Hey Road" became a great song and I really enjoy playing it live and also singing the backing vocals to it. It's one of those songs that just feel natural and gives you a great vibe!
Tuesday, October 3, 2017
Tim Abrigg Jr.'s Rock and Roll News Of The Day!: Today's Day In Rock News!
Tim Abrigg Jr.'s Rock and Roll News Of The Day!: Today's Day In Rock News!: Today's Day in Rock Stories Rock Legend Tom Petty Confirmed Dead At 66(hennemusic) Management confirmed Tom Petty died Monday at th...
Today's Day In Rock News!
Today's Day in Rock Stories
Rock Legend Tom Petty Confirmed Dead At 66(hennemusic)
Management confirmed Tom Petty died Monday at the age of 66 in a Santa Monica, CA hospital after being unfound unconscious at his Malibu home Sunday night.
"On behalf of the Tom Petty family we are devastated to announce the untimely death of our father, husband, brother, leader and friend Tom Petty," confirmed Tony Dimitriades, longtime manager of Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, on behalf of the family.
"He suffered cardiac arrest at his home in Malibu in the early hours of this morning and was taken to UCLA Medical Center but could not be revived. He died peacefully at 8:40pm PST surrounded by family, his bandmates and friends."
TMZ first broke the news of Petty's emergency, which found him unconscious, not breathing and in full cardiac arrest at his residence when EMT's arrived on scene.
In critical condition from the moment he was discovered in distress, the singer was rushed to the UCLA Santa Monica Hospital where he was put on life support.
Petty reportedly had no signs of brain activity when he arrived at the hospital and a decision was made to remove him from life support as family, friends and his bandmates gathered on site.
Confirmation of the rocker's death comes hours after it was first reported by CBS News in a breaking news story early Monday based on information obtained officially from the Los Angeles Police Department, with Petty's passing making headlines around the world prematurely; the LAPD later said it was not in a position to confirm the singer's status.
"The LAPD has no information about the passing of singer Tom Petty," tweeted the LAPD. "Initial information was inadvertantly provided to some media sources. However, the LAPD has no investigative role in this matter. We apologize for any inconvenience in this reporting." Read more here.
Marilyn Manson Suffers Stage Accident and Postpones Tour(Radio.com)
Marilyn Manson has postponed nine shows after being injured in a freak stage accident Saturday night (Sept. 30) in New York City. In the middle of a show at the Hammerstein Ballroom, a set piece (two larger-than-life revolvers) collapsed on Manson, who was rushed to the hospital.
The band was in the middle of their hit cover of Eurythmics "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)" and Manson appeared to be shaking the metal bars on the stage prop when it fell on top of him. Manson's management has not confirmed the extent of his injuries but stated that the singer will be recovering at home in Los Angeles, according to Variety.
Manson was taken from the venue on a stretcher but is expected to resume his tour on October 15 in Grand Prairie, Texas. Manson's reps said the most significant injury affected his leg, but that the hard rocker would be "fine."
Rescheduled dates for Manson's postponed shows have not been announced. See footage of the alarming New York stage mishap here.
Billy Joel Joined By Paul Simon And Miley Cyrus During Concert(Radio.com)
It was a weekend of high-profile collaborations as music legend Billy Joel invited Miley Cyrus and Paul Simon to his Madison Square Garden concert in New York.
Joel's legendary MSG residency has drawn its share of special guests over the years. Hot on the heels of her Younger Now album release, Miley Cyrus stopped by Joel's Saturday night concert with another New York City icon, Paul Simon.
Miley lent her support on "New York State of Mind" and joined Joel and Simon for "You May Be Right," which segued into Led Zeppelin's "Rock and Roll," reported, Ultimate Classic Rock. Watch Billy Joel's set with Paul Simon and Miley Cyrus here.
Ghost Reveal New Frontman Papa Emeritis Zero(hennemusic)
Ghost revealed their new frontman, Papa Emeritis Zero, in a dramatic fashion at the finale of their September 30 concert in Gothenburg, Sweden, and the band is sharing video from the event.
As current vocalist Papa Emeritus III closed the show with the encore of the 2013 track, "Monstrance Clock", the singer was forcibly removed from the stage by two security men as some fans screamed from the crowd.
The band's lineup of Nameless Ghouls then exited and, a moment later, the security personnel returned with a new figure that appeared as an elderly version of their former frontman, who walked slowly to center stage using a cane and an oxygen mask while wearing a white robe and headdress. "I am Papa Emeritus Zero," said the figure. "The party is over and now a new era begins. The Middle Ages begin now"
Ghost have introduced a new frontman on each of their albums: Papa Emeritus III led the group on 2015's "Meliora" and last year's "Popestar" EP; he replaced Papa Emeritus II after his work on their second record, 2013's "Infestissumam", while original vocalist Papa Emeritus introduced the band on the 2010 debut, "Opus Eponymous."
The Gothenburg show marked the final date of Ghost's 2017 "Popestar" tour, and the Swedish rockers are now preparing album number four for release next spring, according to Tobias Forge.
"We've been in the studio for about a month now," Forge explained recently, "and by the end of the year, if everything goes according to plan - knock, knock - we're gonna have a new album, not out, but we're gonna have a new recorded and mixed and delivered. And hopefully that means that we're gonna have a new album out by April - possibly, hopefully." Watch the video here.
Black Sabbath's Farewell Concert Film Coming To TV(hennemusic)
Black Sabbath's farewell concert film, "The End Of The End", will see its world television debut on US cable and satellite television network Showtime on Saturday, October 28 at 9 p.m. ET/PT.
Directed by Dick Carruthers (Led Zeppelin, Rolling Stones, Aerosmith, Oasis), the project presents the last concert under the Sabbath brand by three-quarters of the original lineup - Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommi and Geezer Butler - in their hometown of Birmingham, England this past February.
The show at the city's Genting Arena marked the 81st and final date of the groundbreaking metal band's farewell tour, wrapping up a year-long global trek to wind down a legendary career that spanned five decades.
"To bring it all back home after all these years was pretty special," says the group. "It was so hard to say goodbye to the fans, who've been incredibly loyal to us through the years. We never dreamed in the early days that we'd be here 49 years later doing our last show on our home turf." Watch the trailer here.
Pavement May Reunite For 30th Anniversary(Gibson)
Pavement came together in Stockton, California in 1989. Over the course of the next decade, they would go on to become of the most critically-acclaimed and influential indie rock bands of all time, sticking fiercely to their 'indie' reputation over the course of five albums from 1992 to 1999.
After disbanding in 1999, Pavement came back together in 2010 to tour before wrapping things up once more. Another reunion was floated by the band's members in 2015, but frontman Stephen Malkmus declined.
Now, there's talk once more of another Pavement reunion, with guitarist Scott Kannberg mentioning the possibility in a recent interview. Speaking to the Italian podcast Radio Cittá Del Capo, Kannberg says there's been some talk of getting the band back together, saying, "We haven't really discussed it, but there has been some talk about our 30th anniversary in 2019, maybe doing some stuff, so stay tuned!" Read more here.
KISS Stop Concert To Lead Fans In Pledge of Allegiance(Radio.com)
KISS want to rock and roll all night and pledge allegiance every day? Legendary shock-rockers KISS took a moment to get patriotic during a show at the Gretna Heritage Festival in New Orleans over the weekend (Sept. 30), leading the audience in a mass reciting of the Pledge of Allegiance.
According to Nola.com, the band paused to welcome Army Major Steve Roberts to the stage to thank him for more than 30 years of military service. "It's always cool to love your country," frontman Paul Stanley told the festival crowd. "Some people believe that freedom is free."
As expected, crowd response to the moment was varied, with one fan tweeting that it was "pretty damn cool," while another more disgruntled attendee called it "the least rock and roll thing I've ever seen." Check out fan footage of the pledge seen.— Bantam Foxes (@BantamFoxes) October 01, 2017 Read more here.
Avenged Sevenfold Announce Headline Tour Dates(Radio.com)
Following a support slot on Metallica's recent North American stadium tour, hard rockers Avenged Sevenfold have set a series of headlining dates for early 2018.
The shows will also feature Breaking Benjamin and Bullet for My Valentine. Tickets go on sale to the general public on Friday, October 6 at 10:00 a.m. local time. More shows are expected to be added.
The tour is set to kick off on January 1st in Nashville, TN at the Bridgestone Arena and will be concluding on February 11th in Fargo, ND at the Fargodome. See all of the dates here.
Morrissey Performs New Songs During BBC Performance(Radio.com)
Morrissey performed selections from his new album Low In High School on BBC 6 Music. The singer debuted 'When You Open Up Your Legs," 'I Wish You Lonely," 'Home Is a Question Mark" and 'Jacky's Only Happy When She's Up on the Stage."
He also played some tracks from throughout his solo career as well as the album's single 'Spent the Day In Bed," and a cover of the Pretenders' 'Back on the Chain Gang."
Getting political, Morrissey said, 'Free the bull from Spain. Free everybody from Spain," while introducing 'The Bullfighter Dies." See the tracklisting
Tim Buckley Reissues Feature Previously Unreleased Recordings(Conqueroo)
While Tim Buckley's album Dream Letter (recorded in 1968 but not released until 1990) is the perfect, sublime example of his in-concert genius, Live at the Troubadour 1969 (released in 1994) has long been a fan favorite, with its improvisational raw energy in songs that stretch toward or past the 10-minute mark, and combinations of acoustic and electric guitars, Fender Rhodes piano and electric bass, drum set and congas - all throbbing and brewing in a dynamic jazz-folk stew. On drums is Art Tripp from Frank Zappa's stable of musicians; the bass player is John Balkin, who helped conceptualize Buckley's legendary Starsailor LP. But this is the not the free-form, avant-garde jazz of the Starsailor era, nor is it the funk-soul of 1972's Greetings From L.A. Rather, Live at the Troubadour 1969 represents a brief period of the ever-evolving explorations of Tim Buckley.
Maverick reissue producer Bill Inglot recently discovered more Troubadour tapes in the archives. He and fellow reissue producer Pat Thomas uncovered five different sets of material from three days' worth of shows. These revelatory tracks have been assembled into a 2-LP package, Greetings From West Hollywood, and a 2-CD set, Venice Mating Call, both to be released October 13, 2017 on Manifesto Records.
With the exception of "Buzzin' Fly," there were no other songs in common with Dream Letter, and furthermore, these early September 1969 shows featured a slew of songs that had yet to be recorded in the studio (at that point), songs that would turn up on Lorca and Blue Afternoon, and even songs that were unique to this run of shows! Read more here.
J.D. Simo Talks New Album 'Rise and Shine'(Gibson)
Creatively speaking, J.D. Simo is not one to sit still. On 2016's Let Love Show the Way, he and his trio - called, fittingly, SIMO - showcased their classic rock influences on a set of blues-stoked rockers recorded at the Allman Brothers' famous "Big House" in Macon, Georgia. For their new album, Rise & Shine, the trio embarked on a different path, widening their sound to include smoldering soul ballads, Stax-flavored funk, and psychedelic-tinged instrumentals - all without severing the blues-rock roots from which they've always drawn.
The trio, which in addition to Simo includes Elad Shapiro on bass and Adam Abrashoff on drums, spent more than a month crafting the album, which was recorded in the band's home base of Nashville. Working in the studio from mid-afternoon until the wee hours of the morning, they succeeded in producing their most eclectic set of songs to date.
"If you go through my record collection and look at the more contemporary titles," JD explains, "you'll see the Roots, Wilco, Alabama Shakes, and Ryan Adams. I listen to a lot of old soul music, too. Isaac Hayes. Funkadelic. Bob Dylan. On Rise & Shine, I was just trying to cull from the vastness that is my normal music diet, and not trying to pander to some target that was easy to hit."
Gibson spoke with Simo about the new record, his background as a session player, and the influences that brought him to where he is today. Read the interview here.
Singled Out: Five Of The Eyes' Wasteland
Prog rockers Five Of The Eyes have just released their new album The Venus Transit and to celebrate we asked Peter Griffith to tell us about the song "Wasteland". Here is the story:
Wasteland came to be over many successive rehearsals, when Ned, Tim, Tom, and I were trying to cram together, I dunno, 12 different riffs, all hard-rock driven, and for the most part, all difficult to perform, physically. I remember a serious frustration throughout the rehearsal room; we'd settle on a form, play through it at different tempos, record it and play it back, scratch our heads, leave, and come back the next night feeling as though we'd made no progress, and chop it up and rewrite riffs, write new riffs and record a new scratch track, and repeat, or at least, that's how I remember it. It was stressful. We had impending recording dates, lots of personal life crap going on... it was just a mess of tension and disagreement. It wasn't until Darrell had had a chance to put his creative tweaks on it that I really felt like we were making something great, and I mean really great. The song reminds me of many moments in life in which we all have to, in full awareness of our own impending discomfort and a likelihood of failure, commit to slog through that muck and stress and sheer mental exhaustion, "return to the wasteland," if you will, because we all know that somewhere on the other side could be something really, really great.
Rock Legend Tom Petty Confirmed Dead At 66(hennemusic)
Management confirmed Tom Petty died Monday at the age of 66 in a Santa Monica, CA hospital after being unfound unconscious at his Malibu home Sunday night.
"On behalf of the Tom Petty family we are devastated to announce the untimely death of our father, husband, brother, leader and friend Tom Petty," confirmed Tony Dimitriades, longtime manager of Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, on behalf of the family.
"He suffered cardiac arrest at his home in Malibu in the early hours of this morning and was taken to UCLA Medical Center but could not be revived. He died peacefully at 8:40pm PST surrounded by family, his bandmates and friends."
TMZ first broke the news of Petty's emergency, which found him unconscious, not breathing and in full cardiac arrest at his residence when EMT's arrived on scene.
In critical condition from the moment he was discovered in distress, the singer was rushed to the UCLA Santa Monica Hospital where he was put on life support.
Petty reportedly had no signs of brain activity when he arrived at the hospital and a decision was made to remove him from life support as family, friends and his bandmates gathered on site.
Confirmation of the rocker's death comes hours after it was first reported by CBS News in a breaking news story early Monday based on information obtained officially from the Los Angeles Police Department, with Petty's passing making headlines around the world prematurely; the LAPD later said it was not in a position to confirm the singer's status.
"The LAPD has no information about the passing of singer Tom Petty," tweeted the LAPD. "Initial information was inadvertantly provided to some media sources. However, the LAPD has no investigative role in this matter. We apologize for any inconvenience in this reporting." Read more here.
Marilyn Manson Suffers Stage Accident and Postpones Tour(Radio.com)
Marilyn Manson has postponed nine shows after being injured in a freak stage accident Saturday night (Sept. 30) in New York City. In the middle of a show at the Hammerstein Ballroom, a set piece (two larger-than-life revolvers) collapsed on Manson, who was rushed to the hospital.
The band was in the middle of their hit cover of Eurythmics "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)" and Manson appeared to be shaking the metal bars on the stage prop when it fell on top of him. Manson's management has not confirmed the extent of his injuries but stated that the singer will be recovering at home in Los Angeles, according to Variety.
Manson was taken from the venue on a stretcher but is expected to resume his tour on October 15 in Grand Prairie, Texas. Manson's reps said the most significant injury affected his leg, but that the hard rocker would be "fine."
Rescheduled dates for Manson's postponed shows have not been announced. See footage of the alarming New York stage mishap here.
Billy Joel Joined By Paul Simon And Miley Cyrus During Concert(Radio.com)
It was a weekend of high-profile collaborations as music legend Billy Joel invited Miley Cyrus and Paul Simon to his Madison Square Garden concert in New York.
Joel's legendary MSG residency has drawn its share of special guests over the years. Hot on the heels of her Younger Now album release, Miley Cyrus stopped by Joel's Saturday night concert with another New York City icon, Paul Simon.
Miley lent her support on "New York State of Mind" and joined Joel and Simon for "You May Be Right," which segued into Led Zeppelin's "Rock and Roll," reported, Ultimate Classic Rock. Watch Billy Joel's set with Paul Simon and Miley Cyrus here.
Ghost Reveal New Frontman Papa Emeritis Zero(hennemusic)
Ghost revealed their new frontman, Papa Emeritis Zero, in a dramatic fashion at the finale of their September 30 concert in Gothenburg, Sweden, and the band is sharing video from the event.
As current vocalist Papa Emeritus III closed the show with the encore of the 2013 track, "Monstrance Clock", the singer was forcibly removed from the stage by two security men as some fans screamed from the crowd.
The band's lineup of Nameless Ghouls then exited and, a moment later, the security personnel returned with a new figure that appeared as an elderly version of their former frontman, who walked slowly to center stage using a cane and an oxygen mask while wearing a white robe and headdress. "I am Papa Emeritus Zero," said the figure. "The party is over and now a new era begins. The Middle Ages begin now"
Ghost have introduced a new frontman on each of their albums: Papa Emeritus III led the group on 2015's "Meliora" and last year's "Popestar" EP; he replaced Papa Emeritus II after his work on their second record, 2013's "Infestissumam", while original vocalist Papa Emeritus introduced the band on the 2010 debut, "Opus Eponymous."
The Gothenburg show marked the final date of Ghost's 2017 "Popestar" tour, and the Swedish rockers are now preparing album number four for release next spring, according to Tobias Forge.
"We've been in the studio for about a month now," Forge explained recently, "and by the end of the year, if everything goes according to plan - knock, knock - we're gonna have a new album, not out, but we're gonna have a new recorded and mixed and delivered. And hopefully that means that we're gonna have a new album out by April - possibly, hopefully." Watch the video here.
Black Sabbath's Farewell Concert Film Coming To TV(hennemusic)
Black Sabbath's farewell concert film, "The End Of The End", will see its world television debut on US cable and satellite television network Showtime on Saturday, October 28 at 9 p.m. ET/PT.
Directed by Dick Carruthers (Led Zeppelin, Rolling Stones, Aerosmith, Oasis), the project presents the last concert under the Sabbath brand by three-quarters of the original lineup - Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommi and Geezer Butler - in their hometown of Birmingham, England this past February.
The show at the city's Genting Arena marked the 81st and final date of the groundbreaking metal band's farewell tour, wrapping up a year-long global trek to wind down a legendary career that spanned five decades.
"To bring it all back home after all these years was pretty special," says the group. "It was so hard to say goodbye to the fans, who've been incredibly loyal to us through the years. We never dreamed in the early days that we'd be here 49 years later doing our last show on our home turf." Watch the trailer here.
Pavement May Reunite For 30th Anniversary(Gibson)
Pavement came together in Stockton, California in 1989. Over the course of the next decade, they would go on to become of the most critically-acclaimed and influential indie rock bands of all time, sticking fiercely to their 'indie' reputation over the course of five albums from 1992 to 1999.
After disbanding in 1999, Pavement came back together in 2010 to tour before wrapping things up once more. Another reunion was floated by the band's members in 2015, but frontman Stephen Malkmus declined.
Now, there's talk once more of another Pavement reunion, with guitarist Scott Kannberg mentioning the possibility in a recent interview. Speaking to the Italian podcast Radio Cittá Del Capo, Kannberg says there's been some talk of getting the band back together, saying, "We haven't really discussed it, but there has been some talk about our 30th anniversary in 2019, maybe doing some stuff, so stay tuned!" Read more here.
KISS Stop Concert To Lead Fans In Pledge of Allegiance(Radio.com)
KISS want to rock and roll all night and pledge allegiance every day? Legendary shock-rockers KISS took a moment to get patriotic during a show at the Gretna Heritage Festival in New Orleans over the weekend (Sept. 30), leading the audience in a mass reciting of the Pledge of Allegiance.
According to Nola.com, the band paused to welcome Army Major Steve Roberts to the stage to thank him for more than 30 years of military service. "It's always cool to love your country," frontman Paul Stanley told the festival crowd. "Some people believe that freedom is free."
As expected, crowd response to the moment was varied, with one fan tweeting that it was "pretty damn cool," while another more disgruntled attendee called it "the least rock and roll thing I've ever seen." Check out fan footage of the pledge seen.— Bantam Foxes (@BantamFoxes) October 01, 2017 Read more here.
Avenged Sevenfold Announce Headline Tour Dates(Radio.com)
Following a support slot on Metallica's recent North American stadium tour, hard rockers Avenged Sevenfold have set a series of headlining dates for early 2018.
The shows will also feature Breaking Benjamin and Bullet for My Valentine. Tickets go on sale to the general public on Friday, October 6 at 10:00 a.m. local time. More shows are expected to be added.
The tour is set to kick off on January 1st in Nashville, TN at the Bridgestone Arena and will be concluding on February 11th in Fargo, ND at the Fargodome. See all of the dates here.
Morrissey Performs New Songs During BBC Performance(Radio.com)
Morrissey performed selections from his new album Low In High School on BBC 6 Music. The singer debuted 'When You Open Up Your Legs," 'I Wish You Lonely," 'Home Is a Question Mark" and 'Jacky's Only Happy When She's Up on the Stage."
He also played some tracks from throughout his solo career as well as the album's single 'Spent the Day In Bed," and a cover of the Pretenders' 'Back on the Chain Gang."
Getting political, Morrissey said, 'Free the bull from Spain. Free everybody from Spain," while introducing 'The Bullfighter Dies." See the tracklisting
Tim Buckley Reissues Feature Previously Unreleased Recordings(Conqueroo)
While Tim Buckley's album Dream Letter (recorded in 1968 but not released until 1990) is the perfect, sublime example of his in-concert genius, Live at the Troubadour 1969 (released in 1994) has long been a fan favorite, with its improvisational raw energy in songs that stretch toward or past the 10-minute mark, and combinations of acoustic and electric guitars, Fender Rhodes piano and electric bass, drum set and congas - all throbbing and brewing in a dynamic jazz-folk stew. On drums is Art Tripp from Frank Zappa's stable of musicians; the bass player is John Balkin, who helped conceptualize Buckley's legendary Starsailor LP. But this is the not the free-form, avant-garde jazz of the Starsailor era, nor is it the funk-soul of 1972's Greetings From L.A. Rather, Live at the Troubadour 1969 represents a brief period of the ever-evolving explorations of Tim Buckley.
Maverick reissue producer Bill Inglot recently discovered more Troubadour tapes in the archives. He and fellow reissue producer Pat Thomas uncovered five different sets of material from three days' worth of shows. These revelatory tracks have been assembled into a 2-LP package, Greetings From West Hollywood, and a 2-CD set, Venice Mating Call, both to be released October 13, 2017 on Manifesto Records.
With the exception of "Buzzin' Fly," there were no other songs in common with Dream Letter, and furthermore, these early September 1969 shows featured a slew of songs that had yet to be recorded in the studio (at that point), songs that would turn up on Lorca and Blue Afternoon, and even songs that were unique to this run of shows! Read more here.
J.D. Simo Talks New Album 'Rise and Shine'(Gibson)
Creatively speaking, J.D. Simo is not one to sit still. On 2016's Let Love Show the Way, he and his trio - called, fittingly, SIMO - showcased their classic rock influences on a set of blues-stoked rockers recorded at the Allman Brothers' famous "Big House" in Macon, Georgia. For their new album, Rise & Shine, the trio embarked on a different path, widening their sound to include smoldering soul ballads, Stax-flavored funk, and psychedelic-tinged instrumentals - all without severing the blues-rock roots from which they've always drawn.
The trio, which in addition to Simo includes Elad Shapiro on bass and Adam Abrashoff on drums, spent more than a month crafting the album, which was recorded in the band's home base of Nashville. Working in the studio from mid-afternoon until the wee hours of the morning, they succeeded in producing their most eclectic set of songs to date.
"If you go through my record collection and look at the more contemporary titles," JD explains, "you'll see the Roots, Wilco, Alabama Shakes, and Ryan Adams. I listen to a lot of old soul music, too. Isaac Hayes. Funkadelic. Bob Dylan. On Rise & Shine, I was just trying to cull from the vastness that is my normal music diet, and not trying to pander to some target that was easy to hit."
Gibson spoke with Simo about the new record, his background as a session player, and the influences that brought him to where he is today. Read the interview here.
Singled Out: Five Of The Eyes' Wasteland
Prog rockers Five Of The Eyes have just released their new album The Venus Transit and to celebrate we asked Peter Griffith to tell us about the song "Wasteland". Here is the story:
Wasteland came to be over many successive rehearsals, when Ned, Tim, Tom, and I were trying to cram together, I dunno, 12 different riffs, all hard-rock driven, and for the most part, all difficult to perform, physically. I remember a serious frustration throughout the rehearsal room; we'd settle on a form, play through it at different tempos, record it and play it back, scratch our heads, leave, and come back the next night feeling as though we'd made no progress, and chop it up and rewrite riffs, write new riffs and record a new scratch track, and repeat, or at least, that's how I remember it. It was stressful. We had impending recording dates, lots of personal life crap going on... it was just a mess of tension and disagreement. It wasn't until Darrell had had a chance to put his creative tweaks on it that I really felt like we were making something great, and I mean really great. The song reminds me of many moments in life in which we all have to, in full awareness of our own impending discomfort and a likelihood of failure, commit to slog through that muck and stress and sheer mental exhaustion, "return to the wasteland," if you will, because we all know that somewhere on the other side could be something really, really great.
Saturday, May 27, 2017
Tim Abrigg Jr.'s Rock and Roll News Of The Day!: Today's Day In Rock News!
Tim Abrigg Jr.'s Rock and Roll News Of The Day!: Today's Day In Rock News!: Today's Day in Rock Stories Guns N' Roses Add 15 Dates To North American Reunion Tour Guns N' Roses are returning home f...
Today's Day In Rock News!
Today's Day in Rock Stories
Guns N' Roses Add 15 Dates To North American Reunion Tour
Guns N' Roses are returning home for more North American dates for their Not In This Lifetime Reunion tour this fall. The announcement was a day later than expected but on Thursday the band revealed fifteen additional U.S. stops for the trek.
The reunited lineup of the legendary band featuring Axl Rose, Slash and Duff McKagan have added one stop to their previously announced summer North American stadium tour and have now extended the trek into the fall with 14 additional U.S. arena shows.
The new dates begin with an August 5th show in Little Rock, AK at the War Memorial Stadium, followed by the kick off the fall leg on October 8th in Philadelphia at the Wells Fargo Center.
The band will be concluding the epic run with a two night stand in their home town of Los Angeles first with a November 24the show at the Staples Center followed the next night with a concert at The Forum. Read more here.
Rolling Stones Guitarist Recovering From Lung Surgery(hennemusic)
Rolling Stones guitarist Ron Wood has revealed that he is recovering following surgery to remove a small lesion from his lungs that was discovered during a routine screening.
The rocker - who turns 70 next week - is expected to make a full recovery ahead of the band's fall European tour as no additional treatment is necessary.
"I'm so grateful for modern screening which picked this up so early," Wood said of the discovery and medical procedure, "and would like to thank all the doctors who treated me."
The Rolling Stones will begin the No Filter European tour at the Stadtpark in Hamburg, Germany on September 9. here.
Linkin Park Singer Reacts To Corey Taylor's Remarks
Linkin Park singer Chester Bennington has made headlines recently with his bashing of fans that have been critical of his band's change in musical direction but now appears to be taking remarks made by Corey Taylor about the controversy to heart.
Taylor is currently promoting the new Stone Sour album and during an interview he was asked about Bennington's harsh reaction to 'sell out' accusations. Corey said, "I understand where he's at. God, I would've never say it the way he did, but you get frustrated and you want people to embrace the evolution. At the same time, you should probably be very, very fortunate that people this far along the line still love that music you made."
Bennington took to Twitter earlier this week to react to the Slipknot frontman's advice. He said in a series of tweets, "Just heard Corey Taylor's response to something I said in an interview and I agree with him. I do appreciate our fans. I'm human and sometimes take things too personally. Most of our fans have been very positive lately. Some... not so much.
"Either way... there is a lot of passion on both sides and I am grateful to all of our fans. Corey is a good dude and I appreciate him too. Time to recalibrate my perspective. So I say to all of our fans... Thank you and I love you all. Peace, love and happiness."
Iron Maiden Didn't Know If They Had A Future
Iron Maiden founder Steve Harris is thrilled that frontman Bruce Dickinson is in top form following his recent cancer battle and admits that he feared for the band's future during the ordeal.
The legendary band continues to be one of the most popular bands in the world, selling out arenas and stadiums during their epic tours. They are preparing to launch the North American leg of their The Book Of Souls World tour and Harris says that Bruce's cancer has not had the impact that the band once feared.
Steve tells The Express & Star, "Right from the first show, and even in rehearsals, he was singing really well. He's really happy where he's at with his voice, and so are we. Obviously, there was no guarantee he was going to get back in top form, but he really has. He's singing as good as or better than ever.
"Two years ago we didn't know if we had a future, to be honest. It was very serious. The main thing was whether Bruce was going to be OK - that was first and foremost. Once you get on from there, you think, 'Wow, have we still got a future or not?'
"It affects everybody, not just us but people who work for us and everything else. It's a big responsibility weighing on you. At the end of the day, we're just really happy to be here. You never know how long you can carry on for."
New Mix Of Beatles Sgt. Pepper's More Precise Says Martin(Gibson)
Back in 1967, Beatles producer George Martin spent three days mixing the stereo version of the band's Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album. But he spent three weeks mixing the mono version. That's one of the reveals from NPR's recent conversation with Giles Martin, son of the legendary soundman.
The younger Martin, who spearheaded the 50th anniversary Sgt. Pepper's reissues project, also talked about bringing Ringo's drums to life and about the weight of expectations for such an undertaking.
"You know, one of the criticisms of the stereo of Sgt. Pepper was that you couldn't hear Ringo," he said. "Now we can have kick drum, because if you think about that time in 1967, there was a protection [system from producers and mastering engineers] with records then, so you didn't get the needle to jump out of the groove. We've done a great vinyl cut of this, which we did half-speed, so it's a much more precise cut. We still use the same techniques, we've just developed them."
Martin later added: ""You're challenged by this weight of expectation, but the joy is actually just finding how great Geoff Emerick's engineering was, how great my dad was as a producer, how organized the recordings are and, you know, the beauty the arrangements--and how great the Beatles were at playing." Read more here.
Pantera's Rex Brown Changes Direction With Solo Album
Rex Brown is best known as the bassist for iconic metal group's Pantera and Down but he is changing musical direction his forthcoming debut solo album "Smoke On This".
The new record is set to hit stores on July 28th and Brown recorded it in Nashville with his old friend and Music City based guitarist and songwriter Lance Harvill.
Rex revealed in the album announcement that music direction would be different from the genre he is best known for. "We're not going to necessarily cater to metal fans, but the guys who grew up with Pantera, a lot of them love all the same stuff that I grew up on, too. This is just something else I'm doing for fun, man. And musical Freedom. Fun has to come into it or I'm not going to do it. I've had a tremendous career and now I feel like I'm thirty years old again. This has given me that freedom I needed."
He expanded on that them in an interview earlier this month with The Silk And Steel Power. "I wouldn't say it sounds like classic rock, but I would say I was influenced by it. Yeah, I had a really good time. I had a really good friend in Lance Harvill and we wrote a bunch of songs, starting putting a team together and created this chemistry in the studio and it started coming together. We said, 'Well, we'd better put something together.'"
Muse Frontman Matt Bellamy Reveals Details For New Release(Radio.com)
Muse are set to release a compilation called Origin Of Muse later this year, and frontman Matt Bellamy has given more detail about what the album contains.
"We're going to put out something actually, this year," Bellamy said in a new interview. 'We're working on it. It's probably going to be a limited edition, like, package of the first two albums put together, but with all the songs and demos that we made around that time."
'We're hopefully gonna put that out this year," he added. "We're going to call it Origin Of Muse because it's basically the story musically of how we got to the Origin Of Symmetry album." Read more here.
U2 Says 'Worst Of Humanity' Behind Manchester Attack(Radio.com)
During their Jimmy Kimmel Live appearance this week, Irish rockers U2 addressed the terrorist bombing attack on fans at a Manchester, England Ariana Grande concert that left 22 dead and many more injured.
"[The terrorists] hate music, they hate women, they even hate little girls," Bono said during their appearance on the late TV show on Tuesday night. "They hate everything that we love. And, you know, the worst of humanity was on view in Manchester last night.
"And so was the best, as people took perfect strangers into their hands and queued up for blood banks. Manchester has an undefeatable spirit, I can assure you."
The band posted the interview on its official Twitter account with the hashtag #Manchesterstrong. Read more here.
Lindsey Buckingham And Christine McVie Release Studio Video
Fleetwood Mac icons Lindsey Buckingham and Christine McVie have released a new making of video for their forthcoming self-titled collaborative album.
The "Lindsey Buckingham/Christine McVie" is set to hit stores on June 9th and the duo have released the new promo video featuring footage from their sessions at The Village Studios in Los Angeles. Watch it here
Buckingham and McVie will be supporting the album by launching a North American tour on June 21st at Chastain Park in Atlanta. The trek will visit various cities before concluding on July 27th in Denver at the Paramount Theatre. See the dates here.
Billy Idol Announces Limited Edition Triple Disc Set
Billy Idol fans are getting another chance to get their hands on the limited edition triple vinyl disc "BFI LIVE!" package with the release of a new second pressing.
The 16 track package was originally released as a numbered limited edition set for Record Store Day 2016 which quickly sold out but fans now have the opportunity to buy the new, non-numbered pressing, from Idol's online store here.
The vinyl only "BFI LIVE!" features live recordings of a number of classic songs that were captured during Billy's Kings & Queens of the Underground Tour back in 2014 and 15. Read more here.
Paramore Rock New Song On 'The Late Late Show'(Radio.com)
Paramore are currently on the road promoting their new album "After Laughter" but the band made time to swing through James Corden's Late Late Show studio.
They performed "Told You So," the second single from their daring new album, which takes inspiration from the Talking Heads and other '80s New Wave acts. Their set was awash in red light and Hayley Williams continues to toy with jerky, David Byrne-tinged dance moves.
After Laughter marks an interesting departure from the pop-punk aesthetic that brought Paramore to renown. As their tour continues to grow, fan response to the new material seems overwhelmingly positive. Watch the TV appearance here.
Cold War Kids Cover Alice Key's 'No One'
Cold War Kids' recent Spotify Singles series performances of their single "Love Is Mystical" and an cover of Alicia Key's "No One" have now been released.
Frontman Nathan Willett had the following to say about the cover, "I was walking around Times Square with "No One" fresh in my mind and heard a woman yelling, 'we got news war- you're not rich enough baby-' and her words felt both poetic and true.
"With a song this iconic and familiar I felt like adding her words made the lyrics fresh and related to a lot of conversations we're all having right now about how to be hopeful in discouraging times." Stream the session here.
Bush's Unaired Jimmy Kimmel Live Performance Goes Online(hennemusic)
Bush performed their single, "Mad Love", on ABC-TV's Jimmy Kimmel Live on May 22, and video from the late night program is available online.
In addition to the lead track from their seventh album, "Black And White Rainbows", the group also delivered an online exclusive performance of "Nurse" from the record.
The follow-up to 2014's "Man On The Run" was written, recorded and produced by frontman Gavin Rossdale. "Everything I've ever written has been personal, since the days of [1994's debut] 'Sixteen Stone,'" Rossdale tells the Chicago Sun-Times. "It's a very pure thing to write a song and somehow manage your emotions, but I don't like when things are so pessimistic. I wanted this to be a balanced record and somewhat positive, too."
Bush are currently in the middle of a spring tour of North America in support of the project; the three-month run will wrap up in Bethlehem, PA on August 12. Watch the TV performance here.
The Grateful Dead's Phil Lesh Warns New Documentary Not Complete(Radio.com) The new Grateful Dead documentary, Long Strange Trip, has a limited theatrical release yesterday and today (May 26th) before streaming on Amazon Prime beginning on June 2nd.
Though Amir Bar-Lev directed and Martin Scorsese produced the four-hour long film, the band's bassist Phil Lesh told Rolling Stone "it's only telling part of the story."
"The Grateful Dead is sort of a phenomenon that you cannot encapsulate in any one medium or any one event or any one film or recording," he says. "It's great as far as it goes, but it's not the whole story."
Lesh has only seen parts of the doc, but mused that trying to tell the band's story from the outside is like a "blind man feeling a leg and saying it's a tree." Read more here.
Motley Crue Launch PledgeMusic Campaign For Girls Reissue(hennemusic)
Motley Crue have launched a PledgeMusic campaign in support of the expanded 30th anniversary reissue of their 1987 album, "Girls, Girls, Girls", ahead of its release on August 25.
Alongside the project - which will feature five unreleased tracks - the band are offering a variety of bundles and packages for the set, including colored vinyl, commemorative poster/lithograph, vintage t-shirt, vinyl test pressings, a limited-edition, numbered drum head, a flexi single and more.
"It's hard to believe 'Girls, Girls, Girls' already turned thirty this year," says bassist Nikki Sixx. "We went against the grain with this album when it first came out in 1987. The music and lyrics reflect what was going on in the streets of Los Angeles at that time.
"A big thank you to all the fans who have made the album stand the test of time. It's really cool to now see a new generation of fans exploring and digging 'Girls, Girls, Girls' three decades later." here.
Singled Out: Cold Roses' Staying Alive Ain't Easy
Philly rockers Cold Roses are gearing up to release their new album "Escape to Anywhere" on July 21st and released the single "Staying Alive Ain't Easy" today. We asked frontman Rob Clancy to tell us about song. Here is the story:
"Staying Alive Ain't Easy" was written on a cold winter's night (no, seriously). A state of emergency had been declared in the city of Philadelphia for the pending blizzard, rendering one pretty much confined to their place of residence until further notice. As the night gradually fell and morning began to stir, I was somewhere between blissful sleep-deprivation and a healthy dose of cabin fever, when I started getting the itch to write. Knowing that I wasn't about to leave my apartment anytime soon, I locked myself in a room with my guitar and after about 45 minutes, "Staying Alive Ain't Easy" was finished. I had a very basic idea of a verse melody going into it, but that was about it. The lyrics, chorus, and middle-eight all seemed to just flow out all at once. Usually when a song sort of metaphysically happens like that, I tend to be skeptical of its validity, but with this one I remember thinking, "It feels like there's something here."
I was at the point in my life where I was asking myself a lot of the major questions: "What is my purpose?" "Where am I going?" Basically, "What in the hell am I doing with my life?" Of course, one of the under-stated beauties of life is the search and the journey to find those answers. Thinking about all of this and what was going on in my life at the time, the words "staying alive ain't easy" just kept popping up in my head. It basically summed up everything I was experiencing and delivered it in a very direct way. The very notion of what it takes to really stay alive will invariably be different depending on whom you ask. It's a struggle that I think everyone can relate to in some way; but you have to keep moving on, to swim and not sink, to take every guaranteed obstacle of life in stride. To not just sit around and wait for things to happen on their own because tomorrow, everything could change. It's a sentiment that has been expressed throughout human existence and hasn't changed much, only the physical world around us has.
I wanted to create a situational story with a more observer-style narrative using different characters and scenes that would take the personal aspects of what I was expressing in the song, and convey it in different ways. I set the song in my hometown, Philadelphia. I mention the Broad Street Line, which is one of the two subway lines in the city that I used to take nearly every day. Ninth Street is a popular street near where I used to live in South Philly. It's home to the famous Italian Market (there's far more to it than just Rocky training montages, I promise) and a place where I've spent many long nights. Same goes for Ray's Birthday Bar, people are falling out of there all the time and I can't say that I haven't been subject to the occasional misstep myself.
The song was recorded during the sessions for our new album, Escape To Anywhere. I got a call from these guys in Los Angeles, who would later become our record label, saying they'd heard and loved our previous record, No Silence In The City, and wanted to meet. So I grabbed my guitar, stuffed a duffel bag with clothes and jetted off to the west coast. I met them at the studio and played them a couple songs I had been kicking around. By the time I got to "Staying Alive Ain't Easy," they all got up and off their chairs unanimously, urging that song to be the first single release.
In the studio, the song started taking on a life of its own. We recorded the basic tracks the same way we always have; no track-by-track recording, no click track, just us performing it live with the tape rolling. Cold Roses - straight, no chaser. Once we had the sonic foundation, we were then able to start experimenting with various layers of sound and instrumentation. Definitely one of the pivotal differences with this track versus anything else we'd done up to that point, was bringing in other groups of musicians to play on it. We had a live string quartet and full horn-section come in, which allowed us to expand past our usual saxophone/trumpet combo, ushering in a very unique flavor that certainly contributed to the overall aesthetic and vibe of the track. We went from straight, no chaser to a Sazerac.
Overall, it was a labor-intensive but truly enjoyable process, creating and recording "Staying Alive Ain't Easy," particularly because I feel it represents a growing point both within myself and the band. We were in a different city, a different studio, working with new people and recording new songs. There were a lot of other adverse elements surrounding us, but it forced us to get out of our comfort zone and to evolve. I think that very notion in and of itself is reflective of the song's overall sentiment. The desire to move forward despite the constraints around you, to live for the moment without forgetting the past or ignoring the future. To live the life you've envisioned for yourself and the world around you. It "ain't" always easy, but nothing worth fighting for ever is.
Tuesday, May 2, 2017
Tim Abrigg Jr.'s Rock and Roll News Of The Day!: Today's Day In Rock News!
Tim Abrigg Jr.'s Rock and Roll News Of The Day!: Today's Day In Rock News!: Today's Day in Rock Stories AC/DC's Brian Johnson To Receive Walk Of Fame Honor AC/DC frontman Brian Johnson is set to be tha...
Today's Day In Rock News!
Today's Day in Rock Stories
AC/DC's Brian Johnson To Receive Walk Of Fame Honor
AC/DC frontman Brian Johnson is set to be that latest music star honored with a plaque on the NewcastleGateshead Initiative's Local Heroes Walk of Fame.
Johnson, who was born in Dunston, Gateshead, will be joining previous music recipients including Police frontman Sting and Dire Straits' Mark Knopfler, some time this month, according to BBC.
The inductees are selected by a public vote and aside from the hard rock icon, other members of the class of 2017 will include British television presenters John Grundy and Mike Neville, as well as actor Tim Healy.
Journey And Anthrax Stars Launch New Band
Former Journey and Anthrax stars Deen Castronovo and Dan Spitz have teamed up to form a new thrash metal band and are making plans for their first album.
Spitz original revealed the new band via his Instagram page and then discussed the new group during an appearance on Talking Bollocks podcast.
The guitarist shared a series of videos on the social media site, one was captioned "The Riffage begins. Watch how songs are made in Thrash Metal. From the instant God give's me the music. Don't steal my riffs. CASTRONOVO (OZZY, JOURNEY) DRUMS / SPITZ new Thrash band. Coming soon"
He has since posted several new clips and may have revealed the title with "The pieces are falling together. The Architect of Metal ----------> Channeled from God as it was taped. May your day be filled with Metal!!"
Spitz praised his bandmate Castronovo on the podcast (stream it here). "Deen is one of the world's most incredible drummers walking the planet. You first think of him as Journey. Deen's also a lead singer. He sings the ones that Steve Perry wouldn't even sing live.
"17 years in Journey, he played for Ozzy, he played on early Ted Nugent albums. I mean, it goes on, dude. He's pulling out stuff, and I'm, like, 'Are you kidding me, dude? I used to sit and just do bong hits and blast my guitar listening to that album. Are you crazy? I didn't know it was you.'"
Sammy Hagar Supergroup The Circle and Collective Soul U.S. Tour
The Sammy Hagar fronted supergroup The Circle will be hitting the road for a U.S. tour this September, which will feature support from Collective Soul.
Apart from Hagar, the band also features his former Van Halen bandmate Michael Anthony on bass, acclaimed drummer Jason Bonham and guitarist Vic Johnson.
The tour is scheduled to kick off on September 10th at the Glen Helen Amphitheater in San Bernardino, CA and will be wrapping up on September 30th in Maryland Heights, MO at the Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre. Read more here.
Deftones Cancel Show After Chino Moreno Injured
The Deftones announced that frontman Chino Moreno broke his foot which forced the band to cancel Monday (May 1st) night's concert in Cologne, Germany.
The band broke the news to fans with the following social media post, "Regretfully, we have to cancel our show tonight due to Chino breaking the top of his foot. He needs to stay off it for the next day or two.
"No other shows as of now are in jeopardy of being cancelled. We hope to make it back soon to perform for you again. In the meantime, all tickets will be refunded. Thanks for your understanding."
The next stop on the tour is a two night stand in Paris at the Olympia tonight and tomorrow (May 3rd)
Metallica Releasing Limited Edition 3 Disc Album This Week(hennemusic)
Metallica have announced that they are releasing a limited edition three LP vinyl package this Friday (May 5th) that was captured during their sold-out Fifth Members-only show at New York's Webster Hall last fall.
The release will be on 140-gram vinyl - accompanied by a digital download - delivers the band's September 27th, 2016 concert that previewed the November release of their tenth album, "Hardwired…To Self-Destruct."
The set list includes the first ever live performance of "Moth Into Flame", alongside a mix of classic tracks from the band's catalogue. "As we get ready to hit the road and kick off the North American tour," explains Metallica, "we thought it might be cool to revisit the very beginning of Hardwired… by pressing one of the live release celebrations on vinyl."
The 3LP set will be available exclusively online at Metallica.com as well as in the group's pop-up stores in select tour cities this summer. A full track list is available here.
dada Returning With First Song In A Decade And Tour
California rockers dada have announced that they will be releasing their first new single in over a decade and will be hitting the road for a 25th Anniversary tour.
The new song is called "The Bluebird" and was recorded last month with producer/engineer David Way (Pink, Paul McCartney, Foo Fighters, more) at The Waystation in Los Angeles.
The band plans to release the new track this summer to coincide with the launch of their summer and fall anniversary tour and they will also be offering a signed limited edition vinyl 45 of the single. Read more here.
Godsmack Pushing Back New Album Plans To 20th Anniversary
Godsmack have decided to push back the release of their new studio album until next year to coincided with the band's special plans to celebrate the 20th anniversary of their self-titled debut.
Frontman Sully Erna shared a rough outline of the group's plans during an interview with The Rod Ryan Show (via TeamRock). The singer told the show, "We were going to drop a record this year as we didn't want the records to be so spaced apart. But it seems like a theme with us - it's always three or four years before another record comes out.
"Part of that is because by the time it takes you to write and record and tour an album, it's 18 months to two years. But this time, we wanted to do something this year, but we were like, 'You know, let's just wait another second,' because if we release this at the top of 2018, it will be our 20 anniversary of the first record - and we want to do something special." Read more here.
The 1975's New Album May Be Their Last
The 1975 will release their next album, Music for Cars, in 2018. But frontman Matty Healy suggested during a recent interview that the new studio effort may possibly be their last, according to Radio.com.
Healy made the revelation during a recent interview on Beats 1 where he said, "We were always gonna do a trilogy of records. I'm not saying that after this album it's the end of The 1975, but it's the end of an era."
Healy shared the album title and projected 2018 release via a social media post earlier this year. The new album will be the follow-up to their 2016 album "I like it when you sleep, for you are so beautiful yet so unaware of it." Read more here.
The Juliana Theory Add Dates To 20th Anniversary Tour
The Juliana Theory had good news for fans on Monday. The reunited band has announced several additional dates to their upcoming 20th Anniversary tour.
The trek will be kicking off on July 29th in Columbus, OH at the Double Happiness and is now scheduled to run until September 10th where it will conclude in San Francisco, CA at The Regency Ballroom.
Frontman Brett Detar had this to say about the band regrouping for this special tour, "You step away from something for seven years and you realize you miss the small stuff - all the joking around with your buddies. Even just the band text chain that started once we decided to do this tour - full of us all making fun of each other and kidding around - that kind of stuff.
"It's hard to quantify the relationship you have when you're in a band with people you've known forever - some since you were 5 or 6 years old. You literally grow up with these guys. Every failure and every success you share for so long and I think that forms a very deep bond that doesn't really diminish over time." See the dates here.
The Afghan Whigs Announce North American Tour
The Afghan Whigs have announced that they will launching a North American tour this fall in support of their forthcoming album "In Spades", which is set to hit stores in various formats this Friday, May 5th.
The U.S. and Canadian trek is scheduled to kick off on September 6th in Orlando, Fl at The Social and will be concluding on October 26th in Houston, TX at Heights Theater.
The band will also be launching a European tour this summer which is set to get underway on May 26th in Manchester at the Cathedral and will be running until August 13th where it will wrap up in Helsinki at the Flow Festival. See all of the dates here.
Adrenaline Mob Release 'King Of The Ring' Video
Adrenaline Mob have released a new music video for their track "King Of The Ring". The song comes from the group's forthcoming album "We The People," which is set to be released on June 2nd.
"King Of Ring" is the first recording revealed from the new lineup of the group featuring recent additions Jordan Cannata (drums) and Dave Z (bass). Watch the Ron Cote directed video here.
The band will be hitting the road next month to promote the new album. The U.S. tour is scheduled to begin on June 16th in Poughkeepsie, NY at The Loft and will wrap up on July 22nd in Clifton, NJ at Dingbatz. See the dates here.
Sacred Reich Announce 30th Anniversary Tour
Sacred Reich have announced that they will be launching North American and European tours this summer and fall to celebrate the 30th anniversary of their debut album "Ignorance".
The U.S. and Canadian leg of the 30 Years Of Ignorance Tour will feature support from Byzantine on all but the final two dates and is scheduled to begin on September 14th at The Observatory in Santa Ana, CA.
The European leg of the anniversary trek will be kicking off on July 26th at The Underworld in London and will be concluding on August 22nd at the Kyttaro Club in Athens. See the dates here.
Motionless In White Streaming New Song 'Rats'
Motionless In White have released an online stream of their new track "Rats". The song comes from the band's debut studio album "Graveyard Shift", which is scheduled to be released this Friday (May 5th.)
The band premiered the song on BBC Radio 1's Rock Show With Daniel P Carter, and it follows the release of their current Active Rock top 20 single "LOUD (F*ck It)," and the songs "570" and "Eternally Yours".
They will be hitting the road to promote the new album with music festival appearances and joining the second leg of In This Moment's Half God Half Devil Tour this summer. Stream the new song here.
Queensryche Making Progress On Music For Next Album(hennemusic)
Queensryche vocalist Todd La Torre revealed an update on the band's work on the follow-up to 2015's "Condition Human" during an interview with The Metal Voice.
"Right now, we have around fifteen songs," he said. "Not all of them are completed. There are many that are. There are many that have all the arrangements. I went to Seattle and stayed there for a week to ten days, and we just worked on arrangements. Like, 'Okay, here's a good intro, here's a verse, here's a bridge, here's a chorus.' 'Cause once you have that established, there's pretty much your song."
The Seattle rockers were originally aiming to hit the studio earlier this year, but La Torre explains that schedule has been revised. "Right now the tentative recording timeline is to get into the studio September," he says. "It was supposed to be March. But we did a hundred shows last year, and when you only have four days off at home, you're not locking yourself in your studio to work. And you can't force creativity - good stuff." Read more here.
This Wild Life Release Cover Of Nirvana's 'Heart Shaped Box'
This Wild Life are paying tribute to Nirvana with the release of their cover of the grunge icon's classic hit "Heart-Shaped Box", which has been released as a digital single and can be streamed online.
Singer and guitarist Kevin Jordan revealed why the group decided to cover the song, "Growing up in the 90's I think every kid loved Nirvana, but as I grew older I started to appreciate the songwriting and artistry more. While digging back into these old records this song really jumped out at me due to the beautiful but simultaneously haunting melody in the verses.
"I thought it would be a fun and challenging project to approach this song 24 years later with a dark and cathartic arrangement without the huge drums and guitars. Anthony (del Grosso) and I produced the track ourselves after our last US Tour and we hope it comes across as an ode to a songwriter who left this place far too soon." Stream it here.
Mark Mackay Announces Album Release Party
Country-rocker Mark Mackay has announced a special release party for his brand new album "Trials & Tribulations," which will be taking place on May 11th in Los Angeles.
Mackay will be joined at the special show at Lucky Strike Live with performances from Tina Michelle and the Rhinestone Cowboys and Bleeding Harp.
Mark had this to say about the Phil Dixon produced album, "This album compiles my personal songwriting and co-written material, along with outside finds, but all of the tracks remain true to my artistry.
"I think the flow of this album has a quality that traditional country fans will appreciate, while including enough mainstream influence for today's audience." Read more here.
Mastodon's Brent Hinds Does Marriage Proposal Onstage(hennemusic)
Mastodon vocalist/guitarist Brent Hinds proposed to his girlfriend Raisa Moreno on stage during the band's April 28 show at Iron City in Birmingham, AL, and video of the event has surfaced online.
Hinds delivered his proposal at the end of the concert, while his grandmother watched from her seat on stage after rocking out during the evening. The Birmingham stop comes just two weeks into Mastodon's North American tour in support of their seventh album, "Emperor Of Sand."
Recorded last year with producer Brendan O'Brien at the Quarry in Kennesaw, GA, the project recently scored a US Top 10 debut when it entered the Billboard 200 at No. 7. Watch the video here.
Singled Out: The RPMs's Oh My God
Brighton rockers The RPMs are gearing up to release their new EP "Agents Of Change" on June 2nd and to celebrate we asked frontman Jack Valero to tell us about the lead single "Oh My God." Here is the story:
I've always been interested in current events and social commentary and music that reflects it's time. I'd spend most of my late teens listening to songs from the sixties singing about Vietnam, civil rights and the many other issues of that period. I would almost feel jealous of the singer-songwriters back then for having so much to right and talk about, but you know what they say 'be careful what you wish for'. And of course in the last few years I've had no end of things to write about, however what hasn't seemed to change is my generation's lack of identity. Most of the generations before us especially in the previous century have had something to define them such as war or cultural changes. But my generation seems more lethargic and blasé when finding something that brings us all together. Which made me feel somewhat alone. And one day I was thinking all this through and feeling pretty helpless in the face of it all. As I watched the world seem to twist and change out of shape and go backwards completely out of my control I felt somewhat foolish for even caring. I mean what was the point? Even with all my faith in humanity and all the emotional energy put in it all seemed to just end up the same way. And that is where I got the first line of 'Oh My God'.
It was literally what I said in my head, 'Oh my god, what even is the point of it?'. Just a sincere and honest question I kept asking myself, expressing my exasperated frustration at the world. I kept saying it over and over again as I was driving down the road on my own late one night. Then a girl I knew suddenly popped into my head and I thought about how all the girls I'd been with had smoked and how they all tasted like ash when I kissed them. Thats when the final part of the chorus appeared in my mind 'Stuck here counting my regrets, another girl that tastes like cigarettes'. Then the chords came rushing to me, I was humming the top line and the song came into existence! I actually got so excited that I did't realise I was speeding and ended up getting caught by a camera, but the 5 hour long speed awareness course gave me lots of time to think up more lyrics.
As I continued to write the rest the lyrics they very naturally began to from around my frustrations with the world and my feelings of helplessness already set up by the sentiment of the chorus. They came fast and smooth, almost like I'd already written it and was copying it down. Every lyric absolutely nailing the worries and feelings I had been wrestling with. I then brought it to a rehearsal with the others, who began to add their own musical flares to it. Callum (drummer) made the great suggestion we hit the chords once and let them ring out on the chorus as to emphasise the emotion it was expressing and Miguel (bass player) adding bass licks that made the simple chord structure far more interesting. We played it together and made some changes here and there, but we pretty much had the thing done in a week.
It's weird creativeness and inspiration, it's not something you can just switch on and off. It just appears out of nowhere and flows like a river before disappearing again. It's always there on the peripherals of your mind and if you focus on it too much, it'll never work. But ignore it and it'll come and find you and your best work yet may just fall into your lap when you least expect it.
Thursday, April 27, 2017
Tim Abrigg Jr.'s Rock and Roll News Of The Day!: Today's Day In Rock News!
Tim Abrigg Jr.'s Rock and Roll News Of The Day!: Today's Day In Rock News!: Today's Day in Rock Stories Former Guns N' Roses Star Cut Ties To Axl Rose Former Guns N' Roses guitarist Ron "B...
Today's Day In Rock News!
Today's Day in Rock Stories
Former Guns N' Roses Star Cut Ties To Axl Rose
Former Guns N' Roses guitarist Ron "Bumblefoot" Thal reveals that he has not spoken to Axl Rose since he left the group but he is happy to see the current reunion with Rose, Slash and Duff McKagan.
Thal has moved on since leaving the group in 2014 and is now part of the supergroup Art Of Anarchy. He was asked in a interview if he has spoken to Axl since his departure from the group.
He answered, "No. The relationship is over between me and them. They're doing fine and I'm doing fine and that's the way it's supposed to be. I don't regret leaving. I wish it could have smoother on a personal level.
"I'm happy to see what they're doing now and I'm glad I was able to be part of their world that makes people so happy at the shows. It was a gift. I'm grateful and I thank them for it."
Bauhaus's Peter Murphy Suffering Serious Vocal Cords Issues
Bauhaus icon Peter Murphy has revealed that doctors have discovered nodules on his vocal cords, which has forced him to postpone his upcoming Residency at the Chapel in San Francisco until early next year.
Murphy will be receiving treatment for the nodules but it will also require a lengthy recovery. He had this message for fans, "As you can see, I am not allowed to sing or speak for a while, doctor's orders. I must rest my vocal cords. See you when this is over. Love, Peter."
The residency has now been moved to January and February of 2018 and will include special shows that are each focused on a different album from his career.
Peter also announced that he has expanded plans for the series of concerts with two additional shows called Mr. Moonlight" which will focus of Bauhaus classics. Read more including the rescheduled dates here.
Darkest Hour Frontman Slams Victory Records
Darkest Hour frontman John Henry has criticized Victory Records and says that despite releasing five albums with the label and selling hundreds of thousands of copies, he has yet to see a royalty check from the record company.
Henry isn't the first artist to be critical of the Chicago based label. A Day To Remember won a lengthy legal battle against Victory last year with a jury awarding the band $4 million in alleged unpaid royalties, according to Altpress.
On a recent episode of the Lead Singer Syndrome podcast with Silverstein's Shane Told, Henry had this to say (via Lambgoat), "We were one of the few bands that completed a Victory contract. Five albums, yeah, ten years baby. Still haven't seen a royalty check. Hundreds of thousands of units SoundScanned, you know? Not one penny.
"So, maybe someday, we'll get something from them, I don't know... not that it's all about the money or anything … Feeding yourself is pretty tight." Listen to the full podcast here.
Mastodon Offshoot Arcadea Stream New Song 'Infinite End'
Mastodon star Brann Dailor's cosmic synth/psych side project called Arcadea have released an online stream of a brand new track entitled "Infinite End."
The song comes from the group's forthcoming self-titled debut album which is set to be released on June 16th. Aside from Dailor, the band also features Zruda's Core Atoms and Withered's Raheem Amlani/
The cosmic synth/psych collective known as Arcadea has premiered a new song called "Infinite End" today. The song is found on the band's debut, self-titled album that's set for release on June 16th via Relapse Records.
According to the announcement, the trio "tell the story of a future 5 billion years from now where galaxies have collided, leaving catastrophic disorder in its wake as war is waged among gods and planets, and Arcadea reign supreme as the last surviving space wizards since the final extinction." Stream the song here.
Avenged Sevenfold Release 'God Damn' Video
Avenged Sevenfold have released a new music video for their track "God Damn". The song comes from the group's latest album "The Stage", which they released last fall.
Frontman M. Shadows had these comments about the new Anders Rostad directed clip (via TeamRock), "There's a bunch of ideas that were thrown into the mixing bowl there - but the main idea was to get fans involved and make sure the kids knew this is a song full of energy first and foremost.
"But at the same time, we wanted the technological hint in there, so as the video progresses you start seeing things glitching out and all of a sudden the world turns digital."
He adds: "By the end, there's a little nod to the lyrics - you see an eyeball kind of in there as an Easter egg, which is kind of big brother watching what we do the whole time as the humans turn into a digital world." Watch the video here.
The Melvins Announce Massive North American Tour
The Melvins are in an epic mood lately. Not only will they be releasing a new double album this summer, they are planning to hit the road for a massive North American tour.
The tour will span the summer into the fall and is scheduled to kick off on July 5th in San Diego, CA at the Casbah and will run until October 3rd where it will wrap up in Flagstaff, AZ at The Green Room.
The band has recruited Spotlights to support them on the trek and The Melvins will also be taking part in Tool's special one-off festival like show at the Glen Helen Amphitheater in San Bernardino, Ca on June 24th.
The Melvins are launching the tour in support of their forthcoming double album "A Walk With Love & Death" which is scheduled to be released on July 7th. See the dates here.
Converge Begin Recording New Studio Album
Converge have entered the recording studio to begun work on their new studio album, according to a new social media post from drummer Ben Koller.
He took to Instagram on Wednesday and shared with fans, "Well this is intimidating. 0 down, 18 to go. Please post your favorite inspirational quotes to guide me through this difficult time. "
The new album will follow the group's 2012 effort "All We Love We Leave Behind". The band will also be hitting the road this summer for a series of music festival appearances and a short tour with Neurosis and Amenra. See the dates here.
The Afghan Whigs Release 'Oriole' Video
The Afghan Whigs have released a brand new video for their track "Oriole". The song comes from their forthcoming album "In Spades", which is set to hit stores on May 5th.
The NSFW video was directed by Amy Nicole Hood and can be streamed here. The new studio effort will be offered in a variety of formats including CD, a 180 gram vinyl and digitally.
The band has also revealed the first round of live dates in support of the new album, beginning with a sold out show at the famed Apollo Theater in Harlem on May 23rd, followed by a European tour. Read more here.
The Church Announce U.S. Summer Tour Dates
Alternative rock icons The Church have announced that they will be visiting the United States this summer where they will be launching a short series of live dates.
The run of summer dates is scheduled to begin on June 28th in Ann Arbor, MI at The Ark and will be wrapping up on July 8th in Pawling, NY at Daryl's House.
The trek will include a performance at this year's Summerfest in Milwaukee on June 29th, stops in Cincinnati, Nashville, a two night stand at the City Winery in Chicago, Richmond and Ardmore, PA. See the dates here.
Sevendust Announce 20th Anniversary Tour
Sevendust have announced that they will be hitting the road this summer for a short run of shows where they will be celebrating the 20th anniversary of their debut album.
The band released their self-titled album in 1997 and will now stage some special concert in the eastern U.S. this June where they will be performing the effort in full.
The shows are scheduled to kick off on June 21st in Baltimore, MD at Rams Head Live! and will be concluding on June 25th in Worcester, MA with a show at The Palladium. Read more here.
Halestorm's Lzzy Hale Warns Bands Of Wrong Motivations
Halestorm frontwoman Lzzy Hale says bands should pursue music because they love it and warns up and coming groups to avoid any other motivations including greed.
Hale was asked by Rawkus Radio (via NRT) what advise she would offer to young bands and she responded, "Number one is absolutely do it because you love it," said Lzzy. "Don't do it for any other reason. We've seen so many bands just crumble because their idea of success is money or getting people to know you and all this stuff.
"We're all perpetually, like, 14 inside; we haven't really grown up. And we still get that same feeling right before a show, and it's like we're 14 again. And it's because we love it. It has nothing to do with any of the petty things." Read more here.
In This Moment Announce North American Summer Tour
In This Moment appear to be having so much fun on their current North American tour that the band has announced plans for a new summer leg and revealed most of the new dates.
The run of shows are currently scheduled to kick off with a special show on June 19th in Mt Pleasant, MI at Soaring Eagle Casino where they will be supporting Avenged Sevenfold.
The final announced dates will be taking place on August 5th in Lincoln, NE at the Centennial Mall & M Street. In This Moment have recruited Motionless in White, former Slipknot star Joey Jordison's new band Vimic, and Little Miss Nasty as the support acts for the trek. Read more here.
Red Fang Star Intimidated Sharing Stage With Slayer
Red Fang's Bryan Giles was a featured guest on the latest Wikimetal podcast and revealed during the interview that he finds sharing the stage with Slayer intimidating.
Giles on what it is like to play a festival with Slayer and he responded, "There are Metal fans and there are Slayer fans. I love Slayer, I'm a huge fan. It's intimidating [playing with them] because if you ask me, they're the best Metal band in the world.
"They have consistently put out some of the best Metal records and they never compromised their sound for changing styles. They stayed true to what they're doing. Even the best Metal bands in the world, they moved with the fashion. And Slayer never did that." Listen to the full episode here.
Paradise Lost Reveal New Details For Forthcoming Album
Paradise Lost have revealed some new details about their forthcoming album, which they are planning to release towards the end of this coming summer and will be entitled "Medusa".
Greg Mackintosh promises, "The new album will be slower, sludgier and more doom filled than ever before. Eight riff laden monster tracks of sheer Northern misery."
The band is currently wrapping up work on the album which they recorded at the Orgone Studios in Woburn, England. It will following their 2015 record "The Plague Within" and the group plans to reveal more details soon.
Pearl Jam Announce Complete Scores Book(Gibson)
Pearl Jam announced the release of Pearl Jam Anthology -- The Complete Scores, a 800-page hardcover book with lyrics and instrument transcriptions for each one of the group's album tracks, all the way from "Ten" to "Lightning Bolt."
Pearl Jam Anthology -- The Complete Scores, which will run $75 retail, is available for pre-order on Pearl Jam's website and Amazon at lower price. The book will arrive next month.
In other news, Pearl Jam guitarist Mike McCready is gearing up to release a photo book, called of Potato Heads and Polaroids, on May 30. McCready will also host some live events to promote the book, including a date May 30 in Seattle and June 7 in New York City. Read more here.
Enslaved Enter The Studio For New Album
Enslaved have announced that they have begun studio work on their forthcoming 14th studio album, the follow-up to their 2015 release "In Times".
The group is recording the new effort at Duper & Solslottet Studios in the city of Bergen in their native Norway and mixing and mastering will be handled by Jens Bogren at Fascination Street Studios.
Ivar Bjornson had this to say, "It is absolutely fantastic to be in the studio with these new songs. So many doors were opened with In Times and the times (sic) that followed; for us as a band, for me as a composer and I guess for us all on a personal level." Read more here.
Mark Slaughter Launches 'Halfway There' Video Series
Mark Slaughter has launched a new video series where he is offering fans a behind the scenes look at his forthcoming solo album "Halfway There", which is set to be released on May 26th.
The first episode of the new in-studio video series gives fans a look at a song called "Conspiracy". The new album was produced and co-mixed by Slaughter with John Cranfield (AFI, Andy Grammer).
Fans can also catch Slaughter live this spring with appearances at some of the leading music festivals including Rocklahoma and the Outer Banks Music Festival. Watch the new video clip here.
Justin Symbol & The God Bombs Release 'Godhead' Video
Justin Symbol & The God Bombs has released a music video for their new track "Godhead". The song is the title cut from their forthcoming sophomore album, which they plan to release in October.
The new clip is said to be "an homage to 70s psychedelic/occult film makers such as Alejandro Jodorowsky and Kenneth Anger" and was filmed in Joshua Tree last June.
According to the announcement, the song "tells the story of Justin Symbol's quest for a mystical cactus shaped microphone atop a mountain in Joshua Tree. He is challenged along the way by various evil forces attempting to thwart his conquest." Watch the video here.
Skillet's John Cooper Takes Part In Marvel's Playback
Skillet's John Cooper is featured in a new installment of Marvel's Playback series where he shares his love for comics, and the revealed lessons he's learned from their stories and heroes.
"What makes a hero is someone who does something selfless…Someone who stands up for someone who is weak," says Cooper. "Working in rock and roll is good, but being a hero is better."
In other Skillet news, the band's latest single "Back From The Dead" is set to be used in SyFy's new series, Blood Drive. The episode featuring the Skillet track will be the premiere of the show on June 14th. Watch the Marvel's Playback video here.
Singled Out: Onesie's Daytime King
Onesie just released a video for their song "Daytime King" and to celebrate we asked the group's mastermind Ben Haberland to share the story behind the track with us. Here is the story:
Like most Onesie songs, "Daytime King" one was born from a guitar idea I stumbled on while noodling around on my couch. The cyclical, climbing riff was likely inspired by Blur's "There's No Other Way", a song I've loved for many years. I wanted to evoke a loose kind of shuffling feel with that guitar hook weaving around a repeating bass and drum groove. It needed a twist, so In the verse there's a wall of Big Muff guitars that sort of interrupts the flow ands disappears pretty quickly. I made a casual bedroom demo of the song back in 2013. I remember overdubbing the shaker and really getting into "snare hunter" mode to stay on beat. There's that great moment in the Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers doc where he talks about how vital the shaker was in mixing "Refugee". I have a tendency to write too many parts but thankfully the shaker helped temper that and glue the disparate pieces together. I was worried that the overall feel landed somewhere between Kool and The Gang and Spin Doctors but when the band played it we really dug into the dynamics and enjoyed how different it was than the rest of the songs.
I keep an ongoing notepad file of lyrical ideas on my phone. When I'm demoing, I'll pull out a line that works with the music and it generally flows from there. Though this set of lyrics are kind of random and whimsical, the line "you're right there with me, jingling the keys" is pretty close to my heart. It was inspired by working on photo shoots and watching the trick of the jingling keys to make toddlers look in the direction of the camera. The same trick actually terrifies my cat into coming back into our apartment when she gets too curious about the hallway. Life is constantly sending you distractions that make you second guess your choices. You can either react to the jingling keys or you can put on your blinders and persevere. It's an ode to staying focused on your own long game through the ceaseless noise.
Since the guitar/bass relationship was kind of busy, I went for a vocal cadence that is less lyrically dense than than something I would typically write. With vocals piping in and out like horns over the groove, I got into the frame of mind of Steely Dan and layered in some harmonies that made everything smoother. The actual phrase 'Daytime King' became lodged in my brain after going to a Late Show with David Letterman taping a few years ago. Regis Philbin was the guest, and it was great because he was not promoting anything. It was a very relaxed, friendly visit, with stream of conscious chatting. At some point the term "King Of Daytime" came up and I wrote it down. It's one of those perfectly hollow titles of celebrity nobility. I mean, I associate daytime TV with boredom or failure- something negative. He was just so self-assured and charming about accepting his role as THE Daytime King. A few weeks later there was a big Winter storm in New York, and as the song says they did indeed "close the city".
This song has a fun extended breakdown with both two of my favorite things happening at once- a mosh beat and a harmony solo! I have a tendency to go crazy with layering those Thin Lizzy guitar parts. They're just so tasty. I'll end with a little trivia. The spoken line in the bridge right before the solo is pretty much a direct quote from a moment of punk rock triumph in a lesser celebrated John Hughes movie. It's one of those lines that drifted around my subconscious for decades and it just came out when we were overdubbing and sounded right.
Wednesday, January 18, 2017
Tim Abrigg Jr.'s Rock and Roll News Of The Day!: Today's Day In Rock News!
Tim Abrigg Jr.'s Rock and Roll News Of The Day!: Today's Day In Rock News!: Today's Day in Rock Stories Ozzy Osbourne Leads Music Festival Lineup Ozzy Osbourne leads the big names lined up for the second annu...
Today's Day In Rock News!
Today's Day in Rock Stories
Ozzy Osbourne Leads Music Festival Lineup
Ozzy Osbourne leads the big names lined up for the second annual Chicago Open Air festival, which will mark the metal legend's first solo concert following the retirement of Black Sabbath.
Apart of Ozzy, the festival will be calling out the big guys with sets from Megadeth, KISS, Rob Zombie, Anthrax, Korn, Godsmack, Stone Sour, Slayer, Lamb Of God, Seether, Meshuggah,Lamb Of God, Seether, Meshuggah and more.
The festival is set to take place on July 14th, 15th and 16th at the Toyota Park in Highland, IL with KISS headlining the opening night, Korn leading the lineup the second night and Ozzy closing out the final night. here.
Grim Reaper Frontman Has Part Of His Leg Amputated
Grim Reaper frontman Steve Grimmett has had part of his leg amputated as he battles a serious infection, according to posts made by his wife Millie on social media.
Grimmett was hospitalized following a Steve Grimmett's Grim Reaper concert in Guayaquil, Ecuador on Saturday night (January 14th). His wife posted the following initial message on the band's Facebook page, "As many of you know steve was taken Ill at Saturday nights gig and he sung most of it sitting down.
"After the show Steve was taken to hospital where he had an operation to remove an infection from his foot and bones. He is still in hospital in Guayaquil but this is all I know right now. Once I have more information I will let you know. Thank you for all your support and kind words. It means a lot."
Unfortunately, she revealed in a later update that the surgery did not work and he had to have part of his leg amputated. She wrote Tuesday, "unfortunately the operation didn't work and steve is currently in the operating theatre having limbs removed." Read more here.
Radiohead Announce U.S. Spring Tour Dates
Good news for Radiohead in the U.S., the band has announced that they will be playing a string of tour dates in various cities across the United States this spring.
The dates surround the acclaimed British's band's headline set at this year's Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival where they will be leading the lineup on April 14th and 21st.
Apart from the two weekend music festival appearances in Southern California, the band revealed plans to play additional shows in Miami, Atlanta, New Orleans, Kansas City, Seattle, Portland (OR), Santa Barbara, and Berkeley. Read more and see the dates here.
A Perfect Circle May Reveal New Music This Year
Tool fans may patiently be waiting for a new studio album but it appears that another of Maynard James Keenan's other bands A Perfect Circle may be releasing new music this year, according to comments from Billy Howerdel.
The band cofounder Howerdel sat down for an interview to discuss A Perfect Circle's recently announced U.S. tour dates, their first in six years and he revealed that fans may soon get the first new music from the acclaimed group since their 2004 album "Emotive".
He said cautiously, "We're not promising anything, but I have every intention of doing my best to have us playing some new tracks during this run, with the idea that new music is coming very soon after." Read more here.
Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds Announce U.S. Tour
The Dave Matthews Band may be taking this year off from their annual blockbuster summer tour but that will not keep the band's namesake from hitting the road.
Dave Matthews has announced that he will be teaming up with his frequent collaborator Tim Reynolds to launch acoustic tours of the United States and Europe this spring.
They will kick things off with the previously announced Dave & Tim Riviera Maya three day event that will be taking place in Mexico on February 23rd through 25th. Read more here.
Billy Corgan Fuels Hope For Smashing Pumpkins Reunion(New Rock Times)
Billy Corgan has fuelled hopes of a potential Smashing Pumpkins reunion by revealing he is in regular contact, and on good terms with some of his ex-band members.
The Pumpkins frontman and founder has patched up his differences with each of his founding member band mates in recent years, including D'Arcy Wretzky who he didn't speak to for almost 20-years.
Chicago Radio station WLUP report that a reunion could happen but it wouldn't be a long term thing. "I just talked to guitarist James Iha the other day, things look good for us getting together to play. We're talking about it, we'll see," he said.
"The reunion thing is always a bit weird, because then people come in with their expectations. So my whole thing is if we're going to do it, I think we do it to make people happy, and not go against the tide of what people would want to hear and that type of stuff, but my interest in it is sort of limited. I'm not going to do it for 14 years of my life." Read more here.
KISS Won't Make New Albums Due To Filesharing(New Rock Times)
Gene Simmons says illegal file sharing and downloading is the reason KISS are reluctant to record a new record insisting the band are not a charity and he has no interest in making a new record unless there is 'a financial model that works' for them.
The KISS mainman was speaking on The SDR Show and when questioned as to what keeps the band recording new music after four decades in the industry he responded.
"That's less of an incentive, because downloading and file sharing. People have convinced themselves they don't wanna pay for stuff," he said. "And last time I checked, KISS is not a charity. We're philanthropic, but I'll be the one that decides how much I give and where. I don't want some college kid to decide, 'You have enough money. I don't wanna pay for your record.' Okay, then go download and Radiohead record and see what happ… No, I ain't about that."
He added: "Make a distinction between commerce and philanthropy. So the idea of doing another Kiss record, unless and if there's a financial model that works, personally I'm not interested in it." Read more here.
Aerosmith and Los Lobos Stars Join Experience Hendrix Tour
The 2017 Experience Hendrix Tour just added more star power with the announcement that Aerosmith's Brad Whitford and David Hidalgo And Cesar Rosas from Los Lobos will be joining a few of the stops of this year's installment of the annual tribute tour.
They will be joining the lineup for select dates on the trek which will also include Buddy Guy, Black Label Society and former Ozzy Osbourne guitarist Zakk Wylde, Jonny Lang, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Dweezil Zappa, Keb' Mo', Doyle Bramhall II, Ana Popovic, The Slide Brothers, Mato Nanji from Indigenous, Beth Hart, and Jimi Hendrix Experience/Band of Gypsys bassist Billy Cox.
Brad Whitford will be taking part at the stops in Jackson, MS, Houston and San Antonio. He had this to say about his previous experience on the tour "It's such a wonderful atmosphere. Sometimes we'd get on the bus and travel at night and we're watching old Hendrix videos. It just doesn't stop. It's a great group of people." Read more here.
Metallica's Hetfield Sees No Reason For Bad Blood With Mustaine(New Rock Times)
Metallica frontman James Hetfield says there is no reason for any ill feeling to remain between him and former bandmate and Megadeth mainman Dave Mustaine.
Mustaine was famously kicked out of Metallica in the early 1980's but Hetfield insists it is all ancient history with each man making their own journey to the point in their lives where they sit today.
"There's no reason [for things] to not be good [between us]" he said. "At this point, we've all freakin' fell off the wagon, we've all gone into the ditch, we've all gotten back on track, we've all learned from our stuff. And at the end of the day, it's just journeys - everyone is doing a different journey - and why would you hold a grudge with someone or vice versa?"
In an interview with WTF with Marc Maron podcast Hetfield explained the catalyst for the historic 'Big 4' shows the band took part in alongside fellow thrash legends Megadeth, Anthrax and Slayer. "It really started [when Metallica was inducted into] the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame [in 2009]," he commented.
"Getting nostalgic and thinking, 'My God, look at all the people that have helped us along the way, and look who are still around. Let's say 'thank you' to them.' And so the 'Big Four' was kind of that thing. We're all still playing after thirty… whatever it was… thirty-two years. "Let's go do a gig together. I mean, why shouldn't we?" Read more here.
Black Sabbath Members Curate New 31-Track Release
As Black Sabbath approach the final show of their farewell tour on February 4th in their hometown of Birmingham, a new compilation from the metal legends will be hitting stores.
Rhino has announced that they will be releasing "The Ultimate Collection" on February 3rd, which will feature 31 classic tracks and was curated by the band members.
The compilation will be released in standard 2-CD and digital formats as well as a limited edition "Crucifold" 4-LP heavyweight vinyl version that will be housed in a case in the shape of a cross.
The tracks on the release were remastered by renowned engineer Andy Pearce (Motorhead, Deep Purple, Lou Reed, Iggy & The Stooges). See the tracklisting here.
George Harrison Vinyl Box Set Announced(hennemusic)
Late Beatles legend George Harrison's complete catalog of solo albums will be released in a new box set, "The Vinyl Collection", on February 24.
In sync with the late Beatle guitarist's 74th birthday the next day, the package includes all twelve of Harrison's studio albums - from 1968's "Wonderwall Music" to 2002's "Brainwashed" - complete with exact replicas of the original release track listing and artwork.
The project also delivers the 2LP "Live In Japan", as well as two 12" single picture discs from 1987's "Cloud Nine" - "When We Was Fab" and "Got My Mind Set On You."
Material for the catalog reissue has been newly-remastered from the original master tapes and pressed onto 180-gram heavyweight vinyl. The individual albums from the collection will also be available separately, with "All Things Must Pass" as a limited-edition title. Read more here.
Rolling Stones Documentary Coming To TV Next Month
Cable and satellite network AXS TV have announced that they will be broadcasting the Rolling Stones documentary "Crossfire Hurricane" on February 14th at 9pm E/6pm P.
The film, helmed by Brett Morgen, examines the legendary rock group's first twenty years from 1962 to 1981 and features exclusive interviews with past and present members Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Mick Taylor, Ronnie Wood, and Bill Wyman.
The movie was originally released on DVD and Blu-ray in 2013 and is available here. The synopsis reads: "Taking its title from a lyric in Jumpin' Jack Flash, Crossfire Hurricane gives the viewer an intimate insight into exactly what it's like to be part of The Rolling Stones as they overcome denunciation, drugs, dissensions and death to become the definitive survivors." Read more here.
Arch Enemy Release As The Stages Burn Trailer
Arch Enemy have released a trailer for their forthcoming DVD/Blu-Ray live release "As The Stages Burn!," which is set to hit stores on March 31st, 2017.
The release will feature footage that was captured by 13 cameras during the band's headline performance at Wacken Open Air music festival back in 2016 and the bonus material will include behind the scenes footage, the music videos from their "War Eternal" album, a previously unreleased "Time Is Black" video, as well as portions of their "Tokyo Sacrifice" live DVD.
"As The Stages Burn!" is set to be released in the following formats" limited edition CD+DVD Digipak, Gatefold 2LP+DVD and as digital album. Europe will also be offering fans a Ltd. Deluxe CD+DVD+Blu-ray Box Set. Watch the trailer here.
Sanctuary Streaming Rare 1986 Demo
Metal veterans Sanctuary have released a stream of a newly remastered version of their 1986 demo "Die For My Sins", which is just one of the tracks from their forthcoming "Inception" album.
Guitarist Lenny Rutledge had this to say about the demo, which can be streamed here, "Die for My Sins was always one of my favorite Sanctuary songs to play live. On the Inception version we left off the intro and the song starts right into the main riff. I think this version has a real 'in your face' edge to it.
"I'm excited that after much effort we were able to restore these nearly destroyed master tapes. Now we can share the proper audio versions with all of our fans!" here.
ONI Release Horror Themed Video Featuring Lamb of God's Randy Blythe
ONI have released a new music video for their track "The Only Cure", which features guest vocals from Lamb of God's Randy Blythe. The song comes from their 2016 album "Ironshore."
The video was directed and edited by Abraham Roofeh and was created as mini serial killer-themed horror film. Blythe had the following to say about the new clip:
"What a super creepy video! Horror fans will love it - the production is Hollywood film-quality. It looks like something out of a SAW or Hostel movie. I had a lot of fun with the ONI guys recording this track, and it's cool to see the music set to such dramatic scenery. Nightmares..." Watch the video here.
Walls Of Jericho Release 'Forever Militant' Video
Walls Of Jericho have released a new music video for their track "Forever Militant". The song comes from the group's 2016 studio album "No One Can Save You From Yourself."
The band had this to say about the new clip, "We shot this over the summer of 2016 at With Full Force Festival as a headliner of the main stage. The band really wanted to show the world what our live shows are live no matter what stage we play big or small.
"Getting ready to support Suicidal Tendencies in 2017 brings us back to Europe in a large club setting and we can't be more excited to see everyone up close and more personal. Forever Militant is a stand out track on our new album so be ready to see us play this song every night on The Persistence Tour." Watch the video here.
Corey Taylor Wants Full Guns N' Roses Reunion?(New Rock Times)
Slipknot and Stone Sour frontman Corey Taylor nailed his musical colors to the mast last week with an Instagram post showing his love for the classic line-up of Guns N' Roses.
A posted on his Instgram showed Taylor sipping from a coffee mug with the names of each of the classic line-up across the front. The reunited Guns N' Roses line-up, currently touring the wildly successful 'Not In This Lifetime' tour, has seen Slash and Duff McKagan reunite with frontman Axl Rose for the first time in more than 20-years.
Classic-era drummer Steven Adler has made a couple of guest appearances on the sticks but is not a fully-fledged member of the band while classic-era rhythm guitarist Izzy Stradlin has not been involved at all. See the photo here.
Ozomatli Announce Special Album Release Event(Glass Onyon)
Ozomatli have announced that they will be debuting their new album, Non-Stop, with a special event at the Troubadour in West Hollywood on Tuesday May 2, 2017.
The show will include appearances and performances by special guests including featured performers on the record and the inspirations behind the music.
Non-Stop was born from the concept of fusing two of music's most powerful traditions: classic and contemporary Mexican songs and signature Jamaican riddims. This record will be released by Cleopatra Records and consists of 14 iconic songs from the past century, re-imagined and re-born with the help of producers Sly & Robbie, one of Jamaica's most accomplished and respected drum and bass duos. here.
Deserted Fear Release 'Open Their Gates' Video
Deserted Fear have released a new music video for their track "Open Their Gates". The song comes from the group's forthcoming album "Dead Shores Rising", which is set to be released on January 27th.
They had the following to say about the new clip, "While you guys are freezing your asses off, we are reminiscing about our last summer. With our latest video, we would love you to take part in our trip to nature - maybe this will distract you from those low temperatures.
"It got pretty hot and sometimes things happen to be different than you thought, but see for yourselves. One thing is for sure, summer will come! With these words in mind, enjoy 'Open Their Gates'!" Watch the video here.
Singled Out: Karabas Barabas' Being A Man
Karabas Barabas' Werdna tells us about their new single "Being a Man" from their new album "Return of the Sexy Demon", which was produced by Steve Albini (Nirvana, Pixies, The Breeders, Foxy Shazam). Here is the story:
The whole concept came from an incident a couple years back. When a drunk ex roommate asked me "What you know about being a man?" I started to think about the contrast between the old way of being a man--tough, brave, invincible--contrasted with the pressures of the modern man, who's become more emasculated, and about the social pressures and the parameters set on what a man should be.
One day at rehearsal Phranque was playing the main riff. I knew as soon as I heard it that it was going to have to be "what you know about being a man". So we started chanting it. Later that night on our way up to Massachusetts we wrote the verse's in the car. We wanted to capture the psyche of the modern man vs a man from the 40s.
Ozzy Osbourne Leads Music Festival Lineup
Ozzy Osbourne leads the big names lined up for the second annual Chicago Open Air festival, which will mark the metal legend's first solo concert following the retirement of Black Sabbath.
Apart of Ozzy, the festival will be calling out the big guys with sets from Megadeth, KISS, Rob Zombie, Anthrax, Korn, Godsmack, Stone Sour, Slayer, Lamb Of God, Seether, Meshuggah,Lamb Of God, Seether, Meshuggah and more.
The festival is set to take place on July 14th, 15th and 16th at the Toyota Park in Highland, IL with KISS headlining the opening night, Korn leading the lineup the second night and Ozzy closing out the final night. here.
Grim Reaper Frontman Has Part Of His Leg Amputated
Grim Reaper frontman Steve Grimmett has had part of his leg amputated as he battles a serious infection, according to posts made by his wife Millie on social media.
Grimmett was hospitalized following a Steve Grimmett's Grim Reaper concert in Guayaquil, Ecuador on Saturday night (January 14th). His wife posted the following initial message on the band's Facebook page, "As many of you know steve was taken Ill at Saturday nights gig and he sung most of it sitting down.
"After the show Steve was taken to hospital where he had an operation to remove an infection from his foot and bones. He is still in hospital in Guayaquil but this is all I know right now. Once I have more information I will let you know. Thank you for all your support and kind words. It means a lot."
Unfortunately, she revealed in a later update that the surgery did not work and he had to have part of his leg amputated. She wrote Tuesday, "unfortunately the operation didn't work and steve is currently in the operating theatre having limbs removed." Read more here.
Radiohead Announce U.S. Spring Tour Dates
Good news for Radiohead in the U.S., the band has announced that they will be playing a string of tour dates in various cities across the United States this spring.
The dates surround the acclaimed British's band's headline set at this year's Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival where they will be leading the lineup on April 14th and 21st.
Apart from the two weekend music festival appearances in Southern California, the band revealed plans to play additional shows in Miami, Atlanta, New Orleans, Kansas City, Seattle, Portland (OR), Santa Barbara, and Berkeley. Read more and see the dates here.
A Perfect Circle May Reveal New Music This Year
Tool fans may patiently be waiting for a new studio album but it appears that another of Maynard James Keenan's other bands A Perfect Circle may be releasing new music this year, according to comments from Billy Howerdel.
The band cofounder Howerdel sat down for an interview to discuss A Perfect Circle's recently announced U.S. tour dates, their first in six years and he revealed that fans may soon get the first new music from the acclaimed group since their 2004 album "Emotive".
He said cautiously, "We're not promising anything, but I have every intention of doing my best to have us playing some new tracks during this run, with the idea that new music is coming very soon after." Read more here.
Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds Announce U.S. Tour
The Dave Matthews Band may be taking this year off from their annual blockbuster summer tour but that will not keep the band's namesake from hitting the road.
Dave Matthews has announced that he will be teaming up with his frequent collaborator Tim Reynolds to launch acoustic tours of the United States and Europe this spring.
They will kick things off with the previously announced Dave & Tim Riviera Maya three day event that will be taking place in Mexico on February 23rd through 25th. Read more here.
Billy Corgan Fuels Hope For Smashing Pumpkins Reunion(New Rock Times)
Billy Corgan has fuelled hopes of a potential Smashing Pumpkins reunion by revealing he is in regular contact, and on good terms with some of his ex-band members.
The Pumpkins frontman and founder has patched up his differences with each of his founding member band mates in recent years, including D'Arcy Wretzky who he didn't speak to for almost 20-years.
Chicago Radio station WLUP report that a reunion could happen but it wouldn't be a long term thing. "I just talked to guitarist James Iha the other day, things look good for us getting together to play. We're talking about it, we'll see," he said.
"The reunion thing is always a bit weird, because then people come in with their expectations. So my whole thing is if we're going to do it, I think we do it to make people happy, and not go against the tide of what people would want to hear and that type of stuff, but my interest in it is sort of limited. I'm not going to do it for 14 years of my life." Read more here.
KISS Won't Make New Albums Due To Filesharing(New Rock Times)
Gene Simmons says illegal file sharing and downloading is the reason KISS are reluctant to record a new record insisting the band are not a charity and he has no interest in making a new record unless there is 'a financial model that works' for them.
The KISS mainman was speaking on The SDR Show and when questioned as to what keeps the band recording new music after four decades in the industry he responded.
"That's less of an incentive, because downloading and file sharing. People have convinced themselves they don't wanna pay for stuff," he said. "And last time I checked, KISS is not a charity. We're philanthropic, but I'll be the one that decides how much I give and where. I don't want some college kid to decide, 'You have enough money. I don't wanna pay for your record.' Okay, then go download and Radiohead record and see what happ… No, I ain't about that."
He added: "Make a distinction between commerce and philanthropy. So the idea of doing another Kiss record, unless and if there's a financial model that works, personally I'm not interested in it." Read more here.
Aerosmith and Los Lobos Stars Join Experience Hendrix Tour
The 2017 Experience Hendrix Tour just added more star power with the announcement that Aerosmith's Brad Whitford and David Hidalgo And Cesar Rosas from Los Lobos will be joining a few of the stops of this year's installment of the annual tribute tour.
They will be joining the lineup for select dates on the trek which will also include Buddy Guy, Black Label Society and former Ozzy Osbourne guitarist Zakk Wylde, Jonny Lang, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Dweezil Zappa, Keb' Mo', Doyle Bramhall II, Ana Popovic, The Slide Brothers, Mato Nanji from Indigenous, Beth Hart, and Jimi Hendrix Experience/Band of Gypsys bassist Billy Cox.
Brad Whitford will be taking part at the stops in Jackson, MS, Houston and San Antonio. He had this to say about his previous experience on the tour "It's such a wonderful atmosphere. Sometimes we'd get on the bus and travel at night and we're watching old Hendrix videos. It just doesn't stop. It's a great group of people." Read more here.
Metallica's Hetfield Sees No Reason For Bad Blood With Mustaine(New Rock Times)
Metallica frontman James Hetfield says there is no reason for any ill feeling to remain between him and former bandmate and Megadeth mainman Dave Mustaine.
Mustaine was famously kicked out of Metallica in the early 1980's but Hetfield insists it is all ancient history with each man making their own journey to the point in their lives where they sit today.
"There's no reason [for things] to not be good [between us]" he said. "At this point, we've all freakin' fell off the wagon, we've all gone into the ditch, we've all gotten back on track, we've all learned from our stuff. And at the end of the day, it's just journeys - everyone is doing a different journey - and why would you hold a grudge with someone or vice versa?"
In an interview with WTF with Marc Maron podcast Hetfield explained the catalyst for the historic 'Big 4' shows the band took part in alongside fellow thrash legends Megadeth, Anthrax and Slayer. "It really started [when Metallica was inducted into] the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame [in 2009]," he commented.
"Getting nostalgic and thinking, 'My God, look at all the people that have helped us along the way, and look who are still around. Let's say 'thank you' to them.' And so the 'Big Four' was kind of that thing. We're all still playing after thirty… whatever it was… thirty-two years. "Let's go do a gig together. I mean, why shouldn't we?" Read more here.
Black Sabbath Members Curate New 31-Track Release
As Black Sabbath approach the final show of their farewell tour on February 4th in their hometown of Birmingham, a new compilation from the metal legends will be hitting stores.
Rhino has announced that they will be releasing "The Ultimate Collection" on February 3rd, which will feature 31 classic tracks and was curated by the band members.
The compilation will be released in standard 2-CD and digital formats as well as a limited edition "Crucifold" 4-LP heavyweight vinyl version that will be housed in a case in the shape of a cross.
The tracks on the release were remastered by renowned engineer Andy Pearce (Motorhead, Deep Purple, Lou Reed, Iggy & The Stooges). See the tracklisting here.
George Harrison Vinyl Box Set Announced(hennemusic)
Late Beatles legend George Harrison's complete catalog of solo albums will be released in a new box set, "The Vinyl Collection", on February 24.
In sync with the late Beatle guitarist's 74th birthday the next day, the package includes all twelve of Harrison's studio albums - from 1968's "Wonderwall Music" to 2002's "Brainwashed" - complete with exact replicas of the original release track listing and artwork.
The project also delivers the 2LP "Live In Japan", as well as two 12" single picture discs from 1987's "Cloud Nine" - "When We Was Fab" and "Got My Mind Set On You."
Material for the catalog reissue has been newly-remastered from the original master tapes and pressed onto 180-gram heavyweight vinyl. The individual albums from the collection will also be available separately, with "All Things Must Pass" as a limited-edition title. Read more here.
Rolling Stones Documentary Coming To TV Next Month
Cable and satellite network AXS TV have announced that they will be broadcasting the Rolling Stones documentary "Crossfire Hurricane" on February 14th at 9pm E/6pm P.
The film, helmed by Brett Morgen, examines the legendary rock group's first twenty years from 1962 to 1981 and features exclusive interviews with past and present members Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Mick Taylor, Ronnie Wood, and Bill Wyman.
The movie was originally released on DVD and Blu-ray in 2013 and is available here. The synopsis reads: "Taking its title from a lyric in Jumpin' Jack Flash, Crossfire Hurricane gives the viewer an intimate insight into exactly what it's like to be part of The Rolling Stones as they overcome denunciation, drugs, dissensions and death to become the definitive survivors." Read more here.
Arch Enemy Release As The Stages Burn Trailer
Arch Enemy have released a trailer for their forthcoming DVD/Blu-Ray live release "As The Stages Burn!," which is set to hit stores on March 31st, 2017.
The release will feature footage that was captured by 13 cameras during the band's headline performance at Wacken Open Air music festival back in 2016 and the bonus material will include behind the scenes footage, the music videos from their "War Eternal" album, a previously unreleased "Time Is Black" video, as well as portions of their "Tokyo Sacrifice" live DVD.
"As The Stages Burn!" is set to be released in the following formats" limited edition CD+DVD Digipak, Gatefold 2LP+DVD and as digital album. Europe will also be offering fans a Ltd. Deluxe CD+DVD+Blu-ray Box Set. Watch the trailer here.
Sanctuary Streaming Rare 1986 Demo
Metal veterans Sanctuary have released a stream of a newly remastered version of their 1986 demo "Die For My Sins", which is just one of the tracks from their forthcoming "Inception" album.
Guitarist Lenny Rutledge had this to say about the demo, which can be streamed here, "Die for My Sins was always one of my favorite Sanctuary songs to play live. On the Inception version we left off the intro and the song starts right into the main riff. I think this version has a real 'in your face' edge to it.
"I'm excited that after much effort we were able to restore these nearly destroyed master tapes. Now we can share the proper audio versions with all of our fans!" here.
ONI Release Horror Themed Video Featuring Lamb of God's Randy Blythe
ONI have released a new music video for their track "The Only Cure", which features guest vocals from Lamb of God's Randy Blythe. The song comes from their 2016 album "Ironshore."
The video was directed and edited by Abraham Roofeh and was created as mini serial killer-themed horror film. Blythe had the following to say about the new clip:
"What a super creepy video! Horror fans will love it - the production is Hollywood film-quality. It looks like something out of a SAW or Hostel movie. I had a lot of fun with the ONI guys recording this track, and it's cool to see the music set to such dramatic scenery. Nightmares..." Watch the video here.
Walls Of Jericho Release 'Forever Militant' Video
Walls Of Jericho have released a new music video for their track "Forever Militant". The song comes from the group's 2016 studio album "No One Can Save You From Yourself."
The band had this to say about the new clip, "We shot this over the summer of 2016 at With Full Force Festival as a headliner of the main stage. The band really wanted to show the world what our live shows are live no matter what stage we play big or small.
"Getting ready to support Suicidal Tendencies in 2017 brings us back to Europe in a large club setting and we can't be more excited to see everyone up close and more personal. Forever Militant is a stand out track on our new album so be ready to see us play this song every night on The Persistence Tour." Watch the video here.
Corey Taylor Wants Full Guns N' Roses Reunion?(New Rock Times)
Slipknot and Stone Sour frontman Corey Taylor nailed his musical colors to the mast last week with an Instagram post showing his love for the classic line-up of Guns N' Roses.
A posted on his Instgram showed Taylor sipping from a coffee mug with the names of each of the classic line-up across the front. The reunited Guns N' Roses line-up, currently touring the wildly successful 'Not In This Lifetime' tour, has seen Slash and Duff McKagan reunite with frontman Axl Rose for the first time in more than 20-years.
Classic-era drummer Steven Adler has made a couple of guest appearances on the sticks but is not a fully-fledged member of the band while classic-era rhythm guitarist Izzy Stradlin has not been involved at all. See the photo here.
Ozomatli Announce Special Album Release Event(Glass Onyon)
Ozomatli have announced that they will be debuting their new album, Non-Stop, with a special event at the Troubadour in West Hollywood on Tuesday May 2, 2017.
The show will include appearances and performances by special guests including featured performers on the record and the inspirations behind the music.
Non-Stop was born from the concept of fusing two of music's most powerful traditions: classic and contemporary Mexican songs and signature Jamaican riddims. This record will be released by Cleopatra Records and consists of 14 iconic songs from the past century, re-imagined and re-born with the help of producers Sly & Robbie, one of Jamaica's most accomplished and respected drum and bass duos. here.
Deserted Fear Release 'Open Their Gates' Video
Deserted Fear have released a new music video for their track "Open Their Gates". The song comes from the group's forthcoming album "Dead Shores Rising", which is set to be released on January 27th.
They had the following to say about the new clip, "While you guys are freezing your asses off, we are reminiscing about our last summer. With our latest video, we would love you to take part in our trip to nature - maybe this will distract you from those low temperatures.
"It got pretty hot and sometimes things happen to be different than you thought, but see for yourselves. One thing is for sure, summer will come! With these words in mind, enjoy 'Open Their Gates'!" Watch the video here.
Singled Out: Karabas Barabas' Being A Man
Karabas Barabas' Werdna tells us about their new single "Being a Man" from their new album "Return of the Sexy Demon", which was produced by Steve Albini (Nirvana, Pixies, The Breeders, Foxy Shazam). Here is the story:
The whole concept came from an incident a couple years back. When a drunk ex roommate asked me "What you know about being a man?" I started to think about the contrast between the old way of being a man--tough, brave, invincible--contrasted with the pressures of the modern man, who's become more emasculated, and about the social pressures and the parameters set on what a man should be.
One day at rehearsal Phranque was playing the main riff. I knew as soon as I heard it that it was going to have to be "what you know about being a man". So we started chanting it. Later that night on our way up to Massachusetts we wrote the verse's in the car. We wanted to capture the psyche of the modern man vs a man from the 40s.
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Today's Day in Rock Stories AC/DC's Brian Johnson To Receive Walk Of Fame Honor AC/DC frontman Brian Johnson is set to be tha...
