Today's Top Stories
Metallica To Perform At Record Store
2016 Record Store Day Ambassadors Metallica have announced that they will doing a special performance at Berkeley, CA record store Rasputin Music on Saturday, April 16th as past of Record Store Day 2016.
The band had this to say in the announcement, "As this year's Record Store Day Ambassadors we will also be celebrating the release of remastered and deluxe versions of Kill 'Em All and Ride The Lightning, getting loud, noisy and sweaty, shaking up the East Bay old-school style."
Lars Ulrich adds, "Getting loud, noisy and sweaty at Rasputin's on Telegraph Avenue in Berkeley transports Metallica right back to the core of its Bay Area beginnings". Find more details, including how to obtain tickets, here.
Guns N' Roses Reunion Tour May Be Expanded(hennemusic)
The Guns N' Roses reunion tour may be expanding beyond its original soon-to-be-announced North American dates. Guitarist Billy Duffy of The Cult shared some breaking news about the GNR trek with Vanyaland ahead of their show in Boston, MA next week.
"I believe we will be playing with them at a couple of shows that are not in the United States - I think I can say that - I believe," Duffy said. "I just found out."
It's unclear at this point if Duffy is referring to a pair of concerts in Mexico City in April or if he's aware of an overseas schedule that has yet to surface. Read more here.
Andy 'Thunderclap' Newman Dead At 73(Classic Rock)
Andy 'Thunderclap' Newman has died, it's been confirmed. The piano player and mainman with his namesake band Thunderclap Newman was 73. The band was formed by The Who's Pete Townshend and Kit Lambert in 1968 as a showpiece for the skills of Newman, John 'Speedy' Keen and Jimmy McCulloch.
The Who confirmed Newman's death in a Facebook post, which reads: "It is with great sadness that we report the death of Andy 'Thunderclap' Newman, who passed away yesterday age 73. Rest in peace."
Thunderclap Newman's biggest hit was 1969's Something In The Air, from the Pete Townshend-produced album Hollywood Dream. Newman died on March 30 (Wednesday) and producer Steve Hoffman paid tribute in a post on his blog. Hoffman says: "Andy himself, I always thought, was even better on a B-side of Something In the Air called Wilhelmina that one can safely assume probably did not get as much airplay as the A-side." Read more here.
King King Frontman Alan Nimmo To Have Vocal Surgery(The Blues)
King King frontman Alan Nimmo will take a 2-month break this year to undergo vocal cord surgery, he's revealed. The band will spend August and September off the road, after having spent a year promoting third album Reaching For The Light.
Nimmo says: "Due to the extensive amount of touring and travelling, I have developed polyps on my vocal coords, and unfortunately I will need a small operation to fix the problem.
"This will require a two-month recovery period so I am able to rehabilitate my voice and get back to match fitness. With great regret, we will be cancelling all shows for the months of August and September." Read more here.
Latest News
Led Zeppelin's John Bonham Tops 100 Greatest Drummers Of All Time List(hennemusic)
John Bonham of Led Zeppelin has topped Rolling Stone magazine's newly-published list of the "100 Greatest Drummers Of All Time." The late sticksman landed at No. 1 ahead of major players like Keith Moon of The Who, Cream's Ginger Baker and Neil Peart of Rush, among others.
Rolling Stone explained that their sure-to-be-hotly-debated list of timekeepers was based on "one important caveat: we used rock and pop as our rubric, so a drummer's work needed to directly impact that world (as we define it, of course) to make the list."
"We valued nuance and musicality over chops and flash," they added, "celebrating players who knew the value of aiding a great song more than hogging up a show with a silly solo." Read more here.
White Stripes Announce Double Disc Record Store Day Release(TeamRock Radio)
White Stripes are releasing a complete Peel Sessions double LP for Record Store Day on April 16. The duo appeared on John Peel's BBC radio show twice in 2001 following the release of their third album, White Blood Cells.
The sessions feature songs from the record and its 2000 predecessor, De Stijl. The promo also includes covers of Dolly Parton's Jolene, Gene Vincent's Baby Blue and the MC5's Looking at You.
Meanwhile, Frank Carter, Bring Me The Horizon and Deftones have announced special releases for Record Store Day. Check out the track details for the White Stripes release here.
Rival Sons Confirm Album Release, Stream New Song
Rival Sons have announced that they will be releasing their fifth studio album, 'Hollow Bones', on June 10th and the group has released an online stream of song "Hollow Bones, Pt 1".
Frontman Jay Buchanan had this to say about the new album "Each record we've made has been part of a distillation towards revealing the band's essence.
"This record is finally the release of the unapologetic, wild beast that has long lived within the ribs of Rival Sons, howling to be freed." Stream " Hollow Bones, Pt 1" here.
Royal Blood Streaming New Song 'Where Are You Now?'(hennemusic)
UK rockers Royal Blood are streaming a new single, "Where Are You Now?", ahead of its debut this weekend on HBO's 1970s music industry drama series Vinyl.
The duo of bassist/singer Mike Kerr and drummer Ben Thatcher were reportedly inspired to write the song after seeing the first trailer for the Mick Jagger/Martin Scorsese produced program.
"Hearing Richie Finestra talk about the first time you heard a song that made your hairs on the back of your neck stand up or made you wanna dance or kick someone's arse," Kerr tells Noisey. "I just wanted to write a song that gave me that sort of buzz."
Royal Blood have been off the road since wrapping up a world tour in support of their 2014 self-titled debut album last fall. Stream the song here.
Martin Henriksson Leaves Dark Tranquillity
Dark Tranquillity guitarist Martin Henriksson has announced that he has left the group, saying that he is departing the band that he helped cofound because he has "lost the passion for playing".
The band had this to say, "While putting the finishing touches on the material for our next album, we have to inform you that guitarist and original member Martin Henriksson sadly but amicably left the band a couple of months ago."
Henriksson says, "I recently quit the band. I feel I have lost the passion for playing music, and Dark Tranquillity deserves to have members that are 100% committed to the art. Therefore I decided it's in everyone's best interest to step aside and leave the band with the best possible ability to grow and get even stronger.
"I've had 26 years filled with wonderful memories and we made a lot of great music together, and for that I'm forever grateful. Thanks to all the fans, crew and other people involved that supported Dark Tranquillity through the years!"
The band has yet to reveal Henriksson's replacement but they have confirmed a tour dates across the world beginning with an appearance at the Feel The Noise Festival later this month in Austria and a series of European festivals this summer followed by a North American tour in November and December. See the tour dates here.
Rita Coolidge Says She Co-Wrote Eric Clapton Classic 'Layla'(TeamRock Radio)
Grammy-winner Rita Coolidge has publicly laid claim to the piano section of Eric Clapton classic Layla - and says she was rudely dismissed when she asked to be credited.
The 1971 Derek And The Dominos song is officially listed as having been written by Clapton and Jim Gordon, her then-boyfriend. She argues that she and Gordon had written a track called Time (Don't Get In Our Way) the previous year, then played it to Slowhand.
Coolidge says in her memoir Delta Lady (via the Miami Herald): "We played the song for Eric Clapton in England. I remember sitting at the piano in Olympic Studios while Eric listened to me play it. Jim and I left a cassette of the demo, hoping of course that he might cover it."
She "largely forgot about it" after that - until she heard Layla after she and Gordon had split up. "I was infuriated," she remembers.
"What they had clearly done was take the song Jim and I had written, jettisoned the lyrics and tacked it to the end of Eric's song. It was almost the same." Read more here.
Atreyu Announce A Death-Grip On Yesterday Anniversary Tour(TeamRock Radio)
Atreyu have announced they'll tour North America to celebrate the 10th anniversary of their record, A Death-Grip On Yesterday. The band are set to play the record in full at each of their shows, with Islander and Sworn booked as support.
Frontman Alex Varkatzas says: "Death-Grip is my favourite 'older' Atreyu album. It represents an exciting time and place for myself and my brothers. It's our most 'to the point' record.
"I also feel it's one of our most natural records as well. Lyrically, I got to run free and it felt great. We are pleased to play it in its entirety and give each song its due."
Atreyu have also scheduled a run of shows in Europe and the US following the anniversary tour, which includes an appearance at the Download Festival. See the A Death-Grip On Yesterday tour dates here.
Davey Havok's Blaqk Audio Stream New Song 'Waiting To Be Told'(Radio.com)
AFI's Davey Havok and Jade Puget released another track today from their forthcoming Blaqk Audio album, Material. The synthetic 80s-sounding song is the opening track on the album, Havok told Billboard.
"It really harkens back to a genre that very much influenced Jade and I and that really was a genre that inspired us to start moving on creating Blaqk Audio, which was, at this point, 15 years ago, believe it or not."
An electronic dance music fan for decades, Havok believes his new music lines up with today's EDM scene. "If we had the opportunity to do an Ultra or EDC or Hard it would be really fun for us." Read more and stream the track here.
American Head Charge Release 'Let All The World Believe' Video(TeamRock Radio)
American Head Charge are debuting the video for their track Let All The World Believe with TeamRock. The song is taken from the band's album Tango Umbrella, released this month via Napalm Records. It's their first album since 2005's The Feeding.
AHC say: "We touched upon different directions. Our influences come from the early 90s, Ministry, Tool, PJ Harvey and so forth. We cover a lot on Tango Umbrella. If people dig it, Cool. If not, Go f*** yourself."
Bassist Chad Hanks previously said: "Tango Umbrella, sonically, feels like a combination of The War Of Art and The Feeding. It's a logical progression for us as we continue experimenting with different feels, sounds and vocal styles. It's heavy in every way possible, and I really think our fans are going to love it." Watch the video here.
Dream Theater's Jordan Rudess Remembers Keith Emerson(Prog)
Dream Theater keyboardist Jordan Rudess has paid tribute to late ELP icon Keith Emerson, saying his style of playing changed his life. Emerson committed suicide earlier this month aged 71.
And Rudess reports that he was lining up a career as a professional classical pianist until he heard ELP's 1971 album Tarkus for the first time. Rudess tells Freqs TV: "This has been a major, sad event in my life because it was completely unexpected. Keith was my keyboard hero. He really was the person who I looked up to. His music changed my path of life.
"I was deeply in the classical path - I was going to be a professional classical pianist. I was going into the college division at The Julliard School. But I waved goodbye because I was already into synthesisers and Tarkus - I was into other things that didn't relate at all to what I had been doing."
Rudess says that Emerson "opened the door" for him to explore a different type of music and adds: "The Emerson thing hit me like a ton of bricks because this person that was not only my keyboard hero became a friend of mine.
"It's something I'll be thinking about for a long time because he left too early, he left us with all this amazing music. Whenever my hands touch the keyboard I'm going to think of him." Watch the full video here.
Killing Joke Release 'New Cold War' Video(Classic Rock)
Killing Joke have released a video for their track New Cold War. The song features on Jaz Coleman and co's latest album Pylon, which was released in 2015.
Bassist Martin 'Youth' Glover said of the record: "It's stark, brutal industrial suicide. It's the third in a tryptich of albums - Absolute Dissent, MMXII and now Pylon.
"We remain genre-blind so our music will always cover a vast spectrum of influences, from disco right through to heavy metal and beyond." The band have also announced a show at London's Brixton Academy on November 4 under The Great Gathering banner. See the dates and watch the video here.
Bullet For My Valentine Ink New Worldwide Record Deal(TeamRock Radio)
Bullet For My Valentine have signed a deal with Search And Destroy/Spinefarm Records. The Welsh metal heroes' four most recent albums - 2008's Scream Aim Fire, 2010's Fever, 2013's Temper Temper and last year's Venom - were all released under the Sony group, with their 2005 debut The Poison being issued on indie label Visible Noise.
The new deal will see future BFMV records released worldwide via Search And Destroy/Spinefarm Records - which is owned by the Universal Music Group.
Frontman Matt Tuck says: "We're very proud and excited to announce our signing to Search and Destroy/Spinefarm Records. It feels great to be part of a family that truly believes in the band and is ready to take us to the next level." Read more here.
Gojira Preview Snippet From New Album(TeamRock Radio)
Gojira have teased fans with a snippet of their as-yet-untitled record, which is due out this summer. The French group have been working on the follow-up to 2012's L'Enfant Sauvage in frontman Joe DuPlantier's newly built New York studio.
He and his drummer brother Mario say that many of the album's songs were half-written when their mother died.
Joe tells Rolling Stone: "The songs were half-written while she was sick. After she died, I still had to finish them. So one song was like, 'You're going to make it,' but the second verse is 'You didn't make it.'
"I felt physically, mentally exhausted. At the same time, though, the way it happened was beautiful. We were all around her. We had to cancel a few shows when she died, but it was very enriching at the same time. We learned a lot about death."
Mario adds: "When you read Joe's lyrics, for me, I cry right away. They're very deep and to the point. No bullsh*t. We recycle our sadness and depression in the music." Check out the preview video here.
Megadeth Were Advised To Change Logo And Grow Beards(Classic Rock)
Dave Mustaine says Megadeth were advised to grow beards and change their logo in the past - but insists he always had the final say on the band's direction.
The frontman admits they took advice on revamping their image following the success of their 1992 album Countdown To Extinction - but says that it didn't work for them.
Asked what changes bosses suggested for Megadeth, Mustaine tells Bonfire: "It basically started after Countdown To Extinction where the logo changed, our look changed. We were supposed to start growing facial hair, and we were told, 'Take the points off your 'M' letters on your logo, get rid of your mascot and stuff.' And we were, like, 'Really?'
"You've gotta remember, Countdown came in at No.2 on the Billboard chart, so we thought, 'Wow! This feels great. Now we're starting to get some direction. This is how you'll be great. You listen to people who have some credibility.' And we did, but it didn't work. And you don't realize that people that have credibility aren't always right." Read more here.
Asking Alexandria Release 18-Minute Interview Video For The Black(TeamRock Radio)
Asking Alexandria have released an 18-minute interview video on the subject of latest album The Black. Their first record with new frontman Denis Stoff was released last month after most of the original production work was scrapped following the departure of Danny Worsnop.
Guitarist Ben Bruce recently described The Black as dripping with "raw energy and aggression," adding: "You turn it on and you're like, 'Wow - they're back.'"
Asking Alexandria are midway through a world tour, culminating in appearances at this year's Reading and Leeds festivals in August. Watch the video here.
Lars Ulrich Says 'Hallelujah! Over Deep Purple's Rock Hall Induction(Radio.com)
For years, hard rock and metal fans felt jilted by the Rock and Roll of Fame; the institution seemed to mostly ignore the genre. The Hall of Fame was co-founded, of course, by Rolling Stone publisher Jann Wenner, who is not a friend to the metal community.
But over the years, the Hall's stance has thawed a bit, with Black Sabbath, Metallica, AC/DC, Van Halen, Rush and even RS adversaries KISS being inducted in recent years.
And next week, 23 years after they were first eligible, the iconic British band Deep Purple is finally being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich couldn't be happier.
Ulrich is a life-long fan; he's also been announced as a presenter at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony, which will take place at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn on April 8.
"It's been no secret that I have been fairly vocal about my appreciation for Deep Purple ever since I was about that big [gestures as if he here knee high]. They have probably been the primary musical backbone in my body ever since I first heard them when I was nine years old. I do believe that most people have heard me say that 'It's long overdue for them to join the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame'… but now they're here: hallelujah!"
He noted their importance during the early days of hard rock and metal: "When I grew up in Copenhagen, Denmark in the early '70s, Deep Purple was the biggest rock band. There were three big bands at the time; Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath and Deep Purple. In Scandinavia, Germany and so on, Deep Purple were the biggest. People were just more aware of them. Led Zeppelin was probably more appreciated in the United States and Black Sabbath obviously were super heavy but I just didn't get to them 'til a few years later." Read more here.
Iamthemorning Streaming New Album 'Lighthouse'(Prog)
Iamthemorning have issued a stream of their latest album Lighthouse. Gleb Kolyadin and vocalist Marjana Semkina will release the record today, April 1 via Kscope.
The duo said of the album: "Lighthouse is a rich and eclectic album, with echoes of classical music, the Canterbury scene, northern folk, jazz and electronic sounds.
"Featuring a story of the progression of mental illness, the album takes the listener through the stages with the story's central character, her attempts to fight it, temporal remission leading to a final breakdown.
"Lyrically, the works and lives of Virginia Woolf and Sylvia Plath inspire the album." Check out the album stream here.
Steven Tyler Sings Dave Grohl's Praises(Classic Rock)
Steven Tyler says that Foo Fighers frontman Dave Grohl is one of his heroes and that the pair are "birds of a feather." The Aerosmith singer points to the fact that both of them emerged from behind the drum kit to take on vocal duties - and reports that he and Grohl have remained down to earth despite their success.
When asked who his heroes are, Tyler tells Rolling Stone: "There's so many, but really anyone that survived trauma. People like Dave Grohl. He could have gone the way of the rest of Nirvana, but he came out from behind the drums and became a guitar-playing lead singer.
"The two of us are birds of a feather. You won't meet two more country, down-to-earth, help-my-wife-make-the-pie type of people than myself and David." Read more here.
Black Peaks Streaming New Song 'White Eyes'(TeamRock Radio)
Black Peaks have released a stream of their track White Eyes. It's taken from the band's upcoming debut album Statues, out on April 8 via Sony Music Entertainment.
The band say: "This was one of the last songs we wrote whilst writing the record and by far one of the most fun to play live. This was one of those songs that has a million different sections that we originally planned to chop down but ended up leaving every last detail in there. We feel it represents us down to the last note."
Black Peaks kicked off a UK tour yesterday (March 31) in Newcastle with Palm Reader and Toska. They'll then head to mainland Europe in June before returning to England for an appearance at this year's Download festival. Stream the song and see the tour dates here.
Japanese Fighting Fish Release 'For Queen Marilyn' Video(TeamRock Radio)
Japanese Fighting Fish have released a video for track For Queen Marilyn. The promo is in support of their third album Swimming With Piranhas, due out on June 17. It's the second single they've streamed from the record, following November's U Ain't Gonna Win This.
Swimming With Piranhas is described as "coming from the real life wild experiences of Karlost and drummer Sweetman in Ecuador whilst staying with a Quechan tribe when they took a dip in the Amazon River.
"After their excursion, the boys did a Lep Zep III move and retreated to the countryside to channel all they had learnt from the 'tribal way of life' into creating an exhilarating thrill-ride record that bites hard and won't let you go." Watch the new video here.
Wire Streaming New Song 'Internal Exile'(Prog)
Wire have made their track Internal Exile available to stream. The song follows last month's release of the band's title track from Nocturnal Koreans, which is due for release on April 29.
The mini-album includes material left over from recording sessions from their 2015 self-titled record. Vocalist and guitarist Colin Newman says: "The Wire album was quite respectful of the band and Nocturnal Koreans is less respectful.
"More accurately, it's the band being less respectful to itself - in that it's more created in the studio rather than recorded as the band played it, which was mostly the case with Wire.
"A general rule for this record was, any trickery is fair game, if it makes it sound better." Stream the new song here.
Singled Out: Entheos' Neural Damage
Entheos, featuring Navene Koperweis and Evan Brewer, released their new album "The Infinite Nothing" today (April 1st) and to celebrate we asked them to tell us about the single "Neural Damage". Here is the story:
The main riffs have a strong death metal vibe but we wanted a progressive flair to it. Navene had received a toy electronic midi guitar from a friend.
He had been writing some odd chord progressions, just sort of messing around. On a whim, we decided to take those silly chords and merge it with the metal. The result gave us something we feel is quite unique and we hope you'll like it !
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