Month: March 2021

Former QUEENSRŸCHE singer Geoff Tate spoke to Sonically Disruptive about his plans to release the music he has been working on during the coronavirus pandemic. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “This next project is more relatable, I think, than the [OPERATION: MINDCRIME album trilogy], but it’s extreme in its own way that I think people will understand and get the extreme. So it’s more like SWEET OBLIVION sound but times 10 — technologically, I guess. [Laughs]

“I have this underlying goal in my life,” he continued. “Because I’ve been so frustrated all through my career making albums, I want to have an album that is the best-sounding album I’ve ever done — sounding. I want it to fill up the speakers.

“If you listen to [QUEENSRŸCHE’s] ‘Empire’ album by today’s standards, it’s a good-sounding album, but, man, where’s the bass? Where’s the bottom end? Well, back then, that was state of the art. That was, of course, 30 years ago, and the times have changed — people have much better stereo systems now. Even in my car, my stereo system is so much better than most of the studios that we were recording in back then. Sound has really changed. And so my focus, on my next release, is about that — no holds barred, making the best-sounding record I can possibly [make].

“It’s incredibly frustrating, as a music person, that you spend months shaping the mix on a song, getting it so it sounds just perfect and all the instruments are balanced and you can hear what each instrument is doing,” Geoff added. “And you take that mix, and you put it on your car stereo, and then all of a sudden, ‘Oh. Wait a minute. Where did the hi-hat go? It’s gone. Oh my God.’ You take it to another stereo system, and, ‘Oh, I can’t hear the vocals. Oh my God. And the guitars are too loud now. What’s going on?’ It’s that way. Music changes and sounds different on each system that you play it on. So what you have to do is you have to play it on a number of different systems when you’re mixing it to get an overall balance so that it sounds good on every system. And it takes a while to get that, and a lot of research. So that’s what I’ve been doing — is spending a lot of time figuring that out, working with people to figure that out, and shaping my next release so that it will be something that people love to listen to.”

Tate’s post-QUEENSRŸCHE band OPERATION: MINDCRIME released three albums over three years as part of a trilogy: “The Key” (September 2015), “Resurrection” (September 2016) and “The New Reality” (December 2017).

In 2019, Geoff released the debut album from SWEET OBLIVION via Frontiers Music Srl. The project saw Tate teaming up with a stellar cast of Italian musicians led by Simone Mularoni, the mastermind of prog metal masters DGM. The second SWEET OBLIVION album, “Relentless”, will arrive on April 9 via Frontiers Music Srl. This time the production was handled by Italian metal maestro Aldo Lonobile (SECRET SPHERE, TIMO TOLKKI’S AVALON, ARCHON ANGEL).

Last month, Tate announced around a dozen U.S. dates in late summer and fall as part of a tour celebrating the 30th anniversary of QUEENSRŸCHE’s “Empire” and “Rage For Order” albums.

Early last year, Tate was forced to postpone a number of his tour dates due to the coronavirus pandemic that is spreading across the globe.

Tate spent the first two months of 2020 performing the QUEENSRŸCHE albums “Rage For Order” and “Empire” in their entirety on the “Empire 30th Anniversary Tour”, which kicked off in January in Norway. Prior to that, Geoff celebrated the 30th anniversary of QUEENSRŸCHE’s “Operation: Mindcrime” album on European and U.S. tours.

In April 2014, Tate and QUEENSRŸCHE announced that a settlement had been reached after a nearly two-year legal battle where the singer sued over the rights to the QUEENSRŸCHE name after being fired in 2012.

Tate was replaced in QUEENSRŸCHE by former CRIMSON GLORY singer Todd La Torre.

In a new interview with Grand Haven, Michigan’s WMPA radio station, TWISTED SISTER guitarist Jay Jay French was asked if it’s true that the band’s classic song “We’re Not Gonna Take It” was based on the Christmas carol “O Come, All Ye Faithful”. He responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “When we started doing the Christmas record” — referring to “A Twisted Christmas”, which contained TWISTED SISTER’s version of “O Come, All Ye Faithful” — “the hook of it — once we got over the idea of doing it — Dee [Snider, TWISTED SISTER singer] said one of these other guitar players in one of his solo projects said to [him], ‘You do know that ‘O Come, All Ye Faithful’ is the melody line for ‘We’re Not Gonna Take It’?’ And Dee goes, ‘Really?’ He had no idea. So we had transposed it, and it worked. It’s not exact, but close. But it was never consciously done, and we didn’t know this, and it wasn’t stated, until years later.

“The Christmas album came out — believe this or not — 14 years ago, and, of course, that song was a big hit and got us on the Jay Leno show and Craig Ferguson show and ‘[Live! With] Regis And Kelly’, and it got a lot of media coverage, when we were told that we were gonna suck and the album was gonna bomb,” French continued. “The album turned out to be the biggest-selling heavy metal Christmas album in history. And then word got out that the song was reminiscent of this. But we didn’t know about it, and Dee didn’t think about it, until he was told that by that guy while we were recording the album.”

The opening five words in the lyrics of “O Come, All Ye Faithful” have the same melody as the chorus of “We’re Not Gonna Take It”, but the Christmas carol follows a different chord progression and is traditionally played in a different musical style to the TWISTED SISTER classic.

A mashup of “O Come, All Ye Faithful” and “We’re Not Gonna Take It” was performed during a live Christmas concert in Chicago and was featured in the 2014 stage musical “Dee Snider’s Rock & Roll Christmas Tale”.

During last year’s copyright infringement trial involving Australian politician Clive Palmer and “We’re Not Gonna Take It”, Snider said the two songs were “rhythmically different, and that is inspiration not duplication.” He added the songs had to be “shoehorned” together to create the versions used in his musical and the 2006 cover. “It was very difficult,” he said.

Snider had previously admitted that glam rock band SLADE and “O Come, All Ye Faithful” were influences while he was writing “We’re Not Gonna Take It”.

“A Twisted Christmas” featured metal versions of Christmas songs, including “Oh Come All Ye Faithful”. Also appearing on the LP were such holiday chestnuts as “Silver Bells” and “Let It Snow”, propelling the album’s sales to more than 150,000 copies and spawning a live Christmas show the band performed annually for several years.

In 2016, TWISTED SISTER embarked on one final trek, titled “Forty And Fuck It”, in celebration of its 40th anniversary. These shows featured the band’s “core lineup” of French, Snider, guitarist Eddie Ojeda and bassist Mark Mendoza, along with drummer Mike Portnoy. The band’s last-ever concert took place in November of that year — 20 months after the passing of Pero.

TWISTED SISTER’s original run ended in the late ’80s. After more than a decade, the band publicly reunited in November 2001 to top the bill of New York Steel, a hard-rock benefit concert to raise money for the New York Police And Fire Widows’ And Children’s Benefit Fund.

FOREIGNER bassist Jeff Pilson has once again said that it’s unlikely the band will release another full-length studio LP as a follow-up to “Can’t Slow Down”, which came out more than a decade ago. “I don’t really see a whole album of new material coming out anytime soon,” he told Kylie Olsson’s YouTube show “Life In Six Strings” (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET). “But we are working on some music. So I think that what’s gonna happen is whatever other things we release in the next couple of years, there will be some new songs added to it. So that’s what I see kind of happening. ‘Cause we’re working on a few that are not that far away. So I would say expect a package deal to have a couple of new songs on it.”

Elaborating on the new tracks FOREIGNER is working on, Jeff said: “A couple of them were actually written by Mick [Jones, FOREIGNER’s founding guitarist], like, 20-some years ago; there’s stuff that he had. So what we’re doing is we’re just kind of working it out and arranging it with Mick. Like one of them right now, we’ve kind of worked on a beginning bed of it, and then Kelly’s [Hansen] gonna sing it. Another one, we’ve tried a few different treatments; we haven’t really settled on that. There’s another couple that are kind of in the same state — they’re written; we just haven’t decided exactly where to go. One of them needs a bridge, and things like that.”

This past December, Hansen told the “Iron City Rocks” podcast that writing songs and putting out records in this day and age is “not a money-making proposition.” He explained: “The streaming and online services do not provide anything that would even come close to providing a living for a musician — for, I would say, 99.9 percent of musicians in the world. But this off time [during the pandemic] has given us the opportunity to work on some new stuff. I was just working on a track yesterday. And Jeff Pilson is an extremely prolific writer and musician and producer, so he’s been doing a lot of records on his off time.

“I don’t need that much artistic fulfillment from writing new tunes, although I do get inspired, and I do do it,” Kelly clarified. “But it all depends on what’s inside that musician’s mind. But it’s not about the money, that’s for sure.”

FOREIGNER’s last album, 2009’s “Can’t Slow Down”, was the only full-length collection of new songs to have been released by the band since Hansen took over vocals after original singer Lou Gramm left the band for good in 2002. The album entered the Billboard Top 30, driven by the radio singles “In Pieces” and “When It Comes To Love”. The band also has released a series of live albums and compilations, including 2016’s “In Concert: Unplugged” and 2017’s “40”.

FOREIGNER’s current lineup is rounded out by Thom Gimbel (rhythm guitar, sax, vocals), Michael Bluestein (keyboards), Bruce Watson (guitar) and Chris Frazier (drums).

PAPA ROACH has just released its second greatest-hits compilation, “Greatest Hits Vol. 2: The Better Noise Years”. The compilation commemorates their continued success as a top-selling recording and touring act during their 2010-2020 tenure signed to Better Noise Music, Billboard’s No. 1 rock label of 2020. Most recently, the group vaulted to the No. 1 spot on Mainstream Rock radio charts with “The Ending (Remastered 2020)”, marking their eighth No. 1 single to date. The band was also rewarded with a RIAA gold certification for the track “Born For Greatness” earlier this month, which follows in the gold-certified footsteps of “Help”. Both songs, originally released on 2017’s critically acclaimed “Crooked Teeth”, are featured on this new compilation album.

“We don’t usually like taking a look back, but we’re so glad to be able to take this journey into the past alongside our fans,” the band said of the compilation. “We’ve had so much fun rediscovering all the moments of the past 10 years that have made us the band we are today. We look forward to the upcoming year and to a new chapter of music.”

To celebrate the release of the compilation with fans, the band hosted a special livestream event on Friday, March 19, on their social channels in addition to all of Better Noise Music’s channels. The free event included an in-conversation discussion hosted by Allison Hagendorf (head of rock at Spotify and host of the show “Rock This With Allison Hagendorf”). The band was joined by guests Maria Brink (IN THIS MOMENT), Jason Evigan (producer and songwriter, “Born For Greatness”) and Michael Lombardi (actor and producer of “The Retaliators”). The broadcast also included the world premiere of the video for “Broken As Me (featuring Danny Worsnop of Asking Alexandria)”.

“Greatest Hits Vol. 2: The Better Noise Years” features 21 tracks including 13 Top 10 singles, previously unreleased remixes and acoustic recordings recorded live at YouTube Studios in New York City. Its first single, the No. 1 active rock radio-charting “The Ending (Remastered 2020)” has over two million video views and features footage from the Better Noise Films horror-thriller movie “The Retaliators”, which marks the group’s lead vocalist Jacoby Shaddix’s first-ever foray into acting. The movie also features on-screen appearances and soundtracks from fellow musicians including FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH, Tommy Lee, THE HU, ICE NINE KILLS, ESCAPE THE FATE and more.

PAPA ROACH’s music is consistently used across pop culture media. In addition to being included in “The Retaliators” film and on the film’s upcoming original soundtrack, the band’s gold-certified song “Born for Greatness (Cymek Remix)” is currently featured in the trailer for the video game “Outriders: No Turning Back”. The digital campaign will run from March to June.

To date, PAPA ROACH has led the path for contemporary rock artists in the digital streaming era with over two billion streams globally and nine million monthly listeners on Spotify. PAPA ROACH has continued to stretch its boundaries throughout the years, including features with artists outside their genre — such as their 2017 track “Periscope” with pop artist Skylar Grey (which is included on the new release) — and most recently collaborating with TikTok star/up-and-coming artist Jeris Johnson on a new version of the iconic hit “Last Resort”.

After releasing “Best Of Lizzy Borden, Vol. 2” last year, Lizzy Borden has now announced his feature film acting debut in “Die Influencers Die” — a blood-splattering, heavy metal-fueled, social media spoofing, feature-length horror film starring a legendary cast and a killer soundtrack (including tracks from Metal Blade Records artists LIZZY BORDEN, THE BLACK DAHLIA MURDER and ALLEGAEON). Written and directed by Gary Orona (HBO/Cinemax’s “Hotel Erotica” and “The Erotic Traveler”), “Die Influencers Die” is now streaming on Amazon Prime.

Lizzy Borden comments: “I had a blast on the set of this twisted little movie. I grew up on low budget splatter flicks from the ’60s, ’70s and ’80s, and ‘Die Influencers Die’ had that feel. My character has no name, and he seemingly comes out of nowhere, and that made playing him so much fun. I just held on and let him spit his venom.”

In addition, a new soundtrack video for “Die Influencers Die”, featuring Lizzy Borden’s song “My Midnight Things”, can be viewed below. The clip was also directed by Gary Orona of Psychoactive Circus Pictures.

Lizzy Borden’s recently released “Best Of Lizzy Borden, Vol. 2” picks up where 1994’s “Best Of Lizzy Borden” leaves off, containing 12 tracks that showcase the “Deal With The Devil” (2000), “Appointment With Death” (2007) and “My Midnight Things” (2018) albums. Additionally, the collection features two new cover songs recorded in the summer of 2020 (the first recordings by Lizzy’s latest live show lineup): BLUE ÖYSTER CULT’s “Burnin’ For You” and the RAMONES’ “Pet Sematary” — both mixed by Jay Ruston (ANTHRAX, STEEL PANTHER, STONE SOUR).

Gene Simmons has once again blasted people who are defiantly skeptical of mask wearing, saying they are posing a risk to themselves and to all those around them. On Friday (March 19), the KISS bassist/vocalist took to his Twitter to write: “You must stop at a red light, and you must put on your seatbelt, and you can’t drive over the speed limit. Your rights stop if you effect others. So why should you have a say in not wearing a mask in public?”

This is not the first time Simmons has criticized people who refuse to wear a mask in public spaces to protect others from possible infection. Last December, he told the “Jeremy White Podcast”: “Believe what you want, but don’t hang out around me. Okay? If you’re a denier, stay in the shadows. I don’t wanna be around you. ‘Cause I don’t wanna catch what you’ve got. It’s not about you. It’s not whether you believe it or not.” He added: “When you sneeze, you put your hand over your mouth. If your dog poops on the ground, you’ll pick it up. But you won’t pick up a mask?”

That same month, Gene’s KISS bandmate Paul Stanley took to his Twitter to write: “Frankly, I’ve had enough of the self-serving & politically motivated mask misinformation & BS about this pandemic. I don’t want to hear about ‘my freedom’ & ‘my rights’ that then infringe on so many other’s. Those ‘rights’ & choosing to gather at Thanksgiving got us here. Wake up”. Back in September, he took to his Twitter to share a CNN article about an Idaho pastor who was hospitalized with COVID-19 after calling himself a “no-masker” during a service and repeatedly questioning the veracity of coronavirus case reporting. Stanley added in a message: “YOU figure this one out. I can’t. A hoax and non-existent virus has put this guy in the ICU. If you’re so concerned with a loss of your freedom , Why do you stop at red lights? Don’t let the government control you!! Drive right through!!! PUT YOUR MASK ON.”

In early July, Stanley shared a photo of him and his eight-year-old daughter Emily wearing masks, and he included the following message: “Sunset at the beach with Emily. WEAR YOUR MASK! Don’t listen to conspiracy theorists or graduates of The Internet University Of Medicine. While the credible authorities and experts continue to learn more about Covid 19 they remain in agreement about safety protocols. End of story”.

The only Americans who should forego masks are those who have already been fully vaccinated and they should only do so among other vaccinated people, according to guidance how fully vaccinated people can socialize released this week by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and chief medical adviser for the White House’s COVID-19 response, recently said even though long-term mask-wearing is a possibility, he expects the U.S. to regain “a significant degree of normality” as we enter the fall and winter.

You must stop at a red light, and you must put on your seatbelt, and you can’t drive over the speed limit. Your rights stop if you effect others. So why should you have a say in not wearing a mask in public?
— Gene Simmons (@genesimmons) March 19, 2021

Former STYX frontman Dennis DeYoung has revealed the track listing and artwork for the second volume of his final album, “26 East”. The first single from “26 East: Vol 2”, “Isle Of Misanthrope”, will be released on April 7, and it “closes the album in grand ’70s STYX tradition,” according to Dennis. He adds: “This tune hopefully will transport you back to a time and place of your choosing (hopefully in front of your computer ordering the album). Prog noggins this ones for you as I bid farewell.” He went on to say that song’s accompanying video will be “really something different and mystical.”

According to DeYoung, the album’s opening song, “Hello Goodbye”, is not a cover of THE BEATLES song, although it is a “tribute” of sorts.

“I read an article about PINK FLOYD recording at Abbey Road the same time as THE BEATLES. They met the lads and told them that there would be no FLOYD without them. Yet FLOYD’s music is nothing like THE BEATLES and neither was STYX’s,” DeYoung explained. “‘Hello Goodbye’ as I have previously mentioned is not a remake it’s all brand new…sorta. It’s a tribute to the lads who sent me down this long and winding road that led me to youse guys.”

“26 East: Vol 2” track listing:

01. Hello Goodbye
02. Land of the Living
03. The Last Guitar Hero
04. Your Saving Grace
05. Proof of Heaven
06. Made for Each Other
07. There’s No Turning Back Time
08. St. Quarantine
09. So Little Did We Know
10. Always Time
11. Isle of Misanthrope
12. GIF

“26 East: Vol 1” arrived in May 2020 and marked DeYoung’s first studio effort since 2009’s “One Hundred Years From Now”.

“26 East” was the address where DeYoung grew up in Roseland, Illinois on the far south side of Chicago. This is where STYX was formed in his basement in 1962. Across the street lived the Panozzo twins, John and Chuck, who, along with DeYoung, would go on to form the nucleus of STYX. The cover artwork features three locomotives traveling through space, representing the original members leaving Chicago on their journey to the stars.

“26 East” features collaborations with Julian Lennon and SURVIVOR/IDES OF MARCH co-founder Jim Peterik, who plays multiple instruments and pushed DeYoung to work on the album when he wasn’t so sure about it.

DeYoung explained to Classic Rock why “26 East: Vol 2” will be his last album: “There’s no way for new music to sell decently. When [my label] Frontiers asked me to do an album, I did wonder why would I want to. But they persuaded me, and I ended up recording 18 tracks, and wrote about half of these with Jim Peterik. The label want to release all of them, so there will be a Volume Two, which will be my farewell.”

HEY KIDS (ooh caps, must be special)

This is the album artwork for 26 East VOLUME II.
Where it all began so shall it…

Posted by Dennis DeYoung on Friday, March 19, 2021

Megadeth drummer Dirk Verbeuren joins forces with members of Municipal Waste, Revocation and Inter Arma for the latest Bent Sea track, “Downed at a Gulp.”
The post Track Premiere: Bent Sea – ‘Downed at a Gulp’ appeared first on Decibel Magazine.

KORN guitarist Brian “Head” Welch has clarified his recent comments about Christianity, insisting that he was only referring to his early fanaticism with the religion.

During an appearance on MACHINE HEAD frontman Robb Flynn’s “No Fuckin’ Regrets With Robb Flynn” podcast, Welch — who left KORN in early 2005, at the same time announcing that he kicked his addictions to drugs and alcohol by becoming a born-again Christian — spoke about the impact his new awareness has had on his life, his family and the influential rock act that he co-founded nearly 30 years ago. Asked if he thinks religion became his “new addiction” after his exit from KORN, Welch said: “The crazy thing is I had an experience with something from another dimension. And it wasn’t the religion — going to church and being a good boy — it was, like, I felt something come into my house, and I can’t explain it to this day. But I believe that it was Christ doing something in me. So that was real — that was very real. But yes, I think I went too far with it. And I got obsessed with it, just like I was obsessed with the drugs. I believe I did, for sure. And I had to come out of that and find normalcy, because there’s nothing worse than a freakin’ irritating religious person just shoving it down your throat — there’s nothing worse than that. And you saw it on the documentary [‘Loud Krazy Love’, which documents Brian’s journey towards sobriety], Jonathan’s [Davis, KORN singer], like, ‘I hate those motherfuckers.’ People can’t stand ’em. And for years, we’ve had those Christians outside of KORN concerts, saying KORN’s of the devil, and all this. It’s crazy — it’s a crazy thing. But I’m just glad I got through it. And I’m glad that I am who I am now, and I have a lot of peace and rest for my soul. I feel very leveled and at peace with myself.”

Earlier today, Welch took to his Instagram to share the Consequence Of Sound headline “Korn’s Brian ‘Head’ Welch Admits That He ‘Went Too Far’ With His Christian Beliefs’, and he included the following message: “Some have taken my words out of context, but I do have a tendency to ramble without articulating my heart’s intent clear enough, which is typical when a person with A.D.D. tries to juggle the inflow of dozens of thoughts coming in at once.

“Let me shed some more light here: I was trying to address my early fanaticism with Christianity. Do I regret taking some much needed time away from KORN? Not at all. I enjoyed some of the best years of my life with my daughter, making precious memories with her I wouldn’t have been able to make if I would’ve stayed. But some of the choices I made were reminiscent of a true fanatic: I ripped Jennea out of public school because it was’t a ‘Christian’ school. One day, I left my house with her out of the blue and NEVER returned and I hired someone I barely knew to sell all of our furniture and bring our personal items to AZ; expensive items went missing of course! I joined a group of Christians in AZ that ended up resembling a cult and the leader squandered all my money away! And finally, I gave my mom ‘The Book of Christian Martyrs’ and told her that was who I wanted to be!

“These are only a few of the fanatical decisions I made, and they did damage to Jennea, and still effect her negatively in some ways to this day. What I will never regret though, is giving my entire being to Christ and I will share my story until the day I die. Sharing your story of faith is way different than shoving scripture down people’s throats in a heartless way as I was trying to convey in this interview with our old friend Robb.

“Jesus Christ is my whole life’s foundation. When the storms come, AND THEY WILL COME, my life will not crumble because my foundation is very secure. I have found true rest in the depths of my soul. Matthew 11:28; the first scripture that I found–my first scripture tattoo–came true for me in EVERY way. This life I’ve discovered is so real! I’m so glad I’ve never walked away from Christ like many have, AND I NEVER WILL! Take that you overly religious Christian haters”.

Less than a month after leaving KORN, Welch — wearing a white robe and sporting a long beard — was baptized in Israel’s Jordan River, along with about 20 other members of the Valley Bible Fellowship, the Bakersfield, California, church in which he spoke two weekends earlier. At the time, Brian told MTV News that he decided to be baptized in the Jordan after receiving a divine message.

“God told me … he didn’t say, ‘Hey Brian!,’ I just got a feeling in my heart that he was going to let me know something, I was going to be told something [in Israel],” Welch said. “Because the pastor is going to dunk me in the Jordan River, and when I come back here, I’m going to be a different person.”

Welch officially returned to KORN in 2013, one year after joining the band onstage at the Carolina Rebellion festival in Rockingham, North Carolina to perform “Blind”.

Since his conversion to Christ 16 years ago, Welch has been very open about how God changed his lifestyle and restored his relationship with his daughter.

In recent years, Brian has been preaching that people don’t have to wait until they die to see if having an encounter with the presence of God is real.

Both Welch and KORN bassist Reginald “Fieldy” Arvizu have had highly public, though separate, conversion experiences, ones that have been greeted with a certain amount of skepticism.

KORN’s latest album, “The Nothing”, was released in September 2019 via Roadrunner/Elektra.

Welch’s LOVE AND DEATH project released its second album, “Perfectly Preserved”, in February via Earache Records.

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