Month: March 2021

Coffee is for Closers is the Cadillac Eldorado of American porters, so give yourself a break from higher-octane beers and move Fullsteam ahead on this.
The post No Corporate Beer Reviews: Coffee Is for Closers appeared first on Decibel Magazine.

POISON’s Rikki Rockett has just received his first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.

On Thursday (March 18), the 59-year-old drummer, who lives in northern Los Angeles, took to his social media to share a photo of him sitting in his car after he got the shot, and he wrote in an accompanying message: “Today I got my [shot] at a drive through. Pretty cool, pretty easy, just hang the arm and get the stick! ⁠I’m not a zombie yet either”.

Rikki, whose real name is Richard Allan Ream, was declared cancer free in 2016 after undergoing an experimental treatment.

In June 2015, Rikki visited his primary care doctor with a sore throat. His doctor found a small tumor at the base of his tongue, and Rikki learned he had human papillomavirus (HPV)-related oral cancer. He endured nine rounds of chemotherapy and 37 sessions of radiation therapy. The tumor initially responded, but returned three months later, spreading to his lymph nodes. Rikki then saw Dr. Ezra Cohen at UCSD Moores Cancer Center, who helped him enroll in a clinical trial of pembrolizumab (Keytruda). Rikki’s tumor responded immediately. Just over two months into the trial, a scan revealed that his tumor had shrunk over 90 precent. Today Rikki is cancer-free, enjoys playing with his band, POISON, caring for his two children, and practicing Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.

A recent poll from the Pew Research Center showed that more than two-thirds of U.S. adults plan on getting the COVID-19 vaccine.

The poll, released earlier in the month, found that 69 percent of adults say they are going to receive the coronavirus vaccine.

The Pew poll showed that 19% of adults have received at least one dose of the vaccine, 32% say they will definitely get the vaccine and 17% say they will probably get it.

The nation’s top infectious disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, has estimated that about 70-85% of Americans would need to be vaccinated to reach herd immunity.

America’s two main vaccines have shown 95% efficacy against the coronavirus.

As of late January, the CDC discovered that only 11 per 1 million people experienced severe reactions from the Pfizer vaccine, and only 2.5 per 1 million people who received the Moderna dose.

Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine, which became available in the United States earlier this month after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration gave it emergency use authorization, was tested with new variants of COVID-19, and has shown to be effective against them; Pfizer and Moderna were tested prior to the emergence of these variants.

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An homage to the grunge movement.

John Cooper, the frontman and bassist for the Grammy-nominated Christian rock band SKILLET, says that his comments about Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion’s performance of their hit song “WAP” during Sunday’s Grammy Awards were “misrepresented.”

On Wednesday, Cooper released an episode of his “Cooper Stuff” podcast in which he argued that being “forced to applaud” and “celebrate” the “sexual degradation” of Cardi and Megan’s performance was a good example of how humanity has always been dexterous at confusing evil with good. To make his point, Cooper said that dictators like Adolf Hitler also claimed to be “liberators” while performing evil acts.

Earlier today, Cooper released a follow-up video message in which he clarified his original comments and insisted that he never compared Cardi B to Hitler or any dictatorship of any kind.

John said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “Yesterday in my podcast, I reacted to Cardi B’s performance at the Grammys. And it has come to my attention that some of my words were misrepresented and taken out of context from their intent. So, please allow me to say this: I did not compare Cardi B to Hitler, and I did not compare her performance to Hitler or any other dictator, and I certainly didn’t compare the Grammys or the music industry or any other artist, for any reason, to any dictator.

“Secondly, I wanna say this: I did not conflate the consequences or the gravity of Cardi B’s performance at the Grammys. I in no way would ever conflate that to the horrors of the genocide that we saw in 1940 or any of the other violence and murders and all the death and destruction of any dictator that we’ve had in history. I honestly don’t understand how it could be taken that way, but just to be clear and clear of any confusion, I was stating that we are living in a time when it comes to morality where we are redefining what is good and what is evil”

He continued: “Sometimes we have a hard time imagining that someone would do something bad and redefine it and call it good. That’s why I was pointing out that there have been many, many examples of dictators or horrific events over the last 100 years where people did really, really bad stuff, but they believed or claimed that they were doing it for good reasons, for moral reasons, for liberating reasons. And as an example of that, I was saying if you were to go back and read some of Hitler’s speeches, you would find that he claims to believe that he was liberating people and doing something virtuous. This in no way compared Cardi B to Hitler or any dictatorship of any kind, and it certainly wasn’t conflating all of the evil things that have happened to the consequences of Cardi B’s performance, or any other performance for that matter. I was speaking philosophically in order to make a point and then using an unequivocal example from the past where someone has traded evil but called it good.

“So I’d like to end this little five-minute talk with the same ending that I used on yesterday’s podcast. This Grammy performance is a very small miscrocosm — it may seem trite; it may seem a little bit petty — it’s just a microcosm to show something that is a lot bigger. I’m actually not trying to blow this up into a crisis. I’m actually saying we are in a crisis — but not because of the Grammys and not because of Cardi B and not because of a music performance or any other musician or artist or band. That’s not why we are in a crisis. And what is the crisis? The crisis is this: we are redefining what is moral and what is immoral, what is virtuous and what is not virtuous, and it is going to have devastating consequences for America.”

Cooper recently published his first book, titled “Awake & Alive To Truth (Finding Truth In The Chaos Of A Relativistic World)”. It “tackles the reigning philosophies of our day of post-modernism, relativism, and the popular view of the goodness of man-and combats these viewpoints by standing on the absolute truth of the Word Of God,” the book’s description reads.

In various interviews over the years, Cooper has said that he “always had faith in God” and that his mother was a “Jesus fanatic.” He also claimed that he was willing to put his career on the line to take a stand for Christ.

The new updates include a pair of amp models, an acoustic simulator, ambient reverb, and more.

A locking spring claw for tremolo-equipped guitars.

Former GREAT WHITE singer Jack Russell says that he “woud love to” reconnect with the band’s founding guitarist Mark Kendall.

Russell exited GREAT WHITE in December 2011 after he was unable to tour with the group due a series of injuries, including a perforated bowel and a shattered pelvis. Jack largely blamed these injuries on his alcohol and painkiller addictions as well as the prednisone drug he was prescribed.

In a new chat with the “Ouch, You’re On My Hair” podcast, Russell stated about Kendall (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “I would love to see Mark again and talk to him again. It’s been many, many years. I have no grudges; I never have. And I never had any ill will towards him. I understand why they didn’t want me back in the band. I get it — I was a total mess. I wouldn’t want me back in the band either if I was them. But the whole slander thing was the only thing that really upset me. It was, like, ‘C’mon, really?’ It’s all the, ‘Oh, I would never do a show with that guy. He’s a total asshole,’ blah blah blah blah, ‘but we wish him all the best.’ [Laughs] Okay. What is it?

“Like I said, I really don’t have any mean spirit [in me about it]. I joke around a lot about it. But if he called me tomorrow, I’d like to sit down and talk to him for hours.

“The unfortunate thing about the relationship — or lack thereof — is there’s only memories that him and I have together,” Jack added. “There’s only stories that we can recount to each other. I can’t tell somebody else, ‘Hey, remember when we did that?’ Mark and I have so many memories that I can only talk to him about. So there’s a good portion of my life I can’t discuss with the person that was most integral in it. So it’s a sad situation.

“I don’t understand why he hasn’t called me in all these years. I don’t have his number, or I’d call him. I tried for years to call him, and he never picked up. So, what are you gonna do?”

Last month, Kendall seemed open to the idea of reconnecting with Russell, telling SIN CITY REJECTS’ Jason Green: “If I saw [Jack] somewhere, I wouldn’t run away or anything. I don’t think we would get in a fight. There’s never been any mean intentions or bad thoughts or anything like that. Obviously, going through the court thing was a complete nightmare. I mean, it was just horrible.”

Pressed about whether he thinks he will ever share the stage with Jack again, Mark said: “God, man. That’s a tough question. I don’t know that that would ever come up. I’m not sure.

“My only concern is his health and stuff like that,” he added. “We were friends long enough to where, just put the music away, forget the music. Let’s talk about how you’re doing, how you’re holding up, buddy. So, as far as the music goes, I don’t even care about that.”

Russell sued his onetime bandmates in 2012 over their continued use of the GREAT WHITE name after Jack had taken a leave of absence from the band for medical reasons. A short time later, Russell was countersued by Kendall, rhythm guitarist/keyboardist Michael Lardie and drummer Audie Desbrow, claiming the vocalist’s self-destructive behavior was damaging the GREAT WHITE name (they also alleged he was charging promoters less for his own touring version of GREAT WHITE). The parties settled in July 2013 without going to trial, with Russell now performing as JACK RUSSELL’S GREAT WHITE while the others are continuing as GREAT WHITE.

Nearly three years ago, GREAT WHITE announced the addition of new singer Mitch Malloy to the group’s ranks. He replaced Terry Ilous, who was fired from the band in July 2018.

This past January, Russell told “Rocking With Jam Man” that his split with GREAT WHITE “was very emotional. It still hurts a lot,” he said. “Maybe it’s like a divorce, ’cause you get to be brothers when you’re playing in a band together, especially for many, many years. And then when that ends, it can be very traumatic on your spirit. That’s what it was like when I split up with my old guys. That was really, really difficult. But what are you gonna do? You’ve gotta kind of go with the flow and just move on.”

To celebrate the release of Eyehategod’s A History of Nomadic Behavior, we caught up with vocalist Mike Williams to find out what five heavy albums changed his life.
The post Five Heavy Albums that Changed My Life with Mike Williams of Eyehategod appeared first on Decibel Magazine.

FOREIGNER multi-instrumentalist Thom Gimbel is planning to leave the legendary rock act.

The news of Gimbel’s departure was broken by his bandmate, FOREIGNER bassist Jeff Pilson, in a new interview with Rocking With Jam Man.

Speaking about the fact that FOREIGNER occasionally plays shows without any original member members — including founding guitarist Mick Jones — Pilson said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “It is really all about the music, and especially with FOREIGNER. FOREIGNER was never any kind of an image band at all, and that’s actually worked to our advantage now in these later years where can tour — and we can tour without Mick — because the music is so strong that it is more about the music than it is about the personnel. And I think that’s kind of cool.”

Asked if Gimbel is now the longest-serving member of FOREIGNER, Pilson said: “Besides Mick Jones, yes. [But] Mick doesn’t do all shows with us. So when [Mick’s] not playing, Thom is [the longest-serviving member]. However, Thom is actually gonna be leaving the band. He’s had some experiences. I mean, he’s ready to get off the road at some point. So, maybe then I’ll be the longest-serving member.”

Gimbel is known as FOREIGNER’s jack-of-all-trades guitarist, saxophonist, flutist and keyboardist. He initially joined the group in 1992 but left to tour with AEROSMITH before returning to FOREIGNER in 1995.

FOREIGNER’s last album, “Can’t Slow Down”, was the only full-length collection of new songs to have been released by the band since Kelly 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 Michael Bluestein (keyboards), Chris Frazier (drums) and Bruce Watson (guitar).

Pilson — one-fourth of the classic DOKKEN lineup — joined FOREIGNER in 2004.