Month: March 2021

AC/DZ, the long-running San Francisco Bay Area-based AC/DC tribute band featuring EXODUS singer Steve “Zetro” Souza and DEATH ANGEL drummer Will Carroll, will play a livestream concert on Saturday, April 3 at 12:00 p.m. Pacific Standard Time.

In addition to Souza and Carroll, AC/DZ’s current lineup includes Dave Chapman on lead guitar, Joel Proto on rhythm guitar and Mike Butler on bass.

For more information, including tickets to the livestream event, go to this location.

“I’ve always had a very close relationship with AC/DC growing up; they influenced me heavily and this will mean a great deal to me,” Souza previously told BLABBERMOUTH.NET.

“I love performing, and this is another just another side of me, paying tribute to one of the bands that helped define me as a singer.”

Carroll made his live debut with AC/DZ in July 2012 at the Pine Street Bar In Livermore, California.

In an interview with Myglobalmind, Souza stated about AC/DC’s singer change following the death of Bon Scott: “You know, it took a while for everybody to get used to Brian Johnson after Bon. I was 16 when Bon Scott died, and I remember, I was, like, ‘Oh, my god, what are they going to do?! That voice is that music.’ He fitted that guitar, what they were doing; it was like a glove. How do you replace that? And then in time, Brian has become that, and out of everybody, I would have to say him and Bruce Dickinson [IRON MAIDEN] taking over from Paul Di’Anno did an amazing job in the transition.”

Read more »

Ellefson Flims has set an October 12, 2021 release date for its award-winning film “Dwellers” on Blu-ray/DVD/Digital.

“Dwellers” is a found-footage horror film produced by Grammy Award-winning MEGADETH bassist David Ellefson, and written, directed and starring Drew Fortier. The film has already gained over 20 official selections from film festivals around the world, a number that is still growing. “Dwellers” has amassed glowing reviews while garnering a plethora of nominations and already winning five awards:

* Best Feature (Screamwriting Festival)
* Best Director (The Thing in the Basement Horror Fest)
* Best Horror Feature (Mad Monster Party Film Fest)
* Best Documentary (Hollywood Blood Horror Festival)
* Most Disturbing Scenes (Horror Bowl Movie Awards)

The physical release is planned to be packed with bonus features. More details to be released in the coming months, along with pre-order information.

The film will be screened virtually on Saturday, March 20 as a part of the HorrorHound Film Festival’s “Midnight Madness” feature. There will also be a special virtual question-and-answer session after the screening that will feature cast members from “Dwellers”.

Ticketing information can be found here.

“Dwellers” has been described as “‘C.H.U.D.’ if it were shot like ‘The Blair Witch Project’.” The film stars Fortier, James L. Edwards (“Her Name Was Christa”), Douglas Esper (“The Nutshell”) and Omar Baig (“Let’s Make A Movie”). It also features cameos from Ellefson and former MUSHROOMHEAD vocalist Jeff Hatrix.

The film’s plot is as follows: While shooting a documentary on the suspicious disappearances within the homeless community, a filmmaker and his crew go missing while uncovering a terrifying and vicious secret below the city’s surface.

Ellefson will make various appearances throughout the year at horror conventions and fan expos to screen “Dwellers”.

Read more »

Blackened scumpunks Black Knife just released their homicidal LP, Murder Season. Founding vocalist/guitarist Hellwulv describes its fury track by track.
The post Track by Track: Black Knife – ‘Murder Season’ appeared first on Decibel Magazine.

Read more »

In a brand new interview with Talking Metal, former MOTÖRHEAD and current SCORPIONS drummer Mikkey Dee discussed his battle with COVID-19. He said (transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “That [happened] one year exactly ago — it was in March ’20. I have to say me and my wife, we were very sick — influenza sick. But I’ve been even sicker. I think I had influenza one time before in my life. I was in Australia; that was with MOTÖRHEAD a little while ago. And I was really, really sick at that time as well. And this time, yes, we got knocked out for a couple of weeks, and after that, I recovered. The more I was playing ice hockey and being outside and being busy, the better I felt the next day, basically. So I just went hard out to exercise lungs, and my body was back in shape in a couple of weeks, what I felt. And I’m full of antibodies.”

Asked if he experienced any lingering symptoms of COVID-19 in the months after his diagnosis, he said: “No. We call it ‘corona brain,’ I guess, as a joke, if you forget stuff. But I feel fine, and I’m ready to go back out there and play. I can’t wait to get back on the road.”

SCORPIONS’ new album is tentatively due later in the year. The disc was recorded in part at Peppermint Park Studios in Hannover, Germany and will mark the German hard rock legends’ first release since 2017’s “Born To Touch Your Feelings – Best Of Rock Ballads”, which was an anthology of SCORPIONS’ new and classic material.

SCORPIONS originally intended to record the new album in Los Angeles with producer Greg Fidelman, whose previous credits include SLIPKNOT and METALLICA. However, because of the pandemic, most of the work so far has been done remotely, with Fidelman taking part via Zoom.

Fidelman began his career as the guitarist and songwriter for RHINO BUCKET before launching his career as a producer, engineer and mixer, finding an early mentor in Rick Rubin.

SCORPIONS’ last full-length collection of new recordings was “Return To Forever”, partially comprising songs the band had in the vault from the ’80s. It was the final recorded appearance of SCORPIONS’ longtime drummer James Kottak, who was dismissed from the band in September 2016.

Read more »

RAINBOW singer Ronnie Romero has denied trying to steal jobs away from Joe Lynn Turner, insisting that the former RAINBOW frontman is one of his “favorite” vocalists.

In January, Frontiers announced that going forward, SUNSTORM will now be a vehicle for “one of the most impressive vocal talents to emerge in recent years” in the form of Romero. Romero’s debut album with SUNSTORM, “Afterlife”, will arrive on March 12. The first taste of the LP came with the release of the single and video for the track “Swan Song”.

A short time after Frontiers’ announcement, Turner, who recorded five albums with SUNSTORM between 2006 and 2018, gave an interview to Vintage Rock Pod in which he blasted Frontiers Music Srl for continuing SUNSTORM without him, claiming that he had “no idea” the Italian record label would replace him in the project and accusing Frontiers of “lying” about the reasons he is no longer involved with the brand.

Romero, who is originally from Chile but is now settled in Romania after living in Madrid, Spain for a number of years, spoke about Turner’s comments during a recent interview with the “Aftershocks” podcast. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “It’s funny that it looks like I’m always chasing Joe Lynn and trying to steal his jobs. [Laughs] For sure, he has this feeling with me. But it’s exactly the opposite. Somebody asked me about [how I got the] RAINBOW [gig], and I said I was just sitting on my couch one day and I got a call from Ritchie Blackmore. I didn’t call Ritchie, first of all. I was not chasing Ritchie: ‘Put me in the RAINBOW band.’ I got the call — that’s it. And, obviously, you cannot say something different [than] ‘yes’ to Ritchie Blackmore. I didn’t have any idea about any previous negotiation or something else that Joe had with RAINBOW or anything else like that. And then with this SUNSTORM thing, it was totally the same thing. I just got a call from the record label, and, actually, my first question was — because I’m a huge fan of SUNSTORM — I said, ‘But what happened with Joe? Everything is okay if I do this?’ And they said, ‘Everything is okay.’ Obviously, it was not that okay. [Laughs] But I can separate the idol from the person.”

Ronnie went on to say that Joe is one of his favorite singers. “I know the [Ronnie James] Dio fans are gonna kill me, but he’s my favorite singer from RAINBOW; my favorite era from RAINBOW is with Joe Lynn Turner. I just love him. With my fiancée, we’re singing all the time ‘Stone Cold’ at home. But then you read this kind of statement and that kind of thing, and I can understand — he’s angry inside because of the record label, or whatever. But it’s not my deal, it’s not my fight. I’m just doing the music, I’m just getting paid for that, and that’s it.”

A year ago, Turner once again slammed Blackmore for the guitarist’s decision to go out and perform classic DEEP PURPLE and RAINBOW material with a new group musicians instead of reforming RAINBOW with a more “authentic” lineup.

Blackmore stepped away from his Renaissance-inspired brand of music with BLACKMORE’S NIGHT for the first time in 2016 to perform a handful of shows with a brand-new lineup of the band he had formed after quitting DEEP PURPLE.

The current incarnation of RAINBOW includes Romero, as well as STRATOVARIUS keyboardist Jens Johansson, BLACKMORE’S NIGHT drummer David Keith, bassist Bob Nouveau (a.k.a. Robert “Bob” Curiano, ex-BLACKMORE’S NIGHT), and backing singers Candice Night and Lady Lynn.

Turner criticized RAINBOW’s current lineup, saying “the RAINBOW [Ritchie] put together is nostalgic, but it is not RAINBOW. They never did an album, and all they do is these spot dates. And anybody who goes to see them, it’s all over YouTube. And that’s really all I’ve gotta say about it. If you ask me, he’s cheating the public. And that wasn’t my intention [when I approached him about reforming RAINBOW]. So happily I go along. Ritchie is allowed to do whatever he wants to do, and so I am. And I don’t need the hassle. So it’s great.”

Joe sang on the RAINBOW album “Difficult To Cure”, which featured the band’s most successful U.K. single, “I Surrender”.

During Turner’s time with RAINBOW, the band had its first USA chart success and recorded songs that helped define the melodic rock genre.

Read more »

Simone Simons of Dutch symphonic metallers EPICA was recently interviewed by Anne Erickson of Audio Ink Radio. You can now listen to the chat below.

Asked how the metal world has changed in terms of its acceptance of women in metal from when she started out in EPICA to now, Simone said: “I guess women in the scene are more prominent, and, I guess, also maybe more respected or accepted for the fact that we have talent and can work hard and can succeed. I guess that women are still the minority in the whole metal scene, but it’s developing in the right direction, I would say. Back in the day, we had the term ‘female-fronted metal,’ and that is nowhere near accurate at the moment, because it does not describe the sound of the band other than there’s a female singer in the band. I, myself, am lucky enough to not have had any really big negative experiences to talk about. And I’m one of the guys; that’s how I always felt, I guess — with the exception of some females things. [Laughs] And I feel well being surrounded by a lot of guys; I never felt misunderstood or disrespected.”

Regarding whether there is pressure on women to physically look a certain way to make it in music, Simone said: “Well, I guess, in a certain way, the appearance is important, not just for the women, but also for the guys. I mean, don’t we all want to look our best? Don’t we put a lot of effort in making the live show visually appealing? But there is, of course, more pressure on the women to always look good and be in the best shape. And people create this image of you that you’re perfect, and you’re not, and it’s sometimes tedious to keep up that appearance. With guys, it’s easier for them; they can just roll out of bed and look like crap and nobody gives a shit. And [when you are a woman,] if you have a bad day or a huge zit, everybody is pointing at it. But, yeah, that’s how it’s always been. That’s just a thing you’ve gotta fight. And I know some of my female colleagues — I respect them enormously — they posted photos without any makeup on, and I think that is a great thing to do, to show everybody that we are normal as well. I post makeup videos, and people see me without makeup as well. And I guess I don’t mind as much as I did in the past. It comes with age, I guess, that you start to feel more comfortable. When you’re in your younger years, when your skin and everything is nice and tight, you are actually the most insecure; you don’t value or acknowledge that you’re young and that it has a lot of advantages and that it’s a beautiful thing to be young. But, yeah, that insecurity, I guess, gets to all of us.”

EPICA’s latest album, “Omega”, was released on February 26 via Nuclear Blast. The follow-up to 2016’s “The Holographic Principle” was once again produced by Joost Van Den Broek (POWERWOLF, AYREON) in part at Sandlane Recording Facilities in Rijen, Netherlands.

Image courtesy of FaceCulture

Read more »

BLACK VEIL BRIDES frontman Andy Biersack spoke to “Cutter’s Rockcast” about the lyrical themes covered on the band’s upcoming album, “The Phantom Tomorrow”. The follow-up to 2018’s “Vale” is tentatively due later this year via Sumerian Records.

“It’s a concept record,” Andy said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET). “There is a comic book happening as well. I actually just got off the phone this morning with the publishing company for the comic book. We’re developing all the artwork and everything for that. The story is essentially the idea… In our society, especially now, we have this love of building up heroes and obsessing over other people who often don’t give a shit about you or anybody else, and we kind of have these false idols and heroes. And so the story is kind of about taking this mythological character and the people putting all of this power on to them, and then ultimately turning their back on the character because nobody can fulfill the dreams and ideas that you put on somebody else. So it’s an alternate version of our own timeline where our obsession with heroes and the iconography of somebody that’s aspirational kind of gets out of control and becomes our whole society.”

Regarding how he came up with “The Phantom Tomorrow” concept, Andy said: “In January of last year, I just kind of sat down and started writing this story. I do a lot of drawing when I’m writing as well. I’m not great, but I like to be able to represent my ideas in that way. So I wrote out this whole story and drew character designs, and then, about a week and a half later, we were set to enter the studio, and it just kind of coincidental that this whole rush of this idea came to me. And so I went to the studio with everybody and said, ‘Look, this is what I think we should do,’ and laid out the story and the plot and the ideas. ‘Cause we’ve done concept records before. The kind of method that we’ve found is best is I give the concept and the ideas, as far as the narrative perspective, to the band, and then that is how we write as a band together, to get tone and how we are gonna get through this journey. I will take those songs and then go basically write the lyrics to serve the story and plotlines along the journey from song one to the last song.

“There are unfortunate kind of shackles that are put on it — meaning that you’ve gotta write within the context of what you’re writing,” he continued. “But I tried to keep this one more open-ended where it’s applicable… ‘Cause I didn’t wanna write about stuff I don’t know; I wanted it to be about my experience. And there’s really nothing about our story that doesn’t mimic the current situation, whether it’s on a personal level with people that I’ve known, or on a sociopolitical level, with the craziness of the worid right now. The ideas are universal, and so that made it a little bit easier to kind of get through the journey. But as far as the comic book goes, it’s kind of the same thing — I come up with the story and the artwork ideas, and then work with people who are much more talented than I am to make that a reality.”

In November, BLACK VEIL BRIDES released a music video for the single “Scarlet Cross”, which will appear on “The Phantom Tomorrow”. The track was produced by Erik Ron (GODSMACK, DANCE GAVIN DANCE, BUSH) and guitarist Jake Pitts and was accompanied by a music video directed by longtime collaborator Patrick Fogarty and based on a concept written by Biersack.

BLACK VEIL BRIDES celebrated the 10th anniversary of their debut, “We Stitch These Wounds”, with a brand new, reimagined, re-recorded 2020 edition of the album titled “Re-Stitch These Wounds”, released last July via Sumerian Records.

In November 2019, BLACK VEIL BRIDES announced the addition of bassist Lonny Eagleton to the group’s ranks. He joined the band as the replacement for Ashley Purdy, who exited the group earlier that month.

Eagleton previously played with Biersack (a.k.a. Andy Black) on his solo tour.

Biersack’s memoir, “They Don’t Need To Understand: Stories Of Hope, Fear, Family, Life, And Never Giving In”, arrived in December via Rare Bird Books.

Read more »

PRETTY MAIDS singer Ronnie Atkins, who is battling stage four cancer, spoke about his condition during a recent interview with Finland’s Kaaos TV. Reflecting on how he first got diagnosed with the disease. Ronnie said (transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “I had some symptoms. I had some pain issues in my back — in my shoulder. But I had that for 15, 20 years, so to begin with, I just thought I struck a nerve or something like that. And I went over to the doctor, and he checked me. And he actually thought that as well. But my mother died in 1988 when I was 22 years old, and she had the same kind of symptoms, and I just had a bad gut feeling. And I said to him, ‘I think you should send me down for some X-rays and stuff, just to be sure.’ And he said, ‘Well, let’s do that, just to make sure there is nothing wrong.’ A couple of hours later, I had a phone call from him that they actually found something — found a spot in the top of my lungs. And then I went through a whole process with CT scans, PET scans and bronchoscopies. And they took biopsies to find out what kind of cancer it was — if it was cancer. And long story short, it was cancer.”

He continued: “I had surgery in September 2019. And then I waited five or six weeks, then I had to go through chemotherapy for three months and radiation therapy; I had 33, all in all. So, yeah, I was basically not capable of doing much at the time being. I didn’t get really sick from the chemo, but I had pain issues from the surgery, so I was on morphine for quite a while and I was just tired. And then in February [2020], after the first scans, they said, ‘Everything looks good, and we think you may be cured. But, of course, you have to go to control for the next five years.’ And only six weeks after, when I went to a control, they found that my cancer spread to the bones, to one of my ribs. And that’s when it got really serious, because then it was diagnosed as stage four, ’cause it spread outside the area where it actually started. And that’s when I panicked for a while, because I wasn’t prepared for that. I mean, I wasn’t naïve — I, of course, knew that eventually [the cancer] may return, but not that fast. And that surprised the doctors as well. And that’s what I’ve been living with ever since that. And I got another five radiation therapies — stereotactic radiation — and that kind of killed the metastases that set in the rib. And since that, I’ve had immunotherapy, and actually, I’ve been doing pretty good since that.”

Atkins admitted that being told he had stage four cancer was “mentally hard to cope with” and it took him “quite a while” to accept the diagnosis. “But I’m still here, man, one year after, ’cause that was just after the lockdown started [when I was told I had stage four cancer],” he said. “And I’m still feeling good. And I’ve just been checked again, and it still looks good. I’ve just gotta be positive.”

Asked if it’s still possible shrink the cancer or put it in remission, Ronnie said: “Not really. I’m [in] what they call life-prolonging treatment. When they call it stage four, it’s, in principle, incurable. Most people die within a year — that’s what the statistics say. But there’s three or four percent that are still alive after five years. I’ve just gotta believe in a miracle. I’ve just gotta hope that I’m one of those three or four [percent]. So, that’s where it’s at.”

After the 56-year-old Atkins was diagnosed with lung cancer in 2019, he underwent at least 33 radiation and four chemotherapy treatments in the fall of that year before being declared cancer-free. In October 2020, he announced that his cancer had returned.

Atkins’s new solo album, “One Shot”, will be released on March 12 via Frontiers Music Srl. Ronnie put the songs together with good friend and PRETTY MAIDS bandmate and producer Chris Laney. Chris oversaw production, Jacob Hansen mixed, and musicians/singers appearing on the album include, in addition to Laney, Allan Sørensen, Morten Sandager, Pontus Egberg, Pontus Norgren, Kee Marcello, Olliver Hartmann, John Berg, Anders Ringman, Linnea Vikström Egg and Björn Strid.

In a 2013 interview with Myglobalmind, Atkins joked that the secret to keeping his voice in shape was “twenty cigarettes a day and little drink now and then.”

Read more »

SMITH/KOTZEN, the electrifying collaboration between guitarists and vocalists Adrian Smith and Richie Kotzen, will release its self-titled debut album on March 26 via BMG.

The official lyric video for the disc’s third single, “Running”, can be seen below.

Adrian says of the song: “It’s a really cool sort of driving track, one of the heavier ones on the album and we’re excited to get it out there ahead of the album release. We’ve both been thrilled by the reaction to our music so far and are very much looking forward to meeting up again as soon as we can, to write some more songs together.”

Richie adds: “‘Running’ was the first song Adrian and I worked on. Adrian came in with that heavy verse riff, which led me to conjuring up what lives as our chorus to the composition. ‘Running’ is surely one of my top three favorites on the SMITH/KOTZEN album and I really look forward to playing this one live.”

As well as the duo co-writing, co-producing and sharing guitars and vocals, Richie also plays bass and drums on the track.

Recorded on the Turks & Caicos Islands in February 2020, produced by Richie and Adrian and mixed by Kevin “Caveman” Shirley, this nine-track opus is a consummate collaboration between these two highly respected musicians who co-wrote all the songs and also share lead vocals and trade off on guitar and bass duties throughout the record.

Exploding with powerful melodies and harmonies, the album embodies the spirited attitude of 1970s classic rock with a melting-pot of influences ranging from blues, hard rock, traditional R&B and more, blending the pair’s backgrounds and life experiences to result in a thoroughly contemporary sound.

Track listing:

01. Taking My Chances
02. Running
03. Scars
04. Some People
05. Glory Road
06. Solar Fire
07. You Don’t Know Me
08. I Wanna Stay
09. ‘Til Tomorrow

The record features special guest performances by Adrian’s IRON MAIDEN bandmate Nicko McBrain on drums for the track “Solar Fire”, and Richie’s longstanding friend and touring partner Tal Bergman on drums for “You Don’t Know Me”, “I Wanna Stay” and “‘Til Tomorrow”, with Richie picking up the sticks on the other five songs.

Smith comments: “Richie and I started working together a couple of years ago. We’d been jamming as we’d been friends for a few years before that. We both share a love for classic rock and bluesy rock, so we decided to get together and start writing some songs and it went from there. Pretty much everything on the album is handled between Richie and myself, including the production. We had developed a really strong idea of how we wanted it to sound, and I’m very pleased with how it turned out. There’s a lot of cool songs on there that we are really happy with.”

Kotzen adds: “We had a very fluid process in writing. Sometimes Adrian would send me a riff and I would immediately hear some kind of melody or a vocal idea. And sometimes it was the other way round, so it was a kind of circular motion. We’d get together whenever we could and throw some ideas around and it just evolved, which was great because there was no pressure and nothing other than just a natural course and I think the record really speaks for that.”

The album will be available in these formats:

* Digipack CD
* 12″ black vinyl with embossed sleeve
* Digital (streaming and download)
* Limited-edition 12″ red-and-black-smoke-effect-colored vinyl

Smith is best known as one of IRON MAIDEN’s principal guitarists, having also enjoyed success as a solo artist. Kotzen is the frontman for THE WINERY DOGS as well as having been the guitarist for both MR. BIG and POISON during his long and acclaimed career, which has to date seen him release more than 20 solo albums. Both artists are also prolific songwriters.

Adrian comments, “I think Richie and I complement each other really well. He’s a virtuoso guitarist but he’s got a great sense of melody — the whole thing just felt very natural.”

Richie adds: “We found common ground in classic and blues-based rock — we both come from that mentality. We’ve been writing and recording together for the past year and I’m ecstatic with the results.”

Smith has spent the last few months promoting his memoir, “Monsters Of River & Rock”, which was released in September via Virgin Books.

In February 2020, Kotzen released his 22nd solo album, “50 For 50”, via his own custom label, Headroom-Inc. The three-disc collection is just what the title implies: a collection of 50 previously unreleased compositions produced, performed and written by Kotzen in honor of his birthday. It’s the follow-up to his critically acclaimed “Salting Earth” album, which came out in April 2017 via Headroom-Inc.

Read more »