Month: April 2021

Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame inductee and lead singer of legendary rock band HEART, Ann Wilson, sang the U.S. national anthem at festivities at the Draft Theater in Cleveland on Thursday, April 29, as part of the NFL Draft Concert Series presented by Bose. Grammy Award winners KINGS OF LEON performed as part of the Draft opening festivities. Their full performance was streamed on NFL.com, in the NFL app and live on the NFL’s Facebook page. Portions of the performance were also televised in NFL Network, ESPN and ABC’s pre-Draft coverage beginning.

Video of Wilson’s rendition of the anthem is available below.

A few days ago, Ann said in a new interview that there are no plans for HEART to work on new music in the immediate future.

A couple of weeks earlier, Ann released another new single, “Black Wing”. It is one of several songs the HEART frontwoman recorded last fall in Seattle with the help of local musicians, including current HEART bassist Andy Stoller and keyboardist Dan Walker. In addition to “Black Wing”, Wilson recorded “Tender Heart” as well as covers of Steve Earle’s “The Revolution Starts Now” and ALICE IN CHAINS’ “Rooster”, all three of which have already been released as singles, plus another original, “The Hammer”, which came out in February.

HEART toured North America in the summer of 2019 after a nasty split that kept the Wilson sisters estranged for three years.

Ann and Nancy had a falling out during HEART’s 2016 tour, when Ann’s husband Dean Welter was arrested for assaulting Nancy’s then-16-year-old twin sons in a backstage altercation at a gig near their hometown of Seattle. He pleaded guilty to two lesser assault charges to avoid jail time.

Ann’s 2018 solo album, “Immortal”, contained cover versions of classic songs by artists who have passed away.

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In a new interview with the “Into The Necrosphere” podcast, MEGADETH bassist David Ellefson was asked what advice he had for young people who lost their way and need to make changes in their lives or need to get back on track somehow. He responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “Well, I don’t give advice, but I can just share my own experience. And I was that person where, by age 23, [I was] strung out, [we were signed to] Capitol Records, [and] our band [was] doing great. All the problems we had were because of a drug-and-alcohol lifestyle. Our manager came in and said, ‘Hey, the future looks bright. It’s yours to have. But you guys have gotta get cleaned up. You’ve gotta get it together.’ And it was interesting, ’cause it was right at a time when other famous bands that we know were also getting clean. And the days of the music industry putting big money on fucked up junkie rock stars, that day was after. And they made that very clear, like, ‘That party is over. We’re not dealing with that. We’re here to be successful, make money, have success and go to the top. And if you can be high while doing it, then let’s go, but if you can’t, then you need to change your ways, because we’re going to the top. And if you can’t get there with us, we’re gonna drop you off right here. Enjoy the rest of your life.’ And I heard that very clear. And I got that message early on. I was, like, ‘Yeah, the party’s gotta stop, man. Because I’m here for the music, and this is my passion and my ambition to do this professionally.’

“There is help out there,” Ellefson continued. “The recovery community is out there. There’s a lot of depression and other things that are talked about now. It’s a lot more compact and pressurized because of social media. Things are immediate and people can see what other people are saying about them. And when you’re young, people’s opinion of you, especially friends or foe, those things can change the arc of your life. I’ve talked to a lot of young fans who go through this. And they get really bummed out and depressed and even suicidal over what people say about them on social media. I’ve talked to my own kids about it.

“Where people used to talk behind your back, now they just talk behind your back out in the open on social media, and it’s hurtful — it’s hurtful to people. And that’s hard for a younger person to emotionally digest that and deal with that.

“So there is help out there, and I’d say if you are struggling with it, there are options; there’s ways to get through it and there’s ways to get better. Please seek the help. Live to fight another day. Use the power of music, if you need to, to help give you motivation.

“We’ve been told a lot of our MEGADETH songs have been very inspiring to people,” Ellefson added. “So, look, turn to music, turn to the arts, if that helps you cope. But definitely get help.

“I hear people say, ‘Oh, God never gives you more than you can handle.’ And I’ve never heard a more untrue statement ever. God always gives us more than we can handle ’cause we’re supposed to rely on him, not us. It’s the one that says, ‘I can handle this on my own.’ It’s, like, ‘No, you’re not. You were never supposed to.’ We’re here to be part of a bigger thing, and the creator who made us and put us here, we’re supposed to go to him. He’s the father who presides over all.”

Back in 2014, Ellefson, who celebrated the 31st anniversary of his getting sober last month, spoke to students at Fountain Hills High School in Fountain Hills, Arizona about his unsuccessful attempts at rehab, as well as his recovery. Ellefson, who became a Lutheran pastor a few years ago, ultimately turned to faith as his method of solving his drug addiction.

“I was 15 when I started drinking,” he told the audience, according to The Fountain Hills Times. “I started smoking pot when I was 16, and just followed that with cocaine and heroin.”

He continued: “Heroin is an insidious and sneaky drug. And I was completely strung out on it.”

According to Ellefson, he finally hit rock bottom after he had been in rehab three times. “And I said, ‘Lord, please help me,'” he said.

“When I finally hit that bottom, I woke up the next day, and I didn’t do drugs and I didn’t drink,” he said. “And I didn’t on day two, or on day three.”

Ellefson did his best to discourage the students from dabbling in drugs and alcohol, saying: “You don’t know if you are going to take a drink, then get in the car to drive home and kill somebody, or kill yourself, but it happens. And you don’t know if smoking pot one time isn’t going to lead to more. But I can tell you this: the best way to be absolutely sure is to just not start. Just don’t start.”

He added: “[Addiction is] kind of a funny thing. Addiction is a lie. It likes to get you alone because when you are alone, that addiction will talk to you and try to take you back to it. And addiction, while it can make you feel unique, completely takes away our uniqueness. We’re like any other junkie. Using alcohol and drugs is an equalizer. We just blend in. So the best part of us goes away.”

Zakk Wylde says that he has no involvement with Ozzy Osbourne’s upcoming album.

Ozzy recently revealed that he was working on a new LP with producer Andrew Watt, who previously helmed the legendary BLACK SABBATH singer’s 12th solo effort, last year’s “Ordinary Man”.

Wylde, who didn’t appear on “Ordinary Man”, told SiriusXM’s “Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk” on Thursday (April 29) that he isn’t bothered by the fact that hasn’t been approached about taking part in the sessions for Ozzy’s next release. “I always support the boss,” Zakk said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET). “My relationship with him’s bigger than the music. If Barb [Zakk’s wife Barbaranne] just said, ‘Zakk, [Ozzy] and Sharon are gonna go out and have dinner with friends or whatever.’ If he said, ‘Zakk, can you do me a favor? Come over here and feed the dogs. I’m gonna be gone for three days.’ [I would say] ‘Yeah, whatever you want. And I’ll bring some milk and eggs on the way over as well.’ Yeah, that’s my relationship with him. We’re still talking and everything like that — texting each other. It’s all good.”

Zakk went on to say that he is ready to go on tour with Ozzy as soon as the singer is ready to return to the road.

“If Ozz calls me up and he’s, like, ‘Zakk, we’ll jam on Tuesday. We’ve got rehearsals on Tuesday,’ I’d go down there, and then we’d go over the tunes,” Wylde said. “And then off we go.”

Zakk also said that he checked out some of the songs on “Ordinary Man” and liked what he heard. “It came out cool,” he said. “I saw the videos and everything like that. It’s cool, man. And Andrew and everything like that — yeah, it was rocking.

Watt connected with Osbourne after meeting Ozzy’s daughter Kelly at a friend’s party and pitching her on the idea of Post Malone and Ozzy collaborating together.

Earlier this month, Ozzy told U.K.’s Metal Hammer magazine that he and Andrew had completed “15 tracks” for his next studio LP.

“My only concern right now is finishing the bloody thing,” he said. “We’ve got the same production time as the last time, so there’s definitely going to be some similarities. But you’ll just have to wait and see what you think.”

In December, Watt told Guitar World that he and the BLACK SABBATH legend were “halfway through” the new LP. “There’s some songs on there that are like eight or nine minutes long that are these really crazy journeys. I’m really excited about it,” he said.

Like “Ordinary Man”, which featured Watt on guitar, Duff McKagan (GUNS N’ ROSES) on bass and Chad Smith (RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS) on drums, Ozzy’s next album will feature guest appearances by a number of notable musicians.

“There’s a bunch of people involved,” Andrew told Guitar World. “I can’t say for sure until the end, but I started doing a bunch of basic tracks with Chad and Robert Trujillo [METALLICA], who used to play in Ozzy’s band. And Taylor Hawkins [FOO FIGHTERS] also came in and played a bunch on the record as well, which adds a different flair — it kind of harkened back to Ozzy’s ’80s era, in a great way. And I think it’s so cool for a rock fan to be able to listen to half an album with Chad Smith on drums, and then you flip it over and you get to hear Taylor Hawkins. And you know, the last album was really special for everyone involved. And so there was no point in Ozzy or me doing this again unless we thought we could bring something new to the table. And I feel like we’re achieving that.”

Last July, Ozzy said that he was still “not back to 100 percent” after suffering from several medical issues last year, including a fall, neck surgery and hospitalization for the flu. Ozzy also said that he was looking forward to performing again once he has regained his health and the coronavirus pandemic has subsided. The BLACK SABBATH singer had previously canceled all his 2019 tour plans, and the rescheduled 2020 shows were also scrapped.

Ozzy was also forced to cancel an April 2020 trip to Switzerland to see a doctor who specializes in treatment of Parkinson’s disease. The singer revealed early last year that he was diagnosed with the condition.

Photo credit: Mark Weiss Photography

SEPULTURA frontman Derrick Green spoke to “Party Time Excellent”, the Internet video podcast hosted by Elena “Lena Scissorhands” Cataraga of the Moldovan extreme metal outfit INFECTED RAIN, about the making of SEPULTURA’s latest album, “Quadra”. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “We had worked so much in 2019 on the album, so we didn’t do a lot of the festivals in 2019, because we were planning on playing those festivals in 2020. In 2019, we took a lot of time in the writing process to prepare ourselves before going in the studio. And we took a longer time on this album than other albums, as far as the writing process. And I think that helped into creating an incredible album, I feel — taking that time and having the time to do that album, and go in the studio very prepared. And working with a producer that we had already worked with before — Jens Bogren in Sweden. We worked with him on our last album, ‘Machine Messiah’, and so we knew what we were going into, and that helps a lot — being very comfortable. And we were very confident within ourselves as a group, because this was our third album with Eloy Casagrande, our drummer that’s been with us for quite some time now. So this was also another level of stepping up and having that confidence.”

He continued: “It was so exciting to really work on the album and to write it and come up with a lot of the ideas of the lyrics and the concept of each person living in their own ‘quadra’ — like you grew up in your own area, and you learned certain things from living within that area. But you have to give respect to that, because not everyone is born in the same quadra, the same square. And so that’s a learning process we develop from traveling and meeting people from all around the world.”

Last year, SEPULTURA launched “SepulQuarta”, a weekly event where the band gave insight into its colorful history, took part in question-and-answer sessions with fans and performed music while in quarantine. Some of the musical collaborations, including those with members of MEGADETH, TESTAMENT, ANTHRAX, SYSTEM OF A DOWN, TRIVIUM and SACRED REICH, will be released as a full-length album later this year.

“Quadra” was released in February 2020 via Nuclear Blast Records.

SEPULTURA comprises Green, guitarist Andreas Kisser, bassist Paulo Xisto Pinto Jr., and Casagrande.

SEPULTURA was formed in Belo Horizonte by brothers Max and Igor Cavalera, who are no longer with the band.

John 5 has opened up about how he landed the gig as David Lee Roth’s guitarist more than two decades ago.

The 50-year-old axeman, who got his first big break playing on Roth’s solo album, “DLR Band”, before securing stints with Marilyn Manson and Rob Zombie, spoke about his working relationship with the VAN HALEN frontman during a recent interview with The Sessions.

Asked how he came to collaborate with Dave, John said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “I was reading [Roth’s 1998 autobiography ‘Crazy From The Heat’]. I was at my friend’s house. And there was a number in the back of the book where you could get ahold of the management company. And I thought to myself, ‘Hmm, I think I’m going to reach out and call this number and see what’s going on.’ ‘Cause I knew Dave wasn’t doing much at the time, and I loved VAN HALEN, and I loved Dave Lee Roth. And I said, ‘Are you guys accepting any [music] right now or anything like that?’ And they said, ‘Well, not really. But you can send a CD, and we’ll see what we’ve got.’ And I was, like, ‘Oh my God!’ Just that little bit, I was shocked. I was, like, ‘This is insane.’ So I go there. I record with [producer] Bob Marlette. And I do my best VAN HALEN — I do ‘Slam Dunk’ and I do all these songs. Of course, no vocals — just my best VAN HALEN impersonation. And I sent it to them, and they said, ‘We like it. Can you send three more?’ I was, like, ‘God. This is the most crazy thing ever.’ So, I did three more, and they said, ‘We like these too. Can you do three more?’ And I said, ‘I’m sorry, but I don’t have any more money.’ Back then, studios costed a lot of money. Now we can just be in our house and do it. And they said, ‘Okay, well, Dave wants to meet you. Go to his house.'”

John continued: “Listen, David Lee Roth is not around; he’s not hanging out. It’s very hard to meet David Lee Roth. And I go to his house. And this is the house where they filmed ‘Pretty Woman’, they did all the photo shoots for the early VAN HALEN, they rehearsed in this basement. And this is the house. And there’s Dave in his overalls. And he’s, like, ‘John, great to see ya. We’re gonna make a record. I really like what you’re doing.’ And I was, like, ‘Oh my God.’ I couldn’t believe it.

“And then, later on, I had him sign [a copy of the ‘Crazy From The Heat’] book that made it all happen. And it says, ‘David Lee Roth, 1998.’ This was after I’m a little more confortable with him, and I said, ‘Hey, Dave. Sign this.’

“So, you just have to go after things and do things and make it work.”

Last November, Roth launched The Roth Project, an online comic narrated by the legendary VAN HALEN singer, with music from John 5 on guitar and bass, Greg Bissonette on drums, Brett Tuggle on keyboards, and Luis Conte on percussion. The 17-chapter comic also includes five songs Roth co-wrote with John 5 and recorded several years ago at Henson Recording Studios in Hollywood, California: “Giddy Up”, “Somewhere Over The Rainbow Bar And Grill”, “Alligator Pants”, “Lo-Rez Sunset” and “Manda Bala”.

John 5’s latest sessions with Roth apparently took place at least six years ago, with John 5 unveiling a snippet of the album during an interview with Masters Of Shred back in May 2019.

In 2019, Roth was asked by Meltdown of the Detroit radio station WRIF if his LP with John 5 will be made available at some point. He responded: “It will. There’s been a revision of things, and I can start making real plans and start marching into the future. And, of course, you’ll start hearing that material. This is material that we wrote variously for me solo and for VAN HALEN, and it’s quite a bank of stuff.”

Roth, who was promoting his Las Vegas residency at the time, didn’t offer a possible time frame for the release of the record, explaining that his priority was “getting out on the road first. Let’s see the band, let’s show ourselves off, let’s travel all over the world.”

Back in 2015, John 5 told Guitar Player magazine that the sessions for his latest Roth album were remarkably relaxed. “I would just go to his house and I’d write these songs with him, and he would say, ‘Let’s go into the studio,'” John 5 explained. “So he would go to Henson studio and record these songs. They came out… They’re so good. They’re so good. And we’ve got Gregg Bissonette playing drums on it, and I played the bass, and they’re really great songs.”

The guitarist said that Roth’s vocals on the album sound “like nothing you’ve ever heard. It’s old VAN HALEN — sounds like ‘Could This Be Magic?’ or anything like that. It’s just that sound, that tone.”

In a 2014 interview, John 5 described the LP as “11 of the greatest songs you’ll ever hear, and it’s just me and Dave, and we had Gregg Bissonette play drums on it. And it’s unbelievable,” he said. “There’s a song called ‘Somewhere Over The Rainbow Bar And Grill’. And you know, just great, great songs.”

Previously unreleased drum-cam footage of late MEGADETH drummer Nick Menza playing along to the band’s classic song “The Conjuring” can be seen below.

The HD video was filmed in March 2014 at Uberbeatz Studios in Seattle, Washington and is believed to be some of the final studio drum recordings of Menza before he passed away more than two years later.

The footage was supposed to be used for the late drummer’s first-ever instructional DVD, “Intense Mega Drumming”, that was to feature 10 re-recorded classic MEGADETH drum tracks with tons of tips and tricks from Menza’s arsenal to help teach anybody out there become a better player. The DVD, which was produced and directed by Kari Pearson and Menza’s manager, Robert Bolger, has since been shelved.

The unreleased video footage and audio from the session will be a featured highlight in the recently announced official Menza documentary film “This Was My Life – The Story of Nick Menza”. It is described in a press release as “an unflinching exploration into the life of one of the most successful thrash-metal drummers of all time, authorized by the Menza family. From his childhood all the way through to the end of his life including a true blow-by-blow account of the repeated failed attempts of the classic ‘Rust In Peace’ lineup.”

“This Was My Life” will feature rare and never-before-seen photos and video footage from Nick’s archived VHS tape collection, personally filmed by Menza himself from 1988 through 1991. Included will be exclusive content showcasing Nick working at the studio, personal home movies, casual time and party time with his fellow bandmembers, as well as other well-known artists of the era that Nick toured with.

Bolger said: “I am very excited to be working with Screaming Butterfly Entertainment on Nick’s official documentary.

“There’s a lot of published misinformation out there about Nick that isn’t true and I am very happy to bring the truth forth.

“Nick loved his fans and always said without the fans none this would be possible. I really think Nick’s fans will enjoy this journey through his life.”

Executive producer Holly Mollohan from Screaming Butterfly Entertainment added: “As both a filmmaker, and fellow metalhead who deeply values the metal community, I am honored and excited to go on this journey alongside all of you.”

Menza’s official autobiography, “Megalife: The Autobiography Of Nick Menza” by J. Marshall Craig, was released in December 2018 via Post Hill Press.

Late in the evening on May 21, 2016, Nick collapsed after suffering a heart attack during a concert with Chris Poland and Robertino “Pag” Pagliari in their band OHM: at The Baked Potato in Studio City, California and was pronounced dead upon arrival at the hospital. The Los Angeles County Department of Medical Examiner-Coroner said Menza died of hypertensive and atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease.

Nick rightfully earned his place as one of heavy metal’s fiercest drummers during MEGADETH’s 10-year commercial peak. The highlight of his career, Nick said, was playing Rock In Rio before more than 100,000 people. The lowest point was being fired by MEGADETH mainman Dave Mustaine while he was still in a hospital bed after surgery to remove what doctors feared was a cancerous growth.

In a recent interview with Australia’s Subculture, ACCEPT guitarist Wolf Hoffmann was asked what it felt like to see METALLICA’s Kirk Hammett citing him as a musical influence. Wolf responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “Oh, man, it’s a huge honor, isn’t it? It’s amazing — it totally is. I’ve heard that story from other bands in the past, how supposedly we influenced a lot of people in the early ’80s without even being aware of it at the time. But he’s definitely the biggest name of ’em that I’ve heard so far. So it makes me totally proud when he says something like that. He seems to be a super-nice guy.”

Another metal musician who has been vocal about ACCEPT’s influence on his early drumming style is ANTHRAX’s Charlie Benante. Three years ago, Charlie told Reverb that ACCEPT’s “Fast As A Shark” “was the fastest double kick that there was” at the time of the song’s 1982 release. “And for me, they set the standard.”

Last year, ANTHRAX guitarist Scott Ian said that the first time he and original ANTHRAX bassist Danny Lilker jammed with Charlie in 1983, they asked Benante if he could play “Fast As A Shark”. “He could, and he did — faster than ACCEPT,” Ian recalled. “Those were the days when playing the fastest double kicks was important.”

ACCEPT’s latest album, “Too Mean To Die”, was released in January via Nuclear Blast. The LP is the group’s first without bassist Peter Baltes, who exited ACCEPT in November 2018. He has since been replaced by Martin Motnik. ACCEPT’s lineup has also been expanded with the addition of a third guitarist, Philip Shouse, who originally filled in for Uwe Lulis during 2019’s “Symphonic Terror” tour, before being asked to join the band permanently.

“Too Mean To Die” was recorded in Nashville, Tennessee with British producer Andy Sneap (JUDAS PRIEST, MEGADETH), who has been responsible for the studio sound of ACCEPT since 2010.

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