Month: April 2021

Even though it’s been less than a year since BUSH released its latest album, “The Kingdom”, frontman Gavin Rossdale has confirmed to “The Jeremy White Podcast”that he has used some of the downtime during the coronavirus pandemic to work on material for the follow-up effort.

“I’m halfway through a bunch of songs,” he said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET). “And then I also plan to go collaborate — see what the band have got, see what [‘The Kingdom’ producer/collaborator] Tyler’s [Bates] got. I just wanna do a great record. I’m already 10 songs into a new record.

“We have 30 million plays of ‘The Kingdom’. Now, would we have had 100 million if we’d gone on tour? Maybe,” he continued/ “But, look, people were dying. We stayed safe. The world collapsed. I didn’t moan for one minute about it. Everyone’s dealing with different situations. I think it’s gonna be like the Roaring Twenties when we go back [to playing live concerts].

“I want everyone to come to the shows and lose inhibitions and have fun and hang out,” Gavin added. “It’s gonna be such a celebration of life. So I think it would be smart — if you guys agree — [for us to] make a new record and then go later in the year, or come next year, and tour everything, tour all the records. Who cares?”

Last November, BUSH played two drive-in shows across Southern California to celebrate the release of “The Kingdom Deluxe Edition”. The record features six bonus songs, including “Heroes”, a special tribute to David Bowie, as well as live performances of the title track “The Kingdom” and hard-charging single “Flowers On A Grave”, which went Top 10 on Active Rock Radio.

BUSH’s current lineup also includes guitarist Chris Traynor, bassist Corey Britz and drummer Nik Hughes.

The group, which broke up in 2002 but reunited in 2010, has released four albums since reforming.

The first single from “The Kingdom”, “Flowers On A Grave”, was unveiled in March 2020. The track, co-produced by Erik Ron and Rossdale, was the follow-up to “Bullet Holes”, heard atop the end credits to “John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum”.

Former JOURNEY singer Steve Perry has paid tribute to recording engineer Al Schmitt, who died Monday (April 26) at the age of 91.

Over the course of his career, Schmitt received 23 Grammy Awards — more than any other engineer — and was the first person to win both the Grammy and Latin Grammy for “Album Of The Year.” Schmitt received Grammys in six consecutive decades, and in 2006 he was honored with a Recording Academy Trustees Award.

Earlier today, Perry took to his social media to write: “One of my biggest heroes in my life passed last night at 91. Al Schmitt was an amazing recording engineer and mixer. He recorded many of Sam Cooke’s hits. Over the years we became friends.

“One day I was hanging at one of Al’s sessions, and I met composer Patrick Williams. I asked if there were any words to these amazing strings I was listening to. I was told Patrick had just written the composition and simply wanted to record it. Al and Patrick gave me an ‘end of day’ stereo board mix and some weeks later at Patrick’s home, he and his composer assistant Jason Lee and I used that stereo music track to write and record ‘October In New York’. That music track Al recorded is on my ‘Traces’ LP.

“Al was a huge fan of music and was always reaching for all emotional aspects of sincere music. He is missed.”

On Schmitt’s Facebook page, his family posted the following note: “Al Schmitt’s wife Lisa, his five children, eight grandchildren, and five great grandchildren would like his friends and extended recording industry family to know that he passed away Monday afternoon, April 26.

“The world has lost a much loved and respected extraordinary individual, who led an extraordinary life. The most honored and awarded recording producer/engineer of all time, his parting words at any speaking engagement were, ‘Please be kind to all living things.’

“Loved and admired by his recording colleagues, and by the countless artists he worked with, from JEFFERSON AIRPLANE, Sam Cooke, Ray Charles, Neil Young, Paul McCartney, Diana Krall, Dr. John, Natalie Cole and Jackson Browne to Bob Dylan — and so many more — Al will be sorely missed. He was a man who loved deeply, and the friendships, love and admiration he received in return enriched his life and truly mattered to him.

“A light has dimmed in the world, but we all learned so much from him in his time on earth, and are so very grateful to have known him.”

RIP Al Schmitt

Posted by Steve Perry on Tuesday, April 27, 2021

Hungarian death metal quartet Mephitic Grave unleash filthy, cosmic death metal.
The post Track Premiere: Mephitic Grave – ‘The Vaults of Strangling Fear’ appeared first on Decibel Magazine.

Tracii Guns has commented on last week’s out-of-court resolution of the legal dispute over the rights to the L.A. GUNS name. Under the terms of the settlement agreement, he and singer Phil Lewis will continue to operate under the L.A. GUNS trademark, while Steve Riley and his bandmates from the other version of L.A. GUNS will now operate under the new name RILEY’S L.A. GUNS.

Speaking to Dawn Osborne of TotalRock, the guitarist said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “We just settled this lawsuit a couple of days ago. And I’ll let the press release explain how it’s gonna work from here on out. But nobody can just be L.A. GUNS except me forever. And it worked out… I would have liked to have taken it further, but that motherfucker has no money.

“All this thing has been for 15 years is a complete negative waste of time and energy,” Tracii continued. “But I ended up in a position where I could go after the guy. And it was the right thing to do. You can’t let people take advantage of you. And that’s kind of classic in my life. I’m really generous with people, and I wanna see everybody succeed. But if you take advantage of me, man… Sometimes I wish there were no laws. Because some people are so selfish.”

Guns also talked about L.A. GUNS’ upcoming album, “Checkered Past”, which is tentatively due in November via Frontiers Music Srl. This will be the third studio LP since the much welcome reunion of the band’s core foundation of Lewis and Guns. It will follow the well-received studio albums “The Missing Peace” and “The Devil You Know”, plus the live release “Made In Milan”, and a covers EP “Another Xmas In Hell”.

“It’s a fucking another monster record,” Tracii said. “I guess we’re old and we give a shit about the records now. L.A. GUNS fans will love it. It’s different than ‘The Missing Peace’ and it’s different than ‘The Devil You Know’. Well, people got a taste from [the previously released single] ‘Let You Down’; that’s on that record.

“We have what a core L.A. GUNS fan would be really excited about, like these fast, hard-hitting inventive riffs — stuff like that — which is great,” he continued. “But L.A. GUNS fans are gonna buy the record; they’re gonna ultimately hear those songs no matter what. But there’s some other things on that record, like ‘Let You Down’, which are — I hate to use an overused term — but they’re genuinely epic pieces of music. And they’re great songs — they’re not just epic musically; they’re great songs — more ’70s, I suppose.”

Prior to the arrival of “Checkered Past”, L.A. GUNS will release a live recording of its November 28, 2020 concert at the Fremont Country Club in Las Vegas, Nevada where the band performed its second album, 1989’s “Cocked & Loaded”, in its entirety. The event was livestreamed via Veeps.

“We played only ‘Cocked & Loaded’ and ‘Speed’ — one extra song — and the recording is fantastic,” Tracii told TotalRock. “And it was a really meager kind of weird gig — it was weird — but the recording is great; it really turned out great. So Frontiers asked if we could put it out, and [we said], ‘Yeah. Okay.’ So the packaging is great. The album is great. And that comes out. So that’s definitely for all the L.A. GUNS fans that wanna hear great versions of those songs live.”

In May 2020, L.A. GUNS released a new single, “Let You Down”. The song was written and recorded while the band was in the midst of working on its next studio album.

L.A. GUNS is:

Phil Lewis – vocals
Tracii Guns – guitars
Ace Von Johnson – guitars
Johnny Martin – bass
Scot Coogan – drums

Riley’s version of L.A. GUNS, which made its live debut in May 2019 at the M3 Rock Festival, released its first album, “Renegades”, last fall via Golden Robot Records. The drummer is joined in the group by Orlando, Florida-based guitarist/vocalist Kurt Frohlich, bassist Kelly Nickels (a member of L.A. GUNS’ “classic” incarnation) and guitarist Scott Griffin (who played bass for the band from 2007 until 2009, and then again from 2011 to 2014).

In January 2020, Riley was sued by Lewis and Guns in California District Court. Joining Riley as defendants in the case were the three musicians who performed in his rival version of L.A. GUNS; that group’s manager, booking agent and merchandiser; and Golden Robot Records. The complaint, which requested a trial by jury, alleged that Riley’s version of L.A. GUNS (referred to in the case docket as “the infringing L.A. GUNS”) was creating “unfair competition” through its unauthorized usage of the L.A. GUNS trademark. In addition, Guns and Lewis were seeking relief from and/or against false advertising, breach of contract and unauthorized usage of their likenesses.

THE PRETTY RECKLESS has opted against making any tour plans for 2021 due to the ongoing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Earlier today, the Taylor Momsen-fronted outfit released the following statement via social media: “After much thought and very careful consideration to the ongoing Covid epidemic, we have made the difficult decision to postpone all touring until 2022. We absolutely cannot wait to come back and see you around the world in 2022… stay tuned for announcements coming this week!”

THE PRETTY RECKLESS’s “And So It Went” recently topped Billboard’s Mainstream Rock Airplay chart.

The song, which features a guest appearance by RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE guitarist Tom Morello, has become the band’s sixth single to land at No. 1 on the chart. THE PRETTY RECKLESS’s previous chart-topper was “Death By Rock And Roll”, which spent three week at No. 1 last August.

THE PRETTY RECKLESS has the impressive distinction of being the first female-fronted band to have back-to-back No. 1 singles at the active rock format and the first female-fronted act to have six No. 1 singles on the Mainstream Rock Airplay chart.

“And So It Went” and “Death By Rock And Roll” are both taken from THE PRETTY RECKLESS’s latest album, “Death By Rock And Roll”, which was released in February via Fearless Records in the U.S. and Century Media Records in the rest of the world.

“Death By Rock And Roll” is THE PRETTY RECKLESS’s first LP to be made without longtime producer Kato Khandwala, who died in April 2018 from injuries sustained in a motorcycle accident.

After much thought and very careful consideration to the ongoing Covid epidemic, we have made the difficult decision to postpone all touring until 2022. We absolutely cannot wait to come back and see you around the world in 2022… stay tuned for announcements coming this week! pic.twitter.com/vQaDS4w1bm
— The Pretty Reckless (@TPROfficial) April 27, 2021

Long-running thrash metal legends MEGADETH have partnered with Pull The Plug Patches to bring you a series of exclusive woven patches, backpatches, and enamel pins arriving in late spring.

Starting with their debut album “Killing Is My Business…” in May, new patch designs will become available throughout the year. “Hanger 18” pins and “Rust In Peace” backpatches are also scheduled for a May release.

Founded in 2018 in Newcastle, Australia, Pull The Plug Patches has taken battle vest culture by storm. By introducing unique shapes and colorways into the global patch community, Pull The Plug Patches have given battle vests in every nook and cranny of the planet a shot of adrenaline. With sales extending to all of the world’s inhabited continents, a worldwide community of metalheads have been called to arms.

Dedicated to bringing the highest-quality and most unique woven patches to market, over 300 artists have joined the Pull The Plug Patches roster to date, including ANTHRAX, ARCH ENEMY, CRADLE OF FILTH, DEVILDRIVER, DISMEMBER, ENSLAVED, EXODUS, IRON MAIDEN, METALLICA, MESHUGGAH, MOTÖRHEAD, NAPALM DEATH, NEVERMORE, NUCLEAR ASSAULT, RINGS OF SATURN, SEPULTURA, SLAYER, SUFFOCATION, THE BLACK DAHLIA MURDER and many, many more.

Pull The Plug Patches is featured prominently in Banger TV’s series “The Fabric Of Metal”, which takes viewers on a cultural tour of the mainstays of metal style — from battle vests to bullet belts.

For more information, visit the Pull The Plug Patches web site at www.pulltheplugpatches.com.

PRIMUS has announced the rescheduled dates for its tour where it will pay homage to prog-rock legends RUSH. Postponed from last year, “A Tribute To Kings” is a cross-country tour that will feature the Bay Area trio playing RUSH’s classic 1977 album “A Farewell To Kings” in its entirety, in addition to their own music. The trek will now kick off August 10 in Boise, Idaho and hit more than 40 cities before wrapping in Phoenix, Arizona on October 25. Support on the tour will come from WOLFMOTHER and THE SWORD at select shows. Previously scheduled Toronto, Lafayette, and Minneapolis dates were not able to be rebooked.

“Finally, the clouds are parting, the planets are aligning, the dough is rising … whatever metaphor floats your preverbal boat, PRIMUS is going on tour again,” frontman Les Claypool said in a statement. “We were poised and ready for a massive, bent-rock extravaganza when the gremlins of Covid came and yanked the rug out from under us all. I personally have been climbing the walls like a shit-house rat and, after my first season off in 30-some-odd years, I’m very anxious and excited to stand in front of the microphone with my four-string piece of furniture and belt out some girthy ditties to sweaty throngs of punters.”

All original tickets will be honored. Refunds are available at points of purchase over the next 30 days.

When “A Tribute To Kings” was originally announced in February 2020, Claypool said: “A little over one year ago, Ler Lalonde and I started kicking the idea around of PRIMUS performing a series of shows featuring an iconic RUSH album from our youth. Being that ‘A Farewell To Kings’ was the first RUSH record I ever heard, and that it contains my all-time favorite RUSH tune, ‘Cygnus X1’, the choice narrowed quickly. Years ago, I had done something similar with COLONEL CLAYPOOL’S FEARLESS FLYING FROG BRIGADE, when we covered PINK FLOYD’s ‘Animals’ in its entirety. It was an insane amount of work, but ended up being one of the most enjoyable live endeavors I’ve ever done. Dubbing the tour ‘Primus: A Tribute To Kings’, it was originally scheduled to be performed in the fall of 2019 but, when we were asked to support SLAYER on their ‘Final Campaign’, the ‘Tribute To Kings’ tour was postponed.

“Geddy, Alex and Neil had been superheroes to Larry, Herb and I in our teens, so when we all became pals while touring together in the early ’90s, we were pretty delighted; partially because of the musical geek-out factor but mostly because the three guys whom we had admired so much from afar, turned out to be truly great, down-to-earth humans, and like us, a tad eccentric.

“The ‘Tribute To Kings’ tour will be just as it is implied, a respectful and loving tribute to three spectacular musicians, songwriters, legends and friends.”

Tour dates:

Aug. 10 – Boise, ID @ Outlaw Field at Idaho Botanical Gardens
Aug. 11 – Bonner, MT @ Kettlehouse Amphitheater
Aug. 13 – Spokane, WA @ Riverfront Park Amphitheater
Aug. 14 – Redmond, WA @ Marymoor Park
Aug. 17 – Troutdale, OR @ Edgefield
Aug. 18 – Bend, OR @ Les Schwab Amphitheater
Aug. 28 – Asheville, NC @ ExploreAsheville.com Arena
Aug. 30 – Orlando, FL @ Hard Rock Live
Aug. 31 – Atlanta, GA @ Coca-Cola Roxy
Sep. 03 – Manchester, TN @ Bonnaroo
Sep. 04 – Raleigh, NC @ Red Hat Amphitheater
Sep. 05 – Charlotte, NC @ Charlotte Metro Credit Union Amphitheatre
Sep. 07 – Houston, TX @ Revention Music Center
Sep. 09 – Austin, TX @ ACL Live at The Moody Theater
Sep. 10 – New Orleans, LA @ Saenger Theatre
Sep. 11 – Irving, TX @ The Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory
Sep. 14 – Maryland Heights, MO @ Saint Louis Music Park
Sep. 16 – Indianapolis, IN @ Amphitheater at White River State Park
Sep. 17 – Cleveland, OH @ Jacobs Pavilion at Nautica
Sep. 18 – Cincinnati, OH @ PNC Pavilion
Sep. 20 – Columbus, OH @ Express Live! – Outdoor
Sep. 21 – Chicago, IL @ The Chicago Theatre
Sep. 22 – Sterling Heights, MI @ Michigan Lottery Amphitheatre at Freedom Hill
Sep. 24 – Boston, MA @ Rockland Trust Bank Pavilion
Sep. 25 – Asbury Park, NJ @ Stone Pony Summer Stage
Sep. 26 – Wallingford, CT @ Toyota Oakdale Theater
Sep. 28 – New York, NY @ Beacon Theatre
Sep. 29 – Baltimore, MD @ MECU Pavilion
Oct. 01 – Philadelphia, PA @ The Met Philadelphia
Oct. 02 – Essex Junction, VT @ Midway Lawn at Champlain Valley Expo
Oct. 03 – Westbrook, ME @ Main Savings Pavilion at Rock Row
Oct. 05 – Pittsburgh, PA @ Stage AE
Oct. 06 – Richmond, VA @ Virginia Credit Union LIVE!
Oct. 08 – Milwaukee, WI @ BMO Harris Pavilion
Oct. 09 – Kansas City, MO @ Grinders
Oct. 13 – Salt Lake City, UT @ The Complex (Outdoors)
Oct. 15 – Berkeley, CA @ The Greek Theater
Oct. 16 – Paso Robles, CA @ Vina Robles Amphitheatre
Oct. 17 – Los Angeles, CA @ Greek Theatre
Oct. 19 – San Diego, CA @ Cal Coast Credit Union Open-Air Theater at SDSU
Oct. 21 – Denver, CO @ The Mission Ballroom
Oct. 22 – Denver, CO @ The Mission Ballroom
Oct. 25 – Phoenix, AZ @ Comerica Theater

We celebrate our 200th issue with an LP prominently featured waaaaaay back in issue No. 1, Lamb of God’s massive major label debut Ashes of the Wake.
The post Lamb of God – Ashes of the Wake appeared first on Decibel Magazine.

SEVENDUST has announced a month-long “socially distanced” U.S. tour for this summer. The trek, which will feature support from AUSTIN MEADE and KIRRA, will kick off on June 26 in Oshkosh, Wisconsin and wrap up on July 24 in Hot Springs, Arkansas. All local COVID-19 protocols will be followed, including social distancing, additional hand sanitizer stations and instructions to stay home if you’re sick.

A full list of dates can be found on the poster below.

Earlier this month, SEVENDUST played two special back-to-back livestream events. The Atlanta-based band performed its fourth studio album, 2003’s “Seasons”, in its entirety on April 10 and its 1999 sophomore effort, “Home”, from front to back on April 11.

In January, SEVENDUST performed its entire “Animosity” album during a livestream event from Opav in Orlando, Florida.

Last October, SEVENDUST played its first-ever livestream and its only show of 2020: “Sevendust: Live In Your Living Room”. The event took place on October 23 — the release date of SEVENDUST’s 13th studio album, “Blood & Stone”, via Rise Records. The follow-up to 2018’s “All I See Is War” was once again tracked at Studio Barbarosa in Gotha, Florida with producer Michael “Elvis” Baskette, who has previously worked with ALTER BRIDGE and SLASH, among others.

SEVENDUST singer Lajon Witherspoon told Audio Ink Radio about the recording process for “Blood & Stone”: “I feel like we’ve grown as not just artists but men, personally. I feel like we’re seasoned, if that makes sense. Maybe we’re just like an old wine. We’ve had time to really know each other. We’re brothers. It’s easy for us when we’re in the studio. It’s like a well-oiled machine, once we get back in there. That’s where the magic happens, is when we’re looking at each other. It always reminds me of when we first got together, whenever we get together, as long as we’ve been together. It’s just because there’s a certain light that comes on. It’s always been great to have that.”

Witherspoon also talked about SEVENDUST’s longevity, saying: “You can’t just call yourself a band just because you’ve got a group of people together. I think it’s a group. I feel like you have to have a band when you’ve gone through a lot of things together, not only the good times, but the bad times. You’ve seen life together. You’ve seen death together with each other. You’ve helped each other. You’ve done all those types of things over the last 25 years, and that’s the reason why I can say I’m very proud to be in SEVENDUST the band, not SEVENDUST the group.”

He continued: “There are some bands out there — there’s a lot of bands out there — and there are a lot of groups. I think it takes heart. I think it takes compassion. I think it takes some respect. To treat each other equally, like what we’re trying to do in the world today, I feel like that’s something that’s kept us together. It’s not one guy with a Ferrari and another guy with a Hyundai, which those are nice cars, too. I’m just saying in the scheme of things. So, I think that’s something that’s kept us together, too, is that not one guy’s better or feeling better. When we get in a room sometimes, it feels like even though we’re older men, I still feel like we’re those kids that were in the recording room, wondering, how are we going to pay rent for the month? What show are we going to play? And it’s a good feeling to feel happy after all these years.”