Author: planetsixstring

In a recent interview with RadioactiveMike Z, host of the 96.7 KCAL-FM radio program “Wired In The Empire”, former ILL NIÑO and current LIONS AT THE GATE singer Cristian Machado was asked about his introduction to the music of METALLICA. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “My introduction to METALLICA was ‘Master Of Puppets’. I remember living in New York City. My Polish cousin, ironically — I’m a Latino, but I have a small part of my family that’s from Poland — he had visited our family from Poland. And apparently, I learned that day that in Europe, and especially in Eastern Europe, they’re on to underground metal way earlier than Americans are. Back then in the ’80s, Europeans and Eastern Europeans were on to the metal bands way before America even exploded it. And he had come down and he took me to a record store and ‘Master Of Puppets’ was one of the albums that he bought that day. And I’ll never the listening experience that I had; to my ears, it was out of this world, it was almost alien and I was attracted to it immediately — immediately.”

He continued: “One of my favorite METALLICA songs is definitely off ‘…And Justice For All’, ‘Dyers Eve’, which I always felt was such an extreme METALLICA song that always felt just next level for them. But the ‘Master Of Puppets’ album is what holds a true place in my heart as a METALLICA fanboy in my early age.”

When RadioactiveMike Z opined out that there isn’t a weak song on “Master Of Puppets”, Machado concurred. “Absolutely,” he said. “And even till the end, with songs like ‘Leper Messiah’ and things like that, they just drilled the nail so hard on that album; they didn’t lose focus, every song was intentional and intense, and they sounded their own. They had their own sound at the time in thrash metal, and I think that still continues to be something that’s important in music.”

LIONS AT THE GATE will make its live debut on April 28 at the legendary Whisky A Go Go in West Hollywood, California. Support at the show will come from THROWN INTO EXILE and BREAKING IN A SEQUENCE.

Joining Machado in LIONS AT THE GATE are fellow former ILL NIÑO members Ahrue “Luster” Ilustre (guitar) and Diego Verduzco (guitar), alongside bassist Stephen Brewer (WESTFIELD MASSACRE) and drummer Fern Lemus.

LIONS AT THE GATE released its debut single, “Not Even Human”, back in June 2021.

The band’s upcoming debut album was produced by the Kile Odell, who has previously worked with FOZZY and MOTIONLESS IN WHITE.

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DREAM THEATER keyboardist Jordan Rudess spoke to Andrew Daly of VWMusic about the band winning its first-ever Grammy in the “Best Metal Performance” category in the pre-telecast ceremony at the 64th annual Grammy Awards, which was held on April 3 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. DREAM THEATER was nominated for “The Alien”, a track from its 2021 album “A View From The Top Of The World”. DREAM THEATER’s previous Grammy nominations were for the song “On The Backs Of Angels”, from 2011’s “A Dramatic Turn Of Events” album, and the single “The Enemy Inside” from 2013’s “Dream Theater”.

Jordan said: “It was very exciting to get that Grammy, as we’ve been nominated three times. And I have to say that I didn’t really expect to get it because I was getting used to being nominated and not getting it. The other reason I thought we wouldn’t get it is that DREAM THEATER is really prog metal, and we were in a metal category. I mean, that was the best category for us, but I thought maybe the voters would sort of stick together in that more traditional metal frame of mind. I was really pleased that we got that kind of recognition and validation, and it’s the one award that definitely makes a difference. In a musician’s life, a Grammy can affect your whole career. It changes the way you do business with people, and the way people deal with you. It’s a really big deal. I definitely have to say that it feels really good. We are riding high over it for sure.

Regarding “The Alien”, Jordan said: “What’s interesting about that song is, as you know, it’s not necessarily like the most commercial kind of song — it’s definitely not commercial at all; it’s in this odd time signature. When we started, Mike [Mangini] was doing this crazy time signature thing on drums that inspired us to get the song off the ground. The next thing you know, we were all writing our parts, and it came together. It actually was the first thing that we wrote for the album, so it kind of flowed out from there. It’s cool because it has all the classic DREAM THEATER elements in it, and that’s what I really liked about the song. It has the unison between me and [guitarist] John Petrucci, it has the keyboards, the great guitar leads, and these crazy meters, but it also has a solid hook. I was glad that we decided to put that out there when the record came out, and have that song be the one that was out front because I think it tells the DREAM THEATER story really well.”

The nominees in the “Best Metal Performance” category at the 2022 Grammy Awards were as follows:

* “Genesis” – DEFTONES
* “The Alien” – DREAM THEATER
* “Amazonia” – GOJIRA
* “Pushing The Tides” – MASTODON
* “The Triumph Of King Freak (A Crypt Of Preservation And Superstition)” – ROB ZOMBIE

DREAM THEATER singer James LaBrie recently told Robert Cavuoto of Myglobalmind about the band’s first-ever Grammy win: “Well, it was overwhelming, the feeling, and it was quite surreal and it took a while for it to sink in — I think a couple of days before I was, like, ‘Wow. Okay. So actually did happen. I guess the third time’s the charm, ’cause we were nominees a couple of times before for ‘On The Backs Of Angels’ and ‘The Enemy Inside’.

“When it happened and our name was called and then John went up on stage, I thought he did an amazing acceptance speech,” he continued. “He was well poised and well worded, as always; he’s a very intelligent individual.

“It’s an amazing feeling. I guess it’s another level of recognition for us and another feather in our cap, so to speak,” LaBrie added. “But, no, it’s just a great feeling and it’s affirmation as to the kind of band that we are and how we’ve been around for some time. And it’s good to get that recognition from the Grammy [Awards].”

In his acceptance speech, Petrucci said: “Wow, this is absolutely insane. On behalf of the entire band, I’d like to thank the Recording Academy and everybody who voted for us.

“You know, they used to tell us our songs were way too long, we used weird time signatures and there were too many guitar solos. In fact, this song is in 17/8, so try to tap your foot to it. But we just won a Grammy, so I’m glad we didn’t listen…

“All the DREAM THEATER fans around the world, you guys rock. We love you. For fans of prog and prog metal, stay true to your art. And it’s alive and well.”

Last December, Petrucci discussed DREAM THEATER’s latest Grammy nomination during an appearance on MACHINE HEAD frontman Robb Flynn’s “No Fuckin’ Regrets With Robb Flynn” podcast. He said: “The first [Grammy] nomination we had, FOO FIGHTERS were on there. And they won it. I remember Dave Grohl had said something like, ‘Oh, they should have got this,’ which I thought was nice. But this time, I don’t know if I’m gonna remember all of [the other artists that were nominated], but I think it’s GOJIRA and MASTODON [that we are up against], and it’s a cool list. I remember there were a couple of years where I was surprised at the nominees — it seemed a little bit strange — but this seems appropriate. So we’ll see. It’s fun. It’s an honor to get nominated. It’s cool. Doing what we do and the way that we do it and getting recognized in that world is something that I never would have expected. And now for us, this is the third [nomination], so it’s cool. It’s a good feeling.”

When “The Alien” was first released in August 2021, Petrucci stated about the track: “It’s the first one we wrote together. It gives people a window into what it was like when we initially met up after all of those months off. It has the adventure, the untraditional structure, the heaviness, and the hooks. It really set the tone for the album. James wrote the lyrics about the idea of terraforming and looking beyond our Earth for alternative settlements. Since we’re going beyond our planet, ‘The Alien’ turns out to be us. I thought it was a cool and creative lyric by James.”

This year’s Grammy nominations were announced on November 23, 2021. The nominations were revealed during a livestream from the Grammy Museum in Los Angeles, which featured Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason Jr. and Board Of Trustees chair Tammy Hurt, as well as some special guests.

The eligibility period for the 64th annual Grammy Awards was September 1, 2020, through September 30, 2021.

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Two months ago, longtime VIXEN bassist Share Ross announced that she was “taking a hiatus” from the band. Her replacement is Julia Lage, formerly of the Latin Grammy-nominated Brazilian rock group BARRA DE SAIA and wife of Richie Kotzen. Lage made her live debut with VIXEN on February 8 at the pre-Monsters Of Rock cruise concert at Magic City Casino in Miami, Florida.

VIXEN singer Lorraine Lewis discussed Share’s departure from the band in a new interview with Metal-Net. She said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “We already knew the news from Share. And we were planning to go out to the Monsters Of Rock pre-cruise party. The plan was for VIXEN to also go on the ship. But we had already pre-planned all of this; we knew what was going on.

“Bands have their own secret society, if you will, and sometimes you just have to discuss as a band what’s happening, what’s next, et cetera, and that’s what had happened with us.

“First of all, let me just say: we adore Share,” Lorraine continued. “Share’s a M.F.-er rock star, we love her, she’s talented, she’s a great singer, she’s beautiful, she writes great songs and we love her, and forever she is the bass player of VIXEN; that doesn’t ever change. Her legacy lives on forever. But she’s also a very busy businesswoman, as the rest of us are. She has put her foot into the real estate market in Florida, which is really booming. She loves what she does; she’s really good at it. And I think for her — and I’m sure that she would tell you the same thing — is that it just got to a point where she decided that she needed to take a step back. She was kind of spreading herself thin with all of the work that she was doing. And this is a new avenue for her, and she’s really kicking ass at it. So she came to us… She actually went to Roxy [Petrucci, VIXEN drummer] first, and I think that they had a discussion about it, and then they let us know that she was thinking about stepping back and calling it a hiatus.

“We support her. We love her. We’re all about girls, girls and lifting each other up. So this was a decision that she made on her own, and she decided to just kind of take a break and a breather, and we support her in that decision. We talk all the time — I talk to her once or twice a week; we’re all still friends; I mean, we’re family. We’re thick as thieves — that doesn’t go away ever. She’s just taking a break. And it’s as simple as that.”

Regarding how Lage ended up joining VIXEN as Ross’s replacement, Lewis said: “Knowing that we would have gigs booked for 2022, we knew we needed a bass player. And Britt [Lightning, a.k.a. Brittany Denaro, VIXEN guitarist] knows everyone — like, she seriously knows everybody in rock and roll. So Britt has worked with Julia before, and she right away said, ‘I think we should get Julia Lage.’ She’s beautiful, she’s an amazing bass player, she’s super talented, she has a killer voice, and she sings really high, which that’s kind of the role that Share does. With the VIXEN harmony, Share’s always the highest harmony. So we really needed somebody to fill those shoes, and Julia can do that.”

According to Lorraine, VIXEN had “no rehearsals” with Julia prior to the Miami concert. “It was ‘plug and play,'” she explained. “We went to the cruise, pre-cruise party. No one knew that this was happening except for our manager, our booking agent and inside the band. And we had it all planned out that Julia would learn four songs towards the end of the set, so she had been working on four songs, and then we gave the stage… After Share did ‘[I Don’t Need No] Doctor’, which she just kicks ass on, she took over the microphone and she revealed to the crowd what her plans were, which was to take a hiatus, and then she invited Julia up on stage. They hugged, we all kind of high-fived, we let Share say what she wanted to say, and then Share exited the stage, Julia came up, we rocked the house for the last four songs, didn’t miss a beat. I’m sure people were surprised and at the same time, it just all came together… Julia just jumped up and plugged in. We did a very brief in-hotel-room rehearsal with just basically running down a couple of things, making sure our harmonies were okay and then we just rocked the house.”

When Ross made the news of her departure public at the aforementioned pre-Monsters Of Rock cruise concert, she told the crowd that “life got a little complicated” and that “something has to give,” resulting to her decision to “step away from VIXEN for a while.” She then introduced her “amazing” replacement and urged the VIXEN fans to “graciously” open their arms and welcome Lage to the group. At that point, Julia and her new bandmates launched into the track “Streets In Paradise” and played the last couple of songs of the set with Ross watching the proceedings from the side of the stage.

During a February 11 appearance on SiriusXM’s “Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk”, Julia spoke about how she ended up hooking up with VIXEN, saying: “Share is taking a hiatus. She wants to do her thing [and focus on her real estate career]. She’s kicking ass. She’s gonna be writing and playing forever — I mean, she’s a badass artist and bass player, singer, everything, songwriter. So I got the invitation, and I’m, like, ‘Yeah, of course I’m gonna join. Of course.'”

Asked how the other members of VIXEN reached out to her about joining the band, Julia said: “Well, actually, funnily enough, before Britt joined VIXEN, me and her tried to put together a band, right when she moved to L.A. But that didn’t work out, and then she joined VIXEN, and I was super happy for her. So, fast forward, she actually called me a few months ago and she told me about the scenario, and I was, like, ‘Yeah. I would love [to do it]. I mean, it’s an honor for me to join VIXEN.’ So that happened. And that was it. It was that quick. And I was just, ‘Okay. Sign me in. Where can I go?’ [Laughs]”

Lage also reflected on her first performance with VIXEN at the pre-Monsters Of Rock cruise concert, saying: “[Share played] a little more than half of the set, and then [before] the last three songs, she stopped [the show] and talked about [her plans] a little bit and told everybody what’s gonna happen and introduced me. And then I stepped in and played the last three songs with them. And then actually she came back for the last song and sang along with us. It was just very nice. I thought it was very emotional too. It was a good way to transition.”

Pressed about whether her position with VIXEN is just a temporary one or she will join the band permanently, Julia said: “We didn’t really discuss that, but [Share is] taking her time. She might come back; she might [not]. I don’t know. Whenever they need me, I’m there for them. And I’m gonna do my best to honor her bass lines and everything. And I’m gonna be having with it, that’s for sure.”

The only remaining member of VIXEN’s “classic” lineup is Petrucci.

In January 2019, VIXEN recruited Lewis as its new lead singer following the departure of Janet Gardner.

Lewis had already performed with VIXEN in March 2018 in Durant, Oklahoma while Gardner was recovering from surgery.

Prior to Lewis’s addition to VIXEN, Petrucci, Ross and Denaro vowed to “expand upon the VIXEN legacy while remaining true to our musical roots.”

Gardner, Petrucci and Ross are considered to be part of VIXEN’s classic lineup, along with founding guitarist Jan Kuehnemund, who died of cancer in October 2013.

Gardner contributed lead vocals to VIXEN’s most commercially successful studio albums — “Vixen” (1988), “Rev It Up” (1990) and “Tangerine” (1998) — as well as the group’s latest release, 2018’s live album “Live Fire”.

Photo credit: Mark Weiss

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During an appearance on the “In The Trenches With Ryan Roxie” video podcast, URIAH HEEP guitarist Mick Box spoke about the progress of the recording sessions for the legendary progressive rockers’ 26th LP. “At the moment, we’ve recorded a new album,” he said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET). “It’s in the bag. We used Jay Ruston, the producer that produced the last album, ‘Living The Dream’, which, for us, was marvelous because it was revered by both the media, the press as well as the fans and also is one of the best of our career. So to get an album like that 50 years on and get those sort of accolades, we kept with the same team. So, yeah, it’s a great album. It’s rockin’. It’s got all the elements that HEEP’s known for and all the musicality and the lyrics and everything else. So, yeah, it’s there.”

Regarding when fans can expect to see the new URIAH HEEP album released, Box said: “At the moment, we’re in the process of choosing titles, choosing the artwork and all those sort of things. Then that’ll get presented to the record company and, to be honest, it’ll be decided by them. We’re with a company called Silver Lining, and it’s our first album with them.

“As you well know, we’re in the music business, and we do the music and they care of that side,” he continued. “So they’ll release it when they feel that with their investment they’ll get the best reward [laughs] — is a nice way of putting it, I guess. So we don’t really have a say in it, but they’ll find a place to release it when they feel [it’s] best [to do so].”

This past February, Box told Danny Stoakes that URIAH HEEP won’t play any new songs on tour before the upcoming album is released. “We’d not be allowed to by the record company, as much as we would be tempted,” he explained. “In today’s market, let’s put it this way, if we play a [new] song on stage, before I’ve got the jeans off and showered and poured a drink, it’s recorded and up on YouTube and Facebook and everything else… So it’s highly unlikely — for those reasons. I mean, for us, we’d play them all. But sometimes your hands are tied for a reason. And the record company, they come in and allow us to go in and record and do that, so you have to play ball with them.”

“Living The Dream” was released in September 2018 via Frontiers Music Srl. The LP was helmed by Ruston, who has previously worked with ANTHRAX, STONE SOUR and STEEL PANTHER, among others.

Box is the original guitarist and sole remaining founding member of URIAH HEEP. He, vocalist Bernie Shaw and keyboardist/vocalist Phil Lanzon have formed the nucleus of the band for more than 35 years and released 17 albums together.

URIAH HEEP debuted in 1970 with the release of one of hard rock’s milestones, “Very ‘Eavy, Very ‘Umble”, and has since sold in excess of 40 million albums worldwide. They constantly tour the world, playing up to 125 shows a year to more than 500,000 fans. The band’s live set features the classic tracks from the ’70s and is a musical journey from the band’s beginnings to the present day.

URIAH HEEP is:

Mick Box – Lead Guitar/Vocals
Phil Lanzon – Keyboards/Vocals
Bernie Shaw – Lead Vocals
Dave Rimmer – Bass Guitar/Vocals
Russell Gilbrook – Drums, Percussion

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In a recent interview with Finland’s Chaoszine, MESHUGGAH’s Tomas Haake was asked if playing the drums in such a physically demanding style becomes more difficult as he gets older. The 50-year-old Swedish musician responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET). “You definitely feel it; there’s no doubt. I definitely am not the drummer I was when I was 30 and I’m not physically as capable as I was when I was 30 years old. But you can still… Now I had a year since I played drums [after recording the latest MESHUGGAH album], so, obviously, the first few times you rehearse, it’s, like, ‘Ahhh…’ A few songs into it, you’re, like, ‘My heart.’ You feel it. But it’s still surprising how fast you get back into it, and I’m already starting to feel a lot better. Another month of rehearsal, and I think I’ll feel pretty solid. But you do think about things, as far as ergonomics and stuff like that. And over the last, like, 10, 12, 13 years, that’s something I’ve been doing with the drum kit too, to kind of make sure that I’m not reaching too high or too far back or that it’s something that is gonna mess with me. ‘Cause I already did have shoulder impingement in both shoulders back in 2005 and [200]6, and I don’t wanna get back to that again. So it comes down to ergonomics as well. And you try to place everything around you. As far as the kick goes, you try to kind of make it so you don’t have to use extra effort just to kind of reach that cymbal or hit that thing or hit that thing. So you do think about those kind of things as well, obviously. It’s not only a matter of your physical ability to perform a live set; it’s about the little things as well.”

MESHUGGAH’s ninth studio album, “Immutable”, was released on April 1 via Atomic Fire. The follow-up to 2016’s “The Violent Sleep Of Reason” was recorded at Sweetspot Studios in Halmstad, Sweden; mixed by Rickard Bengtsson and Staffan Karlsson; and mastered by multiple Grammy Award winner Vlado Meller (METALLICA, RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE, RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS, SYSTEM OF A DOWN). Visionary artist Luminokaya once again created the cover artwork.

Last December, MESHUGGAH announced that it was postponing its previously announced U.S. tour, originally planned for early 2022, to September/October 2022. At the time, the Swedish extreme tech-metal pioneers said that they needed “to prioritize the physical health of one of the band members who is currently undergoing medical treatment related to a skin condition on his hands, hindering him from rehearsals and from all in all playing his instrument.” Haake has since confirmed to Rolling Stone that he is suffering from hand eczema. “I’ve got to tape up all my fingers and put on gloves just to mess around on the kit, even,” he explained. “That means I haven’t really touched the drums since we recorded the album, and that was, like, early April. So I’m almost a year out, without even hitting a drum.”

Last month, Haake told Metal Injection that his condition was improving after he talked to a nutritionist. “I don’t know how many doctors and places I’ve been to since this started, and we’ve done all the tests that you can do as far as contact eczema and on your back, all those patches and stuff like that — I did that twice,” he said. “And I went to a psoriasis place — they thought initially that it was psoriasis related — so I had 30 sessions of UV light kind of sessions for my hands. Nothing helped; nothing had done anything. So a buddy of mine, a drummer buddy here in Stockholm, suggested I talk to this guy that he knew who is a nutritionist for one of the soccer teams here in Stockholm. And so I called him up and we spoke, like, probably about an hour and a half and I described how it all started and what kind of life I live and all that stuff. And he basically told me, ‘Start eating Q10, coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10), because I think there might be something there. You’re not producing this stuff enough, and that will have an effect.’ ‘Cause I also started losing my hair and stuff like that way faster than I had been. So I figured this is connected. And I’ve known, or felt, all along that this was not contact allergy related at all, because I tried everything. I used these cotton gloves for months on end. As soon as I was touching anything, like as far as keyboard mouse, anything that you would come in touch with on a daily basis, I was using gloves and it didn’t do any difference either. So my belief was always more that it’s internal something. And actually after now — this is day number five or six of taking Q10, and it’s way, way better. So, knock on wood, but if it keeps going like this, it’s definitely going the right way, for sure.”

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