Author: planetsixstring

MÖTLEY CRÜE singer Vince Neil suffered a serious injury when he fell off the stage during his solo band’s performance earlier tonight (Friday, October 15) at the Monsters On The Mountain festival at LeConte Center in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee.

According to Metal Sludge, the incident occurred early into the set — while the group was performing “”Don’t Go Away Mad (Just Go Away)” — when Neil walked towards the front left side of the stage and fell. You can see video of the incident below.

A short time later, bassist Dana Strum addressed the crowd, and explained the situation in a video uploaded to social media by the long-running hard rock and heavy metal site.

“The truth is Vince fell and broke ribs when he fell,” Dana told the audience. “He can’t breathe… He was so excited to be here. He lives in Tennessee. But he was willing to stick it out and tough it out… Let’s have one good round of applause, please, for this guy.”

According to sources cited by Metal Sludge, Neil was taken away in an ambulance but no further details are available regarding Vince’s condition.

Last month, Vince revealed that he was trying out a new toning machine in an apparent effort to get in shape for MÖTLEY CRÜE’s upcoming “The Stadium Tour”. The singer said he was using Emsculpt Neo, a revolutionary new treatment which supposedly builds muscle and reduces fat using both radio frequency and high-intensity electromagnetic energies.

Four months ago, Neil made headlines when he struggled to complete his solo concert at the Boone Iowa River Valley Festival in Boone. Based on fan-filmed video footage of the May 29 gig posted on YouTube, the 60-year-old rocker, who hadn’t performed in more than a year and a half due to the COVID-19 pandemic, began losing his voice several songs into his set, which consisted exclusively of CRÜE classics and cover songs previously recorded by the band.

MÖTLEY CRÜE’s “The Stadium Tour” with DEF LEPPARD, POISON and JOAN JETT & THE BLACKHEARTS was originally scheduled to take place last summer but ended up being pushed back to 2021, and then to 2022, due to the coronavirus pandemic.

So, Vince Neil took the stage tonight and into the third song he fell off the stage and broke his ribs.
Check it out

Posted by Joe Wintrow on Friday, October 15, 2021

Breaking News from Metal Sludge!
Vince Neil has fallen at tonight’s Monsters on the Mountain festival and is being taken to a local area hospital now. pic.twitter.com/ahERWH34jr

— metalsludge (@MetalSludge) October 16, 2021

Read more »

Founding QUEENSRŸCHE drummer Scott Rockenfield has filed a lawsuit against the band’s fellow original members Michael Wilton (guitar) and Eddie Jackson (bass), alleging, among other things, breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duty and wrongful discharge. Metal Sludge was the first to report on the lawsuit, which was filed on October 11 in Snohomish County Superior Court.

In the complaint, which has been obtained by BLABBERMOUTH.NET, Rockenfield claims that he took paternal leave of absence from QUEENSRŸCHE in February 2017 after his fiancée experienced complications during the birth of their son and had to have an emergency Cesarean delivery. According to the drummer, his leave of absence was approved by the members of QUEENSRŸCHE and he was to retain an equal one-third interest in all QUEENSRŸCHE companies (QR Companies), including Tri-Ryche Corporation, Melodisc LTD., Queensryche Merchandising, Inc., EMS Music, LLC and Queensryche Holdings, LLC.

In Scott’s complaint, he claims that “Rockenfield, Wilton and Jackson are the remaining members of the band QUEENSRŸCHE, as well as the sole or majority shareholders and members of the entities controlling the intellectual property and contractual rights of said group, to wit the QR Companies.”

Scott alleges that or about October 11, 2018, Wilton and Jackson purportedly “voted to dismiss Rockenfield from the QR Companies due in whole or in part to his taking of approved family leave. Rockenfield was informed of his purported dismissal from the QR Companies in a letter dated November 3, 2018.”

According to Rockenfield’s complaint, since 2017, Wilton and Jackson “have wrongfully withheld from Rockenfield all sources of income from the QR Companies in violation of the various Operating Agreements and Contracts governing the QR Companies for no lawful purpose.” In addition, they “have failed to provide Rockenfield with an accounting of the books, records, business and contracts of the QR Companies.”

Although Rockfenfield says he has continued to receive royalties from Tri-Ryche since February 2017 for the old catalogue, he claims he has “received no payments from Melodisc since February 2017, and no payments from Queensryche Merchandising since early 2018, and no payments from EMS since February 2017.”

Rockfenfield also claims that Wilton and Jackson did not include him in the recording QUEENSRŸCHE’s latest album, “The Verdict”, “despite his availability and willingness to participate.”

During all of 2017 and 2018, Rockenfield claims, he “remained active in all aspects of the QR Companies’ business, song writing, licensing options, and communications with the exception of touring.

“During his family medical leave, Rockenfield was in constant and continued communication with the band, participated in writing songs, and prepared for the band’s recording schedule that was set to begin in early 2018,” the complaint reads.

“In October 2018, Rockenfield participated in negotiating a new extension of QUEENSRŸCHE’s 2013 recording contract with Century Media, which would add two (2) additional albums to the recording contract, and continued to work to secure seven very lucrative licensing offers on behalf of QUEENSRŸCHE,” according to the lawsuit.

Rockenfield claims to be “owed compensation for lost wages and profits as, as well as an amount equal to the present fair market value of his equity interest in the QR Companies as of his wrongful dismissal, plus interest thereon.”

Rockenfield’s lawsuit, which also names Wilton and Jackson’s wives as defendants, comes nine months after he shot down suggestions that he quit QUEENSRŸCHE or retired from playing music. In January, the drummer shared an update on Facebook in which he said that fans “have not been given the facts by any means” and implied that he would offer more details at a later date.

Scott’s January 2021 comments marked the first time he had publicly addressed his status with QUEENSRŸCHE, which has used former KAMELOT drummer Casey Grillo for touring purposes since April 2017.

In May, Rockenfield launched a cryptic new QUEENSRŸCHE-centric web site that implied he was plotting his return to the music scene. A week after Rockenfield went live with his Queensryche2021.com web site, QUEENSRŸCHE singer Todd La Torre announced that he was selling one of four remaining pairs of drum sticks that were used by Scott during the drum recordings of the band’s 2013 self-titled album. The following day, Rockenfield returned to his Facebook page to seemingly take a swipe at Todd over the move, writing: “As a corp brand business owner for over 40 years now, I was once asked: if an ’employee/hired hand/sub contractor/or other similar employed individual’ is engaging in unacceptable and disparaging remarks towards their so called ‘EMPLOYER or BENEFACTOR’, then more than likely this person still needs to be educated and nurtured to gain some much needed experience and to hopefully then have some respect and gratitude”.

This past February, La Torre was asked during an appearance on “The Eddie Trunk Podcast” if anybody in QUEENSRŸCHE has heard directly from Scott regarding his status with the group. He responded: “Not to my knowledge. All I can tell you is he took paternity leave, saying he would be gone for about six months, and that was four years ago. [Laughs] Casey shows up every day. He shows up to songwrite, he shows up to record, if needed, and he shows up for the live gigs. So that’s all that I can tell you. I haven’t communicated with [Scott] in years. So I have no idea what he’s up to. I couldn’t even tell you.”

When DJ Eddie Trunk said that he heard from Rockenfield two years ago and that the drummer expressed an interest at the time in telling his story, La Torre replied: “I don’t know what story there is to tell. People ask, but, honestly, it is literally like déjà vu. Go play the answer I gave you four years ago, because, literally, nothing has changed.

“As far as I understand, there really isn’t communication [between Scott and the QUEENSRŸCHE camp]. And I couldn’t tell you anything more than that. Some people think, ‘They’re not telling us more.’ I don’t have anything to say, ’cause I don’t talk to him; he doesn’t talk to me. Casey’s been playing with us for four years — going on four years — and he shows up. The guy is doing an awesome job.

“I guess I’d revert back to you,” Todd continued. “If you left your radio show saying that you needed six months paternity leave but you never communicated when you were coming back for four years, would the radio station stop running because you quit showing up to work? And keep in mind, you weren’t fired, and you didn’t give official written notice that you’re never gonna come back; you just don’t come back or communicate. Does your key still work? Is your name on the door? Or are they gonna find adequate talent replacement to keep things going?

“So I don’t have anything bad to say,” La Torre clarified. “I don’t really have anything to say, other than he asked for paternity leave and just hasn’t come back.”

The drum tracks on “The Verdict” were laid down by La Torre.

Last year, original QUEENSRŸCHE singer Geoff Tate expressed his doubt that Rockenfield will ever play drums again, telling Metal Rules that Scott “has a lot of medical problems and things like that now.” In 2019, Tate told 88.1FM WESU’s weekly syndicated radio show “Noize In The Attic” that he was “pretty sure” Scott “didn’t leave” QUEENSRŸCHE of his own accord. “I can tell you that there’s lawsuits involved; I know that,” he said. “He’s in kind of a really dark place, and I hope he gets some help, ’cause he’s really unraveled, you know? In my opinion. It’s too bad — he’s an incredibly talented drummer, and unfortunately, he never was happy with that. It wasn’t good enough for him.”

In April 2014, Tate and QUEENSRŸCHE announced that a settlement had been reached after a nearly two-year legal battle where the singer sued over the rights to the QUEENSRŸCHE name after being fired in 2012. Wilton, Rockenfield and Jackson responded with a countersuit. The settlement included an agreement that Wilton, Rockenfield and Jackson would continue as QUEENSRŸCHE, while Tate would have the sole right to perform the albums “Operation: Mindcrime” and “Operation: Mindcrime II” in their entirety live.

Read more »

Jay Jay French, founder, guitarist and manager of the world-famous heavy metal institution TWISTED SISTER, has scheduled in-store appearances to promote his new “bizoir” — part memoir and part business primer — “Twisted Business: Lessons From My Life In Rock ‘N’ Roll”, in New York City and West Babylon, New York.

Join French on Saturday, November 6 at 4 p.m. at New York City’s Generation Records. The appearance will include a discussion with French, moderated by the New York Hardcore Chronicles Live! host Drew Stone.

Generation Records
210 Thompson Street, New York, NY 10012
(212) 254-1100
www.generationrecords.com

On Sunday, November 7, French will appear in West Babylon, New York, with a signing at Looney Tunes record store beginning at 4 p.m. Purchase copies of the book now to receive a wristband.

Looney Tunes Record Store
31 Brookvale Avenue
West Babylon, NY 11704
631-587-7722
www.looneytuneslongisland.com

In addition to founding TWISTED SISTER, a world-famous heavy metal band that has sold more than 20 million records worldwide, French is one of the top entrepreneurs in entertainment. After taking over as manager in the 1970s, French developed TWISTED SISTER into the most heavily licensed heavy metal band in history, leading the group to perform more than 9,000 shows in forty countries.

Available now via RosettaBooks, “Twisted Business” is an unexpected, inspiring, whirlwind story of transformation and redemption. “Twisted Business” follows French’s adventure-filled life — from growing up in New York City in the sixties, to working as a drug dealer and struggling as an addict before quitting cold-turkey, and finally, to creating and cultivating TWISTED SISTER and turning it into one of the most successful brands in the world.

Together with his mentor, Steve Farber, a best-selling author and one of the world’s top leadership and management experts, French offers unique, hard-earned tips and advice from his nearly 50 years as a musician, music business manager, and entrepreneur. French shows how, through tenacity, grit, and dedication, anyone can create their own brand, grow a successful business, re-invent themselves, or simply find success in what they love to do. Entertaining, provocative, funny, and informative, this book is the trip of a lifetime and a treasured guide for entrepreneurs, business people, and music fans alike.

French’s two biggest hits with TWISTED SISTER, the rock anthems “We’re Not Gonna Take It” and “I Wanna Rock”, have become two of the most licensed songs in the history of heavy metal, appearing in hundreds of TV, radio and internet commercials, movies and TV shows. French currently oversees all music licensing and all business regarding TWISTED SISTER.

In addition to his career as a musician, manager, producer and executive producer, French is a highly sought-after keynote speaker, as well contributing writer for business magazine Inc.com, pens a BEATLES column for Goldmine called “Now, We’re Sixty Four” and writes a an audio column for Copper, an online music and high end audio magazine published through PS Audio.

Read more »

Legendary progressive rockers YES — consisting of Steve Howe, Alan White, Geoff Downes, Jon Davison and Billy Sherwood — have unveiled the video for “Future Memories”. It marks the third single and video from their new album “The Quest”, which came out October 1 on InsideOut Music/Sony Music and produced by Steve Howe.

Much of the music for “The Quest” was “written in late 2019 with the rest in 2020,” says Howe. “We commissioned several orchestrations to augment and enhance the overall sound of these fresh new recordings, hoping that our emphasis on melody, coupled with some expansive instrumental solo breaks, keeps up the momentum for our listeners.”

“The Quest” was recorded across the globe. The sessions took place in the U.K. with Howe, Downes and Davison, while White and Sherwood got together in the studio in the U.S. “Billy Sherwood and myself did all the rhythm sections, bass and drum, in America,” says White, “down in Los Angeles at Uncle Studios, where he works a lot. It helps when you’ve got a good place to work,” Alan laughs, “and Billy’s really good on the recording desk, so we got things down relatively quickly. I spent quite a while studying the music before I went down to L.A. so I was prepared.”

The cover artwork was designed and created by the band’s longtime collaborator Roger Dean.

“The Quest” 2CD digipak track listing:

CD1:

01. The Ice Bridge 7.01
02. Dare To Know 6.00
03. Minus The Man 5.35
04. Leave Well Alone 8.06
05. The Western Edge 4.26
06. Future Memories 5.08
07. Music To My Ears 4.41
08. A Living Island 6.52

CD2:

01. Sister Sleeping Soul 4.51
02. Mystery Tour 3.33
03. Damaged World 5.20

For half a century, YES has been the definitive band of the progressive music genre, the band by which all others are judged. Their groundbreaking albums of the 1970s set the standard for the genre and influenced countless others who followed in their wake.

The current lineup of YES was completed in 2015 when Sherwood replaced founder member Chris Squire, at Squire’s insistence, as he bravely fought a losing battle with leukaemia. Since then, YES has concentrated on touring with their Album Series tours, each featuring a classic YES album in its entirety. During this period, YES has released three live albums, “Topographic Drama – Live Across America” (2017), “Yes Live 50” (2019) and “The Royal Affair Tour: Live In Las Vegas” (2020).

Photo credit: Gottlieb Bros

Read more »

This past July, WHITESNAKE announced that it had enlisted Croatian singer/multi-instrumentalist Dino Jelusick for its upcoming tour. Jelusick is a member of multi-platinum selling band TRANS-SIBERIAN ORCHESTRA and was previously part of DIRTY SHIRLEY (with George Lynch), ANIMAL DRIVE and recorded with many others. Dino has been singing, touring and recording since the age of five. Other than being a frontman, his main instrument are keyboards but he also plays bass, guitar and drums. He finished music academy and did theater work.

Asked in a new interview with Antihero Magazine what Dino’s role will be on WHITESNAKE’s final tour, the band’s leader David Coverdale said: “He’s going to be the way I have two guitar players.

“I’ve always seen WHITESNAKE as an orchestra,” he explained. “I don’t see it as a band-band. I don’t want two guitarists playing exactly the same song, or just harmony guitars, I want two opposing… you’ve got the incendiary Joel Hoekstra, entirely different to the electrifying Reb Beach. And this is not to overwhelm Michele [Luppi, WHITESNAKE keyboardist]. Michele’s totally secure. I adore him and what he brings to WHITESNAKE.

“In 2019, Dino’s band opened for us in Zagreb, and this is very rare for me, and I went, ‘Who the fuck is that?’ And I was going, ‘Wow, that kid’s great.’ And Joel said, ‘Yeah, I worked with him in the TRANS-SIBERIAN ORCHESTRA. He’s a great guy.’ And I said, ‘That guy’s a snake, dude.’ And I said, ‘Don’t say anything yet. I’m going to keep my eyes and ears on him.’

“So, I think it’s going to be fantastic,” Coverdale added. “I’m going to have an orchestra of keyboards for a lot of songs on WHITESNAKE which are big epics, that make them even more musically orchestrated without having an orchestra on stage with us.

“I mean, the guy’s great, I can’t wait to sing with him. I already have three singers who are good enough to be frontman singers, with Michael Devin and Michele Luppi, and Reb Beach; they are really great singers. What’s wrong with having another one? And I think he’s a super guy. He has his challenges legally at the moment, but talent, belief, and courage will always win. And I can’t wait for us to start rehearsals, I really can’t. It’s got to be exciting to me and adding another spice to an already good cocktail.”

Last month, Dino told Mónica Moreira of More Than Words about his involvement with WHITESNAKE: “Well, David mentioned that he would love to fly me [to] his house and that he would love [for] me and him to write some songs for WHITESNAKE.

“I’ll be playing keyboards. I’ll be doing backing vocals. I’ll be playing guitars on a couple of songs,” he explained. “And that’s as far as I know.”

Asked if he is in any way a bit sad to know that this will be probably WHITESNAKE’s farewell tour, Dino said: “Well, no. Every band has an expire date. WHITESNAKE has been going for 40, 50 years now. More than 40 years — since ’78 or ’77, when the first album came out. But I’m proud to be the last WHITESNAKE member ever. When you see the guys that played in this band. You had Jon Lord. You had Don Airey on keyboards. You had Timothy Drury, Michele Luppi and myself. It’s five keyboardists of WHITESNAKE. There were a couple of more playing live — yeah, Paul Mirkovich was in 1994, playing that leg. Yeah, there were a couple of more. But, yeah, it’s definitely a beautiful part of history in the making.”

When Jelusick’s addition to WHITESNAKE was first announced, David said in a statement: “I am absolutely delighted to welcome the extremely gifted Dino Jelusick to WHITESNAKE. We’ve had our eyes and ears on him since we played Zagreb together two years ago. You’re going to love him!”

Dino said he has been influenced by WHITESNAKE and Coverdale from an early age.

“I am beyond honored to be part of one of my favorite bands of all time,” he said. “To get the phone call from David Coverdale is something every singer and musician of my generation can only dream of; it still feels completely surreal. I cannot wait to start hitting the road with WHITESNAKE and, as the great DC said to me himself, to give a piece of my identity to the sound of this iconic band.”

On October 29, WHITESNAKE will release newly remastered and remixed CD and LP deluxe editions of “Restless Heart”, along with unreleased demos and studio outtakes and a DVD. The DVD includes music videos and a behind-the-scenes look at the making of the album with new interviews from Coverdale. The set comes with a hardbound book filled with rare and unseen photos from the era.

Coverdale, who will turn 70 on September 22, recently confirmed that he plans to retire from touring after WHITESNAKE’s next batch of concerts around the world.

Coverdale had both his knees replaced with titanium in 2017 after suffering from degenerative arthritis. He later explained that he was in so much pain with arthritis in his knees that it hampered his ability to perform live.

WHITESNAKE had been touring in support of its latest album, “Flesh & Blood”, which was released in May 2019 via Frontiers Music Srl.

Read more »

This week’s set of new heavy releases is great if you like the Melvins, Hate, Misanthur and bands like that!
The post Five For Friday: October 15, 2021 appeared first on Decibel Magazine.

Read more »

MÖTLEY CRÜE frontman Vince Neil and his solo band performed last night (Thursday, October 14) at Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Tampa, Florida. Fan-filmed video footage of the concert can be seen below.

Last month, Vince revealed that he was trying out a new toning machine in an apparent effort to get in shape for MÖTLEY CRÜE’s upcoming “The Stadium Tour”. The singer said he was using Emsculpt Neo, a revolutionary new treatment which supposedly builds muscle and reduces fat using both radio frequency and high-intensity electromagnetic energies.

Four months ago, Neil made headlines when he struggled to complete his solo concert at the Boone Iowa River Valley Festival in Boone. Based on fan-filmed video footage of the May 29 gig posted on YouTube, the 60-year-old rocker, who hadn’t performed in more than a year and a half due to the COVID-19 pandemic, began losing his voice several songs into his set, which consisted exclusively of CRÜE classics and cover songs previously recorded by the band.

Earlier this month, MÖTLEY CRÜE bassist Nikki Sixx told Yahoo! Entertainment that Vince “has this amazing, unique voice — sometimes like Robert Plant, Perry Farrell… They have these interesting voices that are… they’re not pitchy; they’re just raw and just kind of on top. I always loved that about Vince’s voice, and I would write for Vince.” He added: “Vince will tell you, ‘Nikki wrote all those lyrics for me.’ I did. I gave him stuff. I understand his voice so much.”

Sixx also speculated how different CRÜE would have sounded if it was fronted by a vocalist with a bluesier tone.

“I got lucky,” he said. “I got a guy with a really different voice. Imagine if he was a bluesy singer — if he was a David Coverdale? I love David; I love his voice. Or Glenn Hughes. [They are] some of my favorite people and favorite musicians… Could he deliver ‘Bastard’? Could he deliver ‘Dropping Like Flies’? Could he deliver ‘Generation Swine’? I don’t know, I’ll never know. But I do love that about MÖTLEY CRÜE that we kind of four individually… I don’t know. It’s almost like we don’t belong together. We’re all so weird and different and it makes for some really interesting magic.”

MÖTLEY CRÜE’s “The Stadium Tour” with DEF LEPPARD, POISON and JOAN JETT & THE BLACKHEARTS was originally scheduled to take place last summer but ended up being pushed back to 2021, and then to 2022, due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Vince Neil is back! Smoking!

Posted by Rob Tough on Thursday, October 14, 2021

Vince Neil!! Singing all the old Motley Crue songs. Awesome!!

Posted by Lynne Smiley Sadowski on Thursday, October 14, 2021

Bryan told me we were going to an Enya concert lol … Vince Neil

Posted by Jeana Maser on Thursday, October 14, 2021

Vince Neil from Motley Crue in Tampa tonight! Watch for more pics tomorrow on Geno’s page at myQ105.com!

Posted by Q105 WRBQ on Thursday, October 14, 2021

Posted by Randy Trimble on Friday, October 15, 2021

Posted by Trish Wright on Friday, October 15, 2021

Posted by Geno on Thursday, October 14, 2021

Read more »

We’ve got an exclusive 100-copy edition of the debut LP from new death/doom project Dream Unending on Neon Pink In Ultra Clear 140g vinyl. Pre-orders are live now!
The post EXCLUSIVE: Color LP From DREAM UNENDING (Tomb Mold/Innumerable Forms) Available for Pre-Order Now! appeared first on Decibel Magazine.

Read more »

EMIGRATE, the side project of RAMMSTEIN guitarist Richard Z. Kruspe, will release its fourth album, “The Persistence Of Memory”, on November 5.

The LP’s third single, a cover of the classic song “Always On My Mind”, featuring a guest appearance by RAMMSTEIN singer Till Lindemann, can be streamed below.

“The Persistence Of Memory”, which was named after a Salvador Dalí painting, features the following tracks:

01. Rage
02. Always On My Mind (feat. Till Lindemann)
03. Freeze My Mind
04. Yeah Yeah Yeah
05. Come Over
06. You Can’t Run Away
07. Hypothetical
08. Blood Stained Wedding
09. I Will Let You Go

As a member of RAMMSTEIN, the music world’s most explosive live act, Kruspe has been part of a ground-breaking global success story that continues to build and to ignite; along the way, he’s turned his attention to a number of parallel projects, such as constructing a studio (and a home) in his native Berlin, but it’s his decision to launch the EMIGRATE setup that has given him the greatest chance to satisfy creative instincts outside of the parent group.

The first EMIGRATE album appeared in 2007 (a self-titled record that went Top 10 in Germany, with single/video “My World” appearing on the soundtrack to the third “Resident Evil” movie); “Silent So Long” followed in 2014, featuring guest vocals from such high-profile artists as Marilyn Manson, Jonathan Davis, Peaches and the legend that will always be Lemmy. EMIGRATE’s third album, “A Million Degrees” came out in November 2018 and was described as “less a successor to ‘Silent So Long’ and more a re-booted take on the overall concept, continuing Kruspe’s desire to craft something personal.”

“I really want the freedom to collaborate with different people and to explore different kinds of music,” Kruspe explained when “A Million Degrees” was first released, “to express myself as both a writer and a singer away from deadlines, timelines and other such restrictions. The idea is to keep experimenting and to keep challenging myself. Plus, EMIGRATE works in an organic way, so musicians can come and go, and it’s still okay, it’s positive…”

RAMMSTEIN’s seventh, untitled album came out in May 2019 via UME/Spinefarm in Europe and Caroline Records in the U.S.

RAMMSTEIN will bring its full-scale stadium production to North America for the first time ever in the summer of 2022.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Emigrate (@emigrateofficial)

Read more »