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Dave Mustaine says that David Ellefson’s long-completed bass tracks on the upcoming MEGADETH album will be removed and re-recorded by another bassist prior to the record’s release.

Ellefson laid down his bass tracks on MEGADETH’s sixteenth LP in May 2020 at a studio in Nashville, Tennessee. A short time later, he raved about his performance on the record, telling the 96.7 KCAL-FM radio program “Wired In The Empire” that his musical chemistry with MEGADETH drummer Dirk Verbeuren was comparable to the interplay between Geddy Lee and Neil Peart on classic RUSH albums. “I feel like on the new MEGADETH record, me and Dirk have those same moments,” he said. “It’s MEGADETH — it’s not RUSH, obviously — but in the field of what we do, there were these moments that I was just going, ‘Oh, my God.’ This is me as a kid going, ‘This is my Geddy/Neil moment right here.'”

Earlier today (Thursday, June 17), Mustaine announced during an episode of his Gimme Radio program “The Dave Mustaine Show” that Ellefson’s bass tracks will not be used on the new MEGADETH LP.

“I just wanna thank you for all the kinds words and support as we get ready for this next tour and continue to hunt for a new bass player,” the MEGADETH leader said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET). “We are making progress. The record’s being completed, and we’re gonna have someone coming in in a couple of weeks to replace the bass tracks that we had. Which should be relatively quick because the person we’re talking to is a stellar bass player. And hopefully this will be an ongoing thing after the recording. Or we will find someone prior to the recording that will be our permanent guy going forward.”

Last month, sexually tinged messages and explicit video footage involving Ellefson were posted on Twitter. The longtime MEGADETH member later released a statement on Instagram denying all social media chatter that he “groomed” an underage fan. He also filed a report with the police department in Scottsdale, Arizona alleging unlawful distribution of sexually explicit images of Ellefson by unknown offenders. In the report, Ellefson admitted that he had been exchanging sexual text messages with a Dutch teenager, who captured a video of several of their virtual “masturbating encounters” without his consent and shared them with friends. (According to Ellefson, the woman was 19 at the time of their first virtual sexual encounter.) The 56-year-old Ellefson, who lives in Scottsdale, first became aware of the video on May 9, when the claim “David Ellefson of MEGADETH is a pedophile” appeared on Instagram. Ellefson told police he was notified on May 14 by MEGADETH that the band would be parting ways with him. Three days later, he was fired.

On May 24, Mustaine — who formed MEGADETH with Ellefson in 1983 — announced the bassist’s departure from the band, saying, “We do not take this decision lightly. While we do not know every detail of what occurred, with an already strained relationship, what has already been revealed now is enough to make working together impossible moving forward,” Mustaine wrote. Two days later, Ellefson released a follow-up statement in which he vowed to file a “defamation lawsuit” against the person who “illegally posted a very private video” of the bassist and made “false allegations” against him. He also said he was working with the police in Scottsdale “in their investigation into charges regarding revenge pornography to be filed against the person who posted the video. This person will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,” Ellefson wrote. He went on to say that he was “taking this time to be with my family” and wished his “bandmates” the best with their upcoming tour.

MEGADETH is currently scheduled to take part in “The Metal Tour Of The Year” with LAMB OF GOD, beginning on August 20 in Austin. MEGADETH is also slated to appear at the SLIPKNOT-curated Knotfest in September in Iowa.

Ellefson was in MEGADETH from the band’s inception in 1983 to 2002, and again from 2010 until his latest departure.

David, who studied for a year at Concordia Lutheran Seminary in St. Louis nearly a decade ago, and his wife Julie Ellefson have been married for 27 years. They have two children.

Former VAN HALEN members Sammy Hagar and Michael Anthony have launched Instagram and Facebook pages dedicated to the Hagar era of VAN HALEN.

The rockers, who are current bandmates in THE CIRCLE, announced the creation of the new social media pages in separate video messages on Wednesday (June 16).

Hagar said: “Hey everybody, I’ve got some fresh news for you. Mikey and I have been checking out our old vintage footage of stuff we’ve been doing over the years with Van Hagar years and all that, and we found some of the coolest stuff. And we’re digging and we’re digging — we’re finding nuggets every day and we’re gonna share ’em with you.”

Added Anthony: “Hey, everyone keeps asking us, ‘Why don’t you post more of the Van Hagar years stuff?’ Well, guess what. You’ve got it. We’re gonna go through, dig through some of the archived stuff, try to find stuff you haven’t seen before — maybe some stuff that we haven’t seen in decades — and throw it up, and maybe post a couple of comments to go along with it.”

Hagar replaced David Lee Roth in VAN HALEN in 1985 and recorded four studio albums with the band — “5150”, “OU812”, “For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge” and “Balance” — all of which topped the U.S. chart.

Hagar, Eddie, Alex Van Halen and Michael Anthony last teamed up in 2004 for a U.S. summer tour. In exchange for taking part in the tour, Anthony reportedly had to agree to take a pay cut and sign away his rights to the band name and logo.

In early 2019, rumors were rampant that the classic-era lineup of VAN HALEN would reunite for the first time since 1984. It has since been revealed that a health setback involving Eddie was responsible for the tour not materializing.

Eddie died last October at St. John’s Hospital in Santa Monica, California.

The iconic VAN HALEN axeman passed away from complications due to cancer, his son confirmed.

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FOREIGNER will embark on a 71-date U.S. tour at the end of the month. The trek will kick off on June 24 in Ottumwa, Iowa and conclude on November 20 in Pensacola, Florida. Several of the of shows in the fall — including those in Saratoga, California; Los Angeles, California; Santa Barbara, California; Detroit, Michigan; Youngstown, Ohio; and Grand Rapids, Michigan — will feature the band performing with a full orchestra.

FOREIGNER played its first pandemic-era concert on May 19 at the Frontyard Festival in Orlando, Florida. The concert marked the band’s live debut with guitarist Luis Maldonado, who joined FOREIGNER as the replacement for longtime multi-instrumentalist Thom Gimbel.

Speaking to Billboard about the upcoming shows, FOREIGNER frontman Kelly Hansen said: “We are full-on back on the road. There’s been so many conversations over the last year with promoters and with our agents and with management, trying to figure out what’s the safe thing to do, when can we do this, how can we do that? We’re finally able to say we’re getting out there, we’re getting on the road. That’s a great thing.”

FOREIGNER 2021 U.S. tour dates:

Jun. 24 – Ottumwa, IA – Bridge View Center
Jun. 25 – Sioux Falls, SD – Washington Pavilion
Jun. 26 – Bismarck, ND – Bismarck Civic Center
Jun. 29 – Casper, WY – Casper Events Center
Jun. 30 – Billings, MT – MetraPark Arena
Jul. 02 – Welch, MN – Treasure Island Great Lawn
Jul. 04 – Fort Bragg, NC – Pope Army Airfield
Jul. 27 – Fresno, CA – Saroyan Theatre
Jul. 28 – Prescott Valley, AZ – Findlay Toyota Center
Jul. 30 – West Valley, UT – Maverick Center
Jul. 31 – Grand Junction, CO – Los Colonias Park Amphitheater
Aug. 01 – Rio Rancho, NM – Rio Rancho Events Center
Aug. 04 – Lubbock, TX – Buddy Holly Hall
Aug. 05 – Enid, OK – Stride Bank Center
Aug. 07 – Park City, KS – Hartman Arena
Aug. 08 – North Little Rock, AR – Simmons Bank Arena
Aug. 10 – West Allis, WI – Wisconsin State Fair
Aug. 11 – Cedar Rapids, IA – McGrath Amphitheatre
Aug. 13 – Arcadia, WI – Ashley For The Arts
Aug. 14 – Interlochen, MI – Kresge Auditorium
Aug. 15 – Peoria, IL – Civic Center Arena
Aug. 17 – Kettering, OH – Fraze Pavilion
Aug. 18 – Nashville, TN – Ryman Auditorium
Aug. 20 – Doswell, VA – AfterHours at Meadow Event Park
Aug. 21 – Selbyville, DE – The Freeman Stage at Bayside
Aug. 23 – Syracuse, NY – New York State Fair
Aug. 25 – Bridgeport, CT – Hartford Healthcare Amphitheatre
Aug. 26 – Webster, MA – Indian Ranch
Aug. 27 – Cohasset, MA – South Shore Music Circus
Aug. 28 – Hyannis, MA – Cape Cod Melody Tent
Sep. 09 – Grand Forks, ND – Alerus Center
Sep. 10 – Rapid City, SD – Rushmore Plaza Civic Center
Sep. 11 – Butte, MT – Civic Center
Sep. 14 – Everett, WA – Angel of the Winds Arena
Sep. 15 – Nampa, ID – Ford Idaho Event Center
Sep. 16 – Airway Heights, WA – Northern Quest Resort & Casino
Sep. 18 – Fort Hall, ID – Fort Hall Casino
Sep. 21 – Bend, OR – Les Schwab Amphitheater
Sep. 22 – Kennewick, WA – Toyota Center
Sep. 26 – Reno, NV – Grand Theatre at Grand Sierra Resort
Sep. 29 – Saratoga, CA – Mountain Winery (orchestral)
Oct. 01 – Los Angeles, CA – Greek Theatre (orchestral)
Oct. 02 – Santa Barbara, CA – Santa Barbara Bowl (orchestral)
Oct. 11 – Detroit, MI – Fox Theatre (orchestral)
Oct. 12 – Youngstown, OH – Foundation Amphitheater (orchestral)
Oct. 13 – Grand Rapids, MI – Van Andel Arena (orchestral)
Oct. 15 – Johnson City, TN – Freedom Hall Civic Center
Oct. 17 – Knoxville, TN – Civic Auditorium
Oct. 18 – Columbus, OH – Palace Theatre
Oct. 19 – Charleston, WV – Municipal Auditorium
Oct. 21 – Reading, PA – Santander Performing Arts Center
Oct. 22 – Wilkes Barre, PA – F.M. Kirby Center
Oct. 23 – Baltimore, MD – MECU Pavilion
Oct. 25 – Providence, RI – Performing Arts Center
Oct. 27 – Port Chester, NY – Capitol Theatre
Oct. 28 – Hampton Beach, NH – Hampton Beach Casino Ballroom
Oct. 29 – New Brunswick, NJ – State Theatre
Oct. 30 – Atlantic City, NJ – Hard Rock Live at Etess Arena
Nov. 04 – Corbin, KY – Corbin Arena
Nov. 05 – Springfield, IL – UIS Sangamon Auditorium
Nov. 06 – Southaven, MS – Landers Center
Nov. 08 – Savannah, GA – John Mercer Theatre
Nov. 09 – Augusta, GA – Bell Auditorium
Nov. 10 – Greenville, SC – Bon Secours Wellness Arena
Nov. 12 – Macon, GA – Macon City Auditorium
Nov. 13 – -Tupelo, MS – Bancorp South Arena
Nov. 14 – Brandon, MS – Brandon Amphitheater
Nov. 16 – Huntsville, AL – Mark C. Smith Concert Hall
Nov. 17 – Birmingham, AL – BJCC Concert Hall
Nov. 19 – Biloxi, MS – IP Casino Resort & Spa
Nov. 20 – Pensacola, FL – Saenger Theater

FOREIGNER’s last album, “Can’t Slow Down”, was the only full-length collection of new songs to have been released by the band since Hansen took over vocals after original singer Lou Gramm left the band for good in 2002. The album entered the Billboard Top 30, driven by the radio singles “In Pieces” and “When It Comes To Love”. The band also has released a series of live albums and compilations, including 2016’s “In Concert: Unplugged” and 2017’s “40”.

FOREIGNER’s current lineup is rounded out by founding guitarist Mick Jones, Michael Bluestein (keyboards), Chris Frazier (drums) and Bruce Watson (guitar).

Todd La Torre, who joined QUEENSRŸCHE in 2012 as the replacement for original vocalist Geoff Tate, spoke to BigMusicGeek.com about the fact that some fans continue to be reluctant to embrace him as a full-fledged member of the band. “I still get [resistance from some of them],” he admitted. “People are, like, ‘This guy’s a hack’, ‘He sings like a dead cat’, ‘He screams’, ‘He doesn’t sing and he has no control’, ‘He has zero stage presence’, ‘Geoff is the only voice at QUEENSRŸCHE’. But you know what? There are also a lot of people that were, like, ‘Damn, he hits those high notes,’ ‘Wow, they’re not downtuning,’ ‘Man, I haven’t heard ‘Child Of Fire’ in forever,’ and ‘They’re playing ‘The Warning’ and all of these other deep cuts like ‘Roads To Madness’ in their entirety instead of just doing a medley.’ A lot of people were positive about it, but as a fan, if you take the emotion out of the equation and just look at the records, you might say I was a huge QUEENSRŸCHE fan, but after ‘Empire’, I didn’t have any interest anymore. I wasn’t hearing the vocals I wanted and I wasn’t hearing the cool music that I loved them to have.”

He continued: “I think there were a lot of fans who jumped ship [toward the end of Geoff’s tenure with QUEENSRŸCHE]. When I got into the fold, it was, like, ‘Hey guys, show me all the music you’ve got. I’m never going to tell you anything’s too heavy. We’re not going to go in an adult contemporary direction, so let’s get back to what QUEENSRŸCHE is known and loved for.’ I was, like, ‘Let me tell you what I love about this band and let me tell you why I quit listening to your band and this is what your audience loves.’ With me, they no longer had any restraints placed on them, so they were sending me song ideas for new material that were totally killer. I was, like, ‘Did you just make this up?’ and they’d be, like, ‘Oh, no. This was stored on a hard drive. I showed this to our old singer and he thought it was too heavy.’ And I’m, like, ‘Listen, man. Show me everything you have and I’m going to give it my all.”

He added: “I am not perfect, and as we all already know, Geoff sang brilliantly on the old records.”

When the interviewer noted that “it’s amazing how people react whenever an original member of their favorite group is forced to ‘move on,'” Todd said: “But I think that it’s worked to my advantage as well as the band’s advantage. Most people are, like, ‘Hey, here’s a younger guy that can hit all the notes and that’s getting all the inflections. He’s a true fan of metal and this band and respects the legacy.'”

He continued: “We’re working on album number four [with me on vocals], but there are still people that hate me just because I’m not [Geoff]. They don’t see the band as anything else other than the original lineup. I’ve always said, ‘Yes, this lineup has fewer original members, but it’s putting out better music than the band did when it had more original members.’ Let’s get serious here. You know what? We’re loving it and we’re having a great time. We’re writing the new album and the stuff we have brewing right now is really awesome, ya know? I know you can’t please everybody, but I do feel as if there’s always been these targets on my back with some of the people.”

Read the entire interview at BigMusicGeek.com.

QUEENSRŸCHE played its first concert in 15 months on May 21 at the Chiefs Event Center at Shoshone-Bannock Casino in Fort Hall, Idaho. Guitarist Parker Lundgren was absent from the gig and was temporarily replaced by Mike Stone, who joined QUEENSRŸCHE for the 2003 album “Tribe” and stayed with the group for six years. Mike was eventually replaced by Lundgren, a former member of Tate’s solo group who was also briefly married to Geoff’s stepdaughter Miranda.

Guitarist Michael Wilton and bassist Eddie Jackson are the sole remaining original members of QUEENSRŸCHE, which has released three albums thus far with La Torre — 2013’s “Queensrÿche”, 2015’s “Condition Hüman” and 2019’s “The Verdict”.

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. Original QUEENSRŸCHE members Wilton, Jackson and Scott Rockenfield (drums) 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.

Rockenfield hasn’t performed with QUEENSRŸCHE in more than four years. The band has used former KAMELOT drummer Casey Grillo for touring purposes since April 2017.

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

During an appearance on the CBS talk show “The Talk”, Paul Stanley discussed KISS’s new A&E documentary “Biography: KISStory”, which is set to premiere with a two-night event on June 27 and June 28 from 9 p.m. ET to 11 p.m. ET.

“I think that this documentary really humanizes us, particularly Gene [Simmons, KISS bassist/vocalist] and I, because the story of KISS really is a story of a friendship between two people,” Paul said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET). “We met when we were living at home. We were young teenagers with this great ambition. And this is really our story. We were there in the beginning, and we’re there to wrap it up. So we’ll go out on the farewell tour that we’ve been on prior to the pandemic, and we’re doing it bigger than ever. So, it’s terrific. It’s a great bookend.”

Asked how KISS managed to come back from almost hitting rock bottom, Stanley said: “Look, I’m a big believer that when somebody is drowning, you try to save them. But when they start pulling you down with them is when you cut them loose. You’re always gonna find out how much something means to you by how hard you’re willing to fight to bring it back or to retain it. So it was sheer determination. And did we make some wrong turns in our journey? Yeah, but we always wound up getting back on the right path. And I just have to say kudos to all our fans who stood by us. And likely some of them left discouraged at some point, and over time we won them back.”

Directed by D.J. Viola, “Biography: KISStory” chronicles the band’s five decades in the business as founders Stanley and Simmons reflect on their historic career. Current members Tommy Thayer and Eric Singer as well as guests Dave Grohl (NIRVANA, FOO FIGHTERS), Tom Morello (RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE), manager Doc McGhee, music producer Bob Ezrin (ALICE COOPER, PINK FLOYD) and more tell the wild story of the most successful and influential band in the world.

“Biography: KISStory” is a Leslie Greif production, produced for A&E Network by Critical Content and Big Dreams Entertainment with Leslie Greif and Jenny Daly serving as executive producers and D.J. Viola serving as director. Elaine Frontain Bryant and Brad Abramson serve as executive producers for A&E Network. A+E Networks holds worldwide distribution rights for “Biography: KISStory”.

KISS last played a full show this past New Year’s Eve in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The event broke Guinness world records for highest flame projection in a music concert and for most flame projections launched simultaneously in a music concert.

Guest co-host @PaulStanleyLive discusses the ‘humanizing’ upcoming documentary “Biography: KISStory.” pic.twitter.com/3mgVDf7i8J
— The Talk (@TheTalkCBS) June 17, 2021

Mysterious American black metallers Waerloga delight our mid-’90s black metal preferences with new EP, “Liar / Enemy.” Streaming now!
The post Full EP Stream: Waerloga “Liar / Enemy” 7-Inch appeared first on Decibel Magazine.

DEF LEPPARD drummer Rick Allen, who has been expressing himself in recent years through his artwork, spoke to Pat’s Soundbytes Unplugged about his “Legends” series, which consists of lifelike-yet-impressionistic portraits of musicians who have influenced him, from Jimi Hendrix to Freddie Mercury to John Lennon.

On the topic of how he gets the inspiration for his “Legends” paintings, Allen said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “I remember over a year ago now losing Neil Peart [of RUSH], so it was obvious. My way of paying homage to one of the greatest drummers of all time was to paint him, and that’s exactly what I did. And then the same with [VAN HALEN guitarist] Eddie Van Halen more recently.”

Allen went on to reflect on the first time he heard VAN HALEN’s music back in 1978, shortly after the release of the band’s debut album.

“My best friend, he calls me and he says, ‘I want you to come and listen to this record,'” Rick said. “So I go to his house and listen to ‘Van Halen I’ for the first time and was completely blown away. A couple of months later, they’re coming through town with BLACK SABBATH — they’re opening for BLACK SABBATH. And quite honestly, VAN HALEN owned that show. The BLACK SABBATH camp, you could see the wheels kind of coming off. But, yeah, VAN HALEN, they should have been the headliner.

“And then, I moved to the States in ’91, became really good friends with Steve Lukather from TOTO,” he continued. “He called me one night and he said, ‘We’re having a get-together. We’d love for you to come. I’d love to introduce you to my friend Eddie Van Halen.’ So [as] this huge VAN HALEN fan from way back, I actually got to meet him. [He was] very unassuming. You wouldn’t have thought he did what he did for a living, and especially play guitar like he does. So, again, my paying homage to Eddie was, really, to paint him. And my thoughts really went out to his family and, obviously, all of his fans worldwide.”

Last month, Allen told CBS12 that he “really looked up to” Eddie Van Halen as a musician. “I think he changed guitar playing forever,” he said. “I think between him and Jimi Hendrix, they inspired other musicians. It’s just a massive loss.”

As for his painting of Eddie, Rick said: I just wanted to capture that smile. He just seemed to be in his element. It’s really paying homage to him. And I really felt for his family as well, of course.”

In a 2018 interview with The Hype Magazine, Allen, who started painting at an early age before he ever picked up the drums, stated about his use of light or some sort of bright object in his art: “Reality is very difficult to do, but it’s my attempt to painting the object or whatever it is. It’s a study of how the light bounces off of the object. Some of the more recent pieces — there was one that I did of [late DEF LEPPARD guitarist] Steve Clark; then there was one I did of John Lennon; I did one of Jimi Hendrix, the ‘Legends’ pieces — that, to me, was a study at how you’re really not painting the person’s face, you’re painting how the light bounces off of the person. If you look closely at some of the pieces, they make no sense when you look at them up close. When you stand back and you start to view it from a distance, it’s almost like your mind fills in the blanks and it creates the illusion of reality.”

Two years ago, Rick told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution about his artistic process with his paintings: “I take a photograph I really like of the person, and I’ll poster-ize it and sketch the poster-ization onto the canvas, and that’s when I can come up with my whites, blacks and grays. After I do the under painting, I’ll start to choose colors. When I do the ‘Legends’, I normally listen to the music of the artist I’m painting.”

MAN ON MAN, the project featuring FAITH NO MORE keyboardist Roddy Bottum and his boyfriend Joey Holman, will make its live debut on August 26 at Elsewhere Zone One in Brooklyn, New York. Tickets go on sale Friday, June 18 at 10 a.m. MAN ON MAN will also perform at the Riot Fest in Chicago on Saturday, September 18 and will participate in a virtual pride celebration, Dreamstage, on June 26.

MAN ON MAN released its self-titled debut album on May 7 via Polyvinyl Records in the U.S. and Big Scary Monsters in Europe.

“Man On Man” is infused with indie-rock distortion and soaked in gay pop confidence while still maintaining the acerbic and pure sense of humor Bottum and Holman both share. M.O.M.’s music videos take their magical collaboration to another level with otherworldly cinematographic dimension, and, of course, the subversive playfulness of two gay lovers unmistakably flirting with their audience and each other. Upon the release of their debut single, “Daddy”, their video (chock full of the pair dancing seductively in their white briefs) was removed from YouTube for violating their “sex and nudity policy.” At this moment, the band solidified their political visibility as queer artists who are not okay with being silenced or removed from history because of their age or size. Bottum told Rolling Stone: “There’s enough representation in the gay community of young, hairless pretty men.” Roddy and Joey’s love for each other and their own bodies, histories, and truths are what make this project so tender and lovable.

MAN ON MAN’s music transcends both genre or decade, creating a timeless appeal for so many kinds of listening. The varied influences and textures of the record are a meditation on the myriad of emotions of lockdown, as well as this particular moment in their own lives, collectively and independently. The shoegaze whirlpools of “Stohner” transition into the square wave synths of “1983” with ease, while tracks like “It’s So Fun (To Be Gay)” open us up to a new type of queer anthem for the 2020s.

It is hard not to be captivated with MAN ON MAN’s story. When we fall into their world, which was self-produced with mix support by Grammy Award-winning producer Carlos de la Garza (M83, PARAMORE, JIMMY EAT WORLD) and Mike Vernon Davis (FOXING, GREAT GRANDPA), we witness MAN ON MAN’s deep intensity of falling in love while mourning, and the epic collaboration of two lovers that traverse the map of a COVID road trip.

MAN ON MAN is more than a band, it is a partnership of two beautiful queers who are committed to creating a language that is both musical and visual, and that transcends what we know of gay music at exactly the cultural moment we need them. As individuals, lovers, sons, community pillars, and human beings, M.O.M. are a womb to be reckoned with.

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