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QUEENSRŸCHE guitarist Parker Lundgren was absent from the band’s concert this past Friday (May 21) at the Chiefs Event Center at Shoshone-Bannock Casino in Fort Hall, Idaho. Filling in for him was Mike Stone, who joined QUEENSRŸCHE for the 2003 album “Tribe” and stayed with the band for six years. Mike was eventually replaced by Lundgren, a former member of original QUEENSRŸCHE singer Geoff Tate’s solo group who was also briefly married to Geoff’s stepdaughter Miranda.

In 2017, Lundgren, who joined QUEENSRŸCHE in 2009, opened his own guitar shop called Diablo Guitars in the Seattle area.

After Friday’s concert, QUEENSRŸCHE’s other guitarist, Michael Wilton, took to his Instagram to write: “Our 1st show in 15 months at the SOLD OUT Fort Hall Casino, Idaho and it ROCKED ? #queensryche #1stshowin15months #soldout #forthallidaho #michaelwilton #whip #rychersrule #greattime #greatfans #wemissedperforming #beenalongtimecoming”.

Lundgren previously sat out some of QUEENSRŸCHE’s U.S. shows in September 2018 when the band was on tour as the support act for SCORPIONS.

Wilton and bassist Eddie Jackson are the sole remaining original members of QUEENSRŸCHE, which split with Tate in 2012 and replaced him with ex-CRIMSON GLORY frontman Todd La Torre.

QUEENSRŸCHE 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.

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DEF LEPPARD singer Joe Elliott has confirmed to Download festival host Kylie Olsson that he and his bandmates have used the coronavirus downtime to work on new music. “We have written some songs — I can’t deny that we have written some songs remotely as an exercise to see if we could, and I can announce it was very successful,” he said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET). “What are we gonna do with those songs? That’s to be seen. We’ve gotta wait and see, because, obviously, everybody’s in different continents, in different cities and all that kind of stuff. So there’s a lot of work to be done before we get to a finished product. But we have not let the year go to waste.”

Addressing the fact that it’s been nearly six years since DEF LEPPARD last released album, 2015’s self-titled effort, Joe said: “The industry being what it is, we’re all aware of the fact that there’s an element of the media that can’t let go of the fact that records aren’t that important anymore. And I know that’s a sad thing to say, but it’s a fact of life. Touring is massively important — way more than it was when you went out promoting records when they were important. Especially for legacy bands or whatever you wanna call ’em. Listen, I went to see THE ROLLING STONES in 1989 in case one of them died. That’s 1989. They haven’t had a death since the 1960s.

“I’m aware of the fact that when you’ve got a history — whether it be THE EAGLES or FLEETWOOD MAC or any of the bands from the ’80s, like us and [IRON] MAIDEN and whoever else, we’ve got this legacy audience as well that wanna see us continue the journey, if you like. And that’s become way more important.

“When we finished that [2015] album, we never really thought about making another record until we just felt the timing was right,” Elliott explained. “And we always just fall into place. We’re constantly writing songs, so when it comes to piecing songs together, it’s not like they’re all absolutely brand spanking new, just written, hot-off-the-press stuff. Some of them are ideas that have been percolating for a year or two with a piece missing. And you wait and you wait and you wait, and then you have this epiphany, or one of the other guys goes, ‘Why didn’t you ask? I’ve got a bit that would fit in there perfect.’ So there’s been a lot of that going on. But that’s a constant; that’s nothing to do with coronavirus. We’ve been doing it since the ‘Def Leppard’ album came out, and we will continue to do it, whether we release an album or not. We’ve got songs in our heads.”

DEF LEPPARD released a box set, “The Early Years 79-81”, in March 2020 via UMC/Virgin. “The Early Years 79-81” box set represents the band’s first two albums, “On Through The Night” (1980) and “High ‘N’ Dry” (1981), and was prepared in conjunction with Elliott who acted as executive producer on the set. The mastering was done by the band’s long-serving sound engineer Ronan McHugh.

Eagle Rock Entertainment released DEF LEPPARD’s “London To Vegas” in May 2020. This limited edition 2Blu-ray+4CD, 2DVD+4CD, DVD/Blu-ray+2CD and digital format release features two concert films: “Hysteria At The O2” and “Hits Vegas, Live At Planet Hollywood”.

DEF LEPPARD’s latest greatest-hits collection, titled “The Story So Far – The Best Of”, was released in November 2018.

DEF LEPPARD’s “The Stadium Tour” with MÖTLEY CRÜE, POISON and JOAN JETT & THE BLACKHEARTS was recently officially postponed until 2022.

Prior to the latest postponement, “The Stadium Tour” was slated to kick off on June 19, 2021 in Nashville, Tennessee and conclude on September 12, 2021 in San Diego, California. The trek will now launch on June 16, 2022 in Atlanta, Georgia and run through September 7, 2022 in San Francisco, California.

Melodic death metal outfit Meridian Dawn pay tribute to late Children of Bodom frontman Alexi Laiho with a cover of the band’s “Every Time I Die.”
The post Track Premiere: Meridian Dawn – ‘Every Time I Die’ (Children of Bodom Cover) appeared first on Decibel Magazine.

JANE’S ADDICTION and PORNO FOR PYROS frontman Perry Farrell appeared on the podcast “Side Jams With Bryan Reesman” to talk about his box set, snowboarding, gardening, and other topics. He was asked where his interest in religion and mysticism stemmed from, and he said that it went back to his day in the post-punk band PSI COM in the early to mid-1980s.

“I was hanging out with the underground of Los Angeles and some of these guys went real deep,” said Farrell. “You know, we loved knowing about people like [‘Mondo Cane’ director Gualtiero] Jacopetti and sadomasochism. We were just interested in trippy, dark, avant-garde shit. That included, I hate to say it, black magic and white magic. I read comparative religion. I read the ‘Bhagavad Gita’, I read ‘The Book Of Mormon’, I read ‘The New Testament’. I wanted to know about everybody’s religion. So I got interested in magic, and then I found out a lot of magic derived from King Solomon’s clavicles and Rosicrucians. A lot of the magic comes out of mystical Judaism. So when I saw that I was like, ‘Whoa,’ and that led me to studying mysticism and Kabbalah from there. It’s powerful.”

Perry was also very excited to discuss the use of artificial intelligence in making music. He had been listening to some songs created by A.I. (DURAN DURAN’s new video for “Invisible” was generated by an A.I. entity called Huxley, presumably named for “Brave New World” author Aldous Huxley.)

“Artificial Intelligence is going to be the biggest conversation,” said Farrell. “It’s coming up, man, because it’s taking over a lot of jobs. Ray Kurzweil’s concept is called singularity. He believes that eventually machines will take over and do everything for man. You hear that and you go, ‘Oh, I hope not.’ But they’re already driving our cars. Like these long haulers that drive, let’s say oranges across the country, they’re being replaced by robotic cars, artificial intelligence. And they’re starting to write music. They’re using Google supercomputers and they’re feeding Frank Sinatra into it, Elvis into it, THE BEATLES into it. There’s a whole long list of artists, and asking the supercomputer, ‘Write a song now using all the information you heard.’ It spazzes out. It’s trying to recreate what it just heard. It’s hilarious, but startling and a little scary. My engineer pal was showing me all this, and also telling me that what’s amazing about artificial intelligence is you essentially feed the computer [information], and then you ask the computer to research, learn, and then start to give you a faster way, an easier way to do it. A more perfect way to do it. It’s happening faster and faster that they perfect anything a human being can do.”

He continued: “My remark back was, they’re never going to replace a human being because the word imperfect, or perfect… Human beings are not perfect. And it’s groovy. It’s awesome. Because we like to hear these little imperfections like JOY DIVISION, Bob Dylan, Lou Reed, Iggy. They were not perfect singers. Why are we drawn to them? Because imperfections make people unique. And if we were born perfect, the system of life would not work. As an example, if you were born perfect, then you’d have nothing to strive for. Hence, when you got better at something, you wouldn’t find the joy in getting better at it. So, really, what we’re talking about is the human spirit is wild, intelligent, awake and aware. But it is refining. It is like what they’re doing to computers. And I personally prefer to listen to a man or a woman sing than a computer. I don’t dig rappers [where] they twist everything [with Auto Tune]. I want to hear the sadness of a human being or the story, or how it affected that person to make that song and sing about it. So it’s a little flat. So the guy’s fucked up on dope or he’s drunk and singing about something. I hear that too, and I’m, like, ‘Oh, that’s interesting. He sounds like it really hurt him.’ Or he’s really affected by it.”

Perry has just released “Mend”, the new single from his KIND HEAVEN ORCHESTRA project. He worked on the track with friends Taylor Hawkins (FOO FIGHTERS), Elliot Easton (THE CARS) and David Bryan (BON JOVI). This release comes in the wake of the compilation of Perry Farrell’s work (outside of JANE’S ADDICTION and PORNO FOR PYROS) in his box set “The Glitz: The Glamour”, which was released January 2021. More PORNO FOR PYROS music is forthcoming and post-pandemic JANE’S ADDICTION dates are currently being announced.

Z2 Comics further cements their place as the leading publisher of music-inspired graphic novels across all genres with the announcement of this summer’s “Alter Bridge: Tour Of Horrors” In the grand tradition of comic horror anthologies like “Tales From the Crypt”, “Creepy” and “Vault Of Horror”, Marvel Comics writer Emily Ryan Lerner and a cast of top artists take fans on a fun-filled ride of thrills and chills.

The “Alter Bridge: Tour Of Horrors” graphic novel comes in at 120 pages and will be released in a standard hardcover edition in comic shops and bookstores alike in November 2021, as well special deluxe, super deluxe edition, and super-duper deluxe editions available for preorder now only through the Z2 web site, which will include a special exclusive first-time vinyl edition of the band’s 2004 debut, “One Day Remains”, in a strictly limited edition of 3,000 copies across three premium editions.

ALTER BRIDGE says in a statement: “After 17 years making music and touring the world, there aren’t many opportunities for a rock band to do something they’ve never done before. After partnering with Josh and the whole Z2 staff to create ‘Alter Bridge: Tour Of Horrors’, we can now check create a horror comic off our bucket list. We can’t wait for people to read this original story we came up with. It is equally exciting we are finally getting to release ‘One Day Remains’ on vinyl thanks to this incredible partnership.”

When one of ALTER BRIDGE’s roadies goes missing, they find a ghoulish replacement! And what better way to pass the time between gigs than with four terrifying tales that are sure to keep you up all night! Join ALTER BRIDGE, writer Emily Ryan Lerner (Marvel, HBO) and more for a spine-tingling ride through the supernatural!!!

Publisher Josh Frankel says: “‘Alter Bridge: Tour Of Horrors’ is another testament to our commitment to the vision of the artist. While some of our releases are directly tied to the storylines of the albums themselves, our mission is simply to provide a home for these musicians to expose their fans to a whole new side of their artistic palette, uninhibited by their previous musical work or otherwise. This book is guaranteed to please both fans of the classic horror anthology and ALTER BRIDGE fans seeking something new.”

Frost and Satyr get medieval on your ass as we induct Satyricon’s landmark Norwegian black metal debut Dark Medieval Times.
The post Satyricon – Dark Medieval Times appeared first on Decibel Magazine.

Former KISS guitarist Vinnie Vincent spoke to The Rock Experience with Mike Brunn about his plans to finally release some of his previously unheard music that was recorded over the course of the last three decades. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “This is my crowning moment of joy that I’ve been waiting for many, mant, many years, just to be able to say to everybody in truth and reality, but we are finally mixing the two-inch masters that I finally have control over my two-inch tape masters of all of my songs. And we’re gonna be releasing new Vinnie Vincent music on vinyl. Within the next 12 to 18 months, it’s all finally going to be released. And the artwork is great. We’re finished with almost all of the artwork. And yes, the ‘Guitarmageddon’ album is in the process of being mixed right now. We just finished mixing the new ‘Euphoria’ tracks that no one’s ever heard. And it’s pretty phenomental.”

He continued: “I would have to say in all good conscience and honesty that I’m very impressed with what I’m hearing, and I’m blown away. And I’m finally able to say it’s a new era of Vinnie Vincent music being released, this next 12 to 18 months. And I’m so proud to be able to say that. And as things start to open up and there are tours again, you can bet that I’ll be out there.”

“Euphoria” was Vinnie’s 1996 EP, released on Vincent’s own Metaluna label. The purpose of the EP was to preview material for an album called “Guitarmageddon”, which has yet to materialize.

Vincent — who was a member of KISS when the band publicly “unmasked” in 1983 — made several public appearances in 2018 after spending the past two decades out of the public eye.

In 1983, KISS wrote and released “Lick It Up” — their first album without makeup — a recording on which Vincent co-wrote eight of 10 songs, including the title track, which remains a staple of the group’s live performances to this day.

Despite the album’s success, Vincent was fired by KISS after the “Lick It Up” touring cycle came to an end, allegedly due to a dispute over both the terms of his employment contract with the band and royalties. From there, Vincent founded VINNIE VINCENT INVASION, which recorded two albums.

In 1992, Vincent re-teamed with Simmons and Stanley to write three songs for their acclaimed album “Revenge”, including the record’s first two singles, “Unholy” and “I Just Wanna”. Their relationship quickly soured once again, however. Four years later, Vincent released a solo EP, the aforementioned “Euphoria”, which featured vocals by former VVI singer Fleischman and included material from sessions recorded around 1990. Soon after that, Vincent vanished from the public eye and remained off the grid for more than two decades.

In November 2019, KISS manager Doc McGhee claimed that all former members of the group have been contacted about possibly taking part in the band’s last-ever tour.

Prior to the “End Of The Road” launch, Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons weren’t very enthusiastic about the prospect of an onstage collaboration with Vinnie Vincent. “Now Vinnie, that’s one exception, and for so many reasons,” Stanley told Guitar World. “I would say that’s not someone who I want to celebrate.”

Simmons also chimed in, explaining that “it’s worth stating that Vinnie has sued the band and lost 14 times. I’m not here to cast any aspersions. He’s a talented guy. That’s why he was in the band. But would I depend on him to get up onstage and do anything? Never. … Can he come to the shows? Of course! Anybody can. But onstage? Never.”

In April 2018, Vincent joined Simmons at the KISS bassist/vocalist’s “Vault” event in Nashville, Tennessee. He later said in an interview that he felt that got “a cold reception” and was “treated very indifferently” by Gene at the event.

British traditional metal upstarts Heavy Sentence stream new album, Bang to Rights, at Decibel! Fists aloft, brothers and sisters!
The post Full Album Premiere: Heavy Sentence ‘Bang to Rights’ appeared first on Decibel Magazine.