All posts in Music News

The reformed PANTERA played its second concert without bassist Rex Brown Monday night (December 12) at Movistar Arena, a 17,000-seat multi-purpose indoor arena in Santiago, Chile. The show took place just a couple of hours after Rex confirmed that a positive COVID-19 test forced him to miss PANTERA’…

Former STEEL PANTHER bassist Travis Haley (a.k.a. Lexxi Foxx) has revealed in a new interview with Border City Rock Talk that he is “putting a pause” on his music career while focusing on his family life. The latest development comes more than a year since it was announced that Haley was joining HOL…

The once Strapping Young Lad chronicles the “pinnacle moment” with the Glenn Tipton and K.K. Downing riff that helped him earn “social collateral” and he became “moderately accepted” with schoolmates. Warning: Devin Townsend says he hasn’t played the riff in Judas Priest’s “The Sentinel” “for enough years that it may be dubious.” But that’s hard to believe when he delivers the soaring line that’s the hook from this Defenders of the Faith (1984) track. Townsend describes his initial discovery of the song as “one of those pinnacle moments.” He also opens up about being a misfit kid, and tells a great story about overhearing older kids in band class talking about guitar—and how that riff suddenly made him one of those “cool kids” … almost. It’s the guitar, he says, “that made me at least moderately accepted, and that still holds true to this day.” He also takes a lick at Fastway’s “Say What You Will,” a hard-strutting blues-based riff, and Priest’s “You’ve Got Another Thing Comin’.” But perhaps the biggest revelation is that the first riff he fell in love with was from Johnny Cash’s “Folsom Prison Blues.” And yes, he does play it, plus the galloping rhythm. His next biggie was Motörhead’s “Motörhead.” “But none of that, my friends,” he adds, “compared to the social collateral or being able to impress a bunch of goofy 16-year-old with a Judas Priest riff, so I will be eternally indebted to this riff.” And more news for Townsend’s fans: the Canadian prog-rocker will be mounting an extensive European tour in the spring, behind his 2022 album Lightwork, a compendium of tunes he wrote and recorded under pandemic lockdown—which also has a counterpart in the demos and B-sides release Nightwork. Townsend notes that Lightwork was consciously written about taking a hard look at where we are as people after a profound time in history and then taking real care to focus our future energies on what is truly important to us in light of that. Friends, health, family, creativity, time off, not running from the fear, not allowing other people’s expectations to define us, creative freedom and self-care. “Doing the difficult work to begin to know who we truly are, makes it so that during periods of unrest, we can maintain a certain degree of peace,” he relates.

Rex Brown has confirmed that a positive COVID-19 test forced him to miss PANTERA’s performance at Knotfest Chile in Santiago on Sunday (December 11). Filling in for him were CATTLE DECAPITATION bassist Derek Engemann, who also plays with PANTERA singer Philip Anselmo in both PHILIP H. ANSELMO &…

In a recent interview with the 100.3 The X Rocks radio station, DISTURBED drummer Mike Wengren was asked how he and his bandmates, who recently released their eighth studio album, “Divisive”, have managed to stay together for so long. He responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “Respect. We a…

As part of Jonathan Montenegro’s “My 3 Questions To” series, former MEGADETH guitarist Marty Friedman was asked which guitar player — Jimi Hendrix or Eddie Van Halen — he would choose to receive a guitar lesson from, if he could go back in time, and why. Marty responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOU…

In a new interview with RadioacktivaColombia, JUDAS PRIEST guitarist Richie Faulkner spoke about the progress of the recording sessions for the follow-up to 2018’s “Firepower” album. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “We were very fortunate, in a way. Me, Rob [Halford, vocals] and Glenn…

Ask any modern rock fan to name a few of the most powerful women in the genre today, and Lzzy Hale will likely be high on the list. Not only does she have some of hard rock’s most commanding pipes, but Lzzy’s guitar playing abilities are uniquely exceptional.
Earlier this year, Hale and her band HAL…

In a new interview with Germany’s Rock Bottom, ANVIL frontman Steve “Lips” Kudlow was asked if there are any plans for him and his bandmates to record a live album or DVD. He responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “I have no intentions of ever doing a live DVD. I honestly don’t believe in l…