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QUEENSRŸCHE singer Todd La Torre says that it is the height of selfishness to not wear a mask.

La Torre made the comment as lawmakers push harder for their constituents to wear face masks to limit the spread of coronavirus. President Donald Trump has been loath to wear a mask, despite the advice of public health experts.

Earlier today, Todd took to his Twitter to share a picture of a surgical mask along with the following text: “A Mask Is Not A Political Statement. It’s An I.Q. Test.” He added in the tweet: “If you are someone not wearing a mask, you are part of the problem. 125k DEAD, 2.5 MILLION cases and rising. This selfishness couldn’t be more evident. You want to get back to work? You want to go out and socialize someday? Put your fucking mask on!!!”

La Torre is a resident of Florida, which announced that the number of known cases of COVID-19 in the state rose by 9,585 since yesterday morning as the virus spreads and as more people are tested across the state. The total number of cases in Florida is now 132,545.

Two weeks ago, the U.S. Surgeon General urged people to wear face coverings, saying they will promote freedom during the coronavirus pandemic.

“Some feel face coverings infringe on their freedom of choice- but if more wear them, we’ll have MORE freedom to go out. Face coverings [leads to] less asymptomatic viral spread [leads to] more places open, and sooner!” Dr. Jerome Adams wrote on Twitter.

In a study published earlier in the month, researchers from Texas A&M University, the California Institute of Technology and the University of California San Diego, concluded “that wearing of face masks in public corresponds to the most effective means to prevent interhuman transmission.”

In early April, the Centers For Disease Control And Prevention issued new guidelines that Americans should wear face coverings in public.

BUTCHER BABIES frontwoman Heidi Shepherd believes that she has a “ghost” in her house. Earlier today, the singer took to Instagram to share a short video clip captured by her home security camera system, and she included the following message: “It’s official; WE’VE GOT A GHOST! Every night for the past several nights, I’ve been getting 3 or 4 motion detection notifications in my living room. We’re on vacation! This is what my cameras caught last night at 3:11am.. Something appears to get up off the ottoman and then jet past the camera. What do you think is going in here? Bug? Ghost? Particles?”

Shepherd reportedly shares a home in Los Angeles with her boyfriend and BUTCHER BABIES bandmate Henry Flury.

BUTCHER BABIES recently completed work on their fourth album, tentatively due in late 2020 or early 2021 via an as-yet-undetermined record label.

The band’s latest LP, “Lilith”, which was released in October 2017 via Century Media.

Shepherd told ELUVEITIE’s “Corona Talk” that “it was a hard decision to part ways with Century Media. Here in the U.S., the label doesn’t exactly exist much here anymore,” she said. “And so it was a really difficult decision. We were with them for our entire career; we’ve been a band for 10 years. It just wasn’t working here in the States. But we do love our Century Media family.

“Lilith” was produced by Steve Evetts (THE DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN, SEPULTURA, SUICIDE SILENCE) and marked BUTCHER BABIES’ recording debut with drummer Chase Brickenden, who replaced Chris Warner in 2016.

Last July, longtime BUTCHER BABIES bassist Jason Klein announced his departure from the band. He has since been replaced by Ricky Bonazza.

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It’s official; WE’VE GOT A GHOST! ? Every night for the past several nights, I’ve been getting 3 or 4 motion detection notifications in my living room. We’re on vacation! This is what my cameras caught last night at 3:11am.. Something appears to get up off the ottoman and then jet past the camera. What do you think is going in here? Bug? Ghost? Particles? ???? #ohmy
A post shared by Heidi Shepherd (@heidithebutcher) on Jun 27, 2020 at 1:08pm PDT

POISON singer Bret Michaels spoke to “Ira On Sports” about his recently released his first book, titled “Bret Michaels: Auto-Scrap-Ography”. The book, which is available in both e-book and hardcover formats, is handwritten by the artist, detailing his journey even up to and including his battle with diabetes and the coronavirus pandemic.

Bret said: “The e-book is the same — except for a couple of things — it’s the same as the hard copy, as the print. In June comes the audiovisual big read. So it’s one of the first books where I’ve read the entire thing like Audible [Amazon’s audiobook service]. You see me reading it — I’m in my living room, I’m reading it; I’m in the studio reading it — I’m reading you the book just like it is, and the next thing you know, you’re seeing the images come to life. So all of a sudden, an image comes up, then an image starts moving. You’re seeing all these moving images, and that will come later in June. But right now, the e-book is instant, and the print. And the first two prints have sold out, which is — I’m knocking on my wood on my head — great considering the times we’re in. So I think people are gonna be blown away by the new format.”

Michaels rose to fame in the 1980s as the singer of POISON, which still tours periodically. He later became a reality TV personality in such shows as dating contest “Rock Of Love” and on “The Celebrity Apprentice”. Most recently, Michaels was one of the contestants on Fox’s smash hit “The Masked Singer”.

Earlier in the month, POISON, MÖTLEY CRÜE, DEF LEPPARD and JOAN JETT & THE BLACKHEARTS announced that “The Stadium Tour” has been postponed until the summer 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic.

“The Stadium Tour” was scheduled to kick off on June 18 at TIAA Bank Field in Jacksonville, Florida and run through September 5 in Los Angeles. The bands reportedly also booked time at VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville to rehearse for the tour.

IN THIS MOMENT’s latest album, “Mother”, includes a cover version of the QUEEN classic “We Will Rock You” that sees vocalist Maria Brink teaming up with HALESTORM frontwoman Lzzy Hale and THE PRETTY RECKLESS singer Taylor Momsen. Asked by the 89X radio station how she came to be involved with the track, Momsen said (see video below): “Maria called up and said, ‘Hey, I have this idea. Lzzy is on board. Is this something you’d be interested in?’ Obviously, ‘We Will Rock You’ by QUEEN is a fantastic song; I’m a huge fan. And Maria and Lzzy are dear friends, so it just kind of felt like a very natural collaboration. So I said yes and sang my part, and now it is what you guys can all hear.”

“Mother” was released on March 27. The disc was once again recorded at The Hideout Recording Studio in Las Vegas, Nevada with producer Kevin Churko. The LP contains two additional covers, STEVE MILLER BAND’s “Fly Like An Eagle” and MAZZY STAR’s “Into Dust”.

“Death By Rock And Roll”, the fourth studio album from THE PRETTY RECKLESS, will arrive in late 2020 or early 2021. The LP will be released via Fearless Records in the U.S. and Century Media Records in the rest of the world.

Momsen recently confirmed in an interview that RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE guitarist Tom Morello guests on “Death By Rock And Roll”. Morello appears on a track called “And So It Went”.

Morello joins previously announced guests Kim Thayil and Matt Cameron from SOUNDGARDEN. The song with Cameron and Thayil, called “Only Love Can Save Me Now”, was recorded at Seattle’s legendary London Bridge Studios, where seminal LPs like PEARL JAM’s “Ten” and SOUNDGARDEN’s “Louder Than Love” were laid down.

BEHEMOTH frontman Adam “Nergal “Darski has urged his fellow Poles to vote in the country’s presidential election on Sunday.

Conservative incumbent Andrzej Duda is widely expected to win the first round of the election, but faces stiff competition from liberal Warsaw mayor Rafał Trzaskowski of the center-right opposition party Civic Platform, which governed from 2007 to 2015. Trzaskowski, a liberal supporter of LGBT rights, has surged in opinion polls. (According to a poll conducted last year, 65 percent of Poles are against gay marriage and 73 per cent against adoption by same-sex couples.) Trzaskowski is considered the leading candidate among the nine hopefuls running against Duda.

Earlier today, Nergal took to his Instagram to write: “Presidential elections tmrw my fellow Poles! EVERY fuckin’ vote counts and can make a difference! Personally, I think 5 years of massive embarrassment and continuous incompetence of current president and its party is ENOUGH. I vote for FREEDOM and want my voice to echo across the Universe!”

Poland’s election was originally scheduled for May 10 but was postponed due to the COVID-19 epidemic.

For the past five years, Poland has been governed by Law And Justice (PiS) party, commonly described as a “right-wing” party.

Duda on Wednesday (June 24) became the first foreign leader to visit U.S. President Donald Trump since the coronavirus pandemic led to global lockdowns.

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Presidential elections tmrw my fellow Poles! EVERY fuckin’ vote counts and can make a difference! Personally, I think 5 years of massive embarrassment and continuous incompetence of current president and its party is ENOUGH. I vote for FREEDOM and want my voice to echo across the Universe!???
A post shared by Adam Nergal Darski (@nergal69) on Jun 27, 2020 at 5:04am PDT

Legendary German hard rockers SCORPIONS have invited fans to help create the official music video for their latest single, “Sign Of Hope”. The band wrote in a social media post: “Show us your ‘signs’ of hope! We want to use our new music video as a platform to spread a little hope in light of the Covid-19 pandemic. Whether a photo or image of a blooming flower, your favorite summertime activity or you spending time with loved ones, we want to include your sign in our new ‘Sign Of Hope’ music video. Click to enter.”

SCORPIONS penned the song as a positive message amid all that is going on in the world at the moment and during the recording sessions for their upcoming 19th album. Tentatively due in 2021, the disc will mark the German hard rock legends’ first release since 2017’s “Born To Touch Your Feelings – Best Of Rock Ballads”, which was an anthology of SCORPIONS’ new and classic material.

SCORPIONS’ new album will be produced by Greg Fidelman, who began his career as the guitarist and songwriter for RHINO BUCKET before launching his career as a producer, engineer and mixer, finding an early mentor in Rick Rubin.

SCORPIONS’ last full-length collection of new recordings was 2015’s “Return To Forever”, partially comprising songs the band had in the vault from the ’80s. It was the final recorded appearance of SCORPIONS’ longtime drummer James Kottak, who was dismissed from the band in September 2016. He has since been replaced by Mikkey Dee, formerly of MOTÖRHEAD.

Prior to the coronavirus outbreak, SCORPIONS were scheduled to take over the Las Vegas Strip in July with their exclusive headlining residency show at Zappos Theater at Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino.

The band previously played a Las Vegas mini-residency in May 2016, consisting of five shows at The Joint at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino.

“Give me hope / Just a little bit of hope / A little comfort for my soul / And it’s gonna be alright”! ?️

Show us your …

Posted by Scorpions on Wednesday, June 24, 2020

MASTODON guitarist Bill Kelliher spoke to Tone-Talk about the progress of the songwriting sessions for 2017’s “Emperor Of Sand” album. He said (see video below): “It’s hard right now, because I thought I’d be really inspired to be writing, but I’m not. But I already have 20 songs written, so I’m good with that. But that was before the COVID[-19]. So now that the COVID’s hit, I’m, like, ‘Oh, now I’ll just write another 30 songs,’ but I’m not. I’m not traveling, I’m not doing anything — I’m sitting at my house, I’m sitting at my studio, and I’m, like, ‘Oh, I’ll just write another 30 songs,’ and I’m just really not.

“I’m not saying I’m not inspired, I just feel that I’m so busy with now that I’m home, and my wife knows I’m home, and she’s, like, ‘Yeah, well, you’ve got this to do,'” he continued. “And I’m, like, ‘Fuck!’ When I used to go on the road, I could just sit in my hotel room and space out and not have to worry about real life… I mean, real life has always been in my face, but now it’s, like, I can’t escape. I’m in the clutches of just being under someone else’s control, I think. I can’t be, like, ‘Hey, guess what? I’m gonn do down to the basement into my studio.’

“Me as a musician, I guess I’m an artist, I need to go away somewhere to get away from real life so I can just write riffs. And it’s hard — it’s hard right now, because COVID is keeping everybody so goddamn close, and, to me, it’s [getting] on my nerves. I can’t relax.”

Last month, Kelliher told the “Rock & Roll Beer Guy” podcast that the music he has been writing for MASTODON’s next album is “different than ‘Emperor Of Sand’, but there’s definitely a vibe going on… The new record, the stuff I’ve written, is not quite as notey as that, but it’s definitely got more NEUROSIS heaviness, simplified guitar parts. And Brann [Dailor, drums/vocals], he always demos most of the vocal ideas, ’cause he always has melodies, and he’s been singing on a lot of it, at least for the demo purposes. The vocals are kind of ‘Asleep In The Deep’ style — kind of RADIOHEAD-ish almost, real melodic, just a lot of vocal harmonies.”

“Emperor Of Sand” debuted at No. 7 on the Billboard 200. That album was nominated for the 2018 Grammy Award for “Best Rock Album,” and its opening track, “Sultan’s Curse”, won the Grammy Award for “Best Metal Performance.”

AVATAR frontman Johannes Eckerström spoke to the “Talk Toomey” podcast about how Corey Taylor ended up having a guest appearance on the band’s upcoming album, “Hunter Gatherer”. The SLIPKNOT and STONE SOUR singer can be heard whistling a part in the song “Secret Door”, and he also shares vocals with Eckerström during the “gang-vocal sing-along melody in the end” of the same track, according to Johannes.

“Basically, what happened is that we have popped up on his radar in different ways that led up to this,” Eckerström said (hear audio below). “He has worked with the same producer multiple times now, Jay Ruston. And his wife is into us and I think has helped turn him on to us, and we have, of course, opened for SLIPKNOT. And, actually, a billion years ago, we also opened for STONE SOUR but in more recent days we opened for SLIPKNOT — last year, actually. So he was in touch with Jay, and it turns out [he was] going to be in town while we were recording and he [said he] would love to come by the studio and hear some things and also said, ‘I’m all open for doing something, laying down some tracks on something, if the guys are into that.’ [It was] very open-ended and a nice thing to offer. And the first thing that came to my mind was… In one of the early episodes of ‘South Park’, in those early seasons, when they would have really, really famous people but let them have really minuscule parts. Jay Leno was a cat, if I remember… And I think, if I remember, Jerry Seinfeld, or his agents or something, turned down being turkey number two — something along those lines. So that immediately [led me to start thinking]… Oh, yeah, let’s get this man who became one of those voices of a generation, one of those that when we were teenagers getting turned on to heavy music, they were one of the contemporary band, ’cause we were all quite old school most of our life. we liked, but they opened my mind to a whole bunch of things. He’s an icon of our generation, and he can whistle.”

Johannes whistled on the demo version of “Secret Door”, but Corey is “a better whistler, so it actually helped,” Eckerström said. “He goes into the booth, and, of course, then it’s serious — he took it very seriously, as did we recording him. There was no giggles at that time. And there was more than one take to really nail it. ‘Cause once you’re in there, I guess even if you wanna record fart noises, you still want it to be the best fart noises. You can’t help yourself in the studio to want to do a good job, whatever you’re doing.”

AVATAR’s eighth full-length album, “Hunter Gatherer”, will be released on August 7 via Entertainment One (eOne). The disc was recorded last year at Sphere Studios in Los Angeles, California with producer Jay Ruston, who has previously worked with STONE SOUR, ANTHRAX and STEEL PANTHER, among many others.

TRIVIUM bassist Paolo Gregoletto says that wearing a mask is key to slowing the spread of the novel coronavirus — and to further reopening the U.S.

Paolo made his comments in response to a report from the Florida Department of Health, which said the number of known cases of COVID-19 in the state rose by 9,585 since yesterday morning as the virus spreads and as more people are tested across the state. The total number of cases in Florida is now 132,545.

Earlier today, Gregoletto, a former Florida resident who has lived in Chicago for the past few years, took to his Twitter to share an article about the rise in Florida’s COVID-19 cases, and he wrote: “The most unsettling part of the move a few weeks ago was seeing how little people were wearing masks down here or wearing them wrong. And Florida businesses had signs that were like ‘I guess you can wear a mask if you want’ until the obvious happened and now it’s mandatory.

“I’d love to tour at some point and we can’t count on a silver bullet vaccine anytime soon,” he added. “Masks + keeping things open is better than another full shutdown.”

Gregoletto also addressed the fact that TRIVIUM will play a livestreamed show from the band’s home base of Orlando on Friday, July 10. The arena-style visual show will stream globally from Full Sail Live, the state-of-the-art event and broadcast arena at Full Sail University.

“Our Full Sail event is going to be strictly the minimum amount of people that need to be there to make shit happen and mandatory masks for all involved or else they won’t be allowed in,” he explained. “We will only have our masks off for the performance.”

TRIVIUM’s ninth full-length album, “What The Dead Men Say”, was released on April 24 through Roadrunner Records. The LP, which was produced by TRIVIUM and Josh Wilbur, is the follow-up to “The Sin And The Sentence”. That effort marked the band’s first release with drummer Alex Bent, who joined TRIVIUM in 2016.

At the Full Sail Live event, TRIVIUM will debut a new stage show that is cohesive with new album visuals and will perform songs from the new album onstage for the first time.

As previously reported, the first leg of TRIVIUM’s previously announced North American tour with MEGADETH, LAMB OF GOD and IN FLAMES is being rescheduled for 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The most unsettling part of the move a few weeks ago was seeing how little people were wearing masks down here or wearing them wrong. https://t.co/bNzJZNEWg0
— Paolo Gregoletto (@TriviumPaolo) June 27, 2020

And Florida businesses had signs that were like “I guess you can wear a mask if you want” until the obvious happened and now it’s mandatory.
— Paolo Gregoletto (@TriviumPaolo) June 27, 2020

I’d love to tour at some point and we can’t count on a silver bullet vaccine anytime soon. Masks + keeping things open is better than another full shutdown.
— Paolo Gregoletto (@TriviumPaolo) June 27, 2020

Like our Full Sail event is going to be strictly the minimum amount of people that need to be there to make shit happen and mandatory masks for all involved or else they won’t be allowed in. We will only have our masks off for the performance.
— Paolo Gregoletto (@TriviumPaolo) June 27, 2020