Ex-BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE bassist Jason “Jay” James has joined KILL THE LIGHTS, the group featuring his former BULLET bandmate, drummer Michael “Moose” Thomas.

KILL THE LIGHTS released its debut album, “The Sinner”, last year on Fearless Records. The band and record were lauded for “statement songs” (Distorted Sound) and for being “broad in scope and technically accomplished in its execution” (Sonic Perspectives).

Today, KILL THE LIGHTS returns to share a new song called “Chasing Shadows”.

“‘Chasing Shadows’ is the perfect song, lyrically, to re-introduce Jay and his talents to the world,” KILL THE LIGHTS says in a statement. “The lyrics discuss the mental struggle of living with past decisions and failures, and the effort it takes to get back to the top. ‘Chasing Shadows’ is about proving the doubters wrong and showing the world through sweat, blood, and tears that you are and always were good enough.”

KILL THE LIGHTS is:

James Clark (ex-THROW THE FIGHT) – Vocals
Jordan Whelan (STILL REMAINS) – Guitar
Michael “Moose” Thomas (ex-BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE) – Drums
Jason “Jay” James (ex-BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE) – Bass
Travis Montgomery (ex-THREAT SIGNAL) – Guitar

BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE announced Jay’s departure in February 2015 during the recording sessions for the group’s fifth album, “Venom”, and recruited Jamie Mathias as his replacement in May of that same year.

In July 2015, BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE frontman Matt Tuck told Revolver: “We parted ways with [Jay] a long time before we announced it. We wanted to make sure we were comfortable making that decision, and comfortable with making that statement publicly. We wanted to get the album ready to be recorded before we said anything…”

Tuck described the split with James as “the most difficult thing we’ve ever had to do, and not just in the band or in our careers, but in our lives, personally. It was awful. Losing a long-term member — and our best friend, which was much more important to us — was a very powerful moment that we’d never been through before, and it was a decision that we deliberated over for, like, three months; we kept fighting and fighting to find valid reasons for him to stay, but eventually it was just impossible.

“I’m not going to go into detail,” Tuck continued, “but it was in Jay’s best interest personally, more than ours, that he was not in the band. People can read into that what they want, which they will anyway; but it was just stuff going on that was jeopardizing the band’s career, and it had to stop. And, unfortunately, it came to the point where enough was enough, and we just had to make that call.”

In December 2017, BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE announced that it was officially parting ways with Thomas and replacing him with Jason Bowld (PITCHSHIFTER, AXEWOUND). Bowld had toured with the group since November 2015, filling in for Thomas, who had taken a leave of absence as he and his wife were expecting their first child.

In February 2020, Thomas told the “No Fuckin’ Regrets With Robb Flynn” podcast that he didn’t leave BULLET FROM MY VALENTINE of his own accord.

“We’d done the last album [in 2015], which was ‘Venom’, which was kind of more back-to-the-heavier-roots type of thing, which I was a lot happier with; I think everyone was,” Thomas explained. “And it was on that album we left — Jay, and then I left a year later. So we finished ‘Venom’ and then started touring ‘Venom’. It was on the European tour cycle of ‘Venom’ that I left and didn’t return. I would have gone back [on tour], but no one answered my e-mails.”

Some might already call him an old fossil, but legendary BLACK SABBATH guitarist Tony Iommi has now come face to face with a pre-historic trace of life named after him.

It comes after heavy metal-loving scientists from Scandinavia were so thrilled to discover a 469-year-old fossil in Russia that they named an entirely new species of conodonts Drepanoistodus Iommii — after their rock hero.

To celebrate the momentous occasion, Westside BID manager Mike Olley set up a surprise Facetime meeting between Tony, his fossil and lead palaeontologist Mats Eriksson on the BLACK SABBATH bench in Birmingham.

Tony said: “It was a real shock to hear that a fossil’s been named after me. I’ve had a bit of abuse from my friends about it who’ve enjoyed calling me an old fossil, but I think it’s great, a real honor. This has to be the weirdest thing that’s ever been named after me but I’m really proud of it and I wanted to thank Mats and his team in person for being such brilliant fans.”

Speaking to Tony from his home in Sweden, Mats said: “What an absolute honor it is to meet you. It’s hard for me to wrap my head around this. From our point of view, it’s to be regarded as nothing but a huge honor. The reason we do this is to have fun and to combine my love affairs with nature and with music. But this is just amazing. For me to publish academic papers published is fun but talking to you is priceless.”

Mats, who has been a fan of BLACK SABBATH since he was a boy, was so thrilled by his team’s discovery that he commissioned legendary “heavy metal painter,” Joe Petagno, to create an honorary painting to mark the occasion.

Mats added: “I love the painting that Joe affectionately refers to as ‘Tony Iommi conjuring an otherworldly gargantuan conodont.'”

The fossil is said to be from an ancient eel-like marine vertebrate known as a conodont — depicted in the painting as a giant, alien-like creature.

Olley said: “The purpose of having Tony here with us is to celebrate the fact that he’s officially a fossil.

“I’m delighted we were able to set up the meeting and I want to thank Mats for his fantastic gesture to honor one of Birmingham’s greatest rock heroes.”

Photos and video courtesy of Westside BID

Corey Taylor is doing a small set of shows before SLIPKNOT heads out on its international tour in 2022, and he’s coming to Columbus, Ohio to hang out with fans at Jo Ann Davidson Theatre at the Riffe Center on Monday, December 13. Taylor will be up close and personal with his fans, answering questions from the audience during an intimate question-and-answer session. Photo ops and autographs will be available for purchase at an additional cost after the show during a special meet-and-greet with Corey and his fans. This meet-and-greet is open to everyone who attends.

2021 has been as busy as ever for Taylor. Having just wrapped SLIPKNOT’s “Knotfest Roadshow” U.S. tour, Corey also hit the road in support of his debut solo album, “CMFT”, released an inspired new cover of CROSBY, STILLS, NASH & YOUNG’s “Carry On” and fronted GROUND CONTROL, a supergroup also comprised of Taylor Hawkins (FOO FIGHTERS), Dave Navarro (JANE’S ADDICTION) and Chris Chaney (JANE’S ADDICTION) performing at “The Bowie Celebration: Just For One Day” in tribute to the late David Bowie.

“CMFT” made impressive debuts on charts around the world in October 2020, entering at No. 1 on Billboard’s Current Hard Rock Albums chart, while claiming No. 2 on Current Rock Albums, No. 6 on Vinyl Albums, and No. 9 on the Top Albums charts. Furthermore, “CMFT” landed Top 10 on the official album charts in Australia, Germany, Switzerland and Austria, with Top 20 debuts in the United Kingdom, Finland and Japan (international chart).

“CMFT” was recorded at The Hideout Recording Studio in Las Vegas with producer Jay Ruston and Corey’s band — Christian Martucci (guitar), Zach Throne (guitar), Jason Christopher (bass), and Dustin Schoenhofer (drums).

Posted by CBUSArts on Thursday, November 11, 2021

DISTURBED frontman David Draiman joined Nita Strauss, the guitar shredder for the ALICE COOPER band, on stage last night (Thursday, November 18) at the Whisky A Go Go in West Hollywood, California to perform their collaborative song “Dead Inside”. Video footage of his appearance can be seen below.

Released last month, “Dead Inside” is Nita’s first new music since the release of her critically acclaimed debut solo album “Controlled Chaos” in 2018. It kicks off with Nita’s inimitably intricate lead guitar work and, as the intro builds, begins to snake its way around the ground-shaking, headbanging lead riff as Josh Villalta’s technical and bombastic drums kick in. Then comes the unmistakable vocal prowess of Draiman as he delivers his unique signature brand of enormously catchy vocal melody and a stadium-conquering chorus. The song ebbs and flows through sonic and emotional dynamics and culminates with a brutally heavy beatdown into a final rendition of the chorus, ensuring that the lead hook will be replaying over and over in the listener’s head for days.

Speaking about the collaboration, Strauss previously said: “This is my first time releasing my own music with a vocalist, and I am so honored to take this step alongside a legend like David Draiman. David’s voice and powerful lyrics took this song to a level I could never have imagined! And we are so excited to unleash this song on the world.”

Draiman added: “Serendipity can be really cool. We’ve been friends for years. Nita sent me the track… I didn’t have time to work on it right away… then, in literally a couple of days, while killing time in Santa Monica, the whole thing just came together. Incredibly proud of how it turned out and honored to be a part of it.”

When the pandemic hit, being the force of nature that she is, Nita took the adversity of no touring and being at home and turned it in to a positive. During the past 18 months, Nita launched her online guitar learning course, “Rock Guitar Fundamentals”, which takes the learner through everything from picking up the guitar for the first time all the way through to learning songs and playing solos. Taking her passion for health and fitness to the next level, Nita also launched her Body Shred Fitness Challenge, a three-month fitness challenge that pairs a love of music with passion for getting healthier in your body and mind! Participants have the chance to win prize packages valued at over $2,500 while becoming a part of a fun, supportive worldwide fitness community.

And, as if that wasn’t enough, Nita launched her Patreon which gives fans access to weekly livestreams, lessons, signed photos and behind-the-scenes looks at the album recording process.

On top of these digital initiatives, Nita also became the official in-house guitarist of the Los Angeles Rams, playing every home game at the brand new SoFi Stadium, performed the national anthem at WWE’s “NXT Takeover: Stand And Deliver” event, released two new signature Ibanez guitars, JIVA Jr and JIVA X, was featured on the cover of Guitar World’s “Guitarists Of The Decade” issue and performed with Cooper at the Fire Fight Australia benefit for the bush fires that ravaged Australia in 2020.

Nita released “Controlled Chaos” in 2018 to mass acclaim from fans and media alike, with Metal Injection calling it “a great debut that — as its creator intended — leaves no doubt”, and Guitar World stating “‘Controlled Chaos’ is a panoramic view of Nita Strauss’s many strengths”. To date the album has clocked up 6.7 million streams worldwide, with music videos for singles “Our Most Desperate Hour”, “Pandemonium”, “Alegria” and “Mariana Trench” generating over 3 million YouTube views.

As well as performing with Cooper, Nita has also played with R&B star Jermaine Jackson, early MTV darlings FEMME FATALE, video game supergroup CRITICAL HIT and popular tribute band THE IRON MAIDENS.

Ted Nugent has defended Kyle Rittenhouse, the teenager who fatally shot two people in August 2020 during unrest in Kenosha, Wisconsin, saying he “did everything right.”

Rittenhouse, 18, is on trial for reckless homicide in the slaying of Joseph Rosenbaum, 36, and intentional homicide in the death of Anthony Huber, 26, on August 25, 2020, during unrest that followed the shooting of a black man, Jacob Blake, by a white Kenosha police officer. Rittenhouse, a then-17-year-old former police youth cadet, said he went to Kenosha to protect property from rioters. He is facing life in prison if convicted of the most serious charge against him.

Nugent weighed in on the Rittenhouse trial this week, taking aim at the prosecutors and insisting the teenager acted in self-defense. Speaking to Eric Bolling, the host of Newsmax’s “Eric Bolling The Balance”, the outspoken conservative rocker said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “That this court case even exists is a manifestation of cultural abandonment in America. The prosecutor — pure rot. The rioters — rotten human beings; just nasty, nasty thugs.

“Kyle Rittenhouse, I’m sending him a lifetime supply of good ammo. This guy, this young 17-year-old kid was exactly what the founding fathers wanted all Americans to be — to stand up good over evil. Kyle Rittenhouse — good; rioters and thugs and attackers and assaulters and career criminals — evil.

“Our court system, our totally failed court system is intentionally engineering recidivism,” Nugent continued. “They know these people are gonna repeat their vicious, violent crimes, and the so-called justice system continues to let them out to do it. And when a good citizen stands up and goes, ‘No. I have an instinctual moral obligation to try to neutralize evil,’ this court case happens and it breaks the hearts and sickens good Americans that know the purest instinct to man is to defend oneself. And that’s all Kyle Rittenhouse did.

“I’d just like to salute Kyle Rittenhouse. What a tactically trained young man. He did everything right. And our society is coming down against good, and these numbnuts are supporting evil.

“Gob bless Kyle Rittenhouse — [a] great, great American.”

A jury is deliberating the charges against Rittenhouse, who is white, as were the three men he shot.

During two weeks of trial, Rittenhouse took the stand in his own defense and said he opened fire because he feared for his life. “I did what I had to do,” he told the court. According to Time, his attorney claimed Rittenhouse was justified in his actions and that he “didn’t shoot at anyone until he was chased and cornered.” But prosecutors said none of the men who Rittenhouse shot posed imminent threats. Instead, they say Rittenhouse lost the right to claim self-defense because he provoked the attacks and created his own danger when he brought a semi-automatic rifle to the protests, crossing state lines from Illinois to do so.

We shoot some questions at Tom Angelripper about Sodom’s 20-year anniversary box set of the their Vietnam War-themed album, M-16.
The post Interview: Sodom’s Tom Angelripper on the “M-16” 20-Year Anniversary Box Set appeared first on Decibel Magazine.

David Draiman of DISTURBED, which recently played its first pandemic-era shows, spoke to Lou Brutus of HardDrive Radio about the progress of the songwriting sessions for the band’s follow-up to 2018’s “Evolution” album. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “It’s on in a big, big, big fucking way. It really, really is. I mean, we are so genuinely excited.

“They asked me going in, ‘Where do you wanna go with this?’ And I’m, like, ‘I wanna go back. I wanna go back to our meat and potatoes. I wanna go back to where we came from.’

“The week in between the Indiana shows and the [Welcome To Rockville] show was amazing,” Draiman added. “We pumped out six new DISTURBED songs. They are rhythmic, they are anthemic, they are polysyncopated, they are meat-and-potatoes DISTURBED. It’s somewhere between ‘The Sickness’ and ‘Ten Thousand Fists’ as far as vibe. And it’s can’t-stop-but-bob-your-head kind of thing. I couldn’t be more happy. And we’re so genuinely excited that we don’t wanna wait. We’re gonna track it after the New Year. We’re guns blazing right now.”

Asked if DISTURBED has already decided on a producer and studio for its upcoming sessions, Draiman said: “We’re still trying to suss all that out. We’ve written with a couple of guys. We’re trying to just kind of go wherever we’re gonna be able to find a little spark of inspiration here and there. So we’re still trying to suss everything out.

“The way that I see it happening is we’re probably not gonna put out something in the traditional full-length; we’re probably gonna be doing two separate releases,” he explained. “So we’ll probably have one geared for release — if everything works as planned — by the fall, and then maybe something the following year as well.”

When Brutus asked Draiman to clarify if that means that the next DISTURBED release will be an EP, David said: “Define it what you want, but it would like five or six songs at a pop — something like that.

“We live in an environment right now and in an age where people’s consumption of music has been very soundbitish and very track-driven and very single-driven,” he continued. “And there’s definitely some beauty towards continuing to try and [make] things like concept records and telling a long story over the duration of a series of songs — there’s huge merit to that — but I think that when you write 10 songs and three of them actually get worked at radio and maybe, if you’re lucky, the fans are really familiar with half the record and the rest ends up sitting on a shelf, and if you do end up pulling it out one day, it’s like an obscure, weird moment during the set, and it’s almost like gratuitous for yourself. I don’t wanna do that anymore. I wanna make everything count. I wanna make sure that we get the biggest bang for everything we’re putting out there. I think that that should be easily attainable. It seems to be where the environment is going, and it seems to be — whether we like it or not — what the digital age has funneled us into.”

In October 2020, Draiman told “Loudwire Nights” that DISTURBED’s new music would be “blisteringly angry” and added that he was “dying” to sink his teeth into “new, original, angry, ferocious, brutal material.”

DISTURBED performed live for the first time in nearly two years on September 25 as one of the headliners of the Louder Than Life festival in Louisville, Kentucky.

In March, DISTURBED’s “The Sickness 20th Anniversary Tour” was officially canceled. The amphitheater tour, with very special guest STAIND and BAD WOLVES, was originally slated to take place in the summer of 2020 but was rescheduled to 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic. It was eventually scrapped altogether.

“The Sickness 20th Anniversary Tour” was supposed to celebrate the 20th anniversary of DISTURBED’s seminal album “The Sickness”. On this tour, the band was expected to perform songs off the album, as well as tracks from “Evolution” and DISTURBED’s extensive catalog.

In September 2020, DISTURBED released a cover version of Sting’s 1993 single “If I Ever Lose My Faith In You”.

David Coverdale, who was among the DEEP PURPLE members who were inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame in 2016, was asked in a new interview with QFM96’s “Torg & Elliott” radio show if he thinks he will eventually get the nod as a member of his post-PURPLE outfit WHITESNAKE. He responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “When I did the Hall Of Fame for PURPLE, I spoke with the guys there and they were very, very forthcoming that they felt it appropriate that WHITESNAKE be in there. But you’ve gotta remember something — these are really cherries on an amazing cake of my life already. So if that does manifest, that’s amazing. It’s not on my bucket list, but I would receive it with open arms. ‘Cause those kinds of things are validations from your peers.”

Even though artists are eligible for the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame 25 years after the release of their first album or single, iconic hard rock and metal bands like IRON MAIDEN, JUDAS PRIEST and MOTÖRHEAD have yet to be recognized by the institution, which inducted GUNS N’ ROSES in that group’s first year of eligibility.

The Rock Hall didn’t induct BLACK SABBATH until 2006, and METALLICA followed three years later.

Rock Hall rules state that artists become eligible a quarter century after their first records were released, but the Hall also claims that other “criteria include the influence and significance of the artists’ contributions to the development and perpetuation of rock ‘n’ roll,” which is, of course, open to interpretation.

Eligible for induction since 1999, KISS didn’t get its first nomination until 2009, and was finally inducted in 2014.

DEEP PURPLE was eligible for the Rock Hall since 1993 but didn’t get inducted until five years ago.

PRIEST was on the ballot for Rock Hall induction last year, but failed to receive enough votes to make the class of 2020.

Having been eligible for induction since 1999, PRIEST was previously on the ballot for the 2018 class of the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame, but was ultimately left out of the inductee list.

IRON MAIDEN was on the ballot for Rock Hall induction this year, but didn’t make the class of 2021.

DEEP PURPLE’s first three lineups were inducted into the Rock Hall, including guitarist Ritchie Blackmore, drummer Ian Paice, keyboardist Jon Lord, and various singers and bassists — Rod Evans, Ian Gillan, Roger Glover, Coverdale and Glenn Hughes.

DEEP PURPLE’s acceptance speeches included turns from Gillan, Glover, Paice, Coverdale and Hughes before the current lineup of DEEP PURPLE — Gillan, Glover, Paice, guitarist Steve Morse and keyboardist Don Airey — took the stage and played a short set consisting of “Highway Star”, “Green Onions” (with an image of Lord behind them), “Hush” and “Smoke On The Water”.

SKID ROW has replaced QUEENSRŸCHE as the support act on the rescheduled dates for SCORPIONS’ “Sin City Nights” Las Vegas residency. The run of shows, which was originally slated to take place in July 2020 and was later pushed back to May 2021, will now happen in March-April, 2022 at Zappos Theater at Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino.

“Sin City Nights” 2022 dates:

March 26
March 30
April 1
April 3
April 7
April 9
April 12
April 14
April 16

Fans who purchased tickets to an affected performance will have their tickets automatically transferred to a new date with the exact same seats, including VIP packages, where applicable. If you are unable to attend that date, please visit your original point of purchase for a refund. Those interested in purchasing tickets for the new dates can do so at this location.

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

SCORPIONS’ 19th studio album, “Rock Believer”, will be released on February 25, 2022, The LP was recorded primarily at Peppermint Park Studios in Hannover, Germany and was mixed at the legendary Hansa Studios in Berlin, Germany with engineer Michael Ilbert, who has earned multiple Grammy nominations for his mix work with producer Max Martin on albums by Taylor Swift and Katy Perry.

SKID ROW is continuing work on its long-awaited new album for a tentative early 2022 release via earMUSIC. The band is recording its new album in Nashville, Tennesse with producer Nick Raskulinecz, who has previously worked with FOO FIGHTERS, STONE SOUR, HALESTORM, EVANESCENCE, RUSH and ALICE IN CHAINS, among many others.

SKID ROW’s new LP will mark its first release with South African-born, British-based vocalist ZP Theart (DRAGONFORCE, TANK, I AM I), who joined the band in 2016 following the departure of Tony Harnell (TNT, STARBREAKER).

Unlike 2014’s “Rise Of The Damnation Army – United World Rebellion: Chapter Two” and 2013’s “United World Rebellion: Chapter One”, SKID ROW’s forthcoming release will be a full-length record.