HEART singer Ann Wilson has criticized the pitch-correction technology Auto-Tune, saying it is the imperfections of the human voice that make music appealing.

Created by musician and geophysical scientist Dr. Andy Hildebrand in 1997, Auto-Tune is a software program that digitally corrects pitch, allowing singers who sing off key to produce perfectly tuned vocal tracks. Since its introduction, the plugin has become standard equipment in professional recording studios, but the anti-Auto-Tune movement is vocal.

In a new interview with “The Jasta Show”, Wilson stated that it is natural flaws and imperfections that make a voice memorable and affecting. “I think the little rough places or a little out-of-tune soulful quirks about our vocal are the thing that makes it sound like you, like a human,” she said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET). “When everything’s all tuned to A440 exactly and robotic and everything, it’s just like being anonymous; you just kind of fall into this robotic way of sounding, you sound exactly like everybody else. If that’s what you want, then by all means, go for the Auto-Tune, but if you wanna sound like yourself, forget it. Sound real.”

Ann went on to say that “remaining [her]self and remaining authentic” has always been important to her. “And then when some era like the ’80s came along when I was being asked to sing a different way so I could be played on the radio, I was really uncomfortable with that and I could do it,” she explained. “But I don’t think it’s my best singing, and it certainly doesn’t sound like me. Back then, I remember they were saying, ‘Don’t go near politics. Why does everything have to be so dark?’ Like, you should just be ‘happy’ all the time in your songs. And they were telling my sister Nancy [HEART guitarist], ‘Well, acoustic guitars are just way out, and in fact, guitars are taking a backseat now. We’re into synthesizers.’ And those are her main instruments. So, yeah, that was a challenge at the time.”

Proponents of Auto-Tune have compared the human voice to an instrument, and have argued that Auto-Tune is merely an effect like a vocodor, talk box or a wah-wah pedal.

According to Hildebrand’s Antares Audio Technologies, more than 90 percent of its Auto-Tune units are in the hands of hobbyists; amateur musicians and looking to smooth out their latest basement recording.

Last year, Paul McCartney made headlines when he said he believes John Lennon would have loved using Auto-Tune, which was invented nearly two decades after Lennon’s death in 1980. “I’d say that if John Lennon had had an opportunity, he would have been all over it,” McCartney said. “Not so much to fix your voice, but just to play with it.”

Ann’s new solo album, “Fierce Bliss”, will arrive on April 29 via Silver Lining Music.

RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS bassist Flea has paid tribute to FOO FIGHTERS drummer Taylor Hawkins, who died more than a week ago at the age of 50. Speaking to Radio X’s Johnny Vaughan, he said about Taylor’s passing (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “[It was] absolutely shocking. I love Taylor. He was an uplifting dude. Before I ever met Taylor and long before he ever played in the FOO FIGHTERS, one of my best friends growing up, my friend Tree [Keith Barry] who I started my music school with, he was teaching music at a music school down in Orange County here in L.A., and he was, like, ‘Man, there’s this kid here selling guitar strings, and he’s a star. He’s a drummer, and I’m telling you he’s gonna be a rock star.’ And that was Taylor. And that was long before he played with Alanis Morissette.

“But I always loved Taylor,” he continued. “I had so much fun with him. We toured with them for years and years. And he was best friends — he was extremely close with our drummer, Chad Smith. And it’s a very devastating experience for Chad and for everyone he was close to, because he was a kind, generous, just fun dude, and a killer drummer. And love to his family and love to everyone that knew him. And God bless his beautiful heart.”

Hawkins was found dead on March 25 at the Four Seasons Casa Medina hotel in Bogota, Colombia while FOO FIGHTERS were on tour.

An official cause of death for Hawkins hasn’t yet been released. But on March 26, Colombia’s attorney general’s office released a preliminary toxicology report, saying that medical examiners found evidence of 10 types of substances in Hawkins’s body, including opioids, benzodiazepines, marijuana and antidepressants.

Hawkins joined FOO FIGHTERS in 1997. Prior to that, he played with the Orange County band SYLVIA and was also in the backing band for Sass Jordan. He also toured with Alanis Morissette as her drummer.

Hawkins was inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame last year as a member of the FOO FIGHTERS.

Hawkins’s most recent work with FOO FIGHTERS included last year’s “Medicine At Midnight” album, a collection of BEE GEES covers and FOO FIGHTERS’ horror film “Studio 666”.

In a new interview with Chaoszine, former ACCEPT and current U.D.O. frontman Udo Dirkschneider spoke about the changes he has seen in the music industry since he started out more than five decades ago. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “There have definitely been some changes in the music business. [Laughs] Yeah, it’s not like the ’80s anymore. Definitely the selling of CDs going down. On one hand, we can be lucky with our kind of music — the people wanna really have the physical [product] in their hands, so we are not [as affected by the music streaming revolution] as what’s happened, for example, in pop music or whatever. But it is like, really, you’re selling less albums. The biggest problem, I think, it’s for young bands. They cannot sell that much albums, and the record companies don’t have that much money to support them for a longer time.

“I saw some bands, really good bands, they’re coming up, and sometimes after one year, after two years, they [don’t] exist anymore; they’re gone,” he continued. “It’s completely different than it was in the ’80s. When I started with ACCEPT, the record company said, ‘We wanna make money after five albums.’ Can you imagine — after five albums? And they were putting [a lot of] money into [the promotion]. But I think these days are over. [Laughs] I know that.

“For me, I know that record companies hate me for it, for me, to give an advice to young bands is, first, believe in what you are doing, [your] kind of music, and [second], don’t sign a contract with a record company,” Udo added. “Just try to make your album on your own. I mean, now with all this technical stuff, it’s possible; I know that. Then sell the album over the Internet. Just maybe have a guy — you can pay him I don’t know how much money a month — he can go on all the metal sites and say, ‘Hey, there’s a new album.’ And make also your own video clip. I mean, you can do that with all these modern mobile phones; the quality is so good. And then the whole money, it’s going to the band. What I can say for young bands is do everything on your own and don’t [sign] a contract [with a record label], so all the money [goes to] you. If somebody asks me, do it like this. Okay, maybe the record companies hate me more now [for saying that], but anyway, I don’t care.”

Udo is currently promoting his upcoming album, “My Way”, which will be released on April 22 via Atomic Fire Records. Billed as “his most personal and extraordinary album to date,” the effort contains 17 cover versions of the very songs that have influenced the musician and singer the most. All kinds of classics from music history are among them — including those that you might not expect from Udo.

Seven years after announcing that he would embark on a special tour during which he would perform ACCEPT songs one last time under the DIRKSCHNEIDER banner before closing that chapter for good, Udo is continuing to play ACCEPT material at select shows.

A year ago, Udo confirmed to Canada’s The Metal Voice that U.D.O. will “definitely” play some ACCEPT songs if the band’s North American tour materializes in 2022.

Dirkschneider said in 2016 that his vow to never play ACCEPT material again came with one caveat. “If the band ACCEPT dissolves one day in the near future and I am still around with U.D.O., then there is a chance that I put ACCEPT songs back in the setlist,” he said. “But currently there is ACCEPT, so go see them [if you want to see those songs performed live]. They are playing these songs.”

Udo previously said the original plan was for DIRKSCHNEIDER to only “a few shows,” and “then [the tour] got bigger and bigger [due to demand].” But, he added, “I don’t want to complain about that.”

JUDAS PRIEST was rejoined by guitarist Glenn Tipton on stage during the band’s headlining concert Wednesday night (March 30) at Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey.

As he has done a number of other times over the course of the last four years, Tipton appeared with PRIEST for the encore, performing “Metal Gods”, “Breaking The Law” and “Living After Midnight”.

Fan-filmed video of the performance can be seen below.

Tipton was diagnosed with Parkinson’s eight years ago — after being stricken by the condition at least half a decade earlier — but announced in early 2018 he was going to sit out touring activities in support of JUDAS PRIEST’s latest studio album, “Firepower”. He was replaced by “Firepower” album producer Andy Sneap, who is also known for his work in NWOBHM revivalists HELL and cult thrash outfit SABBAT.

PRIEST singer Rob Halford recently told Metal Pilgrim that Glenn is “still actively involved with JUDAS PRIEST, a hundred percent. Andy is still standing in that spot for Glenn with Glenn’s blessing… And my gratitude to Andy. It couldn’t have happened in a better way, if you wanna try and make something good out of it. It was a really important day when Glenn said, ‘I think it’s probably best if I step to the side and maybe we should let Andy come in.’ That was just a really beautiful act of selflessness. That’s Glenn treasuring PRIEST and PRIEST’s reputation, particularly in live concert more than anything else. So bless Glenn for that. And as a result, Andy stepped in and did amazing work on the ‘Firepower’ tour, and we’re looking forward to doing the same thing with him on this 50th-anniversary [tour]. And don’t discount the fact that Glenn can show up. He plays the guitar differently, but there’s no reason why Glenn can’t show up and do some work. I mean, I’ve said to Glenn, ‘Just walk out on stage and do that to everybody [flashes devil horns], and the people will just go fucking crazy, ’cause you are loved so much.’ But I’ve got a feeling that Glenn’s gonna be making the occasional appearance on this 50th-anniversary [tour].”

Bassist Ian Hill is the sole remaining original member of PRIEST, which formed in 1969. Halford joined the group in 1973 and Tipton signed on in 1974. Rob left PRIEST in the early 1990s to form his own band, then came back to PRIEST in 2003. Founding guitarist K.K. Downing parted ways with the band in 2011, and was replaced by Richie Faulkner.

PRIEST’s current North American tour kicked off on March 4 at Peoria Civic Center in Peoria, Illinois and will conclude on April 13 at FirstOntario Centre in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Support on the trek is coming from QUEENSRŸCHE.

JUDAS PRIEST was forced to postpone around two dozen North American shows on its rescheduled 50th-anniversary tour in late September after Faulkner suffered an acute cardiac aortic dissection during a performance at the Louder Than Life festival. He ended up undergoing a 10-hour life-saving surgery a short distance away at Rudd Heart and Lung Center at UofL Health – Jewish Hospital in Louisville, Kentucky.

Judas Priest at Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey.???
“Breaking The Law”
Living After Midnight”

Posted by Philip Montanti on Friday, April 1, 2022

During an appearance on “The Back Lounge” podcast, vocalist Joakim Brodén of Swedish metallers SABATON spoke about why he and his bandmates continue to exist as a self-managed entity — a rarity among groups operating at their level. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “We tried twice to involve people for very short amounts of time, but it never worked out, really. In the beginning, it’s not by choice; it’s by necessity. We wanted a manager who had some connections who could get us where we wanted to be faster, I guess, back in the days. But right now, no, we’re happy where we are. Nobody’s gonna care as much about SABATON as we are gonna do. But it would be unfair to say that it’s only us in the band doing it. We sort of built an organization which would be partly doing the management. So we have people, of course, helping us out and advising us.”

Joakim also talked about the fact that SABATON runs its own merchandising operation, which is also extremely unusual for a band of its size. He said: “I do understand why other bands don’t do it, ’cause it’s a shit-ton of work [laughs], but at the same time, we tried to have other people at a certain point, but we weren’t happy with the results. We had sort of the same thing as the management thing there; we weren’t happy with what we were getting, sort of, so we had to build our own infrastructure and get things going on that part as well. Which now, in hindsight, is really good…”

He continued: “That’s the luck of having somebody like Pär [Sundström, SABATON bassist] in the band [laughs], who… I remember a couple of years ago — I think this is probably quite a few years ago — he called me and he said, ‘Dude, we’ve gotta do something. Can I book a show somewhere?’ Because we were [in the middle of] a songwriting period. So I had my hands full because I usually deal with most of the musical side and he deals with most of the business stuff. And he called me and said, ‘I’m understimulated. I need to do something. Can we book a show? Can we do something?’ And I [was], like, ‘Yeah. We can do something. I’m coming along quite nice with the songwriting.’ And then I asked him, ‘So what have you been doing today?’ ‘Oh, I went up at seven. I had breakfast, watched the news. Then I worked. Then I had lunch in town, then I went back to work, and now it’s five o’clock and I’ve got nothing to do.’ And I’m, like, ‘You basically described a nine-hour working day and you’re understimulated. What the fuck is wrong with you?’ [Laughs]”

Last September, Sundström addressed SABATON’s decision to work without an outside manager during an interview with Music Connection. He said: “You start a band because you love to play. That’s how you start a band — you want to play your instrument in a band. And there was no difference for me. And that’s the first thing you do as a band — you get together, you get into a rehearsal room and you start playing some songs. After that, you need to expand, you need to grow, you need to do something. You need to call somebody to have a gig, and somebody in the band has to pick up the phone and call that somebody to get a gig. And then somebody has to do a poster. And then somebody has to arrange that somehow we get there or that there’s technical things there. So somebody has to do that. And I can’t just stand and watch while things are not happening. So I just jump on directly and do all that stuff. So no matter if it became designing a tour poster, album artwork or it came to arrange a recording session… And eventually, these things evolve, and suddenly you are dealing with economy, you are dealing with logistics, you are dealing with legal aspects. So I started to pick up that. I have no training whatsoever, but suddenly I needed to know how to market myself, I needed to know how to present something in a good way, I needed to know how to sell it, how to charge for it, how to account for it and how to get the show on the road. And along the years, I think I’ve been doing pretty much everything, no matter if it was fixing the tour bus or repairing it from damages to being a guitar tech. I am also a licensed pyrotechnician. I’ve been hanging lights in the roof. I built my own festival and a cruise, and promoting tours, festivals, shows, other bands, marketing that. And it’s all because I have an interest in learning things, and I don’t want to sit and watch nothing happen; I can’t do that. I just have to make things happen. And that’s why I just jump on to things, and eventually it grows and grows and grows.”

He continued: “I think I’m quite demanding. And I love this band so much that I don’t want too much other… I don’t mind other people to come in and help — of course not — but it would be difficult for another manager to come in and do this in a better way than I would do it. The other way we have done it is that the SABATON team has been growing. So everything we’re doing in-house. Today we run the label business inside. We do the management completely by ourselves. We do all the logistics for tours. We book it all. We book whatever it may be — from a hundred crew members, 10 trucks and whatever we need, we have it in-house. We have huge warehouses. We own so much stuff that it’s crazy. I was actually going through it two days ago in our main warehouse for one of the projects, and I was just looking at costumes. And I realized that we can outfit entire armies of Vikings, crusaders, Spartans, Greek warriors, World War I troops from France or from Belgium or World War II soldiers from the United States, modern armies… We have pile after pile after pile, or crates after crates with clothes, just because of different projects. And we always think that we take control over things. We don’t rent it, we don’t outsource it — we control it, we own it, and we put it on and we do it ourselves. Same with a lot of photo sessions, music videos — we produce them, we direct them, we are involved in the whole production of it. The albums, we are the main producers of our albums. We do things our way. And it’s demanding, but we have a big team. And we are constantly growing. And even during the pandemic, we did pretty well. Even though we couldn’t tour, and we have a lot of people that are depending on touring, but we still did well. We run our own mailorder; it has several people. We also developed that further. We [do it] completely by ourselves. We don’t use any merch company. We develop the stuff ourselves. We design it, we source it, we market it and we have it in our own mailorder.”

Seven months ago, Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet reported that Brodén and Sundström were ordered by the Swedish Tax Agency (Skatteverket) to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in tax surcharges.

The Swedish Tax Agency, which manages civil registration of private individuals and collects taxes such as personal income tax, corporate tax, VAT and excise tax, believed that Brodén and Sundström had not reported their income from USA tours in 2016-2018 correctly. As a result, the musicians were told that they would have to cough up a substantial amount to settle their debt.

Brodén, who writes all of the music for SABATON, was the one who faced the biggest tax blow, having been ordered to pay back more than two million Swedish kronor (more than $233,000).

Brodén and Sundström claimed at the time to have followed the United States – Sweden Tax Treaty which covers double taxation with regards to income tax, corporation tax, and capital gains tax, and insisted that they had hired experts to make sure the paperwork was filed properly. Despite this, the Swedish Tax Agency said that the accounting was not handled accurately.

Brodén and Sundström had the option to appeal the decision.

SABATON is considered to be one the most important bands to emerge from the Swedish modern metal scene, having been honored with five Metal Hammer Golden Gods Awards (including “Best Live Band” three different years) and nominated several times for the Swedish equivalent of the Grammy Awards, the Grammis. In 2016, SABATON’s “The Last Stand” album debuted at No. 1 in three different European countries and cracked the Top 3 in four others. Brodén, Sundström, Chris Rörland (guitar), Hannes Van Dahl (drums) and Tommy Johansson (guitar) curate a festival of their own, Sabaton Open Air, that started back in 2008, as well as their own forward-thinking Sabaton Cruise which has been held since 2009.

Last month, SABATON announced “The Tour To End All Tours – North America 2022”, a 25-date U.S. trek that will include a special headline show at Montreal’s Place Bell, the band’s first-ever arena headline concert in Canada. The tour, produced by FPC Live, kicks off on Thursday, September 15 at the Paramount Theatre in Seattle, Washington, and will wrap up at New York City’s Hammerstein Ballroom on October 23. Supporting SABATON on all dates will be special guest EPICA, the renowned Dutch symphonic metal band.