In a brand new interview with Rocking With Jam Man, TESTAMENT frontman Chuck Billy reflected on his audition for the lead-singer position in SEPULTURA when Max Cavalera quit the latter band in 1996. Asked if he was disappointed when he didn’t get the gig, Chuck said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “No, ’cause TESTAMENT wouldn’t be TESTAMENT. We wouldn’t be able to write the records that we did — ‘The Gathering’ and all the great records of music. And the reunion of our original band wouldn’t have happened.

“When I did the audition, I was too late; they already selected Derrick [Green] as the singer,” he explained. “So that was a good thing. ‘Cause if I would have got that gig, things would have been different for TESTAMENT.”

Asked if he wishes that he had gotten the SEPULTURA job or if he likes how things turned out, Chuck said: “I like how it turned out, but at the time I wanted it to happen because music was up in the air; [TESTAMENT] was broken up; everything was changing; the music climate was changing. So I thought back when I auditioned that I wanted something secure — I wanted a security. And to me, finding a band that had something established is what I thought I wanted. Luckily, I didn’t get it. Things would have been much different for me if I would have still been in SEPULTURA.”

Pressed about whether he would have liked to have joined SEPULTURA if TESTAMENT had ended completely, Chuck said: “In a sense, but looking back now, I don’t know. I mean, every band has their hardships and up and downs, so I don’t know if I would have got into the band and then we would have hit a stone wall and had hardships there. I probably wouldn’t have been in the band. I probably would have left the band. And who knows what I would have done.”

Billy previously discussed his SEPULTURA audition in a 2016 interview with Eonmusic. At the time, he said: “Yeah, around that time was right before [TESTAMENT made] the ‘Demonic’ record, so we had finished our Atlantic [Records] contract, and we were shopping for a new deal. We didn’t really have a deal yet, and at the last minute, I just said, ‘You know what? Maybe I should try to find a band that’s solid, that’s going to keep touring and continue on,’ and at that point, SEPULTURA was taking auditions, and I think it was at the end [of the audition process] that I decided, ‘Screw it, I’m going to do it.’ I think I did three songs; I did ‘Refuse/Resist’, I did ‘Territory’, and I wrote my version of ‘Choke’, and gave it to them. But by the time I had delivered, they had already made their decision for [the appointment of new singer] Derrick [Green], which in the end, was probably the way it all should have worked out.”

Asked if it would have been a strange feeling to be performing with a new bunch of guys after playing with the same band for most of his career, Chuck said: “It would have been, yeah. I don’t know if I was really prepared, and if they would have said, ‘Okay, you’re in,’ I would have said, ‘Well, let me think about that!’ I don’t know what I would have done. I just did it on the spur of the moment, like, ‘Fuck it! What have I got to lose?!'”

SEPULTURA guitarist Andreas Kisser spoke about Billy’s audition for the band during a 2015 appearance on “The Jasta Show”. He said: “Chuck [laid down his vocals over] the [demo version of a then-new SEPULTURA song called] ‘Choke’ … Because we sent the instrumental [version] of a new song [to prospective singers to record their vocals over]. We didn’t want anyone to sing ‘Roots [Bloody Roots]’ or ‘Refuse/Resist’, because we didn’t want a clone. We wanted somebody to bring new ideas, to bring SEPULTURA to a different path, to a different level. And Chuck Billy, he did… He used more of the guttural [vocal style on his audition tape]. And it works. Because, recently, we did a ‘Metal Allegiance’ jam at NAMM in Los Angeles, and we played some SEPULTURA stuff with Chuck Billy singing, and it was great, man — it was great. So he did a great job. But, you know, he’s Chuck Billy; he’s TESTAMENT. We wanted somebody new.”

A two-minute snippet of Chuck Billy’s SEPULTURA audition tape can be streamed in the YouTube clip below.

Read more »

Former W.A.S.P. guitarist Chris Holmes has completed his third week of radiation therapy in his battle with cancer in throat and neck.

On Friday (March 25), the 63-year-old musician’s wife and manager, Cathy-Sarah Holmes, who first shared the news of his diagnosis in a social media post last month, issued the following update on his condition: “Third weeks of treatment . The good news is chris gained 2,5 kilos back on the 18 he lost . He eat 4 complément by day no matter and even that is complicated for him because his throat start to burn when he swallow but those who know chris know when he decide something he keep his goal.

“Thursday they installed a Picc Line in his left arm which goes to the heart which would facilitate chemo and protect his vein but I will not dwell on it because rightly or wrongly even if the reasons may be logical and I understand them I believe that comfort is not just for the patient. I am not a doctor so I am silent.

“Besides that there is many people at the hospital and around us who do their best helping us with this long and difficult path and we want to tell them thank you .

“Monday he will start the 4 weeks with his second chemo and as every week 5 days of radiations plus one time by week until the end of the treatment a nurse who will come at home clean and change the bandage of his Picc line .

“Thank you to all of you for your messages and support to Chris . I read all the messages to him and his smile is the best answer I want to give to you .”

Holmes joined W.A.S.P. in 1982 and remained with the group until 1990. In 1996, the guitarist returned to W.A.S.P. and stayed with the band until 2001. Chris has not played with W.A.S.P. since.

Last year, Holmes told SiriusXM’s “Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk” that W.A.S.P. was “a group, a band” on the first LP. “And after that, the second album, it wasn’t a group — it was a one-man show,” he said. “And it’s been a one-man show after that ever since. It’s the way it is. Look at the records. It’s the way it is in that band.

“W.A.S.P. never played any shows until I was in the band, so where does a band start — when they record or when they do their first show?” he continued. “I came in before the first show, and it was ‘one for all, all for one.’ But then when money came into it and fame, people changed — they change real bad. And I never changed. I don’t change. I haven’t changed the way I think, the way I am. I’m not gonna change. I am what I am.

“During the [making of the] second [album], I was told the manager wants to use Blackie’s [Lawless, W.A.S.P. frontman] image [on the cover], which the manager didn’t tell me that — Blackie told me that.”

According to Chris, he, guitarist Randy Piper, drummer Tony Richards and Blackie were all part of W.A.S.P. initial management contract, but Blackie was the only one signed to the record label. “Everybody thinks we [all] signed to the label, but it wasn’t [like that],” Holmes told “Trunk Nation”.

“I never learned about the business till about 10 years ago,” he explained. “How do you learn about the business? You’ve gotta be in there with the manager and all that stuff, so I was always kept from that… I put my trust into somebody, and [I found out later that he was] sticking a knife in my back. I didn’t find that out until 2010 or ’11.

“Once [W.A.S.P.] became [all about] one person, [my attitude was] ‘Hey, I’ll just do my thing, and leave me alone. I’ll play my guitar.'”

Despite the fact that he only got songwriting credit on a a couple of the songs on each of the first four W.A.S.P. records, Holmes was adamant that his input was essential to the band’s overall sound.

“If I would have quit after the first album, the way I play guitar, the way I play is really important to writing those songs,” he told “Trunk Nation”.

“If I hadn’t joined in the beginning, it would have never worked. Blackie told me that the first day, when he came and talked to me to play in W.A.S.P. He says, ‘I’ve got this band. It’s not gonna work unless you’re in it.’ He told me that to my face.”

In October 2020, Chris said that he would never consider returning to W.A.S.P. unless Lawless agreed to pay him the publishing royalties that he allegedly owes him. He told Canada’s The Metal Voice: “A lot of people think I made money from W.A.S.P. I’ve never gotten my royalties, or even my songwriting. All the stuff that I wrote, I’ve never gotten paid one penny. And you know whose fault it is? It’s my my fault for not knowing the business, how it is. I trusted somebody.

“After every album, when the album is done, how they split up the publishing with the publishing contracts, the publishing companies — that’s where the money comes from,” he continued. “I was never told about when that meeting was. Because the other guys in the band never wrote — I was the only one [other than Blackie]. So I’m the only one that they have to screw over to get all the publishing. So I was never told. Then when I dug into it in about 2006 or [2007], I went into Sanctuary Music, had a lawyer go in to find out where all my publishing is, and I was written in as a session player into all the records. And if you don’t know about it, and you’re not told, and you don’t see, you don’t know. So I trusted Blackie Lawless about that. And when I found out, it really kind of yanked me wrong. It yanks me wrong — it makes me see he was sticking a knife in my back from the first day, from the first album, and not telling me, and being my best friend.”

Last month, Lawless shot down Holmes’s claim that the guitarist was “screwed” out of receiving royalties on the W.A.S.P. albums that he performed on. Lawless discussed Holmes’s tenure with W.A.S.P. in an interview with “Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk”. Asked to respond to Holmes’s assertion in Chris’s recently released documentary “Mean Man: The Story Of Chris Holmes” that he was financially taken advantage of during his time in the band, Lawless said: “I don’t really know much about… I spoke to [former W.A.S.P. guitarist] Randy Piper a couple of years ago. I don’t really know what’s going on with the rest of the guys. And I’m not sure exactly what you’re talking about with Chris about not being paid.

“Chris, at two different points in his musical career, received settlements from this band; he signed documents as such,” Blackie explained. “And he was paid quite well.

“I haven’t seen what you’re talking about. The answer I’m giving you right now is based on what you just said to me.”

The W.A.S.P. frontman went on to confirm that he hasn’t seen Chris’s documentary and was once again asked about Holmes’s claim that there is money and songwriting credits that he didn’t get that he’s due. Lawless said simply: “That is not true.”

During a November 2017 press conference in Moscow, Russia, Lawless was asked what he would say to those W.A.S.P. fans who continue to call for the band to reunite with Holmes. He responded: “People get divorced for certain reasons, and there’s times when the kids want the parents to get back together, but sometimes it never happens. And this is one of those [times]. Sorry.”

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Chris Holmes Official (@chris_holmes_official)

Read more »

Fan-filmed video of MÖTLEY CRÜE frontman Vince Neil and his solo band performing last night (Friday, March 25) at Choctaw Casino & Resort in Durant, Oklahoma can be seen below.

The Durant show marked one of Neil’s first several live appearances since he reportedly broke his ribs while performing with his solo band at the Monsters On The Mountain festival at LeConte Center in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee in October. Fan-filmed video of that gig showed the now-61-year-old rocker walking to the front of the stage with his guitar strapped around him. He encouraged the crowd to clap along while playing the 1989 MÖTLEY CRÜE hit “Don’t Go Away Mad (Just Go Away)” when he suddenly fell and dropped out of the camera’s view almost instantly. TMZ later reported that there was a small gap between the speaker and the stage that Neil didn’t notice. His roadie and a security guy helped him get to his feet, and Vince “limped away.”

Last May, Neil made headlines when he struggled to complete his solo concert at the Boone Iowa River Valley Festival in Boone. Based on fan-filmed video footage of the gig posted on YouTube, the rocker, who hadn’t performed in more than a year and a half due to the COVID-19 pandemic, began losing his voice several songs into his set, which consisted exclusively of CRÜE classics and cover songs previously recorded by the band.

MÖTLEY CRÜE’s “The Stadium Tour” with DEF LEPPARD, POISON and JOAN JETT & THE BLACKHEARTS was originally scheduled to take place in the summer of 2020 but ended up being pushed back to 2021, and then to 2022, due to the coronavirus pandemic.

In December 2019, CRÜE manager Allen Kovac told Fox Business that “some of” the bandmembers had enlisted outside help to get in shape for the trek. Kovac was referring to criticism of Neil for his supposed diminished singing ability and weight gain, as well as the health status of guitarist Mick Mars, who has been dealing with a chronic form of arthritis that led him to undergo a hip replacement.

Kovac explained: “Some of them are working with a trainer, some of them are working with a nutritionist to make themselves the best they can be. The greatest insecurity for an artist is: Is anyone going to care about my music? Is anyone going to buy a ticket? We were in November [2019] when the discussions were happening, and these guys were already into regimens of how they get ready for a tour.”

Speaking specifically about Neil, Kovac added: “Let’s see what Vince sings like and looks like when the tour goes out.”

CRÜE bassist Nikki Sixx also said that Vince was “killing it” while working with “trainers” and “nutritionists” in preparation for “The Stadium Tour”.

Choctaw Casino Resort. Vince Neil lead singer of Motley Crue with special guest Steven Adler of Guns and Roses. Dr Feelgood

Posted by Patrick Williams on Saturday, March 26, 2022

Vince Neil

Posted by HaroldDelia Gonzales on Friday, March 25, 2022

Vince Neil of Mötley Crüe + Steven Adler of Guns n Roses

Posted by Pete Sottnik on Friday, March 25, 2022

Last night on the way home with my Bud John Tuttle from Choctaw watching Michael Thomas play Adler’s and Vince Neil, my…

Posted by Psycle Jim on Saturday, March 26, 2022

Rocked it out with the great @MotleyCrue front man Vince Neil last night. Cannot wait for the August Stadium Tour. ??#girldontgoawaymad #looksthatkill #dogecoin pic.twitter.com/85IgaMKEu1
— kimby Cave ??? (@CaveKimby) March 26, 2022

Read more »

Dutch powerhouse singer Floor Jansen has released the official music video for her new solo single, “Fire”. The track was made available on Friday (March 25) via ADA, the division of Warner Music Group dedicated to independent label and artist distribution.

Jansen is best known as the frontwoman in the multi-million selling and internationally successful symphonic metal band NIGHTWISH. As part of the band, Jansen has landed two number one albums in Finland, and Top Five albums in Austria, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland.

Born in the Netherlands, Jansen joined her first band, one of the world’s first symphonic metal bands, AFTER FOREVER, when she was only 16 years old. The group went on to release five albums from 2000 to 2007, before they broke up in 2009.

Jansen’s next band, REVAMP, released two albums in 2010 and 2013, before she joined NIGHTWISH as a full-time member. NIGHTWISH’s first album with Jansen as the lead singer was 2015’s “Endless Forms Most Beautiful”, which landed in Top 10s around the world. This was followed by 2020’s “Human. :II: Nature.” , which was also an international success.

Jansen has toured extensively with the band and appeared on three of NIGHTWISH’s live albums “Showtime, Storytime”, “Vehicle Of Spirit” and “Decades: Live In Buenos Aires”.

In 2019, Jansen participated in the popular Dutch TV show “Beste Zangers” where she scored a big hit with “Phantom Of The Opera” together with Henk Poort. She was recognized with a Dutch Popprijs award — a prestigious accolade for artists that has made important contributions to Dutch music. In the same year, her first solo tour sold out in less than 24 hours.

Jansen said: “I’m delighted to partner with ADA as I move into this exciting phase of my career and start my journey as a solo artist. ADA is the perfect partner to help me reach as many people around the world as possible, while staying true to my indie roots.”

Sander Stijnen, head of A&R and ADA Benelux, added: “Floor has one of the most iconic voices and is a true legend in the music industry. I’m so happy we can work on her solo material, which has seen her grow and develop as an artist and songwriter. I think people are going to be blown away with the direction she’s taken with her new music.”

Less than two months ago, the 41-year-old Dutch-born singer, who made her live debut with NIGHTWISH nearly a decade ago, stated about the musical direction of “Fire”: “It’s a pop song, so it’s not metal, it’s not rock, but it’s definitely me.” Jansen went on to explain that the track will not necessarily be representative of all the new solo music she has been working on in recent months. “I guess it’s more of a mash-up [of styles] actually,” she said, referring to her upcoming collection of solo material, “though it’s not so extreme as in genres, like all of a sudden it becomes… Here’s a metal song and here’s a rock song and this is more poppy… I mean, pop music — the word of it — [it’s short for] popular music, and it kind of describes a lot, and within that it falls. I can only say that it’s not metal and it’s not rock, but it will have its influences and it will have a part of the sound. It can’t even be so that the first song is how everything else will sound like because, yeah, if you know NIGHTWISH and also for us, it’s always so hard to pick just one song that’s gonna be like the kick-off of an album but it can never really represent everything. And I guess it’s the same for this first song that comes on the 25th of March.”

Last summer, Floor said during an appearance on the “Breaking Absolutes With Peter Orullian” podcast that she had been working on a solo album since shortly before the beginning of the pandemic. “And it really kickstarted my own creativity that I haven’t really been able to use over the years,” she said. “It’s nice that it gets out. And I would like to do more of that and actually finish that album and make those steps and find a way to combine a solo career with NIGHTWISH and my life at home, which I even more value after spending so much time here in this green heaven [in Sweden] where I live.”

Jansen discussed the prospect of making a solo album during a 2020 interview with Metal Hammer magazine. At the time, she said: “After 20 years of rock and metal, I think I would like to do something else. I don’t mean stop with NIGHTWISH, but something alongside it.

“I was recently involved in a TV show in my home country in the Netherlands [reality TV show ‘Beste Zangers’, which translates to ‘Best Singers’]. That really inspired me to start writing, and the stuff that has come out is very calm.

“I would love to make an album where less actually is more. Something different — not because I’m bored, but because if you are already in one of the biggest bands in your own genre, and you have someone like Tuomas Holopainen as a songwriter, I don’t really see that I’d be adding anything by making another metal album myself.”

Earlier in 2020, Jansen spoke about a possible musical direction for her solo album during an Instagram Live chat. She said: “I cannot imagine it would be rock or metal — just because rock now I’ve done, and metal I’ve done a lot. And I’m already in one of the best bands, I think, that are out there, in my opinion, to my taste. Plus, if you’re in a band with a songwriter such as Tuomas Holopainen, it’s a little bit hard to come up with something — anything — better, I would say, and I only say that out of love and respect for him. Plus, after 20 years of metal, wouldn’t it be lovely to do something completely different for me? That’s how I feel.”

Jansen performed live with NIGHTWISH for the first time on October 1, 2012 at Showbox Sodo in Seattle, Washington following the abrupt departure of the band’s lead singer of five years, Anette Olzon. Jansen officially joined NIGHTWISH in 2013.

This year will see Jansen become the Dutch ambassador for Record Store Day on April 23, as well as participate in Germany’s “Sing Meinen Song”.

Read more »

Professionally filmed video of Taylor Hawkins’s final show with the FOO FIGHTERS, which took place on March 20 at Lollapalooza Argentina, can be seen below.

The 50-year-old drummer and his bandmates played for over two hours in Buenos Aires’ Hipódromo De San Isidro, where Hawkins took the mic for a cover of QUEEN’s “Somebody To Love”, while FOO FIGHTERS frontman Dave Grohl played the drums.

“I fuckin’ love Dave Grohl, man,” Hawkins told the crowd before they kicked off the song. “I’d be delivering pizzas if it wasn’t for fuckin’ Dave Grohl. I’d be managing the drum department at a Guitar Center if it wasn’t for Dave Grohl.”

Setlist:

00:05 Times Like These
05:45 The Pretender
14:29 Learn To Fly
18:45 No Son Of Mine
26:22 The Sky Is A Neighborhood
30:29 Shame Shame
36:04 Breakout
45:45 My Hero
52:24 These Days
58:22 Walk
01:03:40 Band Introductions
01:13:29 Somebody To Love (QUEEN cover) (Taylor Hawkins on lead vocals)
01:21:47 All My Life
01:27:36 Run
01:33:40 Wheels
01:42:33 Best of You
01:54:16 Been Caught Stealing (JANE’S ADDICTION cover) (Perry Farrell on vocals)
01:59:04 Monkey Wrench
02:05:56 Everlong

A huge QUEEN fan, Hawkins often covered the band’s songs during FOO FIGHTERS’ shows.

QUEEN’s Brian May and Roger Taylor both reacted to the news of Taylor’s passing, with Brian writing on Instagram: “No. It cannot be. Heartbroken. Taylor, you were family to us. Our friend, our brother, our beloved child. Bless you. We will miss you so bad. Bri”. Roger wrote: “Like losing a younger favourite brother. He was a kind brilliant man and an inspirational mentor to my son Rufus and the best friend one could ever have. Devastated. Rog”.

Hawkins was found dead in a hotel room at the Casa Medina in Bogota, Colombia on Friday (March 25).

Earlier in the day, Hawkins had reportedly complained of chest pains to hotel staff.

Fans, journalists and videographers began to gather outside Casa Medina after Hawkins’s death was announced. Ambulances and police cars, including those of judicial police and forensic investigators, could be seen stationed outside of the hotel, which is located in the middle of the financial and commercial centers of Bogota in one of the most historic and traditional buildings of the city. A couple of hours later, Hawkins’s body was finally brought out of the hotel, placed into a coroner’s van and driven away.

Hawkins’s death was announced yesterday with a statement on FOO FIGHTERS’ official Twitter reading: “The FOO FIGHTERS family is devasted by the tragic and untimely loss of our beloved Taylor Hawkins. His musical spirit and infectious laughter will live on with all of us forever.

“Our hearts go out to his wife, children and family, and we ask that their privacy be treated with the utmost respect in this unimaginably difficult time.”

The FOO FIGHTERS were scheduled to perform Friday at the Picnic Stereo festival in Bogota but their performance was canceled.

Two days prior to performing at Lollapalooza Argentina, the band played Lollapalooza Chile. They are scheduled to headline Lollapalooza Brasil on Sunday (March 27).

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”.

Hawkins is survived by his wife Alison, whom he married in 2005, and their three children: Oliver Shane, Annabelle and Everleigh.

Read more »