As frontman with Swedish hard rock legends PRETTY MAIDS, Ronnie Atkins is already a legend several times over, but none of his past achievements come close to the marvel of his ongoing solo career, launched in the wake of an incurable cancer diagnosis. “Make It Count” loudly proclaims that Atkins is very much still with us and, as was evident on 2020’s “One Shot”, on exceptional form as both a singer and songwriter. Frankly, the man is a fucking hero.

The formula remains the same: huge, euphoric melodic rock anthems, tinged with a certain wistfulness but both lyrically and musically defiant. Opener “I’ve Hurt Myself (By Hurting You)” pulls out all the stops, hitting the AOR bullseye with ease, but also showcasing a warm and organic sound that shrewdly swerves the sterility of much modern melodic rock. Atkins’s voice is, as ever, the perfect mixture of grit, soul and hard rock swagger, and he sells each song as if it’s the single most important moment on the record. As it is, there are some obvious highlights here: “The Tracks We Leave Behind” is bombastic but poignant in equal amounts; “All I Ask Of You” goes harder and heavier, weaving giant hooks through a jagged-edge, prog-metal barrage; “Blood Cries Out” motors like ’80s BLACK SABBATH gone symphonic, and boasts a particularly fiery vocal from the man himself.

We can forgive Atkins the cornball schmaltz of “Let Love Lead The Way”, not least because melodic rock teeters perpetually on the edge of such things. Much better is “Easier To Leave (Than Being Left Behind)” , a fabulous piece of epic power-pop with shades of BOSTON, and a chorus that would be magnificent in any context, but which is potentially emotionally ruinous here. Somehow even more affecting, the closing title track places Atkins’s voice amid a sumptuous, quasi-orchestral arrangement, as he urges everyone listening to seize the day and live life to the absolute fullest. When the inevitable huge chorus breaks out, it’s a joyful and nourishing thing, much like Atkins’s solo work in general. Long may it continue.

LIMP BIZKIT will return to the road this April for the month-long “Still Sucks Tour”. The AEG Presents trek will kick off in the band’s former home state of Florida and will include a stop in New York City at Madison Square Garden (May 13) as well as cross-country shows in Baltimore (May 15) and Las Vegas (May 28) before concluding with a Los Angeles-area date (Ontario on May 31). LIMP BIZKIT will be supported by SCOWL, WARGASM UK, $NOT, DYING WISH and YUNG GRAVY for various shows (see breakdown below). Tickets for the tour go on sale this Friday, March 18 at 10:00 a.m. (local time) at www.limpbizkit.com.

April 28 – Tampa, FL @ Hard Rock Live * ++
April 30 – Hollywood, FL @ Hard Rock Live * ++
May 03 – Norfolk, VA @ Chartway Arena *
May 04 – Roanoke, VA @ Berglund Center *
May 06 – Atlantic City, NJ @ Hard Rock Casino * ++
May 07 – Wilkes-Barre, PA @ Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza *
May 10 – Lowell, MA @ Tsongas Center *
May 12 – Uncasville, CT @ Mohegan Sun Arena * ++
May 13 – New York, NY @ Madison Square Garden *
May 15 – Baltimore, MD @ Chesapeake Employers Insurance Arena *
May 18 – Youngstown, OH @ Covelli Centre ^
May 19 – Saginaw, MI @ The Dow Event Center ^
May 21 – Gary, IN @ Hard Rock Casino ^ ++
May 22 – Green Bay, WI @ Resch Center ^
May 24 – Kansas City, MO @ Cable Dahmer Arena ^
May 26- Loveland, CO @ Budweiser Events Center ^
May 28 – Las Vegas, NV @ The Theater at Virgin Hotels Las Vegas #
May 29 – Reno, NV @ Reno Events Center #
May 31 – Ontario, CA @ Toyota Arena #

* $NOT, WARGASM UK, SCOWL
^ YUNG GRAVY, DYING WISH, WARGASM UK
# DYING WISH, WARGASM UK

++ Non-AEG show

Later this year, LIMP BIZKIT will follow the U.S. shows with a European run of dates.

Last October, LIMP BIZKIT released its long-awaited new album, “Limp Bizkit Still Sucks”.

LIMP BIZKIT had not released a new studio LP since 2011’s “Gold Cobra”, although the band has spent a lot of time writing and recording music over the past decade.

Last September, LIMP BIZKIT released a single called “Dad Vibes”. The track, which was originally premiered during the band’s concert at Lollapalooza in July, was made available via Suretone Records and ADA.

“Dad Vibes” arrived weeks after LIMP BIZKIT canceled all of its previously announced live appearances for 2021, explaining in a statement that it was doing so “out of an abundance of caution and concern for the safety of the band, crew and most of all the fans.”

LIMP BIZKIT was scheduled to appear at several festivals last summer and fall, including Aftershock, Blue Ridge, Rebel Rock and Rocklahoma.

A few days after the summer 2021 shows were called off, Durst told Billboard about the decision: “In short, the system is still very flawed. Even if the performers, crews, staff, and promoters do their best to ensure safety on and behind the stage, that doesn’t ensure the safety of the audience as a whole. We are all in this together, and we all — individually and as a whole — have to make our best efforts to be as responsible and proactive as possible moving forward to combat and stop spreading COVID.”

Durst also denied that there was a specific incident that prompted him and his bandmates to pull the plug on the trek, saying it was “just perception.”

Durst made headlines in late July when he debuted his new look at the band’s concert at Metro in Chicago, with the frontman now sporting wavy salt-and-pepper locks accompanied by a horseshoe-style mustache.

KISS bassist/vocalist Gene Simmons was a guest on the Army & Air Force Exchange Service’s “Chief Chat” show on Tuesday (March 15). During the question-and-answer session, Gene talked about life, business, his appreciation for the military and KISS’s ongoing “End Of The Road” farewell tour. The hour-plus-interview can be seen below.

Speaking about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Simmons said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “The world forever will be filled with good people and there are gonna be some bad people. My heart goes out to the people in the Ukraine who are bravely not lying down and trying not to inflame the conversation because Mr. Putin has clearly gone off the rails. And I feel for those Russian young soldiers, who, by the way, were not told — I have some friends in D.C., and we’ve had discussions — they weren’t told they were going across the Ukraine. It was just a military exercise. Some of them thought they were war games, so they were totally unprepared for what’s happening.

“Look, there’s no simple answer, but if America wasn’t here as a deterrent, let’s say, even if it comes down to the extreme of nuclear apartheid, the world would be a different place, unfortunately, because even people who you sit across and have discussions with can turn into despots and dictators and decide to exert their will over others,” he continued. “I’m using very soft language. What it really means is they become mass murderers because they want certain things. And Putin has joined that club, unfortunately, and I hope it can all come to a peaceful end. Now, in the meantime, we should do everything to punish that guy and the oligarchs and everybody else. But, of course, the by-product of that is innocent people in Russia have to bear the brunt of that — higher prices, the ruble is worth next to nothing. And so everybody suffers because one asshole decides he wants to do something like this. It’s devastating. I don’t even know how to respond. But only the military and the brave people of Ukraine… Wow. One of the world’s most powerful regimes is finding out that they’re at a standstill and they can’t exert their force because the Ukrainians have decided not to lie down… They’re not gonna give up. And there’s a good chance Russia’s gonna get their pants handed to them — perhaps not in a nuclear way, not militarily, but everybody there’s gonna have to fight door to door, building to building. They’re not gonna win.”

On February 24, Russian president Vladimir Putin announced a “special military operation” in Ukraine. Putin made the announcement during a televised early morning speech, peddling accusations of Nazi elements within Ukraine to justify the attack on his western neighbor, a move that experts slammed as slanderous and false. (Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy is Jewish and lost three family members in the Holocaust.)

The Russian leader called for Ukraine’s “demilitarization and denazification” and warned other countries that any attempt to interfere with the Russian action would lead to “consequences they have never seen.”

According to NPR, nearly 600 civilian fatalities have been confirmed in the first three weeks of the war, including a U.S. journalist.

The U.S. military estimates that between 2,000 and 4,000 Ukrainian armed forces, national guard and volunteer forces have been killed. It estimates that between 5,000 and 6,000 Russian soldiers have been killed.

Ukrainian armed forces say more than 12,000 Russian troops have been killed since February 24.

Chief Chat Episode 165: Gene Simmons, co-founder of KISS, Rock and Roll Hall of Famer

LIVE: Military exclusive! Get ready to rock and roll! KISS co-founder and Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Gene Simmons joins Exchange Senior Enlisted Advisor Kevin “KO” Osby “to discuss the End of the Road tour and his support of the military community.
#ChiefChat #KISS #GeneSimmons #MilitaryExclusive #EndOfTheRoadTour

Posted by Exchange on Tuesday, March 15, 2022

POISON singer Bret Michaels will appear on “Guy’s Grocery Games” at 8 p.m. Wednesday (March 16) on the Food Network. The show is hosted by restaurateur Guy Fieri.

The official description for the episode, dubbed “Craziest Day In Flavortown”, reads as follows: “Proving that anything can happen in Flavortown, four all-star chefs are wearing body cams for Guy Fieri’s craziest competition ever, with appearances from rocker Bret Michaels and the Six Million Dollar Man, actor Lee Majors. First, the chefs search frantically for grocery carts containing the ingredients and cash they need to make a fried appetizer and a mystery entree. Then, a special birthday surprise comes with a catch as the chefs encounter yet another crazy twist. Guy’s son Hunter steps in to judge the dishes to help determine which chef conquered these crazy games for a chance to win $20,000.”

As a reality TV star, Michaels has appeared in an extensive library of hit shows including VH1’s smash show “Rock Of Love”, winning the highest-rated season of NBC’s “Celebrity Apprentice” and Travel Channel’s “Rock My RV”, currently featured on the Discovery+ streaming platform. Fans have eagerly binged his TV hits on Hulu, Amazon Prime, Tubi, PlutoTV and AppleTV.

Bret was born in Butler, Pennsylvania on March 15, 1963. Rising to fame as the frontman of POISON, one of rock’s most iconic and enduring bands, he helped define rock ‘n’ roll on the Sunset Strip. POISON’s massive success includes selling over 30 million records worldwide and numerous hit singles. Bret’s solo career has charted its own course with multiple solo albums. His “Custom Built” album included guest appearances by Joe Perry (AEROSMITH) Loretta Lynn, Jimmy Buffett, Ace Frehley (KISS), Michael Anthony (VAN HALEN) and members of LYNYRD SKYNYRD.

POISON’s “The Stadium Tour” with MÖTLEY CRÜE, DEF LEPPARD 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.