Veteran California rockers TESLA have released the official lyric video for their latest single, “Cold Blue Steel”. The clip, directed by Brandon Gullion and produced by guitarist Frank Hannon, is raw and high electric energy that takes fans back to the roots of TESLA.

Hannon states: “‘Cold Blue Steel’ is influenced by current events of the world, just like our debut single ‘Modern Day Cowboy’ (1986), and touches on the subject fairly and open-minded by asking ‘what’s to blame?’ when it comes to violence in the world. More importantly, the recording and production of the song and video are kept raw and real, just the way TESLA fans want to see and hear us. We are survivors and have been rocking for 35-plus years.”

The 2022 radio remix version of “Cold Blue Steel” is being offered as the version for the airwaves with the guitars and vocals being cranked up louder and with the raw energy being preserved. Frank explains: “Some folks were reluctant to play the track with its explicit lyrics in the verse, so I created a clean version for radio with a bleep. As a bandmember and being the producer, we approve of these changes and really love the remixed audio enhancement for radio play. This is TESLA in real honest form and independently producing our music for the first time as an official release.”

Originally released last August, “Cold Blue Steel” is the first TESLA song to ever be produced by the bandmembers themselves.

“Producing ourselves is allowing us to creatively record new music and keep it as raw and real as possible,” states Hannon.

Last December, Hannon told Let’s Rock that the lyrics to “Cold Blue Steel” have been partially misinterpreted by some fans.

“We’ve been getting a lot of flak from people that only hear the couple of verses in the song, thinking it’s about gun control,” he said. “And in a way it is, but, really, it’s so much deeper than that, the lyrics. We try to definitely not take sides and be political but we wanna sing about a situation. Something like what we did with ‘Modern Day Cowboy’ in the ’80s; we sang about foreign lands and terrorist demands and ‘bang bang, shoot ’em up’ and how that attitude was still happening in the world at that time, being a gunfighter, cowboy situation, but we’re not pointing fingers. And that’s the same way with this song, but some people only hear parts of it and have been giving us some shit about it. But if you listen to the lyrics, it’s asking a question, ‘What’s to blame? Let’s get real.’ And the song is really about people that you give ’em an inch, they take a mile — whether it’s a politician, whether it’s a crook, whether it’s a police officer. And we support our police.”

He added: “There’s evil intentions in all parts of life, and that’s what the song is really about — just observing and asking the question, ‘What’s to blame?’ It’s not talking about ‘take away guns’ or any of that shit. But it started off just being a fun poke at Ronnie Van Zant. That last lyric in the song, ‘Just like Ronnie said, ‘Let’s dump ’em to the bottom of the sea,’ that’s where the song started for fun. And then we took it and tried to make it a little bit more serious.”

Asked if the arrival of “Cold Blue Steel” means that there is a new TESLA album in the works, Hannon replied: “Yeah, it’ll end up on an album, but we’re gonna just do one song at a time. Instead of trying to cram for a test… Making an album is almost like a test — you’ve got a deadline on it and there’s all this pressure and you’ve gotta try to finish it by a certain date. And then what you end up doing is cramming the songs. So we’re not gonna do that. We’re just gonna write a song when we feel it and have fun with it. And then when we have a group of ’em, we’ll put it out together as a collection on an album.”

TESLA has U.S. shows scheduled throughout the spring and summer.

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Listen to Canadian miserablists Idol of Fear do Canadian metal!
The post Full Album Stream: Enter the Sullen Murk of Idol of Fear’s Trespasser appeared first on Decibel Magazine.

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According to the Tampa Bay Times, Ripley’s Believe It Or Not! museum in Denmark has acquired the toilet a heavy metal musician and visual artist from Tampa, Florida sculpted to look like METALLICA drummer Lars Ulrich.

The artist known as Prince Midnight donated the toilet to Ripley Entertainment, which will soon be shipped to the Ripley’s “odditorium” in Copenhagen, where it will go on permanent display.

Although some people have interpreted the Ulrich toilet as an insult, Prince Midnight insists that is “absolutely not the case.”

“This toilet was built by a METALLICA super fan,” he told the Tampa Bay Times. “They wrote the first songs that meant something to me.”

Prince Midnight said he chose to depict Ulrich in toilet form because Lars “as the drummer, is usually depicted sitting.

“I could have done a urinal with [frontman] James [Hetfield],” he added, “but that’s not where the creative spirit was leading me.”

In a separate interview with Creative Loafing, Prince Midnight said that the toilet was his way to honor not just Ulrich but others who have inspired him, like painter Marcel Duchamp, sculptor Claes Oldenburg and performance artist Terence Koh.

“I could have painted a picture or made a traditional sculpture, but no one would have even noticed, and really, that’s not the kind of art and performance I do,” he said. “The first band I ever loved was METALLICA. I even went to see them a couple years ago with LAMB OF GOD, so the passion hasn’t waned.”

METALLICA bassist Robert Trujillo has apparently approved of the toilet, saying in an interview after he was surprised with a picture of Prince Midnight’s creation: “Oh my god! You’re kidding. This is incredible, how come I didn’t see this? This is a work of art. I want one. Where can I buy em?… I’m sure [Lars will] hear about this when I see him.”

Born in Gentofte, Denmark, on December 26, 1963, Lars is the son of the Danish musician, filmmaker and former tennis pro Torben Ulrich, who turned 93 in October.

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Kid Rock will release his new album, “Bad Reputation”, digitally on March 21. Physical CDs will be available on April 6.

“Bad Reputation” will include the three songs Kid Rock released in January — “We The People”, “The Last Dance” and “Rockin'” — as well as his November 2021 single “Don’t Tell Me How To Live”, which was recorded with Canadian hard rockers MONSTER TRUCK.

“We The People” features the chorus of “Let’s go, Brandon,” conservative code for “Fuck Joe Biden” (born when a NASCAR reporter misheard a crowd, reporting that they chanted in support of racer Brandon Brown when they were actually chanting expletives toward the U.S. president), and also takes aim at the mainstream media, CNN, TMZ, Twitter and Facebook, as well as mask mandates and COVID-19 restrictions.

“We the people in all we do reserve the right to scream, ‘Fuck you!” Kid shouts in the song. “Wear your mask. Take your pills. Now a whole generation is mentally ill,” he adds.

Elsewhere in the song, he raps: “COVID’s near. It’s coming to town. We gotta act quick, shut our borders down. Joe Biden does, the media embraces. Big Don does it, and they call him racist.

“Inflation’s up like the minimum wage. So it’s all the same. Not a damn thing changed,” he exclaims.

He then calls for politically polarized Americans to come together, saying: “We gotta keep fighting for right to be free. And every human being doesn’t have to agree. We all bleed red, brother, listen to me. It’s time for love and unity.”

The track concludes with sampled crowd chanting, “Let’s go, Brandon.”

In a Facebook video announcing the three tracks in January, Kid Rock described “We The People” as a “hard rock-rap tune.”

“[It’s] about, well, all the craziness going on in our world in the last few years and the politics and the polarization and social justice,” he said. “You know, constantly for just being a Trump fan attacked in the media day in day out.”

He added: “I don’t mind taking a punch, but I hit back, motherfucker, and I hit hard.”

As previously reported, Kid Rock will join forces with FOREIGNER and GRAND FUNK RAILROAD for a U.S. tour this spring summer. JASON BONHAM’S LED ZEPPELIN EVENING will appear on select dates, with a special appearance by Trey Lewis at all shows. The 24-city “Bad Reputation Tour” will kick off on April 6 at the Ford Center in Evansville, Indiana, making stops across the U.S. in Nashville, Boston, Chicago, and more before wrapping up with two shows in Detroit.

“Bad Reputation” track listing:

01. Don’t Tell Me How To Live (feat. MONSTER TRUCK)
02. We The People
03. My Kind Of Country
04. Bad Reputation
05. Never Quit
06. Shakedown (feat. Robert James)
07. Rockin’
08. The Last Dance
09. See You Again
10. Still Somethin’
11. She’s Your Baby (Now Rock Her)
12. Never Enough
13. Everything To Me
14. Cold Beer
15. Ala-Fu**In’-Bama
16. Am What I Am
17. The Nashville I Know
18. Fifty

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All business, no mess—just a straight line to punky bliss.

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“Game Of Thrones” co-creator D.B. Weiss has teamed up with RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE guitarist Tom Morello for a scripted movie titled “Metal Lords”, to be released on April 8 via Netflix.

With Weiss as writer-producer and the Morello serving as executive music producer, “Metal Lords” follows two kids who want to start a heavy metal band in a high school where exactly two kids care about heavy metal. Hunter (Adrian Greensmith) is a diehard metal fan who knows his history and can shred. His dream in life is to win at the upcoming “Battle Of The Bands”. He enlists his best friend Kevin (Jaeden Martell) to man the drums. But with schoolmates more interested in Bieber than BLACK SABBATH, finding a bassist is a struggle. Until Kevin overhears Emily (Isis Hainsworth) slaying on her cello. The motley crew must contend with school, parents, hormones and teen angst while trying to get along long enough for SKULLF*CKER to win the “Battle Of The Bands”.

Morello told Billboard about his involvement with the film: “I grew up in a small, cloistered, conservative suburb where my musical tastes ran against the grain of almost everybody else in school and certainly all of the teachers, so this is something I can very much relate to. It’s a story of kids trying to get their first band together and having a dream, but perhaps not having the technical ability or the artistic vision to make that dream real. Or do they? For me, it harmonizes in a lot of ways with the real story of so many kids who are locked in these suburban hells and the key to get out is an electric guitar or drums or rock and roll music. The music shows a way to transcend this stifled daily existence, to try to be something better, be something more authentic and true than what’s handed to you by your surroundings.”

In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Weiss revealed that he and co-producer Greg Shapiro have been wanting to make “Metal Lords” for over a decade. Speaking about the element of fantasy that’s inherent to metal, he said: “When you’re 15 years old, you feel confused and not all that powerful. You feel you can’t make your life the way you want it. Fantasy is about the power. It’s re-conceiving yourself as a larger-than-life heroic figure. It’s probably what drew a lot of kids to the music.”

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Original KISS members Ace Frehley and Peter Criss will perform together at this year’s Creatures Fest, set to take place May 27-29 at Nashville’s Sonesta Nashville Airport Hotel. Also scheduled to appear at the event are former KISS guitarists Bruce Kulick and Vinnie Vincent.

According to Creatures Fest promoter Neil Davis, Criss will join Frehley on stage during the guitarist’s May 27 set to play a few tracks.

“They both spoke, said they were excited about being at Creatures Fest; they were excited about seeing you, the fans,” Davis said. “And they talked, and they just thought that what would be great for the fans, for all of us, is if they got together and played some songs during Ace’s set.”

Vincent is scheduled to perform on night two of Creatures Fest, while Kulick will close out the event on Sunday, May 29. The festival will also feature performances by QUIET RIOT, ENUFF Z’NUFF, VIXEN, John Corabi, RETURN OF THE COMET and PRETTY BOY FLOYD, among others.

Criss first left KISS in 1980. Since then he’s worked with other bands and released solo albums. He teamed up with KISS again for a reunion tour in the 1990s and most recently in 2004. He was replaced by Eric Singer.

In addition to playing drums in KISS, Peter also provided lead vocals for a number the band’s most popular and memorable songs, including “Beth”, “Black Diamond” and “Hard Luck Woman”.

Criss, who was known as “Catman,” released his last solo CD, titled “One For All”, in 2007. Peter produced the album himself for the first time, and was joined by guest musicians that included keyboardist Paul Shaffer and bassist Will Lee of “Late Night With David Letterman”. The album featured a range of styles, from rock and jazz to blues and Broadway, and included covers of “What A Difference A Day Makes” and “Send In The Clowns”.

Criss played what was being billed as his final U.S. concert in June 2017 at the Cutting Room in New York City.

Frehley, a founding member of KISS, recently said that he is up for a reunion of the original band, but only if the price is right. During an appearance on SiriusXM’s “Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk”, Frehley stated about the chances of him playing with his former bandmates: “Anything’s possible — I’ve always said that. That’s the first question so many people have asked me over the years: ‘Would you ever consider doing a KISS reunion?’ I said, ‘I never closed the door on anything.’ If the money’s right and it’s presented to me in the right way, anything can happen.

“I’m on good terms with Paul [Stanley, guitar/vocals] and Gene [Simmons, bass/vocals], which is nice, because we created something really special in the early ’70s that has outlasted so many other bands. And God bless ’em. They’re still doing it; I’m still doing it. Peter is still around. I’m not quite sure why Peter hadn’t toured over the years as much as I have, but it is what it is.”

Vincent — who was a member of KISS when the band publicly “unmasked” in 1983 — made several public appearances in 2018 after spending the preceding two decades out of the public eye.

Bruce joined KISS in 1984, and accompanied the band on the “Animalize” tour and continued with them until the reunion tour. Bruce is heavily featured on “Kissology – Vol. 2” and “Vol. 3”, the band’s DVDs spanning their historic four-decade-plus career.

You heard it here first kids! #PeterCriss and #AceFrehley will share the stage again at #CreaturesFest 2022! Don’t miss out!

Creatures Fest Tickets are now available at our website (www.creaturesfest.com) or using the link below.

https://creaturesfestcom.ticketleap.com/creatures-fest/dates/May-27-2022_at_1200PM

www.creaturesfest.com
www.facebook.com/creaturesfest
Ig: @creaturesfest
Twitter: @creaturesfest
Youtube: Creatures Fest
Vendor info: creaturesfestexpoinfo@gmail.com

#vinnievincent #acefrehley #brucekulick #petercriss #jericho #chrisjericho #kuarantine #fozzy
#nashville #vixen #quietriot #ezn #enuffznuff #trixter #korerozzik #prettyboyfloyd #corabi #johncorabi #kruisefest #kiss #kissexpo #daletorborg #thedemon #trifecta #TheHolyTrinity #NashvilleEvents #MusicExpo Ace Frehley John Ostronomy II John Ostronomy Live Neil Davis Rosie Luck Chris Jericho Todd Kerns Bruce Kulick Kuarantine Pretty Boy Floyd Vixen Quiet Riot Rudy Sarzo

Posted by Creatures Fest on Wednesday, March 9, 2022

Very exciting live announcement tonight between 8-9 pm (eastern) about Creatures Fest schedule!!!

Posted by Creatures Fest on Wednesday, March 9, 2022

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