A great band with terrible timing, LOVE/HATE released two of the finest albums of the whole glam/hair metal movement, just as the world was moving on and embracing the dour slurry of grunge instead. Both “Blackout in the Red Room” and “Wasted in America” stand up just fine today, too: snotty, balls-out rock records, full of great songs and palpable attitude. Four further albums followed, but regardless of their quality, heavy music was plainly looking elsewhere. Thirty years on, and after several false starts and unexpected detours, JIZZY PEARL has finally assembled a line-up worthy of the band’s name and made an album that very nearly matches the priapic energy of those aforementioned classics. “Hell, CA” is a big, brash and belligerent rock ‘n’ roll album, and Pearl sounds exhilarated to be part of it.

This is an exercise in keeping things simple. “One Hot Minute” is the archetypal rock album opener; funky and fast-paced, it tells you everything you need to know about LOVE/HATE’s musical intentions, while also sounding like a mass brawl in some sleazy, shitpot bar. Job done, you might say.

From then it’s simply a matter of LOVE/HATE doing what they always did, albeit with more sonic muscle than those old albums were ever afforded. “Acid Babe” is an impossibly groovy strut through lysergic visions of sex and scandal; “Gonna Take You Higher” is all sinewy, glam rock riffs and psychedelic scuzz; “Soul Mama” is a swaggering, AC/DC-style hoedown; “When You Gonna Come Home” is a wonderfully rowdy and loose-limbed Southern rock anthem. None of it is remotely unexpected, of course, but the quality of these songs more than justifies the price of admission. Throughout it all, Jizzy Pearl sings his veteran head off, still sounding like he’s had far too many late nights and nailing every hook with ill-disguised glee.

It takes a certain musical intelligence to make music as straightforward and familiar as this without descending into lazy pastiche or parody. “Hell, CA” is a serious comeback and a hugely enjoyable surprise. Back in 1990, LOVE/HATE kicked more ass than most. When it comes to straight-ahead rock ‘n’ roll, they still do.

Joshua Crumbly says that a lot of his musical ideas start out reflectively, like a mantra or meditation, often repeated over and over as he develops them. It’s a Zen-like practice that allows him to access a deeper, more intuitive headspace. “All of the songs that made ForEver, they kind of took my mind and heart somewhere as I played them,” he says of his new album. “And there was so much going on in the world during the pandemic, I just feel like the storylines came to fruition.”The inventive bassist was born and raised in Los Angeles and attended the prestigious Juilliard School in New York City. When we spoke, he was in Dallas, Texas, co-producing and writing an album for Brandon Marcel. Crumbly and Marcel both tour in R&B singer Leon Bridges’ band. Marcel is one of the background vocalists.“We were engaged in writing for three or four days last week,” says Crumbly. “And then yesterday we had to do a streaming show with Leon Bridges.” Apparently, the guys in Bridges’ band have been making fun of Crumbly because he’s always bouncing between New York and Los Angeles and can’t decide where to put down some roots. “I keep telling them, ‘I’m finally going to officially move back to L.A. permanently.’ So, they’re like, ‘Yeah, right.’ And now I’ve been in Dallas for a couple of weeks and I’m like, ‘Oh man, I’m loving Dallas.’ I’ll figure it out. The grass is always greener, right?”Joshua Crumbly – The See (Official Music Video)Crumbly’s debut 2020 release Rise, embraced that concept wholeheartedly. “I’m initially coming from different jazz settings, and I’ve gotten to play with some brilliant people over the past 11 years or so,” he explains. “But [with jazz] I just got to a point where I was like, ‘Man, we have all these brilliant minds, and everybody’s writing songs with the same exact form, and every song has the same experience for the musicians as well as the audience.’ So I was like, ‘I want to see if there’s a way to create songs that have a different journey to them.’”This songwriting journey continues on ForEver. Stylistically, like Rise, the tunes on ForEver aren’t necessarily jazz. They run the gamut from indie rock (“THREE”) to ambient (“ForEver”) to the Motown-infused thump of his playing on “C.S.C.” Crumbly mostly eschews the traditional jazz arrangements that primarily defined his formative years as a bass player and sideman. Take a song like “Reflection.” Grounded by a hypnotic bass ostinato, it upends jazz norms by introducing the melody at the end of the tune, as opposed to playing the melody first, then a bunch of solos, and then the melody out, as in a conventional post-bop arrangement. If Crumbly’s ambition was to construct songs in such a way as to give everyone involved a new experience, on ForEver he unequivocally succeeds.“Shout out to Universal Audio for changing my life. And believe it or not, I use GarageBand.”Born in 1991, Crumbly began to study music at an early age, at the behest of his father, saxophonist Ronnie Crumbly. He started out playing classical piano before picking up the bass at age 9. He learned to play by ear in church, and then dove into heavy metal at the local music store, where he subsequently took lessons, before binging on the jazz records at home that would become his muse. Though Crumbly studied with such venerable jazz stalwarts as Ron Carter and Reggie Hamilton, there’s a pop element to his songwriting that makes his recordings eminently welcoming for the average listener. His fascination with pop songs, as a writer, can be attributed to what he calls “commercial sentiment.”“What I think is actually cool about popular music, is the power of a song is still prevalent, and it doesn’t always hinge on a million solos and that sort of thing—just a melody and a vibe, with no solos or anything like that.”French playwright Antonin Artaud once made the provocative assertion, in his seminal 1938 theatrical treatise, The Theatre and Its Double, that the actor is “an athlete of the emotions.” Likewise, Crumbly doesn’t knock you out with chops on ForEver. Instead, he tugs at your heart with an empathic vibe that comes across in his songwriting as well as his bass playing. Instead of rapid-fire slapping or lightning-fast finger tapping, Crumbly’s virtuosity on ForEver lies within his ability to convey qualities like fragility and tenderness. His performances often affirm the age-old adage that it’s not always about what you play, but how you play it.“I’ll give you some insight to the song ‘Reflection,’” he offers. “I wrote it during the time when the tremendously sad George Floyd incident occurred, and that was coinciding with rising Covid cases. The news would go between speaking about George Floyd and then reporting on all these deaths around the world from Covid. So, I started accompanying the news with the ostinato that the song is based on, and just reflecting on what the feeling of the time was. But then, the more I played it, I started becoming more hopeful. That’s how that song came about—just regarding what I might have been thinking about at the time.”The catalyst for recording ForEver was an unexpected call from Figure 8 Recording’s Shahzad Ismaily. “I didn’t have his number saved in my phone,” recalls Crumbly, “so I had no idea who it was. And he said, ‘Josh, you need to record a solo bass album.’ And I was like, ‘Uh, okay.’ He generously offered me some time at his beautiful studio, Figure 8, in Brooklyn. I started ‘THREE’ there, and then also ‘We’ll Be (Good).’ But then I just got super busy with putting out Rise, and constantly being on the road, so ForEver had to get shelved. And then, when the pandemic happened, I got a bunch of recording gear and was able to devote time at home to finishing ForEver. So, shout out to Universal Audio for changing my life. And believe it or not, I use GarageBand.”Joshua Crumbly’s GearBassesFender American Special Precision BassMichael Tobias Design Kingston (4-string)Moon Guitars J BassAmpsAmpeg SVT (with 4×10, 6×10, or 8×10 SVT cab)Strings & PicksLa Bella Deep Talkin’ Bass flatwounds (.049–.105)Labella Custom Nickel (.050–.105)Fender Classic Celluloid medium picksEffectsAguilar OctamizerElectro-Harmonix Big Muff PiMXR Phase 90 M101Universal Audio Golden ReverberatorUniversal Audio Starlight Echo Station DelayRecording Gear Arturia interfaces and plug-insGarageBand for MacUniversal Audio hardware and plug-insMost of the effects heard on ForEver are delay modulators. “I messed with a lot of the Universal Audio plug-ins, and I’m really happy that they came out with physical renditions of those plug-ins in the form of actual pedals,” admits Crumbly. “I’ve been able to recreate some of the sounds live. I did use some pedals at Shahzad’s studio that I don’t even remember the names of, but I would say 80 percent of it is different delay modulators from UA, and the song ‘To Morrow’ is a combination of modulators and fuzz pedals. That was the one song on the record that I had to work on for a few days. I was searching for this particular sound in my head, for that melody line.”There’s a cinematic quality to the music on ForEver that Crumbly’s tasteful use of effects enhances, each song characterized by a distinct mood or atmosphere. “When I had an idea, and then found the effects that were speaking to me for that song, I think it definitely took me somewhere, gave me this experience, and brought meaning to the song. It amplified the whole experience.”As for instruments, Crumbly says there’s “a lot of 4-string P bass” on ForEver. “I bought a 2012 Fender American Special Precision Bass that I found, all beat up, at Chicago Music Exchange,” he remembers. “When I brought it to soundcheck, everyone was like, ‘Oh my God, it sounds amazing.’ So, I put away all the other 5-string basses that I had. It was fun, testing the limits of what a P bass could do on this record.” On the ambient title track, however, Crumbly went back to what he considers his first real instrument: an MTD Kingston bass. “It’s actually a passive instrument,” he clarifies. “I switched things up a little bit. I hadn’t ever seen anyone using flatwounds on an MTD. So that’s what’s on there now.”“‘I want to see if there’s a way to create songs that have a different journey to them.”Songs like “Reflection” and “We’ll Be (Good)” are crafted around chords and double-stops for the central bass line, and Crumbly says his technique for that kind of approach is “the thumb, and then my index and middle finger.” However, he is not a fingerstyle purist, as demonstrated in the video for “The See,” in which he plays an astronaut. “I’m playing with the pick, and I have to shout out a mentor of mine named Reggie Hamilton. I would not be playing upright bass if it weren’t for him, nor would I be playing with the pick. I owe a lot to him for broadening my horizons. People are sleeping on how cool playing with a pick is on the bass, but I’m okay with that. I’ll be like, ‘All right, I’ll be one of the few, I guess.’”As for his time at Juilliard, Crumbly says “keeping a vision” was one of the most important things he learned at the school. “I think keeping a vision helps you get through a lot of things that may be tough at the time,” he explains. “College was a bittersweet experience, because I was juggling being on the road with [trumpeter] Terence Blanchard and being in school full time. And a lot of the administration wasn’t cool with that, but I had a dream job that I couldn’t say no to, and it was a dream for my parents that I went to college and finished. They weren’t so sure that I was able to do both, but when you have a vision, though, you’re looking ahead. It also makes the present moment sweeter at the same time. I also learned how to be more disciplined, studying with Ron Carter, getting to see how on point he is, and what a master he is, and the level that he expects of his students. He just believes in you infinitely. I think we should all believe in ourselves in that way, too.”Ultimately, Crumbly says that making ForEver was a “crazy adventure” that allowed him to explore the bass in a new way. “I feel like I’m on a path that I can explore infinitely by way of the bass and by way of emotion as well,” he explains. “I just hope that my music is very inviting to whatever people may like. You don’t have to be a jazz head or a rock head or whatever. I just want it to be a super-inviting, welcoming sound.”Listen to Joshua Crumbly and his ensemble—saxist Josh Johnson, pianist Ruslan Sirota, and drummer Jason Burger—shape jazz in their own free-ranging, ambient image while performing “Noah,” from 2020’s Rise, at the now-shuttered Los Angeles jazz mecca the Blue Whale.

Ink The Original, David Lee Roth’s skin-care line specifically made to preserve, protect, and highlight tattoos and keep them from fading, has apparently closed its doors.

Visitors to Ink The Original’s official web site are now being redirected to a page titled “INK the original – Closing” and are greeted by a graphic containing the message: “First, our favorite restaurant, the corner bookstore, now us.. What a long great trip it’s been..”

The phrase “What a long great trip it’s been..” is the same one Roth used when mourning the passing of VAN HALEN guitarist Eddie Van Halen in October 2020.

The VAN HALEN singer first discussed his involvement in Ink The Original in a 2018 interview with Vogue. Regarding how he got involved in a business in the tattoo-maintenance space, Roth said: “Simple: The product that we’re dealing with now goes hand in hand with what I think is the true Esperanto: It’s a language — ink — that everybody shares, especially if you don’t speak the same language. With ink, we read each other’s signs and icons. In that way, it’s much like music.

“I started this project with three of us sitting around an upended plastic bucket for a table at my house in L.A. Now, there’s 34 of us and we have offices in New York as well as L.A. It’s taken three years and close to $7 million, and I’m involved in every single element of every part of it. Surprisingly, there’s almost no competition. And what we have built is absolutely specialized to our community. My business partner, Ami James, is the curator and one of the three owners of Tattoodo, which has more than 500,000 artists curated on their site. They get 2 billion views a month and have 20 million social media followers.”

Asked when he started becoming interested in tattoos, Roth said: “I got my first tattoo 40 years ago, a little seahorse on my ankle, at a place called Cliff Raven Studio on Sunset Boulevard in ’77, ’78. That was very outré then — the only people who got tattoos then were bikers, rock ‘n’ rollers to a small degree; the gay community was into it. Eventually, though, I took a much more gentrified approach: I waited until I was 60 and got the whole Japanese tuxedo. It took me 300 hours of sitting over two years. But I planned it for the 30 years prior, and it’s my design: kabuki faces, the original showbiz, rendered Edo style — it looks like a woodblock print.”

This past January, Roth canceled the remaining farewell concerts he was set to play at the House Of Blues at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, Nevada.

In a statement, event organizers said the cancelations were made “due to unforeseen circumstances related to COVID and out of an abundance of caution for those working and attending the shows.”

In March 2020, Roth postponed the final six shows of his Las Vegas residency due to the coronavirus pandemic that is spreading across the globe.

Roth’s last Vegas residency kicked off on January 8, 2020 with a 15-song set that included 10 VAN HALEN classics and five songs from his solo career. Backing the singer were lead guitarist Al Estrada from the VAN HALEN tribute band ERUPTION, rhythm guitarist Frankie Lindri, bassist Ryan Wheeler, keyboardist Danny Wagner and drummer Mike Mussleman.

Roth explained that he chose Vegas as the place to debut his new band because “this is where you come to celebrate and do the victory dance, whatever that means to you.”

In a February 2020 interview with StarTribune, Roth openly wondered whether his first tour since VAN HALEN completed its 2015 run of shows would be the last time he would perform.

“I’m calling it ‘The Last Tour’,” he said at the time, “and then underneath it in parentheses: ‘Unless It Isn’t’. … At my age, everything is a possible farewell tour.”

“It’s been a long great trip, a long great run,” he continued. “But this kind of music requires the kind of energy that people in their 20s bring. You know what NFL stands for: Not For Long. It’s similar in rock. I remember the days when we would stand around and say, ‘Let’s go have a cigarette.’ And that’s what we did: Four guys having one cigarette. I remember those days. They go by fast, so enjoy them while you’re in them.”

In February/March 2020, Roth performed as the opening act for the North American leg of KISS’s “End Of The Road” farewell tour.

Roth’s 2020 Vegas residency wasn’t the first time he had set up shop in Sin City. Back in 1995, Roth completed a Las Vegas engagement at Bally’s Hotel and Casino and another short run at MGM Grand.

You will have heard the singles and witnessed the ripples of excitement that greet every successive announcement. The fact is, the new GHOST album is an absolute riot and it’s hard to see any future that doesn’t involve this band becoming even bigger than they already are. Recent times have proven that the Swedes are well-equipped to take their sound and their show from clubs to arenas, and “Impera” is exactly the record they needed to make to ensure that the transition is a lasting one. This thing is so infernally catchy and joyously overblown that cynicism is not a credible option.

From the sonorous pomp of the opening “Imperium”, GHOST’s fifth full-length is very obviously bigger, better, shinier and sharper than anything the band have done before. The band’s last record, “Prequelle”, was certainly full of big tunes, but nothing on it strode quite so purposefully into AOR territory as “Kaisarion”, which kicks things off in earnest here. A high-energy blizzard of hooks and prog-tinged tempo changes, it’s instantly recognizable as GHOST, but the mischievous twinkle in Papa Emeritus IV’s eye is brighter than ever. Even more ludicrous, in the best possible way, is “Spillways”, which owes its heart and soul to BOSTON, JOURNEY and FOREIGNER and crams a phenomenal number of iconic AOR tropes into its three, breathless minutes. Similarly, teaser single “Hunters Moon” reimagines the Swedes’ sound as synth-laced, ’80s hard rock, with TODD RUNDGREN-style harmonies and every trick in the studio book brought to bear on the song’s innumerable melodic treasures. Meanwhile, latest single “Twenties” is a lurching, juddering dance of death, but with a chorus so insistent it’ll be still be stuck in our skulls come Christmas.

There are slower, darker textures to be explored here, too. “Call Me Little Sunshine” is a doomy but romantic ballad and a possible missing link between BLACK SABBATH and ABBA: a doomy ballad; “Darkness At The Heart Of My Love” is a quasi-choral show-stopper with bonus harpsicords; and the closing “Respite On The Spitalfields” is a gently progressive grand finale with a chorus of outrageous hugeness. Every last bit of it sounds immaculate, too, distinctive and quirky, in the way GHOST’s records always are, but also warm and dynamic. In fact, everything about “Impera” is huge.

The only downside to this whole, boisterously entertaining enterprise is that “Impera” is not an album that oozes darkness in any meaningful way. The creepiness and otherworldly allure that made GHOST’s debut album “Opus Eponymous” so compelling more than a decade ago have been replaced with an almost cartoonish, pop-rock sheen, and any semblance of macabre intent has been smoothed away. Admittedly, the result is one of the most spectacular and hook-filled heavy(ish) metal albums in recent memory, so even without the looming sense that Satan is watching, GHOST are still impossible to resist.

KnuckleBonz has announced it is working with yet another fantastic brewing partner, Great South Bay Brewery, to extend the offering of amazing beers for the AC/DC music superfan.

KnuckleBonz has extended its limited-edition beverage series with Great South Bay Brewing and the two companies have worked together to create a custom offering for AC/DC to offer fans a rockin’ new beer, the AC/DC For Those About To Rock Ale and their distribution partner, Half Time Beverage, will process the orders and ship to 33 states in the U.S.

AC/DC For Those About To Rock Ale is available now to ship direct to consumer in 33 U.S. states.

AC/DC For Those About To Rock Ale (5.9%) is cold fermented for the cool, crisp, refreshing flavor you’d expect from a sessionable Australian lager. By combining traditional Australian brewing methods with native Aussie hops and cane sugar, the brewers have developed a highly drinkable beer that is true to its heritage, with a clean citrusy hop profile, a subtle malty sweetness, and a bright straw color.

With several award-winning craft ales and lagers, IPAs and seltzers, Great South Bay, also known as GSB, is a huge presence in the Long Island, New York community with their state-of-the-art 40,000-square-foot facility that combines contemporary brewing technology with traditional craftsmanship. GSB works to create recipes that speak for itself in quality and taste.

Chris Davis of Great South Bay Brewery said: “Walk into any venue in the world and you’ll bear witness to the seemingly natural pairing of beer and music. In fact, I would venture to guess that since the invention of alcohol, consumption of beer and creation of music has been done in tandem. When we were presented the opportunity to work with KnuckleBonz to combine our crafts, it was one of those ‘aha!’ moments. To say that we are excited about what we have been able to come together and create would be a massive understatement.”

Tony Simerman, CEO/creative director of KnuckleBonz, Inc., said: “These new partnerships will take the KnuckleBonz beverage line to a new level giving AC/DC superfans across most of the U.S. a chance to rock hard with For Those About To Rock Ale.”

Chris Weiss, director of marketing for Half Time Beverage, said: “Stocked with over a thousand different craft beers, ciders, hard seltzers, and other beverages from some of the most sought-after breweries and producers in the world, Half Time is a virtual beer marketplace unlike any other.”

GHOST has announced a new partnership with NASCAR Xfinity Series team JD Motorsports and driver Bayley Currey.

The Grammy-winning Swedish rock outfit will be the primary sponsor for Currey’s No. 4 Chevrolet — a.k.a. the “Papa 4 car” — to be unveiled at the United Rentals 200 at Phoenix Raceway on Saturday, March 12 — exactly one day after the release of the band’s hotly anticipated new album, “Impera” (Loma Vista Recordings).

This unique partnership marks the band’s first foray into American motorsports.

“I’m a musician myself,” says JD Motorsports VP of sales and marketing Tony Priscaro, “so it’s rocked working with GHOST and Loma Vista Recordings on this car. We can’t wait to put the pedal to the metal.'”

The design of the No. 4 Chevrolet tells the story of how this unprecedented partnership came together. The paint scheme features the band’s logo, along with their partners Loma Vista Recordings, Global Merchandising Services, Revolver magazine and Rick Sales Entertainment (RSE).

The partnership is managed by marketing and content creation agency A.E. Engine with promotional support provided by Out Of The Groove and its host Eric Estepp. The Out Of The Groove logo will also be featured on the No. 4 Chevrolet.

“Me and Craig (Baroncelli) at A.E. Engine are both huge fans of GHOST,” says Eric Estepp. “Fans know I love the band and wear GHOST shirts on my show regularly. I’m constantly getting comments on my channel or people coming up to me at the races talking about how much they love the band, too. So we knew this would be really exciting for the fans.”

“At A.E. Engine, we’re focused on bringing new partners and audiences to the sport,” says Craig Baroncelli, CEO and publisher. “Eric actually introduced me to GHOST. We were texting back and forth about the new GHOST song and video — ‘Call Me Little Sunshine’ — when it was released in January and we quickly realized the new album — ‘Impera’ — will be released one day prior to the Xfinity Series race at Phoenix Raceway. At that point, it was a no-brainer — we had to pursue this opportunity. I am just thankful GHOST and Loma Vista Recordings were so inspired by the idea. They are the ones that brought this car to life.”

The 25-year-old driver Currey is in his first full-time year with JD Motorsports, but he’s no stranger to Phoenix Raceway, including having made a Cup Series start there in 2019, as well as in the Xfinity series in more recent years. Currey finished seventh in last March’s LS Track 250 Xfinity Series race at Phoenix Raceway.

“I’m ready to rock,” says Currey. “I’m excited about this one, and I know the boys at the shop are excited about this one too, we have a lot of metal fans on our team. Once we heard a deal was imminent, we started working on the cars to GHOST songs. With GHOST on my car, I am ready to take on the world.”

The United Rentals 200 is live on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio (Ch. 90) on Saturday, March 12 at 4:30 p.m. EST.