Dee Snider performed at this year’s edition of the Arnold Sports Festival in Columbus, Ohio.

The TWISTED SISTER singer and his solo band appeared last night (Saturday, March 5). Video of their performance can be seen below.

The Arnold Sports Festival is being held March 3-6 at the Greater Columbus Convention Center and other venues, including the Ohio Expo Center.

Arnold Schwarzenegger’s event, which draws more than 20,000 athletes and 200,000 fans to Columbus, was canceled in 2020 and 2021 because of the coronavirus pandemic.

More than 20,000 athletes from more than 80 nations are expected to appear at the festival, participating in about 60 sports.

Early Saturday morning, Snider took to his Twitter to share a new photo of him with Schwarzenegger, and he included the following caption: Pretty incredible night last night. Had dinner with a personal hero and inspiration @Schwarzenegger ! When the cameras came out he said, ‘Let’s do The Predator pose!’ #lifegoals”.

Dee’s fifth solo album, “Leave A Scar”, was released last July via Napalm Records.

In 2016, TWISTED SISTER embarked on one final trek, titled “Forty And Fuck It”, in celebration of its 40th anniversary. These shows featured the band’s “core lineup” of Snider, guitarists Jay Jay French and Eddie Ojeda, and bassist Mark Mendoza, along with drummer Mike Portnoy. The band’s last-ever concert took place in November of that year — 20 months after the passing of drummer A.J. Pero.

TWISTED SISTER’s original run ended in the late ’80s. After more than a decade, the band publicly reunited in November 2001 to top the bill of New York Steel, a hard-rock benefit concert to raise money for the New York Police And Fire Widows’ And Children’s Benefit Fund.

The surviving members of the classic lineup of TWISTED SISTER — Snider, French, Ojeda and Mendoza — reunited virtually on March 20, 2021 for a special episode of Mendoza’s Internet TV show “22 Now”. The hour-and-a-half-long program was a tribute to Pero, who died exactly six years earlier at the age of 55 while on tour with the band ADRENALINE MOB.

Prior to last March’s virtual reunion, the four surviving members of TWISTED SISTER reunited for two days and nights in November 2019 to celebrate the 35th anniversary of the band’s classic album “Stay Hungry”.

DEE SNIDER of “Twisted Sister” opens up the 2022 ARNOLD CLASSIC in Columbus, Ohio this Saturday evening!! I suppose he can now call himself the “Twisted Lifter”…????

Posted by Dave Liberman on Saturday, March 5, 2022

Pretty incredible night last night. Had dinner with a personal hero and inspiration @Schwarzenegger! When the cameras came out he said, “Let’s do The Predator pose!” #lifegoals pic.twitter.com/lA5UyKDlif
— Dee Snider?? (@deesnider) March 5, 2022

COLUMBUS ARE YOU READY TO ROCK!?!

We’ve decided to kick off Saturday’s finals just a little bit different this year!…

Posted by Arnold Sports Festival on Tuesday, February 8, 2022

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MESHUGGAH drummer Tomas Haake spoke to Valentino Petrarca of the WSOU radio station about the band’s upcoming ninth studio album, “Immutable”. Due on April 1 via Atomic Fire, the follow-up to 2016’s “The Violent Sleep Of Reason” was recorded at Sweetspot Studios in Halmstad, Sweden; mixed by Rickard Bengtsson and Staffan Karlsson; and mastered by multiple Grammy Award winner Vlado Meller (METALLICA, RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE, RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS, SYSTEM OF A DOWN). Visionary artist Luminokaya once again created the stunning cover artwork.

“We’re pretty stoked how it came out,” Tomas said. “We definitely took our time with this one. And compared to most other albums we’ve done, those have always kind of been very stressful — ‘It needs to be done by now’ — and we always kind of delivered masters at whatever time period was planned, which, a lot of times, meant it was gonna be stressful. So this time we weren’t gonna have that, so we definitely took our time, both writing it but especially as far as the recording process itself.

“I think our first deadline for this album, it was supposed to be July 1st [of 2021],” he continued. “I think we delivered it in, like, October or something, so it was, like, four months later — something like that. We had to kind of go back and forth in the mixing process, and it added time. But we’re stoked how it came out. We like both the production and also as far as the tracks themselves and how it all turned out. So we’re definitely proud of it.”

Regarding the musical direction of the new MESHUGGAH material, Tomas said: “Some of the things that maybe make this album maybe a little more approachable — I don’t know — is not only production-wise… It’s kind of a little harsh to me, personally; it’s a little warmer sounding than some of the albums we’ve released previous. But also something that wasn’t really deliberate, but the whole album has back beat on the snare. So we don’t really kind of go into the clockworks or ‘Nostrum’ type of things that we did for ‘The Violent Sleep Of Reason’, where you had a lot of snare hits that were kind of on certain notes in the riffing, and that riffing goes over the barline and it would throw people off. This is more back beat and kind of swinging a little bit more, I think.”

Asked if the “darkness of the last two years” has “bled into the lyrics” on “Immutable”, Tomas said: “I think it’s impossible to keep it out, actually, obviously. We don’t have a lyric that particularly talks about the COVID pandemic or anything, but just the darkness of it, of course it’s gonna bleeed into the lyrics. Our lyrics have always been dark but maybe even more so on this album. Some of them are just more off and some of them are more just a social commentary on what’s going on around us and stuff like that.”

The most inventive and creative metal band of the last 30 years and one of the most widely revered, MESHUGGAH has been standard bearers for forward-thinking creativity in heavy music throughout their illustrious careers. Over the course of more than 30 years and eight studio albums, Sweden’s widely worshipped progressive mavens have consistently redefined what it means to be heavy, while exhibiting a ferocious intelligence that belies the crushing weight of their riffs. From the ground-breaking savagery of 1995’s “Destroy Erase Improve” to the psychedelic tech-splorations of “CatchyThirtyThree”, and on to the streamlined grotesquery of “ObZen” and “Koloss”, MESHUGGAH has always been way ahead of the game and plainly without peer.

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During the question-and-answer portion of his March 1 spoken-word show at the Orpheum Theatre in Los Angeles, California, IRON MAIDEN singer Bruce Dickinson reflected on how the title track of his 2005 solo album, “Tyranny Of Souls”, was composed specifically for the proposed THE THREE TREMORS project, also featuring JUDAS PRIEST’s Rob Halford and QUEENSRŸCHE’s Geoff Tate.

He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “We were gonna do this thing with three metal singers — myself, Ronnie James Dio and Rob Halford. However, for reasons that [didn’t make much sense] — managerial bullshit or whatever — there was some opposition, not from me, to having Ronnie there, which I thought was crazy. So the suggestion was that we would have Geoff Tate instead. So Roy [Bruce’s longtime collaborator Roy ‘Z’ Ramirez] and I wrote a tune. We thought we’d have a go at writing an album that would be sung by three singers. We only got as far as one song, and that song was ‘Tyranny Of Souls’. And the idea was that had we done the project, the chorus would have been all three singers [singing together], but the beginning of it would have been kind of one line me, one line Geoff, one line Rob, and so on, through the song. And each line would have been written so it would suit the delivery, it would suit the vocal characteristic of whoever was singing it. So it was quite a tall order. It [would have been] quite difficult to do. I thought, ‘Shit, it’s gonna be pretty difficult to do a whole album of this stuff.’ And of course, we never did. But ‘Tyranny Of Souls’, the demo of it was designed to illustrate how that would have worked.”

Five years ago, Dickinson told SiriusXM’s “Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk” that he was reluctant to pursue THE THREE TREMORS project if Dio wasn’t involved. “I was, like, ‘I am not gonna do this without Ronnie,'” he recalled. “And Rod [Smallwood, IRON MAIDEN’s longtime manager] was, like, ‘I don’t wanna use Ronnie. He’s too old.’ I said, ‘What do you mean too old? Are you kidding me?’ I said, ‘He’s a legend.’ He said, ‘No. We should use Geoff Tate.’ And then we had a meeting with Geoff Tate, and then I said, ‘No. It’s not gonna work.’ And so that was that.”

According to Dickinson, concert promoters showed great interest in booking THE THREE TREMORS before a single note had even been recorded. “I could see the money in their eyes, thinking, ‘Oh, this would be great. We could sell this every which way all over the place as a package,'” Dickinson said. “And I went, ‘Yeah, you could, but what are we actually gonna do? There’s gonna be three of us on stage. What are we gonna do that’s actually different that’s really cool?'”

Before Dickinson’s proposed collaboration with Halford and Tate was officially scrapped, the name THE THREE TREMORS was changed to TRINITY because “we figured they would sue our ass if we called it THE THREE TREMORS,” Bruce explained in an interview several years ago.

Dickinson previously said that he and Roy wrote “about three songs” for THE THREE TREMORS during a session in Los Angeles before he “realized it was going to take us a lot longer than three weeks to write a project with three singers that would work.”

He explained: “We wanted to make each song designed to be sung by three different characters as an integral part of the song, not something like, ‘You sing the first verse, I’ll sing the second verse, and he’ll sing the chorus.’ That would be a crap way to do it.”

Dickinson added: “It’s a bloody difficult thing to do, to try to make a song with three different voices to get the full benefit out of it. And it takes longer than three weeks, and we didn’t have longer than that to do it, so I canned it in the end.

“It’s a great idea; everybody loves the idea… We had marketing people salivating about the idea of a TRINITY project,” he said. “But the bottom line is, the thing that is gonna sink it is if the music sucks. So I thought we should can the idea for now since we don’t have time to do it. Rob was in the studio doing his album [‘Crucible’] and Geoff was writing a new QUEENSRŸCHE album, so that was it. It is an interesting idea, and I’m sure the live show would be really interesting.”

In 2000, Tate and Dickinson joined Halford onstage at the latter’s concert in London for a rendition of “One You Love To Hate” (see video below), a song written by Halford, Dickinson and Ramirez that was featured on Halford’s “Resurrection” album.

Dickinson’s two-month North American spoken-word tour kicked off on January 17 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida and will run through the end of March.

Bruce’s spoken-word show is split into two parts. The first section sees him take a humorous and often satirical look at the world from his own very personal perspective, treating the audience to private insights into his drive and ambition, peppered with plenty of MAIDEN anecdotes, and a myriad of other experiences encompassing not just the giddy heights but also the extreme lows, as told first-hand in his inimitable anarchic style, punctuated with photographs, videos and sometimes even erupting into song a cappella, to illustrate a point. The final section of the evening is devoted entirely to the aforementioned question-and-answer session, with the opportunity to pose questions on any subject whatsoever. As Bruce’s answers are all completely improvised — the more left-field and quirky the question, the more interesting and compelling the response is likely to be.

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In a new interview with The Hype Magazine, punk rock icon Henry Rollins was asked about his involvement with VAN HALEN singer David Lee Roth’s “Crazy From The Heat” 1997 autobiography. He said: “I worked with DLR closely on that project. At one point, he expressed interest in being onstage and telling stories from the book, I think. As I remember, I suggested that he have someone onstage with him to ask him questions that would prompt the stories. I think the record idea sprang from the fact that he did the book out loud on to tape. Almost 100 hours, which I have listened through three times.

“The man has a blazing intellect,” Henry continued. “He is a multi-lingual, multi-disciplined self-starter. He is a voracious reader and student of history. Mark Twain meets Groucho Marx, who’s also a black belt. That’s DLR. The book came out and did really well. It’s a great read and only a fraction of what he put on tape. He’s had an eventful life.”

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.

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In a new interview with Tone-Talk, former PANTERA bassist Rex Brown was asked if there are any guitarists he would still like to work with. He responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “I did a record — it’s not out yet — I did it with Richie Faulkner [of JUDAS PRIEST]. Richie and I have become really good friends. And it’s really progressively heavy and cool. Richie is a very melodic player, and then it’s got my drummer that played on my first solo record. They tracked him playing on one of those electronic kits, and they sampled the sounds into a real kit — which I’m not too crazy about; that’s not the way I would do it. But it’s Richie’s record. And he’s got a new singer now. I don’t know when that’s coming out. Those guys [PRIEST] are still touring. That was a real thrill.”

Brown previously hinted at a collaboration with Faulkner during a February 2021 interview with Antihero. At the time, he said that he had just gotten out of the studio with a good friend of his whom he described as “one of the best guitar players in the business that you would know.” Asked if the recordings were going to be used for another Brown solo album or if it was more of a band project, Rex said: “[It’s] more for another kind of deal. And I don’t want to really talk about it… But the tracks are fucking badass.” After Rex asked the interviewer Mark Dean where he lived, Dean responded “just outside Manchester in the U.K.,” to which Brown said: “Then you would know this guy very, very well. He moved to Nashville and became a very, very good friend of mine. And we just cut six just blazing fucking tracks. Un-goddam-real.”

The British-born Faulkner moved to Nashville in 2019 after spending several years living in Florida.

During an appearance on the “In The Trenches With Ryan Roxie” video podcast in February, Richie confirmed that he had used some of the coronavirus downtime to work on a solo project. He explained: “I haven’t really spoken much about it publicly, but there is something I’ve kind of been [putting] together during the COVID period. I mean, I know we’re still going through it but there’s been a lot of downtime. So I’ve used that time to kind of get some songs I’ve been working on, get them together, polish them up, get some people together that I respect in the music business and record some stuff. And I haven’t spoken a lot about it. It’s in the process of being finalized, and we’re looking for deals and stuff. We’re looking for deals at the moment, we’re looking for record labels, so I don’t wanna get too far ahead of myself.”

Asked if the album will feature guest musicians or it will be presented as a complete solo effort, Richie said: “Well, I’ve always been into the band. It’s never been like RICHIE FAULKNER’S RAINBOW or anything like that. I’ve always been into the band — with the band name and the four or five guys or girls in it rather than a solo project. But also, when I joined PRIEST, I didn’t wanna sort of get the gig and then, straight away, ‘Oh, now listen to my solo thing.’ PRIEST, they welcomed me in, they gave me a voice, they gave me an opinion, and I felt like this was my band. They’ve made me a part of it and I gave back a thousand percent. So I didn’t wanna sort of then do my own thing and abuse that opportunity, if you know what I mean. But 10 or 11 years in, I feel that fans know that I’m not gonna abuse that opportunity. I’ve given 10, 11, almost 12 years [to PRIEST] now, so I felt, with the pandemic as well, with a bit of downtime, maybe put some stuff into that.”

As for the musical direction of his solo album, Faulkner said: “As far as stylistically, it’s always hard to tell, really. You just do what you do. You can hear where the roots are, from PRIEST, but I think it’s different enough to be its own monster. And then hopefully someone else interprets it in their own way and hears something completely different to what I hear, hopefully.”

Faulkner joined PRIEST in 2011 as the replacement for original guitarist K.K. Downing.

Richie was once the guitarist in the backing group for Lauren Harris, daughter of IRON MAIDEN bassist Steve Harris.

Faulkner and his girlfriend Mariah Lynch, daughter of former DOKKEN guitarist George Lynch, welcomed their first child, a baby girl named Daisy Mae, in July 2020.

Last September, Faulkner suffered an acute cardiac aortic dissection during PRIEST’s performance at the Louder Than Life festival in Louisville, Kentucky. Faulkner was rushed to the UofL Health – Jewish Hospital where the cardiothoracic surgery team needed approximately 10 hours to complete a life-saving surgery.

Rex, who is currently promoting the 30th-anniversary of PANTERA’s sophomore major label album, “Vulgar Display Of Power”, recently completed work on a “a really introspective” follow-up to his debut solo album, “Smoke On This…”, which was released in July 2017 via Entertainment One (eOne). The effort marked the first time in Brown’s career where he served as both lead vocalist and guitarist in a band.

In a 2019 interview with Loudwire, Rex stated about his upcoming second solo album: “I went through a totally different songwriting process on this one and yes, it’s very introspective, but at the same time it’s kind of dark… It’s a darker record for me, but it’s one of those things where you’ve just got to let it out when it comes out… I’d say it’s still bluesy, but the songs are more well rounded. We just wanted to get my feet wet the first time. But this one’s got its rockers on there and some doomy kind of [PINK] FLOYD stuff on it — that kind of vibe. I wanted to use the studio kind of more as a palette for what I was doing rather than the other way around… It’s a trippy record.”

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During an appearance at last month’s installment of Days Of The Dead, a fan-run and fan-oriented horror convention, at the Sheraton in Atlanta, Georgia, SLIPKNOT singer Corey Taylor discussed his new mask which he debuted last September at the Rocklahoma festival in Pryor, Oklahoma. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “My new [mask is] pretty rad. I really sat down and tried to figure out… I worked with a guy named Conor Deless. He’s a young kid; he’s actually a fan. And I can remember laying out traits that I wanted to see and a lot of the stuff that inspired him. And when he sent me the preliminary sculpt — he didn’t even sketch it out; he sent me a tiny sculpt — and it was so killer that I was, like, ‘Yes. That’s it.’ I mean, he nailed it so quickly that I’d never… I’ve always had to go back and forth and do a bunch of tiny manipulations and changes and stuff, but he was so dialed in and he immediately got it that we were just, like, ‘All right. Let’s do this, man.’ He drove in, did a mold of my head, and the rest is history.”

Asked if there had been any masks in the past that he “absolutely hated” and “couldn’t wait to get off,” Corey said: “No comment.”

Taylor previously talked about his new mask at the Texas Frightmare Weekend 2021 in Dallas, Texas in September. At the time, he said: “I spent three months designing that specifically. ‘Cause the last one was — it was cool but it wasn’t exactly what I wanted to do. So this time around, I started early. I actually started designing this before the end of the ‘We Are Not Your Kind’ cycle, just to make sure that I was ahead of the game and making sure I could dial in all the details and whatnot. And I actually did it with a young man named Conor Deless, who’s super cool. And he flew out. I walked him through everything that I wanted to have on it. And he was able to mock something up really quick, man. And he really got to the essence of what I was trying to configure. It was almost immediate. And then, really, it was just a matter of waiting for him to build the damn thing… We did the mold. We built it right to my face, so it fits like a glove. And it’s hot as balls, but it’s so rad on stage; it just looks really, really cool. I’m calling it the smiling skull mask.”

Last May, Taylor spoke to Andy Hall of the Des Moines, Iowa radio station Lazer 103.3 about the evolution of SLIPKNOT’s masks and what fans can expect to see during the band’s current touring cycle.

“The mask has been a part of us forever,” he said. “The mask is king. And for us, especially people like me and Clown and the guys in the band that really allow those masks to evolve, it’s important for it to be a reflection of who we are in that music. And I can tell you that the mask I’m working on is very disturbing. It’s gonna be hard to look at. And it’ll probably be my favorite mask that I’ve ever put together. It’s little bits and pieces of things that have intrigued me, of masks that I’ve had in the past. And it’s gonna have a devil-may-care kind of terror to it, let’s put it that way.”

Corey worked on his previous mask with special effects legend Tom Savini, whose extensive career in the film industry and especially the horror genre dates back to the late 1970s, including in such films as “Friday The 13th”, “Dawn Of The Dead”, “From Dusk ‘Til Dawn” and many others.

Most of the other members of SLIPKNOT performed with their current masks for the first time in May 2019 when they appeared as the musical guests on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!”

During a 2017 appearance on an episode of Viceland’s “The Therapist”, Taylor was asked about the significance of wearing a literal mask when he is performing with SLIPKNOT. He responded: “With SLIPKNOT, at least for most of us in the band, the mask is part of the art — it’s not just the visual and the shock; it’s a representation of who I am in that album. So, for me, it’s as natural as having a different hairstyle for one album and tour cycle, wearing different clothes for an album and tour cycle. It’s a part of the dynamic. It’s one of the things that you look forward to. Not just writing the songs, not just putting the music together, not just putting the visuals together, but what… who am I in this album?”

Corey spoke about the changes in the SLIPKNOT bandmembers’ masks in a 2014 interview with Metal Mania Radio. “With every album, some of us have evolved our masks more dramatically than others, but there’s always a difference, they’ve always changed a little bit… This band evolves with every album, and it just makes sense that our masks [would as well], because we’re not the same people. It’s not something that we sit down and we talk about as a group, we just kind of do it. As unified as we all are, the mask is really something that we trust each other to do individually and we trust them to do the right representation.”

SLIPKNOT will kick off the 2022 iteration of its “Knotfest Roadshow” tour on March 16. The “Knotfest Roadshow” tour will take place over two legs, both headlined by SLIPKNOT. The first leg will feature special guests IN THIS MOMENT and WAGE WAR. The second leg will feature special guests CYPRESS HILL and HO99O9. The first leg of the 38-date run, produced by Live Nation, kicks off in Fargo, North Dakota on Wednesday, March 16 and hits a further 17 cities before wrapping up in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada on Sunday, April 17. The second leg kicks off on Wednesday, May 18 in University Park, Pennsylvania and hits a further 17 cites before culminating on Sunday, June 18 in Chula Vista, California.

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SHINEDOWN guitarist Zach Myers spoke to Ethan Jackson of Topeka’s rock radio station V100 about the lyrical inspiration for the band’s latest single, the title track of SHINEDOWN’s upcoming seventh studio album, which will arrive on April 22 via Atlantic Records. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “We’re living in a world where there’s no shortage of things to talk about. But ‘Planet Zero’ is kind of about people being silenced of their opinions.

“We live in a society now where everything has to be a hardline,” he continued. “Listen, I vehemently disagree with 80 percent of what Eddie Vedder says politically; I’m still gonna listen to PEARL JAM. We live in a society where if you disagree with someone, that means you don’t respect them and you can’t be friends anymore. And that doesn’t have to be that way; I don’t think so. I enjoy disagreeing with people because maybe I’ll learn something.

“You’ve got people who, if they have an opinion about something, it doesn’t matter what it is, but if it’s not the popular opinion of what’s going on right now, they’re silenced or they’re told to shut up,” Myers added. “It just feels like the planet [is] kind of headed into this weird future, and we felt like we had to say something about it.

“If you’re a ridiculous person and you’re spewing hate speech or whatever, that’s a different ballgame. But if you just say, ‘This is what I think,’ and you’re not a bigot or a racist and you’re [not] throwing our hate speech, you shouldn’t be canceled for your opinion. I think that’s a real wide range. Like I said, we live in this hardline society. That’s kind of what the song is about.”

The official music video for “Planet Zero” was released on March 3. The clip arrived as “Planet Zero” hit No. 1 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Airplay chart.

“Planet Zero” is SHINEDOWN’s 17th No. 1 and sixth consecutive chart-topper, breaking a new record for the most No. 1s in the 40-year history of the chart.

Directed by Charles De Meyer, the video brings to life a glimpse of a dystopian future (complete with a menacing A.I. character named Cyren from the album’s interludes whom we hear at the end of the music video) that warns of the dangerous dehumanizing consequences of cancel culture run rampant.

On “Planet Zero”, SHINEDOWN is serving up an incisive look at some of society’s most critical issues, including the increasingly toxic division among those of differing ideologies, the need for honesty in our public discourse, and the corrosive effects of social media and cancel culture on mental health and humanity. The “Planet Zero” single rings the alarm with a cautionary warning that if we shut each other down, we risk losing empathy, respect for one another, and our ability to communicate and unify in a way that leads to actual progress and understanding.

Over the last two decades, SHINEDOWN has cemented its status as one of the most vital and forward-thinking powerhouses in modern rock. Their most ambitious and masterfully realized work to date, “Planet Zero” is a high-concept, ultra-vivid, viscerally charged saga. A critical yet optimistic look at the fractures and frays of a society that has undergone many challenges in recent years, the album is part social commentary and part in-depth exploration of the human psyche.

“Planet Zero” was produced by SHINEDOWN’s own Eric Bass (who also helmed the band’s 2018 album, “Attention Attention”), and recorded at Bass’s newly built Big Animal Studio in South Carolina.

SHINEDOWN will kick off “The Revolution’s Live” tour on April 1. Following this April and May run with special guests THE PRETTY RECKLESS and DIAMANTE, SHINEDOWN will head to Daytona Beach for Welcome To Rockville 2022 where they’ll headline Saturday, May 21 alongside GUNS N’ ROSES and RISE AGAINST. In June, SHINEDOWN will head overseas for a European run featuring festival appearances at Rock Im Park and Rock Am Ring in Germany, Download festival in the U.K. and Hellfest in France along with select shows with IRON MAIDEN. The band will then embark on a run of Canadian dates beginning in July with support from POP EVIL and AYRON JONES.

I love how all you clowns think if you don’t like Biden then you must love trump
Ones a fucking idiot and the others a fucking douchebag …..

2 turds can live in the same punch bowl ?

— Zach Myers (@ZmyersOfficial) August 20, 2021

The fact that this is a real goddamn tweet blows my goddamn mind https://t.co/zbP6gwz87I
— Zach Myers (@ZmyersOfficial) May 14, 2021

I love that we’ve made a world where you can’t think TWO people can be fucking bafoons
It’s fucking so ridiculous

“Better by comparison” doesn’t mean good

And 2 turds don’t make a grilled cheese

— Zach Myers (@ZMyersOfficial) May 14, 2021

After these last 2 fellas ….
How about we just skip Presidents’ Day for a bit?

— Zach Myers (@ZMyersOfficial) February 21, 2022

Honestly .. If Trump becomes president. . . You guys set yourselves and this country up for it … By making Pitbull have so many # 1 songs
— Zach Myers (@ZmyersOfficial) September 30, 2016

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In a recent interview with RadioactiveMike Z, host of the 96.7 KCAL-FM radio program “Wired In The Empire”, SEVENDUST frontman Lajon Witherspoon spoke about the progress of the songwriting and recording sessions for his long-in-the-works debut solo album. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “I’ve still been doing some work. And I actually got to work with my buddy, a country artist, Jimmie Allen, and we did some writing. And I’m just real excited. I’ve got a couple of more writing projects that I’m gonna take my time to do. After the SEVENDUST run, I’ll go back in the studio again and finish up some stuff. But, yeah, there’s some good stuff there. Actually, somebody sent out an e-mail today talking about me signing to a label. So I’m just taking my time. I like to court ’em for a while before I do something. [Laughs]”

Asked if his full-length solo debut will arrive in 2022 or 2023, Lajon said: “Probably this year, I would think.”

Most of the early sessions for Witherspoon’s solo LP were overseen by RA’s Daniel “Sahaj” Ticotin.

In January 2021, Lajon released a solo single, a cover of British singer Jacob Banks’s 2017 song “Chainsmoking”.

In September 2020, Lajon told Talking Metal that working on his solo LP has been fun. “I’ve not had any pressure,” he said. “It hasn’t been something that, ‘Oh, I have to do this.’ This is something I’ve done on my own.

“I’ve been working with a very close friend of mine, Sahaj, [who] is the lead singer from the band RA, which I think a lot of people out there would know,” he continued. “[He’s] an incredible friend and artist, and we write well together.”

Asked about the musical direction of his solo material, Lajon said: “You can be on the avenue and hang out with my solo stuff. It’s rock. It’s a little bit of heavy, but I think it lends more towards a bluesy, soulful, more radio friendly… I’m not saying SEVENDUST isn’t radio friendly, but I think this is more of a radio friendly… I don’t know. It’s a lot, a lot, a lot of melody. It’s cool.”

Witherspoon released the standalone solo single “Love Song” in 2017.

SEVENDUST’s 13th studio album, “Blood & Stone”, was released in October 2020 via Rise Records. The follow-up to 2018’s “All I See Is War” was once again tracked at Studio Barbarosa in Gotha, Florida with producer Michael “Elvis” Baskette, who has previously worked with ALTER BRIDGE and SLASH, among others.

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