Rick Allen, legendary drummer of Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame inductees DEF LEPPARD, will make a number of special appearances next month at the Wentworth Galleries in Florida, starting with a stop in Fort Lauderdale on March 17 and March 18 at Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood. These events are open to the public.

“Wings Of Hope”, his new and extraordinary collection, houses originals, limited editions, the painted drum series, mixed media originals, plus the “Legends” series featuring new portraits of Charlie Watts, Eddie Van Halen, Kurt Cobain and Johnny Cash. A portion of each sale will benefit his Project Resiliency where for over the last 12 years Rick and his wife Lauren Monroe have worked passionately with veterans from Vietnam, Desert Storm, Iraq and Afghanistan. Allen and Wentworth Galleries will donate a portion of each and every acquisition to benefit the Foundation.

Speaking about his new art piece, “Saint Charlie”, Allen remarked: “Losing Charlie is the end of an era… If it wasn’t for Charlie, I wouldn’t be a drummer… very sweet man who I had the honor of meeting.”

Christian O’Mahony, principal at Wentworth Gallery, commented: “I am honored to host Rick and his art at my galleries. His art not only represents his own story of perseverance, resiliency and the human spirit but is also a beacon of hope for others.”

In-gallery appearances by Rick Allen (artist will be in attendance at all showings)

Thursday, March 17

3:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.

Las Olas
819 E Las Olas Blvd
Fort Lauderdale, FL 33301

954.468.0685

Friday, March 18

7:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m.

Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino
The Shoppes At The Guitar Hotel
5804 Seminole Way Suite 103
Hollywood, FL 33314

954.314.7210

All artwork currently on exhibition is available for acquisition

Allen became the drummer for DEF LEPPARD at age 15. As one of the world’s best-selling music artists, DEF LEPPARD have sold more than 100 million records worldwide, two albums with RIAA diamond certification (10 million albums sold) and were inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame in 2019.

At the height of worldwide fame in 1984, he had a car accident that changed his life. Rick lost an arm, but turned personal tragedy into spiritual transformation and continued his musical career. While he was already a hero to millions of young people, he soon added millions of new admirers. Since then, Rick has been reaching out and giving support to others all over the globe by sharing his personal experiences and his love of drumming. Over the past 13 years, Rick has reached out to teenage cancer patients, children with special needs, at-risk youth in crisis, families of domestic violence and veterans who have served in Vietnam, Desert Storm, Iraq and Afghanistan. He was awarded the Humanitarian Award by Maria Shriver’s Best Buddies of CA in 2002 and in 2012, was also awarded the prestigious Wounded Warrior Project’s Carry It Forward Award. Rick continues his work helping wounded warriors through Project Resiliency’s Warrior Resiliency Program sponsored by his charity foundation the Raven Drum Foundation.

An integral part of Rick’s creative life went public in 2012. After years of personal photographic work, Allen ventured into the fine art world with a blockbuster debut collection of abstract artwork built from rhythm. Allen has become a pioneer in the new medium, utilizing drumsticks and rhythm to dictate abstract visuals on canvas.

That debut collection, in 2012 featured 300 pieces, quickly sold-out in its initial offering to the public and boasted a sold-out exhibition. A second collection, released in 2013 and titled “Rock-On-Canvas”, met with a similar exceptional reception and helped to forge a relationship with America’s leading fine art retailer Wentworth Galleries.

Rick said: “Music, art and photography have been passions of mine since I was a boy. My life has been a journey of transformation and my art is a reflection of the many facets of dreams and perceptions that have shaped me. Each piece has a story and a connection to my life from my roots in England, my life changing car accident, journey to America, travels around the globe and to my deep connection to Wounded Warriors and their struggle to heal. The collection intends to express messages of hope, transcendence and the human condition.”

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CROWBAR will release its new album, “Zero And Below”, on March 4 via MNRK Heavy (formerly eOne Music). The official music video for the LP’s latest single, “Bleeding From Every Hole”, can be seen below.

Produced, mixed, and mastered by Duane Simoneaux at OCD Recording And Production in Metairie, Louisiana, “Zero And Below” is reverently old school, counterbalanced by a resonant melodicism that’s stunningly mature. Songs like “Chemical Godz”, “Bleeding From Every Hole” and “It’s Always Worth The Gain” demonstrate what CROWBAR does better than any other band: powerful, evocative, and crushingly heavy music. Celebrating a recent 30th anniversary, CROWBAR is led by one of the most beloved figures in heavy metal, riff overlord Kirk Windstein, whose menacing bellow and smooth drawl put resilient, unrepentant strength behind even the most somber odes to suffering.

Comments Windstein about “Bleeding From Every Hole”: “I really love this track. It’s kind of strange that it was written before the COVID epidemic because the song is basically what so many people went through in a metaphorical way during the shutdowns, loss of work, and social life. Things seemed so bad that no matter which way you turned, it was the wrong direction. I wanted to express that there are people that feel that things are hopeless… but they do get better in the end. Your inner strength is there. It needs to be let out. I hope everyone enjoys the song. It is really one of my favorites.”

CROWBAR songs are unapologetic emotional outpourings, with a bare-knuckle resolve alongside its soul-searching vulnerability, reliably delivered with crushing heaviness. “Zero And Below”, which cements the band’s dense catalog as exactly one dozen studio albums deep, is the most unforgivably doomy CROWBAR record since the group’s landmark 1998 effort “Odd Fellows Rest”.

“Zero And Below” track listing:

01. The Fear That Binds You
02. Her Evil Is Sacred
03. Confess To Nothing
04. Chemical Godz
05. Denial Of The Truth
06. Bleeding From Every Hole
07. It’s Always Worth The Gain
08. Crush Negativity
09. Reanimating A Lie
10. Zero And Below

A year and a half ago, Windstein told the “Does It Doom?” podcast that he was really happy with the band’s then-just-completed new album. “It’s really a killer record — I love it,” he said. “It’s got a lot of [guitar] harmonies and it’s got a lot more doomy riffs. We only had one proper fast song — one of our more upbeat, hardcore-type, MOTÖRHEAD speed, I call it, type tunes; we’ve only got one like that. Out of all 10 tracks, besides that one tune, there’s only maybe two other fast, what I would consider fast, songs on the whole record. So it’s kind of a throwback but a modern, more mature touch on it.”

He continued: “We’re all super, super happy with the way it came out. The production’s amazing, again from Duane Simoneaux. The guitar tone’s amazing. The songs themselves are great; I’m really happy. It’s really one of the only CROWBAR records that I’m really happy with everything — every riff, I’m happy with the tones, with the production, with the lyrics, with the way I sang; the whole nine yards. So I’m really just loving it, to be honest — I really am.”

Earlier in 2020, Windstein told Full Metal Jackie’s nationally syndicated radio show that he got “a lot of help” from guitarist Matt Brunson and bassist Shane Wesley during the songwriting process for CROWBAR’s new album.

CROWBAR’s last LP, “The Serpent Only Lies”, was released in 2016 via eOne.

Windstein issued his debut solo album, “Dream In Motion”, in January 2020.

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Punk stalwarts SILVERSTEIN will release their new album, “Misery Made Me”, on May 6 via UNFD on CD, vinyl and digital formats. It was produced by Sam Guaiana at Jukasa Studios in rural Ontario, Canada and features guests Andrew Neufeld of COMEBACK KID on “Die Alone”, singer/songwriter Trevor Daniel on “Cold Blood”, THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA’s Mike Hranica on “Slow Motion” and nothing,nowhere. on “Live Like This”.

Filled with moments of relentless energy throwing back to their punk and hardcore roots to visionary moments of modern heavy, “Misery Made Me” fastens SILVERSTEIN’s status as torchbearers of the scene on all fronts. It’s both intriguing and inspiring that a band — who could have merely rested on the impressive legacy they’ve already cemented — would continue to dig deep and find the inspiration to reach people in meaningful new ways.

Few bands on their 22nd lap around the scene could claim to be in “just getting started” mode as much as SILVERSTEIN. “Misery Made Me” finds the group spring-boarding off the heights they’ve reached over the past handful of years; their latest album (2020’s “A Beautiful Place To Drown”) adding 80 million streams to a mind-numbing career total of 500 million; it collecting a nomination for “Rock Album Of The Year” at the esteemed JUNO Awards.

SILVERSTEIN vocalist Shane Told states: “For the first time in our career, we truly put it all out there. We went into this with no rules and no preconceived notions of what SILVERSTEIN is or what it could be. The results are bold. We somehow wrote the heaviest, saddest, catchiest, and most emotional songs in 22 years of being a band … all on the same album.

The album’s lead single, “Ultraviolet”, is about feeling powerless and under the control of the chemicals in your brain, and it dives deep into feelings of desperation, describing the utter helplessness of losing control to anxiety. Guitarist Paul Marc explains: “‘Ultraviolet’ being invisible felt like the right way to describe it — to get lost in this unseeable thing. ‘Ultraviolet’ light also causes physical damage to our skin, so it serves as a sort of ‘proof’ that something invisible like anxiety can hurt us.”

“Ultraviolet” is available to stream today via UNFD and in Canada via SILVERSTEIN’s own label, NSEW Recordings, alongside a striking video directed by Wyatt Clough.

Ironically, amid all the positivity and connectivity injected into the creation of “Misery Made Me”, there comes a dark set of themes underpinning the album, as its title might suggest. The album is a depiction of SILVERSTEIN’s — and the world at large’s — collective turmoil, frustration, and anxiety.

Says Told: “I wanted to explore the meaning of ‘misery’ as a main theme throughout the album. Despite the mountains climbed and boulders pushed during recent years, we were confronted by the weight and misery of staying relatively in the same place for a long period of time. Finding peace in the reality of this misery became important. The record is about the acceptance of a new reality and adapting to it.”

Ultimately, “Misery Made Me” finds the band trying to navigate the ever-worsening challenges of our modern world — angst, doom scrolling, and disassociation. It’s a record that is a product of the moment in time in which it was created yet doesn’t feel like it will date itself anytime soon, as many of its topics of loneliness, anxiety and isolation are eternal human struggles.

Exemplified by the anthemic opener “Our Song”, “Misery Made Me” is part acceptance of the band’s personal miseries, and part declaration that they will not be buried by them. At the back end of the record lies “Live Like This” (featuring nothing,nowhere.) and arguably its most bleak and haunting lyric: I don’t want to die, but I can’t live like this.

“Misery Made Me” is a campaign hinged on SILVERSTEIN’s reflection and gratitude for their roots, their honoring of their earliest fans, and their staunch desire to explore forward-thinking and adventurous ways to connect with new ones.

“Misery Made Me” track listing:

01. Our Song
02. Die Alone (ft. Andrew Neufeld)
03. Ultraviolet
04. Cold Blood (ft. Trevor Daniel)
05. It’s Over
06. The Altar / Mary
07. Slow Motion (ft. Mike Hranica)
08. Don’t Wait Up
09. Bankrupt
10. Live Like This (ft. nothing,nowhere.)
11. Misery

SILVERSTEIN will hit the road in support of “Misery Made Me” on March 26. The run includes spring U.S. dates with BEARTOOTH, a European summer leg and fall performances at When We Were Young festival and the Emo’s Not Dead cruise.

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Z2 Comics reaches “a new level” in 2022 with the release of an ambitious graphic anthology paying tribute to one of the biggest bands in the history of heavy metal, whose innovative fusion of groove and hardcore served as one of the defining sounds of the 1990s: PANTERA.

“We’re really happy and excited to have this graphic novel come out for the fans, and to be a part of something special, as it pertains to its artists and creators,” PANTERA vocalist Philip Anselmo explains.

“Check out our killer new ‘Vulgar’ graphic novel. Can’t wait to check all of it out!! And neither will you!!” PANTERA bassist Rex Brown says.

In the grand tradition established by Z2, the “Vulgar Display Of Power” graphic novel unites famous fans of the band throughout comics and music to team up on adaptations of all eleven of the album’s tracks. Creators including Alan Robert (LIFE OF AGONY), Eric Peterson (TESTAMENT), Keith Buckley (EVERY TIME I DIE), Burton C. Bell (FEAR FACTORY) and Steve Niles (“30 Days Of Night”), and illustrators Brian Ewing, Erik Rodriguez, Ryan Kelly, Steve Chanks, Kevin Mellon, John Pearson and Danijel Zezelj will each offer a unique interpretation inspired by the lyrics and music to create a whole new way to experience this landmark work of heavy art.

Fronting this legacy of admiration and talent, legendary tattoo artist and friend of the band Paul Booth provides the stunning cover art, showing the grisly aftermath of the sucker-punch cover photo from the original album.

“I’m not sure I can even express what a tremendous honor it has been to work on this project for PANTERA,” Booth says. “The first music tour I ever went out on, PANTERA headlined. That was back in ’94 with SEPULTURA and BIOHAZARD. To this day, I still compare every tour I’ve been on to that one as it really was the most special for me. This project has been an awesome experience and I greatly thank everyone involved.”

“Vulgar Display Of Power” marked another turning point in PANTERA’s sound, as Anselmo traded his moments of falsetto for a commanding hardcore vocal assault, backed by the trademark guitar crunch of “Dimebag” Darrell Abbott and rounded out by Brown and drummer Vinnie Paul Abbott. The resulting sound was every bit as powerful as the album’s visceral cover art. Their most commercially successful record to that point, the album laid the groundwork for the band’s further domination of heavy radio and video airplay. Certified gold only a year later, this album has stood the test of time as one of the defining moments for the band and for the enduring legacy of heavy metal.

Z2 and PANTERA present “Vulgar Display Of Power” in both softcover and hardcover formats, as well as deluxe, super deluxe, and platinum editions packaged with an exclusive vinyl variant LP of the classic album, gallery-ready prints by Zezelj, Rodriguez and Robert, signed editions from Anselmo and Brown, plus more available exclusively through Z2’s webstore. Also available in a limited and numbered edition will be a one-time release of a special “punch action” resin statue paying tribute to the album’s iconic cover art.

The preeminent metal band of the early to mid-’90s, PANTERA put to rest any and all remnants of the ’80s metal scene, almost single-handedly demolishing any notion that hair metal, speed metal, power metal, et al., were anything but passé. Loathe to admit it, the Texas band had in fact been one of those ’80s metal bands, releasing fairly unsuccessful (and later disowned) glam-inspired music throughout much of the decade. The about-face came with the addition of Anselmo, and the key turning point was the band’s major-label debut, “Cowboys From Hell” (1990). PANTERA’s mainstream breakthrough came next with “Vulgar Display Of Power” (1992), their second major-label album, which thrust the band to the forefront of the metal scene, alongside such veteran bands as METALLICA, MEGADETH, SLAYER and ANTHRAX, as well as fellow up-and-comers SEPULTURA and WHITE ZOMBIE. By the time PANTERA unleashed “Far Beyond Driven” (1994), after two long years of touring, they were the most popular metal band in the land: the new album debuted atop the Billboard Top 200 as its lead single, “I’m Broken”, was getting massive airplay.

At the height of their popularity and influence, PANTERA began to self-destruct. Less than two months after the release of “The Great Southern Trendkill” (1996) — an album ridden with allusions to drug abuse and personal destruction — Anselmo overdosed on heroin after a homecoming concert in Texas, and as tensions rose between him and his fellow bandmembers, he began engaging with a growing list of side projects that kept him away from PANTERA. A live album, “Official Live: 101 Proof” (1997), was compiled for release when it became evident that no new studio album was forthcoming any time soon. One final studio album did result, “Reinventing The Steel” (2000), but that was more or less it for the briefly reunited PANTERA. The bandmembers once again went their separate ways, continuing with such bands as DAMAGEPLAN, DOWN and SUPERJOINT RITUAL.

The end of PANTERA then became official on December 8, 2004, when Dimebag was murdered on-stage by a deranged fan. This much-publicized murder shone the spotlight back on PANTERA for an extended moment, and amid all of the emotional outpouring and tributes, a consensus arose: in retrospect, there was no greater metal band during the early to mid-’90s than PANTERA, who inspired a legion of rabid fans and whose oft-termed “groove metal” style bucked all prevailing trends of the day — from hair metal and grunge to nu-metal and rap-metal — and remains singular to this day, as defined by the vocals of Anselmo as it is by the guitar of Dimebag.

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