Drummer Mario Duplantier of French progressive metallers GOJIRA spoke to Art Of Rock about his obsession with bodyboarding, a water sport in which the surfer rides a bodyboard on the crest, face, and curl of a wave that is carrying the surfer towards the shore. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “It’s not like surfing. Bodyboarding is like a smaller board. Since I’m a kid, I’m bodyboarding. So yesterday I was in the water during wintertime. I try to go every day. I’m truly addicted to the ocean and to bodyboarding. [The water is] super cold [right now here in France]. And outside it’s cold as well. But I have a good wet suit and all the gear.”

Duplantier went on to say that he has gone surfing with METALLICA bassist Robert Trujillo on a couple of occasions in the past. “When I was in California, he invited us to surf together,” he said. “And he’s also going in vacation in Biarritz, where I’m living right now in the Southwest of France; he’s coming sometimes during the summer with his wife and kids. So every time he’s here, we go surf together. He’s such, such a cool dude and a cool person. And a good surfer as well.”

Trujillo and METALLICA guitarist Kirk Hammett are frequent surfers. When they’re not playing stadium-sized concerts, you may find them riding waves in Portugal or Morocco. Trujillo had even partnered with a famous Australian surf brand to market a line of boardshorts.

GOJIRA’s latest album, “Fortitude”, entered Billboard’s Top Albums chart at No. 1 last May, while also claiming the No. 1 spot on Billboard’s Top Current Albums, Current Rock Albums and Current Hard Music Albums tallies. The release also marked a career high debut on the Billboard 200 for GOJIRA, arriving at No. 12, with several career high chart positions and Top 10 debuts in countries around the globe including: France (No. 2), United Kingdom (No. 6), Australia (No. 3), Germany (No. 8), Belgium (No. 2), Netherlands (No. 4), Denmark (No. 3), Portugal (No. 4), Finland (No. 2) and Norway (No. 10).

“Fortitude” was highlighted by the singles “Another World”, “Born For One Thing”, “Into The Storm”, “Amazonia” and “The Chant”, a slow-burning track featuring some of GOJIRA’s most melodic material to date.

Furthermore, GOJIRA concluded a month-long fundraising initiative in support of the indigenous-owned NGO The Articulation of Indigenous Peoples of Brazil (APIB) who advocate for environmental and cultural rights of indigenous tribes in the Amazon. Working with the social good-focused digital platform Propeller, the charitable campaign raised over $300,000 through an auction and raffle of one-of-a-kind items from the band and their friends in METALLICA, TOOL, SLIPKNOT, SLAYER, Slash and more. All proceeds were donated to APIB to support their work aiding the indigenous tribes of the Amazon who have suffered immensely — victims of deforestation, land loss, forced labor, violence, and harassment.

Recorded and produced by Joseph Duplantier at Silver Cord Studio — GOJIRA’s Ridgewood, Queens, New York headquarters — and mixed by Andy Wallace (NIRVANA, RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE), “Fortitude” is GOJIRA’s first album in five years and the follow-up to 2016’s Grammy-nominated LP “Magma”. A collection of songs urging humanity to imagine a new world and then make it happen, “Fortitude” has been earning widespread critical praise with Rolling Stone naming it one of their best albums of April 2021 and remarking “It’s all the rage of death metal mixed with the conscience of punk rock and the musicality of progressive rock.” NPR hailed “Another World” as “an apocalyptic banger,” and Paste called “Into The Storm” a “much-needed revolutionary anthem.” Stereogum declared, “hearing this band operating at their peak is a life-affirming thing,” while Revolver attested “Fortitude” “could spark a revolution.”

Prior to kicking off their long-awaited North American tour this April, legendary rockers THE WHO will play an acoustic show at this year’s Teenage Cancer Trust concerts at the Royal Albert Hall, London, United Kingdom on Friday, March 25.

Following their success with the 2020 acoustic shows at Pryzm, Kingston-on-Thames, Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend will front an acoustic band featuring Simon Townshend, Phil Spalding, Jodie Linscott, Billy Nicholls, Geraint Watkins, Charlie Hart and Andy Cutting, performing some WHO classics, rarities and all-time favorites.

The support band for this show are THE WILD THINGS, who have been in the studio recently recording their forthcoming album, produced by Townshend.

Tickets for this and all Teenage Cancer Trust concerts at the Royal Albert Hall will go on sale 9:00 a.m. on Friday, February 25.

THE WHO’s “The Who Hits Back!” tour will again share the stage with some of the finest orchestras in the U.S. and Canada. Produced by Live Nation, the kick-off date is April 22 in Hollywood, Florida at the Hard Rock Live for the spring leg of the tour and returns in the fall on October 2 in Toronto, Ontario at Scotiabank Arena.

THE WHO is hitting most of the cities the band was set to play in 2020 with multiple new stops, including shows in New Orleans, Louisiana at the New Orleans Jazz Festival on April 30, and a much-anticipated performance at New York City’s Madison Square Garden on May 26. After a summer break, THE WHO will continue in the fall, including stops in Chicago, Illinois at United Center on October 12, and in Los Angeles at the Hollywood Bowl on November 1. “The Who Hits Back!” tour winds down with two shows in Las Vegas, Nevada on November 4 and November 5 at Dolby Live at Park MGM.

“The Who Hits Back!” tour will feature THE WHO’s full live band comprised of guitarist/backup singer Simon Townshend, keyboardist Loren Gold, second keyboardist Emily Marshall, bassist Jon Button, drummer Zak Starkey and backing vocals by Billy Nicholls along with orchestra conductor Keith Levenson, lead violinist Katie Jacoby and lead cellist Audrey Snyder, passionately delivering THE WHO’s many classics, as well as songs from their most recent album, titled “Who”.

THE WHO’s wildly successful 2019 “Moving On!” tour brought the band’s iconic brand of incomparable rock through 29 cities, including a rollicking sold-out show in Boston’s historic Fenway Park, and a memorable Seattle show where PEARL JAM frontman Eddie Vedder joined them onstage for a rousing version of “The Punk And The Godfather” The tour generated the most unanimous outpouring of acclaim from critics and fans of any live rock show in 2019, winning raves across North America for the orchestral dynamic as well as the duo’s cathartic rock firepower and intimate acoustic numbers. “They’re not getting older. They’re getting better. You better, you better, you bet.” hailed the Worcester Telegram, with Pollstar magazine affirming “Daltrey is in peak form, and so is Townshend, lavishing his trademarked windmill guitar motion.”

In a new interview with Midwest Beatdown, KORN drummer Ray Luzier spoke about the fact that the band’s new album, “Requiem”, consists of only nine songs, with just one being more than four minutes long. “We tracked about, I wanna say 16, 17 tunes or something like that,” he said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET). “And there’s a lot of records where if you think a song is a filler, it doesn’t necessarily mean the next guy thinks it’s a filler; they might like the songs that aren’t singles better than the singles, so everyone’s got opinions. But on this record, we tracked a lot. There’s some that didn’t make it [where] I was literally, like, ‘Wait. How can that not make it? That’s an amazing song.’ But when you listen to ‘Requiem’ as a whole, I really believe that that’s the best possible material we could pick at this time. It’s like giving birth — there’s your babies, your songs, and you want everyone to hear ’em and receive them as well as they possibly can.

“We just had such a great time making this record over COVID,” Ray continued. “There was no rushing. We just went, ‘Hey, let’s meet in Bakersfield,’ our California studio; Head [guitarist Brian Welch] and I live in Nashville. And we’d fly out there and just take it little by little. There was no, ‘Oh, let’s rush this [before] we have to go on tour.’ It was, like, ‘Hey, let’s just make good music’ and come back and listen to it and weed out the bad and really make the good stuff stick.”

“Requiem” was released on February 4 via Loma Vista Recordings. The band celebrated the LP’s arrival with a special record-release event on February 3 at the Hollywood United Methodist Church in Los Angeles, California. “Requiem Mass” saw the Southern California heavy music pioneers perform an intimate set in front of a 300 attendees.

“Requiem” was produced by Chris Collier and KORN.

“Requiem” entered Billboard’s Hard Rock Albums chart at No. 1. The band sold 23,000 equivalent album units in the February 4-10 tracking week, according to Billboard. Of that sum, 20,000 units are from album sales. “Requiem” also landed at No. 2 on the Top Rock Albums and Top Alternative Albums charts. On the all-format Billboard 200, it arrived at No. 14.

The album’s first single, “Start The Healing”, is at No. 2 on the Mainstream Rock Airplay chart.

KORN kicked off a short run of shows with SYSTEM OF A DOWN on January 31 in Phoenix, followed by dates in San Diego (February 1) and Los Angeles (February 4 and February 5). KORN’s headlining tour with CHEVELLE and CODE ORANGE will launch March 4.

Photo by Tim Saccenti

Rob Halford says that he is “stoked” about the possibility of working on his debut blues solo album. The JUDAS PRIEST singer is collaborating with the same team that assisted him during the making of his 2019 Christmas LP “Celestial”, including his brother Nigel and his nephew Alex (son of PRIEST bassist Ian Hill).

Speaking to Joe Rock of Long Island, New York’s 102.3 WBAB radio station, Halford said about his upcoming blues record (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “I love the blues. Without the blues, we wouldn’t have rock and roll. The blues was born here in the United States and then slowly mutated into all these incredible styles and different dynamics and variations. Man, I think back to those originators, like Little Richard, Bill Haley, the anchor of the blues like Howlin’ Wolf, Muddy Waters, Bessie Smith, all these great people. So I was listening to those great performers as I was growing up as a kid. I love the blues, man. And I think most metal musicians would acknowledge the blues for playing such an important role.”

Halford continued: “So, here’s the deal. I made a Christmas album with my brother and my nephew and some friends recently called ‘Celestial’, and while we were there, I was saying to the guys, ‘I’ve got this thing about knocking around some blues ideas.’ And that’s all the guys needed. So they went away while I’ve been busy with PRIEST and we put together a substantial amount of material. And when I find time, we’re gonna bang it out. I’d love us to play in a room live together, ’cause they’re really talented. My brother is a drummer. My nephew is a bass player; he’s the son of the great bass god, Ian Hill [of JUDAS PRIEST]. And then we’ve got J.B. [Jon Blakey] on guitar, who was with us on ‘Celestial’. So we’re gonna keep it simple. But I’m excited. I’ve got all the stuff on my phone, like we do — that’s a danger — and I listen to it, and I get stoked about the possibility. So it’ll happen eventually, I’m sure.”

Last May, Halford told Kyle Meredith that he already had “enough material to make a [blues] record.” He added: “The only thing that I threw at the guys was do what you feel you wanna do in terms of ideas. I did give ’em a list of some of my favorite blues styles and blues performers as a little bit of a template for the guys to bounce off of.”

Rob reiterated that his upcoming blues album will be a varied effort covering a host of different styles and sounds. “You could go into one specific area and stay in that place and focus [on that and make] little subtle changes here and there, but much like the ‘Celestial’ album, I think this effort should just be a little texture of every taste of all these different blues flavors,” he explained to Kyle Meredith.

As for how his lyrical approach will be different for his blues album compared to the songs he writes for PRIEST, Halford said: “The blues is the blues. We all feel the blues, but you can have the happy blues as well as the sad blues, and you can have all of these characters in blues. The opportunities for stories for some of them, similar to the PRIEST inventions of fantasy, like the Sentinel or the Painkiller or any of those great characters that were created. You can throw your lyrics wherever you wanna throw them if they’re connecting with the music.

“Messages in music are vital, ’cause we like to hear stories that we can relate to or attach ourselves to, in reality or in fantasy,” he continued. “So that’s gonna be an adventure for me. I love to sit down with a pencil and a piece of paper, ’cause that’s how I do it, and just think. I have an idea, and I just throw some bullet words down instantly, and that’s how the seeds start to grow.”

A few years ago, Rob stated about his interest in making a blues record: “When I first became a musician in my late teens, I started to hear the extraordinary roots of the blues — Bessie Smith, Little Walter, Howlin’ Wolf, Muddy Waters. They gave me the buzz… It’s something I want to do because I want to explore what my voice can do in that wonderful world. That’s how I learned to do a lot of that soaring, sweeping, and screeching. And also I discovered that I’ve got a voice that can go in different octaves, directions, and different kinds of projections. It’s a combination of a sense of adventure and just being inspired by those guys, those wonderful singers. It’s a mixture of everything but mainly a discovery of what the voice can do.”

Back in 2015, Halford told Newsday.com that he was interested in recording a blues album and pursuing other non-heavy metal projects because he wanted to find out what his voice can do. He said: “I’ve always felt that [the blues is] very much a part of my background and musical roots. I don’t know what kind of blues album I could do because there are so many different facets [to explore]. Maybe I’ll just mix it up. As far as stuff out of the metal world, I’m a fan of people like Michael Bublé and Michael Feinstein. I’ve always been a fan of [Frank] Sinatra and Tony Bennett and Elvis [Presley]. I’d love to hear what my voice would sound like in that kind of musical mix, with wind instruments, trumpets and sax, piano, just that big-band sound.”

Halford credited his vocal versatility and ability to take his voice in “different directions” as the main reason he was “so interested in trying these other opportunities.” He said: I think if I had a voice that was different to what it is and was a little more in one focus, maybe I wouldn’t be as adventurous about my ideas. But because my voice is able to do those different things, it’s instinctive and natural to see what else I can do.”

Halford released his autobiography, “Confess”, in September 2020 via Hachette Books.

In a new interview with the WMSC radio station, GUNS N’ ROSES guitarist Slash paid tribute to classic AEROSMITH, saying: “There’s an AEROSMITH song called ‘Nobody’s Fault’ off the ‘Rocks’ record… It was one of the songs that when I first picked up the guitar, that was the record, that particular album, the timing of me hearing that record at the time when I heard it had a lot to do with how I ended up where I am. And [that song] was probably one of the most heavy hard rock songs — very indicative of the ’70s and very indicative of AEROSMITH at this certain time. And it wasn’t BLACK SABBATH heavy, it wasn’t ‘heavy metal, heavy metal,’ but it was still this really hardcore hard rock song. And so I always loved it.”

Slash previously discussed his love of early AEROSMITH more than a decade and a half ago in the special “Immortals” issue of Rolling Stone magazine chronicling “The 100 Greatest Artists of All Time”. At the time, he said: “I don’t think this generation has a clue what classic AEROSMITH was all about. But they were the template for what I do, as well as plenty of bands that came after GUNS N’ ROSES: SOUNDGARDEN, NIRVANA, ALICE IN CHAINS and PEARL JAM all owed a serious debt to old-school AEROSMITH.

“My big awakening happened when I was fourteen. I’d been trying to get into this older girl’s pants for a while, and she finally let me come over to her house. We hung out, smoked some pot and listened to AEROSMITH’s ‘Rocks’. It hit me like a fucking ton of bricks. I sat there listening to it over and over, and totally blew off this girl. I remember riding my bike back to my grandma’s house knowing that my life had changed. Now I identified with something.

“The key to ‘Rocks’ is the first two songs — ‘Back in the Saddle’ and ‘Last Child’. That combination just ripped my head off. But my favorite song on the record has always been ‘Nobody’s Fault’, which is the second song on the B side. AEROSMITH had an aggressive, psychotic, drugged-out vibe, but at the same time they had a STONES-y blues thing going on. There was just nothing cooler than AEROSMITH coming out of America at that point. What else was there? FOGHAT?

“When I was learning to play the guitar, AEROSMITH gave me the shove. I identified with Joe Perry’s image, both visually and soundwise. He was streamlined in a way that reminded me of Keith Richards, was always wasted and had a careless guitar style that was really cool. But I was also totally into Brad Whitford’s guitar solos, and he had a more direct influence on the way I play than anybody realizes. And anyone who sings needs to be exposed to Steven Tyler.

“My first AEROSMITH concert was in 1978. They were playing at a festival with VAN HALEN — they were incredibly loud and I barely recognized a note, but it was still the most bitchin’ thing I’d ever seen. Soon after that they broke up, which to me marked the end of Seventies rock. The next time I saw them was when they got back together six years later, and they were amazing. When AEROSMITH are in the groove, they’re just rock-solid. Not too long after that GUNS N’ ROSES were asked to open for AEROSMITH on their ‘Permanent Vacation’ tour. We went to their manager’s hotel room, and while he was in the bathroom we ordered $1,500 worth of room service and trashed the place. But they must have liked us a lot, because they put us on the bill anyway, and I’ve known them ever since.”

Slash is promoting the new album from SLASH FEATURING MYLES KENNEDY AND THE CONSPIRATORS, titled “4”, which was released on February 11 via Gibson Records in partnership with BMG. “4” is Slash’s fifth solo album and fourth overall with his band featuring Myles Kennedy (vocals), Brent Fitz (drums), Todd Kerns (bass, vocals) and Frank Sidoris (guitar, vocals).

SLASH FEATURING MYLES KENNEDY AND THE CONSPIRATORS kicked off a North American headlining tour on February 8, in Portland, Oregon. The trek will hit 28 major cities, including Los Angeles, New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Chicago, Denver, Nashville, Dallas, Austin, Houston, and more, before wrapping up March 26 in Orlando, Florida.

ANNIHILATOR leader Jeff Waters has once again opened up about his battle with COVID-19, saying that it took him six months to “get [his] lungs back.”

The 56-year-old guitarist/vocalist, who moved to the United Kingdom from his native Canada back in 2018, discussed his recent health issues in a new interview with Belgian Jasper. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “I caught COVID in April 2020, in the beginning. I had a bad, nasty one. I didn’t get as far as my friend Will Carroll from DEATH ANGEL where I got put into an induced coma in a hospital, but I got pretty close there for 12 days. It was one of those ‘human sitting on your chest’ and when you breathe in and out, it sounded like a crackling fire, like a bad asthma attack. And I made it through the 12 days without the ventilation, and I thought I was good. It took me six months to get my lungs back — six months. It was, like, ‘What?’ And then I had a hernia thing. It got bad and I had a surgery then. And then kidney stones from eating like crap. So since then, I’ve just done it all. I’ve been walking. I eat the most incredible diet that you would not believe… And I finally got the energy back. But, yeah, it was a year and a half of that.”

He continued: “Compared to some of the people I know and that we know and that the world knows, I had it easy. I’m lucky that I’m relatively healthy and there are good people and I’m not in financial danger and [I have] a lot of friends and a lot of support. And you know what? Despite the ridiculous leadership here and the government of the U.K. — I didn’t say that; I’m not political, publicly — but despite all that, they have an amazing health care system. And me as a Canadian who had a good life in Canada when I was there four years ago, the U.K. health care system is freakin’ awesome. So I was a lucky guy compared to a lot of people.”

earMusic recently announced a reissue series of (almost) the entire ANNIHILATOR catalog. Kicking off this extensive catalog campaign is “Metal II”, which has been given an overhaul with Dave Lombardo (SLAYER) on drums and lead vocals “re-invented” by Stu Block (INTO ETERNITY, ICED EARTH). The guest list on the album iincludes: Willie Adler (LAMB OF GOD), Alexi Laiho (CHILDREN OF BODOM), Steve “Lips” Kudlow (ANVIL), Dan Beehler (EXCITER), Jesper Strömblad (IN FLAMES), Angela Gossow (ARCH ENEMY), Jeff Loomis (ARCH ENEMY, NEVERMORE), Anders Björler (THE HAUNTED, AT THE GATES) and Corey Beaulieu (TRIVIUM).

In total, 18 records are going to be released over the next few years, including the original 2007 version of the “Metal” album.

Founded in 1984, ANNIHILATOR took the metal scene by storm with its debut 1989 release “Alice In Hell”, upped the ante with 1990’s “Never, Neverland” and has continued a non-stop career-pattern of releasing records and touring with many of the biggest bands in the metal genre (mostly outside North America) ever since; cementing ANNIHILATOR as the biggest-selling metal act in Canada’s history.

SCORPIONS singer Klaus Meine spoke to AXS TV about his band’s upcoming Las Vegas residency, “Sin City Nights”. The run of shows, which was originally slated to take place in July 2020 and was later pushed back to May 2021, will now happen in March-April, 2022 at Zappos Theater at Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino.

“We go to Vegas for nine shows, starting at the 26th of March until the middle of April,” he said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET). “And we’re looking very much forward to that. It’s a new show, a new production, and it’s nice, for a change, that we don’t have to travel every other day, waking up every morning in different cities, different places, different countries and continents. So we stay for quite a while there. It’s great not only for the band, but also for the crews.”

Asked if it’s hard on the body to go back on the road after 50 years of touring, Klaus said: “It’s not hard on the body after 50 years; it’s harder on the body after two years’ break. We never had a long break like this and we know it’s quite a challenge to go back on the same level playing shows like we used to. It’s two years ago by the time we will be back on the road, and this is something you have to work your body back to this level. Especially for me being the singer, you have to get those little pipes ready to rock and ready to roll, and it’s impossible to do it from one day to the other. You have to prepare yourself. And it goes for the whole band.”

He continued: “We had the first rehearsals here in the studio playing the new set, putting the new songs in the setlist, and we will have more rehearsal days here in Peppermint Park [studios in Hannover, Germany] before we go to the U.S. But you have to build it up yourself. It will be different. But it will be also, especially going through this pandemic, for all of us — not only for the band, but also for the audience, for our fans — it will be very, very emotional, finally to come together, to enjoy a concert together. It will be different. It will be very emotional, I think.”

SCORPIONS previously played a Las Vegas mini-residency in May 2016, consisting of five shows at The Joint at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino.

SCORPIONS’ 19th studio album, “Rock Believer”, will be released on February 25, The LP was recorded primarily at Peppermint Park Studios in Hannover, Germany and was mixed at the legendary Hansa Studios in Berlin, Germany with engineer Michael Ilbert, who has earned multiple Grammy nominations for his mix work with producer Max Martin on albums by Taylor Swift and Katy Perry.

SCORPIONS’ new album will mark their first release since 2017’s “Born To Touch Your Feelings – Best Of Rock Ballads”, which was an anthology of new and classic material.

SCORPIONS originally intended to record the new album in Los Angeles with producer Greg Fidelman, whose previous credits include SLIPKNOT and METALLICA. However, because of the pandemic, some of the initial work was done with Greg remotely, after which SCORPIONS opted to helm the recordings themselves with the help of their engineer Hans-Martin Buff.

SCORPIONS’ last full-length collection of new recordings was the aforementioned “Return To Forever”, partially comprising songs the band had in the vault from the ’80s. It was the final recorded appearance of SCORPIONS’ longtime drummer James Kottak, who was dismissed from the band in September 2016. He has since been replaced by Mikkey Dee, formerly of MOTÖRHEAD.