In a recent Cameo video requested by Sobre La Dosis, former DREAM THEATER and current THE WINERY DOGS drummer Mike Portnoy was asked to name his favorite decade for heavy metal: the 1980s or the 1990s. He responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “Well, for metal, I would have to say the ’80s, ’cause the ’90s started to go downhill. Once grunge came around, the ’90s… Really, the only thing going for metal, for me at least, in the ’90s was PANTERA, SEPULTURA and MACHINE HEAD; those were the only new bands, really, doing metal. All of the other great metal bands of the ’90s all came around in the ’80s. So for me, the ’80s, we got METALLICA, ANTHRAX, SLAYER, OVERKILL, EXODUS, MEGADETH… That was all the thrash scene, and then all the early ’80s stuff, you had RAINBOW and AC/DC and ACCEPT and MOTÖRHEAD and [BLACK] SABBATH and [JUDAS] PRIEST and [IRON] MAIDEN. So I think the ’80s were definitely the stronger decade of the two.”

Back in July 2018, Portnoy touched upon how the rise of grunge in the early 1990s forced most hard rock bands off the radio and MTV, with album and tour sales plummeting, while speaking to Metal Wani about the passing of PANTERA drummer Vinnie Paul Abbott. At the time, he said: “I think [PANTERA] were the perfect band that was needed in the metal world around ’91, ’92, because pretty much the ‘Big Four’ were kind of knocked out of style by grunge. SLAYER, MEGADETH, ANTHRAX, METALLICA and then also TESTAMENT and EXODUS and OVERKILL, all those bands around the early ’90s got killed by grunge. So PANTERA was the only band to really carry metal through the ’90s. I’d say PANTERA, MACHINE HEAD and SEPULTURA — to me, those were the three that were carrying it through. But PANTERA were the top of those.”

In 2015, Portnoy stated about his love of metal: “I’m a metalhead through and through. I was always a metalhead in a prog band. I’m also the biggest proghead you’ll ever meet too. I’m just the biggest music fan you’ll ever meet — whether it be prog, classic rock, metal — I’m ‘all in’ in every genre. DREAM THEATER got heavy, and most of that was my doing, and AVENGED is a kind of heavy, and ADRENALINE MOB is a kind of heavy, but my roots are with SABBATH, MAIDEN, PRIEST, MOTÖRHEAD, METALLICA, SLAYER, ANTHRAX, PANTERA, MEGADETH…

“Even though I was in a prog band, doing a different kind of music, these guys — the guys in ANTHRAX and PANTERA and MEGADETH — they were always my buddies,” he explained. “If DREAM THEATER was playing a festival with these bands, I was always hanging out with these guys, so we kind of all have grown up in our careers together, even though I was in a different genre.”

Portnoy, who co-founded DREAM THEATER more than 35 years ago, abruptly quit the band in September 2010 while on tour with AVENGED SEVENFOLD. He has since been replaced by Mike Mangini (ANNIHILATOR, EXTREME, JAMES LABRIE, STEVE VAI).

Rock And Roll Hall Of Famers FOO FIGHTERS will be giving the people even more of what they want. The band has added no less than 10 more evenings of life-affirming rock communion across the U.S. and Canada throughout 2022.

Tickets for the newly announced headline shows will be on sale to the public Friday, February 18 at 10 a.m. local time. Citi cardmembers will have access to exclusive presales for the Sioux Falls and Bend shows from Tuesday, February 15 at 10 a.m. local through Thursday, February 17 at 10 p.m. local.

The new dates expand FOO FIGHTERS’ North American run that kicked off in 2021 with already legendary marathon shows including the return of rock n roll to Madison Square Garden and the Forum in L.A., a triumphant Lollapalooza headline set, and literally dozens more — all eliciting some of the most ecstatic reactions in FOO FIGHTERS history.

FOO FIGHTERS 2022 North American tour dates:

Feb. 26 – Tempe, AZ – Innings Festival
Apr. 29 – May 1 – Memphis, TN – Beale Street Music Festival
May 01 – New Orleans, LA – New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival
May 14 – Burgettstown, PA – The Pavilion at Star Lake
May 16 – Columbia, MD – Merriweather Post Pavilion (sold out)
May 18 – Columbia, MD – Merriweather Post Pavilion (sold out)
May 20 – Raleigh, NC – Coastal Credit Union Music Park (sold out)
May 22/22 — Daytona Beach, FL — Welcome To Rockville
May 24 – Charlotte, NC – PNC Music Pavilion (sold out)
May 27 – Boston, MA – Boston Calling
Jul. 17 – New York, NY – Citi Field
Jul. 19 – Saratoga Springs, NY – Saratoga Performing Arts Center
Jul. 22 – Toronto, ON – Rogers Centre
Jul. 24 – Philadelphia, PA – Lincoln Financial Field
Jul. 27 – Bangor, ME – Maine Savings Amphitheater
Jul. 29 – Montreal, QC – Osheaga Festival
Aug. 01 – Noblesville, IN – Ruoff Music Center (sold out)
Aug. 03/22 — Minneapolis, MN — US Bank Stadium
Aug. 06 – Denver, CO – Empower Field at Mile High
Aug. 08 – Salt Lake City, UT – USANA Amphitheater
Aug. 10 – Big Sky, MT – Big Sky Events Arena (sold out)
Aug. 13 – Seattle, WA – T-Mobile Park
Aug. 18 – Los Angeles, CA – Banc of California Stadium
Aug. 20 – Los Angeles, CA — Banc of California Stadium (sold out)

New tour dates:

Sep. 18 – Sioux Falls, SD – Denny Sanford Premier Center
Sep. 21 – Winnipeg, MB – Canada Life Arena
Sep. 23 – Saskatoon, SK – SaskTel Centre
Sep. 25 – Regina, SK – Brandt Centre
Sep. 27 – Edmonton, AB – Rogers Place
Sep. 29 – Calgary, AB – Scotiabank Saddledome
Oct. 01 – Penticton, BC – South Okanagan Events Centre
Oct. 03 – Victoria, BC – Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre
Oct. 05 – Vancouver, BC – Rogers Arena
Oct. 07 – Bend, OR – Hayden Homes Amphitheater

The 2022 dates will mark FOO FIGHTERS’ most extensive North American run since the February 2021 release of the band’s 10th album, “Medicine At Midnight” (Roswell/RCA) — hailed as “brighter and more optimistic than anything they’ve ever done” (Rolling Stone)” and “one of FOO FIGHTERS’ best albums of this century” (The Wall Street Journal).

“Medicine At Midnight” landed at No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Album Sales chart with first-week sales of 64,000 copies in the U.S.

FOO FIGHTERS previously topped the chart with 2017’s “Concrete And Gold” and 2011’s “Wasting Light”.

23,000 of “Medicine At Midnight”‘s first-week sales came from vinyl LP sales, with CDs and digital albums registering 20,000 each.

“Medicine At Midnight” is a nine-song, 37-minute effort which was produced by the FOO FIGHTERS and Greg Kurstin.

Fan-filmed video footage of IRON MAIDEN singer Bruce Dickinson belting out an a cappella version of the song “Man Of Sorrows” during his February 11 spoken-word show at the Vic Theater in Chicago, Illinois can be seen below.

“Man Of Sorrows” was featured in the low-budget 2008 British horror movie “Chemical Wedding” (titled “Crowley” for the U.S. release) which was written for the screen by Dickinson. The film was described as “a gothic sci-fi extravaganza” set in Trinity College Cambridge, where a scientific experiment goes awry resulting in the resurrection of the infamous Edwardian occultist Aleister Crowley, who was immortalized into pop culture by the likes of THE BEATLES, Jimmy Page and Ozzy Osbourne.

In introducing his a cappella version of “Man Of Sorrows”, Bruce told the Chicago audience: “This is a song that I did for a movie, for the ‘Chemical Wedding’, which ended up being the movie ‘Crowley’, which was the movie that should have had three million budget but actually ended up with five hundred thousand, and, unfortunately, you could tell.”

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.

Dickinson is considered one of the world’s most storied musicians. Aside from decades spent delivering high-octane performances with his larger-than-life persona in IRON MAIDEN, Bruce has lived an extraordinary off-stage existence too. A true polymath, his accomplishments include: pilot and airline captain, aviation entrepreneur, beer brewer, motivational speaker, film scriptwriter, twice-published novelist and Sunday Times best-selling author, radio presenter, TV actor, sports commentator and international fencer — to name but a few.

Dickinson, who had a golf gall-size tumor on his tongue and another in the lymph node on the right side of his neck, got the all-clear in May 2015 after radiation and nine weeks of chemotherapy.

ANTHRAX guitarist Scott Ian was joined by his 10-year-old son Revel Young Ian on drums as they performed a rendition of the SYSTEM OF A DOWN classic “Bounce” for an Instagram video which Scott shared on Sunday (February 13).

Scott captioned the clip: “A big BOUNCE for BOWL day!!!”

Two members of SYSTEM OF A DOWN weighed in on the performance, with bassist Shavo Odadjian writing in the comments “Bad Assssssss!!” while guitarist Daron Malakian stated: “This is Awesome @scottianthrax the kid can really play. Your not so bad yourself!!!!! Such an honor!!”

Scott previously shared videos of him and Revel performing the SEPULTURA songs “Roots Bloody Roots” and “Territory”.

Revel is apparently a gifted multi-instrumentalist who joined the FOO FIGHTERS on stage in September 2019 at the Bourbon & Beyond festival in Louisville, Kentucky to perform “Everlong” on guitar when he was just eight years old.

Back in 2014, Ian told Horns Up Rocks that his then-three-old son was a big fan of METALLICA, THE BEATLES and AC/DC and that he could already tell the difference between Bon Scott’s voice and that of Brian Johnson.

“He knows a lot of the stuff that he hears or sees in the house,” Scott said at the time. “But what’s really cool is that he actually recognizes and knows the difference between Bon Scott and Brian Johnson, which is pretty cool, I think, for an almost three-year-old. Anytime AC/DC is on, he’ll go, ‘That’s Bon singing.’ And then when it’s not Bon, he’ll say, ‘That’s not Bon singing.’ He knows. That’s pretty cool, I think.”

Asked whether metal musicians should be parents, Ian said it was the best thing that had ever happened to him. He added: “I think you have to take that on a case-by-case basis. I couldn’t say enough about having a child; I think it’s the greatest thing ever in the whole world. But I do think that there are a lot of people on this planet, not necessarily metal musicians, that shouldn’t be parents.”

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