In honor of the legendary B.B. King, the Gibson Custom Shop launches the B.B. King Lucille Legacy, based on his personal and most well-known guitar.The Gibson B.B. King Lucille Legacy features standout appointments including split block inlays, gold hardware, with a gold “B.B. King” engraved truss rod cover, and a TP-6 tailpiece with fine tuners. A “Lucille” mother of pearl inlay adorns the headstock, and the ebony fretboard features split block mother of pearl inlays. A mono Varitone switch, along with four audio taper CTS potentiometers and paper-in-oil Bumblebee capacitors, are paired to Gibson Custombucker humbucking pickups. The hollow-body design remains, but the f-Holes are gone, in keeping with B.B. King’s personal preferences. The top, back and sides of the body of the guitar feature figured maple veneer, which is visible through the Transparent Ebony finish.“We are honored to celebrate the life and spirit of B.B. King with this very special addition to Gibson Custom Shop’s Artist Collection,” says Mat Koehler, Senior Director of Product Development, Gibson Brands. “The Lucille Legacy model features both classic Lucille features and some new ornate elements like split block inlays and a stunning figured maple body. Its beauty and character pay tribute to the man who brought joy to millions around the globe and created music so powerful it will live forever.”B.B. King Lucille LegacySpending his life sharing the music of his soul, the man born Riley B. King would grow up to be one of the most influential blues musicians of all time, being crowned “The King of the Blues.” Releasing over 50 albums and 2400 master recordings along the way, The King of The Blues, gathered up other musicians in his wake and melded them into the harmony of his animating passion. As a 15-time GRAMMY Award Winner and the recipient of “The Recording Academy Lifetime Achievement Award,” the King’s global audience continues to expand worldwide and reaches over 90 million average yearly streams.The B.B. King Lucille Legacy was crafted for fans to experience worldwide at authorized Gibson dealers and on www.gibson.com.

Corey Taylor says that SLIPKNOT’s new studio album will arrive within the next three months. The follow-up to 2019’s “We Are Not Your Kind” was recorded in 2021 with producer Joe Barresi, who has previously worked with AVENGED SEVENFOLD, QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE and CHEVELLE, among many others.

The 48-year-old singer offered a possible timetable for the new SLIPKNOT album release during an appearance earlier today (Wednesday, February 2) on SiriusXM’s “Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk”. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “The record is actually in the process of being mixed right now. Everything is finished, so it’s just being mixed right now, which is rad news. So it’s probably gonna take… I think it’s probably gonna be another three months [before it is released]. The artwork’s done. We just came up with the title. I’m not gonna tell you it right now. But we’re really stoked. So hopefully three months from now — well, less than that — we’ll get the single out, and then three months from now we’ll get the album out.”

As for the musical direction of the new SLIPKNOT material, Corey said: “It’s really killer, man. It’s darker than ‘We Are Not Your Kind’, but there’s a ton of melody. I’ve been telling everybody that it’s like a heavier version of ‘Vol. 3[: (The Subliminal Verses)]’. It’s got so many textures and layers. The heavy stuff has attack but the melodic stuff you can just sink your teeth in; there’s a lot of great melodies and hooks. I’m really, really excited for people to hear it.”

Last November, SLIPKNOT released a new single called “The Chapeltown Rag”. Taylor described the song to Knotfest.com as “a punisher,” saying it documents what happens when the distortions of mass media circulate within the echo chambers of social media.

“It’s classic SLIPKNOT,” said Corey about the track, which is inspired by a Netflix documentary he watched about the Yorkshire Ripper serial killer who murdered multiple women in the West Yorkshire, United Kingdom suburb Chapeltown in the late 1970s. “And it’s frenetic. But lyrically, it’s coming from a point of talking about the various manipulations that can happen when social media meets media itself. And the different ways that these manipulations can try to pull us in different directions, in the fact that we’re all becoming addicts to it, which is very, very dangerous.”

“We Are Not Your Kind” was released in August 2019. The LP sold 118,000 equivalent album units in the U.S. in its first week of release to land at position No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart. Furthermore, the album made an impact worldwide with No. 1 debuts in the United Kingdom, Mexico, Australia, Canada, Japan, Ireland, Belgium, Portugal and Finland, as well as Top 5 debuts in Germany, France, Norway, Italy, Austria, Sweden, Switzerland, The Netherlands, Poland, Spain and New Zealand.

Last month, SLIPKNOT announced the 2022 iteration of its infamous “Knotfest Roadshow” tour. The trek will take place over two legs, both headlined by SLIPKNOT. The first leg will feature special guests IN THIS MOMENT and JINJER. The second leg will feature special guests CYPRESS HILL and HO99O9.

The first leg of the 38-date tour, 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.

2021 marked a banner year for SLIPKNOT. Making a triumphant return to the road, their “Knotfest Roadshow 2021” tour sold out amphitheaters across the country, bookended with the record-breaking Knotfest Iowa and the biggest headline show of their career, Knotfest Los Angeles at Banc of California Stadium, where they debuted “The Chapeltown Rag”. In addition, they topped the bills of multiple internationally renowned festivals, including Riot Fest, Rocklahoma, Inkcarceration and Welcome To Rockville.

“Knotfest Roadshow” 2022 will be part of Live Nation’s Live Stubs initiative which provides digital collectible NFT ticket stubs to ticket holders. Live Stubs will automatically be included with tickets purchased for the tour. Fans will also be able to view, share, gift, trade, and resell their live stubs on LiveNation.com.

In a new interview with the “Loaded Radio” podcast, former TYPE O NEGATIVE drummer Johnny Kelly was asked if there has ever been any talk of staging a concert in honor of the band’s late frontman Peter Steele. He responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “Coffee talk. There was never any serious consideration, like, should we do something? Is there even a point of doing it? Or also, is it just a blatant cash grab? So all these things go through your head.

“People celebrate [Peter] all the time,” he continued. “They do it daily. I see it online all the time and the impact that he had.

“Maybe somewhere down the road there may be something that’s… I don’t know. But I know that for me, it would have to include Kenny [Hickey, guitar] and Josh [Silver, keyboards] as well. Anything that we do, it would have to be the three of us. And there’s no way you’re getting Josh to do anything like that. [Laughs]”

Asked who would handle Peter’s vocal parts if they ever did end up doing a tribute concert, Johnny said: “I don’t know. I’d want a girl to do it. I’d want a female vocalist — like Ann Wilson [HEART] or something like that. [Laughs] But even so, that’s the first thing. When you think about doing some kind of tribute show, you’re just gonna get all these people… Yes, Peter was very highly regarded by our peers and stuff like that, and you’ll just get a bunch of dudes up there just trying to sound like Peter. And you can’t do that. And it’s, like, all right, so what’s the most remote thing from Peter? You’d have to do something completely abstract. And I would say get a female vocalist. I think Peter would get a kick out of… He would get off on seeing a girl sing his songs, seeing a female sing them. And it would really stress the point of doing something as a tribute instead of trying to recreate something.”

Steele passed away in April 2010 from heart failure at the age of 48. Born Petrus T. Ratajczyk on January 4, 1962 in Brooklyn, New York, he stood 6′ 7″ (201 cm) tall, and had a low, bass-heavy voice, which was one of the most recognizable features in TYPE O NEGATIVE’s music.

Before forming TYPE O NEGATIVE, Steele played for the metal group FALLOUT and the thrash band CARNIVORE.

“Going through a midlife crisis and having many things change very quickly made me realize my mortality,” Steele told Decibel magazine in 2007. “And when you start to think about death, you start to think about what’s after it. And then you start hoping there is a God. For me, it’s a frightening thought to go nowhere. I also can’t believe that people like Stalin and Hitler are gonna go to the same place as Mother Teresa.”

In a 2020 interview with Meltdown of Detroit’s WRIF radio station, Kelly said about Steele: “Peter, for the most part, he was a clown. He was always joking around — sarcastic, very self-deprecating humor. Just the opposite of what the music portrayed. When we were working on music and stuff, the end result, he was very serious about what he wanted, how he wanted something to sound. Other times, he was a clown.

“I always said that he wanted to be a normal person, but because he was Peter, that was just not in the cards for him; it was completely impossible,” he continued. “I bet he would love to just be able to hang out, go to the bar, have a few drinks. And we would try to do that, and the minute he would come out to the bar, everybody gravitated towards him. He couldn’t go to the store by his house without something happening to him.”

Asked if that was because of Peter’s size, Johnny said: “I think so. He just had this very striking look. He didn’t look normal. And he had fangs. [Laughs] He was six and a half feet tall, [had] long black hair and fangs. You’re not gonna get the normal response when you’re going grocery shopping.”

During the question-and-answer portion of his January 27 spoken-word show at Riffe Center Theatre Complex in Columbus, Ohio, IRON MAIDEN singer Bruce Dickinson was asked to name his favorite female vocalist of all time. He said: “The one that rolls off the tip of my tongue is Ann Wilson from HEART. Although she didn’t have the kind of — not charisma; notoriety or whatever of somebody like a Janis Joplin, an equally great voice and things like that, she’s just a complete all-arounder. The most amazing voice… A beautiful folk singer, fantastic metal singer with a lovely edge to it, flawless technique. Honestly, not worthy. Amazing.”

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.

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, 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.

Bruce’s second wife, Paddy was found dead in May 2020 at the home they once shared in Chiswick, West London, following a “tragic accident.” London Ambulance Service confirmed that the patient was pronounced dead on arrival.

Bruce and Paddy had married in 1990 after two years of dating and shared three children: Austin, Griffin and Kia. They tied the knot after dating for two years following Bruce’s split from first wife Jane.

Dickinson is believed to have split from Bowden privately in 2018, although their breakup wasn’t made public until November 2019.

Bruce, 63, now reportedly lives in Paris with fitness instructor Leana Dolci.

Billy Idol has pulled out of his previously announced tour with JOURNEY in order to undergo surgery for a chronic sinus infection.

The 66-year-old rocker, who burst on to the scene in the 1980s, was scheduled to support JOURNEY on the “Freedom Tour 2022” beginning on February 22 and ending on April 5, after which TOTO was slated to fill the opening slot. As a result of Idol’s cancelation, TOTO will now support JOURNEY on the entire tour, which will end on May 11 in Hartford, Connecticut.

Earlier today, Idol released the following statement: “I haven’t felt like myself since mid-December with a sinus infection that won’t respond to medication. It has worsened to the point where I have no choice but to have a procedure which I expect will put me on a path to recovery soon.

“The last thing I ever want to do is cancel shows and I am absolutely gutted that I won’t be able to perform the upcoming dates with JOURNEY as planned.

“I wish JOURNEY only the best on their tour and give thanks to TOTO for stepping in for me.”

In December, Billy canceled his appearance at the third “Above Ground” benefit concert after catching a “respiratory cold.”

Last September, Idol issued a new EP, “The Roadside” — his first new release in nearly seven years — via Dark Horse Records. Produced by Butch Walker (GREEN DAY, WEEZER) and featuring Idol’s longtime lead guitarist and co-writer Steve Stevens, “The Roadside” was conceived, recorded, and mixed almost entirely under the shadow of the pandemic.

For 45 years, Idol has been one of the faces and voices of rock’n’roll, with an artistic resume to match the brilliant light of the image. First as the camera-ready frontman for GENERATION X, between 1977 and 1981 Idol emerged with three albums that made positivity, emotional depth, and high pop synonymous with punk rock. In 1982, Idol embarked on a remarkable transatlantic/trans-genre solo career that integrated clubland throb, wide-screen depth and drama, rockabilly desperation, the bold and simple lines of punk, and rock’n’roll decadence.

I am absolutely gutted… BFI
⬇️ pic.twitter.com/jsBLm1fUg8
— Billy Idol (@BillyIdol) February 2, 2022

Aaron Marshall loves guitar. “I make a living every day playing the electric guitar. My identity is built around this thing. I’ve been my own boss since 2015,” he declared in a 2021 PG interview.Aaron Marshall believes in guitar: “Anyone who thinks the death of the electric guitar is upon us is very out of touch. You can’t hold its head underwater. The electric guitar is iconic. It’s not going anywhere.”And Aaron Marshall is never satisfied with guitar: “Everything’s perfect. Let’s change it all,” the Intervals visionary joked during this new Rig Rundown. “Everything is different, which is probably the most on-brand thing I can provide. But hopefully this is the beginning of that not being the case.”The guitar disciple started Intervals back in 2011. He’s been the solo constant member and the band’s musical pilot. He’s put out four riveting, guitar-centric albums to date. And sure, the obvious 6-string influences are found within Intervals’ music, with complementing flavors of prog, metal, djent, and jazz all percolating together. But the ’90s kid has an unabashed love for Top 40 pop and has drawn from acts like NYSYNC, TLC, and Destiny’s Child, too, giving Intervals’ music more bounce, groove, and life. “I’ll challenge myself to put my spin on a chord progression that feels like [TLC’s] ‘No Scrubs,’ but still be Intervals about it. It’s always an experiment between me and the guitar. These sorts of experiments yield new songs.”Before Intervals’ December ’21 headlining show at Nashville’s Mercy Lounge, prog-rock maestro Marshall reconnected with PG’s Perry Bean to catalog his rig revamp. The ensuing conversation covered the decision to pass on a high-end (but limited) partnership with Mayones for a collaboration with Schecter that aims to bring guitars to everyone across the globe. (“You still have young people that are really interested in music for music’s sake. And there is this wave of online instrumental guitar music that is the best it’s ever been.”) Plus, he meticulously details how he’s testing Neural DSP’s pedalboard powerhouse with a space-encompassing stereo setup that will resonate with fans in every corner of the room.[Brought to you by D’Addario XPND Pedalboard: https://ddar.io/xpnd.rr]Trial by TourOur first Rig Rundown of 2020 also featured Aaron Marshall. In that episode, he showed off a batch of gorgeous prototypes from Poland’s high-end guitar maker Mayones. The relationship eventually presented two issues for Marshall: the limited quantities produced by this handmade shop and the top-tier price tags that would make them a rare commodity for most of his fans. What he really wanted was a way to encourage more novices to pick up the instrument.“Everything is completely amicable with Mayones—I love those dudes—but a very quality opportunity with Schecter presented itself where I’ll get influence over models that will be actually obtainable for a reasonable price point,” adds Marshall.He toured the States in late 2021 with four Schecter signature protypes (a pair of 6-strings and 7-strings). First, his new guitar starts with Schecter’s “super-strat” C-1 platform. The DNA of these testers include a basswood body, quartersawn wenge neck (with carbon-fiber reinforcement and a truss-rod wheel), and ebony fretboard (lighted up with Luminlays side dots for dark stages). He admits to focusing a healthy amount of its development on the neck profile because he believes that “the neck dictates the user experience” and wenge was selected because “it has an heirloom-esque feel that gives you a really nice handshake with some character.” It has a real-deal Japanese Gotoh 510 Series trem (with a steel block), extra-jumbo stainless-steel frets, and is decked out with Hipshot hardware. For this run, he was auditioning Schecter’s Custom Shop Pasadena Plus pickups, but noted that those could change before production starts. (Also, he hints at a future U.S.-made model that would come with Bare Knuckle pickups.) Marshall still puts D’Addario NYXL strings (.009–.046, and .009–.064 for 7-string) on all his guitars.Head TurnerMarshall wanted something new and something old when codesigning the headstock. So, he took Schecter’s classic, 6-in-line silhouette and reversed it (a first for the company). It also has a more severe tilt-back break than standard Schecters, removing the need for a string tree.Secret SignatureThe lone serial number and signature marking on the instrument is reserved for a subtle spot on the back of the headstock.Shred NeckMarshall has always preferred a bolt-on neck, and things are shored up with a 4-screw connection. This curvy layout gives full access to all 24 frets.The Whole EnchiladaHere’s the No. 1 prototype from boot to bonnet.Another String, Another InchSchecter and Marshall are also testing a 7-string model. Everything is the same as the 6-string, but this instrument has a 26.5″ scale length to help with string tension.Smaller Footprint, Bigger Tones“People can get confused when they see changes in this type of stuff and think ‘Oh, this must be better’” comments Marshall. “Everything is sick in 2021. It’s all good.” Last time we checked in with Marshall and Intervals, he was running a Fractal Audio Axe-Fx III. But as you see here, another transformation happened when he swapped out the rackmount unit out for the smaller, pedalboard-ready Neural DSP Quad Cortex. (Again, no bad blood between Aaron and Fractal. He still loves their gear, too.) And the ethos behind this rig is the same in as the past, where impulse-response-based tones are feeding the front of house PA and a Seymour Duncan PowerStage 700 compact head is pumping the onstage cabs.Within the Quad Cortex, Marshall created three specific impulse responses with different frequencies for rhythm, lead, and split-coil sounds. The amps he uses within the unit include a Friedman (“hot sounds”), JCM800 (“clangy twangy sounds”), Bogner Shiva (“clean sounds that need a little spring and bounce”), and a Roland JC-120 Jazz Chorus (“stylized ’80s cleans”).More than Meets the EyeThis is it—everything that Marshall uses to power up for an Intervals live show. Alongside the Neural DSP Quad Cortex, he employs a Hologram Electronics Microcosm for stutter/glitch effects, a Red Panda Tensor for laser sounds, and the DigiTech FreqOut for instant feedback. A Boss EV-30 Dual Expression pedal helps handle the filter on the Microcosm and dial in dynamics for the Quad Cortex. A TC Electronic PolyTune 3 Mini keeps his Schecters in check. And everything is housed on a custom Temple Audio DUO Series Templeboard.Revv RockAnother evolution is the stereo cabinets onstage, which providing a completely symmetrical sound. Both Aaron Marshall and guitarist Travis LeVrier each have a pair of custom vertical Revv 2x12s (with exquisite paisley tooling) that have a couple of Celestions: a Vintage 30 (bottom) and a G12M 65 Creamback (top).

LIFE OF AGONY has canceled the remaining shows on its tour of the U.S. Northeast tour after singer Mina Caputo and drummer Veronica Bellino tested positive for COVID-19, the disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus. The concerts in Poughkeepsie, New York (February 2); Brooklyn, New York (February 4); and Asbury Park, New Jersey (February 5) will be rescheduled for a later time.

Earlier today, LIFE OF AGONY released the following statement: “We have unfortunate news to share: both Mina and Veronica have tested positive for COVID and sadly we must cancel the rest of the Northeast run.

“We are terribly sorry. These are crazy times and we’re all doing our best to navigate through it together.

“To all of our fans, we plan to make up the shows as soon as we can. We’d especially like to thank DOG EAT DOG, KINGS NEVER DIE, the opening bands, the venues, promoters, and all of the crew for everything.”

Last month, Deadline reported that Cinedigm has picked up North American rights on “The Sound Of Scars”. The film is described as a deeply personal documentary which chronicles LIFE OF AGONY’s rise, fall and rebirth while confronting domestic violence, substance abuse and addiction, depression and Caputo’s gender transition. A spring release is expected.

“The Sound Of Scars” was directed by Leigh Brooks and filmed across several countries while LIFE OF AGONY was on and off the road.

LIFE OF AGONY’s most recent studio album, titled “The Sound Of Scars”, was released in 2019 to critical acclaim. It was named “Album of the Year” by The Aquarian Weekly and took the No. 1 spot on Metal Hammer’s (Germany) “Best Of 2019” list (alt-rock/punk).

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Former VAN HALEN bassist and current MAMMOTH WVH frontman Wolfgang Van Halen joined Matt Pinfield for this week’s episode of 95.5 KLOS’s “New & Approved” show. Wolfgang chatted with Matt about the excitement of being nominated for a Grammy Award for MAMMOTH WVH’s song “Distance” before discussing how he started playing music as a child. While his father Eddie Van Halen helped, he also let Wolfgang find his own journey as he explored drums, guitar, bass, and keyboards. Wolfgang also talked about MAMMOTH WVH’s self-titled debut album and he went into detail about the album’s single “Epiphany”. He went on to chat about his greatest influences, including Prince, Dave Grohl, BLINK-182 and AC/DC, and what inspired him to play every instrument on the LP.

Regarding what his reaction was like to the Grammy nomination, Wolfgang said: “That was a pretty crazy morning. Gosh, it’s just something I never could have expected from this in any way at all. I write and do all this music just kind of ’cause it’s what makes me happy, and to see that it resonated enough with people and to have it be nominated for a Grammy is just kind of unbelievable.”

As previously reported, MAMMOTH WVH and DIRTY HONEY recently postponed the launch of their “Young Guns” co-headlining tour to February 20 from the previously announced January 18.

Both of these “young guns” spent their summer on high-profile U.S. tours — DIRTY HONEY with THE BLACK CROWES and MAMMOTH WVH with GUNS N’ ROSES. With only two live gigs under their collective belt, MAMMOTH WVH’s tour initiation was a baptism by fire, opening for the iconic GUNS N’ ROSES in stadiums. At the end of the tour, in Hollywood, Florida, GUNS N’ ROSES brought Wolfgang Van Halen back onstage to join them performing “Paradise City”.

MAMMOTH WVH’s touring lineup features Wolfgang on guitar and lead vocals, Frank Sidoris (SLASH FEATURING MYLES KENNEDY AND THE CONSPIRATORS) on guitar, Jon Jourdan on guitar and vocals, Garrett Whitlock (TREMONTI) on drums, and Ronnie Ficarro on bass.

MAMMOTH WVH’s debut album was released in June 2021 via Explorer1 Music Group/EX1 Records.

Writing all the songs and performing all the instrumentation and vocals for the debut album, Wolfgang Van Halen set out to establish his own musical identity. From the rocking opening guitar riff on album opener “Mr. Ed” to the driving bass and drums on album closer “Stone”, “Mammoth WVH” showcases the various musical influences that have inspired Wolfgang. Songs like “Resolve”, “The Big Picture” and “Think It Over” are all sonically different from each other but unique to what MAMMOTH WVH is.

MAMMOTH WVH made its television debut in February 2021, performing “Distance” on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” and running through an exclusive acoustic arrangement on “Today”.

Double your (dis)pleasure: The legendary Immigrant Sun Records returns and resurrects stellar 90s noisecore act Hourglass for a “Complete Discography.”
The post Track Premiere: Hourglass — “Consumed” appeared first on Decibel Magazine.