In an interview with Antihero Magazine, SIXX:A.M. guitarist DJ Ashba, who is currently promoting his ASHBA solo project, spoke about whether there are any plans for SIXX:A.M. to record more new music or play live shows in support of the recently released compilation album “Hits”. He said: “SIXX:A.M. has always been a labor of love. It’s weird with SIXX:A.M., we all three are currently still full-blown members and we are very proud of everything we’ve created. James [Michael, vocals] has mentioned recently that he’s kind of retiring, kind of stepping away from music, which is sad to hear, but the guy has done so many great, great things in his career and the songs he has been a part of. He has a lot to be proud of.

“Now, that being said, the three of us at any given time could call each other and go, ‘Hey, let’s do one more tour. Let’s write a new song,'” he continued. “That’s just how we are. We don’t ever plan anything. So, I would say, never say never, but I have no intention of doing anything further with it. I think we’ve put a nice bookend to SIXX:A.M. with the greatest hits and if something else were to happen so be it, but I think we’re all pretty satisfied with what we’ve done with that.”

Last month, James also told Australia’s Rock Lives Here that there are no plans for SIXX:A.M. to do anything else at the moment. He said: “It’s funny — every time SIXX:A.M. made an album, we said to ourselves, ‘This is the last album we’re gonna make.’ We said that on ‘The Heroin Diaries’ soundtrack. We said, ‘This is a one-off. We’ll never do this again.’ Then we did ‘This Is Gonna Hurt’, and it was, like, ‘Yeah, this is gonna be our last album, for sure.’ And then we did ‘Modern Vintage’, [and it was], like, ‘This is gonna be our last one.’ So we’ve been saying that since the beginning.

“When we put together this ‘Hits’ album, of course, we had in mind that if this was the last thing that SIXX:A.M. does, we want it to be right and we want it to thoughtful and we want it to be meaningful,” he explained. “And so we really set out with that intention; we wanted to kind of put a nice bow on this decade of music that we’ve created.

“So, as of right now, we don’t have any plans for anything — no touring, no new music or anything. And that’s why we’re so excited to be sharing this ‘Hits’ album with everyone because it may be the last thing we do. I don’t know. We’ll see. That’s one thing I’ve learned with SIXX:A.M. — I never say never.”

In addition to Michael and Ashba, SIXX:A.M. features MÖTLEY CRÜE bassist Nikki Sixx. The name SIXX:A.M. is a combination of all of the members’ last names (Sixx, Ashba, Michael).

“Hits” was released in October via Better Noise Music. The album is a retrospective celebration of SIXX:A.M.’s biggest hits and fan-favorite songs that alsos include five previously unheard tracks and mixes, marking the band’s first official album with new material since 2016.

Inspired by the release of Sixx’s “The First 21: How I Became Nikki Sixx”, SIXX:A.M. members Michael, Ashba and Sixx made “Hits” available as a companion piece to the book.

To date, SIXX:A.M. has three U.S. Billboard top 20 albums and a string of hit singles, with its full catalog consisting of five studio albums — “The Heroin Diaries Soundtrack” (2007), “This Is Gonna Hurt” (2011), “Modern Vintage” (2014), “Prayers For The Damned” and “Prayers For The Blessed” (2016) — and three EPs, “X-Mas In Hell” (2008); “Live Is Beautiful” (2008) and “7” (2011).

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California glam metal jokesters STEEL PANTHER were joined onstage by Joey Belladonna (ANTHRAX) and Jason Hook (ex-FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH) to cover JUDAS PRIEST’s “You’ve Got Another Thing Comin'” during their ShipRocked concert aboard the Carnival Breeze on January 25. You can now watch fan-filmed video of the performance below (courtesy of YouTube user PGMD).

Belladonna, whose most recent return to ANTHRAX was officially announced in May 2010, was originally the lead singer of ANTHRAX from 1985 to 1992, and was considered part of the band’s classic lineup (alongside Dan Spitz, Scott Ian, Frank Bello and Charlie Benante), which reunited and toured during 2005 and 2006. His voice was featured on over 10 albums, which reportedly sold eight million copies worldwide.

Formed by guitarist Scott Ian and bassist Dan Lilker in Queens, New York on July 18, 1981, ANTHRAX was one of the first thrash metal bands to emerge from the East Coast and quickly became regarded as a leader in the genre alongside METALLICA, SLAYER and MEGADETH.

Active over the past five decades, ANTHRAX has released 11 studio albums, been awarded multiple gold and platinum certifications, received six Grammy nominations, toured the world since 1984 playing thousands of shows, including headlining Madison Square Garden and playing Yankee Stadium with the “Big Four”.

ANTHRAX’s latest album, 2016’s “For All Kings”, followed a five-year period during which the group experienced a rebirth of sorts, beginning with ANTHRAX’s inclusion on the “Big Four” tour, and continuing with the 2011 release of comeback LP “Worship Music”.

Belladonna had been critical of ANTHRAX’s decision to fire him at the height of the band’s success, telling MikeJamesrRockShow.com: “Personally, it sucks just to think all those years went by that I didn’t really have a chance to do anything. ‘Cause I could have sang on any of those records [that were made during the John Bush era]. Not to say that what they did was… whatever reason and whatever style and all that stuff. I could have easily sang that regardless, no bones. It would have been easy to sing. It’s just I think they were chasing some other idea. I always say that, whether they disagree. I don’t think there was any reason to move. But you know what? We’re here now.”

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Primary Wave Music has expanded its partnership with legendary British rock ‘n’ roll icons and Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame inductees DEF LEPPARD. The deal will now see the independent publishing powerhouse acquire an additional stake in the iconic band’s music publishing catalog as well as master royalty income stream. Many of the band’s biggest hits are included in this exciting new deal such as “Pour Some Sugar On Me”, “Rock Of Ages” and their global hit “Photograph”, which continues to be one of their most iconic and best loved live anthems. The band’s repertoire includes 11 studio albums and over 110 million albums sold globally, including two back-to-back releases that sold more than 10 million copies. DEF LEPPARD is also one of just five rock bands with two original studio albums selling more than ten million copies each in the U.S.

The relationship between Primary Wave and DEF LEPPARD began in 2009 when the company announced they would market and administer the band’s catalog of songs. Over the last ten plus years, the partnership between Primary Wave and DEF LEPPARD produced many exciting initiatives and placements. Their songs have been synced on a number of television shows by the Primary Wave sync team, including “Cobra Kai”, “Hit The Floor”, “The Simpsons Guy”, “American Horror Story 1984” and more. Primary Wave’s digital division has been instrumental in building DEF LEPPARD’s overall online audience, as well as in helping launch their full catalog of diamond, platinum and multi-platinum albums across all streaming platforms in 2018. Since the launch, their music has been streamed over 5.5 billion times and averaged 8 million monthly listeners on Spotify alone in 2021.

“With DEF LEPPARD celebrating 45 years as a band this year, we at Primary Wave are beyond excited on further partnering with them in a more meaningful way. We are thrilled to continue building and elevating not only the band’s musical body of work but their impact in pop culture and the industry in general,” states Rob Dippold, partner and chief digital strategy officer for Primary Wave Music. “It has been an absolute pleasure over the last decade working with the band, management and their entire team. We look forward to a collaborative, fun and fruitful relationship as the band continues to push new boundaries not only musically, but also in their live performance.”

Ramon Villa, chief operating officer at Primary Wave Music, adds: “When we partner with artists, we look at it as they are joining our family. DEF LEPPARD is an icon in music history as they continue to entertain people worldwide. We are always excited and humbled when an iconic artist entrusts us to help further expand the reach of their creative body of work. In this case of DEF LEPPARD, is it even more gratifying to see them happy in the family and wanting to expand the partnership. Welcome again, DEF LEPPARD, and thank you!”

With more than 110 million albums sold worldwide, two prestigious diamond awards in the U.S., 2019 Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame inductees DEF LEPPARD — Joe Elliott (vocals), Phil Collen (guitar), Rick Savage (bass), Vivian Campbell (guitar) and Rick Allen (drums) — continue to be one of the most important forces in rock music. Over the course of their career, the band has produced a series of classic ground-breaking albums that set the bar for generations of music fans and artists alike. The group’s spectacular live shows and arsenal of hits have become synonymous with their name, leading DEF LEPPARD to be heralded as an institution in both the music and touring industry. DEF LEPPARD’s influential career includes numerous hit singles and ground-breaking multi-platinum albums — including two of the best-selling albums of all time, “Pyromania” and “Hysteria”, capturing the group’s legendary tracks, bringing together classic LEPPARD hits such as “Rock Of Ages”, “Pour Some Sugar On Me” and “Foolin'”. For the first time, in January 2018 DEF LEPPARD debuted its full recording catalog worldwide via streaming and download platforms. As they did with the original release of their records, DEF LEPPARD dominated the worldwide charts again. Chart stats saw their albums charting in the iTunes Top 10 in more than 30 countries, including “Hysteria” at No. 3 in the U.S., and No. 5 in the U.K. DEF LEPPARD had the No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3 records on the U.S. catalog albums chart.

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Legendary GUNS N’ ROSES and VELVET REVOLVER guitarist Slash, who released his self-titled memoir, “Slash”, in 2007, was asked in a new interview with Barbara Caserta of Italy’s Linea Rock if there are any other rock autobiographies that he is particularly fond of. He responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “To tell you the truth, I don’t read rock and roll books. I’ve read a book about national artists and I’ve read books about rock and roll, but I’ve never read anybody else’s… Well, I read the Jim Morrison one, and I read the most recent Joe Perry one, but for the most part, I stay away from autobiographies. A lot of it is because I know people — I know the people that wrote them — and it feels like spying on them. [Laughs] It’s like following people on their Instagram; if you know them, it feels like spying. But I also used to think that rock and roll books were 75 percent bullshit too, and I didn’t want to get into… ‘Cause autobiographies are largely written by other people, or biographies are totally written by other people, so it’s their own fantasy that they’re sort of building up in these books. That sort of inspired me to write my book myself and not rely too much on a ghost writer — to be as honest as possible. So they inspired me in that way.”

Back in 2008, Slash told the Los Angeles Times about the process of writing his own book: “It was a different experience. I was resigned to writing the book due to the fact that some guy came out with an unauthorized Slash book. So, I just decided to do my own book, because doing an interview or press release to offset any of this stuff didn’t work. The guy who I wrote the book with [Anthony Bozza] had such a genuine zeal for my whole story. Not just the cliché stuff. It was a real collaboration between us. I wrote entire chapters of the book on my Blackberry… sending it to my co-writer. But you know, it was worth it, because finally after all my input, it turned out good.”

Shortly before the book’s release, Slash told E! Online that it would include a bunch of stuff about his years with GUNS ‘N’ ROSES, but not necessarily because he was feeling nostalgic on the occasion of what was at the time the 20th anniversary of “Appetite For Destruction”.

“I never wanted to write a book, because it would be too final,” Slash explained. “The only reason I wrote it is because a lot of the stuff I was reading and seeing about the band got pretty frustrating. I just had to straighten out some shit.”

“It almost reads like a journal, except for the fact that I never wrote anything down,” Slash said. “It was a hard book to make, because I was pretty fucked up from 1980 to 2000-something. I really had to dig deep to try and remember a lot of shit.”

Bozza told BostonNow.com that the greatest thing for him as a writer working on Slash’s book was that the iconic axeman “never really gave it up in the press. He didn’t talk about the stuff that went on behind the scenes with himself or with the band,” Anthony said. “To be honest, I don’t think he ever really cared about that kind of stuff.”

Getting the soft-spoken musician to open up for the book wasn’t easy, Bozza admitted. Part of the problem was that when they first met, Slash was heavily into his oxycontin phase, “binging” on the synthetic heroin on a daily basis, according to Bozza. “So when he agreed to write the book, I wasn’t sure it would really happen,” he said. “But right after we met, he went into rehab and was sober — or not on oxycontin, when we did the interviews.”

SLASH FEATURING MYLES KENNEDY AND THE CONSPIRATORS’ new album, titled “4”, will be 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).

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SLIPKNOT and STONE SOUR frontman Corey Taylor was one of the performers on this year’s ShipRocked cruise, which set sail from Galveston, Texas on January 22 and included stops in Costa Maya and Cozumel, Mexico before returning on January 27. Fan-filmed video footage of two separate Taylor concert from the cruise — on the Lido Deck Stage and on the Theater Stage — can be seen below (courtesy of registered YouTube user Justin West).

Taylor is a New York Times best-selling author as well as an actor with a myriad film and television credits. Impacting generations of fans and peers alike, his voice roars across six SLIPKNOT albums which have rallied millions of fans across the globe. With two gold-certified albums and a platinum single, STONE SOUR has notched five Top 10 debuts on the Billboard 200 and garnered Loudwire’s “Rock Album Of The Decade” for “House Of Gold & Bones Part 1”, which also spawned its own Dark Horse Comics graphic novel of the same name by Taylor. His debut solo effort, “CMFT”, made history with the powerful single “Black Eyes Blue” reaching No. 1 at Active Rock Radio, making Taylor the first artist in the history of the format to reach No. 1 with three separate projects, following chart-topping efforts from SLIPKNOT and STONE SOUR.

Taylor first crashed the New York Times Best Seller list with “Seven Deadly Sins” in 2011, occupying the chart for four weeks. He followed it up with three popular tomes: “A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To Heaven” (2013), “You’re Making Me Hate You” (2015), and “America 51” (2017). Meanwhile, his filmography encompasses “Fear Clinic”, “Doctor Who”, “Officer Downe” and “Sharknado 4”. The rare renaissance man who can give a symposium at Oxford University and headline heavy music festivals around the globe, Taylor forever challenges culture to think, dream, and scream along with him.

“CMFT” made impressive debuts on charts around the world in October 2020, entering at No. 1 on Billboard’s Current Hard Rock Albums chart, while claiming No. 2 on Current Rock Albums, No. 6 on Vinyl Albums, and No. 9 on the Top Albums charts. Furthermore, “CMFT” landed Top 10 on the official album charts in Australia, Germany, Switzerland and Austria, with Top 20 debuts in the United Kingdom, Finland and Japan (international chart).

“CMFT” was recorded at The Hideout Recording Studio in Las Vegas with producer Jay Ruston and Christian Martucci (guitar), Zach Throne (guitar), Jason Christopher (bass), and Dustin Schoenhofer (drums).

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Julien’s Auctions held on Sunday, January 30, its headline making MusiCares Charity Relief Auction featuring a marquee lineup of instruments, memorabilia, wardrobe, artwork and more offered by some of music’s most legendary pop culture icons and idols live in Beverly Hills and online at juliensauctions.com.

Lighting up the event were seven custom-made ensembles worn by the biggest band in the world — 21st century pop icons BTS — during their historic first solo Grammy Awards performance of their smash hit song “Dynamite” filmed from Seoul, South Korea at the 63rd annual ceremony that aired on March 14, 2021. The seven superstars RM, Jin, SUGA, j-hope, Jimin, V and Jung Kook’s custom-made white, orange and black suits was the top selling lot and sold for $160,000, five times its original estimate of $30,000.

Two other BTS items that appeared today included: an Epiphone brand 56 Les Paul Pro ebony electric guitar signed by all seven BTS members, which sold for an astounding $64,000, sixteen times its original estimate of $4,000 and three unique rings worn by j-hope, consisting of a twisted double band in gold color ($6,400), a triple green gem single band sterling silver ring ($11,520), and a spiral gold colored sterling silver ring ($6,400). All four BTS lots sold for a total of $248,320.

A sensational headliner was a Keith Richards signed Gibson ES-335 Ebony Gloss acoustic electric guitar donated by Gibson Gives that includes a one-of-a-kind four second 1:1 NFT video minted by OneOf which shows him authenticating his signature at Germano Studios. The guitar and NFT — the first ever non-fungible token from THE ROLLING STONES guitar legend as well as the first NFT item from Julien’s Auctions — together sold for $57,600 nine times its original estimate of $6,000.

Another notable highlight of today’s event came from BEATLES legend Paul McCartney whose signed sunburst Hofner brand B-Bass Hi Series violin bass guitar sold for $38,400, nine times its original estimate of $4,000. McCartney helped make the Hofner violin bass guitar famous by the 1960s, as it was one of his main bass guitars that he played with THE BEATLES, notably at the Apple Rooftop concert and the “Let It Be” album recording sessions.

A showstopper came from the legendary Dolly Parton whose stunning white and gold long sleeve fitted dress with gold rhinestones and beaded fringe, worn on the red-carpet February 2, 2019 when she was honored as the MusiCares Person Of The Year, the first country artist to be honored, sold for $38,400, an astounding nineteen times original estimate of $2,000. The widely photographed dress is accompanied by the mannequin used to tailor the dress to fit Parton and a framed photograph collage displaying Parton wearing the dress at the event.

MusiCares Person Of The Year 2022 honoree Joni Mitchell’s signed and framed artist proof print of her original oil painting of music icon, Jimi Hendrix also made an exceptional appearance selling for $22,400, eleven times its original estimate of $2,000.

The Ultimate 64th Grammy Awards Telecast experience which includes two platinum-level seats to the telecast on Sunday, April 3, 2022 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas sold for $28,800.

Other highlights with their winning bids included:

* A white Gibson brand ES-355 Bigsby VOS electric acoustic guitar donated by Gibson Gives and signed by Tom Petty when he was being honored as MusiCares Person of the Year in 2017 accompanied with a ultra-deluxe edition “Wildflowers & All The Rest” LP record box set (only 500 box sets were published) complete with a unique and hand-made necklace by Maria Sarno, a lyric book with illustrations by Blaze Brooks (exclusive for the set), a litho print of photo of Tom Petty, a 7″ of “You Don’t Know How It Feels”, tour program, stickers and more ($35,200 nearly six times its original estimate of $6,000).

* A Matthew Williams strapless terra cotta silk faille mini dress stage worn by Amy Winehouse while performing at the Barrowlands in Glasgow, Scotland, in 2007 ($25,000).

* A black ESP James Hetfield signed collaboration Vulture guitar and an official METALLICA black T-shirt with the caption “got riff?” accompanied with a hard-shell case and photographs of Hetfield signing the guitar, as well as two guitar picks ($4,000).

* Two sheets of notebook paper stapled together with annotated lyrics to the song “Be Yourself” handwritten by Chris Cornell donated by the Chris Cornell Estate ($19,200).

* Epiphone Slash Les Paul Deluxe electric guitar with signature and skull and crossbones drawing by Slash accompanied by the original hard-shell case with preprinted Slash drawing ($22,400, twenty-two times its original estimate of $1,000).

* Slash’s owned and signed hand drawn with skull and crossbones drawing wool black top hat with Slash’s sterling silver ring of a skull wearing a top hat with guns and roses details ($11,520).

* Katy Perry’s silver snowflake “California Gurls” performance ensemble worn on “The Grammy Nominations Concert Live! – Countdown to Music’s Biggest Night” in 2010 ($11,520).

* Lionel Richie’s black jacket designed by David Thomas and made by Muto-Little worn on stage at the 2015 Glastonbury Festival performance ($10,240).

* A red blazer jacket worn by Dave Gahan on the DEPECHE MODE 2017-2018 “Global Spirit” tour ($16,000 eight times its original estimate of $2,000).

* A “Watermelon Sugar” 7″ pink colored record single inscribed “All my love to you Treat people with kindness” and signed by Harry Styles with three color Polaroid- like photographs from the photo shoot for the song’s music video ($12,800).

* A 1960’s Les Paul Gibson electric guitar signed by Jeff Beck donated by Gibson Gives with a leather Gibson hard shell case ($12,800).

* Chris Stapleton’s handwritten lyrics of “Broken Halos” inscribed on a polar white Fender Player Telecaster guitar ($15,625 nearly eight times its original estimate of $2,000).

All proceeds from the sale of items offered by artists including Bono, Lady Gaga, Ozzy Osbourne, Eddie Vedder, THE GO-GO’S, Jason Aldean, deadmau5, Tommy Lee, Demi Lovato, Machine Gun Kelly, Gene Simmons, Scott Weiland, Tim McGraw and more will benefit MusiCares, the leading music industry charity, which provides the music community a support system of health and human services across a spectrum of needs including physical and mental health, addiction recovery, preventative clinics, unforeseen personal emergencies and disaster relief.

MusiCares helps the humans behind music because music gives so much to the world. Offering preventive, emergency, and recovery programs, MusiCares is a safety net supporting the health and welfare of the music community. Founded by the Recording Academy in 1989 as a U.S. based 501(c)(3) charity, MusiCares safeguards the well-being of all music people through direct financial grant programs, networks of support resources, and tailored crisis relief efforts. For more information please visit: www.musicares.org.

In 2016, Julien’s Auctions received its second placement in the Guinness Book of World Records for the sale of the world’s most expensive dress ever sold at auction, The Marilyn Monroe “Happy Birthday Mr. President” dress which sold for $4.8 million. Julien’s Auctions achieved placement in the Guinness Book of World Records in 2009 for the sale of Michael Jackson’s white glove, which sold for $480,000, making it the most expensive glove ever sold at auction. In 2020, Julien’s Auctions received its third Guinness Book of World Record placement for the sale of Kurt Cobain’s “MTV Unplugged” 1959 Martin D-18E acoustic-electric guitar, which sold for $6 million making it the world’s most expensive guitar ever sold at auction.

Based in Los Angeles, Julien’s Auctions has a global presence bringing their auctions and exhibitions to targeted destinations worldwide including London, New York, Las Vegas, Japan and China. Live auctions are presented for bidders on-site and online via live streaming video and mobile technology.

For more information, go to www.juliensauctions.com.

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GaS Digital Network, a network with 22 podcasts with an emphasis on music and comedy, today announced the latest addition to its network: “The Wylde Goose Show”. Featuring rock icons Zakk Wylde and John “JD” DeServio (a.k.a. Goose), the weekly show provides a fly-on-the-wall opportunity for fans as the two talk about anything and everything — including sordid backstage tales and stories from the road and studios. In addition, special guests will pop in for casual real chats revealing what artists talk about when the cameras are off. “The Wylde Goose Show” promises real talk with no politics and nothing heavy — besides the music. The announcement was made by GaS Digital Network co-founder Ralph Sutton.

“This is a podcast with no nutritional value. It’s just the two of us shooting the shit and waxing poetically about nothing,” said Wylde. “We want to create an environment that makes listeners feel that they’re hanging with us backstage before a gig or on the tour bus on the way to the show. Goose and I love going off on whatever, and this is a great platform to share what it’s like to just hang with us and our friends.”

The show, which premieres on February 1 at 4 p.m. ET, will be streaming weekly live and free on the GaS Digital Network. It will be available on all major podcast platforms five days after initial airing.

“Zakk has been a friend for years and a regular guest on ‘The SDR Show’, a podcast I host with comedian Big Jay Oakerson,” said Sutton. “GaS has seen such tremendous growth and adding Zakk and JD is such a boon for the network and a perfect fit to our aesthetic.”

Founded in 2016 and headquartered in New York City, GaS Digital produces 22 podcasts covering multiple topics including comedy, politics, music, sports, dating, and self-improvement. Currently, the network reaches five million listeners a month. More information can be found at gasdigitalnetwork.com.

In the three and a half decades since Ozzy Osbourne hired him away from his job at a New Jersey gas station, Zakk Wylde has established himself as a guitar icon known and revered the world over. Wylde has won nearly every guitar award imaginable, graced countless magazine covers and is a major influence to a new battalion of rock guitarists. Writing and recording with Osbourne led to multi-platinum success, inspiring him to create the now iconic BLACK LABEL SOCIETY in 1998. In the two decades plus since, BLS has turned the notion of what a rock band should be upside down by inspiring legions of fans (known as Berserkers) all over the world to follow the mantra: Strength, Determination, Merciless, Forever (SDMF for short). Wylde and his Berserkers have established a heavy metal institution true to the vision of uncompromising, unfiltered and unrestrained rock ‘n’ roll.

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Slash will take part in a chat and a musical performance with MYLES KENNEDY AND THE CONSPIRATORS on the Wednesday, February 2 episode of “Jimmy Kimmel Live!”, airing at 11:35 p.m. ET on ABC.

SLASH FEATURING MYLES KENNEDY AND THE CONSPIRATORS’ new album, titled “4”, will be 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).

In October, SLASH FEATURING MYLES KENNEDY AND THE CONSPIRATORS released the official music video for the LP’s first single, “The River Is Rising”, shot on location in downtown Los Angeles with Gibson TV director Todd Harapiak.

For “4”, Slash and the band traveled across the country together to Nashville, Tennessee and recorded the new album at the historic RCA Studio A with producer Dave Cobb (Chris Stapleton, John Prine, Jason Isbell, Brandi Carlile), revealing a stunning new sound and style all captured live in the studio. Cobb shared the band’s desire to lay down the tracks live, in the studio including guitar solos and vocals — a first for the group.

The band’s previous albums over the last decade — “Apocalyptic Love”, “World On Fire” and “Living The Dream” — have continued on an upward trajectory, all achieving Top 5 Billboard charting debuts in the U.S. and reaching the Top 10 on 12 major charts across the globe. To date, the three SLASH FEATURING MYLES KENNEDY AND THE CONSPIRATORS albums have now garnered 10 consecutive Top 5 Radio singles, spawned sold-out world tours, and have earned Slash and the band the best critical acclaim of their career with their latest album “Living The Dream” (2018) singled out by the Los Angeles Times, Classic Rock, Guitar World, Loudwire, LA Weekly, and more, as their best songs to date.

The new album “4” has the added history-making distinction of being the first-ever album to be released on the new Gibson Records label, which is headquartered in the iconic American instrument brand Gibson’s hometown of Music City, Nashville. In light of the 30-year partnership between Gibson and the Grammy Award-winning Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame inductee Slash, it makes sense the new SLASH FEATURING MYLES KENNEDY AND THE CONSPIRATORS’ album “4” will be released via Gibson Records.

SLASH FEATURING MYLES KENNEDY AND THE CONSPIRATORS will kick off a North American headlining tour on February 8, in Portland, Oregon and 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.

**WEDESDAY NIGHT** 2.2.22 Jimmy Kimmel welcomes Slash for a chat… Followed by a musical performance by Slash feat….

Posted by Scooter Magee on Sunday, January 30, 2022

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George Lynch introduced the latest lineup of his GEORGE LYNCH AND THE ELECTRIC FREEDOM project last night (Saturday, January 29) at Count’s Vamp’d in Las Vegas, Nevada. Joining the legendary DOKKEN axeman in the band are Andrew Freeman (LAST IN LINE) on vocals, Jimmy D’Anda (BULLETBOYS) on drums and Rob DeLuca (Sebastian Bach, UFO, SPREAD EAGLE) on bass.

Video of the Vegas concert can be seen below (courtesy of MotorBreathInc and RocknForever1 “Always Classic”).

Earlier today, Lynch took to his Instagram to write: “After years of personal changes in #lynchmob and #electricfreedom I finally put together my perfect band. #georgelynchbandfeaturinggeorhelynchx4 #forestbeforethetrees #v8 #duh #andrewfreeman #andrewfreemanofficial #jimmydanda #robdaluca @jimmydanda @andrewfreemanofficial @ratpakrecords”.

Upcoming GEORGE LYNCH AND THE ELECTRIC FREEDOM shows:

Feb. 05 – Medina, MN @ Medina Entertainment Center (w/ WINGER)
Feb. 14 – Feb. 18 – Nassau, Bahamas @ Rock Legends Cruise
Mar. 25 – St. Charles, IL @ Arcada Theatre (w/ DOKKEN)
Apr. 23 – Manistee, MI @ Little River Casino (w/ DOKKEN)
May 13 – Santa Clarita, CA @ The Canyon

Last August, Lynch spoke to Anne Erickson of Audio Ink Radio about what it has been like to play select shows around the country with his newly christened touring entity GEORGE LYNCH AND THE ELECTRIC FREEDOM. He said: “It’s liberating, actually, to be quite honest with you. To have a new band and a new name and a name that — I mean, just the power of the name, ’cause with the new name, which is GEORGE LYNCH’S ELECTRIC FREEDOM, it really is electric freedom. I didn’t even think of it that way, but [ELECTRIC FREEDOM bassist] Michael Devin and I were were talking the other day on the way home, and we were, like, ‘This really defines the band.’ And it really does. Because we’re plugged in, we do a lot of kind of just off-the-cuff improvisation during our show, which you don’t see very much in rock and roll anymore — not since the ’70s. And we’re big fans of that; that’s what we were raised on. So it’s, I think, more alive and vital than your kind of average thing where you go see a band and they’re playing songs they wrote 35 years ago. And sure, it’s great — you wanna hear the songs, and that’s all good. But these guys have been flogging these songs for decades. I’ve been doing that too. And that’s not what I’m about. I mean, I can do it. But I like to bring the audience another perspective and another dimension to what can happen onstage, and that is the creative moment in real time — experiencing that and witnessing that, and for me to play that and the band to play that… And I think the crowd appreciates that. And not just at the moment, but more in retrospect, when they think about it. They think, ‘Wow, actually, that was pretty cool.’ Every time you come see my band, it’s gonna be different. It’s gonna be different members [and] we’re gonna play different material.”

Asked if there are plans to work on new music with GEORGE LYNCH AND THE ELECTRIC FREEDOM, George said: “It’s not on the way in the sense that’s we’re working on it, but we have discussed the idea of doing an EP. We wanna go a little more old school and do something that’s pretty easy for us to make instead of taking on a whole album project with a new band. Let’s just do four songs, and let’s hand one out to the fans for free and just get people into it and put a lot of work into those four songs and make it easy, so it’s not this big giant burden for us. And if the EP blows up, which I think it will, then we’ll do — when we’ve been together a little longer, we’ll do a real record. But I definitely believe we need to document what this band is, ’cause it’s very, very cool.”

A year ago, Lynch offered a lengthy explanation for why he was ending LYNCH MOB during an interview with George Dionne of Metal Express Radio. Addressing questions about why it took him three decades to call it quits with LYNCH MOB, George said: “When we first formed the band in ’89, the name had sort of already been around. While I was in DOKKEN, it’s what I called our little group of guitar fans — I had picks made; it was kind of a little subculture within DOKKEN. When we started working on developing and building the band after DOKKEN broke up, that was just the name that we always thought we’d use, ’cause it was a perfect fit — it’s my name, and it describes it pretty well. And, of course, the negative connotations were always there, and I was aware of ’em, but not as aware as I probably should have been. [Laughs]

“I had made numerous attempts over the decades to kind of let that name go and had walked that back for multiple reasons — usually because of business considerations,” he continued. “For instance, if you try to go out on a tour and not use the name, promoters aren’t gonna be happy with you changing it. People aren’t gonna know who you are. They’re not gonna show up, because what’s THE GEORGE LYNCH EXPERIENCE, or whatever you call it. Or record labels are not interested, because it’s a brand that they can count on and sell a certain many albums or whatever.

“For instance, the LYNCH MOB record ‘Smoke This’ that came out, I think, in ’99 or 2000, that was not supposed to be a LYNCH MOB record; that really wasn’t anything to do with LYNCH MOB. At the end of the day, after the record was done and we were delivering it to the label, they insisted on using that name as insurance. And if I hadn’t agreed to that, we wouldn’t have had a record. That’s the kind of pressure I’m talking about.

“But then, with the onset of everything that’s happened in the last year, I didn’t have that kind of pressure anymore,” George added. “I could take it or leave it at this point. And I didn’t really feel comfortable with it; I didn’t feel comfortable with the name. ‘Cause I’m a very progressive person politically, and it just so flies in the face of everything I believe in, and it makes it hard. It makes it hard to have relationships with people and explain yourself, and I got tired of rationalizing it. I think the music is bigger than that, and it’s had a great run.

“Another reason, too, is the band fell apart again. The band has fallen apart so many times, I can’t even count. And it was just, like, ‘No more Oni [Logan, vocals], no more Brian Tichy [drums], no more this guy, no more that guy. Oh, great. Now what do I do?’ It’s, like, ‘Okay, build another band from scratch, call it LYNCH MOB?’ No. How about just build something new? It gives me a lot more freedom to basically play anything I want live… I can go out and play everything from my catalog — new, old, covers, jams, you name it, and go deep and have fun and change it up every night.”

Oni first hooked up with LYNCH MOB in 1990, but exited the group after the release of its first album, only to rejoin the outfit in the late 2000s.

Logan is featured on five of LYNCH MOB’s eight albums, including 1990’s “Wicked Sensation”, as well as 2009’s “Smoke And Mirrors”, 2014’s “Sun Red Sun”, 2015’s “Rebel” and 2017’s “The Brotherhood”.

In August 2020, LYNCH MOB celebrated the 30th anniversary of “Wicked Sensation” with a special limited print/deluxe edition of the album. “Wicked Sensation Reimagined” features re-worked and re-recorded versions of the LP’s classic songs, and was made available via Rat Pak Records.

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Pics from last night at Vamp’d with George Lynch.

Posted by Jay Quintana on Sunday, January 30, 2022

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