QUIET RIOT singer Jizzy Pearl, whose JIZZY PEARL’S LOVE/HATE band opened for the “Dio Returns” tour in 2019, was asked in a new interview with the “Cobras & Fire” podcast for his take on the Ronnie James Dio hologram. “Dio Returns” featured a holographic image of the legendary metal singer performing alongside a living backing group consisting, in large part, of Ronnie’s onetime DIO bandmates.

“Well, at the time, everyone was sort of bagging on it, but I was the opening band, so I felt it was my duty to defend it,” Jizzy said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET)

“[I have] mixed feelings about it,” he admitted. “Whitney Houston, they’re doing one in Vegas now, of a hologram.

“If people wanna go see it, then that’s okay. If they don’t wanna go see it, then that’s okay too. It’s kind of like bands like us — QUIET RIOT or WARRANT or NIGHT RANGER. People bag on it, but if you don’t wanna go, don’t go. If you’re into it, have a good time. So that’s my feeling on it.”

When interviewer Bakko expressed his disappointment over how the hologram looked in person, saying that he “thought it was gonna be more three-dimensional,” Jizzy said: “You’re supposed to suspend reality. You’re not supposed to sit there and… I mean, you can sit there with a notebook and a clipboard and pick the shit apart, but you’re supposed to embrace the idea of Dio.

“Look, I toured with Dio for years and I was friends with the guy,” he continued. “So I knew the guy, I hung with the guy, I drank booze with the guy, so it was maybe weirder for me to see it. But then again, I realize that it’s a theater piece. So take it for what it is.”

The Dio hologram was created by a company called Eyellusion and made its debut at the Wacken Open Air festival in August 2016 in front of more than 75,000 fans.

The Dio hologram production used audio of Ronnie’s live performances from throughout his career, with the DIO band playing live, consisting of Craig Goldy on guitar, Simon Wright on drums and Scott Warren on keyboards, along with Bjorn Englen on bass. Also appearing with them were ex-JUDAS PRIEST singer Tim “Ripper” Owens and LYNCH MOB frontman Oni Logan.

This past September, Ronnie James Dio’s former wife and longtime manager Wendy Dio said that she decided to pull the plug on the hologram of the legendary metal singer because she “wanted to see real Ronnie.” Speaking about how her reaction to the hologram evolved over the years, she said: “When I first saw it, I cried. Then I got used to it because it wasn’t Ronnie. And then we took it out [on tour]. The first [version] was not that good. The second one was a lot better. But I decided that I don’t wanna do it anymore; I decided I want real Ronnie. So we’re working on a stage with the DIO band, which will be going out in March [of 2022]. Instead of having a hologram, it will have film of Ronnie with the live band playing and with special effects and everything else. So that’s what we’re working on. We’re working on it with Paul Dexter [who was Ronnie’s lighting designer and stage designer for years] and a bunch of other people. And also the Eyellusion people, who did do the hologram, are doing a bunch of special effects for us with it.”

Wendy continued: “I never say never [about bringing back the hologram], but technology gets different every day, every day, every day. And I just decided that I wanted to see real Ronnie. … QUEEN does [something similar, using footage of Freddie Mercury]. Ours will be a little bit different to that because we have all these great effects, 3D effects. It’s almost like going into — what’s that ride at Disneyland, when you go through, and it’s like a 3D effect? That’s what we’re working on right now.”

Two former DIO guitarists have publicly expressed their doubts about the Ronnie James Dio hologram. In December 2019, Tracy “G” Grijalva, who played for DIO from 1993 through 1999, said that the hologram “looks creepy” and resembles “a puppet.” Nine months earlier, Doug Aldrich, who was in DIO between 2002 and 2006, told XS Rock that “Ronnie would probably not” like the hologram. “He would probably be, like, ‘This is not what I signed up for.’ A hologram? It’s not really what he would want to be. I’m just guessing, you know, that it’s something that Wendy thought about and she decided that Ronnie would be fine with it. But I knew Ronnie well enough to know that he was very particular and he would prefer for them to let him just die and be in peace.”

After the “Dio Returns” tour’s initial seven-date run was completed in December 2017, Ronnie’s hologram underwent some changes before the launch of the 2019 leg of the trek, which took place in May and June of that year.

The “Dio Returns” 17-song set consisted of seven tunes sung by the Dio hologram — the rest featured Owens and Logan separately or together — and encompassed material from Dio’s lengthy career, including his earlier days in RAINBOW and BLACK SABBATH.

A few years ago, Wendy told Patch.com that critics of the Dio hologram were “entitled to their opinion. I just ask that people come and see the show first before criticizing,” she said. “We got a lot of flak in the beginning but I think more and more people are getting used to it. It’s for the fans. It’s for the fans who would love to see Ronnie back up on the stage and the ones that never got a chance to see him. I think Ronnie would approve. If anybody saw the ‘Sacred Heart’ tour in 1986 we tried to make a hologram then. We had Ronnie in a crystal ball hanging from the stage talking through it. Also he was an innovator in music, so why not be an innovator in technology.”

In 2020, TESTAMENT guitarist Alex Skolnick, who toured with Ronnie on two separate occasions a decade and a half apart — in 1992 when Dio fronted BLACK SABBATH and again in 2008 when Ronnie was the singer of SABBATH offshoot band HEAVEN & HELL — offered his opinion on the Dio hologram on Twitter, writing: “I don’t believe in those hologram shows. It would be one thing if the artist was still alive, chose not to tour for whatever reason, gave his or her approval & maybe even had a hand in the process. But Dio had no say.” Skolnick also added a thumbs-down emoji as a way of voicing his disapproval.

DISTURBED frontman David Draiman said in a 2016 interview that he had mixed feelings about concerts featuring the Dio hologram. He said about the prospect of seeing a holographic version of Ronnie: “It makes me sad. I’m always happy to hear any music from anybody that’s left us, that we’ve lost. But I don’t know… The hologram thing, to me, it almost isn’t letting the dead be dead.” He added, “It just seems weird… Is there a difference between a hologram and a guy dressing up like Ronnie James and doing it?”

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STAIND frontman Aaron Lewis celebrated the release of his new solo album, “Frayed At Both Ends”, with a free performance this past Wednesday (January 26) at Kentucky’s Fort Campbell. Video of his appearance can be seen below.

Lewis wanted to give back to Soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) and Fort Campbell’s tenant units through the performance, he told the Fort Campbell Courier, adding that the installation was a perfect fit for an album-release show.

“It’s my way of giving thanks, but also showing my profound respect,” Lewis said. “Both sides of my family have served, and I feel the act of selflessly serving our country is one of the most honorable things an American can do.

Having had two No. 1 Billboard Country Album debuts with “Town Line” and “Sinner”, Lewis has quietly made an impact on country music without flexing to let everyone know what a big deal he was. With a decade invested in a genre that’s seen him record with Willie Nelson, George Jones, Charlie Daniels, Vince Gill, Alison Krauss, Mickey Raphael, the Cox Family and Dan Tyminski and producer Buddy Cannon, the 15-million selling frontman of STAIND doubled down on “Frayed At Both Ends”, out now via The Valory Music Co.

Starker, more acoustic and with the focus on what the Los Angeles Times cited as “his mournful baritone,” “Frayed At Both Ends” is a meditation on shrinking opportunities, mistakes made, consequences of our actions and squaring up to it all with the dignity it takes to be a full-grown man. Drawing on the tattered reality and stoicism of Merle Haggard, the yearning of David Allan Coe’s Darlin’ Darlin era, the ragged fringe of Johnny Paycheck, Lewis collaborated with many of the songwriters who’ve become his friends over the last dozen years for the first time.

“Over the years, you hang out and one thing leads to another, and you’re writing songs,” Aaron explained. “When you’ve got Chris Wallen, Dan Tyminski, Ira Dean, Matt McGinn, Jeffrey Steele or David Lee Murphy sitting there talking, songs just tend to fall out. And when you realize what you got, you just keep going. These are all men who know country music’s depths, so for all of us, we got to write songs you don’t hear every day.”

That same truth applies to the recording. While co-producing with musical collaborator Ben Kitterman and Ira Dean, they drew on the wealth of top-flight musicians who’ve become core to reflecting the tavern country sound Lewis heard on his grandfather’s George Jones, Waylon Jennings and Haggard 8-tracks. Guitarists Tom Bukovac, Biff Watson and Seth Taylor, dobroist Kitterman, acoustic slide and baritone guitar from Sturgill Simpson veteran Laur Joamets, keyboard player Jim Moose Brown, acoustic guitar/mandolin from Tyminski were the core band.

“The beauty of country music is that often less is more,” Lewis said. “These songs did the work, all we needed to do was support them. These players are so gifted, they can say more in a few notes than a lot of people… It was a privilege seeing them bring these stories and feelings to life.”

With the post-Dust Bowl Country of the reap-what-you-sow “Get What You Get”, the broken “Pull Me Under”, the minor-keyed double entendre road-life lament “Life Between Bars”, the dobro-heavy acceptance lullaby “Kill Me Like You Love Me”, high lonesome memory that can’t be outrun “Waiting There For Me” and the hopeful closer “Someone”, Lewis built on the starkness of “Am I The Only One”, his No. 1 Billboard Hot Country Songs debut — only the ninth such debut since the chart’s debut in 1958 — of frustration voiced and manifested.

Mixed by Chris Lord-Alge, the five-time Grammy-winning engineer made the warmth of the playing and depth in the room undeniable. For fans of Lewis’s haunted, brass tacks kind of country music, this is the essence of what he’s been chasing since arriving in Nashville to make music that honors the roots of his raising. Having invested in the community, the community has become an outgrowth of that love for the splinters and reckonings that once made country such a good place to drown one’s sorrows and figure out how to move on from the wreckage one creates.

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A behind-the-scenes look at Nita Strauss performing her latest single, “Dead Inside”, at halftime at a Los Angeles Rams game at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California last month can be seen below.

In October, Nita shared “Dead Inside”, her first new music since the release of her critically acclaimed debut solo album “Controlled Chaos” in 2018. The track is her first-ever solo collaboration with a vocalist, David Draiman, frontman of Grammy-nominated rock icons DISTURBED.

Strauss has been playing with Cooper since 2014 when she replaced Australian musician and former Michael Jackson player Orianthi. She joined Alice in time for a mammoth MÖTLEY CRÜE tour. She was recommended to Cooper by the legendary rocker’s former bass player and WINGER frontman Kip Winger.

Nita released “Controlled Chaos” to mass acclaim from fans and media alike, with Metal Injection calling it “a great debut that — as its creator intended — leaves no doubt”, and Guitar World stating “‘Controlled Chaos’ is a panoramic view of Nita Strauss’s many strengths”. To date the album has clocked up 6.7 million streams worldwide, with music videos for singles “Our Most Desperate Hour”, “Pandemonium”, “Alegria” and “Mariana Trench” generating over 3 million YouTube views.

As well as performing with Cooper, Nita has also played with R&B star Jermaine Jackson, early MTV darlings FEMME FATALE, video game supergroup CRITICAL HIT and popular tribute band THE IRON MAIDENS.

In April 2020, Nita launched “Rock Guitar Fundamentals” — a three-module online guitar teaching program suitable for learners of all levels. The course is available at www.iwanttoplayguitar.com.

Nita’s live show is mostly instrumental in nature, combining originals with covers.

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I love playing a piece of gear that makes me forget that I’m playing a piece of gear. While there are plenty of weird and wacky stomps that will make your guitar sound like sci-fi soundtrack, the Dusky Toasted Drive is certainly not one of those. It’s part clean boost, part medium-gain overdrive, and 100-percent useful. And though the controls look like those from a very standard overdrive, Dusky’s efforts to mine new gold out of a classic setup yield tone treasure.The temperature (gain), more (volume), and color (treble boost) controls are very interactive with each other, which means many possible variations on the basic voice. The Toasted Drive also uses MOSFET gain stages rather than diode clipping to generate dirt. To my ears (and fingers), this gives the pedal a much more amp-like sound and feel and allows natural guitar/amp tones to shine more clearly.premierguitar · Dusky Toasted Drive ReviewEven at maximum settings for each parameter, the Toasted Drive never gets unwieldly, out of control, or harsh. Its tone is focused with rather tight midrange response and plenty of high-end that you can sculpt with either your guitar’s controls or the pedal’s color knob. And its natural transparency means I would happily use it as the first source of drive in a pedalboard gain stack. At $175 the Dusky competes with many similar and very nice pedals, but you’d be hard pressed to find one that slides into your signal chain so effortlessly.Test Gear: Fender Stratocaster, Schroeder Chopper TL, Fender Jaguar, Revv D20

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ANTHRAX singer Joey Belladonna joined the all-star band THE STOWAWAYS during their ShipRocked concert aboard the Carnival Breeze on January 24 to perform at cover of the FOREIGNER classic “Cold As Ice”. You can now watch fan-filmed video of the performance below (courtesy of YouTube user PGMD).

Lineup for the performance:

Vocals: Joey Belladonna (ANTHRAX)
Guitars: C.J. Pierce (DROWNING POOL), Dameon Aranda
Bass: Jasen Moreno (DROWNING POOL)
Drums: Mike Luce (DROWNING POOL)
Keyboards: Tyson Leslie (VIXEN)

When he is not busy touring and recording with ANTHRAX, Belladonna has been spending time playing drums and singing for a classic-rock covers band called CHIEF BIG WAY. The upstate New York-based group, which also features Dave Mickelson on bass, Joe Precourt on guitar and John Goodwin on keyboards, plays versions of songs from JOURNEY, AC/DC, ZZ TOP, BOSTON, CHEAP TRICK, FOREIGNER, PINK FLOYD, VAN HALEN, COLLECTIVE SOUL, THE WHO, THE DOORS, SHINEDOWN and BON JOVI, among others.

Last year, Belladonna told “The Johnny Dare Morning Show” that his recently launched JOURNEY tribute band called JOEY BELLADONNA’S BEYOND THE BAND (formerly JOURNEY BEYOND) was “working on some recordings.”

JOEY BELLADONNA’S BEYOND THE BAND, which also features keyboardist Doug Carter, bassist Paul Arntz, guitarist Matt Basford and drummer Justin Ward, made its live debut in March 2020 at The Beacon Theatre in Hopewell, Virginia.

Belladonna also touched upon his reasons for launching a JOURNEY tribute band, saying: “People ask why the hell I do it. I just like the songs. I’ve liked the band forever. And I just wanted to do it because I think it’s a cool challenge and it’s just fun music. I can’t think of many bands that I’d like to do a whole evening of without trying to dress up and do everything they do. We just wanna be a band that plays that music. I don’t care about the whole lookalike-type stuff. It’s just about music. That’s really all it is.”

In an April 2020 interview with SiriusXM’s “Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk”, Belladonna stated about his approach to singing material that was originally written and recorded by Steve Perry: “Obviously, when you do [something like this], there’s always open ground for [people to say], ‘You didn’t do that part, ‘You didn’t do this.’ [But] I didn’t wanna copy it note for note. Sometimes I just like to do my own thing with it. Represent it and do what you can, but I love to mess around with things. Not so much to try to be too different, but just make it cool and do it your own way versus trying to get every note. I’m sure some guys study every second of it. Even with ANTHRAX, I do songs different a lot of times. It’s just fun that way. To do things off the cuff is fun for me versus trying to follow everything… I can study it all day, but I just don’t feel like doing that. I wanna have a little fun doing my own thing with it.”

In a 2005 interview with MusicDish, Belladonna was asked about the rumor that he came to the table with a JOURNEY tune during his 1985 audition for ANTHRAX. “Actually, what happened was I went into the room and they said, ‘Just go on in,’ and they hadn’t heard me sing,” he said. “They’d heard of me and they asked me to come in, but we were going in to start tracking and stuff, to get the mic set up and all that and they said, ‘Let’s get you in there and get you warmed up.’ I hit the mic and belted out some JOURNEY… I think it was [the song] ‘Lights’. I didn’t know what the hell I was getting into in the first place. I just wanted to lay some vocals or something. Just to kinda give an idea and that’s what happened. It wasn’t really anything more than that. I just kinda belched it out. I think I did ‘Oh Sherrie’ [written by Steve Perry], too, or something. I dunno why, but I just did. It was something off the top of my head I could do a cappella and it was kinda challenging. I thought maybe in range or something that would be kind of intriguing. It was definitely one they weren’t expecting.”

ANTHRAX’s 2013 EP “Anthems” EP included the band’s cover version of JOURNEY’s “Keep On Runnin'” alongside classics by RUSH, THIN LIZZY, AC/DC, CHEAP TRICK and BOSTON.

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VOLBEAT played its first show with former SLAYER and TESTAMENT drummer Jon Dette last night (Saturday, January 29) at Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Portland, Oregon. Dette is filling in for VOLBEAT’s regular drummer, Jon Larsen, who tested positive for COVID-19, the disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, earlier in the week.

Fan-filmed video of the Portland concert can be seen below.

VOLBEAT canceled its show Friday (January 29) at Ford Idaho Center Arena in Nampa, Idaho as a result of Larsen’s diagnosis.

VOLBEAT’s co-headlining U.S. tour with GHOST will conclude on March 3 in Anaheim, California.

VOLBEAT’s “Shotgun Blues” single, which is taken from the band’s latest album, “Servant Of The Mind”, recently topped both the Billboard Mainstream Rock and Mediabase Active Rock charts, the Danish/American group’s tenth top-charter, and cemented VOLBEAT’s record for having the most No. 1 singles on the Mainstream Rock chart by an artist based outside of North America.

Revolver called “Servant Of The Mind” “excellent… the darkest and heaviest VOLBEAT offering yet.” For the LP, the band, which consists of Michael Poulsen (guitar, vocals), Larsen, Rob Caggiano (guitars) and Kaspar Boye Larsen (bass), took its signature heavy metal, psychobilly and punk ‘n’ roll sound up a notch while showcasing Poulsen’s keen ability for songwriting and storytelling. “Rarely has such a successful band sounded so ravenous,” says Kerrang! magazine of the album.

“Servant Of The Mind” was written and recorded during the shutdown and quarantine necessitated by the COVID-19 pandemic. The LP includes the “double barrel” of summer songs the band released this past June: “Wait A Minute My Girl” and “Dagen Før” (featuring Stine Bramsen), the former of which became the band’s ninth number one single on the Billboard Mainstream Rock chart.

Volbeat was freaking bomb

Posted by Teresa Reeves on Sunday, January 30, 2022

Great show

Posted by Teresa Reeves on Saturday, January 29, 2022

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Former TNT and SKID ROW singer Tony Harnell celebrated the fourth anniversary of his getting sober on January 30. Harnell tweeted: “Today marks 4 years alcohol-free. Thank you to all those who have been there for me along my journey. Sending love to those who are struggling today. Take care of yourselves. #grateful #onedayatatime #nojudgement #love”.

Harnell previously said that his drinking was partly responsible for him quitting SKID ROW via social media, explaining that it was “a really dumb” and “very unprofessional” thing to do.

Harnell joined SKID ROW in April 2015 as the replacement for Johnny Solinger, who was the band’s frontman for fifteen years. Tony quit the group only eight months later, writing in a Facebook post that “being ignored and disrespected isn’t my thing.”

Tony later said in an interview with “Rock Talk With Mitch Lafon” that he made his exit official after going through was he described as “one of the most difficult times” in his life. “And the climax of it was the end of 2015, and I was in a bar, drinking way too much, was pissed off at the world, and did a stupid thing,” he said. “And that was it. And it was very unprofessional. I’ve never done anything like that before, and I haven’t done anything like that since. And I’m not proud of it.”

Harnell went on to confirm that his drinking “played a role” in the way he went about quitting SKID ROW. “And a lot of people that know me would be, like, ‘What? We never saw the guy drunk,'” he said. “It was my little private thing that a lot of people weren’t really aware of — not even some people that were very close to me. So that definitely played a role. I wouldn’t say that it was the only thing that was ‘wrong’ at the time, but it did play a role in the whole scenario.”

Tony also claimed that he has since “apologized to both the band and the fans.” He added: “It was a really dumb thing to do. That’s basically all there is to it.”

SKID ROW guitarist Dave “Snake” Sabo told the “Trunk Nation” show that things fell apart so quickly with Harnell because “some things just aren’t meant to work… they just don’t work together. Knowing him before and then working with him, it was two separate… it really was two different things,” he explained. “A lot of conflict, a lot of butting heads, and it just… it never meshed, it was never right. We knew him for a long time, [but we] never worked with him — never worked in a band situation, in a band environment with him. And you know what — for better or for worse, this is our band; it belongs to us. And so if someone is gonna come in and work with us, we have a certain way that we do things, and that may not work for some people. It didn’t work for him. Look, [he’s] a talented guy; it just wasn’t right for us.”

Harnell was replaced in SKID ROW by South African-born, British-based singer ZP Theart, who previously fronted DRAGONFORCE, TANK and I AM I.

Today marks 4 years alcohol-free.
Thank you to all those who have been there for me along my journey. Sending love to those who are struggling today. Take care of yourselves.❤️#grateful #onedayatatime #nojudgement #love

— Tony Harnell (@tonyharnell) January 30, 2022

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POISON drummer Rikki Rockett has sided with Neil Young after the legendary singer demanded that his catalog be removed from Spotify in response to “fake information about vaccines” being “spread” on the platform via Joe Rogan’s podcast, “The Joe Rogan Experience”. Young delivered an ultimatum, adding, “They can have Rogan or Young. Not both.” Spotify announced a few days later that it would pull Young’s music catalog from its platform.

“We regret Neil’s decision to remove his music from Spotify, but hope to welcome him back soon,” the company said in a statement. “We want all the world’s music and audio content to be available to Spotify users. With that comes great responsibility in balancing both safety for listeners and freedom for creators.”

A short time later, DISTURBED singer David Draiman weighed in on Spotify’s move, tagging the company’s chief executive Daniel Ek on Twitter and writing: “@eldsjal I applaud you and @Spotify for making the RIGHT call, preserving #FreeSpeech and not capitulating to the mob. I may not agree with everything @joerogan or his guests say, but they’re entitled to have the forum to say it.”

David later clarified his stance, writing: “Let me be clear. I do not support ANY artist blackmailing any entity to follow an agenda THEY believe in, wether it’s @Neilyoung one one side of the spectrum or @EricClapton on the other. Music shouldn’t be used to sow division. It should be used to bring people together IMHO”.

Seemingly in response to Draiman’s comments, Bach took to his Twitter to write: “Imagine calling yourself a rocker yet siding with some dude who has a podcast over @Neilyoung You can stick to listening to your podcast and I will stick to listening to Neil Young”. This prompted Draiman to write: “I still love and will listen to @Neilyoung too brother, the same way I still love and will listen to you. Always continue to respect and admire the both of you brother. The only ‘side’ I’m on is the side of freedom, and you’re free to have your opinion, of course.”

Another musician that weighed in is Rockett, who shared Bach’s tweet and wrote: “Joe is a very intelligent man, but he is wrong on this one. Gotta side with the artist. We don’t get what we deserve from Spotify anyway!”

When Sebastian responded, “Hard to say how intelligent a guy is who has a podcast that willingly disseminates deadly misinformation to its own listeners. Maybe if Meatloaf didn’t buy into this conspiracy he would still be with us today. Along with 4,000+ other people that died yesterday from this garbage”, Rockett countered with: “It’s not about intelligence, it’s about integrity.”

In response to Draiman’s tweet, Rockett wrote “Science is not opinion. Neither is math”, to which David replied: “Love and respect you too Rikki, and agree with you. Yet, both science and even math theorems continue to evolve, and sometimes calculations are corrected and can change. What will not change for me is the high opinion I hold for each of you”. Rockett then responded: “This hasn’t evolved. 2+2 will still be 4.”, after which Draiman wrote: “On that…we agree lol”.

Last July, Rockett revealed that he tested positive for the novel coronavirus after being vaccinated. The 60-year-old drummer, who is a cancer survivor, later said that that his recovery from COVID-19 “would be way worse” if he hadn’t been vaccinated, “especially if it was the delta variant.”

Rockett, whose real name is Richard Allan Ream, was diagnosed with oral cancer nearly seven years ago. Today Rikki is cancer-free, enjoys playing with his band, POISON, caring for his two children, and practicing Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.

“The Joe Rogan Experience” became a Spotify exclusive in 2020, when Rogan signed a multi-year exclusive licensing deal with the streaming giant.

Ek has defended Rogan in the past, including after an episode that featured the conspiracy theorist Alex Jones in 2020.

“We want creators to create,” Ek told The Financial Times at the time. “It’s what they do best. We’re not looking to play a role in what they should say.”

Joe is a very intelligent man, but he is wrong on this one. Gotta side with the artist. We don’t get what we deserve from Spotify anyway!
— Rikki Rockett (@RikkiRockett) January 28, 2022

It’s not about intelligence, it’s about integrity.
— Rikki Rockett (@RikkiRockett) January 30, 2022

I still love and will listen to @Neilyoung too brother, the same way I still love and will listen to you.
Always continue to respect and admire the both of you brother. The only “side” I’m on is the side of freedom, and you’re free to have your opinion, of course.

— David Draiman (@davidmdraiman) January 27, 2022

Science is not opinion. Neither is math.
— Rikki Rockett (@RikkiRockett) January 28, 2022

This hasn’t evolved. 2+2 will still be 4.
— Rikki Rockett (@RikkiRockett) January 28, 2022

On that…we agree lol
— David Draiman (@davidmdraiman) January 28, 2022

And what do you practice?
— Rikki Rockett (@RikkiRockett) January 28, 2022

I know a guy who wore a helmet and got in a motorcycle accident. No joke!
— Rikki Rockett (@RikkiRockett) January 28, 2022

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California glam metal jokesters STEEL PANTHER were joined onstage by Corey Taylor (SLIPKNOT, STONE SOUR) and Christian Martucci (STONE SOUR, COREY TAYLOR) to cover DIO’s “Rainbow In The Dark” 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).

Taylor has collaborated with STEEL PANTHER several times before, both in the studio and in a live setting. Notably, he was featured on STEEL PANTHER’s 2009 album “Feel The Steel”, singing “Death To All But Metal” and contributing backup vocals on “Asian Hooker” and “Eyes Of A Panther”. STEEL PANTHER drummer Stix Zadinia told Juice magazine that Taylor attended some of the band’s shows in Hollywood, eventually getting up on stage with them. Stix described STEEL PANTHER as being “bros” with Taylor since then. The drummer added: “Plus, he looks great naked. You can print that.”

In a 2014 interview with Revolver magazine, Taylor stated about STEEL PANTHER’s “All You Can Eat” album: “It’s top to bottom so damn good. I would listen to it on the way to the studio to make the SLIPKNOT album [2014’s ‘5: The Gray Chapter’] every day. There’s nothing like driving through Hollywood listening to STEEL PANTHER. It’s so fulfilling in so many different, weird ways. They write amazing songs and that’s one of the reasons why they have the kind of legs that it takes for what they do keep going. They’re great musicians and they’re funnier than shit. They’re some of the smartest, funniest dudes I’ve ever met.”

In December 2020, Zadinia revealed the existence of a previously unreleased STEEL PANTHER collaboration with Taylor. The track, “Steel Panther Fucked My Girlfriend”, was originally written by STEEL PANTHER guitarist Satchel and was recorded with guest vocals by the SLIPKNOT frontman before being shelved for reasons that are not clear. A few years ago, the song ended up being covered by Wheeler Walker Jr., the alter ego of comedian Ben Hoffman, who made his version available on YouTube.

Stix discussed the track in an interview with “The Crash Report” podcast, saying that STEEL PANTHER “never played it. Somehow [Wheeler Walker Jr.] got a copy of it. We never released it. And there’s a version out in one of our hard drives with Corey Taylor singing it.”

When the interviewer told Stix that STEEL PANTHER should release its version of “Steel Panther Fucked My Girlfriend”, Stix agreed. “We should,” he said. “We fucking should. You know what? I need to talk to Satchel about that. Corey Taylor sings ‘Steel Panther Fucked My Girlfriend’. It’s amazing. It sounds like the fucking EAGLES — the original version.”

He continued: “Wheeler Walker did a version of it. The end product, the end result of it, I heard and I was, like, it’s cool and it was nice of him to wanna do, but when you hear our version of it, especially with Corey on it, you’ll be, like, ‘This sounds like the fucking EAGLES.'”

When legendary heavy metal singer Ronnie James Dio (DIO, HEAVEN & HELL, BLACK SABBATH, RAINBOW) died in May 2010, Taylor released a statement to Billboard in which he called Dio “one of the strongest, purist and consistent singers of all time. Ronnie sang like he lived — all out, from the heart, with so much honesty and joy. He was a great man with a smile and a handshake for fans and peers alike. He spoke his mind and stood his ground for decades. I will miss him dearly.”

In a separate interview with The Pulse Of Radio, Corey said, “When I got that news that [Ronnie] had passed away, man, it seriously — it broke my heart. It broke it in two. Because honestly, I just feel like there will never be another Ronnie James Dio. He had such a pure voice — and still singing his ass off. I just know he’ll be missed, and I will miss him as well.”

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