In a new interview with The Underground Australia, Zakk Wylde (OZZY OSBOURNE, BLACK LABEL SOCIETY) spoke what it has been like to return to the road during the pandemic. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “We just gone done doing… We did 44 shows in 50 days right before… I guess in October and November. And it was great. Nobody got sick. The shows were great. We went out with our good friends in PRONG and OBITUARY. And we had a great time.

“The schedule is probably about five months from now we’re going out to Europe and then come back to America,” he continued. “And then hopefully be able to come down and see you guys in Australia and New Zealand, and then go to Asia and Russia — everywhere. Just tour for the next two years or so on the new album. And then we’ll see where the Boss is at, with Ozzy, see how he’s feeling. If he’s ready to fire up the machine again, then we’ll go out with the Boss as well. That’s what the schedule is right now. So hopefully it’ll happen.”

Wylde also touched upon how he dealt with being in quarantine during the coronavirus lockdown. He said: “For me… ‘Cause people were, like, ‘Oh, you’re not touring,’ and this and that. I’m usually doing two hundred-plus shows or close to 300 shows a year. So for the time that we were home, I cherished every moment I had with my family, the dogs — just, like, walking them every day.

“I told my wife, I said, ‘If you’ve never had a chance to sleep and have insane sex with a professional dog walker, now’s your chance.’ [Laughs]

“But, yeah, I love being on the road every night,” Zakk added. “I thank the good Lord for being able to do what I love and everything like that. So I’ve never been one that, when I’m on the road, to go, ‘Man, I wanna go home. I can’t stand it.’ I’ve never done that ever. That’s what you put all the practice in; that’s what you dream about doing. That’s the reason why you have posters of Jimmy Page and all your heroes up on the wall. I still do. That’s the reason why you’re doing it. But when I’m home, I love being home. So for me, during the lockdown, it gave me more time to just roll with my family.”

BLACK LABEL SOCIETY 11th studio album, “Doom Crew Inc.”, was released in November via MNRK Heavy (formerly eOne Music).

“Doom Crew Inc.” was made available digitally on CD and vinyl plus a deluxe edition that includes vinyl, CD longbox, cassette and more. The 12-track album is both a tribute to the band’s “first to bleed, last to leave” road crew and a salute to the legion whose support, stretching back to 1998, rivals that of the KISS Army.

The songs are odes to celebration and mourning, the soundtracks to jubilant evenings and bewildering days recorded in Wylde’s home studio, the Black Vatican. On this album, Zakk trades solos and twin-guitar parts with Dario Lorina, backed by the rumble of longtime bassist John “J.D.” DeServio and powerhouse drummer Jeff Fabb.

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DISTURBED frontman David Draiman, who produced TRIVIUM’s “Vengeance Falls” album nearly a decade ago, was asked in a new interview with AXS TV’s “Rock & Tell” if he gravitates to listening to the vocals first when he is working with an artist or if he is able to block that out and listen to something else first. He responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “Well, it all depends on the type of music you’re approaching, number one. Obviously, if we’re talking about something instrumental, then it’s a moot point. But if you’re talking about a vocal-driven song, and that’s the way 99.9 percent of all music, is vocally driven, then I think any producer, whether it’s me or anyone else, is going to start with the vocals. The musical bed has to be powerful, it has to be complex, it has to be artistic, it has to be telling a story of its own and have its own color and all those things, but at the end of the day, people remember hooks. And usually — usually — and don’t get me wrong, there are certain instances where there are exceptions, but the vocal carries the hook, for the most part. In fact, so much so that I would say that most producers will tend to strip away aspects of musicality in cases to accommodate the vocal where it is so strong that things get in the way. And I think if you don’t do that, then you’re kind of shooting yourself in the foot.”

He continued: “Don’t get me wrong — it’s like the focal point of the laser; if it doesn’t have the rest of the machine, it doesn’t work, and it’s not anywhere near as powerful; it doesn’t become the laser. But when you have the rest of the machine working with it, it’ll burn through you.”

DISTURBED performed live for the first time in nearly two years in late September as one of the headliners of the Louder Than Life festival in Louisville, Kentucky.

In March 2021, DISTURBED’s “The Sickness 20th Anniversary Tour” was officially canceled. The amphitheater tour, with very special guest STAIND and BAD WOLVES, was originally slated to take place in the summer of 2020 but was rescheduled to 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic. It was eventually scrapped altogether.

“The Sickness 20th Anniversary Tour” was supposed to celebrate the 20th anniversary of DISTURBED’s seminal album “The Sickness”. On this tour, the band was expected to perform songs off the album, as well as tracks from “Evolution” and DISTURBED’s extensive catalog.

In September 2020, DISTURBED released a cover version of Sting’s 1993 single “If I Ever Lose My Faith In You”.

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Fan-filmed video footage of Nita Strauss’s January 15 performance at the Harrisburg Midtown Arts Center in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania can be seen below.

The fall 2021 leg of Nita’s “Winter Wasteland” tour kicked off on November 10 in New Orleans, Louisiana and concluded on December 18 in Angola, Indiana.

Earlier this month, Nita spoke to Terrie Carr of the Morristown, New Jersey radio station 105.5 WDHA about the progress of the writing and recording sessions for her follow-up to 2018’s “Controlled Chaos” solo debut. She said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “The album is almost finished being recorded. We are just waiting on a couple of singers. Guitars are done, drums, bass — everything is finished.

“This is my first time collaborating with vocalists on anything, so it’s a bit of a waiting game — it’s testing my patience a little bit — but it’s all worth it in the end,” she continued.

“We’re gonna do half and half — so six instrumental tracks and six tracks with guest vocalists.”

In a separate interview with “The Mistress Carrie Podcast”, Nita stated about her decision to make the upcoming LP “half vocal songs and half instrumental: “I did feel, and the label and everybody agreed, it’s still important for me to keep my identity as a guitar player and not just branch off too much and go, ‘Okay, well, now it’s just guests.’ Let me still have a little of what makes me me, which is the instrumental shred stuff. And the instrumental pieces that I’ve written on this record are, I think, better than anything I did on the first one — definitely more… I don’t know if it could be more emotional but they’re very emotional pieces of music and I think a little better crafted this time around. So I think all the songs in general are more well thought out, better put together this time around. And I do have some of my absolute favorite [singers guesting on it]. I have three amazing powerhouse female vocalists on this album so far. And there are still a couple of things T.B.D. [to be determined]. And then we should be ready to release next spring.”

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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THE OFFSPRING has dropped another episode of “Cockpit Karaoke”, a video series featuring frontman Bryan “Dexter” Holland and guitarist Kevin “Noodles” Wasserman singing along to some of the band’s biggest hits from inside a private jet that’s being flown by Holland, who is a licensed pilot. This time, Dexter and Noodles have opted to tackle “Let The Bad Times Roll”, the title track of THE OFFSPRING’s latest album.

When “Cockpit Karaoke” was first launched last July — featuring the duo singing “Come Out And Play”, with the “Keep ‘Em Separated Guy” along for the ride — Holland told SPIN: “We know everyone’s heard of ‘Carpool Karaoke’, but ‘Cockpit Karaoke’??? No one’s done that!! Since I’m a pilot, we thought it would be great if Noodles and I had some fun and got to sing along to some of our many hits.”

“Let The Bad Times Roll” arrived in April 2021 via Concord Records. The follow-up to 2012’s “Days Go By” was once again produced by Bob Rock, who also worked on the band’s last two LPs.

Holland, Wasserman, drummer Pete Parada and new bassist Todd Morse wrote and recorded “Let The Bad Times Roll” in the last few years at various locations, including the band’s studio in Huntington Beach, California.

Last August, Parada announced that was being dropped from THE OFFSPRING’s touring lineup after refusing the COVID-19 vaccine for medical reasons. At most of the band’s recent shows, he was replaced by Josh Freese, a top L.A. session musician who has played with DEVO, THE VANDALS, NINE INCH NAILS, A PERFECT CIRCLE and GUNS N’ ROSES. Freese previously played with THE OFFSPRING on a number of occasions, including during the recording sessions for the “Splinter” (2003), “Rise And Fall, Rage And Grace” (2008) and “Days Go By” (2012) albums.

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The new BULLETBOYS lineup, featuring singer Marq Torien, guitarist Ira Black (OF GODS & MONSTERS, LIZZY BORDEN, METAL CHURCH), bassist Brad Lang (Y&T, BURNING RAIN) and drummer Fred Aching (POWERFLO, BILLYBIO), made its live debut yesterday (Saturday, January 15) at RokIsland Fest in Key West, Florida. Photos and video of the performance can be found above and below (courtesy of Jessica Chase).

Torien launched the new version of BULLETBOYS earlier this month after the band’s original lineup fell apart following a two-year reunion. Original bassist Lonnie Vencent failed to show up for a scheduled BULLETBOYS performance at the Whisky A Go Go in West Hollywood, California on December 16, forcing the gig to be canceled. Torien instead delivered an acoustic set with Black. It was later announced by guitarist Mick Sweda and drummer Jimmy D’Anda that they would not be returning to the band.

Last week, Sweda discussed his departure from BULLETBOYS in an interview with Waste Some Time With Jason Green. When asked if he informed Torien about his decision to exit the group after BULLETBOYS’ canceled concert at the Whisky A Go Go, Mick said: “I think that [Marq] pretty much expected that that was gonna happen. Who’s to say that this wasn’t part of a plan, in the beginning, that at the first opportunity he was going to find a way to go back to having his subservient musicians playing. I don’t know. It’s hard to say. And frankly, it doesn’t interest me at all at this point.

“Frankly, I feel a huge sense of relief and a sense of weight lifted off my shoulders every time I leave this band [laughs], because it can be nerve racking and stomach churning,” he continued. “And there’s no need for it in my life at this point. I’ve got plenty of other things I could be doing. So that’s what I will be doing.”

Sweda went on to say that he “always felt like” he “was spending more time doing damage control” than he was enjoying his time as a member of BULLETBOYS.

“It’s funny, people are, like, ‘Well, dude, just go play music. Why can’t you guys just get together and you go out and have fun and play music.’ Well, were it so easy,” he added.

“The shows were great. We were having a great time. People were responding,” he said. “It seemed like there was a potential for an upward trajectory. And as soon as — and these aren’t my words; this is somebody who’s very close with us and observing it… It’s, like, ‘When you guys are in a room, everything seems to be great and you’re having fun. As soon as everybody gets apart, that’s when the voices in people’s ears start speaking and the noise starts to have an effect. And, really, that’s the way it was — as soon as we finished the gig, that’s when everything started to slide downhill.”

Sweda previously opened up about his departure from BULLETBOYS in an interview with “This That & The Other With Troy Patrick Farrell” earlier in the month. Speaking about why the reunion of BULLETBOYS’ original lineup didn’t last more than two years, Sweda said: “You go into these things with what I’d describe as hope but it’s kind of qualified hope. You know that there’s a shelf life, you know that there’s a ‘use by’ date, or at least ‘best use by’ date, and you just hope it doesn’t come too soon. And for me, frankly, it came too soon. I was really looking forward to the year and all the shows we had booked and looking forward to going out and having a great time this summer. We were thinking that the [aborted] Whisky show [on December 16] would be something that would sort of pull us together after a tough 2021 and something that might sort of create bond that would carry over, and alas, that was not to be. We had a couple of guys that were really important to the functioning of the band, namely the manager and the drummer, that decided that they didn’t wanna move on and be a part of it. So, essentially my decision was made for me at that point.”

Regarding the personal differences that ultimately caused the reunited BULLETBOYS to fall apart, Mick said: “It’s very difficult to explain. I know there’s a lot of external noise, I know that there are voices whispering in everybody’s ear, and once everybody gets away from that buzz [from playing together], it starts to set in. I’m not gonna speak for anybody else, but you start wondering what’s happening. And then you hear something happened and somebody did this or somebody did that or said this, and it all just starts manifesting in this… I suppose it is insecurity, I suppose it is distrust. And for me, I have to be able to trust the guys in my band; I have to be able to know that somebody isn’t gonna go behind someone else’s back and say something or do something. And that just starts to dissipate, I suppose, with the time away. It’s funny — when you get back together, all of that just sort of subsides into the background because there’s a bigger goal in mind and a bigger picture; you want to achieve that and you don’t wanna let everybody down. So it’s easy to overlook that. But there comes a time where it just feels like it’s toxic and poisonous, and nobody needs that in their life, especially at our age.”

Sweda went on to say that he has had no direct conversations with Torien since he made the decision to leave BULLETBOYS. “I didn’t have to speak with Marq,” he explained. “The way that played out pretty much spoke volumes for me, and there was nothing else to be said. My understanding is that he’s already looking at putting together a group of fellows to go out and do there dates. My big concern is that when people see Jimmy’s picture or see my picture out there, I just want them to know that that is not gonna be the case and they’re not gonna see the original band. And there’s no guarantee that that artwork and those photos won’t be out there representing the gigs as such. So as long as everybody knows what ticket they’re buying and what to expect, I’m okay with that.”

When Sweda first discussed his exit from BULLETBOYS during a January 3 Facebook Live stream, he said: “In the past, I know it’s been brought up that anybody who isn’t in BULLETBOYS has quit on the fans. And that may or may not be something you’ll hear in interviews or whatever. And trust me, it has nothing to do with quitting on fans and everything to do with just not wanting to travel down a path that is fraught with strife and distrust and bitterness and everything else.

“It’s really, at this point in our lives, imperative — at least for me; I’ll speak for myself here — that I just remove all forms of toxicity,” he explained. “And I’m sure all of you understand it just can’t be a part of my life anymore. And the fact that we were all original and having some good shows and having a great time playing the shows — there’s no doubt about that; I had a wonderful time and I was looking forward to doing it all of 2022 — but once it gets to a point where it’s poisonous, you can’t have it in your life…

“I’m grateful that everybody understands, and I apologize to you. I was really looking forward to this being a nice run, being a nice year and finding a way to make our way through it. But that is not to be.”

The original BULLETBOYS lineup made its live return in December 2019 with a sold-out performance at the Whisky A Go Go in West Hollywood, California.

Aside from one show in 2011, original BULLETBOYS members D’Anda, Sweda, bassist Lonnie Vencent and Torien had not performed together since 1993.

BULLETBOYS formed in 1988 at the very peak of the Los Angeles glam metal movement. As a collection of talented musicians, BULLETBOYS were able to quickly capture the attention of music fans around the world. Unlike other rockers of the day, the BULLETBOYS possessed more hard rock-blues fusion than pure hair metal. Thanks to comparisons to the likes of AEROSMITH and VAN HALEN, talent scouts came running and the band quickly received their first major label contract.

BULLETBOYS’ self-titled debut was released in 1988 via Warner Bros. and peaked at number 34 on the Billboard 200. The album spawned two hit singles, a cover of the O’JAYS classic “For The Love Of Money” and “Smooth Up in Ya”, both of which charted on the Mainstream Rock chart and saw regular airplay on MTV. BULLETBOYS went on to release two more albums, 1991’s “Freakshow” and 1993’s “Za-Za”, before splitting up.

Marq has yet to give an interview since the latest breakup of BULLETBOYS’ original lineup.

Torien and Black have a new project in the works with Jesse Hughes (EAGLES OF DEATH METAL). More details will be announced soon.

Posted by BULLETBOYS on Saturday, January 15, 2022

BULLETBOYS live at RokIsland Fest! ?

Posted by BULLETBOYS on Saturday, January 15, 2022

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RATT singer Stephen Pearcy has set “Agent Provocateur” as the title of his sixth solo album, to be released later this year.

Late Saturday night (January 15), Pearcy took to his Instagram to share a photo of his first five CDs — “Social Intercourse” (2002), “Fueler” (2004), “Under My Skin” (2008), “Smash” (2017) and “View To A Thrill” (2018) — stacked on top of one another, and he included the following message: “STEPHEN PEARCY Solo record #6 ‘Agent Provocateur’ tba 2022. #stephenpearcy #agentprovocateur #tobereleased #2022 #ontour”.

Last June, Pearcy told Vintage Rock Pod about his upcoming follow-up to “View To A Thrill”: “So much time has passed since we started writing, Erik [Ferentinos] and I — my guitar player and co-writer guy [for] most of my solo [stuff]. It was so long ago. And the record was done; we had the songs written, like, six months ago. And that was a year process. Since then, I’ve been writing like a fool and writing with him, and all these new songs [came out]. So I figure let’s do a double record and give it all you’ve got — just go in there and lay it down and say, ‘Here. This is what happens in two years when you write tunes.’ ‘Cause they’re way different. It goes all over the place, this record. Our new bass player, Jerry Montano, he did time in HELLYEAH; he’s more of an aggressive writer/player. So these songs could be real heavy, heavy or they could be RATT sounding, obviously, if I write ’em. I’m trying to take ’em outside. I’m trying to do a lot of different things. And it’s gonna be interesting, because it’s gonna go all over the place, so good luck.”

Last spring, the 65-year-old founding RATT vocalist, who has been focusing mostly on his solo career while the band has been off the road, dropped the official music video for a previously unreleased solo song called “Don’t Wanna Talk About It”. The track was written “circa 2000s” entirely by Pearcy and features Stephen on vocals and guitar, Ferentinos on lead guitar, Mike Duda on bass and Greg D’Angelo on drums.

“Don’t Wanna Talk About It” arrived two months after the release of Pearcy’s cover version of DURAN DURAN’s 1981 hit “Girls On Film”. Prior to that, Pearcy issued another new solo single, “Night Flight”, a collaboration between Pearcy and Ferentinos, which is expected to appear on Stephen’s upcoming LP.

Pearcy’s fifth solo LP, “View To A Thrill”, came out in November 2018 via Frontiers Music Srl. The follow-up to 2017’s “Smash” was produced by Matt Thorne and Pearcy and was mixed and mastered by Thorne and Ferentinos.

Pearcy and bassist Juan Croucier are the sole remaining original members in RATT’s current lineup, which made its live debut in July 2018 in Mulvane, Kansas. Joining them in the band are drummer Pete Holmes (BLACK ‘N BLUE, RATT’S JUAN CROUCIER) and guitarists Jordan Ziff (RAZER) and Frankie Lindia.

In January 2021, Pearcy told SiriusXM’s “Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk” that he was open to the idea of making a new RATT album with all the surviving members of the band’s classic lineup.

RATT hasn’t released any new music since 2010’s “Infestation” LP.

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In a recent interview with Spain’s Mariskal Rock, JUDAS PRIEST singer Rob Halford spoke about his struggles with depression and substance abuse, and how his own suicide attempt in 1986 led him to the rehab program that saved his life.

“You just feel… It’s negative thinking,” Rob said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET). “It’s like a cycle of negativity. You don’t feel or see a way out. It’s just like this circle of — like a black hole; you cannot find a way to escape it. Even though you think about the place that you’re at — you’re in a successful band, you’re financially stable, your friends and your family are good, everything is great, but you yourself are in this really dark place in your mind.

“For me, of course, I talk about my sexual identity,” Halford continued, referencing the fact that he opened up about his struggles in his recently released autobiography, “Confess”. “For the longest time, that played a role in my addictions, but I don’t think that was the complete story.

“I just think I was just confused about a lot of things — about not exactly why are we here, what are we doing, what’s the purpose, but all of these little incremental thoughts start to play in your mind and they amplify and they amplify and they amplify and you can’t break through — you can’t break through with rational, logical thinking.

“It’s a very important topic in life to pursue and to try and find answers to,” Halford added. “And you can never really one hundred percent shake it off. I still go through moments of depression — not as bad as it was, but I do. But I know… I go, ‘Okay…’ This, to me, to some extent, is a chemical imbalance. It just happens. And I know it’s not gonna last. That’s the good thing. I go, ‘Okay, I’m feeling like shit. I don’t know what’s going on, but this is gonna pass.’ And it passes. Again, it’s part of understanding why you’re feeling in that place. Some of it you bring into your body; some of it is just part of your brain chemical function. And again, there are outlets, there are wonderful people ready to be there with you and get you through those moments.”

“Confess” arrived in September 2020 via Hachette Books. Co-written with Ian Gittins, the book offers readers a compelling, heartfelt and honest look at the struggles Rob has faced with addiction and his sexuality as well as exploring his music and his many brushes with controversy.

In “Confess”, Halford discusses in detail what it was like becoming the first metal icon to announce he is gay in 1998 during an MTV interview, despite knowing about his sexuality since he was 10. Although his bandmates and their management knew he was gay and were accepting, he was advised to be discreet given the macho hetero nature of the metal world. He also opens up about surviving sexual abuse, as well as his struggles with the suicide of one of his former partners.

Halford recently publicly revealed that he battled prostate cancer during the pandemic. He previously mentioned his cancer battle in the new chapter added to the updated paperback edition of “Confess”. In “Confess”, Halford revealed that he was diagnosed with cancer after experiencing symptoms for at least a couple of years.

In July 2020, Rob underwent prostatectomy, an operation where the entire prostate gland is removed plus some of the tissue around it, including the seminal vesicles. After more cancer was found early last year, he went through radiation treatments in April and May and eventually got then all-clear in June. He also had an appendectomy after a tumor was discovered on his appendix.

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ANTHRAX bassist Frank Bello returned to Rock City Music Company in Livonia, Michigan on November 20, 2021 for an intimate question-and-answer discussion, acoustic performance and book signing in celebration of his memoir, “Fathers, Brothers, And Sons: Surviving Anguish, Abandonment, And Anthrax”, which was released earlier that month. At the event, which was hosted by Meltdown of the Detroit radio station WRIF, Frank took questions from the audience, shared stories about auditioning for ANTHRAX, learning how to play the bass, touring with METALLICA, his last memory of late METALLICA bassist Cliff Burton, and even took part in a rare, acoustic performance of the ANTHRAX classic “Only”. Frank then took time to sign copies of the book as well as other memorabilia for all fans in attendance.

Bello, whose book includes the story of his father’s abandonment of their family when he was 11 and the damage it did to Frank emotionally, said that he was partly inspired to write about the experience by METALLICA’s James Hetfield, whose father left his family when he was 13. Hetfield previously opened about his family history in a 2011 documentary called “Absent”, a movie directed by Justin Hunt, which examines the impact on society of growing up without a father.

“We were playing with METALLICA on Sunday [November 14, 2021 at the Welcome To Rockville festival at the Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida],” Frank said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET). “I bought the book for James. I wanted to hand it to him and say ‘thank you.’ After the ANTHRAX set, I was ready. I made a beeline for my friend James. And I said, ‘I wanna let you know this book would not have been possible without getting the ‘go’ from you, without getting that ‘okay, I can talk about abandonment from my father’ by what the words you said in ‘Absent’.'”

Bello also talked about the so-called “Big Four” of 1980s thrash metal — METALLICA, MEGADETH, SLAYER and ANTHRAX — who played together for the first time in history on June 16, 2010 in front of 81,000 fans at the Sonisphere festival at Bemowo Airport in Warsaw, Poland and shared a bill again for six more shows as part of the Sonisphere series that same year. They reunited again for several dates in 2011, including the last “Big Four” concert, which was held on September 14, 2011 at Yankee Stadium in New York City. Since then, METALLICA, SLAYER and ANTHRAX had played a number of shows together, including the 2013 Soundwave festival in Australia. They also performed at the 2014 Heavy MTL festival in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

“METALLICA didn’t need to do the ‘Big Four,'” Frank said. “They could sell out those stadiums on their own. They’re arguably the biggest band in the world. [When I spoke to James at Welcome To Rockville], I told [him], ‘Look, if nobody’s told you this before, and I don’t know if they have, thank you. Straight out, thank you. Dude, thank you. You didn’t have to do that.’ And he goes, ‘I get it, man.’

“James is one of those great humble guys,” Bello continued. “He knows what he has and he knows he’s the deal, but he’s humble enough to say, ‘I get it, dude. It’s a celebration.’ That the ‘Big Four’ was a celebration of this thrash movement coming up. That’s what it was for all of us; it really was — the bands and fans. So, yeah, man. I said, ‘Thank you, dude. You didn’t have to do that. I know you guys didn’t have to do that. You did it to celebrate. Now, I just wanna let you know, from Frank Bello talking to my friend James…'”

The “Big Four” touring rock festival was immortalized on the “The Big Four: Live From Sofia, Bulgaria” DVD, containing footage of the June 22, 2010 Sonisphere cinecast from the Sofia, Bulgaria stop of the trek.

Three years ago, Bello said that he believed SLAYER would come out of retirement to play more “Big Four” concerts.

“I think if you ring up my friends in SLAYER [and tell them], ‘We’re doing the ‘Big Four,” I think they’d play some shows,” he told Graspop Metal Meeting. “I think they would work it out. I think [they would come out of retirement for it]. The ‘Big Four’ is special enough that we all rise to it. I would hope they would do that. I mean, I would certainly try to talk them into it.”

METALLICA guitarist Kirk Hammett said in a 2017 interview that he believed that the “Big Four” idea would be revisited again. He explained: “I see those shows as kind of like a celebration — a real celebration of each other, and a real celebration of the music that we all make, and a real celebration of the audience embracing [what] we’ve done. And why not have more of that?”

All my metal head friends…in case you haven’t heard, Rock City Music Company will be welcoming back legendary Anthrax…

Posted by Nick Marocco on Monday, November 15, 2021

WOW! We mean WOW! On behalf of the entire staff at Rock City Music Company we would like to thank each and everyone of…

Posted by Rock City Music Company on Sunday, November 21, 2021

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Bruce Dickinson has confirmed that IRON MAIDEN is planning to stage a tour where it will perform its new album, “Senjutsu”, in its entirety.

The 63-year-old singer discussed MAIDEN’s future touring plans during an appearance on the latest episode of the “Talk Is Jericho” podcast, hosted by FOZZY frontman and wrestling superstar Chris Jericho.

Bruce said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “The plan we’ve got — it’s not really a secret; I think everybody else has chatted about it — we will, I hope, we’ve talked about doing the entire [‘Senjutsu’] album start to finish, but not this time around. And we all appreciate that that is something that really diehard fans will probably love and other people will go, ‘Hmmm, I’m not gonna go see that.’ So the answer is you play smaller venues so that they sell out with just your diehard fans. ‘Cause it’s a musical thing to do — it’s a musical thing.”

Dickinson went on to clarify that the 2022 leg of MAIDEN’s “Legacy Of The Beast” tour, which is scheduled to kick off in late May in Zagreb, Croatia, will once again focus primarily on a decades-spanning setlist of fan favorites.

“The ‘Legacy Of The Beast’ tour, people have all paid their money to see the ‘Legacy Of The Beast’ show, with Spitfires and flamethrowers and Icarus and everything that goes with,” he said. “So they’re gonna get all that. But the first three tracks are probably gonna be the first three tracks on the [‘Senjutsu’] album. ‘The Writing On The Wall’ they already know, so everybody should know the first three tracks. And I just think [the] ‘Senjutsu’ [title track] is just such a great opening song — so dramatic. And then once you’ve done that — and we’ll have a stage set to go with it — once you’ve done that, you’re back to the kind of ‘Legacy’ world at that point. But I think ‘The Writing On The Wall’ is gonna be a great song — I mean, a crowd singalong song. You can imagine that. It’ll be fantastic.”

Addressing the fact that MAIDEN infuriated some fans by forcing them to sit through the band’s then-new, 75-minute “A Matter Of Life And Death” album on tour in 2006, denying the crowd the greatest hits they’d come for, Bruce said: “Nobody has to buy a ticket. If you don’t wanna go [see us play an entire new album live], you don’t buy a ticket. It’s gonna be plain as the nose on your face. This is gonna be what they’re gonna do. So given that, don’t complain that they did what they said they were gonna do.”

Clocking in at a hefty 82 minutes, “Senjutsu” came out in September. It marks MAIDEN’s second consecutive double album behind 2015’s “The Book Of Souls” which is the longest MAIDEN album, with a running time of 92 minutes.

IRON MAIDEN’s first album in six years, “Senjutsu” was recorded in 2019 in Paris with longstanding producer Kevin Shirley and co-produced by bassist Steve Harris. It features three tracks whose running time exceeds 10 minutes each.

For “Senjutsu” — loosely translated as “tactics and strategy” — the band once again enlisted the services of Mark Wilkinson to create the spectacular Samurai-themed cover artwork, based on an idea by Harris.

“Senjutsu” bowed at No. 3 on the Billboard 200 chart, charting higher than even the band’s early classics like “Powerslave” and “The Number Of The Beast”. Nearly 90 percent of the LP’s 64,000 equivalent album units earned came from pure album sales. The critically acclaimed double album debuted one place higher than 2015’s “The Book Of Souls” and 2010’s “The Final Frontier”, which both peaked at No. 4.

“Senjutsu” was MAIDEN’s 13th album to top in the Top 40 in the U.S.

According to Billboard, “Senjutsu” logged the second-largest week of 2021 for a hard rock album in both equivalent album units earned and in traditional album sales.

“Senjutsu” topped the charts in several European countries upon its release, including in Belgium, Finland, Germany, Italy, Sweden and Switzerland.

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