In a recent interview with RadioactiveMike Z, host of the 96.7 KCAL-FM radio program “Wired In The Empire”, SEPULTURA frontman Derrick Green spoke about crossing paths with the members of METALLICA over the years. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “We did a tour of South America with them, which was phenomenal. And I think they were going through a lot of stuff at that time with a lot of issues and stuff, so we didn’t really get to chat with them that much. But then we did some other shows with them in Brazil and I think they were in a healthier place, and it was fantastic. They were hanging out. James [Hetfield, METALLICA guitarist/vocalist] would come by the dressing room or Kirk [Hammett, METALLICA guitarist] — all those guys — Robert [Trujillo, METALLICA bassist]… They were just always so friendly and great. And we got to play with them a few other times, like at Rock In Rio in Portugal. And that’s when we had our, I guess you can say new drummer at the time, Eloy Casagrande, who’s with us now, and Lars [Ulrich, METALLICA drummer] was just flipping on him, watching him play. [He was saying], ‘Man, this kid is incredible.’ That was an amazing time hanging out with them. They invited us for dinner after the show. And it’s been growing. Since then, every time seeing them, it’s better and better. They’re great to tour with, [they have a] great crew. The professionalism is formidable. It’s this incredible machine that works together. And I love it. Those guys are amazing. I love to see them do well.”

Casagrande joined SEPULTURA in 2011 as the replacement for Jean Dolabella.

Last year, Ulrich said that he is no longer bothered by people’s criticism of his drumming abilities. Speaking to METALLICA’s So What! fan-club magazine, the Danish-born musician said: “I’ve got to tell you, 20 years later, 30 years later, it just doesn’t register anymore. I am so comfortable with who I am, I’m so comfortable with who METALLICA is, I’m so comfortable with our place in all of it. I’ve got an incredible wife, three great kids, my dad and [his partner] Molly, incredible friends, and lots of cool acquaintances. It’s all good. I’ve got nothing left to prove, so it just doesn’t register anymore.”

Back in 2016, Ulrich, who has gotten a lot of flak over the years from people who accused him of being a poor drummer, told the “Talk Is Jericho” podcast that he went through a period in the mid-1980s “that probably culminated in the ‘…[And] Justice [For All]’ album where I felt sort of compelled to try to show ability.”

According to Lars, part of the reason for him feeling insecure about his abilities was the increased competition from some of his peers.

“Listen, when you’ve got Dave Lombardo and Charlie Benante breathing down your back, it was, like, ‘Okay, I’ve gotta…’ I tried to step it up a little bit and tried to do my own thing and do all this crazy shit,” he said. “I was trying really hard to push the drums kind of into the foreground. And then, after like a year or two of that, I was, like, ‘Okay. Seriously? Just do your thing. Chill out. Support the riffs. Do what’s best for the song.’ So since around I guess the late ’80s — so I guess it’s been, like, 25 years now — the only thing that’s really interested me is just doing the best thing for the song.”

Asked in a 2008 interview with U.K.’s Rhythm magazine if he was troubled by the fact that he’s gotten a lot of flak over the years from people who accused him of being a poor drummer, Lars said: “It used to, back in the day — and I spent a lot of time overcompensating for that on the early records. But then you wake up one day and you’re like, whatever. It hasn’t bothered me for [many] years. I’m no Joey Jordison, I’m no Mike Portnoy, and I have nothing but love and respect and admiration for all those guys. When I hear some of the young dudes, they blow my mind with what they can do with their feet and stuff — but it’s not something that makes me go, ‘I need to feel better about myself so I’m gonna learn how to do what they do with my feet.’ I’m not a particularly accomplished drummer but I am very, very, very good at understanding the role of the drums next to James Hetfield’s rhythm guitar. I guarantee you I’m the best guy in the world for that, and that’s enough for me!”

Ulrich stated about his playing ability in a 2012 interview with DRUM! magazine: “I usually feel like I’ve regressed. [Laughs] I’m like, ‘Why can’t I do that anymore?'” He continued: “I can’t say that I necessarily sit down to practice, like, ‘I’m going to play and practice so I can get better.’ What happens is that I just sit down and kind of play to just more stay in shape.”

Ulrich added: “You know, METALLICA was up to two or three months off [in 2011], and I would sit down, I have an iPod next to my drums so I can play along to all kind of crazy stuff, and try to see if I can land in the same zip code of some of that stuff occasionally. But I can’t say that I sit down to necessarily practice to sort of get better. For most of my stuff, it’s about listening and about interpreting stuff that I’m listening to. So all the kind of sitting down and, you know, ‘Now I’m going to do thirty-second-note paradiddles standing on my head — you know what I mean? I don’t do that kind of stuff so much. For me it’s more about the regimen of staying in shape, running every day, eating healthy, you know, being on top of that side of it.”

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Fans from around the world attended METALLICA’s two 40th-anniversary concerts, which were held in at San Francisco’s Chase Center on December 17 and December 19.

Chase Center has uploaded a new four-minute video featuring interviews from METALLICA fans who had traveled from such faraway places as Kuwait, Chile and Colombia to see the shows. Check it out below.

METALLICA’s two 40th-anniversary shows featured different setlists. They were part of METALLICA’s “San Francisco Takeover”, a four-day citywide celebration of the band’s 40th anniversary that also included a film festival, photo exhibit and curated lineup of smaller venue shows featuring other acts.

The 40th-anniversary shows marked METALLICA’s return to Chase Center for the first time since the September 2019 “S&M²” concerts that also served as the venue’s grand opening. Those two shows grossed more than $4.1 million over the course of its two nights, according to reports submitted to Pollstar’s Boxoffice, and the band ranked at No. 4 on Pollstar’s worldwide touring chart that same year with a global gross of $175 million.

“I keep thinking and forcing myself to think all our best years are still ahead of us,” METALLICA drummer Lars Ulrich said in a 2019 interview with Pollstar. “We may even turn professional and do this full time one day. That’s the MO. It’s always ‘What’s your favorite record?’ It’s the next one, the one we haven’t recorded yet. It’s always about the possibilities, always about what can be, what’s coming. That, to me, is what this is all about and I think that attitude is a big part of why METALLICA still connects to so many people around the world.”

Fans who missed METALLICA’s pair of 40th-anniversary concerts this past weekend can enjoy rebroadcasts of both shows on-demand exclusively on The Coda Collection this Christmas weekend in the U.S. and on Amazon Prime internationally.

The shows will be available to stream from Friday, December 24 at 9 a.m. PT / 12 p.m. ET / 5 p.m. GMT / 2 a.m. JST through Monday, December 27 at 8:59 p.m. PT / 11:59 p.m. ET / 4:59 a.m. GMT / 1:59 p.m. JST.

For information on how to stream both shows, click here.

Following the initial viewing period, both concerts will return to the The Coda Collection and Prime Video with enhanced bonus footage and additional exclusives as part of an extensive partnership between The Coda Collection and METALLICA, which will include a full slate of concert films, documentaries, and additional content spanning the band’s career arriving on the channel exclusively throughout 2022.

Formed in 1981 by guitarist/vocalist James Hetfield and drummer Lars Ulrich, METALLICA has become one of the most influential and successful rock bands in history, having sold nearly 120 million albums worldwide and generating more than 2.5 billion streams while playing to millions of fans on literally all seven continents. The band’s several multi-platinum albums include “Kill ‘Em All”, “Ride The Lightning”, “Master Of Puppets”, “… And Justice For All”, “Metallica” (commonly referred to as The Black Album), “Load”, “Reload”, “St. Anger”, “Death Magnetic” and “Hardwired… To Self-Destruct”, released in November 2016 and charting at No. 1 in 32 countries.

METALLICA’s awards and accolades include nine Grammy Awards, two American Music Awards, multiple MTV Video Music Awards, and its 2009 induction into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame. In June of 2018, the band was awarded one of the most prestigious musical honors in the world: Sweden’s Polar Music Prize.

Last Thursday, San Francisco mayor London Breed presented Ulrich and bassist Robert Trujillo with a special declaration marking December 16 as “Metallica Day” in the city.

“When you talk about San Francisco,” Breed said at the news conference, “you talk about cable cars and then you talk about METALLICA.”

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Steve Vai and Favored Nations / Mascot Label Group have presented an official music video for “Little Pretty”. The composition is featured on Vai’s upcoming studio album titled “Inviolate” which will be released digitally and on CD January 28, 2022. The LP will follow on March 18. The clip, which captures Vai performing in his inner sanctum also known as “Harmony Hut”, can be seen below.

The recording is a dark-toned fusion-funk workout. Vai states: “In writing the chord changes for the solo section, and the solo itself, I dug deep into my academic music theory mind to create a set of chord changes where the harmonic atmosphere shifted on every change. The dense chord structures required a series of synthetic modes to navigate. This approach is along the lines of jazz and fusion players, but I knew I did not want it to sound anything like that and the solo had to be totally melodic. The results were pretty powerful in that the entire solo section evokes melodic atmospheric changes that shift dramatically but work together well.”

Looking towards the holidays and a new year, he shares: “I am also wishing all a very happy and restful holiday season. You will need it because I predict in 2022, we will all be out there working together again and blowing up that bridge!”

Over the course of a more than 40-year career, Vai has routinely transformed what would appear to be outrageously impossible into something very, very possible… and still also pretty outrageous. From his days as Frank Zappa’s “stunt guitar” player to his more recent expansive and exploratory solo work, Vai has continually challenged notions of traditional guitar playing and composition — and on more than one occasion even reimagined the very instrument itself.

Which, he’ll admit, is not necessarily his intention. “I don’t sit around and say, ‘Okay, what can I do now that pushes the boundaries?” Vai explains about his approach to the guitar. “What I do say to myself is, ‘Okay, Vai — what are you going to do now that’s going to interest you, that’s going to fascinate you, and that’s different than anything you’ve done before?” The answer to that question comes in the form of Vai’s newest and 10th solo album, “Inviolate”, a nine-song opus that (sorry Steve) does indeed push the boundaries of instrumental guitar music — this time out, Vai quite literally invented not just a new guitar, but also a new guitar-playing technique.

At the same time, “Inviolate” presents his most focused, streamlined and perhaps invigorating music in years. “It’s very ‘Vai,’ whatever that means,” he says, and then laughs. “Someone else might be better than me at explaining what that is. But it’s just very honest music. Because a lot of my records, they’re long and there’s a lot of concepts and playing around with stories. This one has none of that. This is nine pretty dense all-instrumental compositions that I wanted to capture and record so I could get out there and play them live for people.”

The album’s mesmeric opener, “Teeth Of The Hydra”, a sinuous, Latin-fusion-tinged composition that Vai wrote and recorded with a one-of-a-kind custom guitar he coined the Hydra. But calling the Hydra a mere guitar is selling it way, way, way short. Built in conjunction with the designers at Hoshino and based on a “steampunk motif” idea of Vai’s, the Hydra is a beast of an instrument — a one-bodied, two-headstock-ed, three-neck-ed creature that encompasses, among other things: seven- and 12-string guitars; a four-string bass; sympathetic harp strings; half-fretless necks; single-coil, humbucking, piezo and sustainer pickups; floating and hardtail tremolo bridges; phase splitters; and much, much more. “It’s an incredibly-built machine,” Vai says. “I told the guys at Hoshino, ‘Anything that you think is conventional, don’t do that.’ This was an opportunity to exercise brutal creativity. And they went beyond.”

As did Vai in his performance. Throughout the track he employs the Hydra’s full range of tone and timbres to craft a guitar part that sounds, in its expansiveness and expressiveness, positively alive. “The interesting thing about the song and the guitar is that it all came at the same time,” Vai says. “It was one of those ‘inviolate’ inspirations — boom!”

That said, he continues, “I knew that I needed to create something with the Hydra that sounded like a real piece of music. It couldn’t be just a novelty. Because if you knew what my hands were doing, and how I’m using my left hand to create phrasings that work when I can’t pick a note because my right hand is off somewhere else…my god. But the finished piece had to stand on its own. It couldn’t sound like I was just trying to juggle stuff.”

Over the course of 2021, several of these compositions were shared publicly. Vai composed and recorded the song “Knappsack”, following his shoulder surgery, at a time when his right arm was in a sling (or, as his surgeon, Dr. Knapp, called it, a “knappsack”), and thus was able to use only his left hand when playing the piece. He released a one-handed performance video. He says with a laugh, “pretty soon after I started to see some clips of young kids pulling it off, too. It’s really fascinating.”

Those kids will likely face a greater challenge attempting to take on another “Inviolate” track, “Candle Power”. For this one, Vai not only set up parameters outside of his comfort zone (Strat-style guitar; clean tone; no whammy bar; no pick), but also — why not? — developed an entirely new guitar technique that he calls “joint shifting.” The core concept there, he explains, is to enact simultaneous multiple string bends in opposite directions, which “requires bending only the top joint of the finger independently from any other finger.” And while he acknowledges that bending multiple strings is not a new concept in and of itself, “I had not seen any of it done in the way I envisioned it,” he says.

Like “Knappsack”, Vai released “Candle Power” an accompanying performance video earlier in 2021. But he added a little something extra to the version that appears on “Inviolate”, with a newly recorded drum track from fellow Zappa alumnus Terry Bozzio (to that end, additional crack players who lent a hand to the record include bassists Bryan Beller, Philip Bynoe and Henrik Linder, keyboardist David Rosenthal and drummer Vinnie Colaiuta).

On “Apollo In Color”, Vai’s soaring runs on his Ibanez PIA signature guitar (the newly-designed model’s first appearance on a Vai studio album are surrounded by filigrees of sound played on all manner of exotic stringed instruments. “I thought, ‘Okay, what can I do to color this thing up?'” Vai says. “So, I pulled out all these little acoustic instruments I’ve collected through the years and I said, ‘I’m going to use every one of them somehow.'” These included a cavaquinho, a saz, a sitar, an oud and more. “Some of the instruments, I don’t even know their names,” Vai admits with a laugh.

In essence, it all comes down to finding your own voice, and then having the courage and conviction to follow your musical and creative instincts wherever they may take you — something Vai has never been shy about in his playing. “One of the great things about the guitar is you don’t need to be a virtuoso to express your creative vision,” he says. “I mean, Bob Dylan plays the guitar perfectly well for his expression. So does John McLaughlin. You just need to decide how much technique you want or need to get there. For myself, I came out of the chute wanting and needing it all. When it comes to my music, I don’t feel like I have to prove anything or conform to anything. I just love to think up creative ideas, and then use whatever skill I have to manifest them.”

“An inviolate inspiration is one that comes to you completely pure,” Vai explains. “It appears almost in its completeness, and there’s a recognition of it as being right for you — perfectly right for you. There’s no excuses in it. There’s no fantasy in it. There’s just a recognition of ‘yes.’ And then you capture that in a way that’s authentic to your unique creativity. Hopefully, that’s what I’ve done with this record.”

“Inviolate” track listing:

01. Teeth Of The Hydra
02. Zeus In Chains
03. Little Pretty
04. Candle Power
05. Apollo In Color
06. Avalancha
07. Greenish Blues
08. Knappsack
09. Sandman Cloud Mist

Vai will begin an extensive tour of the U.S., with 54 scheduled appearances on January 27, 2022 at the House Of Blues in Las Vegas. Vai will be joined by his long-tenured ensemble members Dave Weiner (guitar / keys), Philip Bynoe (bass), and Jeremy Colson (drums). Vai shares: “A performer thrives on performing. It’s been my life for the past 49 years, with the exception of the last two years, so we are chomping at the bit to get out there and play for people. A music concert has the ability to dissolve the many challenges we face, and celebrate one of the good things in life, live music.”

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Ex-STYX vocalist and keyboardist Dennis DeYoung has once again said that he wants to reunite with his former bandmates for one final tour.

DeYoung, the voice behind such STYX classics as “Come Sail Away”, “Best Of Times”, “Pieces Of Eight” and “Babe”, spoke about his previous group while chatting with U-Man and Favazz of the St. Louis, Missouri radio station KSHE 95.

He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “The vast majority of fans, and I know this, they wanna see the band back together one last time. But [the STYX guys] chose a different path.

“The people say, ‘Stop whining, Dennis.’ I say, ‘I’ll whine as long as I like. I’m gonna be 75.’ But the truth is [for them] to go out [on tour] with REO [SPEEDWAGON in 2022] — and REO is terrific — and LOVERBOY, that’s lovely, except we should be going out by ourselves and giving the fanbase what they richly deserve, which is to see Moe, Larry and Curly [referring to ‘The Three Stooges’] one more time.

“The thing is, for me, if we went and did it… I don’t wanna be back in the band,” he explained. “I’m not there to annoy people. I just want it one last time, really, for the legacy of the band and for the fanbase, because we still are pretty good — all three of us [DeYoung, guitarist/vocalist James ‘J.Y.’ Young and guitarist/vocalist Tommy Shaw — and Chuck [Panozzo, bass], when he has the strength to do it. It would be just a joyous thing for the people ’cause I know how I would feel if I got to see THE BEATLES one more time back when everyone was alive; it would have been ridiculous.”

This past July, DeYoung refuted Shaw’s claim that the members of STYX’s classic lineup “weren’t even happy working with each other in our heyday.”

“Let me tell you, all this stuff they said about me was the biggest exaggerated bunch of lies I’ve ever seen in my life,” Dennis told Classic Rock magazine. “We liked each other. We never had a punch-up. We never screamed at each other. We weren’t those guys. We made music together. So when you cast aspersions — not only on my musical contributions, but also on my character — it’s been the greatest heartbreak in my career.

“Not to give the fans one last glimpse of us together on stage, it makes no sense to me,” he added. “And I know that all STYX fans would want to see that one more time.

“This is not about me, it’s not about money. It’s to relive, and reinforce, what lucky sonofabitches we were to find each other. And show the people that we appreciate what you’ve done for us. I’m sick over the fact that we can’t do it one more time, but what am I going to do? I just can’t for the life of me understand it.”

DeYoung co-founded STYX as a teenager alongside his neighbors Chuck and John Panozzo in the early 1970s. James Young joined shortly after that, with Shaw coming on board in 1975.

Three years ago, Shaw likened STYX’s relationship with DeYoung to a divorce. “You get married when you’re young and everything’s rosy,” he told “The Big Interview”. “Then, as you start to get a little older, you realize you didn’t have that much in common and then you go through a tough divorce… We still have songs that we co-wrote together, and those are our children, and we’ve managed to find a way to keep those things in play.”

Shaw went on to say that he is content to let the past remain in the past, choosing instead to surround himself with positivity as he enters the next part of his career. He continued: “Personality-wise, at this stage in my life, I want to be happy. I want to be around people who love me and that have my best interest at heart, and I don’t have to fight with. There’s just not enough years left that I would want to risk not having that again.”

DeYoung released his final studio album, “26 East, Vol 2”, in June via Frontiers Music Srl.

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The Paiste YouTube channel has been updated with a video of SEPULTURA drummer Eloy Casagrande playing the song “To Not Belong” from CASAGRANDE & HANYSZ, his prog metal project with João Hanysz.

Paiste says in a message accompanying the YouTube release of the video: “Could he play even more energetic? We don’t think so. Always a great pleasure to see and hear Eloy Casagrande banging on those drums. Here he plays the track ‘To Not Belong’ from CASAGRANDE & HANYSZ. Hell Yeah!”

CASAGRANDE & HANYSZ’s debut EP, “Edge Of Chaos”, was released in September. The effort was produced, recorded and mixed by Andre Kbelo and was mastered by Carlinhos Freitas.

This past summer, guitarist Andreas Kisser spoke to France’s Loud TV about how Casagrande’s addition to has affected SEPULTURA’s sound.

“We’re very lucky to have such great musicians here in Brazil, especially in drumming,” he said. “We have great drummers and percussionists. You see [Carlos] Santana and all those great names, Paul Simon and stuff, always using some Brazilian here and there regarding the drum world. And Eloy started playing drums very early. He was made for SEPULTURA, man. I mean, he played in some other bands and stuff, but here with SEPULTURA, he’s really exploding; he’s really free to express himself the way he wants to, and SEPULTURA’s music really provides that. And in exchange, he gave me especially to write many new possibilities. I think ‘Machine Messiah’ and ‘Quadra’ are the consequence of that interaction we have, which is great. It’s so inspiring. It’s fantastic.

“We are kind of always writing,” he continued. “Sometimes he sends me some drum loops and I send him some riffs and stuff, and it’s really cool that we build stuff from there. And he’s a very professional guy — the best drummer in the world; at least for SEPULTURA he’s the best. [Laughs]”

In February 2020, SEPULTURA singer Derrick Green told Australia’s Everblack Media that Casagrande has had “a tremendous impact” on the group since he joined in 2011. “It’s undeniable because he’s such a strong force,” he said. “He loves playing metal music. He’s one of the most talented drummers I’ve ever seen, honestly. That power is consistent from beginning to the end. It really has rubbed off on all of us to really push ourselves further. He’s such a perfect match for the band. He really is always influencing us in so many ways to really go beyond — above and beyond.”

In 2019, Eloy told Drumtalk that he didn’t care about the long-simmering feud between founding SEPULTURA members Max and Igor Cavalera and his current bandmates. “I respect all the history,” he said. “I have total respect for the past drummers, Igor and Jean [Dolabella]. They are amazing guys, incredible guys, but we just live in the present. I really don’t care what happened, what didn’t happen. I respect all the music. I respect their music nowadays. It’s just that we have to follow our path and that’s it.”

Casagrande joined SEPULTURA 10 years ago as the replacement for Dolabella.

SEPULTURA’s latest album, “Quadra”, was released in February 2020 via Nuclear Blast. The LP was created at Sweden’s Fascination Street Studios with renowned producer Jens Bogren.

SEPULTURA comprises Green, Kisser, bassist Paulo Xisto Pinto Jr. and Casagrande.

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Music promoter TEG Dainty has received another AUD $600,000 (approximately $432,000) in rescheduling assistance from the Australian government’s Restart Investment to Sustain and Expand (RISE) fund for GUNS N’ ROSES’ COVID-delayed tour of the country.

GUNS N’ ROSES’ Australian tour was initially scheduled to kick off last month, but was pushed back to November 2022 due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. In a statement in September, TEG Dainty CEO Paul Dainty said that his company “worked for months with the various state governments trying to create a safe environment so that the GUNS N’ ROSES tour could proceed this year. Despite our best efforts, it recently became clear that we could not proceed in 2021 and it has taken time to finalize a plan where we could be confident of completing a national tour of Australia next year,” he said. “This will be the biggest stadium rock tour of summer 2022 with hundreds of people on the road, a massive production and logistics involved.”

Under the sixth batch of grants from RISE, 63 leading organizations across Australia are set to share in AUD $19.5 million.

Back in July, it was announced that TEG Dainty would receive AUD $750,000 under the fourth batch of grants from the $200 million RISE fund to assist with the GUNS N’ ROSES tour of Australia.

GUNS N’ ROSES last performed in Australia in early 2017 as part of the band’s “Not In This Lifetime” tour. Those shows sold over 350,000 tickets, and guitarist Slash later promised fans that GUNS N’ ROSES would return to Australia once again.

According to a news release from the government, the latest funding is creating a path to revival, supporting nearly 21,000 jobs and reaching over 600 locations, with more than half located in regional and remote Australia.

The support will flow immediately to arts and entertainment businesses to support activities such as festivals, concerts, tours, productions and events, which is needed now more than ever as we emerge from the pandemic.

Slash and his bandmates played the final show of their “We’re F’N Back” run on October 4 at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, Florida.

“We’re F’N Back!” came on the heels of the “Not In This Lifetime” run that became the No. 3 highest-grossing tour in the history of Billboard Boxscore.

As previously reported, GUNS N’ ROSES will release a new four-song EP, “Hard Skool”, on February 25, 2022. The effort, which is exclusive to the GUNS N’ ROSES official store, contains the two new songs the band released in the last two months — the title track and “Absurd” (stylized as “ABSUЯD”) — as well as live versions of “Don’t Cry” and “You’re Crazy”.

Australia & New Zealand! We’re coming back with a bigger and better show with new dates in November and December 2022….

Posted by Guns N’ Roses on Sunday, September 26, 2021

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During an appearance on the latest episode of “Waste Some Time With Jason Green”, Stephen Pearcy was once again asked if there is any chance of the four surviving members of the classic RATT lineup — Pearcy, bassist Juan Croucier, guitarist Warren DeMartini and drummer Bobby Blotzer — reuniting to play some shows and possibly record new music. He responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “Right now, for the next who knows how long, I doubt [it]. But hey, I’ve opened the door. I will not the band RATT record a record [unless it’s with the original guys]. I would love everybody to be involved.

“But you know what? Let’s take a step back here, kids,” he continued. “First of all, I said it a long time ago, and I don’t know if people get this or not, unfortunately, when Robbin [Crosby, late RATT guitarist] was not in the scene and he was going through his trip and then he wasn’t even in the band, that was, to me — I hate to say it — the end of that era. To have us hang around that long — ‘Oh, another platinum record’; ‘Oh, another platinum record’ — it’s just mind-blowing. ‘Oh, you’ve gotta do another reunion tour.’ ‘You’ve gotta do a record.’ I mean, we self-imploded a long time ago, man.

“My point is we can go through the motions,” Pearcy added. We can have great guitar players. No disrespect to any of these players — we’ve had great guys, and that’s all great — but, to me, RATT is not RATT without Robbin. And not even money is gonna make me believe any different. I’d rather go out and do my [solo] thing and get off on that. But is there any chance [of the original guys getting back together]? Well, who knows? I mean, look, I would love it. It would be great — one last rodeo — but, look, man, I don’t sit around waiting for anybody, number one. And number two, do you really wanna present what you did in ’84 37, [3]8 years later? We’re lucky to be alive. But the fact that we are, it would be great. And you guys out there, no disrespect, man — I fucking love playing our songs any chance I can get, but I’ve got other fish to fry. If I can’t get off, you’re sure as hell not gonna get off. But we’ll see, man… It’s not up to me. All I can do is say the door is open.”

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

This past February, it was reported by Metal Sludge that Pearcy would be joined by Blotzer for the filming of the virtual concert with his solo band over February 26 and February 27.

The rumors of Blotzer playing with Pearcy again came a month after Stephen confirmed to SiriusXM’s “Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk” that he was back on speaking terms with the drummer, who led his own version of RATT for a couple of years beginning in late 2015 before becoming embroiled in a legal battle with the singer, DeMartini and Croucier over the rights to the band’s name.

Pearcy and 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.

RATT — featuring Pearcy, Croucier and DeMartini — played a number of shows in 2017 after reforming a year earlier in the midst of a highly publicized legal battle with Blotzer over the rights to the RATT name. They were joined at the gigs by guitarist Carlos Cavazo, who played on “Infestation”, and drummer Jimmy DeGrasso, who previously played with Y&T, WHITE LION and MEGADETH, among others.

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U.D.O., the German metal band led by original ACCEPT frontman Udo Dirkschneider, has signed with Atomic Fire Records.

Udo states: “As a globally active artist, it is very important for me to work with our respective partners in a trusting and highly professional way since large parts of our careers depend directly on their work. But a friendly relationship and fun in day-to-day cooperation are just as important. With my U.D.O. and DIRKSCHNEIDER bands, I have always paid attention to long-term partnerships, which really did not make the decision to change labels again after nearly 20 years of cooperation with AFM Records easy for me. I would like to specifically thank Jochen Richert and his team once again for the very trusting and personal cooperation over the last two decades! But when the opportunity arose to follow a fresh path with the newly founded Atomic Fire Records label and experience new inspirations, I seized it immediately and won’t let go. The opportunity to work with a nationally and internationally experienced and successful team consisting of friends and years-long companions was too tempting. The team and the concept as well as Atomic Fire Records’ professional setup worldwide has convinced me completely and I look very optimistically and happily toward the future and a cooperation with Markus Wosgien, Markus Staiger and Florian Milz and their team.”

Atomic Fire Records CEO Markus Wosgien says: “I was nine years old when I listened to a real metal song for the very first time, a live version of ‘Metal Heart’ and it hooked me immediately. On that day, heavy metal became the center of my life. I started spending my whole pocket money for ACCEPT’s records before I also discovered other groups. ACCEPT were the ultimate band and the definition of heavy metal — it just had to sound like this. I was working with U.D.O. in support of their ‘Mastercutor’ album during my time at AFM Records, but I even had the chance of cooperating with ACCEPT for four full-lenghts after their reunion in 2009. To welcome Udo Dirkschneider to Atomic Fire Records is a kind of a knightly accolade for us. He’s an icon and an old hand of metal who still has a lot to say. We’re pleased to release an outstanding album around his 70th birthday and can’t wait for all those U.D.O. hits that are yet to come.”

Dirkschneider, who will turn 70 years old on April 6, 2022, plans to release a “special album” to coincide with his birthday.

U.D.O.’s latest album, “Game Over”, was released in October via AFM Records.

Last year, U.D.O. collaborated with Das Musikkorps der Bundeswehr, the military band of the German federal armed forces, on an album called “We Are One”, which was released in July 2020 via AFM Records/Soulfood Music.

U.D.O.’s current lineup includes Udo’s son and drummer Sven Dirkschneider, bassist Tilen Hudrap and guitarists Andrey Smirnov and Dee Dammers.

Udo’s DIRKSCHNEIDER & THE OLD GANG project, in which he is joined be fellow former ACCEPT members Peter Baltes (bass) and Stefan Kaufmann (guitar), recently released a new single and video, “Every Heart Is Burning”.

DIRKSCHNEIDER & THE OLD GANG, which is rounded out by Udo’s son Sven Dirkschneider (drums), Manuela Bibert (vocals) and Mathias Dieth (guitar), issued its debut single, “Where The Angels Fly”, in September 2020. A second single, “Face Of A Stranger”, followed in April. In August, all three songs were released as the “Arising” CD, a 12-inch vinyl and a download.

Left to right in photo below (photo credit: Thomas “Zwini” Zwirner): Florian Milz (Atomic Fire Records CEO), Udo Dirkschneider, Markus Wosgien (Atomic Fire Records CEO), Frank Süpfle (ITM Agency).

Band photo credit: Tim Tronckoe

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OTTTO, the three-piece band featuring Tye Trujillo (son of METALLICA bassist Robert Trujillo), performed this past Saturday night (December 18) at the Chapel in San Francisco, California.

Fan-filmed video of the concert, which was part of a series of METALLICA’s “San Francisco Takeover” events to help mark the group’s 40th anniversary, can be seen below (courtesy of YouTube user “Julie Frohm”).

OTTTO is fronted by Bryan Noah Ferretti on vocals and guitar, with Tye on bass and Ryan Duswalt on drums. The band’s first LP comes out late 2021, which is a follow-up to their EP released last year.

Based out of Venice Beach, OTTTO is has strong roots in thrash, funk and metal. Fusing those genres, the band (whose members all range in age from 17 to 18) creates a powerful new style of music.

This past August, OTTTO released a new song called “Ride Low”. The accompanying music was directed by Paul Marchand, an award-winning screenwriter, director and editor. His 2015 documentary “Jaco” debuted at the SXSW Film Festival, was streamed on Netflix and was produced by Robert Trujillo.

The band said about the clip: “Somewhere in Los Angeles, it’s still the same as it always was — whirling helicopters, barking dogs, and the din of general insanity drift through busted single-pane windows on the hot summer breeze. Never mind the repo man, it’s a city of angels, and if you don’t give them what they want, they’ll run you right into the ocean.”

When he was just 12 years old, Tye filled in for bassist Reginald “Fieldy” Arvizu for KORN’s South American tour after Fieldy was unable to make the shows due to “unforeseen circumstances.”

Dagje 4

Posted by Spencer Lips on Sunday, December 19, 2021

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