BBC Radio One has unearthed a years-old audio clip of QUEEN’s Brian May speaking about his memories of watching Eddie Van Halen perform in London in 1978.

“There hadn’t been anything so shocking since Jimi Hendrix,” Brian said (hear audio below). “I saw VAN HALEN support BLACK SABBATH. Tony Iommi was a very good friend, even by that time. And the pair of us watched Eddie Van Halen do his stuff, and it was just glorious — almost too glorious to take in, to see this guy romping around a guitar like a kitten, just running and taking it to places undreamed of. I love his playing, and I always will.”

When Eddie’s death was first announced on October 6, May took to his Instagram to write: “Completely gutted to hear the sad news. This wonderful man was way too young to be taken. What a talent – what a legacy – probably the most original and dazzling rock guitarist in History. I think of him as a boy – an innocent prodigy – always full of joy, always modest – and those truly magical fingers opened a door to a new kind of playing. I treasure the moments we shared. His passing leaves a giant hole in my heart. RIP Ed Van Halen.”

Eddie died at St. John’s Hospital in Santa Monica, California. His wife, Janie, was by his side, along with his son, Wolfgang, and Alex, Eddie’s brother and VAN HALEN drummer.

The iconic VAN HALEN axeman died from complications due to cancer, his son confirmed.

VAN HALEN was inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame in 2007.

Rolling Stone magazine ranked Eddie Van Halen No. 8 in its list of the 100 greatest guitarists.

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Completely gutted to hear the sad news. This wonderful man was way too young to be taken. What a talent – what a legacy – probably the most original and dazzling rock guitarist in History. I think of him as a boy – an innocent prodigy – always full of joy, always modest – and those truly magical fingers opened a door to a new kind of playing. I treasure the moments we shared. His passing leaves a giant hole in my heart. RIP Ed Van Halen. Bri
A post shared by Brian Harold May (@brianmayforreal) on Oct 6, 2020 at 3:08pm PDT

SHINEDOWN frontman Brent Smith has revealed to Two Doods Reviews that the band is “nine songs into the writing process” for its seventh studio album. “We’re in the demo process at the moment — we’re just writing,” he clarified (see video below).

Last month, Smith told the KLOS radio show “Whiplash” that he and bassist/producer Eric Bass were looking to make a more organic-sounding album this time around.

“We’ve kind of proven that we can make these very large records, these very cinematic, orchestrated records with this wall of sound,” he said. “What we wanna try to do with this album is we do want to hone it back down to drums, bass, guitar and vocals and the best songs that we can write and the freshest songs we can write with the most tenacity and the most ferociousness that we can express. So I don’t think this time around we’re going to necessarily look at the handbook of, ‘Let’s layer this record like we’ve layered other records, and let’s keep adding to it so that it grows.’ I think more the idea of big mono on this album, it’s more about stereo and putting all of the sonics down the middle. But you don’t have a hundred tracks on a song; you don’t take a 22-piece orchestra and bring it in there. We’ve done that, and we’ve done those kinds of records, and we love those records, and we love that sound, but I think what we wanna do with this next record is we really want to focus on being a four-piece band, and let’s see if we can peel the paint off of the walls with just the fury of the four of us in a room.”

This past August, SHINEDOWN broke the record for the most No. 1s ever in the 39-year history of the Billboard Mainstream Rock Songs chart, scoring its 16th No. 1 hit with “Atlas Falls”. This also marked the band’s 17th No. 1 on the Mediabase Active Rock chart and its sixth consecutive No. 1, following “How Did You Love”, “Devil”, “Get Up”, “Monsters” and “Attention Attention”.

Originally written in 2013, “Atlas Falls” was first made available from SHINEDOWN’s vault in March as part of an exclusive song and T-shirt bundle for the band’s COVID-19 fundraising effort.

SHINEDOWN also recently released its “Live In London” full concert video on YouTube.

Former GUNS N’ ROSES and current SIXX:A.M. guitarist DJ Ashba introduced his unique version of EDM to the world last summer with his debut single “Hypnotic”. Having creatively combined multiple genres with EDM into one unique sound, Ashba continues forging his journey into an exciting new genre with his second single, “Let’s Dance”, available on Friday, October 16. Mixed and mastered by three-time Grammy nominee Luca Pretolesi of Studio DMI (Steve Aoki, Diplo, Lil Jon), the track features James Michael, co-founder and lead singer of SIXX:A.M., which he and DJ formed with Nikki Sixx (MÖTLEY CRÜE).

“On ‘Let’s Dance’, my goal was to create the perfect blend of rock and EDM by laying down the foundation with an infectious hardcore dance beat, melodic guitars and topping it off with one of the best vocalists in rock,” said Ashba. “Now the party moves from Las Vegas to Miami, and James Michael is right there with this understated bravado sure to surprise our rock fans and hopefully capture the attention of club-goers around the world. I want to bring them all together for an amazing celebration.”

Pretolesi said: “Ashba brings a new dynamic to dance music with his amazing live guitar element married with an electronic foundation that makes his sound incredibly unique.”

Michael added: “To hear Ashba’s incredible guitar work surrounded by the electronics of EDM showcases not only his skills as an artist but as a producer and writer as well. I was thrilled when he invited me to be a feature on ‘Let’s Dance’!”

As part of the “Let’s Dance” premiere, Ashba will have two Instagram live chats leading up to the single’s release:

Today, Wednesday, October 14 at 6:00 p.m. PDT: DJ Ashba and Luca Pretolesi

Tomorrow, Thursday, October 15 at 8:00 p.m. PDT: DJ Ashba and James Michael

Click here to join the live chat.

Ashba, signed to Edgeout Records/Universal Music Group/UMe, wrote and produced “Let’s Dance”. Ashba’s unwavering experimental vision and Pretolesi’s skillful mixing touch results in a sound that adds yet another new dimension to EDM.

“Ashba’s unique version of EDM, immediately caught my attention. And now, the industry is calling his music the new sound coming out of Vegas,” says Tony Guanci, Edgeout founder and label head.

Ashba told the Las Vegas Review-Journal about the musicial approach of his new effort: “I would go to a lot of EDM concerts, and their shows are so over the top and, you know, all these young kids just losing their minds, right? And the one thing that I’ve noticed is … it lacks guitar, you know, and I saw an opportunity, like five years ago, going, ‘If I could take what I do and somehow inject it into this world.’ A lot of kids are not being exposed to a lot of guitar in that world.”

“Hypnotic” and “Let’s Dance” will appear on ASHBA’s first full-length effort. According to DJ, he will promote the LP by embarking on a tour on which he will be joined only by a VJ.

“The one thing I’ve noticed is the lack of performance. Now, that excludes a lot of the good ones, like Aoki — there’s nobody like him, and Diplo, and Calvin Harris’s brilliance is amazing,” Ashba told Las Vegas Review-Journal. “But I’m but I’m talking about performances as far people bringing an instrument onstage.”

Although Ashba initially started work on the project as a collaboration with Michael — under the band name PYROMANTIC — it has since evolved into an Ashba solo venture, with Michael announcing in 2018 that he was stepping away from the group.

Photo credit: Michael Pool

Ace Frehley spoke to “That Jamieson Show” about Bruce Kulick’s guest appearance on “Origins Vol. 2”, the sequel to Ace’s 2016 collection of cover songs that inspired the ex-KISS guitarist.

“A lot of think I might not be friends with Bruce Kulick,” Ace said (see video below). I’ve been friends with Bruce for 20 years. I played a solo on ESP, their album, when he still had a band with Karl Cochran, my old guitar player, bass player.

“Of all the guitar players that have taken my place in KISS, Bruce by far blows them all away, as far as I’m concerned. He’s definitely the best guitar player.

“When Tommy [Thayer, current KISS guitarist] gets up there and does my solos, he tries to play ’em note for note, but he doesn’t have the swagger or the attitude,” Ace explained. “Bruce used to play my solos, but he’d kind of make ’em his own, and he’d switch notes a little, and he had some originality. Tommy is just going through the motions. Bruce, by far, blows Tommy off the stage. It is what it is.”

Two years ago, Frehley told Yahoo! Entertainment that he had “nothing bad to say about Tommy… You know, it’d be one thing if Tommy would have invented his own character, invented his own guitar solos,” he said. “But unfortunately, he’s copying everything I do, note for note. There’s not much leeway for anybody to say what he’s doing is original. I don’t know how I could handle that, you know? I don’t think I could step into a situation and be somebody else. It’s almost like being a robot. Poor Tommy. My heart bleeds for him.”

In March 2019, Thayer admitted to Argus Leader in an interview that his addition to KISS in 2003 as the replacement for Frehley was met with some backlash from the band’s fans. However, now that he has been in KISS even longer than Frehley’s combined years, he says that he has become more comfortable in the lead guitar role.

“I have to be honest, when I first came into the band, there was some pressure,” Thayer said. “It was kind of a no-win situation when you’re replacing somebody like that. There’s a lot of fans who are unhappy with this and I understand. They followed the band for a long time and it’s hard to see things like that change sometimes. After a few years went by, I got more confident and more comfortable in the situation, as time goes on, it continues to be a growing experience and something that I get more used to.”

Thayer told Rolling Stone magazine that he had no discomfort about wearing Frehley’s makeup. He explained: “First of all, I didn’t have any input on that. That was a decision that those guys made. There was not even a conversation about it, because I think it was so obvious, that they weren’t going to introduce new characters 30 years into the band. I never thought that there should be some new designs or something. I thought that would have been ridiculous. And the only thing is, you’ve got a lot of push-back from some of the diehards. And that’s understandable. Hey, you know, if you lived in the seventies and KISS was your favorite band, and that’s what you grew up with, and suddenly there’s another guy wearing that makeup, I can understand how some people, it might not have appealed to them as much. But as time as gone by, a lot of people have changed their mind.”

Back in 2015, Thayer refused to criticize Frehley after Ace spoke out against Tommy in an interview, describing him as “just a guy up there copying me and trying to move like me and trying to sing like me and trying to play like me.”

Thayer told Australia’s The Herald: “I don’t want to get into a back-and-forth, but I’m sure you can kind of assess what you think when you hear all that.

“I think [Ace] had every opportunity in the world to continue in KISS and be in KISS as long as he did the right thing, but it worked out better for me and he has to lead his life,” he continued.

“As far as the jabs and all that, he can say that stuff and I’m not going to say anything bad about him. I just wish all the best to everybody in whatever they’re doing.”

If you’re already feeling frustrated at being unable to attend live shows, wait until you hear IRONED OUT. Metallic hardcore has always been custom designed to get bodies moving and beers flying, but albums as explosive and individual as this one come along only once in a blood-splattered blue moon. With a collective pedigree that includes stints in several legendary UK hardcore bands (including the god-like KNUCKLEDUST), this London-based wrecking crew are not offering anything wildly revolutionary, but by infusing their breakdowns and beat-’em-ups with the gritty spirit of hip-hop and, in particular, UK grime as well as crafting songs that have hooks and heft, they’ve spawned something subtly new and unusually thrilling.

After a bewitching, Sabbath-like intro, the inevitable destruction of your own furniture will probably begin with “Pavement Strong”. With all the commanding, clobberin’-time clout of the metallic hardcore greats, IRONED OUT come blazing out of the starting blocks, spitting rugged street poetry over wave after hulking wave of concrete-encased riffing. Frankly, it’s ridiculous, exuding the swagger of prime HATEBREED and the much-missed STAMPIN’ GROUND, but with an oh-so-modern sense of real-world fury driving the whole thing forward. Meanwhile, vocalists Louis Gino and Dave Mackboo’s mixture of conversational threats and all-out bellowing adds several additional layers of charisma and menace to the whole thing. The song’s final beatdown, it hardly needs stating, is ignorant as fuck.

Perhaps surprisingly for a band in this subgenre, IRONED OUT maintain standards throughout their debut. There is very little repetition here, just a veritable shit-ton of killer riffs, smart song ideas and moments of balls-out rock ‘n’ roll fury. Both “Crazy Old World” and “Ain’t Raw” are perfectly pitched bursts of motoring yobcore, with strong echoes of SUICIDAL TENDENCIES, doing IRONED OUT no disservice whatsoever. Meanwhile, the Londoners showcase their obvious and presumably cherished debt to thrash via “Pagans”, “Stranger Than Fiction” and the bone-snapping, mid-tempo grind of “ACAB”, a song title that does have a certain 2020 ring to it. Elsewhere, “All Hope Is Lost” is a snotty, swaggering, multi-tempo beast, with bonus gang vocals and a skin-shredding final crescendo, while “6 Weeks” is a superlative circle-pit stomping soundtrack, with spine-tingling bursts of melody simmering below the surface.

The closing title track’s claims that “there’s nobody better” might seem a little audacious for a band releasing their first album, but the exhilarating reality is that IRONED OUT are the best thing to happen to metallic hardcore in a long time. And this album is really going to make you want to flip that coffee table.

BUCKCHERRY singer Josh Todd spoke to Ned of the Waterloo, Iowa radio station Rock 108 about how he and his bandmates have spent their downtime during the COVID-19 pandemic. He said (hear audio below): “We had to do a lot of gear shifting, like everybody. We’ve done already over a handful of shows this year, but it’s not enough when this is your livelihood. So it’s been challenging — I can’t say that it’s been easy — but we shifted gears into making a new record, because, basically, this year was a wash; we were going to be touring a lot this year. The good news is we made a really great new BUCKCHERRY record. After we do these three shows [this month], we go in end of October. We’re flying to Nashville — we’re gonna do it in Nashville. And then we’ll be done with that. And then it all is a waiting game until we figure out, after the elections and what’s going on, what’s gonna happen with live entertainment. But once we figure that all out, we have a great new record, and we’ll be touring all next year, hopefully.”

Asked about a possible release date for the new BUCKCHERRY album, Josh said: “That’s the big question. It has a lot to do about us getting out there to promote it. We don’t wanna drop a record and not be able to get onstage and start playing. So it all depends. I’m thinking maybe early summer release, possibly. But you never know what’s gonna happen. The good news is that we did our due diligence. We wrote 27 songs for a 10-song record, and, man, we put in the work. And it’s really good. I can’t wait for people to hear it. But it’s all about, ‘Okay, when is the timing gonna be right?’ Because I’m sure every artist out there is gonna be releasing music next year, because everybody’s just been sitting around.”

This past summer, BUCKCHERRY has JETBOY’s Billy Rowe as its new guitarist. He joined the group as the replacement for Kevin Roentgen, who left BUCKCHERRY in July.

Roentgen, who joined the California-based band in 2017, made his exit official in a social media post. He wrote: “Bottom line, I made this decision to come off the road and spend more time with my family. The guys understood this, and for that I’m thankful. Though my wife and daughter always one hundred percent supported me in this gig, they are quite happy now to have me home.”

Roentgen joined BUCKCHERRY as the replacement for original guitarist Keith Nelson. He can be heard on BUCKCHERRY’s latest album, “Warpaint”, which was released in March 2019 via Century Media/RED Music. The 12-song record was produced by Mike Plotnikoff, whose previous collaboration with the band was BUCKCHERRY’s multi-platinum third album, 2005’s “15”.

Last year, BUCKCHERRY recruited Francis Ruiz as its new drummer. He joined the group as the replacement for Sean Winchester, who exited BUCKCHERRY after laying down the drum tracks on “Warpaint”.

British rockers BRING ME THE HORIZON will release their new album, “Post Human: Survival Horror”, on October 30. The nine-song effort will include the previously released singles “Obey”, “Ludens” and “Parasite Eve”, as well as new collaborations with NOVA TWINS, BABYMETAL and EVANESCENCE’s Amy Lee.

“Post Human: Survival Horror” track listing:

01. Dear Diary
02. Parasite Eve
03. Tear Drops
04. Obey (feat. Yungblud)
05. Itch For The Cure (When We Will Be Free?)
06. IXI (feat. NOVA TWINS)
07. Kingslayer (feat. BABYMETAL)
08. Ludens
09. One Day The Only Butterflies Left Will Be In Your Chest As You March Towards Your Death (feat. Amy Lee)

This past June, BRING ME THE HORIZON frontman Oli Sykes told Kerrang! magazine about the band’s new music: “Like [2019’s] ‘Amo’ [album] was very collage-y in terms of it spanning from ballads to poppy songs to heavier songs to electro, we wanted this next record to be a mood. As the pandemic unfolded and everything changed, the mood I had in mind started to not feel right. Basically, I had this idea to make some records — I didn’t know how many, but more than one — that all fell under a blanket name of ‘Post Human’. Each record would have its own theme and its own message. The first was going to be about compassion and self-love because I wanted to build up to a record about changing ourselves and changing our future because we need to self-evolve. We can’t just say, ‘We are humans. This is how it is,’ because as humans, we’ve already stepped outside of the food chain by bringing technology into our lives. We need to continue to modify ourselves until we can be proud of what we do on this planet and live harmoniously, not just with ourselves but other creatures. That’s the message I wanted to put out there, but I know the world’s not ready for that on the grand scale. First, we need people to love themselves. There’s too many people out there that hate themselves, and I always think, ‘If you don’t have compassion for yourselves, how’re you going to have compassion for other people?’

“But as the pandemic unfolded, I didn’t think the world was ready for that record. Just like everyone else, I’m pissed off, I’m scared, I’m angry… we need to write a record that embodies that. Before we get to compassion, we need to get out the frustration and anger. This first record’s going to be battle songs, like a recruitment record — songs of anger and hope. It’s not going to offer a solution, it’s going to be more about asking people to come and find a solution with us. This first music is to get you back up, get your blood pumping, get you pissed off and thinking about what’s going on. The record will follow a similar tone of ‘Ludens’ and ‘Parasite Eve’ and that’s going to be the first record of four. We’re going to release four different records over the next year, all under this name ‘Post Human’, and they’ll all be very different. There’ll be a thread, and the lyrical themes will progress as a story, but in terms of the tone, it’ll be quite different.”

BRING ME THE HORIZON spent the last few months writing and recording new music remotely, releasing a series of videos that show how the band has managed to work on the songs during the coronavirus pandemic.

BRING ME THE HORIZON’s acclaimed sixth album, “Amo”, came out nearly two years ago.

POST HUMAN: SURVIVAL HORROR
30/10/20 pic.twitter.com/etOZE1FPOw
— Bring Me The Horizon (@bmthofficial) October 14, 2020

Swedeath savages Disrupted team up with LIK frontman Tomas Åkvik for their sharp-edged new single “Chopped into Oblivion.”
The post Track Premiere: Disrupted – “Chopped into Oblivion” appeared first on Decibel Magazine.

Rob Halford (JUDAS PRIEST), Biff Byford (SAXON) and Doro Pesch are among the musicians who have wished MOTÖRHEAD’s “Ace Of Spades” album a happy 40th anniversary in a new video posted to the band’s official YouTube channel. Check out the 10-and-a-half-minute clip below.

Featured artists:

0:00 Don Jamieson (“That Metal Show”)
0:54 Frank Ferrer (GUNS N’ ROSES)
2:19 Andi Derris (HELLOWEEN)
2:49 Wendy Dio
3:19 Ginger Wildheart (THE WILDHEARTS)
4:11 Joel O’Keefe (AIRBOURNE)
5:40 Joey Tempest (EUROPE)
6:27 Biff Byford (SAXON)
7:14 Doro Pesch
9:09 Rob Halford (JUDAS PRIEST)

In addition to the previously announced expanded editions of “Ace Of Spades” and the deluxe collectors box set, the album will also be released digitally in 360 Reality Audio, a new immersive music experience utilizing Sony’s spatial audio technology, that will let listeners hear this behemoth like never before. The 360 Reality Audio content will be available on Deezer and Tidal and can be enjoyed on any headphones and also on Amazon Music HD, playing on the Amazon Echo Studio.

In 1980, off the back of two essential albums, “Overkill” and “Bomber” the previous year, MOTÖRHEAD continued to get bigger, better, louder and faster by the second. This time, on “Ace Of Spades” they teamed up with producer Vic Maile and came up with twelve songs; each and every one of which crams a regular band’s ten minutes of playing into an average of three. The songtitles alone made ears bleed; “Love Me Like A Reptile”, “Shoot You In The Back”, “The Chase Is Better Than The Catch” and “The Hammer” were a few examples. This landmark album saw the three amigos of Lemmy, Fast Eddie Clarke and Philthy Animal Taylor at the helm of the juggernaut that was MOTÖRHEAD, gaining phenomenal growth in popularity as they forged onward. The band’s and fans ideas, wants and inspirations, converged at a perfect tangent. Anyone disputing this fact need look no further than any heavy metal gig of the time and play “spot the MOTÖRHEAD T-shirt and jacket.” They outnumbered anyone else by at least five to one. A statistic that is still accurate some forty-five years since they first began!

The “Ace Of Spades” album release was a magical moment in rock ‘n’ roll history, an album which had enormous global impact and continues to resonate and inspire people worldwide. Fans to this day still remember where they were when they first heard it, and it immediately inspired bands worldwide to absorb the album’s energy, speed, and attitude into their own work. “Ace Of Spades” is ground zero for thrash, speed metal, and punk/metal crossover.

The “Ace Of Spades” deluxe anniversary editions will be made available on October 30.