Steve Baltin of GRAMMY.com recently conducted an interview with ALICE IN CHAINS guitarist Jerry Cantrell. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.
GRAMMY.com: One of the things I like about "The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here" is there's a real griminess and grittiness to it.
Cantrell: I keep hearing that from people, comparatively to the last record, and I think that last record was pretty hard too. So it's nice to hear that it's coming across. I think the songwriting is very strong on this record and I thought it was on the last record too. [I'm] really proud of the body of work and all that all four of us put into it.
GRAMMY.com: Did the delay resulting from your shoulder surgery affect the album at all in terms of writing?
Cantrell: We don't start until we're ready, you can't really start unless you've got ideas to work on. [laughs] Usually there's a period of accumulating riffs and ideas and generally a lot of the stuff happens in odd places and on the road, dressing rooms, soundchecks, [and] warming up before a show. There's always a camera or an iPhone and anytime something happens where you perk up or somebody perks up, then you put that down and what you're doing is depositing it in the account for later withdrawal. So by the time the tour was done there was a good 20 or 30 little riffs or ideas to go through and "Black Gives Way To Blue" was exactly the same way. It's fairly similar, it's just a couple years later. We couldn't have been prouder of how ["Black Gives Way To Blue"] played out, so we decided to do it again. I think we took a step up, maybe even two.
GRAMMY.com: Was there a moment in the writing process where you felt like the album was taking a step up?
Cantrell: Yeah, before I had the surgery I think I demoed "Voices" really quick, that was a kind of quick song and came together within a couple of days of just me messing around here at the house. It was right after tour and it was a good, strong song and so I sent it around to everybody and everybody liked it and I thought, "Fuck, that's good." That was the first thing that came together on the record, so I knew there was a good song there. And then during the process of rehab, the riff for "Stone" [developed] — I still have the voice recording, it's hilarious. I didn't write that on guitar, I just started hearing something in my head. [I was] watching TV, and my arm's all fucked up, so I grabbed the phone and started humming the riff into the phone and that's where that song came from. So once I was able to demo that and fill that one out, I knew that one was pretty strong too. We got into a couple of different studios and we just sat up and recorded jams, worked through the shit we had, and [producer] Nick [Raskulinecz] was involved in that process as well, even though he was working on the RUSH record ["Clockwork Angels"] and a bunch of other stuff.
GRAMMY.com: Were there songs that really morphed and became much stronger in the evolution from idea to reality?
Cantrell: Absolutely, and on the flip side of that coin there's also stuff that you think is great and later on down the road you're like, "Ah, it's not very good." Actually, "Voices" was the first song, [but] the first riff was "Hollow". I was warming up in the room in Vegas, our very last show of the tour, and I remember our manager, Beno, was in the room and they were sitting there talking and they were worried about me because I was pretty close to having pneumonia. I was so ill. I started playing that riff and I recorded that riff. I saw Nick bobbing his head. I dug it too, so I recorded it. That's actually the first riff that happened. So that song, "Stone", "Voices", the title track — that song is amazing — those [are] all cornerstone tracks on the album. And also you have stuff you think is good and get proven wrong, so it doesn't just end up in there. It's not just you, you're working in a band and there's a very healthy thing to have to pass all those filters, not just yours. It's gotta go through Sean, Mike and Will [too]. It's gotta survive all that and be something everybody can get behind. That's generally what you end up with on a record. It's pretty much no different than it's ever been in this band, whatever works is the idea.
Finnish/Dutch symphonic metallers NIGHTWISH kicked off their Japanese tour this past Tuesday, May 21 at Namba Hatch in Osaka.
The band's setlist was as follows:
01. Dark Chest Of Wonders 02. Wish I Had An Angel 03. She Is My Sin (performed for the first time since 2007) 04. Ever Dream 05. Storytime 06. I Want My Tears Back (with Troy Donockley) 07. Nemo (with Troy Donockley) 08. Last Of The Wilds (with Troy Donockley) 09. Bless The Child (with Troy Donockley) (performed for the first time since 2005) 10. Romanticide 11. Amaranth 12. Over The Hills And Far Away (GARY MOORE cover) (with Troy Donockley) 13. Ghost Love Score 14. Last Ride Of The Day
Fan-recorded audio clips of the concert can be streamed below.
NIGHTWISH keyboardist and main songwriter Tuomas Holopainen told Finland's MTV.fi in November that he was pleased with the addition of Dutch singer Floor Jansen to the group and that she was only getting better with each performance. "We have done 13 shows with her [so far] and every concert has been better than the last," he said. "We are taking it day by day as much as we can. The vibe in the band is marvellous. We are enjoying every moment."
Holopainen has known Jansen, who is Dutch, for more than 10 years already, having previously toured with her former band, AFTER FOREVER.
"We are very much on the same wavelength and we have a similar sense of humor," Holopainen said of his new bandmate.
Stepping into NIGHTWISH was made easier for Jansen by the fact that she has extensive experience in both classical and rock music.
Following AFTER FOREVER's split, Jansen launched a brand new project called REVAMP, which has thus far released one album and recently entered the studio to record a follow-up effort.
"We have been in the same circles since the late '90s," says Tuomas. "She has toured a lot and has spent a lot of time recording and performing this genre of music. So it was easier for her to come into the band."
Jansen made her live debut as the frontwoman of NIGHTWISH on October 1, 2012 at Showbox Sodo in Seattle, Washington following the abrupt departure of the band's lead singer of the past five years, Anette Olzon.
"[Floor is] a vocal coach herself, so she's very professional," said Tuomas. "The fact that she had about 40 hours to learn 15 songs is quite revealing. She practically learned our tour set on the flight from Amsterdam to Seattle. We're talking about a high-level professional and her attitude is fabulous as well. It can be seen in her stage presence. She clearly enjoys what she does."
Asked about the reasons for Olzon's sudden exit from the group, Tuomas told U.K.'s Metal Hammer magazine: "I'm sure it came as a shock to everybody. We came out with a statement [regarding the split], which pretty much says it all. It still is a private matter, and that's all we wanna say about it, like, ever. It was an amicable divorce, so to say, and made in good spirit, and we are just looking to the future. There really is no reason to go back into all the details and all that. I mean, this is not politics, this is a rock band."
Regarding whether there is a chance that Floor will become the official new NIGHTWISH lead singer, Tuomas said: "The way that we have decided is that we're gonna continue with her until the end of the festival season in 2013 — just have fun, just do the shows the best we can. I mean, the atmosphere in the band is so good at the moment, [we want to] just enjoy this what we have right now. They try not to think about NIGHTWISH at all for a few months. Everybody take a little vacation. And we already have the rehearsal place for the next album booked in 2014 — from July to September. So that's how far we have planned. But when we do the last festival show next August, after that, it's gonna be total nothing for a few months. So I would say everything is possible, but that's really not the thing that we want to be thinking about right now, because there's absolutely no reason to."
Fan-filmed video footage of the current touring lineup of Geoff Tate's QUEENSRŸCHE — which includes bassist John Moyer (DISTURBED, ADRENALINE MOB) and backing singer Sass Jordan (who sings the duet with Tate in "Suite Sister Mary") — performing on May 17 at Arcada Theatre in Saint Charles, Illinois can be seen below.
"Frequency Unknown", the new album from the Geoff Tate-fronted version of QUEENSRŸCHE, sold around 5,500 copies in its first week of release in the United States to land at position No. 82 on The Billboard 200 chart.
As previously reported, Deadline Music/Cleopatra Records is making available the "new and improved" mixes of "Frequency Unknown" to any customers who have purchased the original mix version and are dissatisfied with the audio. Simply e-mail the label a scan of your actual receipt for the physical CD to Queensryche@cleorecs.com and they will happily send you a replacement disc — at no charge whatsoever. No questions asked!
"Frequency Unknown" was released on April 23. The CD was produced by Jason Slater at a studio in Northern California.
Asked about the decision to remix "Frequency Unknown" shortly before the album's release, Tate told "The Continental Breakfast With James & Raina": "We were a little rushed on the mixing end of it, so after listening to it back, we're having some of the songs remixed now before the album comes out. But that's typical with records — you have to have them in on time. So sometimes you compromise in areas. Luckily, with this situation, we get to go back and correct some areas in the sound where we thought it was kind of lacking. So that's fine. I've done that on… gosh… probably three quarters of the records I've ever made. It's no new thing, but it's a luxury when you get to fix it."
"Frequency Unknown" is packaged with bonus tracks — four QUEENSRŸCHE classics, newly recorded, including the smash hit single "Silent Lucidity". Guest musicians on the CD include K.K. Downing (JUDAS PRIEST), Chris Poland (MEGADETH), Ty Tabor (KING'S X), Paul Bostaph (SLAYER, TESTAMENT, EXODUS), Lita Ford, Brad Gillis (NIGHT RANGER), Dave Meniketti (Y&T) and Craig Locicero (FORBIDDEN).
Although a lineup for Tate's QUEENSRŸCHE was originally announced in the fall of 2012, things have changed. The band now features Tate along with guitarist Kelly Gray (QUEENSRŸCHE 1998-2001), keyboardist Randy Gane and new additions, guitarist Robert Sarzo (QUIET RIOT, HURRICANE) and drummer Simon Wright (AC/DC, DIO, RHINO BUCKET).
Images below courtesy of Arcada Theatre Facebook page
The official lyric video for "Freeze Frame", the new single from the Swedish "pop/metal" band DEAD BY APRIL, can be seen below. The song comes off the group's forthcoming third studio album, due to be released this September via Spinefarm Records.
"Freeze Frame" will be available, digitally, on all the usual platforms (iTunes, Amazon, Spotify, etc.) from May 26.
DEAD BY APRIL's new CD is the follow-up to 2011's "Incomparable" and is the first to feature brand new vocalist Christoffer Andersson (SONIC SYNDICATE, BY NIGHT) following Jimmie Strimell's departure earlier this year.
DEAD BY APRIL issued a statement in March blaming the split with Strimell on "Jimmie's personal problems." The band added: "His problems has affected the band for many years and we have basically tried everything we could to make this work. We have even gone through group therapy lately to get honesty and sincerity into the group. As nothing changed, we had to realize that if we want to move forward with this band, there's, unfortunately, no other way but to continue without Jimmie. We're sick of not knowing whether he'll turn up for shows, recordings and sick of having such bad environment within the band — at all times. It came to a point where we could not be in the same vehicle. We also want to strongly declare that DEAD BY APRIL is against drugs — an important statement for us to make in a time were we know a lot of our fans are young."
A photo of the new DEAD BY APRIL lineup can be seen below.
EMG Pickups pickups recently hosted the Los Angeles post-metal prog phenomenon INTRONAUT in the studio to showcase both the band's choice in pickups as well as three brand new cuts off their latest record, "Habitual Levitations". Check out the footage below.
INTRONAUT's fourth full-length album, "Habitutal Levitations", was released on March 19 in North America. The album artwork and layout was created by David D'Andrea, who has worked with the band on previous releases.
"Milk Leg", the first song to be revealed from the new album, caused a stir amongst INTRONAUT fans, with MetalInjection.net declaring, "The track is everything that rules about a 'naut song" and MetalSucks.net stating, "If you don't love it, you should probably go bang your head against a wall for an hour, as you appear to have gone stupid."
Drums for "Habitual Levitations" were recorded by producer John Haddad (EXHUMED, PHOBIA) and Derek Donley (BEREFT) handled recording for all other elements on the record.
INTRONAUT's previous studio album, "Valley Of Smoke", was met with vast critical acclaim and the band toured extensively in support of the album. In addition to landing a slot as direct support for TOOL, INTRONAUT toured with ANIMALS AS LEADERS, CYNIC, THE OCEAN, HELMET and more.
MONSTERS SCARE YOU, the post-hardcore/electro band from Seattle, Washington, will release its debut album, "Die A Legend", on July 9 via Century Media Records.
Formed in the winter of 2008, MONSTERS SCARE YOU has created an enthusiastic fan base with the combination of pop, metal and electronica. Their sound has been compared to ATTACK ATTACK!, ASKING ALEXANDRIA and ENTER SHIKARI.
In 2010, MONSTERS SCARE YOU went into the studio with engineer/producer Joel "Casey Jones" to record the "Teratophobia" EP. In support of the release, the band embarked on a West Coast tour consisting of 23 shows in 25 days. With increasing crowds and buzz, MONSTERS SCARE YOU was named the #2 unsigned band in Alternative Press magazine.
"Die A Legend" track listing:
01. Legends And Legions 02. Brohemian Rap City 03. Elephant Graveyard 04. Smiling's My Favorite 05. Wolfman's Got Nards 06. Give Me Some Sugar Baby 07. 1080p HD 08. I'm Gonna Sleep Real Good Tonight 09. Shut Up! Our Song Is On! 10. I Wish I Could Quit You 11. Shirts Vs. Skins 12. Suck It 13. The Light That Only Lasted So Long
The official lyric video for the song "Smiling's My Favorite" can be seen below.
Fan-filmed video footage of SLIPKNOT performing at the first-ever Ozzfest Japan — which debuted on Saturday, May 11 and Sunday, May 12, 2013 to capacity crowds and wide critical acclaim — can be seen below. The two-day music festival — the first major international music festival to ever travel to the country — drew sold-out crowds of 20,000 fans on each day.
Ozzfest Japan — a collaboration between Sharon Osbourne and Japanese promoter Hayashi International Promotion (H.I.P.) — included Ozzfest alumni BLACK SABBATH, SLIPKNOT, TOOL, DEFTONES, SLASH and STONE SOUR. Other bands on the bill included MAXIMUM THE HORMONE, DIR EN GREY, MAN WITH A MISSION, MOMOIRO CLOVER Z, STEEL PANTHER, NINGEN ISU, GALNERYUS, NAMBA69, AA=, FEAR AND LOATHING IN LAS VEGAS, MUCC, THE TREATMENT, ANTHEM, CROSSFAITH, COLDRAIN, KNOCK OUT MONKEY, HEAD PHONES PRESIDEN, ARTEMA, and FADE.
"It was an extreme honor to have been invited to play the first show of two shows at the first-ever Ozzfest in Japan," says Clown from SLIPKNOT. "It's always a beautiful thing to be a part of something that is brand new for the fans. As always, our love for the Japanese people goes without saying, and we are relieved that we finally got back to Japan. Everyone went off at the show, making it completely incredible…but it’s always like that when we go to Japan. Thank you to everyone for having us and you can rest assured we will always be back. We love you."
For a long time, SLIPKNOT singer Corey Taylor seemed the most hesitant to get back into the studio and make a new album following the 2010 death of bassist Paul Gray. But with three years having passed since Gray's death, and with Taylor making three albums with STONE SOUR since then, the singer told The Pulse Of Radio that he thinks 2014 will finally be the year of the KNOT. "I know everybody is pretty keen on getting together and seeing what happens next year, so I mean, if it takes us a year to write an album, so be it," he said. "The main goal is to just get us in the room and just see what happens, you know. If we can get past that first day, I think it'll come together. Now that we're all kind of in better places in our lives and whatnot, it's making it a little easier to be excited about it again. It's just starting to feel like it's time."
SLIPKNOT has performed live over the past two years but has not recorded a new album since 2008's "All Hope Is Gone".
SLIPKNOT plays the Download festival in the U.K. on June 14 and the Graspop Metal Meeting festival in Belgium on June 29.
BUTCHER BABIES will release their debut album, "Goliath", on July 9 via Century Media Records.
The Los Angeles-based band — frontwomen Carla Harvey and Heidi Shephard, guitarist Henry Flury, bassist Jason Klein and drummer Chris Warner — wrapped its tour with MARILYN MANSON in late February and went straight into the studio with producer Josh Wilbur (GOJIRA, LAMB OF GOD, HATEBREED).
"Working with Josh Wilbur was an incredible experience because he helped us explore ourselves as musicians and further develop the unique sound that is the BUTCHER BABIES," says the band of their recording experience. "Being a debut album, this has been in the works since we were young, and we are so proud to have created a collaboration of all our personal influences into one complete sound."
"Goliath" track listing:
01. I Smell A Massacre 02. Magnolia Blvd. 03. C8H18 (Gasoline) 04. Grim Sleeper 05. Goliath 06. In Denial 07. Give Me Reason 08. The Mirror Never Lies 09. Dead Poet 10. The Deathsurround 11. Axe Wound
In a recent interview with Rock Confidential, Carla said: "We're really excited for our full-length album through Century Media. We've been in the studio every single day writing. We're like little kids now, we're so excited." Heidi added: "To have it released through a label is going to be so awesome for us, especially a label we all looked up to. Century Media has always been like family to us. For them to take us on board and give us such high hopes and good support is really great." Carla continued: "We needed a label to take us to that next level. We're very proud of what we did on our own, but it was time to give the reins to someone else. We're very hands on. We run everything, but we need that machine behind us as well."
Despite the fact that Heidi and Carla often perform topless with nothing but nipple tape on, they believe that what they do is actually empowering to women. "I think we can definitely touch on that regardless of what we wear," Heidi said. "We can empower women or people in general to do what they want. Female empowerment is obviously where it started, but it can be about anybody that has a dream and a goal they really want to go for. It's never too late. We're not 21-year-old girls. We wish we were! We've had different careers, different paths in life. I got married once. We've done different things. We thought every time that was the end-all-be-all. It's never too late to follow your dreams. That's something that both of us really stand for."
BUTCHER BABIES will celebrate the album's release as part of this summer's Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem Festival, where they will be a mainstay on the Jägermeister stage and spend the summer alongside heavyweights ROB ZOMBIE, FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH, MACHINE HEAD, MASTODON and AMON AMARTH. The tour kicks off June 29 at the San Manuel Amphitheatre in San Bernardino, California and runs through August 4 in Dallas, Texas.
Singer Mark Tornillo's pre-ACCEPT band TT QUICK reunited for a performance at Rock N' Roll Heaven and the Old Bridge Metal Militia's reunion concert and fundraiser to benefit the victims of Superstorm Sandy. The event took place on May 11 at Encore Event Center in Freehold, New Jersey. Also appearing on the bill were TWISTED SISTER, ANVIL, RAVEN, THE RODS and LORDS OF MERCY.
Fan-filmed video footage of TT QUICK's performance can be seen below.
TT QUICK was a popular club band during the 1980s in the New York and New Jersey area and was known for the guitar work of David Dipietro and the powerful vocals of Mark Tornillo. Dipietro's skills were especially singled out as he had given lessons to both Zakk Wylde of the OZZY OSBOURNE band and SKID ROW's Dave Sabo.
TT QUICK disbanded and later reunited sporadically and released a few more albums, including a live CD from one of their reunion gigs ("Thrown Together Live") and a studio effort, "Ink", which came out in 2000.
Robert Plant and his SENSATIONAL SHAPE SHIFTERS recently added 16 new stops to their summer itinerary, which now makes 21 gigs spread over five weeks in late June and July. Plant and the band — who have recently been playing a LED ZEPPELIN-heavy setlist, kick things off on June 20 in Dallas, Texas and eventually wind the trek down in Brooklyn, New York on July 27.
On March 23 in Australia, Plant and the SHIFTERS' 14-song opening night setlist featured nine ZEPPELIN classics, with Plant tackling "Heartbreaker", "Friends", "Black Dog", "Going To California", "Four Sticks", "Ramble On", "Bron Y Aur Stomp", "Whole Lotta Love" and "Rock And Roll".
An exclusive clip that shows footage from Robert Plant and SENSATIONAL SHAPE SHIFTERS' Australian and South American shows, as well as audio of Plant and company performing the song "Tin Pan Valley" from Plant's 2005 solo album, "Mighty ReArranger", can be seen below.
Robert Plant told The Pulse Of Radio that in his solo career, the music he tends to cover traces a different historical path than ZEPPELIN's tried and true blues reinterpretations. "LED ZEPPELIN played quite a lot of tunes which we took from the Chicago genre, and this is me taking tunes from perhaps an area which I probably wasn't able to touch on quite so much, previously," he said. "In '68, '69, we were looking directly back into one particular, physical area of music, whereas this is a kind of a reflection — or I'm seeing the reflection — of so much, so many of my early inspirational sources."
Ryan McCombs and Tim King of Chicago heavy rockers SOIL stopped by the WJRR radio station in Orlando this week to talk to Pat Lynch and Taco Bob. You can now listen to the chat using the audio player below.
Video footage of SOIL performing a brand new song, "My Time", on May 2 at Offsides Sports Bar & Grill in Woodstock, Illinois can be seen below. The track will appear on the band's new album, "Whole", which is due in August. The CD was recorded with longtime producer Ulrich Wild. The band recently worked on 13 songs in pre-production with engineer Don Byczynski at BOTA Studio in Lake In The Hills, Illinois.
Ulrich previously produced SOIL's 2006 album "True Self" and co-produced the band's last effort, 2009's "Picture Perfect".
SOIL's forthcoming CD will mark the band's first release with singer Ryan McCombs since 2004's "Re.De.Fine".
"This new album has a very classic SOIL feel to it," bassist Tim King previously said.
"We [are] calling all the shots on this one," said King. "Every decision will be made by myself, Adam [Zadel, guitar], and Ryan."
Distribution in North America will be handled through Sony RED/MRI via Pavement Entertainment, in which SOIL has an interest. Europe/rest of world will go through SOIL's long time partner AFM Records. Pavement Entertainment president Mark Nawara, welcomes the experience. "I am happy to be a part of the new SOIL album," he says. "We have structured an innovative and unique business venture that lets the band stay 100 percent independent while giving them access to the many resources they require to release an album successfully."
In a recent interview with Metal Forces, McCombs stated about the band's next CD: "This is the first time Adam, Tim and I have been writing together since 'Re.De.Fine', so you have the key component of what made those records. I was always the lyric writer of those albums, and if I stumbled somewhere, Adam was always there to give me a little boost, and give me a little direction here and there. You've got us back together as far as the lyrics that I write go. You've got Adam too; he was 98.9% of the music on those records, and if he ever had any struggle with whatever — if he ever had any questions — I was always there to help with the arrangement of the songs. We really got the key components of those albums back together again, and I feel like the material that we're coming up with is that perfect anchor to where you had 'Scars' and 'Re.De.Fine'. I think this album is the next stage, the next album in line for SOIL."
102.9 The Buzz conducted an interview with Los Angeles glam-metal jokesters STEEL PANTHER at this year's Rock On The Range festival, which took place May 17-19 at Columbus Crew Stadium in Columbus, Ohio. You can now watch the chat below.
STEEL PANTHER recently entered a studio in Sherman Oaks, California with producer Jay Ruston (ANTHRAX, STONE SOUR, MEATLOAF) to record their third full-length album for a fall release.
Speaking to the South Bend Tribune, STEEL PANTHER drummer Stix Zadinia (real name: Darren Leader) stated about the band's as-yet-untitled new CD: "If you liked [2009's] 'Feel The Steel' and [2011's] 'Balls Out', you will love this record. It is more heavy metal songs that are hooky and great and fun and make you want to rock and make you want to have a good time and party. Also, there is a lot of riffage on this album that I think anybody who has ever questioned this band — 'Oh, those guys wear spandex and it is 2000-whatever' — these songs are going to put all of that to rest."
Regarding naysayers that say STEEL PANTHER is a joke-metal band, Zadinia said: "Listen to our record and tell us that our songs aren't better than most of the bands out there. How funny is that? At the end of the day, it comes down to the songs. I think our songs — without sounding egotistical — I think our songs are great. When you hear the hooks in our songs, you hear the playing and you hear the vocals, you throw that up against any band in any era, and I think it stands up."
"Balls Out" sold nearly 12,000 copies in the United States in its first week of release to debut at position No. 40 on The Billboard 200 chart.
InfoMusic.ro conducted an interview with MEGADETH guitarist Chris Broderick and drummer Shawn Drover prior to the band's May 22 concert at Arenele Romane in Bucharest, Romania. You can now watch the chat below.
01. Trust 02. Hangar 18 03. Public Enemy No. 1 04. She-Wolf 05. Skin O' My Teeth 06. Countdown to Extinction 07. Architecture of Aggression 08. Sweating Bullets 09. Ashes In Your Mouth 10. A Tout Le Monde 11. Whose Life (Is It Anyways?) 12. Dawn Patrol 13. Poison Was The Cure 14. Super Collider 15. Symphony Of Destruction 16. Peace Sells
Encore:
17. Holy Wars... The Punishment Due
Fan-filmed video footage of the "Super Collider" performance can be seen below.
The track "Super Collider", which was premiered on Full Metal Jackie's nationally syndicated radio metal show on April 20, was released digitally on April 23 via iTunes.
"That song kind of came from that 'Symphony Of Destruction' corner of my mind," MEGADETH mainman Dave Mustaine told Guitar World magazine. "You can't always play aggressive, thrashy stuff. Sometimes those aren't even songs; they're like musical rams. But because I'm not a pop guy, I'm also not really comfortable playing sing-along songs. To me, 'Super Collider' made sense like a normal song — a verse-chorus-verse-chorus kind of thing. It's written the way a real songwriter would write the song, instead of just taking all these musical twists and turns."
The "Super Collider" album is scheduled for a June 4 release via Mustaine's new label, Tradecraft, which is distributed by Universal Music Enterprises (UMe). Other tracks set to appear on the effort include "Forget To Remember", "Dance In The Rain", "The Blackest Crow", "Burn", "Kingmaker" and "Don't Turn Your Back", a snippet of which can be streamed at MegadethGame.com.
"Super Collider" is MEGADETH's first release since the band's recent split with Roadrunner Records.
MEGADETH filmed a video for the title track and first single from the band's new album, "Super Collider", on May 10 in the Los Angeles area. California-based model, actress, singer and songwriter Hunter Elizabeth was cast in the lead role in the clip, which she says is "about a high-school couple still loving each other after all the years after graduation, and at the 10-year reunion, both characters find themselves successful (a model and a mathematician) and still very in love."
As previously reported, MEGADETH will guest on the nationally syndicated radio show "Rockline" with host Bob Coburn on Monday, June 17 at 8:30 p.m. PT / 11:30 p.m. ET. Fans are encouraged to speak with MEGADETH by calling 1-800-344-ROCK (7625). The show will be streamed on the "Rockline" web site for two weeks beginning the afternoon after the live broadcast.
AVENGED SEVENFOLD guitarist Zacky Vengeance was interviewed on the May 14 edition of "The BJ Shea Morning Experience" show on the Seattle radio station KISW 99.9 FM. You can now listen to the chat using the audio player below.
A teaser of new music from AVENGED SEVENFOLD has been posted online. The untitled piece of music is now available for streaming and is taken from the California act's sixth studio album, which is due out this summer. Also available is an audio clip of AVENGED SEVENFOLD singer M. Shadows talking about the songwriting process for the new CD.
The new disc will follow up 2010's "Nightmare", which earned the band its first No. 1 album on The Billboard 200 chart. But Vengeance told The Pulse Of Radio not long ago that AVENGED SEVENFOLD doesn't take its success for granted. "We're not the kind of people to just take a break and say everything's going good, you know, let's rest on our laurels, act like rock stars — we take it very seriously and we certainly aren't just celebrating and doing a victory lap," he said. "We're focused on making our fans happy, keeping each other happy, so we can do this forever."
M. Shadows recently told NME that the new album is "a little more groove-orientated . . . every song has gotta have a huge riff and every song has to have a groove to it."
The new CD is the first to be wholly written without drummer and key songwriter James "The Rev" Sullivan, who died in December 2009.
The band has lined up several festival appearances this summer, starting with Rock USA on July 17 in Oshkosh, Wisconsin.
ASHES OF ARES, the new band featuring Matt Barlow (ex-ICED EARTH), Van Williams (ex-NEVERMORE) and Freddie Vidales (ex-ICED EARTH), made its live debut this past Friday, May 17 at the Rock Hard Festival at Amphitheater in Gelsenkirchen, Germany. Fan-filmed video footage of the performance can be seen below.
ASHES OF ARES is:
Matthew Barlow - Vocals Freddie Vidales - Guitar/Bass Van Williams - Drums Gio Geraca - Guitar (session/touring member only) Dean Sternberg - Bass (session/touring member only)
ASHES OF ARES earlier in the year inked a deal with Nuclear Blast Records. The band's debut album is being recorded at Morrisound Recording in Tampa, Florida with legendary producer Jim Morris (ICED EARTH, OBITUARY, JON OLIVA'S PAIN, JAG PANZER) for a late summer/early fall release.
ASHES OF ARES is a band which represents the culmination of experiences, trials and tribulations of its founding members. Within months of their departures from the iconic metal bands ICED EARTH and NEVERMORE, the trio came together with a renewed drive to create a sound which is a true collaboration of their personal influences, ideas and visions. Armed with the knowledge acquired through years of the writing, touring and recording cycle, and with the support of an army of loyal fans across the globe, ASHES OF ARES is poised to carve out a new legacy and stand alongside those who have helped pave the way.
In an October 2012 interview with Rocket Queen Promotion, Barlow stated about ASHES OF ARES' musical direction: "Well, most folks know what to expect from me, from my work with ICED EARTH and PYRAMAZE. So you take some of that and mix it with Van's brand of cadence and Freddie's riffage… blam-o….it's ASHES OF ARES!!! It's just straight-up heavy metal!"
Regarding the band's future plans, Barlow said: "The reason we are all doing this is for the love of music. We are metal guys and this is what we do. ASHES OF ARES live shows will be limited, but there will be live shows for fans, friends, and family to come to and enjoy with us. We really just want to create music that we enjoy and have that translate to our listeners."
