Former WHITESNAKE Guitarist JOHN SYKES To Release 'Sy-Ops' Album This Year

March 5, 2017

According to Germany's Rocks magazine, legendary English guitarist John Sykes (TYGERS OF PAN TANG, THIN LIZZY, WHITESNAKE, BLUE MURDER, SYKES) will release his first album in seventeen years, "Sy-Ops", before the end of 2017.

The 57-year-old completed the material for the disc three years ago. "But then my manager died," he explained. "With him I lost someone I could really trust. So I put the disc on ice."

Sykes added that his first album since 2000's "Nuclear Cowboy" will live up to his fans' expectations. "People who like what I did on the 1987 [self-titled album] from WHITESNAKE and the two studio records from BLUE MURDER" will be pleased by the new material, he said.

The new album will be released in a digipak format with a full-color six-panel artwork courtesy of David Dees.

Two years ago, Sykes released audio samples of some of the tracks that will appear on his solo album. You can check them out using the SoundCloud widget below.

The CD reportedly features guest appearances by the following musicians:

* Josh Freese (WEEZER, A PERFECT CIRCLE, GUNS N' ROSES, DEVO): Drums
* Tony Franklin (THE FIRM): Bass
* Chris Chaney (JANE'S ADDICTION): Bass
* Curt Bisquera (SARAH MCLACHLAN): Drums
* Jamie Muhoberac (THE ALL-AMERICAN REJECTS, FLEETWOOD MAC, THE ROLLING STONES): Keyboards

Sykes's much-hyped collaborative project with drummer Mike Portnoy (DREAM THEATER, AVENGED SEVENFOLD, ADRENALINE MOB) came to an abrupt end in January 2012. Portnoy later blamed the split on the fact that he "couldn't wait around any longer" for Sykes to get ready to enter the studio.

Portnoy and Sykes announced they were working together during a July 2011 taping of season eight of VH1 Classic's "That Metal Show". The program's co-host Eddie Trunk tweeted about the project at the time, "I heard demos. Sounds like killer BLUE MURDER meets '1987' WHITESNAKE. Amazing!" He also said that the new group would perform some BLUE MURDER material when it hits the road.

The project in 2011 demoed more than a dozen songs at a Los Angeles studio, with Portnoy describing one track as "copping the [LED] ZEPPELIN/[BLACK] SABBATH vibe" and another as "[PINK] FLOYD meets [DEEP] PURPLE!!! Some serious old-school classic rock."

Sykes announced his departure from THIN LIZZY in July 2009, explaining that "I feel it's time to get back to playing my own music."

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