Archive News May 05, 2001

More information has surfaced regarding the upcoming benefit show for TESTAMENT vocalist Chuck Billy, who was recently diagnosed with cancer. According to benefit organizer and Chuck's roommate Walter Morgan, the following artists/musicians have agreed to take part in the event, which will be tentatively taking place in San Francisco, California during the first week of July:

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* LEGACY (pre-TESTAMENT) reunion, featuring Zetro Souza (vocals),Eric Peterson (guitars),Alex Skolnick (guitars),plus Steve DiGiorgio (bass),John Tempesta (drums) and Steve Smyth (guitars)

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* EXODUS reunion of Bonded By Blood line-up (feat. Paul Baloff on vocals)

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* VIO-LENCE reunion (minus Robb Flynn with Ray Vegas on guitars)

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SKINLAB

LAAZ ROCKIT reunion

SADUS

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Other bands who have said 'Maybe', or haven't been contacted yet but are being approached include:

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DEATH ANGEL reunion

FORBIDDEN reunion

MACHINE HEAD

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More info as it becomes available.

SKINLAB have replaced guitarist Scott Seargent with ex-WIRED SHUT axeman Glen Telford. New Zealand-born Glen will be making his first live appearances with the band at three warm-up shows that SKINLAB will be doing prior to entering the studio with producer Steve Evetts (i.e. SEPULTURA, EARTH CRISIS, SNAPCASE) on June 7th to begin recording their third full-length CD, tentatively titled The Revolting Room. The dates are as follows:

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May 15 - Los Angeles, CA @ The Knitting Factory

May 25 - San Francisco, CA @ The Pound (w/UNJUST)

June 03 - San Jose, CA @ The Cactus Club (w/SIFT)

HECATE ENTHRONED will be supporting fellow UK black metallers AKERCOCKE at the London Monarch on May 13th. The band will be premiering tracks from the soon-to-be-released Miasma EP, which was recently completed at Elevator Studios in Liverpool with producer Pete 'Pee Wee' Coleman.

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An eight-song affair (including a 'secret' bonus track),Miasma will consist of the following tracks (among others):

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01. Commence The Chaos

02. Silenced But For Their Cries (I Am Born Pt. II)

03. Designed With Hate

04. New Day Emerges

05. Into Oblivion (Instrumental)

06. So Called Saviour

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Expect the EP to be released this summer through PHD/Blackend Records.

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In other HECATE ENTHRONED news, vocalist Dean will be appearing on AKERCOCKE's new album Goat of Mendes as a guest vocalist on the track 'The Serpent'. The album will be released later this month through Peaceville Records.

ELEGY vocalist Ian Parry has recorded a version of the WHITESNAKE classic 'Fool for your Lovin'' with Hungarian guitarist Tamas Zekeres for his upcoming solo album. The album will be released in Hungary sometime in October, but Tamas hopes to have the album released throughtout Europe later this year. Ian may continue his collaboration with Tamas, and record more songs for an OMEGA tribute album (OMEGA is the most successful rock band in Hungarian history, performing sell-out shows in stadiums for more than 60,000 people).

ILL NINO's forthcoming Roadrunner Records debut, Revolution...Revolucion, is currently being remixed by Scrap 60 Productions (i.e. PRIMER 55, DRY KILL LOGIC, SINCH) for a July release. According to ILL NINO bassist Lazaro Pina, 'We chose Eddie and Steve at Scrap 60 after hearing the mixes on a few of their other projects. They have the same ideas as we do regarding our sound, and the band is extremely happy with their work.'

SEPULTURA drummer Igor Cavalera took a swipe at this year's Ozzfest tour in the Metal Hammer magazine, claiming that 'We did [the] Tattoo The Earth [festival] instead [of Ozzfest last year], and to me that was a lot more real. The ticket prices for a festival like that are outrageous, and I'd feel ashamed to make our fans pay that kind of money to see us. I'd rather we did our own headlining tours.'

BLACK SABBATH vocalist Ozzy Osbourne recently commented on the progress of the songwriting for the group's first studio album with the original line-up since 1978's Never Say Die CD by saying that the quartet came up with 'about six or seven great songs [during the songwriting sessions in Wales], and lots of ideas for other stuff, too. We haven't got any titles yet - it's all 'Song No.1' and 'Song No.2'. But I can tell you that it's very bluesy and sort of out there. The kind of thing we were doing on the first two or three SABBATH albums, where we just went in, no f.cking around, and laid them down as they came to us.

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'SABBATH always had the most unconventional form of writing anyway - there was never any of this verse chorus, verse stuff with SABBATH. It was always much weirder than that.

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'And now we're not pissed and stoned anymore, we're really firing off each other again. In the past we'd have had to have a drink or a smoke of a joint first to get started, but this was done completely stone cold sober.'

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Following the completion of the group's upcoming Ozzfest trek, BLACK SABBATH will reconvene with BEASTIE BOYS/SLAYER/RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS producer and self-proclaimed Ozzy-period SABBATH freak Rick Rubin for the album's pre-production and recording sessions, which will likely take the band through the end of the year.

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'Rick's totally into it,' Ozzy told Metal Hammer magazine. 'Whether it will work or not, only time will tell. But Rick's been on at me for years about wanting to produce a BLACK SABBATH album — but only if it was me and the original other guys. Well, now he's got his chance.

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'And Rick doesn't f.ck around, neither. He'll tell you which part's good and which part's shit. Which is good, because this has to be better than just any old SABBATH album. This has to be the ultimate SABBATH album. It's got to be devastating. Everybody's copped what we've done. Well, we've got to be bigger and better than all that.'

QUEENSRYCHE vocalist Geoff Tate's debut gig with his as-yet-unnamed solo project at Seattle's The Catwalk on Friday, June 1st will include a performance by support band IVAN. For more information on IVAN, check out the band's official web site at: www.ivantheband.com.

SAVATAGE's July 4th show as the support act for JUDAS PRIEST has been changed to Vitoria, Spain at the Pabellon Fernando Buesa Arena.

SHELTER's brand new CD, The Purpose The Passion, will be released on May 23rd through Supersoul Recordings in the US and Century Media Records in the rest of the world.

LITA FORD and her husband, former NITRO frontman Jim Gillette, are awaiting the birth of a second son in late June. Gillette reportedly has a new music project called BONESAW, which he's working on with L.A.-based partners using his home studio, computer and the Internet. 'It's METALLICA-type guitars with the low end of rap, and a mix of live and looped drums,' he says of the music. An EP is due for release later in the year.

LIVING SACRIFICE will be issuing their The Hammering Process album on vinyl via a new label called The Record Collection on June 4th. A numbered limited edition (1,000 are being pressed initially),the LP will be released on colored vinyl. For more info, check out the site:www.ilovetherecordcollection.com. In other LS news, the release of the group's very first home video is planned for the coming months. The video will contain live shows, studio sessions, 'and basic tour insanity'.

MEDICATION, the new band featuring former MACHINEHEAD /SOULFLY guitarist Logan Mader, ex-UGLY KID JOE/LIFE OF AGONY vocalist Whitfield Crane and former SOULFLY drummer Roy Mayorga, cancelled last night's scheduled performance at Paladino's in Tarzana, California. No reason was given for the cancellation. MEDICATION are still going ahead with their previously announced shows in Hollywood and Sacramento. The dates are as follows:

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May 18 - West Hollywood, CA @ Whiskey A Go Go

May 26 - Sacramento, CA @ Colonial Theatre

Nuclear Blast Records will soon be releasing DEATH's first live album, entitled Live In L.A. (Death &amp Raw). The recording was made on the 1999 US Tour, and it will be released on CD, video and DVD.

DISSECTION guitarist/vocalist/leader Jon Nodtveidt was reportedly allowed to bring some recording equipment to his Swedish prison cell (where he's serving a sentence for a murder conviction),and he is said to be working on new material. In the meantime, Nuclear Blast Records is planning on releasing a DISSECTION live album recorded on the group's Storm Of The Lights Bane tour.

KISS fans that were not able to watch Gene Simmons' recent appearance on Politically Incorrect can read the full program transcript of the show from ABC's web site at this location.

PUDDLE OF MUDD's forthcoming Flawless/Interscope Records debut, So I Guess This Is The Title, is due out July 10th, to be preceded by the release of a single, featuring the track 'Control', in June, with an accompanying video, which is being directed by LIMP BIZKIT frontman Fred Durst. The album was produced by John Kurzweg (i.e. DOUBLEDRIVE, CREED) and mixed by Andy Wallace (i.e. SLAYER, SOULFLY, SLIPKNOT, ALICE IN CHAINS, LIMP BIZKIT).

Sweden's HELLACOPTERS, featuring former ENTOMBED drummer Nicke Andersson (who is playing guitar and singing lead in the new band under the name Nick Royale),have lined up a batch of Scandinavian festival appearances during the summer. The dates are as follows:

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June 02 - Trollhättan, SWE @ Westgothafestivalen

June 14 - Hultsfred, SWE @ Hultsfred Festival

June 23 - Neuhausen, DEN @ Southside Festival

June 24 - Scheesel, DEN @ Hurricane Festival

June 29 - Roskilde, DEN @ Roskilde Festival

June 30 - Kiruna, SWE @ Festival

July 27 - Östersund, SWE @ Storsjöryan

Roadrunner Records recording artists HINGE have been forced to change their name to DRY KILL LOGIC due to legal action against the band threatened by another music entity with the same name. DRY KILL LOGIC's Roadrunner debut, The Darker Side Of Nonsense,&nbsp is tentatively set for a June 5th release.

Cleveland's CHIMAIRA are currently mixing their debut with producer Mudrock at Larrabee Studios in West Hollywood, CA, with four songs having been completed so far. Pass Out of Existence is tentatively set to be released in August, and it will include a guest appearance by DEFTONES guitarist Stephen Carpenter on the song which carries the working title of 'Rizzo'. The full track listing for the album (including the bonus tracks) is as follows:

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01. Let Go

02. Dead Inside

03. Options

04. Forced Life

05. Jade

06. Without Moral Restraint

07. Pass Out Of Existence

08. Abeo

09. Painting The White To Grey

10. Sphere

11. Split

12. Lumps

13. Severed

14. Taste My...

15. Fascination Street (THE CURE cover)

16. Rizzo (feat. DEFTONES guitarist Stephen Carpenter)

DOKKEN have been added to the list of artists performing at the Sweden Rock festival, which is scheduled to take place June 9th in Solvesborg, Sweden. Vocalist Don Dokken has reportedly been working on material for the next album, which is tentatively scheduled to be recorded later in the year.

Two original members of the influential pre-Riot Grrl hard rock punk band THE RUNAWAYS will unite for two special performances in New York. Vocalist Cherie Currie and drummer Sandy West will be backed by Gina and Squid of THE LUNACHICKS and will share the bill with NYC glam-metal sensations THE TOILET BOYS for a show at the Squeezebox on Friday, May 18th.

Serial killer metal band MACABRE have been added to the line-up of artists performing at the Waldrock Festival near the town of Bergum-Friesland in Holland on June 30th.

Gothenburg, Sweden's female-fronted metal band DRACENA will be supporting Aphazel of ANCIENT and SIEBENBÜRGEN on May 12th at club Nocturnal. DRACENA have also been confirmed for the 2 Heavy 4 You festival in Falkenberg, Sweden on May 25-26. DRACENA will play Saturday the 26th at 5:45 PM. In other DRACENA news, the 7' version of the group's Demonic Women demo will be released shortly through Near Dark Productions. It will contain a new intro and outro, plus the tracks 'Demonic Women' and 'Hounds of Hell'.

Norway's RED HARVEST are taking a break from live shows to concetrate on writing material for their next studio album, which is due to be recorded at the end of the year.

Connecticut's MERAUDER soundalikes 100 DEMONS have reportedly parted ways with singer Bruce LePage and guitarist Rick Brayall. Replacements have already been found, but have not yet been confirmed. The band will soon commence work on the follow-up to last year's In the Eyes of The Lord CD.

Holland's XENOMORPH is confirmed to play Werfpop 2001Festival (www.werfpop.nl) on July 8th. Held in Leiden (Holland),Werfpop attracts about 25,000 visitors every year. In other XENOMORPH gig news, the band will headline the Dark Souls Festival in east Belgium today, May 5th.

Finland's EMBRAZE have written 15 songs for their upcoming album, which will be recorded sometime this summer and released through Mastervox Records. ETERNAL TEARS OF SORROW vocalist Antti will contribute background vocals during the sessions. Along with the 15 original songs, EMBRAZE will record covers of ALICE COOPER's 'Poison', IRON MAIDEN's 'Prowler' and INSOMNIA's 'Anti-Sleep Reaction', which will be released as bonus tracks and B-sides.

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