GARY CHERONE Says EXTREME Is 'Focusing On Putting Out A New Record' This Year

Massachusetts hard rockers EXTREME are putting the finishing touches on the long-awaited new album for a 2017 release. Speaking to "Rockin' Metal Revival", EXTREME singer Gary Cherone stated about the progress of the writing and recording sessions for the follow-up to 2008's "Saudades de Rock": "We just finished… We just did a South Korean/Japan run a month ago, and we're just focusing on new music. We wanna put out new music before we go out [later this] year. We're already starting to book some festivals in the summer. So the band's gonna be out playing. But for the individuals, for us, we're just focusing on putting out a new record. I'd like to give you a date, but that's the plan — getting it out in 2017 and being able to go out and take a lap around the pool, lap around the world, and tour it."

Cherone told Metalholic in October that fans of EXTREME will be pleased with the musical direction of the band's new material. He said: "There will be, like all EXTREME records, familiar elements, but also stuff… Over the years, when Nuno [Bettencourt, guitar] and I write, we're affected by our environment and music changes throughout the years, so those elements… There will still be some new elements to the band as well. Hopefully that always happens; you always wanna grow and evolve and move on. But the guitars will be there, the harmonies will be there, the songs, the hooks, the lyrics… There'll still be elements of the past, but certainly new elements [as well]."

A live package celebrating EXTREME's "Pornograffitti" album was made available this past October. Titled "Pornograffitti Live 25 / Metal Meltdown", it includes a DVD, Blu-ray and audio CD recorded at the band's show at the Las Vegas Hard Rock Casino on May 30, 2015, where they performed the record in full.