Today's Day in Rock Stories

Kings Of Leon Announce New Album 'Walls'

The newly expanded version of 'The BBC Sessions,' which features the band's live recording on the British network that were made between 1969 through 71, is set to be released on September 16th and includes a number of rarities.

"Sunshine Woman" is said to be the only take of the song which Jimmy Page says was "basically made up on the spot" on Alexis Korner's World Service Show in March 1969, according to UCR.

Simmons found himself at the centre of angry outbursts in May after stating that Prince had died of a drugs overdose, despite the facts remaining unconfirmed at the time.

He later apologized for his comments about addiction, and explained himself by saying: "I have a long history of getting very angry at what drugs do to the families/friends of addicts. I didn't express myself properly."

Now Simmons tells WNOR: "I knew Prince. I knew Bowie and all that. Bowie died from disease - Prince died because of drugs. So did Michael Jackson.

Frontman Corey Taylor says the track is a "very angry" rant at the reality TV show culture of music at the time. He says: "I was sitting in a European hotel room watching a music video channel, seeing act after act after act of this insane, innocuous, plastic music. They were plastic, bubbly, gossamer-thin groups where it was really more about the clothes they wore and the length of their cheekbones than it was about the content of the song they were singing.

"It really made me mad. I was like, is this it? Have we just gone full circle? Did the singer/songwriter revolution never happen? Is it just the same drivel from the same replicate over and over again?

13 Voices was written as frontman Deryck Whibley recovered from a near-death experience brought on by alcohol abuse. The video for War shows the band performing in an airplane graveyard in the middle of a California desert. Whibley uncovers reminders of his past - a journal, an old drawing, a t-shirt, a guitar and an empty bottle of alcohol - in the wreckage and burns them along with his past life.

Whibley says the crash site represents how he "crashed and burned" and that the graveyard was "a place for a funeral for my past." He adds: "I feel that this song literally saved my life. I was at my absolute lowest point of what seemed like a never-ending recovery. When I was at a tipping point of falling back into drinking or staying the course of recovery, I grabbed a pencil and paper instead of a bottle and started writing.

Vocalist M Shadows says they're experimenting with a new stage concept as the novelty wears off their last album, 2013's Hail To The King.

He tells WGRD: "On this tour we're thinking about going with a really clean, really big look. And since Hail To The King is three years old, it really isn't appropriate to bring out Hail To The King-themed stuff.

"So I think what we're gonna start doing is we've been, in rehearsal, bringing out a lot of older things that people haven't necessarily heard in a long time, or things we've never played. Like, we debuted a song called Planets the other night, and we've been playing a song called Acid Rain.

The film was captured during the final show of the veteran band's Sting In The Tale world tour which took place on September 30, 2012. The preview performance clip can be seen here.

The Texas outfit had a number of shows scheduled next month in support of their eighth studio release, but they've pushed back the live dates until next March so they can capitalise on their domestic chart success over the coming weeks.

Frontman Justin Furstenfeld issued a video statement, saying: "I can't believe Home is doing so well here in America. It's amazing - we haven't done anything like this since we were on a major label.

"Now we're going to be pushing and working as hard as we possibly can to make it react even more in America, because then that translates to UK, Germany and overseas touring.

Frontman Keith Buckley was inspired to write the song by the experience of rushing to his wife in intensive care as she gave birth prematurely to their daughter last year - and nearly died in the process.

Buckley tells Billboard: "They took me to see her, but she was unconscious and hooked up to a bunch of machines. None of the doctors knew what happened. All they could do was monitor her vitals.

Guitarist Bjorn Gelotte reports that the record has a very different feel to their previous material - and he puts that partly down to where they recorded the album.

He tells Decibel Magazine: "Siren Charms had a very dark vibe to it. We recorded it at a cold, damp and dark time during the year in Berlin so it gave it a certain melancholy to the record.

"Now, recording in Los Angeles with the sunshine, it's a different energy. The writing process was different this time, too - that I would like for us to continue to explore."

Crediting Grammy-nominated producer Howard Benson with his work on Battles, Gelotte adds: "Working with Howard and his team was great. I got stressed taking a break for even five minutes because they were always ready to go for the next take and kept my energy up."

The new dates will be kicking off with a free show on October 12th in Dallas, TX at the Bomb Factory and wrapping up on October 30th in Spokane, WA at the Knitting Factory.

The band had this to say about the new trek, "We are more than excited to be touring with our brothers in Sevendust again this fall. A great band, a great lineup, and great people. Come out and make this community bigger and better than it ever has been. The time is now."

Meshuggah drummer Tomas Haake tells Rolling Stone: "It ties in with the biblical apocalypse - the idea of a deity coming back to undo it all and taking to heaven the ones who are righteous. It's about a monster that's coming for us, or maybe an asteroid hurtling towards the earth.

"It's always been a weird conundrum for me how some people, even devout people, fear the apocalypse while others welcome it. I've never understood that."

They will be kicking things off with a short run of headline dates that begin on September 9th in Flagstaff, AZ at the Orpheum Theater and wraps up on Sept 14th in St. Louis, MO at Fubar.

The next day they will hit the road with Trivium and Sabaton. That trek will launch in Columbus, OH at the Newport Music Hall and runs until October 21st where it concludes in Lake Buena Vista, FL at the House Of Blues.

Huntress' Jill Janus had this to say about the upcoming tour dates, "Huntress is in full beast mode again and ready to bring the fury to stages this fall! It is an honor to join Black Sabbath at Ozzfest on September 24, and tour alongside Trivium and Sabaton.

Guitarist Save Addario says: "After over seven years together, it's with sadness we have to announce that Adam has taken the decision to leave Deadly Circus Fire to follow a different path in his life.

Obituary say: "We are very excited about the live songs that we recorded on this last US tour. Joe Cincotta from Full Force Studio is also our live sound engineer and he had his full recording rig on the road with us, so we took advantage of the opportunity and recorded the show every night.

"The quality was amazing so we decided to include this as part of the Ten Thousand Ways to Die release to give the fans a little Obituary bonus. We selected songs from different cities so you will hear the sound difference between each song.

The song can be heard here and the band kicks off their Affinitour next Tuesday, August 30th in Chicago, IL and wrap up the trek on September 21st in Portland, Or. They will be supported by Thank You Scientist.

They had these comments about the outing which includes an appearance at ProgPower, "After last year's success in North America, we've been eager to get back and play to our amazing fans over there and also travel to new territory in Texas, Arizona and the west coast.

Singer Martin van Drunen had this to say about the track, "Incoming Death was music-wise composed in perhaps 10 minutes when Husky and Paul were checking the sound in the Perle am Rhein studio for the flexi recordings. When we all freaked out on it, we knew we had the title track for the album.

"It's so typical our Asphyx death metal style. Straight forward, no nonsense, three riff, in-your-face death metal. Not that we were looking for a title track that would be in the tradition of 'Death The Brutal Way' or 'Deathhammer'. It just came out like this. It's a damn neck breaker to raise hell to when playing live and that's why the choice for the track was only natural. Stanza, chorus, repeat, bridge, stanza, chorus, end. That's how it's done. On Instinct.

Guitarist Paul Mahon reports the band had to approach the writing process differently for the follow-up to 2015's Raise A Little Hell as they were struggling to find inspiration.

He says: "We initially sat there looking blankly at each other. It was certainly disconcerting to move away from our traditional approach but we had to embrace a new process.

The band say of the track: "We wanted to paint a picture of a forest in flames - of wild destruction, spectacular and terrifying. The calm amidst the ancient pines shattered by an insatiable desire, all-consuming, all-devouring and with a raging intensity so fierce it can set anything on fire.

"Ultimately, as the flames engulf the trees, it is a song about searching for meaning and even beauty in a burning world."

Wilson tells TeamRock: "I'm bringing Dutch and English musicians together to celebrate the release of the new album. Looking forward to mooring up alongside as many of the venues as I can. Since Cropredy, I think I should sail to all the gigs."

His first studio album since 2003's Let's Start A Commune was produced by Andrew Holdsworth, with Bill Shanley, Lee Pomeroy, Adam Wakeman and Brian Willoughby joining Wilson on the record.

Geoff Thorpe here from VR! Our latest single/ video" Take it or Leave it" is part of a story that the whole album tells... It's a nightmare really about the end of the planet from a global killer asteroid and how humanity unravels at the news! As we live in the age of disaster we wanted our album lyrics, cover and concept to be as powerful as the music! The first such album we've ever done... there's a short story that goes with every song on the album. So if you only download the music you miss out on a lot of impact the cover, booklet , photos and story has to offer! The Cd comes with a 2 sided poster and Lp comes with 2 blood Red vinyl disk and a CC !!! It's a great package! Now for the song!! We thought "Take It Or Leave it " was a good choice for the single/ video for a few reasons! 1. It has all the classic trademarks of VR and projects the attitude in the band after all these years simply take it or leave it or get out of our way!!! . 2. We wanted to show our fan base that even though we're spread out between California , Slovenia and Holland we work together as a team! We all worked on songs together in a house we rented in Holland at the end of a tour in 2015 . We recorded the album together in California Oct 2015 to Feb 2016!!

The Song was on my demo without an ending! Just the rough idea... I wrote the music to the ending while we were in the studio! Nick Holleman our singer and I worked out the vocals for the ending in my van in front of the studio!! We liked the fire and energy of what happened that day and now it's out for all to see!! Tilen Hudrap our Bass player, along with Larry Howe, Thaen Rasmussen and I had a great time recording and performing the video for this song! I hope you'll check it out and have as much fun as we did!! Turn it up! Hold on tight! The VR ball is rolling full speed ahead!! Thank you!