Megadeth frontman Dave Mustaine said (via Twitter): "Tell me this isn't true. I woke at 4am to hear Nick Menza passed away on May 21 playing his drums with Ohm at the Baked Potato. #nickmenzarip."
His death was confirmed in a post written by his friend Allen Hall, which was shared on Menza's official Facebook page. It says: "We lost an amazing talent and fantastic person yesterday. Nick Menza was the nicest and most sincere guy you should ever hope to meet.
"He would take the shirt off his back to help you if you needed it. He had a passion for artwork, not just metal music." Read more
here.
The crisis was serious enough for AC/DC to postpone 10 spring dates in the US on their "Rock Or Bust" world tour while Johnson met with medical professionals and the band to determine his health status moving forward.
In a new interview with SiriusXM radio host Doron Levin, Johnson provided a timeline of his hearing issues, which originally began approximately eight years ago while racing at the Watkins Glen International.
"For the first time ever, I forgot to put my earplugs in," Johnson began. "After about 35 minutes, my left ear; a little pop. All that happened was I suffered tinnitus for about six or seven months, but it cleared up and I was fine again. We did another tour after that and I was fine."
The issue resurfaced enough during AC/DC's current tour that it started interfering with his ability to perform. "In Sydney, before Christmas, I was in the hospital on nine different occasions working with this wonderful doctor called Doctor Chang," says the singer, "and he had perceived that one night, we were playing Winnipeg at this huge stadium outside and it was raining cats and dogs, and it was absolutely freezing cold. And I caught a fever, and so did� well, Angus already had a fever.
"We were dripping wet, soaking wet, absolutely freezing, and then straight after the show, we had to get on an aircraft and fly straight to Vancouver, which was a two-and-a-half-hour flight, and unfortunately, the fluids went up into my sinuses and then around my ear. But we had to carry on. We did a gig there, then we did San Francisco, then we did Los Angeles, and then we came home for a two- or three-week break, and then off we went to Australia. And my ears still hadn't popped."
"And I was getting worried because my right ear, my good ear is just about totally deaf," Johnson continued. "And when I got to Australia, that's when Doctor Chang found out that the fluids had crystallized and had been eating away at my ear. So my good ear, I lost� I don't know what percentage, but it was enough to make things very difficult.
"So they worked on me. They had tubes in my arm, I was getting liquids and steroids into the system to try to break it down and clear it up. But he did look me in the eye with that horrible look that doctors have when you know something bad's coming [laughs], and he just said, 'Yup. I'm afraid you're not gonna get that back. But we can work with you, and we'll try it.' So we did. And we did all the gigs in Australia - that was great - and then we came back and I did ten shows in America, but I'm afraid after that, when I went for my second check, that's when they said, 'You're killing your ears.'"
It was at this point that doctors advised Johnson that his ears could no longer handle the sound levels in arenas and stadiums without further - and possibly permanent - damage. Read more and listen to the interview
here.
The speculation was sparked by comments made by guitarist Brad Whitford in an interview with Metal Rules where he said of the idea of touring with another vocalist, "Absolutely, we have considered it - but whether it will happen I don't know. I think it would be great."
After Whitford's comments made headlines, Perry released the following statement: "Any rumor out there about us looking for another singer is completely untrue. All five of us were just on the phone together talking about how excited we are to go to South America and Mexico City."
According to the band's publicist, the dates that he mentioned will run from September 29-October 27.
Credited with coming up with the name Beastie Boys, the former guitarist for the hardcore-punk outfit appeared on their debut EP Polly Wog Stew in 1982. A year later he was replaced by Adam Horovitz, known as Ad-Rock, when the band began taking their new musical direction.
In their Rock Hall induction in 2012, Horowitz paid tribute to "John Berry and to John Berry's loft on 100th Street and Broadway - where John's dad would come busting in during our first practices screaming, 'Would you turn that f***ing sh*t off already?'" Read more
here.
Weiland died in December, aged 48, while on tour with his solo band, after he'd split with STP for the second time in 2013. He'd previously been fired by Velvet Revolver for behavior associated with drug addiction issues.
Robert, brother Dean DeLeo and Eric Kretz went on to work with Linkin Park vocalist Chester Bennington and released their High Rise EP with him before they went their separate ways.
Robert tells Rolling Stone: "It's impossible to replace Scott. We created something that only the four of us could create. It's about moving forward, but it's also about someone honoring that, and being able to get their creativity around that." Read more
here.
And although he's on the mend, he says he feels "not great but good." Kiedis tells ET Canada: "I think I had to get sick to take a look at myself, and get to the causes and conditions of my overall health.
"I push pretty hard sometimes, and I take my health for granted on a certain level because I feel strong and capable. But every now and then, the body is like, 'You're doing something wrong. Fix it or we're going to let you know about it.'
"I think my body let me know that I had to change my ways a little bit." Read more
here.
The frontman reveals the tune is one of between 30-40 songs written for the follow-up to 2009's After The Ending. Carrabba tells Billboard: "There's a lot of songs. After we did our co-headlining tour last year with Third Eye Blind, we came home and felt so inspired from having been out in front of people for the first time in a long time that I began actively writing and recording, thinking to myself, 'If I get lucky this will be an album, and if not this will be really fun.' It is an album now."
The group currently finds itself without a record deal, which suits the singer just fine. He explains: "I don't have any plans on deadlines or labels or anything like that. I'm still in a carefree place with all that right now, just enjoying writing and recording these songs." Read more and watch the video
here.
Guitarist Scott Holiday recently said: "We tried to make something that's familiar and sounds like us - but we also tried to challenge ourselves and our listeners."
Rival Sons appear at the Download festival next month and play a number of their own shows between support slots on Black Sabbath's The End tour. Check out the new song
here.
But the Orange County outfit have included a recording of her clapping to the beat of one of their new songs on the record - and let her be the first to hear the release in full.
A post on Of Mice & Men's Instagram reads: "Today will forever be engraved as a very special day in our hearts. A precious, strong and defiant young lady named Cassy walked into our lives and forever changed them.
"The relationship and history between Cassy, Austin Carlile and the band has been a rich one over the years. Today was a much needed day for Cassy, her mom, cousin and family, as was it for all involved.
"Today was a day to forget all the stresses and problems of the world and to be surrounded by nothing but pure love, happiness and joy. Today Cassy was disease-free - today Cassy was 'living the dream.'" Read more
here.
The clip was filmed during their performance at Belgium's Groezrock Festival earlier this year on their European tour. It follows the lyric video Hatebreed issued for the song.
Singer Jamie Jasta said: "A.D. was a way that I could voice my frustration about the loss of opportunities available to the average guy. With the government and big business drowning in corruption and greed, the average person is being squeezed, so achieving the American dream is becoming less and less real.
"We all need to pay closer attention to what our elected leaders are doing. Start locally, in your own community, make your representatives accountable." Watch the video
here.
The extreme metal band is fronted by Mayhem and Sunn O)))'s Attila Csihar along with Daath and former Chimaira keyboardist Sean Zatorsky. It also includes current VIMIC and former Slipknot sticksman Jordison on drum duties, Dragonforce bassist Frederic Leclercq on guitar and Seth's Heimoth on bass.
Leclercq says: "I've been a death metal fan ever since and wrote some of these songs already in 1998, so it's something I always wanted to do. There was never the right time though, nor did I find the proper people to pull it off. Joey sent me an SMS to ask what I was up to, so I told him about those death metal songs."
Speaking of the upcoming album, he adds: "I wish to take the listener on a journey. Everything is interconnected, so you may pick particular songs, but it's meant to be listened to as a whole." Read more and watch the video
here.
Led by the track Anywhere You Want To Go, the project brings most of the classic Santana lineup together on record following a performance at their 1998 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony and after a series of random encounters that provided Schon with an opportunity to convince Carlos that it was time to regroup.
Schon tells Rolling Stone: "I kept running into Carlos in the Bay Area. I said to him, 'If you really want to turn everybody's head around, we should get the original band back together.'"
The guitarist - who joined Santana in 1971 at the age of 17 and left with Rolie to form Journey in 1973 - eventually wore Carlos down. Carlos explains: "It seemed like everywhere I go, this cat is there. His eyes became very vulnerable, very ego-less."
The lineup eventually hooked up at Santana's rehearsal space in Las Vegas for what Schon thought was a meeting about a possible reunion. Read more
here.
The follow-up to 2013's Outlaw Gentlemen And Shady Ladies was introduced with the lead single The Devil's Bleeding Crown.
Frontman Michael Poulsen tells Billboard: "The album is Volbeat, but there is progress, too, when it comes to songwriting with huge melodies. It has the songs I have been trying to write for years and it seems like I was in the right spot to gather all the pieces."
A series of spring US shows debuted new bassist Kaspar Boye Larsen in the lineup following the departure of Anders Kjolholm last year; Larsen has just been confirmed as permanent member of the group. Check out the new song
here.
The follow-up to 2014's Lost Forever Lost Together is released on May 27 via Epitaph Records, and the band have a run of shows in Europe and North America over the coming months, including an appearance at the Download festival.
Frontman Sam Carter recently said of their latest material: "It's evidence of a band putting their ego to one side. It's like saying, 'We're not important - this is important.'
"I'm not saying we're going to change the world, but we're trying to take our art and move it on to the next level." Check out the tour dates and stream the song
here.
On the potential for a Dire Straits reunion, Illsley tells TeamRock: "We've talked about it but I think we've come to the conclusion to leave it the way it is. It's very difficult to recreate the energy of 1991-92, that last tour we did which was, in my mind, the best thing we did and the best band we ever had. To go back and try recreate that and make it was good would be quite difficult.
"I know there would be an audience for it and all sorts of crazy offers come in from time-to-time. In a sense, it's up to him and I don't feel that he wants to go there right now. I completely appreciate that right now and I'm very happy doing what I'm doing." Read more
here.
The follow-up to 2012's L'Enfant Sauvage was recorded and mixed at frontman Joe Duplantier's New York studio, with the band previously issuing a teaser for the record along with a promo for Stranded.
Gojira will head out on the road across the US with Tesseract later this year, following their appearance at next month's Download festival. They'll also been confirmed for the Metal Hammer Golden Gods on June 13 in London. Read more and watch the video
here.
It's the third track issued ahead of the live release following "Bomber" and "When The Sky Comes Looking For You." Due June 10, "Clean Your Clock" captures the band over two shows at the Zenith in Munich, Germany last November on what turned out to be their final tour as founder Lemmy Kilmister passed away at his Los Angeles home on December 28.
The live package will be available in multiple formats, including Blu-ray/CD and DVD/CD combos, CD, colored vinyl, digital download and two box set options: one with the DVD/CD and colored vinyl which includes a Motorhead Metal Medal, and a limited-edition package offering the Motorhead Medal in Silver or Gold.
"Clean Your Clock" will be available in multiple formats, including Blu-ray/CD and DVD/CD combos, CD, colored vinyl, digital download and two box set options: one with the DVD/CD and colored vinyl which includes a Motorhead Metal Medal, and a limited-edition package offering the Motorhead Medal in Silver or Gold. Watch the video
here.
"Slave to the Life" is about the perpetual self-fulfilling prophecy. So many of us are victims of our own design, constrained by our daily habits, and this song speaks to that daily struggle to get ahead and make changes only to wake up the next day right back where we started. I think many people sometimes don't even notice that it's happening, but I think many of us can relate to that type of struggle. I think the concept can apply to many things, but I drew the influence for this one by watching an old friend struggle with addiction, so that's the angle I went for in the video.
I wrote this one while working on some solo material when the band was on hiatus. The original version was way mellowed out, with a symphonic intro and the main beat had almost a reggae feel to it. When we got back to writing Yigga Digga songs Tom kept bugging me to do this one, but I couldn't figure out how to make it fit into the context of the Yigga Digga style and approach. It just didn't feel like a Yigga Digga song to me. It wasn't until the rehearsals right before the final session for basic tracks for the Faded Glory album that I finally figured out how to strip it down to just bare bones guitar riffs, rock the feel and tempo up a few notches, and re-imagine it with the Yigga Digga approach from there. At that point it all just clicked and it was a no-brainer to record it for the album.
Hearing is believing. Now that you know the story behind the song, listen for yourself and learn more about the album
right here!
Read the second part of today's report here!
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