KISS Star Gene Simmons Suffers Personal Loss

The band broke the sad news to fans with the following, "It's with great sadness that we confirm the death of Pete Shelley, one of the UK's most influential and prolific songwriters and co-founder of the seminal original punk band Buzzcocks.

"Pete's music has inspired generations of musicians over a career that spanned five decades and with his band and as a solo artist, he was held in the highest regard by the music industry and by his fans around the world.

New Order's Bernard Sumner paid tribute with "I was deeply sorry to hear about Pete passing away, I always thought he was a great songwriter and the Buzzcocks both helped and inspired us in the early days of Joy Division. The first punk record I ever bought was 'Spiral Scratch' Boredom was the track on it that summed up how every bummed out adolescent felt in early 1977.

"Another song 'You Say You Don't Love Me' was another - perhaps lesser known but it was a favourite of mine with a deeply touching melody and then in 1981 he came out with the catchy as hell perfect pop song 'Homosapien' - By coincidence we played it in our dressing room just before we went onstage at our last gig in Curitiba, Brazil.

The footage from the television broadcast from The Gilbert O'Sullivan Show was believed to be lost for decades but was recently rediscovered and Elton shared the footage with fans here.

John Petrucci had this to say, "During the writing and recording process of D/T, 'Untethered Angel' was known as 'Song 4' to all of us as it was the 4th song written during the sessions.

"However, there has always been something about this track that just begged for it to be the album opener, even long before all of the songs were written.

"Fear is something that rears its ugly head at some point or another in all of our lives. Fear of the unknown, fear of taking chances, fear of making mistakes. If we are not careful, it can be debilitating and sadly prevent us from realizing our true potential.

The band received nominations for Best New Artist, Best Rock Song for "Black Smoke Rising," Best Rock Performance for "Highway Tune," and Best Rock Album for their "From The Fires" Eps.

The band had this to say, "We are all so very honored and humbled to have been nominated for a Grammy Award, and so appreciative for the love and support we get from our fans, because we do what we do for them.

Worsnop had this to say about the song, "'Little Did I Know' was the song that set the tone for Shades Of Blue. It is such a fun and upbeat feeling song that under the surface is a very sad and moving story of loneliness.

Demmel spoke with Metal Casinoon Tuesday about how he landed the gig. He told them, "I wrapped up the Machine Head tour, I quit Machine Head, did our last show, and the next day I got a text from Kerry King saying, 'Do you think you can learn 19 Slayer songs and be out here in two days?'

"So, my wife had been at home with our son and running our business, and I had been gone for two months. And I showed her the text. She was so happy to have me home.

"So I showed her the text, and she had said, 'You've gotta go. You have to go do it.' So I started studying [the songs] on the plane. And I came out and played my first show last night."

He had this to say, "Nothing great ever comes easy & the most rewarding way is usually the hard way, which is the essence of 'The One You Leave Behind'. Four years ago when my son was 8 months old, my wife & I mustered up the balls to leave everyone & everything we knew behind and move 7000 miles away to start a new chapter in our life. The task was so momentous that I had to cruise through it at times. What I left behind was the person I had always been, everyone I knew, and who everyone knew me as. Everything I experienced in the last few years, becoming a dad twice over, starting a business & relocating again has been new and foreign to me but in the end I came out the ringer a much better & more fulfilled person. Iv'e always gone with the flow in life, never could have imagined it would take me from Helsinki to Hawaii.

"'The One You Leave Behind' has been a very difficult yet rewarding song to write & record. I completely changed my approach with this one and dug deep. If you harness the spirit that your inner voice represents you can achieve anything. Your gut feeling is fire. Don't make plans just do.
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The song took on a life of it's own and consumed me and I gave it my all. The song contains some of the actual demo recording as I wanted to keep the songs authentic feel alive. It was recorded on three different continents and is raw, honest and a testament of who I have become, showcasing a different side of me. I actually recorded my vocals on my balcony at night, and I have to say I liked singing this song as I wasn't belting all the way through. I'm happy and relieved it's finally released.

"What started off as a nice little riff inspired by attending what was to be Tom Petty's last show ever at the Hollywood Bowl, made me question my sanity at times, adding to it the fact that I recorded this song between 1 and 3 AM exclusively, like a hermit isolated deep in the jungle of Hawaii Island.

"I had every technical set back under the sun with this one, broken hard drives, crashed drones & lost tracks. I almost died falling into the river above a 40 feet tall waterfall, only saved by grabbing onto a rock at the last second.

"The video is something I am very proud of, the coolest thing I have ever created up till this point. It really showcases how magical the place I now call home is. While filming and recording 'The One You Leave Behind' we were hit by hurricanes, floods and a volcanic eruption, yet beauty & life prevails.

The 2019 U.S. trek is scheduled to kick off on January 4th in Clearwater, FL at the Capitol Theatre and the first run of dates will be wrapping up on June 29th in Webster, MA at the Indian Ranch.

Rick Lambert had this to say, "I remember when I told my producer, Kfir Gov, I wanted to record a single with him. He wanted me to start writing and we would decide together what song we felt was the strongest. 'My World' just clicked. It essentially just came out and I knew it was a good song. Kfir agreed and we produced it together. Kfir pushed me out of a lot of comfort zones, but I'm really happy with what we accomplished. Especially since this song has stirred up a lot of positive attention. I would say that everyone in this band is a pretty stellar musician, so the recording process was pretty quick."

Never Go Back is a song about being sick from nostalgia. I used to take these drives out to my old college town night after night, I don't exactly why, but I think I was trying to remind myself of a particular feeling. A time in my life where things were a little more carefree, maybe I thought if I was reminded of that I could pull some of it into my current life. It got to the point where I was taking so many of these drives that I had to write a song about it. I wanted to get into my own head and say "Enough! Go live the life that you have now!".

I had originally gone down to Nashville to work with a producer on the song, but the end result never quite came out the way I envisioned it, nor were the lyrics quite right. I ended up sitting on it for three years before revisiting it again when writing my new album "New Eyes". One night I decided to take one last drive out there to drum up that feeling once again, and on that drive I managed to come up with a set of lyrics that I was happy with. I drove back home satisfied.