Music

William DuVall has paid tribute to Sylvain Sylvain, one of the founding fathers of punk rock as guitarist of legendary band the NEW YORK DOLLS, who died on Wednesday, January 13 at the age of 69. He had battled cancer for two and a half years. On Thursday (January 14), the ALICE IN CHAINS frontman took to his social media to write: “I idolized the NEW YORK DOLLS as a kid. Along with the MC5 and the STOOGES, the DOLLS were like superheroes to me. “I remember being in 7th grade in 1979 writing fictional short stories for school that had Johnny Thunders as the main character. Fast forward sixteen years and somehow I struck up a fast friendship with Sylvain Sylvain circa 1995-96. He was living in ATL then and I can’t remember how we met but he heard some of the songs I was writing ...

MEMORIAM, the Birmingham, United Kingdom-based death/grind metal band featuring Karl Willets (BOLT THROWER) on vocals, Frank Healy (BENEDICTION, CEREBRAL FIX) on bass, Scott Fairfax (CEREBRAL FIX) on guitar and Spike T Smith (SACRILEGE, CONFLICT, KILLING JOKE, THE DAMNED) on drums, will release its fourth studio album, “To The End”, on March 26 via Reaper Entertainment. Marking the beginning of a second trilogy of albums, “To The End” serves as something of a prologue to the first three MEMORIAM albums. Working backwards and narrating the life story of the leader whose demise was depicted in the first trilogy, the lyrics on the album may play out in a fictional realm, but they incorporate inspiration from real life. A central theme of war is coloured with political ...

British rockers THUNDER have released the brand new single “Going To Sin City”, the second taste of their upcoming 13th studio album, “All The Right Noises”, due out March 12 via BMG. The defiantly strutting track is a rare look back for the band, who perhaps only now are processing the whirlwind of their late ’80s and early ’90s adventures. Of the song, guitarist and songwriter Luke Morley says: “It’s based on the first time Danny [THUNDER vocalist Danny Bowes] and I went to L.A. in the late ’80s. “We were used to the music scene around Soho, and thought we were cool. In L.A., I felt like I was the bloke who’d come to fix the plumbing. Before bands like GUNS N’ ROSES, rock ‘n’ roll was pretty much denim an...

DEMON HUNTER has released a reworked version of “I Will Fail You” from its forthcoming album, “Songs Of Death And Resurrection”, a mostly acoustic and stripped-down effort, due March 5 via Solid State Records. “Songs Of Death And Resurrection” features 11 new “Resurrected” versions of classic DEMON HUNTER songs from across the band’s ten studio albums, including fan favorites such as “I Am A Stone”, “I Will Fail You”, “Carry Me Down” and “The Heart Of A Graveyard”, plus a brand new composition, “Praise The Void”. Marking an entirely new approach for DEMON HUNTER, “Songs Of Death And Resurrection” finds the band using lush string arrangements, haunting piano, and lay...

In a new interview with A&P Reacts, ACCEPT guitarist Wolf Hoffmann was asked if the songtitle “The Best Is Yet To Come” from the band’s upcoming album “Too Mean To Die” represents ACCEPT‘s motto. He responded (see video below): “I hope so. It’s my personal motto, for sure. I get asked a lot about the ’80s, and some people always wanna dig around the past in my case. Some people out there enjoy the past better than the present — it seems like they’re living in the past almost — and I always think that’s not for me. I’m a guy who constantly thinks ahead. And I honestly think that here and now is pretty damn cool, but the best is yet to come. And maybe the best ACCEPT song hasn’t even been written yet, and the b...

Former VAN HALEN bassist Michael Anthony was asked by Chad Tyson of the Portland rock radio station 105.9 The Brew to name his favorite memory of the band’s legendary guitarist Eddie Van Halen. Michael responded (hear audio below): “Just that he was a very humble guy. He never let the fame or stardom or all the accolades that he acquired playing guitar go to his head. He always just considered himself a guy who played guitar, and that was really special about him.” Asked if he has talked to Eddie‘s son, VAN HALEN bassist Wolfgang Van Halen, in the months following the guitarist’s death, Michael said: “I’ve texted with him a couple of times. I haven’t actually talked with him. I wanted to kind of let the family have their privacy. I briefly sp...

In a recent interview with Canada’s The Metal Voice, Glenn Hughes was asked if there are any plans for him to collaborate with Tony Iommi again. The legendary DEEP PURPLE bassist/vocalist previously worked with the BLACK SABBATH guitarist on “Seventh Star” (1986), and later reunited with him for “Fused” (2005), in addition to being featured on the “1996 DEP Sessions” (2004) collection of previously unreleased material. Glenn, who is currently promoting the upcoming THE DEAD DAISIES album “Holy Ground”, said: “There’s always something going on with Tony. We’ve done three albums, and you never know, and there’s a possibility there’ll be another one. But at this time, it’s so hard to say anything, becaus...