Alternative Music

Former DREAM THEATER and current THE WINERY DOGS drummer Mike Portnoy has revealed that he has tested positive for COVID-19, the disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus. The 54-year-old musician, who lives in Pennsylvania, shared his positive diagnosis with his 521,000 Instagram followers on Saturday (April 2). He posted a photo of his positive test and he included the following message: “Yep…ugh! PS – this is my 1st time getting it…turns out when I was sick in Feb after the NMB [NEAL MORSE BAND] tour, it was just a very bad sinus infection…” He added: “Anyways – comments turned off to avoid any political, Vaxx, masks, etc BS – don’t need any of that headache adding to this”. Earlier today (Sunday, April 3), Portnoy returned to his Instagram a...

BLACK VEIL BRIDES will be forced to miss several shows on the band’s current “Trinity Of Terror” tour with ICE NINE KILLS, MOTIONLESS IN WHITE and LILITH CZAR after BLACK VEIL BRIDES singer Andy Biersack and “several members” of the group’s “touring crew” tested positive for COVID-19, the disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus. Earlier today (Sunday, April 3), Biersack issued the following statement: “Oshkosh [Wisconsin], it is with great sadness that I share that BVB will not be able to perform tonight. Last night after the show in Chicago I started to feel an awful sickness come on out of the blue and developed a high fever and chills. Unfortunately after multiple tests it is clear that both me and several other members of the B...

DREAM THEATER was honored with a Grammy in the “Best Metal Performance” category in the pre-telecast ceremony at the 64th annual Grammy Awards, which is being held tonight (Sunday, April 3) at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. DREAM THEATER was nominated for “The Alien”, a track from its 2021 album “A View From The Top Of The World”. The nominees in the “Best Metal Performance” category were as follows: * “Genesis” – DEFTONES * “The Alien” – DREAM THEATER * “Amazonia” – GOJIRA * “Pushing The Tides” – MASTODON * “The Triumph Of King Freak (A Crypt Of Preservation And Superstition)” – ROB ZOMBIE This year’s Grammy nominations were announced on...

SKID ROW guitarist Dave “Snake” Sabo says that “the stars aligned” when the band recruited ex-H.E.A.T. vocalist Erik Grönwall as its latest frontman. Grönwall recently joined SKID ROW as the replacement for ZP Theart, a former member of DRAGONFORCE, joined SKID ROW in 2016 following the departure of Tony Harnell (TNT, STARBREAKER). SKID ROW played its first show with Grönwall on March 26 at Zappos Theater at Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada as the support act on the rescheduled dates for SCORPIONS‘ “Sin City Nights” residency. SKID ROW‘s nine-song set included its new single, “The Gang’s All Here”, which was made available on March 25. The song is the title track of the band’s upcoming album, w...

Fan-filmed video of SLIPKNOT‘s April 2 concert at Santander Arena in Reading, Pennsylvania can be seen below. SLIPKNOT kicked off the 2022 iteration of its “Knotfest Roadshow” tour on March 16 at the Fargodome in Fargo, North Dakota. The “Knotfest Roadshow” tour is taking place over two legs, both headlined by SLIPKNOT. The first leg features special guests IN THIS MOMENT and WAGE WAR. The second leg will feature special guests CYPRESS HILL and HO99O9. The first leg of the 38-date run, produced by Live Nation, will wrap up in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada on Sunday, April 17. The second leg kicks off on Wednesday, May 18 in University Park, Pennsylvania and hits a further 17 cites before culminating on Sunday, June 18 in Chula Vista, California. “K...

Fan-filmed video of SLIPKNOT‘s April 2 concert at Santander Arena in Reading, Pennsylvania can be seen below. SLIPKNOT kicked off the 2022 iteration of its “Knotfest Roadshow” tour on March 16 at the Fargodome in Fargo, North Dakota. The “Knotfest Roadshow” tour is taking place over two legs, both headlined by SLIPKNOT. The first leg features special guests IN THIS MOMENT and WAGE WAR. The second leg will feature special guests CYPRESS HILL and HO99O9. The first leg of the 38-date run, produced by Live Nation, will wrap up in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada on Sunday, April 17. The second leg kicks off on Wednesday, May 18 in University Park, Pennsylvania and hits a further 17 cites before culminating on Sunday, June 18 in Chula Vista, California. “K...

On Wednesday, March 30, Dave Mustaine spoke to SiriusXM‘s “Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk” about the upcoming MEGADETH album, “The Sick, The Dying, And The Dead”. Tentatively due on July 8, the follow-up to 2016’s “Dystopia” features a cover of DEAD KENNEDYS‘ “Police Truck” and Sammy Hagar‘s “This Planet’s On Fire”, the latter of which includes vocals from Hagar himself. Regarding when fans can expect to hear some of the new MEGADETH music, Mustaine said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “We know that the whole entire thing is scheduled for July 8th. And the hopes are that we stay on schedule with that. And I know that we’ve got a single that is gonna be serviced to radio any day now. I...

On Wednesday, March 30, Dave Mustaine spoke to SiriusXM‘s “Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk” about the upcoming MEGADETH album, “The Sick, The Dying, And The Dead”. Tentatively due on July 8, the follow-up to 2016’s “Dystopia” features a cover of DEAD KENNEDYS‘ “Police Truck” and Sammy Hagar‘s “This Planet’s On Fire”, the latter of which includes vocals from Hagar himself. Regarding when fans can expect to hear some of the new MEGADETH music, Mustaine said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “We know that the whole entire thing is scheduled for July 8th. And the hopes are that we stay on schedule with that. And I know that we’ve got a single that is gonna be serviced to radio any day now. I...

ANTHRAX guitarist Scott Ian was joined by his 10-year-old son Revel Young Ian on drums as they performed renditions of several FOO FIGHTERS songs for an Instagram video which Scott shared on Sunday (April 3). Scott captioned the clip: “Paying tribute to Taylor…we’ve been jamming our favorite Foo‘s all week. Healing our hearts with the power of rock. We love you Taylor and Dave and Pat and Chris and Nate and Rami. @foofighters #taylorhawkins #patsmear @davestruestories @shifty71 #natemendel #ramijaffee”. Scott previously shared videos of him and Revel performing the SEPULTURA songs “Roots Bloody Roots” and “Territory”, as well as SYSTEM OF A DOWN‘s “Bounce”, KORN‘s “Here To Stay” and HELMET‘s “In...

ANTHRAX guitarist Scott Ian was joined by his 10-year-old son Revel Young Ian on drums as they performed renditions of several FOO FIGHTERS songs for an Instagram video which Scott shared on Sunday (April 3). Scott captioned the clip: “Paying tribute to Taylor…we’ve been jamming our favorite Foo‘s all week. Healing our hearts with the power of rock. We love you Taylor and Dave and Pat and Chris and Nate and Rami. @foofighters #taylorhawkins #patsmear @davestruestories @shifty71 #natemendel #ramijaffee”. Scott previously shared videos of him and Revel performing the SEPULTURA songs “Roots Bloody Roots” and “Territory”, as well as SYSTEM OF A DOWN‘s “Bounce”, KORN‘s “Here To Stay” and HELMET‘s “In...

This past week, Nicko McBrain embarked on a short tour of Florida where he is performing classic songs from IRON MAIDEN with his TITANIUM TART project. Fan-filmed video of the tour’s kickoff, which took place on Thursday, March 31 at the Brass Mug in Tampa, Florida, can be seen below. McBrain and TITANIUM TART previously performed on December 4, 2021 at the 12th-anniversary celebration for Rock N Roll Ribs, the barbecue restaurant owned by the IRON MAIDEN drummer and close friend Mitch Tanne, in Coral Springs, Florida. Fan-filmed video footage of the entire show is available below. McBrain was born in Hackney, East London, on June 5, 1952. His first experience of music came via his father’s love of traditional jazz. Young Nicko‘s hero was Joe Morello, the late, great drum...