Alternative Music
Former MEGADETH Members DAVID ELLEFSON And CHRIS POLAND Reunite To Honor Legacy Of GAR SAMUELSON
Former MEGADETH bassist David Ellefson and guitarist Chris Poland have come together to record one final song posthumously with their friend, late ex-MEGADETH drummer Gar Samuelson. The new track, “The Raven”, is the latest single from FATAL OPERA, part of a new 12-song collection of demo material compiled as the group’s final release, titled “Fatal Opera 3”, out now on Combat Records. Following his departure from MEGADETH in 1987, Gar assembled his new band FATAL OPERA, along with his brother Stew on guitar. Gar went on to produce the group’s debut album in 1994, which also featured Dave Inman on vocals, Travis Karcher on bass and Billy Brehme on guitar. The group’s second album, “Eleventh Hour”, was released in 1997 and introduced And...
KID ROCK Says He Will Cancel Concerts Where Vaccine Mandates Are Enforced
Kid Rock has threatened to cancel concerts on his upcoming tour if venues require fans to show proof of vaccine or potentially have other COVID-19 safety protocols in place. In a Facebook video, Kid Rock assured fans that he and his team did extensive research and are confident that they hadn’t booked a gig at a venue with a hard vaccine mandate. “If there are any venues — I’m not aware of any — they’re gonna be gone by the time we get to your city,” he said. “If they’re not, you don’t have to worry, you’ll be getting your money back — because I won’t be showing up either. If you think I’m going to sit out there and sing ‘Don’t Tell Me How To Live’ and ‘We The People’ while people are holding up...
NEW FOUND GLORY’s CHAD GILBERT: ‘I Am Officially Cancer Free’
Guitarist Chad Gilbert of the long-running pop-punk band NEW FOUND GLORY says that he is “cancer free”, less than two months after he was diagnosed with pheochromocytoma, a rare type of tumor that develops in the adrenal glands, small glands on the top of the kidneys. A week after his diagnosis, the 40-year-old musician underwent successful surgery to remove the tumor and has since credited his wife and the hospital staff with saving his life. Earlier today, Gilbert, who co-founded NEW FOUND GLORY in 1997, took to his Instagram to write: “Half a liver, a gallbladder, & one adrenal gland later, I am officially cancer free. All my tests and scans came back clear! I know there’s the chance of it coming back later but I feel so good knowing what was in me is gone an...
COREY TAYLOR To MACHINE GUN KELLY: You Don’t Get To ‘Run Your Mouth About Bands That Have Been Doing This For 20 Years’
SLIPKNOT frontman Corey Taylor has blasted Machine Gun Kelly, saying the rapper-turned-rocker doesn’t get to “run [his] mouth about bands that have been doing this for 20 years.” The war of words started last September when Machine Gun Kelly and SLIPKNOT performed at Riot Fest in Chicago. “You wanna know what I’m really happy that I’m not doing?” Kelly — real name Colson Baker — said during his performance, according to a video shot by a fan. “Being 50 years old wearing a fucking weird mask on a fucking stage, talking shit. “Let me see who chose to be here instead of with all the old weird dudes with masks,” MGK added. After Machine Gun Kelly‘s comments made the rounds, he tweeted “very odd that when an artist talks sh...
Song of the Week: Charli XCX and Rina Sawayama Aren’t Going to “Beg For You”
Song of the Week breaks down and talks about the song we just can’t get out of our head each week. Find these songs and more on our Spotify Top Songs playlist. For our favorite new songs from emerging artists, check out our Spotify New Sounds playlist. This week, Charli XCX and Rina Sawayama put their pop powers together in their first collaboration after years of friendship. There’s a strong chance Charli XCX and Rina Sawayama have dropped the first big bop of 2022. Maybe they were also feeling the void in explosive dance hall tracks — how long it’s been since we had the cathartic joy of “Rain On Me” — and came to the rescue. “Beg For You” is fine-tuned, almost to a fault (the song is barely over two and a half minutes) but it’s a worthy collaboration between two artists who know what pop...
Neil Young’s Battle with Polio May Have Colored His Stand Against COVID Misinformation
Neil Young has taken a stand against Spotify and Joe Rogan over COVID-19 falsehoods, following through on his ultimatum to leave the streaming giant if it continued to platform The Joe Rogan Experience. This will come as no surprise to longtime fans; Young has long been a proponent of vaccination, going back to his battle with polio when he was about five years old. According to his 2012 memoir Waging Heavy Peace, the “Harvest Moon” singer was diagnosed with polio in 1951 and spent time in Toronto’s Sick Children’s Hospital as he battled the life-threatening disease. He ultimately recovered, though the disease left him with a slight limp. The polio vaccine was first widely disseminated in 1955, and Young was one of the beneficiaries. As he recently wrote on his website,...
Grimes Shows Off “Post-Human” Chest Tattoo
Grimes is continuing her quest to become “post-human,” which in this case means covering herself in white lines. The pop provocateur shared two images of her new chest tattoo on Instagram. Stylistically, it’s a continuation of the back tat she received last year, which she referred to as “beautiful alien scars.” This time, she wrote, “The long slow effort to have a full alien body. gna be totally covered in white ink… post-human.” Considering the paleness of the canvas, you may have to squint to make out the ink. But the tattoo is recent enough that the places touched by the needle are still puffy and red, which makes it easier to trace the lines curving underneath her breasts and coming to a point on her sternum. Check out the new ink below. Advertisement Related Video Earlier this week G...
Joni Mitchell Removes Music from Spotify: “I Stand in Solidarity with Neil Young”
Joni Mitchell has followed Neil Young’s lead and removed her music from Spotify. “I’ve decided to remove all my music from Spotify,” Mitchell said in a brief note posted to her website on Friday. “Irresponsible people are spreading lies that are costing people their lives. I stand in solidarity with Neil Young and the global scientific and medical communities on this issue.” On Wednesday, at Young’s request, Spotify removed his music from its catalog. Days earlier, the singer-songwriter issued an open letter to his management and record label demanding that his music be taken down from Spotify due to the streaming service’s spread of “fake information about vaccines.” Young specifically took issue with Spotify’s promotion of the Joe Rogan Experience, which has become a breeding ground for ...
VOLBEAT’s JON LARSEN Tests Positive For COVID-19; Ex-SLAYER Drummer JON DETTE To Fill In
VOLBEAT has canceled its concert tonight (Friday, January 29) at Ford Idaho Center Arena in Nampa, Idaho after the band’s drummer, Jon Larsen, tested positive for COVID-19, the disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus. VOLBEAT is expected to resume its co-headlining U.S. tour with GHOST tomorrow night (Saturday, January 29) at Portland, Oregon’s Veterans Memorial Coliseum, with former SLAYER and TESTAMENT drummer Jon Dette filling in. Earlier today, VOLBEAT issued the following statement: “Boise Volfam: unfortunately this morning Jon tested positive for COVID, so we will have to cancel our appearance tonight at Idaho Center. Jon is asymptomatic and feeling fine, so we’re hopeful he will be back behind the kit soon. GHOST and TWIN TEMPLE are still playing, but re...
BLACK VEIL BRIDES’ ANDY BIERSACK Addresses Controversy Over New SUPERMAN Coming Out As Bisexual
BLACK VEIL BRIDES frontman Andy Biersack recently went on the first video episode of the podcast “Side Jams With Bryan Reesman” to discuss his love for Batman. He mentioned that two his favorite subjects are Batman and theology. He connected the two in explaining how the superhero was a big influence on him growing up. “This is not to be political or to be dismissive of any kind of religion, but for me, as someone who’s non-theistic, I had these heroes like Batman who [were] a reference point for parables or tales of how to live your life,” said Biersack. “The thing that impacted me the most as a kid was, create something more of yourself. Even if you’re afraid, even if people don’t respect you or like you or make fun of you – make something ...
Watch TED NUGENT Perform U.S. National Anthem At Texas’s ‘Walker County Warrior Banquet’
Ted Nugent performed the U.S. national anthem at the 13th annual Walker County Warrior Banquet, which was held last night (Thursday, January 27) at the Walker County Fairgrounds in Huntsville, Texas. The Banquet, an event on Texas gubernatorial candidate Allen West‘s campaign trail, included a fiery speech by Nugent, who is widely considered to be one of the most outspoken conservative musicians in rock. West had served as a member of the House of Representatives for Florida’s 22nd congressional district from 2011 to 2013 and later relocated to Texas, where he was elected chair of the Republican Party of Texas in 2020. He resigned from that position last June, a short time before announcing a bid for governor. Nugent, who recently resigned from the board of the National Rifle A...
GEORGE LYNCH Explains Why He Only Performs Three Songs With DOKKEN At ‘Reunion’ Shows
For much of the past year, George Lynch has been rejoining DOKKEN on stage at various shows to perform three of the band’s classic songs: “Kiss Of Death”, “When Heaven Comes Down” and “Tooth And Nail”. Asked in a new interview with SiriusXM‘s “Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk” what the experience has been like for him, George said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “It has been [fun], actually, more than I would have thought. I would have thought there… ‘Cause Don [Dokken, DOKKEN leader] and I had had animosity towards each other at a couple of different levels over the decades. And it’s kind of a weird thing, when you think about it. And sometimes, it is uncomfortable for me, because when I show up, I have to si...
