Alternative Music
BRUCE DICKINSON Admits He Doesn’t ‘Get’ DRAKE’s Music
IRON MAIDEN frontman Bruce Dickinson has admitted that he doesn’t “really get” Drake‘s music. The 63-year-old singer made the comment less than four months after the heavy metal legends were narrowly beaten to the No. 1 spot on the U.K. album chart by the Grammy-winning rapper. Even though IRON MAIDEN‘s well-received “Senjutsu” was ahead for much of the release week, Drake‘s digital-only “Certified Lover Boy” landed at the top of the chart on 45,651 chart sales (43,623 from streams). “Senjutsu” ended with a total of 44,473 (including 39,032 physical copies). “Senjutsu” also made No. 1 on the vinyl albums chart. Dickinson said: “We went head to head with Drake the week the album was released. I donR...
METALLICA’s LARS ULRICH Gets Birthday Wishes From ANTHRAX’s SCOTT IAN, SATYRICON’s SATYR
ANTHRAX guitarist Scott Ian and SATYRICON frontman Sigurd “Satyr” Wongraven are among the musicians who have wished METALLICA‘s Lars Ulrich a happy 58th birthday. Born in Gentofte, Denmark, on December 26, 1963, Lars is the son of the Danish musician, filmmaker and former tennis pro Torben Ulrich, who turned 93 in October. Ulrich played tennis professionally as a teenager and could have gone on to a career as a tennis star, but chose music instead. Ian shared an Instagram photo of him with Ulrich taken nearly 38 years ago, and he included the following message: “Two 20-year-old kids on the Tennent’s and Special Brew probably talking about how much we loved VAN HALEN‘s 1984. This pic was taken in March of 1984 at a flat in London that METALLICA were stayi...
PAUL STANLEY Says His Entire Family Has Contracted Omicron: ‘I’m So Glad I’m Vaccinated’
KISS frontman Paul Stanley says that he and his family have all contracted omicron, the dominant strain of coronavirus in the U.S. Sunday night (December 26), Stanley took to his Instagram to share what appears to be a selfie and he included the following message: “My Omicron face! Yup. My entire family has it. I’m tired and have sniffles. Most of my family have absolutely no symptoms. Do as you choose. I’m so glad I’m vaccinated.” The highly contagious omicron variant has quickly become the most common form of the coronavirus in the U.S., accounting for 73% of all cases, according to federal officials. Based on early studies, people are far less likely to be admitted to hospital with the omicron COVID-19 variant than the previous delta strain. However, the hi...
KORN’s BRIAN ‘HEAD’ WELCH: ‘Am I Still A Christian?’
KORN guitarist Brian “Head” Welch has once again clarified his recent comments about Christianity, insisting that he was only referring to the fact that he was “overzealous” and “obnoxious” with his faith when he first became a Christian. During a March 2021 appearance on MACHINE HEAD frontman Robb Flynn‘s “No Fuckin’ Regrets With Robb Flynn” podcast, Welch — who left KORN in early 2005, at the same time announcing that he kicked his addictions to drugs and alcohol by becoming a born-again Christian — spoke about the impact his new awareness has had on his life, his family and the influential rock act that he co-founded nearly 30 years ago. Asked if he thinks religion became his “new addiction” after his exit from KORN...
BUCKCHERRY’s JOSH TODD: How I Got Sober 27 Years Ago And Never Looked Back
In a new interview with Niclas Müller-Hansen of RockSverige, BUCKCHERRY frontman Josh Todd spoke about how he has managed to stay sober for 27 years while he is surrounded by alcohol in venues on tour. He said: “The staying sober part, like not drinking or using drugs, isn’t the hard part. The hard part is really managing your mind, because it’s the mind that’s busted. The alcoholic mind and the addict mind is the problem. The drinking and the using is just the symptom of the problem. The only solution is the spiritual one, and I don’t wanna sound cooky, but that is the truth. It’s about [being] spiritual in life and all those things, and how do you do that? Well, for me, doing annual inventories where I take it out of my head and write it down and tell ...
Tom Holland Claps Back at Martin Scorsese’s Criticism of Marvel Movies
Tom Holland has a message for Martin Scorsese, courtesy of your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man: don’t knock it till you try it. In the wake of Spider-Man: No Way Home’s massive arrival at the box office, the Marvel star responded to the director’s belief that the superhero films of the Marvel Cinematic Universe don’t qualify as art. “You can ask [Martin] Scorsese ‘Would you want to make a Marvel movie?’ But he doesn’t know what it’s like because he’s never made one,” Holland asserted in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter. “I’ve made Marvel movies and I’ve also made movies that have been in the conversation in the world of the Oscars, and the only difference, really, is one is much more expensive than the other. But the way I break down the character, the way the director etches out...
Peter Dinklage Addresses Game of Thrones Ending: “It’s Fiction. There’s Dragons in it. Move on.”
It’s been more than two and a half years since Game of Thrones aired its series finale, and Peter Dinklage is finally speaking out about the fan backlash to the polarizing episode. In a profile with The New York Times, the actor who played Tyrion Lannister for all eight seasons of the hit fantasy drama quipped, “[Fans] wanted the pretty white people to ride off into the sunset together. By the way, it’s fiction. There’s dragons in it. Move on.” Taking a more serious tone, Dinklage added, “No, but the show subverts what you think, and that’s what I love about it. Yeah, it was called Game of Thrones, but at the end, the whole dialogue when people would approach me on the street was, ‘Who’s going to be on the throne?’ I don’t know why that was their takeaway because the show really was more t...
ANTHRAX’s FRANK BELLO Recalls Being Infected With Parasites After Eating Undercooked Meat In Mexico
During a recent appearance on “The Jasta Show”, the video podcast hosted by HATEBREED frontman Jamey Jasta, ANTHRAX bassist Frank Bello recalled a time when he got sick from eating meat that was not properly cooked while on tour with PANTERA nearly 25 years ago. “I had to give up coffee,” he said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET). “I had to — because of my gut. And this happened way back when. Years ago, we were on tour with PANTERA. We went out and we got loaded one night in Mexico City. On the streets of Mexico City, PANTERA and ANTRAX, just loaded off our asses… You know those street carts you’re not supposed to eat the fucking food out of? Sausage… Who knows? It was fucking red. I shouldn’t have eaten it. I was starving. I wanted to soak up ...
TESLA’s FRANK HANNON Says Lyrics To New Single ‘Cold Blue Steel’ Have Been Misinterpreted
TESLA guitarist Frank Hannon recently spoke to Let’s Rock about the band’s latest single, “Cold Blue Steel”. A music video for the song was released in August, directed by Brandon Gullion and produced by Hannon. Regarding the inspiration for the track, Frank said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “It’s an example of [late LYNYRD SKYNYRD singer] Ronnie Van Zant being our influence in a way of telling a story. When you’re listening to “Saturday Night Special’, you can picture the story. “So Jeff [Keith, TESLA singer] was really fired up about that song. One day he was coming over to my house a couple of months ago and we were gonna work on some music and he was listening to that track. And that’s where it started.” H...
GLENN HUGHES: ‘Being In BLACK SABBATH Was Not Something I Wanted To Do’
During an appearance on a recent episode of the “In The Trenches with Ryan Roxie” video podcast, legendary vocalist/bassist Glenn Hughes reflected on his time fronting BLACK SABBATH in the mid-1980s. Regarding how his collaboration with the Tony Iommi-led outfit came about, Glenn said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “Tony was going to make a solo album in 1985. Myself, my dear friend Ronnie James Dio and Rob Halford were all gonna sing a couple of songs each. I was the first guy to go down to Cherokee Studios in Hollywood to do a couple of songs with Tony. And I wrote and sang a couple of songs in the first night. And he asked me to come back the next day, and it kept going and going and going, and I ended up being the only singer on that solo album. On the last son...
JOHN 5 Doesn’t Think ‘NAMM Show’ Will Last More Than Another Five Years
ROB ZOMBIE guitarist John 5 and TWISTED SISTER guitarist Eddie Ojeda were guests on a recent episode of the “Hangin’ & Bangin’: Artists On Lockdown” online show, where they were joined by Vinny Appice (BLACK SABBATH, DIO), Carmine Appice (OZZY OSBOURNE, VANILLA FUDGE) and host Ron Onesti. During the wide-ranging chat, they discussed the recent announcement by producers of the annual music convention NAMM Show that its normal January date was being postponed to June 3-5, 2022 at the Anaheim Convention Center due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Each year, over 100,000 musicians, instrument makers, vendors, educators and more from all over the world come together in Anaheim to celebrate the latest in entertainment technology during the NAMM (which stands for National Ass...
QUIET RIOT Will Release New Music In Early 2022, Says RUDY SARZO: It’s ‘Already Recorded’
QUIET RIOT bassist Rudy Sarzo says that the band is planning to release new music in the coming weeks. The 71-year-old musician, who recently rejoined QUIET RIOT after an 18-year absence, spoke about the possibility of fresh material from the group during an interview with the “Diary Of The Madmen – The Ultimate Ozzy Podcast”. He said: “We have a couple of surprises coming up that are already recorded. So they’re just waiting to be released. We’re gonna release ’em in conjunction when we start touring in February [of 2022].” The veteran rock group’s last collection of fresh material was 2019’s “Hollywood Cowboys”, which marked drummer Frankie Banali‘s final QUIET RIOT studio album before his untimely death. Banal...
