Alternative Music

DISTURBED frontman David Draiman says that he has lost thousands of social media followers since publicizing his trip to Israel last month. On November 30, Draiman lit a candle at the Western Wall in Jerusalem, Israel at the Old City site of the terror attack that killed South African immigrant Eli Kay. At the time, Draiman, who is Jewish, took to his Instagram to share a few photos of his appearance, and included the following message: “A truly wonderful experience. Thanks so much to everyone who came out!” Earlier today (Friday, December 24), Draiman returned to Instagram to lament the fact that thousands of his fans had apparently taken offense to his decision to share pro-Israel content on his page and had unfollowed him on the platform. He wrote: “Here’s food f...

HELMET frontman Page Hamilton has confirmed to the “Thunder Underground” podcast that he is working on material for the band’s first album in more than five years. “I have some scraps. That’s about all,” he said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET). “I’m writing a piece for this high school in Memphis called the Christian Brothers. It’s their 150th anniversary. It’s the oldest high school orchestra in the country. So I have to finish that. I have some time — [I have to complete it] by 2023; I have a year. “I’ve kind of started to organize my shit,” he continued. “I’m doing a session next week for an Austrian series, this TV series. It’s like an HBO kind of thing — this six-part thing. And that&#...

In a brand new interview with Loudwire, AVENGED SEVENFOLD singer M. Shadows spoke about the band’s seeming reluctance to return to playing live shows without having a new album and a new stage production to go along with it. “It’s not that we don’t want to [book dates],” he said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET). “It’s just that we have to be very careful about getting everything going, building a whole new stage set, hiring everybody, renting buses and then having one person get sick and the tour gets canceled and we get to be on the hook for everything. And it’s not that we don’t wanna do it. “People compare us to bands that are going and playing clubs,” he continued. “It’s not the same thing. Getting an are...

Former JOURNEY singer Steve Perry has criticized the pitch-correction technology Auto-Tune, saying it is the imperfections of the human voice that make music appealing. Created by musician and geophysical scientist Dr. Andy Hildebrand in 1997, Auto-Tune is a software program that digitally corrects pitch, allowing singers who sing off key to produce perfectly tuned vocal tracks. Since its introduction, the plugin has become standard equipment in professional recording studios, but the anti-Auto-Tune movement is vocal. In a new interview with Kyle Meredith, Perry stated that perfect pitch is almost impossible to achieve, and that it is natural flaws and imperfections that make a voice memorable and affecting. “Auto-Tune has turned everybody into the same singer, which I think is tragi...

To celebrate what would have been iconic MÖTÖRHEAD leader Ian Fraser “Lemmy” Kilmister‘s 76th birthday, the official MÖTÖRHEAD YouTube channel has released the next in the “The Löst Tapes” series, a previously unreleased concert from Norwich UEA which was recorded on the “Snake Bite Love” tour in 1998. Check it out below or at this location. Lemmy died in December 2015 at the age of 70 shortly after learning he had been diagnosed with cancer. He had dealt with several health issues over the last few years of his life, including heart trouble, forcing him to cut back on his famous smoking habits. MOTÖRHEAD had to cancel a number of shows in 2015 because of Lemmy‘s poor health, although the band did manage to complete one final European tour a ...

Fan-filmed video footage of Yngwie Malmsteen‘s December 18 concert at RISE Rooftop in Houston, Texas can be viewed below. Earlier this month, Yngwie postponed several concerts on his U.S. tour “due to unforeseen circumstances” and “doctor’s orders.” Malmsteen‘s latest album, “Parabellum”, was released in July via Music Theories Recordings/Mascot Label Group. Only four of the songs on the LP feature vocals. The album title is Latin, translating as “Prepare For War”. After working with some of the top hard singers of the past four decades, Yngwie now handles much of the lead vocals himself in his own band, backed by a lineup that includes keyboardist Nick Marino, bassist Emilio Martinez and drummer Brian Wilson. In a recent in...

Rob Halford donned a JUDAS PRIEST ugly Christmas sweater as he shared a new “Merry Christmas” video message for his fans via Instagram. Check it out below. Rob captioned the video: “‘Merry Christmas love and peace be with you’ heavymetal #ink #christmas #love #family #friends #fans #one #world #peace #respect #all”. Halford recently publicly revealed that he battled prostate cancer during the pandemic. He previously mentioned his cancer battle in the new chapter added to the updated paperback edition of his autobiography, “Confess”. In “Confess”, Halford revealed that he was diagnosed with cancer after experiencing symptoms for at least a couple of years. In July 2020, Rob underwent prostatectomy, an operation where the entire pro...

Members of HAKEN, DREAM THEATER, PROTEST THE HERO, CRADLE OF FILTH and INHUMAN CONDITION have ventured south of Lapland for a festive version of a SLAYER classic. “Seasons Greetings In The Abyss” combines the music of SLAYER‘s “Seasons In The Abyss” with sleigh bell celebration, with alternate lyrics penned by artist and illustrator Dan Goldsworthy (ACCEPT, ALESTORM, SYLOSIS) and Charlie Griffiths of HAKEN, who also both take on guitar duties. Vocals are delivered by Canadian croon-maestro Rody “Angel Of Breath” Walker of PROTEST THE HERO and tuba (yes tuba!) is supplied by HAKEN drummer Ray “Nin Blood” Hearne. CRADLE OF FILTH‘s Dani-el “Awaits” Firth and INHUMAN CONDITION drummer Jeramie “Klerry” Kling fil...

PAPA ROACH‘s “Scars” has been certified silver in the United Kingdom. To earn a silver certification for a single in the U.K., PAPA ROACH had to sell 200,000 units of the song. The platinum, gold and silver certifications awarded by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) in recognition of sales milestones have included audio streaming data since June 2015, with 1,000 streams counting as one “sale.” “Scars” is taken from PAPA ROACH‘s album “Getting Away With Murder”, which was certified silver back in July 2013, approximately nine years after the LP’s release. Only one other PAPA ROACH single has been certified in the U.K., with “Last Resort” going platinum in November 2018. The official music video for “Sc...

Nita Strauss, the Los Angeles-based guitar shredder for the ALICE COOPER band, spoke to Primordial Radio about how she can no longer stay up late on tour because she has so many responsibilities in addition to putting on great live performances. She said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “I’m such a homebody now. I’m on the road all the time. But I get off stage — let’s say I get off stage at 10:30 [p.m.]; I help my guys load out on my solo tour. We’re all in the trailer packing stuff, rolling cables, putting stuff in boxes, putting it in the trailer. That takes an hour or so. And then I’m usually asleep by midnight. ‘Cause I wake up early. I’ve always got a ton of e-mails to do. I hit the gym [and] do so many things before the show the n...