Hard Rock
Aftershock Festival 2021: Metallica and My Chemical Romance to Headline
The 2020 Aftershoc Festival in Sacramento, California has officially been rescheduled to fall 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Organizers have announced that previously revealed 2020 headliners Metallica and My Chemical Romance will remain on the bill for the 2021 iteration, which takes place October 7th-10th. Metallica were scheduled to play two sets at Aftershock 2020 as part of five U.S. festival appearances this year, all of which have been canceled due to the pandemic. The thrash-metal legends will play two sets at the 2021 edition, headlining Friday, October 8th, and Sunday, October 10th. My Chemical Romance headline the Saturday in between. The festival released a statement announcing the postponement: “After all the harm caused by COVID-19, there is nothing that we wanted mo...
Heavy Culture: Rock Musicians on What It Means to Be Black in America in 2020
Clockwise from Upper Left: Vincent Price, WIlliam DuVall, Cammie Gilbert, AJ Channer, Skin, Rasheed Thomas Heavy Culture is a monthly column from journalist Liz Ramanand, focusing on artists of different cultural backgrounds in heavy music as they offer their perspectives on race, society, and more as it intersects with and affects their music. The latest installment of this column features multiple rock and metal musicians recounting their early experiences of racism. The death of George Floyd while in police custody earlier this year has had a profound impact on the nation and the world. In recent months, people from all walks of life have joined together to protest injustice that Black Americans have been facing for ages. In last month’s installment of “Heavy Culture”, several musicians...
Hellfest 2021 Lineup: Deftones, System of a Down, Faith No More, Judas Priest, Puscifer, and More
France’s Hellfest Open Air has announced its 2021 lineup, and it features 90-percent of the bands who were scheduled to perform at the 2020 edition of the festival before it was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Deftones, System of a Down, and Faith No More will still headline, as they were slated to this year. The fest will take place June 18th-20th in Clisson, France. The festival wrote in a Facebook post: “Hellbangers, a little ahead of usual, here’s the lineup of the 2021 edition! 90% of the groups have reconfirmed their presence for next year, and as you know, they are particularly impatient to find you in Clissonese lands!” The statement continued, “Unfortunately, 13 bands scheduled for the 2020 edition could not confirm their presence for 2021: Incubus, Mastodon, Infectious Gro...
Chris Cornell’s Daughter Lily Launches New IGTV Mental-Health Series in Honor of Her Late Father: Watch
The late Chris Cornell’s 20-year-old daughter Lily Cornell Silver has launched the new mental-health interview series Mind Wide Open on IGTV. The first episode premiered Monday (July 20th) to coincide with the legendary Soundgarden frontman’s birthday. “As someone who has suffered trauma and loss as well as struggled with anxiety and depression, I know how important it is to have a space to talk openly and without shame about these subjects,” said Lily in a statement. She continued, “There is so much value, especially for people in my generation, in knowing that everyone struggles with mental health at some point in their lives, despite our society’s dismissive tendencies around emotional wellbeing. It is important for me to give voice to these issues by providing information, honest conve...
Josh Homme on Possible Kyuss Reunion: “The Only Real Way to End It Correctly Now Would Be to Play”
Josh Homme is proud of his influential early ’90s stoner rock band Kyuss, but is sad about the ugly way things ended with his former bandmates. When asked about the possibility of a reunion in a new interview, the Queens of the Stone Age frontman surprisingly said he would consider playing Kyuss shows again in order to rewrite the band’s final chapter. Kyuss formed in the late ’80s in California as teenagers under the name Katzenjammer, changing their name to Sons of Kyuss, and eventually Kyuss. Homme (guitars), John Garcia (lead vocals), and Brant Bjork (drums) were the mainstays of the band, with Chris Cockrell, future QOTSA member Nick Oliveri, and Scott Reeder serving as the band’s different bassists over the years. From 1991 to 1995, Kyuss released four albums, with Alfredo Hernández ...
Consequence of Sound Announces AC/DC Back in Black 40th Anniversary Virtual Celebration
Rock’s biggest-selling album ever — AC/DC’s Back in Black — is turning 40 years old this month, and Consequence of Sound is celebrating in a big way. In a joint effort with Gibson Guitars, we’re presenting “Back in Black 40th Anniversary: A Virtual Celebration”. The online stream will take place Friday, July 24th, premiering at 5:00 p.m. ET across the CoS social channels, with an amazing giveaway launching today. Hosted by guitar virtuoso Jared James Nichols, the streaming event will include AC/DC testimonials or tutorial performances from Slash, Dee Snider, and members of Cage the Elephant, Anthrax, Lamb of God, Refused, Airbourne, GWAR, and more, as well as friends and fans of the band. We’ll also get an inside look at some of the gear that guitarist Angus Young used to get his signature...
The Once-Called “Herd Immunity Fest” Happened and Here’s What Went Down: Video + Photos
The once-named “Herd Immunity Fest” made national headlines when it was announced last month, and now the three-day rock gathering is in the books. The festival took place Thursday (July 16th) through Saturday (July 18th) outside the Q&Z Expo Center in Ringle, Wisconsin, and a smattering of social media posts and YouTube clips offer a glimpse of what it looked like. The “Herd Immunity Fest” faced backlash when it was first announced in late June, not only for its name but for the fact that it was going to be staged in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite organizers quickly renaming the event the “July Mini Fest”, a handful of bands dropped off the bill, including Nonpoint, Royal Bliss, Kaleido, and Blacktop Mojo. Things looked sketchy this past week when organizers reached out t...
10-Year-Old Nandi Bushell Rocks Audioslave’s “Cochise” with Guitar Tom Morello Gifted Her: Watch
Ten-year-old musician Nandi Bushell has made great use out of a guitar that was just gifted to her by Tom Morello, performing the Audioslave hit “Cochise” in her latest YouTube video. Not to mention, she also rocks the drums and bass in the impressive clip. Nandi previously wowed Morello with a performance of Rage Against the Machine’s “Guerrilla Radio”, in which she also played all three instruments. The RATM guitarist was so impressed that he shipped her one of his new Fender Soul Power Stratocaster signature guitars, along with delivering her a personal video message. Instead of putting the guitar in a display case, Nandi did what every good young rocker should do, and jammed Audioslave’s “Cochise” with the Stratocaster. A fitting choice considering that the Soul Power is modeled a...
Ozzy Osbourne Begins Work on Another New Album
Ozzy Osbourne released his first solo LP in a decade earlier this year, but the metal godfather is already hard at work on the follow-up album. Moreover, he continues to recover from his various health setbacks, with his wife Sharon reporting that he’s “getting stronger every day.” The legendary singer revealed earlier this year that he’s been battling Parkinson’s disease, admitting he was first diagnosed in 2003. Additionally, he suffered a nasty fall at his home in 2019, forcing him to postpone all of his touring last year. He was supposed to make up the dates this year, but canceled the tour prior to the COVID-19 pandemic in order to continue to recover from his injuries and seek treatment for his Parkinson’s battle. In the midst of his health issues, Ozzy was able to record and release...
Gone Is Gone (Mastodon, At the Drive-In, QOTSA) Unveil New Song “Everything Is Wonderfall”: Stream
Gone Is Gone, the supergroup featuring members of Mastodon, At the Drive-In, and Queens of the Stone Age, are back with a new song called “Everything Is Wonderfall”. The band, which formed in 2016, is made up of Mastodon singer-bassist Troy Sanders, At the Drive-In drummer Tony Hajjar, Queens of the Stone Age guitarist Troy Van Leeuwen, and multi-instrumentalist Mike Zarin. In December 2019, Gone Is Gone returned with the stand-alone single, “No One Ever Walked on Water”, which marked their first new music in nearly three years. Seven months later, they’ve unleashed “Everything Is Wonderfall”, featuring soaring vocals by Sanders, thunderous drumming by Hajjar, and grand guitar playing by Van Leeuwen. A haunting spoken-word section comes at the two-minute mark, before the riffs return to cl...
Rammstein Announce Rescheduled North American Tour Dates for 2021
Rammstein have just unveiled the rescheduled dates for their highly anticipated North American tour, following the postponement of their 2020 outing due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The stadium tour originally was set to kick off this summer in late August, but will now take place in late summer / early fall of 2021. While the outing will still be comprised of 10 dates, the band has canceled its Washington, D.C. show outright due to scheduling issues, adding a second show in Mexico City instead. The 2021 tour kicks off August 22nd in Montreal, and hits Philadelphia, Chicago, Minneapolis, East Rutherford, N.J. (New York City area), Los Angeles, and San Antonio, before wrapping up with the aforementioned two-night stand in Mexico City. When the North American tour finally does commence, the dyn...
Trapt’s New Album Only Sells 600 Copies in First Week, Band Says It’s Fake News
Lately, it seems like dubious nu-metal dinosaurs Trapt will do anything to trudge up publicity, mostly at their own expense. Unfortunately for them, it doesn’t look like all that press did much to move copies of their new album. According to Nielsen SoundScan data, only 600 copies of Trapt’s Shadow Work were sold in the first week of its release. How could the “Headstrong” band sell so few copies of their zero-acclaim new album? Well, for all intents and purposes, the album release and rollout were a complete mess. Without any semblance of a proper promotional cycle — unless you count singer Chris Brown’s racist Twitter rants and being shamed in an e-beatdown delivered by Power Trip frontman Riley Gale — there is confusion as to when Shadow Work even came out. Whil...
