Heavy Music News
Lynyrd Skynyrd Cancel Tour Dates Following Rickey Medlocke’s COVID-19 Diagnosis
Lynyrd Skynyrd guitarist Rickey Medlocke has tested positive for COVID-19, forcing the band to cancel and postpone a number of upcoming tour dates. “Rickey is home resting and responding well to treatment,” the veteran rock band said in a brief statement following the news. Medlocke and his bandmates were slated to headline the Pro Football Hall of Fame concert alongside Brad Paisley in Canton, Ohio’s Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium on Monday night, but have withdrawn from the show. Instead, Jimmie Allen — who was originally set to open the concert — has extended his set to cover Lynyrd Skynyrd’s canceled performance. Advertisement Related Video In addition to the Pro Football Hall of Fame appearance, the country rock band have canceled upcoming tour dates of their recently relaunched fare...
2021 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival Canceled Due to COVID Surge in Louisiana
The 2021 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival has been canceled due to a surge of COVID-19 cases in Louisiana. The popular annual event was one of many festivals expected to return this fall, but will now take place in spring 2022. The 2021 edition was set to be staged over two weekends from October 8th through 17th, and feature such acts as The Rolling Stones (who were added recently), Foo Fighters, Stevie Nicks, Dead & Company, Lizzo, Demi Lovato, Elvis Costello, and dozens more artists. The fest will now take place in 2022 over the two weekends from April 29th through May 8th. A full statement from festival organizers reads as follows: “As a result of the current exponential growth of new COVID cases in New Orleans and the region and the ongoing public health emergency, we ...
Les Claypool Is “Learning from the Master” Geddy Lee for Primus’ RUSH Tribute Tour
Primus will be paying tribute to RUSH on their soon-to-launch U.S. tour and to prepare, Les Claypool is taking lessons from none other than Geddy Lee himself. The Primus singer-bassist shared the revelation by posting a photo with the RUSH singer-bassist on his personal Instagram feed yesterday. “Learning from the master,” Claypool captioned the post, which features him seated next to Lee as both smile for the camera with their respective bass guitars in their laps. For the tour, which kicks off this Tuesday (August 10th) in Boise, Idaho, Primus will be performing the legendary Canadian rock act’s fifth album, A Farewell to Kings, in full. Originally released in 1977, the studio set featured singles “Closer to the Heart” and “Cinderella Man,” and was eventually certified platinum in the U....
Toyah Seductively Serenades Robert Fripp with Divinyls’ “I Touch Myself”: Watch
Even the Atlantic Ocean can’t keep rock’s friskiest couple from entertaining each other (and their fans) every Sunday. With Robert Fripp out on tour in the United States with his legendary prog band King Crimson, his wife Toyah offered him a treat in the form of a sultry video message featuring her singing Divinyls’ “I Touch Myself” in the kitchen of their UK home. Toyah and Robert have taken YouTube by storm over the past several months with their eccentric “Sunday Lunch” covers of rock classics, often with Toyah sporting a revealing outfit. For the latest edition of the popular series, Toyah brought back the see-through white shirt and exercise bike that helped propel their viral cover of Metallica’s “Enter Sandman” to more than 7.5 million views. In the new video, Robert checks in with ...
Limp Bizkit Cancel US Tour Due to Safety Concerns
Limp Bizkit have canceled the remainder of their US tour “out of an abundance of caution and concern for the safety of the band, crew and most of all the fans.” According to Blabbermouth, frontman Fred Durst told a fan that Limp Bizkit guitarist Wes Borland fell ill prior to the band’s concert in Asbury Park, New Jersey, on Friday. That show was canceled just a couple hours before it was set to begin. Meanwhile, Eddie Trunk, host of SiriusXM’s “Trunk Nation” show, reports that he heard the tour was canceled “due to COVID concerns.” Ironically, the tour was called the “Limited Last Minute Post Pandemic Popup Party.” Refunds are available at their points of purchase, and all tickets purchased online will be automatically refunded. Advertisement Related Video Consequence has reached out to Li...
Guns N’ Roses Release Studio Version of New Song “Absurd”: Stream
Guns N’ Roses have unveiled a studio version of their “new” song “Absurd,” which is a reworking of the rare Chinese Democracy-era tune “Silkworms” that was never officially released. Axl Rose and company first performed the song as “Absurd” a few nights ago at Fenway Park in Boston, and then again on Thursday night at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey. Now, the band has issued the song as an official single, available on all major digital outlets, and streaming in the YouTube player below. It marks the band’s first new single since 2008, save for a 2018 release of an alternate take of the song “Shadow of Your Love” (which had originally appeared as a B-side to “It’s So Easy” in 1987). It is unclear if the studio recording features the full current lineup of GN’R, including cla...
Tiny Toddler Storms the Stage at Extreme Metal Festival: Watch
A tiny toddler took over the stage at the 2021 Obscene Extreme metal festival in the Czech Republic last month, seemingly unfazed and even pleased by the musical brutality that was being delivered behind him. The little tough guy thankfully sported some ear protection while stomping across the stage as the Czech band Force of Hell rocked a crushing song during their July 17th set on Day 2 of the three-day extravaganza at Battlefield Trutnov. At one point, the youngster took a seat at the front of the stage as long-haired metalheads were headbanging at the barricade in front of him. Later on, he went right up to a speaker and embraced it, soaking in its booming vibrations. Advertisement Related Video Last month, we reported that a New Zealand mom had named her three kids Metallica, Slayer, ...
Black Sabbath’s Technical Ecstasy to Get Expanded Deluxe Edition Reissue
Black Sabbath’s 1976 album Technical Ecstasy is getting the expanded reissue treatment. A new “Super Deluxe Edition” of the album arrives October 1st via BMG. The box set features remastered original audio and over 90 minutes of previously unreleased outtakes, alternate mixes, and live tracks. Like the previous Super Deluxe Editions of Vol. 4 and Sabotage, the upcoming Technical Ecstasy reissue also includes a new mix of the album by Steven Wilson (Porcupine Tree). More specifically, the reissue touts eight previously unreleased outtakes and alternative mixes, including different mixes of “You Won’t Change Me” and “Rock ’n’ Roll Doctor,” as well as both outtake and instrumental versions for “She’s Gone.” Rounding out the set it a collection of 10 previously unreleased live cuts from the ex...
Bassist Rudy Sarzo Returns to Quiet Riot After 18-Year Absence
Bassist Rudy Sarzo has announced he will return to Quiet Riot after an 18-year absence from the veteran metal band. “I am returning home,” Sarzo told Eddie Trunk on SiriusXM on Monday (August 2nd), “going home to Quiet Riot in the beginning of 2022, next year.” “Next year marks 50 years of my journey with Quiet Riot,” he added (as transcribed by Blabbermouth), “because that’s when I met and I started playing with [late drummer] Frankie Banali, another founding member of the Metal Health version of Quiet Riot. To me, that was a turning point [for me] as a musician.” Advertisement Related Video Sarzo first joined Quiet Riot in 1978, and played on the band’s influential 1983 album Metal Health. Bolstered by a hit single — an arena-ready cover of Slade’s “Cum on Feel the Noise” — the LP became...
Full of Hell Announce New Album, Unleash New Song “Industrial Messiah Complex”: Stream
Full of Hell have announced a new album, Garden of Burning Apparitions, arriving October 1st. They’ve also shared the video for the lead single, “Industrial Messiah Complex.” Fronted by vocalist and lyricist Dylan Walker, Full of Hell have put their name on some of the most extreme heavy music of the past decade. “Industrial Messiah Complex” is another example of their captivating harshness, blending grindcore, death metal, and industrial into a singular, potent force. “‘Industrial Messiah Complex’ examines the commodification and weaponization of faith and spirituality,” Walker said of the track in a press statement. “This misdirection is a ploy for control and power. Whether through some profit obsessed mega-church or via militaristic action, humanity is raked over the coals and bled out...
Guns N’ Roses Perform New Version of Rare Song “Silkworms”: Watch
Guns N’ Roses surprised fans with a rare performance of the Chinese Democracy-era cut “Silkworms” during their performance at Fenway Park on Tuesday night. Though Axl Rose introduced “Silkworms” as “a new Guns N’ Roses song,” its origins actually date back two decades. The song was first performed live way back in 2001, and various versions have since leaked online. Tuesday night’s setlist referred to the song as “Absurd,” but its chorus clearly pulls from “Silkworms.” Guns N’ Roses are known to be working on a new album, their first featuring Axl Rose alongside Slash and Duff McKagan since 1991’s Use Your Illusion I and Use Your Illusion II. Whether or not “Silkworms”/”Absurd” finds its way on to the album’s final tracklist remains to be seen. Advertisement Related Video In the ...
The Offspring Oust Drummer Pete Parada for Choosing Not to Get COVID Vaccine
The Offspring have apparently parted ways with drummer Pete Parada. According to the stickman, it’s because he has chosen not to get vaccinated against COVID-19 due to medical reasons. Parada, who had been the band’s drummer since 2007, explained his departure in a lengthy statement on Instagram, saying that his medical history and advice from his doctor has led him to choose not to get vaccinated at this time. He added that, as a result, the rest of the band feels he’s “unsafe to be around, in the studio, and on tour.” Back in April, The Offspring released their latest album, Let the Bad Times Roll, which marked their first studio LP in nine years. It’s also the first Offspring album where Parada played drums on the entire effort, having previously appeared on just four of the tracks on 2...
