Heavy Music News
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...
Pig Destroyer Announce New EP The Octagonal Stairway, Share Video for “The Cavalry”: Stream
Grindcore vets Pig Destroyer have announced a new EP, The Octagonal Stairway. In advance of its release, the band has shared the music video for the track “The Cavalry”, featuring fan-submitted footage from early on in the COVID-19 pandemic. The six-track EP, which arrives August 28th, collects previously released one-off singles and “B-side noise cuts.” The EP takes its title from the spiraling 2013 single “The Octagonal Stairway”, included here alongside 2019 songs “The Cavalry” (initially released via the Decibel Flexi Series) and “Cameraman”. The second half of the EP contains the previously unreleased songs “News Channel 6”, “Sound Walker”, and “Head Cage” (which shares a name with the band’s 2018 album, but was not on the LP’s tracklist). The EP also features former Sepultura drummer...
R.I.P. Ken Chinn (a.k.a. Mr. Chi Pig), Singer of Punk Band SNFU Dies at 57
Ken Chinn (aka Mr. Chi Pig) of SNFU Ken Chinn (a.k.a. Mr. Chi Pig), the singer of influential Canadian hardcore-punk band SNFU, has died at the age of 57. No cause of death has been disclosed, but the vocalist previously revealed in a December 2019 interview with Beatroute that he was in failing health and had a short time to live. The origins of SNFU — short for Society’s No F**king Use — date back to 1981, when Chinn first formed the punk band Live Sex Shows in Edmonton with twin-brother guitarists Marc and Brent Belke. While that outfit would break up later that year, the three musicians re-formed as SNFU shortly thereafter, going through a series of drummers and bassists throughout the ’80s. From 1985 through 1988, they released three albums, beginning with their debut, …And No One Els...
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...
Megadeth’s Dave Mustaine to Release Rust in Peace Book with Foreword by Slash
Megadeth frontman Dave Mustaine has set a September 8th release date for his upcoming book, Rust in Peace: The Inside Story of the Megadeth Masterpiece. The 208-page tome features a foreword by Guns N’ Roses guitarist Slash. This isn’t Mustaine’s first foray into the world of literature. He released his excellent autobiography, Mustaine: A Heavy Metal Memoir, back in 2010. For his new book, Mustaine centers on the classic 1990 LP, which many consider Megadeth’s finest artistic achievement. Based on the publisher’s synopsis, the book gives thorough first-hand insight into the making of the album, including “the process of hiring the band and supporting cast, of trying to handle the ensuing success, and ultimately the pressure of fame and fortune-which caused the band to finally break-u...
Ihsahn Announces Pharos EP, Shares New Song “Spectre at the Feast”: Stream
Black metal legend Ihsahn has set a September release for Pharos, the second of two companion EPs. In advance of the EP, he has shared the music video for lead single “Spectre at the Feast”. Pharos, due September 11th, concludes the two-part EP concept dedicated to Ihsahn’s home country of Norway. Following the February’s five-song Telemark EP, Pharos is billed as a “reverse image” of its counterpart. The EPs see Ihsahn drawing inspiration from the black metal he helped proliferate in his influential band Emperor, as well as other styles and genres. According to Ihsahn, this second EP is the “aesthetic and musical counterpart, wherein I can distill all those more progressive, experimental and mellow elements of my music.” The press release refers to it as “the light to Telemark‘s dark.” Th...
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...
Boris Unveil Dystopian Music Video for “-鏡 -Zerkalo-” from Latest Album NO: Stream
Japanese metal auteurs Boris have offered up the dystopian music video for “-鏡 -Zerkalo-”, the third single from the band’s latest album, NO. Much like the tracks cascading doom chords and passionate vocal rasps, the video for “-鏡 -Zerkalo-” is epic and transportive. Slow pans depict the barren rocks and surging oceans of a future, post-nuclear landscape. After traversing what looks like an alien planet, we’re taken to a dystopian cityscape. Created by CG artist Yoshiki Shimahara and directors fangsanalsatan and Ryuta Murayama, the video is like Philip Glass’ Koyaanisqatsi by way of Dark Souls. In a press release, Boris gave only this brief cryptic comment on the song and video, revealing that it’s not an alien planet, but our own: “The song as a mirror that reflects this world.” The video...
IK Multimedia Unveils New AXE I/O SOLO Guitar Interface and T-RackS Space Delay Plug-In
IK Multimedia has rolled out a pair of products that will appeal to guitarists looking to cut new tracks in their home studio. The AXE I/O SOLO allows you to interface your electric guitar with your computer or recording device, and the T-RackS Space Delay plug-in offers new production effects. The latest in IK’s AXE I/O line, the SOLO is true to its name — perfect for plugging in your guitar and getting results fast. It can power and ampilfy both a line or XLR input via IK’s Class A PURE mic preamp. In layman’s terms, it means you can use it as a pre-amp for guitars and other instruments, as well as XLR microphones. But as a guitarists’ tool, the SOLO excels, providing what IK calls “tone shaping.” This allows for a single instrument to emit a wide range of tones, which can be dialed...
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...
Sebastian Bach: Supporting President Trump Is a Stance Against Every Out-of-Work Musician in America
Veteran metal singer Sebastian Bach is lashing out against supporters of Donald Trump, telling them that they are taking a “stand against … every musician in America who has been put out of work” due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The former Skid Row vocalist has long been highly critical of Trump’s presidency on social media, but his new tweet from Wednesday night has gone viral with nearly 60,000 likes as of this posting. The full tweet reads, “If you support Donald Trump you stand against rock n’ roll and every musician in America who has been put out of work because a reality television show host doesn’t believe in science.” Bach also included a mask-wearing emoji, driving home the point that by not wearing masks and social distancing, people are extending the pandemic and ultimately p...
