Heavy Music News
A Perfect Circle’s Billy Howerdel Announces Solo Album and 2022 North American Tour
A Perfect Circle mastermind Billy Howerdel has formally announced his debut solo album, What Normal Was, arriving June 10th. Howerdel will be supporting the LP’s release with a Summer North American tour. Dates kick off June 11th in Ventura, California, and run through July 20th in Phoenix. Along the way, Howerdel will link up with his APC bandmate Maynard James Keenan by opening for Puscifer in Los Angeles (June 12th) and Rochester Hills, Michigan (July 1st). Tickets for all headlining dates go on sale Friday (April 29th) at 10 a.m. local time via Ticketmaster, with pre-sales beginning Thursday. Advertisement Related Video What Normal Was will house 10 tracks in total. Howerdel self-produced the record and calls it a return to his formative years as a musician. “This is me stepping back i...
Brass Against Instructed to Perform in “No Pee Zone” at Opening Night of Tool Tour
Brass Against made headlines last year when singer Sophia Urista urinated on a fan onstage at the Welcome to Rockville festival in Daytona Beach, Florida. At the kickoff of their European tour with Tool on Saturday night (April 23rd) in Copenhagen, Denmark, Urista was reminded that the stage is a “no pee zone.” To quickly recap, Urista brought a male fan with a beer can taped to his head up onstage while Brass Against was performing a cover of Rage Against the Machine’s “Wake Up” during the Welcome to Rockville set in November. She told the fan to lay on his back, and proceeded to take down her pants and urinate into the can and onto the guy’s face. It led to multiple apologies from the band and Urista, a permanent ban from the venue, and even a police report. Tool had already booked Brass...
Metallica’s Kirk Hammett Releases Debut Solo EP Portals: Stream
Metallica guitarist Kirk Hammett has released the Portals EP — his debut solo release. He also unveiled the video for the song “High Plains Drifter.” The instrumental four-song offering marks the first time a core member of Metallica has pursued a solo project while remaining in the band. Hammett recently told Rolling Stone that he was “shocked” he got the band’s blessing to release the EP, alluding to the conflict that partially led to the exit of former Metallica bassist Jason Newsted. Hammett even worked with personnel close to the Metallica camp, including Edwin Outwater — the conductor of the S&M2 concerts — and veteran producer Bob Rock. That said, the music on Portals is a far cry from the thrash metal of Hammett’s full-time gig. Advertisement Related Video As we remar...
Scott Weiland’s Son Noah on Comparisons to His Father: “People Want to See Me Be a Statistic”
A year and a half ago, Suspect208 looked like they might just be the next big thing. The young band was fronted by Noah Weiland (son of late Stone Temple Pilots singer Scott Weiland), and also featured London Hudson (son of Slash) on drums, Tye Trujillo (son of Metallica’s Robert Trujillo) on bass, and Niko Tsangaris on guitar. Unfortunately, it all fell apart for the group just months after getting off the ground. After showing promise in late 2020 with their first two singles, “Long Awaited” and “All Black,” the band announced in early 2021 that they had parted ways with Noah, citing his “dark path of drug use.” They attempted to continue with new singer Cody Houston, but eventually broke up completely soon thereafter. In a new interview with iHeartRadio, Noah opened up about his ouster ...
Limp Bizkit Are Rollin’ Out the Dance Moves in “Dad Vibes” Video: Watch
Limp Bizkit are fully embracing middle age in the just-released music video for their 2021 comeback single “Dad Vibes.” In the TikTok-inspired clip, Fred Durst and company show off their dancing “dad” moves with a carefree attitude. While the song has officially been out since September, the music video times nicely with Limp Bizkit’s upcoming “Still Sucks” Spring US tour, which kicks off on April 28th in Tampa, Florida, and runs through a May 31st show in Ontario, California. Tickets for the outing are available here. In the clip, Durst once again shows off his new “dad” look, sporting a gray wig, a horseshoe mustache, and clothes straight off the racks of Sears. Meanwhile, guitarist Wes Borland is dressed as a priest (with a surprise outfit reveal toward the end); bassist Sam Rivers is s...
Metallica’s Kirk Hammett Indulges Classical and Prog Tendencies on His Excellent Debut Solo EP Portals: Review
For a band with a such a storied career as Metallica, it is rather surprising that the longtime active members haven’t ventured off into various solo projects. That said, if we were to have wagered which member was most likely to go it alone, our best bet would’ve been Kirk Hammett. For years we’ve been hearing about the guitarist stockpiling hundreds, if not thousands of riffs on his phone. Considering Metallica’s deliberate workflow, only so many of these riffs and melodies, if any, will actually make it onto one of their records. Kirk needed an outlet, and he found it with his debut solo EP, Portals. No, this isn’t Kirk’s foray into becoming a singer-songwriter. Rather, the four-song release is entirely instrumental and contains minimal traces of heavy metal. Hammett said he took a “Aud...
Sergio Vega Further Explains Deftones Exit, Details His New Project
Bassist Sergio Vega has opened up about his departure from Deftones, while also detailing his new musical project. Vega had effectively left the Deftones over a year ago, but only went public with the news in March. In a lengthy video statement, Vega explained that he never became an official member of the band and contract disagreements regarding his position in the group led to his exit. Vega was initially hired by Deftones to fill-in for Chi Cheng, who was in a coma following a 2008 car accident. He remained in the band following Cheng’s passing in 2013. Advertisement Related Video The bassist elaborated on the situation in a new interview with the Talk Toomey podcast (as transcribed by The PRP). As Vega tells it, cutting him into the official Deftones lineup would have affected the sha...
Eddie Van Halen Left a Seven-Figure Donation to Mr. Holland’s Opus Foundation
It goes without saying that the late Eddie Van Halen will continue to influence young musicians for generations to come. And now it’s been revealed that the rock icon left a “transformative” financial contribution to support music education in at-risk public schools via a seven-figure bequest to The Mr. Holland’s Opus Foundation. Prior to his passing in October 2020, the Van Halen guitarist was very involved with Mr. Holland’s Opus Foundation, supporting the nonprofit for several years and making appearances at a number of the organization’s events. On Wednesday, April 20th, it was announced that the Rock & Roll Hall of Famer’s will provided for a huge donation to the foundation. “Eddie’s support and friendship over the years meant the world to us and to his fans. His passion for music...
Without Randy Blythe, Lamb of God Perform with Singers of Chimaira, Trivium, and In Flames: Watch
As reported yesterday, Randy Blythe tested positive for COVID-19, leading Lamb of God to announce that Chimaira singer Mark Hunter and a “few friends” would handle vocals for the band at Tuesday night’s show in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Those “few friends” included Matt Heafy and Anders Fridén of support acts Trivium and In Flames, respectively. Blythe contracted COVID after just six shows on Lamb of God’s co-headlining “Metal Tour of the Year” with Megadeth. Instead of canceling any gigs, Lamb of God are proceeding for the time being with Hunter and company helping out on vocals. Last night saw Lamb of God play an abbreviated 10-song set (they had been playing 12 songs with Blythe), with Hunter handling vocals on seven of the tunes, including newer tracks like “Memento Mori” and classics li...
Spirit Adrift Announce 20 Centuries Gone Collection, Share New Song “Sorcerer’s Fate”: Stream
Spirit Adrift have announced a new collection of songs titled 20 Centuries Gone. The eight-song release arrives August 19th and includes two new original tracks and six cover songs. One of those originals is “Sorcerer’s Fate,” which the band have offered up as the lead single. The song melds melodic guitar leads with propulsive riffing in a modern-yet-classic style. There’s a distinct Euro power metal flavor to the sound, while the lyrics are inspired by filmmaker William Friedkin (The Exorcist). “Musically, I would say it’s one of our heaviest and most straightforward songs,” singer-guitarist Nate Garrett said via a press release. “Inspired equally by New Orleans sludge, flipped-cap crossover, and Scandinavian metal, but with the distinct Spirit Adrift sound and approach.” Advertisement R...
Greta Van Fleet’s Josh Kiszka Acknowledges Appropriation of Indigenous Culture
Greta Van Fleet singer Josh Kiszka has acknowledged that he appropriated Indigenous culture in the past. The vocalist was the target of a recent hashtag campaign (#SpeakUpGVF) calling for him to address and remove a series of photos on his Instagram page showing him and his friends wearing Indigenous garments back in 2017. The mission statement of the #SpeakUpGVF campaign read, in part, “Indigenous fans and those practicing allyship have tried to contact Josh and ask him to remove the photos and address the cultural appropriation, but he continues to stay silent and the photos continue to stay up. Remaining silent on this is upsetting and is ignorant as it upholds racist ideologies that Indigenous cultures are simply a costume, when they are sacred, and not open for appropriation. Fans cre...
Randy Blythe Tests Positive for COVID-19, Lamb of God to Perform with Chimaira’s Mark Hunter on Vocals
Just six shows into Lamb of God’s Spring 2022 North American tour with co-headliners Megadeth, frontman Randy Blythe has tested positive for COVID-19. Instead of canceling any shows, Lamb of God will perform on Tuesday night (April 19th) in Grand Rapids, Michigan, with Chimaira singer Mark Hunter and a “few friends” on vocals. This is the second leg of the two headliners’ “Metal Tour of the Year,” which had a successful run this past fall. The first leg went off without a hitch, but unfortunately, COVID has reared its ugly head early in the current leg. A statement on Lamb of God’s Facebook page reads as follows: “Grand Rapids – Randy Blythe tested positive for COVID over the weekend and has been isolating away from the rest of the band. While his symptoms have been mild and he’s on t...
