Avenged Sevenfold meet fans at their big show and reveal last night on top of the Capitol Records building on Vine Street in Hollyweird, CA.
The Pulse Of Radio and Blabbermouth reporting as previously rumored, Avenged Sevenfold released its seventh studio album, titled The Stage, today (Oct 28th), becoming the first-ever rock band to issue an unannounced album in both digital and physical form. The quintet revealed their album was out during their live-streamed performance from the rooftop of the Capitol Records Tower in Hollywood, CA last night (Oct 27th). The band gave a 3D/360-degree live-streamed virtual reality performance, enabling fans around the globe to view the show.
As for The Stage, it is a 71-minute, 11-song concept album centered around the theme of artificial intelligence and inspired by the work of Carl Sagan and Elon Musk. Instead of a science fiction storyline, however, The Stage takes what a press statement called “a futurist’s look at the accelerated rate at which technology’s intelligence is expanding and what that means — good and bad — for the future.”
The album’s epic 15-minute-plus closing track, “Exist.” features a guest appearance by award-winning astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, giving a spoken-word performance he penned specifically for the album.
Avenged Sevenfold has changed its sound from album to album, something guitarist Zacky Vengeance told us a while back has met with resistance from some fans: “It’s difficult, you know, to take a step forward when you know you’re gonna be criticized by first and foremost, your own fan base. Any time you do anything different, everybody has an opinion on it. But you have to know exactly what you want to do as an artist.“
Asked by Rolling Stone why they released the new album with no advance notice, singer M. Shadows said, “A lot of it has to do with boredom . . . everyone else is dropping the breadcrumbs, having four or five singles before their record comes out. It completely takes away the mystique of the record; by the time it actually comes out, you’ve already done 50 interviews about what the record’s about and is going to sound like.”
Shadows added, “It’s 2016; people’s attention spans are so short at this point, who has time for three months of lead-up? . . . for us, it was about keeping the hype very short and sweet, and then executing on all levels.”
The marketing plan and launch of the album, the band’s first for Capitol Records, was months in the making, starting with the projection of the band’s logo, the Deathbat, on buildings in cities around the world. The campaign even included some misdirection, as the group had its friend Chris Jericho “accidentally” leak a fake album title and release date. Read the full story at Blabbermouth
SIDE NOTES: This weekend, fans can pick up exclusive band merch at Avenged Sevenfold pop-up shops in New York City and Los Angeles. The New York store located at 68 Greene St. in downtown Manhattan, will be open today from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. and Saturday/Sunday from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. The Los Angeles shop, located at 6615 Hollywood Blvd, will be open Friday through Sunday from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Both locations will be carrying limited-edition items created specifically for these events.
Yesterday we told you The Pretty Reckless had broken a record set by 3 Doors Down and have now seen their first four mainstream singles hit Number One on Billboard‘s rock chart. The band’s new song, “Take Me Down,” topped the chart this week, following in the footsteps of “Heaven Knows,” “Messed Up World” and “Follow Me Down” from 2014’s Going To Hell album. That broke the group’s tie with 3 Doors Down and put them in a position to tie or break the next record, five Number One singles, which is owned for now by Canada’s Three Days Grace.
The Pretty Reckless also now have the most Number One singles by a female-fronted rock act. “Take Me Down” is from the band’s third studio set, Who You Selling For, which arrived last Friday (Oct 21st).
Singer Taylor Momsen told us that the band’s goals for making the new disc were simple: “Our goal with this record was to try not to try, to have everything be very relaxed, everything very organic. So everything was done very organically and I think in the studio we very much kept with that ethic. Not that that’s a new ethic for us, but we just went further down that path of ‘try not to try’ and really try to capture the performance and, you know, for lack of a better word, that magic moment.“
Momsen said in a recent interview that the new disc was “very eclectic” and “very diverse,” adding, “It takes lots of turns in many different directions.” Alternative Nation labeled it their “most daring, progressive album yet.” The band is supporting the new record with a North American tour that stops tomorrow (Oct 29th) at the Voodoo Music Experience festival in New Orleans.
Multi-platinum-selling alt-rock band AFI have announced a Jan 20th, 2017 release date for their highly anticipated new album, AFI (The Blood Album). The quartet (vocalist Davey Havok, guitarist Jade Puget, bassist Hunter Burgan and drummer Adam Carson) is previewing the album with today’s release of two new tracks – “Snow Cats” and “White Offerings.” Both songs are available as instant downloads by pre-ordering AFI (The Blood Album) on iTunes or Amazon. Fans can stream the new tracks on AFI’s official site.
News of the album’s release follows widespread speculation about the band’s plans. Earlier this week, influential alt-rock radio station KROQ posted a news story titled, “AFI Are Up To Something. But What?” Fans around the globe asked the same question, posting messages on social media and comparing conspiracy theories after the band blacked out their Facebook and Twitter account photos, completely wiped their Instagram page and posted a series of suspenseful teaser videos. “AFI has been teasing us nonstop for about four days,” wrote AP. “But that didn’t prevent us from diving way too deep into the AFI rabbit hole and trying to find every connection and possible hint we could.”
Recorded at Megawatt Studios in Los Angeles, AFI (The Blood Album) was produced by Jade Puget and co-produced by Matt Hyde (Deftones) and is the follow-up to 2013’s Burials, which hit Top 10 on The Billboard 200. Since the release of 1995’s debut album Answer That and Stay Fashionable, AFI has written and recorded five top ten hit singles, hit No. 1 on The Billboard 200 (with Decemberunderground), garnered worldwide critical acclaim and amassed a fiercely loyal global following whose members number in the millions.
AFI (The Blood Album) is the band’s 10th full-length studio album and first for Concord Records.
Pre-order AFI (The Blood Album):
iTunes: http://smarturl.it/AFIitunes
Amazon: http://smarturl.it/AFIamazon
Listen on Spotify:
“Snow Cats” – http://smarturl.it/AFIsnowcats
“White Offerings” – http://smarturl.it/AFIwhiteofferings
Well, yeah, winter is coming…..
Speaking of the Deftones, they are returning next May to perform in Paris for the first time since the Nov 2015 terrorist attacks in the City of Light. Deftones were scheduled to begin a three-night stand at the Bataclan venue last Nov 14th, but one night prior, on the 13th, armed gunmen stormed the venue during an Eagles Of Death Metal show and killed 89 people as part of a series of attacks on the city.
Members of Deftones and their crew had actually been at the venue earlier that night to see part of the show, but left before the arrival of the terrorists. The shaken band postponed their European tour and headed home, but will return to Europe next spring and play the Olympia in Paris on May 2nd.
We asked singer Chino Moreno earlier this year if that experience had effected the way the band approaches touring now: “I hope not. I mean, honestly, I think the world’s changed, you know. When something like that happens, the world changes, and I’m sure that’ll be heavy on our minds for some time, you know. Music has always been a great escape from reality, you know, so as long as we can sort of get back to that in some way, you know, I think that’s what we hope for.”
Deftones begin their European run on Apr 18th in Vienna, Austria, wrapping up on May 7th in Glasgow, Scotland. “Phantom Bride” is the latest single taken from the current Deftones album, Gore, which debuted at Number Two on the Billboard 200 album chart last April.
From We Are Harlot’s FB page.
We Are Harlot, the band featuring Asking Alexandria frontman Danny Worsnop on lead vocals, have issued a statement on recent events which found Worsnop returning to Asking Alexandria a year and a half after leaving the group. The members of We Are Harlot said they were “blindsided” by Worsnop’s decision, adding that they “found out in about the same way you all did.”
The group admitted that it was not sure of what the immediate future held or what Worsnop’s intentions for both bands were, saying, in a statement on their Facebook page:
“Hi everyone..
Ok, where to start?
So just like everybody else, We were pretty much blindsided by all this in the same way. We saw and heard bits of things but found out in about the same way you all did.
Things change fast in the music business and many times a decision is made very quickly that changes everybody’s schedules and futures.
Everybody in the Music Industry – bands, labels, managers, agents, lawyers, you name it – are doing what they can to survive. Package tours, VIP experience, album sales linked to ticket sales, get an original line-up back together (hmmm…) the list goes on and on! Everything that is happening now is fully understandable from behind the curtains. We’ve all seen this story before.
Here’s the biggest problem.. All this comes at the expense of one person, wait millions of people, You the innocent loyal fan. And to us.. that sucks! Cause we in Harlot started this band cause we were, and still are the fans! We are no different then you.
And, this is the state of the music business at this juncture.. It is daily becoming increasingly more and more difficult for artists and labels to make enough money to live, let alone tour and make albums.
We in Harlot will in no way act as though we are the victims. There is zero me is us and there is zero me in We. We Are Harlot is exactly what it has always been.. All of us in a resounding “We”. And We proved that with a debut album that was critically praised worldwide, won multiple awards and spent 11 months of straight touring through 28 countries worldwide and much much more. Not a bad start.
Harlot was always built on friendship, integrity and the fun of writing and performing the music that we truly love. Anyone who ever saw us play saw 4 guys having an absolute amazing time together on and off the stage. Actually playing the music! As if that should even have to be said.
So, that brings up the resounding question of what next…
At this point we will wait to see what happens and we will keep our fingers crossed along with all of you. But rest assured, Harlot will not be sidelined in ANY way and know full well that you will have a new Harlot album in your hands by Feb. One way or another.
We love you all and thanks for dealing with all this along with us. See you out on the road very soon.”
In his own statement on rejoining Asking Alexandria, Worsnop specifically mentioned that he wanted to finish the new We Are Harlot album.
The reunion with Asking Alexandria was confirmed this past weekend, following weeks of rumors and speculation regarding the status of Worsnop’s replacement, Denis Stoff, who joined the band in 2015. According to guitarist Ben Bruce, Stoff “stopped talking” to the group while Stoff himself stated, “I can’t be in a touring band at this point in my life.” Worsnop rejoined in time for Asking Alexandria’s new “10 Years in the Black” tour, which stops tonight (Oct 28th) in Boise, ID.
We Are Harlot released its self-titled debut in 2015 and earned rock radio airplay with “Someday” and “Dancing On Nails.”
Celebrating life this weekend: Today: Dave Wyndorf of Monster Magnet is 60, Geno Lenardo (ex Filter and ex Chevelle) is 47 and Bill Gates of Microsoft is 61. Saturday: Winona Ryder (Beetlejuice, Stranger Things) is 45, and Sunday, Gavin Riossdale of Bush is 51 and Chris Slade (drummer AC/DC) is 70.
Have a great weekend! Be sure to check out hardDrive’s HALLOWEEN HOOTENANNY on your local station!