Good morning from sunny Florida! Got up pretty early today to take the bf to the airport. He gets the fun job of driving the car down here. Glad I am not him!
Well, this is interesting. The Pulse Of Radio saw a report over on Blabbermouth about the newest member of Ghost. The new lineup of Ghost gave its first live performance on Friday night (March 24th) as the Sweden-based band kicked off its 2017 “Popestar” European tour in Norwich, England, according to Blabbermouth. As previously reported, rumors have circulated for several months that lead singer and founder Tobias Forge — who performs as Papa Emeritus — fired the entire previous lineup at the end of Ghost’s fall 2016 North American tour.
Meanwhile, the identity of one of the band’s new members — who wear masks and are only known as Nameless Ghouls — may have already been revealed. Former Korn
touring keyboardist Zac Baird hinted in a series of tweets that he was in England for his first show with an unnamed act, adding, “I’ve spent 90% of my life in costume.”
Since the musicians wear masks and are only identified as Nameless Ghouls, personnel changes in the group over its eight-year existence have gone unannounced. Earlier this month, however, Swedish guitarist Martin Persner released a video message in which he claimed to have played in Ghost for seven years under the name Omega. He also revealed he exited the band last July, although he did not disclose the reasons for his departure.
Forge writes almost all of the group’s music and Ghost will begin recording its fourth full-length album in August, after the band returns home from a North American tour with Iron Maiden. Last interview we had with a Nameless Ghoul stated he would be working on new music, which started in Jan.
Papa Roach have posted the music video for their current single, “Help,” which is from their forthcoming album Crooked Teeth, due May 19th. Singer Jacoby Shaddix told us where “Help” was coming from: “It’s a deep one, man. It’s that old, familiar place I find myself, I guess time and time again, in that dark place and this is for people that struggle, people that have brokenness in their lives, people that struggle with depression, people that struggle with bipolar, people that struggle just with life in general ’cause life keeps on happening, you know, and it’s definitely an anthem for the people walking through the darkness.”
Crooked Teeth was written and recorded in a cramped North Hollywood studio, and produced by first timers Nicholas “RAS” Furlong and Colin Brittain. Papa Roach is set to play at several major rock festivals in late April and May, including Fort Rock and Welcome To Rockville in Florida, Carolina Rebellion in North Carolina and Northern Invasion in Wisconsin.
Seether has released a second new song, titled “Stoke The Fire,” from what is possibly be the band’s heaviest effort yet, Poison The Parish. Frontman Shaun Morgan told us that getting back to the group’s harder-edge roots was exactly what he wanted to do: “The whole point of this album was to go back to where we started and just be a rock band in a garage that doesn’t give a s**t, right, and has nothing to lose and get real dark with the lyrics again and not be influenced by a label where they pushed you in some sort of glisteny, glittery direction. I’m stoked, man. It’s awesome.”
Poison The Parish is Seether’s seventh full-length effort and is due out May 12th. The first single from the set, “Let You Down,” is Number 11 on the rock radio chart and climbing steadily. The album is the band’s first on Shaun Morgan’s new label imprint Canine Riot Records, and the first produced in its entirety by the singer/guitarist. The group’s world tour in support of the record will feature headline shows and major festival appearances throughout the spring and summer of 2017, including the fifth annual Rise Above Fest on Jul 22nd and 23rd in Bangor, ME.
Alternative Press reporting Green Day is the subject of a new documentary from Spotify called Green Day: The Early Years, which takes a look back on the origins of one of the biggest punk bands in the world. The first chapter, titled Sweet Children after the name of the earliest incarnation of the group, has been released. It features the members of Green Day and others talking about the legendary East Bay, California punk scene.
Not too long ago, Green Day frontman Billie Joe Armstrong reflected on the band’s success: “It’s hard to look back when you’re thinking about the future so much. We’ve done a lot of things. When we started playing punk rock music, it was already a proven fact that you couldn’t be famous or get big or be a millionaire being in a punk rock band, and we’ve definitely broken those rules. It’s crazy. It’s been a pretty strange journey indeed.”
Green Day: The Early Years documents the band’s history from their beginnings through the release of their classic 1994 album Dookie. Green Day is currently on the first North American leg of its Revolution Radio world tour, which brings the trio to Detroit on Monday night (Mar 27th).
After this leg is finished in early April, the band will head overseas before coming back for a new round of North American dates starting Aug 1st. Green Day is supporting its 12th studio album, Revolution Radio, which debuted at Number One on the Billboard 200 album chart last October and features the hits “Bang Bang” and “Still Breathing.”
Also news from The Pulse Of Radio:
- System Of a Down singer Serj Tankian made a guest appearance at Thursday night’s (Mar 23rd) “Game Of Thrones: A Live Concert Experience” at the Forum in Los Angeles. Tankian sang “The Rains Of Castamere,” a fictional ballad from Westeros, while scenes from the HBO show played overhead. The concert, which will hit a total of 28 cities, features music from the series performed by an orchestra and choir on seven stages that represent the seven kingdoms of Westeros, accompanied by special effects, projected images and footage from key scenes in the show’s story line. (Blabbermouth)
- The official lyric video for the song “Black Rose” from Danish/American rock ‘n’ rollers Volbeat can now be seen online. The track is taken from the band’s sixth full-length album, Seal The Deal & Let’s Boogie, which was released last June via Republic Records. (Blabbermouth)
- The Offspring has announced it will play its classic 1992 album Ignition in full at a benefit show on Apr 13th in Berkeley, CA to celebrate the 30th anniversary of 924 Gilman. The all-ages, volunteer-run, not-for-profit music and art community space opened in 1986 and has helped launch bands like Green Day, Rancid and, of course, the Offspring. Tickets are on sale now and range from $60 to $200. (Alternative Press)
Celebrating life today: Scott Anderson from Finger 11 is 43 and Johnny April of Staind is 52.