My EYES!
After leaving the eye doctor’s yesterday, I now know how vampires feel when they see the sunlight. Geez…it was insane! Had to come home and close my orbs for the rest of the day. Note to self: make eye doctor appointment LATE in the day!
The Pulse Of Radio says Cliff Williams of AC/DC has confirmed he will retire from recording and touring with the group once it ends the current touring cycle for the Rock Or Bust album. In a new video message posted online, Williams explained, “It’s time for me to step out, and that’s all. Not because we’ve lost Mal, Phil or Brian. I mean, everything changes when something happens like that. When Bon died, it changed then. You know, everything changes, so it’s not that. It’s just… I’m just ready to get off the road, really, and do what I do.“
Williams added, “In between tours, we take a few years off, so I know how to do that, I know what I’m gonna do. Again, it’s just my time. I’m happy. I just need to . . . Family time now . . . just chill out and not do this. I mean, I couldn’t have asked for anything more, being with the people I’m with and have been, and being in this situation with this band, playing this music.”
Williams’ decision follows a string of personnel changes for the group that started with co-founding guitarist Malcolm Young‘s departure in 2014 after he was diagnosed with dementia. Last year, drummer Phil Rudd was sentenced to house arrest after he was found guilty on a drug charge, while earlier this year singer Brian Johnson was forced to step down or face the loss of his hearing.
The 66-year-old Williams is the longest-serving member of the group after co-founder and sole original member Angus Young. He joined the band in mid-1977 and made his debut on its fifth album, 1978’s Powerage, appearing on every record and tour since.
Assuming neither Rudd nor Johnson return, Williams’ exit means that only Angus remains from the lineups that recorded classic albums like 1979’s Highway To Hell — the last album recorded with late lead singer Bon Scott — 1980’s Back In Black and 1981’s For Those About To Rock…We Salute You.
AC/DC played in Philadelphia last night (Tuesday, Sep 20th), completing 10 North American dates that were rescheduled after Brian Johnson had to leave the tour. As with the band’s European shows earlier in the summer, the vocals were handled by Axl Rose.
The band does not have any more shows on its itinerary at the moment and Angus Young has not indicated for certain whether the band will continue on. A sad way for a legendary band to wind things down. Sort of like “and then there was one”……
White Zombie: Jay Yuenger, Sean Yseult, John Tempesta, Rob Zombie
Pulse Of Radio also reporting Rob Zombie says he has no intentions of reuniting with his original band, White Zombie, and has “many legit reasons” not to. The subject of a reunion once again came up this past weekend after Rob and his current band performed White Zombie’s 1994 album Astro-Creep: 2000: Songs Of Love, Destruction And Other Synthetic Delusions Of The Electric Head live in its entirety at Chicago’s Riot Fest, fueling fan speculation about White Zombie returning.
After video footage of the performance surfaced online, one White Zombie fan pleaded on Instagram, “Please, for the love of God, reunite White Zombie. The reasons you’ve given in the past for not wanting to do it . . . honestly make no sense.” The fan added, “I love you, Rob, but I gotta be honest . . . I think the truth is that you just think you’re too good to pick up the phone, call up Sean (Yseult, former White Zombie bassist and Rob’s ex-girlfriend) and the guys… and get that ball rolling again.” The fan wondered if any lingering tension or jealousy between Yseult and Rob’s wife Sheri Moon Zombie was a factor in the break-up of White Zombie back in 1997.
Rob responded to the fan’s remarks, writing, “(I am) always amazed at how people can speak with such authority on subjects they know zero about. I have many legit reasons (for not wanting to reform White Zombie). Just because you don’t know them does not mean they don’t exist. Everything is not everybody’s business.”
Rob told us a while back that nowadays a lot of his audience isn’t even familiar with the old White Zombie songs: “The crowds are really, really young and I’ve been noticing that with the set list too, because, you know, as the time has gone on, we’ve really worked the White Zombie material more out of the set, because we’ve been finding that it’s not working like it used to. It seems like that those songs just seem now old to people and it’s very strange.“
Since White Zombie broke up, Rob has released six solo albums and directed seven feature films. Sean Yseult has played in a variety of bands and is rumored to currently be playing bass in Ghost disguised as a Nameless Ghoul. White Zombie guitarist Jay Yuenger has worked as a record producer since the band broke up, while drummer John Tempesta played in Rob’s solo band for a while and currently drums for The Cult. I saw White Zombie back in the 90’s. It was always quite the spectacle. Nothing like today’s Rob Zombie shows, but they were fun, that’s for sure!
News briefs:
Metallica will perform on the Thursday, Sep 29th edition of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. The program will air at 11:35 p.m. on NBC. The band is appearing on the show to promote the upcoming release of its 10th studio album, Hardwired…To Self-Destruct, which is scheduled for a Nov 18th release. This video above was from their appearance on a 2014 Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson. (Blabbermouth)
Bring Me The Horizon was forced to cancel a sold-out show scheduled for last night (Sep 20th) in Adelaide, Australia. Frontman Oli Sykes’ throat was apparently infected and inflamed to the point where “he is hardly able to speak, let alone sing.” The band said in a statement, “We wanted nothing more than to perform tonight but when it’s physically impossible to sing then our hands are tied.” The group had to scrap shows earlier this summer when Sykes’ voice went down. (Alternative Press) As of now, there are no future U.S. shows on their docket.
Jared Leto has signed on to star in a new biopic about Andy Warhol. Terrence Winter will pen the script based on the 1989 book, Warhol: The Biography. Jared will also serve as a producer. Meanwhile, I do hear that new music should be surfacing before the end of the year from 30 Seconds To Mars.
Celebrating life today: Stephen King, writer and AC/DC fan, is 69. Bill Murray is 66 and David Silveria former Korn drummer is 44.