Groan. It’s Monday! Yawn! But, look below, GREAT NEWS!
The Pulse Of Radio reporting Five Finger Death Punch performed over the weekend with singer Ivan Moody at the microphone for the first time since late last year. The show took place at the Maximus Festival in Villa Martelli, Argentina and marked Moody’s first concert with the group since leaving the road in late November 2016 during a North American trek. All That Remains frontman Phil Labonte filled in on the last eight dates of that run.
Since then, the band has been off the road amidst legal battles with their record label and persistent speculation about Moody’s status. He did not help matters when he gave an interview last month in which he seemed to suggest he was leaving the band — which he quickly denied. He has nevertheless acted erratically on stage several times and missed at least one other tour last year in addition to the December dates, while admitting to visiting rehab as well.
Meanwhile, the band filed a new lawsuit last month against its longtime record label Prospect Park, asking a judge to release it from its contract and order the company to pay the group more than a million dollars in damages. Prospect Park sued Five Finger Death Punch last year for breach of contract, alleging that the group wanted to rush the recording of a new album without proper creative input from the label and in order to “cash in” before the anticipated “downfall” of Moody.
While the release of its seventh album remains in limbo, Five Finger Death Punch has signed a new deal with Rise Records that will begin with its eighth studio effort.
In related news, the band’s long time tour manager, Brandon Webster, suffered major head trauma and other injuries last week in a motorcycle accident on Apr 30th. A Go-Fund Me page has been set up here. Our thoughts and prayers go out to Brandon and his family at this most heart-wrenching time.
Our friends Seether have posted yet another new song “Count Me Out” from their forthcoming new album, Poison The Parish, due on Friday! This is the fourth track from the disc to surface, following “Stoke The Fire,” “Nothing Left” and the first official single, “Let You Down,” which is currently Number Two on the rock radio chart.
We asked frontman Shaun Morgan how the last few days before the arrival of a new album feels: “It’s nerve-wracking and it’s exciting. To see it all come together and to sort of reach fruition like it has has been great. So now it’s just up to us to get out there and play the stuff, and hopefully people want to come and watch us play. But I’m always excited, I’m always nervous, but I’m looking forward to it, ’cause once it’s out you can sort of breathe out and you can say, ‘Well, now it’s out there, there’s nothing more we can do,’ you know?”
Seether is currently on tour. See the Road Rage page for details.
OH I WANT THAT MONOPOLY GAME! Check it out. Metallica have pop-up stores in the tour cities and I gotta get me some swag! Their North American tour begins on May 10th in Baltimore. The first pop-up will show up in New York City’s fashionable SoHo district from May 12th through the 14th, the day on which Metallica plays across the Hudson River at New Jersey’s MetLife Stadium. Other cities that will host pop-up stores are:
St. Louis, MO: June 2 – June 4
Houston, TX: June 9 – June 11
Chicago, IL: June 16 – June 18
Atlanta, GA: July 7 – July 9
Toronto, ON: July 14 – July 16
Los Angeles, CA: July 27 – July 29
San Diego, CA: August 4 – August 6
San Francisco, CA: August 11 – August 13
The pop-up stores include a wide range of Metallica merchandise ranging from music box sets to surfboards to clothing and more.
Metallica’s “Now That We’re Live” live rehearsal special from M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore will stream exclusively on Facebook Live on Tuesday (May 9th) at 9:00 p.m. ET, the night before the tour kicks off. The band will warm up the stadium stage with a full-scale rehearsal performance of four songs, while giving fans a glimpse of the group’s new stage production.
Drummer Lars Ulrich told us a while back that the goal is to stay connected to their fans: “I try and make Metallica as fan friendly and as fan connected as possible and still within the understanding that musically what we do is about us. So it’s like, if you’re into the music we’re doing and respect that we do the music for us, then if you want to be part of that ride then here’s what we can try to offer you to be part of the Metallica family.“
Metallica’s North American tour begins on Wednesday (May 10th) in Baltimore and will hit stadiums in 25 cities before winding down in mid-August. Support on the quartet’s first North American trek since 2009 will come from Avenged Sevenfold, Volbeat and Gojira.
And the band also just released the video for “Hardwired”…check it out:
Myles Kennedy with some old lady and the rest of the Alter Bridge guys
Myles Kennedy, who sings for Slash‘s solo band Myles Kennedy & The Conspirators in addition to Alter Bridge, was asked by Trunk Nation in a new interview if there are plans for Slash and The Conspirators to work on the follow-up to their 2014 album World On Fire. Kennedy replied, “Honestly, I don’t know what’s gonna happen. I’m kind of knee-deep right now with Alter Bridge, and I’ve also been working on another solo record of my own.”
Kennedy added, “Look, the Guns thing is so awesome and successful, I just don’t see how that’s slowing down anytime soon.” Slash has been touring with the reunited Guns N’ Roses since April 2016, with the band booked well into the fall of this year.
Photos of Slash in the studio have surfaced online recently, fueling speculation that a new solo album could be in the works. Slash told us a while back that leading his own solo outfit was a satisfying experience: “One of the great things about working with these guys is there’s no issues. All they want to do is play, and they love rock ‘n’ roll and they’re just — they’re fully into it and it’s sort of like when you’re working with people that don’t have any other baggage that they’re concerned about.“
After Slash and The Conspirators toured World On Fire, rumors about the long-awaited Guns N’ Roses reunion tour began to circulate and were confirmed in early 2016. The current Guns trek — which features Slash and fellow original members Axl Rose and Duff McKagan — launched in April 2016 and has since grossed more than $230 million. Despite the success of the tour, there has been no indication that Guns intends to record a new album. The last Guns studio album, Chinese Democracy, came out in 2008 and featured only Axl Rose from the band’s classic lineup. (Thanks Blabbermouth and The Pulse Of Radio)
Meanwhile, The Who and Guns N’ Roses have announced the first few shows of a joint South American tour. New dates on the books include Guns being added to the Who’s “Rock In Rio” gig on Sep 23rd in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil alongside Incubus. Guns N’ Roses and the Who will also share the bill on Oct 1st in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Blabbermouth reported additional dates are still coming for Brazil, Chile, and Peru, although no concerts have been announced yet. The Who has also just added a solo show for Sep 17th show in Bologna, Italy.
The PRP reports Prophets Of Rage have performed a new song, “Unf*#k The World.” The footage above was filmed at their show in Santiago, Chile on May 3rd. The song is expected to be on the band’s second album, which the band reportedly has recently completed work on.
Korn at Carolina Rebellion (photo credit Paypeazz)
My boys Korn performed acoustically as part of a promotion for Zippo Sessions at the Carolina Rebellion this weekend. They did 2 songs, “Alone” and “Clown” (for the first time ever acoustically.) See pictures here at SideStageMagazine.com.
Meanwhile, the band has postponed their show at the Paramount Theater in Long Island, NY tonight for some reason. I just saw that on the Korn Facebook page. I am counting the days til I get to see them at Rock On The Range!