Good morning, friends! Here’s what’s news today!
Bullet For My Valentine: Jamie Mathias, Matt Tuck, Michael “Padge” Padget
Following the monstrous success of their December 2016 UK tour, which saw Bullet For My Valentine perform career-spanning setlists in addition to select performances of their classic 2005 debut album, The Poison, in full, BFMV will release a very special, multi-format summation of their two consecutive sold-out performances at the world famous London Brixton Academy.
Pre-orders for the former hardDrive Live Tour headliners Bullet For My Valentine — Live From Brixton: Chapter Two are now live at PledgeMusic.
Fans will now be able to experience the intensity of both “Night One” (Dec 09’s “career-spanning” performance) and “Night Two” (Dec 10’s The Poison performance) via DVD, Blu-ray, CD, and Vinyl. Watch this clip of “Her Voice Resides” here.
Singer Matt Tuck says, “Live at Brixton: Chapter Two marks the end of a massive 18-month global touring cycle, so to mark the success of Venom and to celebrate our debut album The Poison, we thought we’d capture both nights so that everyone could be a part of it. It was an incredible couple of nights at a venue that means so much to us, so make sure you grab a copy and enjoy the madness.”
Full format details are below.
“Night One” CD (career-spanning setlist)
“Night Two” CD (The Poison in its entirety setlist)
DVD (featuring both nights)
Blu-ray (featuring both nights)
Triple disc Red Vinyl (“Night Two” only)
Meanwhile, BFMV are the only international act to be nominated for Best Hard Rock Act at this year’s Alternative Press Music Awards. Vote for the band here.
Additionally, BFMV have started work on a new studio album, which is their first for Search and Destroy/Spinefarm Records.
Wow. That’s too bad! The Pulse Of Radio reporting Rise Against claims its planned music video shoot for its new single, “The Violence,” was shut down by location managers after the band and the video were deemed to be “anti-government.” The group initially wanted to shoot the clip in a field full of Presidential busts, writing on Facebook, “Our permit to shoot the video was initially granted, but subsequently pulled by the board of directors who oversee the location. The reason? They decided we were ’anti-government.’ We found this location compelling as the President heads represent power on both sides of the aisle.”
Frontman Tim McIlrath told us the unapologetically political band found plenty of inspiration for its new album Wolves in the current political climate: “We started writing this before the election, you know what I mean, and we were, and I was doing a lot of just sort of like reflecting on like, ‘Well, who is Rise Against in 2016 and who are we in 2017? And what should we be and what role do we play in culture and the musical landscape?’ And it wasn’t as clear to me until the election happened. It’s like, ‘Oh, here’s the enemy. This is what it looks like, and this is how it rears its head.’”
The band said that the song “The Violence” was about “whether violence is an inevitability of the human condition, or whether it’s a choice we make, and therefore, can reject.” Wolves is the Chicago punk act’s eighth studio album and will arrive on Jun 9th. The group will begin a tour with Deftones and Thrice on that same day in the Windy City.
My pal Lzzy Hale and hardDriveRadio host of Ask Lzzy, and Halestorm guitarist Joe Hottinger performed at the Rock N’ Grohl: A Tribute to Dave Grohl show at the Basement East in Nashville on Thursday night, Apr 27th. (Love her new haircut!) She was invited by a bunch local Nashville musicians to the event. We had lunch earlier that day and she and Joe drove me to the airport for a late afternoon flight home. Sadly, I missed this. Love those two to pieces!
Do NOT mess with AC/DC! AC/DC‘s label, Sony Music, has filed a lawsuit against restaurant chain Applebee’s for using AC/DC music in their ad campaigns, specifically the song “Rock And Roll Ain’t Noise Pollution.” Sony claims it was contacted about using the song, as well as other Sony-owned music, quoted a price of $250,000 for the AC/DC tune and sent out licensing agreements. But the label says it never got paid and is now suing Applebee’s for the licensing fee plus damages. (TMZ)
A Perfect Circle has debuted another new song live. The track, called “Hourglass,” was captured by a fan in Tulsa, OK on the band’s current North American tour, although the video was later pulled down on copyright grounds. A Perfect Circle has also been performing a song titled “Feathers” at the shows. The group’s first set of all-new studio material since 2003 is due out later this year. (Loudwire)
The Trio of Greatness: Robert Plant, John Paul Jones, Jimmy Page = Led Zeppelin
Oh hey! This is newsworthy! Saw this on Blabbermouth. Is Led Zeppelin about to reunite for the 2017 “Desert Trip” shows?
A cryptic post on Robert Plant‘s web site has led to uncorroborated fan speculation that the legendary band may return for a festival performance later this year. According to The Pulse Of Radio, several industry sources have supposedly told the FeelNumb.com site that Plant — presumably the lone holdout over the past decade — has agreed to team up for the still-unannounced festival and front the band. It was widely reported the group turned down a whopping $14 million to play last year’s two weekend event, which featured The Rolling Stones, Paul McCartney, The Who, Bob Dylan, Roger Waters and Neil Young. Fanning the flames is the fact Plant‘s official web site features a blackened page with only the white words: “Any time now…”
Considering that Plant has been working on a new album with the Sensational Space Shifters since Jan 2016, a more likely explanation for the message on his web site is simply that he is preparing his online home for a redesign to come with the announcement of his next solo project.
Led Zeppelin‘s Dec 10, 2007 reunion at London’s O2 Arena during the Ahmet Ertegun tribute concert was chronicled on the band’s 2012 Celebration Day CD and DVD. The set, which featured Jason Bonham subbing for his late father John Bonham on drums, marked Plant, Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones‘s first full-scale concert together since John Bonham’s 1980 death.
Plant shed light on how the 2007 reunion only spurred on more desire for Zeppelin to become an ongoing matter. “In a way, obviously, it’s pressure again, but it’s a different kind of pressure,” he said. “The last lot of pressure was, like, having the physicality and the mental capacity to be what we were many, many years ago and actually have conviction and be on it. And people can take it or leave it — but it was great, it was really good. And then you drift off and you get surrounded by this stifling industry that is: ‘why don’t you….’ ‘have you thought about…. ba, ba, ba.’ But when we spend time on our own, bit by bit, we become friends again.”
Shortly after Led Zeppelin‘s 2007 reunion gig, Jason Bonham told The Pulse Of Radio that a future run with the band was entirely up to Plant, Page and Jones, and that if they decided to go ahead with it, he was on board immediately. “I didn’t want anything else more than when I rehearsed with them,” he said. “If it hadn’t gone any further, just that day, and we went out for dinner, and just the backwards and forwards banter and the laughing and joking — that was enough. But if they decide to do it again, of course I would love to. But that’s up to them. Only time will tell. If you’d had asked me a year ago, ‘Are they gonna do a date next year?’ I’d have gone, ‘No way.’ So I was proved wrong once before.”
Ouch!!!!!!!!
Poor Chino! Blabbermouth says the May 1st DEFTONES concert at E-Werk in Cologne, Germany had been canceled after frontman Chino Moreno broke the top of his foot. The band explains in a statement: “He needs to stay off it for the next day or two. No other shows as of now are in jeopardy of being cancelled. We hope to make it back soon to perform for you again. In the meantime, all tickets will be refunded. Thanks for your understanding.”
DEFTONES‘ European tour kicked off on April 18 in Vienna, Austria and is next scheduled to hit Paris, France tonight. They have two more shows in Dublin on May 9 & 10. Hope he heals up quickly!
Back when Billy was with TNA
And lastly today, he’s wrestling with the idea again? Another Blabbermouth report cites just a year after stepping down as president of TNA Wrestling, Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan is reportedly close to purchasing the National Wrestling Alliance, according to The Pulse Of Radio. As first reported by PWInsider, the deal would see Corgan purchase the name, rights and trademarks of the NWA as well as the rights and possession of its championship belt.
Corgan, a lifelong wrestling fan, began investing in TNA in Jun 2016 and helped to finance several of the company’s televised matches. After investing more and acquiring a larger share in TNA, Corgan was named president in August 2016 and announced his intentions to purchase the company. But Corgan was denied the opportunity to buy TNA, after which he resigned from his presidency and sued TNA.
In his October 2016 lawsuit, Corgan claimed that he was entitled to a majority stake in the company — although a judge ruled against him.
He later settled with Anthem Media, which eventually bought TNA, and was paid back his entire investment plus interest, which amounted to a total of $2.7 million. If the deal with NWA goes through, it is not clear Corgan‘s plans for the National Wrestling Alliance will be or what changes he intends to make as new owner.
Corgan has flirted with buying wrestling companies for years, going back to the late 1990s when he was offered a 10 percent stake in the original Extreme Championship Wrestling.
Speculation has been brewing for months Corgan is planning to reunite with the original lineup of the Smashing Pumpkins for a tour, but has been largely silent about that possibility since saying in a Jan radio interview that “things look good” for a reunion.