Rob Zombie/Megadeth Tour Dates
5/16 – Pittsburgh, PA – Stage AE
5/18 – Grand Rapids, MI – The Deltaplex
5/19 – St. Louis, MO – Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre
5/20 – Columbus, OH – Rock On The Range
5/22 – La Crosse, WI – La Crosse Center
5/24 – Sioux City, IA – Tyson Center
5/25 – Wichita, KS – Hartman Arena
5/26 – Pryor, OK – Rocklahoma
Another teaser video for Slash’s upcoming Guitar Center Sessions special has been posted online. You can check out Slash, Myles Kennedy and the Conspirators performing an unplugged rendition of “Not For Me” below, courtesy of Noisecreep.
“Not For Me” is taken from Slash’s upcoming solo album, Apocalyptic Love, which is now streaming in full over at Rolling Stone.
Apocalyptic Love is out May 22.
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Today marks the two-year anniversary of the death of the legendary Ronnie James Dio.
A variety of Dio tributes have been paid from all around the metal community, and Canadian metal band 3 Inches of Blood decided to pay homage by releasing a special lyric video for their song “Look Out,” off their latest album, Long Live Heavy Metal.
The track was written as a tribute to Dio and, according to vocalist Cam Pipes, wasn’t an easy song to write.
“It was hard to find the right words for a song honoring Ronnie James Dio, but I hope it is regarded as a fitting tribute to a legendary figure,” he said. “His impact on the metal community will last forever, and though he may have been small in stature, his contribution to the music scene is larger than most will ever achieve.”
Long Live Heavy Metal is out now on Century Media.
Next week, Finnish metal band Children of Bodom will release Holiday At Lake Bodom (15 Years Of Wasted Youth), a career-spanning compilation album that features tracks from each of the band’s studio albums.
On top of the best of Bodom, the compilation also features two new cover songs — Rick Springfield’s “Jessie’s Girl” and Dropkick Murphys’ “I’m Shipping Up to Boston.” The latter of the two is now streaming in full online, and you can stream it below.
Holiday At Lake Bodom (15 Years Of Wasted Youth) is out May 22 via Spinefarm.
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With Black Sabbath’s first live dates of the year looming, many fans were still wondering whether or not drummer Bill Ward would be joining the legendary band on stage.
Hopes were raised when Ward was once again added to the band’s Facebook page as a member recently, but an official statement from Ward now brings bad news for fans hoping for a full reunion of the original lineup: Ward will be sitting out Black Sabbath’s upcoming live shows.
An official statement posted on his website reads:
“Dear Sabbath Fans and Fellow Musicians,
“I sincerely regret to inform you that after a final effort to participate in the upcoming Sabbath shows a failure to agree has continued. At this time I have to inform you that I won’t be playing with Black Sabbath at the Birmingham gig dated May 19th, 2012, nor will I be playing at Download on June 10th, 2012. Further, I will not be playing at Lollapalooza on August 3, 2012.
“It is with a very sad heart that I bring you this news. I am sincerely passionate in my desire to play with the band, and I’m very, very sorry that it’s fallen to this. This statement is even more painstaking to write, as I was particularly excited to play alongside Tony Iommi after the recent treatments he underwent. I wanted that to become a reality.
“To express my thoughts about you, the Sabbath fans, I’m going to speak to you all through an experience my brother James had recently. My brother Jimmy lives in the U.K. When speaking with him a couple of days ago, he told me that an acquaintance had stopped him on the street and confronted him, ‘is your brother playing Birmingham? What’s going on? I waited in line with my son and paid x amount for the concert tickets.’
“The man’s son is a young drummer. He’s going to see Sabbath, and he wants to see Bill Ward play drums. Upon hearing this news, I felt horrible. I couldn’t help feeling some resentment towards the failure to reach an agreement, the failure to remember where we came from, the failure to be as brothers, as we once were. To be clear, I’m not blaming the other guys or finding any faults with them. I would think it can’t be easy for them either, but this situation is just really sad. It’s sad that it’s come to this. ‘This’” will surely leave a mark and be unwelcome to the memory. Hopefully ‘this’ will heal and pass in time.
“My heart sank when Jimmy told me about this young boy. I know this boy is going to be disappointed, and I don’t know how to amend it, other than to put my arms around the boy and tell him I love him. Sabbath fans have a voice and a face, to me you’re human, you have families and despair. You have ferocity and emotions and graciousness, and at this moment as far as I’m concerned you are also that young boy in England. I don’t know how to amend my part in these failings other than to put my arms around you and say I love you and let you know I’m very, very sorry.
“Throughout this process, which began over a year ago, I have had to stand up for myself time and time again. I have had to stand up for myself and in doing so realize my actions indirectly, although unintentionally, are upsetting and hurting a lot of you. I know in my heart I couldn’t have done these concerts by agreeing the terms suggested. I made a solemn vow after the last European and Ozzfest concerts that I would never again enter into what was, in my opinion, a totally unsatisfactory contract. I have to stand for something, and as painful as it is, I’m doing it.
“Earlier in April 2012, I’d been asked to participate ‘minimally’ in the Download festival. I believe I’d been offered no more than three songs to play while another drummer presumably played the rest of the show with Black Sabbath. I was not willing to participate in that offer. I was not prepared to watch another drummer play a Sabbath set, while I was to play only three songs.
“I found out about the Birmingham gig on Monday, April 30 through the Internet ad. I was taken aback somewhat by the date, and the fact it was Birmingham. Knowing the “signable” contract negotiations were at best in shreds, I was upset by the idea that the band was going to play Birmingham and play it assumedly without me. I had no prior knowledge of the date and location, and I felt totally excluded. We contacted the representative for Black Sabbath to see if something could be worked out. In the meantime my drum crew and I, along with our US endorsers, finished all the necessary planning for a swift departure to the UK. There wasn’t a whole lot to complete; we’d all been on standby more or less since mid-January 2012. The remaining work in the UK was confirmed done by our European and UK endorsers and we were good to go by Friday, May 4 2012. There were two stress points: firstly, getting an agreement in place, and secondly, getting to England in a timely manner. Jetlag time was taken into account as well as drum practice, a drum practice room in the heart of Birmingham, accommodation, and travel arrangements were all in place to meet with any band rehearsals that may have transpired before the Birmingham show. So far everything that had been arranged was on my dime, but we didn’t move ahead without a realistic confirmation.
“Communications between the representative and my lawyer continued through the weekend of May 5 finalizing on Wednesday, May 9. The offer we received on May 9 was, ‘come to the UK, play for free and see how the first show goes.’ I was tempted. Playing for free would not have been a problem for me, but “seeing how the first show goes” left an element of risk which could have affected Download. My ideal thought was to play in full the Birmingham show, in full Download, and in full Lollapalooza.
“I had notified the representative that May 10 was my cutoff day in order to have good lead-in time for England. On the night of May 9 I asked for a brief letter to be sent to the representative asking to find out if we were at an end. On the morning of Thursday, May 10, I received a reply in the affirmative. After consulting with my advisors and crew a decision was made to let go and stop.
“I can’t prioritize the Sabbath fans making one show more important than the other. I can’t do that. All of you are important. It’s all the gigs or none at all. I can’t come to Birmingham and ‘see what happens’ knowing there is a risk of not being able to play Download or Lollapalooza. Again, for me, it’s all or nothing. I had to say “no” to Birmingham on the principle of wanting to play all the shows. Saying no to Birmingham is very difficult for me. My family grew up in Birmingham. Black Sabbath grew up in Birmingham. It’s still my hometown and I resent having to arrive at such a difficult choice.
“Although the statement was made that, “the door is always open” for me, as explained above, walking through that door is not always as easy as it sounds. There are many complicated issues and unseen and unspoken agendas on hand. I can assure you, my criteria for a ‘signable’ contract is based in mindful principles, respectability, and acknowledgement of my history within the band.
“I hold no malice or resentment towards the other band members. I love them; I’m tolerant of them; I’m frustrated with them, as they may be with me. My fight has never been with them. I’ll love them forever. In my opinion, nobody wins this time; the band doesn’t win; the fans for an original lineup don’t win. Nobody wins, nobody. Even the ones who thought they did.
“I didn’t want to make this decision, but I have to be honest and transparent. This is the statement I didn’t want to write; it’s the last thing I wanted to do. But, I have written it, and now it can go into the universe.
“Since Spring of 2011, I’ve waited patiently and hopefully for a signable contract, you know the rest. I stand for the boy in the U.K., for the coming drum student, for all the drummers, who write their parts out and get stiffed on the publishing, I stand with the Sabbath fans chanting ‘Bill Ward’ and asking ‘why?’ and I stand with Tony and Geezer and Ozzy.
“On a final note, even though I’m at an end with the upcoming announced concerts, I will remain with an open mind and a position of willingness to negotiate ‘signable’ terms with Sabbath’s representatives in the future.
“Stay strong.
Stay safe.
With all my heart and strength, I love you,
Bill Ward”
With Ward still holding out for a “signable” contract, the band will presumably still keep to their plans to record a new Black Sabbath record. It still remains unclear who will plays drums for the band on both their upcoming live shows as well as future recordings.
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For the first time (outside of eBay), Pantera’s Walk EP is now available in the U.S.
The six-song EP is available through all major digital retail outlet, and you can pick it up on iTunes here.
First released in Japan in 1993, the Walk EP features new mixes of “Walk,” “Fucking Hostile” and “By Demons Be Driven,” along with live cuts of “Heresy” and “Cowboys from Hell.”
Yesterday, Rhino Records released the 20th anniversary deluxe edition of the band’s 1992 album, Vulgar Display of Power.
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Just a week ahead of the release of his new album, Apocalyptic Love, Slash, (who graces the cover of Revolver’s latest issue, on newsstands today and online here) just debuted the official music video for the track “You’re a Lie.” Check it out below.
On top of that, Slash is currently streaming his sophomore solo album in full over at Rolling Stone. Listen here.
The former Guns N’ Roses guitarist will be playing a sold-out show at New York’s Irving Plaza on May 22 to celebrate the release ofApocalyptic Love. Fans not able to attend will be happy to know that the show will be live streamed on GuitarWorld.com next Tuesday night.
Apocalyptic Love is out May 22.
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On the May 14 edition of the WWE’s Monday Night RAW show, the new issue of Revolver was plugged before cover boy Chris Jericho’s match with Randy Orton. Check out the video of Revolver on RAW below.
RAW announcer Michael Cole name-checked the Revolver Golden Gods as well, pointing out that Jericho has hosted the show three years running.
Monday Night Raw, the WWE’s flagship show, is the most-viewed shows on cable TV with over 4.5 million weekly viewers.
The May/June issue of Revolver comes in three collectible covers, featuring the stars of this year’s Golden Gods Awards, including Jericho, Corey Taylor, Slash, Alice Cooper, Black Veil Brides and Dee Snider.
You can relive all the action from the biggest Golden Gods yet by picking up the issue on newsstands now, or in our online store.
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Enter now to win 2 GOLD VIP tickets to see Slash featuring Myles Kennedy and the Conspirators live! One lucky winner and a guest will each receive:
- 1 1 Premium Ticket or 1 GA Ticket with Early Entry
- 1 Meet & Greet with Slash
- 1 Limited Edition Tour Lithograph
- 1 Commemorative VIP Laminate
- 1 Guitar Pick Tin
- 1 Copy of Revolver Magazine’s latest issue, the Golden Gods special, featuring Slash on the cover!
For more info on Slash’s tour and the ULTRA VIP packages available, click here!
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