Dream Theater guitarist John Petrucci is featured in a new interview with CBS New York to discuss the band’s 30+ year career and their upcoming Dreamsonic 2023 Tour. Check it out below.
Dream Theater recently announced the first edition of Dreamsonic, taking place in North America throughout June and July and celebrating the summer’s ultimate progressive metal lineup. Kicking off on June 16, Dream Theater will be joined by special guest Devin Townsend, and Animals As Leaders on what is sure to be one of the hottest tickets of the summer.
John Petrucci (Dream Theater), Devin Townsend, Tosin Abasi (Animals As Leaders) and Javier Reyes (Animals As Leaders) recently discussed all things Dreamsonic 2023 with host Ollie Winiberg in a livestream. Check it out below.
Says Dream Theater: “We are all so incredibly excited to present Dream Theater’s very own prog-metal music festival, Dreamsonic 2023! The lineup for our inaugural run this summer features Dream Theater, Devin Townsend, and Animals As Leaders and is going to be absolutely epic! Dreamsonic promises to be a reoccurring musical event that will deliver history-making nights of amazing music for many years to come! You’re not going to want to miss this one!”
June 16 – Cedar Park, TX – H-E-B Center At Cedar Park 17 – Dallas, TX – Texas Trust CU Holds @ Grand Prairie 18 – Sugarland, TX – Smart Financial Center 21 – Clearwater, FL – Ruth Eckerd Hall 22 – Hollywood, FL – Hard Rock Live Arena 23 – Orlando, FL – Hard Rock 25 – Atlanta, GA – Fox Theater 27 – Washington, PA – Wild Things Park 28 – New York, NY – Hulu Theater 30 – Bridgeport, CT – Hartford Healthcare Amphitheater
July 1 – Philadelphia, PA – The Met 2 – Boston, MA – Leader Bank Pavilion 4 – Laval, QC – Place Bell 5 – Hamilton, ON – FirstOntario Centre 7 – Gary, IN – Hard Rock Casino 8 – Cleveland, OH – Jacobs Pavilion 9 – Newport, KY – MegaCorp Pavilion 11 – Detroit, MI – Masonic 12 – OshKosh, WI – OshKosh Arena 13 – Cedar Rapids, IA – Alliant Energy Power House 15 – Denver, CO – Mission Theater 17 – Spokane, WA – First Interstate Center 18 – Calgary, AB – Grey Eagle 19 – Edmonton, AB – Northern Alberta Jubilee 21 – Vancover, BC – Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre 22 – Redmond, WA – Marymoor Live 24 – San Jose, CA – San Jose Civic 25 – Inglewood, CA – YouTube Theater 26 – Phoenix, AZ – Arizona Financial Theater
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Today might just be Download’s most important day for quite some time. Featuring a main stage stacked with exciting, young, British bands, it’s a potential signifier for the future of the festival, particularly with so many of rock and metal’s heritage acts beginning to slow down or bow out completely.
There can be no doubt, then, that it’s the perfect opportunity for Bring Me The Horizon to finally headline Download for the first time; this is years in the making, and while the crowd is initially noticeably thinner that the gargantuan mob that turned up to see Metallica last night, the atmosphere is one of excitement, expectation and celebration.
“Download, are you ready for the greatest night of your life?” questions an unsettling, computer-generated AI lady who pops up over the main stage screens, introducing a conceptual through-line for the show that eventually ties together Terminator-esque themes of tech running wild with shady cults and weird mutant beasties. It’s fun, it’s out there, and it’s the first indicator that Bring Me The Horizon haven’t held back with building a show to match their new headliner status.
And what a show it is. Playing over multiple, flashing tiers and backed by an immersive backdrop that looks like it came from a Ghost stage 20 years in the future, Sheffield’s finest really have gone all out. Over the course of two highly entertaining hours we see lashings upon lashings of towering pyro, confetti cannons, dancers, stilt walkers and even beach balls, all lapped up by a crowd that only gets bigger and bigger (and more excited!) as the show goes on. Even Oli Sykes’ mic stand looks epic, a horned, Giger-esque monstrosity that presumably owes a debt of influence to a certain Jonathan Davis.
Sykes himself remains an enigmatic, magnetic presence at the heart of it all, one moment nonchalantly striding across the stage dishing out the most hilariously, bluntly British stage patter (“If you stand still you are a very special kind of knob head”), the next down on all fours, screaming his guts out. He’s also happy to let his enamoured audience do a lot of the heavy lifting when it comes to clean vocals; it’s something that will doubtless stick in the craw of metal fans who demand a certain kind of performance from their singers, but when you have a crowd this happy to participate, it only adds to the spectacle.
There are also some brilliantly worked cameos – the excellent Nova Twins bound out for a riotous 1×1 in what feels like a huge moment for British rock music on the big stage, while Evanescence’s Amy Lee makes a dramatic arrival, appearing from under a hood to sing a verse from One Day the Only Butterflies Left… before duetting with Oli on a pulsating Nihilist Blues. By now, the crowd has filled out to epic proportions and the party atmosphere is in full swing.
The set doesn’t dip into anything from before 2013 magnum opus Sempiternal – a shame in some ways, as it swerves an opportunity to recognise Bring Me’s unlikely journey to the top of the metal food chain, but given that the mass majority of the band’s most anthemic material has come in the last decade, it’s an understandable decision. The euphoria that erupts across Donington as Sykes induces a classic, Slipknot-esque ‘jumpthefuckup’ during Throne suggests that Bring Me The Horizon have judged this most vital of performances exactly right.
“You have no idea what this means to us,” Sykes gushes as he takes a detour to the front row, high-fiving elated fans during Can You Feel My Heart. The feeling appears mutual and there’s no going back now; if tonight has shown anything, it’s that the next generation of festival headliners has finally arrived, and the rock scene is ready for them.
Bring Me The Horizon Download 2023 setlist
1. Amen 2. Teardrops 3. The House Of Wolves 4. Mantra 5. Dear Diary 6. Parasite Eve 7. Shadow Moses 8. 1×1 9. Lost 10. One Day the Only Butterflies Left Will Be in Your Chest as You March Towards Your Death 11. Nihilst Blues 12. Die4u 13. Kingslayer 14. Folllow You 15. Drown 16. Throne 17. Can You Feel My Heart
Merlin moved into his role as Executive Editor of Louder in early 2022, following over ten years working at Metal Hammer. While there, he served as Online Editor and Deputy Editor, before being promoted to Editor in 2016. Before joining Metal Hammer, Merlin worked as Associate Editor at Terrorizer Magazine and has previously written for the likes of Classic Rock, Rock Sound, eFestivals and others. Across his career he has interviewed legends including Ozzy Osbourne, Lemmy, Metallica, Iron Maiden (including getting a trip on Ed Force One courtesy of Bruce Dickinson), Guns N’ Roses, KISS, Slipknot, System Of A Down and Meat Loaf. He is also probably responsible for 90% of all nu metal-related content making it onto the site.
Now they’ve shared a photo of unfamiliar masked figure, suggesting that a new member has joined the band in the wake of Jones’ departure. Or, alternatively, that Jones is actually still with the band but has a new mask. It’s complicated.
“If my theory is true then I think it’s absolutely genius,” writes Slipknot fan jtaut on Instagram. “Craig has always been the silent and forgotten member of the band, so what better way to bring attention to him by fabricating a fun publicity stunt that also benefits the entire band and their upcoming new projects.”
In the less-than-happy corner, ssusann14 posted, “NAHHH WHO THE FUCK IS THIS???? WHERES CRAIG.”
Something is definitely going on. Late yesterday drummer Jay Weinberg teased a new mask of his own, releasing a 10-second clip accompanied by the single word ‘evolve’. And photographs emerging from Slipknot’s show at the Nova Rock Festival in Nickelsdorf, Austria, last night, show that the new member/newly remasked Craig (delete where appropriate) has already taken his place onstage.
Slipknot headline the Sunday night of this weekend’s historic, four-day Download festival in the UK. Their full list of European tour dates for summer 2023 can be seen below.
June 07: Nickelsdorf Nova Rock Festival, Austria June 08: Hradec Rock For People, Czechia June 10: Interlaken Greenfield Festival, Switzerland June 11: Donington Download Festival, UK June 13: Amsterdam Ziggo Dome, Netherlands June 14: Esch-Sur-Alzette Rockhal, Luxembourg June 16: Copenhagen Copenhell Festival, Denmark June 17: Dessel Graspop Metal Meeting, Belgium June 20: Hamburg Barclays Arena, Germany June 21: Berlin Mercedes Benz Arena, Germany June 24: Munich Königsplatz, Germany June 25: Bologna Knotfest Italy, Italy June 27: Nimes Arena Of Nimes, France June 29: Lisbon Evil Live Festival, Portugal June 30: Viveiro Resurrection Fest, Spain
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Online Editor at Louder/Classic Rock magazinesince 2014. 37 years in music industry, online for 24. Also bylines for: Metal Hammer, Prog Magazine, The Word Magazine, The Guardian, The New Statesman, Saga, Music365. Former Head of Music at Xfm Radio, A&R at Fiction Records, early blogger, ex-roadie, published author. Once appeared in a Cure video dressed as a cowboy, and thinks any situation can be improved by the introduction of cats. Favourite Serbian trumpeter: Dejan Petrović.
Dave Matthews performed an intimate solo gig Wednesday night at New York City’s Irving Plaza, a venue he’s been playing since the mid-’90s.
“This place was huge,” Matthews told the crowd about his first experience standing on the Irving Plaza stage 30 years ago. That debut performance at the venue took place on April 21, 1993, when Dave Matthews Band opened for the alt-rock band the Samples.
Now, with 10 studio albums to his name and thousands of live shows under his belt, Matthews said the stage seemed a little smaller. The crowd roared with approval for that statement as every fan in attendance knew how lucky they were to see him perform such a personal concert, which also featured a few songs that had never been performed solo before: “Looking for a Vein,” “Walking Around the Moon” and “Pantala Naga Pampa.” (The event, titled Dave Matthews: Live & Acoustic, was presented by SiriusXM and was simulcast on the Dave Matthews Band Radio channel.)
While the show ran nearly two hours, a decent amount of that time featured Matthews chatting with the crowd, telling stories about songs, being a little too honest about how tired he was from that morning’s appearance on The Howard Stern Show and regaling fans with a hilarious story about getting high at Willie Nelson‘s 90th birthday party at the Hollywood Bowl in April.
As Matthews described it, his friend Woody Harrelson handed him a joint — “It was superweed” — and then “we ran out onstage and suddenly I’m just blazed. The audience is fired up … some of them looked at me and were like, ‘Man, you’re fucking high’ … I felt good but also I felt really scared.”
That story came after Matthews covered Nelson’s “Funny How Time Slips Away”; when he wrapped it up, he introduced his next song, “Crush,” by saying, “I stole the beginning of this from Willie.”
The night concluded with a powerful three-song encore, with the audience dialed into every note and word coming off the stage. You can see the set list and photos from the concert below.
Dave Matthews, 6/7/23, Irving Plaza, New York 1. “So Damn Lucky” 2. “Looking For a Vein” 3. “Save Me” 4. “#41” 5. “Walk Around the Moon” 6. “Stay or Leave” 7. “Something to Tell My Baby” 8. “Grey Street” 9. “Monsters” 10. “Old Dirt Hill” / “Pantala Naga Pampa” 11. “Gravedigger” 12. “Break Free” 13. “Funny How Time Slips Away” 14. “Crush” 15. “Don’t Drink the Water” Encore 16. “Some Devil” 17. “Crash Into Me” 18. “Dancing Nancies”
Two-hour performance included stories, jokes and classics from his band’s catalog at New York’s Irving Plaza on June 7, 2023.
Global restaurateur HMSHost, a world leader in creating dining for travel venues, today announced an epic collaboration between two beloved institutions that have one thing in common: Toronto. Local craft brewery Henderson Brewing Company and world-renowned Rock & Roll Hall of Famers Rush – that made Toronto Pearson International Airport (YYZ) famous with their epic song as an ode to their hometown – will open a new bar at YYZ offering limited-release brews and unique merchandise.
The 28-seat “Henderson Brewery @ YYZ” will be in a prime, pre-security area of Terminal 1 easily accessible to both domestic and international passengers, as well as visitors to the airport. Loyal fans of Rush will be excited to know that the bar will be outfitted with original artifacts from the band’s touring and recording career. Locals can make a quick trip to the airport for exclusive gear and takeaway beer only available at YYZ, as “Henderson Brewery @ YYZ” will be situated just steps away from the escalators leading into the terminal from the Union Pearson Express.
“HMSHost has built its reputation on bringing the very best of the local food and beverage scene to the airport environment – and now we’re bringing the best band ever to emerge from Toronto alongside the coolest craft brewery to the Toronto Pearson International Airport,” said HMSHost Vice President of Business Development Amy Dunne.
“What could be more appropriate than our Rush Canadian Golden Ale having a home at YYZ?” said Geddy Lee of Rush. “The opening rhythm of our ‘YYZ’ song was inspired by the morse code for YYZ airport. We would get so excited to see YYZ on our ticketed bags as it meant we were coming home. Even though the song is instrumental, it’s about our city, where we came from, and how good it is to come home.”
“We are truly thrilled to partner with HMSHost, Henderson Brewing Company, and the legendary band Rush to curate an extraordinary experience for travellers at Toronto Pearson International Airport,” said Khalil Lamrabet, Chief Commercial Officer, Greater Toronto Airports Authority. “With the opening of “Henderson Brewery @ YYZ”, we’re introducing a unique touch that will redefine the airport experience and create an unforgettable welcome-to-Toronto ambiance. We are thrilled to welcome this exciting addition to our airport and can’t wait for passengers to enjoy this one-of-a-kind experience.”
“When the opportunity presented itself to not only work closely with HMSHost and YYZ, but also offer another incredibly unique experience with Rush, I think it took me approximately five seconds to say, ‘Yes, please!’” said Adin Wener, Partner, Henderson Brewing Company. “I can’t wait for it to open and create the ultimate welcome-to-Toronto experience!”
Despite already airing his aggrievances towards Healy and suggesting that his “shit” band split up, Gallagher has once more reiterated his less-than-positive sentiments towards the group in a new interview with NME.
While again noting that he thinks the 1975 are “shit”, the former bandleader additionally laments over how they’re not “rock”, despite having won various awards in that category at various music events.
During the conversation, Gallagher is questioned about the “amount of artists [he] inspired to pick up a guitar back in the ‘90s and ‘00s” as well as the influence he has had on more modern bands.
After sharing admiration for bands such as Kasabian and Young Fathers, he goes on to say: “Oasis’ influence, I think, was for people to fucking start a band in the first place. I do meet loads of guys who say that and that’s great. There are a lot of them around, it’s just a pity guitar music has become marginalised. You’ve either got to be rock, or that fucking [The] 1975. At the BRITs, The 1975 won Best Rock or some fucking shit.
“I was watching it with my kids, two teenage lads, thinking, ‘Is it me being a grumpy old man, or is this shit? They were both going, ‘Oh no, this is fucking shit’. The 1975, Best Rock Band? Someone needs to re-define that immediately, because that is . . . I don’t know what that is, but it’s certainly not fucking rock. Whatever rock is, that’s not it.”
Noel Gallagher & The High Flying Birds’ new albumCouncil Skies is out now. Watch the full interview below:
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For Amy Lee, life was only ever going to go one of two ways. “My back-up plan was being Danny Elfman and my top plan was being a mega rock star superstar,” says Evanescence’s singer and prime mover with a laugh. Still, she adds, there was never any doubt in her mind one of those ambitions would eventually become a reality. “Manifesting is real!”
Now aged 41, the singer has achieved her dreams and more. Twenty years into her career, she’s a genuine icon, whose creative soul and steely self-confidence propelled her to superstardom when her band, Evanescence, broke through with 2003’s gothic juggernaut single, Bring Me To Life, at the height of the macho nu metal boom.
Evanescence’s 2003 debut album, Fallen, went on to sell a mind-boggling 17 million copies. Since then, the band she formed when she was only 13 years old in Little Rock, Arkansas has proved surprisingly resilient, releasing their fifth album, The Bitter Truth in 2021. In between, Amy has fulfilled her ambition of composing for a movie – her haunting work on sci-fi film Indigo Grey: The Passage won her a Moondance award for Best Score in 2015.
“When somebody tells me I can’t do something, I become super-intent on proving them wrong,” she explains today, as she prepares to look back over her life and career. “For every roadblock we hit – ‘you’re a female, you’re different, you don’t fit in a genre’ – instead of wanting to conform and make it easier for everybody, I felt those were our strengths. I didn’t want to blend in. I wanted to stand out.”
Stellar career aside, one of the reasons she’s talking to Metal Hammer today is because Tenacious D have requested her presence as part of their takeover of this issue. Handily, there’s a mutual love-in going on, and Amy guested with the band at last year’s Louder Than Life festival in Kentucky.
“Tenacious D are one of my favourite bands,” says Amy. “Their cable show [Tenacious D, which aired from 1997 – 2000 on HBO] was this awesome subculture underground thing that only a few of my friends knew about. Somebody had a piece of gear where they could record just the audio onto a cassette, and we’d listen to it in our cars. It’s been so cool to watch them not only survive, but thrive and be hilarious.”
How would you describe your upbringing?
“Wonderful, but also some hard times. I experienced tragedy at a young age [Amy’s younger sister, Bonnie, died from an unidentified illness when Amy was six years old]. I have an incredible family and parents that supported me, saw that I was into music at a young age and helped me pursue it. My dad was a radio DJ for 30 years, so we moved constantly. I’m kind of not from anywhere, just sort of lived in a lot of states.”
Where felt most like home for you?
“My earliest memories were in West Palm Beach, Florida. After all the moving, my family settled in Arkansas. So much of my life has been there, important times. But I lived in New York City longer than anywhere. I’ve never felt as at home as I have in New York. Whoever you are, you fit there, it seems. I was inspired by that.”
With your dad being a DJ, was there always music on in the house?
“A lot of classics; The Beatles, Neil Young and 60s and 70s rock… all these old records… old Motown stuff, Four Tops, The Temptations and Stevie Wonder.”
You started playing piano early. What made you fall in love with it?
“My mom could play the piano, and I remember being six or seven, sitting next to her as she sat down and was sight reading music. I started to cry, and she was like, ‘What’s wrong?’ And I was like, ‘I just want to be able to put my hands on the keys and play like that.’ And then they got me piano lessons. It’s something that I really, really love. It satisfies like a thirst. I’m still not a very good sight reader – that’s the math that’s the annoying part. I saw [Oscar-winning 1984 Mozart biopic] Amadeus when I was eight or nine and decided that’s what I wanted for my life. I wanted to be a composer, a genius composer. I was determined to train myself to be one.”
How did your sister’s death shape you?
“It made me look at the world in a different way, see it from a bigger perspective than the kids around me. I spent a lot of time being creative by myself because I was trying to express something that I couldn’t say. Whether it was poetry or music or drawing, I was trying to paint a picture of the inside and it has become my way through life.”
Was there a connection with what happened and you forming Evanescence when you were 13?
“Yes, for sure, it started this soul, spirit-searching, expression mode. The poetry, the music and the expression really kicked in in my early teens. All your feelings get stronger. Everything in your life, whether it’s the boy that you’ve liked for a whole week breaking up with you, or your bad haircut. Evanescence was born right out of that time.”
What was the first song you wrote for the band?
“It was during this grey area of not knowing if it was a band, because it was just me and the guitar player [Ben Moody, who left in 2003] making songs together in our parents’ houses. Some of our earliest songs actually made it onto Fallen, like Imaginary, Whisper and My Immortal.”
Do you remember Evanescence’s first gig?
“There was a cool venue that held about 100 people, a pizza place called Vino’s. The two of us would find musician friends from other bands in town, practise for the week and promise them pizza the night of the show. I was 16.”
You broke through with Bring Me To Life. Can you pinpoint the moment when you realised Evanescence had made it?
“It wasn’t a singular moment, it was like a snowball. [Our label] got us a placement in a big movie [Bring Me To Life was featured on the Daredevil soundtrack before its release] and that was when we knew we were going to have a real push. Then we started hearing Bring Me To Life on the radio, and it started moving up the charts. It went really fast from there.”
You were frustrated because your label forced you to add a rapper on Bring Me To Life…
“I was so scared in the beginning that we were going forward with something that wasn’t a perfectly honest picture of who we were. But it didn’t last long. After a few songs, the mainstream was able to hear more than the one song and it was like, ‘OK, they at least sort of get what we are.’”
What were the biggest challenges you faced early on?
“The fight for credibility was the most frustrating in the beginning. It was the mentality of labels to tell, especially newer artists, that they need to have writers. I fought for way too long after the success of Fallen to say I can write my own music. I constantly had to fight off men that were like, ‘No, you want me to do it? You want this guy to do it? You want my friend to do it?’ And the reason that they wanted them to do it was because that’s where the money was. That’s where the power was. Everybody else wanted to be able to say they did that when I did that. It took a long time to get respect for being a creator and not just the frontwoman, the pretty face standing in front of the guys doing the real work.”
Was the whirlwind success of those early days enjoyable?
“Some of it was surreal. Concerts went from clubs to arenas in a couple of months. There was a lot to be excited about, but there was a lot of hard stuff going on in the background. Not just drama about what we were doing, but also my brother [Robby, who died in 2018 following complications with epilepsy] was sick, and it was a scary time to be out on my own. And I did, in a lot of ways at that time, feel alone.”
In 2004, you won Grammy Awards for Best New Artist and Best Hard Rock Performance for Bring Me To Life. What do you remember about that?
“I was pretty sure that we weren’t going to win, at least not Best New Artist. I thought for sure that would be [rapper] 50 Cent. We were 100% the dark horse. I felt like, people don’t know who I am. I don’t do the whole thing. I’m a 21-, 22-year-old kid, trying to dress up like a grown-up and I had my shoes off when they called our name. I don’t normally wear heels. They’re very uncomfortable.”
You were given full creative control over your second album, 2006’s The Open Door. What did that entail?
“It was a beautiful time of independence for me. I was still learning who I was and still growing, and wanted the space to be able to try stuff. That was the time that I got really inspired by making homemade sounds. I grew up loving Nine Inch Nails, and so many of the sounds that I love that are in that music are a door slamming or a bunch of junk being dropped on the ground. I bought an old typewriter and made a loop out of it that turned into one of our songs, sampled one of my favourite Mozart pieces and put it in there.”
The Open Door’s lead single was Call Me When You’re Sober, which was written about your ex-partner, Seether vocalist Shaun Morgan. Was there drama when you released it?
“I feel like those things are as dramatic as you let them be. I give myself licence to say anything and everything in the music, as long as it’s honest. But it’s up to me how much detail I’m going to go into when I give an interview. I think the difference with Call Me When You’re Sober was it was kind of obvious. But I say brutally honest things in my lyrics. It’s only gotten more that way over time, and I always have to say, ‘Hey, you don’t ever have to totally break this down. It’s here, it’s in the lyrics. You don’t ever have to explain it beyond that.’ That gives me the freedom to be my whole self in the music.”
(Image credit: Annamaria DiSanto/WireImage)
Were you disappointed when The Open Door didn’t sell as much as Fallen?
“That’s a tough one to answer. I try not to focus too much on the business. Of course, you always want it to be the best. Of course, I want it to always be No.1, but I don’t go into it for that. I focus on making something really great that I love, that our fans love.”
There’s been large gaps between Evanescence albums over the years. Did you never feel that modern pressure to be constantly visible?
“That pressure was always put to me from every angle, but I don’t operate that way. If you’re not authentic, then you’re not anything. You put all your energy into making something the best that you can and tour it – that takes a year or two. And then to immediately rush back in and start creating again, for me personally, that doesn’t work. I have to feel things and have something to say for the music to do what it does. Quality over quantity.”
Evanescence’s most recent album was 2021’s The Bitter Truth. What do you get out of the band these days?
“It’s an interesting question. We get to do something amazing. We get to travel the world, get up on stage and play our music for fans all over the place. We’re always trying to push it. From the second record on, I was never going to do the same thing again. Every time we’ve gone into making an album, that’s the goal. It’s got to be something worth saying. I want to say something new, something from the heart.”
What do you do to chill out away from music?
“I have an eight-and-a-half-year-old son named Jack, and he is awesome. Anytime that I’m not working, I’m hanging out with Jack, and we have a lot of fun together. His book reports have become our special event every year where we make a very elaborate film. He’s so fun, but he’s at the perfect age of wanting to create. We’re building a massive Lego Titanic. It’s taken months.”
Who’s your oldest friend outside the music industry?
“Beth Wilson is my hair and make-up artist and my best friend. I think we met when I was 17, and I was like, ‘Hey, they told me I’m allowed to bring somebody on tour to do my hair and make-up. Do you want to leave the salon and come on tour?’ That was in 2003. I think I’ve only played two shows without her. We’ve gotten to live this adventure together.”
What has been your career highlight?
“The thing I’ll I think about on my deathbed, when my life is flashing before my eyes, is that very special connection with people that we’ve been able to have with our music, what it does to people, what it’s done in my own heart and that experience we’ve been able to have together. There’s something beyond words, which is the thing that I was always yearning for as a kid, that music is able to express and it can connect people.”
What does The Bitter Truth say about who Evanescence are as a band now?
“It’s probably going to sound clichéd, but I think it’s the best thing we’ve ever done. If I didn’t feel that way, maybe we wouldn’t still be doing it. We started out really young, just a couple of kids trying to make stuff, and then it grew into something really real.”
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Danniii Leivers writes for Classic Rock, Metal Hammer, Prog, The Guardian, NME, Alternative Press, Rock Sound, The Line Of Best Fit and more. She loves the 90s, and is happy where the sea is bluest.
Iron Maiden kicked off The Future Past Tour 2023 on May 28 in Ljubljana, Slovenia. On June 4th they performed at the Nokia Arena in Tampere, Finland. Fan-filmed video from the show is available below.
The setlist was as follows:
“Caught Somewhere In Time” “Stranger In A Strange Land” “The Writing On The Wall” “Days Of Future Past” “The Time Machine” “The Prisoner” “Death Of The Celts” “Can I Play With Madness” “Heaven Can Wait” “Alexander The Great” “Fear Of The Dark” “Iron Maiden”
Encore: “Hell On Earth” “The Trooper” “Wasted Years”
The Future Past Tour features previously unperformed songs from Iron Maiden’s most recent studio album, Senjutsu along with a focus on 1986’s iconic Somewhere In Time record, plus other classic cuts.
To view their complete tour schedule, visit this location.
The following official Opening Night video has been issued by the band:
Finland’s Chaoszine recently decided to start new series on their official YouTube Channel focusing mostly on Finnish bands and their history. The new episode is now out and the featured band is Nightwish. Check it out below.
Nightwish recently announced that they will not be touring in support of their next studio album. The follow-up to 2020’s Human. :II: Nature. is due for release in 2024. The band shared the news earlier today.
Says Nightwish: “As the Human :ll: Nature – World Tour is drawing to a close, we feel now is the time to tell you of our plans for the next phase in our journey. After the planned shows for June 2023 we will be “hanging up our spurs” for an indeterminate time, as far as live concert performances go, and won’t be touring the next album.
The reasons for this decision are personal, but, we all agree, vital to the wellbeing and future of the band. Be assured that we still love working together, and this decision has nothing to do with Floor`s pregnancy or our other individual projects.
However, an album of 12 new songs will see bright daylight in 2024, as will 3 music videos! The band is positively hyped beyond words over this new upcoming musical adventure.
Stay tuned for updates from our legendary Nightwish band camp & studio this summer!” – Tuomas, Floor, Emppu, Troy, Kai & Jukkis
Drumeo has shared a new challenge video, this time featuring Sepultura drummer Eloy Casagrande. Check out the video below.
Drumeo: “Eloy Casagrande, the drummer of Sepultura, recently took on the challenge of learning the new Foo Fighters song “Rescued” as quickly as possible. Despite the difficult challenge, Casagrande showcased his incredible talent and determination and was able to nail the song in just six takes.”
Metal legends Cavalera have re-recorded Supultura’s first EP, Bestial Devastation, and first full-length album, Morbid Visions. The albums will be released on July 14 via Nuclear Blast Records.
They recently released the first single, “Morbid Visions”. In the new video below, Max and Iggor Cavalera discuss the re-recorded track:
Stream the new re-recorded single “Morbid Visions” here, and watch the lyric video below:
Morbid Visions will be available digitally and in the following formats:
– CD Jewel – Red Cassette (Limited to 300) – Vinyl * Red, Black, White Splatter * Red, Black Corona
Bestial Devastation will be available digitally and in the following formats:
– CD Jewel – Orange Cassette (Limited to 300) – Vinyl * Orange Swirl * White, Black Corona
Morbid Visions and Bestial Devastation were re-recorded at The Platinum Underground. The albums were produced by Max Cavalera and Iggor Cavalera while John Aquilino handled the engineering. Arthur Rizk was responsible for the mixing and mastering of both albums. Cavalera enlisted Eliran Kantor to create the artwork for both albums.
Max Cavalera comments, “As we get harder year after year, sometimes you’ve got to go back to where it all started! We re-recorded Bestial Devastation and Morbid Visions with the amazing sound of NOW, but with its raw and timeless spirit. The artwork reflects the times we’re living in right now…. Apocalyptic as hell! We also have two new tracks with riffs from those days, remembered by heart.”
Iggor Cavalera states, “I always felt like the recordings of our earlier work didn’t do justice to the way we performed the songs. So, this is a very special moment in our lives that we are very proud to show you real fans our true representation of the amazing records Bestial Devastation & Morbid Visions with an insane visual identity…enjoy and see you all in the pit”
Morbid Visions tracklisting:
“Morbid Visions” “Mayhem” “Troops Of Doom” “War” “Crucifixion” “Show Me The Wrath” “Funeral Rites” “Empire Of The Damned” “Burn The Dead”
Bestial Devastation tracklisting:
“The Curse” “Bestial Devastation” “Antichrist” “Necromancer” “Warriors Of Death” “Sexta Feira 13”
Cavalera is also proud to announce they are hitting the road this fall on their “Morbid Devastation Tour”. The 40-date trek will kick off in Albuquerque and will make its way to Chicago, Houston and Baltimore, and Denver before concluding on October 18 at The Wiltern in Los Angeles. Accompanying the brothers on stage will be Igor Amadeus Cavalera fulfilling bass duties and Travis Stone will be supplying lead guitars. Exhumed and Incite will be opening the tour package each night.
August 29 – Albuquerque, NM – Revel 31 – Oklahoma City, OK – Diamond Ballroom
September 1 – Dallas, TX – Granada Theater 2 – New Orleans, LA – House of Blues 3 – Birmingham, AL – Saturn 5 – Covington, KY – Madison Theatre 6 – Knoxville, TN – The Concourse 7 – Danville, VA – Blue Ridge Rock Fest 8 – Columbus, OH – The KING of CLUBS 9 – Cave-In-Rock, IL – Full Terror Open Air 10 – St. Louis, MO – Delmar Hall 12 – Grand Junction, CO – Mesa Theater 14 – Tucson, AZ – Rialto Theatre 15 – Tempe, AZ – The Marquee 16 – Santa Ana, CA – The Observatory 18 – El Paso, TX – RockHouse Bar & Grill 19 – San Antonio, TX – Aztec Theatre 20 – Houston, TX – House of Blues 21 – Pensacola, FL – Vinyl Music Hall 22 – Orlando, FL – Beacham Theater 23 – Atlanta, GA – Terminal West 25 – Baltimore, MD – Baltimore Soundstage 26 – Sayreville, NJ – Starland Ballroom 27 – New York, NY – Irving Plaza 28 – Boston, MA – Paradise Rock Club 29 – Reading, PA – Reverb 30 – Pittsburgh, PA – Mr. Smalls Theatre
October 1 – Milwaukee, WI – Turner Hall Ballroom 2 – Minneapolis, MN – Fine Line 5 – Des Moines, IA – Wooly’s 6 – Omaha, NE – Waiting Room 7 – Denver, CO – Oriental Theater 8 – Salt Lake City, UT – The Complex 10 – Seattle, WA – The Crocodile 11 – Boise, ID – Treefort Music Hall 12 – Portland, OR – Crystal Ballroom 14 – Sacramento, CA – Ace of Spades 15 – San Francisco, CA – Great American Music Hall 17 – Las Vegas, NV – House of Blues 18 – Los Angeles, CA – The Wiltern
