Rock and Roll Hall of Famers Foreigner have announced a Canadian leg of their ongoing farewell tour for October, but longtime singer Kelly Hansen, who joined the band in 2005, won’t be joining them onstage.
Instead, Foreigner will be fronted by Geordie Brown, an actor and singer from Nova Scotia who took the lead role in the Juke Box Hero, The Musical when it premiered at the Ed Mirvish Theatre in Toronto, Ontario, in 2019.
Brown also performed with Foreigner in 2020, when he was invited onstage by Hansen at the climax of an Ice Cold Ice tour show in Halifax, NS, and took the lead for a performance of the classic single Hot Blooded.
“I was most impressed by Geordie’s performances of Juke Box Hero, The Musical in Canada,” said Foreigner’s Mick Jones, who hasn’t toured with the band since 2023. “He is not only a consummate vocalist, but a verified Broadway actor to boot. We look forward to welcoming him at our shows on Foreigner’s 2025 Canadian tour.”
“I count myself so fortunate that they’re bringing me along on this next chapter with the musical, and this Canadian tour,” says Brown. “Right now, I’m most looking forward to our Halifax show, for my hometown crowd.”
Hansen is scheduled to perform in Canada with Foreigner in July, when the band’s farewell visits Windsor, ON and Winnipeg, MB, for three shows. It’s not been confirmed why he’s not participating in the October dates.
The next leg of Foreigner’s farewell tour, which has featured guest appearances from original frontman Lou Gramm, takes in dates in Central and South America in April and May, before returning to the US.
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Tickets for the new Canadian shows go on sale on March 28. Support (apart from the shows in Thunder Bay and Cranbook) will come from Tsawwassen rockers 54-40.
Foreigner: Farewell Tour 2025
Apr 28: Ciudad De México Arena CDMX, Mexico Apr 30: Zapopan Auditorio Telmex, Mexico May 02: Miraflores Arena 1, Peru May 03: Quito Atahualpa Olympic Stadium, Ecuador May 05: Bogotá Movistar Arena, Colombia May 07: Santiago Movistar Arena, Chile May 08: Buenos Aires Tecnopolis, Argentina May 10: São Paulo Espaço Unimed, Brazil
Jun 11: Highland Yaamava’ Theater, CA Jun 12: Del Mar San Diego County Fair 2025, CA Jun 14: Scottsdale Ranch The Pool at Talking Stick Resort, AZ Jun 15: Tucson The Linda Ronstadt Music Hall, AZ Jun 18: Paso Robles Vina Robles Amphitheatre, CA Jun 20: Reno Reno Ballroom, NV Jun 21: Wheatland Hard Rock Live Sacramento, CA Jun 26: Arnolds Park VIB Acoustic with Foreigner Members, IA Jun 27: Arnolds Park Amusement Park, IA Jun 29: Council Bluffs Stir Concert Cove-Harrah’s Council Bluffs Casino & Hotel, IA
Jul 04: Windsor The Colosseum at Caesars, ON Jul 05: Windsor The Colosseum at Caesars, ON Jul 09: Winnipeg Princess Auto Stadium, MB
Jul 11: Prior Lake Lakefront Music Fest 2025, MN Jul 12: Chippewa Falls Northern Wisconsin State Fairgrounds, WI Jul 22: York Expo Center, PA Jul 24: Columbus Ohio Expo Center & State Fair, OH Jul 29: Durham Performing Arts Center, NC Jul 30: Doswell SERVPRO presents Atlantic Union Bank After Hours, VA Aug 04: Selbyville Freeman Arts Pavilion, DE Aug 05: Cohasset South Shore Music Circus, MA Aug 08: North Lawrence Clay’s Resort Jellystone Park, OH Aug 10: Rockford Coronado Performing Arts Center, IL Aug 11: Cedar Rapids McGrath Amphitheatre, IA Aug 13: Lincoln Pinewood Bowl Theater, NE Aug 15: Hammond The Venue at Horseshoe Casino, IN Aug 16: Gibson City Sangamon Ave, IL Aug 30: Palmer Alaska State Fair Inc, AK Sep 11: Louisville Bourbon & Beyond 2025, KY Sep 14: Louisville Bourbon & Beyond 2025, KY Sep 16: Corbin Arena, KY Sep 21: West Springfield The Big E, MA Oct 10: Atlantic City Hard Rock Live at Etess Arena, NJ Oct 11: Atlantic City Hard Rock Live at Etess Arena, NJ
Oct 21: St. John’s Mary Brown’s Centre, NL Oct 23: Sydney Centre 200, NS Oct 24: Halifax Scotiabank Centre, NS Oct 25: Moncton Avenir Centre, NB Oct 27: Montreal Place des Arts, QC Oct 28: Ottawa The Arena at TD Place, ON Oct 29: Kingston Centre Slush Puppie, ON Oct 30: Sudbury Sudbury Community Arena, ON Nov 01: Sault. St. Marie GFL Memorial Gardens, ON Nov 02: Thunder Bay Thunder Bay Community Auditorium, ON Nov 05: Medicine Hat @ Co-op Place, AB Nov 06: Cranbrook Memorial Arena, BC Nov 07: Kelowna Prospera Place, BC
Online Editor at Louder/Classic Rock magazinesince 2014. 39 years in music industry, online for 26. 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.
Their biggest album, their longest tour yet. Mastodon really hit their prog stride with 2009’s Crack The Skye, emulating their 70s heroes with an astro-political conceptual masterpiece. In 2010 Prog sat down with the men from Atlanta to look back on it all…
It may all seem a little odd now, but when Mastodon started out in 1999, most people believed they were a metal band – nothing more. It was only when the conceptual Leviathan album was released in 2004 that everyone noticed the fact that here were a band who actually had a lot more sophistication and complexity to their musical aspirations than could be accounted for by any abiding interest in metal. And this is a point that Brann Dailor, the band’s drummer, is keen to make at once.
“For us, the most important era in music – the one that really inspired what we do – was the early 70s. You look back at what was going on then, and it was all about bands experimenting, taking risks, without thinking about the commercial problems they might be causing for themselves. It was the artistry that mattered.”
And when Dailor names the specific bands from those days to whom Mastodon feel most associated, then you’ll appreciate that we are talking here about a progressive act who happen to have metallic elements, rather than a metal band who’ve indulged other types of music.
“We embrace the spirit of early 70s prog as being the way that you should always approach music. When you listen to the fantastic albums made back then by King Crimson, Yes, Genesis, Pink Floyd… we’ve wholeheartedly taken on their ethos. Because they taught us that you didn’t have to dumb anything down to make your point. On the contrary, it was – and is – important to stick to what you believe in.”
Dailor should know what he’s talking about, as it’s mainly down to him that Mastodon took their current musical path. It was the drummer who first came up with the idea of the Atlanta-based quartet actually doing concept albums.
“I plead guilty to that, which means you either buy me a drink, or poison me, depending on whether you feel it’s something Mastodon should be doing,” laughs Dailor, clearly comfortable with his role in the way things have developed. “I was reading Moby-Dick, when it struck me that it could make a good storyline for a concept album, and that’s how Leviathan happened. Since then, we’re just far happier working within a conceptual idea.
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(Image credit: Warner Bros)
However, what Dailor doesn’t mention until pressed by Prog is that he is also the man charged with coming up with the initial concepts the band then turn into albums, a role he’s happy to fulfill.
“I’m the one who has the first thoughts along those lines. I can get inspiration from almost anywhere, but what I might put forward to the others [guitarist/vocalist Brent Hinds, guitarist Bill Kelliher and bassist/vocalist Troy Sanders] isn’t anywhere close to the final story. All of us play around with the ideas, until we work them into a shape that makes some sort of sense to us. I always try to ensure that what I first propose is something I know the others would appreciate: after all this time, I know them well enough to reject anything I believe they’d hate without even thinking.”
Dailor has already come up with the basic concept for the band’s next album, the successor to 2009’s Crack The Skye. And Mastodon are already working on the songs to bring this fresh story to life.
“I don’t want to give away too much as this stage, but like everything we’ve done so far it is partly mythological in structure. Does it have anything to do with Crack The Skye? To some extent there is a connection, but it is a loose one.”
Dailor says that the concept has undergone quite a process of rewrite since he first proposed it, but now the band are getting the music together. They hope to be in the studio by the start of May, recording what could prove to be their biggest challenge to date.
“It’s what keeps us going, the opportunity to go further than we’ve ever done. And this time there’s a lot to live up to. The music is still heavy in parts – that’ll never disappear – but there’s also a groove that I’d describe as being close to mid-70s Led Zeppelin.”
At the time of writing the band have yet to make a decision on the producer they’ll use this time, with Dailor admitting there are a few names in the frame. And the album title is also up in the air.
“That’s nothing unusual for us. That’s always a last-minute decision, There are a few possibilities that we’re considering, but what the rest of the guys don’t know is that I have a title I think will work brilliantly – the only thing is that I haven’t told any of them yet.”
Dailor hopes that the record will be out late summer, and is more than happy with the commitment made to Mastodon by current label Warner Bros.
“This is the last album we owe them under the current agreement, but I hope they decide we’re worth picking up for a contract extension. We’ve enjoyed working closely with them. And it’s not their fault we haven’t had huge sales. It’s the times we live in. Someone recently told me that if you took into account all the illegal downloading that goes on, then the 350,000 sales we had with Crack The Skye probably equates to over a million copies in earlier days. How do I feel about it? It’s hard to have an opinion, because that’s going to change nothing. I’m happy we have a career.”
(Image credit: Press)
Right now, the band are also promoting their first official live release. The CD/DVD Live At The Aragon was filmed and recorded at the Aragon Ballroom in Chicago on October 19, 2009. The centrepiece is unquestionably a performance of Crack The Skye in its entirety, something that became such a crucial part of the band’s live set on their last tour. Dailor is glad that they’ve been able to offer such a memento of a significant part of their development.
“That’s the reason we wanted to put this out. It was the biggest live production Mastodon have mounted so far, and we were determined to capture this. We had a 10-camera shoot in Chicago, which, as you can imagine, was very stressful. But what you’ll see and hear tells you where we were back then. I think it will be particularly interesting for anyone who failed to see us on that tour. It was an experience when I felt we truly came of age.”
However, there is one disappointment for the band as far as Crack The Skye is concerned. Such was the visual potential and breadth of the storyline – taking in Czarist Russia, astral and time travel, wormholes and religious beliefs – that there was a hope this would be turned into a movie in its own right. That’s a plan which the band held onto for so long. Now, though, Dailor admits they’ve had to let such ambitions drift away, to become part of another dimension that already houses so many other dashed dreams.
“It’s something we really did wanna do, but in the end the cost was just against us. We spent all the budget we had on getting the clips done which were used as backdrops for the live shows – and I think that was money well spent. Right now, the only hope we’d have is if the four of us took time out to write a treatment for the proposed film, and then one of us gets all done up in business clothes and tries to sell the idea to a movie studio in Hollywood. It might work, but that’s not what we’re about at all. So we’ll put this one down as the Mastodon ambition which got away.”
Although the band have their new album right at the core of plans for the coming months, there are also a series of summer shows coming up, including an appearance at the Sonisphere Festival at Knebworth Park on July 10.
“Typical Mastodon – we’ll get settled into the studio working on the new material, and then will have to take a break to go into rehearsals for the live dates. But, hey, we love playing onstage.”
Not only will these dates mark the official end of the Crack The Skye tour, but there’s just a possibility that the band will use these gigs as an opportunity to debut at least one new song.
“We might do that. The problem is that every time we’ve tried this sort of thing before it’s gone so wrong. We’d have to be really careful to choose the right sort of track. In all honesty, we might chicken out and avoid any new material for those performances.”
Mastodon are gearing up for a very busy end of 2011, with 2012 likely to be even crazier.
“I just love the fact that each year seems more full on than the previous one. Someone, somewhere always appears to have plans for us!”
Metallica guitarist Kirk Hammett reflects on his more than 40 years with the thrash metal icons in a new interview that touches on everything from toxic masculinity to his love of surfing.
Hammett, 62, says his reputation as Metallica’s peacemaker – particularly during well-documented tensions between drummer Lars Ulrich and frontman James Hetfield – doesn’t tell the whole story.
He tells the Telegraph: “I have to say, I do have a temper. And I can butt heads with people. I butt heads with James and Lars occasionally. It’s just part of being in a band and being with someone for 40-plus years.
“We were like a gang of youths and just looking for somewhere to belong. I came from a broken home, James came from a broken home, Lars came from a broken home.
“The most well-adjusted person was Cliff Burton. We were all basket cases! But we created this thing called Metallica that’s been our refuge. It’s been the one constant in our lives.
“I was equally as ornery as Lars and James. When I joined the band, I was right in there talking shit and doing crazy stuff, just as much as James and Lars and Cliff were.”
Reflecting on that toxic masculinity that fuelled the band in the early days leads Hammett to reflect on life in America today, where President Donald Trump and his most senior advisors have more than raised eyebrows with their rhetoric and actions in his second term in office.
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He says: “In the last two or three years, I’ve gotten way into ancient history, and the interesting thing is that, back then, almost all the major civilisations were led by women.
“Matriarchal societies, they are very, very successful. This patriarchal society, with all this fucking masculinity stuff, it’s ingrained in all us males that, if males are leading at the top, that means all males in our culture need to be a leader.
“We can’t all be leaders and that’s where the masculinity comes in: ‘Who’s the best to lead, the strongest, the fastest, the meanest?'”
Hammett has never been afraid to speak openly about his difficult childhood, saying previously that his father beat him and his mother. With that kind of start, it’s no surprise that toxicity carried through to his young adulthood.
Hammett adds: “My dad was a full-blooded Irishman who liked to drink and liked to scrap. He was always fighting people, even fighting his friends. He would get together with my uncles and it was just one big fucking toxic soup of masculinity, and that’s what I came out of.”
The atmosphere in the band these days is seemingly much less toxic, and Hammett cannot envision ever leaving the band behind.
“Leaving Metallica is not an option,” he says. “If I ever left Metallica, everyone in the world would remind me that I used to be in Metallica.”
To unwind, Hammett takes to the ocean where he lives in Hawaii. He says: “I hate being indoors for any extended amount of time and love to surf.”
And he has also just released his new coffee table book The Collection: Kirk Hammett. Published by Gibson, the book explores Hammett’s huge guitar collection and is available to order now.
Feature Photo:Gene Smirnov – [1] – philadelphia commercialportrait and music photographer., CC BY-SA 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons
Formed in 1995 by percussionist Shawn Crahan and bassist Paul Gray, Slipknot immediately stood out from their peers, incorporating a nine-member lineup characterized by masked performers and explosive, chaotic live shows. Vocalist Corey Taylor joined the band in 1997, becoming the face and voice behind their aggressive sound, which seamlessly blended nu-metal, alternative, and extreme metal influences.
Their journey to national attention began with a self-released demo, Mate. Feed. Kill. Repeat., which laid the groundwork for their sonic assault. After signing with Roadrunner Records in 1998, Slipknot burst onto the mainstream metal scene with their eponymous debut studio album in 1999. The album struck like lightning, quickly achieving platinum status, driven by high-energy singles like “Wait and Bleed” and “Spit It Out,” which earned substantial rotation on MTV and alternative rock radio. This first album not only resonated with metalheads hungry for authenticity but also set the stage for the band’s fiercely loyal fanbase—dubbed affectionately as “Maggots.”
The momentum continued as Slipknot delivered their groundbreaking sophomore record, Iowa, in 2001. Darker, heavier, and even more brutal, Iowa quickly climbed the charts, peaking at number three on the Billboard 200, powered by blistering tracks like “Left Behind” and “My Plague.” This success cemented their reputation as uncompromising artists who refused to soften their aggressive approach for commercial gain. Over the following years, Slipknot continued refining their sound with subsequent albums—Vol. 3: (The Subliminal Verses) in 2004, All Hope Is Gone in 2008, .5: The Gray Chapter in 2014, We Are Not Your Kind in 2019, and most recently, The End, So Far in 2022. In total, Slipknot has released seven studio albums, each reflecting their evolution while remaining true to their original ferocity.
Throughout their career, Slipknot amassed multiple accolades, reflecting both critical acclaim and widespread popularity. They’ve been nominated for ten Grammy Awards, securing the trophy in 2006 for Best Metal Performance with their powerhouse anthem “Before I Forget.” Other celebrated tracks, including “Duality,” “Psychosocial,” and “The Devil in I,” not only dominated metal airwaves but also broke into mainstream rock playlists, showcasing their versatility without sacrificing intensity. Their innovative music videos—characterized by theatricality, dark imagery, and unrelenting energy—earned multiple nominations at the MTV Video Music Awards, cementing their legacy as pioneers of metal’s visual and sonic frontier.
Slipknot’s enduring appeal stems from their relentless authenticity, relentless touring, and deeply personal lyrical themes tackling pain, identity, isolation, and rebellion. Fans worldwide connect passionately to their emotional honesty and unapologetic intensity. Their dedication to performance—showcasing elaborate masks and jumpsuits to create a dramatic, almost ritualistic live experience—has earned them legendary status on the global concert circuit. Few bands in heavy metal deliver performances as consistently raw, chaotic, and viscerally thrilling as Slipknot, whose fans continue to fill stadiums and festival grounds around the world.
Outside their relentless touring and recording schedules, Slipknot members have undertaken notable initiatives, supporting charitable causes and raising awareness on social issues. Frontman Corey Taylor, especially, has been outspoken on mental health and suicide prevention, openly sharing his personal struggles and advocating for support and compassion within and beyond the music community.
(515) – Iowa – 2001
742617000027 – Slipknot – 1999
(sic) – Slipknot – 1999
.execute. – All Hope Is Gone – 2008
A Liar’s Funeral – We Are Not Your Kind – 2019
Acidic – The End, So Far – 2022
Adderall – The End, So Far – 2022
Adderall (instrumental) – Adderall EP – 2023
Adderall (no intro) – Adderall EP – 2023
Adderall (rough demo) – Adderall EP – 2023
All Hope Is Gone – All Hope Is Gone – 2008
All Out Life – We Are Not Your Kind (Japanese edition bonus) – 2019
AOV – .5: The Gray Chapter – 2014
Be Prepared for Hell – .5: The Gray Chapter – 2014
Before I Forget – Vol. 3: (The Subliminal Verses) – 2004
Birth of the Cruel – We Are Not Your Kind – 2019
Butcher’s Hook – All Hope Is Gone – 2008
Child of Burning Time – All Hope Is Gone (Special edition) – 2008
Vermilion – Vol. 3: (The Subliminal Verses) – 2004
Vermilion Pt. 2 – Vol. 3: (The Subliminal Verses) – 2004
Vermilion Pt. 2 (Bloodstone mix) – All Hope Is Gone (Special edition) – 2008
Wait and Bleed – Slipknot – 1999
Warranty – The End, So Far – 2022
Welcome – Vol. 3: (The Subliminal Verses) – 2004
What’s Next – We Are Not Your Kind – 2019
Wherein Lies Continue – All Hope Is Gone – 2008
XIX – .5: The Gray Chapter – 2014
Yen – The End, So Far – 2022
Albums
Slipknot (1999): 21 songs
Iowa (2001): 15 songs
Vol. 3: (The Subliminal Verses) (2004): 15 songs
All Hope Is Gone (2008): 16 songs
.5: The Gray Chapter (2014): 19 songs
We Are Not Your Kind (2019): 15 songs
The End, So Far (2022): 12 songs
Adderall EP (2023): 6 song
Check out our fantastic and entertaining Slipknot articles, detailing in-depth the band’s albums, songs, band members, and more…all on ClassicRockHistory.com
Brian Kachejian was born in Manhattan and raised in the Bronx. He is the founder and Editor in Chief of ClassicRockHistory.com. He has spent thirty years in the music business often working with many of the people who have appeared on this site. Brian Kachejian also holds B.A. and M.A. degrees from Stony Brook University along with New York State Public School Education Certifications in Music and Social Studies. Brian Kachejian is also an active member of the New York Press.
No reason has been given for cancelling more than half of the Gene Simmons Band tour dates, but it is said not to be linked to his health in any way.
While the pulled shows are being described as postponed, tickets are being refunded and any of the roadie experience tickets sold for the affected shows can either be refunded or switched to any of the remaining available dates.
In a statement, Christina Vitaglano who runs Simmons’ backstage VIP fan experience packages, says the April dates and the Texas leg of their May dates have all been postponed “until early 2026.”
Meanwhile, Kiss have announced they will perform an unmasked show in November as part of the Kiss Army fan club’s 50th anniversary celebrations.
The Kiss Army Storms Vegas event takes place at the Virgin Hotels in LAs Vegas on November 14-16 and will also feature a performance by former Kiss member Bruce Kulick.
The Kiss show will be their first performance since their 2023 farewell tour.
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Apr 03: House of Blues, Anaheim, CA (CANCELLED) Apr 04: Pechanga Resort Casino, Temecula, CA (CANCELLED) Apr 05: Graton Resort & Casino, Rohnert Park, CA (CANCELLED) Apr 08: Muckleshoot Casino Resort, Auburn, WA (CANCELLED) Apr 10: The Great Saltair, Magna, UT (CANCELLED) Apr 11: Paramount Theatre, Denver, CO (CANCELLED) Apr 25: Ruth Eckerd Hall, Clearwater, FL (CANCELLED) Apr 26: Fillmore, Miami Beach, FL (CANCELLED) Apr 28: The Moon, Tallahassee, FL (CANCELLED) Apr 29: Florida Theater, Jacksonville, FL (CANCELLED) Apr 30: Hard Rock Live, Orlando, FL (CANCELLED) May 02: The Fred Amp, Peachtree City, GA May 03: Beaver Dam Amphitheater, Beaver Dam, KY May 05: Basie, Red Bank, NJ May 06: Wellmont, Montclair, NJ May 08: Wind Creek Casino, Bethlehem, PA May 09: The Paramount, Huntington, NY May 11: Mohegan Sun Arena, Uncasville, CT May 14: MGM, Northfield, OH May 15: Fallsview Casino, Niagara Falls, ON May 17: The Horseshoe, Hammond, IN (CANCELLED) May 18: Hard Rock, Rockford, IL (CANCELLED) May 20: Brown County Music Center, Nashville, IN (CANCELLED) May 22: House of Blues, Dallas, TX (CANCELLED) May 23: Tobin Center, San Antonio, TX (CANCELLED) May 24: House of Blues, Houston, TX (CANCELLED)
Stef wrote close to 5,000 stories during his time as assistant online news editor and later as online news editor between 2014-2016. An accomplished reporter and journalist, Stef has written extensively for a number of UK newspapers and also played bass with UK rock favourites Logan. His favourite bands are Pixies and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. Stef left the world of rock’n’roll news behind when he moved to his beloved Canada in 2016, but he started on his next 5000 stories in 2022.
Megadeth mainman Dave Mustaine has blasted the nu metal genre and says he’s happy it “went away”.
The thrash metal icon’s biggest gripe with the nu metal bands that ruled the rock world in the 1990s and 2000s is that, at least in his estimation, they “couldn’t do solos.”
Mustaine tells Lifeminute: “There was a period in 2000 where we had these bands called, I think it was nu metal, and they didn’t do any solos.
“Well, why didn’t they do any solos? They couldn’t do solos. And thank God that genre went away. People started to learn how to do solos.
“I would say, if you’re in a nu metal band, you probably would be challenged even playing Johnny B. Goode. So I’m glad that went away.”
Asked whether there were any new bands that he enjoyed listening to, Mustaine is still not very forthcoming.
He adds: “Well, I like some of the older music because new stuff I mean, all the good chords are taken. And if you think back when I started 40 years ago, the music playing field didn’t have millions of kids sitting at home doing guitar riffs into their computer and then posting it online.
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“There’s good and bad with everything, and when people do things for their own art, that’s great. But when you start seeing these manufactured records that band members didn’t play on, that’s fraud. So, I like bands that really play what they do.”
He did have some kind words to say though, saving his praise for Pink Floyd‘s Dave Gilmour.
Mustaine says: “One of my favourite guitar players is one of the simplest guys in the world. It’s the guy from Pink Floyd, David Gilmour.
“He could do more with one note than some of the guys playing nowadays can do with 12. And it’s just a matter of feeling. The guitar, you’re touching it, so it’s an extension of your spirit, your soul, and how you make it sound.”
Megadeth’s Dave Mustaine and Family Talk Their Fine Wine Biz, Music, and Tour Their Tennessee Estate – YouTube
Kiss is set to return to the stage for their first live performance in two years.
According to an e-mail sent to followers of the recently updated KissOnline.com website, the group will perform an unmasked live show as part of the three-day Kiss Army Storms Vegas event.
You can see the e-mail below.
The event is scheduled to take place Nov. 14-16 at Virgin Hotels Las Vegas. In addition to Kiss’ unmaked performance, the e-mail notes that a full schedule of activities will be announced shortly.
It continues to say that fans can expect “a special live performance from former Kiss member Bruce Kulick, along with other special guests, activities, exclusive experiences and more.”
Fans can sign up now to receive more information when it becomes available via Kiss.Vibee.com.
Kiss concluded their nearly four-year long End of the Road farewell tour with a Dec. 2, 2023 concert at New York City’s Madison Square garden. But band founders Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley were always careful to leave the door open for future special shows.
A month before the tour ended, Simmons promised Rolling Stone that their MSG show would be “the final Kiss-in-makeup appearance,” leaving the door open for unmasked performances.
“Anything’s possible,” Stanley added in a separate interview. “Kiss is so far from over, though Kiss as we know it is done.”
Kiss Fans Celebrate ‘Dressed to Kill’ With New York City Expedition
A large group of Kiss fans celebrated the 50th anniversary of the band’s Dressed to Kill album Saturday by touring New York City with the help of a new hour-long audio tour. The tour started at the corner of W. 23rd St and 8th Avenue, where the band shot the album’s famous cover photo.
Fans from around the world can enjoy the tour with their mobile devices at this location.
Kiss Live Albums Ranked Worst to Best
You wanted the best, you get the best.. and the rest.
Feature Photo: U.S. Air Force photo by Tech. Sgt. Michael B. Keller, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Seether emerged from Pretoria, South Africa, initially forming in 1999 under the name Saron Gas. The band, driven by vocalist and guitarist Shaun Morgan, bassist Dale Stewart, and drummer John Humphrey, quickly made a name in the South African music scene with their heavy yet melodic sound. Recognizing their potential to reach international audiences, they relocated to the United States in 2002 and changed their name to Seether, signaling their ambitions to connect with a global fanbase.
The band’s major-label debut, Disclaimer, arrived in 2002 and successfully introduced their blend of post-grunge and alternative metal to audiences worldwide. The album featured breakout singles such as “Fine Again,” “Driven Under,” and notably “Broken,” a track later re-released in 2004 as a duet featuring Amy Lee of Evanescence. This collaboration significantly boosted their profile internationally, becoming one of their most recognizable and commercially successful singles.
Seether has since released a total of eight studio albums, each solidifying their reputation for emotionally charged music. Following Disclaimer, they released Karma and Effect (2005), which included hits like “Remedy” and “Truth,” establishing their presence on rock radio. Subsequent albums—Finding Beauty in Negative Spaces (2007), Holding Onto Strings Better Left to Fray (2011), Isolate and Medicate (2014), Poison the Parish (2017), and Si Vis Pacem, Para Bellum (2020)—continued this momentum, showcasing the band’s evolving sound and consistently delivering commercially successful singles such as “Fake It,” “Rise Above This,” “Country Song,” and “Let You Down.”
Throughout their career, Seether has been recognized for their significant contributions to rock music. They received notable accolades, including a Billboard Music Award for Active Rock Song of the Year in 2011 for “Country Song,” reflecting their popularity and influence. Their ability to craft songs that candidly explore themes of emotional struggle, addiction, and personal resilience has earned them critical acclaim and deep respect among fans and peers alike.
Seether’s enduring appeal largely stems from Shaun Morgan’s deeply personal songwriting and the band’s authentic, no-frills approach to music-making. Their honest exploration of difficult themes has created a meaningful connection with listeners, resonating widely with audiences navigating their own personal challenges. This authenticity, combined with their energetic live performances, has cultivated a loyal and passionate global fanbase.
Outside their musical pursuits, Seether has consistently used their platform to promote mental health awareness and advocacy, reflecting their commitment to making positive impacts beyond music. Shaun Morgan, in particular, has openly shared his personal struggles with addiction and mental health, becoming an influential voice advocating for greater awareness and openness on these issues. In 2012, the band founded the Rise Above Fest, an annual music festival designed to raise awareness and funds for suicide prevention, showcasing their dedication to social responsibility and community support.
Seether continues to maintain their presence in the rock music scene through consistent touring, new music releases, and dedicated engagement with fans. Their passionate approach to music and genuine concern for their community ensure that they remain a beloved and respected band within the industry.
Complete List Of Seether Songs From A to Z
69 Tea – Disclaimer – 2002
69 Tea – Disclaimer II – 2004
Against the Wall – Poison the Parish – 2017
Because of Me – Karma and Effect – 2005
Beg – Si Vis Pacem, Para Bellum – 2020
Beneath the Veil – The Surface Seems So Far – 2024
Betray and Degrade – Poison the Parish – 2017
Breakdown – Finding Beauty in Negative Spaces – 2007
Broken – Disclaimer – 2002
Broken – Disclaimer II – 2004
Broken (acoustic) – Holding Onto Strings Better Left to Fray (UK Deluxe DVD) – 2011
Broken (featuring Amy Lee) – Disclaimer II – 2004
Bruised and Bloodied – Si Vis Pacem, Para Bellum – 2020
Buried in the Sand – Si Vis Pacem, Para Bellum – 2020
Burn the World – Isolate and Medicate (Deluxe) – 2014
Burrito – Karma and Effect – 2005
Can’t Go Wrong – Si Vis Pacem, Para Bellum – 2020
Careless Whisper (George Michael cover) – Finding Beauty in Negative Spaces (2009 re-release) – 2007
Remedy (live) – Si Vis Pacem, Para Bellum (Walmart Exclusive) – 2020
Remedy (plugged in) – Holding Onto Strings Better Left to Fray (UK Deluxe DVD) – 2011
Rise Above This – Finding Beauty in Negative Spaces – 2007
Rise Above This (acoustic) – Holding Onto Strings Better Left to Fray (UK Deluxe DVD) – 2011
Roses – Holding Onto Strings Better Left to Fray – 2011
Roses (Protector Drumstep remix) – Holding Onto Strings Better Left to Fray (UK Deluxe) – 2011
Same Damn Life – Isolate and Medicate – 2014
Same Mistakes – The Surface Seems So Far – 2024
Save Today – Isolate and Medicate – 2014
Saviours – Poison the Parish – 2017
See You at the Bottom – Isolate and Medicate – 2014
Sell My Soul – Poison the Parish – 2017
Semblance of Me – The Surface Seems So Far – 2024
Simplest Mistake – Karma and Effect – 2005
Six Gun Quota – Finding Beauty in Negative Spaces – 2007
Sold Me – Disclaimer II – 2004
Something Else – Poison the Parish – 2017
Something in the Way (Nirvana cover) – Disclaimer (2022 Deluxe Edition) – 2002
Stoke the Fire – Poison the Parish – 2017
Suffer It All – Isolate and Medicate – 2014
Sympathetic – Disclaimer – 2002
Sympathetic – Disclaimer II – 2004
Take a Minute – Poison the Parish (Bonus) – 2017
Take Me Away – Disclaimer II (Deluxe) – 2004
The Gift – Karma and Effect – 2005
Tonight – Holding Onto Strings Better Left to Fray – 2011
Tongue – Karma and Effect – 2005
Truth – Karma and Effect – 2005
Try to Heal – The Surface Seems So Far – 2024
Turn Around – Isolate and Medicate (Deluxe) – 2014
Untitled – Finding Beauty in Negative Spaces (B-side) – 2007
Walk Away from the Sun – Finding Beauty in Negative Spaces – 2007
Walls Come Down – The Surface Seems So Far – 2024
Waste – Finding Beauty in Negative Spaces – 2007
Wasteland – Si Vis Pacem, Para Bellum – 2020
Wasteland (alternate version) – Si Vis Pacem, Para Bellum (Deluxe) – 2020
Watch Me Drown – Isolate and Medicate – 2014
Weak – Isolate and Medicate (Deluxe) – 2014
What Would You Do? – Si Vis Pacem, Para Bellum (Deluxe) – 2020
Will It Ever End? – Si Vis Pacem, Para Bellum (Deluxe) – 2020
Words as Weapons – Isolate and Medicate – 2014
World Falls Away – Karma and Effect – 2005
Written in Stone – Si Vis Pacem, Para Bellum – 2020
Yeah – Holding Onto Strings Better Left to Fray (Deluxe) – 2011
Your Bore – Disclaimer – 2002
Your Bore – Disclaimer II – 2004
Albums
Disclaimer (2002): 13 songs
Disclaimer II (2004): 20 songs
Karma and Effect (2005): 14 songs
Finding Beauty in Negative Spaces (2007): 18 songs
Holding Onto Strings Better Left to Fray (2011): 27 songs
Isolate and Medicate (2014): 14 songs
Poison the Parish (2017): 15 songs
Si Vis Pacem, Para Bellum (2020): 24 songs
The Surface Seems So Far (2024): 11 songs
Check out our fantastic and entertaining Seether articles, detailing in-depth the band’s albums, songs, band members, and more…all on ClassicRockHistory.com
Skip Anderson has written for various musical journals and historical periodicals. Skip spends his times writing and cooking a mean barbecue on his ranch in Southern Georgia.
“If you don’t like Bringing It All Back Home, you don’t like music. You should hand your ears back.” Bob Dylan’s game-changing album is 60 today and still astonishing
(Image credit: Columbia)
When I was a student I had a very posh and opinionated English tutor. Once we were doing Jane Austen’s Persuasion and he said, out of the blue: “If you don’t like Jane Austen, you don’t like reading.”
I laughed out loud. I hated Jane Austen and I hadn’t read Persuasion, fuck that.
Anyway: I feel the same way about Bob Dylan’s Bringing It All Back Home, which turns 60 today. If you don’t like it, you don’t like music. You should hand your ears back, check in your critical credentials, have a word with yerself.
Bringing It All Back Home is as punk as Never Mind The Bollocks, it’s as heavy as Black Sabbath (not musically, but lyrically), it is peak Americana, smarter than the nerdiest indie band. It’s a key influence on The Beatles, the Rolling Stones, The Byrds, even Led Zeppelin. It was so ahead of the curve we’re still trying to catch up, six decades later.
Think about it: In 1965, The Beatles were writing Help!, Ticket To Ride and Yesterday. They were great songwriters, sure, with hooks and melodies to spare – but they were trying to be professional Tin Pan Alley-style songwriters, the authors of love songs and standards.
They need somebody. The girl that’s driving them mad is going away. Yesterday, their troubles seemed so far away.
Dylan, meanwhile, was down in the basement, mixing up the medicine, and taking a chainsaw to Tin Pan Alley conventions. How must Lennon and McCartney have felt when they heard the words of It’s Alright Ma (I’m Only Bleeding)?
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“While preachers preach of evil fates/Teachers teach that knowledge waits/Can lead to hundred-dollar plates/And goodness hides behind its gates/But even the President of the United States/Sometimes has to stand naked.”
Stupid, that’s how.
The Beatles met Dylan in the summer of ‘64 and – the myth goes – they turned him on to, like, electricity. Dylan passed the spliff, like “Wha-? You can plug guitarsin? I’m gonna try that!” and, as a trade, helped them realise they could do better than all that yeah, yeah, yeah shit.
“I had a sort of professional songwriter’s attitude to writing pop songs,” said John Lennon. “I’d have a separate songwriting John Lennon who wrote songs for the meat market, and I didn’t consider them (the lyrics or anything) to have any depth at all.
“Then I started being me about the songs… I’d started thinking about my own emotions… It was Dylan who helped me realise that.”
Bob Dylan – It’s Alright, Ma (I’m Only Bleeding) (Official Audio) – YouTube
There’s a lot of crap talked about Bringing It All Back Home, so let’s look at that for a second. Over-worn cliche No.1: It’s the album on which Dylan INVENTED folk rock, by blending acoustic and electric music with meaningful lyrics.
I mean, yeah: apart from those guys, it was unheard of! No-one had done it!
Dylan’s not even the first white guy. Elvis Presley’s first single, That’s All Right – a title parodied by Dylan on It’s Alright Ma (I’m Only Bleeding) and released 11 years earlier, in 1954 – featured Elvis on acoustic and Scotty Moore on lead electric.
So Bringing is framed as being revolutionary – and it is, but not in the way it’s sometimes talked about. We are ten years or more into the rock’n’roll era by this point, nevermind the electric blues era (T-Bone Walker was releasing records in the ‘40s).
Dylan’s first pass at rock music was only startling to a folkie audience – a well-meaning but conservative bunch of nerds, by all accounts – who considered rock’n’roll an inauthentic confection at best, and cultural appropriation, at worst.
Dylan was shocking the folk audience in the same way that Elvis shocked the country audience, but no teenager listening to the blues or The Beatles (or The Stones, The Animals, The Yardbirds etc) was really going to be startled by this crazy new “beat music”.
Look at him, going all electric and that: Bob Dylan recording ‘Bringing It All Back Home’, January, 1965 in Columbia’s Studio A in New York City, New York. (Image credit: Getty Images)
What’s shocking and new is the voice. Not just his singing voice – it’s definitely unusual, but he is four albums in by this point. It’s the lyrical voice. Again, people like to portray this as REVOLUTION – Dylan abandoning the language of protest music for psychedelic beat poetry – but that’s not entirely accurate either.
For one, BIABH is full of protest songs and powerful, meaningful, memorable lyrics (“20 years of schoolin’/ and they put you on the day shift”) – no honest folkie could really feel cheated by the depth of the content – but, secondly, Dylan had been breaking the rules of folk songs and conjuring up symbolist beat poetry from day one.
His second album – the first one to really showcase his own material – contained A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall: “I saw a black branch with blood that kept drippin’/I saw a room full of men with their hammers a bleedin’.”
It was his thing. He was a rock’n’roll kid who learned to play like Woody Guthrie, but was born into the era of beat poetry and TV and mass media, a guy directed by Kerouac and Ginsburg (Ginsberg is literally pictured on the back cover of BIABH) to read Verlaine, Rimbaud, Baudelaire.
“I listened to the radio a lot and hung out in record stores… and learned songs from a world that didn’t exist around me,” he said.
Dylan’s own sleevenotes on the album reference bluesman Sleepy John Estes, Jayne Mansfield, Humphrey Bogart, Mortimer Snerd (a famous ventriloquist’s dummy), Murph The Surf (an infamous surfer-turned-jewel thief), Allen Ginsberg, Hank Williams, Norman Mailer (“if someone thinks Norman Mailer is more important than Hank Williams, that’s fine, I have no arguments and I never drink milk”), Bach, Mozart, Tolstoy, Joe Hill (NB: not Stephen King’s son), Gertrude Stein and James Dean.
He was a cultural sponge. Where the folkies wanted to keep their music pure – and everything about that word seems suspect now – Dylan had realised that rock’n’roll was the new folk music.
Little Richard and Chuck Berry were songwriters and performers, telling stories about life today. Dylan had that too – but his vision was huge. He wasn’t interested in writing teenage anthems any more than he was in “protest songs” – he was channelling the post-war trauma, the history of America, the threat of apocalypse.
And by doing so, he elevated popular music.
He was punk: he showed a generation of singers – from Jimi Hendrix to Lou Reed, David Bowie to Joe Strummer – that they didn’t have to have an enormous range, or look like Elvis, they just had to express themselves.
Bob Dylan – Subterranean Homesick Blues (Official HD Video) – YouTube
Bringing It All Back Home begins with Subterranean Homesick Blues – the title alone must’ve made the folkies shiver – the fast vocal rap of Chuck Berry on Too Much Money Business transformed into a barrage of drug paranoia (“the heat put/ Plants in the bed but/The phone’s tapped anyway/Maggie says that many say/They must bust in early May/Orders from the DA”).
Funny, hip, deep yet disposable, it comes on like an ad jingle from hell, a buncha rapped orders – “Walk on your tip toes/Don’t tie no bows” – with the kind of advice people wanted from him (“Don’t follow leaders”) comically undercut by more practical advice (“Watch the parkin’ meters”).
She Belongs Me: a beautifully melodic song of obsession. At the beginning, you’ll do anything for her, he says, but you will end up broken (“peeking through her keyhole/Down upon your knees”). The title is ironic: she belongs to no one.
I knew the phrase Maggie’s Farm before I’d ever heard the song. Maggie’s Farm had a kind of second life twenty years later when Margaret Thatcher was in power in the UK. The Specials and U2 covered it and – a protest song about bosses, drudgery, and conforming (“Well, I try my best to be just like I am/But everybody wants you to be just like them”) – it became a kind of leftist code/cliche: “We’re all working on Maggie’s farm now.”
Dylan is having the time of his life and Bob Dylan’s 115th Dream – with Spike Lee’s dad, Bill Lee, on bass – opens with him dissolving in laughter, guaranteed to get up the noses of the folkbores. Who before him has taken such delight in wordplay and shaggy dog stories? (“I got a coin to flip/It came up with tails/It rhymed with sails/So I made it back to the ship.”)
The B-Side is the “worthy acoustic side”, as though the A-side was a ruse, a tease, Outlaw Blues and On The Road Again suckering those folky fuckers into thinking he’d lost it and then
BLAM!Mr Tambourine Man: an undeniable pop hook and an ode to his own transformative powers, wherever they might take him (“I’m ready to go anywhere, I’m ready for to fade/Into my own parade”).
BANG! Cut the same day as Tambourine Man – a good day on Maggie’s Farm – Gates of Eden and It’s Alright Ma (I’m Only Bleeding).
POW!It’s Alright Ma: stuffed full of astonishing images, and quotable lines:
“Flesh coloured Christs that glow in the dark/It’s easy to see without looking too far/That not much is really sacred”.
“Advertising signs that con/ You into thinking you’re the one//That can do what’s never been done/That can win what’s never been one.”
It’s a song for us working stiffs – “that must obey authority/That they do not respect in any degree/Who despise their jobs, their destinies/Speak jealously of them that are free…” – a nightmare vision that in its very creativity, by giving us those words, makes it everything seem alright.
I mean, fuck it, we’re only bleeding. It’s just a flesh wound.
It climaxes with It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue, surely a sister song to It Ain’t Me Babe, a final kiss-off to the folk scene and “protest music”. There’s enough copyists, he says, I’m moving on. Donovan, in particular, was victim to more than a few Dylan eye-rolls at this time and Bob takes extreme delight in playing this song to him in a scene in the documentary Don’t Look Back.
Donovan and co are the vagabonds at his door, dressed in the clothes that he once wore, and it’s time for him to “strike another match, go start anew.”
In the sleevenotes, he talks about being at the end of history (“the great books have been written, the great sayings have all been said”) so Bringing It All Back Home takes us back to the beginning – a primordial soup of folk and blues and poetry.
The artists that followed in his wake took all the parts and built what we now know as rock music. The match had been struck. The fire was just getting started.
Scott is the Content Director of Music at Future plc, responsible for the editorial strategy of online and print brands like Louder, Classic Rock, Metal Hammer, Prog, Guitarist, Guitar World, Guitar Player, Total Guitar etc. He was Editor in Chief of Classic Rock magazine for 10 years and Editor of Total Guitar for 4 years and has contributed to The Big Issue, Esquire and more. Scott wrote chapters for two of legendary sleeve designer Storm Thorgerson‘s books (For The Love Of Vinyl, 2009, and Gathering Storm, 2015). He regularly appears on Classic Rock’s podcast, The 20 Million Club, and was the writer/researcher on 2017’s Mick Ronson documentary Beside Bowie.
“I agreed to join the band when I was drunk. I’ve not much recollection of what went on!”: The chaotic story of Black Sabbath’s Born Again and the tour that inspired Spinal Tap
Released in 1983, Born Again is the most controversial album of Black Sabbath’s illustrious career, largely thanks to the controversial presence of Deep Purple singer Ian Gillan. In 2006, Gillan looked back on the chaotic creation of a flawed classic – and the infamous tour that followed.
After eight studio albums between 1970 and 1978 with the original line-up – Ozzy Osbourne on vocals, Tony Iommi on guitar, bassist Geezer Butler and drummer Bill Ward – the band then recorded two classic studio albums with former Rainbow singer Ronnie James Dio, 1980’s Heaven And Hell and 1981’s Mob Rules. When Dio left acrimoniously following the release of 1982’s Live Evil live album, they were left looking for another singer.
The man who stepped in was unexpected: former Deep Purple singer Ian Gillan. Eyebrows were instantly raised. Wss this the birth of a new supergroup? Or was it the mismatch of the decade? “This isn’t Deep Sabbath, or Black Purple!” insisted bassist Geezer Butler at the time. “Ian Gillan’s joining Black Sabbath. So we won’t be playing Smoke On The Water!”
How those words would come back to haunt Butler. But on paper, there was a logic to the alliance: Sabbath were looking for a singer, Gillan was looking for a band.
“I actually agreed to join the band when I was completely drunk,” laughs Gillan, recalling those hazy, crazy days. “What happened was that I’d split up my band [Gillan], because I’d literally run out of money. I lost my house, my studio – even my car. Anyway, Sabbath had just fired Ronnie Dio, when I met up with Tony and Geezer one day in Bearsville, which is Upstate New York. We got very drunk, and I was literally under the table.
“I’ve not much recollection of what went on. But the next day my manager, Phil Banfield, rang me and said, ‘The next time you decide to make a career decision, consult me first!’. Apparently, I’d agreed in my drunken state to join Sabbath! So, there was no formal offer, just a very drunken discussion – and, as far as I can remember, I remained pissed for virtually the whole time I was with the band.
The addition of Gillan wasn’t the only change in the Sabbath line-up. Original drummer Bill Ward was back, a couple of years after quitting during the Heaven And Hell tour. His place had been taken by Vinny Appice, who opted to leave with Dio to form the singer’s eponymous band.
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Black Sabbath in 1983: (from left) Bev Bevan, Ian Gillan, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler (Image credit: Williams/Mirrorpix/Getty Images)
“Bill wasn’t a very well man, but he was such a nice guy,” says Gillan. “You could never wish to meet a more pleasant person. When he returned you had the whole of the classic Black Sabbath instrumental line-up back together. And let me tell you, they were amazing.”
This feature originally appeared in Metal Hammer magazine issue 155 (June 2006) (Image credit: Future)
It was agreed that the newly configured Sabbath would record the album at Manor Studios in Shipton, Oxfordshire, a complex that was then owned by Richard Branson]. But, as the singer recalls, the process was anything but normal. In fact, the whole situation was slightly surreal.
“I hardly ever saw the rest of the guys,” he says. “I’d work in the studio during the day, and party at night. Tony and Geezer would party during the day and sleep at night – or something like that. Here’s how it would work. I’d go into the studio until about 5pm. And as I was leaving, the rest of the guys would arrive. We’d probably talk very briefly, and I’d tell them what I thought of one or two ideas they’d recorded the previous night. They would work until about midnight, then go to a club in Birmingham, and get back to the studio about 8am, at which time I was up and boiling the kettle for my first cup of tea – just as they’d be ready to crash out and sleep! It was crazy, but it seemed to suit all of us.”
The Manor was a residential studio, yet Gillan decided not to stay in the house itself, but pitched a tent in the grounds. It sounds weird, given how big Sabbath – and Gillan himself – were.
“Not really,” he counters. “There was a horrible smell in the house – nothing to do with the rest of the band, I must say! – so I felt more comfortable sleeping in a tent. Beside, the whole time was out of control. There were a lot of strange things going on – explosions in rooms and the like. It was one long party. For my own safety, it made sense to stay out of the way!”
Given their reputation, it should come as no surprise that Sabbath reportedly fell foul of a local vicar, who apparently objected to the presence of rock’s Dark Lords in the vicinity. The truth, though, is a little more ‘cucumbers sandwiches’ than it is ‘midnight exorcism’, though it did inspire one of the album’s tracks.
“One day, it was quite hot, so I flung open the doors to the control room, and the sound was cranked very loud,” says Gillan. “Next thing I know, there’s a vicar standing in the room. He was extremely polite and friendly, but asked if we’d mind turning down what he described as ‘this wonderful music’ – I could tell he was trying very hard not to call it a ‘noise’ – because it was interfering with his choir practice.
“The man was so respectful, and we had no problems in working out a situation so that we didn’t blast out the music during those times when choir practice was going on. In fact, we got on so well that I went for a pint with him at the pub. The whole story’s in the song Disturbing The Priest.”
Another track based on a real life experience during these sessions was Trashed, which was actually inspired by a near-death encounter.
“I was close to being killed one day,” says Gillan, in the sort of voice that makes it all sound as if he were doing nothing more than feeding the ducks. “I was racing a car on a track, when it flipped over and slid on the bonnet for what seemed like ages. If I hadn’t been wearing a helmet, then I wouldn’t have survived. What’s odd is that I’m not sure what made me put on the helmet – but something did!”
The album, appropriately titled Born Again, was completed in just a few weeks. It was released in August 1983 to reviews that were generally positive – many singling out the mighty Zero The Hero in particular as a song that could stand toe-to-toe with the best of Sabbath, though the album’s garish cover – a demonic newborn baby, complete with fangs – was received less well.
The album reached No.4 in the UK – the highest charting Sabbath album since 1973’s Sabbath Bloody Sabbath. In America, it reached the Top 40 – lower than the two Dio albums, but higher than the final couple of Ozzy-era albums. But while Gillan thinks that the songs were strong, the sound of the album was rather insipid.
“I’ve got monitor mixes of the album that sound fantastic,” says the singer, who reportedly threw a cassette of the final mix out of the window of his speeding car the first time he heard them. “But something went wrong during the final process, perhaps at the mastering stage. It sounds like a blanket was thrown over the whole thing. I don’t blame our producer/engineer Robin Black – he was excellent – but someone has to take responsibility. My theory is that it may be something to do with a certain bassist.”
Black Sabbath onstage with Ian Gillan in 1984 (Image credit: Chris Walter/WireImage)
If the album itself was a qualified triumph, the Born Again tour bordered on the farcical. With Bill Ward once again ailing, ex-ELO drummer Bev Bevan took over behind the kit. In August 1983, Sabbath headlined the Reading Festival. Despite their earlier protests, they unexpectedly unleashed a version of Smoke On The Water, living up to those ‘Deep Sabbath’ jibes.
“It wasn’t planned,” protests Gillan. “Tony just went into the riff. I think the rest of the guys did it to help me out. Let’s face it, Ozzy is Black Sabbath’s singer, and I was struggling with songs like War Pigs and Iron Man. It was their way of balancing things. And we did it very well. Not only that, but it got a great response. I don’t think the fans saw it as sacrilege at all.”
However, this was a mere blip compared to what happened on the North American leg of the Born Again tour.
“We had a meeting at a company called Light & Sound Design in Birmingham, to discuss the stage set,” says Gillan. “We were asked if any of us had ideas, at which point Geezer said, ‘Let’s have Stonehenge’. Everyone thought it was great. But, when he was asked how big he envisioned the set being, Geezer just replied, ‘Life size, of course!’. So, it was built, and looked spectacular – I honestly think it’s one of the best Sabbath stage sets ever. But it was too large for a lot of the venues we played in!”
The size of the Stonehenge stage set prohibited Sabbath from actually setting it up on many of the stop-offs. But even when they could fit it onstage, there were still issues.
“The first night we used this set was at the Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto,” says Gillan. “And it was hilarious – unintentionally so! Our manager Don Arden had hired a stunt dwarf, who was supposed to walk along the top of Stonehenge at the start of the gig. He was dressed as the Satanic baby on the album cover, and was supposed to throw himself off as we began playing, landing on soft mattresses. But I suddenly heard a scream, because the dwarf had hit the hard floor below him.
“On top of that, we had some of our roadcrew dressed up as druids, which would have been very effective, if you couldn’t see their Reeboks peeking out from underneath the robes. The audience just laughed at the whole thing, and I can’t blame them. The effect for which we were aiming just fell way short!”
The ill-fated tour would provide the inspiration for a memorable scene in following year’s This Is Spinal Tap – except that rather than being too large, Stonehenge replica was comically small. “I had no problems in telling everything I knew to the consultants on the Spinal Tap movie,” admits Gillan. “And the results you can see on screen.”
The Born Again tour ended on March 3, 1984. Both parties knew that the alliance that had begun with a drunken night a little over a year earlier wasn’t built to last, and the parting was amicable. The album itself holds a unique place in the Sabbath cannon – seen by some as a misfire, but championed by others.
“I was only contracted for a year, and that was it,” says Gillan, who was already in talks to reunite Deep Purple before the tour ended. “But it was a great time. I believe that the album was very credible, and a lot better than some the band went on to record later. The production is poor, I agree with that criticism. But the songs and performances were real, honest, raw. They represent exactly where we were at the time. I am proud to have been part of Born Again, and to have been able to work with such great professionals was an experience. Perhaps we should have called the band a different name – maybe even ‘Black Sabbath featuring Ian Gillan’ – but you know what musicians are like. We tend to go with the flow. However, it was a great time in my life, and that’s the honest truth. Although looking back, I wonder how I survived!”
Originally published in Metal Hammer issue 155, July 2006
Malcolm Dome had an illustrious and celebrated career which stretched back to working for Record Mirror magazine in the late 70s and Metal Fury in the early 80s before joining Kerrang! at its launch in 1981. His first book, Encyclopedia Metallica, published in 1981, may have been the inspiration for the name of a certain band formed that same year. Dome is also credited with inventing the term “thrash metal” while writing about the Anthrax song Metal Thrashing Mad in 1984. With the launch of Classic Rock magazine in 1998 he became involved with that title, sister magazine Metal Hammer, and was a contributor to Prog magazine since its inception in 2009. He died in 2021.
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