“That’s legendary status right there.” Watch Zakk Wylde, Trivium, Within Temptation, Ice-T, Lacuna Coil, Jesse Leach, Hanabie and more celebrate 400 issues of Metal Hammer
(Image credit: Future)
Metal Hammer magazine has hit 400 issues with its latest, Sleep Token headlined, edition. To celebrate the fact, Hammer hosted a special birthday party at the iconic Black Heart in London with special guest DJ slots from UK metalcore heroes Employed To Serve and rising doom stars Green Lung.
Hammer has also received a video of well wishes from some of the many metal stars featured in its pages over the years, from Zakk Wylde to Ice-T, Jesse Leach, Sharon Den Adel and more.
Guitar legend Zakk Wylde kicks the video off in a typically playful way, introducing himself as “Zakk Wylde here: Black Label [Society], Ozzy, Pantera Celebration, Zakk Sabbath, Experience Hendrix… Dishes, laundry. I just wanna wish everyone out there at Metal Hammer UK happy 400th issue and here’s to a whole tonne more.”
Watch the full video below.
Zakk Wylde, Trivium, Within Temptation, Ice-T & more celebrate 400 issues of Metal Hammer – YouTube
Metal Hammer issue 400 is on-sale now featuring British metal sensation Sleep Token on the cover to commemorate the release of their latest – and possibly chart-topping – new album Even In Arcadia.
Elsewhere in the mag, we look over some of the cover stars from Hammer‘s history, uncovering what they were like then and how they’ve changed over the years.
There’s also a hometown tour of Oakland from Machine Head‘s Robb Flynn, a deep-dive into the history of symphonic metal giants Within Temptation, the story behind Coheed And Cambria’s The Suffering and Knocked Loose discussing their mission to make pigsqueals mainstream.
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Staff writer for Metal Hammer, Rich has never met a feature he didn’t fancy, which is just as well when it comes to covering everything rock, punk and metal for both print and online, be it legendary events like Rock In Rio or Clash Of The Titans or seeking out exciting new bands like Nine Treasures, Jinjer and Sleep Token.
Biocope, the collaboration between Marillion guitarist Steve Rothery and Tangerine Dream‘s Thorsten Quaeschning have shared their first new music, their brand new single Kaleidoscope.
“The project started life in early 2020 and after several five-day trips to Berlin over the years, and a few days in my home studio, it was finally ready to be mixed and mastered! It has taken a little longer than anticipated but it’s really sounding fantastic,” enthuses Rothery.
New single, Kaleidoscope, refers to multiple reflections by two or more reflecting surfaces has been known since the 16th century and was described by Giambattista della Porta in his Magia Naturalis (1558–1589).
Gentō will become available in retail stores as a CD+Blu-ray digipak, including the full album in high-res, Dolby Atmos as well as Dolby 5.1 Surround Mix, and heavyweight black gatefold 2LP gatefold as well as digital audio.
“It’s time to restore a dynamic vision for the future that’s not just about recycling our garbage and all that”: Disillusioned by the 21st century, Jean-Michel Jarre aims to inspire a new hope
(Image credit: Getty Images)
From musique concrète to stadium spectacles, Jean-Michel Jarre pioneered futuristic, yet accessible, electronica for decades. On his 2010 tour – when AI-generated art was still a theory – Prog found him paying tribute to visionary writer Arthur C Clarke, and arguing for a reboot of humanity’s future ambitions.
In the realm of electronic prog, no figure looms larger than Jean Michel Jarre. He’s sold 80 million albums, staged some of the most spectacular live events the world has ever seen and almost single-handedly taken the instrumental synthesizer form academia and avant-garde art centres to the masses. And yet, despite everything he’s achieved, it’s often been tempting to write him off as irrelevant.
In the wake of his meteoric rise to fame via 1977 debut Oxygène and 1978 follow-up Équinoxe, a new breed of innovators entered the electronic field. As early as 1979, former punk upstart Gary Numan started a wave of electro-pop which swept the synth stars of the 70s onto the sidelines. The cutting edge had moved, leaving meandering, album-length suites behind.
Other new such as Depeche Mode and New Order soon followed, dominating the charts while the likes of Tangerine Dream, Klaus Schulze and Jarre himself began to lose ground. The 1990s were even tougher, with the dominant dance music culture casting Jarre and his ilk as overblown, outdated anachronisms from a bygone age.
All this despite the enormous influence the pioneers of the 70s had on synth pop, dance, trance, techno, glitch, garage, house and just about every other form of electronic music.
Jarre, however, has never wavered in his commitment and his profile has remained high. He continues to record and tour regularly – and to his credit, he’s refused to play it safe. While the albums Oxygène 7-13 and Oxygène: New Master Recording have seen him exploiting the legacy that’s rightfully his, he hasn’t relied heavily on nostalgia.
Works such as 2000’s Métamorphoses – the first JMJ album to feature actual songs with lyrics – and 2007’s dance-orientated Téo & Téa have displayed a willingness to stray outside his comfort zone, take risks and even enter territory dominated by younger generations.
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Whatever the relative merits of his studio output, his live shows have remained popular attractions, and he continues to perform on a scale few can match. Although his ongoing world tour is something of a greatest hits package, it sees Jarre innovating again and setting himself some stiff challenges along the way. Like everything he does, it’s big – but there’s an element of randomness and benign chaos in his current performances that’s very far removed from the choreographed theatrics he’s normally associated with.
“I’ve done my best to make it exciting and visual,” Jarre explains. “I’ve tried very hard to stress the cinematic side of the music for this tour. It’s not respectful to sit behind a laptop for two hours – people are buying tickets, after all. I’m up there on stage with three other guys and it’s totally live.”
What’s particularly striking about Jarre’s 2010 show is just how physical the whole thing is. Making his way to the stage through a gob-smacked audience is just the beginning. He remains animated throughout as his companions twiddle and fiddle with the vast array of vintage synths, jogging about the stage, triggering whooshing and bleeping noises as he passes each instrument, orchestrating bouts of hand-clapping as he goes.
(Image credit: Getty Images)
He straps on an accordion for Chronologie 6 before firing up the legendary laser harp for Rendez-Vous. It’s as full- on as it is hands-on; and with everything happening in real time, they’re flying by the seat of their pants. “If you make a mistake on stage, people like that,” Jarre says. “It’s an element of danger. It’s a unique moment and it makes each concert different. Today so much is pre-programmed. I’m trying to make each concert as a unique moment that I can share on that evening with that audience.”
If the road trip has an unofficial theme, it’s the rediscovery of analogue. Jarre openly embraced digital synthesis and sampling when it first emerged – notably on 1981’s Magnetic Fields and 1984’s Zoolook – but time and time again he’s returned to the technology of the past and the mercurial instruments he popularised all those years ago.
The sound being played is as important as the notes being played… and there are things you just can’t do with digital
“We forgot what the analogue era gave us,” Jarre admits, “and we forgot what we owe to the period. Those instruments disappeared during the 80s and didn’t have a chance to grow up – to mature. Today, a violinist dreams about a Stradivarius, an instrument made in the 17th century. A guitar player dreams about a Gibson Les Paul ’58. For me it’s the same with analogue synthesizers.
“In the early days of digital you could play chords and notes, but with preprogrammed sounds. With analogue technology you can control the whole colour and tone of sounds. The sound being played is as important as the notes being played. People want the warmth – and there are things you just can’t do with digital.”
A perception persists that electronic music is generally cold and impersonal. In the 70s that view was rampant, and fed into wider debates about where technology was taking us. Synthesizers were perceived as inherently unmusical – even a threat to music, especially live music – and brought out latent Luddite tendencies spurred on by vague fears of the unknown.
Jean-Michel Jarre – The Time Machine Live (Laser Harp) – YouTube
“As part of my early work I was asked to do something for the theatre,” Jarre recalls, “and we had some trouble with the Musicians Union trying to unplug the speakers because they thought our machines would replace them!”
The dystopian nightmares of computer-dominated music never materialised. There has been some extremely austere and alien electronic music created over the years but the notion of technology radically undermining the basics of how music is created and performed has never come to pass. Most experiments with pure computer-generated music have proved to be dismal failures from a human perspective.
Since the 60s, when we talk about music we’re talking about songs. But music, historically, is without words
And therein lies one of the secrets of Jarre’s success: the human dimension. His tonal palette may be ethereal and otherworldly, but he himself remains the focal point and he is a star in the old fashioned sense. Where Tangerine Dream all but disappeared in darkened Gothic cathedrals, and Kraftwerk attempted to engineer themselves out of existence with robotic replacements, Jarre was centre stage, swamped by high-tech paraphernalia, lit up like a Christmas tree and with a million quid’s worth of fireworks exploding overhead.
He’s a celebrity who’s been married three times – twice to actresses – and a TV chat show regular who appears in glossy entertainment weeklies like Hello! How much do you know about Edgar Froese or Ralf Hütter’s private life?
Jean-Michel Jarre – Equinoxe, Pt. 5 (Official Music Video) – YouTube
Aside from Jarre presenting a human face, his early compositions had an organic feel which appealed to many who wouldn’t otherwise have considered themselves fans of electronic music. His warm tones, bubbling melodies and subtle French folk music influences created a welcoming, reassuring audio world, even when the mood was melancholy or reflective. Crucially, its instrumental nature meant it could go global, crossing cultural boundaries to become a truly universal language.
“What’s unique in instrumental music is that you’re in the direct narrative process,” says Jarre. “You’re giving a story to someone. Instrumental music is the most interactive way of expression, where you leave the audience free to build their own story, their own scenario or their own movie in their minds.
I always thought it was artificial to call one part Oxygene: Fool On A Hill when I’m not telling the story of a fool on a hill!
“I always felt there was something very special about music without words. Since the 60s, when we talk about music we’re talking about songs. But songs are just a sector of what is music – music, historically, is without words.
“For me, electronic music is like painting: dealing with different textures and colours to create perspectives and soundscapes rather than telling a story. The reason so many of my albums have a part one, part two, three, four, five is I always thought it was artificial to call one part Oxygene: Fool On A Hill when I’m not telling the story of a fool on a hill!”
On first hearing, his music sounded highly futuristic. The clean lines and precise pulse seemed to evoke visions of a wondrous age to come, an era of enlightenment for a united humanity. Jarre’s portrait on the rear of Equinoxe depicts him in a silvery space suit, set against a spacious, spotless cityscape at sunset. It’s an image of man, his urban environment and nature in harmony, a tantalising glimpse into a positive future for humanity set to the soundtrack contained within.
(Image credit: Getty Images)
The sense of joy and wonder found in Oxygène and Èquinoxe has never been lost. Mankind may be farther than ever from the utopian future of past promise, but Jarre maintains his positive outlook.
His latest tour is dubbed 2010 for more than the obvious reason. It’s a tribute to Arthur C Clarke, the towering literary and scientific figure who’s been immensely influential in Jarre’s life and work. One might even call him a mentor. As it turned out, the feelings of admiration were mutual, with Clarke writing in his book 2010: Odyssey Two, “I listened to all of Jean Michel Jarre’s albums obsessively, to the point of knowing every note by heart. His music accompanied me as I wrote.”
Our relationship with the future is full of anxiety and guilt… it’s quite arrogant to think we have the future of the planet in our hands
Jarre says: “I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw that! I’m a fan of 2001, the book and the movie. I was in London in 1982 when the sequel 2010 came out. I got the book and was amazed to see my name in the acknowledgements. So I wrote him a letter and we started a correspondence. He was a very interesting character. So I thought that, starting this really special world tour project in 2010, it would be nice simply calling it 2010 as a tribute to him.”
The pair shared a sense of untapped, unlimited possibility for the future development of the human race. In seeking out new sonic worlds, Jarre continues his lifelong quest to reimagine what music can be, to inspire others to reach beyond their assumed limitations and pursue the impossible.
“We have a dark vision of tomorrow,” he says. “Our relationship with the future is full of anxiety and guilt about pollution, the environment, global warming, how we’re going to survive on the planet and all that. Even if it’s partially true, I think it’s quite arrogant to think we have the future of the planet in our hands.
“There’s a lot of limitation in all this and it’s time to restore a dynamic vision for the future that’s not just linked to recycling our garbage and all those things. People like Arthur C Clarke gave us a very positive vision of the future. It was like after the year 2000 nothing would be the same. We had a lot of hopes and fantasies and dreams about the future.
“In these days, with the year 2000 behind us, it’s a little bit like we’re orphans of our own future. I think we need to recreate a dynamic vision for our future that we’ve lost.”
Bruce Springsteen had some harsh words for president Donald Trump during his 2025 tour launch in Manchester, England.
“It’s great to be in Manchester and back in the UK. Welcome to the Land of Hope and Dreams Tour,” the Boss declared upon taking the stage. “The mighty E Street Band is here tonight to call upon the righteous power of art, of music, of rock and roll in dangerous times. In my home, the America I love, the America I’ve written about, that has been a beacon of hope and liberty for 250 years, is currently in the hands of a corrupt, incompetent and treasonous administration. Tonight, we ask all who believe in democracy and the best of our American experience to rise with us, raise your voices against authoritarianism and let freedom ring.”
Springsteen – who has never been shy about offering his political views – received thunderous applause for his opening remarks. The rocker then proceeded to launch into “Land of Hopes and Dreams,” his first song of the night. Video of the Boss’ speech can be watched below.
Later in the set, Springsteen again took the opportunity to rage against the Trump administration. “There’s some very weird, strange, and dangerous shit going on out there,” the rocker said prior to performing “My City of Ruins.” “In America, they are persecuting people for using their right to free speech and voicing their dissent. This is happening now. In America, the richest men are taking satisfaction in abandoning the world’s poorest children to sickness and death. This is happening now.”
“And in my country, they are taking sadistic pleasure in the pain that they inflict on loyal American workers,” Springsteen continued. “They are rolling back historic civil rights legislation that led to a more just and moral society. They are abandoning our great allies and siding with dictators against those struggling for their freedom.”
What Did Bruce Springsteen Play at His First Concert of 2025?
Springsteen’s Manchester performance featured an array of tunes from throughout his iconic career. There were timeless hits – like “Born to Run,” “Darkness of the Edge of Town” and “Thunder Road” – but also an assortment of recent material. Among them, “Rainmaker,” an album cut from 2020’s Letter to You that was performed live for the first time. The Boss closed the night with his cover of Bob Dylan’s “Chimes of Freedom,” performed for the first time since 1988. The full set list from the concert can be found below.
The gig was Springsteen’s first official show of 2025, though it wasn’t his first performance this year. In March, the Boss appeared at a star-studded celebration of Patti Smith in New York, and last month he delivered three songs at the third annual American Music Honors event in New Jersey.
Springsteen’s European trek will continue with two more performances in Manchester, followed by further shows in France, Spain, the Czech Republic, Germany, Italy and the UK. The tour wraps July 3 in Milan, Italy.
Springsteen has announced that these will be the final performances of his tour that began in 2023. In total, the rocker will have played 130 shows with more than 4 million tickets sold.
Watch Bruce Springsteen Perform ‘Because the Night’ at 2025 Tour Opener
Watch Bruce Springsteen Perform ‘Born to Run’ at 2025 Tour Opener
Watch Bruce Springsteen Perform ‘Because the Night’ at 2025 Tour Opener
Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, 5/14/25, Manchester, England, Set List: 1. “Land of Hope and Dreams” 2. “Death to My Hometown” 3. “Lonesome Day” 4. “My Love Will Not Let You Down” 5. “Rainmaker” 6. “Darkness on the Edge of Town” 7. “The Promised Land” 8. “Hungry Heart” 9. “My Hometown” 10. “Youngstown” 11. “Murder Incorporated” 12. “Long Walk Home” 13. “House of a Thousand Guitars” 14. “My City of Ruins” 15. “Letter to You” 16. “Because the Night” 17. “Human Touch” 18. “Wrecking Ball” 19. “The Rising” 20. “Badlands” 21. “Thunder Road” 22. “Born in the U.S.A.” 23. “Born to Run” 24. “Bobby Jean” 25. “Dancing in the Dark” 26. “Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out” 27. “Chimes of Freedom”
Bruce Springsteen Albums Ranked
From scrappy Dylan disciple to one of the leading singer-songwriters of his generation, the Boss’ catalog includes both big and small statements of purpose.
Nine Inch Nails duo Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross are launching a new festival celebrating and showcasing film soundtrack scores, with John Carpenter and Danny Elfman among “a stacked lineup of visionaries doing something you might not see again”
(Image credit: Araya Doheny/Getty Images for Disney)
Nine Inch Nails duo Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross have announced their plans for a new music festival dedicated to showcasing some of the film world’s most acclaimed soundtrack composers.
Booked into the Los Angeles Equestrian Center for November 8, the bill for the inaugural Future Ruins festival will see Reznor and Ross, John Carpenter, Danny Elfman, Joker composer Hildur Guðnadóttir, Italian progressive rock legends Goblin, British TV and film composers Ben Salisbury and Geoff Barrow (Portishead) and more performing across three stages, many of those on the line-up performing their scores live for the very first time.
“It’s about giving people who are, literally, the best in the world at taking audiences on an emotional ride via music the opportunity to tell new stories in an interesting live setting,” Trent Reznor says in a statement.
“There’s no headliner. There’s no hierarchy. This is a stacked lineup of visionaries doing something you might not see again.”
In the press statement announcing the one-day event, the organisers add, “Each artist is encouraged to take big swings and reimagine their work for a live audience. Ranging from electronic sets and live bands to orchestral performances, fans have the chance to experience live debuts from composers who rarely appear onstage.”
Tickets go on sale on May 21 at 12PM Pacific Time, here.
The NIN duo are among the most respected, and decorated, film soundtrack composers of the modern era, having won two Oscars (Best Original Score for 2010’s The Social Network and 2020’s Soul), in addition to a host of Baftas, Grammys, Golden Globe Awards and Emmy Awards for their impressive catalogue.
In a 2024 interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Reznor stated, “Scoring has provided a way for me to feel vital, to feel challenged.”
“Over the last 10 years or so, I’ve been a bit disillusioned by popular music,” he admitted. “As I get older, some things feel less relatable to me. The business sucks. The way people consume music is not as inspiring as it used to be, it’s marginalized in a lot of ways. Scoring has provided a way for me to feel vital, to feel challenged.”
Reznor went on to confess that he initially considered the idea of scoring film “terrifying”, but says that working with director David Fincher on The Social Network taught him and Ross important lessons.
“We could still be us,” says Reznor, “and we could still apply the same things we would do writing a song, just shifting around how we look at it – where the script and the vision of the director and the scene and setting are the lyrics, and we could take our arrangement skills and the same things that we tap into emotionally in Nine Inch Nails into another setting. But it took a minute for us to understand that, a few months of waking up at 4 in the morning and sweating about, What did we get ourselves into?”
Reznor also stated that having worked on seven film scores since the last NIN album emerged, he has been inspired to return to making music for his band.
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“We’re taking the inspiration we’ve garnered and funneling it into a Nine Inch Nails project, which we’re working on now,” he said. “We’re ready to be back in the driver’s seat.”
A music writer since 1993, formerly Editor of Kerrang! and Planet Rock magazine (RIP), Paul Brannigan is a Contributing Editor to Louder. Having previously written books on Lemmy, Dave Grohl (the Sunday Times best-seller This Is A Call) and Metallica (Birth School Metallica Death, co-authored with Ian Winwood), his Eddie Van Halen biography (Eruption in the UK, Unchained in the US) emerged in 2021. He has written for Rolling Stone, Mojo and Q, hung out with Fugazi at Dischord House, flown on Ozzy Osbourne’s private jet, played Angus Young’s Gibson SG, and interviewed everyone from Aerosmith and Beastie Boys to Young Gods and ZZ Top. Born in the North of Ireland, Brannigan lives in North London and supports The Arsenal.
Sammy Hagar appears to have extended an olive branch to David Lee Roth, encouraging Van Halen fans to enjoy both singers’ efforts to honor the band in their solo endeavors.
The Red Rocker commented on an Instagram video posted by Chris Celfo last week comparing footage of Hagar and Roth performing on the same night in different locations. Roth made his return to the stage on May 3 at the M3 Rock Festival with a set comprising entirely Van Halen songs, marking his first show since 2020, while Hagar is winding down his Best of All Worlds Las Vegas residency.
You can see the video, and Hagar’s comment, below.
Sammy Hagar Is ‘Happy That Dave Is Out There Doing It’
While Hagar has never been shy about his disdain for Roth — he recently recalled wanting to “break the guy’s fuckin’ neck” on their disastrous 2002 co-headlining tour — he urged fans to look beyond the comparisons and petty grievances and focus on the music they both made with Eddie Van Halen.
“If I may add my two cents here: Comparing us today or comparing us in the old days really is not what it’s all about,” he wrote. “It’s all about Van Halen — one of the greatest bands, some of the greatest songs in rock history. We were both involved and both had pluses and minuses. I am happy that Dave is out there doing it like Mikey [Anthony] and I, supporting some of the greatest rock songs in history, like I said. The fans deserve it, good or bad.”
He continued: “I believe we’re both doing our best and I’m actually happy. Dave is supporting his era and I will support mine, as well as my solo career and side projects, for the rest of my life. Everyone should enjoy what we’re both trying to do. Keeping the music [as] his legacy is important, and so is the music both Dave and I wrote with Eddie. Encore, thank you. Goodnight.”
sammy hagar instagram comment about david lee roth
@sammyhagar, Instagram
Sammy Hagar’s New Song and David Lee Roth’s Upcoming Tour Plans
The end of Hagar’s comment was a reference to his new song, “Encore, Thank You, Goodnight,” inspired by a guitar lick that Van Halen showed him in a dream. “This song is my final bow to that part of my life,” Hagar said upon its release. “It’s not meant to be anything more than a thank you — with love, with respect, and with one hell of a guitar solo.”
Hagar’s Vegas residency is scheduled to conclude on Saturday. Roth, meanwhile, will be touring the United States from July through September.
Make no mistake: This wasn’t an easy list to assemble. Every band here wrote plenty of fist-pumping, arena-filling anthems — but which ones stand out from the pack?
For some of the bands on this list, their biggest hit doubled as their best song. Contrarianism has its place, but it’s difficult to argue against a stone-cold classic like Ratt‘s “Round and Round” or Twisted Sister‘s “We’re Not Gonna Take It.”
That wasn’t always the case, though. Hair metal — and ’80s rock as a whole — was obsessed with power ballads and these melodramatic love songs often rocketed to the top of the charts. But we could never in good conscience claim that “Here I Go Again” was Whitesnake‘s best song, or that “Every Rose Has Its Thorn” beat out every other Poison track.
Although the hair metal scene had a lot more diversity than its critics are willing to admit, all the songs on this list share some common DNA. For starters, they all feature era-defining riffs and blistering solos, as was typical of the entire genre. And even at their heaviest, these hair metal anthems contain irresistibly catchy choruses. Rock and metal are meant to foster community, after all, and what better way to achieve that than by screaming your lungs out to your favorite song alongside 20,000 people?
Read on to see our list of the best song by 11 big hair metal bands.
The Best Song by 11 Big Hair Metal Bands
These bands wrote plenty of fist-pumping, arena-filling anthems — but which ones stand out from the pack?
Texan psych-Americana band Lord Buffalo forced to cancel European tour after Mexican drummer Yamal Said is “forcibly removed” from flight by US Customs and Border Protection officers
(Image credit: Lord Buffalo Facebook)
Austin, Texas psych rock/Americana band Lord Buffalo have been forced to cancel their scheduled European tour at the 11th hour after their drummer was “forcibly removed” from their flight to Holland, and taken into custody by US Customs and Border Protection officers.
The band were set to begin their first-ever run through Holland, Germany, Denmark, Norway, and Finland this week with Swedish psych, kraut, post-rock and doom rockers Orsak:Oslo, beginning on May 15 at the Oefen Bunker club in Landgraaf, Holland, but have now had to abort the tour due to their drummer’s shock detention.
In a statement posted on social media today May 14, the band say: “We are heartbroken to announce we have to cancel our upcoming European tour. Our drummer, Yamal Said, who is a Mexican citizen and lawful permanent resident of the United States (green card holder) was forcibly removed from our flight to Europe by Customs and Border Patrol at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport on Monday May 12. He has not been released, and we have been unable to contact him.
“We are currently working with an immigration lawyer to find out more information and to attempt to secure his release. We are devastated to cancel this tour, but we are focusing all of our energy and resources on Yamal’s safety and freedom. We are hopeful that this is a temporary setback and that it could be safe for us to reschedule this tour in the future “
Since returning to the White House, Donald Trump has introduced a number of immigration-related executive orders, to the alarm of civil liberties organisations and human rights lawyers. Last month, in a post on his website titled ‘Coming Back To America‘, Neil Young expressed his own concerns that freedoms are already being curtailed under Trump’s presidency.
Concluding their social media announcement, Lord Buffalo write: “In our absence, our touring partners Orsak:Oslo will continue to perform the tour. We urge everyone to go see this amazing band and support them over the next couple weeks.”
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A music writer since 1993, formerly Editor of Kerrang! and Planet Rock magazine (RIP), Paul Brannigan is a Contributing Editor to Louder. Having previously written books on Lemmy, Dave Grohl (the Sunday Times best-seller This Is A Call) and Metallica (Birth School Metallica Death, co-authored with Ian Winwood), his Eddie Van Halen biography (Eruption in the UK, Unchained in the US) emerged in 2021. He has written for Rolling Stone, Mojo and Q, hung out with Fugazi at Dischord House, flown on Ozzy Osbourne’s private jet, played Angus Young’s Gibson SG, and interviewed everyone from Aerosmith and Beastie Boys to Young Gods and ZZ Top. Born in the North of Ireland, Brannigan lives in North London and supports The Arsenal.
Sleep Token are on course to score their first number one album on the UK and US charts with Even In Arcadia, out-selling Arcade Fire and Radiohead’s Thom Yorke
(Image credit: Andy Ford)
Sleep Token look set to land their first number one album in the UK and US, with Even In Arcadia currently the biggest-selling new release on the mid-week charts in both territories.
The band’s fourth album, their first record for major label RCA. has received positive reviews across the media landscape, with Metal Hammer noting, “It might divide longtime fans, but it will almost certainly expose metal to its biggest audience yet.”
This sentiment appears to be borne out by early sales of the album, which was released last week, on May 9.
In the UK, the Official Charts Company reports that that sales of Even In Arcadia look set to out-strip sales of 2023’s Take Me Back To Eden: Sleep Token are out-selling all their competitors this week, with PinkPantheress at number two with Fancy That, The Kooks currently at number three with Never/Know, and media darlings Arcade Fire currently at number five on the chart with Pink Elephant. Tall Tales, Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke’s collaboration with electronic musician Mark Pritchard also looks set to debut in the Top 10.
In the US, Hits Daily reports that the enigmatic English metallers are at number one mid-week on the Billboard 200 chart, with Kali Uchis’ Sincerely expected to debut at number 2, and SZA’s SOS retaining its number three spot on the chart.
Sleep Token are currently gracing the cover of Metal Hammer‘s 400th issue. In fact, they’re gracing two covers, one representing House Veridian, and one House Feathered Host.
The cover story lays bare their secret origin story, via those who were there. From their first producer, to publicists and promoters, we discover what Vessel was really like, and how his vision developed.
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“The starting point was removing this idea of the music you listen to being related to the person making it,” says George Lever, Sleep Token’s producer from 2016 to 2021. “By being anonymous, the listener is forced to relate to what they’re actually hearing.”
At first, people didn’t know what to make of this mysterious masked band, who defied categorisation.
“In its simplest terms, we described it as ‘Sam Smith meets Meshuggah’,” says Nathan Barley Philips, co-founder of Basick Records, which released Sleep Token’s first songs. “Those were the layman’s terms we used to describe it to people who might not get it. Believe me, there were people in those early days who didn’t!”
A music writer since 1993, formerly Editor of Kerrang! and Planet Rock magazine (RIP), Paul Brannigan is a Contributing Editor to Louder. Having previously written books on Lemmy, Dave Grohl (the Sunday Times best-seller This Is A Call) and Metallica (Birth School Metallica Death, co-authored with Ian Winwood), his Eddie Van Halen biography (Eruption in the UK, Unchained in the US) emerged in 2021. He has written for Rolling Stone, Mojo and Q, hung out with Fugazi at Dischord House, flown on Ozzy Osbourne’s private jet, played Angus Young’s Gibson SG, and interviewed everyone from Aerosmith and Beastie Boys to Young Gods and ZZ Top. Born in the North of Ireland, Brannigan lives in North London and supports The Arsenal.
Bob Mould has announced a new electric solo tour in support of his recently released 15th album, Here We Crazy. The former Husker Du and Sugar frontman had spent several weeks on the road with a band promoting the new LP.
These new dates feature the singer and songwriter alone onstage with an electric guitar. A handful of solo electric shows had been announced earlier this year, including dates on May 25 in Las Vegas and four dates throughout August.
The new tour will run for nearly two dozen dates starting in early September.
“We, the band, spent the past six weeks performing sets focused on the music we recorded together since 2012,” Mould said in a press release announcing the upcoming tour.
“Now, with the announcement of new Solo Electric shows, I’m looking forward to adding deeper cuts from my career songbook. The volume will be a touch quieter than the band shows, but the intensity will remain the same. Looking forward!”
Where Is Bob Mould Playing in 2025?
Mould’s Solo Electric shows begin on Sept. 9 in Cincinnati with stops in Buffalo, New York, Baltimore, Chicago and his hometown of Minneapolis before wrapping up in St. Paul, Minnesota, on Oct. 11.
You can see all the tour dates below.
Bob Mould Solo Electric: Here We Go Crazy Tour 2025 MAY 25 – Las Vegas, NV – Punk Rock Bowling & Music Festival 2025
JULY 30 – Township of Haddon, NJ – McLaughlin-Norcross Memorial Dell Haddon Lake Park
AUGUST 1 – Kingston, NY – Assembly 2 – Sellersville, PA – Sellersville Theater 3 – Lancaster, PA – Tellus360 16 – Novato, CA – Hopmonk Tavern
SEPTEMBER 9 – Cincinnati, OH – Memorial Hall 10 – Nelsonville, OH – Stuart’s Opera House 12 – Buffalo, NY – Town Ballroom 13 – Ithaca, NY – Hangar Theatre 14 – Burlington, VT – Higher Ground 16 – Portland, ME – SPACE 17 – Shirley, MA – Bull Run 19 – East Greenwich, RI – Greenwich Odeum 20 – Battleboro, VT – Stone Church 21 – Hamden, CT – Space Ballroom 23 – New York, NY – Le Poisson Rouge 24 – Baltimore, MD – Ottobar 26 – Charlottesville, VA – The Southern 27 – Winston-Salem, NC – SECCA 28 – Charleston, WV – Mountain Stage 30 – St. Louis, MO – Off Broadway
OCTOBER 1 – Kansas City, MO – recordBar 3 – Bloomington, IL – Castle Theatre 4 – Chicago, IL – Old Town School of Folk 7 – Milwaukee, WI – Shank Hall 8 – Stoughton, WI – Stoughton Opera House 10 – Minneapolis, MN – Icehouse 11 – St. Paul, MN – Turf Club
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