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Day in Rock Report for 08/15/2016


Today's Day in Rock Stories


Former UFO Star Pete Way Suffers Heart Attack

(Classic Rock) Former UFO bassist Pete Way has suffered a heart attack and doctors have discovered a blood clot on his lung. His wife and manager Jenny tells TeamRock that Way collapsed following a European business trip.

She says: "My husband Pete Way has collapsed after a short business trip to Germany and is currently in hospital. He has had a heart attack and a blood clot has been found on his lung. Needless to say, I am in bits, but Pete is fighting like he always does.

"He's fighting like a demon as always. His doctor, Adib Beg, says he's a fighter with superhuman strength. We are not going to lose another one. Please keep him in your thoughts and prayers." Read more here.

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Rick Astley Covers AC/DC's 'Highway to Hell'

(Radio.com) This year, Rick Astley stepped out of the shadow of a meme that won't die to release a studio album of new music entitled 50. During a show in Los Angeles to promote the new material, Astley performed a cover of AC/DC's "Highway to Hell," accompanying himself on drums.

Though the energized hard rock song is worlds away from the pop star's hit single "Never Gonna Give You Up," fans got a clear view of Astley's undersung versatility.

In addition to topping the UK album charts, 50 has spawned Astley's first sold-out United States shows in 25 years. Check out footage from the performance here.

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Asking Alexandria Guitarist Ben Bruce Sitting Out Tour

(Metal Hammer) Asking Alexandria guitarist Ben Bruce will sit out the band's short European tour this month as he awaits the arrival of his baby daughter. He's issued a statement and says while it'll feel strange not to be on the road, he hopes fans will understand his decision, as the band continue to support fourth album The Black - their first with Denis Stoff on vocal duties.

Bruce says: "As you may be aware, I won't be joining the lads on this short European run. This is the first time I've not joined the guys and it's really saddening and a very strange feeling - but I know they are going to be just fine and they are going to kill it for you guys.

"The reason I can't be on this run is due to the fact that I am expecting the arrival of my baby girl any time now and as you all know, myself, the lads and this band has always lived by 'family first.' This is an incredibly exciting time in my life and I cannot wait to introduce you all to my little angel. I hope you guys understand why I can't be at the shows." Read more here.

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Megadeth's Dave Mustaine Invites Fans To His Birthday Party

(Classic Rock) Dave Mustaine has said he'll hold a birthday party that will also celebrate the launch of his new beer. It was announced last month that the Megadeth leader would bring out the A Tout Le Monde brew.

And he says he wants to give Megadeth fans the first chance to try the beer - so he's inviting them to attend a birthday bash he's planning to celebrate his 55th birthday on September 13.

He says in a video message: "Hi, I'm Dave Mustaine - you may know me from Twitter. This year, I'm turning 55 and you know me, I like an excuse to have a party and to celebrate with my fans with my own beer.

"I guess you could say I've done my fair share of drinking in my life, so believe me when I say this beer is the real deal. My friends at Unibroue helped me craft something special which will appeal to everyone, or A Tout Le Monde as the French people say, and now I'm inviting you to the biggest birthday party ever - mine.

"It's going to be one for the ages. We'll get to hang out, and you'll be the first to taste my brand new beer." Read more and watch the video here.

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Bon Jovi Release 'This House Is Not For Sale' Video

(Classic Rock) Bon Jovi have released a video for their track 'This House Is Not For Sale.' It's the title track from Jon Bon Jovi and co's upcoming album which will be released via Island/Universal Music Group, after the band's acrimonious split with Mercury after more than 30 years.

Bon Jovi's "fan album" Burning Bridges was released in 2015 and the bitter relationship was detailed in the record's title track. Speaking of their new material at the time, mainman Jon Bon Jovi said: "I have a lot to write about. Believe me, the new record is good. It's pointed - it's something we're going to be very proud of when we put it out."

Bon Jovi is joined in the lineup by David Bryan, Tico Torres, Hugh McDonald and Phil X. The follow-up to 2013's What About Now will be the band's first without guitarist Richie Sambora, who left soon after its release. Watch the video here.

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Stone Sour Have 18 Songs Ready For New Album

(TeamRock) Stone Sour have 18 songs ready to record for their sixth album. Frontman Corey Taylor says the follow-up to 2013's House Of Gold & Bones - Part 2 will "destroy people" and that it's the best material the band have ever written.

Taylor tells WRIF (via Blabbermouth): "We have 18 songs demoed. It's the best material we've ever written. This album, the next Stone Sour one, is going to eat people - it's so good.

"A little heavy, a little rock, a little punk, soft stuff in there. It's gonna destroy people." Asked whether the album will be packaged as elaborately as the two House Of Gold & Bones albums - which formed a house when put together - Taylor adds: "We're just going back to basics. I'm an old-school guy. I think most of us are. The thing that I loved about those great albums is that you would get it and you would wanna study everything.

"So I'm gonna try to meld that world with the electronic world and see if those two can kind of coalesce and coexist. We're getting art together already." Read more here.

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Anthrax Would Love To Do More Big Four Shows

(Metal Hammer) Anthrax bass player Frank Bello says that he would love to go on another Big Four tour - saying the original thrash extravaganza was the highlight of his career.

The Big Four tour saw thrash giants Metallica, Megadeth, Anthrax and Slayer sharing a bill for seven shows as part of the Sonisphere Festival series in 2010.

Speaking ahead of Anthrax's appearance on the Ronnie James Dio stage Sunday at Bloodstock, Bello tells TeamRock: "Thrash was an all for one thing, really. That's what the Big Four was about. We'd love to do more Big Four shows."

On the likelihood of it actually happening, Bello puts the ball firmly in Metallica's court, adding: "There are two people to ask - James Hetfield and Lars. Those are the guys. They know the rest of us will fall in line." Read more here.

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Metal Supergroup Serpentine Dominion Announce Debut Album

(Metal Hammer) Serpentine Dominion have announced they'll release their self-titled debut album on October 28 and they have made track The Vengeance In Me available to stream from the record.

The supergroup features Killswitch Engage guitarist Adam Dutkiewicz, Cannibal Corpse frontman George 'Corpsegrinder' Fisher and The Black Dahlia Murder's former drummer Shannon Lucas.

The origins of the band can be traced back to the Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem Festival in 2009, where Dutkiewicz asked Fisher if he would contribute vocals for songs he planned to write. Lucas was also tapped to record drums for the album that summer. Read more and stream the song here.

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Giraffe Tongue Orchestra Release 'Crucifixion' Video

(Prog) Giraffe Tongue Orchestra have released a video for their song Crucifixion. It's lifted from their upcoming album Broken Lines, due out on September 23, following their stream of Blood Moon last month.

The supergroup features The Dillinger Escape Plan's Ben Weinman and Mastodon's Brent Hinds, Alice In Chains frontman William DuVall on vocal duties, former Mars Volta drummer Thomas Pridgen and Dethklok bassist Pete Griffin.

The video is described as, "Striking a nerve with viewers in light of recent events. With the help of director Oleg Rooz, the video makes a statement with its fast-cut clips of GTO's impassioned performance of Crucifixion interwoven with footage of historical events that transformed society.

"From political protests to Hitler and Fidel Castro speeches, war zones, riots, and more, the poetry in the visuals juxtaposed with the urgency of GTO's manic music elicit a profound emotional response." Read more and watch the video here.

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Corrosion Of Conformity Making Progress On New Album

(Metal Hammer) Corrosion Of Conformity have "four or five" songs written for what will be their 10th album. The band have a total of 25 rough ideas that they hope to reduce to around 12 before hitting the studio to record the follow-up to 2014's IX. They hope to release their 10th album in 2017.

The album will be their first since the return of Pepper Keenan to the fold, after he sat out the recording of IX and 2012's self-titled effort. While playing the Ronnie James Dio stage at England's Bloodstock festival yesterday (Friday), Keenan told the audience the new album would land in 2017, and after the set bassist Mike Dean said in an exclusive interview with TeamRock that work was well underway.

Dean says: "We're currently writing it and we have a whole lot of material that we are just trying to narrow down. We're trying to get 25 rough ideas down to between 12 and 15 songs that we'll record and release next year.

"Four or five of them are pretty much whole formed songs." Read more here.

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Mastodon Working On 'Updated' Sound For Next Album

(TeamRock) Mastodon drummer and vocalist Brann Dailor says he'd like to see the band explore a "more proggy" sound on their next album. Guitarist Brent Hinds previously said the follow-up to 2014's Once More 'Round The Sun would likely be a double-length. And while Dailor didn't go into detail about the running time of what will be the US outfit's seventh album, he says the band are hard at work putting ideas together.

Speaking to TeamRock at Bloodstock before Mastodon's headline set at the festival Saturday, Dailor says: "It sounds like Mastodon to me but an updated version. We always try to push to hear something new and hear something different, so that's what's going on.

"It's impossible to tell somebody what something sounds like so I'll spare the details but so far so good - we go with what we know, play what we like and if we don't like it, we don't play it."

He continues: "I'd like to get a little more proggy, and have a little more space and play around with dynamics a little bit more - just dive a little deeper with some of the riffs and some of the parts." Read more here.

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Motorhead's Phil Campbell Opens Bloodstock's Lemmy Bar

(Classic Rock) Motorhead guitarist Phil Campbell was the first person to have a drink at Bloodstock's Lemmy Bar in honor of his fallen bandmate. The Catton Park festival in England has this year renamed one of its bars after iconic Motorhead frontman Ian 'Lemmy' Kilmister, who died last year at the age of 70.

And as bloodstock got underway last night (Thursday), Campbell was on hand to officially open the bar and kick off the celebrations in memory of Lemmy.

Campbell said: "He would be very proud now and he would want you all to be getting your rocks off. This place is amazing with all his pictures around, it brings it all back.

"It's my honor to have this first drink at this newly-named Lemmy Bar, which is going to live forever. It's like our music, it will live forever. I'd like to thank everyone involved.

"Lemmy touched everyone's hearts and the music kicks ass as long as you play it loud. If you play it quiet, it sounds like crap!" Read more and check out video here.

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The Mission Reveal 30th Anniversary Album Details

(Classic Rock) The Mission have released details on their upcoming 30th anniversary album Another Fall From Grace. It'll be released on September 30 - a day before Wayne Hussey and co head out on tour in support of the record.

Another Fall From Grace will feature 12 tracks and include guest appearances from Gary Numan, Depeche Mode's Martin Gore, HIM's Ville Valo, Evi Vine and the band's longtime collaborator, All About Eve's Julianne Regan. The cover art and full tracklist can be seen below.

Hussey previously said the follow-up to 2013's The Brightest Light would be the "lost link" between The Sisters Of Mercy's debut album First And Last And Always and The Mission's God's Own Medicine.

And he's further elaborated on the new album, saying that his "mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual wellbeing" suffered as he and the band made the record.

Hussey says: "This is a dark album, although I didn't set out with that intention, it's just the way things unfolded. I know I did go a little crazy and even a little paranoid during the recording of this album, certainly my mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual wellbeing all suffered during the course of it. And I think that has informed both the music and the lyrics.

"So much of this was done in isolation - from the world, from my family, from my friends, and even from my bandmates. I can't say it's an album I enjoyed making, but it is an album I needed to make.

"It is with huge relief that I can now say it is finished and maybe it's like an acute pain that you have that once it's gone you can't remember how it felt. I hope so, as I would like one day to feel the fondness for this record that it maybe deserves."

The Mission have also released a video for new track Met-Amor-Phosis featuring backing vocals from Valo. Watch it here.

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Amaranthe Reveal Details For New Album 'Maximalism'

(Metal Hammer) Amaranthe have revealed details of their upcoming fourth album. The follow-up to 2014's Massive Addictive will be titled "Maximalism" - and it'll be released on October 21 via Spinefarm Records.

They entered Gothenburg's Top Floor Studios earlier this year to lay down tracks for the record with producers Jacob Hansen and Jakob Herrmann. And guitarist Olof Morck reports that their new material is more "diverse" than their previous work.

He says: "Maximalism is our manifesto to the world. We are genuinely thrilled with the new material, definitely our most diverse collection to date. Our trademark 'bleeding edge' modern metal remains intact, of course, but fused with an even broader range of genres than before.

"There's everything here, including stadium rock, innovative pop and danceable super-hits. Expect these tunes to enter your mind on a permanent basis."

Morck, Elize Ryd, Jake E Lundberg, Henrik Englund Wilhemsson, Johan Andreassen and Morten Lowe Sorensen are in the process of lining up a European headline tour for October and November this year. Check out the new album art and tracklisting here.

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Marillion's New Album May Remind Fans Of Early Material

(Prog) Marillion frontman Steve Hogarth says he thinks their upcoming 18th album FEAR (F Everyone And Run) could be regarded as a landmark achievement for the band.

The follow-up to 2012's Sounds That Can't Be Made is set for release on September 23. And the frontman reckons the new material could even remind fans of the band's early records. Hogarth says: "I think this album, in a strange way, is going to remind people of Brave, it might even remind people of very early Marillion.

"It's still the band doing what the band does. It's very rich musically. Maybe they'll look back on this one as being one of those landmarks like people think of Misplaced Childhood as a landmark, that they maybe think of Brave as a landmark and how they think of Marbles." Read more here.

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Testament Reveal 'Brotherhood Of The Snake' Art

(Metal Hammer) Testament have revealed the cover art for their upcoming 11th album Brotherhood Of The Snake. It arrives on October 28 via Nuclear Blast - with the artwork created by Eliran Kantor, who previously illustrated the covers of Testament albums Dark Roots Of Earth from 2012 and 2009's The Formation Of Damnation.

Kantor says: "Guitarist Eric Peterson told me of the title, referring to a secret society group - and I wanted to focus on the occult aspect of it without leaning on the already available myths.

"I pictured a ritual involving blindfolded figures coming out of chalices of black oil, holding scythes forming the teeth of a thee-headed snake.

"Looking for ways to incorporate the masonic pyramid felt like a great opportunity to use the classic logo while adding something new to it, and also give it an active part in the plot."

He continues: "There are many tiny details adding to the atmosphere. Red tongue bookmarks in the books, two more ancient-looking figures in the shadows hinting at the brotherhood's lineage and two serpent-shaped fountain tubes pouring the black oil. The latter two were suggested by the band." See a larger image of the cover art and read more here.

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Devin Townsend Band's 'Transcendence' More A Group Effort

(Prog) Devin Townsend says that allowing his band more artistic freedom helped ideas flow on their forthcoming album Transcendence. Having recently said the record was his attempt to get over himself as a "controlling prog dude," the first episode of the Transcendence documentary offers a behind-the-scenes glimpse into the more experimental studio sessions for the follow-up to 2014's Z2.

Though guitarist and keyboardist Dave Young admits that Devin usually wrote songs for them to learn on previous albums, drummer Ryan Van Poederooyen reveals that the songwriting process has become more organic.

He adds: "This time, right from scratch, there were songs which were born in the rehearsal space from a riff Dev would be jamming on. He'd say, 'What do you guys think of this?' I'd say, 'Yeah it's cool' and I'd start playing a beat to it."

Townsend says: "My vision is so singular - it has been since the beginning. My objectives musically haven't changed since I was 13 and I've just been trying to get it right.

"As long as my skill set is being utilized in the ways that the trajectory is - exactly what the vision is - then go for it. I don't need control over which cymbal you hit. I don't need control over what amp you use, or where you do a slide. Once you understand what it is I'm trying to say, you'll know." Watch the video here.

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Singled Out: Brother Hawk's Big Medicine

Atlanta blues rockers Brother Hawk recently released their new album "Big Medicine" and we asked singer J.B. Brisendine to tell us about the title track from the effort. Here is the story:

My brother, JoJo, and I wrote Big Medicine together in 2007 before Brother Hawk was even a band. He lived in New York at the time, but was in between schools so he was at home in Georgia with the family for a few months. I wasn't much of a songwriter back then.

With all of the bands I'd been in I was only the guitar player, so I had written plenty of riffs, but only a few times written a full song with lyrics and everything. It was something I really wanted to do but I just didn't have it figured out quite yet.

My brother on the other hand is quite the writer, so I asked him to help me write a song. I came up with the verse chords, and we almost instantly decided to write a song about our experience as a family. We were both living on our parents farm at that moment so it was all right there in front of us. I think we wrote it in about 20 minutes or so.

Stuff that close to the heart comes quick, especially when you're writing about it for the first time. I can't remember exactly but I think I only contributed a line or two haha. We finished it and I practiced singing it once or twice, then went and played it for my parents. It was a really cool moment, and the beginning of the path I'd take to start Brother Hawk and be where I am today.

Hearing is believing. Now that you know the story behind the song, listen for yourself and learn more about the album right here!

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