Pulse – Rock Music News

Alice In Chains have added more heavy metal to their growing collection as their album, Dirt, has been RIAA certified five times platinum in the United States, making it the band's best-selling album. Their 1990 debut album, Facelift, is now triple platinum.

The second single from Facelift, "Man In The Box," is now also triple platinum.

Dirt's lead single "Would?" is now double platinum, while the Alice In Chains singles "Them Bones" and "Down In a Hole" have reached platinum certification. "The Rooster" is now certified double platinum.

A new Machine Gun Kelly exhibit has arrived at Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for MGK Day. The exhibit will be on display at the Rock Hall's "Right Here, Right Now" area. The rock star loaned his Tickets to My Downfall outfit, his Schecter PT Model electric guitar, his custom Cupid microphone stand and pink microphone to the museum.

In addition, there will be a "MGK Day" celebration taking part at the Rock Hall's Union Home Mortgage plaza with live music and activities for the family as well. The event is happening on August 13th.

Alice Cooper, the original lineup of the Misfits, and the Distillers have announced a Halloween weekend gig at Dallas' Dos Equis Pavilion for October 29th. Kerrang! reported the show will be the only gig the original Misfits play in 2022 with Glenn Danzig, Jerry Only, and Doyle Wolfgang von Frankenstein all on board.

Tickets will go on sale this Friday, August 12th at 10 a.m. local time.

A while back we caught up with Alice Cooper before one of his Halloween gigs and he joked about a possible costume: "It's the one night when the audience is wearing as much makeup and stuff as we are. That's the one night I should actually dress up like Lou Dobbs. Right? I should dress as Lou. Nice Brooks Brothers suit. . . (laughter)"

Alice Cooper next performs on September 7th in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania at Vision Nightclub at Wind Creek Event Center.

A TikTok user named Serena Trueblood is seemingly spearheading a campaign to "cancel" Metallica in the wake of their popularity surge after one of their songs appeared in the latest season of Stranger Things. In a series called "Is Your Fav Problematic," Trueblood shows video and pictures of the band members to validate her claims that they are racist and anti-Semitic and make fun of "addiction, mental health and suicide," according to the TikToker. Some commenters raged against Metallica, while others defended the band.

Twitter comments included "Never in my life did I expect Metallica to get cancelled but here we are," and "nothing on twitter recently has been as funny as metallica getting cancelled by tiktok." Defenders of the band tweeted such comments as "@ stranger things fans who just bought metallica merch, tickets etc and don't want them anymore: i will gladly help you get rid of them, just give me your address, leave them at the door and i promise you won't have to deal with them anymore," and "The fact metallica welcomed and defended all the new fans that came from the stranger things fandom and they've gone and THROWN IT BACK IN THEIR FACES..."

Metallica has yet to comment on the situation.

The band performs on Thursday (August 11th) at Highmark Stadium in Buffalo, NY.

Yeah Yeah Yeahs will release a new single called "Burning" later this week but they shared a quick listen on Twitter on Friday (August 5th) writing, "#Burning Aug 10th." The song is the followup to the band's single, "Spitting Off The Edge Of The World" (feat. Perfume Genius), which was released in June.

Both songs will be included on the Yeah Yeah Yeahs new album, Cool It Down, which will be released on September 30th. The eight-song project is their first new record in nine years.

In a recent radio interview, Bush frontman Gavin Rossdale discussed the heavy musical direction of the band's upcoming album The Art of Survival. He said, "People are always talking about the state… 'Where's rock music? What does it mean to anyone?' And to me it's always just like the best… It's like counterculture. And this is so funny when you play these massive festivals and massive shows, but it's this underground thing. And I like the danger of it."

He continued, "When I play regular, standard-tuned guitars right now I'm, like, 'Mmmm, don't know about that.' As soon as I play my drop-tuned guitars, I'm, like, 'Yeah, baby.' … "

He added, "The whole new BUSH record is drop C… It's nice to have that, because people… It's just subliminal —in your system, it just feels so heavy. And you can either choose to scream on it — some guys are really good at screaming; some guys are really good at dog-barking — that's not my thing. I just like melody. I like interesting cultural crashes."

Black Sabbath legends Ozzy Osbourne and guitarist Tony Iommi surprised their hometown crowd in Birmingham, England with a brief performance at the city's Commonwealth Games. The pair took to the stage as Ozzy shouted out: "I am iron man," before they launched into Sabbath's signature 1970 tune, "Paranoid."

Appearing with the duo were a pair of musicians who had backed Sabbath on their last tour -- bassist/keyboardist Adam Wakeman and drummer Tommy Clufetos.

Rolling Stone reported, "Iommi had opened the Commonwealth Games, which include swimming, a triathlon, boxing, and rugby sevens, among other sports, on July 28th, playing a song called 'Hear My Voice' with London-born saxophonist and rapper Soweto Kinch. The track featured Iommi's bluesy guitar solos over new age strings and Kinch's saxophone lines."

Jason Bonham's Led Zeppelin Evening has announced a 16-date North American fall trek. The band, which kicks off a week's worth of shows next week, will hit the road again on October 8th at Indio, California's Fantasy Springs Resort Casino and wind things down for the year on December 11th at Hollywood, Florida's Hard Rock Live at Seminole Hard Rock Hollywood.

Jason Bonham, who launched the band -- originally known and Jason Bonham's Led Zeppelin Experience -- over a decade ago, told us that at this point, the group is geared up to tackle any piece of music Zeppelin ever recorded and recreate it in a live setting: "I don't steer clear of anything -- we will try everything. There's definitely some things from Physical Graffiti, like 'Trampled Underfoot,' or 'Misty Mountain Hop' -- 'In The Light' is just recently added, which is a huge epic from Physical Graffiti. And I just always find that you've got to represent every album for it to really work."

Jason Bonham told us that playing drums is what keeps him tied to his father, the late-great John Bonham, who died when he was only 14: "I have a helluva lot to live up to. A lot of people say, 'What's it like, y'know, you're the son of John Bonham!' And I say, 'Y'know, what? It's kinda cool, 'cause he was such an icon in such an iconic band.' It just gives me enough get up and go to say, 'Y'know what, I just wanna make him happy and prove to him and show him that, Dad, you've handed me down a business.' Y'know, like some fathers they hand them down their work -- even though he wasn't there to hand it down to me himself, to me, I feel -- if anything -- he left me at such an early age, but he gave me a career."

UPDATED: Jason Bonham's Led Zeppelin Evening tour dates (subject to change):

August 13 - Battle Creek, MI - Firekeepers Casino
August 14 - Columbus, OH - The Bluestone
August 15 - Greensburg, PA - The Palace Theatre
August 17 - Springfield, MA - Symphony Hall
August 18 - East Providence, RI - Bold Point Park
August 19 - Wantagh, NY - Northwell Health at Jones Beach Theater
October 8 - Indio, CA - Fantasy Springs Resort Casino
October 10, 11 - San Diego, CA - Humphreys Concerts By the Bay
October 13 - Bakersfield, CA - The Historic Bakersfield Fox Theater
October 14 - Los Angeles, CA - Greek Theatre
November 26 - Atlantic City, NJ - Sound Waves at Hard Rock Hotel & Casino
November 27 - Ridgefield, CT - The Ridgefield Playhouse
November 29 - Indianapolis, IN - Murat Theatre at Old National Centre
November 30 - Nashville, TN - Ryman Auditorium
December 2 - Quapaw, OK - The Pavilion at Downstream Casino Resort
December 4 - Dallas, TX - The Factory In Deep Ellum
December 5 - Houston, TX - Bayou Music Center
December 7 - Atlanta, GA - Coca-Cola Roxy
December 8 - Orlando, FL - Hard Rock Live Orlando
December 9 - Tampa, FL - Seminole Hard Rock Tampa Event Center
December 11 - Hollywood, FL - Hard Rock Live at Seminole Hard Rock Hollywood

Billie Eilish was spotted go-karting with her dad and two friends last week.

According to TMZ the "Bad Guy" singer hit up Go Kart World in Carson, CA on Tuesday (August 2nd).

The outlet reports that the star surprised staff with her visit and stayed until closing, racing around in Euro Karts and posing for pictures with the manager.

Fred Durst said "I do" for the fourth time, this time to a woman named Arles, whom he's been dating for at least a few months. TMZ reports that while their exact marriage date is unknown, the couple did tie the knot in L.A. County and records at the County Clerk's office "makes public the fact a confidential marriage certificate has been filed."

Durst brought Arles on stage to slow dance to "Careless Whisper" during Limp Bizkit's concert in Pennsylvania back in May.

Durst's third divorce from Ukrainian make-up artist Kseniya Beryazina was finalized in 2019.

The Offspring were en route to play a concert in Rimouski, Quebec, Canada on Saturday (August 6th) when one of their vehicles caught fire. The band escaped unharmed, however "luggage, passports, laptops and pretty much everything else was destroyed," according to a social media post from them which included a short video of their SUV burning.

In the Saturday post, the band explained, "While traveling through Canada yesterday, something flew off the vehicle in front of us and became wedged underneath one of our SUVs and it caught fire . . . We are happy to report that everyone is doing ok and we've made it safely to Rimouski and will be performing tonight at Les Grandes Fetes TELUS. Hope to see everyone there!"

The Offspring's Kevin "Noodles" Wasserman also shared a video of the vehicle fire writing in part, "It could've been much worse. The band & I are so thankful & relieved that all involved are OK. No one is sure what started the fire yet, but the SUV hit something big & heavy, possibly a lost trailer hitch, and within seconds the vehicle was in flames. You can see from the video that they didn't even get off the Highway before everyone had to bail. No time to save any belongings. Scary sh*t!"

The band is currently touring in support of their 2021 album, Let The Bad Times Roll.

Mudvayne's Chad Gray says he has finally seen a doctor about injuries he sustained during a fall he had on stage. The incident happened in Tampa last month when Gray and his bandmates were performing 'Not Falling."

He wrote via Instagram, "Besides dealing with some kind of f*cking chest cold bullsh*t or whatever, I've obviously got my rib thing going on. I didn't really wanna know what was going on, but through much pushing from my professionals and people around me that love me, I went to a doctor yesterday. And I have negative X-rays. He said I probably should go get a CT scan just to make sure. He said I've got some inflammation of some cartilage happening. But ultimately, yeah, I'm gonna get through it.

• Set for publication on November 1st is Elton John At 75 via Motorbooks. According to the announcement, "Journalist Gillian Gaar examines Elton John through the lens of 75 career accomplishments and life events. Key studio albums are featured, of course, as are a curated selection of his earworm singles."
• Also commemorated are key performances at L.A.'s Troubadour, and the historic Soviet Union, and Dodger Stadium concerts; collaborations with George Michael, Billy Joel, and Kate Bush; film and TV roles, including Tommy and The Muppet Show; his work with The Elton John AIDS Foundation; notable awards and honors, including knighthood; as well as his 50-plus-year collaboration with longtime co-writer Bernie Taupin. (Press release)
  
  
• Pink Floyd co-founder Roger Waters shed light on the pre-show directive he flashes to fans. Waters, who's in the midst of his "This Is Not A Warming" tour, posts the advisory every night, which reads, quote, "If you're one of those 'I love Pink Floyd, but I can't stand Roger's politics' people, you might do well to f*** off to the bar right now. Thank you, and please enjoy the show."
• Waters explained to CNN, "It's a really good way to start the show. Apart from anything else, it sets a few things straight. It also encourages a lot of the people who've come to the show because they have listened to everything I've written since, y'know, 1965 or wherever I started writing songs (laughs). . . So, they do know what my politics are and they do understand where my heart is and they understand, sort of, why I'm there. . . Maybe it also gives a message to people who don't want to be there, in which case, them f***ing off to the bar is probably not a bad idea." (Loudwire)
  
  
• Def Leppard guitarist Phil Collen said he hasn't seen the next big thing to pop up in rock. During an interview with Listen Next!, the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer was asked who he feels Def Leppard can pass the baton to upon retiring. Collen admitted, "I don't know. I'm still waiting, actually. You hear a lot of stuff out there, but it's few and far between. There's a problem, I think, and I think it's the TikTok and YouTube crowd. When bands or artists would write before, it would be because they wanted to an artist and wanted to express themselves and write songs and share them and go, 'Wow. Check this out' -- as opposed to, 'Wow. Look at me. Please love me.'"
• He went on to say, "I don't wanna sound like an old dude, but that's what I noticed. And I'm still waiting for someone like Prince or (Led) Zeppelin or something that has a bit more something to it. There's very little stuff. . . When Nirvana came out, I was, like, 'Woah, this is amazing.' The Sex Pistols, amazing. But I'm just waiting, still waiting." (MetalWani)

COURTNEY LOVE FINISHES MEMOIR: Courtney Love announced Friday (August 5th) that she finally finished writing her memoir after more than a decade. The Hole singer revealed on Instagram that her forthcoming book is titled, The Girl with the Most Cake. However, there's no telling when it will hit store shelves. She wrote, "There's a (no kidding) very real paper supply chain back up, so don't ask me when (The important thing is that it's good now.)"

FLEA DOES NOT LIKE TAKING PHOTOS WITH FANS: If you ever meet Flea, don't ask for a picture. The Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist tweeted a video of a fan interaction on Friday (August 5th) and wrote, "We are always down to talk and chat, asking for a photo ruins it instantly."

David Coverdale announced via the Whitesnake.com website that the band would be stepping off its band's co-headlining summer tour with the Scorpions due to his ongoing repository illness.

Coverdale statement reads in full:

It is with profound disappointment and a heavy heart that I must announce that Whitesnake will no longer be able to join The Scorpions on their US and Canadian tour due to my continued treatment for a persistent upper respiratory infection that affects my ability to perform. This includes the cancellation of our own headlining shows as well.

While Whitesnake will no longer be on the tour, the Scorpions will be continuing on. We Wish Our Good Friends, The Scorpions Every Success!!!

We Wish You Well
David Coverdale

Coverdale went on to post a personal message to the Scorpions on his social media.

Last month, the band scrapped its remaining European concert dates, "Due to continuing health challenges." The band's "farewell tour" kicked off in Ireland, in early May, before heading to The UK and Europe, but had been faltering since mid-June, when guitarist Reb Beach missed four shows after falling ill. The band also missed a festival date in Spain after drummer Tommy Aldridge also got sick, while Coverdale's issues caused cancellations in Italy, Austria, and Croatia.

Coverdale wrote: "It's time for me to get my arse home… Thank you for understanding, but I need to get home to rest and recuperate."

Scorpions kickss off their summer tour on August 21st at Toronto's Budweiser Stage.

Machine Gun Kelly stars alongside Kevin Bacon, in the upcoming thriller, One Way. People.com exclusively released the trailer on Thursday (8-4).

MGK plays a criminal who, after stealing from the biggest crime boss in town, boards a Greyhound bus full of equally shady passengers and calls on his estranged low-life father, played by Bacon, for help.

The 2-minute preview shows Kelly's character suffering from a gunshot wound. A series of action-packed scenes follow as father and son fight to stay alive.

One Way will be in select theaters, on digital and on demand beginning September 2.

In Other MGK News… While on a tour stop in Nebraska, one of his buses was graffitied with a homophobic slur and pornographic images. MGK played a show in Omaha on Thursday (8-4) and TMZ reports that the bus was spray painted while parked on a curb downtown. A fan posted the images online and at last check, MGK had not commented on it publicly.

TL;DR:

• Machine Gun Kelly stars alongside Kevin Bacon, in the upcoming thriller, One Way.
• Bacon's character is his father.
• In select theaters, on digital and on demand beginning September 2.

Johnny Depp and Jeff Beck have been accused of stealing lyrics on their new album from an incarcerated man on their new album 18. According to Rolling Stone, the lyrics to their new song "Sad Motherf*ckin" Parade," were allegedly taken from the late Slim Wilson, a gambler, pimp, robber and murderer.

They are accused of stealing lyrics from a song called "Hobo Ben" by Wilson. While he was doing time in Missouri State Penitentiary for armed robbery in 1964, Wilson met folklorist Bruce Jackson, who featured the Wilson's work in his 1974 book about toasts titled Get Your A** in the Water and Swim Like Me and a 1976 album of the same name.

"Hobo Ben" includes lyrics like "Ladies of culture and beauty so refined, is there one among you that would grant me wine? / I'm raggedy I know, but I have no stink / and God bless the lady that'll buy me a drink" and "Heavy-hipted Hattie turned to Nadine with a laugh / and said, 'What that funky motherf*cker really need, child, is a bath.'"

Those lyrics appear verbatim in "Sad Motherf*ckin' Parade," but the song is credited solely to Depp and Beck, with no mention of Wilson, Jackson or Get Your A** in the Water and Swim Like Me.

Jackson told Rolling Stone, "The only two lines I could find in the whole piece that Depp and Beck contributed are 'Big time motherf*cker' and 'Bust it down to my level.' Everything else is from Slim's performance in my book. I've never encountered anything like this. I've been publishing stuff for 50 years, and this is the first time anybody has just ripped something off and put his own name on it."

Disturbed guitarist Dan Donegan revealed in a recent radio interview that the band's upcoming eighth album will include "bigger riffs and heaviness." He described the upcoming LP as "90 percent heavy as f*ck."

He continued, "I normally don't like to say too much… David likes to give away a lot more than I do; there's no secrets with him. And I appreciate his enthusiasm and excitement. But a lot of times I'm a little bit more quiet of, like, 'Let's put it out there and let the fans…' the anticipation of them hearing it.

He added, "There is some heavier stuff, definitely — some bigger riffs and heaviness to the album. There's definitely some of those moments to where there's some good old-school Disturbed in there, some of the earlier days in the heavier-ness to some of the riffs and a little bit more of the aggression with David vocally. But there's also those big melodic moments as well.

Amazingly, 2022's long-awaited "Stadium Tour" has gone on without a hitch. The tour, featuring Def Leppard, Motley Crue, Poison, and Joan Jett & The Blackhearts resumes tonight (August 5th) with the first of two shows at Boston's legendary Fenway Park.

Def Leppard frontman Joe Elliott spoke candidly to Classic Rock about the massive trek and was asked how it's decided whether Leppard or Crue will close the show in various cities: "It's all negotiated by management. We gave them Los Angeles, their hometown, they gave us New York. Seattle is the hometown of Nikki (Sixx.) There are 36 stadiums. As long as we headline 18 each what does it f***ing matter? In the age of streaming (a band's popularity geographically) is not based on guesswork anymore, and if that information is available then why not use it?"

Elliott had nothing but raves for Poison frontman Brett Michaels, saying, "Bret Michaels is a brilliant ringleader, he's not out there to be Paul Rodgers, and his band are a real bunch of merry men. They haven't had a record out in decades, so they just play the hits, of which they have plenty, and the crowds love them."

He was equally excited about Joan Jett's nightly performances, saying, "Listen, Joan is a monster. Her set is an hour long and there isn't a song you've never heard before. She's got such a great band."

Joe Elliott remains amazed that bands with multi-decade histories are still able to move sizable numbers of new records and pack arenas and stadiums across the globe: "We were in the front end of a whole new way of doin' this and we're lucky that we've stayed together to be able to exploit that and enjoy it and all that kind of stuff. But even when we got together, we thought (we'd be around) maybe five or 10 years -- because that's all there was. There was an eight-year-old Led Zeppelin when we formed. The Beatles had only been split for seven, the Rolling Stones and the Who were essentially, maybe, 13, 14-years-old. So, there was no band that was around for 40 years. So, it's insane when you say it off the top of your head just like that."

Machine Gun Kelly just released his 3^rd video in the Vevo Live Performance Series.

"Fake Love Don't Last" shows him clad in a shredded red and white striped sweater. His surroundings have similarities of the other two videos… chain curtains and bathed in a pink glow.

He's joined by Iann Dior sauntering down a red carpet, waling over shards of broken glass on his way to the stage.

Just last week, the series kicked off with two Machine Gun Kelly clips… "More Than Life" and Twin Flame."

TL;DR:

• Machine Gun Kelly just released his 3^rd video in the Vevo Live Performance Series.
• "Fake Love Don't Last" features Iann Dior.

In a new interview, KISS guitarist Tommy Thayer revealed that he would never be in another band after KISS plays its last concert. He explained, "I don't know if I'll ever be in another band and that sort of thing, because how can you stop being in KISS?"

He continued, "But I'll probably still be involved in music or in the entertainment biz on some level — maybe even with KISS, 'cause KISS is not gonna go away; the touring thing is, but the entity of KISS and the brand and the music, that's not gonna stop. So maybe there's something for me to be involved with that."

Maneskin's "Supermodel" is number one for the second week in a row on the alternative radio charts. In addition, the band's Lollapalooza mainstage performance was named one of the best sets and the band also releases their new video for their rendition of "If I Can Dream" from the Elvis movie.

The Chicago Sun Times said that Maneskin's "supercharged and beautifully explicit Lollapalooza set blew the nonexistent roof off Grant Park Sunday and will no doubt be seen as a game changer for the band in the American market in the months to come… "

With rumors swirling again about the possibility of Blink-182 reuniting, Mark Hoppus chimed in to calm things down. When asked about it in a recent interview, he got straight to the point and said there was "no news to share."

The relationship between Tom DeLonge and his estranged bandmates has improved somewhat, with DeLonge reaching out during Hoppus' battle with cancer.

Hoppus recently said that "if and when" Blink has any announcement about anything, the news would come directly from the band.

Blink-182 went on hiatus in 2005, but following a 2008 plane crash that involved Travis Barker, they reunited at the 2009 Grammy Awards. Two years later they recorded and released the album, Neighborhoods. After that, DeLonge lost interest.

TL;DR:

• With rumors swirling again about the possibility of Blink-182 reuniting, Mark Hoppus said he has "no news to share."
• Hoppus recently said that "if and when" Blink has any announcement about anything, the news would come directly from the band.