Pulse – Rock Music News

Robert Plant and Alison Krauss have just tagged five new stops onto their ongoing tour behind their latest album, Raise The Roof. The new dates will see the pair playing Atlanta, Georgia; Franklin, Tennessee; Boston, Massachusetts; and Mashantucket, Connecticut -- before wrapping in New York City.

Robert Plant told us that the success he found with 2007's Raising Sand album both liberated and centered him creatively: "Following the work with Alison Krauss, which was a spectacular revival of my spirit in a way, I felt I could do more or less anything, I could sink and swim. There was no real big partnership moment. I don't have to ask anybody anything. I just stood there a little bit like I did when I was about 17."

UPDATED: Robert Plant & Alison Krauss tour dates (subject to change):

June 24 - Pilton, England - Glastonbury Festival at Worthy Farm
June 26 - London, England - BST Hyde Park (with The Eagles)
June 29 - Roskilde, Denmark - Roskilde Festival
July 1 - Hamar, Norway - Tjuvholmen Arena
July 2 - Bergen, Norway - Bergenhus Fortress
July 5 - Rättvik, Sweden - Dalhalla
July 8 - Bruges, Belgium - Cactus Festival
July 10 - Baarn, Netherlands - Royal Park Live
July 13 - Montreux, Switzerland - Auditorium Stravinski
July 14 - Lucca, Italy - Lucca Summer Festival at Piazza Napoleone
July 16 - Stuttgart, Germany - JazzOpen Stuttgart 2022
July 18 - Sopot, Poland - Opera Lesna
July 20 - Berlin, Germany - Zitadelle
August 15 - San Diego, CA - The Rady Shell at Jacobs Park
August 17 - Santa Barbara, CA - Santa Barbara Bowl
August 18 - Los Angeles, CA - The Greek Theatre
August 20 - Stateline, NV - Lake Tahoe Outdoor Arena at Harveys
August 21 - Berkeley, CA - Greek Theatre at UC Berkeley
August 23 - Napa, CA - Oxbow RiverStage
August 25 - Bend, OR - Hayden Homes Amphitheater
August 27 - Troutdale, OR - Edgefield Amphitheater
August 28 - Redmond, WA - Marymoor Park
August 30 - Salt Lake City, UT - Sandy Amp
September 1 - Morrison, CO - Red Rocks Amphitheatre
September 3 - Grand Prairie, TX - Texas Trust CU Theatre at Grand Prairie
September 4 - Austin, TX - Moody Amphitheater
September 6 - Atlanta, GA - Cadence Bank Amphitheatre at Chastain Park
September 7 - Franklin, TN - FirstBank Amphitheater
September 9 - Boston, MA - Leader Bank Pavilion
September 10 - Mashantucket, CT - Premier Theater at Foxwoods Resort Casino
September 12 - New York, NY - Beacon Theatre

Bring Me The Horizon‘s Oli Sykes and Mat Nicholls are set to participate in a triathlon to raise money for LGBTQ+ charity UKRAINEPRIDE and are asking fans for their support. They posted news of the Allerthorpe Sprint Triathlon happening in August on social media yesterday (Monday, June 20th) writing in part, "We have never done any kind of marathon/sports event like this so we are pooping our pants just a little, so the more money we raise the more you'll spur us on to smash it! Let's gooo."

Sykes and Nicholls have set a goal of £3,000 on the Just Giving page, which can be accessed at http://justgiving.com/crowdfunding/ukrainepride.

Today (Tuesday, June 21st) is the one-year anniversary of Korn's Reginald "Fieldy" Arvizu decision to temporarily leave the band after he revealed he had reverted to some of his "bad habits" and that he was going "to take some time off to heal." Korn's Brian' "Head" Welch recently told Kerrang! Radio that he intends to catch up with Fieldy saying, "We've been in contact with him. I just e-mailed him the other day. So we're gonna get together and talk to him, see how he's doing, see where his head is at, after this tour . . . We love him, we've been in communication with him, and we'll see."

The band hopes to find out if and when Fieldy is ready to return to Korn at the close of their current tour of Europe and the UK.

In the meantime, Suicidal Tendencies bassist Ra Diaz has been filling in for him.

I Prevail has announced their new album True Power. The band also released the music video for their first single "Body Bag."

Singer Brian Burkheiser compared the new project to the band's last album Trauma, saying, "'Trauma' was a very reflective record. I'd struggled with a major vocal injury and had been wondering whether I wanted to continue doing this thing at all. Eric Vanlerberghe, vocals had also lost his best friend over that same time, so there was a lot of heartache behind it. With 'True Power', we were going into a new phase. After taking that trauma and figuring out how to channel it, you find this sense of newfound confidence and an ability to grow as a person: to become truly yourself."

He continued, "We took a 'no rules' mentality into the songwriting, and a lot of it is heavy as fuck, but the songs sound as diverse as they've ever been, too. There is a song on the record called 'There's Fear In Letting Go', and that became a huge mantra for us. Yeah, it can be scary letting go of things, but it can also help you take back everything that's yours: which is exactly what we've done on this album."

True Power is due out on August 19th.

Even more artists have signed on to appear at the Taylor Hawkins tribute concert sset for next September in London and Los Angeles. Hawkins, the drummer for the Foo Fighters, died on March 25th at age 50 after suffering an alleged drug overdose in Columbia.

Loudersound.com reported Dave Grohl's Nirvana bandmate, bassist Krist Novoselic, Led Zeppelin's John Paul Jones, Nile Rodgers, Pink, Foo Fighters' producer Greg Kurstin, former Queens Of The Stone Age collaborator Alain Johannes, and 12-year-old drum prodigy Nandi Bushell will be on board for the September 3rd show at London's Wembley Stadium.

The September 27th show at The Forum in L.A. will now also include Heart guitarist Nancy Wilson, LeAnn Rimes, Miley Cyrus, and Joan Jett.

When we last caught up with the late-Taylor Hawkins, he explained that Foo Fighters are actually bigger in other territories across the globe: "As a band, we've always actually been a little bit bigger outside of America. England, we do really well and Australia we do really well and a lot of parts of Europe we do well. And we do well in America, but mainly in the big cities, y'know. We're not huge necessarily in the Midwest and places like that because, frankly, America's big."

Coming soon via Genesis Publications is Def Leppard's first official band biography, titled Definitely: The Official Story Of Def Leppard. The book, which is described as "Part memoir, part scrapbook," will be the ultimate official record of Leppard's legendary career.

According to the press release, the tome "is narrated by the band in their own words, illustrated with photography and memorabilia from the Def Leppard archives. Definitely presents over four decades of the band's history through handwritten correspondence, rare vinyl pressings, tour memorabilia, music video storyboards, draft album artwork, press cuttings, previously unpublished photographs and much more."

For ordering info, log on to: https://bit.ly/3OrrStE

Def Leppard drummer Rick Allen revealed that although some bands that span the decades soldier on despite deep inner-band turmoil, Leppard are still a bunch of dudes that love hanging out and making music together: "I think the saving grace is we still like each (laughs) other. We can all hang out in the same room, y'know what I mean? We don't take separate cars, we don't have separate hotels. And I think a lot of the success we had was fantastic. But honestly, I think a band grows from some of the not so good times. Like, losing (founding guitarist) Steve Clark and, y'know, my accident. I think that's been really important for us, and it's really sad to see other bands not quite being a team."

During Def Leppard's 2019 induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, frontman Joe Elliott spoke about how every time the band was about to be counted out, they not only rebounded -- but came back stronger: "And that's the way that it always played out throughout our career. So, let's face facts, people here: If alcoholism, car crashes, and cancer couldn't kill us -- then the '90s had no (bleep-bleep) chance"

Marcus Mumford is going solo.

Sources inside of a Spotify party Monday (June 20th) night told Page Six that the Mumford & Sons singer announced that he will be leaving the band in order to focus on a solo career.

He performed his new music for the first time at the event, which was held for an "intimate group" in the French Riviera.

An attendee told the outlet, "He just said today is day one for his next thing."

Jack White didn't eat for five days while writing his latest albums, Fear of the Dawn and Entering Heaven Alive. In a recent interview with Q on CBC he explained, "I wanted to see what I would write under those conditions, under that idea — being alone and fasting — what my brain and my body would come up with. Would I get frustrated? Would I get angry? Would I get upset? Would I be depressed? What kind of lyrics would come out?"

White was inspired to fast after reading Upton Sinclair's 1911 book, The Fasting Cure. He said, "It's an interesting thing I was exploring, and I still explore that — what your body does. The amount of energy your body gets on the second, third day from that is outstanding, It's not to be believed."

Fear of the Dawn was released in April, while Entering Heaven Alive will be released on July 22nd.

The end may be in sight for Sevendust. While that band is working on their 14th career album, drummer Morgan Rose recently appeared on Jamey Jasta‘s The Jasta Show where he explained, "We're not gonna tour the new record until next year at some point. There's not gonna be many left, I'll just tell you that. I'm gonna be the one to let all the cats out of the bag, but I can just tell you that we're not gonna be around, full-fledged, forever, that's for sure."

As far as ending on an exact date, Rose says there is one but his lips are sealed. He said, "We're pretty f**king old to begin with. Somehow or another we've kept it together enough to be able to still do it at a respectable level. But it's gonna happen. I would be lying to you if I told you I didn't know when. It is gonna happen. But we're not saying anything."

Rose said the members of Sevendust have discussed doing a farwell tour "to be able to say goodbye to everybody properly . . ."

Ozzy Osbourne is reportedly looking to renew his vows with Sharon Osbourne for their 40th wedding anniversary. According to The Mirror, the two plan to travel back to Maui where they first got married 40 years ago.

A friend of the couple told the publication, "Ozzy may have been waiting on getting his neck and back sorted after extended leg pain, which has left him unable to walk for long periods. But while that has been his hope, he always wants to treat Sharon to something special for their 40th. They renewed their vows in Vegas in 2017, but he hoped to fly them to Maui for a break to recall their big day."

The friend continued, "He hopes that his recovery will be short and nerve damage will be removed so that he can treat his wife. Ozzy may have gone through the mill in recent years, but his spirit and desire to show Sharon how much their love burns bright remains."

Ozzy underwent surgery last week.

Sting has reissued his 2021 album The Bridge with four studio bonus tracks and six live selections. The Bridge, which was Sting's first original album in five years, was released on November 21st, 2021 and peaked at Number 15 on Billboard's Top Rock Albums chart.

The new version collects three international bonus tracks -- the traditional "Waters Of Tyne," the original "Captain Bateman's Basement," and a cover of the Otis Redding chart-topper, "(Sittin' On) The Dock Of The Bay."

The bonus disc also includes six tracks played live last October 6th in Paris at The Pantheon, as well as "Por Su Amor," the Spanish version of Sting's track "For Her Love," in duet with the Latin American artist KURT.

Sting told us that due to pandemic, which forced him and band off the road mid-tour, The Bridge came as a way to survive the shutdown: "I got my crew and myself back home to England and said, 'Well, now what? Okay -- we'll just move the cycle. I'll just go in the studio.' So, I'd start at 10 in the morning and work through dinner every day, and that kept me sane. My heart went out to people who couldn't do that, who were stuck in a high rise with three kids and no work. That must've been virtually impossible. So I was very fortunate."

Although by no means a concept album, Sting maintains that the songs on The Bridge have a common thread: "When I realized, when I looked at them all individually, they were connected somehow; they were all about characters in transition. All of the characters were looking for a bridge to the future that was somewhere different, somewhere safer, somewhere happier. And I think the whole planet is looking for a bridge at the moment. I am. It's such an anxious time. So 'The Bridge' seemed a useful metaphor that would resonate with people."

Sting kicks off his European summer tour tomorrow (June 21st) in Gothenburg, Sweden at Tradgardsforeningen.

Once again, Wolfgang Van Halen has chosen to confront his online detractors head-on rather than let personal attacks go unanswered. Loudwire reported a tongue-in-cheek Wolf tweeted to fans: "I wanted to offer my sincere apologies to anyone I may have upset or hurt by being born. I have never meant my existence to be a burden to others, but alas, here we are. I'll try not to exist so much in the future. Thank you for your patience."

He then shared a screen shot of a poster named Jeffery William Jones, who took time out to slam Wolf for participating in the upcoming Taylor Hawkins tribute concerts in London and L.A.

Jones wrote: "Wolf Van Halen just rides in on his daddy's talent and gets invited to remembering a drumming legend? Had you been born to any other parents, you'd be nothing in the music world."

Not one to shy away from harsh words on social media, Wolfgang countered with: "Yes my dad who hasn't been alive for two years had Dave Grohl called (sic) me to participate. Spot on, Jeffy."

Wolf went on to tweet: "The funny thing about people like you who hate me is that you leave me no room for improvement. That my fault is something completely uncontrollable. While I guess me playing music apparently completely hinges on who my family is (which is a completely unanswerable question), I can definitely surmise that had you were born to different parents, you'd most likely still be a miserable ass****."

Although he continues to be trolled and mercilessly blasted on social media -- primarily due to replacing Michael Anthony on bass in Van Halen, Wolfgang told us that he'll never let naysayers stop him: "Yes, at first it's definitely intimidating as a 16-year-old to have the world hating on you, but I just kind of do my thing, because I know that I can do it. And when people tell me that I can't, when I know I'm doing it, it just -- it almost makes me feel better."

Mammoth WVH kicks off its 25-date European tour on November 1st in Hamburg, Germany at Sporthalle Hamburg.

KORN DRUMMER GIVES UPDATE ON FIELDY: Korn drummer Ray Luzier recently updated MoreCore on the status of the band's bassist, Reginald "Fieldy" Arvizu. He told the German outlet, "He's doing good. He's our brother. We love him. We support him 110 percent. Bands are like marriages. Sometimes you need to step away a little bit to look at the picture and see what's going on with your individual life, and I think that's where we're all at now with Reggie. He's such a great dude and he's one of my best buds, so we support him in everything he does. No one has a crystal ball — I don't know what's gonna happen in the future — but we definitely miss him out here." Fieldy announced last June that he would skip the band's ongoing tour in order to "get the bad habits out of his system."

RISE AGAINST SINGER FALLS OFF STAGE: Tim McIlrath fell offstage during a concert in Budapest, Hungary on June 14th. Despite the incident, the Rise Against frontman kept singing "Give It All." Loudwire reports that he managed to walk away with jut a few cuts and an abrasion on chis chest. He told the outlet, "There was a gap between the stage and some bright lights, and I totally spaced and took one big confident step into the void and then found myself trapped in a crevasse of stage and speakers. My chest absorbed the impact and I didn't really feel it until later. At the time, my instinct was to just keep rolling, and so I squeezed through the speakers and just went into the crowd to sing with them."

GHOST CUTS PERFORMANCE SHORT AFTER SINGER LOSES VOICE: Ghost cut their Hellfest performance short Saturday (June 18th) night after Tobias Forge lost his voice. Blabbermouth reports that the front man announced, "My voice is completely f---ed. I cannot sing one other song for you," after performing the sing "Dance Macabre."

Coldplay played the final show of the sold-out U.S. leg of their Music Of The Spheres World Tour on Tuesday (June 14th) night before 55,000 fans at Tampa's Raymond James Stadium. They were joined on stage by H.E.R., who took on Selena Gomez's parts on the duet "Let Somebody Go." H.E.R. will play additional shows with Coldplay in Europe this summer.

Coldplay performed to a combined audience of 600,000 over their 12 U.S. stadium dates in Dallas, Houston, Phoenix, Santa Clara, Chicago, Washington DC, East Rutherford, Atlanta and Tampa.

More than 3.8 million tickets have now been sold for the tour, which reaches Europe on July 2nd when the band will play the first of three sold out shows at Frankfurt's Deutsche Bank Park stadium.

Korn's Brian "Head" Welch admits that the band's 2002 Untouchables album was not his "favorite." In an interview with Rock Sound at last weekend's Download festival in the United Kingdom he said, "The record was kind of challenging. I attempted sobriety that record. And we actually went to Arizona and got all these mansions and started recording and writing in these houses. And most of 'em were party houses. And I'm trying to get sober. And we spent so much money on that record. But it came out good. And we got some great memories."

Korn's latest album, Requiem, was released in February and it debuted at Number One on Billboard's Hard Rock Albums chart.

The band's tour with Evanescence is set to kick off on August 16th at Ball Arena in Denver, Colorado.

The long wait is over -- the twice delayed "Stadium" tour featuring co-headliners Def Leppard and a reunited Motley Crue, along with Poison and Joan Jett & The Blackhearts -- finally launches tonight (June 16th) at Atlanta's SunTrust Park. The 36-date trek will play through the summer, finally wrapping on September 9th at Las Vegas' Allegiant Stadium.

Earlier this year, when the rescheduled dates were all rolled out, the bands issued statements to fans:

Mötley Crüe said in a joint statement: "It's on! We don't think we've ever looked forward more to kicking off a tour than this one. We can't wait to finally see all the fans across North America again. Get ready for a wild ride this summer!"

Def Leppard frontman Joe Elliott added: "On behalf of the band, we're beyond thrilled that the stadium tour is finally happening this summer. . . it's been a while coming and we can't wait to get back on stage again & we can't wait to see you in one of the many stadiums soon!"

Poison's Bret Michaels said: "There are not enough words to thank the three generations of fans for making this such an exciting, record breaking, historical tour with the fastest sell outs in history at these stadiums."

Joan Jett added: "We are so excited to be back out on the road! We missed doing what we love most and can't wait to see the fans out there again!"

A while back, Def Leppard's Joe Elliott told us that there's nothing more important than staying healthy on the road and explained how he preps strenuously before each and every one of the band's tours: "I've seen a lot of people start a tour out, and then three days into the tour have to cancel at least a couple of gigs 'cause they've blown their voice out. So what I try and do is make the first gig we do actually the 20th that my body's done, and I have my blowout 17 days before the tour starts. It's a muscle. You've just got to stretch it and get it into shape."

Motley Crue guitarist Mick Mars told us a while back that personality has a lot to do with the Crue's appeal: "I think it's something to do with the music, but I think it's just the charisma -- like what the (Rolling) Stones have, or like Aerosmith has, or like Kiss has, or like the Beatles had. It's the charisma of the four people together and, like, the music's okay and it comes in and it's a vital part of everything, but it's just like seeing that together, y'know what I mean?"

Poison's Bret Michaels has long maintained that although Poison might not be deemed "high art" by the rock press establishment, that doesn't mean that their music doesn't matter in a big way for a lot of people: "We don't always know what we're doing, we just do it with conviction. (Laughs) And somehow originality comes from that, y'know? And writing what I think are really, really strong songs both musically but mostly lyrically, like 'Something To Believe In"' or 'Every Rose Has Its Thorn.' They hit people's soul."

At her 2015 Rock Hall induction, Joan Jett spoke frankly about the passion and promise of true rock n' roll: "I come from a place where rock n' roll means something. It means more than music, it means more than fashion, more than a good pose. It's a language of a sub-culture that has made eternal teenagers of all who follow it. It's a sub-culture of integrity, rebellion, frustration, alienation, and the glue that set several generations free of unnatural societal self-suppression."

Ozzy Osbourne says he is" feeling the love and support" from fans following his "life-altering" surgery that involved removing and realigning pins in his neck and back.

He wrote via IG yesterday (June 14th), "I am now home from the hospital recuperating comfortably."

He continued, "I am definitely feeling the love and support from all my fans and send everyone a big thank you for their thoughts, prayers and well wishes during my recovery."

Halsey says son Ender is not a fan of their singing, but jokes that he loves the "really bad" singing of his grandmother.

In an interview this week with Jimmy Fallon, the singer called the 11-month-old their "biggest critic." When she sings to him, he gets pouty and looks like he's going to cry. On the other hand, he loves Halsey's mom, who she describes as someone who couldn't carry a tune in a bucket.

Halsey said, "It's really bad and when she sings, his eyes light up like she's the stars and the moon. But when I sing, he's not a fan."

The 27-year-old shares Ender with boyfriend Alev Aydin.

TL;DR:

• Halsey says son Ender gets pouty and looks like he's going to cry, when they sing to him.
• But loves their mom, who she describes as someone who couldn't carry a tune in bucket.

Papa Roach shared the music video for "No Apologies" Tuesday (June 14th), picking up where their 2017 hit single "Help" left off.

Front man Jacoby Shaddix said of the release, "Life is art. Art is life. We continue to blur the lines. The video for 'No Apologies' is an expression of love and forgiveness. A story we can all learn and grow from. I know I did. Its real. Its raw. Its life. A must see."

"No Apologies" is pulled from the band's recently released eleventh studio album Ego Trip.

Papa Roach will be hitting the road on the co-headline Rockzilla Summer Tour featuring very special guests Hollywood Undead and Bad Wolves. Kicking off in East Providence, RI on Wednesday, July 27th, 2022 at Bold Point Pavilion, the Rockzilla Tour will include 24 cities across the US before finishing on August 31th in Nashville, TN at the Municipal Auditorium.

Ozzy Osbourne's wife and manager Sharon Osbourne took to social media to update fans on her husband's condition following his major surgery on Monday (June 13th).

She wrote, "Our family would like to express so much gratitude for the overwhelming amount of love and support leading upto Ozzy's surgery!"

She added, "Ozzy is doing well and on the road to recovery! Your love means the world to him."

Ozzy underwent surgery to remove and realign pins in his neck and back.

Shinedown will be celebrating the July 1st release of Planet Zero with a livestream performance of the full record.

The band announced Tuesday (July 14th) that they will play a free, live performance at Daddy Kool Records in St. Petersburg, Florida at 3 p.m. ET on album release day, followed by a signing event.

Fans can register to watch the free livestream on Veeps.com.

Slipknot have announced a fall leg of U.S. tour dates for Knotfest Roadshow.

They will kick things off on September 20th in Nashville, TN, with support from Ice Nine Kills and Crown The Empire, and wrap things up on October 7th in Irvine, CA.

General on-sale tickets will be available starting Friday (June 17th).

Tame Impala will headline Desert Daze alongside Iggy Pop and King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard.

The festival will take place from September 30th to October 2nd in Lake Perris, California.

Tame Impala will be celebrating the 10th anniversary of 2012's Lonerism at Desert Daze, performing the album in full.