Pulse – Rock Music News

The Wedding Band -- featuring Metallica's Kirk Hammett and Robert Trujillo played on Friday night (May 27th) at Napa, California's Margrit Mondavi Theatre. Blabbermouth reported the gig, "Was part of the BottleRock Afterdark performances that are taking place in conjunction with this year's Metallica's co-headlined edition of the BottleRock Napa Valley music festival, which was held last weekend at the Napa Valley Expo in Northern California."

The band is rounded out by Mark Osegueda of Death Angel, Jon Theodore from the Mars Volta and Queens Of The Stone Age, along with Bad Wolves and God Forbid's and Doc Coyle. The two-set, 19-song show included covers of classics by Motörhead, Black Sabbath, the Ramones, the Clash, the Misfits, Black Flag, Rick Derringer -- even Robert Palmer and Kool & The Gang.

Machine Gun Kelly says that Pete Davidson showed up at his birthday party back in April, with Batman. The big surprised happened when Davidson asked if he could bring a plus-one and then invited Robert Pattinson.

Kelly said, "I was like, ‘You brought Batman?' Everyone kept coming up and was like, ‘Dude, is Batman at your birthday party?'"

In an interview with Jimmy Fallon, Kelly explained that one Easter, when Davidson showed up at his house with beer, he took him to Sandra Bullock's house, where they ran into Jennifer Aniston and other major stars.

The two have become good friends and Davidson is in Machine Gun Kelly's movie, Good Mourning.

TL;DR:

• Machine Gun Kelly says that Pete Davidson showed up at his birthday party back in April, with Batman.
• Kelly said, "I was like, ‘You brought Batman?' Everyone kept coming up and was like, ‘Dude, is Batman at your birthday party?'"
• Davidson is in Machine Gun Kelly's movie, Good Mourning.

Green Day's Billie Armstrong has opened up about the emotion he felt on the band's first night of the Hella Mega Tour with Fall Out Boy and Weezer. In an interview with Kerrang!, he said, "The crowd looked like this giant flock of birds freaking out," Armstrong said of their first tour date. Coming offstage, afterwards, no-one could believe what was happening with this shared experience for all of us. And it was like that every single night. People were just grateful to be alive, to be around people again. It was awesome. We wanted to make it a special tour back in 2019, but when it ended up happening it was an unbelievable experience."

He continued, "We sound-checked the day before and I was so overwhelmed by the size of the place – it was like the first time I ever played a stadium in my life… Everyone – the crew, every single person – was completely overwhelmed because no-one knew how this was going to go down. I was freaking out. Everyone was. We didn't know what to think… the whole country had been through the f*cking wringer. And here we are starting in f*cking Texas."

Robert Plant took time out on his recent Digging Deep podcast to look back on his and Jimmy Page's only full studio album apart from Led Zeppelin -- 1998's Walking Into Clarksdale. The album, which came on the heels of 1994's massively successful No Quarter: Jimmy Page And Robert Plant - Unledded album and MTV special, also followed the duo touring a Zeppelin-heavy show across the globe.

After playing the Walking Into Clarksdale track, "Please Read The Letter," Robert Plant spoke frankly about what the 1998 album means in the greater scheme of things: "It was a real experiment, because are all these things part of a career? Or are they just, when you get to a certain point, you just exorcise your whims -- and that's the previous record, (No Quarter: Jimmy Page And Robert Plant) Unledded. No Quarter was exactly that and it was better for it. And Walking Into Clarksdale was really an attempt to say, 'Okay, let's make a studio record now.' I can't say that it suited me that much at all. But -- for what it is; and this is not a compromise, I think it's really crucial because it allowed Jimmy Page and myself to just get rid of the mantle and the cloak of Zeppelin."

Seether will release a deluxe edition of their album, Si Vis Pacem, Para Bellum. The 22 track collect will include 5 previously unreleased songs. one of those is the alternate version of "Wasteland," that was originally featured on last year's The Purgatory EP.

The original album was released in August 2020 and served up three # 1 singles on the Billboard Mainstream Rock chart. It also garnered some of the best reviews of the band's career.

The deluxe set will be out on July 1.

TL;DR:

• Seether will release a deluxe edition of their album, Si Vis Pacem, Para Bellum on July 1.
• The 22 track collect will include 5 previously unreleased songs.

• Kiss guitarists Ace Frehley, Vinnie Vincent, and Bruce Kulick all appeared together for the first time on Saturday night (May 28th) Creatures Fest in Nashville. The mini set featured bassist Shane Smith from the Kiss tribute band You Wanted The Best and included Vincent playing his signature pink Gibson Flying-V, decked out in full "Ankh Warrior" Kiss stage makeup, while standing on a reproduction of Kiss' early-'80s tank stage design.
• The musicians played along to a drum track and tackled "I Love It Loud," "War Machine" with Bruce Kulick, along with Ace Frehley joining them for the early favorites, "Deuce" and Cold Gin."
  • The night before (May 27th), original drummer Peter Criss joined Ace Frehley and his band for a pair of early favorites "Strange Ways" from 1974's Hotter Than Hell and "Hard Luck Woman" from 1979's Dynasty. (Ultimate Classic Rock)
    
    
• Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea appears in the new Disney+ Star Wars series, Obi-Wan Kenobi. Flea portrays the bounty hunter Vect Nakru, who has been given the task of abducting a young Princess Leia. The Chili Peppers next perform on June 4th in Seville, Spain at Estadio La Cartuja De Sevilla. (Loudwire)
  
  
• Jane's Addiction guitarist Dave Navarro revealed that he's among those suffering from the dreaded "long Covid." Earlier this month, Jane's was forced to pull out of the Welcome To Rockville festival due to Navarro, with Perry Farrell enlisting his other band, Porno For Pyros to perform instead.
  • Navarro posted on Instagram: "I'm one of the ones who came down with the 'long haul Covid'. Been sick since December and supposedly will be back to my old self in. . . nobody knows how long. If there are any of you who are still suffering long after your negative results, I'm just saying you aren't alone. The fatigue and isolation is pretty awful but try to spend your time with the ones you love and stay creative. That's how I'm trying to get through this thing. Also lots of spiritual practices, meditation and yoga have been very helpful. I'll be ok, just don't know when."
    
    
• Poison's Bret Michaels ensured fans that what they hear is what they get at the band's shows. Blabbermouth transcribed some of the frontman's chat with Boise radio station 96.9 The Eagle, in which he explained, "I warm up. I do stuff. . . Because let's be really honest -- the fans are traveling; they're coming out to see you; they want a good show. For me, I wanna put on a badass show -- I wanna sing good, I wanna sound good. And you've gotta remember. . . we don't use anything -- There's no backing tracks. We sit at soundcheck and work on those harmonies, we work on making it sound good. That's what I set out to be, a musician, so you've gotta be able to bring it."
  • Michaels went on to admit, "I'm not gonna lie to you. One stretch I was doing solo (dates) and Poison (shows), and I did 14 in a row. And that beat my voice up pretty good. But then I had to take a little medication, got through it, for the voice, and then had a day off and got it to heal. And I'm good to go." (Blabbermouth)

Journey, the Beach Boys, Extreme, the Cramps, Kiss, Talking Heads and others are all featured on the just-issued Stranger Things: Soundtrack from the Netflix Series, Season 4. Coming on July 1st will be Season 4, Volume II, which features all of Volume I -- plus additional music from the season's closing episodes.

The new compilation features the newly created buzzworthy Bryce Miller/Alloy Tracks Remix of Journey's 1983 classic, "Separate Ways (Worlds Apart)."

We recently caught up with keyboardist Jonathan Cain, and he walked us through how one of his and Steve Perry's greatest team-ups -- the lead single and opening track to 1983's Frontiers album -- "Separate Ways (Worlds Apart)" -- came into being: "We took Escape on the road and we knew we needed more teeth. We knew we needed something like 'Separate Ways,' y'know? Like, what would make our set undeniably great? And we tried to fill in what we were missing musically. I think we all sensed it. And I remember writing 'Separate Ways' with Steve (Perry) on the road. We wrote that in a hotel room -- (bassist) Ross (Valory) was going through a divorce and boom -- out comes 'Separate Ways,' and we're playin' it at the end of the Escape tour. Y'know, 'cause we needed it in the set. Now, we start fine tuning ourselves, y'know? And that's how in tune we were with our music. It was all of us, man."

The tracklisting to Stranger Things: Soundtrack from the Netflix Series, Season 4 is:

"Separate Ways (Worlds Apart)" (Bryce Miller/Alloy Tracks Remix) - Journey
"California Dreamin'" - The Beach Boys
"Psycho Killer" - Talking Heads
"Running Up That Hill" - Kate Bush
"You Spin Me Round (Like A Record)" - Dead Or Alive
"Chica Mejicanita" - Mae Arnette
"Play With Me" - Extreme
"Detroit Rock City" - Kiss
"I Was A Teenage Werewolf" - The Cramps
"Pass The Dutchie" - Musical Youth
"Wipeout" - The Surfaris
"Object Of My Desire" - Starpoint
"Rock Me Amadeus (The Gold Mix)" - Falco
"Travelin' Man" - Ricky Nelson
"Tarzan Boy" - Baltimora
"Dream A Little Dream Of Me" - Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong

A sexual assault lawsuit filed against Marilyn Manson by his former assistant has been dismissed by a judge. Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Michael L. Stern threw out Ashley Walters' case "with prejudice," which means that she will not be able to file the same claims in Los Angeles Superior Court again. According to reports from CBS News and Deadline, Stern said Walters had "too few facts" and pleaded "too late."

Walters' suit claimed Manson used "his position of power, celebrity and connections to exploit and victimize (her) during her employment" from August 2010 to October 2011. In the wake of the judge's decision, Walters issued a statement to USA Today saying that she's "disheartened in the court's decision" because of "the message it sends to other survivors out there trying to balance how they process abuse with arbitrary court deadlines."

Walters was fired by Manson in 2011 after accusing her of "trying to sabotage his career," according to the lawsuit.

Manson still faces a number of sexual assault lawsuits from multiple women.

Machine Gun Kelly is learning how the movie industry works… He wanted Drake to be in his new movie, but couldn't afford him. The two had discussed it, but when it came down to scheduling the day of the shoot, Drake's travel expense of booking a private jet from Toronto to LA was going to cost too much. Kelly said, "That's the whole movie budget."

In the end, he decided it was more economical to just get an actor to play Drake.

Kelly wrote and directed the new stoner-comedy called Good Mourning, with his friend and fellow musician, Mod Sun.

TL;DR:

• Machine Gun Kelly wanted Drake to be in his new movie, but couldn't afford him. Drake's travel expense of booking a private jet from Toronto to LA was "the whole movie budget."
• It was more economical to just get an actor to play Drake.

It's been nine years since the Yeah Yeah Yeahs have released new music but they're ending their musical drought with the June 1st release of a song called "Spitting Off The Edge Of The World." They made the announcement via social media yesterday (Thursday, May 26th) writing, "To all who have waited, our dear fans, thank you, our fever to tell has returned. This is how our new story begins . . ."

The Yeah Yeah Yeahs are set to play their first headlining shows in the UK since 2013 beginning on June 5th at the O2 Apollo in Manchester.

Muse is set to replace Foo Fighters at the 2022 Aftershock Festival. The festival is taking place at Discover Park in Sacramento, CA on October 6th-9th. The Foo Fighters cancelled their 2022 touring plans following the passing of their drummer/vocalist Taylor Hawkins earlier this year.

See the full lineup for the 2022 Aftershock Festival below:

Thursday, October 06th:

Slipknot
Rob Zombie
Evanescence
Stone Temple Pilots
Killswitch Engage
Bad Religion
Ghostemane
Nothing More
Ice Nine Kills
Alexisonfire
Code Orange
Fever 333
Crown The Empire
Amigo The Devil
Ho99o9
Poorstacy
New Years Day
Cherry Bombs
Vended
If I Die First
Solence
Superbloom
Bloodywood

Friday, October 07th:

Kiss

Creed fans probably shouldn't hold out too much hope for a reunion.

Mark Tremonti recently told Ghost Cult magazine, "It's just one of those things where whenever it comes up, either our camp or CREED singer Scott Stapp has something going on at the moment. So our stars have to align. In fact, right now if a promoter said, 'Hey, we wanna do a huge CREED tour,' I'd have to bypass all the stuff we're working on at the moment. So we just have to wait till the time is right."

Two years ago Creed updated its Facebook page with an old photo, starting rumors that the band was looking to get back together.

Blink-182's Mark Hoppus has teamed with others to launch Verswire, which will utilize a venture capital approach to help artists make money and grow their business without going into deep debt while doing so.

The company will help artists with distribution, sponsorships, artist development and Web strategy.

Hoppus said, "So many times, labels will sign something that's hot, hope they can get a hit and then move on quickly. We want to go back to, ‘OK , you're a band starting out. What do you need? What can we bring to you? How can we make this thing blow up?'"

Opposite of a major label, artists will participate immediately in revenue streams with Verswire and keep majority ownership of their masters.

Fall Out Boy's Pete Wentz will also be involved as a strategic advisor.

TL;DR:

Late Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins was honored over the weekend when more than 1,000 musicians from 25 countries gathered at Stade de France in Paris for the Rockin'1000 concert. Hundreds of singers, guitarists, bassists, and drummers turned out to offer a special performance of "My Hero," as well as 20 other songs including covers of The Who, Rage Against the Machine, Pink Floyd, The White Stripes, and Guns N' Roses, according to consequence.net.

Rockin'1000 was originally devised as a way to lure Foo Fighters to Cesena, Italy. The event was the subject of the 2020 documentary We Are the Thousand.

Green Day leader Billie Joe Armstrong says he owes a debt of gratitude to the Sex Pistols. The legendary '70s punk unit is the subject of Pistol, a six-part FX on Hulu miniseries premiering on May 31st. Pistol, which is directed by Danny Boyle, is based on Sex Pistols guitarist Steve Jones' 2017 memoir, Lonely Boy: Tales Of A Sex Pistol.

Billie Joe Armstrong spoke of his love and admiration for the Pistols, recalling to Rolling Stone, "Never Mind The Bollocks was one of the first punk records I ever heard. . . The first thing that popped into my mind when I heard 'Holidays In The Sun" is how those guitars sounded so gigantic and real; and hearing (Johnny) Lydon's vocals, how he was just sort of this anti-singer (laughs). For me, it just had a huge impact. Everything about it, from the lyrics to the guitar sounds to the songs, I thought was just perfect."

Armstrong went on to say, "When Green Day first started playing, we were called Sweet Children. It was me and Mike (Dirnt) and rotating drummers, and we covered 'Holidays In The Sun.' Hardcore was everywhere, and everything was about playing as fast as humanly possible. And to me, it was like, 'There's no groove in that!' But the Pistols, they had a groove! Paul Cook is such a great drummer, and the way he and Steve Jones just completely locked in and played off each other, it's sort of like they were brothers."

Billie Joe Armstrong told us a while back that it's important for rock artists to stay connected to what's happening in the world when they write: "I think that rock stars, or whatever they like to call themselves nowadays, when they tend to get pretty big, a lot of people go way deep inside themselves and sort of shut out the world and kinda become disconnected with what is going on. I think it's really important, especially in music, that you have to have some sort of connection and you have to be some sort of member of society to comment on it. Or else people are just sorta like, 'Well, you're just this whiny rock star. Y'know -- what are you talking about?'"

Green Day will next perform with Weezer on June 1st in Berlin, Germany.

James Hetfield and Kirk Hammett performed the National Anthem during Metallica Night at the San Francisco Giants on Tuesday night (May 24th).

Hetfield sang a few notes from the band's classic "Master of Puppets" at the end of the performance. They also played "City Connect."

Def Leppard guitarist Phil Collen says that band's new album, Diamond Star Halos, which drops tomorrow (May 27th), has gotten the band excited over its new material in a totally unique way.

Collen revealed to us that the band feels they've hit a grand slam with the new collection: "It's the best reaction we've ever had to anything off the bat. I remember when Hysteria came out, it was a mixed bag (of reviews). This has been all positive, It's been, like, 'Oh my God, we've been waiting for something like this.' Y'know, just 100 percent positive. It was influenced by. . . y'know, and we've said this before but, it was influenced by the era that we were baptized into music. That was the very early-'70s. 1971 was a pivotal year for music. It was, almost, saying goodbye to the 60's and moving to the '70s."

Fozzy have announced a fall leg of their headlining Save The World Tour. The 20-date run will launch on September 8th in Columbus, OH with special guests No Resolve and GFM. Tickets go on sale to the general public on Friday (May 27th) at 10 a.m. ET online at fozzyrock.com/tour.

Fozzy frontman Chris Jericho said, "2022 has already been the biggest and best year in Fozzy's career. From Judas going GOLD with 500,000 units sold, to ‘I Still Burn' being the fastest charting song in Fozztory, to the Save The World Tour being our most successful run ever, we decided to extend the celebration and do another HUGE run through North America starting in September! So come celebrate Boombox, (which critics are calling our best album ever), the power of rock n roll and the magic of Fozzy LIVE with us again this fall! And bring your party hats…you're gonna need em!"

The Save The World Tour is set to wrap on October 10th in Virginia Beach.

Fozzy's Boombox album was released earlier this month.

My Chemical Romance frontman Gerard Way paid tribute to the late Power Trip lead singer Riley Gale during the band's new reunion tour stop in England over the weekend. After being told the hat he was wearing looked like something Gale would wear he told the crowd, "I was so inspired by that f**king dude. They were gonna be one of the bands that were gonna open for us. I was gonna ask at least . . . They were a great f**king band. Rest in peace, Riley, motherf**ker!"

Gale died in 2020, when My Chemical Romance's tour was originally supposed to take place but was postponed due to Covid.

Opening bands for this tour include Turnstile, Soul Glo, Midtown, Devil Master and Dilly Dally.

Stone Temple Pilots have pulled out of the last five shows on their U.S. tour with Halestorm and Black Stone Cherry after a member of their touring party tested positive for Covid-19.

The band announced on social media Tuesday (May 24th), "During routine Covid-19 testing, we have discovered that a member of our touring party has tested positive. Out of an abundance of caution, we must regretfully cancel the remaining shows on our tour with Halestorm.

"The 5 dates are Evansville, Tulsa, Deadwood, Moorhead, and Missoula. Halestorm and Black Stone Cherry will still be performing as scheduled."

Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea recalled the emotions the group was dealing with when they fired the band's guitarist for a decade -- Josh Klinghoffer -- upon John Frusciante's return to the band. Klinghoffer, who started out as Frusciante's guitar tech, as now tours as Pearl Jam's supplemental live guitarist, was let go by the Chili Peppers in December 2019.

Flea told Classic Rock that it was decision he didn't take lightly: "I crashed my car into the garage, I was so freaked out about it. Look, Josh is an amazing person. He was helpful for me personally, as someone I could go to when I was hurting and crying on the road. He played great, he contributed, he's an awesome person. But we had a language with John that we developed when we were all much younger."

He went on to explain the allure of John Frusciante as a guitarist and bandmember: "John Frusciante is the best musician I've ever played with. It's in everything from the little details to the big picture. His relationship to music is so pure and has so much integrity and knowledge and work and practice. Every note he plays is born of this immense heart. It's so beautiful."

John Frusciante, who has already quit the Chili Peppers twice before, was pressed as to whether the third go-'round with the band will be for good, and explained, "There's no way to see into the future. . . The beauty of playing with this band is that we really do love listening to each other. I love hearing the way they make me sound. We have a chemical effect on each other. We bring things out of each other that we can't bring out of ourselves. The way I play guitar with them is a style I can't play on my own. The chance to make another record like that has meant everything to me. We're all just glad this is happening right now. Our hearts are in it, and so it feels right."

A while back John Frusciante told us that there was a time when skateboarding was more important to him than guitar. "When I was a little kid I was a skateboarder at Marina Del Rey (California) Skate Park in like 1978 until they closed in '81, and that's when I started playing guitar and stopped skateboarding. I would imagine a lot of the emotional rudiments in the feelings of flying that took place in skateboarding, I probably am trying to emulate those same things with music."

Red Hot Chili Peppers next perform on June 4th in Seville, Spain at Estadio La Cartuja De Sevilla.

Eminem announced on social media Tuesday (May 24th) that the 20th Anniversary Expanded Edition of The Eminem Show will drop this week.

He wrote, "Well, if you want Shady, this is what I'll give ya" 📺 #TheEminemShow 20th Anniversary Expanded Edition drops Thursday 5/26."

The original, released on May 26th, 2002, was the rapper's fourth album and his second career No. 1 atop the Billboard 200.

Aerosmith's Steven Tyler has voluntarily checked himself into rehab forcing the band to scrap their June and July "Deuces Are Wild" Las Vegas shows at Dolby Live at Park MGM. Tyler, who's now 74, has been open over the years regarding his continued battle to remain sober.

The band issued an official statement, which reads:

As many of you know, our beloved brother Steven has worked on his sobriety for many years. After foot surgery to prepare for the stage and the necessity of pain management during the process, he has recently relapsed and voluntarily entered a treatment program to concentrate on his health and recovery.

We are truly sorry to inform our fans and friends that we must cancel our first set of Las Vegas Residency dates this June and July while he focuses on his well-being.

We will continue our 2022 dates starting in September, and we'll let you know any further updates as soon as we can. We are devastated that we have inconvenienced so many of you, especially our most loyal fans who often travel great distances to experience our shows.

Thank you for your understanding and for your support for Steven during this time.

Back in 2013, Steven Tyler appeared on the syndicated Dr. Oz show and made a bold claim as to who's to blame for getting drugs out to the masses these days: "Y'know who the new dealers are? They're doctors. The dealers aren't on the street. It's not a (applause) shady guy on the street. Y'know how many doctors I've gone to and said, 'I, I, I'm in a 12-Step program, I've been sober for. . .' He goes, 'Ah, good for you!' On the way out he says, 'You need something to sleep tonight?' (Dr. Oz): (laughs) Gosh. . . (Steven Tyler): And I'm trying to tell him that I can't take anything that's mood altering, 'cause if I do, I like to ride it. We all do, right? You get on a water ski, you wanna go again next week. Kiss her -- I wanna do it again (laughter)! It's 'euphoric recall,' it's not so odd. It's what humans -- y'know, we're all touchy-feely; even those that say that they're not and men that don't cry, they still want to be touched by their mothers. Skin is the biggest organ in the body. So, we like that feeling of, y'know, opiates."

Aerosmith will next perform on September 4th at Bangor, Maine's Maine Savings Amphitheater