Papa Roach have announced a new tour for 2018. Hot off the news of their run with A Day To Remember, the band has lined up shows for April and May with Nothing More and Escape The Fate. See all the dates in Road Rage!
Meanwhile, Escape The Fate have a new album, their 5th studio record, I Am Human, coming on Feb 16th, 2018.
Stone Temple Pilots have also plotted out the first leg of their 2018 tour with new lead singer Jeff Gutt. This will be around the time the band will probably release their first full length album in quite some time.
The trek will kick off on Mar 2nd in Santa Clarita, CA and conclude on Mar 17th in Billings, MT. The band will also play at three festivals in April and May: at Columbus, Ohio’s Rock On The Range, Jacksonville, FL’s Welcome To Rockville and Fort Lauderdale, FL’s Fort Rock.
Meanwhile Gutt was asked in a new interview with Loudwire about how much he wanted to channel late singer Scott Weiland and how much he wanted to put his own identity into the band. Gutt answered, “I don’t really aim to emulate Scott onstage. But I also can’t be fearful of the comparisons . . . I’m a huge fan of Scott and of course remember how he felt the music onstage. I always just try to be me but sometimes it’s unavoidable.”
Asked if he had any personal favorite songs within the STP catalog, Gutt said, “The great thing about the STP catalog is it’s diversity. While this makes it more tricky going forward I wouldn’t want it any other way.”
Gutt also spoke about the band’s next album, which is due out in the spring of 2018. He explained, “This record is full of amazing songs and vibes that I feel are really missing in the spectrum of today’s music. It has that STP feeling even though I’m singing. But I also didn’t come in trying to change everything. It was the most rewarding record I’ve ever been a part of.”
Fozzy, led by Chris Jericho, will continue to rock their fans across America on their Judas Rising Tour with newly added tour dates in 2018. Set to launch Feb 28 in New Orleans, LA, the 25-date trek will take the band (Jericho: vocals, Rich Ward: guitars, vocals, Frank Fontsere: drums, Billy Grey: guitars and Paul DiLeo: bass) from east to west. Through Fire, Santa Cruz and Dark Star Choir will round out the bill for the night of rock. Tickets for these newly announced dates (see below for list) go on sale to the public Friday, Dec 08. Find all the dates in Road Rage!
Blabbermouth & The Pulse Of Radio report System Of A Down fans may have to start accepting the idea that the band is either finished or needs a new frontman. Singer Serj Tankian, who has two new film scores under his belt, was asked in an interview with Russian magazine Expert if he finds it hard to write music without vocals. He replied, “Screw vocals. I’m tired of it . . . I wrote so many lyrics that it stopped to be interesting. Not because there is nothing I want to talk or sing about. Sure, there are topics I don’t want to write lyrics to, but at least I can pull out some new emotions out of it.”
Tankian, who said he was known as a poet before making music, added, “Poetry is always something that opens yourself up and supports self-determination. I just did it for too long. Now I am more interested in writing instrumental pieces of music.”
Tankian told us a while back that even with System, he worked on his music by himself: “Even with System, I always wrote the songs by myself in my own studio. I would write the songs, and have the vocals, have the whole arrangement done, then I’d take it to the band. But I’d still work the song from its inception to full form by myself. This is something I’d been doing for a very long time.”
The first of Tankian’s two new film scores, for a movie called Intent To Destroy, was released digitally on November 17th, while the second, for a movie titled Furious: The Legend Of Kolovrat, will arrive digitally on Friday, Dec 8th. Tankian has composed scores for other films, as well as TV and video games. His other solo work includes three rock albums, a live set, a classical symphony and a jazz recording.
Tankian has toured with System Of A Down over the past few years but the band has not released new music since 2006.
And here’s news from our friends Danny Wimmer Presents! Look at these line-ups, will ya? Pretty exciting stuff. Several major festivals unveiled their lineups on Monday (Dec 4th), starting with Sunrise, FL’s (formerly held in Fort Myers, FL) Fort Rock event. Ozzy Osbourne, Godsmack, Five Finger Death Punch, Stone Sour, Shinedown and Breaking Benjamin will headline the sixth edition of the festival, which will take place on Saturday, April 28th and Sunday, April 29th, 2018 at Markham Park in greater Fort Lauderdale. Other acts on the bill include Halestorm, Bullet For My Valentine, Trivium, Hollywood Undead, Sevendust, Pop Evil, Red Sun Rising, Stone Temple Pilots and more. VIP and early tickets are available now, with general ticket sales beginning on Friday (Dec 8th).
Godsmack, Muse and Alice In Chains will headline the three-day Carolina Rebellion event, taking place from May 4th through the 6th at the Charlotte Motor Speedway. Joining the headliners will be Shinedown, Stone Sour, Stone Temple Pilots, Bullet For My Valentine, Avatar, Tremonti, In This Moment, Queens Of The Stone Age, Incubus, Greta Van Fleet and many others. Godsmack, Alice In Chains, Stone Temple Pilots and Muse are all likely to have new albums either out or close to release by the time the festival rolls around.
All general admission and VIP tickets as well as hotel and camping options are available now at the Carolina Rebellion website.
Finally, Las Rageous returns for its second year on Friday, Apr 20th and Saturday, Apr 21st. The two-day music festival will take over two square blocks in downtown Las Vegas and will feature performances from A Perfect Circle, Five Finger Death Punch, Ghost, Beartooth, Pop Evil, Adelitas Way and more. Early bird tickets will be available starting on Wednesday (Dec 6th) at 10:00 a.m. PT, for those who purchased tickets to last year’s event. Presale tickets will be available Thursday (Dec 7th) and general tickets will be available starting on Friday at 10:00 a.m. PT.
Celebrating birthdays today: Little Richard, flamboyant rock star is 85. Comedian Margaret Cho is 49 and yours truly, Queen Producer extraordinaire of hardDriveRadio (at least ’til Dec 31st) is 29! ;>
