Good morning rock music aficionados! Here’s what’s going on today:
Here on set in L.A. with our friends @sebastianbach and @billyraycyrus, shooting our new video. #GS2018 pic.twitter.com/dL3xzQjgHr
— Godsmack (@Godsmack_Music) February 9, 2018
Godsmack filmed a video for its new single last Thursday, February 7th, at a studio in Los Angeles, featuring cameos from country singer Billy Ray Cyrus and former Skid Row frontman Sebastian Bach in addition to TV personality Chris Jacobs from Overhaulin’. The title of the single has not yet been divulged.
Godsmack’s follow-up to 2014’s 1000 Horsepower album is tentatively due out this spring. The group’s seventh studio disc will arrive to coincide with the 20th anniversary of Godsmack’s debut album.
Frontman Sully Erna told FaceCulture in September that the band’s new songs “have a lot more of a commercial aspect to ’em. There’s some stuff in there that definitely will service the core fanbase of Godsmack. But we also felt that it’s time to expand a little bit.”
Erna added that the band is “gonna try to reinvent a little bit more of our sound, our look, our stage show, and come out with a brand new Godsmack.”
The singer said last July in an interview with Los Angeles radio station KLOS, “I’m a lot older now, I have a daughter of my own, I’m in a good place in my life. I don’t have a whole lot to really be stressed out about or mad. And so the music has to evolve with that.”
Godsmack is scheduled to perform at several music festivals this spring and summer, including April’s Welcome To Rockville and Fort Rock, May’s Carolina Rebellion and July’s Rock USA.
In This Moment has shared a live video for the song “River Of Fire,” the latest track taken from the band’s current album, Ritual. Guitarist Chris Howorth told BandsInTown about the group’s live show, “Maria (Brink, singer) is usually at the center of this hurricane directing and planning the whole thing. It starts right when the songs are being written and continues right up to the first show . . . We always try to utilize the stage setup to make every song special in its own way. Maria uses the stage design and props to enhance each song and bring the message or story to life for the crowd.”
Maria Brink told us a while back that the stage show has become an integral part of what In This Moment does: “The visual show to me has become so important. The music is the heartbeat of everything and I like the visuals to be just as large and just as big, and we’re really trying to create this show that nobody is bringing — all kinds of cool, really exciting stuff.”
Lzzy Hale of Halestorm at Sonic Boom (photo credit: Lou Brutus)
Halestorm is getting into the homestretch with the recording of its new album, and singer/guitarist Lzzy Hale told us that the band is looking to add the final touches to the record: “We have about two or three weeks left recording just to put like the cherries on top and see what the 11th hour songs have to say, which that’s the big thing in the world of Halestorm. We’ll be writing, writing, writing and then we like think we’ve got the record figured out and then all of a sudden, last minute at the 11th hour, like, there’s one or two songs that kind of come out because you’re already like relieved that you have the record done, and those are the songs that are like, ‘OK, we have to put them on the record somehow.’”
Ozzy Osbourne‘s wife and manager Sharon has claimed that Ozzy is being “blackmailed” by concert agency AEG Live, according to Billboard. Sharon has alleged that AEG is using a practice called “block-booking” to force her husband to perform at the Staples Center in Los Angeles against his wishes.
Ozzy had tentatively agreed to perform at London’s O2 Arena on February 11th, 2019 as part of his “No More Tours 2” farewell run, but Sharon claims that AEG attempted to add a provision stating that if Ozzy played an indoor arena within 25 miles of Los Angeles that was promoted by competitor Live Nation during the tour, he would have to play the AEG-owned Staples Center as well.
More than a year after 3 Doors Down performed at a pre-inauguration concert for Donald Trump in Washington D.C., frontman Brad Arnold told us he and the band have no regrets about appearing at the event: “That was a great experience. We had a great time doing that. I mean, we were incredibly honored to do it. Honestly, as big of a thrill as it was to do it, I enjoyed it a lot more knowing that we’d done it, ’cause I was so stinkin’ nervous. When it was done, I was like, ‘Okay, this is cool, you know, I’m glad we’ve done that.’ (laughs) You know, we caught a little flack for that for 10 seconds, and after that have heard nothing but positive things.”
Guitarist Chris Henderson told Detroit radio station WRIF that the band was “really proud” to have played at the event, saying, “We stepped up when everyone else was complaining and crying about it. And we took a lot of heat for it, but we still did it, stood up for what we believed in.”
Henderson insisted that 3 Doors Down would have “absolutely” played if it had been Hillary Clinton’s inauguration instead and they were invited.
