Good morning Radicals! If you’re in the north east, here’s hoping you’ve got power!
Shinedown has set May 4th as the release date for its sixth studio album, titled Attention Attention. The first single from the disc, called “Devil,” is out now along with an accompanying music video. The record is described as the band’s “most raw and personal to date,” and seems to be a loose concept album, as the music “follows an individual from life’s lowest lows to the highest highs as anxieties dissipate and demons disappear.”
Given the deeply personal nature of the record, Shinedown went in-house for production for the time ever, enlisting bassist Eric Bass to produce and mix the album in its entirety.
Other tracks on the 14-song LP include “The Entrance,” “Black Soul,” “Kill Your Conscience,” “Pyro,” “Monsters,” “Darkside,” “Creatures,” “Evolve,” “Get Up,” “Special,” “The Human Radio,” “Brilliant” and the title cut.
Shinedown will hit the road for a world tour in support of the new disc starting on March 23rd in Deadwood, South Dakota. The band will also head out on a co-headlining run with Godsmack in July.
Stone Sour singer Corey Taylor, Halestorm, other artists and the producers of Sunrise, Florida’s Fort Rock festival are showing their support for students and advocating for school safety in the wake of the tragic February 14th shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in South Florida that left 17 people dead.
To support initiatives for school safety and create awareness for efforts to promote changes in gun laws, the producers are offering 50 percent off the price of Fort Rock general admission weekend tickets for those who sign the “Students Fighting Guns Since Adults Won’t” petition created by high school student Julia Kemple of Kalamazoo, Michigan. The petition has already been signed by more than 200,000 people across the nation in response to the Florida shootings.
Corey Taylor said, “I’m absolutely behind this movement. Not only the name itself, but the reason and the cause. As a father, my one concern is my children. The fact that no one is doing anything worthwhile to change the horrendous laws and circumstances around these shootings is unacceptable. So if the adults can’t extricate themselves from the politics that are keeping them from ACTUALLY making a difference, I support the generation who will.”
Halestorm said in a statement, “To all the students that have been affected by gun violence, and to students everywhere, YOU are the ones we’ve been waiting for. Our future is what YOU make it and the path is yours to blaze. YOU are the fire! We are proud to stand by you as we push to make this planet a better place.”
Fort Rock producer Danny Hayes said, “As a Broward County, Florida native, the Stoneman Douglas tragedy really hit home for me. We are so deeply touched and moved by the courage and fortitude of the students at Stoneman Douglas High School. They have turned trauma into strength. As a society we must act quickly to give them the protection they deserve.”
Those who would like to get the discount simply need to send a screenshot of their signed petition or forward their confirmation e-mail to dh@dwpresents.com. The promotion is available through April 1st, 2018, while supplies last. Visit FortRockFestival.com for further details on the event.
Fort Rock is scheduled to take place on April 28th and 29th and will include sets from Ozzy Osbourne, Godsmack, Five Finger Death Punch, Shinedown, Breaking Benjamin and Stone Temple Pilots.
Slash‘s solo band, known as Slash Featuring Myles Kennedy & The Conspirators, is rumored to be putting the finishing touches on a new studio album for a fall 2018 release. The Guns N’ Roses guitarist has not officially confirmed that he is back in the studio working on the follow-up to 2014’s World On Fire, but it is believed that he and his bandmates have been laying down tracks since at least January.
Rumors that Slash might be working on his fourth solo effort started last December when his girlfriend Meegan Hodges told a fan on Instagram that the guitarist was in the studio with Kennedy recording the next Conspirators album. But Kennedy claimed in a radio interview a short time later that there were no concrete plans for him to reunite with Slash and work on new music.
After a fan asked Hodges to clarify her remarks following Kennedy’s denial, Hodges responded, “Maybe you should ask the band guys.”
Kennedy, who also fronts Alter Bridge, has said that he would spend most of 2018 touring behind his solo album, Year Of The Tiger, which arrives on Friday (March 9th). He has acknowledged, however, working with Slash on new material toward the end of the World On Fire tour cycle.
It was after that tour was completed that rumors of Slash rejoining Guns N’ Roses for a reunion tour began to circulate, with the reunion confirmed in early 2016. The current Guns trek — which also features fellow original members Axl Rose and Duff McKagan — launched in April 2016 and has since grossed more than $400 million, with more European dates coming this summer.
Despite the success of the tour, there has been no indication that Guns intends to record a new album anytime soon. The last Guns album on which Rose, McKagan and Slash appeared together was 1993’s covers set “The Spaghetti Incident?”, although Rose recorded 2008’s Chinese Democracy with an entirely different lineup.
That’s Dirt! Stay warm out there!
