Thank the rock gods it’s Friday! This has been a particularly brutal week, but now, our patience is rewarded with a pile of new music releases! Myles Kennedy‘s “The Year of the Tiger” is out now, along with the new Judas Priest album “Firepower!” Plus, A Perfect Circle‘s “The Doomed + Disillusioned” limited 10-inch is out today too!
Stone Temple Pilots have debuted a new song called “Never Enough” from their upcoming self-titled album, which is out next Friday, March 16th. In an interview accompanying the song at Yahoo!, new frontman Jeff Gutt discussed his friendship with previous STP singer, the late Chester Bennington, saying, “I knew Chester. I’ve known Chester since 2001. I was in a band called Dry Cell, and we were signed by the same guy that signed Linkin Park, so that’s how I knew him. He would come to some of our writing sessions and rehearsals; I’d see him in the studios that we were at. When we were recording, they’d be recording there. We just had a good friendship.”
Gutt also revealed that Bennington attended Gutt’s first private audition for STP, explaining “(Bennington) called and asked if he could come. He wanted to be there for that first show. So, I put him on my guest list. It was very cool that he could be there for that.”
STP guitarist Dean DeLeo told us that knowing Gutt was a “good dude” was just as important as hiring a talented singer: “That was definitely one of the boxes to be checked off, man. You know, at this stage in our life, we all have kids and our backstage area is very safe and, you know, the families are out and the kids are out and, you know, is this a guy that wanted to even be around me, for that matter? But you know, is this a guy that we wanted around our families? And, you know, he’s a single dad, he’s got a beautiful little boy and yeah, man, that was surely a box to be checked.”
STP had been without a vocalist since November 2015, when Bennington — who joined the group in early 2013 — departed to spend more time with Linkin Park. Bennington committed suicide last July.
STP’s original vocalist, Scott Weiland, reunited with the group in 2010 after an seven-year hiatus but was dismissed in 2013. He died in December 2015 of a drug overdose.
The band launched its first tour with Gutt last week and next plays in Las Vegas on Friday night, March 9th.
That new Tool album really is happening: guitarist Adam Jones revealed on Instagram that the band has recruited producer Joe Barresi to helm the recording sessions for the band’s long-awaited new album. Barresi, an acclaimed producer who has worked with Avenged Sevenfold, Volbeat and Slipknot, engineered and mixed Tool’s last LP, 2006’s 10,000 Days.
Jones posted a photo from the studio online earlier this week with the caption “Day 1.” The guitarist had previously stated in January that the music for the band’s new effort was finished, later writing that the recording sessions would begin in March. Frontman Maynard James Keenan revealed last month that he had finished writing the “words and melodies” to all but one new song for the new disc.
Still to be determined are a title and release date for the new disc, although drummer Danny Carey said in several interviews that it would be out sometime this year. Carey told us a while back why the band prefers to take its time: “We’re not pressured, I think, and we don’t have a record company hanging over us, saying, ‘You have to do an album every year,’ or something. It’s a lot more important to take our time and have something to say, and if you’re putting out a record every year, how much can you really learn in one year? You know, you’ve got to develop as a person and develop as a player.”
Work on the new record did not get underway in earnest until perhaps the last year or so. Keenan also sings on the new album from A Perfect Circle, which arrives in April.
Avenged Sevenfold will hit the road in North America this summer on its “End of the World” tour, which will bring the headliners out with Prophets Of Rage and Three Days Grace as special guests. While Avenged Sevenfold has had a reputation over the years as leaning more to the right on the political scale, singer M. Shadows said that he feels comfortable sharing a stage with the very left-leaning Prophets: “I think they’re a little further left than I am. I like to stay down the middle on a lot of things, but I definitely lean in their direction. I think when we were younger we didn’t, and a lot of it was just us being antagonistic towards the political bands that were on Warped Tour. I definitely find myself, you know, agreeing with a lot of their stances, but I think sometimes they go a little further than I would go.”
This will be Avenged Sevenfold’s second major North American road trip in support of its 2016 album The Stage. The Avenged tour kicks off on July 22nd in Mansfield, Massachusetts and Shadows told Billboard that he “wouldn’t be surprised” if some jams take place involving the members of all three acts. Shadows also said that Avenged has “upgraded” the stage production it used on its European tour, explaining, “We’re just gonna bring everything and try to put together a cohesive rock show.”
A deluxe edition of The Stage arrived in December, featuring seven additional studio songs plus four previously unreleased live tracks recorded during shows at the O2 Arena in London.
Korn will appear on tonight’s episode of Audience Music, scheduled to premiere at 9:00 p.m. PT/ET on the Audience Network, available on DirecTV Channel 239 or U-verse TV Channel 1114, as well as via live streaming on the DirecTV and U-verse apps and DirecTV Now. Since the concerts began airing in 2016, the Audience Network has featured dozens of artists as part of the Friday night Audience Music series. Thanks Blabbermouth!
After listing his home in late January, Weezer bassist Scott Shriner has already sold it for $2.4 million — $250,000 more than the asking price. Shriner purchased the 2,233-square-foot two-story modern treehouse, which he shared with his wife, writer Jillian Lauren, in 2014 for $1.7 million. The three-bed, three-bath Silver Lake home features lush landscaping, views of downtown Los Angeles and the Pacific Ocean, an open floor plan, a patio, a detached garage and more. Weezer will release their latest record, The Black Album, on May 25th. Hat tip to Diffuser.
Smashing Pumpkins frontman William Corgan‘s Chicago teahouse, Madame ZuZu’s, will close its doors on March 18th after six years in business. While the place, which Corgan envisioned as “a social hub for the community, blending tea drinkers with the arts,” has been fairly successful, Corgan says the business is being “forced to move for various reasons which involve tenancy but certainly nothing to do with the strength of the business.” Corgan says he hopes to relocate Madame ZuZu’s soon, preferably in the same area. Danke, Consequence Of Sound!
Finally, we’d like to wish a Happy Birthday to Shannon Leto, brother of Jared Leto and drummer for Thirty Seconds to Mars, as well as Johnny Kelly of Type O Negative! Have a lovely day!
