Thursday morning, one more day until Friday! Let’s get things moving with some music news:
Three Days Grace made chart history on Wednesday (March 20th), earning their 13th Number One single on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Songs Chart with “The Mountain.” That tied the record held for the past two decades by rock legends Van Halen. “The Mountain” is the new single from Outsider, the sixth studio effort from Three Days Grace which arrived earlier this month.
Three Days Grace already holds the record for most Number One singles at Active Rock radio, also with 13. “The Mountain” is currently Number Two at the format and could add to that tally. The quartet’s last chart-toppers on the airwaves were “I Am Machine” and “Painkiller” from their 2015 album Human.
Three Days Grace’s other Number One singles include “Misery Loves My Company,” “Chalk Outline,” “World So Cold,” “Never Too Late,” “Just Like You,” “Animal,” “Pain” and “Home.” The Canadian act also consistently averages 3.9 million monthly listeners on Spotify, remaining one of the most listened-to rock bands in the world.
Three Days Grace will play a handful of radio festivals in April before heading to Columbus, Ohio for a May 18th appearance at the Rock On The Range festival. The band will tour North America this summer with Avenged Sevenfold and Prophets Of Rage, kicking off on July 22nd in Mansfield, Massachusetts.
Alter Bridge and Creed guitarist Mark Tremonti has unveiled more details about A Dying Machine, the upcoming fourth studio album from his solo act Tremonti. The disc is due out on June 8th and is the first concept album of Tremonti’s career, with the music inspired by a story that came to Tremonti while on the last Alter Bridge tour.
The story, which is being turned into a full-length work of fiction authored by Mark Tremonti and sci-fi writer John Shirley, takes place at the turn of the next century where humans and fabricated beings called “vessels” are trying to co-exist. Tremonti and Shirley are working on finishing the novel to release alongside the record.
Tracks on A Dying Machine include “Bringer Of War,” “From The Sky,” “Throw Them To The Lions,” “A Lot Like Sin,” “The Day When Legions Burned” and the title cut. Tremonti the band is comprised of Mark Tremonti on vocals/guitars, Eric Friedman on guitars, and Garrett Whitlock on drums.
Tremonti will play a record-release show in Orlando, Florida on May 12th, with the band also confirmed for Carolina Rebellion on May 4th, the Lunatic Luau on May 5th and headlining shows in Savannah, Georgia on May 2nd and Atlanta on May 7th.
The band heads over to Europe in mid-June for seven weeks of touring that includes dates as direct support for Iron Maiden as well as headlining shows and European festival appearances.
Judas Priest singer Rob Halford was asked by the Green Bay Press Gazette to describe the “biggest storm” he had ever weathered in his life. Halford replied, “My own personal alcohol and drug addiction, which stopped 32 years ago. Music was incredibly important to me at that moment, and I fully understood the value of music as a form of support through those early days of not drinking and drugging. I listened to music more than ever at that point, and I was able to connect in a way that I hadn’t for as long as I could remember.”
Halford celebrated the 32nd anniversary of his getting sober on January 6th.
The legendary vocalist told the “Rock N’ Roll Breakfast Show” that Priest’s fans keep him clean now, saying, “I have to go out there night after night and do my work in the way that’s expected from me . . . that’s also part of my daily spiritual ritual — keeping clean and sober for my own well being, but also for my fans and everybody else.”
Judas Priest’s new album, Firepower, was released on March 9th. The band is currently on the road in North America.
Garbage‘s classic sophomore album Version 2.0 turns 20 years old this May, and the band will celebrate with an expanded 20th anniversary reissue on June 22nd. The reissue comes with 10 B-sides from the era, including “Lick the Pavement,” the B-side to the “Push It” single which is streaming now. Singer Shirley Manson said, “Version 2.0 is in my opinion the quintessential Garbage record.”
Drummer and producer Butch Vig said in a statement, “Version 2.0 is the sound of a band growing up, evolving, and more than anything, gaining confidence. When we started recording, we made a conscious decision to not reinvent ourselves, but rather take everything we learned from our debut album and filter it through the new digital technology we were grappling with . . . it’s possibly our best album.”
The reissue will be available on CD, vinyl and digital formats. Garbage does have some U.K. concerts announced for this September, with additional shows expected to be announced in the coming weeks. It’s not clear yet whether that will include North American dates.
Crossing A Line pic.twitter.com/UKw04ECp7c
— Mike Shinoda (@mikeshinoda) March 28, 2018
Linkin Park vocalist Mike Shinoda shared a clip of a new song apparently titled “Crossing A Line” on Wednesday (March 28th), presumably ahead of the tune’s impending arrival on Thursday (March 29th). Shinoda has been working on a new solo album in recent months and posted a video earlier this week which teased Thursday’s reveal. Hat tip to The PRP.
Bad Wolves performed their cover version of the Cranberries‘ “Zombie” on this past Friday’s edition of The Late Late Show on Ireland’s RTÉ One. The group released the track in in honor of late Cranberries singer Dolores O’Riordan, who was slated to record vocals for the cover on the day of her passing in January. Bad Wolves’ debut album, Disobey, will be released on May 18th. The band will tour the U.S. later in the year with Five Finger Death Punch and Shinedown.
Finally, we’d like to wish a happy birthday to Lollapalooza founder and Jane’s Addiction frontman Perry Farrell! Have a lovely day!
