Happy Monday! Let’s see what’s new in the world of rock and roll, shall we?
Green Day frontman Billie Joe Armstrong’s new band The Longshot have surprise-released their debut album, Love Is For Losers, along with a music video for the title track. Armstrong began teasing the new act earlier this month by sharing a series of Instagram posts with his 1.8 million followers. The posts pointed to the act’s private Instagram page, which stated that its debut album was “coming eventually sooner or later. Probably sooner.”
After sharing three songs on April 13th and then hitting the stage with the band that same weekend, now Armstrong has revealed the entire 11-song album.
Armstrong has played with several side projects over the years, including Pinhead Gunpowder, Foxboro Hot Tubs and The Network. The latter two essentially consisted of all the members of Green Day plus additional musicians. The Longshot features Green Day touring guitarist Jeff Matika on bass and vocals, alongside Foxboro Hot Tubs contributor Kevin Preston on guitar and David S. Field on drums.
Green Day has been on a break since completing the tour cycle for its 2016 album Revolution Radio. The band has reportedly been working on the film version of its 2004 punk opera American Idiot, which is being produced by HBO.
Bad Wolves have released a surprise duet with up-and-coming singer Diamante called “Hear Me Now.” The ballad highlights Bad Wolves frontman Tommy Vext and the 21-year-old vocalist joining forces and intertwining their vocals in soaring fashion. Vext said about the track, “It is undeniable what Diamante brought to the song as a final touch. In retrospect, it always felt like ‘Hear Me Now’ was a duet. In the process of recording together, I think we all fell in love with Diamante a little bit. And we think you will too.”
“Hear Me Now” is taken from Bad Wolves’ debut album, Disobey, which will be released on May 18th. The disc also includes Bad Wolves’ chart-topping cover of the Cranberries‘ “Zombie.”
Diamante will open for Bad Wolves this summer on the “What’s In Your Head” tour. The upcoming trek, with Bad Wolves and From Ashes To New co-headlining, kicks off on June 4th in Madison, Wisconsin.
Bad Wolves has some festival dates and co-headlining shows with Hollywood Undead coming up this week and next, before starting a short tour as openers for Five Finger Death Punch and Shinedown on May 6th in Nashville. Following the trek with From Ashes To New, Bad Wolves will again open for Five Finger Death Punch, along with Breaking Benjamin, on a massive summer blowout that kicks off on July 16th in Seattle.
Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich interviewed Tool, A Perfect Circle and Puscifer frontman Maynard James Keenan for the latest episode of “It’s Electric!”, Ulrich’s online radio show on Apple Music’s Beats One. Talking about the long time it has taken A Perfect Circle and Tool to make their new albums, Keenan said, “There’s a lot of timing issues with Tool getting to the studio, I always try to gauge where they’re at, how things are going, and if I see a window where, ‘Okay, doesn’t seem like things are going to get done any time soon…’ The window might expand based on me going ‘I’m gonna go do something then.’ That’s why you had a lot of Puscifer for many years.”
Keenan and Ulrich are both 54 and Keenan spoke about aging gracefully as a rock musician, saying, “At our age now, you see a lot of artists coming out of the woodwork trying to clearly desperately try to remain relevant . . . Just be relevant in what you’re doing, and be okay with not being part of the future. If you can get your head around that, that you’re not going to be a part of the next generations’s focus, for egomaniacs like us, that’s hard.”
A Perfect Circle’s first new album in 14 years, Eat The Elephant, came out on Friday, April 20th. Tool’s first LP since 2006 is tentatively due out later this year. The first part of the “It’s Electric!” episode featuring Keenan aired on Sunday, April 22nd. The second half will air next Sunday, April 29th. Launched in May 2017, “It’s Electric” allows Ulrich to play music he’s excited about, as well as interview guests like Iggy Pop, Noel Gallagher, Royal Blood, Jack White and more.
Mastodon drummer Brann Dailor and guitarist Bill Kelliher recently went to Washington D.C. to show their support for the Music Modernization Act (MMA), which was recently passed by a House Judiciary Committee and now heads to the House of Representatives for approval. The bill will update how music rates are set and how songwriters and artists get paid.
The legislation calls for a database that would “match songwriters to their songs, making it easier for creators to identify the use of their work and for music providers to fully compensate those creators and avoid copyright infringement.” It will also modernize how compensation for digital streaming is determined.
Dailor and Kelliher visited Capitol Hill to meet with representatives Doug Collins (R-GA) and Judy Chu (D-CA), who co-sponsored the bill. Dailor posted a photo online of their meeting, writing, “In Washington advocating to multiple members of congress and the senate to pass the music modernization act . . . this reform is long overdue and very much needed to ensure fair compensation for our work.” Mastodon will kick off a North American tour with Primus in Morrison, Colorado on May 6th.
Finally, we’d like to wish a Happy Birthday to Aaron Nordstrom of Gemini Syndrome! Have a lovely day, everyone!
