Good morning Radicals! Here’s what’s up in music news today:
Alice In Chains has set Rainier Fog as the title of its sixth studio album, with the LP slated to arrive on August 24th. The band has also shared a second single from the record, called “So Far Under.” This follows “The One You Know,” which arrived earlier this spring.
Singer/guitarist William DuVall said about “So Far Under,” “It’s about feeling completely up against it — outnumbered, surrounded, facing seemingly unbeatable odds and being really pissed off about it. It was inspired by personal circumstances, as well as events in the wider world. But it’s not as resigned to defeat as it may seem . . . There’s still room to flip the script.”
Guitarist/singer Jerry Cantrell told Rolling Stone that the album’s title track is a tribute to the Seattle music scene that launched his band, Soundgarden, Nirvana, Pearl Jam and others. He explained, “This song is a little homage to all of that: where we come from, who we are, all of the triumphs, all of the tragedies, lives lived.”
Speaking about the deaths of Seattle musicians like Kurt Cobain, Alice In Chains singer Layne Staley and, more recently, Chris Cornell, Cantrell said, “It’s a small town and we all knew each other . . . It gets really difficult to be the guy that has to talk about your dead friends all the time.” He added, “After 15 years of talking about my friends dying, you just really want to focus on life and moving forward because that’s really all I can control. I miss the hell out of all of them.”
Rainier Fog is named after Seattle’s Mount Rainer and is the first album the band has recorded in its hometown in more than 20 years.
A public memorial for late Pantera and Hellyeah drummer Vinnie Paul Abbott will be held this Sunday, July 1st, at Bomb Factory in Dallas, Texas. Fans interested in attending “Vinnie Paul: A Public Celebration Of Life” must receive a wristband to enter the Bomb Factory. The line for wristbands will begin at noon outside the venue prior to the 3:33 p.m. memorial. The event announcement notes: “There are no advance tickets, lines or lists.”
The musician’s funeral will be held on Saturday, June 30th, with the private service also scheduled to begin at 3:33 p.m. Following the services on Saturday and Sunday, Vinnie will be buried alongside his mother and brother, Pantera guitarist “Dimebag” Darrell Abbott. The latter was shot to death onstage in December 2004.
Vinnie passed away on Friday (June 22nd) at his home in Las Vegas at the age of 54. The drummer’s death “did not appear suspicious,” according to the official report of the event recorded by Metropolitan Police officers. Sources close to Vinnie told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that he suffered a “major heart attack,” but that information has not been corroborated yet by an official source.
Vinnie had reportedly finished laying down drum tracks for the next Hellyeah album, although there is no word yet on when or if that LP will see the light of day.
Thirty Seconds To Mars singer Jared Leto has been cast as Morbius The Living Vampire in an upcoming Spider-Man spin-off from Sony Pictures. The film will be called Morbius and will be directed by Daniel Espinosa, who helmed last year’s sci-fi thriller Life.
Morbius was created in 1971 by writer Roy Thomas and artist Gil Kane, with the character first appearing in The Amazing Spider-Man #101. The character was a scientist who tried to cure himself of a blood disease, but was transformed into a vampire-like being who became at first a Spider-Man villain and later an anti-hero.
The film is expected to start production later this year and will follow both Venom in October and Spider-Man: Far from Home, which will premiere next July. All three films are part of a mini-Marvel Universe being created by Sony around Spider-Man villains.
Leto previously made his comic book movie debut in 2016’s Suicide Squad as the Joker, a role he is reportedly going to reprise in either a standalone movie or a Suicide Squad sequel.
30 Seconds To Mars is currently in the midst of a lengthy North American tour that next stops in West Palm Beach, Florida on Friday, June 29th.
That’s a wrap, have a great day!
