Happy Monday! Don’t worry, there’s no Endgame spoilers here (though I hope you saw it!) Let’s check the news in rock and roll:
Three Days Grace drummer Neil Sanderson was recently asked in an interview with Los Angeles radio station KLOS about the band now having more Number One rock singles than Van Halen. Sanderson responded, “It’s pretty surreal . . . I think the biggest thing that affects us most is when a fan comes up to us if we’re on tour or at a meet-and-greet and says, ‘This song literally changed my life. I listened to this song, and I saw my life in those lyrics and I realized that I wasn’t the only person feeling that. It completely changed my life.’”
Sanderson continued, “That, as an artist, is an extremely gratifying thing to hear, and it reminds us of why we have the passion for doing what we do — to be able to sit and make something that comes from your heart and from your head and from your psyche and from your craziness, and put it down and share it to the world . . . That’s what we feel the most, but the statistics and the Van Halen stuff, that’s a product of having all these fans.”
Three Days Grace recently extended its record for the most Number Ones in the 38-year history of Billboard‘s Mainstream Rock Songs airplay chart, with “Right Left Wrong” becoming its 15th chart-topping single on the tally. With this latest achievement, the band moves further ahead of Shinedown and Van Halen, who each have 13.
“Right Left Wrong” is featured on Outsider, the Canadian act’s sixth full-length album. The band will begin a North American tour in late July with Breaking Benjamin, Chevelle, Dorothy and Diamante.
New Years Day singer Ash Costello has spoken out in a new interview with Loudwire about the recent allegations made against Blood On The Dance Floor frontman Dahvie Vanity, who has been accused by 21 different woman of rape or sexual assault — with 16 of the women underage at the time of the incidents.
It was back in 2012 that New Years Day was on with Blood On The Dance Floor and was kicked off after Costello stood up to Vanity for his mistreatment of women. The band posted an official statement at the time following their removal from the tour, saying “We can no longer associate ourselves with behavior that we do not stand by.”
Speaking about it now, Costello said, “It was a time before #MeToo, it was a time before people would believe the victims first . . . I got attacked by a lot of kids saying I just wanted attention, I was just trying to use Dahvie’s fame, which is laughable. And no one really believed me. But because I came forward, a lot of fans who had been abused by this person came to me and sent me their stories, and most of them had physical evidence and proof.”
New Years Day released its fourth album, Unbreakable, on Friday (April 26th) and Costello told us that the lyrics are the most direct she’s written yet: “If I had to sit down and look at the track listing right now, I could tell you exactly what was pissing me off, or making me upset or what I was feeling vulnerable about that day. It’s really obvious. I really, on this album, didn’t want to be metaphorical at all, and I think the biggest example of that is ‘Shut Up.’ It’s very straightforward; there’s no metaphor there. I didn’t want to be this, like, deep, poetic — you know, try and figure out the message. Like no, this is what I want to say.”
“Shut Up” is the second single from Unbreakable, following “Skeletons.” New Years Day is on the road this spring with Falling In Reverse and From Ashes To New.
Staind guitarist Mike Mushok told iRockRadio.com that as the band prepares for its first shows since 2014, he would love to make new music with singer Aaron Lewis. Mushok explained, “It doesn’t have to be a full record at this point, ’cause we don’t have that obligation. We have a studio, and it would be easy to do. I think right now, it’s, ‘Let’s get in a room together. Let’s play together again. Let’s do a couple of shows and see how it goes,’ and kind of take it from there.”
Asked why it is important for him and other musicians to continue to make new music, Mushok replied, “I’m a musician. I love writing music and creating music. It gets me excited. I’m always very proud of what Aaron and I did together. He’s super talented, and I really enjoy bringing my ideas to him and seeing what they become at the end.”
Staind currently doesn’t have a record deal but Lewis told us a while back that the band will look at all its options when the time is right: “There’s so many options these days, we won’t really know until that time comes. Everything is changing so much, every time you open your eyes and close your eyes, the business has changed even just a little bit more. So we’ll see when we get there as to what we’re gonna do. It would take a ridiculous, ridiculous check for me to be willing to sign a record deal again, but there’s many other ways to do it.”
Staind will reunite for a few dates this fall after a five-year hiatus. With more than 15 million albums sold worldwide, original members Aaron Lewis, Mike Mushok and bassist Johnny April, along with longtime drummer Sal Giancarelli, will play some select shows, including the Louder Than Life festival in Louisville, Kentucky in September and the Aftershock festival in Sacramento, California in October.
Fozzy has announced the “Unleashed In The West” 2019 headlining tour. The U.S. trek starts on September 5th in Denver and wraps on September 28th in Atlanta. The tour will allow Fozzy to take a break from the studio and play live for the first time in 2019 as the band prepares for the release of its new record.
Fozzy lead singer Chris Jericho told us that connecting with the audience is the most important job for a band when it plays live: “When you have the connection with the audience, that’s the most important thing. And I’ve seen great bands that just don’t have that connection and just don’t last, and I’ve seen so-so bands that connect with the audience and people go nuts for them and love them. I mean, it’s almost like watching your friend onstage. I think that’s the biggest thing, is just connecting with the crowd, and the word gets around, man. There are so many bands now that are touring, you have to bring something special to the table.”
One stop on the tour will be an opening slot for Iron Maiden in Los Angeles. Jericho said about the trek, “When we got the call to join Iron Maiden . . . we decided to head out all across the western U.S. to spread the Fozzpel and celebrate this great time in our lives! Plus, it gets us out of the studio for a breath of fresh air . . . it gets a little stuffy in there sometimes when you’re recording a new record!”
Metallica and the San Francisco Giants held the seventh annual “Metallica Night” on Friday (April 26th) at Oracle Park in San Francisco as the Giants took the field against the New York Yankees. As in previous years, guitarists Kirk Hammett and James Hetfield performed the national anthem and drummer Lars Ulrich threw out the ceremonial first pitch. The band also announced the team lineups.
Hetfield said about the yearly event, “We’re blessed to be doing this every year and being a part of the vibe here. You know, when times are good, when times are bad, they need the support.”
Hammett added, “It’s great. It’s a lot of fun. It’s a good opportunity for us to interact with our home team, hometown, and interact with the people of the Bay Area in San Francisco. And for me, it’s a lot of fun to be able to play the national anthem.”
The guitars used to perform the national anthem were autographed by the entire band and raffled off for charity, with the proceeds going to Metallica’s All Within My Hands Foundation.
Halestorm has shared “Chemicals,” a previously unreleased song that the band recently offered up as a b-side on its Record Store Day limited vinyl release of the track “Buzz.” Singer Lzzy Hale also thanked fans for their support on Sunday (April 28th), the 10th anniversary of the release of Halestorm’s debut album. She wrote, “It blows my mind how far we’ve come, and that we are still climbing! . . . every single one of you that we’ve met or raised our horns with over the past decade have enabled us to grow and do what we love every day!”
Blink-182 headlined the first day of the Back To The Beach festival in Huntington Beach, California on Saturday (April 27th) and kicked off its set by playing the entire classic Enema Of The State album in celebration of its 20th anniversary. The performance included the first live airing of “Aliens Exist” in years, and the rest of the set was peppered with hits as well.
Mastodon bassist Troy Sanders will join the current version of classic Irish hard rock act Thin Lizzy for several European festival dates this summer. Sanders stated, “It’s no secret that Thin Lizzy has had a big influence on Mastodon’s music. Being asked to join them on stage is a big deal and true honor to me. I am really looking forward to it!” Thin Lizzy reached the peak of its success in the late 1970s with the album Jailbreak and the hit “The Boys Are Back In Town.” Frontman Phil Lynott died in 1986 and guitarist Scott Gorham has been leading a touring version of the group since 1994.
That’s all for now, have an amazing day!
