Good morning Radicals! Today is quite the day for music news, starting with this little gem: THE NEW TOOL ALBUM ARRIVES AUGUST 30TH!
#Tool just announced the release date for their new album at the #bjcc show in Alabama tonight. #toolband #tool2019 pic.twitter.com/Kscu4aewgJ
— Trey Smith (@TreySmithy) May 8, 2019
Tool fans can rejoice at last: the band’s new album will arrive on August 30th. The group confirmed the date on Tuesday night, May 7th at its concert in Birmingham, Alabama. According to fans who attended the show, a video screen flashed the date “August 30th” during the set’s intermission.
Frontman Maynard James Keenan then encouraged fans to share the news via social media, saying, “All right, everyone take out your phones, security stand down and let these f**kers do whatever it is with their phones.”
As it did two nights earlier at the Welcome To Rockville festival in Jacksonville, Florida, Tool performed two new songs, “Descending” and “Invincible,” in Birmingham. Both are expected to show up on the new LP, which will follow up 2006’s 10,000 Days.
Tool is playing a series of U.S. shows this month before heading to Europe. The band is also scheduled to perform at the Aftershock Festival in Sacramento in October.
Skillet will release its 10th studio album, Victorious, on August 2nd. The follow-up to 2016’s gold-certified Unleashed includes the first single, “Legendary,” which is now online. Frontman John Cooper told Billboard about the new LP, “When I was looking at what we did well on Unleashed, I thought it was a real energizing and fun record to listen to. That’s what a great Skillet record is — songs that make people want to put their fists up in the air at a concert or get them through a run or drive or whatever they are doing.”
Cooper told us that music has always been about empowerment for him: “Music was never about sex, drugs, rock ‘n’ roll for me, it was just about the music. It’s about the way I felt the first time I heard ‘One’ by Metallica. I was lifting weights with my friend, he was like, ‘Check out this band, Metallica.’ And I was like — it made me want to pump more, you know, go for 10 more sit-ups. It just made me feel good.”
Cooper added, “We got to really dig in and try anything we wanted to try . . . It’s quite a musical record. I think it’s a little bit more musical than we’ve done in a long time.”
John and and his wife, keyboard and guitar player Korey Cooper, co-produced six of the 12 tracks on Victorious and co-produced two additional songs — the most production they’ve handled for a Skillet record in their career.
Skillet and Sevendust will embark on the co-headlining “Victorious War” tour in August and September. Pop Evil and Devour The Day will also be on the bill. The tour kicks off on August 11th in Memphis.
Slipknot is scheduled to perform on the May 17th edition of ABC-TV’s Jimmy Kimmel Live! The band announced the TV appearance over the weekend. The late-night performance will likely mark the debut of the nine-piece group’s new masks and outfits as they prepare to release their sixth studio album.
Slipknot’s new album will come out on August 9th, with recent rumors suggesting that it will be titled We Are Not Your Kind. The upcoming disc will include the song “All Out Life,” which was released last October. The track’s accompanying video was directed by the band’s percussionist, Shawn “Clown” Crahan.
The new disc will follow up 2014’s .5: The Gray Chapter, which ended a six-year recording hiatus for the band following the death of bassist Paul Gray in 2010.
Slipknot will head out on the “Knotfest Roadshow” headlining tour in North America this summer, with Volbeat, Gojira and Behemoth along as support. The 29-city outing will kick off July 26th in Mountain View, California and conclude September 8th in The Woodlands, Texas.
The Prodigy has shared a powerful message about mental health issues in the wake of band frontman Keith Flint taking his own life in March at the age of 49. The message says in part, “If you are struggling with depression, addiction or the impact of suicide, please do not suffer in silence. The Prodigy fully support the campaign to improve mental health for all and give it the respect it deserves.”
That’s a wrap, be good to each other out there!
