Good morning Radicals! Let’s take a look at what’s happening in the world of rock:
Godsmack and Halestorm will join forces for a U.S. tour this fall, each in support of their respective 2018 albums.
The month-long trek gets started on September 20th in Green Bay, Wisconsin, and wraps up October 18th in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Tickets go on sale this Friday (June 28th) at 10:00 a.m. local time. Check out the Road Rage page for the full run.
Godsmack continues to support its seventh album, 2018’s When Legends Rise, which recently yielded the Top Five rock hit “Under Your Scars.” The fall run will follow the band’s summer jaunt with opening act New Years Day, as well as a number of festival appearances.
Halestorm, meanwhile, is touring behind its 2018 LP, Vicious, and will precede the fall trek with a previously announced co-headlining summer run with Alice Cooper.
Frontperson Lzzy Hale told us that Halestorm continues to want to carve out a space for itself on today’s rock scene: “We’re in a weird spot in our career right now. I mean, we’ve been a band longer than we haven’t been a band in our lives, which is awesome, and we’re trying to prove that we definitely deserve to still be here and still be rocking out. It’s fun for us and it means a lot to still be doing it.”
Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl and ZZ Top guitarist Billy Gibbons will both make guest appearances on the upcoming album from Queens Of The Stone Age. Gibbons told Eonmusic while performing at Hellfest in France, “Just one month ago I was making a record with Queens Of The Stone Age, and Dave Grohl was also taking part and he decided to have a big barbecue.”
Gibbons confirmed that the project was a new Queens album, adding that it could be out by Halloween. Some fans have speculated that the album could be a new entry in Homme’s long-running Desert Sessions series. The last Queens album, Villains, arrived in 2017.
Grohl has worked several times with Queens Of The Stone and its leader, Josh Homme. He played drums on the band’s 2002 album Songs For The Deaf, and also contributed drums to five songs on 2013’s …Like Clockwork.
Grohl, Homme and Led Zeppelin bassist John Paul Jones also recorded an album together and toured in 2009 under the name Them Crooked Vultures.
Homme told us a while back he enjoys working as much as possible: “A workaholic’s work is never done. There’s so many opportunities to be involved with some really great music, and play a different role in each of the things that I’m in, and I really enjoy that. The alternative would be not to do it, and I wouldn’t enjoy that. I’d rather be really tired and have played in as much quality music as I can.”
Grohl and Foo Fighters have been mostly on hiatus this year, although Grohl has been reportedly working on some documentary projects and a new Foos album could be in the works for next year.
Hellyeah guitarist Tom Maxwell has paid tribute to his late bandmate Vinnie Paul Abbott on the first anniversary of the drummer’s death. Maxwell shared an emotional letter on Hellyeah’s social media page on Saturday (June 22nd), exactly a year after the former Pantera drummer died from heart disease.
Maxwell wrote in part, “I’m writing you this letter to tell you how much I miss and love you. Never could I have imagined you not being here with us anymore. There’s so much all of us lost when you left us. Your smile, your infectious laugh, your always steadfast care of all those around you. Everything has changed now.
The guitarist continued, “Our family is just shards of what it used to be. It seemed like every day was harder then the one before it. It’s hard just knowing that you’re not here to lift everyone up and make everything better with just the simplest things you always used to do. It’s hard waking up and trying to navigate thru such murky waters. We’re doing our best, some better then others, some not so much.”
Hellyeah recently released the title track from its forthcoming sixth album, Welcome Home. The disc, which will feature Vinnie Paul’s final recorded work, arrives on September 28th. Stone Sour drummer Roy Mayorga will play drums on the band’s upcoming tour, which begins on July 28th in Atlanta.
Skillet and Alter Bridge will head out on a co-headlining tour this fall. The “Victorious Sky” trek kicks off on September 22nd in Baltimore and runs through October 25th in Orlando, Florida.
Skillet will release its 10th full-length album, Victorious, on August 2nd. The disc follows up 2016’s Unleashed. Alter Bridge, meanwhile, will unveil its sixth studio effort, Walk The Sky, on October 18th.
The first single from Walk The Sky, titled “Wouldn’t You Rather,” will arrive in early July. Skillet recently shared two new songs, titled “Anchor” and “Save Me,” while a third tune, called “Dreaming Of Eden,” will be available upon release by purchasing a pre-order of Skillet’s upcoming graphic novel, Eden.
Prophets Of Rage, the supergroup featuring members of Rage Against The Machine, Public Enemy and Cypress Hill, have released a new single called “Made With Hate.” The track is likely to appear on the band’s sophomore album, which is tentatively slated to arrive next year.
The band’s self-titled debut album surfaced in 2017 and debuted at Number 16 on the Billboard 200 album chart. In addition to Rage bassist Tim Commerford, drummer Brad Wilk and guitarist Tom Morello, the act features Public Enemy’s Chuck D and DJ Lord along with Cypress Hill MC B-Real.
On what inspired the new song, Chuck D explained: “‘Made With Hate’ was formed out of a conversation amongst ourselves about the level of passion fuel it takes to create. Especially when attacking something of hate. You must create the energy to hate ‘hate.’ To have peace, you have to despise hatred with a passion for peace and attack it.”
We asked Tom Morello a while back if the political nature of the band’s music has led to any sort of backlash: “Of course there is political backlash to what we’re saying, and backlash to the music that we’re playing. But if you have ideas that no one complains about and you’re making music that no one complains about, then you probably have pretty s**tty ideas and s**tty music.”
Prophets Of Rage will tour Europe this summer.
Shinedown’s current single, “Monsters,” just became the band’s 14th Number One single on Billboard’s Mainstream Rock Songs chart, keeping them in second place but closing rapidly on Three Days Grace, who recently earned their 15th chart-topper on the chart with “Right Left Wrong.” Meanwhile, “Monsters” is now Shinedown’s 15th Number One on the Active Rock chart, while every one of the group’s 25 consecutive singles has reached the Top Five on the Mainstream Rock Songs airplay chart.
Korn has set the date for the apparent reveal of whatever the band has been teasing for the past two weeks. According to a post shared via social media, the official reveal is scheduled for this Wednesday, June 26th. The band has also launched a time-based puzzle at its official website, korn.com. An email sent out to the band’s mailing list featured the caption, “You’ll Never Find Me,” similar to one sent last week with the message, “Watch It All Fall Down…” Current speculation has the band either unveiling its new LP, launching a single or both.
Finally, we want to wish a Happy Birthday to Nickelback bassist Mike Kroeger and former Marilyn Manson guitarist Zim Zum! Have a wonderful day!
