Good morning Radicals! Hope you all had a fantastic weekend. We’ve got the run up to the 4th of July holiday this week, with a very special event planned for Friday night, so stay tuned for details on that! In the meantime, here’s what’s up in the world of music news:
Grey Daze, the band featuring late singer Chester Bennington in his pre-Linkin Park days, has released Amends, an album of reworked material from the band’s two independently released records that features Bennington’s original vocal tracks.
Drummer Sean Dowdell completed the LP after Bennington’s death in May 2017 and told us that a lot of the original music was rewritten and re-recorded around Bennington’s vocals: “We did keep the vocal integrity and intent of the songs are still there. You still hear the aggression, the original rock aggression that Grey Daze was known for, and the mood, that big, dark mood of the band is still there. But the sounds are more modernized and relevant in the music world today.”
The band celebrated the Friday (June 26th) release of the album by sharing a lyric video for the song “Morei Sky.”
Amends was made with the blessing of Bennington’s widow, parents and family. Guests on the LP include Korn guitarists Brian “Head” Welch and James “Munky” Shaffer, Bush‘s Chris Traynor, P.O.D.‘s Marcos Curiel, Breaking Benjamin‘s Jasen Rauch and others, as well as Chester’s 23-year-old son Jaime.
Pearl Jam bassist Jeff Ament has written and recorded a surprise solo EP while in quarantine. Titled American Death Squad, the set features five songs, including the just-released “The Divine Perfume.” Half of the EP was performed on guitar, while the other was done on piano.
Ament said about the project, “In the days following the postponement of our tour, I found it necessary to find an outlet for the energy we had created going into the tour. Pivot was the word of March. So, every morning, I retreated to the studio with the goal of writing a song every day, no matter how shite.”
Ament added, “Days of isolating and watching the news of the destruction courtesy the virus (and the ineptitude of our leadership or as named here, the American Death Squad) made for vivid dreams and a helplessness. These were some of the first songs out of the gate.”
American Death Squad is available as a digital EP, a stream and a seven-inch vinyl EP, with the latter available for pre-order.
Pearl Jam played live for the first time in two years last Wednesday (June 24th) as part of “All In WA: A Concert For COVID-19 Relief”, a online musical benefit. The band issued its 11th album, Gigaton, in March and was about to begin a world tour behind the LP when those plans were shut down by the coronavirus pandemic.
In case you missed its initial run on A&E Networks, AXS TV has acquired all three seasons of the popular reality series Ozzy & Jack’s World Detour and will premiere the show this Thursday (July 2nd) at 9:00 p.m. ET.
The series follows heavy metal legend Ozzy Osbourne and his son Jack as they travel the United States and the world to visit iconic sites and historical landmarks, along with weird local hotspots and secret cultural oddities.
Highlights of the series have included a trip to the Alamo, a trek to Roswell, New Mexico and the alleged extraterrestrial crash site just outside of Area 51, a kitana-making experience in Japan and an expedition to Ernest Hemingway‘s estate in Cuba, and many others.
Ozzy & Jack’s World Detour was the first regularly scheduled TV series to star the Black Sabbath singer since the MTV reality show The Osbournes ended a four-season run in 2005. A variety show called Osbournes Reloaded ended after one episode on Fox in 2009.
THE GAME IS OVER 7.01.20. Pre-save for a chance to join a Zoom call with the band and hear #TGIO first. https://t.co/Zn1PFzMfVE pic.twitter.com/XRMMxFgnmm
— Evanescence (@evanescence) June 26, 2020
Evanescence will release a new single called “The Game Is Over” on Wednesday (July 1st). Anyone who pre-saves the song will get a chance to hear it first on a Zoom call with the band.
The song is the second to be previewed from the group’s upcoming album, The Bitter Truth, following the first single, “Wasted On You,” which was released last month. The band intends to make a series of songs available from the LP, culminating in the release of the full LP.
The video for “Wasted On You” was shot by each band member on their iPhones while in isolation at their homes during the pandemic.
The Bitter Truth will follow up Evanescence’s last full-length collection of new material, a self-titled album which came out in 2011.
Sevendust has unveiled a new lyric video for its cover of the 1994 Soundgarden classic “The Day I Tried To Live.”
The song is the first piece of new music from Sevendust since 2018’s All I See Is War album. The band chose the track — with its lyrical message of learning to live a better life — after seeing the societal changes happening around the globe.
Singer Lajon Witherspoon said, “Soundgarden is such an important band to all of us in Sevendust and this love for them goes all the way back to when we were starting.”
Witherspoon added, “When I first heard (the song), I thought the lyrics were timeless. The lyrics are about trying to experience new things and change the way you live, and we see examples of that every day with what is happening around the world. To have the chance to cover this song and release it is so special to all of us.”
Sevendust had been touring in 2019 and early 2020 in support of All I See Is War, but the band was forced to leave the room due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Sevendust has played thousands of shows and released 12 studio albums over a 23-year career. Drummer Morgan Rose told us not long ago that he could see the band going on for a while: “We’re like those old vets, you know, that play sports. It’s like, I’m still gonna play up until I don’t think I can play to the level where I feel comfortable. I foresee us definitely doing more records. We love each other, we’re real close right now, and I don’t see us rolling out of here any time soon. I think some of the people that don’t like us are going to be stuck having to deal with us for a little while longer.”
Finally, join me in wishing a Happy Birthday to Sons of Texas singer Mark Morales! Have a kick-ass day!
