Vocalist Mark Osegueda of San Francisco Bay Area metallers DEATH ANGEL has released the following statement:
"It's with a heavy heart I have to inform you that the rumors you are hearing are unfortunately true... although there is a platinum lining to this black cloud of DEATH ANGEL's 2014 summer festival season.
"The platinum lining is that we are very proud to announce is DEATH ANGEL WILL be playing Hellfest [in France] this year! Hellfest will have the exclusive European DEATH ANGEL show this summer! However, our billing on that festival has been updated. We will now be playing on Sunday, June 22! (The BLACK SABBATH day!) On main stage #1 in place of MEGADETH who unfortunately had to cancel… and we plan to give that slot on the bill, and you metal fans the damage it deserves!
"The dark cloud, I must announce, is the rest of our summer festival has been canceled... and canceled by us.
"I assure you this has NOTHING to do with the structure or strength of the band itself! We feel the band is at its live performing peak riding on the wave of our latest album, 'The Dream Calls for Blood'! It boils down to the infrastructure of the business side of this band… Certain aspects of how this band was being handled were no longer matching up to the quality level of product we are releasing, and the live shows we've been unleashing! And if we carried on that way any longer, it would have damaged the core of what is us, and that is the band! So we are taking this time to restructure our business team to make DEATH ANGEL the strongest band that we can possibly be from the outside to the core!
"The lineup is intact! The hunger is voracious! And we will be back in Europe with a full-blown tour when we feel confident that we have the full arsenal, and team behind us that this band, and its music, and, most of all, you fans, deserve!
"We are doing all we can to expedite this process!
"I know some of you will not understand this aspect of the art form known as music! But it is a business. And hasty business choices in this art has brought down bigger than us.... And we have NO intentions of being brought down!
"Some of you will have negative comments and thoughts... But believe me, no one is more saddened and disappointed about these cancellations than us... And if you have ever seen us live, I'm sure you can attest to our love for being on stage!
That being said, we'll see you at Hellfest. And we plan on giving you a performance that night that will convince the naysayers that DEATH ANGEL is here to stay and a force to be reckoned with."
DEATH ANGEL's seventh album, "The Dream Calls For Blood", sold 5,400 copies in the United States in its first week of release to land at position No. 72 on The Billboard 200 chart.
DEATH ANGEL's previous CD, "Relentless Retribution", opened with 2,700 units in September 2010. The band's 2008 effort, "Killing Season", registered a first-week tally of around 2,300. This number was in line with the performance of its predecessor, "The Art of Dying", which premiered with around 2,100 copies back in May 2004.
Released on October 11, 2013 in Europe (except for the U.K. where it arrived three days later) and October 15, 2013 in North America via Nuclear Blast Records, "The Dream Calls For Blood" was recorded at Audiohammer Studios in Sanford, Florida with producer Jason Suecof (TRIVIUM, AUGUST BURNS RED, THE BLACK DAHLIA MURDER, ALL THAT REMAINS, WHITECHAPEL, DEVILDRIVER), and once again features cover art by Brent Elliot White (JOB FOR A COWBOY, CARNIFEX, WHITECHAPEL).
BLACK SABBATH guitarist Tony Iommi has told Metal Hammer magazine that the band's headlining appearance at the Barclaycard British Summer Time festival at London's Hyde Park may turn out to be the legendary heavy metal group's final gig.
The July 4 event will see SABBATH perform alongside SOUNDGARDEN, FAITH NO MORE, MOTÖRHEAD and SOULFLY on the festival's main stage.
"It could be the last ever SABBATH show," Iommi told Metal Hammer. "I don't want it to be, but there's nothing really planned touring-wise after that show, so for all we know that could be it, really. To be honest, I don't want to be touring to this extent too much longer, because it makes me feel so bad."
Iommi has had to go back to England every six weeks for treatment ever since being diagnosed with lymphoma in 2012, forcing him and SABBATH to work around both the treatments and the recovery time needed afterward.
"I'm at a stage now where I have no support, which means I have to see whether the cancer is coming back or if it's still there or what," he said. "I just don't know. It's a bit of a worry. After we finish this tour, I'll go in and have scan, so we'll see what that shows up."
"But the show at Hyde Park will a great way to end the European tour," he added. "It has a really great bill, with a really good mix of people. We haven't made any specific plans as the gig is a way off yet, but I think it'll be special."
Last year, Iommi said that his ongoing treatments and their physical side effects could severely restrict SABBATH's activities, explaining, "I can't commit to doing another two years or anything like that. I have to play it as it comes now."
Singer Ozzy Osbourne told The Pulse Of Radio that Iommi never let his treatments slow him down during the making of the recent SABBATH album, "13". "My hat goes off to him 'cause he really is Iron Man," he said. "I mean, that chemotherapy knocks you sideways, you know. I mean, when my wife had cancer a few years back, she was having three chemo things a month and it would knock the life out of — literally every time she'd have a treatment, she'd have a seizure. It's scary stuff. But he came down, plugged in and carried on. He's my hero, I swear to God he is."
"13", the first SABBATH release in 35 years to feature Iommi, Osbourne and Geezer Butler playing together, was released in June 2013 and landed the band its first-ever No. 1 album in the U.S., also topping the chart in the U.K. and a number of other countries.
The band also earned three 2014 Grammy Award nominations, for "Best Rock Album" for "13", plus "Best Metal Performance" and "Best Rock Song" for "God Is Dead?"
The making of "13" was marked by several dramatic events, including drummer Bill Ward's withdrawal from the project over a contractual dispute.
Butler told Revolver that he started writing a song for "13", called "Hanging By A Thread", that was inspired by Iommi's illness. He explained, "It was very much about dying, about giving your last breath and passing your spirit on." But the track didn't make it onto the album because, Butler said, "We never came up with the finished thing."
SABBATH completed a 10-date North American run on April 26 in Los Angeles.
blacksabbathhydepark2014_638
Earlier today (Wednesday, March 12), MEGADETH mainman Dave Mustaine reflected on his career, musical influences and how the band got started with Pimm Fox on Bloomberg Television's "Taking Stock".
On his upcoming performance with the San Diego Symphony:
Mustaine: "Well, the symphony music, with classical music, I believe, shows up a lot in heavy metal music. A lot of the medieval-type music that I was brought up with, and the British Invasion… LED ZEPPELIN, for example, has a lot of the story telling and the classical arrangements do tell a lot of stories. And I also was weaned on THE BEATLES, so a lot of Sir George Martin's arrangements with the strings and stuff really fascinated me. So I've always been a fan of classical music. But the classical industry is dying. There's a generation of people that don't really know about it. I thought it would be really cool to take my guitar in there and play the lead-violin part with a little bit of some snarl, a little bit of some distortion. And, you know, watching all the Disney movies when I was a kid, I liked the songs right before the poison apple gets bit, or the wolf is about to attack or something, where the music gets kind of scary. So we picked some songs that we thought were really emotional, colorful songs — some Vivaldi, some Bach."
On whether he has become less intimidating in terms of his music as he's developed:
Mustaine: "I think as you grow up, things kind of change. It's kind of hard being an anarchist when you have a Mercedes-Benz in your driveway. This morning, I was thinking about growing up, how I was homeless when I started my career. I was a product of a broken family and was, basically, watched during the day by the Boys Club Of America. And, you know, it's one of those things where you go from being a poor kid, having lunch tickets and food stamps, to being a millionaire. It's an American success story."
On some of the biggest challenges that new bands face in today's music world:
Mustaine: "The revenue streams have dried up. The money that you would generate from record sales has all but vanished. So in order to be successful and to keep yourself in business, you have to find other ways to pay your bills, which predominantly are touring and merchandise. A lot of people have endorsements and sponsorship deals and stuff like that too, but because of peer-to-peer file transferring and stuff like that — it's old news now — it's really changed the music industry."
Earlier today (Wednesday, March 12), MEGADETH mainman Dave Mustaine reflected on his career, musical influences and how the band got started with Pimm Fox on Bloomberg Television's "Taking Stock". You can now watch the segment below. A couple of excerpts follow (transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET).
On his upcoming performance with the San Diego Symphony:
Mustaine: "Well, the symphony music, with classical music, I believe, shows up a lot in heavy metal music. A lot of the medieval-type music that I was brought up with, and the British Invasion… LED ZEPPELIN, for example, has a lot of the story telling and the classical arrangements do tell a lot of stories. And I also was weaned on THE BEATLES, so a lot of Sir George Martin's arrangements with the strings and stuff really fascinated me. So I've always been a fan of classical music. But the classical industry is dying. There's a generation of people that don't really know about it. I thought it would be really cool to take my guitar in there and play the lead-violin part with a little bit of some snarl, a little bit of some distortion. And, you know, watching all the Disney movies when I was a kid, I liked the songs right before the poison apple gets bit, or the wolf is about to attack or something, where the music gets kind of scary. So we picked some songs that we thought were really emotional, colorful songs — some Vivaldi, some Bach."
On whether he has become less intimidating in terms of his music as he's developed:
Mustaine: "I think as you grow up, things kind of change. It's kind of hard being an anarchist when you have a Mercedes-Benz in your driveway. This morning, I was thinking about growing up, how I was homeless when I started my career. I was a product of a broken family and was, basically, watched during the day by the Boys Club Of America. And, you know, it's one of those things where you go from being a poor kid, having lunch tickets and food stamps, to being a millionaire. It's an American success story."
On some of the biggest challenges that new bands face in today's music world:
Mustaine: "The revenue streams have dried up. The money that you would generate from record sales has all but vanished. So in order to be successful and to keep yourself in business, you have to find other ways to pay your bills, which predominantly are touring and merchandise. A lot of people have endorsements and sponsorship deals and stuff like that too, but because of peer-to-peer file transferring and stuff like that — it's old news now — it'
Legendary Anglo-Australian hard rockers AC/DC will enter a studio in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada in May, presumably to begin recording their first new material since 2008's "Black Ice" album. In addition, the band will celebrate its 40th anniversary this year by playing 40 shows around the world.
The news of AC/DC's recording and touring plans was revealed earlier today (Friday, February 14) by the band's lead singer, Brian Johnson, during a surprise phone call he gave to Andy Preston of the 98.7 The Gater radio station in West Palm Beach, Florida (hear audio below).
Asked if AC/DC is planning to do anything this year, Johnson told Preston: "Well, you'll be the first one to know, really, because we've been denying anything, 'cause we weren't sure. One of our boys was pretty ill, so we didn't like to say anything, and we're very private about things like this, so we didn't wanna say anything. And he's a very proud man. But I think we'll be going into the studio in May in Vancouver. Which means, we should be getting ready.
"It's been 40 years of the band's existence, so I think we're gonna try to do 40 gigs, 40 shows, to thank the fans for their undying loyalty. I mean, honestly, our fans are just the best in the world, and we appreciate every one of them. So, like I said, we'll have to go out, even though we're getting a bit long in the tooth. [laughs]"
He added: "You know what?! It's been four years [since we last went out on the road], and I'm really looking forward to it."
During a January 2012 appearance on "The Cowhead Show", the American radio program hosted by Mike "Cowhead" Calta, Johnson revealed that health issues were affecting one of his bandmates, which may have put new album plans temporarily on hold. "One of the boys is a little sick and I can't say anything, but he's getting better," Brian said. "He's doing wonderful. Full recovery fully expected."
AC/DC bassist Cliff Williams told BackstageAxxess.com in a March 2013 interview that guitarists Malcolm and Angus Young were writing songs for the band's next album. But Williams said that at the time that there was still a long way to go, explaining, "[There is] nothing in the works right now [as far as recording]. We're still getting over the last tour, so we're just hanging out and doing stuff. The guys are writing material and when they've got some stuff together, they'll give us a holler."
Asked how the band's creative process works, Williams said, "[Angus and Malcolm] get a bunch of ideas together. Some are more together than others — and then we'll all hit the studio or a little rehearsal room and we'll kick it around with a producer. And then we get in a studio and record, and that's kind of how it runs."
"Black Ice" was followed by a nearly two-year world tour.
Malcolm Young told Classic Rock magazine in 2012, "I've been doing some jamming on some song ideas but I do that all the time, as do the rest of the band . . . I think we need a couple of years to recuperate and work on it a bit more."
Regarding AC/DC's plans to tour in support of the upcoming CD, Brian told the Bay Area rock station 107.7 The Bone in a June 2012 interview: "Well, I think it wouldn't be like the last one. That was two years. I mean, that was just nuts. We were just fragged when we finished [that one]. I mean, it took about three weeks to get over it. But it was so much fun, though. For guys our age at the time, to tour the world to sellout audiences everywhere, it gives you a good feeling. And the great thing was to look out into the audiences and have a look at the generations of people… I mean, it was unbelievable… Kids there that were 7-8 [years old], teenagers…"
Johnson also spoke about how AC/DC decides which recording and touring projects to take on, telling 107.7 The Bone: "We're just a bunch of pals from the projects, still. Even though we've done well, we still have the same roots that we stick by that we did when we had nothing, basically. And that's the work ethic. And it has to be right for the boys to do anything. When we're sitting down and [we're talking about], 'Can we do this? We're not gonna be a pale shadow of our former selves?' We'll talk about it and make sure that we've all got it. We're just five pieces of a card, and if one of us is not really [able to perform at 100 percent], the whole thing would just collapse, I think."
