Month: March 2022

Sum 41 has announced their upcoming eighth studio album, called Heaven and Hell, the follow-up to 2019’s Order in Decline.  The project is a double record consisting of two halves: ‘Heaven,’ which will be made up of pop-punk songs; and ‘Hell,’ which will be all metal.

Speaking to Rolling Stone about the double album, frontman Deryck Whibley explains that Heaven reflects the “young and innocent and free” feeling of pop-punk, while Hell “comes with a lot of anger for people who have stolen from me and hurt me in the past.”  Said Whibley: “As I listened to almost all of [the newly written songs], it just kind of dawned on me. Did I just make a double record on accident? Some of the metal stuff comes with a lot of anger for people who have stolen from me and hurt me in the past.  It all made sense to me why pop-punk is coming back: it’s feel-good music. There’s something that’s happy about it. Something young and innocent and free.”

Sum 41 also recently announced the Blame Canada Tour featuring co-headliners Simple Plan, marking the first time both bands will be touring together, The tour features Sum 41 performing their debut album All Killer No Filler and Simple Plan performing their debut LP, No Pads, No Helmets…Just Balls. The first leg launches on April 29 in Raleigh, North Carolina, featuring special guest Set It Off.

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Machine Gun Kelly celebrated the release of his latest album, Mainstream Sellout by dropping the video for “maybe,” his collaboration with Bring Me The Horizon’s Oli Sykes and featuring drummer Travis Barker. The video shows the two singers and Barker rocking out inside The Shard in London.  Watch the video for “maybe” – here.

Mainstream Sellout is the second album from MGK’s rock era, following his pop-punk debut, Tickets To My Downfall.  MGK shared four tracks prior to the album’s release: “Maybe,” “papercuts,” “Emo Girl” featuring Willow, and “Ay” featuring Lil Wayne.

MGK is also launching a massive tour in support of Mainstream Sellout beginning June 8th in Austin, TX and  featuring supporting acts including Avril Lavigne, Travis Barker, Willow, blackbear, Trippie Redd, iann dior and more rotating throughout the length of the tour.  For more info about the Mainstream Sellout tour, head to Ticketmaster.

Machine Gun Kelly drops ‘Maybe’ video

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Pearl Jam frontman Eddie Vedder has teamed with NASA for a video for his song “Invincible,” which features footage of the agency’s upcoming Artemis I Moon mission interspersed with a live performance of the song off Vedder’s recent solo album, Earthling.  Artemis I will lift off from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center for a crew-less mission to the moon in the coming months, and plans for the future include landing the first woman and first person of color on the lunar surface as part of a planned long-term human presence there.

Footage included in the video, produced by Sami Aziz and edited by Lacey Young, features pre-launch tests and renderings of the Orion spacecraft’s eventual orbit of the Moon and return to earth.  You can check out the video for “Invincible” – here.

Pearl Jam will also be returning to the road in North America this spring as part of a rescheduled tour in support of its 2020 album Gigaton. The group is also working on its 12th studio album with producer Andrew Watt, who co-wrote and produced Earthling.

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An early toxicology report states that Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins had 10 different psychoactive substances in his system when he passed away in Bogota, Columbia at the age of 50. The Office of the Attorney General of Colombia released a statement saying that preliminary toxicology tests found 10 substances, including marijuana, tricyclic antidepressants, benzodiazepines and opioids. Hawkins was found dead in his hotel room in Bogota, where Foo Fighters were scheduled to perform at Festival Estereo Picnic. Bogata’s Secretariat of Health issued a statement explaining that an ambulance responded to an emergency call stating that Hawkins was suffering chest pains.

The band confirmed his death via social media: “The Foo Fighters family is devastated by the tragic and untimely death of our beloved Taylor Hawkins. His musical spirit and infectious laughter will live on with all of us forever. Our hearts go out to his wife, children and family, and we ask that their privacy be treated with the utmost respect in this unimaginably difficult time.”

Hawkins joined Foo Fighters in 1997, after serving as the Alanis Morissette’s touring drummer for two years. Hawkins played drums on eight consecutive Foo Fighters albums. He also performed on Hail Satin, the band’s 2021 Bee Gees tribute album, and released three albums with the Coattail Riders, one LP with his prog-rock side project the Birds of Satan, and fronted the rock ‘n’ roll cover band Chevy Metal, which toured regularly for more than a decade.

Hawkins played his final show with Foo Fighters five days before his death, on March 20 at Lollapalooza Argentina. Grohl said that night:  “You know the best thing about Taylor Hawkins, he’s the best f*****g drummer in the world. We love him so much.”

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Red Hot Chili Peppers have shared their new song, “Not the One,  the third song released from the band’s 12th studio album Unlimited Love, due out on April 1.

The album, which follows 2016’s The Getaway, is the Chili Peppers first since guitarist John Frusciante returned to the group in 2019.  The band are also planning to embark on a world tour this summer; the North American leg will kick off in Denver, Colorado on July 23 at Empower Field at Mile High, before wrapping-up in Arlington, Texas on September 18 at Globe Life Field.

Take a listen to “Not The One” – here.

You can pre-order Unlimited Love here.

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Måneskin has announced their first world tour, consisting of 48 dates across North America and Europe. Said Måneskin: “We’re so thrilled to be able to finally tell you that our Loud Kids Tour just got sooooo much louder, worldwide – and will now see our very first headline tour in North America.”

The Loud Kids tour will kick-off on October 31st in Seattle, and the band will play 17 North American cities – including stops in New York, San Francisco, Las Vegas, Washington and Canada – before launching their rescheduled European tour in 2023. The European leg will include recently-added tour dates, and due to their surge in popularity, Måneskin have upgraded the European shows to iconic venues including London’s O2 Arena, Accor Arena in Paris, Berlin’s Mercedes Benz Arena, and more.

General ticket sale begins on Friday, March 25th at 10 am local time in the US/2 pm CET in Europe via Ticketmaster.

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