Day in Rock Report for 06/07/2021

(hennemusic) A lost 1981 video filmed by Van Halen for the "Fair Warning" track, "So This Is Love?", has surfaced four decades after it first aired on Italian television.

The origins of the clip - which sees the group miming the song alongside a dinosaur in an unknown park - has been a mystery for hardcore Van Halen fans for decades, with only photo images from the video shoot having surfaced in the mid-1990s.

The footage was shared by the Van Halen Italia Fan Club, who announced "at the end of 1981, Van Halen filmed some video clip settled in a Jurassic Park in Italy, the 'Prehistoric Park' of Rivolta D'Adda (near Milan). The band was engaged in a European tour promoting 'Fair Warning'. These videos aired on Italian state television, RAI 1, during a TV show called 'Happy Circus'."

Van Halen supported "Fair Warning" in North America with the release of a package of three videos that were shot during a June 1981 concert in Oakland, CA; "So This Is Love?" was featured alongside "Unchained" and "Hear About It Later."

Van Halen performed their final concert at the Hollywood Bowl in October of 2015; guitarist Eddie Van Halen passed away last October at the age of 65 after a lengthy battle with cancer. Watch the videohere.

Bayside will be returning to the road this summer for the just announced 21 Years of Really Bad Luck Tour and they will be taking Senses Fail, Hawthorne Heights, and The Bombpops along with them for the trek.

The tour will be getting underway on August 28th in Fort Lauderdale, FL at Revolution Live and will run until October 5th where it will wrap up in Englewood, CO at the Gothic Theatre.

Frontman Anthony Raneri had this to say, "We had to rebook this tour 4 times and that's only going to make it sweeter when it finally happens. Can't wait to finally get a chance to celebrate our milestone with good friends and the best fans." See the dates here.

Sepultura have shared their lockdown performance of the song "Mask" featuring prog icon Devin Townsend. The track will featured on their forthcoming live album "SepulQuarta", which will be hitting stores on August 13th.

SepulQuarta will feature the band's special SepulQuarta performances that they staged during the pandemic and each featured a very special guest for the jam.

Guitarist Andreas Kisser had this to say, "SepulQuarta was born at the very beginning of the pandemic when everything was halted. We had a new album out, but we couldn't tour for it.

"Therefore, we created this recurring event where we could talk with our fans around the world, play our music and exchange ideas, it was a blast! SepulQuarta kept us alive and strong throughout one of the most difficult times in human history."

Watch the "Mask" performance and see the track/guest list for the album here.

Country superstar Keith Urban for recruited by Breland to collaborate with him on the brand new single "Throw It Back" and a new video for the track.

Breland had this to say, 'Throw it Back' is the first song Keith and I ever worked on together, and despite it being so sonically left of center, he immediately recognized it as a special song and started adding his iconic flavor to the record.

"You'll be able to feel my and Keith's energy flowing not only on the song but in the video, which we helped shape together as well. With the world finally opening up, and live music coming back, I feel like we've got a real summer anthem on our hands."

Urban added, "Breland is my brother from another mother. I LOVE creating with him. Everything is so simpatico and matter of fact - here it is! I'm stoked that a song written from our very first time writing together (June of last year) is finally coming out." Watch the video here.

Deer Tick have announced that they will be teaming up with Delta Spirit for their upcoming 'FriendSHIP Tour' that will be hitting cities across the U.S. this fall.

They will be launching the trek on October 30th at The Observatory North Park in San Diego, CA and will conclude the tour with two nights at Webster Hall in New York City on November 22nd and 23rd.

John McCauley of Deer Tick had this to say, "I don't really know what to say in order to promote a tour after such a tragic year, so I'll keep it brief. This fall we're hitting the road with Delta Spirit, and the theme of the tour is friendship!

"It's an easy one because we're all very grateful for our friendship with one another. We're looking forward to making memories with them and with you."

Delta Spirit's Matthew Logan Vasquez added, "Deer Tick and us go back over a decade. There are already so many fun memories in so many different cities. We're all looking forward to this run together. It just makes sense!" See the dates here.

Memphis May Fire have returned with a brand new single that is entitled "Blood & Water" and they shared a music video for the track late last week.

Vocalist Matty Mullins had the following to say about the new single, "With everything that's happened over the last year, it feels surreal to be releasing new music.

"Creating during a pandemic came with a lot of challenges. But looking back, I think we needed that time off the road to fall in love with writing songs again.

"'Blood & Water' is just a taste of what's to come and we couldn't be more excited for the world to finally hear it." Watch the video here.

New Order and Pet Shop Boys have added legendary DJ Paul Oakenfold as the special guest on their upcoming rescheduled The Unity Tour, which will be hitting North American next year.

The tour is now set to launch on September 17th in Toronto, ON at the Budweiser Stage and will be concluding on October 16th in Vancouver, BC at Rogers Arena

Two new stops have been added to the trek at Brooklyn's Barclays Center and Seattle's Climate Pledge Arena with tickets for shows on sale now. See the dates here.

Legendary Yes guitarist Steve Howe is celebrating the 25th anniversary of the first album in his "Homebrew" series with the release of "Hombrew 7" on July 30th.

We were sent the following details: The Homebrew series typically features recordings from Steve Howe's home archive of demos and tracks, originally recorded for one of his many solo or group projects with YES, ASIA, ABWH or GTR. Homebrew 7 differs slightly as none of the tracks have previously been released in any form and there are no plans for any to be rerecorded in the future.

"Many are things I've enjoyed saving until the right moment," says Howe, "and the Homebrew series allows this. Some tracks have matured with my nurturing but others have been recently rediscovered."

This collection includes tracks from the late seventies through to 2016 in Howe's extensive range of playing styles. Each of the 21 tracks is dated and accompanied by Howe's background notes and details on instrumentation. Most of the tracks are Howe's solo recordings with occasional contributions from Dylan Howe and Virgil Howe on drums with Phil Spalding on bass guitar (Half Way). The booklet includes the lyrics for the four vocal tracks and is also illustrated by some of Howe's delightfully atmospheric photography. See the tracklisting here.

Judas Priest have announced the rescheduled dates for their 50 Heavy Metal Years Tour of North American, which has now been expanded with additional dates.

The trek will be launched this fall and will feature support from Sabaton. New stops have been added in Reading, Raleigh, Detroit, Rosemont, Minneapolis, West Valley City, Portland (OR), Independence, Nashville, Alpharetta, Charleston, Philadelphia, Newark, Lowell, Halifax, Laval, and Hamilton, ON.

Frontman Rob Halford had this to say about the band launching their upcoming 50th anniversary trek, "Defending the heavy metal faith for fifty years, the Priest is back!" -

Glenn Tipton added, "Time to don the leather and studs and roll out the Priest Machine - celebrating our 50 Heavy Metal Years!!" -

Ian Hill concluded, "After the horrific year of restrictions we've all had to endure, what better place to break free, than the land of the free - the USA!" See the dates here.

Dispatch have announced that they will be unplugging for a special intimate venue tour this fall that they will be calling An Acoustic Night with Dispatch.

Chadwick Stokes and Brad Corrigan will be joined by longtime bandmates and collaborators Matt Embree, John "JR" Reilly and Mike Sawitzke for the tour which will also feature special guest Emelise on all dates.

Thing will get underway on September 25th in Poughkeepsie, NY at the Bardavon 1869 Opera House and will finish up on November 5th and 6th with two nights at Belly Up in Solana Beach, CA. See the dates here.

Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds are premiering their brand new video at 10AM PST today for their track 'Flying On The Ground'. The song comes from their forthcoming album 'Back The Way We Came: Vol 1 (2011-2021)'.

Gallagher said of the new track, "Flying On The Ground is literally the best thing I've released since the last thing I released. If Burt Bacharach wrote for Motown this is what it would sound like ... only not as good ... obviously."

The video stars actors Matt Smith and Gala Gordon and Noel makes a cameo appearance. He said of the clip, "This video reveals the true darkness behind the relationship between our protagonists ... and its tragic undoing - a blatant nod to 'A Bout De Souffle' and 'Bande A Part' ('The Outsiders').

"Matt and Gala were left to their own devices to improvise each scene within both videos." Watch the video here.

Mat Kearney has announced the first leg of his January Flower Tour which he will be launching in support of his recently released new studio album "January Flower".

The tour is set to kick off on October 15th at ACL Live at The Moody in Austin, TX and will run until November 15th with the final show at the Bijou Theatre in Knoxville, TN.

Prior to the fall run of dates, Mat will be playing three summer shows beginning on August 1st at the Riverwalk Center in Breckenridge, CO, followed by concerts in Boulder and Salt Lake City. See all of the dates here.

London metal trio Urne have released a music video for their song "The Palace of Devils & Wolves." The track comes from their forthcoming album, "Serpent & Spirit", which is due on June 25.

Bassist/vocalist Joe Nally had this to say about the song, "When it came to writing 'The Palace of Devils & Wolves,' we wanted to write a straightforward heavy metal song compared to some of the longer pieces on Serpent & Spirit.

"Inspired by late '70s-Judas Priest and Megadeth Countdown to Extinction with our own spin, I believe we wrote a song that will have people headbanging at shows and festivals all over."

He said of the video, "The video was shot by Gav Thane and edited by our very own Angus Neyra. We took huge inspiration from the classic '90s metal videos; if there was a new Drilling the Vein video compilation coming out now, we would want this video on there.

"We wanted the grittiness of 'Davidian' (Machine Head) mixed with the energy of 'Slave New World' (Sepultura) but again, with our own spin." Watch the video here.

The Eagles have announced that they have added six additional dates to their upcoming Hotel California with new dates revealed for Boston, New York, and Washington, D.C.

They will be kicking things off with two shows at the famed Madison Square Garden in New York City on August 22nd and 24th. They will then head to Boston for two concerts at the TD Garden, followed by two nights at the Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C.

These dates join the previously announces shows that run from September 16th and 18th in Denver through October 22nd and 23rd at the Chase Center in San Francisco, CA.

The tour will find the band, Don Henley, Joe Walsh and Timothy B. Schmit, with Deacon Frey and Vince Gill, performing their iconic album "Hotel California" accompanied by an orchestra and choir, followed by an additional set of some of their biggest hits. See the dates here.

Motley Crue bassist Nikki Sixx shared the news on social media that his other band, Sixx:A.M., is wrapping up work on their forthcoming studio album.

The new record will be the follow up to their 2016 effort "Prayers For The Blessed Vol. 2". Nikki had this to say, "Got a lot of work done on the new book, LA Rats, a new creative endeavor I am about to embark on and seeing family.

"Finishing up new Sixx:A.M. with James (Michael - vocalist) and DJ (Ashba - guitarist) now and next time you see me I'll be fly fishing on the Snake river ... THIS is gonna be a great summer with so much opening up but I really look forward to the Stadium tour NEXT summer...Been a minute since I've been onstage......"

Architects have announced that they will be crossing the pond this fall to launch a North American headline tour and an appearance at the Welcome to Rockville festival.

The tour is scheduled to begin on November 2nd in Los Angeles at The Novo and will be concluding December 2nd in Minneapolis, MN at the famed venue First Avenue.

They will be launching the fall trek in support of their recently released ninth studio album, "For Those That Wish To Exist", which debut at No. 1 on the Digital Album Chart. See the dates here.

Grand Funk Railroad have announced that they will be returning to the road this summer for their Some Kind Of Wonderful Tour, named after their iconic classic hit song.

The tour is set to kick off on July 2nd in Fayetteville, GA at the Southern Ground Amphitheater and will running through December with an as yet unannounced date.

Don Brewer shared his excitement about returning to the stage following the lengthy time off due to the pandemic. He said, "I can't wait to get back on stage and perform for people.

"This has been torture for me and the rest of the guys. We have been touring nonstop with this band since 2000 and the band and crew are family. Not seeing everyone on a regular basis has been very difficult. We have not had a break like this since 1982."

"When the reality of the pandemic initially set in and you knew you and the band couldn't tour, what was going through your mind?" See the announced dates here.

Australian rock trio BALKO just released a music video for their brand new single "Tall Heavy Man" and to celebrate we asked Jeves to tell us about the track. Here is the story:

We first began with this song a long time ago, maybe around 2018, jammed it with the band and started playing it at shows. It changed from a melodramatic sort of country song, but became slower and ultimately somber and a bit jazzy.

In 2019 we decided to begin recording a series of songs with our new drummer Ronan, who would go on to produce/engineer Tall Heavy Man including our other upcoming releases. We had practiced it so many times, so the recording sessions went smoothly, even with one of us only recently becoming familiar with the song. We actually lost a chunk of the recorded song through technical issues and had to record a few parts again (lead guitars, synth textures and vocals), but the meat of the track was still there, and we really enjoyed working on it again! It was made as part of our upcoming album The Shiny Underneath, and was a lot of fun to work on, along with all the other tunes.

Tall Heavy Man doesn't really mean anything other than the feeling and mood the music releases. But I guess the narrative we had for a while involving the lyrics has a lot of meaning.

The song was sort of about how powerhouses like the news/social media influence our society and our lives, down to each individual's thoughts and feelings. We feel that you shouldn't trust everything you read or hear and maybe our society has relied too much on that trust and that need for information and stimulus, perhaps because we don't know any better. The human race tends to perpetuate the fear in doom and demise, to the point that almost everything is a threat to the individual, and we start to become scared of anything, no matter what.

Our songs sometimes have a few character entities. In this song, the character who is speaking is sort of sarcastically teasing people about this elusive enemy, beast or boogeyman, who is out to get them. We do our part, we listen and trust the loud words, so we lock our doors, shut our windows and close our eyes. But the character isn't fazed by the "tall, heavy man" at first. However, they second guess the situation and begin to ponder over the deep flaws of our world and become worried. Ironically, in the end the character becomes the sole victim of an attack because they didn't heed their own warnings.

Perhaps the fear urged on us by those powerhouses was the threat. Maybe there wasn't anything to be frightened of. Maybe there was(is). Or maybe the people shouting the loudest and pointing the finger for the longest are the most scared.

Anyway, that's all well and good for things like this, but to BALKO, Tall Heavy Man is another story and another stop on our musical journey. It's a little different but a little the same, we hope you enjoy it and take it for what it is, a little bit of music from us to you.

Hearing is believing. Now that you know the story behind the song, listen and watch for yourself right here!

Aerosmith guitarist Brad Whitford has shared his doubts that the legendary band will ever perform live again because his own and his bandmembers ages are becoming a "real factor".

Whitford made the comments during an appearance on Joe Bonamassa's streaming interview series "Live From Nerdville". He made the comments after Joe asked Brad about the band's planned European tour.

He said, "The European tour, they tried to plan one last year, and they're talking about next year. It's a pipe dream right now. Nothing's gonna happen for a long time. Sometimes I'm not sure what my partners are thinking when they think that's gonna happen.

"There's another interesting thing about going to Europe now because of Brexit, it's so much harder to get work visas because of that. That's gonna be a whole other nightmare.

"I mean, I have my doubts about Aerosmith ever really performing again at this stage, because age is becoming a real factor. And it is what it is." Watch the full interview here.

Former Ill Nino stars Cristian Machado (vocals), Ahrue Luster (guitar) and Diego Verduzco (guitar) have returned with their new group Lions At The Gate and shared a video for their debut single "Not Even Human".

frontman Cristian Machado had this to say, "I feel so blessed to be in Lions at the Gate. We've all been making albums for a long time but I think it was time for us to make something special and memorable again. This album is exactly that.

Take away our musical history, take away our long hair, take away our personal feelings, just make believe we were never there. This Lions at the Gate album is amazing. We finally made a modern metal album that metalheads will enjoy beginning to end. It's deep, it's memorable, I can't wait for everyone to hear it, I can't wait for everyone to hear the featured female artist on one of the songs!"

Guitarist Diego Verduzco shared, "I'm beyond proud and excited to announce our new band Lions At The Gate. Life is all about change and I feel that this music is the most dynamic and honest that we've ever written. I feel a sense of freedom and am completely reinvigorated and even anxious (in a good way) to be a part of something that pulls influence from so many directions . Each member brings a unique set of talent and tools. It's quite frankly some of the best music we've ever written. Organic, honest, and true."

Guitarist, Ahrue Luster added "I'm more excited about Lions at the Gate than anything that I've been a part of since I started my musical career." Watch the video here.

Wolfgang Van Halen recently spoke with The Telegraph and reflected on his father's battle with cancer after the legendary guitarist was diagnosed with stage four lung cancer in 2017,

He told the paper, "He was diagnosed with lung cancer. We got some good, liveable years, but that was the beginning [of the end], I would say.

"It really didn't take a turn for the worst until the end of 2019. There were still positive moments in between, but that's when it took a nosedive. So many different health issues stacked on top of each other. He just buckled under the weight of it all.

"When you grow up, you always know, 'One day I'll have to take care of the parent,' but I didn't expect it to happen so soon. While it was happening, I was like, 'Okay, it'll happen later,' but little did I know I was already in the middle of it." Read the full feature here.

Steve Earle & The Dukes have shared a live video for the song "The Saint Of Lost Causes" from the "J.T." album and announced a U.S. summer tour.

The album was released as a tribute to Steve's late son Justin Townes Earle. Fittingly "The Saint Of Lost Causes" was the title track to Justin's 2019 album and video for Steve's cover was filmed at at the new City Winery in New York City with director Ehud Lazin.

The summer tour is scheduled to get underway on July 1st at Gruene Hall in New Braunfels, TX and will be wrapping up with several Steve Earle solo shows in October. Watch the video and see the dates here.

(hennemusic) Anthrax members and fellow rockers share their thoughts on the band's crushing 1990 cover of Joe Jackson's 1979 new wave classic, "Got The Time", in the 14th and latest installment of the band's 40th anniversary video series.

What became the lead single from the group's fifth record, "Persistence Of Time", wasn't originally intended to even be included on the album. "On 'State Of Euphoria', I just wanted to do this song, 'Antisocial', because I loved it so much," says drummer Charlie Benante, "and everyone else in the band loved it,and we did a cover of it and actually put it on the record .. and people thought it was our song - it's not our song, it's from Trust - it was a big hit, video was huge. And then, when it came to the next album, 'Got The Time' wasn't supposed to go on the record; it was just supposed to be a b-side ..but it came out so great and everybody loved it that we ended up putting it on the record. And it became a big song for us."

"Great song," adds Henry Rollins, "but when you listen to the Anthrax version, on the verses ... listen to what the rhythm section is doing, the way they're swinging it - that's so cool, that's some advanced playing; you gotta have some game to be able to bring that."

"Got The Time" earned Anthrax a top 20 hit in the UK, while "Persistence Of Time" delivered the band their highest US chart placement to date when it reached No. 24 on the Billboard 200 while earning Gold status for sales of 500,000 copies in the country.

Episode 14 in the Anthrax 40 series features insight into the band from a lengthy list of fellow rockers, including Rob Zombie, Josh Bernstein, Shavo Odadjian, Corey Taylor, Jose Mangin, D.D. Verni, Suzy Cole and Gene Simmons.

Anthrax will celebrate their 40th anniversary with a very special livestream performance on Friday, July 16 that will see the band deliver a deep cuts set that will pull from their entire career-spanning catalog. Watch the episodehere.

(hennemusic) Myles Kennedy is streaming video of his debut live performance of "A Thousand Words", a track from his newly-released album, "The Ides Of March."

The rocker is seen sharing the story behind the song before delivering it alone and surrounded by guitars on stage at the legendary Fox Theater in Spokane, WA.

Kennedy explains it as "a song, from the lyrical standpoint, that was inspired by a photograph which, very much, if you listen to the narrative of the song, it goes into that."

The singer then goes on to detail his wife's discovery of an image on social media that was viewed while he was working on the song's chord progressions.

Kennedy recorded the album in Florida with producer Michael Baskette, where he worked alongside longtime friend and drummer Zia Uddin and bassist/manager Tim Tournier.

"The Ides Of March" is now available in a variety of formats, including digital, CD, black and colored 2LP vinyl, including Die Hard Limited Edition and Limited Deluxe Box options available via Napalm Records.

Kennedy recently announced his return to live performances with a series of US dates in support of the album; he will play a pair of headlining shows the Midwest later this month before teaming up with Halestorn for gigs in Illinois and Wisconsin. Watch the videohere.

Sunshine & The Blue Moon are gearing up to release their sophomore album "Born 2 Boogie" on June 25th and to celebrate we asked vocalist Kai Davey-Bellin to tell us about the lead single "Good Moring Sunshine". Here is the story:

I wrote this song on one of those dreary lullabye mornings. I was feeling swamped by whatever occasions were looming large in my mind then; usually how TF am I going to find time to create while trying to make ends meet. I tried to make the guitar chords sound beautiful and pleasant, but also janky with some underlying tones of grief.

I played it for the band, they all filled in their parts with ease, and the song came together in time for us to hit the studio. We actually had the full album demoed before I wrote this song, so we bumped an older song off to add this one. Hope you dig!

Hearing is believing. Now that you know the story behind the song, listen and watch for yourself right here!

The supergroup project L.A. Rats have released animated video for their debut track, a cover of the classic song "I've Been Everywhere," from a forthcoming film soundtrack.

The song was written by Australian country singer Geoff Mack in 1959, and Lucky Starr scored a hit with the song in 1962. The L.A. Rats cover will be featured in the forthcoming "The Ice Road" soundtrack.

L.A. Rats features Motley Crue/Sixx A.M.'s Nikki Sixx, Rob Zombie, John 5 of Rob Zombie, David Lee Roth Band and Marilyn Manson fame, as well as Ozzy Osbourne, Black Sabbath drummer Tommy Clufetos. Watch the animated video here.

Light The Torch have released a music video for their new track "Let Me Fall Apart." The song comes from their forthcoming sophomore album, "You Will Be The Death Of Me."

The record is set to hit stores on June 25th and frontman Howard Jones had this to say about the new track, "I loved this song as soon as I heard it. The music stuck in my head, so I knew I had to work on it right from the beginning of writing the new album. [Guitarist] Francesco [Artusato] wrote a huge chorus so I did my best to match that energy. We are thrilled for this to finally see the light of day."

Francesco added, "The initial idea for this song was to combine an 'old school' type of guitar riff and vibe - because I love to hear Howard sing over that style - with a more 'contemporary' type of arrangement and chorus.

"I remember writing and arranging the chorus, and feeling that it had the potential to become great knowing what Howard could do with it. And of course he delivered once again.

"This was one of the first songs that we worked on during pre-production and it felt really good right away. It was definitely one of the songs that helped shape the sound for the rest of the record." Watch the video here.

(hennemusic) The Darkness have announced dates for a fall 2021 UK tour in support of a new album entitled "Motorheart." Due October 15, the band will issue the set's lead single from their seventh studio record next month; the project marks the follow-up to 2019's "Easter Is Cancelled", which reached the UK Top 10.

The group will be joined by British Lion - the side project of Iron Maiden founder and bassist Steve Harris - for a month-long UK trek this fall, with shows starting November 17 in Brighton.

"The time has come, the walrus said... to put your fookin pants on your head and rock like Satan is eating your private parts with a pointy fork!," says frontman Justin Hawkins. "Yes, we, The Darkness, are back on tour, praise Satan's better half... come and party with us like it's the last orders at the last chance saloon. Which it may well be, but I wouldn't like to comment any further on that.

"Get in kids, it's The Darkness, wot you knows and luvs, plus British Lion - Steve Harris' top rock band who are guaranteed to blow your socks straight up your welcoming arses. What a night! Delirium! Outfits, including hats! Denim that smells of hamsters! Who doesn't want that? See you down the front, connoisseurs of the finest that life has to offer..."here.