Day in Rock Report for 12/12/2021

Metallica recently released their very own version of the iconic boardgame Clue, where fans must help find a critical piece of missing equipment at Metallica HQ so that band can get back to recording.

The game features the players Papa Het, Duder, Mr. Ripper, Dr. Groove, The Engineer, and Col. William and the equipment Guitar, Bass, Snare Drum, Wah Pedal, Microphone, and Computer. (read more)

Gary Clark Jr. is looking ahead to a busy 2022. He just announced the initial dates for a U.S. tour that he will be launching early next year ahead of European dates with Guns N' Roses next summer.

The first run of U.S. dates will kick off on January 28th in Oklahoma City, OK at The Criterion and the last announced date is February 5th in Lake Charles, LA at the Golden Nugget Lake Charles. (read more)

Tim McGraw has announced that they he will be hitting the road next spring to launch the McGraw Tour 2022 of amphitheaters across the U.S and featuring direct support from Russell Dickerson.

He will be kicking off the 17-city trek on April 29th at Walmart AMP in Rogers, AR and will wrap up the tour on June 4th in Mansfield, MA at the Xfinity Center. (read more)

Rise Against have announced 10 additional headline dates for their Nowhere Generation Tour next year that will feature support from Pennywise and Rotting Out.

Tickets for the new run of dates are set to go on sale this coming Wednesday, December 15th at 10am local time. The new dates kick off on April 9th in Worcester, MA at The Palladium and run through April 22nd in Bakersfield, CA at Mechanics Bank Theater. (read more)

Voivod have released a music video for their new track "Planet Eaters". The song is the first single from their forthcoming album, "Synchro Anarchy," which will be hitting stores on Valentine's Day of next year.

Michel "Away" Langevin had this to say about the track and the Pierre Menetrier directed video, "On April 21st, 2021 an animated video for the song 'Nothingface' popped up online. (read more)

Bullet for My Valentine and Throw the Fight offshoot Kill The Lights have premiered a visualizer for their brand new single "Voices", which is the follow up to their "Chasing Shadows" single that they released last month.

They had this to say, "'Voices' is a song about believing in yourself even when everyone else doubts you. The song is a huge 'F you' to the people in your life that constantly tell you that you are not good enough. (read more)

Moon Tooth have premiered a psychedelic video for their brand new single "The Conduit," which is the follow-up to the track "Nymphaeaceae" that they shared back in October.

John Carbone had this to say about the new song, "I'll be the first to admit: outside of my three bandmates, I don't collaborate well. Hell, my bandmates would be the next three guys to admit that. (read more)

Blacklite District, aka South Dakota rocker Kyle Pfeiffer, has released a music video for his new track "Clear Skies". The song is the second single from his forthcoming album, "1990", that is set to hit stores on New Year's Eve.

Kyle had this to say, "Clear Skies has been a long time coming for me. The song itself dives into my perspective of traumatic events I've experienced in life, and how that changes over time. (read more)

Napalm Death have released a new single called "Narcissus". The track comes from the band's forthcoming mini-album "Resentment is Always Seismic - a final throw of Throes," which is set to be released on February 11th, 2022.

Frontman Mark "Barney" Greenway had this to say about the new tack, "'Narcissus' just seemed to fit the bill as one of those rampaging tracks that we always seem to gravitate towards as an album opener. The low-slung concrete mixer bassline at the start really ushers it in nicely." (read more)

Cathy Grier & The Troublemakers released their new album, "I'm All Burn", earlier this year and today Cathy tells us about the record's title track. Here is the story:

I wrote the title track to my album I'm All Burn, inspired by a piece of artwork by artist b. Basch called I'm All Burn. In the piece, actual sections of 1940's newspaper comic strips were set in a montage, while acrylic white and black circles were painted in lines throughout. The comic frames were mostly women in what I would call misogyny is alive and well. In the frame that gave the title of the piece, a woman is sitting on a beach blanket with a sexy bikini pulling down her strap, and the caption reads I'm all burnt- but artist b.basch cut off the t. My reaction to the artwork was visceral, and since it was the time of the #metoo movement, I thought well not much has changed! I wanted to convey curiosity in the lyric "how are we teaching young boys that the age of womanizing is through," It was a simple, yet complex question, while giving the listener something to contemplate. Some people wonder why I didn't write "why are we not teaching...," more than being clunky to sing, the question isn't why aren't we, because societally it is clear at least to me, we are not. And the hook I'm All Burn, was personal to me because, the reality is that when many doors open for women like myself, they often get closed pretty quickly. Leaving us feeling well, quite burned. But I made a twist on the lyric too, giving it a double meaning I'm all burn, as in I'm fired up. I'm going to keep on holding my ground to get noticed. (continue)

(hennemusic) Grammy Awards producer Ben Winston was the subject of a top 21 story from March 2021 after he defending the March 4th event's tribute to Eddie Van Halen following backlash from fans and public comments by the late rocker's son Wolfgang Van Halen.

The guitar icon - who passed away last October at the age of 65 - was referenced briefly in the show's "In Memoriam" segment highlighting music industry figures who have died in the past year. (read more)

Queen scored a top 21 story from March 2021 after they made history once again: The iconic band celebrated the big news that their legendary song "Bohemian Rhapsody" has been certified Diamond by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), for surpassing 10 million or more in sales and stream equivalents in the United States.

The achievement makes Queen the first British band to ever earn a Diamond song award in the history of the U.S. music business. Brian may had this to say, "This is incredible news. At times like this I have to pinch myself to be sure it's real. All those wild dreams we had - this is beyond any of them. Huge thanks to all who have believed in us over the years." (read more)

Switchfoot Do Livestream From Hot-Air Balloon was a top 21 story from March 2021: The band shared a video of their performance of "Float" from their latest Fantastic Not Traveling Music Show livestream concert, but this one was performed on a hot hot-air balloon!

For this installment of the band's popular livestream series they took to the skies above their hometown of San Diego, Ca and performed for fans at 3,500 feet aboard the balloon. (read more)

Iron Maiden Deserve To Be In Rock Hall Says Paul Stanley was a top 21 story from March 2021: The KISS frontman is still critical of the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame, despite his band finally being inducted in 2014, and he believes that metal legends and pioneers Iron Maiden should be inducted this year.

Iron Maiden released their first album in 1980 and were therefor qualified for induction in 2005, but it wasn't until this year that the band, who still sell out stadiums worldwide, was nominated. (read more)

Black Sabbath's Tony Iommi grabbed a top 21 story from March 2021 when he shared that they planning to release a box set celebrating the often overlooked Tony Martin era of the band and may even look back at Ian Gillan's short stint in the group.

Iommi spoke with Full Metal Jackie to discuss the new box set celebrating Ronnie James Dio's original era in Sabbath and the "Heaven and Hell" and "Mob Rules" albums. (read more)

Carlos Santana had a top 21 story from March 2021 when revealed that he had been working on new music during the pandemic and that one of the new albums features a guest appearance from Metallica guitarist Kirk Hammett.

The guitar icon shared the news during an interview with ABC Audio that he has three albums in the works because of his inability to perform live over the past year due to the shutdowns. (read more)

KISS frontman Paul Stanley scored a top 21 story from March 2021 after he shared that he was devastated when producer Bob Ezrin decided that bassist/vocalist Gene Simmons should sing the classic song "God Of Thunder".

The track, from the band's iconic "Destroyer" album, has become a signature song for Simmons, but the song was actually written by Paul Stanley and their producer decided that it would be better if Gene sang it. (read more)