Day in Rock Report for 02/05/2022

Former W.A.S.P. guitarist Chris Holmes has been diagnosed with cancer of the throat and neck and has been forced to cancel his appearance on the Monsters of Rock Cruise.

Cathy-Sarah Holmes, his wife and manager, broke the news to fans via his Instagram account. She wrote, "This post is not easy to write because of the personal nature of it and we would rather you hear it directly from us before stories and rumors start to circulate and by respect for all of you who love and support Chris, we feel that this is exactly what we need at this time. (read more)

Ohio rockers South Of Eden have paid tribute to late guitar legend Eddie Van Halen by releasing a video of their cover of the classic Van Halen track "Drop Dead Legs".

Ehab Omran explained why they picked the track from Van Halen's "1984" album to cover in tribute of Eddie, "'Drop Dead Legs' is one of many VH songs where the riff, lyrics, and groove come together to form a sound signature to those 4 dudes jamming in a room. (read more)

(hennemusic) Rob Halford has revealed that the concept behind Judas Priest's recently-aborted plans to perform upcoming shows on their 50 Heavy Metal Years as a quartet was meant as a tribute to the group's origins.

"That all came from me, it didn't come from the band," Halford tells Billboard about the idea, which the group announced after he considered that Judas Priest was founded as a four-piece and that he thought it would be appropriate to return to that for the milestone anniversary tour - a concept that fans rejected en masse. (read more)

Guns N' Roses legend Slash has announced that he will be appearing on the Conan O'Brien Needs A Friend podcast episode that will air on Monday, February 21st.

He will be appearing of the late night TV icon's show to celebrate the February 11th release of the new album "4", from his group Slash Ft Myles Kennedy And The Conspirators. (read more)

(hennemusic) Metallica are sharing pro-shot video of a performance of their 1996 track, "King Nothing", from the first of two sold-out 40th anniversary concerts in San Francisco, CA last December.

The fourth single from the "Load" album was featured during the December 17 event that saw the group deliver at least one song from each studio album as part of a set list that was structured in chronological order. (read more)

Alt-rockers SOiL have released their take on the Neal Young song "Rockin' In The Free World", which was reportedly inspired by the reaction that guitarist Frank Sampedro had to government shut down of a Neil Young concert in the Soviet Union.

When Sampedro learned that the 1989 performance would not be taking place, he reportedly replied, "well, I guess we'll have to keep on rockin' in the free world." (read more)

Bring Me The Horizon have released their instrumental version of "Moon Over Castle," from the forthcoming "Find Your Line (Official Music from Gran Turismo 7)".

The game soundtrack will be released on March 4th for the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 and Columbia Records and Sony Interactive Entertainment have unveiled a visualizer that showcases the Willow Springs course of Gran Turismo 7 featuring "Moon Over Castle." (read more)

Marillion have premiered a music video for their new song "Murder Machines". The track comes from their forthcoming album, "An Hour Before It's Dark," which will arrive on March 4th.

The song was inspired by the pandemic lockdown. Steve Hogarth explains, "I tried not to write about the virus. But it's been so much a part of life for the past two years that it kept creeping in. (read more)

Kane Brown has announced that he has added a new spring 2022 leg to his Blessed & Free Tour that will include his very first stadium concert in his hometown of Chattanooga, TN.

That special show will be taking place on May 7th at Finley Stadium and will kick off the tour that will also include stops in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, New Hampshire, and Connecticut. (read more)

A group of all-star musicians have announced that they are teaming up this spring to launch the It Was Fifty Years Ago Today: A Tribute to The Beatles tour.

The tour will feature Todd Rundgren, Christopher Cross, Badfinger featuring Joey Molland, Jay DeMarcus of Rascal Flatts, Denny Laine (founding member of The Moody Blues and Wings), and Jason Scheff (Chicago's lead singer from 1985-2016)! These legendary artists will be performing their hits plus selected songs from The Beatles' albums "Rubber Soul" and "Revolver". (read more)

Axel Rudi Pell has announced that he will be releasing his new album 'Lost XXIII' on April 15th, with the first single "Survive" coming later this month. We were sent the following details:

It consists of ten brand-new songs (plus intro) and will be available as a digipak, CD, double vinyl album, strictly limited box set, and for digital download. LOST XXIII is Pell's 21st studio recording and - like all previous albums in his 33(!)-year solo career - will be out on Steamhammer/SPV. (read more)

Infected Rain have announced that they will be launching a North American tour this spring in support of their recently released new album, "Ecdysis."

The tour is scheduled to kick off on May 10th in Los Angeles, CA at 1720 and crisscross the continent before wrapping up on June 9th in San Diego, Ca at Brick by Brick. (read more)

>Kevin Devine has shared his brand new single "Albatross". The track comes from his forthcoming studio album, "Nothing's Real, So Nothing's Wrong", which will arrive on March 25th,

Devine had this to say about the new song, "Albatross" is a hard reboot, a fragmented emptying-out for us strugglers whose life experience invalidates cookie-cutter solutions or miracle cures or 21st century coping mechanisms. (read more)

Joanne Shaw Taylor has announced that she will be launching a short 5 date UK tour this April to promote her latest studio effort, "The Blues Album".

The tour will include stops in Sunderland Fire Station (Saturday 23 April), York Barbican (Sunday 24 April), London O2 Shepherd's Bush Empire (Tuesday 26 April), Bexhill De La Warr Pavilion (Friday 29 April), and Coventry HMV Empire (Saturday 30 April). (read more)

London rockers Puppy have shared their brand new single "...And Watched It Glow." The track comes from their forthcoming album, "Pure Evil", which will arrive on May 6th.

Jock Norton had this to say about the new album, "We had to dig fairly deep to find the purpose in doing any of it, because the global narrative was rightly shifted to more important things. (read more)

Chicago Blues veteran Bob Stroger joins forces with Brazil's The Headcutters for his first Delmark full length "That's My Name", out February 18

Bob Stroger, Chicago's most prolific blues batsman has worked with a cavalcade of legends, from Otis Rush to Jimmy Rogers, Sunnyland Slim, Louisiana Red, Snooky Pryor and many others, earning Blues Music Awards in 2011 and 2013. He has performed on over 30 Delmark albums, and at the age of 92, he has joined forces with Brazil's The Headcutters for his first solo Delmark album, "That's My Name" which will be released on February 18. "That's My Name" is receiving huge interest on blues radio - it's week it is #1 on Airplay Direct. (read more)

Josh Groban has announced that he will be returning to the road for Harmony Summer 2022 tour that will feature the first live dates in support of his latest album, "Harmony."

Special guests joining him on this tour are the legendary New Orleans Preservation Hall Jazz Band as well as violinist/singer Lucia Micarelli, and singer-songwriter Eleri Ward. (read more)

Persefone just released their new album, "metanoia", and to celebrate we asked guitarist Carlos Lozano to tell us about the track "Katabasis." Here is the story:

I remember being on tour with the band somewhere in Europe on the second leg of the Aathma tour. We were just heading to the venue after having some food and I was talking with Bobby ( Persefone's drummer ) about the future new album and the direction we could take with it. (continue)