Ghost Cult scribe Lorraine Lysen caught up with the great Arjen Lucassen of Ayreon for a wide-ranging interview a few months ago. They chatted about The Electric Castle Live project, his entire career, upcoming new music, and much more. Continue reading
Rolling Stones fans who love Jigsaw puzzles can get their fix as puzzles with their iconic albums have been released. Coming from Zee Productions, the iconic album covers as jigsaws are available for order “Exile On Main St.”, “Emotional Rescue”, “It’s Only Rock Rock ‘N Roll” and “Some Girls” will be made available on September 4, 2020 as 500-piece puzzles, plus there will be a 1000-piece version of “It’s Only Rock Rock ‘N Roll” out on September 18, 2020. via its Rock Saws imprint. All puzzles come in a vinyl-box-set-sized box, perfect to fit alongside a vinyl record collection. Back in April 2019, Zee Productions launched its new range of rock and metal jigsaw puzzles, Rock Saws. Other puzzles from the line include Nirvana, Metallica, Rush, Iron Maiden, Motörhead, Judas Priest and Slayer. Order at the link below: Continue reading
Nirvana fans who love Jigsaw puzzles will be sated later this summer when puzzles for the “Nevermind” and “In Utero’ albums are released. Coming from Zee Productions, the iconic album covers as jigsaws are coming via its Rock Saws imprint. “Nevermind” and “In Utero” will be made available on September 4, 2020 as 500-piece puzzles, plus there will be a 1000-piece version of “Nevermind” out on September 18, 2020. All puzzles come in a vinyl-box-set-sized box, perfect to fit alongside a vinyl record collection. Back in April 2019, Zee Productions launched its new range of rock and metal jigsaw puzzles, Rock Saws. Other puzzles from the line include Metallica, Rush, Iron Maiden, Motörhead, Judas Priest and Slayer. Order at the link below: Continue reading
Thou rules, and if you are not aware, they do lots of covers. Mainly they do inventive takes on classic songs. Over the years, Thou has released a whole lot of covers and especially Nirvana covers. Sometimes, those covers have been relatively easy to find, as with the version of “Floyd The Barber” on the 2016 Bleach tribute album Doused In Mud, Soaked In Bleach. Some of those covers have been pretty hard to track down. Today, though, Thou has put them all together. Now they have released Blessings Of The Highest Order, a new digital collection of all the Nirvana covers that they’ve released over the years. The album showed up mysteriously on Spotify last week, with no advance warning and no social-media alert from the band. Now it’s on Bandcamp and out via Robotic Empire. Check it out! Continue reading
Croatian trio Them Moose Rush, for those who’ve never had the pleasure, are pleasantly bonkers. It’s kind of like putting Jane’s Addiction and Captain Beefheart in a blender, and seeing what crazy shit results. The chaotic twists and turns within third album Dancing Maze (Dostava Zvuka) are all named after random people’s belongings or actions and allow accessibility despite the complexity of the music.Continue reading
Dave Grohl of Foo Fighters and Nirvana wrote an impassioned Op-Ed at The Atlantic about our collective depression over the coronavirus’s impact on the entire global music industry. Dave a fan of concerts himself, as well as a performer, who has had his Foo Fighters 25th anniversary Van Tour and day-long festival, DC Jam canceled. Dave echoed the feelings of all of us and also pleaded for folks to hang in there, even making a quarantine playlist. Continue reading
Royalty Exchange, the brand that administers rights of bands and artists’ future rights is offering a portion of Slipknot’s future royalties on their 20089 platinum album All Hope Is Gone (Roadrunner Records). Previously this was owned by the producer of the album. You will need deep pockets to win, as the current bid was $758,000, with bids set to end on Monday, May 4 at 3PM MDT. The first distribution payment will come on Sept. 30, 2020, with future distributions being paid biannually. For additional details and to get in on the bidding, check out the Royalty Exchange auction at the link below. The winning bidder will have the opportunity to own a slice of the group’s music whenever it is played, which is all the time. Royalty Exchange has revealed that the total earnings for the All Hope Is Gone album grew 20 percent in 2019 over the previous year. Streaming subscriptions have also helped drive the growth, resulting in 73 percent of last year’s earnings. That marks a 40 percent increase over the prior year in that area. All five of the top-earning songs in the catalog earned more last year than in 2018, with four of them growing by double-digit totals. In addition, the Royalty Exchange producer royalties auction not only includes Slipknot’s All Hope Is Gone, but also Simple Plan’s self-titled 2008 record. The winning bidder will collect royalties generated from any sales, streaming, and sync fees for either album, as well as the individual singles contained on both. Sales and streaming, in particular, pay a greater share of revenue to sound recording royalties over composition royalties. Thsi may seem weird, but it is commonplace in the industry. Famous musicians who have sold off part or all of their royalties include David Bowie, Eminem, Nirvana, and KK Downing of Judas Priest. Continue reading
As reported previously, Post Malone held a livestream concert last night for charity via his YouTube channel. He performed Nirvana “hits and fan favorites” while raising money for the COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund. Among the musicians backing Post during the performance is Blink-182 drummer Travis Barker. Throughout the show, Google will match all donations at up to $5 million, with all proceeds going to the UN Foundation. Not only did Posty have Kurt Cobain widow and co-estate executor Courtney Love’s blessing, Nirvana member Krist Novoselic watched the stream and tweeted his support and delight at the covers. Watch now! Continue reading
Dallas, Texas artist Post Malone will host an exclusive livestream on his official YouTube channel tomorrow, Friday, April 24 at 3 PM PT/6 p.m. EST. broadcasting live from his home, he’s gearing up to perform a set of Nirvana hits and fan favorites. Posty played in metal and punk bands, loves underground metal and metalcore, and recently recorded and performed with Ozzy Osbourne for each of their recent albums. Post Malone is a die-hard Nirvana fan, who has previously covered “All Apologies” in concert. Friday’s livestream event will raise funds for the United Nations Foundation’s COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund for the World Health Organization (WHO) in support of COVID-19 relief efforts. Fans will be able to make donations to the UN Foundation in real-time during the livestream event by using the “DONATE” button on the top right-hand side of the screen Watch the teaser below. Continue reading
One thing every metal fan can agree on is the eternal majesty of Ronnie James Dio. Whether you liked his music or not (and if you didn’t, then why are you reading this?), the simple fact is that the man’s talent was unquestionable. Whether you preferred his solo work or his time with Rainbow, or Black Sabbath, (or for you picky little contrarians out there – The Electric Elves, Ronnie Dio and the Prophets, or Elf), the fact remains that there is still a gaping void in the world of metal, even now, nearly ten years(!) after his death.Continue reading