Legendary guitar icons Joe Satriani and Steve Vai return with the SatchVai Band release of their brand-new single, “Dancing,” out now via earMUSIC, alongside a wildly entertaining new video directed by Satriani’s son, ZZ Satriani. Watch the official “Dancing” music video below.
Musically, “Dancing” – a reimagined interpretation of a song by iconic Italian singer, pianist, and songwriter Paolo Conte – showcases the SatchVai Bandat full throttle.
A vibrant, melodic conversation between two of rock’s most expressive guitar voices. Built on momentum, melody, and fearless musical chemistry, the track captures the spirit of spontaneity and joy that defined their electrifying European tour.
The video stars actor, comedian, and musician Brendon Small (Metalacolpyse, Dethklok), a longtime friend of both guitarists, who hilariously portrays an overzealous talent manager pushing the duo to cast dancers for the band’s upcoming live show.
The chaos unfolds in sync with the track’s fast-moving melodic interplay between Satriani and Vai — a rapid-fire exchange of soaring guitar lines that mirrors the eccentric parade of auditioning performers. Eagle-eyed fans will also spot a cameo from the band’s powerhouse drummer KennyAronoff, adding to the tongue-in-cheek energy.
Satriani shares, “‘Dancing’ really captures the playful side of what Steve, and I discovered on stage together last summer — that push-and-pull of melody and energy. The video gave us a chance to show that spirit in a completely different way. Watching ZZ bring this absurd casting concept to life — and having Brendon step into the madness — made it even more fun.”
Vai adds, “This band thrives on surprise — musically and visually. ‘Dancing’ is a perfect example of that. It’s melodic but relentless, and the video turns that energy into a kind of surreal comedy. It’s a glimpse into the personality of this band before we even hit the stage.”
The release arrives as the SatchVai Band prepares to bring their “Surfing With The Hydra” 2026 U.S. Tourstateside for the first time. Launching April 1st in Seattle and running through May 30th at Wolf Trap, the tour follows a celebrated European run that included stops in London, Paris, Copenhagen, and festival appearances at Hellfest, Umbria Jazz Festival, and Guitares en Scène.
Incantation are using the remaining dates of their North American run for something beyond the music. The death metal lifers have launched a food drive initiative at each remaining stop of the “Praise The Beast North American Tour”, which also features Belphegor, Hate, and Narcotic Wasteland. Donations collected at the door each night will go to local food banks in the cities where the band performs.
The push came from a personal place. Frontman John McEntee has been open about the band running into hospitality problems on the road — going without meals for several nights when venue food access fell through. That experience, rather than turning inward, prompted him to think bigger: “As a musician, I have had times when things have been tight, including the last few years, so I know how difficult it is to sometimes choose between medical bills and paying for food or housing. I understand this is the life I chose and, in fact, I’m proud of it.”
“There are others less fortunate who don’t even have the chance to afford food or shelter. So, I decided to have a food drive at the remaining shows on this tour and donate to the local food banks in the venues’ communities.”
The ask is simple: bring non-perishable goods — cans, dry goods — to the show. McEntee was careful not to make anyone feel pressured about it: “I know times are rough, and if you can’t bring anything, I totally understand. But if you can give, let’s do our part to help out our local communities.”
He also put out a call for local help with logistics: “We need local people in the cities where we are playing to provide us with contacts for local food banks, or even better, people willing to help us drop off the collected food after the show.”
The situation that sparked the initiative came up earlier in the tour when the band found themselves without venue hospitality for multiple nights running.
McEntee addressed it directly: “I know what it’s like, and I don’t want anybody on the face of the Earth to go through this. We have had so many people reach out with help after I made my last post about our hospitality issues, and all of us in the band appreciate all the kind gestures. The more I thought about it, the more I realized there are people in much more dire situations. We will get through our own stuff, but we need to help others. We need to give back. If you are local to these cities and can help us transport the donations, please reach out!”
Remaining “Praise The Beast North American Tour” dates:
02/28 – Haltom Theater – Haltom City, TX 03/01 – Scout Bar – Houston TX 03/02 – Paper Tiger – San Antonio, TX 03/03 – The Rosetta Room – Mesa, AZ 03/06 – Brick By Brick – San Diego CA 03/07 – DNA Lounge – San Francisco, CA 03/08 – Goldfield Trading Post – Roseville, CA 03/09 – 1720 – Los Angeles, CA 03/10 – The Observatory – Anaheim, CA
Erik Grönwall is stepping out on his own terms. The former Skid Row and H.E.A.T. vocalist has announced Bad Bones, his first fully original solo album, set for release on 05/22. The title track is already out on streaming platforms, and you can watch the music video below.
The record was made in collaboration with Jona Tee, Grönwall‘s longtime producer and former H.E.A.T. bandmate. Built entirely on original material, the album represents a return to songwriting at its core — honest, powerful, and deeply personal.
Erik comments: “I’ve had the honor of fronting some great bands, but now it’s time to tell my own story. Bad Bones is about owning who you are and not apologizing for it. I’ve always walked my own path, no matter what people thought. I’ve never followed the norm — and I’m not about to start now.”
In an interview with Stefan Nilsson of Roppongi Rocks (translated by Blabbermouth), Erik was direct about what this album means compared to his previous solo output: “I’ve had the honor of fronting some great bands, but now it’s time to tell my own story. ‘Bad Bones’ is about owning who you are and not apologizing for it. I’ve always walked my own path, no matter what people thought. I’ve never followed the norm — and I’m not about to start now.”
He also drew a clear line between Bad Bones and the solo album he put out after appearing on the Swedish competition show Idol: “I did a solo album after [appearing on] ‘[Swedish] Idol’, but I have to say that was more Sony Music‘s album. We put it out just to get it out for people to shop for Christmas. So, yeah, it wasn’t from the heart. But now it is. And I’ve never been prouder of an album than I am right now.”
The process, he says, involved a lot of digging. He and Jona spent time experimenting and soul searching — testing ideas, discarding what didn’t feel right, and eventually landing on something that felt true: “I realized that who I am as an artist is everything I’ve done so far, combined — H.E.A.T., Skid Row, Michael Schenker. It’s not that hard. It’s rock and roll. If you can count to four, you can do rock and roll. 1, 2, 3, 4 — it’s done. That’s all you need.”
Grönwall joined Skid Row in early 2022, just five months after a bone marrow transplant following his leukemia diagnosis in March 2021. He was candid about the timing: “I got the question five months after my bone marrow transplant against leukemia. [I had a] new immune system, new blood type — [I went through] a total reset of the immune system. I weighed 55 kilos [around 121 pounds] after all the chemo. And I got the question. If the question came a month earlier than that, I wouldn’t have been able to do it. So it was perfect timing, but still the worst timing.”
His departure from the band two years later was harder to process. He proposed a schedule of three weeks on the road with one month off in between — enough to manage his ongoing recovery and hospital checkups — but the band found it unworkable.
“I asked for… I wasn’t saying ‘no’ to touring completely. I was just saying I need a month off at home in between tours. Just ’cause I was still doing checkups at the hospital, and I still do it. I kind of felt like I was everywhere, and I didn’t really take care of myself. And that became stressful because knowing what I’ve been through, and I don’t know what can happen if… It’s very unpredictable. Cancer is very unpredictable.”
He was clear that there were no hard feelings toward the band: “They are a touring band, and that didn’t work for them. And that’s completely fine. No hard feelings. That was just something I needed.”
Wage War composed of Briton Bond on lead vocals, Cody Quistad on rhythm guitar and clean vocals, Seth Blake on lead guitar, Chris Gaylord on bass, and Stephen Kluesener on drums, are thrilled to announce their forthcoming EP, titled It Calls Me By Name. The band will unleash the latest beastly addition to its catalog on April 17 via Fearless Records. You can now pre-order it here.
The band has also dropped the video for the first single “Song Of The Swamp” and it’s the most brutal song they’ve released in years — if not EVER!
What populates the thick and humid swamps of Florida? Alligators, anacondas, and other cold-blooded animals that can eviscerate your existence with a single bite. Fittingly, Wage War‘s absolutely savage new track, “Song of the Swamp”, sounds exactly like how you would feel if any or all of the above-mentioned predators sank their teeth into your flesh. Rife with bloodthirsty screams, deadly riffage, and pummeling percussion that’ll make you feel like the speedbag at the local boxing gym, it rages from start to finish. You will be, as the lyrics snarl, “overpowered” by every note. And that’s just how metal masochists like it.
“The tone setter,” the band declares. “‘Song of the Swamp’ is rooted in where we’re from. Driven by Florida and the raw aggression of nature, it’s a heavy track built on tension and hostility.”
Regarding the EP as a whole, the band comments: “It Calls Me By Name is about being drawn to your roots. This isn’t a concept EP but is meant to live in its own world. Five tracks shaped by Florida, the swamp, and the relentless aggression of nature. Built heavy, but still driven by the hooks that have defined us. It’s our signature sound amplified and pushed further into metal than we’ve ever taken it”. Wage War will waste no time bringing these leviathan-sized new songs to fans, as the band will return to the road this spring on the It Calls Me By Name Tour, featuring support from Nevertel and Orthodox. The tour kicks off on April 28 in Phoenix and runs through May 31 in St. Petersburg, Florida. All dates are below. Get tickets here.
Wage War on Tour with Nevertel + Orthodox Dates:
4/28 — Phoenix, AZ — The Van Buren 4/29 — San Diego, CA — The Observatory North Park 4/30 — Anaheim, CA — House of Blues 5/2 — San Francisco, CA — The Fillmore 5/3 — Sacramento, CA — Ace of Spades 5/5 — Salt Lake City, UT — The Union Event Center 5/7 — Denver, CO — The Ogden Theatre 5/8 — Omaha, NE — The Admiral 5/9 — Minneapolis, MN — First Avenue 5/12 — Chicago, IL — House of Blues 5/15 — Detroit, MI — The Fillmore 5/16 — Pittsburgh, PA — The Roxian Theatre 5/17 — Baltimore, MD — Nevermore Hall 5/20 — New York, NY — Irving Plaza 5/22 — Worcester, MA — The Palladium 5/23 — Allentown, PA — Archer Music Hall 5/26 — Richmond, VA — The National 5/27 — Raleigh, NC — The Ritz 5/29 — Atlanta, GA — The Masquerade (Heaven) 5/30 — Jacksonville, FL — FIVE 5/31 — St. Petersburg, FL — Jannus Live
Iron Maiden drummer Nicko McBrain has shared his thoughts on the band’s latest nomination for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s class of 2026, calling it an honor while acknowledging the institution’s long-standing controversies. The comments came during a recent appearance on the Rock Of Nations With Dave Kinchen & Shane McEachern podcast.
Maiden has been eligible for Rock Hall induction since 2004, yet this marks only the third time the band has received a nomination — previously in 2021 and 2023. When one of the hosts pointed out that the Hall needs to “get it right this time,” McBrain kept his expectations measured.
“Yeah. You just never know, do you? I mean, it has been a long road. Many nominations — I’m not sure how many this is; maybe the third or fourth one, perhaps.”
The 2026 nominee class spans rap, R&B, hip-hop, Britpop, blues rock, metal, and pop — a range that McBrain addressed directly, questioning what the Hall actually represents at this point.
“Yeah, in the greater scheme of things, it’s not really a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame anymore, but it’s still a wonderful accolade to be given finally to hopefully — the guys may go, ‘Yeah, we’re gonna induct them.’ But at the end of the day, it’s really something that the whole of the band has talked about over the years, and it’s not something that’s voted for by your fans, although they do open it up to their fans to be voted in. At the end of the day, it’s the board that decides. And so that kind of puts a bit of a question mark about the authenticity of fans voting you in. But, yeah, it’s still, in my book, something that’s a great accolade to even be considered again.”
McBrain also acknowledged the broader issue of aging and death outpacing recognition, a pattern that has left too many artists without their due.
“I mean, mind you, if you think to yourself, there’s so many great bands out there that have not been inducted or even nominated over the years, and as you say, certain members are getting long in the tooth or passing away, and you look back and go, in retrospect, man, these guys should have been [inducted] and they weren’t. But, yeah, it’s something that there’s a lot of controversy over it, and there has been.”
On the subject of Jann Wenner — the Rolling Stone co-founder and longtime Rock Hall board member who faced years of criticism for alleged bias against metal and other genres, and who was removed from the board in 2023 after making comments widely condemned as denigrating to Black and female musicians — McBrain was cautiously optimistic.
“And if somebody who was very controversial is no longer a part of the voting board as such, then who knows where it may go? As I said, for me personally, it’s a lovely accolade to have, but one that it’s steeped with controversy in terms of what the Maiden camp feels.”
The official 2026 inductees will be announced in April, alongside the “Musical Influence,” “Musical Excellence,” and “Ahmet Ertegun Award” recipients.
Should Iron Maiden be inducted, the recognized lineup would include current members Bruce Dickinson, Steve Harris, Adrian Smith, Dave Murray, and Janick Gers, along with former members Dennis Stratton, Paul Di’Anno, Clive Burr, and McBrain himself.
For context, the only metal or metal-adjacent acts recognized by the Hall to date are Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, Metallica, AC/DC, Judas Priest, Kiss, Van Halen, Rush, Guns N’ Roses, Ozzy Osbourne, and Deep Purple — while bands like Iron Maiden and Motörhead remain on the outside. Guns N’ Roses were inducted in their first year of eligibility.
Iron Maiden placed fourth in the fan vote for the 2023 induction class, only to be passed over once again.
The band’s own members have historically taken a relaxed stance on the whole affair. Harris told Rolling Stone that recognition, while appreciated, was never part of the plan: “I don’t mind that we’re not in things like that. I don’t think about things like that. It’s very nice if people give you awards or accolades, but we didn’t get into the business for that sort of thing. I’m certainly not going to lose sleep if we don’t get any sort of award, not just that one, any award. I don’t think we deserve to have this or that necessarily. With what we do, whatever comes of it is great. Whatever doesn’t come of it is great, too.”
Dickinson took a considerably sharper line back in 2018, calling the Rock Hall “an utter and complete load of bollocks” during a spoken-word show in Australia and describing the Cleveland institution as “run by a bunch of sanctimonious bloody Americans who wouldn’t know rock and roll if it hit them in the face.”
He later told The Jerusalem Post that his remarks were taken out of context.
“I’m so annoyed with that coverage because they took my statement out of context to make it seem like I was upset that we weren’t in the Hall of Fame. “I’m really happy we’re not there, and I would never want to be there,” he continued. “If we’re ever inducted, I will refuse — they won’t bloody be having my corpse in there.
“Rock and roll music does not belong in a mausoleum in Cleveland,” Bruce added. “It’s a living, breathing thing, and if you put it in a museum, then it’s dead. It’s worse than horrible, it’s vulgar.”
Finnish power metal pioneers Sonata Arctica have unleashed a brand-new single titled “Freedom Concept.” The track arrives as a powerful statement in the band’s 30th anniversary year, followed by an extensive touring schedule, and delivers the melodic intensity and energy fans have come to expect.
“Freedom Concept” captures the signature blend of soaring melodies, driving rhythms and emotional depth that has defined Sonata Arctica for three decades. At the same time, the song explores a thoughtful and timely subject: the complex idea of freedom and the responsibility that comes with it.
Frontman Tony Kakko comments: ”Freedom Concept” , a song about understanding and misunderstanding the concept of freedom, often forgetting it comes paired with responsibility, and how what ever values and thoughts you may have are not automatically transferred to your offspring and how in most cases that’s an effin great thing…(breath in) has been sitting on my desk for a while and we figured this kind of melodic power metal blast we’re known of would be a good way to celebrate the 30th anniversary ”tourette” we’ve started at the end of January 2026 WHILST also working on our next studio album. This song’s NOT gonna be on it. So…extra special snack in between meals. Enjoy!”
Zacky Vengeance, founding guitarist of Avenged Sevenfold, has released “Lighthouse,” his second solo single under his real name, Zachary Baker. The full-length Dark Horse follows on 04/03 via his own Vngnz Records label.
Growing up in Olympia, Washington, Zacky was influenced by punk rock and metal bands. He picked up the guitar at a young age, inspired by bands like Metallica and Misfits. His first guitar was a hand-me-down from his father, which he used to hone his skills and develop his signature style.
As a founding member of Avenged Sevenfold, Zacky has played a crucial role in the band’s dynamic. His rhythm guitar work complements lead guitarist Synyster Gates, creating a powerful and cohesive sound. Together, they have crafted some of the most memorable riffs and solos in modern metal.
The album’s title track arrived in December, blending Americana influences with personal storytelling — a deliberate step away from his hard rock roots. Speaking toRock Feed, Vengeance was direct about where the project came from: “Honestly, it just came from a place inside of me that I didn’t fully know existed,” he said. “It was just this longing to create something using my own voice, telling my own story, adhering to the rules that I wanted to follow, which are far different from what you’d get from a lot of producers or a lot of record labels.”
He reached back into years of lived experience to fuel it: “Just taking everything that I’ve ever learned — from the entirety of the first time I ever picked up a guitar to the first time we ever filled up our van with gas and drove on the back roads using a shitty old Rand McNally map to get to the next city, and driving across the country, stopping every single place, the fights we would get into, the stories that we would have, drunken nights, just everything.”
“I wanted to capture all of that, stories of falling in love and stories of loss and all the heartache — everything that’s real about me, but I wanted to sing it in my own voice, which is something that I never really loved. I never really liked my own voice, so I was, like, ‘I don’t have one of these great voices,’ like a great rock singer or a great country artist who has all these pitch-perfect vocals. And then I was, like, ‘But I gotta get it outta me.’ And I didn’t know why or how it even came about, but it was literally like a therapy session.”
On the musical direction, he was equally clear about what this record is and what it isn’t: “This is very real. It’s not a humor album. It’s not contrived in any way. I’m not gonna throw on a cowboy hat and boots and try to make my way to Nashville. I’m going to remember that I love going to Nashville. I named my son Tennessee. I’ve spent vacations in Gatlinburg, and I’ve been to West Virginia, North Carolina, Texas, and Georgia, and I love being in Oregon and fishing.”
“And I’ve done everything in between. I’ve lived a lot of life, and now I get to tell my story. I get to sing it in my own voice. It’s gonna piss a whole lot of people off. Everything about this is great.”
The early reactions from people around him were lukewarm, and he admits it hit hard: “In the very first few songs, the reaction was completely, like, ‘Huh. Yeah. Okay, okay. Well, when are you guys gonna write the next ‘Hail to the King’?’ And I was, like, ‘Never. That’s not how we operate.’ And it kind of made me get in my own head a little bit. I started developing a little bit of timidness about, ‘No one’s gonna take this seriously.’ I kind of got depressed about it.”
“And then I just found myself, throughout the early days of bringing this to life and thinking about how it was really helping me write these songs and helping me feel better in these therapy sessions and getting stuff off my chest, I kind of got depressed again. I started drinking a whole lot, and I was, like, ‘I’m just not gonna do anything. I’ll wait till Avenged goes back on tour.’ And it’s kind of like waiting to die.”
What changed his mind was watching Avenged Sevenfold take the same kind of risk on a larger scale and come out the other side.
“Avenged, we kind of had this kumbaya moment where we’re like, let’s just be fearless and let’s make Life Is But a Dream… and do whatever we want and make the art alongside Wes Lang, who’s one of the greatest artists that we love, and let’s make these songs that people are not know what to expect… And then next thing you know, we’re playing in front of 40,000 people in India and selling out stadiums in Indonesia and headlining and selling out Rock In Rio off an album that the radio stations wouldn’t even play.”
“And it’s just, like, we have fans that respect what we do. And it gave me this excitement, like, ‘Hey, stop drinking yourself to death. Find purpose in every day. Finish these songs. When you get sad, when you’re depressed, put the bottle down, march up in the studio, start saying your truth. Tell your story. Be honest and be open. You’re not perfect.’”
He kept the recording process deliberately stripped down and closed off — no producers, no outside opinions: “I’m so far from perfect as a person, but I’m very much myself. I’m uniquely me. My music sounds like me. It’s coming from my voice. It’s my story. I was, like, ‘What do I like about it?’ I love that it’s imperfect. I haven’t changed the guitar strings on this old Telecaster in three months. They’re rusty. My fingers are bleeding. It’s perfect. I love how it sounds. This thing’s a little bit out of tune. I can’t really hit that note. My voice is cracking. The mic’s a little too hot. There’s a buzz on it. It’s perfect. I like this. I love this.”
The decision to work without a producer was intentional and non-negotiable: “For this first attempt at it, it had to be me finding myself, creating and then breaking any rules that I thought existed. And I didn’t wanna get into a studio with a producer. I didn’t want the input. I didn’t want people to tell me what is possible and what’s not possible. I knew it would be dead in the water because the second that I opened up and showed it to certain people — and this isn’t my band, by the way; this is management or friends or whatever — they instantly shut it down. They didn’t like it. They didn’t get it. They didn’t understand it. I was, like, ‘I can’t show this to anybody until I do it.’”
Those people, he acknowledged, came at it from a business angle: “Of course. And it’s been the bane of our existence for so long. People look at bands as, ‘Oh, you did ‘Hail to the King’. It has the most streams. We need another ‘Hail to the King’.’ It’s, like, that’s not how it works. We didn’t set out to write ‘A Little Piece of Heaven’ to try to mimic some other hit song. We didn’t write ‘Hail to the King’ with the intention of trying to write a hit. We didn’t write ‘Bat Country’. Our songs are crazy. They’re ambitious. ‘The Stage’… It’s not how it works.”
On the album’s release, he said the priority was giving the music space to land the right way.
“I really wanna get it out early-ish in 2026. I’m so excited to share it, and I don’t have this hard-pressed timeline. I know it’s important. I love the artwork. I love the idea of putting out a vinyl record. All that’s getting built now. Everything’s completely finished. And it’s just giving it enough time for people to hear ‘Dark Horse’ and make their determination on if it’s sincere enough for them.”
“If they like it, if they hate it, if they find it to be gimmicky — that’s just not gonna happen. That’s one thing that’s not gonna happen. They’re gonna hear it and say, ‘Okay, this is real. There’s sincerity behind this. This is a side of Zack that we didn’t fully know. But it makes sense.’”
After more than four decades on the road and in the studio, Sepultura are preparing to close the book at the end of this year. With over 40 years behind them, 14 gold records, and shows in more than 80 countries, the Brazilian/American outfit carved out a global presence and helped shape modern metal in the process.
The band is currently out on its Celebrating Life Through Death farewell tour, bringing its catalog to fans one last time. Faced with the question of how to properly mark the end, Sepultura chose to document one more creative statement. The result is The Cloud Of Unknowing EP, due April 24 through Nuclear Blast Records.
Described as one of the band’s most varied and emotionally charged releases, The Cloud Of Unknowing spans four tracks. The EP works as a final snapshot of what Sepultura built over the years, balancing aggression with atmosphere and depth.
The Cloud Of Unknowing EP will be available in the following formats:
Oxblood
Transparent Petrol (Nuclear Blast exclusive)
Crystal clear (band exclusive)
Transparent red (band exclusive)
All LP variants come with a CD of the EP in a card wallet.
The band has now shared the track “The Place”. Vocalist Derrick Green explained the meaning behind it: “This song deals with immigrants who have come to a place seeking refuge and start a new life. Once assimilated into a false sense of security and relentless propaganda, they began to act out against what they hate about themselves. The transition begins to escape from the self-hatred and the lashing out against people who believed in the same ideas. I feel the lyrics truly follow the transitions of the song. Starting with disappointment and arriving at anger.”
The final North American leg of the Celebrating Life Through Death tour pairs Sepultura with Exodus, Biohazard, and Tribal Gaze. The run launches April 29 in Montclair, New Jersey, and hits cities across the U.S. and Canada, including Montreal, Detroit, Chicago, Denver, and Los Angeles. The tour wraps May 29 at The Wiltern in Los Angeles. Along the way, the band will also appear at major festivals such as Welcome To Rockville and Sonic Temple.
As the end approaches, The Cloud Of Unknowing stands as the last studio statement from Sepultura—a final release that captures the band’s intensity and perspective before the curtain comes down.
Chrysalis Records has confirmed the next installment in its ongoing UFO reissue campaign: the band’s 1981 album The Wild, The Willing And The Innocent.
The expanded edition arrives May 1, 2026, available as a three-LP tri-fold sleeve 180-gram vinyl set and a 2CD digipak. The record has been newly remastered from the original tape transfers, delivering a sharper and more detailed sound compared to previous editions.
First released on January 16, 1981, The Wild, The Willing And The Innocent documented UFO during a strong creative stretch. The album combined melodic hooks with tight, driving performances, anchored by Phil Mogg’s distinct vocal style. It also introduced keyboardist and guitarist Neil Carter, who stepped in for Paul Raymond. Carter contributed backing vocals and added saxophone to “Lonely Heart”.
Looking back, Phil Mogg said: “Neil had a box of tricks. Getting the backing vocals was great, though I still don’t think he’s forgiven me for making him play saxophone. He was a great add to the band. Plus, he was a nice bloke.”
Drummer Andy Parker added: “Neil was just an incredible musician. He brought another energy into the band.”
The deluxe package includes a newly mixed version of Live At The Hammersmith Odeon, recorded January 29, 1981, and mixed by Brian Kehew. The performance captures the band in full stride onstage. Also featured are the original seven-inch edits of the singles “Couldn’t Get It Right” and “Lonely Heart”, along with an alternate mix of “It’s Killing Me”.
Completing the set are newly written liner notes by Michael Hann, built around fresh interviews with Phil Mogg and Andy Parker, plus a selection of previously unpublished photos from the period.
“The Wild, the Willing and the Innocent is, hands down, the best UFO studio album: it’s melodic, it’s experimental, it’s memorable, and it rocks. It was the perfect encapsulation of everything UFO could be.” – Michael Hann, Liner Notes.
Pre-order The Wild, the Willing and the Innocent Expanded Edition here.
Iron Maiden have confirmed the Japanese dates for their ongoing Run For Your Lives world tour. The shows will close out the full two-year run and serve as the final opportunity to see the large-scale production and career-spanning set built around material from the band’s first nine albums.
The 2026 dates are set for:
Nov. 24 – K-Arena, Yokohama – Japan Nov. 25 – K-Arena, Yokohama – Japan
Founding bassist Steve Harris said: “We are very excited to be bringing this ‘Run For Your Lives’ tour to Japan later this year. And even more so as we are ending the entire two-year world tour in Yokohama.
“I have always loved spending time in Japan, and we enjoy coming back whenever we can to play for our fans there. So it feels extra special for us to be sharing the final two nights of this incredible tour with you all in Japan. It’s going to make it a truly memorable occasion for us all.”
Longtime manager Rod Smallwood added: “We are delighted to be returning to Japan once again. I know it may seem a long time for our Japanese fans to wait to see this show, but it means a lot to us to finish the tour there, and I can promise our fans that they are in for a treat with this setlist and production. We are very excited to share it with you! The band have been loving revisiting this era and especially enjoy playing these songs with the state-of-the-art visuals we’ve created to accompany them. We’ve got all the big ones from the early days, including ‘Hallowed Be Thy Name’, ‘Run To The Hills’, ‘Phantom Of The Opera’, ‘Trooper’, ‘Number Of The Beast’, ‘Killers’, ‘Powerslave’, ‘2 Minutes To Midnight’ and more. Plus there’s some true epics including ‘Rime Of The Ancient Mariner’ and ‘Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son’, which will be even more special because these shows will be at the very end of the ‘Run For Your Lives’ tour, and so the final time the band will ever be playing a number of these songs.
“One thing to add, it was really special on our European dates last year to see that the vast majority of our fans appreciated and respected our request to severely limit their use of phones at our concerts, ideally just keeping it in their pockets the whole time, especially in those standing areas in front of the stage. Our fans’ understanding and cooperation made a colossal difference to the atmosphere of every show and increased the enjoyment enormously for the band and fans alike. Therefore we ask all our fans in Japan to do the same and enjoy the show ‘in the moment’ rather than film on their phones. Please keep them in your pockets.”
Tickets go on sale April 25, with more countries to be announced soon.
The spring/summer 2025 European leg of the Run For Your Lives tour kicked off May 27, 2025 in Budapest, Hungary and wrapped August 2, 2025 in Warsaw, Poland. The run marked Iron Maiden’s first shows with drummer Simon Dawson, who stepped in following the departure of longtime drummer Nicko McBrain in December 2024.
