Author: Editorial Team

North Sea Echoes, featuring progressive metal pioneers singer Ray Alder and guitarist Jim Matheos of Fates Warning, are back with a new studio album, How To Cast A Shadow, set for release on July 24th on Metal Blade Records.

On North Sea Echoes‘ critically acclaimed 2024 debut, Really Good Terrible Things, Alder and Matheos garnered rave reviews for songs that possessed “liberating sonic space and emotional vulnerability… from somnambulant electro-fog to gritty, overdriven disquiet, to the quietly devastating (Blabbermouth).”

With this year’s How To Cast A Shadow, the band’s identity is further explored and expanded. Matheos explains: “this record is a bit heavier, with several more songs featuring real drums, played by Dennis Leeflang. It wasn’t necessarily intentional or planned, just the way things shaped up and how they emerged this time.”

Alder concurs: “[A track like] ‘I’ll Leave A Light On’ is much heavier than anything on Really Good Terrible Things. It has a darker, melancholic feel that fits well on this album. I loosely based the lyrics on a character from my favorite sci-fi series. I won’t say which, but they do use the quote ‘out there in the black.’”

From the radio-ready rock of “All That Comes After” and the intimate, escalating “A Time Of Innocence And Purpose” to the powerful, timeless ballad “Villains Or Saints,” How To Cast A Shadow cohesively crosses genres and challenges aural preconceptions.

In advance of the release, today the band unveils the lead single, “Enjoy the View.” Comments Alder: “The guitars and drums have this great drive that builds throughout the song. The combination of quiet verses and heavy choruses made me think (lyrically) of a darker side to some people. Those who would choose numbness over pain.”

The duo’s shared and separate histories help to forge a fresh creative opus. Alder has been the vocalist and main co-writer for prog metal heroes Fates Warning for 37 years, recording ten albums between 1988 (No Exit) and 2020 (Long Day Good Night). Rounding out his discography are seven albums with Redemption, two solo records, and the band A-Z, which debuted in 2022.

Revered guitarist and producer Matheos is a cofounder of Fates Warning, the lineup debuting with 1984’s Night On Bröcken on Metal Blade. In addition to thirteen albums with Fates Warning, Matheos launched several solo albums, four LPs alongside former Dream Theater keyboardist Kevin Moore under the name OSI, and Kings Of Mercia, which launched in 2022.

Of North Sea Echoes‘ sophomore album, the team says: “You could say that there are elements of everything we do or have done on this album, yet Fates and our various other projects are totally different types of music.” How To Cast A Shadow ups the promise of its predecessor with provocative words of hope, sorrow, and consciousness, paired with Matheos‘ equally emotive, varied, and deeply moving guitar work.

How To Cast A Shadow will be released on CD and digital formats. Find pre-orders here.

The post NORTH SEA ECHOES, Featuring RAY ALDER & JIM MATHEOS, Share Newest Single “Enjoy The View” From Upcoming Album “How to Cast a Shadow” appeared first on Sonic Perspectives.

Multi-GRAMMY Award-nominated, multi-platinum rock band Daughtry has announced their 20 Years Unplugged tour, a special fall run that will bring two decades of songs into intimate theatres and performance spaces across the U.S. Tickets go on general sale Friday, June 19 at 10am local here.

The tour opens October 12 at Troy Savings Bank Music Hall in Troy, NY and continues through November 14 at Majestic Theatre in Dallas, TX, with stops in Beverly, Uncasville, Atlantic City, Huntington, Las Vegas, Anaheim, San Antonio and more. Support across all shows comes from Buffalo, NY singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Ryan Perdz.

Artist presale and VIP packages begin Wednesday, June 17 at 10am local. Local presales, including promoter, venue, and radio presales, run on Thursday, June 18, from 10 am local. Tickets go on general sale Friday, June 19 at 10 am local.

20 Years Unplugged gives fans the chance to experience Daughtry’s catalogue in a stripped-back acoustic setting, reframing the songs that have soundtracked arenas, rock radio milestones, and some of the most defining moments of the band’s career. The tour will pull the band’s music into a more raw and immediate space, where the weight of a lyric, the scrape of a guitar string, and the quiet before a chorus can hit as hard as the full-band impact.

The announcement follows the release of Shock To The System (Deluxe), the complete edition of Daughtry’s two-part project via Big Machine Rock. The collection brings together Shock To The System (Part One) and Shock To The System (Part Two), along with additional live recordings that capture the force and connection of the band’s latest era. Across tracks including “Artificial,” “Pieces,” “The Bottom,” and “Antidote”, Daughtry continues to channel grief, change, confrontation, and self-reclamation into some of their heaviest and most emotionally direct work to date.

Support for the tour will come from up-and-coming alt-rock star, Ryan Perdz. The Buffalo, NY singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist recently announced his debut album Can’t Cry, out August 14 via Big Machine Rock, and has been building momentum with the release of “Sour,” “Heavy Eyes,” and his fresh reimagining of MGMT’s “Time to Pretend.” Raised on his grandparents’ family farm and citing rock icons such as Chris Cornell, John Frusciant, and Kurt Cobain as some of his biggest influences, Perdz’s unique brand of guitar-driven songwriting brings a raw, melodic voice to a new generation of modern rock.

Daughtry 20 Years Unplugged With Support From Ryan Perdz Dates:

October 12 | Troy, NY | Troy Savings Bank Music Hall
October 13 | Beverly, MA | The Cabot
October 15 | Uncasville, CT | Mohegan Sun Arena
October 16 | Waterloo, NY | The Vine Showroom at del Lago Resort & Casino
October 17 | Atlantic City, NJ | Ovation Hall at Ocean Casino Resort
October 20 | Huntington, NY | The Paramount
October 21 | Englewood, NJ | Bergen Performing Arts Center
October 23 | Danville, VA | The Pantheon at Caesars Virginia
October 24 | Florence, KY | Turfway Park Event Center
October 26 | Greensburg, PA | The Palace Theatre
October 27 | Wheeling, WV | Capitol Theatre
October 29 | Nashville, IN | Brown County Music Center
October 31 | Omaha, NE | The Astro Theater
November 1 | Des Moines, IA | Hoyt Sherman Place
November 3 | Kansas City, MO | Uptown Theater
November 4 | Oklahoma City, OK | The Criterion
November 7 | Las Vegas, NV | Pearl Concert Theater at Palms Casino Resort
November 8 | Napa, CA | Uptown Theatre Napa
November 10 | Anaheim, CA | Grove of Anaheim
November 11 | Tucson, AZ | Fox Tucson Theatre
November 13 | San Antonio, TX | The Aztec Theatre
November 14 | Dallas, TX | Majestic Theatre

Daughtry remains a force of nature in rock music and culture, standing as one of the best-selling rock bands of the 21st century. The history-making group has scored multiple platinum and gold certifications, notched two No. 1 debuts on the Billboard 200, packed venues worldwide, and sold north of 11 million albums and 25 million singles. Their self-titled debut was the top-selling album of 2007, and became the fastest-selling rock debut album in SoundScan history, earning four GRAMMY Award nominations and winning four American Music Awards alongside seven Billboard Music Awards, including Album of the Year.

Across subsequent albums Leave This Town, Break The Spell, Baptized, Cage To Rattle, and Dearly Beloved, Daughtry has continued to build a catalogue rooted in anthemic songwriting, emotional honesty, and Chris Daughtry’s unmistakable vocal power. Recent singles “World On Fire,” “Heavy Is The Crown,” and “Changes Are Coming” all cracked the Top 10 at Billboard Rock Airplay, while the band’s 2023 cover of Journey’s “Separate Ways (Worlds Apart)” featuring Lzzy Hale of Halestorm became another major moment in their ongoing evolution.

Ryan Perdz is a 25-year-old singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist from Buffalo, NY. Raised on his grandparents’ family farm, he began teaching himself guitar at age ten and later expanded into bass, violin, and mandolin, developing a hands-on approach to songwriting and arrangement. Influenced by Nirvana, Chris Cornell, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Led Zeppelin, Perdz channels the emotional weight of 90s rock through a modern lens, balancing grit with melody. After independently releasing multiple singles and his First Sight EP, he signed with Big Machine Rock in 2025 and began recording his debut full-length album, Can’t Cry, out August 14.

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Danny Wimmer Presents has announced the 2027 dates for the 16th year of Welcome To Rockville. Florida’s Largest Rock, Metal & Punk Festival returns to Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida May 6-9, 2027.

Welcome To Rockville 4-Day General Admission, VIP and Daytona Owners Club passes, as well as 4-Day Camping and 4-Day Parking Passes go on sale Monday, June 22 at 10:00 AM ET. Fans are encouraged to visit the festival website to sign up for the subscriber presale beginning Friday, June 19 at 10:00 AM ET, and Jampack hotel packages are available now at this link.

Fans can secure their spot for as little as $1 down, with flexible layaway options available. DWP has again partnered with GOVX to offer specially priced Welcome To Rockville passes to military, nurses, firefighters, and police personnel. Service fees on all pass purchases include a charity fee for the DWP Foundation, which gives back to local and national charities throughout the year.

In 2026, Welcome To Rockville celebrated its 15th anniversary with 210,000 music fans from all 50 states and 30 countries, as well as more than 160 bands on 5 stages at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida. The festival featured performances from Foo Fighters, My Chemical Romance, Guns N’ Roses, and Bring Me The Horizon, plus TURNSTILE, Five Finger Death Punch, The Offspring, Breaking Benjamin, A Day To Remember, Godsmack, Staind, Parkway Drive, Lamb of God, Yellowcard and many more.

Originally launched in Jacksonville, Florida in 2011, Welcome To Rockville found its permanent home at Daytona International Speedway in 2021. Since then, the festival has established itself as The World Center of Rock, welcoming record-breaking crowds and cementing itself as a flagship event on the global festival calendar. Each year, Rockville generates over $80 million in economic impact through tourism, hospitality, and local business engagement—making it not only a cultural powerhouse but also a major driver of regional growth.

Welcome To Rockville is produced by Danny Wimmer Presents, (DWP), the largest independent producer of destination music festivals in the United States and a fully integrated live entertainment company spanning festivals, concerts, talent buying, venue development, and entertainment consulting.

Since its founding in 2011 by music industry veteran Danny Wimmer, DWP has become known for producing some of North America’s premier rock and alternative music festivals, including Aftershock, Bourbon & Beyond, GoldenSky, Inkcarceration Music & Tattoo Festival, Louder Than Life, Sonic Temple Art + Music Festival, and Welcome To Rockville. In addition to offering lineups stacked with A-list talent, these events draw on unique elements of local cuisine, culture, and venue spaces to create distinct fan experiences. Beyond festivals, DWP operates DWP Concerts, a dedicated division focused on concert promotion, venue programming, strategic entertainment development, and venue consulting, alongside its nationwide Talent Services division. With an integrated, end-to-end approach across talent buying, marketing, sponsorship, operations, ticketing, production, hospitality, and fan experience, DWP partners with venues, festivals, casinos, and entertainment properties across the United States to deliver world-class live event experiences for fans, artists, partners, and host communities alike.

For more information on Welcome To Rockville, please visit here.

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Two titans of progressive music, Steve Hackett (Genesis) and Steve Rothery (Marillion), come together for the first time on The Roaring Waves. Seven instrumental tracks that range from the dexterously ridiculous to the brilliantly sublime, though with one common theme: the profundity of the sea.

As Rothery explains: “In winter you could hear the roaring of the waves during the stormy weather, Whitby was a very evocative place to live, a very poetic and powerful place to grow up.”

The record has been much talked about over the years, and it will now finally see the light of day on August 28th, 2026 via InsideOutMusic.

The Roaring Waves has been in the making for the best part of eight years, though the initial idea of the pair making an album together was first mooted around three years before that, but their respective day jobs and touring itineraries kept them from working together for months at a time. Though recording sessions at the Racket Club, and their respective home studios yielded a rich seam of creativity. “It was a bit old school, our approach, like the idea of mates getting together in the garage and playing and hanging out” says Hackett of their approach to creativity.

The Roaring Waves will be available to pre-order on June 26th, and that date will also mark the first time fans will be able to hear and see what the album is all about, with a first single release. Look out for more information very soon!

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Today, the acclaimed American hard rock band Tesla is proud to unveil their new single, “Never Alone,” taken from their upcoming album, Homage, set for release on July 17, 2026, via Frontiers Music Srl. Marking a full-circle moment in their storied career, the album finds the band returning to their roots with a collection of covers honoring some of rock’s most timeless hits.

On the creation of the new original track, Brian Wheat shares: “‘Never Alone’ is a new song that we wrote in the 11th hour of recording the album Homage. It started out as a simple guitar riff. I was at my friends Rachael Ray and John Cusimano‘s house filming an episode for her TV show, I had some time to kill, so I went into their studio in the house, picked up John’s acoustic guitar and started strumming these chords to kill some time. When I listened back to it, it sounded like a Tesla song. I thought maybe it was gonna be a song for one of my other projects, but it sounded like Tesla. So I sent it to Jeff and he said it’s definitely Tesla. Out of that, he came up with the title “Never Alone”, we worked on it together, writing the lyrics, the music, switching the chorus around a little bit, and as a result, I think it turned out pretty good. I hope you enjoy it. This is our new song ‘Never Alone’ because we’re never alone.”

It is remarkable to reflect on the more than 40 years since Tesla began as a cover band performing in California nightclubs before going on to write and record original material and sell millions of albums.

Much like their musical heroes — The Beatles and The Rolling Stones—artists who honed their craft by performing songs from those who came before them, Tesla followed a similar path in their early years and continues to embrace the tradition of paying tribute through cover songs today.

Homage, the band’s upcoming album, not only honors legendary artists but also provides an opportunity to showcase lead singer Jeff Keith‘s vocal diversity. The album stands as a thank-you expressed through music, an offering to the iconic voices and songs that shaped the band’s influences and, ultimately, their own songwriting.

Homage is not about imitation, but acknowledgment, tracing the line from influence to identity, from listening to becoming. The project also arrives more than 20 years after the Real to Reel series, a release that helped inspire the creation of a new original Tesla song, “Never Alone.”

The selected songs on Homage were chosen for a variety of reasons, primarily representing some of the greatest vocalists of all time, including Elvis Presley, Freddie Mercury, Sam Cooke, David Ruffin, Etta James, and James Brown. Additional selections reflect songs the band grew up hearing on the radio and on their turntables.

On the upcoming album, Tesla shares: “Our new album Homage is a thank-you note written in sound. An offering to the great singers and songs that shaped the music we grew up listening to, and the songs we would eventually write. We hope you all enjoy this as much as we did making it. Thank you for all the years – Keep it Real and Keep On Rockin’!”

Tesla is excited to be hitting the road this summer on The Return of the Carnival of Sins Tour with Motley Crue and Extreme. The tour begins on July 17th in Burgettstown, PA, and winds its way through the United States before concluding in Ridgefield, WA on September 26th. For a full list of dates, please see below.

The Return of the Carnival of Sins Tour with Motley Crue and Extreme Dates:

Jul 17 – Burgettstown, PA @ The Pavilion at Star Lake
Jul 18 – Buffalo, NY @ Darien Lake Amphitheater
Jul 20 – Clarkson, MI @ Pine Knob Music Theatre
Jul 22 – Toronto, ON @ RBC Amphitheatre
Jul 24 – Gilford, NH @ BankNH Pavilion
Jul 25 – Bangor, ME @ Maine Savings Amphitheater
Jul 27 – Camden, NJ @ Freedom Mortgage Pavilion
Jul 29 – Saratoga Springs, NY @ Saratoga Performing Arts Center
Jul 31 – Holmdel, NJ @ PNC Bank Arts Center
Aug 1 – Mansfield, MA @ Xfinity Center
Aug 3 – Bristow, VA @ Jiffy Lube Live
Aug 12 – Alpharetta, GA @ Ameris Bank Amphitheatre
Aug 14 – West Palm Beach, FL @ iTHINK Financial Amphitheatre
Aug 15 – Tampa, FL @ MIDFLORIDA Credit Union Amphitheatre
Aug 17 – Charlotte, NC @ PNC Music Pavilion
Aug 19 – St. Louis, MO @ Hollywood Casino Amphitheater
Aug 21 – Shakopee, MN @ Mystic Lake Amphitheater
Aug 22 – Tinley Park, IL @ Credit Union 1 Amphitheatre
Aug 24 – Cuyahoga Falls, OH @ Blossom Music Center
Aug 25 – Cincinnati, OH @ Riverbend Music Center
Aug 27 – Grand Rapids, MI @ Acrisure Amphitheater
Aug 28 – Noblesville, IN @ Ruoff Music Center
Sep 8 – Kansas City, MO @ Morton Amphitheater
Sep 10 – Dallas, TX @ Dos Equis Pavilion
Sep 11 – Houston, TX @ The Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion
Sep 13 – Albuquerque, NM @ Isleta Amphitheater
Sep 16 – Phoenix, AZ @ Talking Stick Resort Amphitheatre
Sep 18 – Chula Vista, CA @ North Island Credit Union Amphitheatre
Sep 19 – Long Beach, CA @ Long Beach Amphitheater
Sep 21 – Salt Lake City, UT @ Utah First Credit Union Amphitheatre
Sep 23 – Wheatland, CA @ Toyota Amphitheatre
Sep 24 – Mountain View, CA @ Shoreline Amphitheater
Sep 26 – Ridgefield, WA @ Cascades Amphitheater

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More than six years after the death of Neil Peart, Rush members Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson are still sharing stories about the drummer’s unique personality and the role he played in shaping one of progressive rock’s most influential bands.

In a new interview with PROG, the two musicians reflected on their longtime friend and bandmate, who passed away on January 7, 2020 after battling glioblastoma, an aggressive form of brain cancer. While the conversation carried an obvious sense of loss, both musicians also recalled the lighter moments that defined their decades together.

Looking back at Neil Peart‘s arrival in Rush in 1974 following the departure of John Rutsey, Geddy Lee admitted that the young drummer initially seemed very different from the rest of the group.

“Oh yeah,” said Geddy Lee. “We’d talk about him all the time like he was an alien, ’cos he seemed kind of like an alien. He was very different to anyone else we hung around with. His hair was too short, and he would talk about things we never talked about – big, weighty subjects. And he was reading all the time.”

According to Geddy Lee: “We read things like Lord Of The Rings. We read the fun shit. He read everything.”

Alex Lifeson added: “He was deep, all the time.”

Geddy Lee continued: “He was so verbose. He could talk about anything. And that’s when me and Al said, [conspiratorial whisper], ‘Hey, he reads books. Let’s make him do lyrics.’”

Alex Lifeson recalled Neil Peart‘s response: “He was a little reluctant, but then he said, ‘Yeah, OK, I’ll give it a try.’”

Geddy Lee concluded with a laugh: “It worked out OK, I think!”

The decision proved to be a defining moment for Rush. Beyond his reputation as one of rock’s most respected drummers, Neil Peart became the band’s primary lyricist, helping establish the identity that carried the group through decades of success. His contributions extended far beyond the drum kit, becoming an essential part of the chemistry between Peart, Lee, and Lifeson.

While Rush officially ended with Neil Peart‘s passing, Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson have launched their Fifty Something world tour on June 7 at the Kia Forum in Los Angeles, joined by German drummer Anika Nilles and keyboardist Loren Gold.

The band also shared a message with fans alongside a new photo captured by renowned rock photographer Ross Halfin, marking another chapter for the surviving members as they continue moving forward while honoring the legacy of their late friend.

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In September 2025, shortly after performing at The Town festival in São Paulo, Brazil, Bruce Dickinson teamed up with directors Leo Liberti and Antoine De Montremy to create a cinematic companion piece for a newly reworked version of “Tears Of The Dragon”. The updated track appears on More Balls To Picasso, the revamped edition of Bruce Dickinson‘s 1994 solo album Balls To Picasso.

Filmed inside a disused brewery in São Paulo, the production brought together Bruce Dickinson, his House Band Of Hell, and the Almai Orchestra under the direction of Antonio Teoli. The orchestra had already contributed to the studio recording of the new version of “Tears Of The Dragon”, helping reshape the song with a broader orchestral arrangement.

The finished film also features Brazilian ballet dancer Renata Bardazi, whose performance adds another visual layer to the song’s emotional themes. The project has already made an impact on the film festival circuit, collecting several awards and nominations before its public release. Behind-the-scenes footage from the production has also been made available.

Discussing the project, Bruce Dickinson said: “When we reimagined the whole More Balls To Picasso album, we always wanted to do an orchestral version of “Tears Of The Dragon”. Antonio Teoli scored it and we recorded it, then we called up the filmmaker Leo Liberti who previously shot a load of live stuff for me in Brazil that was fabulous. We found this amazing location, an enormous old-school brewery that was almost like a renaissance building, and we made up the orchestra so they looked slightly zombified. All the HOUSE BAND OF HELL band members are in the video and I gave them all instruments to play. The whole thing was brilliant madness. Leo Liberti also came up with the idea of having a ballet dancer interpreting the song, and she was amazing, poetic, and that adds an incredible extra-emotional dimension to the video.”

The video has already collected a number of honors, including several Best Music Video awards across international film festivals.

“Tears Of The Dragon” Video Awards (2026)

• Los Angeles Film Festival IAF — Best Music Video
• Los Angeles Film Awards — Best Music Video
• New York International Film Awards — Best Music Video
• Eastern Europe Film Festival — Best Music Video
• Sweden Luleå International Film Festival — Best Music Video
• World Premiere Films Awards — Best Music Video / Best Editing
• Asian Independent Film Festival — Best Music Video
• Berlin Music Video Awards — Bronze

While Balls To Picasso received a positive response when it was originally released, the album never fully reflected Bruce Dickinson‘s complete vision for the material. Following the success of The Mandrake Project in 2024, he revisited the record, resulting in More Balls To Picasso, a release featuring partial re-recordings, fresh mixes and new mastering work. The updated version presents the songs with a more expansive approach while preserving the spirit of the original album.

More Balls To Picasso also adds two previously unreleased live-in-the-studio recordings, “Gods Of War” and “Shoot All The Clowns”. The album is available as a splatter vinyl double LP and a tri-panel digisleeve CD edition.

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Following the arrival of their latest album An Ending In Itself, Sleeping With Sirens have revealed plans for a headlining North American tour this fall. The run will feature support from Rain City Drive and Shyeye and begins after the band’s scheduled appearance at the Aftershock festival in Sacramento, California on October 3.

The tour will take Sleeping With Sirens across the United States and Canada before wrapping up with an appearance at Vans Warped Tour Orlando on November 14.

Members of the Sirens Club can access pre-sale tickets beginning today at noon local time, while general ticket sales start on Thursday, June 18 at 10 a.m. local time. VIP meet-and-greet packages will also be available.

Produced by Will Yip, whose previous work includes Turnstile, Circa Survive, and Movements, An Ending In Itself finds Sleeping With Sirens reconnecting with elements of their earlier sound while incorporating the experience gained throughout recent releases. Since arriving last week, the album has drawn positive attention from several music outlets. Kerrang! described the effort as “expectation-defeating” and stated the band has found the best versions of themselves, while CaliberTV called it Sleeping With Sirens’ “best album since 2011.”

Frontman Kellin Quinn views An Ending In Itself as both a closing chapter and a new beginning. According to Quinn, the album completes the emotional and thematic journey established by How It Feels To Be Lost and Complete Collapse while reconnecting with the energy and identity that originally pushed the band forward.

Among the album’s featured tracks are “An Ending In Itself”, “Forever/Always” and “Paralyzed”, which the group describes as the heaviest song in its catalog so far. Fans can also pick up exclusive colored vinyl editions featuring signed inserts, as well as a zine CD package containing behind-the-scenes photographs and handwritten lyrics.

The release marks the band’s first album with Rise Records since Feel, which reached No. 3 on the Billboard 200. Previous releases through the label include With Ears To See And Eyes To Hear and the gold-certified Let’s Cheers To This, the latter featuring the platinum-selling single “If You Can’t Hang”.

Over a career spanning more than fifteen years, Sleeping With Sirens have released seven studio albums, an EP and a live album while performing thousands of shows worldwide. Their influence helped shape the Warped Tour generation, and their music continues to find new listeners as younger fans discover the band’s catalog.

The current lineup consists of Kellin Quinn on vocals, Nick Martin on guitar, Justin Hills on bass, Matty Best on drums and guitarist Tony Pizzuti, the newest addition to the group. As they continue to evolve creatively, Sleeping With Sirens remain one of the most recognizable names in modern alternative rock.

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Black Sabbath bassist and lyricist Geezer Butler appeared alongside Foo Fighters’ Nate Mendel in episode two of Fender’s “Lowdown on the Low End” video series, a forum for bass players to trade stories about the Fender Precision Bass and their lives in bands.

Butler recalled (transcribed by Blabbermouth) the moment that inspired him to take up the bass: “The one player that totally showed me what you could do with a bass was Jack Bruce. When I went to see Cream, everybody was going, ‘You’ve gotta see this incredible guitarist. His name’s Eric Clapton.’ And back then, it was like they used to play little clubs around Birmingham. I stood right at the front of the stage. Jack came out with his Fender, and it was like, ‘What the hell?’ I couldn’t believe that people could do that with a bass. And that was it. I went, ‘That’s what I wanna do. I wanna play bass.’”

Asked by Mendel what drew him to the Fender Precision Bass specifically, Butler recounted the origin of Black Sabbath: “I was a rhythm guitarist at first. When I was 15, I had a group called The Rare Breed, and I used to think I was John Lennon and play rhythm guitar. Then the singer left, so we looked around and got this guy called Ozzy Osbourne in the band. And we did a few gigs with Ozzy, and he says, ‘This is terrible. I’m leaving the band.’ We wanted to form a different band, and we both lived around the corner from each other in Aston. And Ozzy says, ‘Well, I know this guitarist called Tony Iommi. I used to go to school with him. Let’s go and see what he’s doing.’ Well, actually, we were looking for a drummer. We didn’t really think about bassists back then. And we asked Tony if he knew any drummers, and he says, ‘Well, it just happens Bill Ward’s here in the house.’ So Bill Ward came out, and me and Ozzy told him what we were doing, and he says, ‘Well, I’ll join you if Tony comes along.’ So Tony says, ‘Yeah, I’ll give it a go.’ He says, ‘But I’m not playing with a rhythm guitarist.’ So I said, ‘Well, I’ll switch to bass then.’ And, of course, I didn’t have a bass. I only had a Fender Telecaster. I swapped me Fender Telecaster for a Precision bass. I thought, ‘Well, I’ve got a Fender, so the next thing I wanna get is another Fender.’ Nothing had the balance of a P-Bass. It had perfect balance. A lot of other basses, the neck was too heavy. So this was perfect ‘cause I got fat fingers as well, so the wider neck is great for me… Plus there’s only two knobs, which is great for me.”

A founding member of Black Sabbath and the lyricist behind such classics as “War Pigs,” “Iron Man” and “Paranoid,” Butler and the original Sabbath lineup — Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommi and Bill Ward — made their final appearance together at last year’s “Back to the Beginning” charity concert at Villa Park in Birmingham, England. In a tribute article for The Sunday Times following Osbourne’s death on July 22, 2025, Butler wrote: “Nobody knew he’d be gone from us little more than two weeks after the final show. But I am so grateful we got to play one last time together in front of his beloved fans. God bless, Oz, it has been one hell of a ride! Love you!”

The post BLACK SABBATH’s GEEZER BUTLER Says CREAM’s JACK BRUCE Was “The One Player That Totally Showed Me What You Could Do With a Bass” appeared first on Sonic Perspectives.

Yngwie Malmsteen has announced that his new studio album, Hell or High Water, is finished and slated for a November release. He discussed the record in a new interview with Jimmy Kay of The Metal Voice.

“It’s done,” Malmsteen said (transcribed by Blabbermouth). “It’s in the can. I’m really happy with it. I think it’s really, really good.” The album contains nine songs plus one bonus track and runs exactly 46 minutes — a length Malmsteen said he engineered deliberately: “I made it so that it fits on vinyl. I had a lot more ideas, a lot more songs, but I made it so it’s exactly that.” Four of the tracks feature vocals; the rest are instrumental. “The instrumental stuff,” he said, “is really, really nuts.”

On the album’s overall character, Malmsteen said: “This is gonna be very neoclassical. I go in when I’m inspired, I come up with maybe a hundred ideas and I use nine or ten — and this particular album is gonna be very neoclassical. I feel very, very strongly about that.” He invoked Niccolò Paganini’s philosophy on creative expression as a parallel: “If you feel strongly, if you feel something, then it will come across. It’s not a matter of how many notes you play, but of what you feel.”

Asked how to approach the record as a listener, Malmsteen was emphatic: “You can’t just take one song and say, ‘Oh yeah, this is a good track.’ You have to hear it as an album — it’s made as an album, like a movie. I think about tempos and key signatures… they all complement each other, and I’m really happy with it.” He added that while the record is not a concept album in the traditional sense, “you could probably make a concept out of it if you analyze it.”

Malmsteen first teased the project at the 2026 Monsters of Rock festival in São Paulo in April, telling interviewers he had “just finished recording a new album” after spending “almost five months straight” in the studio. He confirmed at the time that the record would be four vocal tracks plus instrumentals and was designed to run exactly 46 minutes for a vinyl format.

Touring plans for the remainder of 2026 include European dates in June and July, Asia in September, and North America in October and November. Malmsteen’s current live band features Nick Marino (keyboards), Emilio Martinez (bass) and Kevin Klingenschmid (drums). Hell or High Water will follow his 2021 studio album Parabellum and his 2025 live release Tokyo Live (Music Theories Recordings), recorded at Zepp DiverCity, Tokyo in May 2024 during his 40th anniversary world tour.

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