Category: news

Winter isn’t done yet—late-season snow targets three states with up to two feet expected in the certain areas.

The post Heavy Snow Warning for 3 States as 2 Feet of Snow, 55 mph Winds Approach appeared first on Audio Ink Radio.

Perhaps you saw fakemink — one of our favorite new artists of last year — at Coachella earlier this month. If not, perhaps you saw photos of Hunter Biden — son of former US President Joe Biden — hanging out with the London rapper backstage during the festival’s second weekend. When those photos went viral, a lot of people thought they were AI-generated, considering the 56-year-old lobbyist/businessman is not the type of person you might expect to enjoy an off-kilter cloud rap set at Coachella. But fakemink associate Christian Thomas-Irving, aka CTi, confirmed to Stereogum that the encounter did in fact happen, and TMZ confirmed that it was real, too. Now, Biden himself has broken his legendary silence on the matter.

The post Hunter Biden Finally Breaks His Legendary Silence About Fakemink appeared first on Stereogum.

Stu Mackenzie, leader of the Australian sextet behind a total of 27 studio records to date, finds the fun in a massive back-catalogue, and lives by the advice his mother-in-law gave him

The Rockstar Reviewer website has moved to another location due to a more secure and professional look for the site. Thank you for the loyalty and continued interest in the material posted. I will continue to keep this site open for people to access old posts.

This is the fifth album from US progressive black metal act Ashen Horde. 2023’s Antimony was Ashen Horde’s best album up to this point. This means that The Harvest is an eagerly anticipated new record from this notable band. Will it have what it takes to knock Antimony from the top spot? The answer to … Continue reading “Ashen Horde – The Harvest (Review)”

(written by Islander) Yesterday I riffed on how my plans for Saturday-morning NCS roundups can fall apart as a result of Friday-night adventures, even when those adventures don’t include self-immolation. Much the same could be said of Saturday nights and their occasional wreckage of Sunday mornings. This has happened again. I’ll spare you the details. […]

The post SHADES OF BLACK: SHAMORGA, MERESIN appeared first on NO CLEAN SINGING.

I think we all kinda saw this one coming, so it’s nice to have it basically confirmed. Godsmack frontman Sully Erna appeared on one of everyone’s favorite radio shows, SiriusXM’s Trunk Nation with Eddie Trunk, on April 23, where he was asked about whether the band’s latest album Lighting Up the Sky will be their last. Since, let’s not forget, that both And, based on the title of this article, I imagine you’ve surmised what his answer was.

Erna said, as transcribed by Blabbermouth.net:

“I think some press misunderstood that. What I had said was, if I remember correctly — I don’t know; maybe I was a little foggy at the time — but I just said that I was pretty sure that this would be the last full body of work from Godsmack, from the original members, that we wouldn’t be able to do this anymore because these guys [guitarist Tony Rombola and drummer Shannon Larkin] were gonna kind of take their final curtain call and bow out. And I knew that this was most likely gonna be the last full body of work from the original members. But now here we are. Me and [bassist] Robbie [Merrill] had a long talk. We were, like, ‘Well.’ We had a decision to make, and we said, ‘Well, we’ve still got some gas in the tank here. I don’t really wanna hang it up yet.’ And he’s, like, ‘Let’s go around.’ And so we brought in these new guys, and it’s sounding great. So we’re, like, yeah, there’s probably gonna be some new music coming. I mean, it may not hit the streets till early ’27, but we’re gonna do something, for sure. But it just won’t be with all the original members anymore.”

Now that he’s cleared that up, he was also asked about the band’s latest additions: guitarist Sam Koltun and drummer Wade Murff, who came in to replace OG guitarist Tony Rombola and drummer Shannon Larkin after they announced their retirement last year.

“Sam’s on board now full-time, and he’s gonna be the new player from this point forward. And the drummer that we chose, his name is Wade Murff. He’s worked with Daughtry and some other acts. A fairly under-the-radar kind of guy. A strong player. A great dude. Really good with attention to details, as Sam is.

“I have complete confidence in this, although we start rehearsals next week. I’m just really confident that this is gonna be just as good, if not better than ever, because these guys came in with the right attitude. They honored the catalog, they honored the playing. They didn’t try to reinvent it. And as you know, a guitar can sound like a guitar, a drum can sound like a drum. Until you replace the vocalist, that’s when the sound really changes. So I really feel that the fans will be able to come and enjoy the music as they have always known it, because it won’t sound foreign to them, like there’s a new singer singing Godsmack stuff. And plus their showmanship even elevates it a little bit more. I mean, Shannon’s hard to replace. He’s the GOAT [Greatest Of All Time]. If you see that dude play, he’s a tough cookie to replicate or replace live visually. But this guy, Wade, he’s strong. He’s got some great chops, and he’s really playing the stuff solid. I’m very happy to take them on tour and introduce them. And this is gonna start the next chapter in our life here, Godsmack 2.0.”

Honestly, Murff is a clutch score for the band. He’s apparently been playing drums since he was a wee lil 4-year-old lad, crediting John Bonham (Led Zeppelin) and Alex Van Halen as initial drumming inspiration, though Pantera’s Vinnie Paul and Slayer’s Dave Lombardo really fueled that fired for him. He’s got quite a bit on his resume too, having worked with Sebastian Bach, Doyle (Misfits), Orgy, and more.

Murff had this to say when he asked about his playing style:

“Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate technique and precision, but I love seeing drummers that hit hard and play with a lot of heart and physicality. Live, I always want to play on the edge between control and chaos; something could break at any moment, someone might get hurt… especially me. [Laughs] Seriously though, I’m committed to delivering that type of show every night, no excuses.”

It’s kind of weird to think of Godsmack transitioning into a band where the new-to-original ratio of the members favors the former, but I guess it happens to every band at some point.

The post Sully Erna Confirms New Godsmack Music… Without Any Original Members appeared first on MetalSucks.

"While he strongly refutes these allegations, the director in question has agreed, . . . to step down . . . while this matter is ongoing," the festival announced on social media last Friday (April 24). Continue reading…

So I got a direct message from Eric Anderson, who had gotten a direct message from Dan Henry about this new-old album from a band called The Fix. How cool is it that all these years later, those Gun Fury guys are still influencing the music I listen to? The Fix was a band from Oxfordshire fronted by Tim Field, formed in 1994. Pop Affliction Records has finally given the band’s album Best Days of Your Life a proper release, and the thing is absolutely fantastic. Field describes the band’s sound as “BritPop,” but this is not quite the same sort of Brit-pop that was becoming all the rage right around the time this album was recorded. The Fix’s sound was more traditionally British guitar pop in a very elegant sort of way. You can hear the influence of The Kinks and The Jam along with some of the jangly indie pop that would have been quite contemporary at the time. Most importantly, the songwriting is superb. These are thoughtful, beautifully-crafted songs with hooks that cannot be denied. This an album full of interesting stories and deep reflections on life. The moment you hear “Lottery,” you’ll be stunned that a song this brilliant has been sitting in the vault for three decades. If you enjoy power pop and late ’80s/early ’90s indie rock that wears its Britishness on its sleeve, you’re going to go nuts for Best Days of Your Life. The fact that this album includes an adaptation of a John Betjeman poem and a cover of a song by The Action tells you quite a lot about The Fix. Kudos to Pop Affliction for unearthing this gem! Right now, the album is available on cassette tape, but something tells me a vinyl release will happen sooner or later.

In recent months, I’ve written about a couple of singles from Seattle, Washington’s Radio Weekend. This foursome is my kind of band. They’re right there in that punk-adjacent power pop lane that has always been a sweet spot for me, but they don’t really sound like any other band out there. They’ve carved themselves a nice little niche of their own. They cite some classic influences (The Cars, Cheap Trick, Ramones) but never really sound like they’re trying to imitate those bands. There are a couple homages here and there (see if you can spot them!), but Radio Weekend’s sound is more of a general vibe. As I listen to new EP Circles, my mind keeps jumping to ’90s punk-pop and alt-rock — but by way of the late ’70s and early ’80s. Essentially, this is the band for all of us who were drawn to pop-punk and power pop because we were new wave kids.