Category: news

Ride the lancer.

The post Metallica Partner With ‘Gears Of War: E-Day’ Video Game For Skins & Music appeared first on Theprp.com.

Music and culture journalist Rachel Brodsky will publish her first book, Lessons & Lace, on September 15 through Harmony/Penguin Random House. Rather than following a traditional timeline, the biography examines Stevie Nicks‘ life through a series of themes, with each chapter focusing on a lesson she learned and later shared through her career.

To support the release, Brodsky has scheduled a pair of launch events. On September 15, the book’s release day, she will appear at Book Soup in Los Angeles, where Los Angeles Times pop critic Mikael Wood will moderate the discussion. Two days later, on September 17, Brodsky heads to P&T Knitwear in New York City for another event, this time moderated by Rolling Stone senior journalist Angie Martoccio. Additional tour dates are expected to be announced.

According to the publisher, Lessons & Lace explores the experiences that shaped Stevie Nicks into one of rock’s most recognizable figures. The book covers the obstacles she faced throughout her career, including sexism within the music industry, the work that helped elevate a once-struggling rock band, her rise as a successful solo artist, and her battle with addiction. Throughout those challenges, she maintained the creativity, individuality and mysticism that became central to her identity.

Drawing from years of archival interviews and conversations with people connected to Stevie Nicks, the book presents a portrait of the artist as a songwriter, performer, fashion icon and romantic who consistently valued the freedom to live on her own terms. The goal is to show how her experiences and outlook continue to resonate with readers and music fans.

Discussing the project, Brodsky said: “Very few artists have maintained their cultural relevance and appealed to multiple generations like Stevie Nicks.

Lessons & Lace recounts Stevie’s path to becoming the wisdom-dispersing fairy godmother we know her as today. I think sometimes we forget how much skepticism she faced from the music industry and her peers (even her friend and collaborator Tom Petty!), the uphill climb she faced to be taken seriously as a true artist and writer, what it took to overcome her struggles with addiction, and how she inspired new generations of musicians to write with their own combinations of vulnerability and strength.

That is why I love Stevie. She is as layered in meaning as her most memorable songs. Like the book’s namesake, Leather and Lace, Stevie is soft and hard, romantic and practical, sensual and sensible. I genuinely hope readers walk away feeling inspired to live their lives with Stevie-style authenticity, bravery, and truth.”

Illustrated with full-color line drawings, Lessons & Lace continues that approach by celebrating Stevie Nicks as a prolific songwriter and cultural figure whose influence extends well beyond music. The book highlights the balance between her public image and personal journey while encouraging readers to embrace the same honesty and individuality that have defined her career.

The biography closes on a message that reflects the outlook at the heart of the book:

“Just dance. This will pass. Love will find a way. It always does.”

The post Journalist RACHEL BRODSKY Announces Book Release Event For STEVIE NICKS Biography “Lessons & Lace” appeared first on Sonic Perspectives.

Posted on July 30th 2026, 5:46pm

How in the world can you go wrong with an album titled Grits and Glory?

Albert Castiglia’s brand-new release is his fifteenth solo project, in addition to three Blood Brothers recordings with Mike Zito. Born in New York City to a Cuban mother and an Italian father, he moved to Miami at age five and began learning to play guitar at about age 12. He later attended college, graduating with a liberal arts degree before securing a job with the State of Florida as a social services investigator.

In 1990, Castiglia co-founded the blues band Miami Blues Authority, where he spent about seven years as lead guitarist and vocalist. In 1997, he was named Best Blues Guitarist by Miami New Times. He later moved to Chicago to join Junior Wells’ touring band, where he remained until Wells’ death in 1998. Castiglia recorded his first solo album, Burn, in 2002, followed by a string of successful releases. He also joined forces with Mike Zito to form Blood Brothers, a band that combined members of both of their groups. A multi-award-nominated artist and recipient of honors including Blues Rock Album of the Year and Blues Rock Artist of the Year, Castiglia continues to deliver exceptional guitar playing, singing and songwriting.

Grits and Glory is another admirable piece of work from Albert Castiglia and his band, which, by the way, is his touring band: Cliff Moore (bass) and Ray Hangen (drums). To make this album even more special, it was recorded at the legendary Abbey Road Studios in England.

“I’m Afraid to Fall Asleep” is a song whose title speaks to something I bet we’ve all dealt with at one time or another. Castiglia sings, “Sometimes I fail to say my prayers and God thinks I don’t care.” This tune comes out of the gate with some electrifying guitar work by Castiglia. It’s a great piece that makes us think about just how human and fragile we really are. I love the line, “Don’t let the angels take me home.” This one is full of vivid imagery and smoking guitar work.

On the third track, “Uncertainty,” hypnotic slide guitar opens the door for a rocking entry into this “love hurts” piece. Castiglia sings, “You say you love me and then you go and run around with other guys.” Can I get a witness on the subject matter here? That’s what I thought. He continues with, “Even though I’m broken, I keep coming back for more.” If this hasn’t been you or me, then we surely know somebody who comes right to mind.

A screaming guitar lead break showcases his musicianship and offers further proof of why Castiglia is considered one of the best guitarists in the blues world today.

On track four, “Michigan Avenue,” Castiglia opens with classic-sounding rock guitar and sings about the area around Daley Plaza in downtown Chicago. There’s lots more awesome guitar work in this one. He sings, “They were body snatching on Michigan Avenue” and “They ran them out of Michigan Avenue.” This tune is one of the heaviest rockers on the album, and I just love the term “body snatching.” What do you imagine when you hear that? I’ll leave that to your own imagination and interpretation.

This album also contains a couple of really well-done instrumentals that I’d like to mention before going further. Both are excellent showcases for just how great this band really is.

The ninth track on Grits and Glory is a funky number called “When the Coin Came Calling.” I love the picking Albert Castiglia delivers here, not to mention the great keyboard work. Castiglia sings, “But the road don’t wait, and I can’t stall it. I had to go when the coin came callin’.”

This song has to be about chasing a dream while missing funerals and birthdays. It ends with the line, “Ain’t no glory in that curtain falling. But I showed up when the coin came calling.” Then Castiglia cleverly adds, “I’m out of here. Got to make that paper. So long.”

This whole album is full of great musicianship, clever and relevant songwriting that invites interpretation by the listener, and Albert Castiglia’s dedication to being a bona fide, genuine, amplified, not confined, authentic blues music master.

You can find many samples of Albert Castiglia’s music on YouTube, including songs from this album. The band will be on the road in Europe as well as throughout the U.S. in July and August, and Albert Castiglia will also be performing with Mike Zito as part of Blood Brothers on select dates.

As I always suggest, try to make it out to a live show if you can. If not, buy their music. You won’t be disappointed, and our support is what allows these great blues bands to keep doing what they do.

The Review: 9/10

Can’t Miss Tracks

– I’m Afraid To Fall Asleep
– Uncertainty
– Michigan Avenue
– When The Coin Came Calling

The Big Hit

– Michigan Avenue

The post Albert Castiglia: Grits and Glory Review appeared first on Blues Rock Review.

16 Underground’s band name is a reference to “6 Underground,” right? It has to be. The LA group’s music directly hearkens back to the ’90s trip-hop moment that yielded the Sneaker Pimps’ hit. They’re good at reviving that sound too, as we heard on the early singles from their forthcoming Without A Trace EP. 16 Underground released a third advance track this week, meaning 60% of the music from this record is out there now, and you, the listener, should be happy about that.

The post 16 Underground – “Angel (On The Run)” appeared first on Stereogum.

Tommy Lee has finally talked at length about the legal war between Mötley Crüe and Mick Mars — and the picture he paints is more sad than vicious. Speaking to Billy Corgan on The Magnificent Others podcast, the drummer described the fight as awkward and hurtful, compared it to a divorce, and insisted he still has nothing but love for the guitarist he spent 41 years next to. He also revealed something nobody outside the band knew: on the 2022 Stadium Tour, he says he had to stop songs partway through and restart them, because Mars had begun playing a completely different one.

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Scott Penfold breaks down the biggest stories in rock and metal every weekday morning on the Metal Breakdown Daily — including the fallout from the Crüe’s split with Mick Mars. Download the free Loaded Radio App on Apple iOS and Google Play and take the show with you.

What Tommy Actually Said

Let’s start with the emotional part, because it’s not what you’d expect from a guy whose band just won.

Lee told Corgan that “that whole thing was awkward and really hurtful” — and specifically pointed at the untrue things being said publicly as the part that got to him. His attitude, in his own framing: you go do your thing, we’ll go do ours, it’s all cool. He’s not built for public warfare. He compared it to a divorce, which sucks in any format, and left it there.

Then he did something that’s easy to miss in a story like this. He praised Mars. Straight up. Said there’s only one Mick, called him an insane player, and said it genuinely saddens him on a personal level to have watched what the disease did to him.

Ankylosing spondylitis is a chronic inflammatory arthritis that attacks the spine and pelvis, and in Mars’s case it fused him into a permanent hunch. Lee’s observation about that is the kind of thing only a bandmate would say — that at least Mick got locked forward instead of backward, so he could still see the neck of the guitar. Gallows humour, sure. But there’s real affection under it.

He wrapped that section by saying he’s always tried to put himself in Mick’s shoes, that he has nothing but love for him, and that when people are threatened or hurt, they fight back. That’s about as generous as it gets from the winning side of a lawsuit.

The Part Nobody Knew

Now the detail that’s going to travel.

Lee told Corgan that during the 2022 Stadium Tour, he would count off “Live Wire” and Mars would start playing “Wild Side.” Not a flubbed part. A different song entirely. Lee says Mars had started losing track of where he was, and that he had to stop songs mid-performance — actually halt the band in front of a stadium — and restart them, because the guitarist was playing something else and didn’t know it.

Sit with that for a second. Those were the biggest shows of the band’s career. Stadiums. Def Leppard co-headlining. And the drummer is stopping songs to get everybody back on the same page.

This isn’t a new accusation in the abstract — the band’s manager described similar chaos to Variety back in 2023, saying sound engineers were covering for wrong-song moments in the mix. But hearing it from Tommy, in this much detail, with the actual song titles attached, makes it concrete in a way the earlier version never was.

And to be fair to Mars: he’s a man with a degenerative spinal disease who was in serious pain and, by every account including Lee’s, pushed through it for years longer than most people would have. That’s not a punchline. That’s a guy trying to hold onto the thing he built.

We Also Recommend – Tommy Lee’s Wildest Stories You Probably Don’t Know

Why John 5 Changed Everything

Lee’s read on the current lineup is blunt: John 5 coming in was the shot of adrenaline the band needed, because by that point it had genuinely become a struggle.

He also gave the reason he rates him, and it’s got nothing to do with chops. Lee’s position is that talent alone doesn’t earn his respect — plenty of brilliant players are miserable to be around. Talent plus being a genuinely good guy is what makes someone his favourite person. He points out that John 5 has been a Crüe fan forever, knows the catalogue inside out, and loves Mick.

That last part matters. The new guy isn’t out here trashing the man he replaced, and neither, in this interview, is the drummer.

The band is out on the Carnival of Sins run right now with Tesla and Extreme, celebrating 45 years.

Check Out – The Black Book of Metal: 13 Heavy Metal Scandals That Shook the Music World

How We Got Here

Quick refresher, because this thing has been running for nearly four years.

Mars announced in October 2022 that his health meant he could no longer tour, but maintained he was still in the band. John 5 took the road gig. Six months later Mars sued in Los Angeles County Superior Court, claiming the others had moved to strip him out of the corporation and business holdings.

In January, the Crüe won a decisive arbitration victory. The arbitrator rejected every claim Mars made, upheld his removal as an officer and director for cause, and ordered him to repay more than $750,000 in unrecouped tour advances. The killer detail: the rule that stops a non-touring member sharing touring income was written into the band’s governing agreement back in 2008 — reportedly at Mars’s own request.

The most damaging part of the whole saga was Mars’s public claim that Nikki Sixx’s bass and Tommy Lee’s drums were pre-recorded, which he repeated under oath. His own expert witness — an NYU professor specialising in music technology, hired by Mars’s side — reviewed the footage and confirmed the band was playing live. Mars formally recanted under sworn testimony. His attorney called the ruling awful and said the band had never been fair to him.

That accusation is the thing you can’t un-ring. Say what you like about the money and the paperwork, but telling the world a band doesn’t actually play is an attack on the only thing musicians really own. Nikki Sixx called it a betrayal, and honestly, it’s hard to argue.

Mars, meanwhile, still has that solo album he’s been building for the better part of a decade. And Tommy Lee — a man whose life story reads like fiction on a good day — has now said the quiet part out loud, and somehow managed to do it without landing a single cheap shot.

Forty-one years. It shouldn’t have ended in an arbitration room. But here we are.

TL;DR

• Tommy Lee discussed the Mick Mars legal battle on Billy Corgan’s The Magnificent Others podcast, calling it awkward and hurtful and comparing it to a divorce.
• Lee says he had to stop songs mid-performance on the 2022 Stadium Tour because Mars had started playing a different song entirely — counting off “Live Wire” and getting “Wild Side.”
• Despite the lawsuit, Lee praised Mars as an incredible player, said he has nothing but love for him, and spoke with sympathy about how ankylosing spondylitis affected him.
• Lee credited John 5 with revitalising the band, noting that John 5 is a longtime Crüe fan who knows the catalogue and admires Mars.
• Mötley Crüe won a decisive arbitration ruling in January 2026 that rejected all of Mars’s claims and ordered him to repay over $750,000 in unrecouped tour advances.
• Mars had publicly claimed Sixx’s bass and Lee’s drums were pre-recorded and repeated it under oath, but recanted after his own expert witness confirmed the band played live.

FAQ

Crüe fans, this one’s genuinely complicated — after everything that’s been said under oath and on record, does Tommy Lee’s take change how you see the split? Let us know in the comments, and follow Loaded Radio for daily rock and metal news.

The post Tommy Lee Breaks His Silence On Mötley Crüe’s Split With Mick Mars — And Says He Has Nothing But Love For The Man Who Sued Him appeared first on Loaded Radio.

Mongrel, Fatal Realm and more will also be playing select dates.

The post PeelingFlesh Announce Fall U.S. Tour With Gridion, Snuffed On Sight, Outta Pocket, Etc. appeared first on Theprp.com.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Red Vinter Receive Praise From Teeth Of The Divine For Crushing New Album Ghost In The Fog
Minnesota Doom/Death Metal Force Continues Building Momentum With Live Appearances And Festival Dates
St. Paul, MN – Minnesota doom/death metal wrecking crew Red Vinter continue their march through the underground with their latest full-length album Ghost In The Fog , earning praise from critics while preparing for more live appearances throughout the year.
The album recently received a powerful review from Frank Rini of Teeth of the Divine , who highlighted the band’s crushing blend of doom, death metal, and industrial darkness.
Describing the record’s oppressive atmosphere, Rini praised the band’s sound, noting:
“The doom death plod, incorporating elements of Winter and industrial death such as Skin Chamber and Industrial gods Godflesh, is ever present herein.”
He continued:
“Ghost in the Fog is the best release from Red Vinter. Catchy, memorable, heavy, and well played. The band is coming into its own and is playing some live shows to boot. Maybe they can try to book MDF for next year. Get this album now!”
Read the full review:
https://www.teethofthedivine.com/reviews/red-vinter-ghost-in-the-fog/
Recorded at the legendary 14:59 Studios in Minneapolis , Ghost In The Fog was co-produced by vocalist/bassist Mike Bullock and engineer Will Maravelas, continuing the creative partnership established on the band’s debut release Lumbering Menace .
Across eight crushing tracks, Red Vinter expand their signature sound with bleak atmosphere, massive riffs, and a slow-burning heaviness that blends the raw intensity of doom metal with the brutality of death metal and industrial influence.
The album features the previously released single “Cryptic Site,” offering listeners a glimpse into the dark and immersive world of Ghost In The Fog with crawling riffs, haunting tension, and a crushing underground edge.
Following the album’s release, Red Vinter are continuing to bring their sound to stages across the Midwest. The band will appear on August 22nd at Sparta Metalfest alongside fellow Midwest Doom Coalition bands Wilbur, Plant, and Thundergoat .
Ghost In The Fog is available now:
https://redvinter.bandcamp.com/album/ghost-in-the-fog
With Ghost In The Fog , Red Vinter continue carving out their own path through the underground, delivering uncompromising doom/death metal built on crushing weight, atmosphere, and pure volume.


For more information, music, and updates, visit:
https://redvinter.com

Rain City Drive & The Beautiful Monument will be joining them.

The post Chiodos Announce Australian “All’s Well That Ends Well” 20th Anniversary Tour appeared first on Theprp.com.

God Mother are sharing their new single, “Dopamine Wire” ahead of their forthcoming album Köttvärld, out September 25. Check it out here.

“(This is) a song about the violent apprehension of an attentive mind. What the primitive grey matter inside your head stands endlessly against—in an age where attention and the idea of self is currency,” the band say about the song.

Following up on the chaotic mental landscapes of their previous EP Sinneseld, Köttvärld forcefully breaks out into “meat space,” as the band put it. The album delivers a visceral exploration of identity, purpose, and the deconstruction of the self in an increasingly digital world Köttvärld stands as the antithesis of viewing humans as mere resources, instead reclaiming the self and committing to the raw power of a being fueled by emotion, sense, and nerve.

Preorder the album here. 

The post Video Premiere: God Mother – “Dopamine Wire” appeared first on Decibel Magazine.