Phillip Shouse, the renowned session musician, released his debut EP ‘Vol 1‘ last week through Wild Kingdom Records. After more than two decades of supporting his contemporaries, Shouse emerges as the lead vocalist and songwriter of his unique hard rock style. The current guitarist of Accept has appeared on four albums and has toured internationally with the legendary Teutonic metal band. Shouse’s CV highlights his collaborations with notable artists, including Kiss alumni Gene Simmons and the late Ace Frehley, as well as country musician Rodney Atkins and former Mötley Crüe frontman John Corabi. Additionally, Shouse hosts his own jam session nights in Nashville and is a co-founder and co-owner of Rock N Röll, a Swedish non-alcoholic beer company.
I initially approached this EP expecting it to be a heavy metal release filled with guitar-heavy tracks. However, I found the opposite to be true. Each song is melodic and easy to listen to, with clear influences from The Beatles and Led Zeppelin.
Photo Credit courtesy of Lizzy Danforth
The EP opens with the country-infused rocker ”Run Away from You,” an upbeat track with catchy melodies that are easy to dance to and hum along with. “Naked Empress” is an equally catchy slab of blues and rock’n’roll. “It Gets Better” is a notable reference to my prior comments on The Beatles. This acoustic country track leaves you feeling uplifted. “Won’t Let You Go (Again)” is a trippy, seventies-infused acoustic track with psychedelic vibes. Shouse showcases melodic vocals and punchy guitar work. “Time Bomb” is a contagious Rockabilly track with a subliminal message of hope and forgiveness.
I think this is an exciting introduction to a seasoned and talented guitarist. Shouse openly embraces his influences, resulting in an EP that has a distinctly English sound. This is something I would expect from an indie musician rather than a metal guitarist. Overall, it is an uplifting selection of wonderful songs that rock fans really need to listen to and enjoy.
BUTCHER BABIES Release New Single “Lost In Your Touch” via Judge & Jury Records
A Love Letter to the Past:
Heidi Shepherd Reflects on the Past 25 Years in Her Most Personal Release Yet, Exploring the Life Lessons That Forged Her Identity
Butcher Babies return with their powerful new single “Lost In Your Touch,” produced by Howard Benson, this marks the second release from their forthcoming album via Judge & Jury Records. Blending emotional vulnerability with crushing intensity, the track serves as a key chapter in an album that functions as a deeply personal love letter to vocalist Heidi Shepherd’s past reflecting on the experiences, relationships, heartbreaks, and hard-earned lessons that have shaped her over the last 25 years. It’s a record rooted in self-reflection and growth, honoring where she’s been while embracing the strength and clarity of who she has become today.
Heidi Shepherd shares:
“10 years ago, I watched the love of my life fall in love with someone else. I watched him fill my shoes with another girl’s touch. She slowly took my place in the late-night phone calls and early morning coffee.
He replaced “us” with her name on his lips. I bent between this new reality and the past that my body and heart so desperately wanted back. As I watched this unfold, I couldn’t help but wonder if they shared the same, deep emotional bond we once shared, and if ‘she gets lost in his touch like I do’.
This song brings me back to those heartbreaking moments alone; reflecting, growing, and finding myself again. I don’t take a love like that for granted now. It’s special, and deserves to be put on a pedestal.
Recording this song with Howard was really special. From the get go, he understood the emotion and story behind the lyrics. We both knew this song was going to be special, and treated it with the emotional sensitivity needed to not just hear the song, but to feel it.”
Howard Benson adds, “I gravitated to this song immediately because of the vulnerability of the lyrics. To me, as a producer, if I can get lyrics like this that I know the vocalist will deliver.. like Heidi delivers the emotions in this song … that’s so critical to the track connecting.”
Butcher Babies on Tour:
Mar 3 – Dunbar, WV @ Live at the Shop BB Headliner w/ Eva Under Fire
Mar 4 – Saginaw, MI @ The Vault with Jeris Johnson, Eva Under Fire,
LYLVC
Mar 5 – Columbus, OH @ A&R Music Bar with Jeris Johnson, Eva Under Fire and LYLVC
Mar 6 – West Chicago, IL @ WC Social Club with Jeris Johnson, Eva Under Fire and LYLVC
Mar 7 – Minneapolis, MN @ Fine Line Music Club with Jeris Johnson, Eva Under Fire and LYLVC
Mar 8 – Iowa City, IA @ Wildwood Smokehouse & Saloon with Eva Under Fire
Mar 9 – Madison, WI @ Majestic Theatre with Jeris Johnson, Eva Under Fire and LYLVC
Mar 10 – Fort Wayne, IN @ Piere’s Ent Center with Jeris Johnson, Eva Under Fire and LYLVC
Mar 12 – Houston, TX @ Warehouse Live with Jeris Johnson, Eva Under Fire and LYLVC
Mar 14 – Oklahoma City, OK @ 89th Street OKC with Jeris Johnson, Eva Under Fire and LYLVC
The music festival known as Outside Lands will once again bring a diverse array of sounds to San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park this summer. Topping the bill is Charli XCX, in what’s set to be her first musical performance in a year. Others in headliner font include the Strokes, the xx, Turnstile, Baby Keem, Djo, Dijon, Rüfüs Du Sol, Griztronics, Labrinth, and Empire In The Sun.
GRAVEBORN Unleashes Title Track Playthrough From Forthcoming Album Metempsychosis
Boston-based progressive death metal outfit GRAVEBORN is giving fans a first taste of their highly anticipated fifth full-length, Metempsychosis , with a playthrough video of the title track. The album is set to drop April 3, and this latest preview showcases guitarist Chris Ramusiewicz in full shred mode. Watch the video:
Vocalist John Leblanc describes the song as the “core statement of the album.”
“It’s the track where everything shifts from what is happening to me to what is happening through me,” Leblanc explains. “ Metempsychosis is not a cute spiritual idea here. It’s a brutal, continuous process. The soul persists across lifetimes, but not in a sentimental way. It persists through reconstruction, through collapse, through the repeated loss of form. It’s endurance through transformation.”
Leblanc continues, emphasizing the philosophical underpinning of the album:
“Ideas move the way souls move. They don’t just appear. They transfer. They are inherited. They go dormant. They reawaken. They show up inside someone like a realization, but they may have been traveling through bloodlines, culture, trauma, resilience, and repetition for generations. This is not passive. It’s evolutionary. Each cycle reshapes what it carries forward. The self is not a fixed object. It’s a changing vessel. The essential nature persists, but the expression changes, sometimes violently.”
The track’s chorus mirrors this complexity, fragmenting as language itself struggles to capture the concept of continuity and transformation:
“Ego fades. Boundaries dissolve. Self becomes pattern. Awareness becomes primary. I’m not the origin of who I am. I’m part of a continuum. My life is not a standalone story. It’s one iteration in a larger transmission.”
Metempsychosis spans 11 tracks and sees GRAVEBORN confronting both personal and societal collapse, exploring the mechanisms of continuity amidst destruction.
Since 2021’s Transmigrator , GRAVEBORN has spent five years crafting this magnum opus, challenging listeners to stare into both the internal and external abyss. Metempsychosis does not offer easy answers; instead, it confronts destruction as an essential part of continuity, asking a single relentless question: what remains when everything else is gone?
Pre-orders for the album are available now at gravebornma.bandcamp.com, and the title track, along with previous singles, are streaming on Spotify and Apple Music.
Following months of speculation and anticipation — as well as a pair of L.A. shows playing new album The Mountain in its entirety and the US opening of their House of Kong exhibition — Gorillaz have confirmed details of their first extensive North American tour since 2022. Produced by Live Nation, the tour will see the world’s most successful virtual act once again brought to life on these shores by Gorillaz co-creators Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett, with Albarn joined onstage by the Gorillaz live band and some very special guest performers. The newly announced series of 22 sure-to-be-unforgettable arena dates across the U.S. and Canada (plus a headline appearance at the Shaky Knees festival) begins September 17 in Orlando, FL and wraps up with a Halloween night finale in Seattle, WA. Little Simz will join Gorillaz on the majority of the dates, with Deltron 3030 appearing on all shows.
The Gorillaz live experience hailed by ROLLING STONE as “an overwhelming pop spectacle, with Damon Albarn’s steady presence to keep the audience focused” draws on a quarter century of genre-bending, paradigm-shifting, consistently innovative musical brilliance. Since their creation at the hands of Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett, singer 2D, bassist Murdoc Niccals, guitarist Noodle and drummer Russel Hobbs have amassed an unparalleled arsenal of classic tunes including “Feel Good Inc.,” “Clint Eastwood,” “On Melancholy Hill,” “DARE,” “Dirty Harry,” “Stylo,” “Kids with Guns,” “Tomorrow Comes Today,” “Rhinestone Eyes” and literally dozens more. The BRIT and GRAMMY Award winning band’s latest album The Mountain was released February 27 on their own new independent KONG label, preceded by joyously received singles “The Happy Dictator (featuring Sparks),” “The Manifesto (featuring Trueno and Proof),” “The God of Lying (featuring IDLES),” “Damascus (featuring Omar Souleyman and Yasiin Bey)” and “Orange County (featuring Bizarrap, Kara Jackson & Anoushka Shankar)”/ “The Hardest Thing (featuring Tony Allen).” The Mountain is the latest instalment in the towering Gorillaz discography that includes Gorillaz (2001), Demon Days (2005), Plastic Beach (2010), The Fall (2011), Humanz (2017), The Now Now (2018), Song Machine – Season One: Strange Timez(2020), and Cracker Island (2023).
A truly global phenomenon, Gorillaz have achieved success in entirely groundbreaking and unique ways, touring the world from San Diego to Syria, Montevideo to Manchester and winning numerous awards including the coveted Jim Henson Creativity Honor. The band is recognized by The Guinness Book Of World Records as the planet’s Most Successful Virtual Act.
Tickets will first be available via a KONG Card presale beginning Wednesday, March 4 at 10am local time, followed by a Citi presale at 12pm local time (details below). To participate in the Gorillaz Artist Presale on Friday, March 6 at 10am local, you must sign up at https://livemu.sc/gorillazby Thursday, March 5 at 10am ET. No codes are needed – access is tied to your Ticketmaster account, and anyone who signs up can join the sale. The general on-sale will take place on Monday, March 9 at 10am local time at gorillaz.com/tour.
The tour will also offer a variety of different VIP packages and experiences for fans to take their concert experience to the next level. Packages vary but include premium tickets, access to The Mountain Experience VIP Space, Gorillaz tour tote bag filled with exclusive merchandise & more. VIP package contents vary based on the offer selected. For more information, visit vipnation.com.
Citi is the official card of The Mountain Tour. Citi cardmembers will have access to presale tickets beginning Wednesday, March 4 at 12pm local time until Thursday, March 5 at 10am ET / 7am PT through the Citi Entertainment program. For complete presale details visit www.citientertainment.com.
