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In 35 years with AFI, Davey Havok has seen a whole lot more than just a thousand dazzling outfits in the mirror. From witnessing the Cali punk feeding frenzy of the 90s to becoming one of the 21st century’s great goth icons and brushing right up against the ceiling of the mainstream, he’s endured some of the most drastic turnovers in the industry that alternative music has ever seen.

Ahead of their first UK shows in nine years supporting last year’s none-more-black Silver Bleeds The Black Sun…, we catch up with dark punk’s prince to reflect on the journey so far.

ANSWER THE CALL OF THE MACABRE

“I was born in 1975, so when I was a kid, punks and death rockers were at the malls, Kiss Meets The Phantom Of The Park was on TV, and I was enamoured of the look and wanted to know more about it. I was fascinated by the ‘other’ and motifs of the underdog and what was considered to be horrific or grotesque. Why that is fundamentally, I can’t say, but I was raised Catholic and that oppression really informed my desire to reclaim my identity as a kid.”

BE AWARE OF PEOPLE’S INTENTIONS

“After Green Day broke, it really changed everything in a way punk hadn’t seen since the Sex Pistols, and it caused similar problems. After we signed to [The Offspring frontman] Dexter Holland’s Nitro Records for Very Proud Of Ya, someone made the mistake of sending the promo posters to [legendary California punk venue] Gilman Street. When we came there someone had taken all of those posters and made a big dollar sign on the ceiling!

Ethically we didn’t have a problem with people signing to bigger labels, and many bands from our scene learned that the indies were often more corrupt than the majors.”

VISUAL SELF-EXPRESSION IS A POWERFUL TOOL

“In being analytical about my looks – which I eventually started to do because people talked to me about it – I began to realise how much my look is contextual. The way I look now is very much a reaction to the current epoch that we live in, where I feel that the world is surreal and everything is an uncanny bastardisation of something familiar.

If you look at Decemberunderground, me being drawn to white and pink eyeshadow and pops of colour was a response to shiny, happy-sounding bands having adopted more sombre looks. I think self-expression through style can be very powerful.”

VEGAN STRAIGHT EDGE IS MORE THAN A LABEL

“I discovered straight edge when I was 15. I was involved in this music but I didn’t understand the self-destructive side of it, and I couldn’t believe it when I heard Minor Threat. It was what I was thinking about.

My father and I went to see Def Leppard last year. Some of the best riffs ever written are on Pyromania.

Davey Havok

Through the straight edge scene I was educated on animal rights, but I saw a lot of people using veganism as an identity rather than because it was the right thing to do. I was hesitant to go vegan because it was so trendy, but there was no way to consume animals and not be participating in the torture and murder of them, so I have been for 28 years now. It’s something I wish I had participated in since I was conscious.”

WE LOVE THE EMBRACE OF METAL

“If anyone who listens to metal appreciates what we do, I’m very touched, because I feel that metal in its purest state is one of the few genuine subcultures that still exists. We do not make anything that sounds too metal, so to have appeal to that community really means a lot to me.

Neurosis are one of the greatest bands ever, I used to go see them playing at Gilman Street, and if we’re counting hair metal I am in on that! My father and I went to see Def Leppard last year, and those three part harmonies are fucking high. Some of the best riffs ever written are on Pyromania.”

LET THE MOMENT TAKE YOU

“Steel Panther used to be called Metal Shop and would have a party in Hollywood every Monday night. They were entirely a cover band but were in character and would do skits the entire time where the band-members would fight and break up. It created this really bizarre revivalist hair metal scene that was both tongue-in-cheek yet totally sincere.

If you were a musician you’d inevitably find yourself being brought up onstage, and I would frequently go and sing Live Wire by Mötley Crüe or Talk Dirty To Me by Poison with them.”

KNOW WHAT TO TURN DOWN

“The writing of Decemberunderground was a miserable period. We had signed to Dreamworks, but they sold it to Interscope. Bummer.

Our A&R guy was hellbent on trying to get [Interscope boss] Jimmy Iovine – who had expressly claimed in the press that rock is dead – to pay attention to AFI, and so it was suggested that we collab with Jimmy’s great love at the time, which was 50 Cent. I have nothing against 50 Cent, but what does that even mean?!

Even worse was this was the era when ringtones were the new technology craze. I love this man and I still see him once a month at the least, but this motherfucker says to me, ‘What if you were to be the first band to write a ringtone album?’”

GRIT YOUR TEETH THROUGH THE TRENDS

“[When the emo boom of the 2000s happened] we couldn’t relate to that at all, but unfortunately the press pointed out that we wore make-up like these guys who wore make-up so we must be like them.

That term was bizarre, because of course the first incarnation of emo was referring to often very aggressive post-hardcore. These bands sounded nothing like Rites Of Spring or Mohinder, and I’d imagine these bands also didn’t like identifying with that term. There were only a couple types of guitar music on the radio, and we had louder, more aggressive guitar than what was going on with the New York dance rock scene, but we also certainly weren’t coming from pop punk. We probably did have more in common with 50 Cent!”

LET EVENTS PLAY IN YOUR FAVOUR

“When Girl’s Not Grey came out as a single and made it to the Top 10 [of Billboard’s Modern Rock Tracks chart], that was unbelievable. We were then gonna go with Bleed Black as the second single ’cos it had bigger hooks, but KROQ picked up and started playing The Leaving Song Pt. II, which was a much heavier song, and our manager told us, ‘We can’t tell them to stop!’ I’m screaming on that song and it’s not an obvious single, but if you’d said to us that it had that potential… Then why not? That’s fun!”

HITS AREN’T WRITTEN, THEY’RE MADE

“It breaks my heart that Miss Murder will always represent us, and that I will die and someone will look up AFI and Miss Murder is what they’re gonna find. I don’t dislike Miss Murder, it’s a pretty good song! But never, even when we wrote it, did I think that it was the greatest song. I even voted to not put it on the record, but that experience really proved to me that it was all about marketing, because everything after Decemberunderground is better than Decemberunderground.

I have campaigned to keep it off the setlist and recently succeeded. When we play a festival or when we’re playing a city where we feel we have a few more passive fans, we’re gonna play it, and I don’t mind it, but I do enjoy the optics of removing it from the set.”

APPROPRIATE FOOTWEAR IS IMPORTANT

“I went to see the Circle Jerks and my plan was to test out this sneakerboot that I was gonna possibly wear onstage and see if they can survive the aggression. Fashion and veganism and function for my behaviour onstage rarely meet. During the Adolescents, I’m down there slamming and I look down and the heel from my shoe is just gone.

I limp upstairs with two halves of my shoe, and I’m crying to the promoter that my plan was to also dance for the Circle Jerks and now I couldn’t. The promoter lent me his shoes! That’s community, right there, and I sent him AFI socks as thanks.”

PHYSICAL COMMUNITY IS THE REALEST THING

“We’re living in a very surreal world that rates content over substance. It’s something we saw coming and did nothing to stop and now we’re living in a world of disconnection. The post-human element of existence is now actually veering into the true dystopias that were written about in the 50s and 60s.

It’s a horrifying, desolate reality, where participation in any sort of true human experience is at an unprecedented low for the species. All I can do is create, as this desperate act that acts as a flare.”

Silver Bleeds The Black Sun is out now via Run For Cover

Premier Irish exports Fontaines D.C. announced their Romance follow-up Dopamine Chamber two weeks ago, and they’ve been debuting songs from the album at their live shows lately. Another new one made it into their set at the Leeds Festival on Saturday. “Happy For You” begins slowly and ominously but gradually builds intensity before truly taking off at the end. Watch footage from the crowd below.

The post Fontaines D.C. Debut New Song “Happy For You” At Leeds Festival appeared first on Stereogum.

Anyone who willingly attends a Good Charlotte show in 2026 is already demonstrating a certain level of impaired judgment. So maybe it’s not that surprising that one of those Good Charlotte fans would then allegedly drunkenly steal an ambulance from the show and crash it into both a truck and a wall.

The post Drunk Woman Steals Ambulance From Good Charlotte Show, Crashes Into Truck appeared first on Stereogum.

He also explains why the "sun isn't setting" on ZZ Top. Continue reading…

Officer James Niggemeyer reflects on taking down Dimebag Darrell's killer and shares what happened in the aftermath. Continue reading…

John Travolta, once a chart-topping singer in his own right, put in an extremely random appearance on Sunday night, hosting a Hollywood Forever Cemetery celebration for the Ramones’ 50th anniversary and introducing Cretin Famiily, a brand-new punk supergroup that features Green Day’s Billie Joe Armstrong, Rancid’s Tim Armstrong (no relation), Blink-182’s Travis Barker, and onetime Ramones member CJ Ramone.

The post John Travolta Presents New Punk Supergroup At Ramones 50th Anniversary Tribute appeared first on Stereogum.

Say Anything’s Max Bemis has canceled a run of upcoming concerts after a teenage girl posted screenshots documenting an alleged months-long interaction with her over texting and social media.

The post Max Bemis Cancels Shows Amid Allegations About Messages To Teen appeared first on Stereogum.

Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson are appearing with drummer Anika Nilles in place of their late bandmate Neil Peart. Continue reading…

Iron Maiden opened the North American leg of the Run For Your Lives tour at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto on Saturday night, and Bruce Dickinson used his first words to the crowd to make a point. “Hello, Canada. Oh my God. It’s been traumatic. We got here. We crossed the Lake Of Ontario.” Delivered completely deadpan, days after a US executive order directed federal agencies to refer to that body of water as Lake America. The room understood immediately.

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Scott Penfold covers the Toronto show on today’s Metal Breakdown Daily — what Bruce actually said, why the delivery makes it, and the detail about his day job that makes the line even better. Download the free Loaded Radio App on Apple iOS and Google Play and get it every weekday morning.

What he said

Four words did the work: “the Lake Of Ontario.”

Not Lake America. Not a speech, not a lecture, no mention of politics at all. Just a 68-year-old Englishman describing his journey to the venue in the most laboured way possible, and letting a Toronto crowd draw its own conclusion.

The clip was shared by SiriusXM Canada and has been circulating since Saturday night.

It’s a masterclass in how to make a point without making a scene. Say the thing plainly, say it as though it’s unremarkable, and let the room supply the reaction. Anyone who’s watched Dickinson work a stage for four decades will recognise the timing.

The detail nobody’s mentioning

Here’s what makes it funnier if you know it.

Bruce Dickinson is a licensed commercial airline captain. He holds an Airline Transport Pilot Licence, he flew commercially for Astraeus, and on multiple Maiden world tours he has personally piloted Ed Force One — the band’s own customised Boeing — carrying the entire crew, the stage and the production across oceans and international borders.

This is a man who files flight plans across national airspace for a living.

And he walked out in Toronto and described crossing a lake as traumatic.

That’s not an accident. That’s a pilot making a joke about geography, and it’s a considerably sharper piece of writing than it first appears.

The dispute, in plain terms

For anyone who’s missed it, here’s what’s actually happened, without editorial.

The order. President Trump signed an executive order directing that Lake Ontario be referred to as Lake America in United States federal usage. The stated reason given in the order is that the new name honours “the American history of the Great Lakes.” It was issued during an escalating trade dispute that has seen both countries impose reciprocal tariffs on billions of dollars of goods.

What it does and doesn’t cover. The order applies to US federal references only. It does not determine how Canada refers to the lake, and it does not bind US states, which remain free to use Lake Ontario on maps, highway signs and tourism material.

Canada’s response. Prime Minister Mark Carney addressed it on Thursday, noting the name is more than 400 years old — predating both Confederation and the American Declaration of Independence. His line: America is changing, its trading relationships, its foreign policies, its national monuments, its hydronyms. But Canadians know that naming reality means calling it Lake Ontario — then, now and always.

And this is the part worth noting. The objection isn’t only Canadian. New York Governor Kathy Hochul said her state will not be calling it Lake America, describing the renaming as deflecting from the real needs of Americans. Rochester’s city council unanimously signed a proclamation on Friday affirming the city will keep the existing name.

So a British singer in a Canadian arena and a city council in upstate New York arrived at the same position within about twenty-four hours of each other.

Also Recommended – Iron Maiden Albums Ranked: All 17 Studio Albums, Worst To Best

Why it landed the way it did in this room

We’re based in the Hamilton and Toronto area, so let’s be direct about it: this was the right city and the right night.

Scotiabank Arena holds around nineteen thousand people. It was the opening night of Maiden’s North American run. And the audience had spent a fortnight reading about tariffs, retaliation and a lake most of them can see from the highway.

Dickinson didn’t editorialise, didn’t grandstand, and didn’t spend thirty seconds on it. He said four words and moved on to playing a two-hour set.

Maiden have never been a political band in the party sense, but they’ve always been a band with a strong instinct for a room. They played Sarajevo in 1994, during the siege, when almost nobody else would go. They’ve built a fifty-year career on knowing exactly what a specific crowd in a specific city needs to hear.

Saturday was a very small, very precise version of that same instinct.

Check This Out – Best Iron Maiden 80s Albums: Ranking the Lyrical Storytelling From ‘Iron Maiden’ to ‘Seventh Son’

Where the tour goes from here

Run For Your Lives is Iron Maiden’s 50th anniversary tour, and Toronto was the opening night of the 2026 North American leg — the same run we covered when the routing was announced.

Megadeth support on a substantial portion of the North American dates, which for Dave Mustaine is part of a farewell run that will stretch several more years.

For a band who’ve been operating since 1975, playing to a Canadian crowd at the exact moment the country’s relationship with its neighbour is the loudest story in the news, and finding one deadpan line that says everything — that’s a level of stagecraft you don’t get by accident.

Fifty years in, and still one of the most important bands the genre has produced.

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TL;DR

• What happened: Bruce Dickinson greeted the Toronto crowd at Scotiabank Arena on August 29, 2026 by saying Iron Maiden had “crossed the Lake Of Ontario” — pointedly using the existing name.
• The context: a US executive order has directed that federal references to Lake Ontario use the name Lake America, stating that it honours “the American history of the Great Lakes.”
• What the order covers: US federal usage only. It does not bind Canada, and US states remain free to use the existing name.
• Canada’s position: Prime Minister Mark Carney said the 400-year-old name predates both Confederation and the Declaration of Independence, and that Canadians will call it Lake Ontario “then, now and always.”
• The US pushback: New York Governor Kathy Hochul said her state won’t use Lake America, and Rochester’s city council unanimously affirmed the existing name on Friday.
• The show: opening night of the 2026 North American leg of Iron Maiden’s Run For Your Lives 50th anniversary tour, with Megadeth supporting on much of the run.

FAQ

Four words, delivered completely straight, from a man who flies planes across borders for a living. What’s the best bit of onstage stagecraft you’ve ever witnessed? Tell us below. And keep it locked on the Loaded Radio stream — follow Loaded Radio for daily rock and metal news.

The post Iron Maiden’s Bruce Dickinson Takes Defiant Stand on Stage Over Contested Lake Ontario Renaming Battle appeared first on Loaded Radio.

“Hey, for our band logo, why don’t we use Comic Sans?” – SAID NO METAL BAND EVER!

I get it, there is nothing metal about Times New Roman – or any other font that is legible for that matter – but as a cixelsyd, sorry dyslexic, I even get that word backwards; I need to know: How did bands go from “I want everyone to see our band name!” to “Who needs PR? Let’s make it so not even a calligrapher could decipher what this logo says!”

Well, I, being the world’s most prolific satirical-metal-goblin-journalist, was ready to get to the bottom of this; I was ready to forge my way into the font! 

After some extensive research in the library, and by library, I mean the digital library, and by digital library, I mean Google; I was surprised to learn that the idea of a gothic text dates all the way back to medieval times. No, not the rockin’ dinner theatre with the giant chicken legs and hunks on horses, I mean the actual medieval time period. Like Game of Thrones, but real, and with a better series finale.

My guess is, during those times, knights were so hopped up on mead and the plague that they were attempting to write legibly but instead made every letter look drunk, and then the oppressive heat made the ink drip down. I’m sure somebody saw it and said, “Now, that’s metal.” Which he probably meant literally, since the guy writing it was in head-to-toe armor.

This would come to be known as Gothic script, or Blackletter, which both sound like they could be playing Ozzfest next year. “Dude, Blackletter rips!” This is what metal historians, or as I call them, Nekro-historikons, call the beginning of goth’s obsession with the color black, which, as you know, would one day become Black Metal. And I was as shocked as you to learn is comprised mostly of white dudes, I guess “Pale Metal” didn’t have much of a ring to it.

We are now going to jump to the late 1960s; not much really happened between these time periods – a bunch of wars and death, which is pretty metal, but honestly, the music was terrible. You guys ever listened to jazz?!? Like, what? Just a bunch of dudes in zoot suits refusing to write a chorus? NO THANKS!

The year is 1968 when a band forms in Birmingham, UK, on a Sunday, I believe. Or as the Christians call it, the sabbath. Well, they took that day and decided to give it a medieval twist, and BLACK SABBATH was born! They took their guitars and forged them in the darkness! They dipped their drumsticks into the devil’s ink! They bought a one-way ticket to a crazy train!

What’s that?

“Crazy Train” isn’t Black Sabbath, it’s actually from Ozzy’s solo era? Well, OFF WITH YOUR HEAD it fit the motif, OKAY?!? 

We are now going to jump to the 1970s: not much really happened between this time period either – a bunch of hippies, flowers, and Tom Hanks, Kevin Bacon, and Bill Paxton attempting to land on the moon, got stuck, and had to get Ed Harris to help them back home. However, soon enough, bands like Iron Maiden and Judas Priest started to break us free from tyranny of the basic-ass-font Hell-vetica (font joke!) we were living in, pushing letters past their typeface blocks for an aesthetic that kinda looked like it was drawn on a 3-ring binder in Sharpie by a high schooler. Yet, one would argue, these logos were still legible.

Guess we gotta keep time-traveling? I’m exhausted! 

We are now going to jump to the 1980’s: not much really happened between this time period either – a bunch of mustaches, disco, and a big ol’ dick, which some called Richard. Apparently, he was some president and tried to stop a leak with a fence, later they called it “Water Gate?” HISTORY! I think we’ve finally reached our destination, because it was in this decade that the anti Pale-metal emerged. It was time for… 

If you’re saying to yourself, “I can’t read what that says,” – I THINK YOU MADE MY POINT FOR ME. It says BLACK METAL, but you can’t read it which is BLACK METAL’S FAULT. It didn’t stop there, bands begin pushing it further and further, to the point festival posters might as well be brail!

Which band are you most excited to see above? “Uh… the squiggly one?”

We are now going to jump to 2026 – not much really happened between this time period either, humans became more reliant on robots and trashed the planet.

So the question remains, WHY are we obsessed with the wild, hard to read fonts? I’ve been scratching my hump trying to figure it out.

Then it struck me, OH MY GOB, it’s not about how the font looks, it’s how it FEELS.

Bands aren’t concerned with somebody knowing the name of their band, they are focused on giving you a feeling, and the font reflects that feeling, and that feeling is METAL, be it black, death, doom, thrash, goblin, or dare I say, pale.

So, next time you’re at the merch booth at a metal festival, putting on your third pair of reading glasses, whipping a magnifying glass out, trying to decipher which shirt belongs to which band… DON’T. Just hand the merch guy or gal or theydy a wad of cash and say, “Hey… give me the squiggly one.”

The post MONDAYSUCKS with JOHN GOBLIKON: Trying to Read Black Metal Logos is Hell-vetica! appeared first on MetalSucks.