Zombie keeping busy this summer

Former White Zombie frontman and connoisseur of the cryptic Rob Zombie will be keeping busy this summer as the part-time movie director/producer has announced through a press release plans to record a new album as well as added dates to the his upcoming tour with Megadeth

"This tour should be a blast," said Zombie. "I haven't shared a bill with Megadeth since way back in the early days of White Zombie, so this trek is long overdue."

The two hard rock heavyweights haven’t shared a stage in almost two decades, so those looking for a fresh dose of dead – be it undead or mega- should keep a watch on this May when the tour is set to kick off.

"It has been way, and I mean way too long without any new music. I am dying to get back to it," said Zombie. "I have not felt this much excitement within the band since recording the first Hellbilly Deluxe record almost 15 years ago. We have been working on tons of songs for quite some time and I can safely say this will definitely be our best record yet."

Zombie’s new yet to be titled album is set to start production in June and released later this year. The new record will feature current bandmates John 5, Piggy D and Ginger Fish.

MAY

11 PNC Bank Arts Center, Holmdel, NJ
12 Toyota Pavilion, Scranton, PA
13 Merriweather Post Pavilion, Columbia, MD (NEW)
16 Stage AE, Pittsburgh, PA
18 The Deltaplex, Grand Rapids, MI
19 Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre, St. Louis, MO (NEW)
20 Rock On The Range, Columbus, OH
22 La Crosse Center, La Crosse, WI
24 Tyson Center, Sioux City, IA
25 Hartman Arena, Wichita, KS
26 Rocklahoma, Pryor, OK 

Original Source

This year’s lineup of the sixth annual Rock On The Range Festival has been announced and hard rock fans can look forward to three days worth of several different acts from a wide range of rock genres. The festival will take place May 18-20 at Columbus Crew Stadium in Columbus, Ohio.

Rounding out the list as some of the more popular acts on the bill are hard rock favorites such as Rob Zombie, Megadeth, Anthrax and Slash, just to name a few.

Jose Mangin of Sirius Radio and “Headbanger’s Ball” fame will take the helm as this year’s host of ROTR, which should come as no surprise as the man is well known as a hard rock aficionado. 

Check out the entire band lineup below.

Friday, May 18^th: Black Tide; Foxy Shazam; Hair Ball; Hells Bells (AC/DC tribute band).

Saturday, May 19^th:   Incubus; Shinedown; Five Finger Death Punch; Slash; Cypress Hill; Chevelle; Theory of a Deadman; Halestorm; P.O.D.; Adelitas Way; Cavo; Bobaflex; Falling In Reverse; In This Moment; New Medicine; Kyng; Otherwise; Rival Sons; Emphatic.

Sunday, May 20^th: Rob Zombie; Marilyn Manson; Megadeth; Anthrax; Mastodon; Volbeat; The Darkness; Down; Escape The Fate; Lacuna Coil; Black Stone Cherry; Attack Attack!; Trivium; Redlight King; James Durbin; Aranda; 12 Stones; SOiL; Eve To Adam; Ghosts Of August.

David Scott Mustaine celebrates his landmark 50th birthday on September 13. A legend of thrash metal, Dave Mustaine has survived every challenge his colorful life has thrown at him: substance abuse, black magic, an arm injury that threatened his career, rooming with Lars Ulrich… and much more.

The first lead guitarist in a young Metallica, Mustaine formed Megadeth in 1983 after being fired from Metallica for sobriety issues. But as frontman, main composer, lyricist and mouthpiece of Megadeth, Mustaine hit gold. He is currently preparing for the release of the band’s 13th album (to be called Th1rt3en).

An acclaimed rhythm and lead guitarist, Mustaine has long been sober but his views remain as uncompromising as his music. Not even all Megadeth fans agree with Mustaine 24/7, but when Dave Mustaine speaks, metalheads listen.

Here is The World According to Dave Mustaine…

On why he hired jazz-influenced drummer, the late Gar Samuelsson, for the first incarnation of Megadeth…

“I like jazz a lot,” he told Jazzmetal.com. “But I got Gar Samuelsson because he came to rehearsal and he fell asleep and his cigarette burned clean through his fingers. And I went, ‘F--k that’s metal!’ I thought, ‘This guy’s gonna be into cattle prods and stuff!’ So we hired him.”

On his flirtation with black magic and why he will never play “The Conjuring” (from Peace Sells… But Who’s Buying?) again…

“I promised that I wouldn’t play it any more because there’s a lot of instructions for hexes in that song,” he told Total Guitar in 2010. “Although it seems kinda corny, anybody who’s a Wiccan or a warlock or anything like that will know that all of that stuff is instrumental.

“When I got into black magic I put a couple of spells on people when I was a teenager and it haunted me forever, and I’ve had so much torment… It wasn’t that I was a bad guy or that I had a big mouth, it was that I got into witchcraft and black magic and it ruined my life. Fortunately for me, with all the work and the love of my friends, and not giving up with my guitar playing, I got over it. So I look back now and I think, ‘Hmm, I don’t wanna play “The Conjuring.”’”

On how his Christianity later boosted his confidence…

“My faith has been restored in a creator who has given me a lot of good stuff,” Mustaine told Metal Hammer. “The gift I have in me is, like, I’m better at writing music for this particular genre than just about anybody. There’s only a couple other musicians that write music for this genre who are equivalent to me.”

On his abilities as a guitarist…

Mustaine told GuitarWorld.com: “I can share what I know… but I don’t know what it is I know… When a solo is too long, you should stop. As good as the ‘Freebird’ [Lynyrd Skynyrd] solo is, it’s too long.”

And classic Mustaine: “Some players like to make their guitar sing. I like to punch it in the stomach.”

Answering fan questions at Guitar Center (in 2007) about Megadeth’s ever-changing line-up…

“I don’t like band changes. It’s really uncomfortable, and you have to remember somebody else’s name.” Mustaine also added, “When I heard they fired that guy from Bon Jovi, I thought, ‘Why didn’t you fire ’em all?’”

On his battles with injuries...

“I have stenosis in my back. Stenosis is where the vertebra has an opening on the side, and the nerve comes out. The vertebra is closing in on the nerve. So that’s what’s going on with my neck and the weight of the guitar. With my arm, that was called Saturday Night Palsy, and I’d had my arm over the back of a chair, and I’d fallen asleep, and it had cut off the circulation to the nerve on the inside of my arm there, and the muscles inside of my brain stopped talking to the brain. It’s two different injuries.”

On his 100% recovery from his arm injury and re-learning the guitar…

“It took a while to play again,” Mustaine told AskMen.com. “I actually had to get lessons to learn how to play again. It was very humbling, I had created a guitar style, I had invented a particular chord-threading pattern, I was responsible for being the founding member of two of the greatest heavy metal bands in North America, and now I am asking someone to show me an E chord.”

On trying to get the perfect sound…

“Amplifiers are as different as women… their tubes warm up at different rates.”

On his alleged ill-temper…

“More often than not I am feeling pretty good and I enjoy my life. But if I had to put my frustrating moments onto one record it would be a triple live CD.”

On his now-infamous appearance in Metallica’s “rockumentary” Some Kind of Monster…

“The movie was a very negative, ugly look into the private side of some people who were heroes to a lot of people,” Mustaine told KNAC.com. “That’s always why they say, don’t meet your heroes, you might be disappointed. When that part was filmed, it was September 13, two days after our country had just been attacked. September 13 of that year, I turned 40. Do you think that for my 40th birthday – a day when I was supposed to fly from Canada to my house to have dinner with my family, make love to my wife get a new Mercedes for my birthday – that I wanted to spend it with Lars? What kind of a cruel joke is that?” [Editor’s note: as you likely know, Mustaine and Metallica have now healed any conflicts.]

On Megadeth’s most-recent track, “Sudden Death,” that was the finale to 2010’s Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock game.

“I’m sure some fans will think it’s the greatest thing we’ve ever done. But other people will say it sucks,” Mustaine told Rolling Stone. “That’s just the way of the world.”

Mustaine ended up overdubbing more solos at game-makers Activision’s request. “Just the sheer repetitiveness of it can blow people’s minds. And my guitar style is way different than [fellow Megadeth guitarist] Chris Broderick. Chris plays with a lot of love and I play with a lot of hate. My guitar playing is explosions, and his is more like fireworks. When you are trying to emulate the two kinds of guitar styles, it’s tricky. I don’t care what anyone says, you’ve gotta be good.”

On whether he finds any limitations in heavy metal…

“My age [he was 48 at the time]. I’m totally serious. We just got done playing in Quito in Ecuador, and it’s 8,500 feet above sea level, and it’s hard singing that high above the ground! You think Denver’s hard, it’s like – ‘P-----s! Go to Quito!’”

On the imminent release of Megadeth’s Th1rte3n.

“I started playing guitar at 13 and this is our 13th record and I was born on the 13th,” Mustaine told Rock Radio (U.K.) in August. “As soon as I said I was going to call it 13, I started noticing 13 everywhere. They never used to have 13th floors in hotels but now they have them again.

“If I was going to say it sounds like a particular band, I would say it sounds like really old classic [Black] Sabbath and with a little bit of a modern edge of Queens of the Stone Age kind of thing. But then again, with the twists and turns of music that Megadeth has been famous for over the years, you never know how it’ll turn out.”

And Dave Mustaine’s best advice to an aspiring rock band?

To a Guitar Center audience, Mustaine said: “Be careful what you say in interviews.”

Megadeth’s Dave Mustaine says he wants to form a Megadeth/Metallica supergroup. He told Texas radio station 97.1 The Eagle Rocks, “I’ve talked to Lars [Ulrich] and James [Hetfield] about me and David [Ellefson, Megadeth bassist] doing a supergroup record with Lars and James.

“Well, James said ‘no,’ but it’s still kind of out there in the air,” he said. “I’m gonna keep hammering on him. It’s on my bucket list.”

Mustaine was one quarter of the original Metallica lineup in the 1980s, but was fired. Kirk Hammett replaced him. After years of animosity between the bands, Metallica and Megadeth have been touring together recently as part of the Big Four – Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer and Anthrax.

While Mustaine is reaching out to his ex-Metallica bandmates, he says there is no way back for Megadeth guitarist Marty Friedman. “It’s not that he’s not welcome, it’s just that there’s no position for him. And Marty’s not as good as Chris [Broderick, current Megadeth guitarist].

“And Marty wanted to be a pop guitar player. He left to join a girl in a band in Japan... The lineup featuring Friedman [and drummer Nick Menza] wasn’t the most important lineup anyways. The lineup that we have right now has achieved more than those guys ever did. If you think about it, the groundwork, the building the band back up from nothing… Marty and Nick got in the band when the band was already huge.”

When the Big Four announced their upcoming date at Yankee Stadium on September 14, undoubtedly the first thing that came to mind for many Yankees fans was “Enter Sandman.” The 1991 Metallica classic has been a staple of Yankees games for years, heralding the entrance of the greatest relief pitcher of all time, Mariano Rivera. Lest fans be worried the band might leave the song off the set list, James Hetfield has appeared in a new video on the Yankees homepage to set their minds at ease.

In the video, Hetfield says, “Hold on, Mo. Hey, Yankee fans. This is James here from Metallica. And we know that ‘Enter Sandman’ over the last decade has been played here in the Bronx because of #42. Now is your chance to hear it live, here, in your house.”

The Big Four also released a trailer for the concert last week, which can be seen below.

Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer and Anthrax are collectively known as thrash’s Big Four – the cornerstones upon which the entire thrash movement is built, and the compass one uses to orient oneself when navigating the turbulent waters of that aggressive, precise, angry, powerful metal variant.

But thrash does not begin and end with those four bands. For each one of the Big Four there are dozens more who trod similar ground but never quite made the leap to superstardom. Here are the great thrash bands that came mighty close to dislodging one of the Big Four but didn’t quite get over the line.

10. Forced Entry

This Seattle-area thrash band’s sound was so ahead of its time that only now are bands like Cynic catching up. Guitarist Brad Hull was a technical monster, writing cracking riffs punctuated with staccato harmonics and a fat, warm, midrange-heavy tone in an era when everyone else scooped the mids right out. Hull was also a wild man when it came to whammy bar tricks. The band’s crowning glory is 1991’s As Above, So Below, which was reissued in 2009 after many years out-of-print.

9. Sacred Reich

These Phoenix, Arizona, thrashers were fiercely political in their lyrical approach and equally aggressive in their raw, in-your-face production. Drummer Dave McClain joined in 1991 and went on to join Machine Head in 1995, while founder Phil Rind has reconvened Wiley Arnett, Jason Rainey and Greg Hall to play occasional shows. The 1993 album Independent is an excellent entry point into the band’s particular brand of aggressive thrash.

8. Kreator

Founded in Essen, Germany, in 1982, Kreator built on the sound of early thrash influencers Venom (see honorable mentions below) and punched it up with more precision and aggression. Guitarist/vocalist Mille Petrozza is one of the most furious rhythm guitarists in the genre, and is no slouch when it comes to soloing either. Check out the band’s 2009 release Hordes Of Chaos or their 1989 classic Extreme Aggression.

7. Overkill

Featuring the inimitable vocals of Bobby “Blitz” Ellsworth, Overkill was at one time the musical home of future Anthrax lead guitarist Dan Spitz, and they hit the big time with The Years Of Decay in 1989. Produced by Terry Date (Pantera, Soundgarden, White Zombie), the album combined stellar production with complex song structures. It was followed up in 1991 with Horrorscope, which featured new guitarists Rob Cannavino and Merritt Gant, who teamed up for a particularly memorable cover of Edgar Winter’s Frankenstein. The band is still active today, and their most recent release is 2010’s Ironbound.

6. Voivod

A prog-inspired thrash outfit from Quebec, Canada, Voivod also tempered their metal with an occasional punkish edge, and were not afraid to delve into political post-apocalyptic science fiction themes in their lyrics. Although there are gems on all of the band’s albums (including those made after original guitarist Dennis “Piggy” D’Amour passed away in 2005), Nothingface (1989) and Angel Rat (1991) are held in particularly lofty regard among prog-thrash connoisseurs.

5. Bathory

Essentially a one-man band apart with occasional contributors brought in under a revolving door policy, Bathory was the creation of Quorthon, who formed the band when he was 17 years old in 1983. Bathory’s albums were typically quite lo-fi but Quorthon never let the limitations of his 4-track recording medium affect his songwriting or playing. Tragically, Quorthon passed away of heart failure aged 38 in 2004.

4. Death Angel

These Bay Area thrash icons were formed in 1982 by cousins Rob Cavestany, Dennis Pepa, Gus Pepa and Andy Galeon. Right as they were poised to hit the big time with 1990's Act III, Galeon was sidelined by a traffic accident and the band were never quite able to capitalize on the buzz surrounding them. After a hiatus lasting most of the 1990s, the band returned in 2000, and their most recent thrashfest is 2010’s Relentless Retribution.

3. Annihilator

Another classic thrash band from Canada, Annihilator are led by virtuoso guitarist Jeff Waters, a huge influence on modern metal heroes Alexi Laiho (Children of Bodom) and Willie Adler and Mark Morton (Lamb of God). Waters has played V-style guitars throughout almost his entire career, and currently dishes out ferocious thrash riffs on his signature Epiphone Annihilation-V guitars. Annihilator’s most recent release is a self-titled 2010 album that features a cover of Van Halen’s “Romeo Delight.”

2. Sepultura

The brainchild of Brazilian brothers Max and Iggor Cavalera, Sepultura’s early lo-fi works were underground classics but the band started to shrug off the Slayer influences with Beneath the Remains in 1989. By the time Arise was released in 1991, Sepultura were poised to become the new kings of thrash, and their 1996 hit Roots was one of the few metal albums to survive the ’90s intact. Sepultura, however, did not: Max left to form Soulfly that same year, and Iggor left in 2007. The brothers reunited in the thrash-influenced Cavalera Conspiracy in 2007 and the band is preparing to release their second album, Blunt Force Trauma.

1. Exodus

Another classic Bay Area thrash stalwart, Exodus was formed in 1980 by Kirk Hammett and Paul Baloff, with Hammett’s guitar tech Gary Holt stepping up to the co-axeman role early in the group’s history. While Hammett went on to bigger things with Metallica, Holt and Co. released the classic Bonded by Blood in 1985, and a few more albums before calling it a day after 1992’s Force Of Habit. A 2001 reunion led to several new classics, including 2010’s brutal Exhibit B: The Human Condition. Most recently, Holt was drafted into Slayer to sub for Jeff Hannemann while he recovers from surgery.

Honorable Mentions

Venom – This influential band caught the end of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal, and their first two albums, Welcome to Hell and Black Metal, were hugely inspirational to those who would go on to create thrash. Their musicianship was often a little rough around the edges compared to the ultra-precise thrash that followed, but their attitude and influence could not be denied.

Hydra Vein – This British thrash band released only two albums – Rather Death Than False of Faith and After the Dream. The former received strong exposure on Tommy Vance’s Friday Rock Show on BBC Radio One and the band picked up some prestigious support, but despite their raw yet technical sound they never quite hit the big time.

Destroyer 666 – Originally from Australia but now spread between the Netherlands, England and Germany, Destroyer 666 have veered between thrash, black metal and extreme metal during their 17 years. Debut EP Violence is the Prince of this World features Damaged drummer Matt “Skitz” Sanders, recognized as one of the fastest skinsmen in metal.

Forbidden – A breeding ground for metal stars, Forbidden’s ranks have included Paul Bostaph (Slayer), Glen Alvelais (Testament), Robb Flynn (Machine Head) and Tim Calvert (Nevermore). The band’s most recent album is 2010’s Omega Wave.

Possessed – Straddling the jagged chasm between thrash metal and death metal, Possessed were notable for their incredible speed, guttural vocals, and for being home to future Primus guitarist Larry Lalonde.

In 2010, for the first time ever, the four giants of metal – Metallica, Slayer, Megadeth and Anthrax — shared one stage for seven European shows. The final stop on June 22 at the Sonisphere Festival in Sofia, Bulgaria, was beamed by satellite to more than a thousand cinemas worldwide.

On Nov. 2, the historic June 22 concert will hit DVD. The Big 4 – Live from Sofia, Bulgaria double-disc DVD includes performances by all four bands, interviews and behind-the-scenes footage. A limited edition “super deluxe” box set will include both DVD discs, five CDs of the live sets, a poster, 24-page booklet, photos and a Big Four guitar pick.

“The DVD gives everybody a chance to experience the amazing footage taken from Sofia,” says Anthrax bassist and Squier signature artist Frank Bello. “It really gives every fan an idea of the great vibe all four bands had on this historic tour. It was truly an honor to be part of it; I hope we can do it again!”