Jason Newsted has announced a series of dates with The Chophouse Band, kicking off Friday September 2nd in Crystal Bay, Nevada.
The Chophouse Band began in 1992 when six-time Grammy-Award winning, RnR Hall of Fame bassist, Jason Newsted founded The Chophouse Studio and record label in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Following the success of Metallica’s 1991 Black Album, The Chophouse Studio was conceived by Newsted to assemble friends and comrades from other established bands to have a special place to enjoy and play pure music for music’s sake during breaks and downtime, from rigorous touring schedules and agendas.
Now, after 25 years of playing host to a diverse array of talent from varying genres, The Chophouse Band is finally sharing the musical flavors that have been cooking in these exclusive sessions and personal projects, serving up recipes of purity and authenticity, blending styles, encoring creativity and testing musical boundaries.
The roster of The Chophouse Band numbers in the dozens from coast to coast, and every show will feature select and surprise guests, with artists such as Chris Barnett, Guillermo Gonzales, Mike Hughes, Tom Jordan, Brian Kehoe, Joe Ledesma, David Lopez, Jesus Mendez, Mike Ramos, Brian Sagrafena, Angeline Saris, Chris Scianni, Amir Tal, Rob Tucker and many others.
Jason Newsted and The Chophouse Band Tour Dates:
Sept 2 Crystal Bay, NV @ Crystal Bay Club / Crown Room
Sept 7 Santa Cruz, CA @ Moe’s Alley
Sept 8 Mill Valley, CA @ Sweetwater Music Hall
Sept 10 Napa, CA @ Silo’s
Sept 17 Sebastopol, CA @ HopMonk Tavern
As previously reported, Testament will release their 11th album Brotherhood Of The Snake on October 28th through Nuclear Blast records.
The band have released the artwork for the cover, which can be viewed below.
Guitarist Eric Peterson told Metal Maniac Video Magazine that the new album is “very diverse, epic – there’s nothing on there that breathes commercial and I think for 30 years of recording music and trying different formulas, I think we’ve found a formula that is very metal.”
Earlier this year, Testament frontman Chuck Billy said the Brotherhood Of The Snake was inspired by the connection between religion and aliens.
Slayer’s Kerry King says the future of the band is “very unclear” as frontman Tom Araya appears to be considering retirement.
And the guitarist has suggested that he’d be happy with managing to extend the thrash icons’ career for another two records.
Araya recently discussed the possibility of bowing out after 35 years, saying, “It just gets harder and harder to come back out on the road.”
Asked about those comments, King tells EMP Rock Invasion, “He’s very unclear. That’s just how he is. I don’t know if he likes holding his cards in his pocket or what. I don’t have an answer. I’m holding off a lot of things I want to do at home, just because I don’t know if I’m going to be working in two years. I’m going to be working, hopefully in Slayer. What else am I going to do?”
He adds that, as far as he’s concerned, there’s no end in sight following the release of 11th album Repentless – “especially after such a good record.”
In reply to the suggestion that the band could continue for another 35 years, King replies, “I don’t know about that – I’ll take another record or two.”
Earlier this year Araya admitted he’d had concerns over the creation of Repentless, which followed the death of co-founding guitarist Jeff Hangman.
The frontman said, “On previous records, Kerry would say, ‘This is how I want it done.’ Jeff would give you feedback. So that was my concern, how everything was going to sound compared to a record that would have Jeff there?”
But he continued, “The doubt went out the window. It was like, ‘This is Slayer. Fans are going to like this, because I like this.”
The band’s European festival tour includes an appearance at Bloodstock Open Air in Derbyshire on August 14, followed by more North American dates.
Slayer tour dates:
Slayer 2016 tour dates
Aug 7: Lokeren Lokerse Feesten, Belgium
Aug 10: Colmar Theatre de Plein Air, France
Aug 12: Leeuwarden Into The Grave, Netherlands
Aug 14: Catton Park Bloodstock, UK
Aug 17: Bratislava Aegon Arena, Slovakia
Aug 19: Wilburgstetten Summer Breeze, Germany
Aug 20: Hamburg Elb-Riot Festival, Germany
Sep 9: Cleveland Jacob’s Pavilion, OH
Sep 10: Detroit Freedom Hill Amphitheatre, MI
Sep 12: Toronto Sound Academy, ON
Sep 13: Montreal Metropolis, QC
Sep 15: Pittsburgh Stage AE, PA
Sep 20: Indianapolis Egyptian Room, IN
Sep 22: St Louis The Pageant, MO
Sep 27: Orlando Hard Rock Live, FL
Sep 28: Miami Fillmore, FL
Sep 30: Tunica Horseshoe Casino, MS
Oct 3: Norfolk Norva, VA
Oct 5: Atlanta Tabernacle, GA
Oct 7: Dallas Gas Monkey Live, TX
Oct 8: Austin ACL At The Moody Theatre, TX
Oct 10: Denver Fillmore, CO
Oct 11: Salt Lake City The Complex, UT
Oct 13: Missoula The Wilma Theatre, MT
Oct 17: Lethbridge Enmax Center, AB
Oct 19: Penticton South Okanagan Events Centre, BC
Oct 20: Abbotsford Centre, BC
Oct 23: Reno Events Center, NV
Oct 27: El Paso County Coliseum, TX
Ozzy Osbourne’s reported mistress, hair colorist Michelle Pugh, opened up to People Magazine about her four year affair with the singer.
“When I say he gave me the greatest love of my life, I mean it,” she tells PEOPLE exclusively about Ozzy, whom she claims first pursued her one year after she first colored his hair in late 2011. “He made me feel like the most beautiful and worshipped woman in the world.”
Ozzy – who earlier this month told Good Morning America his 33-year marriage with wife Sharon, 63, was “back on track” after the two split in May – insists the relationship with Pugh was a purely physical one that resulted from his sex addiction.
“He is sorry if Ms. Pugh took their sexual relationship out of context,” the singer’s rep tells People exclusively in a statement. “He would like to apologize to the other women he has been having sexual relationships with. Since his relationship with Ms. Pugh was exposed, Ozzy has gone into intense therapy.”
However, Pugh maintains Ozzy, 67, was “unhappy” in his marriage and “consistently and willingly and generously” gave her “his love.”
“What attracted me to him? Chemistry,” says Pugh. “We just had it. It’s that indescribable thing in life, and you can’t deny it. And he didn’t.”
Aside from their physical relationship, Pugh says the duo also connected on an “emotional level” and would have long discussions about their “shared passions” for painting, history and current events. “My relationship was more with this really nice, sweet, funny and cool guy … John from England,” describes Pugh.
Acknowledging she is no longer in touch with Ozzy, Pugh says it’s a “struggle every day now” for her when she wakes. “I wake from my dreams, which some nights he’s in, and for a minute when I wake I’m peaceful,” she says. “Then the absence sets in. It’s horrible.”
Even so, the hair colorist says she has no ill will towards her former lover.
“He is a grown man. He is capable of making the decision to be with me. If he has chosen to not be, that is fine. I accept it and move on,” she says. “But he has been my best friend for the last few years, so of course I am grieving the loss for that.”
“I still love him,” continues Pugh. “And I would never exploit the truly personal and private parts of what we had. That’s not me. I’m going to stand tall and proud and say, ‘This is me. I’m not ashamed.’ I fell in love with a man that gave me the love I never knew I could receive.”
On Sunday, August 21st 2016 the Rock Against Dystrophy All Star Edition 2016 benefit concert will be at The Headliner in Neptune, New Jersey. The show will have TattooTony return to MC the event. The benefit will feature performances by High Octane, Broken Past, New Day Dawn, a special set from New Jersey’s metal legends T.T. Quick and will wrap up with a performance from the RAD All Stars.
Returning to lead the RAD All Stars is Mark Tornillo (T.T. Quick/Accept) and Bobby Blitz (Overkill) and joining them are Derek Tailor and Ron Lipnicki (Overkill), Chris Caffery (Savatage/Trans Siberian Orchestra), Mark Menghi (Metal Allegiance), David DiPetro (T.T. Quick), Max Portnoy (Next To None), Danny Watts (BulletBoys), Kenny Dubman and Scott Metaxas (Prophet).
As if all those individuals weren’t enough, things are kicked up a notch literally as Bumblefoot is joining the RAD All Stars. Still creating tons of talk with his latest album Little Brother Is Watching and stepping into Metal Allegiance to shred like no other, he is taking the time to give to fight against Muscular Dystrophy the extra kick only he can bring.
In 2009 brothers and Internet radio DJs Turbo and Jay Scorpion (both of whom have Spinal Muscular Atrophy) decided to take their love of rock and metal music, support from the rock and metal community, and desire to find a cure for Muscular Dystrophy and turned it into Rock Against Dystrophy. The purpose of Rock Against Dystrophy is raise money and awareness about Muscular Dystrophy by holding benefit concerts featuring local area rock and metal bands and the occasional rock and metal star in the New York and New Jersey area with proceeds going to benefit the Muscular Dystrophy Association. If you’d like to donate to Rock Against Dystrophy you can visit name.
Daniel Lane of Metal Hammer interviewed the Metal God, Rob Halford, in which the iconic singer reflects back upon his life. Highlights from interview appear below.
Metal Hammer: Where and when were you born?
Rob Halford: I was born on 25th August 1951. I was born in my aunt’s house in Sutton Coldfield – that’s the place where I popped out without any warning. And then of course my mum and dad moved to Walsall where I still have a house.
Metal Hammer: How did you get along with your siblings?
Rob Halford: Really, really well. My sister is a year younger than me and we’ve never acted like brother and sister – we’re just best mates. We were always looking out for each other and supporting each other. When our younger brother came along we were both in our early teens and we had this outsider arrive – not that I want to call our Nigel that! But when you’re in your teens, you’re off exploring the world, and then another family member comes along and you become very home orientated again and you feel very protective of your family. On the whole, we’ve always been like a typical family though. There’s always been a bit of friction between us – which there should be. I think that’s when characters develop and that’s how you help each other through life’s hurdles.
Metal Hammer: What was it like being the oldest of three kids growing up in such a deprived area?
Rob Halford: Everybody knows that there are some parts of the West Midlands that are incredibly poor, but they’re honest, hard working people. When I was born in the early 50s, the Second World War had only been over for a few years and there was still rationing going on. But people were very proud and very determined to come back and come back strong. Life was really tough. My dad worked in the steel industry and my mom worked from home and also in the factories and stuff, but it was a good childhood.
Like most council estate communities everybody looked out for everybody else. Everybody also knew everyone else’s business in a way too. I’ve got a lot of good memories from that time. It was a good place to start life and it taught me the value of hard work and I think that ethic is still ingrained in Judas Priest today. We’re still hard working musicians. We never take anything for granted and we’ve all still got that connection to why we wanted to be in a band in the first place.
Metal Hammer: Carrying on from that – at that particular time, how difficult was it for you to come out?
Rob Halford: I think that kind of experience, in terms of the pressure involved, is something that every gay guy goes through – feeling isolated and feeling that you’re the only person in the world who has those kind of feelings. In those days, you didn’t talk about those kind of things. It wasn’t talked about in the media, in soaps or on TV. And, I mean, for me it wasn’t until my late 20s that I felt I was actually part of something bigger y’know?
…I know it’s still tough today, even with the broad base of popular culture in the UK, there’s still a very bigoted attitude towards homosexuality. I know it’s a little bit easier now, but it’s still tough, especially in the world of heavy metal. Although, that said, I like to think I’ve exploded that particular myth.
Metal Hammer: How do you feel about being tagged as a gay icon?
Rob Halford: I think when you get recognised for that, it’s something you don’t expect. The bottom line is that I’m a heavy metal singer in a band. Just because my sexuality isn’t considered to be the norm, for some reason it seems to always carries a bit of extra media interest. I think it’s kind of amusing that I have absolutely no relationship with the gay media whatsoever – not that I’m looking for it either. I’ve never been approached by any of those kind of publications because I think heavy metal is still viewed by the wider media as still being this very macho, male environment and the gay media still treats it with some detachment.
Metal Hammer: In the 80s when it was all pretty boys with lipstick fronting bands and going hell bent for leather to get chicks, how did you fare in the groupie stakes?
Rob Halford: I never got any! [laughs] And that’s the sad thing. I’ve been celibate practically all of my musical career. I know it’s supposed to be sex, drugs, rock’n’roll… Well, I used to do the drugs and I still do the rock n’roll but the closest I came to sex was going back to my hotel room for a wank! [laughs] I don’t want to shatter anyone’s idea about the lifestyle, but basically you play a show, get cleaned up, have some food and go back to your hotel room… alone!
Metal Hammer: What was your parent’s reaction like when you told them you wanted to be in a band? And was it worse than when you told them you were gay?
Rob Halford: I think they sensed it was coming – the band I mean. I really didn’t become totally serious about being a professional musician until I was in my late teens. And by the time I was 20-21, I was already a part of that world. But my mum’s philosophy for everything was, ‘Are you happy? Well, if you’re happy I’m happy.’ Which is a very simple kind of mantra isn’t it? My parents always encouraged me and supported me with whatever I did…
As for coming out, it’s either a case of confront the issue head-on at an earlier stage or, as it was with my lot, it’s something you don’t really discuss. Y’know, ‘If he is… so what? As long as he’s happy.’ But again that comes back to their open-mindedness and their hope that everyone in the family would find contentment wherever they were or whatever they were doing….
Metal Hammer: Do you have faith?
Rob Halford: Oh yes, I have a tremendous amount of faith. For me, I found faith in 1986 when I quit drinking and doing drugs. And once I’d found faith and started the healing process I felt a lot more peaceful inside. I began to appreciate what’s important in life and what’s not important. I used to drink so much that I’d black out and wake up the next morning and not know how I got home. I realised I didn’t need these things to help me write music and I certainly didn’t need these things to help me live my life – I think I had a guardian angel looking over me.
Read more of this fascinating interview at Metal Hammer.
