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Manos Spanos

ICED EARTH’s JON SCHAFFER Says ‘Everything Went Smooth’ During His Latest Operation

Manos Spanos
ICED EARTH was recently forced to cancel a number of festival appearances and headlining shows this summer so that the band's guitarist and leader Jon Schaffer could undergo surgery to address continued pain from a neck injury he suffered nearly 20 years ago. In a new message on the band's Facebook page, Schaffer writes: "I'm writing to let you know that I made it through the surgery and am steadily on the road to recovery. "The surgeon informed us that everything went smooth during the operation and that I should be back in action within a few months. "Thank you all very much for your support, you truly are the best fans any band could ask for." Schaffer previously stated about his need to go back under the knife: "I underwent surgery on my neck in the year 2000, due to an onstage injury that occurred in 1996. Since that time, I have battled with this problem, and it has begun to accelerate in the past several months, causing additional issues that can no longer be ignored. "In February, while on tour in Europe, I underwent highly specialized treatment in Germany from a doctor who has helped, among many others, Tony Iommi and Eddie Van Halen. This treatment helped sustain my ability to perform so that we could complete our Worldwide Plagues Tour. However, I am now forced to take further, more invasive action sooner than I intended in order to maintain my overall health. "Surgery was originally planned to take place in September during our break, but I have now been advised to have the procedure completed sooner rather than later. "As much as it pains me and everyone else in our camp to have to cancel these dates, this is something that cannot be put aside any longer."
02 min read

CANNIBAL CORPSE Bassist Talks Masturbating On Tour Bus: ‘If Somebody Knows It’s Happening, Then You Blew It’

Manos Spanos
On June 25, bassist Alex Webster of Florida death metal veterans CANNIBAL CORPSE was interviewed by El Prezidente of 91.3FM WTSR's "The Chainsaw Symphony". You can now listen to the chat in the YouTube clip below. Asked about CANNIBAL CORPSE's touring setup and how he navigates masturbating regularly on "a bus with a bunch of dudes," Webster said: "This summer [on the Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem Festival] we're not [sharing a bus with any other bands]. Sometimes we share, sometimes we don't. It just really depends on what our budget is. When we have enough money coming in from the shows to be able to pay for the bus all by ourselves, that's generally the option we'll take, just to have that extra space." He added: "I think with anything personal like that [masturbation], you just… you know… discretion. [laughs] I will leave it at that. [laughs] If somebody knows it's happening, then you blew it. [laughs] And I won't talk too much further about that. But yeah, man, anything like that, I think, yeah, discretion is very important. Nobody wants to know that kind of thing is going on right next to them, you know. [laughs]" Webster also spoke about the CANNIBAL members' family situations and how having kids is affected by the touring lifestyle. "I'm married — no kids — but yeah, me and my wife have been together, married in 2001, and we were actually seeing each other since 1997," Webster said. "So I've been very settled into that whole situation for a very long time now. The other guys… Like, George ['Corpsegrinder' Fisher, vocals] has been married a long time and has two daughters. Paul's [Mazurkiewicz, drums] married as well; he's got a daughter. Rob [Barrett, guitar] has a wife, [but] no kids. "Me and my wife never wanted to have kids; that was something we both agreed on long before we even got married, as a matter of fact. It's the most important thing a person could ever do, so that decision shouldn't be taken lightly. You're creating a human being, so you have to really be in the right frame of mind for that. And my wife and I knew that we were never gonna be in the right frame of mind for that kind of a thing; it just wasn't something that we were inclined to do. But for some people, it's absolutely the right decision. You've gotta just think it over; it's an important thing." CANNIBAL CORPSE will release its new album, "A Skeletal Domain", on September 16 via Metal Blade Records. The band switched gears for the new CD, opting to work with producer Mark Lewis (THE BLACK DAHLIA MURDER, DEVILDRIVER) at Audiohammer Studios in Sanford, Florida, after having tracked their previous three outings ("Kill", "Evisceration Plague", "Torture") with Erik Rutan.
03 min read

Former RAMONES Drummer/Producer TOMMY RAMONE Dies At 62

Manos Spanos
Tommy Ramone, the last surviving original member of the legendary New York punk quartet the RAMONES, died Friday at his home in the Ridgewood, Queens, New York following treatment for bile duct cancer. He was 62 years old. Born Erdelyi Tamas in Budapest, Hungary, Ramone is survived by Tienan and an older brother. A private funeral service is planned. When the RAMONES first came together, with Johnny Ramone on guitar, Dee Dee Ramone on bass and Joey Ramone on drums, Erdelyi was supposed to be the manager, but was drafted as the band's drummer when Joey became the lead singer and found that he couldn't keep up with the RAMONES' increasingly fast tempos. "Tommy Ramone, who was managing us, finally had to sit down behind the drums, because nobody else wanted to," Dee Dee later recalled. Tommy remained as drummer from 1974 to 1978, playing on and co-producing RAMONES' first three albums, "Ramones", "Leave Home" and "Rocket To Russia", as well as the live album "It's Alive". He was replaced on drums in 1978 by Marky Ramone, but handled band management and co-production for their fourth album, "Road To Ruin"; he later returned as producer for the eighth album, 1984's "Too Tough To Die". Dee Dee, in his books, expressed resentment towards Tommy for having it "together" more than anyone else in the band, being able to cook himself dinner and organize his life in a much more functional manner, without the psychosis or addiction problems that Dee Dee himself suffered from. In comparison to everyone else in the band, Tommy was seemingly "normal," though there are accounts of him partying with the band and driving them around in his car in the early days. Tommy Ramone wrote "I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend" and the majority of "Blitzkrieg Bop" while bassist Dee Dee suggested the title. He and Ed Stasium played all the guitar solos on the albums he produced, as Johnny Ramone largely preferred playing rhythm guitar.
02 min read

BABYMETAL Wants To Start New Musical Genre Called ‘Cute Metal’

Manos Spanos
BABYMETAL — the heavy metal offshoot of the Japanese pop idol group SAKURA GAKUIN that performs a distinctly Japanese mix of schoolgirl J-pop and metal — was interviewed at the U.K. edition of the Sonisphere festival, which is being held July 4-6 at Knebworth Park in Hertfordshire. You can now watch the footage below. "Our goal is to start a new genre of metal called Kawaii Metal [Cute Metal]," BABYMETAL said. "We are the only band making music in this genre right now and we want this genre to be accepted." BABYMETAL kicked off its world tour with a headlining show on July 1 at La Cigale in Paris, France. The band will support pop superstar Lady Gaga on five shows in July and August: Jul. 30 - Phoenix, AZ @ US Airways Arena Aug. 01 - Las Vegas, NV @ MGM Grand Garden Arena Aug. 02 - Stateline, NV @ Harveys Lake Tahoe Aug. 04 - Salt Lake City, UT @ Energy Solutions Arena Aug. 06 - Denver, CO @ Pepsi Center BABYMETAL will also play a headlining show at the Fonda Theater in Los Angeles on July 27. BABYMETAL became the youngest artists to ever appear at Tokyo Nippon Budokan when they took the stage at the famed venue on March 1 and March 2. Sayuri Iwai, previous holder of the title, made her Budokan debut at 15 years old and one month. She was usurped by Suzuka Nakamoto (16), Moa Kikuchi (14) and Yui Mizono (14), who hold a mean age of 14.6 years. BABYMETAL released its debut album on February 26 via Toy's Factory. The effort was made available in regular and limited editions. The CD includes five of BABYMETAL's singles that were released in 2011 - 2013, from "Doki Doki Morning" (digital single) to "Megitsune", their B-sides and three new songs. "Babymetal" made it to No 3 on iTunes' U.S. rock chart and was in the Top 10 in six other countries, including the U.K. The band's video for the song "Gimme Chocolate" has received nearly 10 million views on YouTube, and BABYMETAL was featured on the cover of the U.K. weekly rock magazine Kerrang! The band's first major single, "Ijime, Dame, Zettai", sold 19,000 copies in its first week and debuted at No. 6 in the Japanese Orion weekly singles chart. BABYMETAL released its first-ever concert Blu-ray, "Live ～Legend I, D, Z Apocalypse～", on November 20, 2013 (the limited-edition DVD box was issued on October 19). The set contains footage of the band's performances at Shibuya O-East (October 2012), Akasaka Blitz (December 2012) and Zepp Tokyo (February 2013). BABYMETAL last year embarked on the "Death Match Tour 2013" and was accompanied by a "full metal band." In the spring of 2013, Suzuka Nakamoto graduated from junior high school and therefore had to "graduate" from the group SAKURA GAKUIN (which consists of girls of up to junior high). However, it was decided by the management that BABYMETAL would not dissolve and would continue their activities as a band. BABYMETAL is: Su-Metal - Vocals and Dance Moametal - Screamer and Dance Yuimetal - Screamer and Dance TeamRock interview: Sonisphere interview:
04 min read

TRIVIUM’s COREY BEAULIEU Says Split With Drummer NICK AUGUSTO ‘Needed To Happen’

Manos Spanos
Impact metal channel conducted an interview with guitarist Corey Beaulieu of Florida metallers TRIVIUM at before the band's June 17 concert in Dublin, Ireland. You can now watch the chat below. A couple of excerpts from the interview follow (transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): On the abrupt mid-tour split with drummer Nick Augusto in May due to personal differences and addition of the band's drum tech, Mat Madiro, as Nick's replacement: Corey: "It just wasn't working out and we just felt it was time to… At that time, it was best to go our separate ways instead of trying to keep going on and then something happening and having an effect on shows or anything like that. [The split] was very calm and chill, but it just needed to happen. Sometimes, after awhile, things just aren't going the way you kind of hope for and you've gotta make a switch. It's a pain in the ass to switch members and get someone up to speed. But Mat's been doing great. He came into the role and he's been doing a great job playing the songs and playing the shows. It was pretty smooth considering the circumstances — being in the middle of a tour and having to get a new drummer up to speed in 24 hours. But it was just something we had to do just to make sure that, moving forward, everything was tip top, 100 percent ready to roll." On whether Mat is a permanent replacement for Nick: Corey: "He's drumming for us for the foreseeable future, for the rest of the album cycle, which goes up 'till about December. And then we're just gonna see where we're at. We're not gonna make any quick decisions; we're just gonna let him get comfortable. He's only played about 20 shows with us, and before playing with us, he never really had played in front of people before. So we're just gonna let him ease into it, get comfortable playing the songs and knowing them, get comfortable playing shows, and then we're gonna see what happens. He's still… he plays a show and he's still part of the crew, 'cause he was the drum tech and he's teching himself, so he's going between both sides. Everything's been going great, the shows have been awesome, he's been playing great, so we're gonna leave it like that until we finish up all the shows we have booked and we're gonna see where it goes from there. We're gonna record a new record, and we'll see if he's the guy. It could possibly be him; you never know. [That decision will be made] months and months away from now. We're just taking it easy and not making any quick decisions and [taking chances on it] not being 100 percent down the road. That is the right thing to do. So we're keeping it fair for everybody and not leading anyone on. Playing shows and having fun is pretty much what we're just having it be for now." On TRIVIUM's plans for after this summer's Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem Festival: Corey: "We'll take a break for a while, have a couple of months off. Then we've got Knotfest in Japa
05 min read

LADY GAGA Mistakenly Posts METALLICA Concert Photo Claiming It Was Taken At Her Show

Manos Spanos
According to Mediaite, pop superstar Lady Gaga "mistakenly" posted a photo of the crowd from METALLICA's concert at Quebec, Canada's Festival D'été from 2011 claiming the picture depicted the audience that attended her July 4 performance at the same festival and venue. Lady Gaga's appearance at Festival D'été reportedly drew around 90,000 people, roughly 40,000 less than the 130,000 attendees that showed up for METALLICA's gig at the same event three years earlier. On Saturday, Lady Gaga, or whoever manages her social media accounts, posted a picture on Instagram of what was supposed to show the huge crowd of people that were present for her outdoor concert in Quebec. "Those little dots are fans, and that's our stage and lights beaming from the center," the accompanying caption read. "Unreal 90,000 ppl showed up! What a magical night #artraveQuebec" After various blogs pointed out the mistake, the singer quickly corrected the error by taking to Twitter and posting actual photos from her show, insisting that she "was not trying to fool anyone." Inexplicably, she then used the opportunity to take a cheap shot at her rival Madonna, who famously criticized her in 2012 for the similarities between Gaga's track "Born This Way" and Madonna's own hit "Express Yourself". "Maybe the Madonna fans on your site can use a microscope to count the fans," Gaga tweeted in response to the celebrity gossip site Oh No They Didn't.
01 min read

SLIPKNOT To Headline U.S. KNOTFEST Featuring DANZIG, FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH, VOLBEAT, Others

Manos Spanos
The second installment of SLIPKNOT's Knotfest will be held on October 24-26 in San Bernardino, California. The Iowa-based band will headline two days (Friday and Saturday) of the event, playing a different set each night, with more than two dozen other acts rounding out the rest of the the three-day bill. The Friday-night festivities will serve as a pre-party bash for fans who purchase VIP or camping packages. Fans who purchase tickets to Knotfest will receive a digital copy of SLIPKNOT's new album when it's eventually released. As previously reported, 2014 will also see the debut of Knotfest Japan. Set for November 15 and November 16 at Makuhari Messe in Tokyo, Knotfest Japan will feature SLIPKNOT who performed at last year's Ozzfest Japan, which drew capacity crowds and wide critical acclaim. The two-day music festival, headlined by SLIPKNOT on both days, will feature a mix of more than 20 international and Japanese bands. "Knotfest is a chance for SLIPKNOT to bring the sensory-overload of a wild European festival — and now we're coming for you, California," says SLIPKNOT percussionist Shawn "Clown" Crahan. "Playing two different sets over two nights at one location is a new experience in the history of this band. This year's Knotfests in the U.S. and Japan are going to be on another level." Early-bird discounted tickets, as well as camping packages, for Knotfest at the San Manuel Amphitheater & Campgrounds in San Bernardino go on sale Monday, July 7, at 8 a.m. PT / 11 a.m. ET, with VIP packages available starting Wednesday, July 9. Knotfest in San Bernardino will feature performances by the following artists: SLIPKNOT DANZIG FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH VOLBEAT KILLSWITCH ENGAGE ANTHRAX OF MICE & MEN BLACK LABEL SOCIETY TECH N9NE TESTAMENT IN THIS MOMENT ATREYU HATEBREED HELLYEAH THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA CARCASS SUICIDE SILENCE DEVILDRIVER WHITECHAPEL THE FACELESS THE BLACK DAHLIA MURDER MAXIMUM THE HORMONE UPON A BURNING BODY BUTCHER BABIES MISS MAY I VEIL OF MAYA ONE OK ROCK KING 810 ANTI MORTEM MAN WITH A MISSION NOTHING MORE CHELSEA GRIN ALTERBEAST
02 min read

Video: FAITH NO MORE Performs Two New Songs At Poland’s OPEN’ER FESTIVAL

Manos Spanos
Fan-filmed video footage of the reactivated influential alt-metal act FAITH NO MORE performing what are believed to be two brand new songs — tentatively titled "Leader Of Men" and "Motherfucker" — on July 5 at the Open'er Festival in Gdynia, Poland can be seen below. FAITH NO MORE recently hinted at the possibility of new music 17 years after the release of the band's last LP, "Album Of The Year". The group, which made a comeback in June 2009 with a headlining performance at the Brixton Academy in London, England and has played sporadic shows for the past few years, launched a new Twitter account and one of the first posts was as follows: "The reunion thing was fun, but now it's time to get a little creative."
01 min read

Manos Spanos

Manos Spanos (Metalpaths' co-editor-in-chief), eight years in this site but still can't be characterised as a metalhead.