Soundwave

NEWSTED Pulls Out Of Australia’s SOUNDWAVE Festival?

Update: Australian touring mogul and Soundwave promoter AJ Maddah has posted a message on Twitter saying that he is "trying to find NEWSTED and figure out what is going on.' He added: "The band's equipment just arrived in Brisbane so not sure what's up." He also wrote: "I can't get hold of any of [Jason's] people. [I am] hoping that is because he is on the plane [on his way to Australia]!" NEWSTED — the new band featuring former METALLICA, VOIVOD and FLOTSAM AND JETSAM bassist Jason Newsted and STAIND guitarist Mike Mushok — has posted a message on Facebook earlier today indicating that it will no longer be coming to Australia for the Soundwave festival, which begins in just a few days' time. The very short and simple message, which has since been deleted, read as follows: "The NEWSTED Band will not be appearing or performing live in February or March 2014." NEWSTED's cancelation follows MEGADETH's withdrawal from Soundwave earlier this month after a disagreement between MEGADETH mainman Dave Mustaine and the Soundwave promoters over NEWSTED's appearance on MEGADETH's "off" dates during Soundwave. NEWSTED's debut album, "Heavy Metal Music", sold nearly 8,000 copies in the United States in its first week of release to land at position No. 40 on The Billboard 200 chart. The CD was made available on August 6, 2013 in North America via Chophouse Records/Collective Sounds and August 5, 2013 in Europe through Spinefarm Records. NEWSTED took part in last year's edition of Gigantour, the critically acclaimed package festival founded in 2005 by MEGADETH mainman Dave Mustaine. Also appearing on the bill were headliners MEGADETH, along with BLACK LABEL SOCIETY, DEVICE, HELLYEAH and DEATH DIVISION. newstedsoundwavetweetfeb18

WHITECHAPEL Pulls Out Of SOUNDWAVE Festival

Knoxville, Tennessee death metallers WHITECHAPEL have canceled their previously announced dates in New Zealand and Australia — including their participation in this year's Soundwave festival — due to the death of an immediate family member. The band apologizes to promoters and the fans for any inconvenience caused and asks for understanding at this time. The remastered version of WHITECHAPEL's debut album, "The Somatic Defilment", came out in April 2013. The band placed the CD in the capable hands of Audiohammer Studios producer Mark Lewis (THE BLACK DAHLIA MURDER, DEVILDRIVER) for a complete remix, along with a remaster by Alan Douches. The results are staggering and give "The Somatic Defilement" a modern luster up to the standards of the band's most recent recordings. WHITECHAPEL is currently on the road with GWAR, IRON REAGAN and A BAND OF ORCS. The self-titled album from WHITECHAPEL was released in June 2012 via Metal Blade Records. The CD was engineered and mixed by Mark Lewis, who also handled production duties alongside the band. The artwork was created by Aaron Marsh of Forefathers Group with art direction provided by WHITECHAPEL.

MEGADETH Pulls Out Of SOUNDWAVE Festival After DAVE MUSTAINE Fails To Get Apology From Promoter

MEGADETH has canceled its previously announced Australian tour dates after the promoter allegedly erroneously blamed the band for removing former METALLICA bassist Jason Newsted's new project, simply called NEWSTED, from the billing of MEGADETH's "off" dates during this year's Soundwave festival. A number of news outlets reported last week that NEWSTED had been taken off MEGADETH's side shows in Sydney and Melbourne while touring Australia on the annual Soundwave trek. The festival organizers claimed via Twitter that Jason Newsted's band was removed from the dates "at the request of MEGADETH." However, MEGADETH tour manager Jim Carroccio denied this, telling ABC New Radio: "[MEGADETH mainman] Dave Mustaine is not responsible for booting NEWSTED off [the Soundwave festival 'off' dates]. Dave did not put [Jason] on the bill and did not take him off the bill." He added: "Dave submitted a list of bands he was comfortable with and the promoter ignored the list. "Dave and Jason are friends [and] this has blown up into something silly." Earlier today (Sunday, February 9), Mustaine released the following statement via the official MEGADETH Facebook page: "Due to circumstances beyond its control, unfortunately, MEGADETH has to cancel their Australian dates. "MEGADETH's decision is unrelated to the fact that Jason Newsted is performing at Soundwave. Jason and I spoke recently and continue to be friends." Mustaine added in a separate posting an hour later: "All I asked for was an apology for blaming me for something I didn't do. I am still willing to play, but the promoter would rather not apologize and prefers to say I asked him to lie, which I didn't. "Am I the only one that sees how easy it is to fix this? "[Australian touring mogul and Soundwave promoter] AJ Maddah that I know is a wise and caring man, and I don't know what has happened to my old friend. "My bags are packed, Aussie fans." Maddah has since responded to Mustaine via the following series of tweets: "Dave, we have been friends for a long time and I love you. Your family is like my own. But the only people being punished here are the fans. "We took instructions from your representatives and we acted on those instructions, as we would with any other artist. "I realise that you fired your agent and manager and appointed new ones during the process… And that there may have been misunderstandings or miscommunications, but none of those were at our end. "Despite [all] of this, I sent you a statement regarding possible misunderstandings / miscommunications, apologising to fans, etc. … even though my people did everything by the book and correct protocol was undertaken getting approvals for supports. There are strings of emails supporting this, including ones forwarded with instructions to remove certain artists. "I am not sure where and how you believe you are owed an apology. And if you are, it should be from your own reps! "All you are doing by cancelling is punishing the fans who have had no part in any of this. "Your reps approved your supports and sent clear instructions. They even approved artwork and press release. "If you have a quarrel, or you were not consulted, then your issue is with your reps and not Australian reps or your old friend! "So here it is, Dave. I apologize for whatever slight you think I have done you. "So, does this mean tour is back on?"

Ex-SLAYER Fill-In Drummer: ‘It Was An Honor And Privilege To Be Part Of Their History Again’

Raquel Figlo of Heavy Metal Hill conducted an interview with drummerJon Dette (TESTAMENT, SLAYER, ANTHRAX, ANIMETAL USA) at Thomas Lang's Big Drum Bonanza, which was held July 3-7 at Drum Channel Studios in Oxnard, California. You can now watch the chat below. On doing double duty with SLAYER and ANTHRAX during this year's Soundwave festival in Australia: Dette: "Well, I had just gotten off tour [with ANTHRAX] before [the Soundwave] tour started, so I really familiar with… I had already been into their music, and just knowing it for so many years. And the same with the SLAYER thing. I had three days to rehearse with them before going to Australia to do that tour. But I had known the songs for years, and [since] I [previously] played with SLAYER back in the '90s, I was very familiar with playing those songs. And when I listened to them again, it was like riding a bike; it was like I'd never forgotten [how to play it]. Again, it just falls back to the fact that I'm such a fan that I listened to their music not just to try to learn the drumming; it was part of my daily [routine]… When I was listening to metal [most of the time], not even daily, but every hour; it was, like, non-stop. And those were the bands that I listened to:METALLICA, ANTHRAX, SLAYER, MEGADETH, TESTAMENT… So it's definitely helped as far as memory retention in learning the songs."