Former KISS guitarist Bruce Kulick has revealed that he is recovering from “heart valve surgery.” He had the following to say about the operation:
“Heart valve replacement surgery was a success! On the road to recovery, taking it one step at a time. Grateful for my Heart Surgeon and his staff. And special thanks to Lisa for her love and support.”
He later added:
“Everybody!! I’m doing great!!! And this was NOT emergency surgery. An aortic birth defect caused a valve to become a danger. Thanks for your support!”
During their April 24 show at the Joshua Tree Retreat Center in Joshua Tree, CA, Queens Of The Stone Age were joined onstage by former bassist/vocalist Nick Oliveri for a performance of “Auto Pilot.” You can see fan-filmed footage of that below:
During a recent appearance on SiriusXM’s “Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk,” Godsmack’s Sully Erna discussed the possibility of new material from the band. According to him, “there’s probably gonna be some new music coming” with a different lineup.
Erna said the following when asked about previous comments in which he claimed “Lighting Up The Sky” would be their final album:
“I think some press misunderstood that. What I had said was, if I remember correctly — I don’t know; maybe I was a little foggy at the time — but I just said that I was pretty sure that this would be the last full body of work from GODSMACK, from the original members, that we wouldn’t be able to do this anymore because these guys [guitarist Tony Rombola and drummer Shannon Larkin] were gonna kind of take their final curtain call and bow out. And I knew that this was most likely gonna be the last full body of work from the original members. But now here we are. Me and [bassist] Robbie [Merrill] had a long talk. We were, like, ‘Well.’ We had a decision to make, and we said, ‘Well, we’ve still got some gas in the tank here. I don’t really wanna hang it up yet.’ And he’s, like, ‘Let’s go around.’ And so we brought in these new guys, and it’s sounding great. So we’re, like, yeah, there’s probably gonna be some new music coming. I mean, it may not hit the streets till early ’27, but we’re gonna do something, for sure. But it just won’t be with all the original members anymore.”
He continued when asked if he will keep making music whether it’s for Godsmack or something else:
“Yeah, for sure. I mean, I’ll always write music. Even if I don’t tour anymore, even if I never made another record again, I am always gonna write music. I may write and produce and arrange for other artists. I might just do stuff for solo, collabs, things like that. Music’s in my blood. I’m not giving up music. But there’ll be a time and place where I’ll just be, like, ‘Well, maybe it’s…’ And we’ll see how this goes. Listen, me and Robbie even said, hey, if we go out there and this just isn’t feeling good anymore because it’s not our brothers and it’s a bit foreign feeling, then… We made a decision, just like we did when we started this band, to say, ‘Hey, you know what?! We had a good run.’ Give each other a big hug. Neil Peart himself told me ‘nothing great lasts forever’. And that’s kind of how I feel. And so when that day comes, we’ll give each other a big hug and we’ll call it a good run and we’ll step away from it. But right now I don’t think that’s happening. This band sounds better than ever. We have two new guys that are breathing some new life into the energy in this band, and for sure some new music’s gonna come eventually. We’re gonna be doing a bunch of touring, and then we’ll see how it goes, how it feels.”
Erna also added the following about recruiting guitarist Sam Koltun and drummer Wade Murff:
“Sam’s on board now full-time, and he’s gonna be the new player from this point forward. And the drummer that we chose, his name is Wade Murff. He’s worked with DAUGHTRY and some other acts. A fairly under-the-radar kind of guy. A strong player. A great dude. Really good with attention to details, as Sam is.
I have complete confidence in this, although we start rehearsals next week. I’m just really confident that this is gonna be just as good, if not better than ever, because these guys came in with the right attitude. They honored the catalog, they honored the playing. They didn’t try to reinvent it. And as you know, a guitar can sound like a guitar, a drum can sound like a drum. Until you replace the vocalist, that’s when the sound really changes. So I really feel that the fans will be able to come and enjoy the music as they have always known it, because it won’t sound foreign to them, like there’s a new singer singing GODSMACK stuff. And plus their showmanship even elevates it a little bit more. I mean, Shannon’s hard to replace. He’s the GOAT [Greatest Of All Time]. If you see that dude play, he’s a tough cookie to replicate or replace live visually. But this guy, Wade, he’s strong. He’s got some great chops, and he’s really playing the stuff solid. I’m very happy to take them on tour and introduce them. And this is gonna start the next chapter in our life here, GODSMACK 2.0.”
[via Blabbermouth]
Metal Anarchy 
You must be logged in to post a comment.