During a recent interview with The Times, Queen’s Brian May ruled out the possibility of future tours. The guitarist retired from the road 18 months ago.
May said the following:
“I made a decision 18 months ago that I didn’t want to tour again. A close family friend died when we were in the States, so I said to my tour manager, ‘I’ll just nip home for a few days and come back.’ She looked me in the eyes and said, ‘You know you can’t do that.’
I love to play, I love to travel, but the trade-off is sacrificing your freedom. I have a wife, grandchildren and a lot of astrophysics I want to do, so I’m thinking maybe 50 years is enough.”
He also added:
“We do want to do something fairly revolutionary. Not as ABBA did [with digital avatars], but along those lines. … Last year I went to the Sphere [in Las Vegas], my juices started flowing and I sketched out a whole Queen show. I think an immersive experience is still on the cards and it could conquer time and space, but currently you can’t make it without A.I. [artificial intelligence] and I have serious misgivings about that. … Data centers are a massive evil and have to be fought.”
Time for the next edition of Metal Anarchy’s “new music showcase,” the feature where I introduce you to artists that readers of this site may find interesting. This time I have a Q&A with Scandal Tree.
METAL ANARCHY: Tell me a little about your band:
SCANDAL TREE: Scandal Tree was formed by founding member and drummer Dano aka Rip in 2019. Since this time it has morphed through several line up changes but has kept to its original idea of not confining ourselves to a specific genre or sound. We are a collective of different musical tastes, backgrounds, experience and ideas which makes our writing process somewhat exciting, unpredictable and the end results pleasantly surprising!
METAL ANARCHY: Who are your main influences?
SCANDAL TREE: As mentioned before we all come from a varied background of musical influences.
For myself I (Dano) love the 90s Grunge, Hard Rock sounds into the Alternative genre of the 2000s, but my main influences had been GNR, Alice in Chains, Soundgarden and INXS.
Grant would say AC/DC and that he was heavily influenced by their “Powerage” album.
Joe would say the Models a post Punk/New Wave band from Australia with specific reference to their album “The Pleasure Of Your Company.” They have a New Romantic cool and a toughness in their sound that could only come from Aussie music. He also has huge respect for The Police and many others… Joe is a font of knowledge about some of the older styles of music embedded in grass roots Blues Rock and other eclectic musical movements over the years.
Peter would look towards an act like The Living End from Australia but he also loves old school Van Halen from the David Lee Roth days.
Huck would say Cold Chisel in particular their “Circus Animals” album but he also loves bands like Avatar that bring an element of theatre to their performances.
SCANDAL TREE: What is your latest release and why should readers of this site check it out?
METAL ANARCHY: We released our debut album, “Never Look a Gift Foot in the Mouth” along with “Tooth Fairy,” “Ava Don’t Cry,” “Skin in the Game” and “Twenty-O-Six” all with weird,trippy mind provoking, and emotional vid clips.
Readers should take a listen to our songs because they tell stories against a back drop of musical compositions that are dictated to only by these stories rather than a specific genre or fitting a song idea that’s round into a square hole.
We let the story guide us and allow our sense of musical knowledge to show us the way. Each song takes you down a path of discovery in amongst a backdrop of sinister, dark, sometimes cryptic and disturbing themes around addiction, lust, adultery, financial hardship, political turmoil, murder & mental derangement and the list goes on…
Our songs are guaranteed to drag your listeners in and get them hooked. They’ll be singing “Yum Yum Yum Yummio” and “It Don’t Seem Like” all on a subconscious level without much thought or control it’s just that catchy!
METAL ANARCHY: What can people expect when they go to your live shows?
SCANDAL TREE: Possibly some costuming, a wardrobe malfunction…. Maybe some crazy antics from our frontman Huck and his sidekick Joe the bassist who takes up the persona of a mischievous kid brother. Mostly fans get an authentically genuine, engaging, and high energy show that can have one on a roller coaster ride of feelings. It’s just a good time and about having fun!
METAL ANARCHY: Where do you see your band heading in 5 years?
SCANDAL TREE: That’s a tough one! Hopefully we’re all still alive and writing; & enjoying the creation of music. I don’t think you could ask for any more than that as anything else is a pipe dream. It’s all for nothing regardless if you don’t have the passion.
So in 5 years time I’d (Dano) say keeping the passion alive. On a grander scale it’d be nice in under 5 years that people discovered our music and propelled us to the big stage and global tours to bring people the energy and emotion of our music in a live setting.
Time for the next edition of Metal Anarchy’s “new music showcase,” the feature where I introduce you to artists that readers of this site may find interesting. This time I have a Q&A with L.O.C.
METAL ANARCHY: Tell me a little about your band:
L.O.C.: We are groove metal titans, L.O.C. We hail from East Yorkshire in the UK. We are Adam Towse (Vocals, Guitar), Will Watson (Lead Guitar), Dave Worth (Bass, Backing Vocals) and Mark Cooper (Drums). L.O.C was formed in early 2025 by Adam and by November 2025 full line-up was complete and the beast that is L.O.C was unleashed on the world!
METAL ANARCHY: Who are your main influences?
L.O.C.: We are influenced by a variety of artists ranging from Metallica and Black Sabbath through to Lamb Of God and Sepultura. We love anything heavy that has great riffs. I think we tend to radiate to a more old school style of metal. As a band though we just do our own thing, we just play and see what comes out. Its normally pretty heavy and pretty awesome.
METAL ANARCHY: What is your latest release and why should readers of this site check it out?
L.O.C.: Our latest release is our single, “Dragging Me Down.” It’s a monumental sledgehammer of a track with everything you could want including a break neck heavy break down and some fast heavy aggression. If you like it riff laden and drop tuned you’ll love this one!
METAL ANARCHY: What can people expect when they go to your live shows?
L.O.C.: Energy and excitement. The live show is where we really shine as we love performing. We don’t mess around. You will get some ball to the wall, no bullshit, heavy metal performed by people who love what they do. What more could you want?
METAL ANARCHY: Where do you see your band heading in 5 years?
L.O.C.: We have a huge belief in L.O.C and we plan to take it all the way. In 5 years L.O.C will be a household name on the metal scene. We look forward to being on those big stages like Bloodstock and Download and if you don’t know who L.O.C are already, you soon will!
Candlemass recently completed their Australian tour with Felipe Plaza Kutzbach (Deströyer 666, etc.) on vocals. The singer was filling in for Johan Längqvist, who was recently hospitalized. Fan-filmed footage from the Australian shows can be found below:
Ice Nine Kills have revealed more details for their “A Very Vicious Christmas” EP. That effort will receive a digital release on November 9 and it will feature the music the band recorded for the “Terrifier” Terror Tram at Universal’s Halloween Horror Nights.
“A Very Vicious Christmas” Track Listing:
01. “Carol of the Bells”
02. “Jingle Bells”
03. “We Wish You A Merry Christmas”
04. “O Christmas Tree”
05. “Joy to the World”
06. “The Twelve Days of Christmas”
07. “Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairies” (Full Band Version)
08. “Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairies” (Orchestral Version)
Frontman Spencer Charnas commented:
“The Ice Nine Kills ‘A Very Vicious Christmas‘ EP is our early holiday gift to you all. When tasked with creating a musical accompaniment for Art The Clown‘s assault on the ‘Terror Tram‘, we immediately understood the assignment. Art loves Christmas. Who better to distastefully dismember some Christmas classics than Ice Nine Kills?
With lyrics like ‘oh what fun it is to die in a one hearse open slay’ and ‘he’ll grind your limbs like sausage meat,’ we weren’t sure we’d find a children’s choir whose parents would approve, but thankfully the spirit of the season prevailed.
We’re forever honored that ‘Terrifier‘ writer/director Damien Leone, producer Phil Falcone and team invited us into their sandbox of bloodshed.
Halloween Horror Nights is one of our favorite destinations, and this year it’s sounding even more festive.”
During Soulfly’s October 4 set at the Aftershock festival in Sacramento, CA, the band were joined onstage Jakobe Moreno for a performance of “Pain.” You can see some fan-filmed footage of that below. Notably, Jakobe’s father, Chino Moreno (Deftones, etc.), is featured on the studio version of the track.
TesseracT have postponed their UK/German tour. The shows will now take place in March 2027.
The band commented:
“To our fans, we need to postpone the upcoming tour of the UK and Germany.
To everyone who has already spent money on travel and accommodation, we’re incredibly sorry. We know this affects your plans too, and we don’t take that lightly.
Any existing tickets will remain valid for the new dates in March 2027.
This is a difficult decision, but some important elements of our plans have changed, and we’ve decided it’s better to take a little more time to get everything lined up properly rather than rush ahead with something that isn’t quite where we want it to be.
We’re already working on the next steps and have plenty planned for the months ahead. We’ll have more to share with you soon. Thank you for sticking with us. We can’t wait to see you in March.”
Tour Dates:
03/11 Manchester, UK – O2 Ritz
03/13 London, UK – O2 Academy Brixton
03/15 Cologne, GER – Die Kantine
03/16 Frankfurt, GER – Batschkhapp
03/18 Hamburg, GER – Markthalle
03/19 Leipzig, GER – Taubchenthal
Sepultura will be hosting a “Last Ceremony” event at Cine Joia in São Paulo, Brazil on November 5. Fans can find tickets HERE. As previously reported, the band’s final show will take place at Suhai Music Hall in São Paulo, Brazil on November 7.
The lineup has been revealed for the 2027 Primavera Sound festival. The event will take place at Parc del Forum in Barcelona, Spain on June 2-6 and it will feature Hayley Williams, Phoebe Bridgers, Fontaines D.C., Turnstile, King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard, Angine de Poitrine, Converge, Castle Rat, Full Of Hell, Jesu, Prostitute, and more.
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