Tag Archives: new vocalist

Firewind Part Ways With Two Members, Announce New Singer

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Firewind have parted ways with guitarist/keyboardist Bob Katsionis and singer Henning Basse. With this news, the band have also revealed that Herbie Langhans will be serving as their new vocalist.

The group commented:

“Dear friends & supporters,

We’ve been pretty quiet about the new album but we’ll cut right to the chase.

After many years, Bob Katsionis is stepping down from the ongoing touring lifestyle and focus on his work as a producer / studio engineer as well as his own projects.

We’ve also parted ways with Henning Basse due to personal reasons that will prevent him from completing the upcoming album touring cycle and continuing with the band overall.

We thank them both for their time and contributions to Firewind. There’s absolutely no bad blood here, the guys are part of our legacy and we wish them best of luck for the future.

While this was a big challenge for us, it is a change that needed to happen in order for the band to continue. This is a rebirth of Firewind and a new chapter in our musical history.

At the same time we’d like to welcome new singer Herbie Langhans (Avantasia, x- Sinbreed).

Herbie is a hell of a singer and his powerful style breathes new life on our new material but also on our back catalogue.

He recently completed the vocals for our 9th studio album which is due later this year.

We’re very excited to finally reveal the upcoming album and share the new sounds with you! Stay tuned as more announcements coming real soon!”

Muldrotha Recruit New Vocalist Alex Hofmann (Ex-Fallujah), Premiere New Song “Lungs Of The Mother”

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Muldrotha, the band featuring Fallujah drummer Andrew Baird, The Zenith Passage guitarist Rob Maramonte, and Decrepit Birth bassist Sean Martinez, have recruited Alex Hofmann (ex-Fallujah) as their new vocalist. With this news, the group have also premiered a new song titled “Lungs Of The Mother.“ Hofmann commented:

“It had been over two and a half years since I’d been anywhere near a microphone when I got a text from Rob asking if i’d like to get back in the game. Getting into the studio and working with with Cody Fuentes at Rapture Recordings reminded me how much I still love singing death metal and how much fun I have doing it with friends Rob, Sean, and Andrew. ‘Lungs of the Mother’ is stripped down, focused, and relentless; a song channeling the rage over our impassivity, as mother earth is murdered in front of us.”

[via MetalSucks]

Ryan Shuck (Julien-K, Ex-Orgy) Plans To Stay In Adema

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It looks like Ryan Shuck (Julien-K, ex-Orgy, etc.) will continue to front Adema for the foreseeable future. During a recent interview with Michael Nagy of KJAG radio, the singer was asked if his addition to the band was permanent and he responded by saying he is “pretty dedicated” to the group and that he is already thinking about working on new music with them.

Shuck said the following about his status in the band:

“I think at this point, I’m pretty dedicated, yeah. I’m not here to do this tour and then, Hey, thanks.’ These guys wanna do it, I wanna do it, and I’m now really interested in the potential of what we can write together. Because I know these guys write great songs, and I’ve been immersing myself in their music. So, no, I’m not here for the short term; I’m here to do this with them.”

He also added the following about new music:

“We already have some clips I sent to these guys and [bassist Dave] DeRoo is, like, ‘What the fuck?’ [And I said] ‘No, no, no. I’m not done yet. It’s just an idea.’ He’s, like, ‘It’s fucking hooky.’ So I think it’s gonna be cool.

Now that I’m out here [on the road] with these guys, I feel better about just doing what I do… I feel like the way I can sing, it’s gonna work with them, and I’m stoked on it now. Now I’m getting a whole idea of where we can go melodically and sonically, and how heavy these guys can be, with the electronic elements in there, knowing what we can do with JULIEN-K… So, for me, I’m super excited, because I have these two outlets, which a lot of people don’t get. I get to do JULIEN-K as much as I fucking want, and I get to fucking open up another door and fucking punch people in the fucking face there. I love that — I love it.”

[via Blabbermouth]

Monuments Recruit Andy Cizek (Makari) As Their New Vocalist

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Monuments have officially recruited Andy Cizek (Makari) as their new vocalist. He will be taking over for Chris Barretto, who exited the band in July.

The group commented

“Ladies and Gentlemen,

Please open your arms and give your love, encouragement and support to welcome the newest member of the Monuments family. We’d officially like to welcome Andy Cizek as vocalist of Monuments.

It became immediately apparent that Andy would fit the band; not only as an incredible vocalist but also personally. We’ve already written new music with him, we are beyond exited for you guys to hear what we’ve been cookin’!

Secondly, please visit our new merchstore with new threads!

www.thisismonuments.co

It’s pretty common for band merch to be printed on the cheapest possible option, but from this day forth we have decided to print on the highest quality garments.

Stay tuned for new merch drops over the coming weeks as we have a lot coming up!

We’d like to give a big shout out to Alex Birks, Isidoro Acquaviva, Ali Richardson and everyone at Allotment Productions for their hard work in bringing new merch and the merch store to light!

\M/”

David Escamilla (Ex-Crown The Empire) Joins In Motive, Band Premieres “Subtle Mistakes” Music Video

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In Motive (Born Of Osiris, ex-City In The Sea) have welcomed David Escamilla (ex-Crown The Empire) to the band as a replacement for vocalist Devin Barrus. With this news, the band have also premiered a new video for their new song “Subtle Mistakes.“ Lee McKinney commented:

“We couldn’t be more excited to welcome Dave to the In Motive family. Although it’s been quiet, we’ve been working hard on making these positive changes, and wanted the finished product to be something we were proud of. We want to thank everyone that has followed the band for your patience lately, and hope you enjoy ‘Subtle Mistakes.’”

Kittie’s Morgan Lander Joins Karkaos

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Karkaos have recruited Kittie’s Morgan Lander as their new singer. She will be replacing Viky Boyer in the group.

Lander commented:

“Joining Karkaos has been a true honour for me. It feels so incredibly good to be back in the metal game after a number of years away, and I cannot wait to step on the stage once again with these amazing musicians.”

Guitarist Vincent Harnois added:

“We already knew how talented Morgan was when we began talking to her about joining the band. When she sent us her first demos, we realized that this was going to be something extremely special. She is an absolute pleasure to work with and she brings a whole new dimension to our songs. It is an honor to have her with us and we are thrilled to start the next chapter or our band together.”

In other news, the band have also been working on eight demos for their upcoming album at Silver Wings Studio in Montreal, QC.

Slaves Announce New Frontman, Premiere “Heavier” Music Video

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Slaves have welcomed Matt McAndrew to the band as their new frontman. The singer, who was a runner-up on season 7 of “The Voice”, is replacing Jonny Craig, who was kicked out of the group in January. With this news, Slaves have also premiered a new video for their new song “Heavier”:

McAndrew said the following about the new single:

“To me, ‘Heavier‘ is about being trapped in a thought loop of worry, paranoia, and ultimately shame. I have a hard time letting my demons go and when they start affecting relationships, I really feel down on myself. It’s like a physical weight. I never thought I’d be in another band.

After all, being solo offers complete artistic control and freedom. It’s only now that I’ve realized how lonely I’ve been by myself. Working with such a tight knit group is a blast, and meeting other bands that show such love for each other makes me feel accepted in a way that I haven’t experienced before.”

Drummer Zack Baker added:

“Our new single came together so quickly. We all collaborate extremely well with each other and we feel that is represented in this new track. The song itself has a dark lyrical vibe encompassing everything Slaves has been about since our debut. Having Matt around has been a great time; he meshed well with us from the first day we met him. His extensive song writing background as well as his all-around musical knowledge have been a huge asset in the studio. I know we’re all excited for this new chapter of Slaves.”

Furthermore, the band are also selling a new shirt in an effort to raise money for non-profit charities to help people that are battling addiction.

The Apocalypse Blues Revival (Godsmack) Reveal New Singer

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As previously reported, The Apocalypse Blues Revue, the blues band featuring Godsmack’s Shannon Larkin and Tony Rombola, recently confirmed that they will be continuing on with a new singer under the name The Apocalypse Blues Revival. Now, Larkin has issued a new statement to explain what happened with the group after former frontman Ray “Rafer John” Cerbone announced their apparent breakup. He also revealed that his drum tech Shane Hall will be serving as their new vocalist.

Larkin said the following:

“Hello family, friends, and fans of The Apocalypse!

It’s me, Shannon here. There’s been a lot of confusion over the fate of The Revue, and that’s partly my fault as I’ve been silent since Rafer’s announcement that the band was ending.

There’s no short way to explain this, but I’ll keep it as brief as possible.

By now, most of you know how the band started, but for those that don’t, Tony and I started jamming a blues riff. I heard him play guitar like I’d never even realized he could play (we had played together for 10 years by this point, but Godsmack is neither bluesy nor a band that features many lead guitar parts), and immediately I knew that the world needed to hear Tone play like this. And, I had a vision of the songs I wanted to write with him.

To save time and not bore you all (because there are indeed stories as to how and why Rafer and BassGod completed the line-up), we invited Ray Cerbone and Brian Carpenter into our vision. Now, a very important note here that is relevant to the present situation: when I started this with Tony, our dream was to be as traditional blues as possible, and have the band for our time off from Godsmack as a fun outlet to play blues bars. There was no intent to get signed or be successful…we just wanted to play locally, create cool songs, play a genre we can age gracefully in, and flex our blues muscles.

We played for over four years in bars across Florida as ‘Blue Cross’, getting together a couple times a week to write and demo songs, then go play em live.

All was well.

Then, Zito from (at the time) 99X called and said they needed an opener for the 99XFest for the main stage. But, to put us on he needed a track to play on the radio. By now, the hard rock style of Tony and I had bled into our idea of traditional blues in a natural way. So we picked our heaviest song (The Devil In Me), recorded it and gave it to Zito. Played the festival, all good.

On a whim, I sent the song over to my manager who took it to Provogue Records (a blues division of Mascot), and suddenly we were signed.

We put out the first record, toured as much as we could…which wasn’t much (Tony and I had our priority, Godsmack, which takes most of our time), but played some amazing shows with unbelievable heroes of ours (Robbie Krieger!! Kenny Wayne Shepherd!! plus some Blues Festivals, a live performance on Sirius XM, and yes, a couple club tours in a van too).

But, it didn’t sell that many copies. However, the people that got it (and all critics, every review) were super positive so we weren’t discouraged. On the other hand, to the record labels it is all about the business. Having signed for only one record with their option to do a second one, they needed to hear a new demo before signing us for a second release. We sent “What A Way To Go”, “Have You Heard The News”, and “Open Spaces”, which secured us the deal for the second record, “The Shape Of Blues to Come”.

Here is where it gets tricky: the record did a little better than the first one sales wise, but not enough for Provogue to continue with a third. And, my vision of traditional blues had changed drastically into trying to create a new sound that incorporated more of a classic rock feel, psychedelic even; garnishing the foundation of the band which was, is, and will always be BLUES, with a new element.

I think it’s evident from the first to the second record my path was changing. So with no record deal and no pressure from labels, Mgmt, etc… I wrote a bunch of new tunes with Tony and realized it was a different band, and I wanted a different approach and voice for the new material.

My time is limited with the juggernaut that is Godsmack rolling pretty constantly, so I didn’t fuck around. I talked to Bri and Tone and pitched the Revival idea, which they endorsed, called a meeting, and told Rafer. It fucking sucked. But he’s a pro, and a great man, so he didn’t punch me in the nose, and our friendship remains (I saw him this morning☀️).

As I told Rafer, the Revue isn’t done…I just need to get this new band fired up. And, when it’s right, we’ll get back together, write some traditional blues, play some shows for fun in FL…you know, like we did and enjoyed for years before we were sucked into the machine.

For those that question this change… I respond with it was my only choice to start a different band. I could’ve just fired Ray and remained The Revue with a new singer, but it would never be that band without Ray, and I want both worlds to co-exist. And, I got no rules. I love Ray’s voice and want to explore more writing with him, and it would be a shame to stop performing those records live…but that’ll be down the road a bit. So, I created some confusion. But I did it…so blame me. In the meantime if you’re jonesin’ for some Rafer, he has just released his first solo work, entitled How Much Time, under Ray Cerbone (available on iTunes). I have listened to this front to back several times now, and it’s an intimate portrait of a great singer/songwriter that has produced a gem of a set of songs that keeps you interested, even if Americana isn’t your style or favorite genre.

OK! The singer of my new band, The Apocalypse Blues Revival, is Shane “babyBlue” Hall. His previous band was also with Tony and I and it was a FUNK band! We did it for fun for many years, recording over 30 songs together (never released one song or did one show!). We called ourselves FunkyAntz; we only stopped because Shane lives in Cali, and our bassist Chris lives in MA, and we just couldn’t line up our schedules in life to continue as a band. Someday…? Oh, and Shane is also one of my best and most trusted friends, has been my drum tech for the most part of the last 20 years of my life, and has a wonderful, versatile voice; he loves and grew up on all the same music as me, and has a style and flair that is undeniable.

Tony and Brian also adore Shane as a singer, but just as important, as a human.

Thanks for your patience, and I hope it makes a little more sense now why I did what I did, as selfish as it may seem. I got music, I gotta get it out there, and it has to be perfect for me at the moment I’m inspired.

All I can promise you all, is to try to be unique and original with experimentation in this genre, THE BLUES, in hopes of turning on younger generations to it, which in turn will lead them back in time to the originators to discover for themselves the true American music, and the forefather of RocknRoll.

NEW SONG AND WEBSITE AND PICTURES WILL BE UP IN THE NEXT WEEK!!!

I will put up an exact day prior to release when I know (still getting it all together), but the song is recorded, the pics are taken, and Tony, Brian, Shane, and myself hope that you all love it as much as we do!!!

For those that made it this far in this mini-novel, thank you💙 The mission is still on…

Shannon Apocalypse
July 4th🇺🇸
Las Vegas, Nevada”

Adema Officially Recruit Ryan Shuck (Julien-K, Ex-Orgy)

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As previously rumored, Adema have parted ways with singer Marky Chavez and have since recruited Ryan Shuck (Julien-K, ex-Orgy, etc.) as his replacement. Shuck recently discussed his new role with Loudwire saying he will join the group for “the rest of this year and possibly more.”

Shuck said the following:

“I’ll just cut to the chase. I’m going to assume the frontman / lead singer position with my very good friends in Adema this fall on a major tour and a couple more one-offs toward the end of the year. So basically I agreed to be their singer for the rest of this year and possibly more because we seem to be having a lot of fun doing it.”

Despite this, Shuck also confirmed that he will still be working on Julien-K:

“I’m not quitting Julien-K at all. In fact, we have a new album coming out called Harmonic Disruptor that is really, really exciting and really, really good, but we don’t have a tour in the fall so this all kind of lined up.”

He also had the following to say about Chavez’s exit:

“Well, if you read the headlines, it says Chavez split with the band, again, but the reality of it is that he’s never really been deeply engaged with the band for at least ten years. As you know, there have been tours booked and the band has gone out as a three piece or four piece and [Tim] Fluckey ends up singing, but the reason for this is that Marky just doesn’t really seem to want to do Adema.

Recently I’d heard that Mike [Ransom] had been sober for seven or eight years and that was really great news because substance abuse has been a really big problem with some of the guys in this band. Dave DeRoo is a very old friend of mine. My first band, Sexart, was with Dave DeRoo and Jonathan Davis in Bakersfield, California, so we go back very, very far. But we’ve maintained our friendship, and Dave has also been sober for a year plus.

But he and Marky had rekindled their friendship and moved in together and I thought this was all very, very exciting. So they played a few shows, I went and watched them and I was so happy that I started jumping in and calling all the guys and finding out what their situation was. I asked if everyone had their substance issues under control, and it sounded like they were enjoying playing music again. I reached out to see if maybe they wanted to do a tour with Julien-K.

And in Julien-K, I kind of manage the band, but when I saw Adema play I got so excited I just started calling all of them and having deep conversations with the guys. I found out that Marky was on the straight and narrow and doing really well, and he seemed to be back into the music, which was really good because I know that he wasn’t for the longest time. But when I saw them play, I was so excited that I started working on putting the band back together. I literally started acting like a manager, and I really started to try to drill into why can’t you guys go out and tour? There are tour offers coming in all the time and people love this band.”

He continued:

“At the end of the day, after some lengthy and very friendly conversations with Marky, I was simply told point blank by Mark that he does not want to play this music, period. So I gave up. I respect that. I was totally looking forward to going out and playing with them and I thought we had a chance to go out and not only make some money but bring this music to the better part of a million fans out there that really love the band. But Mark was just like, “I’m not really into singing these songs anymore.” I don’t want to convince someone to do something they don’t want to do. That’s not what I do.

Needless to say, the band was again in a state of devastation. The band was not happy and I honestly thought it was just over. But we continued talking and being friends and out of nowhere, a month and a half ago, Kris Kohls gave me a call and said, “Hey man, we got offered another big tour, and we really want to do this the right way. We don’t want to go out as a three-piece or have Fluckey have to do the whole set. We want to have a frontman.” When I asked if they would be willing to be authentic with the full rest of the band, he said yeah, and then he asked me if I’d come sing for them.

I just kind of stopped for a second, but the instant feeling in my stomach was like, “Oh, that’d be fun.” But because I’m such an originalist, I never really imagined singing for another band where I’m not the primary writer. But it was fun because I’ve been friends with these guys for 25 fucking years or more. So it didn’t really feel weird. It felt like my old friends or part of my old band asked me to come help them out.

In some ways I look at this like, “What would Chester [Bennington] have done?,” especially if it was a group of his 25-year friends who needed some help and needed someone incredible to go sing for them. I know multiple occasions where Chester had jumped right in and done it.

He sang for me in Julien-K during Projekt Revolution when I had to fly home to be the best man at my brother’s wedding. He put on Julien-K clothes and went out and sang the entire set for me. That’s the friend and musician and singer that I want to be for my friends.

That sits heavy with me, especially when you got some guys that reach out. I know the feeling of wanting to go do your music so badly, but you’re basically getting blocked because you’ve got a member of the band who doesn’t want to do it.

So I talked to [Julien-K’s] Amir [Derakh] and Amir asked if I wanted to do it and told me he’d totally support me if I wanted to. And I was like, “Yeah, to me this is like Family Values all over again. This is the original gang of friends getting together and doing the right thing.” I just felt that I could get together with these guys onstage and do the music justice, and I can be consistent and give the band something they haven’t really had in a long time and that’s the COMPLETE band, with a great singer with dates that they can count on.”

Shuck also seemed to hint that Adema may release new music and went on to discuss how his addition affected the group:

“One thing I asked and this has been awesome. But I said, “Look, you guys used to have samples and there’s keyboards and stuff in your music on the album. I remember back in the Projekt Revolution days when you guys were blowing up, you guys had all that.” They said, “Yeah, but we haven’t used that in a long time.” And I said, “Well, we’ve gotta use all of it. If I’m going to do this with you guys, it’s going to be the Adema that everyone remembers. We’re gonna go back to the roots, back to the core, and we’re going to sound fucking amazing.”

We’re going to use all the masters of all the sounds and we’re going to go back and make sure that this music sounds like the album. There’s nothing that’s going to be left out because these keyboard parts really take it to another level. It’s gotta be there. So they’re totally stoked and I can’t wait to get in there and do this.

We’ve had a couple of rehearsals and it turns out I can sing the songs great. I forget who said it, but it was like what if Dave Gahan and Trent Reznor fronted Adema? That’s perfect. This is cool. So we’ve been working and really having a great time together. Mike’s been having an awesome time sourcing all the original sounds that was just sitting in storage.”