The Week In Rock: March 30th – April 5th
3/31 Concert Executive Order Signed
President Donald Trump, with Kid Rock in attendance, signs an executive order that takes aim at ticket scalpers using “bots and other means to acquire large quantities of face-value tickets” and reselling them at “an enormous markup on the secondary market.”
4/1 Can Neil Young Return?
Canadian-born Neil Young, a Trump critic, is worried he could get barred from reentering the United States after he returns from his upcoming European tour this summer.
“I may be one of those returning to America who is barred or put in jail to sleep on a cement floor with an aluminum blanket.”
4/2 Godsmack Members Announce Their Departures
Former Godsmack drummer Shannon Larkin and guitarist Tony Rombola reveal that they quit the band last year because they “didn’t want to tour anymore.” The band corroborates the news in a Instagram statement saying the pair retired and left on good terms.
4/3 John Lydon Disses Old Band
Former Sex Pistols frontman John Lydon (Johnny Rotten) vows to “never” return to the band, calling his former bandmates as “woke” as they prepare to embark on their first North American tour in decades.
“They’ve killed the content, or done their best to, and turned the whole thing into a rubbish childishness and that’s unacceptable.” stated Lydon. “Sorry, I’m not going to give a helping hand to this any longer. As far as I am concerned, I’m the Pistols, and they’re not.”
4/4 “Master Of Puppets” Surpasses A Billion Streams
“We’re psyched to share that ‘Master Of Puppets’ has just made its way into Spotify’s Billions Club,” Metallica comments.
The title track from Metallica’s third album, released in ’86. joins the band’s “Nothing Else Matters” and “Enter Sandman” in the Billions Club.
4/4 Smith/Kotzen roll out “Black Light/White Noise”
The album by guitarists Adrian Smith (Iron Maiden) and Richie Kotzen (The Winery Dogs) features the lead single “White Noise.”
“The song is about the rise of social media, how people get addicted to it,” explained Smith.
For “Black Light” Smith wanted a song “inspired by some of my old Hard Rock or Blues (and then) go into a more progressive feel.”
4/4 L.A. Guns Present “Leopard Skin”
“The work ethic is yielding what it’s supposed to,” founder/guitarist Tracii Guns noted. “Fans stay excited, we stay excited, and we keep making records.”
It’s the band’s fifteenth album.
4/4 The Waterboys chronicle the “Life, Death And Dennis Hopper”
“The arc of his life was the story of our times,” shared The Waterboys frontman Mike Scott. “He was at the big bang of youth culture in Rebel Without A Cause with James Dean; and the beginnings of Pop Art with the young Andy Warhol.
The tribute to the trailblazing actor includes performances by Bruce Springsteen, Steve Earle and Fiona Apple.
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