An update from Motley Crue bassist Nikki Sixx after his cryptic social posts earlier in the week. Apparently Nikki is doing an animation project and yes, there is a music component. Plus Cinderella's Fred Coury is involved too? Sign me up. The music that comes from this project just might be epic.
In my fever dream, the animation is all about an 80s Sunset Strip Glam band and all the members just happen to be... cats. I guess we will see, but I sure would like to see a feline version of Vince Neil. Just saying.
Guitarist Don Felder, once of the Eagles, has a new solo album out today called The Vault - Fifty Years of Music. It is on Frontiers.
The new album is a collection of new versions of demoed songs recorded over the past 50 years. So this is new material for all of us and reworks for Felder himself. The guitarist says he didn't remember a lot of the demos which makes sense considering some of them he hasn't heard since the 1970s.
The album isn't all demos. There are some re-recordings of hit songs here too. There are some Eagles nuts that read this site so I'm sure they've already pre-ordered before today. You can buy The Vault now.
Singer and guitarist Jerry Cantrell of Alice in Chains fame teamed up with bassist Duff McKagan of Guns n' Roses for a new song called "I Want Blood." The song is off the Cantrell album of the same name. The album came out in October of 2024, so I am going to guess this will be the last "single" from it, but who knows. I think it is pretty catchy and nicely heavy. There's that Glam influence mixed with true metal, which I love.
You might recall Cantrell and McKagan recorded together previously for Duff's solo album called Lighthouse.
Another blurring of genre lines for sure. What do you think?
Hard to believe, but ShipRocked will turn 16 next voyage. Headliners for the next cruise include Halestorm, Motionless in White and Knocked Loose. This lineup is right up my metalcore alley, but I know the Glam husband will want to pass. Plus we have a cruise credit on another line we have to use by next year or forefit, so that will happen. There's only so much money and vacation days to go around (sadly).
Ship sails January 25-31. Click to the post to learn more and to book.
What do you think Nikki Sixx has up his sleeve now? New Motley Crue music? New SIXX:AM music? Another book soundtrack? A full tour announcement for after the (postponed) Las Vegas residency? Give me your guesses!
I don’t know what to make of Sleep Token. The band’s newest album, Even In Arcadia, is now the number one record on Billboard.
Even In Arcadia also just had the biggest streaming week ever for a hard rock album.
The band is played on satellite radio station Octane. And Turbo. And Liquid Metal. And probably Hits 1 or something because they don’t seem to fit any one genre. I suppose if I had to peg them, I would call them progressive metal… maybe. There’s elements of the Deftones for sure. And trap. And modern metalcore and I swear you can hear 80s glam guitar solos here and there too. Plus, crazy piano and horn sections that would fit right in on a classic Steely Dan album.
The most interesting thing about Sleep Token is their anonymity. The band came out in 2016 and have only done two interviews in all that time. The British act stays fully costumed (because that’s the hot thing now) and they never talk on stage. There’s an entire subreddit dedicated to figuring out the members of Sleep Token and all the puzzles and Easter eggs they drop. (It’s called r/SleepTokenTheory obviously). People on that sub think the singer is Leo Faulkner. Sleep Token says the singer is simply called Vessel. He’s the messenger to the ancient deity Sleep. Or something like that.
I literally always changed the channel when Octane played Sleep Token because I felt like the station was shoving the band down the throats of listeners. Like, Octane is for bands like Beartooth and Halestorm but eventually I relented and listened to “Emergence” when it came on one day. Then, with a heavy sigh I added Even In Arcadia to my Amazon music and I listened to the entire thing all the way through. I mean, if Sleep Token is going to be the biggest band in metal (or rock, or trap, or whatever), I decided I better know something about them. Turns out, I love the track “Emergence,” especially for those piano and sax solos.
Look, some of the lyrics on Even In Arcadia are straight cringe. I read someone else online describe them as “50 Shades of Grey meets a mosh pit” and that seems pretty accurate to me.
Even in Arcadia seems to be more evolved than Sleep Token’s earlier release. Some of their songs really are straight heavy so then I was like, “Oh, this is why all those different SiriusXM stations are playing the band.” No one knows who to claim them… so they all will. Maybe that’s the point: the political message of Sleep Token is that music (humanity?) shouldn’t be locked into one or two genres.
I will say that Roosevelt the cat seems to enjoy Arcadia well enough. He’s still definitely more into Steely Dan because that is his whole vibe. I put on classic Dan, especially something like “Chain Lightning” and the cat comes right into the room and sprawls out. When Sleep Token gets too heavy – or weird – he’s out, ears back. He’s uppity like that.
Here’s an older, heavier Sleep Token track called "The Summoning" from the album Take Me Back To Eden. The guitar solos and riffs here really are glam!
And “Emergence” from the latest album:
Be sure to let me know what your cat... or dog... or you think of Sleep Token.
John 5 released a new song the other day called "Fiend." The instrumental track features Kenny Aronoff on drums. The song is on John 5's upcoming solo album Ghost.
I especially like the dog's side eye at the end of the video.
Some folks in the YouTube comments note that "John 5 is underrated." I'm not exactly sure this is true. I think he's held in pretty high esteem among folks that know anything about the guitar world. Dude can shred, that's for sure.
Saturday, May 24, 2025 at 12:50PM