Heavy Consequence
Frontman of Prominent Christian Rock Band: “I No Longer Believe in God”
Jonathan Steingard, the frontman of the successful Christian rock band Hawk Nelson, has declared in a lengthy Instagram post that he no longer believes in God. The singer-guitarist has been a member of Hawk Nelson since 2004, taking over lead vocals in 2012. The Canadian band has placed a number of LPs in the Top 10 of Billboard’s Top Christian Albums chart, amassing a large following along the way. In a caption accompanying his open letter, Steingard remarked, “I’ve been terrified to post this for a while – but I feel like it’s time for me to be honest. I hope this is encouraging to people who might feel the same but are as afraid to speak as I am. I want to be open. I want to be transparent with you all – and also open to having my heart changed in the future.” In the letter itself, Stei...
Minneapolis Ice Cream Truck Plays Extreme Metal, Serves No Ice Cream
I scream, you scream, we all scream for … extreme metal! An ice cream truck is making the rounds in northeast Minneapolis but all it’s serving up is heavy metal music. According to City Pages, area residents have noticed a black ice cream truck cruising through the streets while blaring out extreme metal music. Even though it also plays a more traditional ice-cream-truck jingle and appears to have images of various ice cream choices on the side of the truck, it never stops for treat-seeking kids with money in their hands. Turns out it’s the long-conceived brainchild of the driver, Matt Peterson, who purchased a rundown ice cream truck 10 years ago and tricked it out with heavy metal imagery. He calls the truck the Hell General, and there’s quite a backstory that goes along with the high-vo...
Sleigh Bells, High on Fire, Poison the Well Members Perform Guns N’ Roses’ “Rocket Queen”: Watch
Sleigh Bells singer Alexis Krauss has joined forces with members of High on Fire, Poison the Well, and more for a quarantine cover of the Guns N’ Roses classic “Rocket Queen”. It’s the latest installment of the “Bedroom Covers” series from the Two Minutes to Late Night YouTube channel. In addition to Krauss, the full lineup includes Two Minutes to Late Night host Jordan Olds (aka Gwarsenio Hall) on vocals and guitar; Cloak’s Billy C. Robinson on bass; High on Fire’s Chris Maggio on drums; and Poison the Well’s Ryan Primack on guitar. Olds handles lead vocals for the first part of the Appetite for Destruction song, with Krauss providing backup on the chorus. At the 4:15 mark, Krauss (sporting an Axl Rose-like bandana on her head) takes over lead vocals, shining in the spotlight as she ...
#MetallicaMondays: Watch Metallica’s 2014 “By Request” Peru Show
Metallica’s weekly concert-streaming series #MetallicaMondays continues with a March 2014 show from Lima, Peru, which took place as part of the band’s “By Request” tour. The outing allowed fans to help pick the set for each gig. The 2014 trek offered online song polls for each city, and the sets were determined by fan voting. While most of the 18-song setlist for the Lima show featured Metallica’s usual concert staples like “Master of Puppets” and “Enter Sandman”, there were a few surprises such “Fight Fire With Fire” from Ride the Lightning and the “Vote of the Day” selection “Hit the Lights” from the band’s 1983 debut, Kill ‘Em All. Last week, Metallica shared a show that took place in Chicago in August 1983, just a few weeks after they had released Kill ‘Em All. Overall, the #MetallicaM...
My Chemical Romance, The Darkness, Gogol Bordello Members and More Cover The Ramones for Charity: Watch
Members of My Chemical Romance, The Darkness, Gogol Bordello, and more have teamed up to cover the Ramones classic “I Believe in Miracles” to raise funds for COVID-19 relief efforts. The socially distant performance was organized by Gogol Bordello guitarist Boris Pelekh, and features his bandmate Eugene Hutz as one of the vocalists. Also singing are Justin Hawkins (The Darkness), Walter Schreifels (Quicksand), Tom Higgenson (Plain White T’s), Brett Anderson (The Donnas), and Frank Turner. The collective, dubbed #rockforhopeproject, is rounded out by Pelekh, guitarist Frank Iero (My Chemical Romance), drummer Michael Miley (Rival Sons), bassist Roy Mitchell-Cárdenas (MuteMath), and bassist Nathen Maxwell (Flogging Molly). Along with the video of the performance, which premiered today (May 2...
Mail Carrier Dresses Up as KISS’ Gene Simmons to Lift Spirits During Pandemic
A mail carrier in the UK has found a unique way to lift up the spirits of people on his route during the COVID-19 pandemic. As of late, Gary Underdown has been dressing up as Gene Simmons’ “Demon” persona in KISS, and he’s even caught the attention of Simmons himself. Underdown has donned the KISS makeup and wig at least four times while delivering packages and letters during his route on the Isle of Sheppey. A photo of the postman was shared on KISS’ Twitter account, and then retweeted by Simmons with the comment, “Wow.” The 32-year-old postal worker told Kent Online, “I have been a KISS fan since I came out of the womb,” adding that he first decided to sport the makeup on his route about a month ago and “got a good reaction.” He continued, “You get a few who are like, ‘Oh my God, that’s ...
System of Down, Faith No More, and Korn Announce Rescheduled Dates for Joint Shows
System of a Down (photo by Raymond Ahner), Faith No More (publicity), Korn (photo by Jon Hadusek) System of a Down, Faith No More, and Korn were set to join forces for a couple of the most anticipated concerts of the year, but were forced to postpone the shows due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, they’ve just announced rescheduled dates for the concerts. The shows would have taken place tonight (May 22nd) and tomorrow (May 23rd) at Banc of California Stadium in Los Angeles, but now they’ll happen on May 21st and May 22nd of 2021. Original support acts Helmet and Russian Circles will also be on board for the rescheduled concerts, billed as “Five Bands, Two Nights of Galactic Proportions.” A full statement from System of a Down on Instagram reads, “We’re excited to announce that the reschedule...
Faith No More’s Roddy Bottum Debuts Single “Daddy” from His Man on Man Project: Stream
Faith No More keyboardist/guitarist Roddy Bottum and his boyfriend, Joey Holman, have launched a new project called Man on Man, and they’ve just debuted their first single, “Daddy’”. Bottum and Holman describe the project as “gay lovers making gay music” on their Instagram page, and appear in tighty-whities in both the promotional photos and the music video for “Daddy”. Bottum told Rolling Stone, “There’s enough representation in the gay community of young, hairless pretty men. It feels good to represent a faction of our culture that isn’t squeaky and manicured.” He added, “Based on the ageist and homophobic responses posted in the comments section of a straight publication that ran our photo, I’m happy to be those faces on the queer map.” As for the song itself, the music leans more...
Billy Idol Joins Jimmy Fallon and The Roots for “Dancing With Myself” in Quarantine: Watch
When it comes to tunes that capture the vibe of social distancing, Billy Idol’s “Dancing With Myself” is one that immediately comes to mind. On Thursday night’s Tonight Show, Jimmy Fallon and The Roots performed the song with “at-home instruments,” and got the man himself to join them. While in isolation, Fallon and the members of The Roots have been tackling a number of songs with makeshift instruments from their respective homes, in the vein of their regular “Classroom Instruments” sessions. The “Dancing With Myself” performance started out with just Fallon and The Roots on the first verse and chorus, before Idol joined in for the rest of the song. Among the unique at-home instruments, The Roots’ Tariq “Black Thought” Trotter banged a spatula against a blender, while Questlove used a foo...
Guns N’ Roses Launch “Not in This Lifetime Selects” Concert Streaming Series: Watch
Having just postponed their summer North American tour due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Guns N’ Roses are offering an alternative “live experience” for fans. The band has launched a new streaming series, dubbed “Not in This Lifetime Selects”, showing pro-shot footage from their mega-successful tour. The “Not in This Lifetime Tour” kicked off in 2016, with Slash and Duff McKagan rejoining Axl Rose in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame band. Over a four-year period, the extensive trek has earned $563 million, making it one of the highest-grossing tours of all time. The streaming series starts Thursday (May 21st) with select highlights from the band’s October 29th, 2019 show at the Vivint Smart Home Arena in Salt Lake City, Utah. That gig saw GN’R play 25 songs, including seven from their iconic d...
DevilDriver Announce New Double Album, Unleash Single “Keep Away From Me”: Stream
DevilDriver have announced the release of a new album, Dealing With Demons I, due out this fall. The LP will be the first of a two-part double album, with the second one to follow at a later date. In advance of the release, the band has unveiled the single, “Keep Away From Me”. Aptly titled for the current times, “Keep Away from Me” has an anthemic quality as people social distance during the coronavirus pandemic. Serving as the album opener, the song touts a groove-laden, mathematic technicality and a passionate vocal delivery from frontman Dez Fafara. The video is rooted in the pandemic as well, featuring news footage with phrases like “censoring freedoms of speech” and “truth missing” flashing across the screen, a la The X-Files intro sequence. It’s an ominous way to begin the doub...
Death Angel Drummer Says He Met Satan and Morphed Into Jabba the Hutt-Like Monster During COVID-19 Coma
In a new interview, Death Angel drummer Will Carroll likened his recent COVID-19 coma to a trip through hell itself. Carroll was in a 12-day coma after contracting coronavirus during a European tour in March, an outing that led to numerous infections among the bill’s three Bay Area thrash bands — Death Angel, Testament, and Exodus — and their crew. But Carroll’s battle became especially dire, with doctors unsure if he would survive. The drummer told the San Francisco Chronicle that the experience felt like returning from hell, with “dreams of visiting the afterlife” where Satan, who appeared as a woman to Carroll, “punished him for the deadly sin of sloth, morphing him into a Jabba the Hutt-like-monster who vomited blood until he had a heart attack.” “I woke up on the hospital bed wi...
