MK ULTRA

In light of the fact that T. Rex has been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Rolan Bolan (son of Marc Bolan and singer Gloria Jones) has come forward with an official statement in this regard.

“It is truly executing for my father Marc Bolan and his band mates to be inducted into The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. It has taken some time, but his music has influenced musicians all around the world. From the powerful guitar riffs and mystical lyrics, their music embodied the rush of Beatle mania and the feeling to find the groove in your own beat. This will be a true honor and a chance to reach a new audience all around the world. Keep a little Marc in your heart,” says Rolan Bolan.

Just a few months ago, Bolan presented his own rendition of  ’20th Century Boy’ together with LA-based collective Beauty in Chaos and The Mission frontman Wayne Hussey, along with a fun-filled retro-inspired video, created by Industrialism Films and directed by Vicente Cordero.

This track is off the new Beauty in Chaos album ‘Beauty Re-Envisioned’. This rendition definitely sounds more like T. Rex than the industrial-fueled version featuring Ministry’s Al Jourgensen that appears on Beauty In Chaos’s debut ‘Finding Beauty in Chaos’.

Rolan Bolan explains his involvement in the project: “When Michael came to me about Beauty In Chaos and doing ‘20th Century Boy’ , I first thought ‘here we go again, another T. Rex cover, but once I heard the track and talked with him about the love and respect he has for my father’s music it just made sense.  It was great timing for me as I was just beginning to get back into making music and we just clicked in the studio.  My Dad was so influential to so many, and at times it’s been hard for me to understand what that really means.  I’m really proud of what we’ve done here and I believe he would be too.”

“Most definitely, Marc was a BIG reason not only why but how I play guitar. He was a brilliant performer and a underrated guitarist. I think a lot of times, the award show things get it wrong. I like to think the RRHOF finally got it right here. There are plenty of artists already inducted that Marc greatly influenced. I am trilled for Marc, the band and the Bolan family that are getting the deserved recognition. I feared it would just be an American popularity contest. For whatever reason, his popularity did not translated to the States. To hear someone think Power Station wrote ‘Get It On’ (Bang A Gong)’ is a crime,” says Michael Ciravolo.

“I know that would probably be no Bowie, Slade, and Mott The Hoople if not for Marc. This list is only the tip of the iceberg in my opinion. Getting to record ‘20th Century Boy’ with Marc’s son Rolan is certainly on my personal Top-10 great moments in my life. Having Rolan tell me he thought his dad would love the version and the video is still surreal. I was blessed to be one of the first people Rolan called to tell, so I knew for a few days prior to the public announcement.”

Beauty in Chaos’ also involves many music luminaries, including Simon Gallup (The Cure), Al Jourgensen (Ministry), Robin Zander (Cheap Trick), Pete Parada (The Offspring), dUg Pinnick (Kings X), ICE-T (Body Count), producer Tim Palmer, guitar icon Zakk Wylde, Ashton Nyte (The Awakening), Rolan Bolan, Kevin Haskins (Bauhaus, Love & Rockets), Michael Anthony (Van Halen), Michael Aston (Gene Loves Jezebel), Paul Wiley (Marilyn Manson), Michael Aston and Dirk Doucette (Gene Loves Jezebel), Pando (A Flock of Seagulls), Evi Vine, Johnny Indovina (Human Drama), Danny Lohner (Nine Inch Nails, Marilyn Manson), Betsy Martin (Caterwaul / Purr Machine), Kevin Kipnis (Purr Machine / Kommunity FK), Ummagma and KITTY LECTRO, among others.

‘Beauty Re-Envisioned’ is available on deluxe CD, limited-edition heavy-weight colored vinyl, and digitally. CDs and vinyl can be ordered directly from Beauty in Chaos. Apart from the 14 core tracks, orders placed via the website also come with 11 bonus remixes.

CREDITS

Recording Credits

Rolan Bolan: lead vocals
Wayne Hussey: harmony vocals and electric guitar
Michael Ciravolo: electric guitar
Andy Cousin: bass
Michael Rozon: drums
Zach Landreneau: piano
Calvin Schultz: saxophone
Additional backing vocals by Ashton Nyte and Angela Carole Brown
Recorded, mixed and produced by Michael Rozon

Video by Industrialism Films

Directed by Vicente Cordero
Filmed at Tiger Lab Studios, Van Nuys CA
Hair and Makeup by Nicole and Sophia Ciravolo
Staging by PrVideo by Industrialism Films
Dirop Heaven

“Stunning musical and, in particular, six-string intricacy that mixes Ciravolo’s love of rock, pop, post-punk, goth, new wave and other styles and wraps it all in layers of lush, ringing, occasionally grimy and often heavily effected guitars” – Guitar World

“Guitarist Michael Ciravolo assembled an all-star cast for his moody hard-hitting album… Intense” – Rolling Stone  

“Both records offer a rich sonic palette of unabashed gothic rock and post-punk romanticism, that reverberates through the varied inputs of a melange of musicians who are masters of their craft” – Post-Punk.com

“True evolution – just hits you like a sucker punch…. mesmerized and captivated” – Jammerzine

“A new gothic rock project… hauntingly heavy and beautiful” – LA Weekly

Keep up with Beauty in Chaos
Website | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | Store | Soundcloud | Bandcamp | iTunes | Spotify| Press contact

Keep up with Rolan Bolan
Facebook | Soundcloud | Twitter | Apple Music

GUNS N’ ROSES guitarist Slash was asked in a new interview with Guitar.com for an update on new music from the band. He responded: “There’s been no definitive answer on anything and I’ll just keep keep to that. Stuff is happening, but there are no specifics. More than anything, it’s because of the nature of the industry right now. It’s just like, how do you want to do this? I mean there’s material and there’s recording and there’s shit going on, but we’re not really sure what we’re doing with it right now.”

When the interviewer pointed out to Slash that the music industry in 2020 is a lot different to the last time he and GUNS made a record, the guitarist said: “Yeah. And there’s a handful people who said, ‘Yeah, make a record and go old school.’ And there’s a handful of people that are, like, ‘We don’t even know what buying a record is any more.'”

Ever since guitarist Slash, singer Axl Rose and bassist Duff McKagan reunited in 2016 as GUNS N’ ROSES, rumors have been circulating that new music from the band — the first to feature the three “classic-lineup” members since 1993 — was in the works.

Last September, Slash told SiriusXM’s “Trunk Nation” that writing new material for GUNS N’ ROSES was the “focus” for the coming months. Slash also talked about whether GUNS N’ ROSES fans can expect to see new music from the band in the form of standalone singles or as a full-length record. He explained: “I think at the end of the day, everybody wants to have a full album released. I don’t think that’s really changed all that much. But there’s a different way of putting stuff out initially nowadays more so than… I mean, there’s always been the single, but now you sort of look at that preliminary release a little bit differently now. All things considered, it’s like the Wild West out there; there is no formula for any of it. [Laughs] I haven’t seen any routine kind of thing that works. I mean, you can do any one of a million different things to releasing a record. But at the end of the day, I think that we will ultimately release a full album.”

GUNS N’ ROSES’ “Not In This Lifetime” tour, which began almost four years ago, recently became the No. 3 highest-grossing tour in the history of Billboard Boxscore.

Launched in April 2016, “Not in This Lifetime” features Slash, McKagan and Rose backed by Fortus, drummer Frank Ferrer, keyboardist Dizzy Reed and second keyboardist Melissa Reese.

GUNS N’ ROSES will perform at the second Bud Light Super Bowl Music Fest, set to take place January 30 through February 1 at American Airlines Arena in Miami. GUNS N’ ROSES will headline on January 31.

Industrial rockers STABBING WESTWARD have released the official music video for “Cold”, from their first collection of new music since 2001. The “Dead & Gone” EP was made available on January 3 and it contains three brand new songs (“Dead & Gone”, “Cold” and “Crawl”) and two remixes (“Dead & Gone” and “Crawl”).

STABBING WESTWARD released an EP in 1992, followed by four studio albums between 1994 and 2001. The band achieved its first certified gold albums with both 1996’s “Wither Blister Burn & Peel” and 1998’s “Darkest Days”. After STABBING WESTWARD disbanded in 2002, frontman Christopher Hall formed THE DREAMING, with whom he recorded three albums. Hall and keyboardist Walter Flakus reformed STABBING WESTWARD in 2016 to celebrate the band’s 30th anniversary, and they have continued to perform.

in 2016, STABBING WESTWARD released a re-recorded version of the song “Plastic Jesus” on the “Cold Waves V” compilation. Another track called “Home in You”, which was originally written for the band’s 2001 self-titled album, was made available in 2017 via the “Cold Waves VI” compilation.

STABBING WESTWARD’s current lineup includes Hall, Flakus, THE DREAMING’s Carlton Bost on bass, and former ORGY drummer Bobby Amaro.

In a new interview with Regen Magazine, Hall stated about the “Dead & Gone” EP: “This is the first time since the early days of the band that Walter and I were able to write together without any outside influence. When we worked on THE DREAMING material, I know Walter was aware he was stepping into a preexisting project and he felt inclined to fit into the vibe of the band. It was a much different writing experience than starting from scratch on all new material knowing it’s going to be a STABBING WESTWARD album. So, while ‘Rise Again’ was the first step to rebuilding STABBING WESTWARD, it was still THE DREAMING. The one song that came out of that album as a fairly pure STABBING WESTWARD song was ‘Alone’. It was Walter’s music and my vocals, just like the old days.

“When we started writing these new songs, we realized that we had a lot of ghosts to deal with first. There were many conversations about what exactly constitutes a STABBING WESTWARD record. What would fans expect from us? Which version of STABBING do we draw from? ‘Ungod’? ‘Darkest Days’? I know a lot of fans were nervous it would be even more pop than the self-titled. All the old pressures and insecurities of being on a major label and fighting for a spot on alternative radio were still lurking in the closet. All those things had become part of our subconscious writing process.

“I think one of the biggest hurdles for us was realizing how free we were and then learning to let go of all that baggage. We had this rare opportunity to make music purely for us. I know that sounds easy, but it was actually pretty fucking challenging. In the end, we both just looked back on what music inspired us to do this in the first place; forget all the twists and turns and detours fate had dealt us, and try to remember all the way back to the very beginning — two guys who loved early WaxTrax! industrial music and figure out how we could recapture that love and still be us.”

This year will see the North American debut of the most extreme spectacle in live music, when RAMMSTEIN brings its full-scale stadium production to this continent for the first time ever. Rock and roll’s most ambitious pyro-theatrical experience will be on display for a series of 10 open-air dates beginning August 20 at Parc Jean-Drapeau in Montreal and setting eight U.S. stadiums ablaze before a final bonfire at Foro Sol in Mexico City on September 27. The tour is produced by AEG Presents.

Tour dates:

Aug. 20 – Montreal, QC – Parc Jean-Drapeau
Aug. 23 – Philadelphia, PA – Lincoln Financial Field
Aug. 27 – Washington, DC – FedExField
Aug. 30 – Minneapolis, MN – U.S. Bank Stadium
Sep. 03 – Chicago, IL – Soldier Field
Sep. 06 – Foxborough, MA – Gillette Stadium
Sep. 10 – East Rutherford, NJ – MetLife Stadium
Sep. 16 – San Antonio, TX – Alamodome
Sep. 19 – Los Angeles, CA – Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum
Sep. 27 – Mexico City, MX – Foro Sol

Tickets go on sale on Friday January 24 at 10 a.m. local time

RAMMSTEIN’s seventh, untitled album came out last May via UME/Spinefarm in Europe and Caroline Records in the U.S. The band’s first studio disc since 2009’s “Liebe Ist Für Alle Da” was produced by Olsen Involtini with RAMMSTEIN and was mixed at a Santa Monica, California studio with Rich Costey, an American producer who has previously worked with MUSE, RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE and FRANZ FERDINAND, among others.

RAMMSTEIN guitarist Richard Kruspe told Metal Wani about the making of the band’s new album: “Well, when I thought to do another RAMMSTEIN record, I was like, ‘No, I’m going to do that. I’m not going through more suffering.’ That was four years ago. But what we did in the beginning is we said ‘Let’s get together and try to come up with three or four songs.’ We didn’t really put any pressure on us, which was very important at this time. While we were starting to rehearse and stuff and getting ideas, I thought, ‘Wow, it’s actually very good. Things have changed.’ All of a sudden, there’s a certain kind of respect that I always missed a little bit. We just had good chemistry, which reminded me of the first time when we started. Then I felt, like, ‘What would interest me on a new RAMMSTEIN record?’ I thought, ‘Every time people talk RAMMSTEIN, it’s about fire. It’s all about the show.’ Nobody talks about the music anymore for RAMMSTEIN, and it kind of bothered me. I was thinking, ‘I want to do another record. It has to be musical in a way that can really stand out from other records.’ That was my goal, or our goal.”

RAMMSTEIN will embark on a European stadium tour this spring. The trek will kick off in May and include shows in Germany, Austria, Poland, Netherlands, Belgium, Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Northern Ireland.

Psych rock legends MONSTER MAGNET will return to the road in North America this spring to celebrate their historic release “Powertrip”. Their live set will feature select cuts from this seminal album as well as your MONSTER MAGNET favorites. Support on the tour will come from NEBULA and SILVERTOMB. The tour begins March 20 in Brooklyn, New York and runs through April 18 in Sayreville, New Jersey.

Tour dates:

Mar. 20 – Brooklyn, NY @ Elsewhere
Mar. 21 – Boston, MA @ Sinclair
Mar. 22 – Philadelphia, PA @ Underground Arts
Mar. 24 – Pittsburgh, PA @ Rex Theater
Mar. 25 – Toronto, ON @ The Opera House
Mar. 27 – Flint, MI @ The Machine Shop
Mar. 28 – Chicago, IL @ The Metro
Mar. 29 – Minneapolis, MN @ Fine Line
Mar. 31 – Denver, CO @ The Oriental Theater
Apr. 01 – Salt Lake City, UT @ Metro Bar
Apr. 03 – Vancouver, BC @ The Rickshaw
Apr. 04 – Seattle, WA @ El Corazon
Apr. 05 – Portland, OR @ Hawthorne Theater
Apr. 07 – San Francisco, CA @ Great American Music Hall
Apr. 08 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Fonda
Apr. 09 – Las Vegas, NV @ The House of Blues
Apr. 10 – San Diego, CA @ Observatory North Park
Apr. 13 – Dallas, TX @ Gas Monkey Bar N’ Grill
Apr. 15 – Atlanta, GA @ The Masquerade
Apr. 16 – Charleston, SC @ The Music Farm
Apr. 17 – Baltimore, MD @ Baltimore Sound Stage
Apr. 18 – Sayreville, NJ @ Starland Ballroom

“Powertrip” was MONSTER MAGNET’s commercial breakthrough, achieving mainstream success due largely to the hit single “Space Lord”. Other hit songs on the album include “Powertrip”, “Temple Of Your Dreams” and “See You In Hell”. The album reached No. 1 on Billboard’s Heatseekers chart, No. 21 on the German chart, No. 65 on the U.K. chart and No. 97 on the Billboard 200. The album was certified gold by the RIAA on January 25, 1999.

MONSTER MAGNET’s latest Napalm Records release was 2018’s “Mindfucker”.

SMASHING PUMPKINS frontman Billy Corgan has told 102.9 The Buzz in a new interview that he is hard at work on the band’s new studio album. The upcoming disc will be the follow-up to 2018’s “Shiny And Oh So Bright, Vol. 1 / LP: No Past. No Future. No Sun.” , which was SMASHING PUMPKINS’ first in over 18 years to feature founding members Corgan, Jimmy Chamberlin and James Iha, along with longtime guitarist Jeff Schroeder.

Speaking about SMASHING PUMPKINS’ next LP and the band’s touring plans for the coming months, Corgan said (see video below): “It’s currently 21 songs. I’ve been working on it for over a year. It’s pretty different — in a good way, I think. Everybody that’s heard it likes it a lot, so that’s a good sign. We’re gonna do some touring. We’re playing a big festival in Atlanta — I think in April or May — Shaky Knees. I’m not sure we’re playing Nashville this year. Actually, I think we might. I might be giving a secret away. We might be doing a little ‘surprisey’ gig soon.”

Formed in Chicago, Illinois in 1988, SMASHING PUMPKINS released its debut album, “Gish”, in 1991 and found mainstream success with 1993’s multi-platinum “Siamese Dream” and 1995’s “Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness”. With over 30 million albums sold to date, the two-time Grammy, MTV VMA and American Music Award-winning band remains one of the most influential alternative rock acts in the world.

The seminal group embarked on the 2018 “Shiny And Oh So Bright Tour”, which sold over 300,000 tickets across North America and saw them playing sold-out arena shows at venues, including The Forum, United Center and Madison Square Garden. The tour was the band’s first in nearly two decades to feature Corgan, Chamberlin and Iha, alongside Schroeder, bassist Jack Bates and keyboardist Katie Cole.

 
Corgan released his latest solo album, “Cotillions”, in November via his own Martha’s Music label. Like 2017’s “Ogilala”, the disc was issued under his full name, William Patrick Corgan.