Jukebox – Music News Cuts – 3/8

Jukebox.

Wolfgang Van Halen

Wolfgang Van Halen has a lot to live up to. The son of legendary rock guitar god Eddie Van Halen, he has to deal with being a celebrity from birth, also, at times, a target. But it’s hard to believe that one of the people who’ve targeted Wolfgang Van Halen is his late father’s singer, David Lee Roth.

Calling him “that f*kin kid,” Roth hinted at the notion that Wolfgang Van Halen benefitted from nepotism, and would kick Roth’s friends out of Van Halen shows.

For his part, Wolfgang is taking it all in stride. Blabbermouth reported this from Van Halen, “I guess I’m honored he even thinks about me as much as he seems to. I guess you have to take what he says with a grain of salt considering he also said that he wrote [Eddie’s iconic instrumental track] ‘Eruption’ and came up with the Frankenstein [Eddie’s red-white-and-black-striped guitar pattern]… He said he wrote all the solos that [my] dad wrote.”,

While Wolfgang has no interest in playing his dad’s stuff, he will soon be on a UK/European tour with his band, Mammoth WVH, which will kick off as he wraps up a headlining US headlining tour, supported by Nita Strauss.

Biohazard

Mixing hardcore punk, metal, and a little hip hop in a time where that wasn’t big, the band Biohazard set the standard for an entire sound. And according to lead vocalist and bassist Evan Seinfeld, a ten year pause in playing was just what the band needed to refresh itself for a return.

According to an interview transcribed by Blabbermouth, Seinfeld explained the move by talking about the road that got them there.

“If I hadn’t been working on myself and learning that resentment only hurts you, only hurts me…” Seinfeld said. “If I got a beef with you, you don’t necessarily know it. I’m carrying it around like a boulder in my backpack, weighing me down.

Seinfeld continued. “A band is hard — it’s a bunch of egomaniacs with low self-esteem. It’s a bunch of guys who are fighting to get to the top together and fighting with each other for every inch of creativity, input of stardom, of fame, of contribution, of acknowledgement. People wanna be seen, people wanna be acknowledged, and when you’re doing it in a group setting, not everybody gets the same out of it. Everybody might put in the same. And it’s complicated, but right about the time I ran into Billy [Graziadei, guitar/vocals] and I got on the phone with Bobby [Hambel, guitar]. I actually talked to Bobby first during the pandemic. He called me out of the blue and we had a really cool conversation, but there was no intention behind it. And somebody started a rumor that we were putting the band back together because people had seen us talking. And next thing I know, I run into Andy Gould and Paul Gargano, the band’s managers… Andy used to manage Rob Zombie for 25, 27 years, and he used to manage LINKIN PARK — big bands. PANTERA he worked on. And Andy said, ‘There’s this incredible opportunity right now for an iconic metal band with all its original members, that everybody’s really good shape and got their chops up. You guys can really make some impact on the scene.'”

The band hasn’t put out anything since 2012.

Avenged Sevenfold

Avenged Sevenfold has a new tour. “Life Is But A Dream.” That kicked off at the Key Bank Center in Buffalo on Wednesday, the 6^th of March. This is the first time in ten years that the band has been in Buffalo, and the band has added five new songs to the setlist, including a fan favorite from the new album, “Cosmic,” (from Life Is But A Dream) and they did the first live performance of the song “Save Me” in 13 years, first live performance of “Blind Me” in 18 years, and a touring debut of “Roman Sky” from their seventh studio album, “The Stage.”

This tour features many new or seldom played locations, including Manchester, New Hampshire; Raleigh, North Carolina; and Newark, New Jersey. The group is performing in Des Moines, Iowa for the first time in 18 years; Cleveland, Ohio; Indianapolis, Indiana; and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania for the first time in 15 years.

The set-list is as follows:

1. Game Over
   02. Mattel
   03. Afterlife
   04. Hail To The King
   05. We Love You
   06. Shepherd Of Fire (first performance since 2018)
   07. The Stage
   08. Roman Sky (live debut)
   09. Blinded In Chains (first performance since 2006)
   10. Bat Country
   11. Nobody
   12. Nightmare
   13. Unholy Confessions
   14. Save Me (first performance since 2011)

Encore:

15. Cosmic (live debut)