Slayer guitarist Kerry King is gearing up to share the details of his first project since the “Raining Blood” thrashers played their final show in 2019.
“You know me, so you know what it’s going to sound like,” King tells Metal Hammer. “I played this new song for a buddy, and I said to him, ‘If there’s anything I’ve written in the last few years that sounds like Slayer, it’s this.’ And he said, ‘That sounds like you could have pulled it off of any Slayer record.’ I actually made that riff up backstage at a Slayer show.”
King has been teasing new music since 2020. He’d planned to release some material that year, but then 2020 became 2020.
“Have I been dragging my feet? Yeah, because I wanted this [pandemic] s*** to get sorted,” King says. “I won’t be dragging my feet much longer.”
While King is continuing to keep most of the details close to the vest, he does reveal that Slayer drummer Paul Bostaph is a part of the project.
“We just started rehearsing and the only person I can give away is Paul because I took him from Slayer and we work very well together,” King shares. “We didn’t start rehearsing until the end of March, and that was the first time since that last Slayer show at the end of 2019 that me and Paul finally got into a room together.”
Police drummer Stewart Copeland has collaborated on a new rock opera with The Pretenders‘ Chrissie Hynde and others called The Witches Seed that will get its world premiere on July 22 at the Tones Teatro Natura venue near Oira, Italy.
Copeland composed the music for the production, which was inspired by the history of the witch hunts in Europe during the bloodiest years of the Inquisition.
The Witches Seed includes some songs written by Hynde and features a libretto by award-winning British playwright Jonathan Moore, who has worked with Copeland on several previous opera projects.
The production features innovative video sets created by Edvige Faini, an acclaimed concept artist who has a long history working with Hollywood production studios, as well as with noteworthy video game producers.
The opera tells the tale of three women who are falsely accused of being witches during a time when the plague and other crises were causing great upheaval across Europe.
Irene Grandi, an Italian singer/songwriter who has scored many chart hits in her home country, has a starring role in the production.
Meanwhile, Copeland has several of his “Police Deranged for Orchestra” concerts lined up for this year in Europe, the U.S. and Canada. The shows feature performances of reimagined orchestral versions of songs by his old band. Visit StewartCopeland.net for his full schedule.
A piece of graffiti said to be drawn by The Kid LAROI is expected to fetch up to $3,000 at auction, reports NME. The art was scribbled on a fire door in Sydney, Australia, and is tagged “LAROI.” Bidding opens July 28 on Lawsons Auctioneers.
Despite being hit by cheating rumors, Jason Derulo showed up to support ex Jena Frume, who walked the catwalk during Miami Swim Week. Page Six reports Jason was holding their son, Jason King, during the event.
Pink released the “Irrelevant” music video, which highlights various protests from all over the world in different time periods against school shootings, political extremism, abortion bans, police brutality, Nazism and more. It also highlights the voices calling for meaningful change.
Taylor Swift‘s newly rerecorded Red (Taylor’s Version) is eligible for a Grammy, reports Billboard. The academy considers the album a “new recording” and therefore can contend for Album of the Year. Should it be nominated in the category, it’ll be Taylor’s fifth, overall.
Speaking of Taylor, the music video for “Blank Space” has surpassed 3 billion views. It is now her second music video, next to “Shake It Off,” to amass that many views.
Dua Lipa is one of this year’s headliners for Vogue’s Forces of Fashion summit, set for October 14. She will take part in the London ceremony, while supermodel Gigi Hadid will helm the New York City-based event.
Olivia Rodrigo celebrated completing her first headlining tour. Sharing behind-the-scenes photos, she wrote, “SOUR TOUR is officially finished. i miss y’all already. one of the best experiences of my 19 years. i feel so lucky that you guys are a part of my life and I’m very grateful that I get to be even the smallest part of yours. thank you.”
Taylor Swift‘s newly rerecorded Red (Taylor’s Version) is eligible for a Grammy nod, reports Billboard. The academy considers the album a “new recording” because it included 14 new songs and therefore can contend for Album of the Year. Should it be nominated, it’ll be Taylor’s fifth time, overall.
Speaking of Taylor, the music video for “Blank Space” has surpassed 3 billion views. It is now her second music video, next to “Shake It Off,” to amass that many views.
On the same topic of YouTube views, MichaelBublé has released the digital remaster of his 2009 music video for “Feeling Good.” He announced on Instagram, “Celebrating Michael’s music video for ‘Feeling Good’ hitting 200 million views with a brand new look!” The music video is now in 4K.
DuaLipa is one of this year’s headliners for Vogue’s Forces of Fashion summit, set for October 14. She will take part in the London ceremony, while supermodel Gigi Hadid will help helm the New York City-based event.
Olivia Rodrigo celebrated completing her first headlining tour. Sharing a bunch of behind-the-scenes photos of her sold-out trek, she wrote, “SOUR TOUR is officially finished. i miss y’all already. one of the best experiences of my 19 years. i feel so lucky that you guys are a part of my life and I’m very grateful that I get to be even the smallest part of yours. thank you.”
Pink released the music video for her “Irrelevant” protest anthem. The video shares clips of various protests from all over the world in different time periods, as well as the very things they were rallying against — such as school shootings and bans on abortion.
The fourquel Thor: Love and Thunder kept on rumbling at the box office this weekend, and as most know by now Natalie Portman‘s Jane Foster comes back into the life of Chris Hemsworth‘s god of thunder.
There’s a love triangle afoot in the film, as well — but it’s between Thor and his two weapons, the mighty hammer Mjolnir and Stormbreaker, the giant ax he used in Avengers: Endgame to decapitate Thanos.
As any fan can tell you, Mjolnir was Thor’s trusted weapon for a millennia — until it was shattered like glass by Hela, Thor’s estranged sister and the goddess of death in Thor: Ragnarok.
In its stead, he’s given Stormbreaker, but when Mjolnir resurfaces — reformed, and in Foster’s hands as Mighty Thor — the ax doesn’t take it too well.
“All of a sudden, the weapon that he held so dear and so on for so many years now belongs to someone else. And then he has Stormbreaker, who just starts to sense a little jealousy there,” Hemsworth smiles.
“You know, that kind of evolved through the film[ing] didn’t I don’t think it was in the original script but it was fun,” the star laughs.
Writer-director Taika Waititi gets credit for pushing that thread in the film. “I don’t know if this was the way anyone else thought about it, but you’ve got to remember, Stormbreaker is made of Groot’s arm, the handle is, and so Groot was like a teenager when he [made it]. So we felt like Stormbreaker was a young weapon that [was] only just been born about five or six years ago. So it had to feel a little bit like an adolescent. It was going through changes and it was having mood swings.”
Marvel Studios is owned by Disney, the parent company of ABC News.
Maren Morris knows it’s a long and winding road to get to your dreams, and she’s got the proof: her American Idol audition ticket.
In August 2007, 17-year-old Maren auditioned for American Idol‘s seventh season at the former Texas Stadium in Irving. Though she sadly didn’t make it past the first round of auditions, her mom, Kellie, decided to hold on to the ticket as a keepsake — and Maren’s reaction is priceless.
“My mom found my American Idol audition ticket from 2007. I didn’t make it past the first round cattle call…,” “The Bones” singer wrote on Instagram, alongside a photo of the tattered ticket showing the details of the audition.
“I wasn’t really into sports growing up but this feels like the equivalent of your mom saving your 10th place trophy,” she added with a crying laughing emoji.
After failing to make Idol, Maren auditioned for The Voice and America’s Got Talent, to no avail. But she got the last laugh.
(NEW YORK) — Federal prosecutors in New York and the Department of Labor are inspecting Amazon warehouses around the country as part of a civil investigation into unsafe and unseemly workplace conditions.
The inspections began Monday morning, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York.
“This morning, the United States Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration entered Amazon warehouses outside New York City, Chicago and Orlando to conduct workplace safety inspections in response to referrals received from the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York concerning potential workplace hazards related, among other things, to Amazon’s required pace of work for its warehouse employees,” a spokesman for the office, Nicholas Biase, said in a statement provided to ABC News.
“The Civil Division of the SDNY is investigating potential worker safety hazards at Amazon warehouses across the country, as well as possible fraudulent conduct designed to hide injuries from OSHA and others,” Biase added.
Workers at Amazon warehouses, which the company calls fulfillment centers, have complained of a grueling pace, uncomfortable heat and the potential for injury.
In recent years, Amazon has also confronted a lawsuit by New York State Attorney General Letitia James that alleged the company failed to protect workers from COVID-19.
Drivers have said the demand to meet quotas caused them to skip bathroom breaks and urinate in plastic bottles, a practice first reported in a 2018 book, “Hired: Six Months Undercover in Low-Wage Britain,” by James Bloodworth.
After first denying the claim, Amazon wrote in a 2021 blog post, “We know that drivers can and do have trouble finding restrooms because of traffic or sometimes rural routes, and this has been especially the case during COVID when many public restrooms have been closed.”
The complaints led some Amazon employees to seek to unionize, with mixed results.
The U.S. Attorney’s office pointed members of the public who want to report workplace safety and injury-related issues at Amazon warehouses to the Justice Department’s website.
Current and former Amazon warehouse workers who have information about safety issues — including safety issues related to the pace of work — or a failure to report injuries, or who were injured and did not receive adequate care at Amazon’s onsite first-aid center or at a clinic recommended by Amazon, were urged to share that information with the SDNY.
Amazon did not immediately respond to ABC News about the inspections and investigation.
Chris Brown kicked off his co-headlining tour with Lil Baby Friday in Raleigh, North Carolina, and now a promoter is reportedly planning to sue him for not returning over $1 million after he canceled a show in March.
LeJuan Bailey claims she paid Breezy $1.1 million to headline her “One Night Only Benefit Concert” on March 19 in Houston. She says he canceled during sound check and did not perform, according to The Blast. The goal of the show, which was canceled, was to raise funds for victims of Hurricane Ida and Hurricane Nicholas.
She said in a statement, “I acted in good faith and sponsored this concert out of love and respect for residents in need. I am appalled that Chris Brown refuses to refund my money for a show he did not appear to after we announced our show and sold tickets.”
“At this point, it is my humble belief that Chris Brown’s actions are parallel to pure theft,” Bailey continued. “He has the unmitigated gall to take my money, stand up the residents of Houston, then return to the city to perform on August 17, 2022. My message to Chris Brown: We will not sit back and allow you to disrespect the victims of Hurricane Ida and Nicholas in need.”
Bailey added, “My plea right now is to ask Chris and his management or whoever is responsible for that money. We have spoken with the police, they have subpoenaed his records, they found out the wires that we sent and deposits that we gave him.”
The “Go Crazy” singer and Lil Baby will resume their One of Them Ones Tour on July 19 in Washington, D.C. The tour will continue through August 27 in Las Vegas.
The hit new FX series The Bear was just renewed for a second season, and star Jeremy Allen White tells Good Morning America that the show’s success is “overwhelming.”
White stars as James Beard Award-winning chef Carmen “Carmy” Berzatto, who goes from cooking in the prestigious, high-pressure kitchens of The French Laundry and Noma to taking over his family’s chaotic, rundown Chicago sandwich shop.
“I knew while we were making the show that it was really good,” White says. “But I think it’s impossible to predict exactly how people are gonna react. And it’s been overwhelming for sure.”
The show boasts an intense recipe of family drama, loss and, yes, cooking. The suicide death of Carmy’s brother brings the chef home to Chicago, and the personal — and professional — boil over quickly.
“… Carmy — my heart really broke for him instantly, because he’s just gone through this incredibly traumatic thing,” White said.
“He doesn’t have much of an identity outside of his profession, and it allowed me to play him consistently with high, high stakes, because … he’s always thinking about the next thing. And that seemed like an exciting thing to play.”
And while Carmy and his spunky sous chef Sydney know their way around the kitchen, their real-life alter egos are picking things up quickly, too, thanks to training with world-renowned chefs.
“I could make scrambled eggs, toast … But that was really it,” White admitted.
“I have, like, a couple of things I can do now that I think are good. But I want to keep learning,” White said of his newfound culinary clout. “I really love it.”
Ayo Edebiri, who plays Sydney, added, “My knife safety is definitely much better than it was before.”
She joked that “people are asking me for dinner parties” in the wake of seeing her slice and dice in the kitchen on TV.
Breland joined Keith Urban onstage during his show in Cincinnati, Ohio, to perform “Out the Cage” together live for the first time. The singers co-wrote the track that appears on Keith’s album The Speed of Now Part 1. Watch the video here.
Old Crowe Medicine Show has announced their 15th annual New Year’s Eve show at the Ryman Auditorium on December 31. Presale tickets for members of their fan club are available Tuesday at 10 a.m. local time, with general sales beginning Friday.
