We’ve just learned the news about the passing of Metal Church lead singer Mike Howe from the bands Official Facebook Page. I’ve shared a photo that we took of the musician back in 2016 during an incendiary performance at the B.B. King Blues Club. The bands statement and additional thoughts are below the photo.
Continue reading Metal Church Announces The Passing Of Singer Mike Howe (1965-2021)
The Statement:
Hey All, Well, there are times and events when you have to take stock and re evaluate your life, work, and trajectory for the future. That being said I have informed Jon and his current management that I must announce my resignation from Iced Earth with immediate effect.
Continue reading Singer Stu Block Officially Quits Iced Earth
I recently had the opportunity to have a quick chat with the talented Miss Francheska Pastor who’s the lead singer of a band called Bad Seed Rising. The name might be new to your ears but it’s one worth remembering as they’ve got some truly rocking tunes and you might be surprised at their very young age as a group. Miss Pastor is about 17 while the other members of the group are very close to that as well and they are the youngest act ever signed to Roadrunner Records. Their latest release is an EP entitled “A Place Called Home” and here is our chat.
PiercingMetal: Let’s start off easy by letting me know when you first realized you had a good voice and wanted to be in a band. How did you approach this. I mean you have some strong set of pipes.
Francheska: I actually didn’t realize I even have a voice, my dad did. I always loved music and wanted to create and perform, but I always wanted to be like the rest of my classmates and play soccer. It wasn’t until my dad softly pushed me to sing and play guitar more when I realized this is what I wanted for the rest of my life.
Continue reading PiercingMetal Talks To Bad Seed Risings Francheska Pastor (9/10/2015)
You’ll have to pardon my changing up the Music Milestone premise from a particular release of note to an actual band member anniversary but I have just learned that Mr. Steve Hogarth has been singing for the Neo-Progressive band Marillion for twenty five years now. That’s pretty darn cool for sure.
Now before I say anything else, readers should know that I loved the bands original voice in Fish but I had gotten into them at the time that Fish was already making his departure and while that stuff spoke to me very deeply, I had high hopes for the direction that would be maintained with this “new guy” Steve Hogarth. My friend Rocky owned “Side Street Sounds” at the time and he ordered me a copy of the “Season’s End” album and then “Holidays In Eden” when that one had come out. I had to say that it was rather different from the styles that I had been used to with Fish but I can say that I liked it and found quite a few of the songs growing on me. Steve Hogarth brought a soaring vocal register to the band and quite honestly appeared to have a better range than Fish (no offense of course). The bands material also seemed to be aimed at shorter and more to the direct point songs Since I loved live shows, my friends and I made the plan to catch the band if they ever visited and we would get our chance when they hit The Ritz (when the club was located on 54th Street in the old Studio 54 building). The actual ticket from that show is pictured below for your indulgence and thanks to the powers of Setlist.fm I was able to mentally revisit the set that was performed that night. It was heavy on the classic “Fish Era” stuff but that was probably based on their only having two releases under their belt with the new voice at the time.
Continue reading Happy 25th Anniversary To Marillion’s Steve Hogarth
I didn’t think I would get one of my Heavy Metal Holy Sh*ts posted so early in the year, but with new days dawning in people’s minds along with new plans and interests, I guess leaving a band that one has been an integral part of for many years can also come to pass. Such is the case with Metalcore vocalist Howard Jones who has left the ranks of Killswitch Engage after ten years. I’ll admit to my being not much more than a casual fan and when they had their original singer Jesse Leach I was hardly into this kind of stuff at all. I actually liked what Howard brought to the band a little more than the stuff with Leach but that is a personal preference of my own. There were folks who worshiped the original singers input.
Howard made the news back in early 2010 when it was rumored on a Allie Storm’s (a porn star) Twitter that she was carrying his baby. I admit I lost interest and track of the story as I like less TMZ in my Metal and this was the dude’s personal life and his own to deal with. Jones would take a “rest” from the band at this time and be filled in for by All That Remains’ own Phil Labonte. So what now you might ask? Well, who the hell knows as this news just broke and I pieced my thoughts together from my own background and the stuff on the bands Facebook and official site. It has to be true since its on Facebook and already on Wikipedia right? Right.
I loved Howard’s voice in the band and wish him the very best in his next musical adventure. Perhaps he will be the next one to write an autobiography. Whatever the case may be he will surely have a lot of followers because he did right in this band for a good chunk of years. Good Luck Howard.
Official Website: http://www.killswitchengage.com/