ANTHRAX JOINS LINE-UP FOR BLACK SABBATH’S “BACK TO THE BEGINNING” CONCERT

ANTHRAX JOINS LINE-UP FOR BLACK SABBATH’S “BACK TO THE BEGINNING” CONCERT Anthrax Also Joins Slayer This Summer for Two UK Shows ANTHRAX, L-R: Charlie Benante, Frank Bello, Scott ian, Joey Belladonna, Jonathan Donais Photo credit: Ignacio Galvez

LOS ANGELES, CA (Monday, April 14, 2025) — For the first time in twenty years, Anthrax will share a stage with Black Sabbath when the band performs at Sabbath’s “Back to The Beginning” concert set to take place on Saturday, July 5 at Villa Park in Birmingham, England. Anthrax toured with Black Sabbath on the band's 1986 “Seventh Star Tour," which was also Anthrax’s first arena tour. The last time they were on the same bill as Sabbath was in 2005 at the Download Festival in the UK. “I’m a huge Black Sabbath fan,” said Charlie Benante, “and Black Sabbath was so, so instrumental in the sound of Anthrax back in the day. Back in ’86, when we were working on our third album, we wanted to do a B-side of a Black Sabbath song. ’Sabbath Bloody Sabbath’ was the song that we chose. We did it as a B-side, we played it live, and it became a big thing for us. Growing up Catholic, in a Catholic household, my mom did not appreciate Black Sabbath. One day when I came home, my sister took me to the record store and I got one of those iron-on Black Sabbath t-shirts, it was the cover of ’Sabbath, Bloody Sabbath.’ I got it home, my mother saw it, she made my sister take me back to the store and return it. She would not have it in the house because it had the ‘666’ on it. I was still a Black Sabbath fan so I had to kind of keep it hidden from my mom.” “I discovered Black Sabbath when I was about eight years old, sitting in my uncle’s room at my grandparents’ house," said Scott Ian. “My uncle was 17 or 18, had a big vinyl collection and blacklight posters all over his walls, and I thought he was the coolest dude in the world. I would go through his albums, pull records out and he’d play them for me. I remember pulling out this record that said ‘Black Sabbath’ on it, the album cover was kind of scary, so I asked him ‘what’s Black Sabbath?' And he said, ‘oh, they’re acid rock…” and I didn’t know what that meant…I thought maybe that was the terminology back then for a genre. And then he put the album on. Everyone knows how that record starts, with the sound effects and the rain and the bell, and then the band kicks in…there’s nothing like it. At that point in time, the scariest, heaviest thing I’d ever heard in my life. Maybe still to this day, when that song ‘Black Sabbath’ kicks in, there’s just nothing like it. I started playing guitar when I was about 10, and Tony was definitely an influence, so I’d try and figure out how to play ‘Iron Man’ or ‘Paranoid.’ Just listening to the records, Tony Iommi was essentially my guitar teacher.” “I’m definitely a huge Sabbath fan," said vocalist Joey Belladonna, "and over the years I have covered many Sabbath and Ozzy songs. We toured with Sabbath on the ’86 tour, and it was so electric. That was a huge tour for us, and we were just overwhelmed to be part of it. That Anthrax was asked to be part of Sabbath’s ‘Back To The Beginning’ concert is quite a big honor.” “I heard about Sabbath through my friends at school," remembers Anthrax’ Frank Bello, "who said the band was great. Plus, I thought the album cover was scary as hell. Although I love most Black Sabbath albums, that first one, Black Sabbath, is still my favorite because it was my introduction to them, and the songs are still amazing. I’m also a HUGE Geezer fan, I grew up on his playing, and I’m honored now to say he’s a friend. Geezer was and still is one of my main influences on bass. He always puts beautiful musicality & melody into everything he plays. His bass lines make you want to play bass. He is also an amazing person. "It’s an honor to be part of this show and I’m very grateful to Black Sabbath & Sharon Osbourne for asking us to be part of it.” “I’m absolutely, 100% a Black Sabbath fan,” admitted Anthrax guitarist Jon Donais. “I was an Ozzy fan first because I grew up in the ‘80s, and of course, Ozzy was on MTV all the time, so he’s who I got into first. And then, my teen years were in the 90s, and I started getting into Black Sabbath. When I start to lean into a band, I usually get the band’s greatest hits or some kind of compilation. But my first Black Sabbath album was Sabotage, which is actually my favorite Sabbath record. Sabotage was a little darker than the others, and I would listen to it all the way through as soon as I put it on. A good friend of mine and I went to the same college, and we’d be up until three or four in the morning just listening to Sabotage and then having to get up for school the next day, and that sucked.” Anthrax’s upcoming concert dates are as follows: JULY 3 Blackweir Arboretum, Cardiff, Wales, UK Line-Up: Slayer, with Special Guest Anthrax 5 Villa Park, Birmingham, UK •  Line-Up: Black Sabbath, "Back to the Beginning," w/ Anthrax 6 Finsbury Park, London Line Up:   Slayer, with Special Guest Anthrax

MADISON MCFERRIN ANNOUNCES NEW ALBUM 'SCORPIO'; NEW SINGLE + VIDEO OUT NOW

MADISON MCFERRIN ANNOUNCES SOPHOMORE ALBUM SCORPIO WATCH THE VIDEO FOR NEW SINGLE “I DON’T”

PRESS PRAISE FOR MADISON MCFERRIN “Madison McFerrin is ready to begin a new era. “Ain’t It Nice,” a sleek house-infused soul track that explores the allure of new infatuation across a swirling mixture of groovy drum loops and twinkling synths, finds McFerrin flaunting her intimate understanding of vocal dynamics and pacing.” - BILLBOARD “Meticulously calculated to promise delight” - THE NEW YORK TIMES "Madison McFerrin sounds ready for stardom” - THE FADER "A grandeur of waterfall runs and harmonies" - NYLON "Madison McFerrin stacks the harmonies sky-high and obscures the secular/sacred line" - OKAYPLAYER “A magnetic performer who’s a decade in and can have a crowd in the palm of her hand, ready to be crushed by each vocal run or devastating turn of phrase” - VINYL ME PLEASE "If you don’t know who Madison McFerrin is by now, you ought to be ashamed of yourself because since she burst out to the mainstream in 2019, she’s been that one person who you can’t wait to hear music from." - AFROPUNK “Velvet soul and rhythmic elasticity...There’s a touch of jazz in the arrangement, while the arresting vocal puts us in mind of Erykah Badu in its emotive opulence." - CLASH "Ethereal and a joy to hear." - SOUL BOUNCE Today, independent artist, producer, and musician Madison McFerrin announces her highly anticipated sophomore album SCORPIO, set to release June 24. With the announcement comes a new single and cinematic video for “I Don’t” - a hypnotic, heart-spilled elegy for a love unraveled, just before delivering on its ultimate promise. Co-produced by WILLOW, “I Don’t” traces a powerful tension between ritual and reality, and sonically builds a quiet storm of regret and release through dreamy melodies, jazzy piano chords, understated guitar riffs, and mesmerizing vocal runs. The music video, produced and directed by Vincent Martell and Jordan Phelps of VAM STUDIO, features ghostly veils and burning bouquets to match the song’s haunting lyrics while contrasting its soulful sound. Listen to “I Don’t” HERE and watch the official music video HERE. Mcferrin says, “SCORPIO is by far the most personal music I’ve ever written and I couldn’t be more grateful for it. There’s nothing like a breakup to get the best out of you — it was as if the music demanded it of me.  “I Don’t”brought me to the other side of heartbreak, I was honored that WILLOW loved the song enough to co-produce it with me. SCORPIO is for everyone who has ever felt lost, fought like hell to find themselves, and for those who are still summoning the strength to do so.” “I Don’t” is the second single from McFerrin this year following “Ain’t It Nice”, a sultry and enigmatic track that delves into themes of deception and the complexities of relationship, and the first new music since her critically acclaimed debut, 2023’s I Hope You Can Forgive Me. Known for her singular sound where intimate vocal layering, warm harmonies, and minimalist production meet the emotional depth of soul and the exploratory edge of electronic music, Madison McFerrin’s music floats at the intersection of soul and spirit, where the human voice becomes both instrument and incantation. With little more than breath, tone, and looped whispers, she can weave cathedrals of sound—hymns to vulnerability, resilience, and grace. Her style, dubbed “future soul,” feels less like a genre and more like a celestial language: rooted in the echoes of jazz and gospel, but pulsing with the shimmer of tomorrow. Each track is an offering, intimate as a secret, expansive as a sky—music that doesn’t just ask to be heard, but felt, deeply and wholly. Across her fruitful independent career, spanning three EPs, a debut album and multiple collaborations, Madison has earned accolades from the likes of The New York Times, Billboard, NPR, FADER, Nylon, Vulture, BET and Pitchfork, who named her a Rising Artist in 2018. Her artistry has led to Questlove dubbing her early sound “soul-appella.” In addition to stirring performances on the renowned COLORS series and KEXP’s Live on KEXP series, Madison has also performed at Lincoln Center, The Kennedy Center, Joshua Tree Music Festival, Central Park SummerStage and BRIC Celebrate Brooklyn, and shared stages with the likes of Robert Glasper, Jamila Woods, De La Soul, Gallant, and The Roots. Off the stage, Madison’s music has been featured in one of this year’s most celebrated films thus far One of Them Days, as well as episodes of Comedy Central’s Broad City and HBO’s Random Acts of Flyness. Over the course of her career, she has mesmerized crowds at packed out shows nationwide and overseas, which she will continue this month in London on April 27 at Rough Trade East, and in NYC on June 27 at The Rockaway Hotel to celebrate the highly anticipated release of SCORPIO. LISTEN/STREAM “I DON’T” https://distrokid.com/hyperfollow/madisonmcferrin/i-dont WATCH THE OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO FOR “I DON’T” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dyM4kQtBS4E LISTEN/STREAM “AIN’T IT NICE” https://distrokid.com/hyperfollow/madisonmcferrin/aint-it-nice WATCH THE OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO FOR “AIN’T IT NICE” https://youtu.be/nsTEar1ebYQ?feature=shared 

PHOTO CREDIT: VAM STUDIO  FOLLOW MADISON MCFERRIN Instagram | Facebook | X | YouTube  | TikTok

Ora the Molecule Shares Video For "Becoming A Human" || Announces May US Tour Dates || New Album 'Dance Therapy' Out Now On Mute

ORA THE MOLECULE SHARES VIDEO FOR “BECOMING A HUMAN” NEW ALBUM DANCE THERAPY  OUT NOW ON MUTE ANNOUNCES MAY US TOUR DATES

Photo credit: Jonathan Kvien Today Ora the Molecule has shared the playful, star-spanning video for “Becoming A Human,” taken from her anticipated new album Dance Therapy that is out now via Mute. She has also announced May US tour dates that will include Los Angeles, Seattle and New York. Watch the video for “Becoming A Human”, directed by Úlfur Kjalar Eyjólfsson, HERE.  Purchase or stream Dance Therapy HERE.  Speaking on the video, she says: “Ulfur was the bartender at this place I used to DJ and one day he told me he wanted to make a music video. I said “sure!” And suddenly he had gathered this huge crew of friends and professionals to create this epic queer action sci fi video. I was blown away. A dream come true.”   LIVE DATES: 5/13/2025 - Seattle, WA - Madame Lou’s 5/15/2025 - Los Angeles, CA - El Cid 5/22/2025 - Brooklyn, NY - Night Moves Tickets are on sale now.   Nora Schjelderup, the creative mind behind the Ora The Molecule moniker, comments of the track: "It was written from a dark place, and a light place, it gives some sort of solution for when you tend to nihilistic thinking. The song is about letting go of fear and the self awareness that dictates and controls our experience on this planet. I hope you find the song as you need it."   Dance Therapy is Schjelderup as a lone mastermind, conceiving a new world all her own. On this album, she wrote, recorded, and produced everything, save a handful of co-production contributions from Mathias Risdal.  The driving force behind Dance Therapy stems from Schjelderup’s experience as a DJ, a career that has steadily ascended since the pandemic. She imagined herself being behind the decks, while simultaneously seeing herself in the audience, and asking: “What would I play for that Nora in the crowd to make her day just a little bit better?” Fueled by classic late ‘70s club sounds and Italo-disco, this became the retro-futuristic fever dream of Dance Therapy.  As in the past, she decamped to her studio, located in a cabin in the woods outside of Oslo. There, she processed a series of severe losses, the therapy of the album’s title becoming literal. Dance Therapy became deeply conceptual, with Schjelderup working off a prompt: If we encountered intelligent life in outer space, how would she present herself? “Would I be this mundane shit — I’m constantly heartbroken, I don’t know what I want to do when I grow up,” she says. “Or will I try to rise and be the highest version of myself possible? To be as glamorous and fabulous as I could?”  Schjelderup’s intergalactic vision drew upon a broad array of references. While exploring a “study” of electronic pioneer Mort Garson’s Mother Earth’s Plantasia, she began favoring digital reproductions of various modular synths and theremin. Italo disco star Raffaella Carrà inspired Ora The Molecule becoming a more full-blown character separated from but symbiotic with Schjelderup herself, while the music of Annie Lennox helped shape Dance Therapy’s narrative heft.  The resulting body of work is rife with ebullient, infectious dance music, but also remarkably complex meditations on grief, mortality and heartbreak - all transmuted through the lens of Ora’s cosmic inner journey to discover her own sense of self, human or otherwise.  And, at the end, Schjelderup has finally created a new transcendence: both Nora and Ora but neither, a deeper sense of herself and the disco superhero she has willed into being, a new identity from everything that came before.  Dance Therapy is out now on limited edition hand-numbered white vinyl, black vinyl, cassette and digitally. Purchase it HERE.

Dance Therapy track listing: 1. Becoming A Human 2. Intergalactic Dance 3. Løveskatt 4. Prince Of The Rhythm 5. Is This Love? 6. Nobody Cares 7. If I Believed 8. Cyber Fever 9. Evig Ung 10. New Years 11. Let Me Dance  12. Becoming Ora     Purchase or stream Dance Therapy HERE. Watch the video for “Løveskatt” HERE. Watch the video for “Nobody Cares” HERE. CONNECT WITH ORA THE MOLECULE: FACEBOOK | TWITTER | INSTAGRAM | BANDCAMP | TIK TOK   CONNECT WITH MUTE: FACEBOOK | TWITTER | INSTAGRAM | TIK TOK | WEB

20/20 the band @ Zebulon SAT 04.12.25 // THE PORTABLE INFINITE

All photos taken by Alexander Laurence