LOUDMOUTH News Catchup: KISS, Motley Crue, Joel Hoekstra, Blaze Bayley

Not God of Chunder

Gene Simmons has given himself a clean bill of health after a concert in Brazil was held up because he fell ill. Simmons says there’s no need for fans to be concerned about his involvement in future gigs on the South American tour. “Hey, everybody, thanks for the good wishes. I’m fine,” Simmons wrote. “Yesterday at Manaus Stadium in Brazil, experienced weakness because of dehydration. We stopped for about five minutes, I drank some water, and then all was well. Nothing serious. Tomorrow, Bogota Stadium. See you there!”

Blaze Bayley set for triple heart bypass

Another health scare upon which we recently reported was former Iron Maiden and Wolfsbane frontman Blaze Bayley suffering a heart attack at home. Bayley, 59, remains in hospital. His managers Mark and Christopher Appleton said on social media: “As you know, since his heart attack, Blaze has been awaiting heart surgery. This week he was transferred to a specialist heart unit and this afternoon has been taken down to the operating theatre for a triple heart bypass. This is the first major step at the start of his treatment and recovery.”

Third album from Joel Hoekstra’s 13

In our review of the Brandon Gibbs/Joel Hoekstra show in London, we mentioned that Hoekstra didn’t want to upset his record company by announcing the name of the third album from his 13 project. That information has now been formally released: it will be called Crash Of Life. Girish Pradhan, Tony Franklin, Vinny Appice, Derek Sherinian and Jeff Scott Soto all guest. The video for the first single is at the bottom of this post.

Motley working on new music with John 5

While the three touring members of Motley Crue’s classic line-up cross lawyers with guitarist Mick Mars, there was other news out of the band late last week. Nikki Sixx says they are working on new music with new guitarist John 5. “We are writing. The creative process of songwriting has always been the heartbeat of our band. We’re gonna go in the big studio next week and record a few off the floor and see where it goes.”