The upcoming 12-date Australian tour by US metallers Once Human has been officially cancelled, with the band citing the ongoing saga surrounding Sydney’s Bald Face Stag Hotel and it’s previous manager, Scott Allwyn MacKenzie as the reason. In addition to the hotel, MacKenzie also headed up and financed a new touring company Stag Music Touring, whose first tour was to be with Once Human. A former employee of the touring company says: “It is with a heavy heart that we must announce the Once Human Evolution Tour including the Blood Oath Festival are officially cancelled. The former company owner of Stag Music Touring Australia, Scott Mackenzie was not able to fulfil his contractual obligations after recent allegations surfaced about him regarding fraudulent activity. While the rest of us tried everything we could to salvage the tour and have someone take over, it was just not possible in such a short space of time. We are absolutely devastated. Sincerest apologies to all the fans. Refunds will be issued at point of purchase (Oztix/Moshtix). Many thanks to all the bands, venues and ticketing outlets for your support, patience and understanding through these difficult times.” Stag was also to present Swedish industrial metal act, Pain, in May, who are now looking for a new promoter to take over the tour.
Stone Temple Pilots will release their new, self-titled album on Friday March 16. The band will be touring extensively to support it, bringing along recently-announced new lead singer Jeff Gutt, for the first time on tour too. Bass player Robert DeLeo says, “With so much time and experience gone by in life we feel compelled to dig back into a 30-year catalogue and really try to reflect and choose what songs haven’t been performed live. We want to give people who have come to see us in the past a chance to hear something they haven’t heard before at previous STP shows. We want to celebrate this time in our lives with our performances.”
Devin Townsend has just announced that he’ll be putting the Devin Townsend Project – the band – on indefinite hiatus while he explores other Devin Townsend projects. The fan reaction has been pretty intense on both sides of the fence but personally I’m really excited to see what Devin does next, and where his band members end up. I could see them going on to form their own band, or some lucky act snapping up drummer Ryan Van Poederooyen. In a way we’re lucky we got as much DTP music as we did, since initially the plan was simply for one four-album project and we ended up getting so much more.
With so much going on in metal right now, there are plenty of tours to put in your calendars. Make sure you include the mighty Overkill, whose blend of punk aggression and New York attitude made them thrash legends. They’ll be at 170 Russell on Friday March 2, and tickets are on sale now from metropolistouring.com/overkill.
