News Round-Up: Thy Art is Murder Lose Vocalist, STP Tribute to Scott Weiland, Fred Durst Banned from Ukraine and more

Today is Tuesday, December 22nd, and here’s your daily Christmas Break metal news round-up.

• Vocalist and Northface windbreaker aficionado CJ McMahon and Thy Art is Murder have parted ways. Both McMahon’s and the band’s official statements (below) make it seem as if McMahon has simply had enough of the touring band lifestyle and the lack of income stability that comes along with it. Nick Arthur from Molotuv Solution will be filling in on Thy Art’s upcoming tours. Fittingly — and hilariously — McMahon is selling his trademark Northface on eBay (currently at $830 AUD).

• Don Dokken said he would “shut the borders down” to combat threats from terrorists if he had his way.
• The surviving three members of Stone Temple Pilots posted a touching tribute video to Scott Weiland in which they revisit the original master tracks of the ballad “Atlanta” (from 1999’s No. 4) in a recording studio. They isolate individual parts of the recording while talking about Scott’s performance on the track and the recording process. Watch it below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJQxKmuhPv8

• Neurosis will be recording a new album.
• Born of Osiris brought a couch on stage at a recent show to allow guitarist Lee McKinney — who is recovering from a broken foot — to sit down.

https://twitter.com/LeeOsiris/status/678824804703535104?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

• Veil of Maya have released a new video for their song “Aeris.”

• Following his recent comments about looking to move to Crimea, Fred Durst has been officially banned from Ukraine for five years. Though Crimea is technically part of Ukraine, the Russian Federation claims to have annexed it last year. Presumably the Ukrainian government didn’t take too kindly to Russia’s initiatives to bring Western celebrities to the region.
• Rob Scallon covered Job For a Cowboy’s “Entombment Of A Machine” on the banjo. Brutal.