Extreme have unveiled the video for “Rise,” which marks the first single from their upcoming album Six, out June 9 via earMUSIC.
“Musically, it’s aggressive,” says Gary about album opener “Rise.” “Lyrically, it’s a cautionary tale on the rise and fall of fame. You get seduced into it. Once you’re on top, they’ll rip you apart and tear you down. That’s the nature of the beast.”
“When Eddie Van Halen passed, it really hit me,” shares Nuno. “I’m not going to be the one who will take the throne, but I felt some responsibility to keep guitar playing alive. So, you hear a lot of fire on the record.”
With the force of a wrecking ball, EXTREME swing between unapologetic fits of fret-burning hard rock and intimately introspective balladry on the 12-track SIX, which also features such tracks as “Other Side of The Rainbow,” “#Rebel,” and “X Out.” For the recording of the Nuno-produced Six, the members buckled down at his home studio in Los Angeles. Once again, they channeled the electrifying eclecticism that defined their seminal output with a 21st century twist.
“With Extreme, there’s always a lot of passion and a little piss and vinegar,” says Gary. “We’re not in competition with anybody else, but we strive to outdo ourselves. There are some moments on this album where we did. We’ve managed to stay together after all of these years. We feel like we have something to prove when we get on stage or in the studio. Because of that, I believe some of these songs are among the best we’ve written.”
“Whatever you think an Extreme album is after two or even three songs, it’s not,” states Nuno. “That goes for every record we’ve ever done. True Extreme fans know to ‘expect the unexpected.’ I feel like we need a good old school rock album. Six is definitely modern, but you can put on headphones and go on a journey from top-to-bottom. It’s like ‘Extreme 2.0’.”
Extreme
Gary Cherone – Lead Vocals
Nuno Bettencourt – Guitar, Vocals
Pat Badger – Bass, Vocals
Kevin Figueiredo – Drums, Vocals
Tracklisting
1. Rise
2. #Rebel
3. Banshee
4. Other Side of the Rainbow
5. Small Town Beautiful
6. The Mask
7. Thicker Than Blood
8. Save Me
9. Hurricane
10. X Out
11. Beautiful Girls
12. Here’s to the Losers
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Elliott is a music photographer covering shows in Atlanta, Georgia, and the surrounding area. The highlight of his photography career was back in the early ’90s, when he sold Neil Diamond the rights to his negatives from a show and then purchased a set of tires for his 1979 280ZX during college with the money.