BW&BK; recently confirmed reports that OBSESSION / ex-LOUDNESS vocalist Mike Vescera - who fronted the band in the late '80s for two studio albums - will be performing with Loudness as a guest vocalist on April 14th at the Live N' Louder Festival in Sao Paulo, Brazil. As a follow-up, scribe Carl Begai caught up with original Loudness singer Minoru Niihara to confirm that he has not left the band:

"First of all, I am still Loudness' vocalist and actually I am working on the new album now," says Niihara. "When Loudness was offered the South America rock festival show a few weeks ago, my side project XYZ-A's Japan tour had been booked already on the same week and the same day, so I won't be able to go to South America. Akira (Takasaki/guitars) wanted to play in South America so badly and he asked me, 'You can’t go there because of your schedule; can we have a special guest for that show?' and I said 'It is just my schedule-wise thing happening and I'm sorry about that, so please don’t hesitate having a someone for the show, I understand it.' However, I didn't know until you told me now that Mike would sing for me, though (laughs)."
"Who can sing for me but Mike?" Niihara adds. "I think he's the right choice in such a situation. I believe Loudness and Mike will kick some ass in South America show. I’d love to go to sing in South America some day, in the near future."

Prior to speaking to Niihara, BW&BK; caught up with Vescera, who offered the following on th eupcoming festival one-off:

"I'm actually singing the whole set with Loudness. I was contacted by the US representation a few weeks ago, they asked if I would be interested in doing this festival with Loudness. We all felt that this would be awesome to make happen, so it's all been put together. It will be great to play with the guys again, I'm sure it will be killer. As far as set list, we're not sure as of yet. We're discussing this and should know soon."

For information on the Live N' Louder festival go to this location.