Shred guitar legend JOE STUMP has issued the following update:

"Hey, once again sorry it’s been quite awhile between updates. The European tour back in February/March went extremely well. I played 15 dates in 20 days combining shows and clinics. A sincere thanks goes out to all that attended. A bunch of the footage was recorded in both audio and video format, so I’m sure that a bunch of that will surface in the form of bonus tracks and quite possibly a new bootleg concert DVD with concert and clinic footage combined. I played a nice combination of solo stuff, REIGN OF TERROR material, and quite a bit of RAINBOW and DEEP PURPLE so the bootleg DVD will be completely filled with tons of guitar. I’m currently recording my new solo record, the long awaited follow-up to Speed Metal Messiah, and it should be released later on this year (late fall). I’ve got a bunch of the guitar tracks completed and I’m very pleased thus far. It’s a very diverse collection of tunes with a bunch of blazing neo-classical tracks, of course, a nice GARY MOORE style ballad, an evil speed metal/thrash metal bit, and some retro HENDRIX/Blackmore induced tunes. While all the tracks are titled, I have several working titles for the record that I’m still tossing around. While there’s, of course, a ton of over the top guitar stuff going on as usual, this one will be my best record song/composition-wise. I feel really good about the selection of tracks. For all you European fans, I’m featured in the new shred issue of Gitarist magazine (www.gitarist.nl). There’s an interview with me, plus I’m mentioned as one of the top 20 Shredders of all time. I’ll be going to Europe next month for some festival dates with HOLYHELL, and as usual, I’m really looking forward to getting out and doing more damage. After returning from Europe, I’ll get back to work on the new record, which should be completed by late July/early August. That’s it for now. I’ll try to make updates more frequent in the future, but what can I tell you, I like playing guitar way more than typing at the computer!"