The all-star hard rock collective BLACK SWAN — featuring Robin McAuley (MCAULEY SCHENKER GROUP),Reb Beach (WINGER, WHITESNAKE),Jeff Pilson (FOREIGNER, THE END MACHINE, ex-DOKKEN) and Matt Starr (Ace Frehley, MR. BIG) — has unveiled its new single and official visualizer, "The Fire And The Flame", out now via Frontiers Music Srl. The track is taken from BLACK SWAN's upcoming third album, tentatively due in early 2026.
McAuley commented: "The song is a powerful idiom and metaphor often found in religious literature and pop culture, signifying a divine power, but also an insight into one's personal struggles and perseverance. Fire can be seen as a divine presence, while flame captures a passionate and never-ending devotion in the midst of one's personal struggles. Fire and flame, combined, emphasize the overall challenging experience at its most intense aspects. A time for reflection and rebirth, perhaps?"
BLACK SWAN released its second album, "Generation Mind" in April 2022. The LP was written and composed by McAuley, Pilson and Beach and was once again produced and recorded by Pilson at Pilsound Studios in Los Angeles, with Starr's drums being recorded at On Deck Sound Studios.
The genesis of BLACK SWAN was sparked by a conversation between Pilson and Frontiers Music Srl president and head of A&R, Serafino Perugino, who wanted a project that would not only showcase McAuley's vocal prowess, but have a mighty musical backbone to stand skyscraper tall behind him. Thus, the initial seeds were planted and Pilson ran with it from there. The four members got BLACK SWAN off the ground by exchanging ideas back and forth and then bringing all the songs together. The final result is something fresh, very heavy, but still intensely melodic and it's certainly not DOKKEN, nor WINGER, nor MSG, or some combination thereof, but its own unique animal.
Regarding how BLACK SWAN has managed to stay together to record a second studio album despite the fact that most so-called "supergroups" don't last very long, McAuley told VWMusic in a 2022 interview: "'Shake The World' was a great first record from BLACK SWAN, and I don't think any of us likes the supergroup reference attached to the lineup. We set out to write some great music together. Music that we enjoy playing and listening to. On 'Generation Mind', I think we achieved that cohesive band sound that is very BLACK SWAN, and the production reflects that very much. It's fresh sounding, high energy, and fun. We're not caught up in having to sound a particular way because the label [Frontiers] put us together. This is who we are as a band."
(Source: www.blabbermouth.net)