At one airport, half of the airport-security staff didn’t show up thanks to the Senate Democratic shutdown.
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Opinion | Put Chuck Schumer on TSA Duty
WBC 2026: Team USA-Dominican Republic live updates, analysis
The first World Baseball Classic semifinal is set — and it is the matchup many have been dreaming about from the start of the WBC: Team USA vs. the Dominican Republic.
After Team USA downed Canada and the D.R. mercy ruled Venezuela on Friday night, the top two teams in our WBC Power Rankings will square off Sunday at 8 p.m. ET.
Who has the edge in this star-studded showdown? And who are the X factors who will decide which team moves on to Tuesday’s championship? ESPN baseball experts Jorge Castillo, Alden Gonzalez and Jeff Passan weigh in ahead of the semifinal — and be sure to come back to this page at first pitch for live analysis and highlights from Miami.
Just how excited should baseball fans be for this Team USA-Dominican Republic showdown?
Castillo: Very. While the 2023 final between Team USA and Japan was incredible theater, these are the best teams in this tournament. Paul Skenes vs. Plátano Power. All-Stars at nearly every position. A raucous atmosphere in Miami. It doesn’t get much better than that.
Passan: Excited is only the beginning. This is a dream matchup. It is a Dominican lineup loaded with All-Stars and MVP candidates and future Hall of Famers against one of the two best pitchers in the world. The Dominicans are the unstoppable force. Skenes is the immovable object. Sunday night’s game will play out in real time what happens when the two meet. It’s trite to say this is the real final, but with reigning champion Japan out of the tournament after losing to Venezuela on Saturday night, this is unquestionably the marquee matchup of the WBC. You don’t need to love baseball to love U.S. vs. D.R.
Gonzalez: I’ll try to put Jeff’s words in statistical perspective: The two projected starting lineups in this game will feature a combined 52 All-Star Games, 32 Silver Sluggers, 11 Gold Gloves and five MVPs, all from players still in their primes. Of those 18 players, 17 cracked our preseason MLB Rank top 100. Fifteen fell within the top 50. And none of this even accounts for arguably the greatest pitcher in the world — Skenes, Team USA’s starter. This could be a once-in-a-lifetime matchup. Enjoy it.
What’s the biggest thing the Dominican Republic must do to win tonight?
Castillo: Keep it close early. The Americans have the starting pitching advantage with Skenes on the mound, but the Dominican Republic bullpen is stout, and the offense won’t be shut down all night long.
Gonzalez: Hand its bullpen a lead. The Dominican Republic was tested against Venezuela in the pool-play finale, but the D.R. has beaten its four other opponents by a combined score of 44-5.
By the time this semifinal matchup rolls around, its best relievers will be pretty well rested. And if the Dominicans can unleash the likes of Camilo Doval, Carlos Estevez, Seranthony Dominguez, Wandy Peralta, Dennis Santana and Abner Uribe, the U.S. will be swimming upstream.
Passan: Drive up Skenes’ pitch count and try to chase him by the fourth inning. Team USA manager Mark DeRosa said Skenes would throw 75 to 80 pitches — well shy of the maximum 95 allowed in the semifinals and finals. While Skenes typically limits walks, he does have a tendency to run up pitch counts. If the D.R. can force DeRosa to go to his bullpen, that’s a benefit for it: As good as it is, it’s not as good as Skenes.
Who is the one player who must shine for the D.R. in the semifinal?
Castillo: Fernando Tatis Jr. sets the tone atop the explosive Dominican lineup and has been a problem for opposing pitchers in this tournament. The San Diego Padres right fielder is 7-for-16 with two home runs, 11 RBIs and a 1.404 OPS in five games. When he applies pressure in front of Ketel Marte, Juan Soto and Vladimir Guerrero Jr., the Dominicans are nearly impossible to slow down.
Gonzalez: This might look like a lopsided pitching matchup on paper, but Luis Severino‘s stuff looked electric in his prior start against the Netherlands. His fastball reached 99 mph, and his sinker and cutter were all consistently in the mid- to upper-90s. Severino struggled mightily while spending half his time in a minor league ballpark in Sacramento last season. But if he looks closer to what he was with the Mets the prior year, the Dominican Republic will be in good hands.
Passan: In the limited at-bats Dominican players have taken against Skenes, center fielder Julio Rodriguez has found the most success, going 3 for 6 with a pair of doubles. Of the D.R. regulars, Rodriguez has struggled the most, going 3 for 15 with a home run and four RBIs, and while he finds himself toward the bottom of the cartoonish lineup, he’s every bit as capable of unleashing the biggest swing of the tournament as those in front of him.
What’s the biggest thing Team USA must do to win tonight?
Castillo: Make Severino work. While the Dominican Republic’s bullpen is electric, the Dominicans don’t have a long man behind Severino because Brayan Bello returned to the Boston Red Sox to pitch on Saturday and will not be available. If the Americans can chase Severino early, Dominican manager Albert Pujols would have to piece it together against a dangerous U.S. lineup.
Gonzalez: This lineup was sold as arguably the greatest ever assembled when this tournament began, but we have yet to really see that against the best competition. Against Italy in the pool-play finale, the U.S. was blanked through the first five innings by Michael Lorenzen. In the quarterfinals against Canada — a game started by Michael Soroka, who has put up a 4.91 ERA in the majors over the past three years, with no dominant relievers behind him — the U.S. strung together just eight hits. The Dominican lineup has been a force in this tournament, already tying a WBC record with 14 home runs. The U.S. needs to show up offensively.
Passan: Get an early lead. The Dominicans have finished every inning of the tournament holding the lead, so for the U.S. to punch them in the mouth would not only send a message that their romp through the WBC will not continue unabated — it would also be a reminder to a Team USA that has looked like a C-plus version of itself that greatness does indeed remain within. The games the Americans have won came via early leads and bend-but-don’t-break bullpen work. That formula, even if it calls for a few antacid pills, can be enough for a championship.
Who is the one player who must shine for the U.S. in the semifinal?
Castillo: In a lineup filled with All-Stars, Aaron Judge, the best hitter in the world, remains a notch above the rest. The three-time MVP has two home runs and six walks in this tournament. Pitching around him is a scary proposition with Kyle Schwarber looming in the on-deck circle. The three-time AL MVP will have chances to impact this game.
Gonzalez: Bryce Harper is 3-for-20 in this tournament with zero extra-base hits, seven strikeouts and just one walk. He is hitting in a critical part of the lineup, sandwiched between Bobby Witt Jr. and Judge, and desperately needs to come through.
Harper has carried the spotlight on him since high school, but it feels a little brighter than usual in this moment. Prominent in people’s minds whenever he comes to bat is that “not elite” comment from Dave Dombrowski, which clearly bothered him, and his own comments about the Olympics essentially being more important than this tournament. Harper can quiet the noise with one big game.
Passan: Despite his offense’s issues, DeRosa said after Team USA’s quarterfinal win: “I don’t see any crazy changes taking place. We’ll roll with the dudes.” Well, one of those dudes needs to be Baltimore Orioles shortstop Gunnar Henderson, who in his career is 7 for 9 against Severino. Where does he play? That’s the difficult part. It’s not at shortstop, where Bobby Witt Jr. is a must-start. It could be at third base, where he has played, but that would displace Alex Bregman. And putting Bregman at second base would put Brice Turang, arguably the United States’ best hitter in the tournament so far, on the bench. DeRosa does not have an easy choice to make. Whatever he does, though, needs to include Henderson.
Transcript: Rep. Dan Crenshaw on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan,” March 15, 2026
The following is the transcript of the interview with Rep. Dan Crenshaw, Republican of Texas, that aired on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan” on March 15, 2026.
MARGARET BRENNAN: We go now to Texas Republican Congressman Dan Crenshaw, who joins us from Houston. Welcome back to Face the Nation. You in a previous life were a Navy SEAL. So just to tap into your expertise a little bit here, when you see that President Trump is deploying a few thousand more Marines in an expeditionary unit to join the 50,000 forces we have there, what does that signal to you?
REP. DAN CRENSHAW: I think it signals that there’s a seriousness of supporting whatever contingency operations might be needed. I don’t think it- People should take that as a boots on the ground deployment, especially with only 5,000 troops. These type of units are- are, you know- they could be for evacuating American citizens out of Gulf allied countries. They could be for a number of things. So, I take it as a seriousness of committing to the situation, which is exactly what is needed. If you’re going to do this, which we have done, you need to see it through. That’s what I would be advising the president. I’d be advising the president to take very seriously the Straits of Hormuz. This is something we practice on a yearly basis. This is why he’s asked allies to come to our aid, to protect it, because we practice this as an exercise yearly with 30 plus nations. So, I think he’s doing what’s needed.
MARGARET BRENNAN: So, Secretary Hegseth said earlier this month, Operation Epic Fury would have, quote, no stupid rules of engagement. Two days later, he said, we are punching them while they’re down, which is exactly how it should be. This Friday, he said, no quarter, no mercy for our enemies. You’ve served in uniform. Do you have any concern that this kind of language is sending the wrong message to our troops who are bound by standards of proportionality or that it could backfire on our troops?
REP. CRENSHAW: No, if you fought in these wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, you’d be well acquainted with bad rules of engagement. You know the kind of thing that says, look, you can’t shoot unless you’re shot at. What he’s saying is that we are targeting Iranian military without quarter. That’s what he’s saying. He’s making it very clear for our military, which is, which is a clarity that our military has lacked in many of these conflicts in the past.
MARGARET BRENNAN: So even though there are no ground troops at this point, you think that this is–
REP. CRENSHAW: –I can’t–
MARGARET BRENNAN: –Can you hear me?
REP. CRENSHAW: I can.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Okay, so you don’t take that as sending the wrong signal to our troops whatsoever or that it could inflame enemies who, if there are ever ground troops or a downed air pilot, for example, that they would be mistreated?
REP. CRENSHAW: No, no, absolutely not. The rules of engagement will be very clear and in place and in writing for our troops. He is saying that to the American people, right? So there’s, there’s- there’s military language that our troops abide by, which will be very clear. I don’t think it sends any wrong message. I think it’s, I think it sends exactly the right message. Again, it, my experience in the military. I know what that means.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Okay, the last time you were with us, we spoke about- you felt the need for moral clarity. That was a phrase you used for some within your own party, specifically around antisemitism in this country. I want to read for you a few things that some Republican lawmakers said this week. Andy Ogles of Tennessee said America is a product of English Christian culture. Muslims don’t belong in American society. Florida’s Randy Fine said we need more Islamophobia, not less. Fear of Islam is rational. And Senator Tommy Tuberville of Alabama posted a picture of the 9/11 attack next to the New York City mayor at dinner breaking his fast at Ramadan with the phrase the enemy is inside the gates. What do you think of this language, and should Republican leaders speak up about it?
REP. CRENSHAW: I still think it’s fairly fringe. I mean, the truth of the matter is, radical Islamism is bad, right? We’ve always known that. That should not be- that should not be a controversial statement at all. There are plenty of peaceful Muslims–
MARGARET BRENNAN: –But that’s not what they said.–
REP. CRENSHAW: — who live among us– I realize that. But, you know, that’s not a mainstream- that’s not a mainstream narrative by any stretch. I think trying to fight it internally will probably gives it more, a lot more air than is necessary. We’ve seen that to be the case as you know, there’s- there’s- there’s- there’s a Republican conflict ongoing right now over Israel and the antisemitism issues, and so, you know, one could make the argument that speaking out against it has only inflamed it. So, look, I still think that’s very fringe. I don’t think that’s- that’s certainly not the administration’s position. And like, we’re going to go after radical Islam, that’s why we need to fund agencies like DHS, and that’s what we’re going to do.
MARGARET BRENNAN: You spoke about this culture of misinformation we’re living in, and you pointed to that as one of the factors in your recent primary loss. What lessons- lessons should other Republicans take from that? What do you mean?
REP. CRENSHAW: Well, I mean, I’m a unique Republican, you know, I’ve been the target of online smears and conspiracies for a very long time. My election was basically a product of that. You know, first of all, you have about 20% of Republican voters bothering to even vote at a primary, and then you have dozens of online smears and conspiracies that people were going into the voting booth actually believing, I mean, believing that I was worth millions- believing that was worth millions of dollars from insider trading. Doesn’t matter how many times we thought we had debunked that, or that- or that -or that other people and influencers and what have not have debunked it, all of these things, people still went in believing it. And so the lesson to be learned is like, you’ve got to get the truth out. You’ve got to try. But ultimately, this is a question for the American people. Are you going to believe everything you read online or that’s sent to you in your mail? I mean, Democrats spent almost a million dollars also pushing these smears on television. So Republican voters are going to vote- the voting booth believing what a Democrat told them on TV based on a smear headline written by a liberal reporter in DC. So that’s the lesson, and it’s not just for Republican politicians. It’s the lesson for Republican voters.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Misinformation. Congressman, we appreciate your time today. We’ll be right back.
Costco recalls pre-made meal sold in 26 states over possible salmonella contamination
The kits were sold in warehouses earlier this month, the notice says.
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10 Movie Characters Who Deserve Their Own Spinoffs
Sometimes we just can’t get enough when it comes to our favorite movie characters — especially side characters.
Whether it’s a fantastic villain with a surprising backstory, a comic-relief sidekick we want to see more of, or a protagonist’s complex love interest who piques our curiosity, plenty of non-main movie characters deserve their own spotlight.
These beloved side characters spark audiences’ imaginations, making us wonder about their origin stories, deeper motivations, and potential future adventures and fates beyond their initial film. Thankfully, that’s where spinoffs, prequels, and sequels come into play, allowing filmmakers to more deeply explore compelling and interesting characters who may not have been the main focus of a film, but have driven fan demand for their own movie or TV series.
READ MORE: The Wildest Ways Movie Characters Were Killed Off and Brought Back
Over the years we’ve encountered countless characters who feel perfectly suited for their own standalone stories. One strong candidate is Captain Hector Barbossa from the Pirates of the Caribbean series. Played by Geoffrey Rush, over the course of multiple films Barbossa evolves from a charismatic villain into a layered anti-hero. A prequel exploring his early days in the Caribbean and rise as a pirate captain would offer swashbuckling adventure mixed with moral ambiguity.
Another fan-favorite is Short Round from Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. Played by the wonderfully adaptable Ke Huy Quan, Short Round is resourceful, loyal, and effortlessly charming. A spinoff following him as an adult adventurer in his own right could capture the spirit of the original Indiana Jones films while bringing a fresh perspective.
Then there’s Padmé Amidala from Star Wars, who has tons of untapped storytelling potential. Played by Natalie Portman in the prequel trilogy, Padmé is a queen-turned-senator-turned-rebel navigating the collapse of galactic democracy. A drama chronicling her rise to queen of Naboo, powerful relationship with her fierce handmaidens, or adventures during the Clone Wars could deepen the sci-fi franchise’s political storytelling while highlighting one of the most important characters in the series.
These side characters have main character energy, and regardless of whether it’s a prequel series or spinoff film, we want to see more of their stories play out on our screens.
Fan-Favorite Characters Who Deserve Spinoffs
From complex villains to sidekicks and beyond, these fan-favorite, secondary movie characters should have received their very own spinoff movie or series.
Gallery Credit: Erica Russell
Actors Who Have Played Multiple Marvel Characters
Talk about a Marvel multiverse — these 12 actors have played at least two (or in some cases three!) Marvel characters.
Opinion | Gavin Newsom Is Driving Up Gasoline Prices
Californians pay $5.48 a gallon on average—and military jet fuel is getting dangerously expensive.
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2026 Pennzoil 400 odds, props: NASCAR at Las Vegas picks, predictions from proven experts
Ryan Blaney will look to stretch his winning streak to two races when he competes as one of the favorites at Sunday’s NASCAR 2026 Pennzoil 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Blaney led for 28 laps last week en route to the win at the Straight Talk Wireless 500 at Phoenix Raceway. He nosed out Christopher Bell, who finished 0.399 seconds behind to take second. Kyle Larson is the Pennzoil 400 favorite at +500 (risk $100 to win $500) at FanDuel.
Among the other favorites in the 2026 NASCAR at Phoenix odds are Bell (+600), who will start on the pole, William Byron (+750) and Denny Hamlin, Blaney and Tyler Reddick, all at +850. Joe Gibbs Racing is the +165 favorite to be the winning team for Sunday’s race. Sunday’s race is set to start at 4 p.m. ET. Before entering any 2026 Pennzoil 400 picks, props or NASCAR parlays, be sure to see what elite expert auto racing handicappers Phil Bobbitt and Steve Greco have to say.
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Bobbitt and Greco built a predictive engine that consistently beats the books. They find huge value and aren’t afraid of volume. Over the past four-plus years, their followers are up more than $28,000 on $100 NASCAR betting plays. In 2024, they nailed seven outright winners in the Cup Series, returning nearly seven units for a 25.7% ROI.
They predicted Daniel Suarez’s victory in Atlanta at +3500 and were 10-2 on matchup plays. Their 2024 NASCAR All-Star Race preview nailed Joey Logano at +1100 and went 4-0 in matchup picks, and they hit Austin Cindric at +2800 in the Enjoy Illinois 300. They also nailed Ross Chastain as a +3000 longshot in the Hollywood Casino 400. Overall, they were up 47.18 units across all racing articles last season. In 2025, they correctly called William Byron (+2300) in the Daytona 500 and Kyle Larson (+450) in the AdventHealth 400. Anyone following Bobbitt and Greco on betting apps and sportsbooks could have seen huge returns.
Now, Bobbitt and Greco have analyzed the field and odds for Sunday’s 2026 Pennzoil 400 race. They’re sharing their best bets only at SportsLine.
New users can also check out the latest FanDuel promo code and get up to $300 back in bonus bets every day for 10 days:
2026 NASCAR Cup Pennzoil 400 prop picks
One of Bobbitt and Greco’s top NASCAR bets: They are backing Carson Hocevar over Josh Berry, a prop that returns -115.
“This matchup looks closer on the board than it does in the data,” Bobbitt said. “Berry did win the spring Vegas race last year, which is something the broadcast will remind us of approximately every seven minutes for the rest of our natural lives. But when you zoom out and look at the full intermediate-track sample from 2025, that win sticks out like a roulette wheel landing on green. Across the 10 comparable intermediate races last season, Berry averaged 7.2 fastest laps and 6.2 laps led. The bigger story is his race pace. Berry’s average running position across those races was 20.1, and he spent just 39.2% of his laps inside the top-15. That profile screams ‘occasionally sneaky result,’ not ‘weekly contender.’
“Hocevar’s numbers tell a different story. Across the same comparable races, Hocevar averaged 8.0 fastest laps and 7.0 laps led while carrying a much stronger 15.8 average running position. More importantly, he spent 60.2% of his laps inside the top-15. That gap in sustained pace matters at a place like Las Vegas, where long green-flag runs tend to expose who actually has speed and who is just hanging on.” See what other NASCAR prop picks they like at SportsLine.
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How to make 2026 NASCAR at Las Vegas picks
Bobbitt and Greco have locked in more NASCAR props, including more matchups plays and their top pick for outright winner. You can only see who he is here.
So who wins the 2026 Pennzoil 400, and which NASCAR drivers should you back? Visit SportsLine now to see the 2026 NASCAR Pennzoil 400 prop picks and best bets from a team of elite NASCAR handicappers who were up over 47 units in 2024, and find out.
2026 Pennzoil 400 odds, field
See full NASCAR Pennzoil 400 picks at SportsLine
Kyle Larson +500
Christopher Bell +600
William Byron +750
Denny Hamlin +850
Tyler Reddick +850
Ryan Blaney +850
Joey Logano +1100
Chase Briscoe +1200
Ross Chastain +1300
Chase Elliott +1800
Bubba Wallace +1900
Chris Buescher +2200
Carson Hocevar +2500
Brad Keselowski +2700
Ty Gibbs +3000
Kyle Busch +3000
Alex Bowman +3300
Connor Zilisch +4000
Josh Berry +4000
Ryan Preece +4500
Daniel Suarez +5000
Austin Cindric +7000
Michael McDowell +8000
Erik Jones +8000
AJ Allmendinger +8000
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. +10000
Noah Gragson +12500
Shane Van Gisbergen +12500
Austin Dillon +12500
Todd Gilliland +15000
John Hunter Nemechek +17500
Riley Herbst +25000
Zane Smith +25000
Cole Custer +25000
Ty Dillon +40000
Cody Ware +50000
Pakistan says it hit militant hideouts in Afghanistan’s Kandahar as fighting shows no letup
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Pakistan said Sunday it targeted militant hideouts in Afghanistan’s Kandahar region overnight, as the fighting that erupted between the two neighbors late last month showed no signs of abating.
The cross-border fighting, which has included Pakistani airstrikes in the Afghan capital, Kabul, is the deadliest yet between the two South Asian nations. Islamabad has referred to the conflict as an “open war,” adding to concerns about regional stability as the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran engulfs the Middle East and beyond.
In a post on X, Pakistan’s Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said the military had struck equipment storage facilities and “technical support infrastructure” in overnight attacks in Kandahar.
Afghan government spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said Pakistan had hit two locations: a site used by security guards during the day that was empty at night, and a drug rehabilitation center that suffered slight damage. He said there were no casualties, but that the strikes showed that Pakistan was “continuing to invade and fuel the fire of war.”
Afghanistan’s Defense Ministry said it carried out an attack on a Pakistani army camp in Pakistan’s South Waziristan area on Sunday in retaliation for the strikes in Kandahar. It claimed the attack destroyed most of the camp’s command center and other facilities, and inflicted heavy casualties on the Pakistani military.
Pakistan’s Ministry of Information rejected the claim as “propaganda,” saying that a small drone was struck down and that “no military installation or infrastructure was hit.”
Afghanistan also said it carried out operations inside Pakistan across the border from Kunar and Nangarhar provinces, claiming to have captured a Pakistani military outpost and killed several soldiers. Pakistan also rejected those claims.
Pakistan accuses Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers of harboring militant groups, particularly the Pakistani Taliban, or Tehrik-e-Taliban, which stage attacks inside Pakistan. Afghanistan denies the charge, insisting it does not allow its territory to be used against other countries.
The latest fighting erupted in late February, when Afghanistan launched a cross-border attack into Pakistan in retaliation for Pakistani airstrikes inside Afghanistan days earlier that it said had killed only civilians. The clashes upended a ceasefire that had been brokered by Qatar last October following fighting that had killed dozens of soldiers, civilians and suspected militants.
On Sunday, a mortar fired from Afghanistan destroyed a home in Bajaur, a district in northwestern Pakistan, killing at last four members of the same family and wounding two others, local government official Adnan Khan said.
Both sides have accused the other of targeting civilians, and dozens have been killed.
Pakistan’s President Asif Ali Zardari on Saturday said Afghanistan’s government had “ crossed a red line ” by launching drone attacks on civilian areas in Pakistan, and hours later the country reportedly conducted strikes on an Afghan drone storage facility.
___
Abdul Qahar Afghan reported from Kabul, Afghanistan. Associated Press writer Elena Becatoros in Athens, Greece, contributed to this report.
Police officer rescues cat from side of interstate
A police officer in Dayton, Ohio, recently stepped in to rescue a cat that was stranded on the side of Interstate-75.Dayton Police & Fire said the incident happened on Tuesday afternoon, when the officer was told by a woman driving that the cat was stuck on the highway.After learning about it, the officer was able to locate the cat, which was bleeding, and picked the cat up from the road.The officer put the cat in the car and took the animal to a nearby humane society to be treated.See the video of the rescue from the police in the video above.
A police officer in Dayton, Ohio, recently stepped in to rescue a cat that was stranded on the side of Interstate-75.
Dayton Police & Fire said the incident happened on Tuesday afternoon, when the officer was told by a woman driving that the cat was stuck on the highway.
After learning about it, the officer was able to locate the cat, which was bleeding, and picked the cat up from the road.
The officer put the cat in the car and took the animal to a nearby humane society to be treated.
See the video of the rescue from the police in the video above.
SYMPHONY X Say Long-Awaited New Album Is Finally Taking Shape
Progressive metal veterans Symphony X say their long-awaited new album is finally starting to come together after years of writing sessions and touring delays.
Speaking in a new interview with Brazil’s 92.5 Kiss FM, guitarist and primary songwriter Michael Romeo discussed the slow but steady progress on the follow-up to the band’s 2015 album Underworld.
Romeo explained that the band’s creative process has changed drastically since the early days, when album royalties allowed them to spend extended stretches focusing solely on writing and recording.
“In the old days, years ago, working on a record, we were getting royalties from the albums,” Romeo said. “So there was a little money coming in, and we were okay. We survived. And when it came time to writing a record, I could come down in the studio for as long as it took — a year… And we could kind of get the record done and just concentrate on the record a hundred percent.”
According to Romeo, the biggest obstacle hasn’t been a lack of material — it’s the opposite: “To be honest, dude, the honest truth is that after COVID, we started playing a lot just to kind of get everybody back on their feet and get some money coming in,” he explained. “And then it was, like, ‘Okay, I’m gonna start working on riffs.'”
However, repeated tour cycles interrupted his workflow, leaving him with a massive backlog of unfinished ideas.
“I come home, more ideas. I didn’t finish the ones from last time, so now repeat that like 20 times,” Romeo said. “And then I’m looking at a folder of ideas that’s got 1,037 ideas. And I’m trying to sort it out, and I’m sending it to the guys. I’m like, ‘Guys, I’ve just got so much stuff. What’s the good stuff?'”
Romeo hopes the band can finally lock in a recording schedule this year: “The schedule we’re trying to get on is by the end of this year, let’s have this thing recorded,” he said. “Because it’s not like we don’t have anything — we actually have too much. But the problem is we don’t have too much finished things.”
Frontman Russell Allen echoed that sentiment in a recent interview with Uruguay’s The Dark Melody, revealing that Romeo has already sent him roughly 10 hours of material for what will likely be a 55-minute album.
“It becomes a monumental task just to weed through all the stuff,” Allen said. “But he’s honed a lot of it in, so we’re getting close.”
While the gap between albums has stretched to more than a decade, Allen insists the band prioritizes quality over speed: “I’m not gonna apologize to you guys for taking the time,” he said. “It’s just how we create this stuff… At the end of the day, we’ve gotta live with it.”
Still, he suggested the massive backlog of material could shorten the wait for the next record after this one: “There’s so much good material… There shouldn’t be as much of a gap,” Allen said. “But I’m not gonna make any promises.”
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