Vocalist Gary Cherone of the reunited Massachusetts hard rockers EXTREME — featuring original members Nuno Bettencourt, Cherone, Pat Badger and new sticksman Kevin Figueiredo — has issued the following update:

"The [new EXTREME] record is finished except for one lead vocal and a few backgrounds. Nuno is working overtime finishing up the mixes, and believe the hype! These are the best performances of the band... ever! You're gonna hear everything you expect from EXTREME, and everything you don't!

"The release of the record will ultimately depend on the label, and what's best for the band. We're working on an American run for mid/late summer. Europe, Japan and the rest of the world to follow!"

As previously reported, EXTREME will co-headline the Rock Of Ages - A September To Remember Festival on September 13 at Palasharp in Milan, Italy. According to the Italian concert promoter Live In Italy, this will be EXTREME's only European appearance this summer. Also scheduled to perform are co-headliner and festival closer TWISTED SISTER and Switzerland's GOTTHARD.

Bay Area Backstage has posted video footage of EXTREME performing a private show at this year's winter NAMM (National Association of Music Merchants) show on January 18, 2008 at the Hilton in Anaheim, California.

Watch the 13-minute clip below.

EXTREME performed a three-song set at the Boston Music Awards on December 1, 2007 at the Orpheum in Boston consisting of "Slide", "Decadence Dance" and "Communication Breakdown".

In a recent interview with BostonHerald.com, Bettencourt described the new album as a "straight-up rock record" that expands on EXTREME's funk-metal sound.

The new CD was the key to getting back together as a full-time band, he said. EXTREME did a handful of gigs last summer, including a gig at the Bank of America Pavilion in July, but Bettencourt wasn't interested in becoming a permanent part of a nostalgia act.

"Even though we wanted to do something for years, we had to have something new to offer," he told BostonHerald.com. "In the last six months we started writing some great songs. If they weren't, we wouldn't be doing this."