Jo Schüftan of Horns Up Rocks! conducted an interview with legendary heavy metal bassist Geezer Butler (BLACK SABBATH, HEAVEN & HELL) and Wendy Dio, wife/manager of late HEAVEN & HELL/BLACK SABBATH singer Ronnie James Dio, at the third annual Revolver Golden Gods Awards, which was held on April 20 at Club Nokia in downtown Los Angeles, California.
Butler's latest solo album, "Ohmwork", was released in May 2005 via Sanctuary Records. Geezer's first album in eight years, "Ohmwork" was the bassist's third solo band release. His first project under the GZR banner was 1995's "Plastic Planet" while 1997's "Black Science" was credited to GEEZER. Guitarist Pedro Howse worked on all three albums, while vocalist Clark Brown performed on "Ohmwork" and the aforementioned "Black Science".
On May 9, longtime Spanish heavy metal journalist Rafa Basa of RafaBasa.com conducted an interview with JUDAS PRIEST singer Rob Halford about the departure of the band's founding member, Kenneth "K.K." Downing; the addition of 31-year-old guitarist Richie Faulkner (LAUREN HARRIS, DIRTY DEEDS); and the group's upcoming "Epitaph" farewell tour. Several excerpts from the chat follow below (transcribed exclusively by BLABBERMOUTH.NET from the original 27-minute audio, which can be streamed at the bottom of this article).
On why JUDAS PRIEST has chosen to embark on a farewell tour at this point in the band's career:
Halford: "I think we're just being very careful. We wanna be able to still do these big shows and to still give out the same kind of power and energy that we've always been able to do. And so, 40 years later, we're doing that really successfully and we feel that we would like this to be a kind of celebration of many, many things about JUDAS PRIEST and give the fans a really, really great metal show. And then maybe just take things easier next time, you know, because… I wish we were all immortal. [Laughs] Metal is immortal [Laughs], but I don't feel immortal. It's a lot of reasons, and it happens to everybody in one way or another. I think metal touring is very, very difficult. I mean, you've got all the travelling to do and you don't get much sleep. And it's different on your body all these years later. PRIEST is famous for these very big, long grueling tours, and we just wanna still be able to make our shows, but we just wanna be able to kind of enjoy
them and put on a great performance. But just kind of kick back a little bit and enjoy the golden metal years and still be with our fans, but just on a different level now."
On whether the next PRIEST studio album will be similar to the band's last CD, "Nostradamus" (2008), or if it will be a return to a classic PRIEST album format along the lines of "Angel Of Retribution" (2005):
Halford: "Well, I can tell you that it's gonna be a very strong, powerful, solid heavy metal album with all of the famous things people love about PRIEST — all the big sledgehammer heavy metal riffs from Birmingham and the screaming vocals. And it's just a very straightforward record as far as looking at our past and all of the wonderful things that we've done in heavy metal — from 'British Steel' to 'Painkiller' to 'Sad Wings Of Destiny'. We've got this wonderful heritage in our music, so I think we're just letting our heart lead us on this record. It's not as complicated or as complex in the arrangements as 'Nostradamus' was and I think we always felt that it would have been wrong to finish the recording side of PRIEST with 'Nostradamus'; we felt it was very important to kind of re-focus and put the metal in its place that we're most famous for, and I think that's what we're gonna do with this new record. It's coming out next year. It's almost
completed. A lot of the songs have been already written, not fully recorded, but all of the arrangements have been made. That's the time-consuming part — the actual writing of the songs and then getting the arrangements right and all the pieces into place. And then when you go in the studio, the studio is generally a pretty straightforward operation. But we're excited, yeah. It's kind of unusual, isn't it?! 'Cause it's farewell, but it's full of new things; we have a new show, new costumes, new setlist and that's we've always tried to do for our fans and for ourselves — to make every tour special, and that's definitely the case with this one."
On the future of JUDAS PRIEST after the "Epitaph" tour:
Halford: "It's a very open set of opportunities, of course. We will still be making shows, we won't be going out on these long, massive world tours as much. But we'll still be getting together every now and again and doing a festival here and there. Personally, I don't see any reason why we need to stop the writing and the recording, because that's always a great joy and pleasure and it's not as stressful and difficult, physically and mentally, as a tour. So yeah, the future is not really laid out for certain, but I guess we'll just be and do what we've always tried to do as a metal band, which is, in one way or another, still keep recording and still do some shows."
On what it means to him to be working on a new JUDAS PRIEST studio album at this point in the band's career:
Halford: "I think it's just another testament to the self-belief we have as a band. We still feel that we've got something to say. We still feel that we've got important things to display in our music, especially. And so, for a brand new studio album to come this far on in our career, I think it's a wonderful achievement, and I think it's just letting our fans, especially, see that the things that are important to us — the passion of metal and the power of metal — is still alive inside of us and we still get a lot of pleasure and satisfaction from making metal songs and recording them and putting on a show. That's not changed. I think in our hearts we wish we could do this forever. [Laughs] It's like your favorite soccer player; you wish he could keep playing the game forever, but eventually you have to be realistic and sensible and say, 'This has been great. I'm still gonna do a few things — maybe do some coaching.' Still stay in the mix of metal.
But life goes on and things change. But like I said, we hope that people will see this as a time to celebrate, with a lot of new experiences. We're celebrating a lot of great moments from our past, but we're also looking forward to the future."
On K.K. Downing's statement that his departure from JUDAS PRIEST was brought on in part by "an ongoing breakdown in [the] working relationship between [him], elements of the band, and the band's management":
Halford: "Well, I'm sure you've been around a lot of bands in your life as a journalist and I'm sure you've heard a lot of stories about the creative differences that happen in a group, and you always overcome them. It's not easy being in a band; it's a very difficult, temperamental machine, because you're dealing with very emotional people, very talented people, and so you have your ups and your downs. I think that in the light of all of the excitement and the confusion over the last few weeks, a lot of the things have been kind of distorted out of the fact. I don't really know why K.K. said what he said in his press release. I think maybe K.K. himself was feeling very emotional and very kind of… I don't know… maybe retrospective about all of the things that have been going on in PRIEST for the last few years. . . If you go onto his web site today, he put up a new press release and he says, you know, he's had a great time and he's not feeling
bitter, he's not feeling in any other way than feeling just very satisfied and complete that he's done all the things that he wants to do. And I think that's great. I think K.K.'s really answered a lot of questions for a lot of people. But I think it was unfair to single out the bandmembers and I think it was unfair to single out management as the reason why he left, because it was more than that. And so there you go. We're all separate, individual people that all have lives to live and all have different needs and choices to be made, and this is the one that K.K.'s gone with. And we love him dearly; he'll always be in the spirit of JUDAS PRIEST. We wish things were different, but they're not, so we have to look forward and be positive and be excited about the shows that we're gonna do and a great new guitar player, Richie. JUDAS PRIEST is not just one person, JUDAS PRIEST is the whole experience, and we've always felt that way. Even when I was away
from the band, JUDAS PRIEST carried on. So this is what we're gonna do — we're gonna be strong and we're gonna put on some powerful shows and we're gonna celebrate and have some great metal experiences together again."
On why K.K. couldn't wait until after the "Epitaph" tour to leave the band:
Halford: "It's a great question. I can't answer it. You have to get in touch with K.K. and ask him that question, 'cause I can't answer it. I think we've tried to be as honest and as straightforward as we can be on both sides of the discussion, and it is very emotional. I mean, you could just as easily [have asked] that same question — which you may have done — when I was away from the band, and Ripper, my good friend Ripper, was holding the mic for me. You just have to carry on. I think more than anything, it's just kind of difficult, 'cause it's a farewell tour. Why is it happening now? Well, you've got no control over life, have you? [Laughs] You can't control life and these things happen. So you just have to accept them and see what your options are. So that's the way it is. Of course, it will never be the same without K.K., like I'm sure a lot of people said it was never the same without me. But you can't just grind to a halt, you can't just
stop everything — that would be ridiculous. We have obligations to our fans and to promoters and to everybody else, and to our record company, and we wanna fulfill them and be professional and do the right thing, which is what I think we are doing."
On how he feels personally about K.K.'s departure from the band:
Halford: "I just feel very sad that this whole episode has taken place at the time that it has. I think that we're all dealing with it differently. I love Ken like a brother; we've been in each other's lives for over 40 years. And we're all still good friends; that's the important thing. It doesn't matter about the breakdown in the communication or the creative differences; that's just part of being in a band. The friendship and the caring for each other, that doesn't go away. It should never go away. Because we've been through too much together and you can't let differences of opinion over different incidents and different moments, you can't let that affect your long-term-standing relationship, business-wise and personal-wise, you can't let that get destroyed; that would be a terrible thing to do. So you just respect each other, you respect each other's choices and you respect each other's decisions. And I'm sure that at some point K.K. will probably
want to be a little bit more open about his reasons for departing PRIEST; that's entirely up to K.K. We've made it clear that we're not speaking for K.K.; we can only speak for ourselves and what we need to do. So there you go — that's about as much as we can really offer to the press and to our fans at this point."
On what fans can expect from the upcoming tour:
Halford: "Well, I think, looking at the history and the tradition of PRIEST, whenever we've gone out on these world tours, we've tried to do something different, so we do have a brand new stage set, light show, we've got some special effects that we're bringing back in terms of pyro and lights and lasers and flames and all these other great, crazy things that you love about metal that we haven't used in a while; we're bringing all those back. I think the setlist is the most exciting part, because we're trying to do everything from all of our music, so it really is a celebration of the music of PRIEST as much as anything else — right from 'Rocka Rolla' all the way up to maybe a track from the brand new record. So that's quite special and unique; we've never done before that for our fans. New stage, new costumes, new songs… it's just gonna be a really special event. . . The fact that we've said we're gonna try to do something from every record is
already creating a lot of excitement and people are looking at the songs and going, 'I wonder, will they do this song?' or 'I wonder, will they do that song?' So I think we wanna keep that as a surprise until the first few shows because obviously when the first few shows start to happen, it will be all over the Internet and everybody will know. But we are actually rehearsing a lot of songs, so we're gonna try to mix it up. We're gonna try to put on… maybe one song will be not in the setlist one night, so maybe we'll put two more in another night. So it will be quite varied. It's important, I think, to try and keep an element of surprise; it just gives you something to look forward to."
On the decision to hire a relatively unknown guitar player, Richie Faulkner, to replace K.K. Downing:
Halford: "I think it would have diluted the moment if we would have gone with one of our friends. We know some very famous metal guitar players and I'm sure that they would have said, 'Yeah, I'll help you out if you need the help.' But I think we wanted to give this moment its own special feeling. Obviously, nobody can replace K.K. entirely, so I think we worked really hard to find someone of the same caliber and with the same kind of discipline and guitarmanship as K.K.'s always displayed, and I think we found that in Richie. Richie's been around for awhile; he's already had a successful career up until this point with his solo activities and some of the other bands that he's worked with. But this is a big leap for Richie to go into a band like PRIEST. And he's gonna be the right man for the job, you know. It is gonna be a tremendously exciting moment for Richie as a player. I can only imagine what's going on in his mind. I suppose it's the same as when
Ripper walked out each night; you just have to go out and do your very best, and that's what Richie's gonna do. I think he's gonna show the metal world that he's a very competent, exciting player that's gonna not only be able to do the parts he needs to play but also inject his own special style and technique. And I think the metal fans are really grateful that Richie's there, because if Richie was not in the spot, this tour would have been canceled. So, yeah, it's gonna be tremendous for Richie to be able to do what's gotta do and he's gonna do it really well. And I think the fans are gonna love him."
On how it will feel seeing Richie in K.K.'s spot on stage:
Halford: "Yeah, I think K.K. felt the same when he looked to the left and saw Ripper [Laughs], he didn't see me. So history repeats itself, doesn't it? Emotionally, it's always very challenging to deal with these types of things, but you just have to accept the facts and this is it now; this is the way that PRIEST is looking and the band is still together. I know we've always said JUDAS PRIEST is not just one member; JUDAS PRIEST is the whole combination of players coming together to make the sounds of PRIEST, and we have 100 percent faith that Richie can do that part. So we're excited about the shows that we're gonna and the way that we're gonna display ourselves."
The following update was posted on IRON MAIDEN's official web site:
"As we have been quiet in the press for a while, we thought you might like to be aware of some major MAIDEN articles soon to hit the newsstands here in the U.K. First the Sunday Times magazine, this Sunday, May 15 runs with an extensive article based around the band's first-ever visit to play in Indonesia recently. Sunday Times magazine is also available digitally on iPad with added film footage. This is followed on May 19 with an in-depth feature in Record Collector magazine, and on May 25 by Classic Rock magazine's extensive views on what makes MAIDEN tick. Also out on May 25 is a 'Stories Behind The Songs' feature in Kerrang!, and Metal Hammer's June 1 issue includes an 'On The Road' piece from Buenos Aires and Santiago.
"The band look forward to kicking off the European leg of the tour in Frankfurt on May 28 and coming home to finish 'The Final Frontier' world tour in the U.K. towards the end of July."
IRON MAIDEN's April 8 and April 10 concerts in Buenos Aires, Argentina and Santiago, Chile, respectively, were professionally filmed and recorded for a future DVD release.
IRON MAIDEN was honored with a Grammy in the "Best Metal Performance" category in the pre-telecast ceremony at the 53rd annual Grammy Awards, which was held on February 13 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. IRON MAIDEN was nominated for the track "El Dorado", from the band's 2010 album "The Final Frontier".
"The Final Frontier" sold 63,000 copies in the United States in its first week of release to enter The Billboard 200 chart at position No. 4.
"The Final Frontier" was IRON MAIDEN's fourth U.K. No. 1 album. The band previously topped the chart in 1982 with "The Number of the Beast", in 1988 with "Seventh Son of a Seventh Son" and in 1992 with "Fear of the Dark".
Four years after appearing in ads for Optima Hair Specialists (see below), one of the leading exponents in the hair-replacement industry in Britain, former IRON MAIDEN and current WOLFSBANE singer Blaze Bayley has finally decided to shave off his locks and go bald.
A photo of the new-look Bayley rehearsing on May 1 for his upcoming festival appearances with his new band — Dave Andrews, Claudio Tirincanti, Nick Meganck and Steve Deleu — can be viewed below. Also available is video footage from the rehearsal sessions.
When Bayley first discovered he was losing his hair he didn't "run to the hills" and step away from the heavy metal music spotlight. He opted for a much more positive approach.
Going bald, quite simply, ain't rock and roll and the forty-something rock legend was a "man on the edge" as he sought to rejuvenate his appearance and keep his hairline as fresh as the song lines being produced by his heavy rocking band. Birmingham-born Blaze went back to his roots to see if Optima could help him rediscover his crowning glory and he was said to be "delighted with the results."
"My music is as dynamic as it ever was and I was desperate to ensure my appearance stayed in tune," Blaze stated in a blurb accompanying the ad, which first made the rounds in early 2007. "I'd heard great things about Optima and had no hesitation in calling them up and seeing what they could do for me."
Optima's founder, Pete Murtha, added at the time: "Blaze approached us [in 2005] in the hope of restoring his mane of hair to its original glory. We're happy to report that everything went smoothly and Blaze is back to his rocking best!"
Photo below courtesy of Blaze's Facebook page
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AEROSMITH will bring its one-of-a-kind live show to Latin America this fall. The tour kicks off October 22 in Lima, Peru. Pre-sale tickets will be made available on May 24 and May 25 for the band's fan club. General tickets will go on sale May 26.
AEROSMITH first played in Latin America in 1977 and last year's electrifying tour through South America left fans begging for more.
Frontman Steven Tyler says of the upcoming tour, "I'm looking forward to sweating up a storm with the crazy Latin American fans."
"The band is so excited to play for our Latin American fans. We didn't think we would be back so soon. Every gig we play there is always a special one," says guitarist Joe Perry of their return.
"We had a fantastic time when we toured South America in 2010 and are looking forward to seeing our amazing and passionate fans across Latin America when we return later this year," adds bassist Tom Hamilton.
Rock icons for over 30 years, AEROSMITH's music spans generations while its members remain as dynamic and innovative as they were when the band first began. As four-time Grammy winners, Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame inductees (2001), recipients of 12 MTV Music Video Awards, and countless other awards, AEROSMITH shows no sign of slowing down performing memorable sold out shows around the world for decades as well as selling over 150 million albums. Blazing past the trends and fads of rock and roll, the band has created their own unique place in rock history as one of the most powerful forces in popular music.
According to BostonHerald.com, AEROSMITH's managers have yet to sign on to have the band perform on the season finale of "American Idol" — despite singer Steven Tyler's insistence to the contrary.
Tyler, who is one of the judges on the current season of "Idol", told Billboard.com the other day that he will reunite with his bandmates May 25, the grand finale of this season's Fox TV singing contest.
"Oh, yeah, we're playing the last show of the season." Tyler said. "It was always my intention, always, to get AEROSMITH on the show. I mean, Joe's [Perry, guitar] done it. I'm ready for it. I would love to play with AEROSMITH."
Perry told BostonHerald.com back in March that he wasn't opposed to playing on the show but it had to "make sense for the band." "If it doesn't conflict with anything on the calendar, sure, I'd do it, but if it does, then it's not going to happen," said Joe.
The first-ever Kiss Kruise: Wet, Wild & Rockin' is setting sail October 13-17, 2011 from Miami, Florida to Half Moon Cay and Nassau, Bahamas on board the Carnival Destiny. KISS and Sixthman are joining forces to create the wettest, wildest, most rockin' cruise in the Atlantic.
KISS will be hosting this ship to bring you music, krazy onboard activities, and KISS-themed nights.
Everyone who signs up for the pre-sale and joins the KISS Army before 11:59 p.m. EST on May 22, 2011 will be part of the first round.
KISS will be hosting this ship along with other artists to bring you nonstop music, krazy onboard activities, and rowdy theme nights.
For more information on the ship, itinerary, and overall event, visit the Kiss Kruise: Wet, Wild, & Rockin' dedicated web site www.thekisskruise.com when it launches on May 18.
According to The ChronicleHerald.ca, Tim Crow, who heads RockWorldEast Merchandise Wholesalers Inc. of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, says METALLICA's July 14 show on the Garrison Grounds will be "a very important event" for his business, with fans from all over the region expected to come to the attend the gig.
"These are people who have disposable incomes that are coming to town," he says. "These are people that spend their money. And they're METALLICA fans, they're a bit older, so they have money to spend. It's an important event, and it will make everybody in this city money."
"Everyone that goes to a metal concert wears a metal T-shirt of some type," Crow added. "We're not going to sell 30,000 T-shirts. We'll sell a couple of thousand T-shirts over a two-month period.
"The people from out of town will buy a lot of the hard merchandise items. They'll buy clocks, they'll buy wall art and they'll buy posters. The people from Nova Scotia will buy a hat and a hoodie to keep warm. It's going to be a night concert."
The Garrison Grounds have a capacity of 30,000 people. Crow is expecting "close to 25,000 if it's a sunny day. If it's a rainy day, 19,000."
When asked what will sell best in the city during the concert, Crow replied, "I would say booze, No. 1; marijuana, No. 2, and then everything else afterwards."
Tickets for the METALLICA concert went on sale Thursday, May 12 at noon local time and are available at RockTheHill.ca or by phone at 1-877-569-7767. General-admission tickets are $99.50 and there are a limited number of VIP tickets for $199.50. Service charges and taxes will apply to all ticket orders. VIP ticket holders will have access to the front of stage pit, their own entrance and concessions, and the all-important special washrooms.
Bassist Joe Principe of the Chicago "punk rock" band RISE AGAINST was asked during a brand new interview with Kevin Conklin of the 93.7 KCLB Rocks! radio station (web site) in Palm Springs, California if MEGADETH's Dave Mustaine has threatened legal action against Principe's group over the fact that RISE AGAINST's latest album, 2011's "Endgame", shares a title with MEGADETH's 2009 effort. "No, he hasn't," Joe laughed before adding. "You know what's funny?! This kind of goes to show you how many people know about the MEGADETH record. It's like no one… One kid said something, 'Hey, isn't that a MEGADETH title?' But other than that, no one knows. I grew up listening to MEGADETH, so I was kind of hoping they would have a little bit more current fans these days." When it was pointed out to Principe that MEGADETH's "Endgame" has sold 150,000 copies in the United States since its release, he said, "Oh, that's better than I thought."
RISE AGAINST's "Endgame" has shifted 156,000 units in the United States since it came out on March 11.
In an October 2009 interview, Mustaine revealed that the "Endgame" album title came from a U.S. Department of Homeland Security Immigration and Customs Enforcement document that endorses "the removal of all removable aliens" by 2012.
"I was watching an inspirational DVD, and this guy was talking about the 'Endgame Document,'" Mustaine said. "I was mortified to find out that we had a president who signed a document into law that was going to forever change the face of American history and American politics and American liberties, and that he would do it without anybody knowing. The Senate didn't know about it and didn't get a chance to vote on it and neither did the House of Representatives. He just did it."
A new solo song from DEF LEPPARD/THIN LIZZY guitarist Vivian Campbell, entitled "Seems So Real", can be streamed using the SoundCloud player below. The track was written by Campbell and Robert Cosio and was produced by Cosio. Mixing duties were handled by Ronan McHugh.
"Seems So Real" recording lineup:
* Vivian Campbell: Lead vocals, Lead And Rhythm Guitars, Background Vocals
* Robert Cosio: Rhythm guitar, Slide Guitar, Electric Piano, Background Vocals
* Mark Schulman: Drums
* Lou Castro: Bass guitar
Campbell in 2005 released a solo album called "Two Sides Of If". It featured him doing two things you probably hadn't heard him do much before — singing lead, and playing blues-based guitar. Campbell told Launch that his love for the kind of music on "Two Sides Of If" goes way back. "I have always had an affinity for organic music, whether it was blues, or organic pop, or soul, or whatever — which may seem strange, coming from a guy who plays guitar with DEF LEPPARD, who are probably the most produced band in the world," he said. "And with blues, you know, and particularly with this record, I did it live in the studio, because I wanted it to have that interaction between real musicians playing music in real time."
THIN LIZZY has tapped guitarist Richard Fortus from GUNS N' ROSES as the temporary replacement for Vivian Campbell for all THIN LIZZY live shows while Vivian is back touring and recording with DEF LEPPARD.
Vivian's last show with THIN LIZZY will be at Slane Castle in Ireland on May 28.
In a recent interview with Gibson.com, Campbell stated about his involvement with THIN LIZZY, "It's been a tremendous pleasure to tour with THIN LIZZY. Playing with a band that meant so much to me in my formative years has really rekindled my passion for the instrument again. I haven't been this excited about guitar playing since I was in my teens!"
When asked if he would like to be a part of future THIN LIZZY tours, should he be available, Vivian said, "Absolutely! However, I continue to be fully committed to DEF LEPPARD, and we're going to be on the road from June of this year, so LIZZY [will be using] a replacement for me for their continuing summer dates. They have very kindly offered me the opportunity to come back when my schedule with DEF LEPPARD opens up, and you can bet that I'll be there in a heartbeat!"
MAN RAZE — the rock outfit featuring Phil Collen of DEF LEPPARD, Simon Laffy from GIRL and Paul Cook of THE SEX PISTOLS — will guest on the nationally syndicated radio show "Rockline" with host Bob Coburn on Wednesday, July 27 at 8:30 p.m. PT / 11:30 p.m. ET. Fans are encouraged to speak with MAN RAZE by calling 1-800-344-ROCK (7625).
For more information, visit RocklineRadio.com.
MAN RAZE will release a new single, "Over My Dead Body", on May 31 via iTunes worldwide through Rocket Science. The brand new song will be available as a double header, with both electric and acoustic versions.
MAN RAZE's debut album, "Surreal", was re-released in June 2009 via VH1 Classic Records as a deluxe edition with five previously unreleased bonus tracks.
"Surreal" came out in the U.K. on November 17, 2008 through Surrealist Records. The U.K. version of the CD came with a special European-edition bonus disc.
Mixing the raw energy of the PISTOLS mixed with the immaculate pop rock of DEF LEPPARD, MAN RAZE is a unique clash of '70s simplicity with '80s excess, punk clubs with stadium rock.
"The fun part about MAN RAZE is that musically we can go off in any direction from rock to alternative the next," Phil Collen previously said.
With regards to the band's sound, Collen — who also handles lead vocals — told Rolling Stone magazine, "It's a mix. We go from really hard rock, with obviously big guitars, to dub. I was always into the alternative stuff, a very big fan of THE POLICE. And this is edgy — a lot more aggressive than DEF LEPPARD."
Before joining DEF LEPPARD, London-born Phil Collen played in GIRL, who were one of the great unsung U.K. rock acts of the early '80s (singer Phil Lewis would later front L.A. GUNS — who were at the vanguard of the L.A. sleaze rock scene that eventually produced GUNS N' ROSES). While Phil went on to join DEF LEPPARD he maintained a strong friendship with Simon Laffy, GIRL's bassist. Reconnecting in 2004, and joined by SEX PISTOLS drummer Paul Cook, MAN RAZE was born. Eschewing their illustrious past, the band have spent the past two year getting back to basics, writing and recording — they also played a sold-out show at London's Spitz Club and released a limited-edition EP "Skin Crawl" in October 2005 on their own label, Surrealist Records, in the U.K.
Despite Bret Michaels' claim to the contrary, MÖTLEY CRÜE bassist Nikki Sixx says that he never apologized to the POISON singer for derogatory comments CRÜE made about Bret's band.
In a brand new interview with The Arizona Republic, Michaels was asked if was looking forward to this summer's POISON / MÖTLEY CRÜE tour. "There was a lot of controversy between MÖTLEY CRÜE and POISON, just some comments they had made about how 'We're not gonna do that kind of tour,'" Michaels replied. "I had said something on stage, like 'Wouldn't it be awesome if for POISON's 25th anniversary and MÖTLEY CRÜE's 30th, for there to be a tour we did together?' And a couple of the members of their band made some pretty derogatory comments. I just said, 'The hell with it. I'm gonna do my own tour.' Then, Nikki said, 'I'm really sorry about some of the comments some of the members made. I really want to do this.' So I think it's gonna be a great tour."
Responding to Bret's remarks from The Arizona Republic interview, Sixx wrote on his Twitter, "Just to clarify, Bret Michaels recently said I apologized to him about derogatory comments that MÖTLEY made about POISON in the past and that isn't what I said. What I did say was 'I personally never had anything against you guys as a people but MÖTLEY just sorta though you sucked as band but let's give the fans what they want and go out and have a good time.'"
Sixx previously said about CRÜE's decision to embark on a tour with POISON and "special guest" NEW YORK DOLLS, "One of the things MÖTLEY CRÜE said was that we would never tour with POISON because we were sort of punk / heavy metal / glam, we came out of the very, very early '80s and took what we did very... it was very important to us. And then bands came after us and we wanted to kind of separate from them. And we had never planned on touring with any of the bands from that era. There was no animosity — it was just that we put a very clear line. But when the [NEW YORK] DOLLS signed on, it made it seem like it was the right time to do that this tour."
In a February 2004 online posting, Sixx shot down reports that his then-band BRIDES OF DESTRUCTION would be touring later that year with POISON and KISS. "No way in fucking hell would we (BRIDES OF DESTRUCTION or MÖTLEY CRÜE) ever, ever tour with a fucking band like POISON," he wrote. "We have had talks with KISS and I told them very clearly that we would not do the tour if they used POISON. That would be the death of us... I will not be attached to that kind of fake bullshit..." When questioned about his comments in a May 2004 interview with the Stamford Advocate, Sixx explained, "I was in negotiations and said it depends who else is on the tour. If you're going to do a nostalgia thing, we're not interested. If you go get JET or THE DARKNESS, it sounds like fun. All of a sudden they come back with KISS, the BRIDES and POISON! There ain't no way in hell I'm doing that tour. I will not play with fucking POISON. There are followers and leaders. I'm not
into followers."
During a July 2005 interview with the Fox 2 TV network, Sixx famously closed out the four-minute chat by calling the interviewer "an asshole" after he was asked the question, "Who rocked harder in the '80s: MÖTLEY CRÜE or POISON?"
When POISON drummer Rikki Rockett was questioned in an August 2006 interview with DelcoTimes.com about Sixx being abrasively vocal in his displeasure about being categorized alongside POISON, Rikki replied, "Nikki really needs to get over it. I don't think a forty-something-year-old man should be acting like that; you'd think with all that Nikki has been through, he wouldn't care about these dumb little rivalries."
Legendary rock band THE CULT has inked a deal with Cooking Vinyl Records. The group, which took part in the "Love Live Tour" last year and also recorded a four-track release with Chris Goss (QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE, MASTERS OF REALITY), is preparing to enter the studio to record its ninth album. A fall release is expected.
Commented THE CULT guitarist Billy Duffy: "We are very much looking forward to returning to our U.K. roots in many ways working with Cooking Vinyl." THE CULT vocalist Ian Astbury added, "We look forward to a long and fruitful relationship with Cooking Vinyl."
The band has been busy writing and recording new demos at its Witch Mountain studio hideaway in the Hollywood Hills. They will be joined by guru and master producer Chris Goss, frontman of MASTERS OF REALITY, producer on various QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE albums as well as credits on countless other works.
Chris is already working with the band to sculpt a sonic assault and truly visceral work that promises to be the greatest work THE CULT has ever released. The album will be recorded in the high desert and darkened rooms of Hollywood Recording Studios.
Cooking Vinyl beat the heated competition to the deal on the back of their long-established reputation as an artist's label, which made them the obvious choice for the band.
Commented Cooking Vinyl director Rob Collins: "I tried to sign Ian's first band, SOUTHERN DEATH CULT, when I was a scout at Virgin in the early '80s. I think I paid for coach fares to London and they promptly signed to Beggars Banquet. It's great to finally be working with Ian, Billy and co."
The reaction is mirrored at Cooking Vinyl's U.K. distributor and sister company Essential Music. Head of sales Lance Meade said, "Martin [Goldschmidt, MD of Cooking Vinyl] knew that such was the love here in the sales department, he couldn't stand on ceremony… He had to sign THE CULT… Now the atmosphere is Electric."
The announcement bodes well for THE CULT's forthcoming appearances at the U.K.'s Download and Isle Of White festivals and a variety of summer dates around Europe. At press time, a September tour is being planned across Canada to coincide with the yet-to-be-titled album's first release, followed by a worldwide tour in support of the new music.
THE CULT's "Capsule 2: New Blood Deep Cuts" featured new songs "Embers" and "Until The Light Takes Us", live recordings of some of the band's huge hits and an intimate look into THE CULT's rehearsal space, with a never-before-seen warm-up performance of "Black Angel".
Rather than revisit the traditional method of releasing a long form CD, the band pioneered a new way of providing material. Capsules span multiple media formats including vinyl, digital, USB, CD and DVD formats, and can be purchased at CultCapsuleStore.com.
THE CULT is Ian Astbury (vocals), Billy Duffy (guitar), Chris Wyse (bass), John Tempesta (drums) and Mike Dimkich (rhythm guitar).
U.K. based metal heroes DRAGONFORCE will play a special "up-close-and-personal" concert on Tuesday, October 18 at The Troubadour on Santa Monica Boulevard in Los Angeles, California.
DRAGONFORCE will return to the U.S. after a two-year absence to perform a special one-off intimate set to give fans a unique opportunity to preview the band's new singer, Marc Hudson, and brand new songs from their highly anticipated forthcoming album before moving to the big stage with full production on their world tour which commences early 2012. This will be the only show in western North America this year and tickets will be strictly limited to two per person.
After entries from thousands of hopefuls across the globe, DRAGONFORCE in March welcomed 23-year-old Marc Hudson to the band to fill the boots left by ZP Theart, who parted ways with the group in March of last year.
"I'm really excited about being a part of the DRAGONFORCE family," said Marc. "It's always been my dream to dedicate my life to making music. I'm going to bring all the power and emotion I can to the songs, and help make the killer new record the fans have been waiting for!"
Born in Oxford England, Marc was picked from the thousands of applications via a number of impressive video auditions and live performances, which left the rest of the band in no doubt that they'd found their man. Since the age of 16, Marc has been building his vocal skills gigging with bands in the U.K. underground scene, developing a powerful style with influences which include Bruce Dickinson, Michael Kiske and Sebastian Bach.
Commented founding member and guitarist Herman Li: "After almost a year of searching around the globe, it's great to be able to finally tell our fans the good news. Marc's expressive and melodic vocals are sounding phenomenal on the new songs, adding another dimension to the DRAGONFORCE sound that I am sure all the fans will love."
The band has been working on a new album since early 2010, recording in various studios in California, London and the South of France. The follow-up to 2008's hugely successful "Ultra Beatdown" album will be highly anticipated, with top 10 and top 20 chart positions all over the world and a Grammy nomination in the United States setting the precedent. With Marc brought into the fold, the band is enjoying an injection of enthusiasm and hunger that sees DRAGONFORCE prepared to return more focused and determined than ever before.
"Everyone in the band is extremely excited about how the new material is shaping up," continued Herman. "We haven't felt this kind of energy in the band for a long time. We can't wait to unleash the next DRAGONFORCE album later this year."
The new album is expected to hit the shelves in September.
Steven Rosen of Ultimate-Guitar.com recently conducted an interview with AVENGED SEVENFOLD vocalist M. Shadows. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.
Ultimate-Guitar.com: So "Not Ready to Die" is the first song with your new drummer, Arin Ilejay? And you've also been touring with Arin for a while now?
M. Shadows: He's a shredder; he's awesome. He's been playing all the parts great. I think one thing about this new song is we're really looking forward to getting into the studio with him and seeing how we gel with him and see what he brings to the table as far as writing goes. That was a great experience for us to be able to do that ("Not Ready to Die") just so we don't go into the next record completely blind; how he is in the studio.
Ultimate-Guitar.com: It's been a learning experience for the band?
M. Shadows: It's the first song that he drums on and he's been killin' it on the road — and he's a really nice guy. He's one of the nicest guys in the world, which is more than we could ever ask for so we're really excited about it.
Ultimate-Guitar.com: What were you looking for in a drummer to replace The Rev?
M. Shadows: What we were looking for was someone that was young and someone that was unknown. We wanted to give someone a chance that wasn't completely jaded; we didn't want them to feel it was a job. We wanted him to be a fan of the band and a fan of music and wanting to be out on the road and view this as their dream like all of us. One thing we didn't want was some older session guy or some guy that just saw it as a gig — 'cause it's not a gig, it's like our life. It's what we want to do for a long time. So basically we wanted a nice, young person that could obviously have the chops to play everything that's been laid down before but also we wanted them to be able to have their own style. It's gonna take years for our fans and for people to understand what Arin's style is and we're still figuring it out ourselves. But he needed to have his own style and be his own drummer but at the same time be able to play everything [Mike] Portnoy and The Rev
laid down. So far he's got two of those down and now we need to work on bringing out his style and what he can bring to the music.
Ultimate-Guitar.com: Had you heard Arin play in CONFIDE, which was his band?
M. Shadows: No; I didn't know who he was. We talked to our producer — Mike Elizondo — and we talked to Mike Fasano who was Jimmy's in-studio drum tech and we said, "Hey, do you guys have anyone you could suggest?" And they both sent somebody down and we went and jammed with 'em both and they were both great and Arin came in and just killed it. That was the first time I'd ever heard of him or seen him or met him and he came in and he was super skinny and small and he hits the drums like a beast. And it was like, "Whoa." We were all kind of smiling like, "Wow, this kid's got every chop down. Not only has he played everything right but he's also transcribed everything right." Which is good to us because you have to have an ear — you have to be able to hear what people are doing. He played everything Portnoy and Jimmy were playing to a tee. And we were like, "Wow." So we had a couple more sessions with him and he was just the perfect fit right off the
bat — he just really blew us away and impressed us.
Ultimate-Guitar.com: Do you have any feelings about the [GUNS N' ROSES] "Chinese Democracy" record?
M. Shadows: There are great songs there and Axl is a great singer; he's an amazing singer. It's hard because a lot of times it's that feeling a band gives you when you know they're a band and you know what it's about. And there's so much drama that goes around that camp. I've met [GUNS N' ROSES guitarist] Bumblefoot and a couple of the guys in that band and they're great guys and great players — it's just really hard to play in that shadow of what GUNS N' ROSES was. And I think that kind of takes you away from when you're listening to a record and what it's all about. What made "Dark Side Of The Moon" so great is some of the mystique and where it was coming from and just the authenticity of it. And that's what kinda sucks about the new GUNS N' ROSES — it's really hard to put your finger on it but it's not the same thing. I think for all of us it would be really nice if they could just get it together and do some stuff but that's probably never gonna
happen.
Ultimate-Guitar.com: Mike Portnoy [former AVENGED SEVENFOLD recording/touring drummer] won the "Best Drummer" award [at this year's Revolver Golden Gods Awards], which was presented by Vinnie Paul. Are you still on good terms with Mike?
M. Shadows: Yeah, we're on good terms — it just got a little out of hand for a while there with us. And the way he runs his camp is a little different than we run ours. It couldn't co-exist in that way and I'm really happy for him — I'm happy on a bunch of different levels. The Rev wrote those parts, Mike elaborated on them, and the record did really well. To me that's a success all the way around. Mike helped us out in a time of need and he really stuck true to what Jimmy's parts were, which we were really thankful for that. 'Cause he could have come in there and been like, "No, I'm not playing that — why don't we do this?" So he did exactly what Jimmy had written down and what we wanted him to do and kudos to him for doin' that.
Ultimate-Guitar.com: AVENGED won four Revolver awards — more than anybody else.
M. Shadows: It was nice that we got to go in there and basically sweep those awards — it was really cool. And I'm sure Mike appreciates it as well. I didn't get to talk to him afterwards but I know Zack [guitarist Zacky Vengeance] did and they exchanged some nice words. So it was good to see that he won that award.
Brandon Marshall of Sonic Excess recently conducted an interview with Max Cavalera (SOULFLY, CAVALERA CONSPIRACY). A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.
Sonic Excess: Do SOULFLY and CAVALERA CONSPIRACY each have a different meaning to you?
Max Cavalera: Quite different. SOULFLY, for me, is jamming with different people from time to time and bringing in different elements of metal. With SOULFLY, I like to go around the world, get different music, and put it together with metal. It's what I do in SOULFLY, and I love it. CAVALERA is my own love of metal and playing with Igor [Max's brother and former SEPULTURA bandmate]. I wanted to play with Igor, and I missed playing with Igor for 10 years. It was the hardest 10 years of my life. When we got back together, I said to him, "Let's play the old shit, but let's create something new too." I wrote [the song] "Inflikted", and he was like, "Oh, fuck yeah, man!"
Sonic Excess: When you got back together with Igor, was it like it was in the old days? Did you have the magic back right away?
Max Cavalera: Very much. Playing with Igor, to me, is like something that never lost its magic. It's there all the time. We can spend 10 years without doing it. When we get back to it, it's right back; it never goes away. It was really easy on the writing side of it, too. I was pretty inspired when I was writing [the debut CAVALERA CONSPIRACY album] "Inflikted" and really inspired to write with him again. It was like, "I'm writing with my brother again!" and that's badass. We heard from all kind of people, from James Hetfield [METALLICA] to Dave Grohl [FOO FIGHTERS], saying how cool it was that the brothers were back again. When you hear people from other bands commenting on it, it's great. That gave me a boost, too. When it was time to go back into the studio and write [the sophomore CAVALERA CONSPIRACY album] "Blunt Force Trauma", I was even more excited. It was like I turned myself into a Red Bull, full of energy, and said, "Let's do this!" "Blunt
Force Trauma" was written in this super-hype condition, a lot of fast songs, super-thrash-influenced. It also has a groove that we had inside of us from the early SEPULTURA days, with songs like "Desperate Cry", "Dead Embryonic Cells", and "Murder". There is a Max and Igor groove that is really contagious, and I wanted to have that back in CAVALERA CONSPIRACY with the fast stuff.
Sonic Excess: Have you given any serious thought to bringing in Igor for SOULFLY?
Max Cavalera: I don't really think it would work. He would be great and destroy those songs. I like CAVALERA; it's our own personal thing. We created it together from the beginning. We split everything together, from artwork to t-shirt designs, Igor and me. It's cool like that, you know?
Sonic Excess: Looking back on "Blunt Force Trauma", how did that album compare, in your view, with your back catalog?
Max Cavalera: I think it goes toe-to-toe with everything I have done in the past. I think that time will speak for itself, when the songs from "Blunt Force Trauma" will eventually become classics like "Warlord", "Genghis Khan", and "Thrasher". When this album slows down, and the new one comes in, that's when you can really measure how good this album was.
Sonic Excess: What is something that people may not know about you, or a misconceived notion about you?
Max Cavalera: (Long pause) People have the idea that I am hard to find, and I'm hard to reach. That is half-true, because I do spend a lot of time on the bus. I get off the bus for sound check. So if someone wants to meet me, they can. I'm not like the president; I'm reachable. But I do like the kind of mysteriousness that I keep.
L. Kent Wolgamott of Weekender recently conducted an interview with GODSMACK frontman Sully Erna. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.
On shuffling GODSMACK touring duties with his solo career:
"It's 'Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde'. That's what it is. It's going to be an extreme change to jump from one to the other. There's some GODSMACK dates right in the middle of the solo thing. That's going to be intense."
On his solo debut, "Avalon", which was released last year:
"It's a huge part of me. I need GODSMACK to be loud and crazy and bring the chaos. I needed the solo project for the spiritual, seductive side. I need both for balance. For me, it's both sides of me. There's no way I can be on 10 all the time, but there's no way I can be on two all the time, either. The music is an extension of who I am."
"[The solo album is] about as vulnerable as it can be. Nobody wants to be that open. We've all done stuff that's embarrassing, that we don't want people to know about. Who wants to be embarrassed? Who wants to be that open?"
"Over the years, I stuffed a lot of stuff inside me. I wanted to use it as therapeutic, a release through art."
On his "Avalon" bandmate Lisa Guyer, a veteran R&B-based singer:
"She's got a four-octave range. She totally kills it. I can't believe she's never had her shot at the big time."
On the "Avalon" sound, which is the result of a collaboration between an international group of musicians:
"It happened organically. Because everybody is from some different part of the world and have different sounds, it's no miracle that it shaped itself to be something interesting."
On whether there will be a new GODSMACK album anytime soon:
"We just finished doing 'The Oracle', and I just got the solo record out. For me, the biggest reward is doing the live performance and touring. I'm always writing. But the short answer is 'no.' I'm not going to write for awhile and just enjoy the tours."
THE GATE, the German metal band featuring former RUNNING WILD (1982-1985) guitarist Gerald "Preacher" Warnecke, will release its debut album, "Earth Cathedral", this summer via Rock It Up Records. The CD was recorded at Big Easy Studio near Hennef, Germany with producer Michael "Freio" Haas and features a guest appearance by Preacher's son Korbinian Warnecke on 12-string guitar on the song "1000 Miles Away".
"Earth Cathedral" track listing:
01. Through The Gate
02. Shout For Metal
03. Face your Fear (The Money Song)
04. Guy Anvil
05. 1000 Miles Away
06. Mountains
07. Hiding Where The Wolf lives
08. Into The Pit
09. Deliver From Sin
10. Earth Cathedral
THE GATE is:
* Gerald "Preacher" Warnecke (ex-RUNNING WILD) - Guitar
* Tino Weber (ex-INSOLENCE, SYSTEM FAILED) - Bass
* Peter "Unruh" Michels (ex-UNDERDOG) - Drums
* Guido Krämer (ex-THE COMPANY) - Vocals
For more information, visit www.myspace.com/thegatetometal.
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According to Lehigh Valley Music, former SKID ROW frontman Sebastian Bach commented on his latest arrest during an appearance Thursday (May 12) at the studios of Lehigh Valley radio station WZZO-FM 95.1.
Asked about a reported marijuana possession arrest in New Jersey early Tuesday, when police allegedly pulled over Bach for a traffic offense and found less than 50 grams of the drug in his car, Bach simply laughed that "it was a long night."
"I went to sleep. That's the end of the interview," he said with a laugh. But he did say he drove to Allentown "all the way from New Jersey."
Bach and his guitarist Nick Sterling performed a short set for about 30 contest winners during the WZZO-FM 95.1 visit. They also played a concert Thursday night at Allentown, Pennsylvania's Crocodile Rock Café.
Bach was charged assault, possession of marijuana and mischief on November 15, 2010 after he allegedly bit the hand of a bartender trying to throw him out of Riley's Olde Towne Pub in Peterborough, Ontario, Canada.
A surveillance video posted on TMZ.com showed the singer smashing his wine glass on the ground morning and walking towards the entrance of the establishment after he was asked to the leave the bar due to his allegedly rowdy behavior.
A staff member reported Bach bit him on the hand while he was trying to restrain Bach until police arrived.
Bach was in Peterborough dealing with the estate of his father who passed away.
Drummer Jeffrey McCormack has announced his departure from reunited '80s metal cult act FIFTH ANGEL.
Said McCormack in a statement: "I want to thank all of the incredible FIFTH ANGEL fans all over the world that were so accepting of me as I stepped into the huge gap left by the extraordinary Ken Mary when FIFTH ANGEL reunited in February of 2010.
"FIFTH ANGEL were my heroes since 1987, and it was an honor to be a part of their first-ever performance at Germany's Keep It True festival last year [see video below], but sadly, some things just aren't meant to be.
"It is extremely difficult to leave something I dreamed for many years of joining, but I believe it is for the best.
"I have no immediate commitments, but am definitely looking for the right opportunity to get back out there and rock with you all again [as soon as possible].
"My best wishes to FIFTH ANGEL in their future endeavors."
In addition to FIFTH ANGEL, Jeffrey McCormack was the drummer for HEIR APPARENT and NIGHTSHADE.
Bands interested in contacting Jeffrey McCormack can do so by writing to jeffreymcdrums@hotmail.com.
German industrial metallers RAMMSTEIN will perform on the Thursday, May 19 episode of ABC-TV's "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" (which will actually air the morning of Friday, May 20).
RAMMSTEIN bassist Oliver "Ollie" Riedel revealed during an interview with MusikUniverse.net that the band's 2010 concerts in New York and Montreal were filmed for a forthcoming DVD. In addition, the group is planning to release a "best-of" collection featuring two previously unreleased songs.
RAMMSTEIN's latest album, "Liebe Ist Für Alle Da", sold 22,000 copies in the United States in its first week of release to debut at position No. 13 on The Billboard 200 chart. Previously, the group's best rank came with its 1998 chart debut, "Sehnsucht", which peaked at No. 45 off the strength of its only U.S. radio chart hit, "Du Hast".
"Liebe Ist Für Alle Da" arrived in stores on October 20, 2009 through a marketing and distribution deal with Vagrant Records and Universal Music Germany. The album was produced by Jacob Hellner and RAMMSTEIN, with recording done at Northern California's Sonoma Mountain Studio. The first single from the 11-track release was "Pussy", which was released as a digital single on September 22, 2009 and accompanied by one of the year's most viral videos.
Italian hard rock/metal band LACUNA COIL has entered the studio to begin recording the as-yet-untitled follow-up to 2009's "Shallow Life" for a fall release via Century Media Records. The group is once again working with producer Don Gilmore (PEARL JAM, LINKIN PARK, BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE), this time choosing to record in its native Italy to help focus on the more personal nature of the new material.
"This time around music has been our refuge from some of the darkest days of our life and that's why the new songs have such a variety of feelings... some stuff is pretty angry, probably the heaviest we've ever written, some other songs are intense, loaded with velvet dark emotions and there's even a little space for some light at the end of the tunnel,", says LACUNA COIL's male vocalist Andrea Ferro.
"People are asking me if we're going back to our roots or if we're taking another step forward in a new direction... Well, to be honest I just feel that this is 100 percent a LACUNA COIL record and that is what really matters to me. I just love the songs and we felt a big wave of inspiration. The energy with Don in the studio is sky-high and we're ready to kick some ass."
"Collectively, we did so much in between 'Shallow Life' and this one," adds LACUNA COIL's female vocalist Cristina Scabbia. "We have lots of different experiences between us. We've been loved and hurt, we grew up, we shrunk inside a little keeping ourselves together and our roots watered and are alive. I still can't believe that the energy in between us is getting better and better, but I guess that's what being a real family means."
Starting this week, LACUNA COIL will be answering weekly fan-submitted questions about the new album at the band's official fan site, EmptySpiral.net.
Once LACUNA COIL completes the recording sessions for the new album, the band will spend the summer performing at a select number of European festivals, including Greenfield, Graspop Metal Meeting and Sonisphere in Spain.
"Summer means amazing energy from a lot of sweaty kids in front of a stage headbanging and jumping with us!" says Cristina. "I CAN'T wait to be up there again with LACUNA COIL. You better be there because we are ABSOLUTELY ready to rock you all!"
When asked how the new material is sounding, Cristina said in a 2010 interview with Kerrang! magazine, "It's still a rock sound. I like the direction we took on 'Shallow Life' and this is going to be in that vein. I still love metal to death, but at this point I like rock more. I like being able to bring different things that are not necessarily from metal to the album because I like the contamination between sounds. I like that music is always evolving and that you can be free to take sounds and mix them together."
Regarding whether there are any other surprises in store, Cristina said, "At this stage I actually don't know. We don't plan that, because in some ways I like to stay with that classic sound and in some other ways I like to do something completely different and surprise people. I've learned over the years that you cannot make everyone happy. If you stay classic, there will be some who say you're not innovative, and if you're innovative, people will complain that you sold out or you went off the rails. I can honestly say I don't care anymore. We want to be free to do whatever we want. We love rock and roll and we love metal, but we don't want to put any limitations on what we might make."
On May 10, long-running Cleveland, Ohio metallers SOULLESS issued a cease-and-desist order to Earache Records regarding the U.S. release of a new album from a U.K. band calling itself "THE SOULLESS." The demand calls for Earache to immediately cease and desist in the production, distribution and promotion of any materials associated with the name "THE SOULLESS" in the United States, including, but not limited to, compact discs, DVDs, MP3s, t-shirts and other similar media/memorabilia. It also demands that any web presence that is accessible within the United States bearing the infringing mark be immediately removed from the World Wide Web. This includes, but is not limited to, web pages, blogs, MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, Wikipedia pages, etc.
Commented SOULLESS front man Jim Lippucci: "It's quite unfortunate that it has come to this.
"We notified the band [THE SOULLESS] months ago upon learning of their intent to use the name 'THE SOULLESS' that this name was pretty much identical to ours. We were assured that Earache would be in contact with us to remedy the situation, but that call never came.
"We have nothing but respect for young bands and the struggle we all go through to make this music. At the same time, though, we expect bands and labels to perform their due diligence and make sure that the intellectual property of others is respected. Through a simple internet search they would have ascertained that we have been performing, touring and releasing music in the U.S. as SOULLESS for close to 15 years. Simply adding the word 'the' does not change that fact.
"It pains us that the label that brought us some of metals most legendary releases from bands like MORBID ANGEL, BOLT THROWER, CARCASS and so many others shows such blatant disregard for our rights.
"Litigation is the last thing we want at this time. We are a metal band and would prefer to focus on making music. At the same time, we have no choice but to fight for the protection of our intellectual property.
"We have struggled for years to establish our name and reputation and we will defend it with the same ferocity and fervor that we put into making music."
About SOULLESS: SOULLESS hails from Cleveland, Ohio and has been churning out its own unique brand of death/thrash metal since 1996. The band is currently putting the finishing touches on its fourth full-length album, entitled "In Death's Grip", for a late 2011 release. The group will also appear in the upcoming horror/metal motion picture "The After Party Massacre" alongside death metal veterans INCANTATION. The film and soundtrack are both due out this summer on Ibex Moon Records.
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Dirk Verbeuren, best known as the drummer of SOILWORK from Sweden and founding member of SCARVE from France, has yet another venture under his belt: his work with Toontrack, the digital music software company, also of Sweden. Now he's expanding his digital recording skills, and focusing on his personal recording studio, Die Crawling Studio.
Verbeuren built Die Crawling Studio as a haven for his own digital music production. Equipped with an electronic drum kit, the latest Toontrack software and a sound safe space, the studio is where Verbeuren not only produced elaborate MIDI libraries, but also multiple album recordings as well as editing and mastering for such projects.
Just a few years old, Die Crawling Studio has grown from merely a practice location into a musical consortium. Verbeuren says, "I'm very proud to have optimized my own working space and place myself at the forefront of such a great technological advancement in music production. To be relevant in the music industry, I believe you have to embrace its evolution, not fight it."
Verbeuren began working with a digital drum studio after Toontrack sought him out to contribute to their Metal Foundry, a project that would open many doors in his realm of drumming. Interestingly, contrary to popular belief, the transition from drums to an electric kit is not an easy one.
"In order to keep my style and vision, I've had to adapt my approach and learn to play on mesh heads which is a whole new playing field in comparison," he says. "It's not always easy but it has expanded my capabilities as a drummer, especially with extreme music where speed and technique are key."
Currently recording his first solo endeavor, BENT SEA, Verbeuren will take on multiple roles as drummer, guitarist, bassist, lyricist and songwriter, with all recordings except vocals taking place in Die Crawling Studio. His most recent completed project is entitled COLOSSO, a modern death metal band from Portugal which is currently in the mixing stages. Additionally Verbeuren is currently creating "Library Of The Extreme Volume III", due out this fall, the follow-up to acclaimed MIDI libraries such as "The Metal Foundry" and "Library Of The Extreme Vol. I" and "II" released through Toontrack.
PRIMEVIL — the new band featuring former VENOM members Jeff "Mantas" Dunn (guitar), Antony "Antton" Lant (drums; brother of VENOM frontman Conrad "Cronos" Lant) and Tony "The Demolition Man" Dolan (bass, vocals) — has inked a deal with Scarlet Records. The group's debut mini-album, "The Creatures Of The Black", will be released this summer. The CD will feature cover versions of four songs that influenced the members of PRIMEVIL ("Exciter" by JUDAS PRIEST, "God Of Thunder" by KISS, "Hell Ain't A Bad Place To Be" by AC/DC and "Motörhead" by MOTÖRHEAD) plus two brand new original tracks, "The Creatures Of The Black" and "Reptile". A full-length effort will follow sometime in September/October, with a full tour planned for 2012.
In other news, PRIMEVIL has launched a new official web site created by John Parry, who also runs the long-running VENOM fan site SiteOfTheHydra.com, and Kostas Antonatos, who ran the official VENOM fan club and the official VENOM web site for many years.
In a recent interview with Metality, Dolan stated about the formation of PRIMEVIL,"Well, I think it came about as Mantas and Antton who were both doing separate music projects (DRYLL and DEF-CON-ONE) came together in DRYLL. Mantas needed a drummer and Antton offered his services. People kept wondering what it would be like if Mantas and Antton played with me and it was kind of, 'Oh, yeah that would be fun perhaps,' but then DRYLL played a show and performed the VENOM track 'Black Metal' [with Antton] and that was kind of it. People started saying I had to come in and play, too. So I got a phone call and had a few chats with Mantas and that was that; we decided we'd see if it worked. It does, very well, but then again myself and Mantas have always been friends and played well together. The addition of a drummer as good as Antton was something too cool to pass up! The name we decided should be chosen by the fans who wanted this to happen. The first VENOM
album I did was 'Prime Evil' in 1989 and that was the name the fans chose for this band. PRIMEVIL is old school, I guess, melodic, heavy, powerful. [As to how PRIMEVIL is] different from VENOM, [I'm] not sure. We will inevitably be compared, as we are all ex-VENOM [members] and, of course, Mantas was the main songwriter for VENOM, so... But I feel we are more like classic metal. MOTÖRHEAD, BLACK SABBATH.... PRIEST and VENOM."
The new issue of Brazil's Roadie Crew magazine includes an interview with singer and co-founding member Kelly Shaefer of reactivated seminal technical metal pioneers ATHEIST. During the chat, Shaefer gave his opinion on the roles that some of the other late Eighties and early Nineties bands played in the development of progressive/technical extreme metal. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.
On CYNIC's "Traced In Air" album:
Shaefer: "It's difficult, because you can't help but look at the history of a band when they make a record fifteen years later. I mean, you can't help but think on how they used to be then. What CYNIC did in their new album is very interesting. I think they had a lot of artistic balls, so to speak. They really kind of went in a different direction, and you know, I'm proud of them for that. I personally as a fan would have loved to see them make more of a metal record. That's the CYNIC that I really loved. But I'm very proud of the landscapes that they have created musically. I've always believed in those guys since we first recorded our demo together back in the late Eighties. I always felt they were one of the most talented set of guys on the planet."
On PESTILENCE:
Shaefer: "PESTILENCE made a great comeback record, but I don't think that they deserve to be mentioned in that movement (technical metal). I don't feel like anything they were making was really visionary or technical in any way, to be honest. I've talked to Patrick Mameli [PESTILENCE mainman] about this. That's my honest opinion. I'm not trying to hurt anybody's feelings. That's how I feel about it. I'm sure many will disagree, but I'm sure many will also agree that bands like SIEGES EVEN deserve more credit than PESTILENCE. WATCHTOWER deserves more credit than PESTILENCE. WATCHTOWER was probably the first band that made we all realize that that kind of musicianship was possible within the realm of metal. We just took it a little further and made it a lot heavier."
On DEATH and Chuck Schuldiner:
Shaefer: "Chuck obviously is super-important to anything that has an extreme metal tag, and that includes technical metal. But technical metal was so different than what he initially started or from what he is sort of the grandfather of. I knew Chuck and all my friends knew Chuck. He was very passionate and very much a pioneer of… I mean, he was very ballsy to call his band DEATH in the mid-Eighties. That alone was a huge thing that you have to respect, and I always did, and I think that all of us do. But when we talk about… when we first started, we had the same manager, and we would hear stories… When we played shows in Tampa with DEATH, Chuck would say things about us like that we were so noisy that we sounded like a train station. It was strange to hear that, because we were just a demo band at that point and we couldn't understand why he was slagging us off. I think he just didn't understand what we were doing. At the time, he didn't think
that jazz should have a place in metal. He even said that jazz shouldn't have a place in metal on many occasions. He would say that we didn't listen to metal at all and that we just listened to jazz. No! That's just false. There was a lot of kind of a spirited competition. I think that's where he was coming from. Chuck was really worried and protective over this kind of music and he should be. He really stuck his neck out for it. However, I think once he got a little older, once he jammed with Paul and Sean from CYNIC, he changed his viewpoint and he realized that musicianship is everything. The bands that we all grew up with… IRON MAIDEN, JUDAS PRIEST, those guys are all great players. He also grew up on those bands. I think he realized that technicality and incorporating different influences was not necessarily a bad thing.
"I think it's important that the young metal fans know that Chuck Schuldiner is very much responsible for extreme metal, and extreme visuals in that genre. However, ATHEIST comes from a whole different place, and Chuck didn't have anything to do with where we come from. I don't say that to slam him in anyway. But we had our own thing, we did our own thing, we are still alone on a street corner of metal that was not embraced when we first made this kind of music.
"In a lot of years of DEATH, obviously, Chuck did embrace technicality, and, of course, that for he being in a much larger band than us, if people don't tell the story correctly, it appears that DEATH was at the forefront of this. They weren't. There were ATHEIST and CYNIC who were basically there.
"Everybody has a branch on the tree, and Chuck was definitely a thicker branch on the tree, a very important part of what we all do. We owe him a great deal of gratitude for being the pioneer that he was. I have a lot of respect for what he's done and accomplished. But truth and matter of fact is that technical metal was not created by Chuck Schuldiner."
"Bloodbath Over Bloodstock", the all-new live DVD from Swedish death metal "supergroup" BLOODBATH, registered the following first-week "Music DVD" chart positions:
Finland: #3
Sweden: #9
"Bloodbath Over Bloodstock" came out on April 25 via Peaceville Records. The deluxe mediabook-packaged set features BLOODBATH's August 2010 performance from the Bloodstock festival — one of the U.K.'s leading metal events — consisting of songs from the critically acclaimed "The Fathomless Mastery" (2008) album, as well as other classics and fan favorites. The full package also includes a 16-page booklet and a wealth of extras, featuring bonus footage taken from Germany's Party.San Open Air festival in 2008 and extensive band member interviews.
"Bloodbath Over Bloodstock" was filmed by The Dark Box, a U.K.-based production company that specializes in providing services for the music industry.
"Bloodbath Over Bloodstock" track listing:
Bloodstock:
01. Ways To The Grave
02. Soul Evisceration
03. Process Of Disillumination
04. Iesous
05. Breeding Death
06. Mouth Of Empty Praise
07. Mass Strangulation
08. Cancer Of The Soul
09. Mock The Cross
10. Like Fire
11. Outnumbering The Day
12. Eaten
Party.San Open Air:
13. Blasting The Virginborn
14. Bathe In Blood
15. Weak Aside
16. So You Die
17. Cry My Name
* The Interview: Recorded in Stockholm, Sweden
Check out the "Eaten" performance clip from the "Bloodbath Over Bloodstock" DVD below.
BLOODBATH's "Breeding Death" (1999) album was re-released via Animate Records on January 8, 2010 as a high-quality gatefold 12-inch mini-LP with a black inner sleeve on 180-gram vinyl. The LP contains two bonus tracks and is limited to 999 copies (first 200 copies as collector's edition in golden wax). On side B there's an etched picture which is laser-manufactured and "simply looks killer," according to the band.
"The Fathomless Mastery", the most recent studio album from BLOODBATH, sold around 1,000 copies in the United States in its first week of release, according to Nielsen SoundScan. The CD debuted at No. 45 on the Top New Artist Albums (Heatseekers) chart, which lists the best-selling albums by new and developing artists, defined as those who have never appeared in the Top 100 of The Billboard 200.
"The Fathomless Mastery" was previously described by the band as representing "nothing but hateful brutality." Promising its "most crushing production yet," the group's lineup on "The Fathomless Mastery" is the same as that on BLOODBATH's "Unblessing the Purity" mini-CD, which came out in March 2008:
Mikael Åkerfeldt (OPETH) - Vocals
Martin "Axe" Axenrot (OPETH) - Drums
Anders "Blakkheim" Nyström (KATATONIA) - Guitar
Jonas Renkse (KATATONIA) - Bass
Per "Sodomizer" Eriksson (ex-21 LUCIFERS, GENOCRUSH FEROX) – Guitar
BLOODBATH released a live CD/DVD digipack entitled "The Wacken Carnage" on June 2, 2008 in Europe and June 24 in the U.S. via Peaceville. The package contains footage of the band's appearance at the 2005 edition of the Wacken Open Air festival.
Polish technical death metal band DECAPITATED will release their fifth studio album, "Carnival Is Forever", in North America and Poland on July 12 via Nuclear Blast Records. The CD's cover art was created by Lukasz Jaszak and can be seen below.
"Carnival Is Forever" track listing:
01. The Knife
02. United
03. Carnival Is Forever
04. Homo Sum
05. 404
06. A View From A Hole
07. Pest
08. Silence
Commented DECAPITATED guitarist Waclaw "Vogg" Kieltyka: "[The album cover is] very intriguing and quite strange for a metal album but surely staying in memory. A vital thing is that it's a photo. We did not want any computer graphics this time or anything artificial or plastic. The same regards the production of the album. We had actually been thinking about getting a painting for the cover but unfortunately we couldn't do it. Maybe next time."
The follow-up to 2006's "Organic Hallucinosis", "Carnival Is Forever" was recorded at Radio Gdansk Studio in Poland with producer Wacek Kieltyka and engineer Malta Arkadiusz Malczewski. Drums were tracked with Daniel Bergstrand (BEHEMOTH, MESHUGGAH, DIMMU BORGIR, KEEP OF KALESSIN, DEFLESHED), who also handled mixing duties.
Regarding the album title, Vogg previously said: "Carnival: war, rape, lies, pathology, evil displayed through certain events and situations of the latest years in the world. Is Forever — I guess it doesn't need explaining. Both in the text and the title, there is bitter irony. The author of the title and all lyrics is Jarek Szubrycht (Lex Occulta, author of "No Mercy", the world's first biography of thrash metal legends SLAYER."
DECAPITATED's new album will be released through Nuclear Blast Records in all territories except the band's home country where the group will make the CD available via its own label.
DECAPITATED's lineup includes Waclaw "Vogg" Kieltyka on guitar, Kerim "Krimh" Lechner (THORNS OF IVY, TONE INTIMACY) on drums, Rafal Piotrowski (KETHA, FORGOTTEN SOULS) on lead vocals, and Filip "Heinrich" Halucha (VESENIA, ROOTWATER, UNSUN, MASACHIST) on bass.
German death metallers OBSCENITY have announced the addition of bassist Jörg Pirch (ex-TEARS OF DECAY) to the group's ranks.
As previously reported, the band was recently rejoined by drummer Sascha Knust (also ex-THE AWAKENING, SETHNEFER). The band has also recruited a new guitarist, Christoph Weerts (ex-ASSASINATED).
OBSCENITY is currently demoing material for its eighth album, tentatively titled "All You Can Kill", for a late 2011 release via an as-yet-undetermined record label.
OBSCENITY last year announced the addition of 33-year-old singer Jeff Rudes from Tampa, Florida to the group's ranks.
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