Legendary heavy metal frontman Ozzy Osbourne was
presented with an iron cross made from the steel of the World
Trade Center
by New York City
firemen and policemen in the weeks following the terrorist attacks of September
11, 2001.
Ozzy was staying at a New York City hotel when hijackers crashed two planes into the
Big Apple landmark.
The singer's wife Sharon spoke about her memories of the attacks on CBS daytime talk show "The Talk" on Thursday (see video below),
and she revealed how her husband received the prized possession.
She said, "That morning we went downstairs for breakfast. The kids and I.
And we're in the dining room and there was Mayor Giuliani... And then
all of these men came and whispered in his ear... And he went off... And then
we go upstairs, [and we're] watching the news and then we see what the whole
world saw.
"You can't take like, this, 'Oh poor me, I'm so scared.' I was blessed
that I had my family with me. But it leaves you totally numb. And to think
now... 10 years later, it's still going on because our men and women from all
over the world, not just here [in America], are still fighting.
"I can remember the day that it happened; we went up to the roof of the
hotel and we were looking down 5th
Avenue. There was nothing. There was nobody. There
were no birds. There was nothing. It was silent. And that silence is
terrifying.
"We got out of New York... and drove back
to L.A. And
driving across the country it was unbelievable, just that same eerie
silence."
Ozzy was haunted by the devastation he had witnessed back East, so he
returned to play a concert for the firefighters and first responders who risked
their lives to save others. As a show of gratitude, "They made him this
cross, which is made of one of the girdles from the South
Tower," Sharon said. "And when they gave
it to him, it was two weeks later, literally, this isn't an exaggeration, it
was still warm [from the burning]."
Legendary heavy metal singer Ozzy Osbourne will sign
copies of his new book, "Trust Me, I'm Dr. Ozzy", at the
following locations:
October 11 at 7:00 p.m.
Barnes & Noble
Edinger Avenue
Huntington Beach, CA
October 13 at 7:00 p.m.
Barnes & Noble
Westview Parkway
San Diego, CA
October 14 at 7:00 p.m.
Barnes & Noble
Tyler Street
Riverside, CA
October 15 at 3:00 p.m.
Barnes & Noble
Grove Drive
Los Angeles, CA
October 19 at 6:30 p.m.
Barnes & Noble
East Broadway
Tucson, AZ
October 20 at 6:30 p.m.
Barnes & Noble
North Rainbow Blvd.
Las Vegas, NV
October 21 at 7:00 p.m.
Barnes & Noble
Arden Way
Sacramento, CA
In his new book "Trust Me, I'm Dr. Ozzy", Ozzy Osbourne embraces his status as a medical marvel to tell incredible stories, offer
advice as only he can and shed light on his seemingly superhuman ability to
stay alive. Due out October 11, "Trust Me, I'm Dr. Ozzy: Advice From
Rock's Ultimate Survivor" by Ozzy Osbourne with Chris Ayres (Grand Central Publishing) is the follow-up to 2010's New York Times bestselling memoir "I Am Ozzy", which landed at #2 and #3 on
the New York Times and Wall Street Journal non-fiction charts,
respectively.
Based on his ongoing Rolling Stone (U.S.) Sunday Times (U.K.)
columns, "Trust Me, I'm Dr. Ozzy" will include some of the
best material from the columns, as well as survival stories not found in Ozzy's
memoir, his answers to celebrities' medical questions, charts and sidebars, and
much more. The best way to describe this book is 100% Ozzy — part memoir
and part advice column, delivered with Ozzy's famous wit and humor. It's
comprised of reader-submitted medical and lifestyle questions, Ozzy digs
deep into his murky past, searching for pearls of "wisdom."
The genesis of the Dr. Ozzy columns began last year, when Ozzy decided
to have his DNA mapped to determine if science could perhaps explain how he
survived his nearly four decade avalanche of drugs and alcohol. The "Full
Ozzy Genome" contained variants that scientists had never before
encountered. In fact, the findings made headlines around the world and even led
to Ozzy hosting a prestigious TED conference.
The official book description reads as follows: "Wondering if science
could explain how he survived his 40-year avalanche of drugs and alcohol, Ozzy
Osbourne became one of a handful of people in the world to have his entire
DNA mapped in 2010. It was a highly complex, $65,000 process, but the results
were conclusive: Ozzy is a genetic anomaly. The 'Full Ozzy Genome'
contained variants that scientists had never before encountered and the
findings were presented at the prestigious TEDMED conference in San
Diego-making headlines around the world. The procedure was in part sponsored by The Sunday Times of London,
which had already caused an international fururoe by appointing Ozzy
Osbourne its star health advice columnist. The newpaper argued that Ozzy's
mutliple near-death experiences, 40-year history of drug abuse, and extreme
hypocondria qualified him more than any other for the job. The column was an
overnight hit, being quickly picked up by Rolling Stone to give it a
global audience of millions. In 'Trust Me, I'm Dr. Ozzy', Ozzy answers
reader's questions with his outrageous wit and surprising wisdom, digging deep
into his past to tell the memoir-style survival stories never published
before-and offer guidance that no sane human being should follow. Part humor,
part memoir, and part bad advice, 'Trust Me, I'm Dr. Ozzy' will include
some of the best material from his published columns, answers to celebrities'
medical questions, charts, sidebars, and more."
Ozzy last year said that his column in the Times is not meant to
be taken seriously. "It's not a serious thing," he said. "I
mean, I'm the last person to ask advice about health. It's just, it's not fit
to be taken seriously. I mean — and I'm not doing it, I'm not writing the
column personally, I've got a guy coming around, the guy who did my book, Chris
Ayres, is doing the column. He brings me the column things and I just joke
about it, you know. 'Cause if you believe me, you'll end up in the lunatic
asylum."
Ozzy said in his first column for the Times, "If people can
learn from my stupid mistakes without having to repeat any of them, or if they
can take some comfort from the crazy things my family has been through over the
years . . . that's more than enough for me."
Ozzy added in the column, "By all accounts, I'm a medical miracle.
When I die, I should donate my body to the Natural History Museum."
In response to a Rolling Stone reader by the name of Hugh from
New Mexico who asked if he should go to one of those "rub 'n' tug"
massage parlors given that his girlfriend will never know, Ozzy replied,
"A hand job is a very personal thing, and after a lifetime of practice,
most blokes get a pretty specific preference for the kind of technique they
like. So unless you're acting as a co-pilot and barking out instructions to
your dodgy masseuse every two seconds, it might end up feeling more like she's
skinning a dead rabbit than driving you wild with forbidden pleasure. In fact,
it sounds to me like you've already built this up in your head to the point
where it's gonna be an expensive disappointment. You also ain't factored in
guilt. It's all very well you telling Dr. Ozzy that 'it doesn't seem
wrong' to hire an extra pair of hands to help out in the monkey-spanking
department, but I'm afraid to say that if you're anything like me, your
conscience won't agree."
"I Am Ozzy" marked Ozzy's first foray into the book
world; it tells his unbelievable story, for the first time, in his own
hilarious, witty, and inimitable voice. In the end it was love that saved him:
the love of his wife Sharon and kids Aimee, Kelly, and Jack.
Legendary bassist/vocalist Glenn Hughes (BLACK
COUNTRY COMMUNION, DEEP PURPLE, BLACK SABBATH) will embark on
his first U.K.
solo acoustic tour featuring incredible acoustic interpretations of songs from
his remarkable musical career. This is bound to enthrall not only hardcore fans
but anyone with even a passing interest in the life and times of a modern day
rock legend.
The dates are as follows:
Nov. 14 - Leicester Square Theatre - London, UK
Nov. 15 - Glee Club - Birmingham, UK
Nov. 16 - Glee Club - Cardiff (Wales), UK
Nov. 20 - Glee Club - Nottingham, UK
Nov. 22 - Band On The Wall - Manchester, UK
Hughes recently released his long-awaited autobiography, "Deep
Purple And Beyond: Scenes From The Life Of A Rock Star", via Foruli
Publications. The book was co-written with Joel McIver and features
an introduction by METALLICA's Lars Ulrich.
"Deep Purple And Beyond: Scenes From The Life Of A Rock Star" features contributions from Hughes' friend and comrade in DEEP PURPLE
David Coverdale, his lifelong musical collaborator Tony Iommi of BLACK
SABBATH and a host of others, including Angie Bowie, John
Varvatos and the members of THE KLF (with whom Hughes scored
a global hit in 1991).
The publisher, Foruli Publications, is a globally-recognized specialist
in collectable, high-quality books.
For more information, visit www.foruli.co.uk.
In
Part II of our interview with acclaimed singer and songwriter Geoff Tate, we discuss the
"voice" of Queensryche, The
Band's 30th Anniversary Tour, and a venture into Insania.
Here's
what he had to say.
Let's
talk about your voice. You have a four octave range and a very unique
style. Is that talent something you can easily acknowledge or is it
something that you don't think much about, having had it all of your life?
I've
never been one of those people that look back at where I've been. In fact
none of us in The Band do that. We're all
obsessed and consumed with what we're working on at the moment.
Even after we finish a record and after we've listened to it ten thousand
times, we don't listen to it again. It's done, and we move onto the next
thing.
It's
the same thing with my voice, or what I do. I just do what I do {laughs},
and I don't think too much about it. It's like writing a song. You
don't start out thinking, "Ok, I'm going to write a song but I can't do
this, because I won't be able to do this live," or "How am I going to
get this across in another circumstance?" You just go with it.
You write what your imagination has in there, you know.?
It's the same thing with
singing, I just go with what the lyrics are telling me or what the music is guiding me
through. If it's a song that has a lot of emotion to it, it drives me to
come up with something that compliments that. I think as a youngster you
start out and you kind of try to prove yourself. You
Get kind of over The Top with "Ok, here's what I can
do." The older You Get, you start thinking more along the lines
of "What does the song need?" So I think that's definitely
where I'm at these days - in the mode of "What does the song need? What do
the lyrics call for? Does it need to have me at The
Top of my range screaming? Not this particular song but maybe the next one
does."
Have
you ever been drawn to The Theater? You seemed very at home with The
Cabaret show, and Queensryche's shows have always contained theatical
elements.
Oh
yea, I love it. I struggle with that, because I'd really love to only do
that. But it doesn't pay well, honestly, so I always have to balance that
with the economic realities of my financial situation. My wife and I , we
have five kids, so we've had to make decisions monetarily where it goes and
what's important, career wise. Queensryche is pretty
successful, so I can't argue with that and also, it does allow me the freedom
to explore my imagination and my creativity individually, so I feel pretty
fulfilled in that respect. The guys let me come up with The
Cabaret thing. They let me do what I want and they go with it
{laughs}.
What
do you consider to be your most gratifying achievement, both personally and
professionally?
Well
I think first and foremost for me is raising kids. Seeing my kids out of
the house, raising them to adults and trying to instill in them my values and
my wife's values. Just seeing them being able to be, if nothing else,
just happy people and not in need of serious therapy {laughs}. I just
became a grandfather about a month ago and that's screwing with My
Head a little bit {laughs}.
Professionally,
I feel very proud of the fact that we've remained together as a band all these
years and we still can get into a room and create something and still make
records, which is really important to The
Mental status of everyone in The
Band. If we just had to play live shows and play all the songs that
we've written, I don't think we'd all like that very much. We wouldn't
stay together. It's the ability to keep making records, I think, that
really draws us all together. I feel good about that. There's not
a lot of bands who have been around as long as we have and who are still
making music.
How's the 30th
Anniversary Tour going?
It's
going good. It's rolling right along. We have a break right now,
then we start up again in Spokane Washington. But it's going
good. We started up in May and we're booked up until the end of December,
so we're having a great time. We're playing music from all of our
different records, celebrating our 30th anniversary.
The
only real problem with the tour has been me. I keep having these
accidents. The first one happened in Allentown, PA.
Often during the shows, we use that smoke in the air and our lighting director
used a different product because he ran out of the regular stuff, and I had an
allergic reaction to it. It made me lose my voice and My
Head was swollen up like a basketball. So we had to cancel two shows,
which is unheard of. We've only canceled like three shows in our entire
career. So that happened and it took me a couple of weeks to get over
that.
During
that time, I threw a disc out in my lower back. I was in severe pain, so
the doctor gave me these muscle relaxers, which I had an allergic reaction to,
and then a week later, I broke my middle finger on my right hand. I play
saxophone so the middle finger on my right hand is pretty darn important, and
now I have this big brace on it so I had to completely rethink how I'm doing
things. So for awhile there, I felt like things were just falling apart
{laughs}. But I feel good now.
Tell us about Insania, and how it is you became interested
in bottling your own wine?
I've
been doing The Project for about five years now.
It's wine made in Washington state and probably
a lot of people don't know this, but Washington
state is the second largest wine producer in The
United States other than Napa.
We have an exploding wine industry here - a lot of wonderful wine makers
and great wines. It's going really well. We started The Project about five years ago, Holly
Turner (my partner) and I, just on a whim. She's a fantastic,
award-winning wine maker. We've been friends for a long time, and we were
in France
doing some wine tasting with her husband and my wife and she said, "Have
you ever thought about having your own wine label?" So I said,
"Well that would be fantastic, but how would I do that?" She said
"I'll help you." The next day when we sobered up, it sounded like a
really good idea still {laughs} so....
That
has got to be a very cool thing for you.
It
really is cool. It's a fun thing to be part of, and I have so much fun
doing it. I'm involved in all the different aspects of it. My
favorite part of course is the blending, because it's where you really come up
with the recipe, you know? Since we hit upon the first vintage, the real
challenge is to make it consistent each year. Every year you have
different yields, different conditions for the grape growing, so you have to
kind of try your best to get the blend right each time. And so far we've
been pretty close every year with how we did it.
It's like music.
It's one thing to write a really good song that you really love, but it's
another thing to sell it. Wine is like that, very much. You could
make this great bottle of wine but then how do you sell the thing, which has proven
to be the most difficult thing is to let people know it's out there and then
let people taste it, and let them come up with their own conclusions, because
people taste wine kind of like how they hear music - all very differently.
My
wine is what I would classify as a very serious wine. It's done very
well. It's not cheap and it's really designed to go with food, in the
European tradition. In fact when we blend it, we tend to have a lot of
different types of food around. I have a great time making it. I
love it. It's very gratifying and it's a great feeling to be able to
create something out of nothing and put your own special something into
it. That bottle of wine really represents my tastes, what I would drink.
So
what's up next for you and for The
Band?
Well
we're going to be doing "ShipRocked" which is a cruise. This
will be the second time we've done it. The first time we did it, we had
such a great time, we wanted to do it again. It's a bunch of different
bands all playing on this cruise ship. It's a five day cruise and
typically it's a big floating rock and roll party. You'll be on this boat
with thousands of rock fans and everybody's having a great time. There's
bands playing all day long and into the night, and the party just doesn't stop.
I'm
looking forward to the trip. It's a nice way to kind of cap off the end
of the tour for us.
And
are you working on material for the next album?
Yes
we are. We take our studio gear on the road with us. We usually
have a separate room at each venue where we set up and we're working on the
next record there.
Joey
Belladonnalast sang on an Anthrax record 21 years ago when he crushed the vocals
on "Belly Of The Beast" and "In My World"
from the Persistence Of Time album. Belladonna had been responsible for
providing the vocals on the thrash metal band's most important records
beginning with Spreading The Disease, continuing with the breakthrough Among
The Living recording and followed by the Eddie Kramer-produced StateOf
Euphoria. The singer brought range, melody and passion to a genre that
sometimes lacked all three.
UG plus: remove banner
Belladonna
has returned to the band to front the Worship Music album, a record that
runs the range from blistering rockers like "The Devil You Know"
and "Earth On Hell" to dark half-time dirges such as "In
The End" and "Crawl." In the intervening years since
he left the band, the native New Yorker fronted his own self-named band but he
has now come back to put his unique stamp all over Worship Music.
The
reunion with former bandmates hasn't been exactly seamless. In the interim, the
group brought in Dan Nelson and John Bush to fill in the
vocalist's gap but neither worked out. So they called Belladonna and passed the
torch to him. While he was excited to be back and loves the final recording,
there were some questions that still needed answering.
UG:
Scott Ian said to me recently, "If you go back and listen to Persistence of
Time, it has more in common with the Sound of White Noise than it does with State
of Euphoria.
That's where we were going and we just felt like we needed a new voice to go
where we were going because we were trying at the time to move forward with
Joey and we were hitting a wall." How do you respond to that?
Joey
Belladonna:To me, I think it's a crock myself to be honest with ya. I think they just
wanted something different. Period. I don't know what I wasn't doing that
wasn't fitting their style. Granted they went down a new road like anyone else
does [to do] something different. If that's what you want to do, be different
but it don't mean I wasn't able to do what they would have liked to have done
or could have accomplished. You know what I mean? They can argue with it too
all day long but my view is they went and got somebody different to fit the new
style of what was happenin' in the '90s or whatever. I was too melodic; the
vocals were too high or whatever. I don't know—whatever you want to call it.
All the stuff that I was doing, it was working and that doesn't seem to work in
their style? And then all of a sudden if you look back now and you wind up
right to this point, we're right back where I could have done anything really.
You
would have felt comfortable singing on the Sound of White Noise album?
There
wasn't anything they did on those records—and forget John [Bush] for a
minute—there's nothing on those records that I couldn't have accomplished
something that would have been comparable to anything we've ever done before
that. I just don't see it; I just don't. I have never even really had this
conversation with them nor do they want to go there because (A) they probably
don't want to debate it and (B) and it's just something no one wants to
dispute. I don't know—who knows?
The
question wasn't asked to antagonize you.
No,
it's fine.
It
could have been interesting if you'd sung on the Sound of White Noise record.
It
sure would have been. Forget that you've heard it now with someone else singing
it, I coulda just continued. I sang "Only" [live] and it's really nothing to me
to do that thing. It's not like, "Oh, my god, this is a style that I couldn't
even have dared to try." The thing is when I do my own style, I give it then
and moreso because I have my own little thing going on and that's what was
working and that's why it's working now again because it just sits right. I
don't know—it's just weird.
What
feels weird?
It's
a weird place for me to be in; it really is. Sometimes just to debate why I
wasn't there and if I wasn't good enough?
"There's
nothing on those records that I couldn't have accomplished."
What
are your memories of the Persistence of Time record?
You
know what? I thought it was cool we were taking on a little bit of a heavier
route. It seemed like we were getting into little bit more of a pre-production
type of thing where we spent a little bit more time, which we hardly spent
before writing a record. Of course, then the downside of it was I saw some
people trying to kind of like look at me as if I wasn't right for the band. I
saw things start to take that little bit of a note and I didn't like the
feeling towards it and I was trying to figure out why. I was at a pretty good
state at that point—I was ready to take that next step with the band as long as
we were gonna keep going.
Songs
like "In My World" and "Belly Of the Beast" were…
Yeah,
those were rockin'. You listen to the new record and there are some of those
remnants of that and look how long apart they are. If anything, it's probably
way better because I didn't spend any time doing this record.
You
didn't spend time with the songs before going into the studio for Worship
Music?
I
just walked in and I might have fiddled around at the house briefly just
tinkering in the studio a little bit on my own just to get a feel for what I
might be up against but nothing thorough. And to get those results was really
cool and really not prepare for it.
What
did it feel like being with Anthrax again?
The
way they asked me to come in was if something didn't work out on their end,
they'd call you at the last minute to see if you wanted to do it. So right off
the bat I'm thinkin', "OK, I'm the second thought in mind." I had to think that
way.
Did
you really?
Yeah,
well that was the fact. They even stated that they asked somebody that nobody
knew [Dan Nelson] and they knew full well it wasn't going to work out. And then
you get John [Bush] in there, you try to get him, and he don't wanna do it so
who do you call? Me [laughs]. Fine, I'll come in, but you have your thoughts of
like, "OK, here we go. Now I'm gonna go and do a record and they're gonna kinda
push me around and try to build around something that sort of has somewhat of a
foundation." I mean granted the songs were all torn up and we did all kinds of
cool stuff to it in the end. But you walk in and you're thinking, "OK, I'm
gonna get pushed around and I'm gonna have to mop up the rest what someone else
didn't accomplish" and all this kinda stuff. And everything is on me 'cause all
there's left is a vocal they think. But there's a lot more to it and hopefully
they'll let me do it and they let me roll.
How
did you go about recording your vocals?
I
was in alone with the producer, Jay Rusdon, and we did everything alone; we
spent time together and we were real quick and we were doing a song a day.
Things were real smooth and nobody was there to lean on any mishaps and there
was very few of those. But if you're sitting there and people are reviewing
every word, every minute, every second, you're like, "Ahh, c'mon, let me roll
here. Just give me some time." But none of that happened so that was cool. But
I definitely was hesitant and thought, "Are you sincere about this? Do you
really, really want me here? Are you gonna accept this? Or is it gonna go
because there's a missing thing and you need to complete that—you need to put
somebody in that position."
Were
you thinking on some level that you had to prove yourself all over again?
I'm
always thinking, "I've got to prove myself" but now I'm done proving anything.
I'm just gonna do what I do and it comes off naturally. I don't have to sit
around and be like, "Are we OK? You sure?"
Scott
Ian did say he gave you free reign to do your thing with the vocals.
Yeah,
I mean I had a lot of room. I mean I wouldn't say I have room like if someone's
to write a song. Today if me and you were sitting in a room and you've got a
riff and I start singing over something and I go, "OK, but wait a minute. Why
don't we change that chord and that chord and we'll stretch it out and I'll
sing a little bit more and then you change the next chord." There was not a lot
of that; it was a lot of other things. I was good at doing it early on where I
walked in with Spreading the Disease and everything was finished except for the
vocals and I did a whole lot with that. So it's not hard to do it that way and
it works great and no one has to worry about me chiming in and going, "OK, what
about this riff to go over that? It sounds better. What key are we in?" and all
that kinda stuff. There's a lot of things to consider but I walked in and we
did a lot of stuff, a lot of vocals, a lot of harmonies, a lot of melody and a
lot of pronunciation; a lot of things and a lot of arrangements and stuff with
new guitars, bass and drums. It was a lot of stuff but at the same time, I
don't have a problem doing it one way or the other. I'm just glad that they
were open to what I was doing.
Did
the band come into the studio after you'd finished a vocal to hear what you'd
done?
We
send it off email [sending music files] at the nighttime or by morning and
you'd get a little bit of a feedback and if people were good, we moved. And
that's what we did pretty much on a regular basis.
These
past several years you've been out there with your solo projects. Do you think
you brought in anything new or different to the Anthrax sessions because you'd
been working up ideas for your own music?
Well,
you advance a little bit when you do things and whether you're practicing more,
playing more or developing more and that kinda stuff. I don't think I came in
with any different or other twist on doing a record: You put the words on the
music stand and you start lookin' at 'em, you roll track and you go. I don't
think anything was really that much different for me. It all seemed very much
the same again and the only difference was everybody wasn't hanging around the
control room and peeking in. And seeing everybody talking and not sure if
they're talking about you or last night's adventures so I didn't have any of
that. Other than that, working on solo stuff and working on my own, it's good
prep and it's also just good for me 'cause I like to play a lot and it's just something
that I do probably moreso than some of the other people that I know.
"I thought it
was cool we were taking on a little bit of a heavier route."
"In the
End" is one of the songs from Worship Music that is really getting a lot of
notice. When you first heard the track, did you immediately come up with the
melodies and the phrasing? How did you approach a song like this?
I
hear the track and I hear the key and my voice will go right where it's the
most comfortable. "Crawl" for instance starts off in a low key and you really
can't go in a higher range; it just doesn't allow you to and nor was I looking
to do that. For example, with that one you would stay lower. But "In the End"
was right dead in the middle of the key and it just came right out the way it
fit. I just see the words in front of me and bang, it comes together. We still
had a little bit more words to put in on the chorus section but the melody was
already there; it was just a matter of adding more section and more completed
words. That's the only thing we were missin' there but at the same time it came
together quick. I mean I did that whole song in a night; the only thing I
didn't have was just some of the chorus words we needed to complete it.
Scott
comes in with the lyrics and shows them to you and then you take them and work
the melodies around them?
Yeah,
the lyrics were emailed in and then we'd print 'em out, throw 'em up and then I
take the lyrics and we sit in the room and we just black off the tracks and we
start puttin' it together. The only thing again was I was left at that point
was when we listened back to "In the End" was, "We need a little bit more of
the vocals" so we wanted to write more lyrics. So it took a couple of nights or
the night before and bang. I can't remember if it was a week or two days from
then and Scott gave me the rest of the lyrics and then I came back in and
banged it out. I think I might have left and come back two weeks later and we
had another section. I didn't even go over it with him—I was handed lyrics and
I fuckin' started singing over that.
You
work pretty fast.
It
comes together pretty quick. I don't know, I just have a way of singing over
something and just going for it. That's the coolest thing because it's an
off-the-cuff and a more feel thing versus [talks in robotic, metronomic
fashion] "It has to be this way be-cause you must do it this way." That's the
other thing: I don't really have a lot of leeway sometimes when it's like that.
"In
the End" paid tribute to Ronnie James Dio and Dimebag?
Yeah,
that's what the song's about you know. You can put that on anybody you've loved
or been around in the music business.
You
spent a lot of time with Ronnie and he was one of your boys?
Yeah,
I loved Ronnie. Ronnie was an inspiration and he still is and he always will
be. I'm constantly doing his music. I've been at his memorial [May 30, 2010)
and I sang at that and I still do the song I performed there:" Man On the
Silver Mountain." I do that live and we do some other Sabbath stuff that he did
and some solo stuff to kind of keep that feeling alive. He was great.
Do
your influences go back to some of the classic singers like Ian Gillan?
Oh,
big time. You've got the Who, the Priest, Deep Purple and Led Zeppelin was big.
Even Maiden was a great influence: I loved UFO and Thin Lizzy. I like a lot of
British stuff and there's tons of it. There are some that I really loved over
the years. And Bad Company of course with Paul Rodgers. David Coverdale, I
love. I like a lot of things so I'm probably right across the board with all
kinds of music.
Were
there songs on the album where it was more difficult finding a melody?
The
song "Giant" was just loaded with lyrics and there was just no way around
anything so you gotta come up with a good chorus. It was a kind of happy medium
and it was an interesting, powerful and a lot-of-words verse but then when it
came to the chorus I had a lot of room to kinda shape her up and put it
together. That one I knew was gonna be a lot more of an unfavorable
vocal-oriented song—it's more of a yakker.
When
you're doing something heavy like "Giant" as opposed to something slower and
more melodic like "Crawl," do you reach for a different place inside yourself?
"Crawl"
was the first song we did and we kind of walked into it a little bit slower. It
wasn't balls out right off the bat. Of course when you start getting into those
faster songs, there's a lot more power, there's a lot more drive, it's quick
and there's a lot of changing in sections that call you to spit out words
quickly. "Crawl" is a little bit more open and a lot more room and it was interesting
to try that one 'cause we've never done something like that or I haven't other
than like "Armed and Dangerous" or something. But it was interesting to see
what their take on it was and they were diggin' it from that point on it was
pretty easy.
"I'm
Alive" was a melodic track with those oh oh oh kind of chants during the intro.
It's
all good. Who knew what that song was gonna present to us as a band 'cause
obviously it is a bit different. I don't think we were really trying to do
anything different but you get a nice, cool riff that's slow and is a little
doomy but maybe has a little bit more light to it than doom, it's cool but you
never know what to expect when you're doing stuff like that. But I think people
dig that kind of thing especially if it's done well and it's not like typical.
You
describe exactly what sets Anthrax apart from a lot of other thrash metal bands
in that you're willing to go into these different areas and experiment.
The
thing is if you don't wanna do it or don't have the knowledge of trying it and
being able to get around it, you're just not gonna do it. Plus it was funny
because my friend was listening to some of the stuff and I played him a couple
of songs in the car and he's like, "I was listening to the tune and I always
try to predict what's gonna come up next and you guys got me every time. I had
no idea that part was comin' up next." So it's really cool how we go about
puttin' songs together and that's the neat thing 'cause we have a way of
putting songs together that aren't quite like anything else. That's what I like
about me being in the band especially because I have even a whole wider view
and take on things and developments and all that kinda stuff.
That
is absolutely true. On the earlier records was there ever a thought about going
too far in a direction where the fans wouldn't follow?
Oh,
yeah! Shit, those guys would definitely put clamps on stuff. After a while they
were starting to think, "Hey, my vocals are not gonna fit with everything
that's goin' on." And to me they [Anthrax] kinda bailed a little too soon on
that. Again they could dispute it but after I finally heard myself, I said,
"Shit, you know we may have somethin' here. This could really work—I kinda dig
this. This is neat and I respect." But I don't know, I don't know how to
explain that.
"I saw some
people trying to kind of like look at me as if I wasn't right for the band."
Did you
listen to what John Bush did on the post-Joey Belladonna records?
I
checked out some of it; I dig 'em. I was familiar with John back in the Armored
Saint days. But to me when you start to compare us it's kind of a drag because
you're just putting us both in a position of like who's better and I never
wanted to go there. Neither of us wants to be put in that spot. When we were on
our own, he was him and I was me and we did our thing and everybody dug what we
both did and now you gotta compare 'em. Obviously it's a little bit styles and
there's no doubt about that. I don't know, I thought it sounded like him with
Anthrax moreso than what we used to, which was a little bit different. But hey,
they did something different and it didn't mean it was bad. I don't know if it
was that much better though and you go, "Oh, my god, they finally figured it
out." I don't know anything about that part of it. I didn't see that. You know
what I mean?
Anthrax
seemed to have figured it out on Among the Living, which was the band's real
breakthrough record. Did you have any idea at the time of the impact the record
would have?
Nah.
That was one of those records when you hear the music and it's like, "Wow. It
went from Spreading the Disease to this and that's intense." It seemed like we
had somethin' but there's no way to tell.
Do
you think Worship Music will touch Anthrax fans?
How
do I know? Yeah, I love the songs and there's a lot more of the songs to choose
from and there's more interesting things going on sonically and all that stuff
but you just don't know when you're doin' it. I felt good about it but there's
definitely some interesting, quirky songs that you don't know what people's
take is gonna be on it. I really don't. Even Spreading the Disease, when I did
it I didn't know much about the scene so much yet to see what people's take on
stuff was. I mean I thought it was done well and I had fun doin' it and I
started diggin' the music bigtime but I had no indication really of what was
gonna go down.
You
were part of the first Big Four show back on June 16, 2010, in Warsaw, Poland.
What was that like?
It's
a great package and we're all very happy to be together. We have longevity
together and it's just a great organization and it's very-well run and an
awesome afternoon of show. It's an honor to be able to a part of all that stuff
and I'm always excited to play a part of that day.
Is
there any sense of wanting to dig a little deeper when you're on the stage with
Megadeth, Metallica and Slayer?
All
the time, man. But it's more of a natural [thing]. I just feel confident enough
to do what I do so it's just more of a natural thing. At the same time we're so
different from each other so even when we are doing excellent, then the other
band comes up and they've got a nice set of songs and a catalog and they do
well and it's all good. I'm sure people write about certain parts of the event
and who they think was better and all that stuff but I try not to go there. I
just assume everybody will be good that day so everybody's happy about it all
and not dissatisfied about somebody.
The song "Teutonic Terror" from reformed
German heavy metal legends ACCEPT was honored with the "Metal
Anthem" award at the Metal Hammer Award Show last night (Friday,
September 9) at Kesselhaus in Berlin, Germany. The
band's bassist, Peter Baltes, said, "We are very honored and
grateful. Thanks to all you guys for voting and supporting us. What a way to
end the tour."
ACCEPT's July 15 performance at this year's edition of the Bang Your
Head!!! festival in Balingen, Germany filmed
for a future DVD release. The concert marked the band's return to a five-piece
format after the group spent a couple of months touring as a quartet due to the
fact that guitarist Herman Frank suffered broken ribs and a punctured
lung in a stage fall on May 6 in San Antonio.
ACCEPT's latest album, "Blood Of The Nations", was
released in North America on September 14,
2010 via Nuclear Blast Records. Recorded at Backstage Studio in
Derbyshire, England with acclaimed British producer and SABBAT guitarist Andy Sneap (MEGADETH, EXODUS, ARCH ENEMY, MASTERPLAN),
the CD marked the debut of the band's latest addition, vocalist Mark
Tornillo (ex-TT QUICK).
ACCEPT 2011 is:
Wolf Hoffmann: Guitar
Peter Baltes: Bass
Herman Frank: Guitar
Mark Tornillo: Vocals
Stefan Schwarzmann: Drums
Former DREAM THEATER drummer Mike Portnoy has
commented on an article written by a longtime fan of the band which points out
the alleged musical and structural similarities between DREAM THEATER's
new album and that of the group's breakthrough 1992 release, "Images
And Words".
Thiago Campos, the Brazilian guitarist/producer/mixer/editor of "VRA!
Split-Screen Covers", an online collaborative project where different
artists record cover performances and post them on YouTube, penned his article after arriving at the "wonderfully
shocking conclusion" that the entire "A Dramatic Turn Of
Events", album — or "at least six songs" — was "written
based off the charts of 'Images And Words' songs." He writes,
"I know this might come across as an absurd accusation to many of you, but
I wouldn't be coming out in public with this information if I hadn't done my
homework, and if I wasn't confident this approach to writing the new album was
a conscious/intentional decision, maybe even humorous, by the band."
He continues, "When I say the songs were 'written off the charts,' I mean
arrangement-wise, their structures, sometimes even orchestrations and nuances
that make the parts what they are, and their roles within the songs. This
doesn't mean they will sound alike at all, because within a given guideline for
arrangement, you could write virtually an infinite amount of different songs,
and mainstream/pop has been doing so for decades to back me up on this
statement. :)
"Some of these songs are so equal in terms of arrangements that I'm
surprised more people didn't catch on to this nugget yet. Others just follow a
rougher guideline (or so it seems to me at this point)."
After reading Thiago's article, Portnoy took
to his own forum to write, "Well done, Thiago.... Great post
and spot-on! I *immediately* noticed everything you wrote about upon my first
listen... and found it all incredibly strange... If they are indeed intentional
'nuggets,' then I guess that's a pretty cool idea... However, if they were
desperate attempts of secretly re-writing the past... hmm, maybe not so much...
I guess only they [presumably referring to the current members of DREAM
THEATER. — Ed.] will know the real reason for it..."
"A Dramatic Turn Of Events" — which marks new DREAM THEATER drummer Mike Mangini's recorded debut — will be released in North America
on September 13 via Roadrunner Records.
Portnoy, who co-founded DREAM THEATER more than 20 years ago,
abruptly quit the band last summer while on tour with AVENGED SEVENFOLD.
Jeff Maki of Live-Metal.net recently conducted an interview with
guitarist Andreas Kisser of Brazilian/American thrashers SEPULTURA.
A few excerpts from the chat follow below.
Live-Metal.net: I don't know how it seems to you from your point of
view, but it seems to me that fans really cling more to the Max Cavalera [former SEPULTURA frontman] era. Is it frustrating for you at all, now
that Derrick [Green, current SEPULTURA singer] has
actually been in the band longer than Max, that the fans still look back
to those earlier albums with Max on them?
Kisser: Well, I think it's really hard to say "fans." I think
it's really hard to define a SEPULTURA fan. And it's not everybody that
thinks that way. I respect every type of opinion. You have a mouth, you have a
brain, you might as well speak up, you know? But, of course, I don't agree with
all of them. It's great that we have so many SEPULTURAs in many people's
minds. It shows that we've reached so many different people. And like I said,
the formations we've had, and [through] so many different albums, we've lost
and gained fans regardless of the formation. And if they want to expect that,
then they're free to. There are a lot of people expecting for Jesus to come
back. [laughs] Expectations are expectations — you're free to expect anything
you want. But at the same time, there's room for what to respect in the
present. We're not trapped in our past. It's kind of stupid to erase everything
we did with Derrick, and go back and just play "Roots" and stuff like that. You know, [Max and his brother, former SEPULTURA drummer Igor] is not SEPULTURA. It was SEPULTURA for
awhile, but they chose to leave the band; first Max and then Igor.
It was their choice to leave, and they're doing whatever they do. [After that]
we went to different ways and different things, keeping the same SEPULTURA spirit. We still go out with new music and try to arrange and listen and write
different music, using aggressive music in different ways. We have had the
privilege to travel the world. We never really stopped. People can expect
whatever they want, but SEPULTURA is what it is, like it or not. I know
we're going to hear those cries forever. We have the people that actually saw SEPULTURA before and want to see us again. But most of them have never seen [this
formation] and they don't know what to expect — they just listen to the [old]
albums. But we still play all the songs, and like I said, we can play anything SEPULTURA.
It is what it is, so I don't see trying to repeat the past as a good way of
doing things, especially with music. It could be a disaster if we tried to do
something like that for the wrong reasons. We are very happy with what we have.
We have a great label, a great album, a great plan ahead of us, and that's it.
Live-Metal.net: While we're talking about the different formations of SEPULTURA throughout the years and fans having different viewpoints and respect for the
lineups, do you consider Max's other bands, SOULFLY and CAVALERA
CONSPIRACY with Igor, part of the extended SEPULTURA family?
Kisser: I don't know, man. That's a hard question because we don't have
that contact with each other that much. I don't know. Musically, it's kind of
confusing for me in trying to see the difference of what is what. SOULFLY has had so many different formations, so you lose kind of a characteristic
sound there. Of course, Max and his vocals is what it is. I mean, he's
been writing the same stuff over and over again. And in that sense, I don't
think he has really evolved too much. When working with different musicians all
the time, it's kind of hard to have a characteristic sound or try to do
something original. And then with CAVALERA CONSPIRACY, it's weird to
think that he can really work songs like that with just like a drummer there.
So I don't really see the partnership that they're going. It's just like a
bunch of Max songs that have a different drummer. But, you know, it is
what it is. I still think Max has a pretty cool characteristic way of
writing and saying things, but I don't see that much evolution.
Live-Metal.net: I know you get the "reunion" questions all the
time, so I won't go all the way there, but let's just say you were approached
to play one show or one festival with Max and Igor. What would be the one most important
thing that would prevent that?
Kisser: I don't know. I don't like to think about that. I think that's
kind of ridiculous. [laughs] We can portray any kind of situation and give an
opinion. It just makes no sense to me to try and picture something like that.
It is what it is, and I've always enjoyed being in music. I don't want to be a
slave of something that's not there anymore. I'm not a slave of my past. I
respect my past, but I'm here now. Much [more] than anything else, I think that
is what [the new SEPULTURA album] "Kairos" is all about
— it's in this moment, it's a concept of time. Not the past, but this is a
vision and concept of the future. Our fans try to create expectations, but that
it's totally empty. And it has to be right, it has to be honest, and it has to
be SEPULTURA; otherwise, it's not. And that's why we're still here as SEPULTURA,
because the spirit is still well in our lives, very positive and very happy.
And we're growing, going to different directions, going to different places in
the world still. We make sure everything happens in the best manner possible.
We show respect to our fans, and we're not trying to fool them. So I'd rather
be myself than trying to fulfill expectations of people that they would
normally expect for.
Niclas Müller-Hansen of Sweden's Metalshrine recently conducted an interview with drummer Dave
McClain of San Francisco Bay Area metallers MACHINE HEAD. A couple
of excerpts from the chat follow below.
Metalshrine: How many songs were recorded [for the new MACHINE HEAD album, "Unto The Locust"]? You've got seven songs and about 50
minutes of playing time and I know you recorded cover versions of a RUSH song and a JUDAS PRIEST one, but was there anymore original MACHINE
HEAD material recorded that didn't make the album?
McClain: Yeah, we had a couple of songs. There was one that I wrote the
music for. We were working on it and Robb [Flynn, guitar/vocals]
was working on it for a long time, lyrically and melodically, and just trying
to get a melody he was happy with. I wrote it to be a bit more of a mellow
thing and I gave it to him and told him I wanted it to be kind of like "Changes" by BLACK SABBATH. We kind of took it into this… there was a piano at the
end and he started working on it and had this guy do some piano stuff and then
he also put like these kind of little orchestra pieces on there, like cellos
and violins and stuff, but Robb just never got to the point… By the time
we got to the studio, we were so swamped with doing stuff that he never got to
the point where he was happy with it. Maybe it will surface somewhere… Then
there was this other song that we had. Me and Robb wrote it and it was
kind of the same thing; it just never really took shape. It's a good song. A
lot of the time, Robb tries a hundred different things with melodies and
stuff, but it's not just up to par with the rest of the stuff. We'll leave it
on the backburner for now and maybe somewhere it will come out.
Metalshrine: Usually when you guys work on a new album, do you ever go
back and pick stuff that wasn't finished from the last album or do you always
start from a clean slate?
McClain: We always start off with a clean slate. Once we're in the
writing process, we'll kind of remember riffs more, like on my laptop I've got
from the time we started writing "Through The Ashes Of Empires",
probably literally 150-200 riffs on there that never were used. We'll go back
sometimes and I always listen to stuff and I'll go back and listen to some of
my old riffs and see if there's anything that could do something for us now
that it didn't back then of if it fits something that we're doing, so we'll
bring the stuff back, but we usually always start with a clean slate. I think
there was something… I'm trying to think here… something that was left
unfinished from "Through The Ashes Of Empire". There was a
riff and I was in the practice room one day and in the storage there was a tape
from… it was one of Robb's riff tapes and I found this riff that was
like, "Dude, this riff is amazing!" I think it might have been left
unfinished, but there are things that kind of resurfaces.
Metalshrine: The reason for you settling for seven songs and about 50
minutes of playing time, was that because of… usually these days with the CD,
people try to cram in a lot of music and there's music for like 78 minutes
worth and it usually gets boring and songs that really wouldn't have made it
get in there as well. Was that the reason for it? To keep it short and keep the
listener more interested?
McClain: Yeah, I mean, sure! When we did "The Blackening",
there were eight songs that we felt… you know, there are always songs that
you're doing on every record we've ever done before that and we're like,
"Well, this song is kind of [lame]" and it's this and that and the
record company really want 10 or 11 songs and for "The Blackening",
we were like, "These are the eight that we love! This is it! This is a
solid record!" and it's the same with this one. These seven songs we felt
were super solid and it's like 53 minutes of music. All the records we were
looking at, like doing "Witch Hunt" by RUSH… we looked
at like "Moving Pictures" by RUSH and there's six
songs, I think and you look at "Reign In Blood" and that album
is like 32 minutes long! It goes by fast and the songs are really short, but
they're such good songs, that it doesn't seem like there's two-, three- or
four-minute songs. We didn't wanna put more on, like the two that we had, we
don't wanna clutter it out just because maybe the record company wants more
songs. I guess it looks better buying the record, but to us it's more about
quality.
Metalshrine: MACHINE HEAD, being what you are today and you've had
tremendous success over the years, is there any kind of pressure from the
record company these days? Do they even look for a metal band to come up with
something they would call a single or anything like that? Any pressure
recording today?
McClain: No, I mean, not with us. The type of deal that we have with
them, we know that we're not gona be this radio band. There was a time in our
career when Roadrunner was wanting to take stuff to the radio, but it's
not gonna happen now. The cool thing was when we were doing this record, they
were saying that, "If we hear anything that we think could work on the
radio, we'd love to take it!" I think that's cool! It's not forced and it
was cool to hear, but it wasn't anything that made us write anything different
for the radio. That's a bad thing about… having that aspect in your mindset, if
you do something for radio and it fails, it's like putting all your eggs in one
basket as far as that goes. I think a lot of the times with radio, radio bands
have like one song on the radio and next time nothing and you're getting fans
just for that one song. The way we look at it, we would rather build our
following by being a great live band and touring and really work hard to make
more lifelong fans.
According to San Antonio Metal Music Examiner, MÖTLEY CRÜE singer Vince Neil will headline the post-race concert at the Rock 'N' Roll San Antonio Marathon & Half-Marathon on Sunday,
November 13 at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas. The
marathon, which benefits the Susan G. Komen For The Cure, is expected to
have 30,000 runners for the 13.1-mile half-marathon and 26.2-mile marathon
along the downtown streets. The course, which features bands of various genres
to be announced at every mile and cheerleaders encouraging the runners, winds
up in the Alamodome followed by Neil's concert.
"There's no question that rock 'n' roll will be front and center on race
day with Vince Neil performing at the finish line," Kim Messey,
the marathon's event manager, said in a statement.
Singer Cristina Scabbia of the Italian rock/metal
band LACUNA COIL spoke to U.K.'s Terrorizer magazine
about the band's forthcoming album, "Dark Adrenaline", which
is scheduled for an early 2012 release via Century Media Records.
"I can definitely say that it's heavier and more obscure," she said
of the CD's overall musical direction. "I think that during the
songwriting, we go with the flow and do whatever we like, and we realized that
what we enjoy the most when we perform is the heaviness and that melancholic
feeling of the darker songs. That's us, and that's what came out in this
album."
LACUNA COIL's new single, "Trip The Darkness", will be
released digitally on October 17.
The band will hit the road in late October in support of "Dark
Adrenaline", with an extensive tour of Italy
and the U.K.
under the banner "Darkness Rising".
After spending many months in the recording studio, the band is dying to get on
the road again and perform songs from "Dark Adrenaline" live.
LACUNA COIL co-vocalist Andrea Ferro recently told Revolver magazine about the sound of the new CD, "We
have different kinds of songs — some are pretty heavy with a really powerful
groove and some killer riffs, some have a darker vibe a bit more in our
traditional style, and some others are more anthemic. In my opinion, it's a
great collection of metal and rock songs."
When asked if the band is trying anything different with the material this time
around, Ferro said, "There's a variety of moods; some things which
are new, and some which sound like more traditional LACUNA COIL. We were
experimenting with the previous album and we learned a lot from that about what
is the essence of our 'sound.' We usually never repeat the same record, and
that will again be the case this time around. It's 100 percent a LACUNA COIL album, with the benefit of some great inspiration during the songwriting
process."
Regarding the band's renewed collaboration with producer Don Gilmore (PEARL
JAM, LINKIN PARK, BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE), Ferro said,
"After you've spent a few months constantly working on the songs, it's
important to have someone like Don come in and give you a sincere
opinion of the songs. He is helping us in keeping things fresh, and getting our
sound together for 2011. Most of the songs haven't really changed in essence,
but he is really good at outlining the most important and interesting details
of the music and the lyrics. He also creates a really great vibe while
recording."
BLIND GUARDIAN's Marcus Siepen will join SINBREED on second guitar for the following shows:
Oct. 22 - GMZ - Wiesbaden, Germany (supporting VANDEN PLAS)
Nov. 04 - Brainstorm Festival - Holland, Apeldoorn
SINBREED features in its ranks guitarist Flo Laurin, BLIND
GUARDIAN drummer Frederik Ehmke and SEVENTH AVENUE vocalist Herbie
Langhans. The band's debut album, "When Worlds Collide",
which was released in March 2010 via Ulterium Records. The CD was
produced by Flo Laurin, mixed and mastered by Markus Teske (VANDEN
PLAS, SYMPHONY X), and it includes guest appearances by Joost van
den Broek (AFTER FOREVER) and Morten Sandager (MERCENARY)
on keyboards, and Thomas Rettke (REDKEY, ex-HEAVEN'S GATE)
on vocals. The artwork was created by Felipe Machado Franco (ICED
EARTH, AYREON).
SINBREED's brand of power metal is described as a "blistering
combination of speed, melodic and aggressive arrangements combined with high
and soaring vocals."
SINBREED is:
Herbie Langhans (SEVENTH AVENUE) - Vocals
Frederik Ehmke (BLIND GUARDIAN) - Drums
Alexander Schulz - Bass
Flo Laurin - Guitar, Keyboards
For more information, visit www.sinbreed.com.
AESMA DAEVA singer Lori Lewis has officially
joined Swedish progressive/experimental metallers THERION as a
"permanent" member. THERION mainman Christofer Johnsson states, "[Lori] has been a fantastic partner of the band being a
great friend and making the best operatic performance known to the metal world
for several years. Now she will also be an active part of the creative process
behind the making of our future releases. We know fans will agree when we say
she is one of a kind and have a natural place in the band now and in the
future."
Lewis hails from Salem, Oregon and has spent time on the
road with THERION as part of the "Gothic Kabbalah", "20-Year
Celebration" and "Sitra Ahra" tours. She is also a
member of AESMA DAEVA, a band that toured with THERION in Canada and the USA in 2005. In October 2007, Lewis performed with both bands on the U.S./Canada portion of THERION's world
tour (AESMA DAEVA supported THERION).
THERION's latest album, "Sitra Ahra", was released in North America on October 26, 2010 through Nuclear
Blast Records. The CD was mixed at the legendary Polar Studios in Stockholm by Lennart
Östlund (LED ZEPPELIN, ABBA). The cover artwork was created
by Thomas Ewerhard, who worked on all of the band's most recent releases
in addition to collaborating with EDGUY, AVANTASIA, RAGE and HAMMERFALL, among others.
Former DRAGONFORCE singer ZP Theart is currently in the studio working
on material for a new project that has yet to be officially unveiled. In a video message which can be seen below, he
states, "It's time to break the silence. We're in the studio right now
recording some new shit. I've got a whole bunch of new friends and writing some
new tunes that will fucking hit you in the face."
DRAGONFORCE parted ways with Theart in March of last year
"due to insurmountable differences of musical opinion," according to
a statement released by the British extreme epic power metal band.
After entries from thousands of hopefuls across the globe, DRAGONFORCE in March welcomed 23-year-old Marc Hudson to the band.
Since the age of 16, Marc — who was born in Oxford,
England — 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.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=JonCKOX_BUc
Reactivated legendary 1980s Finnish/Swedish heavy metal band OZ has inked a deal with AFM Records. The group's new album, "Burning
Leather", will be released on November 18.
Commented OZ in a statement: "OZ is very proud to be on AFM
Records. U.D.O. can't be wrong!"
OZ's "Dominator" video can be viewed below. The song
was recorded at Park studio in Stockholm, Sweden with
producer Nicke Andersson (a former member of ENTOMBED and HELLACOPTERS).
The clip was directed by Amir Chamdin, a member of the Swedish hip hop
band INFINITE MASS who has previously directed videos for THE
CARDIGANS and HELLACOPTERS, among others.
OZ's current lineup includes the classic trio of Ape De Martini (real name: Tapani Hämäläinen), Jay C. Blade (real name: Jukka
Lewis) and Mark Ruffneck (real name: Pekka Mark).
OZ is best known in the metal underground for its 1983 "Fire In
The Brain" album and the classic "Turn The Cross Upside
Down" single (a song that was subsequently covered by the band STORMWARRIOR).
It has also come to light that BATHORY mastermind Quorthon was
responsible for designing the cover art for both "Fire In The
Brain" and "Turn The Cross Upside Down".
For more information, visit www.ozofficial.com.
Due to last-minute complications with securing their visas,
Swedish heavy rockers GHOST will not be able to take part in the
upcoming tour featuring ENSLAVED and ALCEST. GHOST cult
leader "The Ghoul With No Name" (rumored to be REPUGNANT/SUBVISION's Tobias Forge, who takes the stage in the form of "a satanic
pope") and his anonymous ghouls said in a statement: "We are sorry
towards the other bands on the tour, ENSLAVED and ALCEST. And we
are most of all tremendously sorry towards all of our fans. This is truly
beyond our control and we are making everything within our (His) powers to be
able to come back to the U.S.
as soon as possible and perform for all of you. Our most malicious of
wishes."
GHOST is continuing to support its debut album, "Opus
Eponymous", which has been called "amazing" by Stereogum and "a primer on the creation of melodic hard rock" by The Big
Takeover.
GHOST floored music fans with its first U.S. shows and served notice that
it is not only a "band to watch" but will be a force to be reckoned
with for years to come. In its live review of GHOST's New York City
headlining show, the Village Voice called the group's performance
"lurching and menacing", saying "GHOST's sound is like
heavy metal trapped in a state of suspended animation since 1973." A sneak
peek at GHOST performing live can be viewed now as the band was captured
on film by a recent attendee of the band's black mass. Check out the band
performing the song "Satan Prayer" as part of its May 29
headlining set at the 2011 Maryland Deathfest below.
GHOST's "Opus Eponymous" is a daringly fascinating
combination of satanic rock music merged with an almost unthinkable pop
sensibility. Enveloped in a shroud of mystery and standing anonymous beneath
the painted faces, hoods and robes which their sect demand, the GHOST deliver litanies of pulsating heavy rock and stimulating lyrics which
"glorify and glamorize the disgusting and sacrilegious." The music
and philosophies of GHOST specifically target "individuals who have
a void in their life perhaps caused by some form of emotional trauma or
upset" (research suggests these are most likely adolescents); this dearth
can then be alluringly filled by GHOST's music and philosophies.
Dutch female-fronted rock/metal outfit NEMESEA will
release their third album, "The Quiet Resistance", via Napalm
Records on the following dates:
* Spain, Finland, Sweden: November 17
* Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Belgium Netherlands, Luxembourg, Italy:
November 18
* Rest Of Europe: November 21
* USA, Canada: November 22
"The Quiet Resistance" was produced and mixed by Joost van
den Broek, who has previously played with AFTER FOREVER, AYREON, SUN CAGED and VANDENBERG.
The track listing for the CD is as follows:
01. The Quiet Resistance
02. Caught In The Middle
03. Afterlife
04. Whenever
05. If You Could
06. High Enough
07. Say
08. It's Over
09. I Live
10. Stay With Me
11. Rush
12. Release Me
13. 2012
14. Allein (bonus track)
Video footage of NEMESEA performing "Caught In The Middle" in January 2010 can be seen below.
The band previously stated about the new record, "There's a lot of emotion
on this album, as well as power and anxiety.
"The upcoming album is filled with strong and powerful songs, as well as
beautiful fragile ballads."
NEMESEA recently parted ways with drummer Steven Bouma and
replaced him with Frank Van Der Star.
NEMESEA recorded its July 2 and July 3, 2009 concerts at P3 in
Purmerend, Holland
for a live album, "Pure: Live @ P3", which was released in
September 2009. The shows were unique in the sense that the audience was able
to hear the band perform live in Surround Sound 7.0 as part of an innovative
project that was conducted in co-operation with students from the Utrecht School of the Arts (HKU).
NEMESEA's second album, "In Control", was produced by Tony
Platt (AC/DC, BOB MARLEY) and Ronald Prent (RAMMSTEIN)
and was released in June 2007.
NEMESEA is:
Manda Ophuis - Vocals
Hendrik Jan de Jong - Guitar
Sonny Onderwater - Bass
Frank Van Der Star - Drums
Lasse Dellbrügge - Keyboards
For more information, visit www.nemesea.com.
http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermouth.net/soulflypremiere/nemeseaquiet.jpg
British black metal pioneers VENOM have been
confirmed for the Christmas Metal Festival, set to take place November
25-26 at Stadthalle in Lichtenfels, Germany.
Commented VENOM vocalist/bassist Conrad "Cronos" Lant:
"I know were supposed to be just working on the new album release, etc.,
but c'mon, some of our most hardcore legions are German. How the fuck am I
supposed to resist a show like this? And also, when you see the lineup of bands
who will be playing, what a killer festival. It's gonna be an amazing show for
everyone. Hell fuckin' yeah."
The festival billing is shaping up as follows (in alphabetical order):
ANVIL
DEBAUCHERY
ENEMA OF DEATH
GORGOROTH
HAMMERFALL
IMMOLATION
IMMORTAL
KRISIUN
LIZZY BORDEN
LORDI
PRIMORDIAL
SAXON
SOLSTAFIR
VADER
VENOM
For more information, go to this location.
VENOM's new album, "Fallen Angels", has had its release
date pushed back to the "Halloween period" (October/November) via Universal
Music. The CD was mixed with producer Tom Belton at his London studio and will
contain 13 new "classics." The band is also in the process of making
a promotional video for one of the new songs, as well as finalizing live DVD
footage.
http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermouth.net/soulflypremiere/venomchristmas.jpg
SLIPKNOT DJ Sid Wilson will release his debut
solo album, "Sid", on September 13 via iTunes, Amazon.com and various other major online retailers. The CD marks Wilson's first attempt at lead vocals
and sees him departing from his usual role as a DJ in both SLIPKNOT and
as DJ Starscream.
"Sid" was mixed by Ross Robinson (SLIPKNOT, KORN, LIMP BIZKIT) and Tobias Lindell (EUROPE, MUSTACH) and mastered by Chris Gehringer (CEE-LO GREEN, DRAKE, RIHANNA).
In a recent interview with Billboard.com, Wilson described the disc as "an
eclectic mix of all the different styles of music I grew up listening to.
There's a strong B-Boy influence in my music, 'cause I'm a DJ. I used to listen
to a lot of SKINNY PUPPY and more mainstream things that came out of
industrial, like NINE INCH NAILS. I was always influenced by the BEASTIE
BOYS a lot and RUN-DMC and the way they mixed their rock influences
in their hip-hop stuff." Songtitles set to appear on the CD include the
planned first single "Nervous Central" and "Flat
Lace", which Wilson wrote five years ago for SLIPKNOT bassist Paul Gray, who died of an accidental drug overdose on May 24,
2010.
"It's just about the different struggles in his life," Wilson told Billboard.com, "and it was just my way of letting him know
that I was always there for him and that I was aware of the things he had to
deal with. It's definitely difficult (to sing). It's hard for me to even talk
about it."
Be on the lookout for the forthcoming EP from Sid, "The Miami
Vice Sound Crack", which is rumored to already be completed.
French metallers LONEWOLF are currently mixing their
brand new studio album titled "Army Of The Damned" at the MP
Studio (SABATON, MORTICIAN) in Poland. The CD was produced by Bart
Gabriel (JACK STARR'S BURNING STARR, CRYSTAL VIPER), who
previously worked with the band on 2009's "The Dark Crusade".
One of the new songs features a special guest appearance by ex-IRON MAIDEN singer Blaze Bayley.
LONEWOLF is often described as the "new RUNNING WILD"
as they mix classic metal influences of such bands as RUNNING WILD, ACCEPT and GRAVE DIGGER with the new attitude of groups like POWERWOLF.
In other news, the Polish label Skol Records (a division of Gabriel
Media) will release a special limited deluxe edition of the two first rare LONEWOLF albums — "March Into The Arena" and "Unholy
Paradise" — on one disc. Both albums were remastered, and the package
will include special booklet with all the lyrics and lot of old pictures.
For more information, visit www.lonewolfdivision.com.
Legendary Swedish metallers SILVERMOUNTAIN had their September 4,
2010 reunion show at Friluftsteatern in in Malmö, Sweden
filmed for DVD release. The concert featured five different lineups and was
captured using five cameras and a 24-track unit. This resulted in a
117-minute-long DVD, "A Reunion
Live", which can now be ordered at this
location.
Musicians featured on the DVD:
* Jonas Hansson - Guitar, Vocals
* Per Stadin - Bass
* Erik Björn Nielsen - Keyboards
* Mårten Hedener - Drums
* Mats Bergentz - Drums
* Christer Mentzer - Vocals
* Catherine Hansson - Vocals
* Morgan Alm - Guitars
* Ingemar Stenquist - Bass
* Johan Dahlström - Vocals
"A Reunion Live" DVD track
listing:
01. Intro / H1
02. Prophet Of Doom
03. Maniac
04. Keep On Keepin' On
05. Destruction Song
06. Somesong
07. Shakin' Brains
08. Universe
09. Handled Roughly
10. ForestOf Cries / Paris
11. Axeman And The Virgin
12. Man Of No Present Existence
13. 1789
14. King Of The Sea
15. Vikings
16. Before The Storm
17. Down Town Junkie / Always
18. Walking In The Shadow
19. Niagara
20. Strange Kind Of Woman / Haywire
21. Show Must Go On
Formed in 1978, SILVERMOUNTAIN was
initially an instrumental group based around the duo of bassist Pär Stadin and vocalist/guitarist Jonas Hansson. Among the band's earliest members
were keyboard player Jens Johansson and his drummer brother Anders
Johansson, both of whom would later join Yngwie Malmsteen.
According to MusicMight, SILVERMOUNTAIN's debut
commercial release with the Johansson brothers came in the form of the
track "She Needs" on the 1982 GS Music compilation "Skånsk
Rock".
The brothers quit to join Yngwie Malmsteen after the "Shakin'
Brains" album came out in 1984. There are bootlegs culled from jam
sessions circulating from this period that feature the Johansson brothers, Yngwie Malmsteen and Per Stadin.
For 1985's "Universe" album SILVER MOUNTAIN added NORDEN
LIGHT singer Christer Mentzer and re-recruited Martin Hedener on drums.
A SILVER MOUNTAIN reformation album, "Breakin' Chains",
was issued by the Japanese Avalon Marquee label in 2001.
SILVERMOUNTAIN is now back together and
will be available for any and all festival appearances. The band has already
been confirmed to appear at next year's edition of the Headbangers Open Air festival, which will take place in Brande-Hörnerkirchen, Germany.
SILVERMOUNTAIN's 2011 lineup:
Jonas Hansson – Guitar, Vocals
Per Stadin - Bass
Erik Björn Nielsen - Keyboards
Mats Bergentz – Drums, Vocals
For more information, visit www.silvermountainrules.com.
Today (Sunday, September 11) marks the 10th anniversary of
the horrific terrorist attacks on the World
Trade Center
and the Pentagon that brought down the Twin
Towers, killed 3,000 people and
forever changed both the future of the United States and the course of
history.
Vocalist Randy Blythe of Richmond, Virginia metallers LAMB OF GOD shared his thoughts
on 9/11 via Twitter:
"10 years ago today I woke up late as usual, drank some coffee and walked
to my cooking job at Avalon restaurant in Richmond,
Virginia. I was in a good mood. I
came in and saw my buddy Steve (born and raised in New York City) and said, 'Wassup, man,' and
he said, 'I guess we're at war again, man.' I looked up at the TV. I saw the
planes fly into the towers again and again. I didn't really understand it at
first.
"Didn't open the restaurant that day. We watched. As the day wore on, I
watched the TV, it sank in what had happened to all those people and I remember
thinking, 'Things will never be the same. Finally at some point in the day, it
REALLY sunk in and I began to cry. New
York City, the Pentagon, the passengers on [Flight] 93
who fought them to the ground. I wanted the images to stop, and at some point I
stopped watching TV. But the images wouldn't stop, and have shaped my life
since in many ways.
"A lot of ugly things happened after 9/11, but for a brief time there was
a spirit of unity amongst my people, OUR people, the American people.
"Today I think should be a solemn day of reflection, not just on those
lost and their kin, but on the meaning of what it is to be one of us.
"I have been literally around the world several times, and I remain
convinced that the United
States of America is the greatest nation on Earth.
We are ONE nation made up of MANY people. Let us remember that and try to act
accordingly. It should not take a tragedy to remind us of that.
"Ten years later, I'm in New York
City having my coffee, then I'll go to work just like
in 2001. But first I'll stop by Ground Zero to pay my respects.
"So it's a sad day, but it's good for me to be here. New York City still stands tall, as does D.C.
near my Virginian home. We ain't going away and we WONT go away as long as we
remain UNITED. THINK about it, and be good to each other.
"I'm off to Ground Zero. Have a good day."
DEVILDRIVER vocalist Dez Fafara and LAMB OF
GOD guitarist Mark Morton are collaborating on a new project.
Writing on his Twitter profile, Fafara compared the music to CIRCUS
OF POWER meets "Badmotorfinger"-era SOUNDGARDEN while Morton cited Chicago
doom legends TROUBLE as an influence on the material. 14 "killer
tunes" have been written so far, with Morton stating that he is
"not sure when or where it'll come to light."
Added Fafara, "It's been a very personal work in progress and Mark is in full control of when or where it will be heard. Except for our close
friends that have been hearing it for years now."
Today (Sunday, September 11) marks the 10th anniversary of
the horrific terrorist attacks on the World
Trade Center
and the Pentagon that brought down the Twin
Towers, killed 3,000 people and
forever changed both the future of the United States and the course of
history.
THE DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN frontman Greg Puciato has posted the
following message on his official web site:
"So strange. A full decade. I remember my friend and our manager at the
time Tom Apostolopoulos calling me and telling me to 'wake the fuck up
now and turn on the television.' I was supposed to drive up to Ben's [Weinman,
guitar] house that day, so that we could play CMJ festival the next day
in New York,
in what was going to be my first show with THE DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN. Tom had a habit of calling me and waking me up in whatever offensive manner that he
found to be the most hilarious, so really I wasn't expecting anything serious.
I asked him what channel, and he responded with 'it doesn't fucking matter,
dude,' which immediately made me take him a little more seriously this time.
Still, I assumed that at the most someone famous had died, but I never expected
what I was about to see.
"I turned on the television and in immediately faded the image of one of
the World Trade Center towers on fire, Tom narrating through my shitty Nokia phone that a plane had hit it, and instantly my first thought was that some
asshole with a private plane had lost control of it, perhaps had a heart attack
and crashed…. something to that effect. That thought had barely finished going
through my head when the second plane went through the other tower. Our
immediate simultaneous, 'HOLY SHIT' was followed by a stretch of
hand-over-mouth silence, and an immediate fear, a fear which would continue to
rise throughout the morning, particularly with my close proximity to Washington,
D.C.
"Our show was cancelled and rescheduled for a few weeks later (a show,
tellingly enough, that I remember far less clearly than that phone call), but
the lives of the people lost that day and the innocence, naivety, and carefree
attitude that our country possessed would be gone forever. Ten years later,
years that have included the Iraq war, a worldwide financial meltdown,
Hurricane Katrina, a U.S. housing market collapse, massive unemployment, debt
spiraling out of control, the war in Afghanistan, and now almost three nearly
worthless presidential terms, it's hard to believe that at that time our most
recent pressing concerns as a nation were things like whether Clinton had gotten a blowjob from his intern, whether all of our computers and
appliances would stop working when the year 2000 came, or whether paper votes
had been miscounted.
"There are a million related ideas or tangents we could go on related to
9-11, nearly all worthy of way more discussion than for which there is even
enough time in the world. None of those discussions would change the fact that
9-11 was our generation's Kennedy assassination, in that there hasn't
been since, nor was there before, a single isolated event that's happened in my
lifetime that just about EVERYONE my age can all relate to by way of being able
to remember exactly where they were and what they were doing when they heard
the news of it. This post has no large agenda, no message, no patriotic rally
call and no skeptical conspiracy theory pushing criticism. I just wanted to
share what I was doing at that instant on that day, and if anything, by doing
so, contribute my small insignificant memory to the collective massive
significance of the moment."
The first-ever single released by Swedish extreme metallers SHINING,
which was exclusively distributed in Sweden via Sweden Rock Magazine,
was certified gold in the band's home country in August by the International
Federation Of The Phonographic Industry for sales in excess of 10,000
copies. (Note: Each copy of the magazine containing the CD sold in Sweden was
counted towards the certification; the single itself was **not** sold
separately.)
The two-track CD single was released by Spinefarm Records and featured "Förtvivlan,
Min Arvedel", taken from SHINING's new album, "VII /
Född Förlorare", on the "A" side, while a previously
unreleased cover of ALICE COOPER's "Prince Of Darkness" appeared on the "B" side.
Commented SHINING frontman and founder Niklas Kvarforth: "I
never thought I would have a SHINING gold record hanging on my bathroom
wall. I want thank all our past, present and future fans for helping us turn
our world into a worse place to live, and pray for the day we will be able to
infect other countries on such a big scale!"
SHINING will enter KING DIAMOND guitarist Andy La Rocque's Sonic Train Studios in Varberg, Sweden in
January to begin work on the band's eighth album. SHINING mainman Niklas
Kvarforth said, "I am a huge KING DIAMOND fan, and working with Andy was an opportunity I wasn't going to pass up. He will be attending
some of our rehearsals and it will be interesting to see what his input will be
to the almost finished album and to SHINING's particular sound. Whilst
we're there, we also plan to record some covers for future release. As to the
direction 'VIII' will take, well, for the time being let's just say that
it will be blacker and more sinister than our previous releases."
SHINING's first-ever video can be seen below. The clip was directed by Martin
Strandberg and Niklas Kvarforth, produced by Martin Strandberg and created by Black Shadows Filmproductions and Hill Fifty and
uses the track "Förtvivlan, Min Arvedel" from the group's new
album, "VII / Född Förlorare". It has been released in both
censored and uncensored versions given the graphic nature of some of the
scenes.
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