Billboard.com recently spoke to Ozzy Osbourne and
his son, Jack Osbourne, about "God Bless Ozzy Osbourne",
the feature-length documentary about the life of the legendary heavy metal
singer that Jack co-produced. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow
below.
On the two-thumbs-up reception "God Bless Ozzy Osbourne" has
received since its April debut at the Tribeca Film Festival:
Jack: "It was going to go one of two ways — people either were
going to say 'That's a pile of crap!' or 'That's awesome!' It seems to be like
everyone's going the way I want it."
On whether it's an accurate portrayal of the BLACK SABBATH frontman's
life:
Ozzy: "It's very... honest. When Jack said he was gonna do
it, I said, 'All I want you to do is don't make a film to make me happy. Make a
film as you.' I didn't say, 'I don't like that, take that out.' Whatever he
felt he wanted to do in, I didn't have anything to do with it whatsoever. I let
him decide what to do with it."
On being forced to trim an epic story into the allotted time:
Jack: "I would have liked to make it into two movies. The first cut
ran two and a half hours. The original BLACK SABBATH section was 45
minutes. It was just too much; when you make a documentary that long, the fans
can sit there all day long, but the non-fan is not going to have the patience
and excitement, so we had to pick and choose wisely what we wanted to use. We
had to really make it the kind of film that grandma, who doesn't like Ozzy
Osbourne, could say, 'That's really a good documentary. I learned something
from that.'"
On how the DVD will include some more recent observations Ozzy made
about the death of guitarist Randy Rhoads in a March 1982 airplane
accident:
Jack: "People were frustrated there was nothing of my dad, present
day, talking about Randy. In the film we used an archival clip. We have
a really emotional (interview) where my dad gets really into talking about Randy and his death and what it meant to him, how he feels this massive level of
guilt and remorse over it. So we put that in the DVD."
On how "God Bless Ozzy Osbourne" represents its
well-caricatured subject in a way he hasn't been before:
Jack: "I was essentially fed up with my dad having this 'Osbournes'-esque
image in the mainstream media. That's really frustrated me. Since 'The
Osbournes' (reality TV show) he got sober and became a totally different
person, and I wanted to kind of celebrate that. Everyone knows what he's done,
so for me this was about more who he is as a person. The focus is not so much Ozzy as it is John. That's the story I wanted to tell."
According to MyFoxDetroit.com, Apple's iTunes signed a
groundbreaking deal to add never-before-released digital versions of AEROSMITH's
classic music to the service. The band's more recent material is already
available on iTunes, but AEROSMITH's management was previously
unable to come to an agreement with iTunes over the group's earlier
releases.
Apple and Columbia Records were expected to announce that AEROSMITH recordings between 1973 and 1987 will be available on iTunes from
September 6.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, AEROSMITH's album sales rose
260 percent in the weeks after singer Steven Tyler became a judge on the
hit Fox show "American Idol".
JUDAS PRIEST frontman Rob Halford turns 60 on
Thursday (August 25). The singer and his bandmates celebrated "with a big
'Harley' cake plus a few gifts and cards when [they] were all together in Berlin," according
to a posting on the group's official web site.
Robert John Arthur "Rob" Halford was born August 25, 1951 in
Sutton Coldfield, Warwickshire, England and raised in Walsall, England. Rob met Ian Hill through Halford's sister, and eventually
teamed up with Hill, K.K. Downing and Glenn Tipton in the
band JUDAS PRIEST.
Rob was the lead singer for JUDAS PRIEST for 20 years — from 1971
until 1991 — before leaving the band to form the modern metal group FIGHT. Halford then went on to form the short-lived TWO project which
disbanded after releasing its debut album. He then joined with four other
musicians in a project called HALFORD, which issued its first CD, "Resurrection",
in 2000.
Halford reunited with JUDAS PRIEST in 2003 and released the "Angel
Of Retribution" album in 2005, followed by a world tour which marked
the band's 30th anniversary. In 2008, PRIEST recorded "Nostradamus" and took part in the Metal Masters tour.
JUDAS PRIEST last year announced that it was embarking on a massive
farewell tour in 2011, including a U.S. run of dates which will also
feature opening acts BLACK LABEL SOCIETY and THIN LIZZY.
Abstract Sounds Books has set a September 26 U.K.
release date for RUSH's "Changing Hemispheres", a
116-page hardcover book and four-DVD set.
Play.com describes the release as follows: "This is
the true story of RUSH from humble Canadian beginnings through to
international super stardom. Featuring a masterful and comprehensive text
packed with great photographs of the band this unique production also includes
four documentary DVDs packed with candid audio interviews with the band members
compared and contrasted with the views of a leading team of music journalists,
insiders and musicologists. This uncensored and independent title has not been
viewed or approved by the band or its management and is completely free to tell
the unvarnished story of RUSH as it really happened. The contents of
this amazing book and DVD combination are completely essential reading and viewing
for RUSH fans everywhere."
"Changing Hemispheres" will only play on European Region 2 or
multi-region DVD players.
It is not presently clear if the set will receive a North American release.
According to a posting on the RUSH fan site RushIsABand.com, Left
Field Media will release a CD of the WMMS radio broadcast of RUSH's
August 26, 1974 concert at the Cleveland Agora under the title "Rush ABC
1974". Due in the U.K.
on October 24, this broadcast has been available as a bootleg for many years,
but this seems to be the first legal release. This was RUSH's first
recorded performance in the U.S.
to feature Neil Peart on drums. Donna Halper, a former music
director at Cleveland's WMMS-FM who was among the first to champion the enduring band's 1974
self-titled debut album, introduced the band.
DEF LEPPARD will perform on NBC's top-rated
summer series "America's
Got Talent" on September 7.
For more information, click here.
Five shows on the DEF LEPPARD/HEART summer tour were rescheduled
due to the death of Joe Elliott's father. The trek reconvened on July 27
at Cincinnati, Ohio's
Riverbend Music Center.
Recently released is DEF LEPPARD's CD/DVD set, "Mirror Ball:
Live And More". The concert collection — which is the band's first —
was recorded during DEF LEPPARD's 2009 tour, entered the Billboard 200
album charts at No. 16, hit No. 7 on the Rock Albums chart, and debuted at No.
1 on the magazine's Hard Rock Albums chart.
Guitarist Phil Collen and lead singer Joe Elliott told The
Pulse Of Radio that when it comes to touring America, they've pretty much
seen and rocked every inch of it: "We've actually been everywhere in the
States," Collen said. "Yeah, I mean, we're so used to it now,
and, y'know, we did them all in 1983, we did 'em all again in '87, '88, '92,
'93. Basically, whenever we go to these little places, it's normally for the
third or the fourth time," added Elliott. "It's more than most
Americans do. They go, 'Oh, we've never even heard of that place.' (We) go,
'Oh, yeah, yeah, we've been there. We've done that," Collen said.
The musical collaboration between Lou Reed and METALLICA, "Lulu", will be released on November 1 in North America and one day earlier (October 31) in the rest of the world.
Songtitles set to appear on the CD:
* Junior Dad
* Little Dog
* Mistress Dread
* Pumping Blood
"Lulu" was inspired by German expressionist writer Frank
Wededkind's plays "Earth Spirit" and "Pandora's
Box", which tell a story of a young abused dancer's life and
relationships and are now collectively known as the "Lulu Plays".
Since their publication in the early 1900s, the plays have been the inspiration
for a silent film ("Pandora's Box", 1929), an opera, and
countless other creative endeavors. Originally the lyrics and musical landscape
were sketched out by Lou for a theatrical production in Berlin, but
after coming together with the 'TALLICA boys for the Rock And Roll
Hall Of Fame concerts in New York in 2009, all guilty parties knew they
wanted to make more music together. Lou was inspired enough by that
performance to recently ask the band to join him in taking his theatrical "Lulu" piece to the next level and so starting in early May of this year they were all
camped out recording at METALICA's studios in San Rafael, California,
bringing us to today and ten complete songs.
METALLICA and Reed tapped Dutch photographer, music video and film
director Anton Corbijn to take pictures for the LP packaging. According
to the Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet, Corbijn and Reed were seen hanging around with METALLICA in early July in Gothenburg, Sweden
where the band performed as part of the "Big Four" concert at Ullevi
stadium. METALLICA guitarist Kirk Hammett and bassist Robert
Trujillo were also spotted a couple of days later at Lou Reed's
concert at Grand Rex in Paris, France.
METALLICA's collaboration with Reed was made public in June via
the band's official web site. The group wrote in a statement, "We are more
than proud to announce that we have just completed recording a full-length album
that is a collaboration with none other than the legendary Lou Reed.
Ever since we had the pleasure of performing with Lou at the 25th
anniversary of the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame at Madison Square Garden in October of
2009, we have been kicking around the idea of making a record together."
The statement added, "We have indeed been working at our home studio at (METALLICA headquarters in San Rafael, California) on and off over the
last few months. In what would be lightning speed for a METALLICA-related
project, we recorded ten songs during this time and while at this moment we're
not exactly sure when you'll hear it, we're beyond excited to share with you
that the recording sessions wrapped up last week."
Rolling Stone spoke with both Reed and members of METALLICA about the surprising announcement. Writer David Fricke described the
disc as "a raging union of [Reed's] 1973 noir classic, 'Berlin', and METALLICA's
'86 crusher, 'Master Of Puppets'." The songs were all written by
Reed with extensive arrangement contributions by METALLICA.
Reed called the collaboration "a marriage made in heaven. I knew it
from the first day we played together: 'Oh, man, this is perfection, right in
front of me.'"
METALLICA drummer Lars Ulrich said, "I don't think we've
ever felt this free. There's nothing that's totally outside of the boundary for
us, nothing that feels like 'Oh, what happens if we go there?'"
Frontman James Hetfield added, "Lars and I listened to [Reed's
demos] and it was like, 'Wow, this is very different.' It was scary at first,
because the music was so open. But then I thought, 'This could go
anywhere.'"
Reed does not have a record deal and METALLICA is no longer
signed to Warner Bros. Music after completing their contract with "Death
Magnetic", so it is not clear how they intend to release the album.
According to The Pulse Of Radio, METALLICA lead guitarist Kirk Hammett revealed to Mojo that he and frontman James Hetfield were both brought to tears during the sessions for the
band's upcoming collaborative album with Lou Reed, titled "Lulu". Hammett explained that the outbursts occurred while they were recording
a song called "Junior Dad", saying, "I had just lost my
father literally three or four weeks previous. I had to run out of the control
room, and I found myself standing in the kitchen, sobbing away. James came into the kitchen in the same condition — he was sobbing, too. It was
insane."
The lyrics that apparently got to the two metal men were "Say hello to
junior dad/The greatest disappointment/Age withered and changed him."
Hammett added, "[Reed] managed to take out both guitar
players in METALLICA in one fell swoop, with his amazing poetic
lyrics."
James Hetfield's father abandoned his family when James was just
13, an experience that the singer/guitarist has spoken about at length in a new
documentary called "Absent".
"Lulu" is due out on November 1 and was secretly recorded in
May at METALLICA's studio in the Bay Area. The album is based around
music Reed originally wrote for a theatrical production of "The
Lulu Plays".
According to The Times Of India, the organizers of METALLICA's upcoming
shows in India have been in talks with several names, including several
Bollywood production houses, about serving as the opening acts for the heavy
metal giants' first-ever concerts in the country. The first choice was Ranbir
Kapoor's new film "Rockstar", which features music by AR
Rahman. However, the producers of "Rockstar" reportedly
turned down the offer because the score for the film is primarily Sufi rock,
which they felt would be difficult to position alongside the world's biggest
metal act.
METALLICA bassist Robert Trujillo revealed the band's plans to
play India
in an April interview with the Inland Empire Weekly magazine.
"We are going to play India
in October," he said. "That should be interesting, playing a place we
never thought in our wildest dreams we'd [go] to play. It's an honor for all of
us that we get to be a part of that whole music scene as a metal band sharing
our music with fans in India
at this incredible concert!
DNA Entertainment Networks, which has previously brought international
names like IRON MAIDEN, MEGADETH, SCORPIONS, ROGER
WATERS and DEEP PURPLE to Indian shores, was responsible for booking METALLICA's Indian concerts.
The Boston Phoenix recently conducted an interview with MEGADETH mainman Dave Mustaine. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.
The Boston Phoenix: You seem like you would be
demanding as a bandleader — almost like a metal version of James Brown.
Mustaine: [Laughs] Bite your tongue! I don't really know Mr. Brown very well so I don't know if that's a compliment or a friendly insult. I know
that for us, what we do is try to make it as enjoyable for the listener as
possible. When you're playing extreme music, you can't be sending out chocolate
and flowers to your staff after you're done — you know? It's like everyone is
eating broken glass nachos and stuff like that, so you gotta have that slugging
each other in the arm kind of thing. I know that would seem like it's
demanding, but when you have people that are dedicated to what we're doing here
and they're all at the top of their game, there really isn't much to be
demanded, you're just kind of calling out the plays and people do it. It's a
very heads-up football kind of thing; I'm calling audible quarterback plays and
taking the whole approach with MEGADETH like it's very militant,
everybody has their roles, and when it's time for the show to start, the lights
go out, it's synchronized, it's like a pit crew. You see these NASCAR guys come in and they have a car completely changed and filled up with gas in
12 seconds — that's what my guys are like, they're all top-notch professionals.
The Boston Phoenix: Why do you think some people are
having trouble buying the fact there is peace between all the ["Big
Four"] bands?
Mustaine: I feel sorry for people like that — you wonder what makes them
tick. Do they get up in the morning and walk into the kitchen and hit
themselves in the face with a frying pan? How were they rendered so ignorant? I
don't know. Some people need something to live for. I tend to go through my day
seeing if I can bring happiness into people's lives instead of going around
talking scuttlebutt about bands and who doesn't like who.
The Boston Phoenix: METALLICA just announced
that they were doing an album with Lou Reed and were in the studio with Ray
Davies. Could you ever see yourself doing a similar project with them?
Mustaine: Well, I already did a project with METALLICA a long
time ago. You mean another project with METALLICA? I dunno. . . . If
they're digging up old guys to rock with, those guys are a little bit older
than I am, I may have to have my AARP card to do it [laughs]. No, of
course I would do it — that was my band. MEGADETH was what the next
logical step was in my musical career. It was a natural progression, but if an
opportunity came for us to play again — I think what would be ideal, and I've
talked to James [Hetfield] about this before. And he didn't say
"No," that he and I and Lars [Ulrich] and [MEGADETH bassist] David Ellefson should do a record together and see what
happens. Not as a band or anything like that, but something to donate the money
to charity. We're all getting a lot older now and just the fact that we're
talking was a great start. Playing together is even better, and the idea of us
doing something together could be just too much for my little brain to handle
and it might just explode.
The Boston Phoenix: You've got two kids: Justis and Electra. I have to ask about the irony in those two names.
Mustaine: He's not called Justis because of "…And Justice
For All" — that's shallow. It's spelled the Old English way and
"Justis" is a form of Jesus which is another form or
"righteous." And Electra, it had nothing to do with the record
label Elektra [where METALLICA spent the majority of their
career]. We were gonna call her Savannah, but I didn't like that name
because it was some trollop that blew her face off or something because she was
an old porn star, and that particularly didn't ring well with me. We were at
church one morning and they were dedicating the child there, and they said her
name was Savannah and that it meant "barren plains," and I thought, "We're not
naming our kid 'barren plains' — sheesh, we might as well just call her
'scorched earth.' " We had looked at some other names and Pam [Dave's
wife] thought that the name Amber was pretty and I looked up the Greek
meaning of Amber which means "dawn of light," the beginning of
every day. And Electra is the same thing as Amber in Greek, so I
thought it was great. Now, we do have that one kid that we gave up for adoption
named Puppets.
Heavy
metal legends Anthrax will release Worship Music, their tenth studio album, on
12 September (13 September in the US). It's the band's first
collection of new material in eight years, and it's also the first to feature
singer Joey Belladonna since 1990's Persistence Of Time.
Recorded
over a four-year period, Worship Music was intended to be the studio debut of
frontman Dan Nelson. But when Nelson left Anthrax and longtime vocalist John
Bush wouldn't commit to working with the group on a full-time basis, Belladonna
rejoined the lineup.
The
results are magical, with Anthrax - which also includes guitarist Scott Ian,
lead guitarist Rob Caggiano, drummer Charlie Benante and bassist Frank Bello -
sounding more forceful than they have since the '90s. MusicRadar sat down with
Scott Ian, Anthrax's sole constant member, to discuss Worship Music, riffs, his
new Jackson guitar and what it's going to feel like to play Yankee Stadium next
month.
Being
that Worship Music is the first Anthrax record Joey has been on in 21 years,
did you feel a greater level of pressure or expectation?
"Only
from myself, just from the matter of 'What's Anthrax going to sound like in
2011 with Joey Belladonna?' It's a question I've asked myself for years. Our
album Sound Of White Noise – what would that have sounded like with Joey? So
this big question wasn't new, but now I was finally going to know the answer.
It was a reality.
"Actually,
to step back, we had already heard Joey sing with us before we went into the
studio. On the day before the first Big Four show in 2010, we had a rehearsal
with Joey, and he was unbelievable. He was singing songs from the John Bush
era, and he just nailed it. The crew guys, who couldn't give a shit, even
started cheering once they heard him.
"So
live, we felt great about what Joey was doing. Being in the studio is a
different thing, though. But I'll tell you, he recorded his first track for the
album, and the producer, Jay Ruston, sent an MP3 to everybody in the band.
Within minutes, we were all e-mailing one another going, 'Holy shit, this is
amazing!' One after another, the songs kept getting better and better. We're
pretty thrilled."
Anthrax
have seen various members come and go over the years. Has it been hard to
maintain a true band identity?
"No.
No, I don't think so. We're Anthrax. The core has always been there. It's not
like we're Anthrax with no original members. It's Anthrax with Charlie, Frankie
and me. And then, over the years, we've had either John Bush or Joey on vocals,
pretty much. To me, it hasn't been that confusing. There's really been only two
years where all of those people haven't been in the group."
Let's
get into some of the new songs. The Devil You Know has very intense riffs and
rhythms. How do you go about composing riffs?
"Geez,
I don't know! [laughs] Charlie and I pretty much write most of the music, so…I
don't know, I just hear things. I don't know where my ideas comes from. Most of
what I do comes about when we're in the studio writing, jamming, working on
tunes.
"I'm
not the kind of guy who sits around at home and writes songs. Once in a while
I'll pick up a guitar and noodle around, but it's rare. Perhaps I should say to
myself, 'I'm going to sit for an hour a day and practice the guitar,' but I
think that would bore me to tears.
"To
me, the guitar is a tool for songwriting, and it's fun, too. The day that it's
not fun, that's when I'm not gonna play guitar anymore. I never wanted it to
feel like work. I think the best riffs and the best songs come when you're
jamming and having a good time. You can't sit there and say, 'OK, I'm going to
write a great song now.' It doesn't happen like that."
The
song In The End is pretty epic. It has something of a Black Sabbath vibe.
"Yeah,
I guess so. Initially, it started out much different. That song went through
several versions before it became the song on the record. We were just never
happy with it, even when we had what was almost a finished album. The chorus
needed work, it was boring…we had to make it great.
"Over
time, though, we hammered away at it. I'm glad we didn't let the song go
because now it's probably my favorite song on the record. I think it's the
centerpiece of the album in many ways.
"Maybe
it sounds a little different for Anthrax, but that's fine. Lyrically, I think
it's one of the heaviest things we've ever done. We knew we wanted to pay
tribute to Dimebag Darrell and to Ronnie James Dio, both of whom were our
friends. This was going to be the first album we put out since we lost both of
them, so wanted our tribute song to be really great. I think it's one of the
most important songs we've ever done."
However,
the song Judas Priest is about the band, but it's sort of not…
"Yeah,
it was a song we were working on, and while we were doing so we heard that they
were doing a farewell tour. The guys in Judas Priest are heroes, they're
mentors, they've taken us out on tour, so we just started calling the song
'Judas Priest' as a working title.
"After
a while, it took on a life of its own. It's very metal sounding, so we went
with it. When it came time to write the words, I decided to write the most
blatant heavy metal lyrics I possibly could. I had fun with it. There's a line
that [theoretical physicist, J Robert] Oppenheimer said: 'I am become death,
destroyer of worlds.' I just started with that. Nothing is more heavy metal
that those words."
Ian
on stage at the Big Four show last April with singer Joey Belladonna. © Paul
Hebert/Corbis
How
do you and Rob Caggiano work on guitar parts together?
"Well,
Rob is also a producer for us, and to me, he's just the greatest taskmaster. He
makes me play better than I can play. Because he's in the band, he knows how
the guitars should sound. He's very demanding, and that's fine. I want somebody
to kick my ass.
"When
Rob is doing his lead parts, I'm not really serving the same role, because
honestly, he can play circles around me. I don't mind saying that. But I do
give him input and cheer him along. We have a good relationship as players. We
each have our specific sound and role, so it all works out."
You
have your own signature Jackson
guitar. What were your specifications when designing it?
"To
be honest, I'm one of the least-technical guitar players around. I just want a
guitar to feel good and sound good. That's it, period. You could tell me that a
guitar is made out of fucking gum wrappers – if it sounds good, I'll play it.
"I
have certain guitars from the '80s that sound great. I have a black Soloist
that Jackson
built for me in 1987, it's the one with the New York Yankees logo on it and the
'Not' inlay on the neck. I told them, 'Look, this is one of the best-sounding
guitars ever. I've used it on ever Anthrax record since I got it. Can we do
something like this?'
"We
went with that model. My only note to them was to make it a little bit bigger.
That was it. But the funny thing is, I thought my old Soloist was mahogany with
a maple top, but Mike Tempesta at Jackson
told me, 'No, I'd say it's solid maple.' So I said, 'OK, let's hear what that
sounds like.' They made a test model and it sounded great, so I said, 'All
right, let's do it.' The guitars are killer. I'm very happy with them."
Lastly,
you're gearing up to play another Big Four show with Metallica, Slayer and
Megadeth at Yankee Stadum in New York in a few weeks. I have to imagine you're
psyched.
"Oh,
definitely! [laughs] This is the one, you know? I hate getting my hopes up for
certain things because nine times out of ten, even when things seem like a home
run – no pun intended – you wind up getting crushed. But it's so hard not to
feel like this could be one of the best Big Four shows so far.
"For
us, it's a hometown gig. We're a New York band, and most of us are lifelong Yankee fans. I
mean, you just couldn't pick a better scenario. Next to the Roman Coliseum,
which I wouldn't be as excited to play, you can't touch Yankee Stadium.
"To
think that I'm going to be standing in that outfield, playing where so many of
my heroes have played…there are no words. All I can say is, if the fans have a
great time that night, they might not be having as good a time as me."
According to Variety.com, ANTHRAX bassist Frank Bello will play punk music/fashion
innovator Richard Hell in the indie biopic "Greetings From Tim
Buckley", which began shooting this week in New York. Frank Wood ("Changeling", "The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3") will play songwriter and Jeff
Buckley collaborator Gary Lucas, while Penn Badgley ("Gossip
Girl") has been cast as Tim Buckley's son Jeff. Dan
Algrant ("People I Know", "Naked in New York") is
directing from a script he co-wrote with Emma Sheanshang and David
Brendel.
"Greetings From Tim Buckley" is one of three rival projects
centering on Buckley's life. The film will tell the true story of the
days leading up to Jeff Buckley's eminent 1991 performance at his
father's tribute concert in St. Ann's
Church.
According to indieWIRE, Bello previously had tiny roles in a handful of television and movie projects mostly
as a member of ANTHRAX, though he did also play "Johhny,
Rocker" in an episode of "Law & Order".
Duff McKagan's (VELVET REVOLVER, GUNS N'
ROSES, DUFF MCKAGAN'S LOADED) much-anticipated autobiography, "It's
So Easy (And Other Lies)", is scheduled to arrive on October 4 via Touchstone
Books (formerly Touchstone Fireside), a division of Simon &
Schuster. Check out the book cover below.
Duff has scheduled the following book-signing events:
Tuesday, October 4
Strand Book Store Event at 7 p.m.
828 Broadway
New York City, 10003
Wednesday, October 5
Bookends Event at 7 p.m.
211 E. Ridgewood Ave.
Ridgewood, NJ 07450
Thursday, October 6
Book Revue Event at 7 p.m.
313 New York Avenue
Huntington, NY 11743
Saturday, October 8
Barnes & Noble Costa Mesa Event at 2 p.m.
901 B South Coast Drive
Costa Mesa, CA 92626
Sunday, October 9
Barnes & Noble Santa Monica Event at 2 p.m.
3rd St. Promenade, 1201 3rd St.
Santa Monica, CA 90401
Tuesday, October 11
Book Soup Event at 7 p.m.
8818 Sunset Blvd.
West Hollywood, CA 90069
Sunday, October 16
Mall of America Event at 2 p.m.
60 E. Broadway
Bloomington, MN 55425
Tuesday, October 18
Powell's Books Event at 7:30 p.m.
1005 W. Burnside
Portland, OR 97209
Wednesday, October 19
University Book Store Event at 7 p.m.
4326 University Way NE
Seattle, WA 98105
Thursday, October 20
Third Place Books Event at 7 p.m.
17171 Bothell Way NE
Lake Forest Park, WA 98155
Friday, October 21
Elliott Bay Book Company Event at 7 p.m.
Tuesday, October 26
Warwick's at
6:30 p.m.
7812 Girard Avenue
La Jolla, CA 92037
Please note: Duff will only be signing copies of "It's So Easy
(And Other Lies)". Any memorabilia or outside items will not be
signed.
In a recent interview with Rolling Stone magazine, McKagan stated
about the 304-page hardcover, "It's not really my story, it's really not
even my autobiography or memoir. I think that term is overused. It is a story
of some shit that happened to me, but probably not the typical [things] what
people might expect. It's not my story of GUNS N' ROSES or VELVET
REVOLVER. All of those things are sort of in it, because they're things I
bounced through as I was getting deeper and deeper into addiction and finding
my way out. It was challenging going through some of these things that I hadn't
thought about for a long time. And writing forces you to take your own part of
your life, of what role you actually played — as opposed to the one you make up
later on."
Speaking to Icon Vs. Icon, Duff stated about "It's So
Easy (And Other Lies)", "It is my story as I would tell it in my
writing, not as I would sit down and tell you my story because I wouldn't
really know how to tell you my story. I can write it and get into the bleaker,
darker things a lot easier and the more joyful things that have happened,
especially after I got sober. It is basically a story of 'How did a guy like me
get from Seattle
to addiction, totally, fully addicted? How did that happen?' Because the most
common question that I get asked in private is, 'How did you get sober?' I get
asked that a ton by people that are still out there using. So I wrote about it.
I wrote about how I got into that place. [Laughs] It is also my story of
playing in punk rock bands up [Seattle] and
going down to L.A.
and the first band that formed was GUNS N' ROSES. That band wasn't the
reason that I got addicted. It was just the situation that I was in. Drinking,
drugs and whatnot was completely condoned, especially by our band. I am not
blaming anyone else. I take my part in my life. I take accountability for
myself. I think that too often we go through life and if something like that
happens in your life, you are quick to point a finger and say, 'Well, those
motherfuckers …' or 'That guy…' or 'Us going on late was that guy's fault …' or
'it was management.' I just took accountability for things that I probably
could have done differently. Going all the way into the addiction part was
gnarly to write about. I really hadn't figured that to happen but I went
through a couple of months of really saying, 'Whoa! Fuck! I never even thought
about this stuff. It is in my past.' I think it is a good book [pauses] because
I wrote it! [Laughs] I am editing it so I have written and read the words,
different edits, about eight to 10 times! I think it is good. I can't tell
anymore."
When asked if he had any reservations about telling his story, Duff said, "Well, here's the deal. I wrote the book myself. You write alone.
You don't write with someone else sitting there. I was sitting there like, 'I'm
not going to sit here and throw someone under the bus.' No one else that is
part of my story asked me to write about them here, ya know? In making that
sort of my mantra, I started to discover my part in things. I had reservations
about confidences of old bandmates and friends. If you are a bandmate or a
friend of someone, you don't leave that band or friendship and start telling
everyone things. That is sorta like gossiping. Kinda like 'chick shit.' But
whatever, that isn't the point. I wouldn't do that. I think that my story is
interesting enough and will have relevance to the people. I think that 'rock
people' will like the book. You know, I'm a dad and I think that parents will
like the book. The book starts off at my daughter's 13th birthday and then
unravels to the past and comes forward again. I don't know if you have read any
of my Seattle Weekly columns but, like I said, it is told in that voice,
from now. My reservations were, 'What does the book company want? Do they want
a GUNS N' ROSES book?' because if they want that, there are enough of
those out there. I don't need to write another one of those and I don't have a
burning desire to unleash and I don't have some burning secret that I need to
tell."
Based on the 40-page proposal that made the rounds of publishing houses in
February 2010, McKagan's book will begin on the day in 1994 when his
pancreas burst from alcohol abuse. It will recount his rise through the music
scene, his fall into drug abuse and his recovery, which included two years of
celibacy and a degree in finance from SeattleUniversity.
A sample of Duff's writing which may, or may not, end up in the
forthcoming book can be found at SeattleWeekly.com.
Duff's VELVET REVOLVER/GUNS N' ROSES bandmate Slash has published his own book, as has ex-GUNS drummer Steven Adler,
who released his life story, "My Appetite for Destruction: Sex, and
Drugs, and Guns N' Roses", in July 2010.
Released in September 1991, NIRVANA's sophomore album
and major label debut elevated Kurt Cobain, Krist Novoselic and Dave
Grohl from a critically acclaimed Aberdeen, Washington, cult band to
generational spokesmen who'd unwittingly created a cultural shift and musical
touchstone. Rising to No. 1 the world over by year's end and ultimately selling
over 30 million copies worldwide, "Nevermind" would come to be
much more than one of the most successful and influential albums of its or any
era. As the album that returned unaffected rock 'n' roll integrity and passion
to the top of the charts, "Nevermind" would prove a singular
inspiration to fans and musicians alike over the last two decades — and will
undoubtedly do so for generations to come.
The band's first attempt at mixing "Nevermind", though, was a
disaster. "I'd be balancing the drums and the guitars," producer Butch
Vig tells RollingStone.com, "and Kurt would come and say,
'Turn all the treble off. I want it to sound more like BLACK SABBATH.'
It was kind of a pain in the ass."
He adds, "Kurt was charming and witty, but he would go through
these mood swings. He would be totally engaged, then all of a sudden a light
switch would go off and he'd go sit in the corner and completely disappear into
himself. I didn't really know how to deal with that."
Elsewhere in the interview, Vig recounts how Cobain, Novoselic and then-drummer Chad Channing arrived at his studio after driving 1,900
miles from Seattle
without taking a break. "They rolled up in a van and they probably hadn't
taken a bath or shower in three or four days," he said.
As previously reported, a 20th anniversary edition of "Nevermind" is due out in multiple formats on September 27.
It will arrive as a remastered CD, vinyl and digital release, a two-disc set
featuring rarities, live cuts, B-sides and demo recordings, and a "super
deluxe" four-CD/one-DVD limited edition that will include an alternate mix
of the album, a 90-page book and a CD/DVD of NIRVANA's 1991 Halloween
gig in Seattle.
A special art, photo and memorabilia exhibition celebrating the anniversary
will take place next month in London,
England.
Novoselic will join local musicians at a Seattle concert this fall to mark the 20th
anniversary of "Nevermind". According to RollingStone.com,
the event will take place on September 20 in the Sky Church
venue at the Experience Music Project. It will double as a benefit for Seattle music industry
figure Susie Tennant, who was recently diagnosed with cancer.
The album will be played from front to back by different groups, although Novoselic tweeted that he himself will be performing just one song with the PRESIDENTS
OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. Other musicians scheduled to appear
include current and former members of Seattle
acts like the FASTBACKS, THE SCREAMING TREES, VAPORLAND and others. Former NIRVANA drummer Dave Grohl will not be able to
attend, as his band FOO FIGHTERS performs in Cleveland that same night.
The music and legacy of ZZ TOP that has been part of
the world's musical landscape for over 40 years will be celebrated with the
October 11 release of "A Tribute From Friends".
The album, to be released by Show Dog/Universal Music, features
11 classic ZZ TOP songs interpreted by top-flight artists working in a
broad range of musical genres. All of the album's tracks have been newly
recorded, specifically for the project. These include FILTER's
performance of "Gimme All Your Lovin'", GRACE POTTER &
THE NOCTURNALS' take on "Tush", as well as WYCLEF JEAN's "Rough Boy", "Legs" from NICKELBACK and WOLFMOTHER's interpretation of "Cheap Sunglasses".
The album kicks off with "Sharp Dressed Man", from THE
M.O.B., Mick Fleetwood's ad hoc group that includes fellow FLEETWOOD
MAC founder John McVie as well as AEROSMITH's Steven Tyler and guitar great Jonny Lang. Fleetwood commented, "We're
delighted to honor ZZ TOP this way. Their legacy, like that of the
original FLEETWOOD MAC, is steeped in the blues we all love so much. I
know that Steven and Jonny feel as strongly about their legacy as
John and I do."
After Billy F Gibbons, Dusty Hill and Frank Beard, the
original — and continuing — members of ZZ TOP were informed that "A
Tribute From Friends" was in the offing, they issued the following
statement:
"When we were told there was going to be a ZZ TOP tribute album a
while ago and logically asked, 'Who are we paying tribute to?' Then we found
out that a bunch of great artists were paying tribute to us and we were in
disbelief. For the past 40 or so years, all we've done is get out there and
crank it and try to have a good time while doing so. To a great extent, we've
succeeded since we're still having a good time so that would be reward enough
for 'the same three guys playing the same three chords.' Now comes 'A
Tribute From Friends' and we're so delighted that our music resonates with
these great musicians whom we so admire."
"A Tribute From Friends" also includes "Waitin' for
the Bus/Jesus Just Left Chicago" by DAUGHTRY, "Got Me
Under Pressure" from DUFF MCKAGAN'S LOADED and MASTODON's
version of "Just Got Paid". COHEED & CAMBRIA contributed the anthemic "Beer Drinkers and Hell Raisers" while country superstar Jamey Johnson's track is the seminal "La Grange". Of
their invitation to be a part of the album, lead singer Chris Daughtry said, "We were completely honored! A classic great band with amazing
songs? We're in!" And of ZZ TOP's music, "It's classic! Simple
chord progressions, great riffs with hooky choruses...very inspiring to a band
like us."
The co-executive producer of "A Tribute From Friends" is Carl
Stubner, ZZ TOP's manager, who noted, "'A Tribute From
Friends' underscores the legacy of ZZ TOP in the most musical way
possible and illustrates just how important Billy, Dusty and Frank have been to successive generations. It was a privilege to work with the
pantheon of brilliant artists who contributed their efforts and so much love to
this project."
"A Tribute From Friends" track listing:
01. THE M.O.B. (Mick Fleetwood, Steven Tyler, Jonny Lang & John
McVie) - "Sharp Dressed Man"
02. FILTER - "Gimme All Your Lovin'"
03. GRACE POTTER & THE NOCTURNALS - "Tush"
04. NICKELBACK - "Legs"
05. WOLFMOTHER - "Cheap Sunglasses"
06. DUFF MCKAGAN'S LOADED - "Got Me Under Pressure"
07. COHEED & CAMBRIA - "Beer Drinkers And Hell Raisers"
08. MASTODON - "Just Got Paid"
09. WYCLEF JEAN - "Rough Boy"
10. DAUGHTRY - "Waitin' For The Bus / Jesus Just Left Chicago"
11. JAMEY JOHNSON - "La Grange"
JOURNEY guitarist Neal Schon told The Pulse
Of Radio that he called upon keyboardist Jonathan Cain to use one of
the band's classics as the template of the new material he wanted for the
group's latest album, "Eclipse". "Jon, y'know, he
had brought in some ballads and they were good, but I felt that we had other
stuff that was more relevant for this record," he said. "And I said,
'Y'know, you wrote 'Separate Ways', man, with [Steve] Perry,'
I said, 'Go grab one of those. I know you have one of those sitting somewhere.
And so 'Resonate' he brought in and I went, 'That's frickin' great!'
Y'know, I love that."
"Eclipse" arrived in May and is being sold exclusively through Wal-Mart.
Perhaps the album's nod toward JOURNEY's older style is what led Schon to recently say that former singer Steve Perry is welcome to join the
band as a special guest on tour.
Schon said current singer Arnel Pineda is "totally down, and
such a humble human being, that he would be overjoyed" if Steve performed with the band.
JOURNEY is currently on the road with FOREIGNER and NIGHT
RANGER. The tour stops on Wednesday (August 24) in Holmdel,
New Jersey and wraps up on October 21 in Seattle.
Perry said earlier this year that he had written 50 songs for his first
solo album since 1994, but no further information about the project has
surfaced.
Legendary guitarist Michael Schenker will release his
new album, "Temple Of Rock", in Japan
on September 7, in Europe on September 23 and in North America on October 11.
"The Temple
of Rock is within
me," says Michael, "where I create since I was introduced to
the amazing invention of the distorted guitar which is for me the most enjoyable
and the best possible way to express myself. The rock guitar sound that I fell
in love with, mostly expressed as lead breaks, is what I have nurtured and
treasured all of my life. Combined with the infinite spring from within and the
amazing musicians around me I keep expressing an ongoing development of my art
(being)."
He adds, "With 'Temple of Rock' I am
entering a new stage of my life, a new level of existence enjoying life more
than ever, reaping the joy of all sorts of developments from the past. These
days I just want to go out there, play and have fun. Also, it seems to me that
collectively, with true expressive makers of rock music, we have been building
the external 'Temple Of Rock' for many years and have now come to the point of
putting on the roofing and celebrating the almost completion of the Temple. All
generations of this period are meeting all over the world on one stage it seems
celebrating an era of 'hand make rock,' which will never be the same again due
to invention of new technology but of course New Temples and New Wonders will
arise to enjoy expressions in new ways."
Recording lineup:
* Michael Schenker - Guitar
* Michael Voss - Vocals
* Herman Rarebell - Drums
* Pete Way - Bass
* Wayne Findlay - Keyboards
Other featured musicians:
* Rudolf Schenker (SCORPIONS)
* William Shatner (Captain Kirk from "Star Trek")
* Leslie West (MOUNTAIN)
* Michael Amott (ARCH ENEMY)
* Doogie White (ex-RITCHIE BLACKMORE, ex-YNGWIE MALMSTEEN)
* Robin McAuley (SURVIVOR, ex-MSG)
* Don Airey (DEEP PURPLE)
* Paul Raymond (UFO)
* Simon Phillips (TOTO, THE WHO, JUDAS PRIEST)
* Carmine Appice (KING KOBRA, VANILLA FUDGE, ROD STEWART, JEFF BECK,
OZZY OSBOURNE, BLUE MURDER)
* Chris Slade (MSG, ex-AC/DC)
* Chris Glenn (MSG, ex-ALEX HARVEY)
* Neil Murray (MSG, ex-WHITESNAKE, ex-GARY MOORE)
* Brian Tichy (WHITESNAKE)
* Elliott "Dean" Rubinson (Owner of Dean Guitars)
"Temple Of Rock" track listing:
01. Intro
02. How Long
03. The End Of An Era
04. Saturday Night
05. Fallen Angel
06. Hangin' On
07. With You
08. Miss Claustrophobia
09. Scene Of Crime
10. Lovers Sinfony-Speed
11. Stormin' In
12. Speed
13. Before The Devil Knows You're Dead
14. How Long (guitar battle version)
15. Remember (bonus track for Japan)
Greece's Rock Your Liferecently conducted an interview with
keyboardist Jordan Rudess of progressive metal giants DREAM THEATER.
A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.
Rock Your Life: With your new album ["A Dramatic Turn of
Events"], do you feel more creatively free as musicians and as a band
now that Mike [Portnoy, drums] has left the band?
Rudess: Mike Portnoy was a very good friend of mine. He is a very
open-minded guy and we had many great years doing many things together.
However, one of the things we did with this new approach in the new album was
that we thought how we could maximize who we are and make our roles even more
vital. I should say that I loved that approach. In some of the music in the
past, I thought that the keyboards could have been stronger. Sometimes, the
approach in the past when we had a heavy riff was to just double it on the
keyboards. We took away that kind of fear and went for more harmonic ideas. John
Petrucci [guitar] and I decided to compose something cool. I am a composer
and I love using this ability. Our new approach is more open to my keyboards
than in the past.
Rock Your Life: In the last years, in every record you have a more
"commercial" song that turns to be a single or a video like "Forsaken", "Wither" and "These Walls". Now, I think you
did it with "Build Me Up, Break Me Down". Do you have this in
mind when you enter the studio?
Rudess: We are aware that the record companies like these songs. We have
it on our minds but we do not "have" to write a radio song. In
addition, we do not have this concern because we just like that kind of songs.
So we write that kind of songs anyway.
Rock Your Life: I understand that in the past Mike Portnoy and John
Petrucci were handling the production of your albums. This time although
you had the chance to hire a producer you did not. Why?
Rudess: Well, John came to us and said, "Guys, I really want
to produce this album. I think I can do a good job." The rest of us
thought, "Why not, let him do it," and he did such a great job. John
Petrucci has a very solid and strong personality. He is very clear and
knows exactly what he wants plus he is very capable. So, what he ended up doing
was to bring out the best of everybody. I felt, for example, that my energy was
being used in the group. He did that with the others. He worked beautifully
with [new drummer] Mike Mangini and John Myung [bass] who had a
new spirit about this. With Mike Portnoy leaving, John became,
like, free. The fact that Mike Portnoy left did not make us suffer. John
Petrucci and I, we are the core composers of DREAM THEATER, and it
has been that way since I joined the group. So, even though Mike was
extremely talented, there were certain limitations of what he could do in terms
of the production. So when we moved on, we looked at each other and said,
"We can produce this album. We do not need somebody else telling us what
is good or not," and we enjoyed that challenge. The biggest difference in
writing music to this album was that we decided to write this music choosing
what is best for us without Mike Portnoy being the DREAM THEATER police telling us "yes" or "no." I think that it took us a
little more time to craft our music before putting our stamp of approval on it.
Aniruddh "Andrew" Bansal of GuitarWorld.com recently conducted an interview with
drummer Mike Portnoy (ADRENALINE MOB, DREAM THEATER, AVENGED
SEVENFOLD). A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.
GuitarWorld.com: Unfortunately these days the importance of [releasing]
physical [CDs] is diminishing. You've been around for so many years, and seen
it all. What do you feel about this change?
Portnoy: Well, change is inevitable with the evolution of technology. In
the '70s we had records, in the '80s we had CDs, and now we are living in the
digital age. You can say it's sad or unfortunate, but the reality is you've got
to roll with the times and the technology. I still love collecting because I'm
a huge collector myself and I love to go out and buy music, particularly the
special editions. But the reality is, when I'm sitting in a hotel room at 3 in
the morning and I see something on the Internet that interests me in the form
of a band I want to hear, I like the ability to just go online to iTunes and download it immediately. So it's something I as a fan enjoy being able to
have. I see both sides of the coin.
GuitarWorld.com: Drumming-wise, what kind of a challenge does [ADRENALINE
MOB] present to you? Obviously there is a huge gap between this and DREAM
THEATER.
Portnoy: The thing is about restraint, and playing what's best for the
groove of the song, and I'm down with that. I'm totally cool with that. I
played with DREAM THEATER, and so far that's been everything I'm about.
This is far from what I'm about, and I'm about many, many different things. I
could be just as happy playing a BEATLES song as I am when I'm thrashing
out the double-bass stuff with ADRENALINE MOB. The stuff I'm playing
with ADRENALINE MOB is all about the energy and the song. It's about
groove and riff-oriented songs. So, if anything, I have to show some restraint
and make sure I play what's best for the song.
GuitarWorld.com: Obviously you are always involved with so many other
projects. Is there anything in the pipeline or is ADRENALINE MOB your
primary focus?
Portnoy: I have a few other things going. Actually, this year alone I
did three different bands and projects in the studio. They're all slowly coming
around, so throughout 2012 and beyond, you'll see me with three other bands. ADRENALINE
MOB right now is my main focus, but I've also got a thing going with John
Sykes which is in more of a classic rock vein, and then I also have a thing
with Steve Morse which is kind of an alternative, proggy thing. So each
of these bands is taking me down different musical roads and in the coming year
or so, there will come a situation where they will all be releasing music, and
at that point I'll be kind of juggling all of them on tour but they are all
very different from each other and I'm very proud of each of them for different
reasons. But ADRENALINE MOB is what I'm doing now. This is the first one
to actually come out and it's very exciting for me to move into the next phase
of my career.
Legendary U.S.
metal band RIOT has inked a deal with Steamhammer/SPV Records for all territories excluding Japan.
The band's new album, "Immortal Soul", will be released on
October 28 in Germany,
October 31 in the rest of Europe and early November in the U.S. and Canada.
With lineup changes knocking their momentum and the Eighties developing into a
thrash-fest, a new-look RIOT bounced back in 1988 with the
widely-acclaimed "Thundersteel". Although the faces might have
looked unfamiliar, with only guitarist Mark Reale now left from the
band's formative years, the aggression and musicianship remained unrivalled and
unchallengeable. With Tony Moore's distinctive vocals, the muscle and
might of bassist Don Van Stavern and drummer Bobby Jarzombek powering the songs along, and Reale's precision playing RIOT were
reborn, and followed "Thundersteel" two years later with the
jaw-dropping "The Privilege Of Power", an inspiring and at
times truly epic album. However, by this time the music world was turning into
a very different place, and RIOT found themselves struggling against a
tide of apathy. Reale continued to guide the ship through the next two
decades, delivering albums of consistent, quality metal, culminating in 2006's "Army
Of One" — a true statement of intent, as if one were needed.
But the army of one is an army of five once more as RIOT's classic "Thundersteel" and "Privilege…" lineup has reunited, adding guitarist Mike
Flyntz who played in the live band at that time.
RIOT has been confirmed as special guest on the first leg of HAMMERFALL's
European tour this winter. The trek kicks off on October 26 in Copenhagen,
Denmark, and ends on
November 18 in Cologne, Germany. This will be the first
time the legendary "Thundersteel" and "The Privilege
Of Power" lineup of Tony Moore (vocals), Mark Reale (guitar), Mike Flyntz (guitar), Don Van Stavern (bass) and Bobby
Jarzombek (drums) has played in Europe on a full tour, after the band's
celebrated one-off show at the Sweden Rock Festival in 2009.
Commented Olly Hahn, A&R representative at Steamhammer:
"Mark, Tony, Don, Bobby and Mike are
really fired up once more, and 'Immortal Soul' will be a true successor
to the legacy of 'Thundersteel' and 'Privilege…'. Classic metal
will never die, and who did it better than RIOT?"
MONSTER MAGNET has revealed details of a special live
trip down memory lane. The New Jersey space
rockers will perform their seminal "Dopes To Infinity" album
in its entirety, as well as select "hits" from their back catalogue
at two exclusive performances in Glasgow and London in November. As
well as all the classic songs, fans can expect a visual treat, specially
tailored towards the "Dopes…" album.
Commented mainman Dave Wyndorf: "I'd like to take this opportunity
to thank [the fans] for all [their] support over the last twenty years.
Speaking for myself and all the members of MONSTER MAGNET, I'd like [the
fans] to know how much we enjoy performing our music live and I'm sure you
would agree with me when I say that live shows are the ultimate bond between
artists and fans.
"It's in that spirit that I'm excited to tell you of our next live
project: performing the album 'Dopes To Infinity' live in its entirety.
"When I wrote 'Dopes' in 1995, I envisioned a hard-rock,
tripped-out journey exploring the many sounds and styles of the 'great
psychedelic era of 1968-1974.' I carefully sequenced the album to take the
listener on a 'roller coaster ride' of engaging words and music. I sang songs
of love, hate, lust, joy and desperation
in a style I hoped would fire the listener's imagination, bringing the everyday
emotions that we all share to mythical heights. Thankfully, the fans and
critics told me I succeeded. Now I'd like to bring that experience to the
stage.
"'Dopes To Infinity': Live! In its entirety. A complete trip from
beginning to end.
"I can't wait!"
U.K. dates:
Nov. 24 - Glasgow, UK
@ Garage
Nov. 25 - London, UK @ Koko
Former SKID ROW singer Sebastian Bach has
posted the following message on his Facebook page:
"Just had dinner with Rob Affuso, the original drummer of SKID
ROW! Great times catching up with my longtime buddy! Could there be a
special jam this evening [at Bach's solo concert] in Poughkeepsie? Hmmm, we shall see ;)"
Bach recently tweeted that he wanted his fans to stop asking him about a
possible reunion with his former bandmates after SKID ROW bassist Rachel
Bolan made it clear that the group has "never looked back"
following Sebastian's dismissal from the band in 1996.
Speaking to Adam Hammer of SCTimes.com, Bolan stated about Sebastian's
departure from SKID ROW, "We thought we were disbanded and that
we'd never do it again. Then we kept getting emails and the management office
was getting lots of letters about people wanting to see SKID ROW on
stage and we really started to miss it. We knew if we got back together, we
were going to do things different."
He added, "When [current SKID ROW singer] Johnny [Solinger]
joined the band [in 1999], that really gave us a kick in the ass. It was a
different guy there and everything that came out of that guy was
positive."
On the topic of the persistent rumors of a reunion with Sebastian, Bolan said, "Actually, there were never any talks. Ever. That was all just total
rumor. We got rid of him in the '90s and never looked back. . . After the first
tour [with Solinger on vocals], it seemed like this is the way it's
always been. It's so weird, I'll hear an old song on the radio and it just
sounds so bizarre to me because I'm so used to Johnny singing it."
After Bolan's comments were posted on BLABBERMOUTH.NET, Bach tweeted the following in response to the article, "If
this makes even one of you stop asking me 'when are you getting the band back
together' then good. IT'S NOT HAPPENING."
Sebastian previously shot down the possibility of a SKID ROW reunion with him on vocals at this past February's press conference in Los Angeles to announce
the details of the third annual Revolver Golden Gods awards show. He said,
"No [I am not interested in a reunion], because I don't base my life in
2011 on, like, 30 years ago. And I also... I was kicked out of that band. Like,
if you worked at Pizza Hut and you got fired, would you be knocking on the door
of the Pizza Hut, 'Please let me back in!!' You'd be, like, 'Fuck Pizza Hut!
Fuck you!' I'd be, like, 'Fuck you! You wanna fucking kick me out? Go fuck
yourself!' [Laughs] I'm always perplexed by that. You don't want me to sing in
your band? Kiss my fucking ass! Don't hurt yourself finding someone that can.
[Laughs]"
Due to safety concerns based on the possible effects of
Hurricane Irene, the Rockstar Energy Drink Uproar Festival has
rescheduled the Sunday, August 28 show at the Comcast
Center in Mansfield, Massachusetts
to Tuesday, August 30. The U.S. National Hurricane Center has warned that
hurricane-level storms may occur in the area on Sunday.
All tickets for the previously scheduled performance date will be honored at
the rescheduled date on Tuesday, August 30. For those unable to attend the
rescheduled date, refunds are available at point of purchase.
"Safety first…We don't want any of our fans to get hurt," says M.
Shadows of AVENGED SEVENFOLD. "We decided to move the show from
Sunday to Tuesday so all of you crazy fucks can make it and stay safe."
"We apologize for any inconvenience to the fans, but safety is our first
concern. We want everyone to be able to enjoy a full afternoon and evening of
rock at Uproar," says Rockstar Energy Drink Uproar Festival co-producer John Oakes. "After the Category 3 storm blows through New England on Sunday, Uproar promises to bring a
Category 5 rock storm on Tuesday."
As previously reported, the main stage of the Rockstar Energy Drink Uproar
Festival tour will be moved inside of the Gulf Coast Coliseum for the
September 4 show in Biloxi, Mississippi. According to a
statement from the local radio station 97.9 WCPR, which is co-promoting
the event, the decision to move the show was made because of the recent
collapse of a large outdoor stage in Indiana.
Four people were killed when stage equipment, towers, a tent and a tree
collapsed on August 18 after a wind and hail storm hit the Pukkelpop festival in Hasselt, Belgium.
Earlier this month, a stage collapsed at the Indiana State Fair and sent
steel scaffolding into the crowd below, killing five people and injuring dozens
more.
On July 17, CHEAP TRICK barely avoided being crushed when the stage at
the Ottawa Bluesfest collapsed during a storm. A few were injured, but
no one was killed.
The Rockstar Energy Drink Uproar Festival will rock Camden,
New Jersey this Friday, August 26 and Scranton, Pennsylvania
on Saturday, August 27.
The Rockstar Energy Drink Uproar Festival features multi-platinum
headliner AVENGED SEVENFOLD, along with main stage artists THREE DAYS
GRACE, SEETHER, BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE and ESCAPE THE
FATE. The North American touring music and lifestyle festival also includes
Best Buy Music Gear Stage headliners SEVENDUST, as well as BLACK TIDE, ART OF DYING and HELL OR HIGHWATER.
AVENGED SEVENFOLD leads the lineup of the second
annual Rockstar Uproar Festival tour, which kicks off on Friday (August
26) in Camden, New Jersey. Since the band was on last
year's Uproar trek and has been touring a lot in the U.S. for the past
12 months, singer M. Shadows told The Pulse Of Radio why this
tour will be different for the fans. "We had all the fans vote for a month
straight on what songs they wanted to hear, and we're picking from the top 20
songs and we're mixing it up every night so no one knows what set they're gonna
get any given night on the tour," he said. "You know, it's causing us
a lot of work, meaning we've got to learn the songs, we've got to know them
seamlessly, we've got to be able to have all of our production people know the
songs as well and be able to make the show look like the songs belong together
every night."
The tour's main stage also features THREE DAYS GRACE, SEETHER, BULLET
FOR MY VALENTINE and ESCAPE THE FATE, while the second stage lineup
includes SEVENDUST, BLACK TIDE, ART OF DYING and THE
BLACK CLOUD COLLECTIVE.
The Uproar festival will hit more than 25 cities before wrapping up on
October 14 in Mountain View, California.
AVENGED SEVENFOLD is touring behind its fifth studio album, "Nightmare",
which debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard chart after it came out in July
2010.
Swedish progressive metal band ANDROMEDA has inked a
deal with Inner Wound Recordings. The group's new album is tentatively
due before the end of the year.
ANDROMEDA's fourth CD, "The Immunity Zone", came out in
North America in September 2008 via Nightmare
Records.
The band's live DVD, "Playing off the Board", was released in Europe in April 2007 via Metal Mind Productions.
The disc was filmed on October 31, 2006 at the Wyspianski Theater in Katowice, Poland.
ANDROMEDA's third album, "Chimera", was issued in June
2006 via Massacre Records.
Austrian symphonic metallers VISIONS OF ATLANTIS will
release a new EP called "Maria Magdelena" on October 21.
The track listing for the effort is as follows:
01. Maria Magdalena
02. Melancholia
03. Change Of Tides
04. Last Shut Of Your Eyes
05. Distant Shores
06. Beyond Horizon- The Poem Pt. II
Check out the cover artwork below.
VISIONS OF ATLANTIS recently announced the addition of guitarist Cris
Tian to the group's ranks.
VISIONS OF ATLANTIS's fourth album, "Delta", was
released in North America on March 15 via Napalm
Records. The CD was recorded Dreamscape Studios in Munich, Germany
and marks the debut of the band's new singer, Maxi Nil, who joined the
group in 2009.
http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermouth.net/soulflypremiere/visionsmaria.jpg
SLIPKNOT frontman Corey Taylor has confirmed via Twitter that the band is in the process of
booking a U.S.
tour. Also in the works is a new studio album from Taylor's other group, STONE SOUR, whose third full-length effort, "Audio Secrecy",
came out less than a year ago.
SLIPKNOT recently completed a three-week European tour that was the
band's first run of dates since the death of bassist Paul Gray in May
2010.
The group concluded its three-week European tour on July 10 with a headlining
set at England's Sonisphere festival.
Taylor, who has been unsure of SLIPKNOT's future since Gray's
death, told Artisan News that "It's more about trying to figure out
what it means to me in this day and age. I mean, I know what the original music
means to me; it's something that I will always be proud of. I'm trying to
figure out what the next steps are. And without Paul, and the way that
the turmoil in the band is right now, it's gonna take some time. The tour went
really well that we just did, so that's a step in the right direction. But
there's still a lot of things that we've gotta work on before we can run back
in and be like, 'OK, let's do another album.' It's like, let's slow down a
little bit. It's here if we want it. But if we make the wrong choices for the
wrong reasons, then it could all [snaps fingers] go like that, and I don't
wanna be a part of that."
Taylor did an extensive interview last month with HardDrive Radio in which he
revealed that STONE SOUR is definitely planning to release a concert DVD
and cover songs EP in one package sometime before the end of the year. Taylor went into detail about the project, saying, "We shot a concert last year
on the co-headlining tour that we did with AVENGED SEVENFOLD, and we
shot it in Brighton (England), and we've been trying to get it together ever
since and it's just been insane. There's been so much work and we just haven't
had a chance to kind of get a handle on it. But we've been talking about doing
a covers EP forever. This is just a kind of a cool way to put something cool
out that the fans will dig."
Taylor added that each member of STONE SOUR will get to pick one song for the
covers EP.
Taylor is promoting his new book, "Seven Deadly Sins - Settling
The Argument Between Born Bad And Damaged Good", by doing appearances
where he reads, performs a few songs and signs copies of the book.
Transatlantic Music Group has set a September 11 U.S.
release date for the self-ttled debut album from CONSFEARACY (formerly PROPHESY),
the American/German metal band featuring lead vocalist Brian O'Connor (ex-VICIOUS RUMORS), guitarist Fabian Schwarz (THE NEW BLACK),
bassist Günter Auschrat (THE NEW BLACK, ABANDONED),
guitarist Ira Black (ex-VICIOUS RUMORS, LIZZY BORDEN, METAL
CHURCH) and drummer Timo Weis. The group produced, recorded and
mixed the CD, which was made available in Europe on July 4 (three days earlier
in Germany) via Massacre
Records, then mastered it with Achim Köhler in Germany.
"Consfearacy" track listing:
01. Pain Infantry (4:49)
02. Ritual Sacrifice (4:19)
03. Fall From Grace (4:33)
04. World Domination (4:49)
05. Live Again (3:22)
06. Dying To Kill (4:38)
07. Forever Falling (3:48)
08. Unbreakable (4:25)
09. Flesh & Bone (5:00)
10. Your Dead To Me (3:26)
Audio samples of all the tracks that appear on "Consfearacy" are available for streaming on Amazon.de.
According to a press release, CONSFEARACY's "heavy
power-tech-thrash metal formula" features "heavy and soaring dynamic
vocals, technical attacking melodic guitars, driving bass and precision
drumming. CONSFEARACY writes about controversial topics surrounding
conspiracy theories, the new world order, spiritualism, relationships and end
of days prophecies. Together, these well-established international recording
artists have created an undeniable metal force. The album cover artwork was
created by graphic designer Dennis Sibeijn, who has captured the band's
view surrounding the mysticism of the illuminati. His [previous] works include
[art for] CAVALERA CONSPIRACY, LAMB OF GOD, KILLSWITCH ENGAGE, JOB FOR A COWBOY and CHIMAIRA.
For more information, visit www.consfearacy.net.
VIRGIN STEELE singer David DeFeis will guest
on "Hanging Rock", the second solo album from Tommy Vitaly,
the guitar player for the Italian power metal band SEVENGATES, Due in
2012 via IceWarrior Records , the CD will feature "fantastic cover
and booklet art" by Felipe Machado Franco, who has previously worked
with RHAPSODY, AXEL RUDI PELL, BLIND GUARDIAN, AXENSTAR and ICED EARTH.
"Hanging Rock" will feature guest appearances by the following
musicians:
* Tommy Vitaly (SEVEN GATES) - Guitars
* David DeFeis (VIRGIN STEELE) - Vocals
* Zak Stevens (CIRCLE II CIRCLE, ex-SAVATAGE) - Vocals
* Michele Luppi (THAUROROD, ex-VISION DIVINE) - Vocals
* Carsten Lizard-Schulz (EVIDENCE ONE, ex-DOMAIN) - Vocals
* Andrea "Tower" Torricini (ex-VISION DIVINE, ex-SHADOWS OF
STEEL) - Bass
* Norifumi Shima (CONCERTO MOON) - Guitars
* David Shankle (DSG, ex-MANOWAR) - Guitars
* Kenny Earl Edwards (a.k.a. Rhino; HOLY HELL, ex-MANOWAR) - Drums
Shankle previously made a guest appearance on Vitaly's debut
album, "Just Me".
American beer masters New Belgium brewing company
have teamed up with Maryland-based veteran songwriters and touring icons CLUTCH to brew, bottle and distribute the brand new CLUTCH beer! The 9% alcohol
by volume dark sour ale joins New Belgium's Lips Of Faith Series, adding
to a beer family which already includes the highly popular Fat Tire Ale, which
is now sold in over 32 of the 48 continental United States. The beer is
available in 22 oz. bottles and a limited amount of kegs.
New Belgium and CLUTCH (the band) will officially unleash the ale
at a very special kickoff event at the Red
Palace in Washington D.C.
on Monday, August 29 at which members of CLUTCH and their label Weathermaker
Music will be present. Admission will be limited.
For more information, visit www.newbelgium.com.
Pittsburgh
traditional metal band ICARUS WITCH has amicably parted ways with
guitarist Ed Skero and drummer Steve Johnson and has replaced
them with Dave Watson and Tom Wierzbicky, respectively.
Those in the metal community will know Dave as the vocalist and guitarist
for Nuclear Blast thrashers MANTIC RITUAL. Watson is also
highly regarded as one of the top producers in the Pittsburgh region and was the man behind the
mixing board (and on keyboards) for the latest ICARUS WITCH single, "Tragedy".
He has been friends with the band for years and is a natural fit to compliment
guitarist Quinn Lukas' melodic metal playing style.
22-year-old Brooklyn, New York native Tom Wierzbicky has
been playing drums non-stop for eight years and impressed ICARUS WITCH at his audition by bringing a creative energy, attack and unique precision well
beyond his years.
Tom recently drummed for Chicago modern
rockers HESSLER and led his own traditional metal crew THUNDERFIST in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. He is the perfect fit for the
energetic new direction the songs have been taking as the WITCH puts
finishing touches on pre-production for its fifth album, to be tracked this
fall.
Those curious to hear how the new blood will mix with the classic metal legacy
the band have carved are encouraged to come witness for themselves as ICARUS
WITCH plays its only hometown concert of the year on Saturday, October 1 at
the Smiling Moose on Pittsburgh's South Side. The 21-and-up show starts at 10
p.m. and tickets are $10, available through DruskyEntertinment.com.
Australian melodic power
metal band BLACK MAJESTY will enter Grapow Studios in Slovakia in
October to begin recording its fifth album with producer (and MASTERPLAN/ex-HELLOWEEN guitarist) Roland Grapow. Due in June 2012 via Limb Music, the CD
will feature the following songtitles, among others: "The Fallen", "Edge Of The World", "The Killing Hand", "Lykan" and "Journey To The Soul".
In other news, BLACK MAJESTY will support German power metallers BLIND
GUARDIAN on their upcoming Australian tour. The dates are as follows:
Sep. 30 - The Factory Theatre (all ages) - Sydney,
Australia
Oct. 02 - Bilboard (over 18s) - Melbourne, Australia
Oct. 03 - Bilboard (over 18s) - Melbourne, Australia
BLACK MAJESTY's latest album, "In Your Honour", was released
in Europe in May 2010 via Limb Music.
The CD was produced by Grapow at his Grapow Studios in Slovakia. Dirk
Illing (SCORPIONS, WIZARD) once again handled the album's
artwork, which continues the theme of the band's past works.
CLUTCH has just completed a highly successful North American headlining
tour. The band's schedule for the final few months of 2011 continues with a
three-week European tour beginning in Frankfurt, Germany on Halloween as direct
support to Danish rockers VOLBEAT, which will see the band play large
scale venues in historic European cities like Milan, Paris, Brussels, Munich,
Vienna, etc. Following the dates with VOLBEAT, CLUTCH will embark
on a headlining Scandinavian run that will bring them all the way to Helsinki, Finland.
After the Scandinavian dates, CLUTCH will be back stateside for their
traditional Northeast holiday headline run. It doesn't stop there though —
directly following the holiday shows, CLUTCH will gear up for a
three-week run of the U.K.
as direct support for classic Irish rockers THIN LIZZY.
John Sankey, drummer and founding member of
Australian/Los Angeles tech-metal masters DEVOLVED, has issued the
following statement in regards to the band's current status:
"After the recording of the last DEVOLVED album, 'Oblivion',
guitarist Brett Noordin took some time off back in our homeland of Australia and will not be returning to Los Angeles to continue
as part of DEVOLVED. It is an amicable decision and I wish Brett all the best with any future musical endeavors. His involvement with the band
and dedication over the years is greatly valued. I have since been working on
brand new DEVOLVED material with guitarist Mark Hawkins from
Florida-based band ROBOTS PULLING LEVERS. Mark is an exceptional
guitar player who definitely enables us to take the band's sound far beyond
anything we have done before. He and I already have a number of new tracks
completed which are easily the most intense and technically proficient DEVOLVED material to date.
"My vision for the next album is to make it as brutal as possible and
return to a more death metal-orientated sound.
"The songwriting process for DEVOLVED has always been based around
drum patterns, which I write first, then we build guitars and vocals around the
drum arrangement.
"I had a lot of drum parts written for the 'Oblivion' sessions that
were not used because I felt they were too extreme to fit with the concept and
style of that album.
"We really wanted to expand the band's sound on 'Oblivion' and
experiment with new ideas, which we hadn't yet incorporated on our previous
CDs.
"I'm extremely proud of 'Oblivion' — it is a very diverse album
while still being very dark and heavy — but this time around I want to focus
more on making a far more brutal and in-your-face album, and working with Mark
has definitely allowed me to do that!
"There are no plans as of yet for when the next album will be recorded or
released, but we intend to have all the songs written and finalized over the
coming months.
"Right now I am also very busy writing and recording material with two
other Los Angeles-based bands I play in, THRONE OF ASHES and KAVAN.
I'll also be out on the road again in the USA
during October and November drumming with Texas band PINHED, as well as working
on material for a few other projects I am involved in."
John Sankey is the founding member of DEVOLVED and was also the
original drummer for DIVINE HERESY but was forced to leave the position
due to visa issues. He and DIVINE HERESY guitarist Dino Cazares co-wrote tracks on the band's debut album, "Bleed The Fifth". Sankey also collaborated with Cazares on the song "Designing The
Enemy", which appears on the latest FEAR FACTORY release, "Mechanize",
and the song "No Mas Control", recorded with ILL NIÑO vocalist Cristian Machado for the "Roadrunner All-Stars" album.
French retailer Fnac has posted what appears to be the cover artwork for "Evermore
Darkly…", the new mini-album from British extreme metallers CRADLE
OF FILTH. Due on October 10 via Peaceville Records, the follow-up to
last year's triumphant "Darkly, Darkly, Venus Aversa" album
will arrive as a CD/DVD package including new tracks and rarities, with a
lengthy on-the-road documentary and ten songs filmed live at this year's Graspop
Metal Meeting in Dessel, Belgium, as well as the video for the song "Lilith
Immaculate".
The "Evermore Darkly…" CD features brand new musical beast "Thank
Your Lucky Stars", plus a special remix of "Forgive Me
Father", courtesy of ANTHRAX guitarist Rob Caggiano, an
extended rendition of "Lilith Immaculate", as well as tempered
demo versions of three "Darkly, Darkly…" songs. The mini-album
closes with a special taster from CRADLE OF FILTH's impending orchestral
project in the form of a haunting, classic reworking of fan favorite "Summer
Dying Fast".
The "Evermore Darkly…" DVD contains footage from summer 2011
when CRADLE OF FILTH embarked on a rapid spat of tours, accompanied by
two eager filmmakers. The resulting documentary, "You Can't Polish A
Turd, But You Can Roll It In Glitter", combined with performance and
interview footage culminates in a forty five minute film of the not so
glamorous reality of life in a touring band at work and play, as they trawl
their way across Europe over eight performances. The DVD
includes an interview with ghoul-guide Dani Filth, interspersed and
peppered with live footage and backstage shenanigans, culminating in the entire
hour long set from this year's Graspop Metal Meeting appearance.
According to Dani, "Evermore Darkly…" is "a
much-loved musical stop-gap between albums, a pleasure treasure trove of wild
and wicked wonders primed especially for fans. Something for them to sink their
teeth into this autumn as the CRADLE invasion fleet is primed for future
contagion."
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Century Media Records has set an October 11 North
American release date for "City Of Vultures", the debut album from RISE
TO REMAIN — the up-and-coming London, England metalcore outfit featuring
singer Austin Dickinson, the son of IRON MAIDEN frontman Bruce
Dickinson.
One of the most exciting new heavy metal acts to come out of the U.K. in quite
some time, RISE TO REMAIN has been a trending topic overseas for the
past year. Named both the "Best New Band" at the Metal Hammer
Golden Gods Awards and the "Best British Newcomer" at the Kerrang!
Awards, RISE TO REMAIN has high aspirations for the new album.
"I hope a lot of people will respect this record, especially coming from a
really young band, because there's a lot that's outside the usual metalcore
cliché thinking box," says Dickinson.
Helmed by renowned metal producer Colin Richardson (SLIPKNOT, AS
I LAY DYING), "City Of Vultures" delivers twelve electrifying tracks that will leave all hard music fans
pleased. The CD is described in a press release as "an explosive, assured
and extraordinarily diverse first offering that marks RISE TO REMAIN as
an extremely talented standard bearer for a new generation of metal
bands."
RISE TO REMAIN is no stranger to the road, having toured throughout Europe with IRON MAIDEN, BRING ME THE HORIZON, BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE and other notable acts, along with having played
career-defining, blistering sets at this year's Download and Sonisphere festivals. The band will head stateside for a U.S.
tour this fall around the release of "City Of Vultures" and will back again in
early 2012 to continue bringing its own brand of technical metalcore to
American audiences.
California metallers THE HUMAN ABSTRACT have parted ways with vocalist Travis Richter. His temporary replacement
for the upcoming "Frak The Gods" tour with PERIPHERY, TEXTURES and THE CONTORTIONIST is Ryan Devlin, who is a member of the San Diego, California
progressive metal band CORELIA. Devlin states, "I am very
excited for the opportunity, and hope you will come see me on tour."
THE HUMAN ABSTRACT's third full-length album, "Digital
Veil", sold around 3,200 copies in the United States in its first week
of release to debut at position No. 177 on The Billboard 200 chart. The CD
landed at position No. 5 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.
Relapse Records has announced the signing of the
punk-and-grind five-piece PRIMATE.
PRIMATE features the distinctive vocal stylings of Kevin Sharp (BRUTAL
TRUTH), ripping fret-board antics by Bill Kelliher (MASTODON)
and Mike Brennan, SST-style bass work and backing vocals by Dave
Whitworth, and is rounded out by d-beat defender Shayne Huff.
Having only released one EP, "Draw Back A Stump", PRIMATE has already been embraced by the metal community as a new evolution of grind.
The band has a handful of Georgia
and Florida
shows lined up for this weekend as well as into September.
PRIMATE was among the headliners at the 2010 Scion Music Fest and
is actively writing material for its full-length debut.
Swedish metallers THE EMBODIED have inked a deal with Pure Legend Records (a sub-label of Pure Steel Records). The
band's self-titled debut album was recorded at Sonic Train studios in Varberg, Sweden
with producer Andy La Rocque (KING DIAMOND guitarist). The CD
include four songs that were previously laid down with Andy in 2009
along with five brand new tracks.
Commented the group: "This is a dream come true. Together with Pure
Legend Records, we can create many more dreams. It is an honor to be a
spearhead for this company so we hope we can make the guys proud as well as the
other way around. We are certain of the professionality within the Pure
Steel family and look forward to our future collaboration. THE EMBODIED will create a legend and really fuckin' good music with the help from the guys
at Pure Legend Records."
THE EMBODIED previously released a demo EP, "Relativity
Fade", in 2006.
THE EMBODIED is:
Marcus Thorell - vocals
Jonathan Mortensen - Guitar
Christoffer Melin - Guitar
Agust Ahlberg - Bass
Axel Janossy - Drums
For more information, visit www.the-embodied.com.
Patrick Brown, guitarist/vocalist of the dark ambient
duo TRILLION RED, has teamed up with NOVEMBERS DOOM/ex-THESE
ARE THEY drummer Sasha Horn to form KING CARNAGE. The
project, whose musical direction Brown describes as "aggressive new heavy
crust death," draws inspiration from the likes of old-school GRAVE, ENTOMBED, GROTESQUE, TIAMAT, ORDER FROM CHAOS and MORBID.
Material is currently being written and the pair plans to have a release out
next year.
The critically acclaimed album "Demonoir" by Norwegian black metallers 1349 will be reissued as a limited box set
as part of the Indie Recordings Norwegian Collector's Edition Series. It
contains seven bonus tracks, including an unreleased track that did not appear
on the expanded edition or the limited edition, 12-page booklet, poster, guitar
pick, a patch and autographed photo card. The box is handnumbered and limited
to 1000 copies worldwide.
For U.S.
fans, the box set will be available only on FYE on November 25.
"Demonoir", the fifth full-length album from 1349, was
recorded at Studio Nyhagen, deep in the woods in Norway with Tom G.
Warrior (HELLHAMMER, CELTIC FROST), who showed the greatest
respect for the task and played a key role as motivator and catalyst. His
technical role of the recording was that of a co-producer, but far more
important was his presence and understanding of what a challenging project "Demonoir" was.
1349 is:
Ravn - Vocals
Archaon - Guitar
Seidemann - Bass
Frost – Drums
After spending a few months in the studio, Montreal, Quebec,
Canada-based female-fronted melodic death metallers THE AGONIST are
ready to hit the road in North America as part
of a package tour with KAMELOT, ALESTORM, and BLACKGUARD.
Unfortunately, THE AGONIST lead guitarist Danny Marino will be
unable to join the band on this trek, and will be replaced by ex-THE
CATALYST guitarist Justin Deguire on rhythm guitar while Pascal
"Paco" Jobin takes over lead guitar duties.
For fans that have been patiently waiting for new material from THE AGONIST,
this tour will be the first opportunity to get their hands on the band's latest
release. "The Escape" EP — featuring two songs from THE
AGONIST's upcoming full-length album ("Lonely Solipsist" and "The Escape") — will be sold exclusively on the road and
online at CM Distro for the duration of the tour. The only way to get
your hands on a physical copy of this limited-edition EP is to catch the band
on its run with KAMELOT or to order via CM Distro. The EP will also
be available in a digital format after the tour.
Mixed by Tue Madsen (THE HAUNTED, DARK TRANQUILLITY, SUICIDE
SILENCE), THE AGONIST's new full-length album is slated for an early
2012 release via Century Media Records.
In a recent interview with MetalConcerts.net, THE AGONIST vocalist Alissa White-Gluz stated about the musical direction of the
follow-up to 2009's "Lullabies For A Dormant Mind", "I
wouldn't say it's heavier or more melodic. I think it sounds more mature. It
has the same sort of schizophrenic side that 'Lullabies' has, but it
also has some other I guess what you would call classic influences. Like,
there's some PANTERA influence, there's some RADIOHEAD influence.
I mean, there's a lot of influences that we didn't really have before."
"Lullabies For A Dormant Mind" debuted at No. 105 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.
Finnish death metallers FLESHRED will release their
debut album, "Bloodtorn", on September 28 via Violent
Journey Records.
The track listing for the CD is as follows:
01. Into The Blood
02. Total War
03. Merciless Words
04. When All Fades
05. No Deliverance
06. Believer
07. Babylonian Dream
08. The Halls Of Tormented Flesh
09. God Killer
10. Death Of A Different Kind
11. Death Fountains
12. Holy Asphyxiation (bonus track)
The final cover artwork can be seen below.
FLESHRED was formed in 2008 by Jani Hentilä (THE SCOURGER, FIERCE). As a true fan of death metal, Jani wanted to play that
ass-kicking music as well. He asked Jussi Heikkinen (also known as Lord via SOULGRIND, GLOOMY GRIM, WALHALLA, F.T.W. BOOGIE
MACHINE, etc.) to join the mission as the bass player. They knew each other
already through their other band, FIERCE. The goal was to make
no-nonsense, hard-as-fuck straight-forward death metal as it should be. With
that concept, the search for other players was on. After a short period, the
lineup was completed by the addition of Pete (GHOUL PATROL, THE
NIBIRUAN) on drums, Oku (GHOUL PATROL, MURDERSHOCK) on
vocals and Pave on lead guitar.
FLESHRED recorded two demos in 2009 — "The Halls Of Tormented
Flesh" and "When All Fades" — resulting in the band's
deal with Violent Journey Records.
http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermouth.net/soulflypremiere/fleshredblood.jpg
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