Guns N' Roses Reunion Is Really Lame Says Def Leppard Guitarist(hennemusic)
Def Leppard guitarist Phil Collen shares his view of the recently announced reunion between Axl Rose, Slash and Duff McKagan and Collen does not appear impressed with the upcoming Guns N' Roses reunion or their original split back in the day.
"We obviously think it's really f****** lame," Collen tells The Telegraph. "I love Guns N' Roses, I think they're really cool, I'd love to see Slash and Axl and Duff play together, that's great. But I think it's f****** lame considering we've been hardcore. Our integrity's still intact, we've never split up. We've gone through if someone had a little sniffle or something, we soldier on.
"Someone dies, someone loses an arm, someone gets cancer, we soldier on. With Guns N' Roses, if someone has a little barney backstage, they can't deal with each other. I know it's difficult, but I do think it's pretty lame when you compare anyone else to us."
Former in Sheffield, UK in 1977, Def Leppard have survived the death of guitarist Steve Clark in 1991 from alcoholism, drummer Rick Allen losing his left arm in a car accident in 1984, and guitarist Vivian Campbell's diagnosis with Hodgkin's Lymphoma in 2013.
The group have just postponed the remaining dates of their winter US tour due to frontman Joe Elliott coming down with "severe laryngitis." Read more here.
Metallica Announce Free HD Stream Of Super Bowl Eve Concert(hennemusic)
Metallica have announced that they will stream their headlining performance at a Super Bowl 50 eve concert live from AT&T Park in San Francisco, CA on February 6.
CBS Radio's "The Night Before" annual event sees the band joined by special guests Cage The Elephant ahead of the big game between the Carolina Panthers and Denver Broncos at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, CA on Sunday, February 7.
"We can't wait to play our first show of 2016 and there's nowhere we'd rather kick off the festivities than in our own backyard," says Lars Ulrich. "Even though the show has been sold out for months, Metallica fans around the world will be able to join in on the madness."
The webcast will be a free 1080p FullHD stream live from AT&T Park, available on mobile and desktop devices at webcast.livemetallica.com. "We're set to hit the stage at approximately 8:30 PM PST, so spend Super Bowl Eve with us no matter where you are that night!," adds the group. Read more here.
Black Sabbath Postponed Another Farewell Tour Date(hennemusic)
Black Sabbath postponed Wednesday, February 3rd's farewell tour concert in Vancouver, BC as Ozzy Osbourne continues to be sidelined by sinusitis.
"Due to continued severe sinusitis, Ozzy Osbourne will be unable to perform with Black Sabbath as scheduled," posted the band. "The Vancouver performance has been postponed. Details regarding the rescheduled date will be announced as soon as it is available. Please hold on to your tickets until further details are available."
The Vancouver show is the third Canadian date this week to be put on the shelf due to the health issue, following the postponement of a January 30 concert in Edmonton and a February 1 stop in Calgary, Alberta.
The next date on Black Sabbath's 6-week North American tour is scheduled for February 6 at the Tacoma Dome in Tacoma, WA. Read more here.
Led Zeppelin Members Deposed In Stairway To Heaven Legal Battle(hennemusic)
The surviving members of Led Zeppelin have been deposed in the copyright-infringement lawsuit against the band over their classic hit "Stairway To Heaven."
Bloomberg reports Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones and Robert Plant were each deposed separately over the past month as part of pretrial discovery, according to new filings in Los Angeles federal court.
During the depositions in London, each member said that they had no idea what their finances or earnings were with Led Zeppelin, according to a filing by the plaintiff's lawyer asking for more time to investigate.
The suit - brought by the estate of Spirit guitarist Randy California and members of the band - claims the acoustic introduction to 1971's "Stairway" was lifted from their 1968 instrumental "Taurus."
The two bands shared the bill at several shows in late 1968 and 1969. Led Zeppelin's guitarist, however, testified his memory of the era was vague, according to the filing by plaintiff's lawyer Francis Alexander Malofiy, who conducted the questioning. Read more and listen to both songs here.
Slipknot's Corey Taylor Slams The Grammy Awards(TeamRock Radio)
Corey Taylor has taken aim at the Grammy Awards, calling the event a "popularity contest." Slipknot track Custer, Lamb Of God's 512, Ghost's Cirice, Sevendust's Thank You and August Burns Red's Identity will battle it out in the Best Metal Performance category at this year's ceremony in Los Angeles.
The band have been nominated for seven Grammys in their 20 year career, picking up the Best Metal Performance gong for track Before I Forget in 2006. Asked what winning a Grammy would mean to him this time, Taylor says it would be "cool" but stresses it's not important if they don't.
He tells Finland's Radio Rock: "I know a lot of people who put a lot of stock in it, but I keep telling them, 'We've been nominated now like, God knows how many times. We won once. Cool. It's a popularity contest - that's all it is.'
"If it weren't, if it were just about the music, you would see more metal bands - not including us - nominated in other categories - and you just don't. It's all a goddamn popularity contest, and I don't have f***ing time for that sh*t."
"It's like everybody lives and breathes by whether or not they're gonna get this tiny statue. Why? So it can sit on a shelf and collect dust?" Read more here.
Rush In The Studio For Moving Pictures 35th Anniversary(ITS)
The latest episode of the syndicated radio show In The Studio: The Stories Behind History's Greatest Rock Bands celebrated the 35th anniversary of Rush's landmark album, Moving Pictures. The show sent over the following details:
Sales alone do not convey the importance of their eighth studio album Moving Pictures to Rush's long career, nor to rock music itself. "Music was changing," Rush lead singer/composer Geddy Lee tells us in this InTheStudio episode, and without Lee, guitarist/composer Alex Lifeson and drummer/lyricist Neil Peart embracing the fresh musical ideas in the crosswinds of the early Eighties with songs "Tom Sawyer", "Red Barchetta", "Limelight", "Vital Signs" and "Witch Hunt", it is doubtful that a path to mainstream success would have been cleared for later major bands including Metallica, Queensryche, Smashing Pumpkins' Billy Corgan, Dave Grohl's Foo Fighters, Tom Morello with Rage Against the Machine and Audioslave, and Dream Theater.
InTheStudio host Redbeard speaks to Geddy Lee, Alex Lifeson and Neil Peart about the significance of Moving Pictures to the Rush legacy. Lee says "It (Moving Pictures) gave us a kind of acceptance and credibility that none of our previous records had previously done."
Lifeson adds, "It was very enjoyable making Moving Pictures. It flowed, everything sounded good. The vibe was good, everybody was in great spirits during the whole process."
Peart concludes, "Being a trio is something that is special to us and I think it's special to our fans too... We are known as a trio. Our reputation has a lot to do with our live show and what the three of us can do live." Stream the episode here.
Last In Line To Continue In Honor Of Jimmy Bain(Classic Rock)
Last In Line will perform at Frontiers Festival in Italy in April, but they haven't decided who will replace Jimmy Bain. Bassist Bain died last month of lung cancer. He was onboard Def Leppard's Hysteria On The High Seas cruising festival when he passed away, leaving his bandmates "devastated."
Now guitarist Vivian Campbell says the band will continue to work together to promote upcoming debut album Heavy Crown, due for release on February 20. But he says they're not looking forward to the "heavy decision" they'll have to make over who takes Bain's place.
Campbell tells Linearock: "We're very, very, very sad to have lost him. But I know that Jimmy believed very much in the new record, Heavy Crown, and that he would want us to continue to play and to play the Frontiers festival. And we will continue to do that. We will play it in his honour.
"We still have to figure out who is gonna play bass moving forward. That's a heavy, heavy decision for us to make. It has to be someone that is appropriate and someone that does tremendous respect to Jimmy Bain's legacy.
"We have a few ideas, but it's obviously very early days yet. We don't even really wanna think about that just yet. It's not something that we want to dwell on right now. We're still mourning the death of Jimmy." Read more here.
Eagles of Death Metal Returning To The Road(Gibson)
Eagles of Death Metal are determined to forge ahead following the tragic terrorist attack during the band's show at the Bataclan concert hall in Paris last November. The band has booked a co-headlining tour through Canada with Death from Above 1979. Turbowolf will open on the shows.
The tour will set off April 26 in Vancouver and run through a May 8 date in Quebec City. "Canada, get ready for real rock-and-roll and wear your tuxedos," Sebastien Grainger of Death from Above 1979 wrote in a statement.
After the co-headlining run, Eagles of Death Metal will return to the U.S. for a batch of headlining shows. Before the tour with Death from Above 1979, Eagles of Death Metal will return to Europe for their first tour there since the terrorist attacks on Nov. 13. The European tour will include a stop in Paris on Feb. 16. See the upcoming coheadlining dates here.
Mark Hoppus Shares Blink-182 Behind-The-Scenes Studio Video(Radio.com)
Blink-182 has shared a behind-the-scenes video from the recording studio. Lead singer and bassist Mark Hoppus posted a video of Travis Barker tracking drums for a song "that didn't exist this morning."
From the sounds on the video clip, the drums have a jazzier feel than Blink-182's previous music, it'll be interesting to see what makes it onto that project.
Barker previously mentioned the band had more songs than it needed for an album, but the tricky thing had been scheduling the time when all three could work in the studio together. It looks as though they've found it.
Watch Barker drum it out here.
Van Halen's David Lee Roth Making Online Return This Week(hennemusic)
David Lee Roth has announced plans to launch a new website after being offline for the past year. The Van Halen News Desk reports the singer will open a new online home on February 7 at DavidLeeRoth.net and deliver a new episode of his web series The Roth Show.
Roth's website and social media outlets went dark at the end of January 2015 without explanation…just days before Van Halen announced plans to release "Tokyo Dome Live In Concert."
There's no word on whether or not the rocker will restart a Facebook page or actively return to Twitter, and the YouTube channel for The Roth Show currently hosts no content.
2015 saw Roth and Van Halen deliver a 3-month summer tour of North America in support of the live album. Things have been quiet in the Van Halen camp since they closed out their 2015 tour with a pair of shows at the Hollywood Bowl in early October. Read more here.
Obscura Streaming New Album 'Akroasis' Online(TeamRock Radio)
Obscura have streamed their latest album Akroasis in full ahead of its official launch. The band's follow-up to 2011's Omnivium will be released on February 5 via Relapse Records.
Frontman Steffen Kummerer said: "With Akroasis, we produced our grand opus featuring eight songs of fluent arrangements, odd time signatures never heard before in metal, and the most high end production in the history of the band.
"Without question Akroasis is the heaviest, most complex record we have made to date. We cannot wait to perform live again and bring this excellent music to stages around the globe." Stream the album here.
Dream Theater Release 'The Gift Of Music' Video(Prog)
Dream Theater have released a video for their track The Gift Of Music. It's taken from their 13th studio album The Astonishing which was released in January via Roadrunner Records.
Last month, drummer Mike Mangini said the ambitious 34-track concept album blew his mind while they were laying down tracks in the studio. He said: "John Petrucci put together the whole thing, and he organized it in a really amazing way. And then he used our keyboard player, Jordan Rudess.
"When he plays, you see a landscape - you've got a picture in your mind. It's so visual, it's unbelievable. There really is nobody better to help bring a story to life, so you feel it and see it. It's not something I do on my instrument. So when I experience it, it blows my mind."
Dream Theater will embark on an extensive tour in support of the album later this month, starting with two dates at London's Palladium. The trek will see the band playing across Europe and North America. Watch the video here.
Brian Wilson Adds Date To Pet Sounds Anniversary Tour(Classic Rock)
Brian Wilson has added a third London Palladium date to his Pet Sounds 50th anniversary world tour. The show will take place on May 22 and is part of the Beach Boys icon's 70-date trek across the globe, which includes 12 dates in the UK.
The concerts will see Wilson perform the Beach Boys classic album Pet Sounds as well as other tracks from throughout his career. Wilson had the following to say about the trek:
"It's really been a trip to sit here and think about releasing Pet Sounds 50 years ago. I love performing this album with my band and look forward to playing it for fans all across the world." Read more here.
The Search For Jimi Hendrix's Purple Haze Telecaster In New Book(Classic Rock)
A book which investigates whether a second-hand guitar was the one used by Jimi Hendrix to record Purple Haze in 1967 launches in March. Author and folk-rock guitarist Chris Adams bought the Fender Telecaster in a London music shop in 1973 - but its left-handed tuners and the salesman's remark that Hendrix's roadie brought it into the shop sparked his interest.
In The Grail Guitar: The Search for Jimi Hendrix's Purple Haze Telecaster, Adams tracks down surviving musicians and people who worked with the rock icon to shed light on the fate of the guitar.
The book also includes a first-hand account from Linda Keith, the woman who discovered Hendrix in 1966 and lent him a white Fender Stratocaster which belonged to her then boyfriend, Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards. Read more here.
Black Stone Cherry Release 'In Our Dreams' Video(Classic Rock)
Black Stone Cherry have released a video for their track In Our Dreams. It features on their fifth album entitled Kentucky - out on April 1 via Mascot Label Group.
The video is set in a post-apocalyptic underwater world ruled by a nefarious leader - and drummer John Fred Young credits director Kyle Cogan with bringing the lyrics to life in the promo.
He says: "Kyle Cogan helped us to forge new ground, visually. His unique sci-fi storyline of two sisters, tragically separated into two social classes in an oppressed underwater civilisation run by an evil leader, accompanied the lyrics so well. Metaphorically, the story feels like it relates to current world circumstances."
Cogan adds: "From concept to completion, it was a total collaboration across many disciplines. We worked with the band to create a striking narrative that would require a heavily stylised world. It was great to see the vision come alive practically on set, and through visual effects in post production."
Black Stone Cherry are currently on the road across the UK on the Carnival Of Madness tour where they're joined on the bill by Shinedown, Halestorm and Highly Suspect. Watch the video here.
Lita Ford Plays Teacher In New Commercial(Classic Rock)
Lita Ford has appeared as a music teacher in an advertisement for US recruitment company, Indeed. The clip sees the singer and guitarist celebrate her new job with a classroom guitar solo.
It's part of Indeed's Celebrations campaign, which also features treadmill dancer Marcus Dorsey and professional BMX rider Bo Wade moonlighting as ordinary workers with extraordinary talents.
Ford will support Halestorm on their US tour in April and will release her latest album entitled Time Capsule on April 15 via SPV/Steamhammer. It'll be the follow-up to 2012's Living Like A Runaway. Watch the ad here.
Scorpions Stream Classic 'Still Loving You' TV Performance(hennemusic)
The Scorpions have released footage of their classic, "Still Loving You", from a 1984 performance on the German television program Na Sowas! The video is featured in the recently released expanded reissue of "Love At First Sting", one of eight projects in their 50th Anniversary Deluxe Edition series.
The German group's ninth album, "Love At First Sting" became their most successful US record when it peaked at number 6 on the Billboard 200 chart in 1984 and went double-platinum by the end of the year, eventually reaching triple-platinum status in 1995.
The set was led by the US Top 25 hit "Rock You Like A Hurricane", and follow-up singles "Still Loving You" and "Big City Nights." The Scorpions released their 17th album, "Return To Forever", last March and launched a 50th anniversary tour in China in May before multiple visits to Europe and North America. Watch the video here.
Mondo Drag Stream New Song 'Rising Omen'(Prog)
Mondo Drag have made their track Rising Omen available to stream in the run-up to the release of their third album. The prog outfit will issue The Occultation Of Light on February 26,
Vocalist and keyboardist John Gamino says: "Rising Omen is about the cyclical form of time, the passage of light, the changes that happen within this cycle and how it all starts over again. The song begins and ends in the exact same way, mirroring the lyrics in their reflection of the daily oscillation between light and dark.
"Rising Omen has a lot of complexities but at its core, it is an ode through sound to this cycle of light that we all experience daily. The song pays reverence to simple oral tradition, the mythology of humankind - the idea of humans - a minuscule entity in this vast universe - on Earth watching the sky and questioning, wondering, searching, gravitating towards the light of the sun and the moon." Stream the song here.
Former Touchstone Singer Kim Seviour Inks Solo Deal(Prog)
Ex Touchstone singer Kim Seviour has signed a deal with John Mitchell and Chris Hillman's White Star Records for future releases. Touchstone announced in March last year that she'd leave the band after the vocalist revealed her fight with ME made it impossible for her to "commit in the way it truly deserves."
She played her final shows with the band late last year in London and Leamington Spa. Seviour has worked with Frost* and Lonely Robot man Mitchell previously, and he'll produce and co-write her upcoming album at his Outhouse Recording Studio.
Seviour says: "It was a really difficult decision to leave Touchstone and I had no idea what I was going to do next. I've known John for a number of years and when he and Chris asked me if I wanted to record an album for their new label with John producing, there was no way I was going to turn that down.
"We really wanted to have a good time with this album, so we're taking time to write it in a fun and relaxed way. We already have a couple of tracks written." Read more here.
The Vintage Caravan Release 'Babylon' Video(TeamRock Radio)
The Vintage Caravan have released a video for Babylon. It's taken from last year's Arrival album, the follow-up to 2012's Voyage. The video is a cross between Alice In Wonderland, Lord Of The Flies, One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest and some sort of crazed zombie apocalypse.
"The Vintage Caravan and Sympatico proudly present to you the new music video for Babylon," say the band, in an official statement. "After working together on the last video for Crazy Horses we wanted to go in a weirder, crazier direction.
"From the beginning we always wanted to do a video to Babylon. It's definitely one of the heavier, more primal songs off the last album Arrival. "We really want to thank everyone at Sympatico and all the others who helped in the making of the video! It was a rough process with all extras being pushed to extreme limits in harsh cold environments and deep water. But we made it through and I think we can really be proud of the video." Read more and watch the video here.
Oli Sykes Shares Craig David Cover From His Wedding(TeamRock Radio)
Oli Sykes has shared footage of himself and his wedding guests performing Rewind by Craig David. The video was shot at the Bring Me The Horizon mainman's wedding reception.
The 29-year-old married tattoo artist Hannah Pixie Snowdon in July 2015 at a ceremony in Tuscany, Italy. Oli Sykes told TeamRock in November that he has finally found happiness. He checked into rehab early last year after years of battling his drug addiction and mental health issues.
BMTH are set to tour the UK in November in support of their fifth album, That's The Spirit. Check out the video of Oli and Friends performance of the Craig David track here.
Mike Portnoy and Ian Anderson Guest On New Tiles Album(Prog)
Tiles are to release their sixth album Pretending 2 Run on April 15. The double concept album is the Detroit band's first release in eight years, and will feature guest artists such as Dream Theater's Mike Portnoy and Jethro Tull mainman Ian Anderson.
Keyboardist Adam Holzman from the Steven Wilson Band, Miles Davis' jazz guitarist Mike Stern and Max Webster's lead vocalist Kim Mitchell will also appear on the album.
Guitarist Chris Herin previously said: "We knew this album was ambitious, lyrically and musically, but we didn't plan on it ballooning into a double album. The songs kept coming and the storylines demanded more trips into the central character's state of mind." Read more here.
Tygers Of Pan Tang Ink Deal For New Studio Album(Classic Rock)
Tygers Of Pan Tang are in the studio working on a new album having signed a deal with Mighty Music/Target Group. The self-titled album will be released in August, with a European tour to follow. It's being recorded at Newcastle's Blast Studio.
Mainman Rob Weir tells TeamRock: "This is a landmark album for the Tygers. Self-titled and self-produced, we feel we have written some pretty special hard rock songs.
"The sound is classic Tygers and the new cover version we have chosen to record is spectacular - after all, Love Potion #9 is 34 years old. "It's a big year for the band, with 10 shows in South America in March, then festivals in Chicago, Ibiza, Gent, Alicante, a British tour starting October 21 and a European tour, we're going to be applying to the time lords for membership." Read more here.
Singled Out: Not By Sight's Stand
Not By Sight frontwoman Jane Train tells us about the song "Stand", which she co-wrote with Corey Lowery (Dark New Day/Eye Empire) and recorded with him, Troy McLawhorn (Evanescence) and Morgan Rose (Sevendust). Here is the story:
This song is from the first batch of songs that Corey Lowery and I collaborated on. I first wrote the melody and lyrics to the chorus in order to have a destination to get to. Writing doesn't always happen like that, but it did for this. I pictured myself onstage in an arena with the lights low and lighters lit throughout the audience.
The mood that I felt drawn to was a "let's put our problems away and enjoy this night, this music, this concert." More from the audience's perspective, but definitely from my experiences as well which is translated more in the verse lyrics. I relate to the empowerment that music lends when you're going through the worst things in life.
There's a song for everything that happens. So, it's a mix of that and also a statement of, "you tried to tear me down, but you only made me stronger. Here I Stand." Boom.
Gonna light this night underneath the stars
Gonna save every moment so its never too far
If you feel the strike of lightning's hand
Better look all around you cause baby, here I Stand
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