Sebastian Bach gatecrashes Steel Panther show

Steel Panther recruit Sebastian Bach for metal karaoke at Hollywood HOB **VIDEO**

Reported by Cameron Pirie

Published: June 2, 2011. © Rock AAA.

Panther

Panther who have a residency at the House of Blues on Sunset invited the ex-Skid Row frontman on stage for a rendition of Journey’s ‘Don’t Stop Believing’ before bringing members of Asking Alexandra and Black Veil Brides up to join in on a rendition of Bach’s own ‘Youth Gone Wild’ on a rather crowded stage.
The show continued in the same vein with covers of Guns N’ Roses and Zeppelin
Make up your own mind! Video is up on youtube.com!

Behind The Song: Prince's Kiss

06/03/2011
. One of our most popular features on antiMusic is our Singled Out series where musicians tell us the story behind their new songs. Today we doing something a little different, presenting the story behind a classic song. The tale of Prince's hit "Kiss" comes to us from the new book 'Prince: Chaos, Disorder, and Revolution?' by Jason Draper. We'll have a review of the book next week but today, Jason shares the story behind "Kiss": Prince took over the three studios at Sunset Sound while working on the [Parade] album. He used one for Parade, another for his side project The Family, and a third for an album by the Minneapolis band Mazarati, which was being produced by David Rivkin and Revolution bassist Mark Brown. Legend has it that he had cut the first four songs for Parade on the spot, in sequence: that he sat down behind the drums, asked Susan Rogers to roll the tape, and played through all of the drum tracks, using only his handwritten lyrics as guidance, then added the bass, keyboards, guitars, and vocals to each of the songs, one after another.
For most listeners, the highlight of Prince's 1986 album Parade was "Kiss," a song Prince almost didn't record. His cavalier attitude to giving away new songs (see "Manic Monday," reclaimed from Apollonia 6 during the Purple Rain/Apollonia 6 sessions, but unreleased until Prince gave it to The Bangles) made him believe that he could write hit tracks for just about anybody, even if he hadn't masterminded the band's image and sound.
Next door to where Prince was recording Parade, Revolution bassist Mark Brown and engineer Bobby Rivkin were working on a self-titled album by a group known as Mazarati. Brown had started playing with the group on the Minneapolis club scene during a break from touring with The Revolution. Not wanting to end up the same way as Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis (who were fired by Prince for moonlighting with another band), he wore a mask on stage and called himself The Shadow. After a while, however, Brown knew that he would have to come clean to Prince or face serious consequences. But when he did, Prince surprised him by deciding to take Mazarati under his wing.
Prince was too busy to produce the group himself, but donated one song to the project, "100 MPH." Then, as the sessions continued, he offered them another unused track: a bluesy acoustic number called "Kiss." Rivkin and Brown sat up all night wondering what to do with the song before opting to give it a strident funk backing. When Prince returned to Sunset Sound the following day, he quickly changed his mind about the song's worth. "It's too good for you guys," he told them. "I'm taking it back." He had originally suggested that he would reward Rivkin for his efforts by giving him a co-production credit, but eventually listed him only as the song's arranger, even though the main elements of the song originated from Rivkin and Brown's version. ("Terence Trent D'Arby asked me where "Kiss" came from," Prince later boasted. "I have no idea. Nothing in it makes sense. Nothing! The hi-hat doesn't make sense.")
Before long, Prince had completed the minimal final version of "Kiss," stripping away a lot of the detail Rivkin and Brown had added, and chose it to be the first single from Parade. Warner Bros. felt that it sounded like a demo, but Prince was determined to release it without any changes, and he was right to. A taut, sparse blend of funk and R&B, sung in a falsetto Curtis Mayfield would have envied, "Kiss" would become Prince's first transatlantic Number One hit since "Let's Go Crazy." (The other song he had written for Mazarati fared rather less well. "100 MPH" stalled at Number 19 on the R&B chart, and didn't even register on the Hot 100.)
"I remember the first time that I heard the song 'Kiss'" guitarist Dez Dickerson later recalled, "really feeling that he had managed to recapture some of that raw R&B emotion from some of his earlier music." The promo video is equally stripped-down. It features just Prince, Wendy Melvoin, and an unidentified female dancer, proving just how valuable Melvoin was to Prince at the time.
From Prince: Chaos, Disorder and Revolution, (c) 2011 by Jason Draper. Published by Backbeat Books, an imprint of Hal Leonard. ISBN: 978-0-87930-961-9. $19.99. Reprinted with permission. www.backbeatbooks.com

Puddle of Mudd Discuss Their re:(disc)overed Album As Billy Squire Comments on His Cover

06/03/2011
. Puddle of Mudd are releasing an album of covers of songs that have inspired them. That album, called re:(disc)overed is set to hit stores on August 2nd.One of the songs on the effort is Billy Squier's "Everybody Wants You." Billy Squier himself has already heard the track and remarked, "Sounds like these guys have got the right idea."

The new album includes such classics as AC/DC's "TNT," Steve Miller's "The Joker," Elton John's "Rocket Man," the Stevie Nicks/Tom Petty duet "Stop Draggin' My Heart Around" (which Puddle Of Mudd recorded with BC Jean), Neil Young's "Old Man," and the first single, The Rolling Stones classic "Gimmie Shelter."
"This record was a lot of fun to make," commented lead guitarist Paul Phillips. "They were all songs and bands that we have been a fan or fans of forever. When choosing these songs, we really looked for ones that were both inspiring and challenging. We chose some that may be unexpected to some just so we could push the Puddle envelope a bit. We really wanted to stretch our legs on this one. It gave a chance to try some things that we have never really done on our records."
"We all collaborated over three months or so and compiled a huge list of songs that we eventually weeded down to 14 tracks," commented lead singer Wes Scantlin. "For me, it was very important that I could identify with all of them lyrically. A lot of them really struck a nerve. Old Man by Neil Young and Rocket Man by Elton John definitely hit close to home. As I've become an adult, I've realized that I have become my old man. I seem to have inherited the same traits as him, whether they are good or bad. I've been listening to that one forever and now I'm living it. As for Rocket Man, I feel it is a beautiful metaphor for living life on the road. We are spacemen so to speak. No one knows what it's like out on the road. The fame, travelling, fans, etc...It's like outer space to most until you've lived it.""Our goal in interpreting these songs was to pay more tribute rather than reinvent," says Phillips. "These are all classics that are perfect in every sense, so who are we to mess with that? We just wanted to represent them in their true form and add a little of our sound to them. We cut everything with very few takes and tried to keep it very live like those old seventies records. We didn't want to Pro Tool the hell out of it."

Beginning July 23rd, Puddle Of Mudd have scheduled five shows where for the first half of the show they will perform songs from re:(disc)overed followed by a run of Puddle Of Mudd hits.

Track Listing
1. Gimmie Shelter
2. Old Man
3. T.N.T.
4. Stop Draggin' My Heart Around
5. The Joker
6. Everybody Wants You
7. Rocket Man
8. All Right Now
9. Shooting Star
10. Funk
11. D'yer Maker

Puddle Of Mudd re:(disc)overed Tour
July 23 – Webster Theater, Hartford CT
July 24 – Northern Lights, Clifton Park NY
July 26 – Hampton Beach Casino, Hampton Beach NH
July 28 – Starland Ballroom, Sayreville NJ
July 30 – House of Blues, Cleveland OH

Meat Loaf: Critics Like U2 Better Than Me

06.03.2011

Fresh off being a cast member on The Celebrity Apprentice, Meat Loaf has announced a handful of summer tour dates. The concerts will promote the singer’s most recent album, Hang Cool Teddy Bear, which features guest spots from Brian May, Steve Vai and Jack Black.
In a recent interview, Meat Loaf spoke about his frustrations with rock critics and their reaction to his latest album, according to Ultimate Classic Rock.
“Critics tend to want to dismiss me,” he said. “And you can tell them; the people that have given this album a good review and the people that have given it a bad – who’s heard it and who hadn’t.
“The people that have heard it have generally given it a pretty fair, decent review. The people that only skimmed it – there’s very few critics that have listened to the entire version of ‘Peace on Earth.’ And my comment is that if U2 had have done ‘Peace on Earth,’ it woulda been the second coming – and it would’ve been.”
Meat Loaf tour dates:
June 29 – Milwaukee, WI
July 2 – Charlottetown, Canada
July 16 – Atlantic City, N.J.
July 18 – Red Bank, N.J.
July 21 – Belleville, Ontario
July 22 – London, Ontario
July 28 – Pittsburgh, PA
July 30 – Columbus, OH
July 31 – Readington, N.J.
August 3 – Big Flats, N.Y.
August 5 – Clarkston, MI
August 6 – Mears, MI
August 26 – Grand Junction, CO
September 1 – Joliet, IL

Smashing Pumpkins’ Billy Corgan Tweets Long-Awaited New Album Details

|

06.02.2011

Smashing Pumpkins have announced the tracklisting for their ninth studio album, Oceania, which drops later this year. Always-enigmatic frontman Billy Corgan took to Twitter to make the announcement: “I'm assuming those that are Smashing Pumpkins fans in the crowd wouldn't mind me putting up a tentative tracklisting of the 'Oceania' album?” He then scribbled the list, which you can view below.
The tracks have been issued as part of the alternative rock band’s ongoing Teargarden by Kaleidyscope project, which has camp Corgan releasing original songs online in sets and then making them available for download.
Billy Corgan recently ruled out a reunion with the founding members of Smashing Pumpkins because “things that have happened between us in the interim haven't been good.”
When asked if the original lineup would reunite, Corgan told Rolling Stone, "No. That's just one of those things that are never going to happen...”
Corgan added that he and original drummer Jimmy Chamberlin “aren't enemies. He's just off doing what he wants to do, as he should. There's not super bad blood between me and Jimmy that we'd never get on stage again…”
The tracklisting for Oceania:
“O/”
“Pale Horse”
“Panopticon”
“The Chimera”
“Four Winds Chime”
“Glissandra”
“Inkless”
“My Love Is Winter”
“Special K”
“Pinwheels”
“Oceania”
“Violet Rays”
“Quasar”

Puddle of Mudd to Headline Tour

Posted on Jun 02, 2011

Puddle Of Mudd has announced the first handful of dates on its upcoming headlining tour in support of its new covers album, re:(disc)covered. According to Rock Access, the trek will kick off on July 23rd in Hartford, Connecticut, with four more East Coast dates confirmed so far. Rev Theory will be the support act for the road trip. Re:(disc)covered, which features 11 covers of songs from artists like AC/DC, the Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, Neil Young, Bad Company, the Steve Miller Band and more, will arrive in stores on August 2nd.
Frontman Wes Scantlin told us that the band has come up with an unusual format for the live show this time out: "We are gonna do a whole entire tour where we do like an hour-long set of the entire album of the covers, then we take like a five or 10-minute intermission, and then we come back out and we do every single Puddle Of Mudd hit song ever. So the whole entire show will just be hit, hit, hit, hit, hit, hit, hit, and then a little break, everybody can get a drink, go take a pee, whatever they've got to do, and then we come back and we just kick it back into the Puddle Of Mudd."
Re:(disc)overed follows up Puddle Of Mudd's 2009 effort, Volume 4: Songs in the Key of Love & Hate.
The first single, a cover of the Stones' "Gimme Shelter," will arrive at radio stations in mid-June.
Newly announced Puddle Of Mudd tour dates (subject to change):
July 23 - Hartford, CT - Webster Theater
July 24 - Clifton Park, NY - Northern Lights
July 26 - Hampton Beach, NY - Hampton Beach Casino
July 28 - Sayreville, NJ - Starland Ballroom
July 30 - Cleveland, OH - House of Blues

Def Leppard's Joe Elliot Talking About Latest Success

Joe Elliott: "Eddie Vedder replaced Bret Michaels!"

Wednesday, 01 June 2011

Is Joe a shit talking bloke? Def Leppard’s Joe Elliott has a lot to be proud of. On the eve of a sold-out headlining tour with Heart and the release of the band’s first live album, Mirrorball, the raspy singer has added the dawn of alternative to the band’s mantle. “Nirvana and Pearl Jam happened because of Def Leppard. Alternative happened because of Def Leppard. I don’t think there’s any question about that fact. Because of Def Leppard you had your Winger, Cinderella, Warrant and Slaughter doing exactly what we did just not as well. That in turn diluted what we did and people got sick of it. And so people needed something new to turn to and Eddie Vedder replaced Bret Michaels”. And nearly two decades later is the frontman still bitter? He says no. “What is there to be bitter about?” he quips. “Our latest single just went in at No. 1 on rock radio in America, we’re headlining Donnington for the second time in four years and of course there’s the Heart tour and a live album. We’re still competitive.” Indeed they are. Def Leppard will launch their latest jaunt on June 15 in West Palm Beach and play more than 40 dates before wrapping things up on September 15 in Washington. And the band are not content to rest on their laurels once things wind down. Elliott adds that the band have loftier goals in mind beyond their 2011 work. “I don’t see why Def Leppard shouldn’t tour again next year and hopefully have a new record or even an EP out for release. This is a band that is trying to get up there with your Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd and Queen leagues. You don’t get there by sitting at home during the summer.”

'The Hangover Part II' Smashes Through Box Office

5/31/2011 11:26 AM ET

(RTTNews) - With a three-day intake of $86 million, "The Hangover Part II" became the second biggest R-rated opening of all-time and ended up with a phenomenal $105 million for the four-day holiday weekend. Also posting strong overall numbers was "Kung Fu Panda 2," though it didn't do as well as distributor Paramount/Dreamworks had hoped considering the commercial success of the original. "Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides" also posted another big weekend, bringing its 11-day worldwide total to a year-best $634 million.

After "The Hangover" became the highest grossing R-rated comedy ever in 2009, a sequel was all but guaranteed. With its $86 million three-day opening, "Part II" trailed only the $91 million that "Matrix: Reloaded" hauled in back in 2003 to make it the second biggest R-rated opening in history. Backed by a per theater average of $23,799 for "Part II," it looks like the audience has grown considerably since the opening of the original and it will likely continue to do big-time business at the box office throughout the rest of June. Some of the audience for "The Hangover" will end up at "X-Men: First Class" next weekend, though there isn't any substantial comedy competition until late June.
Unlike most comedies, "The Hangover Part II" also has significant worldwide appeal, helping to bring its worldwide total to $196 million already. Even though it has mostly negative critical reviews, which could hamper other releases, "Part II" has so much momentum that it's not going to matter. "Part II" should continue to dominate with adult audiences and end up with easily enough revenue to encourage a third entry in the series.
Aimed at a much different demographic was "Kung Fu Panda 2," an animated release that took aim at the enormously lucrative family demographic. While it still managed a nice domestic opening total of $64 million for the four-day holiday weekend, "Kung Fu Panda 2" had just enough audience overlap with "Pirates of the Caribbean" to prevent it from posting the huge opening that Paramount/Dreamworks would liked to have seen.
But even though the domestic numbers for the weekend were less than spectacular, "Kung Fu Panda 2" also has a tremendous amount of appeal outside of the U.S. The original grossed an eye-popping $631 million worldwide, a great total for a non-sequel or remake. "Kung Fu Panda 2" should continue to do very well with the family demographic until "Cars 2" opens a few weeks from now, which should be enough time for it to post another big worldwide total.
Meanwhile, "Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides" continues to have significant appeal to the broad mainstream action audience. At the end of the Memorial Day weekend, "On Stranger Tides" pushed its domestic total to $163 million and worldwide total to $634 million, making it the top overall earner of the year so far. "Pirates" will have some significant competition from "X-Men: First Class" next weekend, though it's already a substantial commercial success for distributor Buena Vista/Disney.
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Tesla, Cinderella And Kix To Headline Monsters Of Rock Cruise

June 1, 2011

Tesla, Cinderella and Kix have been named as the headliners on the Monsters Of Rock Cruise taking place in February 2012. Tickets for the cruise will be going on-sale on Monday, June 13 at 12 Noon, Pacific. If you register at www.monstersofrockcruise.com any time before the on-sale date you will receive a special promotional code redeemable for a $75 bar credit per cabin.

Joining the headliners of the Monsters Of Rocl Cruise will be Y&T, Firehouse, Stryper, Black N' Blue, Lynch Mob, Keel, Eric Martin, John Corabi, Faster Pussycat, Bang Tango, Eddie Trunk and Big John. Some of the other cool events taking place on the cruise are Monsters of Rock Showroom Performances, Artist Meet & Greets, Back-Alley Showcase Series, Poolside Concerts, Charity Memorabilia Auction, Monsters White Trash Cantina, Monsters Book Signings, Monsters Mass Wedding Vow Renewal, Monsters Amateur Jam, Games, Activities and more!

The most expensive cabin (non VIP) on the Monsters of Rock Cruise is $999 per person (price good until 7/15/2011 or while supply lasts) and that is for the largest Superior Balcony cabin on the ship! In addition, cabins will only be available in the following categories -- Inside, Ocean View, Balcony and Superior Balcony, and the early bookers will get the best available cabin... you snooze, you lose. Finally, you will be able to reserve for only $150 per person deposit with the balance spread out over 3 payments.

Courtesy of www.sleazeroxx.com and www.themonstersofrock.com

Wylde Slates Rehab Addicts

Axeman Zakk has no time for victims and says: “It’s a one-step programme: you shut up and you stop drinking”

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No more beers: Zakk Wylde

Black Label Society mainman Zakk Wylde says he has no time for musicians who attend rehab to deal with their drink or drugs problems.
When he was told to stop using alcohol last year as a result of suffering serious blood clots in his legs, that’s just what he did: he stopped. And he says that’s the approach he expects from his band.
Wylde tells the Press of Atlantic City: “The complaint department is closed. You don’t go to rehab, you just stop drinking. That’s Black Label rehab: it’s a one-step programme. Shut up and stop drinking.
“I don’t have time for ‘I have a heroin problem,’ I don’t fucking care. I don’t care what you did yesterday or six months ago – I got shit to get done.
“We don’t dwell on the past, we get on with what has to be done – it’s a mindset all the guys in the band have.”
The former Ozzy Osbourne guitarist says he expects a strong work ethic from members of his band.
“Lions hang out with lions, dude, and they know what’s expected of them,” he explains. “They don’t need to be told to act like a lion. You either have a work ethic or you’re a lazy piece of shit.
“When I started playing guitar I was playing for ten hours a day. I still play every day and I don’t look at it like it’s a pain in the ass – I enjoy doing it.”

EVH Frankenstein Striped Flip Flops Available For Summer!

EVH Frankenstein Striped Flip Flops Available For Summer

Tuesday, 31 May 2011

These EVH Frankenstein Striped Flip Flops sport the iconic Eddie Van Halen stripes and are sure to impress! Offered in all 3 classic EVH stripe color combinations–Red, Yellow, or White, or grab the Complete Set!
These ultra comfortable, premium quality Flip Flops are the perfect fit for summer. Make a stylish statement and keep your feet cool and comfortable all season long.
“Play Fast, Wear Stripes”





ALL colors and sizes IN STOCK and shipping now only at VanHalenStore.com.
Choose between Red, Yellow, or White, or grab the Complete Set of all three!
View All EVH Flip Flops.

Weiland: I’ve fought off drugs… I’ll fight off drink too

Substance Survivor 1: Scott spent four years completely clean – until year from hell sent him back into the bottle

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Obstacle course: Scott Weiland

Stone Temple Pilots singer Scott Weiland vows he’ll fight off alcohol the way he fought off addiction to harder drugs.
He says he was completely clean for four years until a nightmare year saw him seeking refuge in the bottle – but he’s convinced he can defeat the demon drink.
Weiland tells KROQ-FM: “I’ve been clean for nine years. There are some people who can go back to drinking, very few, and some people who can’t. It doesn’t mean my relationship with it is a healthy one. It’s an extra obstacle I plan to get rid of.
“When I joined Velvet Revolver I’d been completely sober all the way, drugs and alcohol, for four years. Then I had marriage problems. My brother died. My mum almost died of cancer.
“It was too much – I tried to put band-aids wherever the pain was leaking from. Booze is everywhere. I’m a sports fan and all the ads are either car commercials or beer commercials. And it worked originally, but it doesn’t really work.”
Weiland recently admitted his heart was never fully in Velvet Revolver and he’s glad to be back with his STP bandmates. He’s also established a working relationship with ex-wife Mary, who he still describes as “the love of my life.”
He says: “We’ve taken the kids on vacation camping. I’ll go over for dinner. There’s times we don’t see eye-to-eye, but that’s only natural. For the most part we get on really well. She talks to me about her love life, and I talk to her about my minimal love life.”
And Weiland suggests the split was more drug-fuelled than related to any failure of feelings between the couple: “No one can beat Mary in an argument – it’s impossible. When I was in therapy I knew I needed time out for myself, but some people just need to win an argument.
“There’s no winning when tempers are flared. You say things you don’t mean.”
Weiland’s book, Not Dead and Not For Sale, is available now.

Schon: I Was A Functioning F-Up

Substance Survivor 2: Journey axeman Neal managed to keep operating – but had to refuse Clapton invitation over health fears

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Big decision: Neal Schon

Journey guitarist Neal Schon says he’s managed to get over his drug addiction issues – but admits he was once a “functioning fuck-up”.
And the axeman says fears over living a drug-fuelled lifestyle drove him to refuse an invitation to join Eric Clapton’s band when he was 15, opting instead to play with Carlos Santana.
Schon tells MusicRadar: “I got the offer from Eric to join Derek and the Dominoes before I got asked to join the Santana band. What a choice, you know?
” I was in the studio with Carlos and we were jamming, when Eric walked in. I was blown away, of course, and I didn’t say too much. But we ended up jamming, it was a fun time, and the next day I went back to the studio and there was a note from Eric’s people requesting that I go and play with him that night.
“I arrived about 15 minutes before the band were supposed to go on – and they were all sleeping, nodded out in the back. I knew something was up, and it wasn’t healthy.
“I love Eric. He’s a great guy; it’s just, I think that was a period when there were drug issues. Not that there weren’t drugs in the Santana band – but it didn’t seem as radical.”
Schon returned to work with Santana but regrets: “I was more from the school of Eric than I was of Carlos or Latin music. It was a heavy thing.”
Drugs and alcohol have affected his life, but Schon says he managed to keep working throughout his addiction issues before finally conquering them in 2008.
“I was a functioning fuck-up, a functioning alcoholic,” the guitarist states. “I did coke and drugs for many, many years, but I just never went down. I never got so sick where I couldn’t play and I never missed a gig in my life.
“I felt that gave me the right to do anything I wanted; but you get older and your body starts talking to you, and you’d better listen.
“Three years ago I finally said, ‘I’m done.’ I never went to an AA meeting or anything – I just stopped everything. I never had an addictive personality but I just couldn’t put the brakes on. I didn’t have a shot of tequila, I’d had the whole bottle. You can’t keep doing that.”

Osbournes Keep Rewriting History, Says Original Bassist

Daisley reveals he has stacks of unheard Randy Rhoads material, but won’t let Ozzy and Sharon cheat him over it

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Deleted: Daisley, left, with Blizzard of Ozz

Original Ozzy Osbourne bassist Bob Daisley has a hoard of unheard recordings featuring tragic guitarist Randy Rhoads – but he refuses to allow the Osbournes to badger him into a cut-price deal for releasing them.
Daisley accuses the celebrity couple of “rewriting history” and cites the example of his own removal from re-releases of the first two Ozzy solo albums. Manager Sharon Osbourne had his parts and those of drummer Lee Kerslake replaced with new recordings when Blizzard of Ozz and Diary of a Madman were republished in 2002.
The bassist tells BraveWords: “When Sharon and Ozzy tell the story, they both try to rewrite history. It’s inaccurate and it’s not how it happened.
“To start, Ozzy said Sharon used to come to the pub with us when we were doing the first record. But she wasn’t even there – it’s a long way to come from LA, as that’s where she was living. She had nothing to do with the first record; Ozzy was still married to Thelma at the time, and she used to come to the pub.”
But Daisley says fans will have to wait to hear the whole story: “Lee and I were not consulted – you’re not going to get us in it as the Osbournes are involved.
“There were four people in that band and it was the chemistry of those four people that made it what it was.
“Ozzy’s career would have been washed up because he’d lost a lot of credibility for being unreliable with Black Sabbath. Randy couldn’t get arrested in America with his band at the time. Lee couldn’t get his band off the ground and I was worried my career was over. So the four of us came together and helped each other.
“All this crap about Randy Rhoads single-handedly saving Ozzy’s career – he didn’t. All due respect and credit to Randy, who was nothing short of amazing, but it took four people to make those albums. A band recorded those albums and that band was called the Blizzard of Ozz.”
Rhoads died in a plane crash on tour with the band in 1982, and Daisley says he has rehearsal and performance tapes from the time the band were together which fans would love to hear.
He believes the 30th anniversary of the albums would have been a perfect time to make them public. But he couldn’t reach a deal with the Osbournes – although the original Daisley and Kerslake tracks were returned for the anniversary releases.
“I have Ozzy singing and Randy playing,” the bassist explains. “The quality is not bad, but not studio quality. But it’s a legal issue with somebody’s performance – you have to get them to sign off.
“All Sharon wanted to do was to buy everything for a measly sum then release it. I said, ‘No way, this stuff’s gold. Do it my way, meaning I get a royalty this time.’ I should have always got a royalty.
“They would’t do it. So I said, ‘I’m not handing it over to you to make a fortune.’ The main reason was they could have edited it and taken us out again – go about rewriting history again.
“Fans would love this stuff – it’s too bad. But they want you to believe Ozzy and Randy did everything.”
Former Black Sabbath singer Osbourne has insisted he had no knowledge of the 2002 re-releases without the original rhythm section tracks, saying his wife had done it without consulting him and he wouldn’t have allowed it if he’d known.

What A Load Of Hits! Def Leppard Set List Talk!

Vivian Campbell tells fans to expect the hits when Leppard tour with Heart

Reported by Eric MacKinnon

Published: May 30, 2011. © Rock AAA.

Lepps ready for tour

Vivian Campbell says Def Leppard have already worked out the set-lists for their summer shows as there is little room for variation because there is a core of tracks fans simply expect to hear.
The guitarist does admit the band try to make the set-lists slightly different year on year while also mixing up the arrangement in some tracks too.
The UK rock legends are preparing to headline the Download Festival next month before embarking on a US tour with Heart but Campbell says they will have to stick to the hits for their American gigs as the crowd could be a 50/50 split between the two acts.
In an interview with Guitar International Campbell said:
“The set list kind of picks itself. There’s a bit of a double-edged sword, having a really strong catalogue. People expect the hits, particularly in America and particularly with the nature of the concert industry nowadays, insofar as when we package with other acts.
“There’s gonna be a certain percentage of the audience that is there primarily for Heart, and they’re only gonna respond to the big Leppard hits. So it’s not like we’re going and playing to 100% Def Leppard audience.
“If that was the case, we would definitely dig deeper into our catalogue and play more obscure songs. We are very fortunate that we actually could play an hour and a half of bona fide Top 20 songs.
“The hardest thing for us is what songs not to play, and make it a little different from year to year. We try different arrangements of songs. Like with ‘Rocket,’ sometimes we do a real guitar extravaganza in the middle between Phil and me. Sometimes we do the more concise single version. We’ll try and do a different album cut, like maybe ‘Gods of War,’ which we haven’t played in a few years. Last tour we played ‘Mirror, Mirror.’
“The set list for America hasn’t been formulated yet. I’m actually flying into Dublin tonight and we start rehearsal. We’ll get to it, but my point being that the majority of the set is always gonna be the same.
“There are certain songs that when people come to see Def Leppard they’re gonna want to hear ‘Photograph,’ ‘Rock of Ages,’ ‘Sugar,’ ‘Animal’ and ‘Hysteria’. All those songs are gonna be present.”
The band are also set to release their first ever live album but Campbell reveals they never planned to release it but the plummeting cost of recording equipment gave them the opportunity to record their live shows which led to the decision to release ‘Mirrorball – Live and More’.
It will also include three-brand new tracks which Campbell says were written and wrapped up in a rush.He continued:
“We never really made a conscious decision to do a live record. It’s just that in the past doing a live album was very involved. You had to get a truck and you had to record basically one or two shows. There was a lot of pressure and a lot of performance anxiety. The technology is cheap now, so we basically just started recording every show over the last two tours.
“As such, there was never any, ‘Oh, my god. We’re making a live album. We better not screw up.’ You really forgot you were recording. It took a lot of the pressure off. I don’t even think that we started to do it with the viewpoint of making a live CD. We just wanted to archive our performances. So this was recorded over multiple shows in 2008 and 2009 and we just cherry-picked the best performances.
“We decided to take some time off at the end of the last tour. Joe Elliott became a daddy for the first time and Rick Allen’s wife was expecting. So it was a whole thing and we just wanted some personal time. The idea of doing a live album freed us up a lot more and there was less pressure than doing a studio album. Other than that, Def Leppard’s basically been inactive other than Joe Elliott sitting in the studio sorting through this stuff, which basically was the biggest chore.
“The idea of doing the three songs came late in the project. Our management said it would add more value to the package if we had some new studio tracks. So it was kind of a scramble, particularly on my end.
“I actually wrote a song for it but didn’t have it ready in time. Hopefully it will make it on our next studio album. Joe wrote the song, ‘Undefeated,’ really, really quick. In my opinion, that’s the most Leppard-sounding of the three. It’s a great song. Joe just has a knack for writing Def Leppard songs.
“The other two songs I guess had been in the works. Phil Collen had written ‘It’s All About Believing’ with a producer/writer friend of his called C.J. Vanston. They had written it over a year ago. And Rick Savage had been working for quite some time on ‘The Kings of the World,’ which is very, very complex. It’s basically Sav paying homage to his favourite band ever, Queen, but that all came about at the 11th hour.”

Former WASP stings Blackie Lawless

Ex-WASP guitarist Chris Holmes says he’d rather die than play with Lawless again

Reported by Eric MacKinnon

Published: May 31, 2011. © Rock AAA.

Hey Blackie......

Former W.A.S.P lead guitarist Chris Holmes claims his one-time band mate and friend, and current W.A.S.P frontman, Blackie Lawless conned him out of royalties, made his time in the band a misery and even deliberately made the rest of the band look bad in pictures to ensure the band was all about him.
Holmes was a founding member and in two spells spent 12-years in total with the band but he says he would never play with Lawless again and claims he’d rather be dead than make peace.
In an interview with Arena of Pleasure, Holmes admitted he felt both he and the other members of W.A.S.P felt they deserved to be pictured on the record covers of albums they all worked on. He said:
“Blackie wants to be Elvis Presley, he wants to be the only guy. Let’s put it this way, he has an ego. He does really shitty things to everybody in the band. The only reason why he kept me that long is to get more ticket sales. You wanna get some really shitty? The money you make off the records is called publishing, and he made me sign my contract in the way that this goes back into the band, so I never saw any of the publishing.
“I was young, and I said, ‘Is this the right thing for me to do?’ He said, ‘Yeah’, and he knew exactly where it was gonna go. That’s why I had really bad issues with the guy. Even today – I’d never play with the guy again, I’d rather be dead. He’s only out for himself, he’s not out for the whole band.
“If he was a nice guy, would he keep a few band members? He’s always changing band members. I hate signing those… Well, I wouldn’t say I hate signing those records, I played on them, I guess. So what I do is I sign them right on Blackie’s face.
“Randy and I were talking last week. We recalled how we were told to go down and choose the pictures out of like 500 to put on the record, and why choose the pictures if they didn’t go on the record? Blackie turned around and changed them. Did I choose that picture to be on the record? No! It was all him. The worse we look, the better he looks. And that was the case with every album. That’s him on the cover, it’s not the band, and this sucks. I have to live with it, because it’s part of my past, and that’s OK. But why should Blackie call it WASP? It’s Blackie Lawless and nobody else.”
Holmes also expresses doubt over Lawless’ Christian beliefs, claims he didn’t pay him which forced him to get a job when he wasn’t touring with the band and says he refused to allow him to accompany his wife to a prestigious awards show.
He added:
“I’ll tell you what kind of person he is – he’s full of shit! If being a Christian can make money, that’s what he’s doing. It’s all about making money and nothing else.
“When I got off the road, I had to work a job, because he wouldn’t give me any money, and I gotta pay the rent, right? He wouldn’t pay me, he wouldn’t pay the roadies, he wants all the money. That’s why I had to do construction, concrete stuff. They say, ‘Sell your soul, play rock’n’roll’, and that’s what I did.
“I never left, Blackie forced me out. He didn’t want me in the band anymore because I got more attention than he did, he always put me down. Remember when I married Lita Ford, the singer from Runaways, and he made sure I couldn’t go to the American Music Awards when she was nominated for ‘Vocals of the Year’. I hated him ever since that.
“And the last thing I ever said to him in the rehearsal room was, ‘Why the fuck would you do that to somebody?’ He got up and as he was walking out of the rehearsal room, he mumbled to me, ‘I was jealous’. That’s the reason why I hate him today. The next time he’s here again you ask him about that – why he didn’t let me go to the American Music Awards.”
WASP: Blind in Texas

Aerosmith Celebrate 35th Anniversary of Rocks

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05.31.2011

It’s been 35 years since Aerosmith unleashed their best-selling fourth album, Rocks. Earlier this week Steven Tyler, Joe Perry, Brad Whitford, Tom Hamilton and Joey Kramer celebrated the anniversary by convening to discuss the album for syndicated radio program “In The Studio” with host Redbeard.
The band used the in-depth interview to speak honestly about the songs, the personalities, and the drugs and alcohol that shaped the Rocks sound. They talked, too, about their modern-day projects and how they’ve evolved together for the better. 
Reflecting back on the period when the band recorded Rocks, drummer Joey Kramer said, “We didn’t even know that what we were doing was later going to be called hip. We were doing what we were doing because we didn’t see any reason not to do it. From the day we put this band together, the one common denominator that we all had [is that] we wanted to be what we are today.”

Courtney Love Unloads!

In an astonishing interview with Maer Roshin of thefix.com Courtney Love points the finger of blame at a journalist for tipping Cobain over the edge, insists she has lost $900m dollars to unscrupulous lawyers and tells of the agony of addiction

Reported by Eric MacKinnon

Published: May 30, 2011. © Rock AAA.

Courtney Love

Courtney Love has taken aim and unloaded both barrels at a host of targets including journalist Lynn Hirschberg who she claims was the final straw which tipped her late-husband Kurt Cobain over the edge and pushed him towards suicide.
The Hole singer also claims to have lost an eye-watering $900million at the hands of unscrupulous lawyers who left her so skint she and her and Kurt’s daughter Frances Bean were forced to move in with a relative.
In an astonishing interview with The Fix Love also fires back at Kelly Osbourne for calling her a ‘crackhead’ but admits her struggles with drug addiction are not over after she was recently tempted into taking a ‘bump’ of cocaine.
When asked when she first realised her drug use had become a problem Love told The Fix:
“When I was pregnant with Frances. When my doctor informed me I was having a baby, I knew I had to get clean real quick. I checked in to a hospital to detox. But then my world was turned upside down by a very bitter, very ugly woman named Lynn Hirschberg, who published an article about Kurt and me in Vanity Fair.
“She is famous for doing hatchet pieces on other women and blow-jobs on famous Jewish men. She’s constantly falling in love with celebrities like Rick Rubin, Quentin Tarantino, Harvey Weinstein, and Jerry Seinfeld. In fact, she was fired from Vanity Fair because she sent Jerry Seinfeld an article she had written about him and allowed him to edit it before it appeared in the magazine. She’s a monster—that’s all I can say. I don’t have hate in my heart for anybody, but she’s more responsible for my husband’s death than anyone.
“I went to rehab before her story came out. I had checked myself into Cedar-Sinai’s chemical dependency centre to come down off of opiates. The guy who ran the unit at the time was an addict himself, and he offered me morphine to induce an abortion. I told him, ‘I want this child. Are you out of your mind?’ He told me, ‘Oh, if you kick heroin, you’ll miscarry anyway.’ But you know what? I’m built like an ox. I wasn’t about to lose my baby. She came out a few months later and she was beautiful and healthy and perfect.
“I think the stress caused by Lynn Hirschberg’s article had a lot more of an impact on her than anything I ever did. When that article came out, I’d been in a chemical dependency unit for a whole week! After I went home, Kurt was using a lot of heroin, so I usually spent the night with friends. I didn’t stay around Kurt too much when I was pregnant. That whole episode made us drift apart.
“Yes, it’s true, I used heroin in the first three weeks of my pregnancy—but so fucking what!? I didn’t even know I was pregnant at the time! I also took a few puffs on a cigarette when my belly was out to here, but most of those nine months, I walked around with nicotine patches all over my body. When you have a baby inside you, you’re not going to do drugs or something stupid.”
When asked if blaming Hirschberg for her husband’s suicide was unfair Love responded:
“Stop being such an asshole! Who do you think you are? Barbara Fucking Walters? Go read that article again! Do you know what it’s like when someone sets out to do a hit piece on you?
“As a writer, wouldn’t it be your worst nightmare if you drove someone to suicide? I hope so. Because that’s what Lynn Hirschberg did to Kurt, all right? She humiliated and emasculated him. She sent him over the edge. She deserves most of the blame for his death. Do you really want to challenge me on that fact?”
Cobain took his own life in 1994 and Love admits she almost did the same after she claims she uncovered a trail of deceit and fraud which almost ruined her financially.
She continued:
“It was shortly after I found this huge box in my house, filled with fraudulent credit cards. There were hundreds and hundreds of them, all made out to different names and entities, and they were all being charged to me.
“It was the first time I realised that I was being taken for a ride. My lawyers and accountants had literally stolen hundreds of millions from me right under my nose.
“The whole thing sent me into a real tailspin. For a long time, it was all I could think about. I was spending all my days obsessively going through these documents, smoking crack, and getting high all the time.
“You know, when Kurt died he left behind hundreds of millions of dollars. His estate earns more money every year than any other deceased musician in history. Even more than Elvis! But despite all this, at one point I was so broke that myself and Frances had to move in with my stepfather. These people were feasting on billions of dollars, and my child and I didn’t have a dime.
“After I figured out what was going on, I was determined to find a paper trail. I hired a forensic accountant to find out how all these fucking people had managed to screw me so royally. The strange thing is, while the drugs screwed me up in a lot of ways, they improved me in certain others. I’ve never been good with numbers, but when I was on crack I could do math really, really well. I became a fucking whiz at calculus. But I also became kind of psychotic, unfortunately.
“You know, I’ve been through a lot of trauma, I’ve witnessed a lot of death. I’ve looked the devil in the eye. According to the London Times, I’ve had $900 million stolen from me. I’ve had my daughter metaphorically and literally kidnapped.
“My husband’s money is supporting a squad of corrupt lawyers who fucked me over. It hasn’t been easy. I can be eccentric, egotistic and temperamental. I can be a real bitch. But I also know that I’m a really good artist.
“So do you really expect me to be well-adjusted all the time? Look at all these little stars—Britney and Lindsay and all the others. Being famous is a dangerous profession these days.”
The above article is an excerpt from an interview by Maer Roshin of “The Fix” with Courtney Love. A full transcript of the interview is available at www.thefix.com

One-liners: ‘The only way to fly a jet was to get a job’

Why Dickinson became a pilot; Bonzo voted number one; plus Jack Black, John Corabi, Shinedown, Great White, AC/DC and Korn

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Flight fight: Bruce Dickinson

Iron Maiden frontman Bruce Dickinson says he became a commercial airline pilot because he’s not rich enough to own a jet plane. He reports: “I never intended to become a professional pilot. But, not being John Travolta, I realised the only way I was ever going to fly one was if I got a job.” The customised Boeing 757 used by Maiden would cost $80m to buy.
Led Zeppelin drummer John Bonham is the number-one sticksman of all time, according to Gibson. The guitar makers say: “He was famous for his speed, intensity and swift right foot, but above all he was a soul drummer – in the end he was simply a groover.” The company’s top ten continues with Neil Peart, Keith Moon, Dave Grohl, Lars Ulrich, Mike Portnoy, Ginger Baker, Josh Freese, Stewart Copeland and Ringo Starr.
Jack Black says he has no plans to make a sequel to 2003 movie Shool of Rock – because it would be unlikely to match the quality of the original. “It’s my favourite,” he comments. “It was tailor-made for me, and so brilliantly written and directed. It was a great experience. I’m pretty sure School of Rock 2 would be the film to go on my tombstone.”
Former Motley Crue and Ratt singer John Corabi is set to release an acoustic album which, he says, includes “old songs, new songs and a sample of things to come.” He’ll tour an acoustic set in support of CInderella over the summer.
Shinedown singer Brent Smith says the band refuse to be rushed into releasing the follow-up to 2008′s The Sound of Madness. Smith explains: “The beautiful thing is the journey, and finding out where you are in your life, how far you’ve come and how much you’ve grown. It’s crucial for us that the fourth record is as strong as possible, so we take our time.”
Great White guitarist Mark Kendall has confirmed the band’s current singer Terry Ilous is just standing in for Jack Russell: “Jack’s had a ton of health issues that’s made it literally impossible for him to perform. He was doing it with the aid of stools and we were getting ridiculed. He’s working with a trainer and wants to come back, but he has to get himself a little more mobile before we take him out. In the meantime Terry is doing great – he still has all his range, while Jack has a few notes missing from the past.”
If AC/DC tour again they won’t stage a two-year extravaganza, says frontman Brian Johnson – and in fact, they didn’t intend to do so with their Black Ice world trek. “It just got bigger and bigger, and we were like, ‘What the hell is happening?’” Johnson reports. “We enjoyed every minute of it, but I don’t think we could do two years again. It was really brutal.”
Korn bassist Fieldy says his bandmates have been surprisingly noncommittal about his side-project Stillwell, who are opening on the nu-metal outfit’s current tour. “They watch us every night, but they don’t seem very animated about things,” he comments. “They’re not coming up to me like, ‘Dude, that is so dope,’ but I’ll see Jonathan Davis watching from the side of the stage, and I saw Munky watching us from the soundboard the other night.”

VAN HALEN - Two Former Singers Unite For One-Off Show In Tucson This Saturday

Posted on Tuesday, May 31, 2011 at 02:27:28 EST

EXTREME / ex-VAN HALEN frontman GARY CHERONE will support the man he replaced, SAMMY HAGAR, with his new outfit HURTSMILE this Saturday, June 4th in Tucson, AZ at at Casino Del Sol. Go to this location for venue and ticket information.



Hurtsmile will also perform on June 3rd in Tempe, AZ at Club Red.

Following is an excerpt from BW&BK scribe Carl Begai's recent interview with Cherone:

Cherone’s high profile stint with Van Halen from ‘96 – ’99 fell flat for seemingly everyone but the band, and his industrial-flavoured TRIBE OF JUDAH solo project from 2002 also failed to catch on.

“Obviously there’s more to the record than the few demos from 2007, but the majority of people liked Hurtsmile and a lot of them said what you did, that Tribe Of Judah had a few too many bells and whistles going with their rock n’ roll.”

Tribe Of Judah’s sole album, Exit Elvis, proved to be much too cold and impersonal for fans that had quite literally grown up with Cherone playing the role of flamboyant rock star. It was as if the life had been sucked out of his music.

“Looking back on it, I agree,” says Cherone. “If you put Tribe Of Judah in context of me coming out of Van Halen, the last thing I wanted to do was put together a four piece rock band. I was open to working with some new people and trying to do what I do on a different template. But, you are what you are and it was more of an experiment. This is what I grew up on, and my favourite bands are three and four piece rock bands.”

Hurtsmile is quite literally a homegrown affair for Cherone, as it features his younger brother Mark as the band’s guitarist. He considers is a long overdue musical partnership.

“We all grew up in Boston in the clubs, and my brother is a few years younger than me so he started a little later than I did,” Cherone says of their roots. “Back in the day we were playing the same clubs, though, and the singer in Mark’s band was Nuno’s brother Paul. We were a very tight knit group. Mark and I have always been close. He’s a great guitar player and a great songwriter, and I knew that someday the schedules would permit us to work together. When we started Hurtsmile in 2007 I wasn’t bummed that Extreme was getting back together, but I was bummed for my brother because I’d been looking forward to doing some music with him.”



Comparisons to Extreme were guaranteed the moment Cherone put his voice to tape. Fans will find they’re able to take comparisons further with regards to his brother’s guitar work, which has a definite Bettencourt flavour. Cherone is quick to point out, however, that working with a different guitarist brought out different qualities in his own songwriting.

“When Mark was growing up there was no one in Boston that wasn’t influenced by Nuno. Mark was a little younger and Nuno was so prolific – he was on another planet back then (laughs) – and they were and are very close. Not that Nuno tutored Mark, but Mark learned a lot from being around him. For me, it wasn’t until Mark moved to L.A. and got away from Extreme that he kind of found himself. They both have the same heroes, but Mark reminds me more of an Angus Young whereas Nuno’s playing is more Van Halen influenced. That does bring out different melodies and attitudes from me. The first song we worked on was ‘Just War’ and he’d written the verse and the chorus, and I put my chorus melodies over his verse and the verse melodies on his chorus (laughs). He thought it was great and just wanted more of that”