8/27: BOGOTA VIDEO, TMS PODCAST, SLASH & PURPLE IN FL THIS WEEKEND, ACE
Huge congrats to Ace Frehley on his Top 10 debut on the national Top 20o on Billboard! Like all records though in this day and age the proof will be where it is 4 weeks from now. Does it have staying power and continued support? Or did all the fans just buy it week one and then it’s quickly forgotten (sadly the case with most rock and metal albums). If he does videos and tours that will certainly help but that is all TBD. Either way I am happy for my old friend who is about to celebrate 8 years of being sober and just delivered the highest charting Kiss or Kiss related solo album ever.
Headed to S Florida tomorrow. See you at The Hard Rock in Hollywood Friday for Slash and Sunday for Deep Purple. Remember my books signings will be just outside the Hard Rock Cafe inside the casino AFTER the concerts. Around 10:15 for Slash and 9:15 for Purple. Hope to see you. Books and merch for sale too.
All new podcast posts tomorrow with my TMS partners Don & Jim sitting in with me. We give you our top 5 albums of 2014 so far. Since no new TMS until early next year thought this would be a fun hold over to hear from all 3 of us with a Top 5 list. Download and listen via Itunes or www.podcastone.com
Here is a link to the speaking engagement I did in Bogota two weeks ago. I do speak English during it and it is translated. This is the video stream that happened that night. I am talking a bit slower at times because I was asked to by the translator. Hope you like it, had a blast and the response was amazing. Thanks! http://www.rockaxis.tv/senal-en-vivo/especial-rock-al-parque-encuentro-de-dos-figuras/
Saw Deep Purple last night in Westbury, and while age may have reduced some of their aggression and taken from Gillan his legendary banshee wails, the band still absolutely rocked it. These are men who range from 60-69 who still put on a great show and, more importantly, still making music that is of a very high quality.
With no disrespect to Blackmore, who is a legend and without whose work the current-Deep Purple would not still be working, the albums at the end of his tenure (House of Blue Light, Slaves & Masters, Battle Rages On) were stale in comparison to the five albums they’ve made in the Morse era. I dare say that Purpendicular is in my top 5 fave Purple albums of all time, and maybe higher.
There are not too many bands whose members are in the age group who are still consistently putting out great, fresh and inspired artistic statements.
Last month it was Judas Priest – Redeemer Of Souls, now it’s Ace – Space Invader in the Billboard top 10, that is so cool, and so great for them, us, and Rock & Metal! Plus, we have a #1 rated show with TMS, so how much more proof do these so called critics need to see that Rock & Metal are still alive?! Alive, kicking, screaming, can’t hurt us, we’ll never die, we are on the march of the damned! 😉
Unfortunately that is not what the young audience wants on the VMAs. The only rock acts to perform on the VMAs were Maroon 5 and 5 Seconds of Summer (neither are hard rock or metal). All other acts were R&B or rap.
This is about us, our generation, F**K the young audience! I haven’t watched the VMA’s since ’91, as far as I’m concerned, that was the last year of existence for MTV. But I get what you’re saying Rich, unfortunately us in our 40’s & 50’s (most of us) seem to have been forgotten by the “music media”, but thank god we still have Eddie Trunk, he’ll never forget about us or let us down! Cheers to JP & Ace, and to all the critics and naysayers out there, “Hey Hey, My My, Rock & Roll will never die! 😉
There is a problem for metal.Acts that sold out arenas and stadiums in the 80’s mostly play on the club circuit now. Heavy metal Sunday US Festival in ’83 drew over 300, 000. Bands that played that day including Priest play clubs and half curtained off arenas. I saw Priest @ house of blues a few yrs ago, got tix@ door. About 300 in attendance. Dont kid yourself
That’s why they’re taking Steel Panther out with them this time.
Well damn, I wish I would have been there at the House of Blues. That would have been great, since I love their food as well!
There wouldn’t be a problem like that if all the people around here who say they love and support metal would actually go out there and do it. Put your money where your mouth is, don’t kid yourself, if you want metal to survive, it’s up to ALL of us to keep it alive. I buy my music, I still go to concerts, I’m doing my part, because nobody rides for free. IMO, one of the things that would also help a lot is if the promoters did a better job promoting, hardcore fans like us always know what’s going on, but the casual fans need to see more & hear more, especially today what with so many more distractions and so on. I got my JP tickets for Oct 9th & 10th, Brooklyn & Atlantic City, and if Ace tours, I’ll be there to support him too! 🙂
And take note of the thousands of empty seats @Barclays. Mike B correct saying metal just trying to survive in U.S.
I just looked on TM, and it looks like Priest at the Izod Center in NJ is only playing to the floor and the first level of seats. The entire 2nd deck is closed. That is only maybe 5K seats for sale, and most of those are still there. PLUS, they are playing Brooklyn as well.
Steel Panther was a horrible choice for an opener. They play Irving Plaza here in NYC on there own and don’t sell it out. That place holds a thousand people.
They should add a serious middle act to the bill. Mastodon just put out a great record, so did Accept. How about Ace!
Not saying JP will sell out the Barclays, but take note Frank, it’s only Aug. 29, the JP concert isn’t until Oct 9, that’s still over a month away. Still plenty of time for JP & Metal fans to buy their tickets. Whoever is in charge of promoting the event, need to wake up and get off their asses and promote it! Radio, Billboards, a TV commercial or two, newspapers, internet, come on, get on the F’N ball!
I’d like detailsbon that JP club show that only drew less than 300, I saw them on the Epitaph tour in St.Louis and there were 5,700 in attendance, so you’re either talking about the club tour with Ripper, years ago, or you’re full of crap.
Don’t forget Godsmack’s new album 1000 hp and Slash has a new one coming out soon which I’m looking forward to. I share your sentiment Doug but in the United States, it seems most hard rock and metal bands are in survival mode. On the other hand they’re selling out huge festivals in Europe and other countries, or so I’ve heard. That’s why if bands like Aerosmith, Kiss, Def Leppard, Motley Crue are selling out at the theaters or 8000 10,000 seats we consider it good news. At least I do.
Absolutely Mike B., I hope everybody goes out and buys Godsmack’s & Slash’s new albums. Show the rest of the world that America still loves Rock & Metal as much as ever! Also, if you haven’t already, the junior thunder from down under, Airbourne, if you love AC/DC, and who doesn’t? Give Airbourne a shot, you won’t be disappointed.
Runnin’ Wild
No Guts, No Glory
Black Dog Barking
3 albums every Rock fan should own. Cheers! 🙂
Doug,
I love AC/DC. I will check out some Airbourne soon just for the heck of it and because I keep hearing good things about them.
Mike B,
Airbourne is like AC/DC’s baby cousin. Love them!
Dana from ET.com 🙂
Doug, Rock n Metal r 2 completely different music types.True, RnR will never die.Metal? Its dead in U.S.
You r only kiddind yourself when u say America loves metal as much as ever. The facts speak for themselves. Get your head out of the sand.
BTW, My first show in ’77. Priest opening up for Zeppelin @ The Forum in LA. Have been supporting metal ever since. Was @ US festival ’83. In order: Quiet Riot, Motley Crue, Ozzy, Priest, Triumph, Scorpions, Van Halen. Was @ Priest show MSG ’84 when they were barred.Have seen Priest ov 100times. As earlier mentioned saw them @ House of Blues when Halford first came back. Again, stop kidding yourself.
Frank, those are all your opinions, most people (including me) would strongly disagree with you. Yes, attendance for Metal concerts is down, but that doesn’t mean Metal is dead, far from it. First of all, if Metal was dead, TMS wouldn’t be a #1 rated show, and even with the watered down numbers, JP & Ace’s latest albums wouldn’t debut in the Billboard top 10. If YOUR head wasn’t in the sand, you would know the real reason Metal doesn’t get any respect or recognition by the “mass media”. The agenda over the last 20 years or so by them, has been to push & ram rap/hip-hop shit down everybody’s throat and pretend like Metal never existed. unfortunately the truth is, there’s a lot more politics in & behind the scenes in the music business than you think, or realize. if you don’t believe that Frank, you’re just kidding yourself, Metal may not be as “popular” here in the states as it once was, but don’t kid yourself Frank. it’s far from dead!
Eddie, is it true you are delaying new season of TMS bcause you are so busy on tour? Also twitter rumors say VH1 classic is on a different cable tier and not in most homes with cable, so know HD? When will you put it in HD?
Me delaying it?? God no! I am on the road because the NETWORK who makes ALL the decisions is tight with money. Please read the Trunk Report where I cover this in detail. HD and ALL decisions are the networks, not mine. I wish I did it every day!
You could do it every week…but not on VH-1 Classic. I know you are loyal to them because they gave you a platform, but they don’t invest in you as a brand. And you are good enough to be a brand. So, if your agent isn’t out busting his/her arse to every high end cable outlet (DirecTV Audience Network, Mark Cuban’s AXSTV, Spike, etc.) then get yourself another agent. It’s going to take a leap of faith by you though, and you know it…
Agent? I don’t have one. They aren’t interested in TV people at my pay grade. Outside of Spike, which is owned by the same company as VH1, the other networks have less coverage and in less homes and don’t seem to me sure what they want to do. Trust me, if you know of anyone looking for a rock talk show I’m all ears! That’s not meant as a diss to VH1 or that I don’t want to do TMS, just want to do so much more than they can handle.
TV is Old media, you have to get production company and produce your program and find a media with sponsorship. i know it is easier said than done. Youtube, Netflix, DirecTV etc. Shop the Idea as much as possible and it just may stick with someone. If Atrie Lange can get a show I would think you could too. You need to provide sponsors with numbers from your TMS, PodCast and Internet hits. Put together a solid advertising proposal(get college interns to do it cheap and lots of energy) with forecast and revenue possibilities.
There is still nothing with as much impact as being on broadcast TV. As for Artie his show is cancelled and has been for a while.
Glad to see Ace get his album in the top 10…let’s hope it has some staying power. AC/DC releasing their new album soon…we know that one will be a huge seller and stay on the charts for a long time, which will be good for the hard rock/heavy metal genre. Most outlets are still saying the album’s title will be “Man Down’ as a tribute to Malcolm, but we shall see. The tour seems like a lock as well.
So proud of Ace. This is a much different guy than the one I used to go see religiously in the early 1990s only to stand there with everyone else in the venue waiting for 30-60 minutes because he was running late due to “not feeling good”. The sales numbers are great and all but in the end all that matters is he’s still kicking arse and staying true to himself, unlike that other “Yeah, but they’re playing packed arenas!” band. That’s great that they’re playing arenas, but so is Justin Bieber. Does that mean he’s “better” than Ace too? (please don’t answer that if you’re a 14 year old girl)