World-renowned guitarist JOHN 5 recently announced the release of his upcoming eighth full-length solo album, entitled Season Of The Witch. The fully-instrumental album, which features his band The Creatures (bassist Ian Ross and drummer Rodger Carter), is set to hit stores on March 3rd. The album features experimentation with various genres – including western swing, Spanish flamenco, heavy metal and more – thoroughly showcasing JOHN 5’s diverse virtuosic abilities. Pre-orders will become available via iTunes in early February.
John 5 took a different approach with the release of Season Of The Witch, choosing to share his new music with fans throughout 2016 by releasing several tracks individually in the form of various music videos. Tracks/videos released include the fast-paced Black Grass Plague, downtempo, introspective Behind The Nut Love, hard rocking Now Fear This, jazz fusion marathon Here’s To The Crazy Ones (featuring a bit of “monkeying around”), heavy metal claymation shredfest Making Monsters, and last but not least, the whiskey-soaked Hell Haw. The videos have garnered nearly a million views, collectively.
“Since music is so visual nowadays, I thought these videos would be the best way to get my music out there, and it seems to have worked – now everybody knows the songs on the record,”states John 5.“I put so much work into this record with the videos, the artwork, the songwriting and the playing – out of my catalog, this is by far my favorite solo record.”
Season Of The Witch track listing:
1) Book of Spells
2) Black Grass Plague
3) Guitars, Tits and Monsters
4) Now Fear This
5) Behind the Nut Love
6) Making Monsters
7) Dr. Evil’s Spook Show
8) Here’s To The Crazy Ones
9) The Macabre
10) Triple D
11) Hell Haw
12) Ode to Jasper
13) Season Of The Witch
Kicking off the same day as the album release, John 5 and The Creatures will embark on a US tour, beginning in Fife, WA. See below for all currently confirmed tour dates, with more coming soon.
John 5 “Season Of The Witch” tour dates:
3/3 – Fife, WA @ Louie G’s
3/4 – Everett, WA @ Tony V’s Garage
3/5 – Portland, OR @ Star Theater
3/10 – San Jose, CA @ The Ritz
3/11 – Fresno, CA @ Fulton 55
3/12 – San Francisco, CA @ DNA Lounge
3/16 – Fullerton, CA @ The Slidebar Rock-n-Roll Cafe
3/17 – West Hollywood, CA @ Whisky A Go Go
3/18 – Las Vegas, NV @ Vamp’d Rock Bar & Grill
3/19 – San Diego, CA @ Brick By Brick
3/23 – San Antonio, TX @ Fitzgerald’s Bar & Live Music
3/24 – Tyler, TX @ Clicks Live
3/25 – Houston, TX @ Scout’s Bar
3/26 – Dallas, TX @ Trees
4/11 – Pittsburgh, PA @ Hard Rock Cafe Pittsburgh
4/12 – Cleveland, OH @ The Agora Ballroom
4/13 – Newport, KY @ Southgate House
4/14 – Indianapolis, IN @ Vogue
4/15 – Westland, MI @ The Token Lounge
4/16 – Chicago, IL @ Reggies
Frontiers Music Srl is proud to announce the release of Don’t Let Up, the new studio album from Night Ranger. Don’t Let Up is set for a March 24th release. The album will be available in both a standard edition and a deluxe edition (featuring bonus track and bonus DVD – physical format only).
For your first taste of new music from the album, check out Somehow Someway below.
“Somehow Someway is all Night Ranger. It not only captures the spirit of our live shows but also is the essence of who we are and who we have been for the last 35 years…a kick ass American rock and roll band…case closed,” says Jack Blades, bassist and vocalist.
Adds Kelly Keagy, drummer and vocalist, “[t]he song Somehow Someway is an up-tempo rocker with an infectious, big guitar lick. Take caution while you’re driving in your car, you may find yourself going WAY over the speed limit. Check it out!”
“Our new single, Somehow Someway is a rockin’ barnburner up to the standards of our first single, Don’t Tell Me You Love Me. This could be a great song to perform live and add to our setlist….Enjoy!!” encourages guitarist Brad Gillis.
To pre-order Don’t Let Up and/or stream the first single, please click here, or at the links below:
1. Somehow Someway
2. Running Out Of Time
3. Truth
4. Day And Night*
5. Don’t Let Up
6. Won’t Be Your Fool Again
7. Say What You Want
8. We Can Work It Out
9. Comfort Me
10. Jamie
11. Nothing Left Of Yesterday
*Bonus audio track on Deluxe Edition
*Bonus DVD: Band Interviews; Running Out Of Time (video); Day And Night (Video)
With more than 17 million albums sold worldwide, over 3000 live shows performed, and more than 1 billion in radio audience, Night Ranger has both epitomized and transcended the arena rock sound and style of that era and beyond. With songs that have significantly impacted popular culture and continue to expand their ever-growing fan-base, Night Ranger is proof that powerful songs, plus accomplished musicians is the perfect formula for continued success.
Night Ranger has earned widespread acclaim, multi-platinum and gold album status while leaving their indelible mark on the music charts with a string of best-selling albums (Dawn Patrol, Midnight Madness, 7 Wishes, Big Life and Man In Motion), its popularity fueled by an impressive string of instantly recognizable hit singles and signature album tracks. Producing legendary hits such as Sister Christian, Don’t Tell Me You Love Me, When You Close Your Eyes the anthemic (You Can Still) Rock In America, along with Sentimental Street, Goodbye, Sing Me Away, Four in the Morning and more.
The band was also one of the first big “video” bands, with over ten number one videos on MTV.
Night Ranger is Jack Blades (bass, vocals), Kelly Keagy (drums, vocals), Brad Gillis (lead & rhythm guitars), Eric Levy (keyboards), and Keri Kelli (lead & rhythm guitars).
KXM, the band featuring dUg Pinnick of King’s X on vocals/bass, George Lynch of Lynch Mob/Dokken on guitars and Ray Luzier of Korn on drums, has released a video for song the Scatterbrain, which also happens to be the title of their sophmore album, out on March 17th. Watch it below.
Recorded over the span of ten days, every song on Scatterbrain was the result of a musical jam from all three members playing together in the same room.
Ray Luzier explains on the process, “We wanted to use the same formula as the 1st KXM record: book studio time, come in fresh every day with a new idea & run with it and not over think anything.” George Lynch described the sessions as Record-topia, “We showed up in the studio, camped out with a bunch of gear and let the tape roll. Just like the first album, no pre-production, no rehearsal, no pre-written songs.” dUg Pinnick adds, “The vibe was like a bunch of old friends having fun creating music like the previous record, nothing but fun!”
To read more about this release, and to view a track listing, please click here.
Fresh off winning their fan voted Classic Rock Magazine Album of the Year award, Def Leppard announce they will return to the road this spring for a three month run across North America. The Live Nation promoted outing will storm through cities across parts of the U.S. and Canada. This new leg of dates follows the groups massive 70+ city 2016 tour and is set to kick off on April 8th in Manchester, NH and wrap on June 25th in Indianapolis, IN. Joining Def Leppard on select dates are Poison and Tesla. Please see full tour routing below. Tickets will go on sale on January 20th and 21st at LiveNation.com.
Front man Joe Elliott says, “We’re thrilled to be able to take this tour to cities we didn’t play in 2016. The demand for us to return, or rather extend the tour was phenomenal! There’s a great buzz around the band right now and we’re loving the fact that we can do this with the latest album being so well received.”
In conjunction with the announcement of their North American tour, Def Leppard also premieres the live video for “Animal” via Brave Words. Watch it below.
The live video clip is from the bands recently announced concert film, And There Will Be A Next Time – Live From Detroit which will be released on February 10th in partnership with Eagle Rock Entertainment. Click here to purchase. Also, click this link to watch a live performance of, Let’s Go, also from this release.
Guitarist Phil Collen says, “Our last full concert DVD, excluding Viva! Hysteria, was 1987’s In The Round, In Your Face, which was shot on video. We felt an updated version was way overdue so here it is, the brand new Def Leppard concert experience.”
The tour also marks the first time in over 5 years that Poison will tour with all original members. Members including Bret Michaels, CC DeVille, Bobby Dall and Rikki Rockett. Poison has sold over 40 million records and is is set to perform some of its greatest hits including Nothin’ but a Good Time, Every Rose has its Thorn, Talk Dirty to Me, Unskinny Bop and Something to Believe In.
Front man Bret Michaels says, “I could not be more excited. I know all of us will give one thousand percent on stage and we are looking forward to performing our hits together. I personally could not be more thankful for the three generations of fans and I love the music of Def Leppard and Tesla. This will be an amazing night of rock and roll. Don’t wait because god only knows.”
April:
8, Manchester, NH SNHU Arena
10 Montreal, QC Bell Centre *
12 Uncasville, CT Mohegan Sun Arena
14 Baltimore, MD Royal Farms Arena
15 Uniondale, NY Nassau Coliseum
17 Grand Rapids, MI Van Andel Arena
19 Green Bay, WI Resch Center
21 St Paul, MN Xcel Energy Center
22 Sioux Falls, SD Sanford Premier Center
24 Des Moines, IA Wells Fargo Arena
26 Louisville, KY KFC Yum! Cneter **
27 Nashville, TN Bridgestone Arena
29 Ft Myers, FL Fort Rock ***
30 Jacksonville, FL Welcome to Rockville ***
May:
2 Tuscaloosa, AL Tuscaloosa Amphitheatre
3 Atlanta, GA Lakewood Amphitheatre
5 Charlottesville, VA John Paul Jones Arena
6 Charlotte, NC Carolina Rebellion ***
24 Lincoln, NE Pinnacle Bank Arena
26 Pryor, OK Rocklahoma ***
27 San Antonio, TX River City Rockfest ***
29 Colorado Springs, CO Broadmoor World Arena
31 Bozeman, MT Brick Breeden Fieldhouse
June:
2 Edmonton, AB Rogers Place *
3 Calgary, AB Scotiabank Saddledome *
6 Vancouver, BC Rogers Arena *
7 Spokane, WA Spokane Arena
9 Seattle, WA White River Amph
10 Portland, OR Moda Center
12 Fresno, CA Save Mart Center
14 Ontario, CA Citizens Bank Arena
16 San Diego, CA Sleep Train Amphitheatre
17 Las Vegas, NV MGM Grand Garden Arena
19 Salt Lake City, UT ASANA Amphitheatre
21 Kansas City, MO Sprint Center **
22 St Louis, MO Hollywood Casino Amphitheater
24 Chicago, IL Hollywood Casino Amphitheater
25 Indianapolis, IN Klipsch Music Center
• Def Leppard only
** Def Leppard and Poison only, no Tesla
*** Def Leppard festival dates
When an attorney calls me for this story and says he represents Ratt, I ask what version of the band he works with. The attorney, Stephen Doniger, chuckles and replies, “That’s sad you have to ask that.”
Two factions have been warring over who, and who doesn’t, have the right to use the name and trademarks of Ratt,…known for ’80s hits such as Round and Round and Lay it Down. Since 2015, drummer Bobby Blotzer had been playing shows under the name Ratt with a lineup in which he’s the sole member from the band’s ’80s heyday. Then, last October, founding singer Stephen Pearcy reunited with the other musicians from the Round and Round era — guitarist Warren DeMartini and bassist Juan Croucier — for a surprise performance on a Monsters of Rock Cruise.
Pearcy, DeMartini and Croucier have since announced a series of Ratt shows, including high profile sets at Maryland’s M3 Rock Festival and Rocklahoma in Pryor, Oklahoma. Pearcy says he and DeMartini are even working on demos for a new Ratt album. Meanwhile, a sold-out December 29th Michigan casino show by Blotzer’s Ratt was cancelled. According to a Facebook post by Soaring Eagle Casino & Resort, that performance was nixed after being “issued a ‘cease and desist’ letter from the parties claiming rights to the Ratt trademark.” (“Sister Christian” hitmakers Night Ranger, who were also on the bill, did go ahead and perform that evening.)
Since one Ratt boasts the band’s frontman, guitar hero and bassist, and is booking large rock festivals, while another Ratt is built around the drummer, and just got cancelled, it might appear this dispute is over. Not so fast, says Blotzer. The drummer released a defiant statement via Facebook on January 9th. “This has NEVER been put to a FINAL judgment,” Blotzer wrote. “Let me repeat: NO FINAL JUDGEMENT…”
…Attorney Doniger, however, says caring about the fans is exactly why his clients “will not allow Blotzer to continue touring as Ratt with his cover band.’”
On a recent afternoon, Pearcy is driving in his Dodge Charger when reached via phone. Asked about the Blotzer dispute, Pearcy says, “That would be like somebody taking years of what you worked for and trying to change the course of history … and saying, ‘Hey, forget about those guys. It’s all about me.’” He laughs. “Well, if the guy wrote songs it might be a whole different story. But I really don’t even want to talk about this person actually…”
…When I reached out to Blotzer for an interview, his attorney Drew Sherman wrote back via email that the drummer was on “winter holiday through the end of next week,” which was well past this story’s deadline. Two days after that email, Blotzer posted his 1,200-plus word Facebook statement, which he apparently wrote in response to something prominent rock-radio host Eddie Trunk said about Ratt on his SiriusXM talk show.
Blotzer had called in to previous episodes of Trunk’s show to discuss the Ratt dispute, which the host says he’s still welcome to do. “When this stuff happens, I don’t take sides in it,” Trunk tells me. “I’ve always maintained the policy that all sides are open to come on my shows and discuss it.”
In Blotzer’s Facebook statement, he maintains that he simply wanted to go tour and play, but his bandmates’ cease-and-desist tactics prevented him from working. “They didn’t speak to each other till they saw the huge success we had this past year,” Blotzer wrote on Facebook. “We did 70 or so shows, and grossed more money on this tour than any tour Ratt has done in 20 years past.”
But Doniger says it’s not true that Pearcy, Croucier and DeMartini had no plans to tour again. They just didn’t want to tour with Blotzer. “The guys [Pearcy, Croucier, DeMartini and Blotzer] toured together between 2012 and 2014,” Doniger says. “They stopped because Stephen Pearcy’s twin sister died and he had to take time off. At that point DeMartini and Croucier decided not to tour without all partners for the integrity of the band. But within a year Blotzer was taking steps to usurp control of the trademarks so that he could tour by himself as Ratt…”
…[When] asked about what he feels is the biggest misconception of the Ratt dispute, Blotzer attorney Sherman says, “That Juan Croucier owns the Ratt trademarks. The summary judgment ruling was not a final judgment and the trademarks have not transferred away from WBS. Even if they did in the future, they would be owned by the Ratt Partnership, not Juan Croucier. And the only two remaining members of the Ratt Partnership, according to Croucier, are him and Bobby.”
Blotzer/WBS have filed a request for reconsideration, scheduled for January 23rd in a downtown Los Angeles federal courtroom. According to Sherman, “There are significant contradictions in sworn testimony by Mr. Croucier.” But Doniger says, “Blotzer tried to pull a fast one and has now ended up with nothing.” At the hearing, Doniger is seeking over $250,000 in costs and attorney’s fees from WBS for his clients.
In addition to the ability to generate revenue by touring as Ratt, whoever controls the trademarks also controls revenue from merchandising and licensing (but not music sales or publishing)…
…“I think it’s quickly forgotten just how big Ratt was,” says Trunk. “To me, album for album, song for song, you could even make the case they were more consistent than Mötley Crüe. But I think a lot of the reason they don’t get that same reverence as a band like Mötley Crüe is they had a lot of lineup changes. Mötley was great at making a book and dating Hollywood celebrities, and the excess really fueled their legacy, whereas Ratt kind of kept it in-house and you didn’t really hear about it all that much. So I think that factors in their perception…”
…Bands successfully touring with one original member has become commonplace…But how do two touring versions of a band impact fans? That depends, Trunk says. “I think for the really hardcore true fans that really know what’s going on, it divides them and obviously upsets them. I think that for a majority of people that don’t follow it that closely, honestly, a lot of them don’t know anything different. They see a logo, they see a name and they go and hear the songs played well like they remember them, and they have some fun and have beers with their friends and go home.”
“Ross The Boss” Friedman, on lead guitar and co-founder of Manowar, launches The Discipline of Steel 2017 world tour with Mike LePond on bass (Symphony X); Kenny “Rhino” Earl on drums (ex-Manowar); and Marc Lopes on vocals (Let Us Prey).
The tour begins in Mexico and Central America where the RTB Band will headline two metal festivals, performing a classic Manowar set. Twenty-five dates in Europe are scheduled in March and April, including an iconic tour of England, where years ago, Ross Friedman began the metal onslaught. The earth will rumble and the momentum will continue through the summer and fall festival calendar.
Says Friedman, “I have assembled three incredible musicians, and together we will deliver an experience only to be described as, true classic metal. We are going to devastate every audience, every night, without mercy!”
The Discipline of Steel World Tour 2017 (Europe) dates:
; Kenny “Rhino” Earl on drums ... )
