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KISS FRONTMAN PAUL STANLEY SLAMS MOTLEY CRUE’S NIKKI SIXX OVER COMMENTS ABOUT BANDMATE GENE SIMMONS

KISS frontman Paul Stanley has told Motley Crue bassist Nikki Sixx to keep out of the war of words with Gene Simmons over his Prince comments.

Additionally, he’s described Sixx’s contribution to the argument as an “unimportant, but annoying squeak.”

Simmons last week branded Prince’s death as self-inflicted and “pathetic” – even though the facts surrounding his passing in April haven’t been confirmed.

That led Stanley to apologize for his bandmate’s “cold” and “clueless” words, hours before Simmons said sorry himself. His wife Shannon Tweed then slammed Stanley for getting involved.

Sixx later called Simmons a “bully,” adding, “We have no respect for Gene Simmons any more – nobody in rock does. I think Gene should call it a day.”

Now Stanley has retaliated, stating, “Jesus Christ Nikki Sixx! Would you please shut up, find another way to be in the news and get off your self-inflated pedestal?

Regardless of some things Gene has said that I may take issue with, his influence on musicians, you included, is undeniable and will continue.

More importantly, his work, generosity and monetary contributions to numerous causes and charities makes your ongoing rant the unimportant, but annoying squeak it truly is. Move on.”

Sixx has responded to Stanley’s words by saying, “I will give him a standing ovation for calling out Gene himself publicly, then trying to hold my feet to the same fire. But you can’t save him.

I have to admit calling the next KISS album Move On would be a clever idea, though. Love to the Starchild.

We all give to charities and support our troops because that’s the right thing to do with our success. Telling a depressed kid to kill themselves etc. is not, so don’t confuse issues.”

Sixx has subsequently removed his tweet.

additional source: teamrock.com/news

GUITARIST MICHAEL SCHENKER ON HIS RELATIONSHIP WITH HIS BROTHER RUDOLF, “I CAN’T TRUST HIM ANYMORE”

Iconic guitarist Michael Schenker has expanded on his reasons for not being able to trust his brother Rudolf, who plays guitar for the Scorpions.

Schenker said earlier this year that he was “disappointed” in older brother Rudolf over the narrative he and the Scorpions had created about the writing and recording of 1979 album Lovedrive.

Michael added that the Scorpions took advantage of him and took credit for his songwriting efforts.

Now Michael tells The Metal Voice that Rudolf convinced him to sign over songwriting credits and that Rudolf died his hair blond as part of a plot to “misrepresent and fool people” for years.

It all came to light, he explained, when he was approached to help with the recent 50th anniversary Scorpions reissues.

Michael said, “I found out that they put a bio out that was a completely wrong story. I found out that there was nobody credited for what I wrote on Holiday. It’s the intro to Holiday, it’s 45 seconds long. That’s the intro that I wrote but nobody got credit for it.

And then Rudolf asked me to give him the melodies for Coast To Coast and with my black-and-white guitar. And those two things were the most tastiest things and easiest parts to copy, because Rudolf is not really a great guitarist. He can just about play.

But that was something, him being a Schenker and now having blond hair, and all the managers finding out, they wanted to sign that band the Scorpions where I was part of, I guess he figured out how he can misrepresent and fool people over the years, because I didn’t pay any attention until just recently.

I found out that there was not a picture of me on Lovedrive, there was no mention on Holiday who wrote and played that intro, and, of course, Rudolf persuaded me to give him the Coast To Coast melodies.

…so I’m very disappointed with that. And I must say I’m now finding out more and more weird stuff about Rudolf.”

Any lingering hope of the brothers being reunited in Scorpions were already slim, but Michael says it’ll never happen. “I have to stay away from him and I can’t trust him anymore – period,” he says. Listen to the interview below.

Michael will reunite with three Michael Schenker Group singers this summer. Gary Barden, Graham Bonnet and Robin McAuley will join Schenker at Sweden Rock on June 11th.

additional source: teamrock.com/news/

GUITARIST ALEX LIFESON ON THE PROSPECT OF MAKING ANOTHER SOLO ALBUM: “I DON’T HAVE THE SAME DRIVE… LIKE [I DID] ON ‘VICTOR’…, BUT I DO HAVE HOURS OF MATERIAL THAT DOES INSPIRE ME TO AT LEAST CONSIDER SUCH A THING”

David Barrett of Guitar Connoisseur Magazine spoke with Rush guitarist Alex Lifeson. Excerpts from the interview appear below.

Guitar Connoisseur: When I think back to your first solo album Victor, the tracks At The End and Victor come to mind, they’re so different using ambient textures and spoken word, you surprised a lot of people, even your manager wanted you to make a blues album. Do you think you’ll ever make another solo album?

Alex Lifeson: What I enjoyed most about making that album was the variety of the material. It was a wonderful opportunity for me to explore and expand on certain genres of music that were not necessarily open to me within the context of Rush. The workload was relentless, and I seemed to be working on that album every day for a year, but it was enormously satisfying for me as a songwriter, producer, and musician. I don’t have the same drive to jump into a project like Victor at the moment, but I do have hours of material that does inspire me to at least consider such a thing.

GC: Your approach to guitar has influenced so many of the bands out there today. The Rush documentary Beyond The Lighted Stage really did a great job illustrating this. Is there any aspect of what you do where you feel your fans have got a completely different perspective?

AL: Hmm, you know, I just do what I do, and it is difficult for me to assess or characterize my style or playing. The same guitar in the hands of a dozen different players will sound unique to those players; picking style, finger pressure, hand positioning on the neck, these are all slightly different, one to the next. I think most fans understand that my playing comes from deep inside, and I try my best to stay out of the way. It’s like I’m a benign schizophrenic.

GC: With your vast experience as a touring musician in the early days with bands like KISS and Aerosmith, you must have an endless array of material for an autobiography, any interest in one day documenting these stories, or is it best left unsolved?

AL: Well, that was a very long time ago, and although I do remember some things, I don’t think I remember enough to make compelling reading. It almost seems like another life ago, or some story I’d read somewhere as a kid. I do recall there were many hours of intense boredom waiting for the gig…the universal curse of all performers.

Read more at Guitar Connoisseur.

source: guitarconnoisseurmagazine.com

THE OSBOURNE’S DISCUSS RETIREMENT

Steve Appleford of Rolling Stone reports:

As previously reported, Ozzfest will be teaming up with Knotfest in San Bernardino, CA on the weekend of September 24th and 25th.

At the press conference at the Hollywood Palladium, Black Sabbath bassist Geezer Butler commented on the band’s final tour saying, “It’s good to finish at the top rather than just dragging it down and down and down. It felt like 13 could have been the last tour. Mainly, Tony is the one that really wanted to finish it.”

As time passes, the end comes nearer. “Everybody’s dying, you know,” Ozzy said. “I go, ‘I hope don’t die tonight!’ It’s like the year of the dying rock star, isn’t it? And yet the Stones keep going on. Paul McCartney keeps going on.”

“When Prince died, I was like, ‘Wow, what the fuck?’ David Bowie, Lemmy. F–king hell, it’s one a week,” Ozzy said. Then he added with a laugh, “There’s going to be some good equipment on sale soon.”

After Sabbath stops touring, Ozzy will continue as a solo artist, but he is also looking toward his own retirement from touring, according to [his wife] Sharon, who will continue to manage his career. “We’ll continue until Ozzy finishes, and Ozzy won’t be long behind them when he calls it a day,” she said, still clearly guiding her husband’s trajectory, as she has since the the beginning of the 1980s.

“It’s not going to be within the next year, but it’s coming up,” she said. “I don’t want Ozzy singing Crazy Train at 75. I think it’s best you go out before you hit that 70 and go out on top.”

Read more, and watch a video from the press conference, at Rolling Stone.

source: rollingstone.com

SINGER TED POLEY DISCUSSES HIS NEW SOLO ALBUM, AND HIS FORMER BAND, DANGER DANGER

Ruben Mosqueda of Sleaze Roxx spoke with former Danger Danger frontman, Ted Poley, about his new solo album. Excerpts from the interview appear below.

Sleaze Roxx: You have a great new record Beyond the Fade. I imagine the response has been pretty good to it?

Ted Poley: Thank you for saying that about the record. The reviews have been awesome and I had signed copies of the album through my site and we sold them all in record time. I wanted to do something for the hard core fans that wanted a signed copy. I thought those would last for a couple weeks, but we sold out in two days [laughs]. I think it’s driven by the positive reviews and the videos that Frontiers has released. It’s been awesome.

Sleaze Roxx: While I have you on the phone, I would be insane not to ask you some Danger Danger questions. What are some memories you have about recording the debut record? Sadly, the band issued the debut and follow up right before the changing of the guard.

Ted Poley: That was magical. It was my first “big” record deal. We all lived in a condo in New Jersey where we were recording the album. The songs were very cool. If you’ve heard the demos, the versions that made the record were very close to the original demos.

Like you said, we came out at about “a quarter till grunge.” About 15 minutes after we came out, everyone was wearing flannel and goatees [laughs]! That was that. They flicked the “off” switch and that was that and it was over. I have no regrets. It was a really special time. I really like that first record. We worked with Lance Quinn who had worked with Bon Jovi. As a matter of fact, Obie O’Brien who was one of Bon Jovi’s engineers stopped by the studio and he told us that [Jon] Bon Jovi liked the studio so much that he bought it [laughs]! Thankfully, he allowed us to finish recording the album before he moved all the (recording) equipment into his house [laughs]!

I do think we were the last band to record there. After we were done, they moved the mixing board into his basement. Obie actually asked me to come with him to Jon’s house because he was in the basement framing it in preparation for the equipment to be moved in. Obie says “Hey Ted you wanna go to Jon’s house?!” I said “Yeah, I would love to go to Jon’s house!” [laughs] Oh, that was so awesome because it was at the peak of “Jon Bon Jokiness.” It was surreal. Obie was close to Jon so we get to the gate. The gate opens, we walked through the property through the garage. I saw Jon’s vintage and sports cars and then got to see where the studio would be.

There was Jon walking around barefooted and he was the nicest guy you could ever meet! He bought us lunch from an Italian restaurant and he stuck me in his office and played me the New Jersey album which they’d just completed. It was the ultimate Bon Jovi experience thanks to Obie O’Brien. Little did I know what was coming! [laughs].

Sleaze Roxx: I remember the videos for the debut getting regular rotation on Dial MTV. How did that feel like? I can’t even begin to imagine what that’s like?

Ted Poley: I f–king miss that s–t! [laughs hysterically] That was the best! I’m not going to bulls–t you man. That’s everything you ever wanted.

Sleaze Roxx: Any memories of the Screw It record?

Ted Poley: When we did that record, it was the beginning of the musical shift. By the time we set out to record the Cockroach record, we were there. We spent a lot of money on that Monkey Business video. [laughs] We should have invested that on an apartment building! We spent somewhere in the area of two to three hundred thousand dollars on that video. I might have seen it played 2-3 times on MTV at three in the morning. It’s an awesome video for its time but honestly an apartment building would have been a better investment! [laughs]

We used Erwin Musper who gave us a little less slick of a sound. Lance [Quinn] gave us an early Bon Jovi like sound. I don’t know that it was a “conscious” decision to move to a different sound at the time. I couldn’t have cared less. I was too busy getting laid. [laughs] Don’t get me wrong, I’m a musician, but there was a lot going on at the time to keep me occupied.

Sleaze Roxx: Last thing, have you ever approached by an established band to audition to be their vocalist?

Ted Poley: I was by a couple really cool bands. Nothing that I think I would take to the next level. At one point right after I left Danger Danger, I got a call from a really cool band called Royal Hunt. I liked them but I liked them without me! [laughs]

Read more at Sleaze Roxx

Watch video’s for the songs Let’s Start Something and Higher, from Beyond the Fade, below.

To purchase the album, click here.

source: sleazeroxx.com

ORIGINAL AC/DC DRUMMER PHIL RUDD SAYS “I’VE NEVER FELT BETTER IN MY LIFE”

Annemarie Quill of New Zealand Herald reports:

Growing killer chillies was not something AC/DC drummer Phil Rudd ever thought would become a passion.

But when you are confined to the four walls of your house for eight months, even if it is a waterfront mansion with Ferraris as flatmates, “you discover things about yourself. You do a lot of thinking, play a lot of drums and grow f*** loads of chillies”…He opens the fridge to reveal a further production line of bottled chilli sauce.

“I like growing things. I like hot food. I had time on my hands. Now I have Phil Rudd hot chilli sauce.”

…In March, Rudd’s eight-month home detention ended. During his sentence he was banned from taking non-prescribed drugs and ordered to undergo drug and alcohol testing when police requested.

“I’m all done. I’m free. To do what I like … well, not really.”

…”I have behaved myself pretty well. I even tried to give up the cigarettes, but I haven’t. I didn’t drink. I am not a big drinker, so it doesn’t bother me. But, I have stopped all the crazy stuff.

At first it was hard. Frustrating. Not being able to go out to the shops. Do the little things. I was allowed a couple of hours twice a week to check on my boat. I’d go in the morning. I got to drive my cars. It was my only freedom. But being [a] Taurus, a self-determining person, at first I struggled with having to be home at a set time. But now, I am a homebody.”

…The quietness of the past eight months and the more low-key lifestyle is something he wants to continue, he says.

“It has become part of who I am now. With help. I have had to get help on my issues.”

Help has been in the form of a psychiatrist.

Rudd says he has been meeting with the doctor for one-on-one sessions for more than a year, which he describes as “really good”.

“He comes here to the house about once a week. I have got to know him pretty well. I would even describe him as a mate. At first I’d give him lots of s***, about Clockwork Orange psychiatry and all that … but talking about everything, as well as giving up the crazy s***, means that in a funny way, being forced to do that, it has been good. I was quite happy to get the help.”

Rudd says being able to admit that he did need help was hard. That it doesn’t go with the persona of a rockstar, “having issues”, but he was inspired by Sir John Kirwan talking about his depression and seeing how he overcame it.

“I’ve never felt better in my life. Physically, mentally, I am in the best shape I have ever been.”

[In regards to his former band AC/DC], Rudd says he has not spoken to band members since his conviction.

In an NZME interview earlier this month, when asked about Rudd, Angus Young said, “Phil I haven’t heard from. He’s been very quiet of late,” but Axl Rose was quoted as saying “I’ve talked to him about these other singers, though!”

Rudd smiled at that. “No, I have not spoken to Axl. He has not spoken to me.”

As for playing again with the band, Rudd is not saying never.

“It is up to Angus, what he wants to do. I am limited to where I can go.”

It is a much more subdued approach compared with straight after his sentence when he appeared on TV3 saying he wanted to “get my job back … I’m going to be back”.

Why the change of heart?

“I was over-fuelled. All over the place. I am not like that any more. I’ve never felt better as a drummer or a person. I am not saying I never hope of ever playing with AC/DC again but, then again, is it even AC/DC any more? No Bon’s beautiful voice. No Malcolm. No Brian.”

Read more at Bay of Plenty Times.

source: nzherald.co.nz/bay-of-plenty-times