Ritchie Blackmore has ruled out the possibility of touring or recording with the latest Rainbow lineup.
He has no plans to continue the project beyond their three concerts in June – and remains committed to Renaissance music and his band Blackmore’s Night.
His comments come after Rainbow bassist Bob Curiano said the band were ready to record any time they were asked, and former singer Joe Lynn Turner said the band’s legacy would be tarnished if no studio work was undertaken.
Asked if there’s any chance of a world tour, Blackmore tells the Italian website SpazioRock, “No. Also, there will not be any new studio album. I thought I’d just get back to playing the old songs one more time. My commitment lies with Blackmore’s Night – this is just a few dates for fun.”
He offers a reason for selecting an all-new lineup for the rock shows, “I’m not a big fan of names,” he says. “I believe in playing with good musicians rather than famous people.”
The guitarist recently underwent surgery on his left hand, and says, “The recovery is coming along. Any operation on fingers is always involved, but I don’t foresee any problems.”
Rainbow play the Monsters Of Rock festival in Germany on June 17th and 18th, then at the Genting Arena, Birmingham, UK, on June 25th.
According to AC/DC singer Brian Johnson’s friend Jim Breuer, the comedian believes AC/DC should have announced their split with the singer at a press conference featuring the whole band – and that guitarist Angus Young “came off cold” by not doing so.
Johnson was forced to bow out in March over the risk of immediate hearing loss, a situation that was explained with a brief announcement from the band. They’ve since confirmed Guns N’ Roses frontman Axl Rose as his replacement for the last 10 shows of their Rock Or Bust world tour.
Last month Johnson release a statement saying he was “crushed” by his departure from the band, but that he hoped medical attention might allow him to return to performing at some point.
Breuer caused controversy in the days after the split by suggesting the band had dumped Johnson’s gear in his driveway without a word. He later explained he’d been speaking figuratively.
Now he tells Talk Toomey, “Me as a fan, and I think most fans, would think you’d see the band together in a press conference, like, ‘We feel horrible for Brian here. We put so many years together. Brian’s going to try and get help and we’re going to look for a singer and move on. We all love Brian, and this is kind of a goodbye-to-Brian tour.’
To not see that, and just read a headline that says, ‘We’re looking for new singers,’ it’s a little weird.”
He adds he was “hurt” by the way AC/DC dealt with the situation, continuing, “You could have made it a celebration. When it was all said and done, Brian came off very classy and Angus came off cold. Like Wal-mart just replacing a cashier.”
Breuer says of Young, “He needs to know his audience. He needs to know how much love, time, investment and money we put into Brian Johnson.”
An AC/DC spokesperson this week told TeamRock that the band themselves had chosen to offer refunds to those who don’t want to attend Rose-fronted shows, saying: “They care about their fans and wanted to do right by them.” The rescheduled performances begin this weekend.
Comedian Jim Breuer threw a metal show in his garage and captured it all on film for his new video Thrash. Following the announcement of his musical debut Jim Breuer along with backing band The Loud & Rowdy. Watch it below.
Due out May 27th via Metal Blade Records, Songs From The Garage delivers comedy and masterful heavy music in a record that is unadulterated fun. To hear the first single, Be A D**k 2Nite, and to pre-order the album in various formats, please visit metalblade.com/songsfromthegarage.
Breuer tells Loudwire, Thrash pretty much wraps up what this project and album represents. This song is for people that grew up with rock and hard rock who now have families, but still love to take the time to throw down & thrash!”
The track and video do just that. We find Breuer home alone letting loose when he decides to throw a metal show for the entire neighborhood. Madness ensues as the show-goers head bang and sing along to the anthemic track. Produced by Allison Woest and directed by David Brodsky along with Jim Breuer himself, the video provides pure entertainment and even includes an Ozzy Osbourne impersonation.
The album features special guests such as Brian Johnson (AC/DC) who provides vocals on two tracks and Rob Caggiano (Anthrax, Volbeat) who produced the record and provided guitar. Backing Breuer up is The Loud & Rowdy with Mike Tichy on drums and Joe Vigliotti on bass. The inspiration for all of this comes from Breuer’s adolescent immersion in the world of heavy music, falling in love with Judas Priest and AC/DC, alongside the likes of The Scorpions, Ozzy Osbourne, Metallica, and Van Halen. The fire to start a band was soon lit under him, though he wouldn’t begin his musical career until he was older. Having finally made the album that has been burning to get out of him since his teens, Breuer couldn’t be happier with the result.
Songs From The Garage track-listing:
1. Thrash
2. Raising Teenage Girls
3. Old School
4. Be a D**k 2nite
5. My Rock n Roll Dream *
6. Mr. Rock n Roll *
7. Who’s Better Than Us?!
8. Family Warrior
9. Sugar Rush
10. Wannabe
11. The Unexplained
Next Wednesday evening, Steve Vai will perform two exclusive sets on Wednesday, May 11th at The Iridium in New York City — the most intimate room Vai has headlined in years. The shows will take place at 8:00PM and 10:30PM. Tickets can be purchased here beginning today at Noon ET:
Both Vai performances are being filmed for a future episode of the critically acclaimed public television concert series Front and Center, scheduled to air in early 2017 during the seventh season of the show. This show also kicks off The Iridium’s annual celebration of its legacy as “The Home of Les Paul.” With more events featuring iconic performers to be announced, The Iridium will be honoring its most famous resident guitarist with special performances leading up to what would have been Les Paul’s 101st birthday on June 9th.
Over the past several years, Front and Center has presented a mix of Grammy, Country Music Association, and American Music Award winners, rock icons, and multi-Platinum artists including Santana, Paul Rodgers, Cheap Trick, Steven Tyler, Keith Urban, Jack Johnson, Joe Jackson, John Hiatt, Lady Antebellum, Buddy Guy, Little Big Town, Cyndi Lauper, The Fray, for King & Country, Train, Trey Anastasio, and more.
Vai will be launching his Passion and Warfare 25th Anniversary World Tour beginning at the World Guitar Festival in Rouyn-Noranda, Quebec, on May 28th, 2016. Following that festival play and an extensive run in Europe that will include stops in Scotland, England, Finland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Belgium, Germany, Poland, France, Switzerland and many other countries, the tour will arrive in the United States in October. Additional concerts in America and abroad will be announced at a later date.
For more information on the Front and Center music series, please visit frontandcenter.com and for select tickets to the Front and Center tapings at The Iridium, visit theiridium.com.
…You don’t have to like KISS. You don’t even have to get them. But there’s a good chance you’re listening to something today that was influenced by the band. Red House Painters covered Shock Me. The Melvins released solo records in the spirit of KISS. The Replacements covered Black Diamond, as did the late Bathory vocalist Quorthon. Hell, Joey and Tommy Ramone got their faces blown off at an early KISS performance at Coventry in Queens.
…Then there’s Ace Frehley, lead guitar (pronounced, “lead gee-TAWWW!”). The wild rock’n’roller. The space cadet from Jendel. He’s the guy that even non-KISS fans can agree is pretty fucking cool (just watch KISS’s infamous 1979 interview with Tom Snyder on The Tomorrow Show for proof). And no one sounds like Ace. His leads are their own language—raw, loose, strings bending to the breaking point—he plays guitar like he truly is from another planet…
…Noisey caught up with some of the musicians that the Space Ace has influenced. Artists from all over the rock spectrum—crossing generations, genres and gender—who’ve been moved by one of those classic Ace guitar solos, or that larger-than-life persona. Sit back, and enjoy the rocket ride.
Mike McCready of Pearl Jam. Favorite Ace solo: Black Diamond:
“I feel it. I guess that’s mostly it—I feel Ace’s playing. And that’s the most important part to me. I felt it as a young boy, and now as a man I can still feel it…those early solos that he did are so raw and visceral; and not tons of notes, but well-placed…”
Jay Jay French of Twisted Sister. Favorite Ace solo: None:
“Ace came out of the same school of players that I did—the Mick Taylors, the Peter Greens, the Eric Claptons…you know, Jimmy Page. I can tell in two seconds where his style came from. When he joined KISS, it was obvious why he joined that band. When I auditioned for them I wasn’t ready—I didn’t have my guitar tone down. And when I went to their loft in September, when they asked me to come down and listen to the band—I believe I watched their very first performance—I heard Ace play his Les Paul through the Marshall stack, and I was like, ‘Oh yeah, he gets it—100 percent.'”
Ty Tabor of King’s X. Favorite Ace solo: Shock Me:
“Ace could play one note, and you knew it was Ace, in the same way that Allan Holdsworth could play one note and you know it’s him. I remember I was on vacation and I was hanging out with one of my best friends named Marty Warren, and we both were huge Ace fans; we both tried to shake the strings like him, and tried to learn the solos. We were sitting at a table and someone came on the radio saying, ‘A brand-new KISS album is about to come out—here’s a new song off of it, and Ace sings it.’ And they played Shock Me. And when it got to the solo we both were high-fiving and going, ‘That is the ultimate!’ I mean that is the pinnacle of perfection, Ace Frehley sing-along solo. Still to this day it’s one of the greatest rock guitar solos I’ve ever heard.”
Scott Ian of Anthrax. Favorite Ace solo: 100,000 Years:
“I’ve been listening to KISS since 1975, and I can sing Ace’s leads note for note as easily as I can sing the choruses of their songs. To be able to do that on so many songs is quite a feat. I feel like he’s a very overlooked and underrated guitar player. So many other guitar players from the ’70s get credit as guitar heroes, but unless you’re talking to KISS fans, you never really hear Ace’s name mentioned in the same breath as Ted Nugent or Eddie Van Halen or Ritchie Blackmore or Joe Perry…go on down the list. His solos are as memorable as anything Jimmy Page has ever done—for real.”
Tom Morello of Rage Against The Machine/Audioslave. Favorite Ace solo: Detroit Rock City:
“Rock ’n’ roll can excel in a number of different ways: There’s technical ability, there’s songwriting ability, and then there’s Magic Awesome Rock Power. And Ace Frehley has that in spades. He connected the comic, fantasy superhero world with the bombast of Marshall stack heavy metal power. The pomp and pageantry that’s accompanied KISS is no different from any that accompanied Elvis Presley or Little Richard, or other icons of the genre who receive nothing but total respect. Ace Frehley receives my total respect, and I’m proud to have had him as my first guitar hero.”
The 2017 Monsters Of Rock Cruise, the 7th edition of the ultimate hard rock/heavy metal experience at sea, will set sail February 2nd-7th, 2017 aboard a new ship and has expanded to six days, visiting two additional ports in the Caribbean for the first time.
Appropriately titled Gathering of Titans, this year’s five-night/six-day exclusive full ship charter cruise will set sail out of Tampa, FL aboard Royal Caribbean’s Brilliance Of The Seas, visiting Georgetown, Grand Cayman and Cozumel, Mexico and feature 15+ artist performances, including headliners Vince Neil “The Voice Of Mötley Crüe,” Cinderella’s Tom Keifer, Queensrÿche, Night Ranger, Saxon and Stryper. As in past years, the cruise will also feature an optional Pre-Cruise Party in Tampa on the evening of Wednesday, February 1st (details TBA).
The cruise goes on sale today (5/4/2016) with cabins starting at $1,099 per person (double occupancy), plus government fees, taxes, and gratuities. For booking and more info, visit monstersofrockcruise.com and connect on Facebook/a> and Twitter.
Confirmed line-up for the 2017 Monsters Of Rock Cruise includes: Vince Neil “The Voice of Mötley Crüe,” Cinderella’s Tom Keifer, Queensrÿche, Night Ranger, Saxon, Stryper, Slaughter, Danger Danger, D*A*D, Soto, Tora Tora, The Answer, John Corabi, Beasto Blanco, Joel Hoekstra, Inglorious, Heavens Edge, Paradise Kitty, with more artists to be announced. Plus, Eddie Trunk and comedian Don Jamieson (VH1’s “That Metal Show”), San Francisco bay area radio host Nikki Blakk and Luc Carl (SiriusXM’s “Hair Nation”) are the official cruise hosts and will moderate Q&A’s. Metal DJ Will (Studio DJ for VH1’s “That Metal Show”) is the official cruise DJ. Watch Vince Neil’s cruise announcement below.
In addition to the band performances, the cruise will feature over-the-top special events only experienced on this voyage, including: MOR Artist Photo Experiences, the first MOR Big Game Party hosting the live broadcast of the Monster Football Game on the pool deck big screen accompanied by a few musical surprises and activities, Monsters Rock & Roll Formal, exclusive MOR Craft Beer Tasting, Monster Gong Show Karaoke and Cooking with Rock Stars hosted by Lisa Tirone of Chef it up!, with more events to be announced.
