Category : LATEST NEWS

DEF LEPPARD’S JOE ELLIOTT ON HOW AC/DC HANDLED BRIAN JOHNSON’S HEARING LOSS, “IT WAS NOT THE WAY I WOULD HAVE DONE IT”

Def Leppard frontman, Joe Elliott, was recently interviewed by Life In The Stocks. During the discussion, the singer was asked what his thoughts were on how AC/DC handled the lead singer Brian Johnson’s hearing issues, and their decision to tour with Guns N’ Roses frontman, Axl Rose.

Elliott said, “I wouldn’t have done it like that. I can’t speak for Angus [Young, AC/DC guitarist] and his team as to what their reasons were for doing what they did, but considering that we had a drummer lose and arm and we waited for him, the way that they dealt with it was not the way I would have done it, put it that way.”

While Elliott prefers the Bon Scott era of the band, he believes that “the Back In Black tour was pretty good, I’ve gotta say. I saw ’em live, and I think Jonna [Brian Johnson] really… he stepped up to the plate. It’s a hard thing to do, but I suppose he was fortunate in the fact that Back In Black was a bigger album than anything that they’d done before, so to a lot of people, they hadn’t even heard Bon Scott — it was like a new band. Outside of the U.K. and Australia, in America it was their first really big record.”

….”Back In Black sold way more than Hysteria — probably 35 million [worldwide], whereas we’re somewhere [around] 23, 24, something like that. Put it into that context, it sounds like I’m complaining — I’m really not. I’m just saying it’s a phenomenal amount of records. I think ‘Back In Black‘s pretty much close to selling the same [as], if not more than, [Michael Jackson’s] Thriller…So that’s a phenomenal amount of records to sell. And it’s one of those records that never dies — it keeps popping up on the soundtrack of Iron Man and it keeps popping up in God knows how many movies, songs from Back In Black are featured in, and that helps keep it alive. It’s a brilliant record; it’s a fantastic record. I remember the first time we ever heard it — we heard it before it came out, ’cause [former Def Leppard manager Peter] Mensch came on the bus with a cassette. He said, ‘Listen to this,’ and we were, like, ‘Woah!’ It was something special.”

ZAKK WYLDE ON BLS’ FORTHCOMING ALBUM “GRIMMEST HITS,”YOU SHOOT LOW, SO [WHEN] PEOPLE GO, ‘THIS IS HORRENDOUS,’ YOU GO, ‘WELL, I TOLD YOU GOING IN.'”

Guitarist Zakk Wylde was a recent guest on SiriusXM’s The Jenny McCarthy Show. A few highlights are posted below (as transcribed by Blabbermouth.net.

Discussing the last time he was clean-shaven:

Zakk: “Probably after I did that Rock Star movie. I had to shave every day when we did the movie, but at the end of the movie, they did this thing of, ‘Where are they now?’ I had this big beard I had to wear — just, pretty much like what I got now. I remember doing it, and I just go, because I had to put it on every day for the scenes, I was, like, looking at myself and I go, ‘I look like a complete jackass with this thing on. I’m definitely going to grow this out once this movie’s over.'”

On Black Label Society’s new album, Grimmest Hits:

Zakk: “The lyrics are grim, and there are no hits. People ask me, ‘Is this a greatest-hits record?’ I go, ‘No. In order to have a greatest-hits record, you’ve had to have hits.’ We don’t have any hits, so therefore, it can’t be. But you shoot low, so this way, if people listen and go, ‘This is horrendous,’ you go, ‘Well, I told you going in.'”

Talking about his memories of joining Ozzy Osbourne’s band:

Zakk: “I was 19 — right before I turned 20. That’s when my drinking problem began. I drank until then, and then it was just double-fisting from that point on. When I first started with [Ozzy], I remember Sharon [Osbourne] — who I lovingly refer to as Mom, because she’s been, like, my mom since I was 19 years old — she called [Zakk’s wife] Barbaranne up and goes, ‘Excuse me, Barbaranne…’ I would be the only one that would hang out with Ozz, because everyone else was, like, ‘I don’t want to get stuck in the web and get, you know, canned over here because I’m the one enabling him.’ But I would always hang out with him, because I was just like, ‘Man, how come nobody wants to hang out with Ozzy?’ Then they go, ‘Jackass, you must be a rookie, and you have no idea what’s going on around here.’ So anyway, I’d hang out with [Ozzy] all the time and we’d be drinking, but the whole thing is, she’d go, ‘Barbaranne, does Zakk have a drinking problem?’ [Barb] goes, ‘Oh, no, no. He drinks milk.’ [Sharon] goes, ‘Not anymore, he doesn’t.’ A lot of my friends went to college, and I went to Ozzy Osbourne University, which was like Animal House on steroids.”

Discussing sneaking Ozzy beer while on tour:

Zakk: “That was the best. That wasn’t that long ago — that’s when we were doing Live At Budokan. Ozzy’s like, ‘Zakk, you got any beers?’ I’d always have them in my backpack. I go, ‘What, are you trying to get us both fired?’ I was like, ‘I’ll meet you in the bathroom.’ I kid you not — I’m in the bathroom, then he goes in. I was in the bathroom stall and I heard him come in. He was right next to me, shut the door and goes, ‘Okay, Zakk.’ I just slid it over. I hear him crack open a can of Sapporo and then just guzzle it down, and then [he] sneaks and just pushes the empty can back to me, so I can throw it in the garbage as responsible booze-hounds.”

On what makes a Black Label Society fan a “berserker”:

Zakk: “That’s [how] we lovingly refer to our Black Label family, if you’re a berserker. It’s an all-or-nothing mentality — either you’re all in, or you ain’t, so you live like a berserker. Whether you’re fondling the genitalia or whether you’re going to learn how to play the guitar or whether you’re going to have a tomato garden outside, it’s all-in — it’s all-in or nothing.”

Speaking about Ozzy Osbourne’s farewell tour:

Zakk: “The game plan is to go out on this one. It’s great being with [Ozzy] again. It’s hysterical as always. We go out for this thing until 2020, and then we start the Bad Investment Tour. Basically, the whole reason why we’re touring right now is because Ozz told me, ‘Everything you’ve got, everything you’ve made since you started with me, put it all down on Conor McGregor to win this fight against Mayweather. He did, and I did — and that’s the reason why we’re getting back together to do this tour. We’re broke — we both live in a box down by the river. Hopefully he’ll get better advice from 2020 onward.”

Watch Zakk’s entire interview below.

Black Label Society’s Grimmest Hits, will be released on January 19th, 2018 through Entertainment One (eOne).

BRUCE DICKINSON, “I ALMOST QUIT IRON MAIDEN AFTER THE ‘POWERSLAVE’ TOUR”

Iron Maiden frontman, Bruce Dickinson, says he thought about leaving Iron Maiden following the release of 1984 album Powerslave.

The band embarked on a gruelling run of dates across the world in support of the record on their World Slavery Tour, which was documented in Maiden’s classic 1985 album Live After Death.

However, after the tour was over, Dickinson gave serious thought to walking away from the music industry due to the grind of life on the road.

In a video interview with Loudwire, Dickinson says, “I did think about that, yeah. I was just very, very mentally exhausted by the whole grind, if you like – of grinding out 13 months on the road with no stable social life of any description. People say, ‘Stop complaining – you’re a rock star and you make all this money.’ I said, ‘Yeah, actually, I am, but therefore if I decide to stop, it’s my choice.’ So I did think about it. I thought there were other things that I could do that earned much less money but would give me the same or greater level of satisfaction. I did quite seriously think about becoming a full-time fencing coach.”

Dickinson says he wanted to strike the right balance between touring and his personal life and adds, “We had six months off and after that, I went, ‘You know what, maybe I can start to see some sense of proportion here.’ But it was very difficult to see how going on tour for another year at that stage in my life would be of any help to me at all, apart from making loads of money.”

Watch the full video interview below.

Dickinson did the band in 1993, but returned, in 1999, with the band launching the studio album Brave New World in 2000.

The vocalist, released his autobiography What Does This Button Do? on October 19th and Iron Maiden will head out on The Legacy Of The Beast tour in 2018.

additional source: Classic Rock via teamrock.com

DOKKEN’S CLASSIC LINE-UP FILMS VIDEO FOR NEW SONG, “IT’S JUST ANOTHER DAY”

The classic lineup of Dokken — vocalist Don Dokken, guitarist George Lynch, bassist Jeff Pilson and drummer “Wild” Mick Brown — filmed a video in Los Angeles on Tuesday (December 19) for a new song called It’s Just Another Day, reports blabbermouth.net.

The tune will be featured on the band’s forthcoming CD/DVD package, and marks the the first new song by the classic lineup since the 1997 Shadowlife album.

Pilson wrote on social media that It’s Just Another Day “came out amazing,” adding that “it’s amazing how much it sounds like vintage DOKKEN.”

Dokken’s classic lineup played its only U.S. show in September 2016 in Sioux Falls, South Dakota before embarking on a six-show Japanese run dubbed Unleashed In The East.

The upcoming concert DVD will reportedly feature footage from two of the Japanese shows — including Tokyo — as well as the band’s Sioux Falls gig. The band also recorded two acoustic remakes of a couple of the old Dokken songs, which also “came out really amazing,” according to Pilson.

The 2016 Japanese tour featuring Pilson, Dokken, Lynch and Brown marked the first time in 21 years DOKKEN’s classic lineup had hit the road.

ROB HALFORD DISCUSSES JUDAS PRIEST’S ROCK HALL SNUB

Rob Halford has reacted to Judas Priest not getting enough votes to get into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame next year.

The band came fifth on the fan ballot alongside Bon Jovi, The Moody Blues, Dire Straits and The Cars for a chance to be be inducted into the Rock Hall in April next year. But, while those four bands eventually garnered enough total votes to be named in the class of 2018, Priest came up short.

Following the news, the Metal God appeared on Phoenix radio station 100.7 KSLX and read out the rejection letter from the Rock Hall live on air.

Asked if he wanted to be inducted at some point in the future, Halford replied, “Personally, I would love it. I think we deserve it. We put our 10,000 hours in and more – and beyond that, we just feel that heavy metal deserves more space in The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame.

We were thrilled and honoured to be nominated, so it’s bittersweet. We got the nomination which is something of a recognition for the work that you’ve done, but we didn’t quite get in this time. But I’m hopeful that eventually we’ll get some more metal.”

Judas Priest are gearing up for the launch of their 18th studio album Firepower, which is set to arrive in March.

source: Classic Rock via teamrock.com

*UPDATED* KISS’ GENE SIMMONS SUED FOR SEXUAL BATTERY

Jennifer Maas of the TheWrap reports:

Gene Simmons is being sued by a woman who says the KISS bassist groped her and made “unwanted, unwarranted sexual advances” during an interview she conducted last month, according to legal documents obtained by TheWrap.

The radio and television broadcaster (identified as “Jane Doe”) is suing for sexual battery, gender violence, battery and assault.

According to the lawsuit, which was filed in Los Angeles Superior Court on Friday, the woman was speaking with Simmons and his bandmate Paul Stanley at their Rock & Brews restaurant at San Manuel Casino in Highland, California on November 1st when the incident occurred.

The plaintiff, identified in the documents as a “long-time on-air personality for a local rock station,” says Simmons grabbed her hand multiple times and “forcefully placed it on his knee and held it on his knee.” The accuser also says he “forcibly flicked/struck” her throat.

“Defendant Simmons turned standard interview questions into sexual innuendos, which made plaintiff Doe extremely uncomfortable,” the suit states.

Simmons provided an “incoherent explanation” for his behavior, according to the lawsuit.

The accuser also says Simmons “reached toward [her] buttocks and touched it” while they were posing for a promotional photo together after the interview.

“My client is embarrassed and humiliated by the incident with Mr. Simmons,” the anonymous woman’s attorney, Willie W. Williams, told The San Bernardino Sun during a phone interview. “She filed suit because she wanted to make a strong statement that this behavior is unacceptable and she wants to see an end to this type of behavior.”

Simmons’ reps didn’t immediately respond to TheWrap’s request for comment.

*UPDATE: Gene Simmons has posted the following message to his Facebook page:

“Friends,

I intend to defend myself against any alleged charges you may have been reading about in the media.
For the record, I did not assault the person making these accusations in the manner alleged in the complaint or harm her in any way.

I am conferring with my lawyers with the aim of vigorously countering these allegations.

And I look forward to my day in court where the evidence will prove my innocence.”

source: thewrap.com