Category : LATEST NEWS

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

FRANK HANNON ANNOUNCES COVER SONG PROJECT “FROM ONE PLACE…TO ANOTHER,” PRE-ORDER NOW

Tesla guitarist, Frank Hannon, is proud to announce his new solo project, From One Place… to Another, a series of albums comprised of cover songs will be available everywhere January 26th.

“The songs that I contributed to Tesla, What you Give, Gettin’ Better and Love Song, have always had an acoustic, country or bluesy vibe to them,” says Hannon. “I love to sing and my father-in-law Dickey Betts encouraged me to step up to the microphone with guitar in hand. He sang many hits in the Allman Bros Band and Blue Sky is one of my all time favorites.”

From One Place… to Another Vol. 1 is the first of three albums to be released in 2018 and features special guest appearances by Paul Jackson (Blackberry Smoke), Duane Betts (son of Dickey Betts of the Allman Brothers Band), Matthew and Gunnar Nelson (sons of Ricky Nelson), Roger Fisher (original Heart guitarist) and many others.

“I recorded the majority of the songs while on tour with Tesla in dressing rooms, hotels, buses and even bathrooms using a handheld recorder,” continues Hannon. “I also went to friends’ houses to capture performances and traded files over the internet, bringing home the digital files to mix and embellish in my studio.”

Frank will be on the road performing solo on a few dates through the end of the year and announcing additional solo concerts in 2018.

“I started this project a few years ago and it has evolved substantially with the help of my friends,” declares Hannon. “What started as learning a few songs to sing turned into multiple albums of cover songs, tributes and collaborations with many inspirational artists.”

Everyone from Lukas Nelson to The Church to JJ Cale are covered on Volume 1, with an expansive scope of genres to be covered in the coming releases.

“Each song and album are very different from one another, as are my musical tastes,” admits Frank. “From ‘Blue Sky’ to the most current song on the release, ‘Sunrise in Texas’, the music and even my voice go ‘From One Place… to Another’. Needless to say, that album title has many meanings for me.”

From One Place… to Another Vol. 1 Track Listing:

1. Blue Sky feat. Duane Betts (Dickey Betts / Allman Brothers Band)
2. Call Me The Breeze feat. Paul Jackson of Blackberry Smoke (JJ Cale, made famous by Lynyrd Skynyrd)
3. Under The Milky Way feat. Duane Betts (The Church)
4. Jim Dandy To the Rescue feat. Tommy Curiale & Alyson Kimball of Johnny Winters Band (Lincoln Chase, made famous by Laverne Baker & Black Oak Arkansas)
5. You’re My Best Friend (John Deacon made famous by Queen)
6. Garden Party feat. Matthew & Gunnar Nelson (Rick Nelson)
7. SunRise in Texas (Blackberry Smoke, Michael Tolcher)
8. I Hear Ya Knockin (Dave Bartholomew)
9. Joy To The World feat. Ron Keel (Hoyt Axton)
10. Four Letter Word (Lukas Nelson)

To pre-order, click here.

DEF LEPPARD GUITARIST PHIL COLLEN SAYS “HYSTERIA” IS “THE BEST THING WE EVER DID”

Def Leppard’s Phil Collen has reflected on the band’s classic 1987 album Hysteria.

The follow-up to 1983’s Pyromania was a massive success, racking up more than 25 million sales worldwide and spawned hit singles including Animal, Pour Some Sugar On Me, Love Bites and Armageddon It.

And while looking back on the record with Music Radar, the guitarist acknowledges its lasting legacy.

Collen says, “I think it’s the best thing we ever did. It was our commercial and creative zenith. Most of the credit goes to producer Mutt Lange, because he really pushed us to do something different.

The first thing he said was, ‘We can’t make Pyromania 2, because every other rock band in the world is doing that. We’ve got to dig a bit deeper, and it’s gonna be a lot of hard work.

Jimi Hendrix probably could have done it in his sleep. But us mere mortals have to work hard at it. But it paid off. Because here we are, 30 years later, still talking about it.”

Collen continues, “The thing is, a lot of guitar players, they all read from the same book, play from the same licks. With that album, we worked. We went somewhere. Mutt taught us how to sing, how to play guitar better. I came out of Hysteria a better player, without a doubt.”

Collen says that “the melody was king” on the album and that the guitars were there to enhance the sound, and adds, “Hysteria does sound like an 80s album, but it was trying to. It was trying to cross over, and hard rock bands didn’t really do that. There was a big difference between, say, Priest, Maiden and us. We were more in the area of The Police and Billy Idol and even ZZ Top, who were a blues band – but they’d done this electronic album, Eliminator and had their biggest hit. It wasn’t about trying to be a big, macho rock band. It was about trying to create great music.”

Read the full interview with Collen over on Music Radar, where the guitarist talks about his approach to playing on the landmark album, the riffs he used on Hysteria, the solos, and much more.

Earlier this year, Def Leppard released the 30th anniversary edition of Hysteria on several different editions, including a super-deluxe package and a double vinyl version.

source: Classic Rock via teamrock.com

GUITARIST RICHIE SAMBORA DISCUSSES BON JOVI’S ROCK HALL INDUCTION AND FORMER BANDMATE ALEC JON SUCH

Andy Greene of Rolling Stone spoke with former Bon Jovi guitarist Richie Sambora about the band being inducted into the Rock N’ Roll Hall of Fame. Highlights from the interview appear below.

Rolling Stone: How did you hear you were in?

Richie Sambora: This has been in the wind for a while. And then the fans started ponying up like crazy. That’s what we do this business for anyway. I’ve said this often: You can put on a show and if the fans don’t show up, it’s not a show, is it? The fans are just as important as we are, really. It’s nice to know that you wrote some songs that really connect with people that they can take with them…in this digital age you can reconnect with that and younger people can connect with these artists that are legacy artists. I’m not calling myself that yet, though!

Rolling Stone: What was your reaction when you heard it was definite?

Richie Sambora: Just gratitude, I guess. And going, “Hey, I’m in the queue with Bob Dylan, Mick and Keith and Clapton, all my heroes and all the guys I grew up trying to emulate.” They are my heroes and my teachers. To be in that line is kind of surreal. I don’t know if I believe it yet. It’s that kind of an honor. It’s almost not the institution itself; it’s the pedigree of how people got there. To be a part of that whole movement and whole energy as things move forward is just tremendous. I have a lot of thanks for that.

Rolling Stone: Why do you think it took so long?

Richie Sambora: I don’t know. I wasn’t really paying attention. Honestly, I wasn’t obsessed with it or anything like that. I didn’t know when it was going to happen. I said, “Hopefully I’ll be alive.” A lot of people don’t get in until they pass. The Songwriters Hall of Fame means a lot to me. I believe it’s the foundation of our business, writing songs that connect with humanity and people all over. We happen to do that well. I ended up inducting Willie Dixon into the Songwriters Hall of Fame a few years back and he’d been dead for 40 years. He wrote all those amazing songs and I hope to be around to experience and enjoy the accolades or whatever you want to call them.

Rolling Stone: I think a lot of old-school rock critics didn’t like the band and that kept you guys out.

Richie Sambora: Once again, my task was to do the best I could with the situation I was in. Look, I’m way happier doing what I’m doing now. Being in a band isn’t the easiest thing to do in the world, especially when you’re out there for 18-and-a-half months at a clip and life changes when you come back home. People are different. People get divorced. Life’s tragedies happen to everybody. And life’s joys also. You’re out there performing as an entertainer. I always saw myself as a songwriting, entertaining motherf–ker…

Rolling Stone: Do you think the band is going to reunite and perform at the ceremony?

Richie Sambora: I would imagine so. Nobody has called me yet or anything like that, but I would imagine that would be the protocol. Don’t you? I would think so. Of course, I’d be obliged.

Rolling Stone: Do you think Alec John Such will show up?

Richie Sambora: I hope so! Yeah, man. I hope so. He was my roommate, man. He was my guy. We lost contact with him a little while ago. He was always a ghost, man. He was always one of those cats that was a mystery. That was his trip and he held that mystique very, very well. He was the Keith Richards of our band. He’s a cool, straight-up individual and I hope we get ahold of him somehow.

Rolling Stone: When was the last time you spoke to him?

Richie Sambora: It was a long time ago. We were playing a show and he showed up and came onstage and jam.

Rolling Stone: Do you think that Hugh McDonald should be inducted also?

Richie Sambora: Yeah. He’s an essential part of this band. He’s amazing and a dear, dear friend of mine. I met Hugh long before I met Jon. I was doing sessions and gigs and we’d just kind of run into each there and we became friends back then. He’s essential, absolutely.

Rolling Stone: What do you miss most about being in Bon Jovi?

Richie Sambora: I’m not really missing anything, to be honest with you. Listen, we did 31 years together and we worked very, very hard. I guess I miss the shows. I always say this to everyone: Making the music is the great part, the fun part, the part where you’re trying to connect with people. It’s the travel you get paid for, the 22 hours a day where you ain’t onstage. That’s what you get paid for. You miss a lot of life when you’re on the road for most of your life. [Laughs] I just decided, “I gotta get back to my family. I gotta get back to being an individual.”

Rolling Stone: When is the last time you spoke to Jon?

Richie Sambora: It’s been a couple of years. There’s been some texts back and forth. There ain’t no malice or anything like that. It wasn’t moving anywhere. 31 years is 31 years. That’s a long time and being in a huge organization like Bon Jovi, it’s all-consuming. You really don’t have a chance to do anything else but that. That’s where you are and that’s it. It’s some stone-cold stuff right there. That’s it. You gotta move and roll with the punches, be flexible with the business, be flexible with the band; you gotta be flexible with your employees. It’s a big job.

Rolling Stone: I think the fans are going to be thrilled to see you back onstage with the band after all this time.

Richie Sambora: I hope so. But you know what?…It’s what you throw down every day and your sincerity is what matters. Anytime anyone comes to see me play now they can count on that. I am going to bring all the love and passion of why I started to make music in this life to that moment…

Read more at Rolling Stone.

source: rollingstone.com