Former AC/DC vocalist Brian Johnson and Robert Plant joined Paul Rodgers onstage in Oxford for a cover of Barrett Strong track, Money (That’s What I Want).
The show at the city’s New Theatre was part of Rodgers’ Free Spirit UK tour and saw all three frontmen share vocals, with Plant also providing harmonica. Watch the video below.
The live performance marked a return to the stage for Johnson, who was forced to bow out of AC/DC in March last year after doctors warned him he faced total hearing loss if he continued. The band hired Guns N’ Roses frontman Axl Rose to complete their Rock Or Bust world tour.
Johnson said at the time, “My entire focus is to continue medical treatment to improve my hearing. I am hoping that in time my hearing will improve and allow me to return to live concert performances. While the outcome is uncertain, my attitude is optimistic.”
He’s been working with audio experts Asius on a solution with their chief scientist Stephen Ambrose telling TeamRock in October that Johnson could return to performing live “within six months to a year.”
Beautiful Creatures have tapped nine-time Emmy Award-winning and MTV Video Music Award-nominated director Fabio Jafet (Pitbull, Enriqye Iglesias, KISS, Children OF Bodom) to direct the video for the bands first new song in over a decade, Get You High. The track was recently released on Deuce Deluxe.
“I am beyond excited to be working with Fabio again,” says lead guitarist Alex Grossi. “He was the perfect director to bring Psycho, California to life on screen a few years back for Hotel Diablo, and this one is shaping up to be next level” Fabio edited Pitbull‘s I Know You Want Me, which ended up being the number one music video of 2009 on YouTube, with over a 190 million views to date, making it one of the most-watched YouTube video of all time.
Beautiful Creatures founding bassist Kenny Kweens states, “I am very amped up to be working with Fabio and collaborating with him. His reel and resume speaks for itself. I love making and working on videos, so I am hopeful that not only will this be a cool video, but a learning experience for myself.”
Beautiful Creatures sophomore record Deuce was produced and mixed by guitarist Anthony Focx, with additional production by bass guitarist Kenny Kweens. Deuce was released worldwide in 2005 and ultimately landed premier placements on the hit FX TV series Sons Of Anarchy, the Walt Disney/Touchstone hit film The Proposal” starring Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds as well multiple other TV & movie soundtracks.
In addition to Get You High Beautiful Creatures Deuce Deluxe features every track the band recorded for the Asian Release (JVC Records) as well as the U.S. Release (Spitfire/Eagle Rock), In one digital package that has been re-mixed and remastered. It also includes new album cover artwork and edits that up until now, were not included in either initial release.
Beautiful Creatures 2017 is:
Joe Leste – Vocals
Kenny Kweens – Bass Guitar
Anthony Focx – Guitar
Alex Grossi – Lead Guitar
Timmy Russell – Drums
Don Dokken was a recent guest on Eddie’s Sirius/XM show, Trunk Nation. The singer discussed the band’s reunion with the classic line-up, portions of the conversation appear below (as per blabbermouth.net).
On the Dokken reunion:
I had trepidation[s]. George came and left the band three times over twenty years. We get back together, we’re getting older, we think we’re all gonna chill out, then he and I have these personality conflicts and we start going at it. Then we do an album, then he goes away. Then he comes back a couple of years later and we make an album, and then there’s the stress, and then we go away. So I didn’t wanna do it again — for any amount of money. So I was really, really happy that when we got to Japan, George and Jeff and everybody was just being easy. I had a lot of stuff going on in my life and a lot of stress, and I said, ‘Guys, just try to make it easy for me, will you, man? I just wanna have fun. If it ain’t fun, I don’t wanna do it.’ And they made it fun. And I was very serious about that. I said, ‘Look, if this is stressful, I don’t wanna talk about any future shows.'”
The only downside of that tour was I didn’t think I was that good, singing-wise. I played three or four shows in a row, three days rehearsal, fourteen- [or] fifteen-hour flight. My game wasn’t where it should be. Like [the] M3 [Rock Festival at Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, Maryland]; M3 I was really happy this year, ’cause we were like 0-and-2. The last time we played there, same thing. You play every night, two hours sleep, play another show, two hours sleep. You get to M3, this huge festival, and Jon are I are laying on the floor, [preparing] for the show, going, ‘Coffee. I need coffee.’ So this time we said, ‘Look, we have to be… crack of dawn, get there, sleep five or six hours, nobody stay up, no screwing around. Let’s just sleep and be professional.’ So the point is, I thought we kicked ass at M3, and that just reminded me why there’s no reason to do a reunion tour — ’cause my band is amazing.”
Would he be willing to do more shows with the classic line-up?
The singer said, “[I don’t] see the point, because the point would be, again, to make money [and] I don’t need it, to be blunt. I’m not arrogant, but I don’t need it.”
Discussing the DVD, that classic lineup filmed during the reunion shows, and which is is tentatively due before the end of the year or in early 2018:
We rehearsed for three days. [Badlands Pawn owner] Chuck [Brennan] let us use the venue, we did it — we filmed it, recorded it — then, 24 hours later, went to Japan. We did a huge festival. We headlined with the Scorpions at Loud Park. And then we had that footage, which we weren’t planning on using. So, all of a sudden, I’m an idiot, I said, ‘Wow, wouldn’t it be nice if we got both the shows and edited both and make it Japan and America and mix ’em together, the footage?’ Which means triple the work. And Chris McCarvil, our bass player in Dokken, he’s actually doing all the work, and I’m just helping with special effects. So now we’re working on it, but I’ve just doubled the workload. I don’t even have the footage from Japan yet; I’ve gotta get it. I’ve been working out of Jeff’s house doing some vocal repairs.
The DVD, I’m hoping… The problem is I’m on tour all the way up to October. When do you edit? I go home for two days, and there’s no time to walk my dog. That’s about it. So I don’t know when the DVD is coming out. It is gonna be on Frontiers and we’re working on it.
The cool thing about the video is we’ve got five hours of backstage stuff — on the bullet train, George having beers and talking about the Indian plight and everybody getting silly and Mick being Mick. I think that’s gonna be better than the live performance. We’ve got five hours of us just misbehaving.”
Hardeep Phull of the New York Post spoke with Metallica frontman James Hetfield. The entire interview appears below.
NYP: Last year, Lars talked about his special pancakes that help keep his energy levels up. Do you partake, or do you have your own health silver bullet?
James Hetfield: The Danish chalk-cakes are what I call them. He puts some kind of yogurt in there that’s really chalky. They don’t taste horrible, but I don’t know how you could eat them all the time. Lars has expanded a little now — he is a total foodie. He thinks chefs are the new rock stars. I’ll eat pretty much anything in moderation, which is not a word that has been uttered a lot in the Metallica world.
NYP: Metallica’s performance with Lady Gaga at the Grammys was a show stealer. Do you think the microphone malfunction made it even more exciting?
James Hetfield: I felt embarrassed — I haven’t been that angry in a long time. When something out of my control goes wrong, I still get wound up. I’m sure it taps into other stuff from my past, but I felt helpless. I agree, it ended up being a blessing because I ended up singing in a microphone with Lady Gaga — maybe even more than she wanted. It felt more like a real collaboration because of that.
NYP: You’ve said that beekeeping is one of your recently developed hobbies. Have you had any mishaps?
James Hetfield: Yeah, there are a few stories. I had to move a hive one time, and one bee got perturbed, and that sets them all off. I’m in my bee suit — everything’s fine except I didn’t put my boots on because it was hot. One area of my ankle was exposed and, of course, I end up with about 20 bee stings. If one stings you there, they all sense it and swarm there. That was not fun. I just had to throw my foot in a bucket of ice.
NYP: It’s so common to see celebrities wearing Metallica T-shirts now. Does it ever bother you?
James Hatfield: I remember when that whole Justin Bieber wearing a Metallica T-shirt went viral, I thought “So what?” This is America, you can wear whatever the f - - k you want. If he doesn’t know the history of the band or whatever, it’s fine. I wear lots of stuff and I have no idea of the history, I just like the logo. People try to shock me sometimes and they’ll say, “My grandma headbangs to your music — and she’s 120!,” or “I named my baby after you.” I’m like, “OK, cool.” I’m not surprised that anyone likes Metallica. Everyone is welcome here. From cradle to grave, we’ve got you covered.
UFO frontman Phil Mogg says the band is considering a Strangers In The Night tour.
Mogg tells Planet Rock, We have talked about touring and just doing the whole of Strangers In The Night – for the craic. But we’re still about making new music. We’re recording a covers album, actually. We’ve done The Doors’ Break on Through (To The Other Side), The Yardbirds’ Heart Full Of Soul… but we don’t know what to call it.”
In recent UFO news, the band announced North American tour dates with Saxon in the Fall. Click here for more information and to view the itinerary.
Accept will release their new studio album, The Rise Of Chaos, on August 4th through Nuclear Blast.
Guitarist Wolf Hoffmann says, “The Rise Of Chaos is something I have been thinking about often. Wherever we go, there is some hidden as well as some visible destruction and it kind of changes the world we know. What was there today can be gone tomorrow and it’s somehow irritating, because it happens on so many levels and no one knows what comes next. The cover is our last stage set, but now clearly ‘destroyed’ — like… after a catastrophe.”
Accept will launch the disc on August 3r with special show at the Wacken Open Air festival in Wacken, Germany. The group’s set will consist of three parts: Part one will bring fans a classic Accept set, packed with new and old hits. Part two will present another premiere: Guitarist Wolf Hoffmann will play tracks from his solo album, Headbangers Symphony, released in 2016, with the Czech National Symphony Orchestra for the very first time. On this record, Wolf covered famous opuses by composers such as Beethoven, Vivaldi and Mozart in a metal guise. And in Part 3, all elements can be seen and heard together: Accept will make the holy Wacken ground shake by sharing the stage with the orchestra, supported by a complex multimedia show.
This unique concert experience will take place on this year’s Night To Remember, which makes it even more special. The Night To Remember is a celebrated, long-lasting Wacken tradition; for one night of the festival a selection of established bands will do something unique and special with their performance.
Hoffmann states, “It’s always impressive to see how bands take this evening seriously and how much love the artists and the organizing team put into their work to get a varied result. It’s a great tradition which underlines and documents the top-notch level of the international rock community like nothing else. We also want to present something that ACCEPT has never done before, we hope we can give something really special to the fans.”
Thomas Jensen, organizer of Wacken Open Air, adds “Accept have been and are still a very important part of Germany’s heavy metal scene. We’re really looking forward to having them with us once more. With this epic concept, the Thursday evening will be one to remember for sure.”
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