Category : LATEST NEWS

THE DEAD DAISIES ANNOUNCE “LIVE & LOUDER” 2017 WORLD TOUR & LIVE ALBUM

High Octane, rip-roaring hard rockers The Dead Daisies have announced a massive World Tour in celebration of the release of Live & Louder, the band’s highly-anticipated live outing, out on May 19th through Spitfire Music/SPV.

In addition to prestigious high profile UK & EU Festival appearances throughout all of June, The Dead Daisies are set to enthral Japanese fans with their highly-coveted return to the land of the Rising Sun in July after which they’ll travel to South America to make their long-awaited debut. It’s then back to Poland to play “Woodstock”, one of Europe’s biggest Festivals. August & September will see the band embark on their first ever North American Headline Tour where demand has been steadily building after 2016’s smash success of Make Some Noise and their summer tour with the mighty KISS.

The tour will take the band to many new markets and revisit some old stomping grounds. Lead Guitarist Doug Aldrich adds, “The Dead Daisies update: Getting my guitars ready for the 2017 Live & Louder tour. We’re gonna be doing a quick blast this summer…come and hang with us when you hear about the band coming through! See ya soon for a good dose of the Daisies.”

The Live & Louder World Tour 2017 will visit the following countries: Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Denmark, Sweden, United Kingdom, Holland, France, Belgium, Hungary, Czech Republic, Japan, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Mexico, Poland, Canada and the USA.

Live & Louder, will be available in multiple deluxe formats & perfectly captures the awesome vibe of their supreme, sweat drenched, roof-raising live sets, recorded on a heady high at the end of an unbelievable 2016. The result, once again mixed by Anthony Focx (Aerosmith, Bad Company), is an absolute stunner.

Lead singer John Corabi, “We’re extremely excited and proud of Live & Louder. A lot of the fans have been writing to us and saying how much they LOVED our records but were even more blown away by the band live. The album shows the world how truly loud and supportive The Dead Daisies fans are! Turn It Up.”

Check out Make Some Noise, from Live & Louder, below.

The Dead Daisies are:

Doug Aldrich (Whitesnake, Dio) – Guitars
John Corabi (Mötley Crüe, The Scream) – Vocals
David Lowy (Red Phoenix, Mink) – Guitars
Marco Mendoza (Thin Lizzy, Whitesnake) – Bass
Brian Tichy (Ozzy Osbourne, Foreigner) – Drums

Live & Louder World Tour 2017:

Europe:

Fri 2 Jun Rock Hard Festival | Gelsenkirchen, Germany
Sat 3 Jun Rock In Vienna | Vienna, Austria
Sun 4 Jun Substage | Karlsruhe, Germany
Tue 6 Jun Dynamo | Zürich, Switzerland
Thu 8 Jun Amager Bio | Copenhagen, Denmark
Fri 9 Jun Sweden Rock Festival | Solvesborg, Sweden
Sun 11 Jun Download Festival | Donnington, United Kingdom
Mon 12 Jun Liquid Room | Edinburgh, United Kingdom
Wed 14 Jun Boerderij | Zoetermeer, Netherlands
Fri 16 Jun Le Forum | Vaureal, France
Sat 17 Jun Hellfest | Clisson, France
Sun 18 Jun Graspop Metal Meeting | Dessel, Belgium
Tue 20 Jun Hirsch | Nürnberg, Germany
Wed 21 Jun Hellraiser | Leipzig, Germany
Fri 23 Jun Harley Days Festival | Hamburg, Germany
Sun 25 Jun Bluesiana | Velden, Austria
Mon 26 Jun Bluesiana | Velden, Austria
Tue 27 Jun Rockhouse | Salzburg, Austria
Wed 28 Jun A38 | Budapest, Hungary
Thu 29 Jun Lucerna Music Bar | Prague, Czech Republic
Sat 1 Jul Freigericht Rockt Festival | Freigericht, Germany
Thu 3 Aug Woodstock Poland | Kostrzyn, Poland

Japan:

Wed 5 Jul Shibuya Club Quattro | Tokyo, Japan
Thu 6 Jul Umeda Club Quattro | Osaka, Japan

South America:

Wed 12 Jul Opera de Arame | Curitiba, Brazil (special guest to Richie Kotzen)
Thu 13 Jul Carioca Club | Sao Paulo, Brazil (special guest to Richie Kotzen)
Sat 15 Jul Vorterix | Buenos Aires, Argentina
Sun 16 Jul Teatro Vorterix | Rosario, Argentina

More dates to be announced.

North America:

Full North American Tour to be announced soon.

DON DOKKEN ON THE POSSIBILITY OF MORE REUNION GIGS WITH THE CLASSIC LINE UP, “I’M NOT PLANNING MORE SHOWS WITH JEFF AND GEORGE”

Brett Callwood of LA Weekly wrote a feature story on singer Don Dokken. Selections from the piece appear below.

Has Don Dokken ever been happy? Glancing over the 38 years that the band Dokken has been in existence, one certainly starts to wonder.

In the 1980s, during the band’s heyday, Don and guitar maestro George Lynch were at each other’s throats, right up until 1988 when a fist fight in the back of a limo during a tour with AC/DC split up the band. There was a brief reformation in the mid-1990s, but Dokken and Lynch had to come to terms with the fact that they just don’t get on.

Don thinks Lynch is crazy. Lynch thinks Don is a control freak with a giant ego. They’re probably both right. Oil and water don’t mix but can result in some fascinating art — just ask Van Halen, Faith No More, Guns N’ Roses, etc…

…Asking Don about the old days and bringing up Lynch still irks him, but he doesn’t quite come across as the total a–hole that he has sometimes been portrayed to be. He’s grouchy and, more than likely, he’s over some of the oft-repeated questions. But there’s a biting wit about him, too…

…“We played in Japan with George, but that was a one-time thing,” he says. “Five shows. Never say never, but as far as right now, I’m not planning more shows with Jeff and George. There’s no point. They all have their various projects. It just happened to be a moment in time when the stars aligned. Plus Jon [Levin] is an underrated monster.”

Don may not like being asked about Lynch, but he likes questions about a gig in Detroit last October, where he allegedly insulted the local openers, even less. Cellphone footage captured at the Token Lounge show features the singer saying, during a rant about the poor sound, “The is what happens when you’ve got a bunch of f==king s–t bands up here before you play.” Dokken claims he misspoke.

“I said one thing in Detroit and the whole planet is hating me. I had problems onstage, I had a lot of feedback, my microphone wasn’t working, the PA was feeding back for five songs, and what I meant to say was, ‘I apologize for the shitty sound from the other bands.’ I didn’t mean to insult the four bands…”

…Rob Kay of Detroit band The Creeping Chaos, who performed that night, sees it slightly differently.

“If he thinks all the opening bands were s–t, that’s perfectly fine,” he writes via email. “He has a right to his opinion. But in my opinion, it is utterly classless (and in poor taste professionally) to talk down about the bands that opened/sold tickets/promoted for you, over a microphone to an audience. Especially when some of the audience are members of those bands…”

…Dokken plays a show at the Whisky on Saturday, March 11, a venue that means a great deal to Don and the band as it takes them right back to the very beginning, as it does for many Los Angeles groups. The show has been sold out for weeks, and Don is happy to play a smaller show as an homage to his roots.

“It’s going to be something very special,” he says. “We’re playing 17 songs, a two-hour show. It’ll be the first time I’ve sang for two hours in 20 years. My voice is very good right now and I can do it. We’re playing obscure, deep, deep tracks that nobody’s heard in years. It’ll be interesting.”

As he says this, it even sounds like he’s smiling.

Read more at LA Weekly.

source: laweekly.com

GUITARIST JOHN SYKES TO REPORTEDLY RELEASE “SY-OPS” BEFORE THE END OF THE YEAR

Germany’s Rocks magazine is reporting that guitarist John Sykes (Tygers of Pan Tang, Thin Lizzy, Whitesnake, Blue Murder) will release his first album in seventeen years, Sy-Ops, before the end of 2017.

Sykes, who completed the material for the disc three years ago says, “…My manager died [and] with him I lost someone I could really trust. So I put the disc on ice.”

Sykes added that his first album since 2000’s Nuclear Cowboy will live up to his fans’ expectations. “People who like what I did on the 1987 [self-titled album] from Whitwsnake and the two studio records from Blue Murder” will be pleased by the new material, he said.

The new album will be released in a digipak format with a full-color six-panel artwork courtesy of David Dees.

Two years ago, Sykes released some audio samples that will appear on his solo album, you can listen to them here.

The CD reportedly features guest appearances by the following musicians:

* Josh Freese (Weezer, A Perfect Circle, Guns N’ Roses, Devo): Drums
* Tony Franklin (The Firm): Bass
* Chris Chaney (Jane’s Addiction): Bass
* Curt Bisquera (Sarah McLachlan): Drums
* Jamie Muhoberac (The All-American Rejects, Fleetwood Mac, The Rolling Stones): Keyboards

ICONIC GUITARIST GEORGE LYNCH DISCUSSES KXM, SWEET & LYNCH AND THE DOKKEN REUNION

Tom Leu of Anti Hero Magazine spoke with guitarist George Lynch. Portions of the interview appear below.

Tom Leu: I’ve been following you for years…including the latest KXM album, Scatterbrain, coming out on March 17th on Rat Pak Records. George, to me, this album is darker, and heavier, and I’m going to say as well, hookier, than the first KXM album. I think that’s a pretty difficult thing to pull off. It’s definitely a more diverse record. I know you guys [dUg Pinnick, bass guitar & vocals and Ray Luzier, drums] don’t go in with any pre-production, or a bunch of songs already written. You go in, and you let it happen organically. Was this evolution of the band expected? Did you want it to happen that way, or is that just kind of the way it went?

George Lynch: We did have a conversation after the first record, and talking about how we’re going to go forward, and about how we were going to do that. I think we were thinking we might want to play it a little safer the next time and go in and do a traditional record, with pre-production and a producer, and put some more thought and time into it just to be safe. Of course, in the end, we didn’t do that, and I’m glad, I know we’re all glad that we didn’t do that. Ray [Luzier] is usually the voice of reason; pretty clear headed, and he pretty much just decided, “Listen, this is what we are, and we got to have faith in what we do, and each other. It’ll be fine.” And he was right.

Tom Leu: I know touring is always a challenge when you have guys in other busy bands like KoRn and King’s X. I believe I read Ray suggested the possibility of you guys getting a different drummer, so KXM could go out and tour, and that kind of got icksnayed, is that correct?

George Lynch: Perfectly stated, yes. That was actually a recent development. It’s something that had been thought of before, and it’s usually Ray bringing it up, because I think he feels bad, which he shouldn’t, because we should actually look at this like we should be thankful that we have the opportunity to do two records together, if nothing else. We would tour if the record gets to the point, or succeeds to the point where it’ll force us to tour.

Tom Leu: …I know you have another project with Michael Sweet [from Stryper], called Sweet & Lynch, and are currently working on a second album to be coming out later this year. Certainly, you two guys don’t share entirely the same world-view on a lot of different aspects, spiritual and otherwise. Is that a similar phenomenon there when you’re working with someone like him, and perhaps don’t see eye-to-eye philosophically on things, but yet creating music together?

George Lynch: Well, I vacillate between different points of view on that subject. To me music is potentially, a very powerful force, inarguably. I grew up in an era where it changed the world in the late 60’s, early 70’s. I think creative people have a responsibility to do that, to use their art for good. On the other hand, sometimes it’s just work. And on a third level, sometimes it is just what it is and I appreciate it for what it is. Using Sweet & Lynch as an example, there could potentially be a conflict there between Michael and I, and we’ve talked about that. I’m sort of a freethinking atheist, and he’s a born-again Christian. I’ve been through that in my life; I was a born-again Christian at one point. I was the guy knocking on your door handing out tracks. I played in a Pentecostal charismatic band that did revivals… tent revivals in black neighborhoods in South Central L.A., yeah, all kinds of stuff. I definitely have something to say about all that, but I don’t know how effective I am at it. I’m not Rage Against the Machine, I wish I was.

Tom Leu: Were you surprised at how well the Dokken reunion went last year? Or did you expect it to go smoothly?

George Lynch: Well, it wasn’t… I wouldn’t call it smooth, that wasn’t the right word. It was a lot of work, we were kind of just thrown into the maelstrom. We didn’t really prepare like we should’ve. It was kind of put together a little strange. I think we would all agree to that. We were all starting to talk about that recently about how we were just kind of, kind of did it backwards. But despite all that, when we were up there playing, for the most part, it was the same band that we were 30 years ago, same personalities. I mean, you saw us all looking at each other, and we’re in a room, a dressing room, we’re hanging out whatever at the hotel and it’s funny how nothing had changed. We’re all just the same distinct, funny personalities. And, both on and off stage, it was great. Ideally, it would be nice to rehearse it a little more if we do it again, get a little tighter, and try to figure it out, but it was cool for what it was.

Tom Leu: The jury’s still out on whether there will be any more of that then, is that correct at this point?

George Lynch: Yeah, I think there will be something else out. It’s just, we’re letting it lie for right now, we’re working on the DVD and the live album. We wrote a new song and remakes of some older songs. There’s talk of some stuff. Not a lot of stuff, but of some stuff here and there, one-offs, early next year.

Tom Leu: Okay, last question for you George… What’s a question that maybe you never get asked in interviews, but wished you did?

George Lynch: I’m going to be quite candid with you, this has been an interesting interview because you did ask all those questions about how music relates to the larger world of ideas, and politics, and historically as an art form. How it’s important in the context of humanity versus just listening for the appreciation of the art itself, which is super valid and important and wonderful. But you never get asked that, and I get frustrated with that sometimes, and not to… I don’t want to bag on anybody here, but there was a show on TV for a while that was a rock TV show, which is something kind of cool that would be nice to have. But in that show they never did that, what you just did. They never talked about anything that was important. Really frustrated me, and I thought: “You’re kind of missing the whole point.” There’s an opportunity to edify our audience, and get our audience involved in something larger, and in a way, guide them to be better people, and more involved you know… right?

Read more at Anti Hero Magazine.

source: antiheromagazine.com

GEOFF TATE DISCUSSES HIS “THE WHOLE RYCHE STORY ACOUSTIC TOUR” AND MEETING MEATLOAF

Ruben Mosqueda of Sleaze Roxx spoke with singer Geoff Tate. Portions of the interview appear below.

Sleaze Roxx: As stated, you’re back in North America on The Whole Ryche Story Acoustic Tour. I assume this taps into the entire Queensrÿche back catalog?

Geoff Tate: Yeah. If you can believe this, we’re performing 35 years worth of music in two hours. Or should I say an overview [laughs]?

Sleaze Roxx: I’ve not looked online for the setlist because I like to be surprised. I guess you’ve averaging at least one song from each [Queensrÿche] album?

Geoff Tate: That’s right. We designed it that way. There’s a lot of storytelling which takes place between songs. I call them tidbits or inspirations on what was going on in my life at the time that the song was written or recorded or what might have inspired the song. I’m been receiving great feedback from the fans about the show. I don’t know if it’s my expertise in storytelling or the presentation of the song [laughs]? It’s a fun show. It’s all acoustic. We have two acoustic guitars, a violin, a percussion instrument called a ‘cajon.’ Everyone in the band sings too… It’s a pretty rich sound. The acoustic performance is a return to the origins of the song. Most people don’t know this but most of my songs were either written on acoustic guitar or piano.

leaze Roxx: Geoff, do you recall who the first famous person that you met? What was that like?

Geoff Tate: Good question. Let me think. You know I don’t think I met anyone famous until I had a little bit of fame myself. I think that was good in the sense that I was always sensitive in how I would approach them. I wasn’t much into doing the ‘cold call’ so to speak. I wasn’t about walking up to someone introducing myself and striking up a conversation. I’m just not wired that way [laughs]! So when I would meet famous people, it was in a professional environment — a show or an event of some sort. I’d be introduced to them by someone — either a mutual friend or someone in the industry. It was different because then, each person would know who the other person is. You’re both there and there’s a reason why you’re both there.

I do have an interesting story for you. I was at a golf tournament a few years ago in Miami [Florida]. I walked into the bar with a group of friends. I walked up to the bar to order a drink and I saw [singer] Meatloaf standing at the bar. He was ordering a drink. I was there to get another drink. We struck up this conversation without being introduced. We talked about the care of his voice. I’m sure you’re familiar with the story. He’s had very publicized problems with his voice. He fought back and changed his entire health regime to get his voice back. I was very curious as to how he did that. He was very forthcoming about the procedure that followed. He just opened up and started talking about it. If it were me and someone started asking about my voice like that, I think I would have found the nearest exit relatively quickly! Then again, I think at that point, we were both inebriated enough that maybe it didn’t matter [bursts into laughter]?

Read more at Sleaze Roxx.

source: sleazeroxx.com

HOW JAZZ GUITARIST DJANGO REINHARDT HELPED TO SHAPE BLACK SABBATH’S SOUND

Hardeep Phull of the New York Post reports:

Jazz lovers know that gypsy guitar virtuoso Django Reinhardt was one of the genre’s stars during the ’30s and ’40s — a fact that will be celebrated on today at the 10th annual Django a Gogo tribute concert at Carnegie Hall.

But decades later (and well after his own death in 1953), Reinhardt’s lightning fingers inadvertently helped inspire the first notes of heavy metal.

During the mid-1960s, a young British guitarist named Tony Iommi (later of Black Sabbath) was working his last day at a factory when a freak accident tore off the tips off his middle fingers. He thought his budding career as a musician was over, until his foreman visited him in the hospital and told him about Reinhardt, who himself relearned to play guitar after a fire in 1928 left two of his fingers paralyzed. “It really inspired me to really get on with it, and start trying to play,” Iommi told VH1 in 2015.

One of Iommi’s innovations was to detune the guitar, making the strings softer for his fingers, but also giving the guitar a darker, more aggressive tone. That would later become a hallmark of Black Sabbath, and define the sound of heavy metal.

“All the great artists and guitar virtuosos listen to Django,” Stephane Wrembel tells The Post. “He basically invented the foundation for modern guitar.” Wrembel, himself a gypsy jazz musician who has worked with Woody Allen on films such as “Vicky Cristina Barcelona” and “Midnight in Paris,” started Django a Gogo 10 years ago. Back then, it was a smaller event held at Barbes, in Brooklyn, but has now expanded across the country. Friday’s event is the first to be held at Carnegie Hall, and will feature jazz heavyweights such as Al Di Meola and Larry Keel.

But Wrembel insists that Reinhardt’s music isn’t just something for music scholars and historians to marvel at. “You don’t have to be a musician to love Django,” he says. “If you are, his technique blows your mind. If you’re not, you have a good time with it anyway!”

source: nypost.com