Wendy’s assessment of Simmons’ trademark bid? It’s “disgusting.”
“To try to make money off of something like this is disgusting,” Dio told TheWrap. “It belongs to everyone; it doesn’t belong to anyone. … It’s a public domain; it shouldn’t be trademarked.”
Dio was quick to note that her husband — who fronted groups including Black Sabbath and Rainbow — shouldn’t be credited with the gesture either. As she noted, the singer, who died in 2010, adopted the hand gesture from an old Italian sign that he picked up from his grandmother, which is used to either ward off evil or give the evil eye, depending on how it’s employed.
Dio also noted that the rock band Coven used the hand gesture, as displayed on the cover of the group’s 1969 debut album, while the cartoon version of John Lennon flashes a similar sign on the cover of the Beatles’ Yellow Submarine album, released in 1969.
Dio characterized Simmons’ effort to trademark the hand gesture as “a joke,” and noted, “It’s just crazy.”
“It’s laughable, I think, quite honestly,” Dio said, likening Simmons’ trademark bid to trying to trademark the bird or the peace sign. “I think he’s made a complete fool of himself.”
Fear The Riff Expo the nation’s premier gathering of boutique effects pedals and guitar gear in NYC proudly presents the 2017 Metal Alliance Tour. The tour is celebrating its 7th year as one of the most anticipated metal tours in the Metal Community. Each year this touring festival assembles a package that celebrates the various genres of Metal. We are very proud to announce New Jersey thrash metal legends Overkill, the undisputed titans of thrash metal as this year’s headliner.
Sharing the stage each night and crushing skulls on the Metal Alliance Tour will be New Orleans native doom/sludge band Crowbar, Colorado thrash metal stalwarts Havok, technical thrash metal band Black Fast and Invidia featuring former members of Skinlab.
The Metal Alliance Tour offers the fans upgrade VIP tickets that include meet & greet with bands, bottle of High River Sauces, Poster and a VIP Laminate. Tickets are available exclusively through ticket platform Soundrink, purchase advance tickets at Soundrink.
The Metal Alliance Tour will make the trek across the United States starting on September 9th. We hope to see you in the pit.
9/8 The Forge Joliet/IL
9/10 The Crofoot Ballroom Pontiac/MI
9/11 Diesel Pittsburgh/PA
9/12 The German House Theater Rochester/NY
9/13 Irving Plaza New York/NY
9/14 The Canal Club Richmond/VA
9/16 Culture Room Ft. Lauderdale/FL
9/17 The State Theater St. Petersburg/FL
9/18 Southport Hall New Orleans/LA
9/19 Come And Take It Live Austin/TX
9/20 Gas Monkey Bar & Grill Dallas/TX
9/22 Club Red Mesa/AZ
9/23 The Glass House Pomona/CA
9/24 Brooklyn Bowl Las Vegas/NV
9/25 The Grand @ The Complex Salt Lake City/UT
Overkill’s latest album, The Grinding Wheel, was released on February 10th via Nuclear Blast.
Kiss frontman Gene Simmons is awaiting the signal from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office after he filed an application Friday for a trademark [devil’s horn] [Dana’s note: See picture below].
According to Simmons, this hand gesture was first used in commerce November 14th, 1974. That appears to correspond with Kiss’ Hotter Than Hell tour.
Simmons is claiming the hand gesture mark for “entertainment, namely, live performances by a musical artist; personal appearances by a musical artist.”
Before the Trademark Office allows this hand gesture to be registered — it perhaps wouldn’t be unprecedented — an examiner would consider the likelihood of confusion and, possibly, whether it’s too generic to be associated with Simmons.
…An even bigger question is the extent to which Simmons could enforce trademark rights even if his registration is accepted.
Select-A-Head, LLC is pleased to announce a new reduced pricing for their popular 22” pieces of drum wall art. The new pricing comes just in time as the Seattle-based company has also established new partnerships with music and horror visionary Rob Zombie, acclaimed hard rock band Alter Bridge, metal juggernauts Mastodon and supergroup KXM. These partnerships will join the already impressive lineup of designs created for Iron Maiden, Motörhead, Godsmack and Queensrÿche to name a few. All designs are available at www.selectahead.com for the new low price of $115 + shipping. All Select-A-Head purchases come with a 100% satisfaction money-back guarantee.
On the heels of the company’s launch in winter 2014, Select-A-Head has been working tirelessly to refine the process these beautiful pieces of art are created. Now holders of the patent design, Select-A-Head, LLC looks to expand the line in various avenues. Aside from establishing numerous musical partnerships with more to be announced soon, they have already created designs for colleges such as Central Washington University, Gonzaga, Ohio State and others with new Universities being solicited all the time.
These unique displays were the creation of Seattle entrepreneur Steven Kenkman. He, alongside his brother, created the design that in some select instances come autographed by the artist when available. The process starts with a 22 inch 4 Ply drum shell wrapped in black PVC for durability; black die cast metal hoops; chrome lugs and claws with rubber gaskets to help prevent scratching and the images are printed on a high-quality matte finish. These designs have caught the attention of some of music’s biggest stars including Ray Luzier (Korn/KXM), Nicko McBrain (Iron Maiden), Eddie Trunk and countless others.
Frontiers Music Srl announced full format details and a slightly delayed release date for Mr. Big’s new album, Defying Gravity, pushing it back from the previously announced street date of July 7th.
The album will be available on CD, LP, deluxe CD/DVD, digitally and a deluxe Collector’s Edition box set that includes: deluxe CD/DVD, LP, poster, numbered lithograph, T-Shirt, sticker. The box set is strictly limited to 500 copies worldwide.
The Box set includes: CD/DVD deluxe edition, Vinyl, Lithograph, Poster, Sticker and exclusive T-Shirt (L size only).
OK, we’re rolling.” With those three declarative words (spoken by producer Kevin Elson right after the music kicks in on Open Your Eyes, an instant callback to the beginning of Addicted to That Rush, the hard-charging lead track on the band’s self-titled 1989 debut), Mr. Big plants the flag between past, present and future with Defying Gravity, the band’s ninth original studio album.
Recorded in just six days at Ocean Studios in Burbank, California, the album reunites Mr. Big with the aforementioned Elson (Journey, Europe, Lynyrd Skynyrd), who is back behind the boards for the first time since helming the band’s first four albums. Defying Gravity deftly showcases that patented Mr. Big blend of crunch and melody, from the freight-train ride of opening cut Open Your Eyes to the harmony-laden wonderment of Damn I’m In Love Again to the nostalgia trip of 1992 (recalling the days when the band was flyng high atop the singles charts with their international smash To Be With You) to the barnstorming slide-blues closing track, Be Kind. Overall, the album is prime evidence that the only thing Mr. Big remains tethered to is their ongoing pursuit of achieving creative excellence.
“It’s inspiring to work with Mr. Big,” observes guitarist/songwriter Paul Gilbert, who penned much of the material on the new album. “I know that any ideas I bring into the studio have to go through our long-established band filter, which means the songs all have to rock, have melody, and put a grin on the faces of all of my bandmates to make the final cut.” What that means is Gilbert, lead vocalist Eric Martin, bassist Billy Sheehan and drummer Pat Torpey all have to agree collectively on the finished product — as does touring drummer Matt Starr, who also joined in on the studio proceedings this time around.
That tried-and-true “all for one, one for all” mentality is one of the main things that fuels Mr. Big to reach for new heights whenever they are recording. “That’s what makes a band a band,” believes Torpey. “I think we all feel that way. It’s not one guy’s vision that the other guys all just follow. We’re always kicking ideas around to come to some kind of consensus. And that makes Mr. Big music what it is.”
Adds Sheehan, “I like recording with a sense of urgency. Put a mic in front of us, roll tape, and that should sound like what you’re hearing from us live. When you can create that kind of pressure in the studio in a short amount of time, it makes for better songs — and better performances.”
Once Martin got in sync with Gilbert, the album took shape in a relatively short amount of time. “My music tells you more about me than I can actually tell you myself,” the vocalist admits. “And ‘Defying Gravity’ is about ignoring everybody in life who tells you it can’t be done; that it’s impossible to do what you love. You have to stand your ground whenever someone tells you to give up your dream to do anything your heart desires — whether it be as a musician, painter, dancer, or whatever you want to be — in favour of a life that’s safe and conventional.”
To a man, Mr. Big couldn’t be more pleased to be working with Elson again. “Kevin Elson is really good at steering the ship through rough waters and making it seem like they’re not rough waters,” Gilbert notes. “He’s a very even-keeled guy — mellow, but he still gets it done.” Concurs Sheehan, “It was glorious and fantastic. Kevin creates an atmosphere of ease and creativity. He’s full of so many ideas. Really a wonderful man.” Torpey adds. “We’ve got a lot of history with him. He’s a great guy, super-talented. It’s not like having a dictator for a producer, just somebody who barks commands. He’s got so much experience, history and pedigree — and he’s also a really good friend, so the vibe in the studio was perfect.” Sums up Martin, “I always loved Kevin because of his musical sense, and I love singing in front of him. Kevin has a different approach that’s more cerebral. He has a lot of ideas like a musician and a songwriter would. Kevin’s a huge piece of our recording puzzle. He’s a musician’s friend. He gets good sounds, and I trust his insight and his criticism. Kevin has the golden touch, and he knows how to make great voices sound even greater.”
One of the key tracks on the album, 1992, hearkens back to the glories of much headier days for Mr. Big – albeit with tongue planted firmly in cheek. “That was an incredible period in our lives, right when the rumblings of grunge were starting to happen,” Gilbert points out. “So here I am writing about and tweaking something that was so positive in just about every way, but it did open the world to us. Suddenly, we were playing stadiums in Indonesia, just going all over the place. And to this day, whenever we start a tour, we end up going all around the world. That whole era, back when we all still had giant hair(!), really opened the door for us. Thankfully, people still gravitate toward the underlying thing that is still important, and that’s the music.”
Sheehan adds his own spin, “It’s a song about its own history. It reminds me of Deep Purple’s Smoke on the Water, a song where a band looks back and talks about how it all went down in a clever way. And 1992 certainly pops for me from a philosophical point of view.” Muses Torpey, “Who would have thought we would actually be talking about something like this 25 years later? But I’ve had those thoughts myself. It’s really interesting to reflect back like that and actually have it come out in a song. It’s an epic kind of song that’s got the classic rock stuff, the crazy guitar-and-bass stuff, and the big vocals from Eric. It’s a Mr. Big song, no doubt.”
Speaking of the band’s inherent instrumental virtuosity, there is plenty of it on display during the middle section of Mean to Me, where Paul and Billy trade a score of hot licks back and forth. “That song came about very quickly,” Gilbert reports, “and the solo was a first take with no overdubs at all; it was done live with the band. The delay I used helped make it twice as fast, but you still have to be dead-on accurate, and play the notes super-staccato so that it doesn’t get sloppy. Billy, however, does it all for real where no effects were necessary. He battles my technology-aided solo with the pure fire from his hands.” Observes Torpey, “The songs themselves are always important, but we always want to come up with the right vehicle to have some gymnastics between those twin towers of rock, Billy and Paul. That’s a big part of what we do, and we utilise it. I hope the fans like it.”
Martin is proud that Defying Gravity showcases the best of what Mr. Big has to offer. “There’s something about this band. We’ve been through a lot of stuff together,” he notes, “but there’s a spiritual bond we all share, no matter what. And that raises you up to give the best performance you can for a record that came together so quickly, like this one did.” Adds Sheehan, “This record really seems to fit in with some of my favourite times in music, which were right around ’68 to ’74. The other thing is, Mr. Big is really a singing band, and I love the fact we have that here with the background vocals we were able to add to some of the songs.”
For his part, Gilbert is very much looking forward to bringing Defying Gravity to life for Mr. Big fans the world over, “We’re aware that we’re going to be playing this music onstage, and we’re no longer just going to be looking into each other’s eyes — we’re going to be looking into the eyes of the audience. We know our audience quite well, and we’re looking forward to seeing their reactions to the album.”
Torpey has the final word, “The title says it all: Defying Gravity. We’re still here, and we’re still keeping the ball rolling down that hill. We’re still doing it. The album has a positive message, and that’s what I like about it. We can still fly, even after all these years.”
Indeed, Mr. Big’s keen combination of their virtuosic nature with a DNA-infused sense of melody continues to enable listeners the ability to sing along to every word they hear. Not a lot of acts can do that as deftly as Mr. Big does, and Defying Gravity finds this still-hungry band collectively leaning into it to push their music into new stratospheres. Climb aboard.
Defying Gravity CD and LP track listing (click on highlighted titles to hear the song):
1. Open Your Eyes
2. Defying Gravity
3. Everybody Needs a Little Trouble
4. Damn I’m In Love Again
5. Mean to Me
6. Nothing Bad (About Feeling Good)
7. Forever and Back
8. She’s All Coming Back to Me Now
9. 1992
10. Nothing At All
11. Be Kind
The DVD contents are:
1. Defying Gravity [music video]
2. Everybody Needs A Little Trouble [music video]
3. Making of Defying Gravity
4. Making of Everybody Needs A Little Trouble
5. Track by track interview.
Total length is approximately 65 minutes.
Check out Mr. Big at any of the following tour stops:
Leg 1:
6/14 Lexington, KY Manchester Music Hall
6/16 Dallas, TX Gas Monkey Live
6/17 Houston, TX Scout Bar
6/19 Kansas City, MO Knuckleheads Saloon
6/22 Tempe, AZ Marquee Theatre
6/23 Agoura Hills, CA Canyon Club
Mr. Big is:
Eric Martin – Vocals
Paul Gilbert – Guitar
Billy Sheehan- Bass
Pat Torpey- drums
with Matt Starr – drums
Avenged Sevenfold are transforming new album The Stage into an evolving body of work by adding a series of new tracks over the course of the coming months. Today sees the release of the album’s first new addition: an electrifying cover of Mexican folk song Malagueña Salerosa, click here to listen.
The track comes with a companion video that takes viewers behind the scenes and into the recording studio to watch the band and producer Joe Barresi (Queens of the Stone Age, Tool) record Malagueña Salerosa with horn players Sarah Bauza and Rachel Tate Herrmann. Watch it below.
“We’ve said all along that we want The Stage to be a different and exciting listening experience,” says vocalist M. Shadows. “For us, the idea of turning an album into a living piece of art and adding new installations is really intriguing. It expands the journey.”
That journey begins by crossing the cultural divide with Malagueña Salerosa, which is Avenged Sevenfold’s first-ever Spanish-language release. Says guitarist Synyster Gates, “I’ve always loved that song. There have been a few interesting interpretations over the years, including Chingon’s version from the Kill Bill Volume 2 soundtrack. That’s a great example of how a timeless song can be made relevant with a creative modern take. The structure, arrangement and incredible vocal work of their rendition was inspiring.”
Though they originally planned to record the song in both Spanish and English, the band decided to forgo the latter in favor of the traditional version.
“We wanted to do the song justice,” says M. Shadows, “and that meant singing in its original language. It was difficult, but I worked on it for weeks and had a Spanish-speaking friend come over daily to go over pronunciation. I also brought him to the studio to produce the vocals. It was important to me to get it right.”
The band is currently performing select songs from the album on their stadium summer run with Metallica as well as on their own series of special headline shows (see itinerary below).
June 9 – Newton, IA – Iowa Speedway^
June 11 – Houston, TX – NRG Stadium^
June 14 – San Antonio, TX – Alamodome
June 16 – Dallas, TX – AT&T Stadium
June 18 – Chicago, IL – Soldier Field
June 19 – Mt. Pleasant, MI – Soaring Eagle Casino Resort**
June 21 – Camden, NJ – BB&T Pavilion
July 5 – Orlando, FL – Camping World Stadium^
July 7 – Miami, FL – Hard Rock Stadium^
July 9 – Atlanta, GA – SunTrust Park^
July 10 – Cincinnati, OH – Riverbend Music Center***
July 12 – Detroit, MI – Comercia Park^
July 13 – Oshkosh, WI – Ford Festival Park
July 14 – Cadott, WI – Rock Fest Amphitheater**
July 16 – Toronto, ON – Rogers Centre^
July 18 – Gilford, NH – Bank of New Hampshire Pavilion***
July 19 – Montreal, QB – Parc Jean-Drapeau^
July 28 – Mountain View, CA – Shoreline Amphitheatre+++
July 29 – Los Angeles, CA – Rose Bowl+
July 31 – Sacramento, CA – Golden 1 Center+++
August 3 – Albuquerque, NM – Isleta Amphitheater+++
August 4 – Phoenix, AZ – University of Phoenix Stadium+
August 6 – San Diego, CA – Petco Park+
August 9 – Seattle, WA – CenturyLink Field+
August 11 – Salt Lake City, UT – USANA Amphitheatre+++
August 12 – Nampa (Boise), ID – Ford Idaho Center Amphitheater+++
August 14 – Vancouver, BC – BC Place+
August 16 – Edmonton, AB – Commonwealth Stadium+
** A7X headline show or festival date
*** A7X headline show with Volbeat opening
+++A7X headline show with A Day To Remember opening
^With Metallica + Volbeat
+With Metallica + Gojira
Avenged Sevenfold is vocalist M. Shadows, guitarists Synyster Gates and Zacky Vengeance, bassist Johnny Christ and drummer Brooks Wackerman.
