Author Archives : Dana

“BON JOVI: THE STORY” TO BE RELEASED THROUGH STERLING IN NOVEMBER

With their catchy hooks, good looks, and irresistible pop-metal sound, Bon Jovi became one of the bestselling bands of all time. Bon Jovi: The Story (Sterling, November 2016) by Bryan Reesman is the first fully illustrated, comprehensive book paying tribute to the mega-popular group from the beginning in 1983—soon after shooting to stardom with the release of their multiplatinum third album Slippery When Wet, which celebrated it’s 30th anniversary this August—to the present day.

This is also the first biography to include the early days of Bon Jovi through the words of people who were there—including early bandmates and associates like Jack Ponti, Wil Hercek, Bill Frank, and Bruce Stephen Foster. There are 25 sidebars
throughout, covering solo and side projects, major collaborators like Desmond Child and Wayne Isham, the Slippery When Wet cover debate, the band’s Moscow festival performance, Jon Bon Jovi’s philanthropy and acting, the rise of tribute bands, and more.

Containing over 35 new interviews with music luminaries like Judas Priest frontman Rob Halford, ex-Scorpions drummer Herman Rarebell, Nickelback bassist Mike Kroeger, music mogul Derek Shulman, and media personality Eddie Trunk and more than 130 color photographs, this unofficial music biography is a must-have for every Bon Jovi fan.

Veteran entertainment journalist Bryan Reesman has test driven a Corvette with Rob Halford, visited Lemmy’s apartment, and interviewed celebrities like Oprah Winfrey and Hugh Jackman on camera. He has contributed to The New York Times, Playboy, Grammy, American Way, Inked, and over 100 other media outlets. He’s written liner notes for rock icons like Korn, Judas Priest, Black Sabbath, and AC/DC. A decade long voting member of the Recording Academy, Bryan has contributed to six books, including The Art of Metal (Voyageur), Music Producers (Hal Leonard), and Classic Rock Posters (Sterling).

Pre-order at Amazon.

BEASTO BLANCO TO RELEASE SELF-TITLED SOPHOMORE ALBUM ON NOVEMBER 25TH

Beasto Blanco, the band fronted by long time Alice Cooper bassist Chuck Garric, will release their self-titled, full-length second album on November 25th through Rat Pak Records.

Beasto Blanco is the follow up to the bands critically acclaimed 2013 release Live Fast, Die Loud (Rat Pak Records) which was endorsed by the likes of movie actor Johnny Depp, Iron Maiden drummer Nicko McBrain, producer Bob Ezrin, and many more. The effort, which was produced by Ryan Greene (Alice Cooper/Lita Ford/Mr. Big), features 11 new songs and an amped-up cover version of Alice’s hit song Feed My Frankenstein that also features Alice’s daughter and fellow Beasto band mate Calico Cooper. The album is currently available for pre-order at the Rat Pak Records website.

The first single from Beasto Blanco, the band’s version of Feed My Frankenstein, can be heard on the Nights With Alice Cooper radio show, which is syndicated on over 100 stations worldwide. The song can also be heard at 15,000 AMC, Regal, Cinemark and NCM movie theaters in the United States throughout the month of November.

Influenced by bands such as White Zombie and Motörhead, Beasto Blanco’s all new 12-song, sophomore release is a potent mix of heavy riffs, driving bass and melodic choruses. “I’m very proud of this release” says Chuck Garric, “This new album showcases the bands evolution as songwriters and our unity as a musical force” and Calico Cooper adds “This record is like a baseball bat to the chest that you want more and more of“.

The track listing for Beasto Blanco is:

1. Buried Angels
2. Grind
3. Feed My Frankenstein (Alice Cooper cover)
4. Carcosa
5. Death Rattle
6. Dark Matter
7. Sadhana
8. I Rise
9. Machine Girl
10. Honey
11. Blind Drive
12. Damnation

Beasto Blanco will embark on a 2016/17 Fall/Winter tour starting in November, that includes a string of U.S headline dates, as well as an arena tour of Europe with German Hard Rock heavyweights Boshe Onkelz. They return home to the U.S for another run of headline dates that will conclude with performances on the 2017 Monsters of Rock Cruise in February.

November:

4 San Diego, CA Brick By Brick
5 Tucson, AZ Tucson EXPO
10 Hollywood, CA Whisky A Go Go
11 Las Vegas, NV Vamp’d

January:

25 Moline, IL Rascals
26 Nashville, TN Basement East
27 Atlanta, GA 120 Tavern
28 Birmingham, AL The Nick

February:

2nd-7th Miami, FL Monsters Of Rock Cruise

For more information, please visit:

Official Website
Facebook
Twitter

ROB HALFORD SAYS THAT JUDAS PRIEST ARE WRITING MUSIC FOR THEIR NEXT ALBUM

Keith Valcourt of the Washington Times interviewed the Metal God, Rob Halford and Judas Priest guitarist, Richie Faulkner. Excerpts from the interview appear below.

Question: What made you get involved with Rock and Roll Fantasy Camp?

Rob Halford: For us it’s bigger than the music. It is very much an experience that brings a lot of skills and discoveries about yourself together. In that respect, it also enables you to learn that being in a band is a lot tougher than sitting around and playing guitar in your bedroom. You really have to try and find a way to communicate, to respect each other’s opinions and ideas, to be able to fight for something you feel is better than somebody else’s idea. It’s a lot of things other than the music. I think that’s the thing that draws us to it.

Q: What advice do you give young rockers?

Richie Faulkner: Practice. Listen. Use you ears. And as Rob said, that team effort. You can learn your instrument in your room, but being in a band is more than playing your instrument. Listen to other people. Respect the other people in the band, and work together to create something that is larger than the sum of its parts. And have fun.

RH: You gotta have fun. Even now we have fun onstage.

RF: Too much sometimes.

RH: We can look at each other and say, “How cool is this?!” Also, never lose perspective on where you are and what you’ve got. And how you got it. Don’t put yourself on a pedestal. Because it’s very easy for someone to knock you off. It’s balance.

Q: What do you guys get out of being here?

RH: It’s making new friends, helping people realize something that could be very, very important to them. And also learning something about yourself as a musician. Because we are looking at these rock ‘n’ roll campers, and we know what is going on in their minds because we’ve been there.

RF: It’s also giving back to the community that put us all there in the first place. Priest wouldn’t be here without the support of the fans. As soon as I joined the band, I got it straight away. Especially in my situation, since I’ve only been here five minutes. I was a fan.

Q: Rob, what part has sobriety played in your longevity?

RH: Without it? Oh, I’d be dead. Literally, I would be dead. I wouldn’t be talking to The Washington Times now. I wouldn’t be here. The place where I got to, the next step, was lost. I love people. I love being in a band. I love making music. I had to figure out that was way more important than being addicted.

Q: What is next for Judas Priest?

RF: We’re writing a new record this year. As we speak, really. We have already had a writing session in England earlier this year. We have another one coming up later this year. The focus is on a new record.

RH: Then road work to support the record. That’s the life really isn’t it? You write. You record. You play. And it never grows old.

Read more at the Washington Times.

source: washingtontimes.com

EDDIE TRUNK DISCUSSES HIS NEW FIVE-DAY-A WEEK SIRIUS/XM SHOW ON THE NEWLY LAUNCHED “VOLUME” CHANNEL

Caitlin Carter of Sirius/XM reports:

Eddie Trunk’s weekly live SiriusXM show Trunk Nation has become synonymous with “appointment listening.” Over the past three decades, he has built a reputation as one of the most respected personalities in the world of hard rock and heavy metal with fans and bands alike flocking to his program to hear in-depth interviews, commentary and live interaction with fans. His brand of “music and talk that rocks” fit so well with the mission of SiriusXM’s new channel Volume that they decided to make his weekly show a daily event.

Trunk says he’s excited about the show having “a much bigger platform.”

“Doing Trunk Nation on Volume is a culmination of all the things I’ve done in my life,” he explains.

Throughout his career, Trunk has dabbled in many aspects of the music industry — from his time as a record executive, to his work in artist management, to his years as a host and producer at VH1, MTV Classic and AXS TV. In 2010, he also added “author” to his credentials with the book Eddie Trunk’s Essential Hard Rock & Heavy Metal and its 2013 sequel.

“I’ve been doing a music talk show on SiriusXM for a long time already, one time a week, and it’s amazed me that wherever I’ve gone in the country, whether it’s artists or fans, they come up to me and they tell me, ‘We don’t care what we’re doing, when you’re on we need to be there.’ And that’s just this one-time-a-week little island I’ve been doing forever. Now, five days a week I’m going to be able to have that, and I’m really excited to see where that goes.”

Unlike the current iteration of his show on Hair Nation, Trunk Nation on Volume will go beyond the hard rock and metal he’s known for and expand into the rock genre as a whole.

“I’m known for doing a lot of hard rock and metal, and that is what I love, I’m not going to ever deny that, but I like other things, too,” he says. “And I want this to be a more wide-ranging rock platform and conversation. I believe there’s no good or bad music. There’s no right or wrong music. I think that it’s very subjective, and I respect all genres of music and respect people’s different tastes. But I also have my own tastes, and I’m not afraid to give my opinion when I’m asked.”

Despite having developed a relationship with nearly every rock musician on the planet, Trunk has no qualms with critiquing his heroes, and hopes his VOLUME audience will feel free to do so as well.

“Something that I’m really adamant about is that everybody should have the right to their opinion. It doesn’t mean that you don’t like the band anymore, but if they’re doing something you don’t like you should be able to say it.”

“Music,” he continues, “has been about passion for me – whether you like it, whether you don’t like it, it’s the way you express your passion for it.”

Hear Eddie Trunk display his unwavering passion for music, every day on Trunk Nation’s new home Volume (Ch. 106).

source: blog.siriusxm.com

KISS ADMIRER AND ANTHRAX GUITARIST SCOTT IAN TELLS THE FANS, “STOP QUESTIONING GENE AND PAUL”

Anthrax guitarist and lifelong KISS fan, Scott Ian, says he trusts Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons to make the right decisions for the band.

Guitarist Frehley was replaced by Tommy Thayer, and drummer, Eric Singer, wears original member Peter Criss’ catman makeup, while sitting behind the kit.

Although, Ian thinks Frehley could play with the band, he is not so sure Criss could not properly fulfill the job.

Ian tells 99 Rock (via Blabbermouth), “As a fan, I would love to see Ace Frehley play one more time in KISS. And I’m gonna be completely honest, and this is no knock on Peter, but the last time I saw them with Peter, on the KISS/Aerosmith run, like 13 years ago, the tempos were terrible.

Everything was just way too slow. So if that’s the case, no, I don’t wanna see that. I wanna see stuff played at the right tempo. If Peter could play it at the right tempo, then more power to him and I would love to see that. Of course I would.

But it’s not my band. It’s Gene and Paul’s band and those guys know what’s right for their band. They’ve proven it. Stop questioning Gene and Paul.”

Ian points to the fact that KISS are still a major live draw as proof that Simmons and Stanley know what they’re doing.

He adds, “Look, I’m a lifelong fan of that band. But the bottom line is, and what people need to understand is it’s Gene and Paul’s band. They are the guys that have worked their asses off since 1973 to keep that band, that business moving forward all the way into 2016 and still on the level that they’re doing it.

You have no idea what it takes to make a band last that long at the level that Kiss is. So it’s their band and it’s their decision.”

Anthrax are currently on tour in North America in support of latest album For All Kings.

Anthrax remaining tour dates:

Oct 13: Missoula The Wilma Theatre, MT
Oct 14: Idaho Falls Hitt Event Center, ID
Oct 15: Garden City Revolution Concert House, ID
Oct 16: Spokane Knitting Factory, WA
Oct 17: Lethbridge Enmax Center, AB
Oct 19: Penticton South Okanagan Events Centre, BC
Oct 20: Abbotsford Centre, BC
Oct 21: Portland Daze Of The Dead, OR
Oct 22: Sacramento Aftershock Festival, CA
Oct 23: Reno Events Center, NV
Oct 25: Flagstaff Orpheum Theater, AZ
Oct 26: EL Paso County Coliseum, TX
Oct 27: El Paso County Coliseum, TX

additional source: Classic Rock via teasrock.com

TESTAMENT SHARE 360 VISUALIZER VIDEO FOR “STRONGHOLD”

Testament have released a 360° visualiser video for their song, Stronghold, of their forthcoming album, Brotherhood Of The Snake, out on October 28th through Nuclear Blast Records. Watch it below.

Brotherhood Of The Snake tracklist:

1. Brotherhood Of The Snake
2. The Pale King
3. Stronghold
4. Seven Seals
5. Born In A Rut
6. Centuries Of Suffering
7. Black Jack
8. Neptune’s Spear
9. Canna-Business
10. The Number Game