BASSIST BILLY SHEEHAN, GUITARIST STEVE VAI AND DRUMMER GREG BISSONETTE TEAM UP WITH STEEL PANTHER VOCALIST, TO CELEBRATE THE 30TH ANNIVERSARY OF DAVID LEE ROTH’S “EAT’ EM AND SMILE”

BillySheehan Blabbermouth.net reports:

Ultimate Jam Night will celebrate the 30th anniversary of David Lee Roth’s Eat ‘Em And Smile album with a special performance by Steve Vai (guitar), Billy Sheehan (bass) and Gregg Bissonette (drums), along with guest vocalist Ralph Saenz (a.k.a. Michael Starr of Steel Panther), this Wednesday, November 25th at Lucky Strike Live in Hollywood, California in a free show beginning at 8:30 p.m. The performance will mark the first time in 30 years that Vai, Sheehan and Bissonette have played together, and they — along with Saenz — will re-create some of the music from the 1986 LP and tour.

Eat ‘Em And Smile” was the first of two Roth albums to feature the duo of Steve Vai and Billy Sheehan on guitar and bass. Throughout the LP, the two would often sync complicated bass lines together with the lead guitar parts, as on tracks such as Shyboy and Elephant Gun.

Vai, recognized as one of the world’s greatest guitarists, continues with his own projects. Sheehan, a modern bass legend, is part of the highly successful bands The Winery Dogs and Mr. Big. Bissonette is playing with the Ringo Starr and his All-Starr Band.

Now entering its 44th week, Ultimate Jam Night is a free weekly show held each Wednesday at Lucky Strike Live, located at the Hollywood/Highland center. Founded by Chuck Wright of Quiet Riot, the show features up to 60 world-class musicians rotating in and out of various musical numbers.

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LAMB OF GOD’S RANDY BLYTHE, “I HONESTLY HOPE WE CANCELLED A TOUR FOR ABSOLUTELY NOTHING”

randyblythe As previously reported, due to the terrorist attacks in Paris, and subsequent threats elsewhere, Lamb of God decided to cancel the remainder of their European tour dates over safety concerns. Frontman Randy Blythe has posted an in-depth statement regarding the band’s decision on his official blog page, Randonesia. Excerpts from the statement below:

“At the request of management, I have agreed to write a post concerning our recently cancelled tour of Europe. I wouldn’t have bothered to do this on my own, since a rather self-explanatory general statement has already been made explaining our reasons for leaving and that seems more than sufficient to me. The basic gist of the post was that something specific occurred that made some of us in the band feel that it was unwise to continue on with the tour, potentially putting ourselves, our crew, and large numbers of defenseless people in harm’s way. Simple enough. And I won’t elaborate on the details of that occurrence here, since I have no wish to add to the atmosphere of speculation and fear that currently surrounds terrorist activities in Europe. There are way too many ill-informed running mouths across the globe making an already tense, highly complex, and extremely fluid situation on that continent even worse. I feel pretty ridiculous even writing this (who knew deciding to cancel a tour after venues you have played start getting blown up would require any sort of explanation to anyone?), but since I have been asked nicely to do so by the people I employ to manage my band, I will. And as one of the band members who said, ‘I am done here,’ I will speak solely for myself, not my band as a whole…

…So here is what I have to say, and it’s all I’m going to say on this matter, PERIOD….

Obviously, no working band wants to cancel a tour, especially once it is underway — fans get disappointed, a lot of money gets lost by several different groups of people, a massive amount of time is wasted by all parties involved, it’s generally an all-around bad business move, and (trust me) it’s just a huge pain in the ass.

My band is not in the habit of cancelling tours, so unless there is a family emergency, we carry on regardless of almost anything. And lots of ‘interesting’ things have occurred in our 21 years of existence as a band. We have taken the stage five minutes after martial law has been declared (Bangkok, Thailand), we have been stuck in airports for multiple days unable to enter a country because the armed forces and the police force of that country have decided to go to war with each other (Ecuador), we have narrowly missed, driven through, or managed to maneuver around deadly natural catastrophes (earthquakes in China, floods in Poland, hurricanes here in America, and more). Personally, I’ve gone onstage with a broken arm, broken ribs, various broken toes, a broken nose, staples in my forehead due to a stagedive gone wrong. Hell, I’ve even been to prison in a foreign country, gotten out after a month, and played massive gigs a little over a week later. In fact, before the first night of this very tour had even gotten underway, I met a group of particularly unpleasant young people on a dark street and consequently played the first few shows with a banging headache.

My band and I aren’t even strangers to touring in an environment of terror. Just over a month after September 11th, 2001, we played in Times Square, downtown Manhattan, New York City (a lot of bands, especially European bands, cancelled tours of the States around that time, and I didn’t blame them — it was a seriously heavy time to be in America). But such is the life of a touring musician, so something really, really serious has to occur to make us cancel. And something really, really serious (and utterly heartbreaking) did occur in Paris, prompting several bands to go home early or cancel upcoming tours. I couldn’t blame them. But my band didn’t leave — we paid attention to what was going on, evaluated the situation the best we could, and decided to continue on with the tour. Despite some obvious concerns, it felt like the right thing to do.

Sitting in a hotel room in London, as I followed along in real time during the tragic massacre in Paris at Bataclan I could see the layout of the club in my mind, and I thought, ‘That is a terrible spot to be trapped in like that (which, of course, is exactly why the gunmen chose it). God help those people inside.’ It was sickening to me that people were dying just because they wanted to see a rock show, and what made it worse was that I could clearly envision it happening as it went down; I’d played that club several times before.

Eighty-nine people died in Bataclan that night, including one individual known to several crew members of our tour. The next day, the mood was serious before the gig, but all the bands got up and played their hearts out. It felt like the right thing to do, to try and raise people’s spirits. From the stage, I told the audience to try not to be consumed by hatred or to live in fear….

Then the band and crew flew to Stuttgart, Germany. We had originally planned to ride the ferry from Dover, England to Calais, France and from there make our way to Germany, but after the bombings and shootings in Paris, the French government shut the borders, and we figured either the ferry wouldn’t be available or it would just be a complete security nightmare, so we spent money on flights. Imagine my surprise when I talked to our bus driver the day of our gig in Stuttgart, asking him how crowded and hectic the ferry ride was. ‘Oh, no, it was almost empty,’ he said. ‘And when we got to France, we were just waved in — there were no cops there at the border or anywhere in sight.’ Umm… okay. That seemed just a little loose to me, given that just three days previously men who had traveled from a nearby different country had blown themselves up in Paris after massacring over 100 human beings, but I’m no security expert, so what do I know, right?

Right before I walked onstage in Stuttgart, I saw on the news that they evacuated a soccer stadium north of us in Hannover, Germany due to threat of explosives. I didn’t exactly feel relaxed going onstage that night, but it turned out to be a great gig, despite once again me having to stop the show so another injured crowd member could get wheeled out to an ambulance..And so we continued on through mainland Europe to Tilburg, Netherlands. Once again, it felt like the right thing to do.

I woke up in a great mood around 1 or 2 p.m. on the day of the Tilburg show (I like Holland, and always enjoy my time there), went into the venue, ate lunch and began looking online to see if there was a camera store nearby. Sometime later that afternoon, soon before the band was scheduled to soundcheck, our tour manager called us together, closed the dressing room door, and said, ‘I’ve got some news, and it’s not good.’ He then informed us of a specific occurrence that made me immediately say, ‘F–k this, I’m not going on that stage tonight.’ At that moment, it no longer felt like the right thing to do anymore, not at all. It did not feel like the right thing to still stand on stage and tell people, ‘Don’t worry about it. Come on in and enjoy yourselves. There’s no need for concern.’ It did not feel like the right thing — not for myself, not for the people I employ, and not for our fans. Things had quickly changed — it felt foolish, it felt irresponsible, and it felt potentially very, very dangerous.

As I mentioned earlier, I do not wish to add more rumors or speculation to an already tense and constantly shifting situation in Europe, so I won’t go into details. Suffice it to say, this new specific piece of information (not some nebulous news story about the generally pensive atmosphere pervading Europe at the time) gave me enough to pause to think, ‘I am not going to chance endangering the lives of myself, my crew, and the 1,800 or so fans expected to show up this evening by going on with this show. I can’t tell these people they are safe in here. It does not feel right, screw this, I’m out of here.’ Furthermore, what I had just been told made me think, ‘Even if it’s nothing tonight, I’m not going to go through this every day. Our job is done here for now. It’s time to go home…That was my judgment call. I stand by it…

Shortly after our tour manager told the club manager we had decided not to play, the venue put a press release saying the gig was cancelled, and our crew began to pack up everything onstage. The doors never opened to the general public, and I feel very, very good about being part of the decision that caused that. Why? Because, aside from some grumpy fans’s feelings, no one got hurt that night…Maybe cancelling the gig was all for nothing. But maybe not. And if things had gone badly, afterwards while I sat talking to the cops (because in all probability, once guns started going off, I would have made it out the nearby back exit while the fans and maybe some of my crew got stuck inside and gunned downed or blown to bits like those poor people in Paris), I would have said to myself, ‘You got some specific information. You knew there was something potentially sketchy. You didn’t feel right about this. Why didn’t you just cancel the show, you stupid, selfish, idiot?’

…I hope that the situation in Europe and everywhere else calms down, posthaste (and yes, I know that an attack could occur in America — obviously, I’d feel better about being at home to help deal with it the best I could, or at the very least die on my native soil). I hope no one else dies anywhere on the planet (and this is a global problem) because some misguided maniacs with suicide vests and Kalashnikovs decide to martyr themselves over their twisted interpretation of divine will. But yesterday at least 21 people died in Mali during a hostage situation at the hands of terrorists, and as I write this, Milan, Italy (where we were booked in three days) is on high alert. And the city of Brussels (where we were scheduled to play next week) has been placed on the highest possible alert, with governmental officials telling people to avoid high concentration areas like sporting events, train depots, airports, and… concerts. Downtown is basically shut down, and I’m more than happy we won’t be filling a concert venue there (or any other place at the moment) for something to potentially go terribly, terribly wrong. The way I feel, to do so at this particular time seems not only risky to myself, but irresponsible to our crew and fans…

…one typical and very widespread online reaction I saw (and was completely baffled by) was, ‘ISIS wins! By not playing, they are letting ISIS win!’

‘By not playing, they are letting ISIS win’? People, do you have any idea of how colossally stupid this sounds? Please crawl out of the hive mind echo chamber for a second and try to use your own head for a change. These are ROCK BANDS trying to play a gig without being gunned down onstage, not Navy SEALS assaulting a mountain stronghold in the Hindu Kush. You aren’t going to stop a bullet with a ripping guitar solo — Jimi f–king Hendrix couldn’t do that, even if he resurrected and came back to rock Europe one more time…Almost 100 people died horrific deaths just over a week ago, screaming with terror as they were gunned down like fish in a barrel simply because they were crammed into a club trying to have a good time at a rock show. These were real human beings, not blips in a Twitter feed. Tragically, more people might die before it’s over. I hope not, but overall the situation in Europe doesn’t look good at this second.

I encourage those of you who don’t agree with my assessment of the situation to immediately book a ticket to Belgium, walk around with picket signs in front of Ancienne Belgique (the club we were booked to play in Brussels) and yell at them about how they aren’t properly fighting terrorism by closing their doors. I’m sure your presence there will do the people of Brussels a ton of good…

…Right now, several of my friends remain in Europe on tour. I hope they have good gigs, I hope they stay safe over there, and I hope (most importantly) that they return home safely to their loved ones. It is their decision to stay, and I respect that.

…I honestly hope we cancelled a tour for absolutely nothing, so that people can point their fat little fingers at this later and laugh their heads off at my unwarranted concerns. I would rather be ridiculed by the entire online virtual peanut gallery of pinheads than take chances on myself or anyone else getting hurt or killed (and yes, I include even the dummies who are mad and still can’t understand why we cancelled) because I ignored what I felt was the smartest move given our circumstances.

I can deal with people disagreeing with me and my actions, no problem. I could not deal with a news story that reads, ‘Hundreds die at LAMB OF GOD concert; authorities say potential warning signs were ignored by band.’ Then people would have something of actual consequence to bitch about, not a few cancelled heavy metal concerts. ‘How could those fucking American morons play a show when they thought something might happen? Why didn’t they cancel? Now there are dead people everywhere. What a bunch of ASSHOLES.’ No thanks. Better safe than on CNN.

Y’all stay safe, and let’s hope this mess gets sorted out soon.

That is all I have to say.”

Read Randy Blythe’s entire statement, here.

additional source: bravewords.com

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ANTHRAX STREAM LIVE VERSION OF “MADHOUSE,” AS “SPREADING THE DISEASE” CELEBRATES IT’S 30 ANNIVERSARY

AnthraxSpreadingthedisease640 Anthrax have released a live stream of their classic tack Madhouse. It was recorded at Tokyo’s Sun Plaza in 1987 and features on their Spreading The Disease: 30th Anniversary Remastered Edition, out now. Listen to it below.

Drummer Charlie Benante said, “We wanted to do something special for our fans to celebrate the anniversary of Spreading the Disease. We took the idea to Universal a couple of years ago and have been very hands-on with them, creating this special, deluxe edition that we think our fans will really like.”

Anthrax will release their 11th studio album entitled For All Kings on February 26th. The band will also be hitting the road briefly in October, and will then tour the States with Lamb of God, beginning in January. Click here to view band’s itinerary.

Spreading The Disease: 30th Anniversary Remasted Edition tracklist:

Disc 1:

1. A.I.R.
2. Lone Justice
3. Madhouse
4. S.S.D./Stand Or Fall
5. The Enemy
6. Aftershock
7. Armed And Dangerous
8. Medusa
9. Gung-Ho
10. Medusa (Joey Belladonna demo)

Disc 2:

1. A.I.R. (Live at Tokyo’s Sun Plaza, 1987)
2. Metal Thrashing Mad (Live at Tokyo’s Sun Plaza, 1987)
3. The Enemy (Live at Tokyo’s Sun Plaza, 1987)
4. Madhouse (Live at Tokyo’s Sun Plaza, 1987)
5. Howling Furies (Live at Tokyo’s Sun Plaza, 1987)
6. Armed And Dangerous (Live at Tokyo’s Sun Plaza, 1987)
7. Gung-Ho (Live at Tokyo’s Sun Plaza, 1987)
8. Soldiers of Metal (Live at Tokyo’s Sun Plaza, 1987)
9. Lone Justice (Rhythm track tape, 1984)
10. Gung-Ho (Rhythm track tape, 1984)
11. Metal Thrashing Mad (Rhythm track tape, 1984)
12. Raise Hell (Rhythm track tape, 1984)
13. Stand Or Fall (Rhythm track tape, 1984)
14. Aftershock (Rhythm track tape, 1984)
15. Armed And Dangerous (Rhythm track tape, 1984)
16. Madhouse (Rhythm track tape, 1984)
17. The Enemy (Rhythm track tape, 1984)

source: classicrock.teamrock.com

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ON THE 31ST ANNIVERSARY OF “RIDE THE LIGHTNING,” METALLICA GUITARIST KIRK HAMMETT REFLECTS ON THE ALBUM AND BASSIST CLIFF BURTON

kirkhammett640 Brad Angle of Guitar World spoke with Metallica guitarist Kirk Hammett about the 31st anniversary of the band’s second album, Ride the Lightning. Excerpts from the interview appear below.

Guitar World: Today, Ride the Lightning ranks as a classic album in the metal genre. Looking back through the lens of the past 31 years, how has your view of the Ride the Lightning era changed?

Kirk Hammett: It’s interesting. Just this morning I was telling my kids what I was going to do today. I’m like, “These people are taking a picture of me in an electric chair!” They’re both young, so of course they said, “Why?” I explained it’s because we have a song called Ride the Lightning and that’s another way of saying, “You’re getting electrocuted in an electric chair!” Then I had to play them the song and sing them the lyrics. They’re sitting there looking at me, like, “Wow.” [laughs]

So I’m sitting with them, listening to that Ride the Lightning guitar solo, and I was like, I have absolutely no recollection of putting all those harmonies on there! [laughs] When we were putting that song together, we had the intro riff, the verse, the chorus, and a part of the instrumental bridge. When the whole thing slows down and there’s that solo section, I remember I pretty much played that solo as it is off the bat.

When I recorded that in 1984, I was 21 years old. That’s crazy. In 1984, a guitar solo like that was something. If you put it into context of what was going on back then, it was very modern sounding. Of course, if you put it into today’s context, it sounds like classic rock. [laughs] It’s not like today’s norm, with sweeping arpeggios and 32nd notes everywhere. I also have to say that when I listened to it this morning, I realized that the actual sound of the album is still good. After all these f–king years, it still holds up sonically.

Guitar World: ..Were you writing the stuff in El Cerrito around the same time you were taking lessons from Joe Satriani?

Kirk Hammett: Yeah, absolutely.

Guitar World: Do you remember any specific techniques that he showed you that ended up on Ride the Lightning?

Kirk Hammett: All the stuff I learned from Joe impacted my playing a lot on Ride the Lightning. He taught me stuff like figuring out what scale was most appropriate for what chord progressions. We were doing all sorts of crazy things, like modes, three-octave major and minor scales, three-octave modes, major, minor and diminished arpeggios, and tons of exercises. He taught me how to pick the notes I wanted for guitar solos as opposed to just going for a scale that covered it all. He taught me how to hone in on certain sounds and when to go major or minor. He also helped me map out that whole chromatic-arpeggio thing and taught me the importance of positioning and minimizing finger movement. That was a really important lesson.

Guitar World: You guys made a pretty serious jump in songwriting and style between Kill ’Em All and Ride the Lightning. Lars has said that Cliff Burton was an important force in pushing Metallica in this new progressive direction. What was your experience like working with Cliff during this time?

Kirk Hammett: Cliff was a total anomaly. To this day, I’m still trying to figure out everything I experienced with him. He was a bass player and played like a bassist. But, f–king hell, a lot of guitar sounds came out of it. He wrote a lot of guitar-centric runs. He always carried around a small acoustic guitar that was down tuned. I remember one time I picked it up and was like, “What is this thing even tuned to, like C?” He explained that he liked it like that because he could really bend the strings. He would always come up with harmonies on that acoustic guitar. I would be sitting there playing my guitar and he’d pick up his bass and immediately start playing a harmony part. And he would also sing harmonies. I remember the Eagles would come on the radio and he would sing all the harmony parts, never the root.

Guitar World: Ride the Lightning was the first record you had writing credits on. [Hammett replaced original lead guitarist Dave Mustaine in 1983 prior to the recording of Kill ’Em All.] At that point were you feeling a lot more comfortable about bringing your ideas to the band?

Absolutely. Actually, the title Ride the Lightning was my idea. I had taken it from a passage in a Stephen King novel, The Stand. There’s this prisoner, and the line’s something like, “He was stuck on death row and ready to ride the lighting.” Anyway, when I joined the band, those guys went out of their way to make me feel comfortable. It wasn’t like when Jason [Newsted] joined the band [after the death of founding bassist Cliff Burton], and we weren’t as far established as we were when [bassist] Rob [Trujillo] joined.

We hung out all the time back then. I remember right after recording Kill ’Em All, James was like, “Check this out,” and played me the riff to Creeping Death. But it was played really slow, like half time. It just naturally sped up over the course of time.

Guitar World I heard a rumor that the instruments on For Whom the Bell Tolls were tuned slightly sharp to match the opening bell that chimes.

Kirk Hammett: Nope. The chimes are slightly flatter. [laughs] Nah, it’s not us…it’s the chimes! Again, that bass intro was something Cliff had. He would play it all the time at soundcheck. I remember the first time he played it thinking, Wow. That’s a weird f–king riff. It was unlike anything I’d ever heard.

Guitar World: Ride the Lightning was released on Megaforce in July 1984. But soon after, Metallica were signed by Elektra, which rereleased the album later that year. Did getting picked up by a major label drastically change your lifestyle?

KirK Hammett: Well, it felt good knowing that we finally got on a major, because that’s what we wanted to be on the whole time. But none of the majors were interested at first. The amazing thing is that it all happened in one night. We were playing Roseland Ballroom in New York City after we had recorded Ride the Lightning. That night, we got signed to Elektra, Q-Prime [management] and ATI, which was a booking agency back in the day. All three of those things happened that one night, and we didn’t even play that well! We went onstage and played, but we weren’t vibing like we usually did, and we were a little sloppy. So we came offstage and we were a little bummed out, saying, “F–king hell, they’re not going to sign us. Are they even still here?” [laughs] Then Elektra came backstage and said, “Great f–king show, you guys were amazing!” [laughs] And Q-Prime said, “We are definitely working with you guys. Congratulations!” And we’re all looking at each other, like, Really?

After it all sunk in, we were really excited. Being signed to Elektra meant that our record would make it to a lot of places that wouldn’t be possible with an independent label. We knew we’d be able to tour a little better, like in a real tour bus and with better promotion. And, most importantly, we knew we’d be better off financially, so we could make a better-sounding record, which of course ended up being Master of Puppets.

Read more at Guitar World.

source: guitarworld.com

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LAMB OF GOD CANCELS EUROPEAN OVER SAFETY CONCERNS

randyblythe Due to the terrorist attacks in Paris, and the bomb threats in Germany, Lamb of God has canceled the remainder of their European tour.

The band has issued the following statement:

“Due to concerns brought to our attention by the venue security team yesterday in Tilburg — and continued general concerns across Europe — we have decided against putting our fans, our crew and ourselves in this position night after night and will be canceling the remainder of our performances in Europe. This is a decision we are making on behalf of the fans, our crew, and our band, as well as the well-being of everyone’s family, friends and loved ones at home. Stay safe, and we will see you very soon.”

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“GUITAR GODS FESTIVAL” FEATURING YNGWIE MALMSTEEN, STEVE VAI AND NICKO MCBRAIN OF IRON MAIDEN, TO TAKE PLACE IN MIAMI, FLORIDA ON FEBRUARY 19TH

GuitarGods2016-640 Malmsteen Management is proud to announce the next Guitar Gods Festival, which is to take place in Miami on February 19th, 2016.

The Guitar Gods Festival will be held at the North Beach Bandshell and will feature performances by Yngwie Malmsteen, Steve Vai, and Nicko McBrain of Iron Maiden, with more performers to be announced. The centerpiece of the Guitar Gods Festival is the online competition, where budding artists will duke it out to determine the next Guitar God.

The contest is open to all acoustic and electric guitar players of any age, whether they be soloists, duos, or full bands – anything goes as long as there’s a guitarist. The submissions will be voted on by fans and an all-star panel of judges, with eight performers being selected to perform at the event on February 19th!

If you think you’ve got what it takes to be the next Guitar God, please visit GuitarGodsFestival.com to enter.

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