Taking parenting advice from one of the rockers in Guns N’ Roses might not seem like a good idea, but for Duff McKagan we’ll make an exception. The bassist is prepping his next book How to Be a Man (And Other Illusions), which will share the life lessons he learned from his time with GNR and Velvet Revolver to getting sober and raising a family. The book arrives on May 12th through De Capo Press.
“I had a column for the Seattle Weekly for five years, and there was one column that was called ‘How to Be a Man’, and it was kind of tongue in cheek; it was really tongue in cheek. And I got a book deal from that column,” McKagan told Total Rock Radio (via Blabbermouth). “It’s a how-to guide of things I’ve learned about life – being a dad, being a husband and being in a rock band. And it’s, like, a city guide in it, but a very tongue-in-cheek city guide; like, how I see cities. It’s got all kinds of stuff. And other stories. And hopefully it’s gonna be a funny book.”
The original “How to Be a Man” column, which ran January 10th, 2013, featured the Guns N’ Roses bassist doling out advice like “Learn how to fight,” “Don’t road-rage,” “Lead by example” and “Don’t be a pussy.” “Don’t shy away from a situation just because it’s tough. If it is protecting the one you love, or things are tough at work,” McKagan wrote in the original column. “Pin those ears back and remember who the fuck you are.”
Anthrax, five-time-Grammy-nominated, Platinum-selling, and card-carrying-member of The Big Four, will begin the set-up of its brand new album when the band hits the road late next month. First up, a six-week-plus North American trek that will include 24-dates with Volbeat, as well as appearances at five major outdoor festivals – Northern Invasion (outside of Minneapolis), Rock On The Range (Columbus, OH), Rocklahoma (Pryor, OK), and the San Antonio and Kansas City Rockfests. Dates start in Denver, CO on April 24 (the complete itinerary is below).
On this first leg, Anthrax will play a “fan favorites” set, comprised of band classics such as Anti-Social, Madhouse, Caught In A Mosh, I Am The Law and Indians. The set will also feature one brand new song, Soror Irrumator (Lords of The Rock), Anthrax’s contribution to HBO’s Game of ThronesCatch The Throne Mixtape, Vol II which was made available on March 17th and is already getting airplay on hard rock radio. Anthrax’s Bello, Benante and Ian are massive fans of the show, so having been asked to write a song for the Mixtape was an enormous thrill. You can hear Soror Irrumator (Lords of The Rock) (and the entire mixtape) for free on Soundcloud and iTunes.
Anthrax’s new album follows the band’s 2011 Grammy-nominated, critically-acclaimed Worship Music that featured the return of “classic era” vocalist Joey Belladonna, was named one of the best metal albums for 2011 by countless media outlets, and provided the band with the rock’n’roll comeback story of the year. The new album is also the recording debut for guitarist and newest band member Jon Donais. “Jon’s been great,” said Scott Ian. “So far, he’s played lead on at least seven or eight of the tracks, and they all sound amazing.”
The writing process for the new album began as far back as late 2013 when Benante began exchanging suggested riffs and other musical ideas with Bello and Ian. With producer (and “sixth member of the band”) Jay Ruston, formal writing sessions began last Fall, culminating with about 20 original songs, almost twice as many as the band had ever brought to the recording studio in the past.
Anthrax – Joey Belladonna/vocals, Frank Bello/bass, Charlie Benante/drums, guitarist Jon Donais and Scott Ian/rhythm guitar – started recording the new album in November last year. According to Benante, “Worship Music started a new chapter in our career, and it has served as an inspiration for this new album. Worship was made up of a lot of different types of songs, some thrashy, some very mid-90s Anthrax-sounding, but this new one is really thrashy.”
Said Bello, “The thing about Anthrax…we have this heavy, thrashy music and Joey’s powerful and melodic vocals. I love heavy music, but I also love melody, so the challenge is to blend them together so they sound like Anthrax, and I think we’ve done a really good job of that, especially on this new record.”
“The lyrics I write tend to go along with the way the music sounds, and this new music is very angry,” Ian added. “Lots of people said that Worship Music was a return to the roots of the band…well, this record is even more so. Unlike Worship Music, we wrote this new album with a line-up, with Joey in the band, and that has made all the difference in the world. Joey being a part of the band again, going on five years already, it definitely feels like a unit. Everything that was great about him on Worship is there even more on this new record.”
“I know that there are a lot of expectations out there for this new album,” Bello admitted, “but that doesn’t really affect us because we write the way we write. We’re all from New York, so we love a challenge, and while I’m happy to have people say that Anthrax is back and that Worship Music was the best album of our career, we raised the bar on this one, I think we have the goods with the new songs, and I’m proud to say that. At the end of the day, all you can do is have it come from the heart, do your best, and hope that people like it. That’s what we did with Worship Music, and look what happened.”
Anthrax’s new album, as yet untitled, will likely be released later this year.
Dates for Leg One of Anthrax’s 2015-2016 tour are as follows:
April:
24 1stBank Center, Denver, CO*
25 Rushmore Plaza Civic Center, Rapid City, SD*
27 Spokane Arena, Spokane, WA*
28 Adams Center, Missoula, MT*
29 WaMu Theatre, Seattle, WA*
May:
1 Revolution Place, Grande Prairie, AB*
2 Rexall Place, Edmonton, AB*
3 Calgary Stampede Corral, Calgary, AB*
4 SaskTel Centre, Saskatoon, SK*
6 Brandt Centre, Regina, SK*
7 Ralph Englestad Arena, Grand Forks, ND*
9 Northern Invasion Festival, Somerset Amphitheatre, Somerset, WI
10 WJJO MayDay MayLay, Alliant Energy Ctr. Memorial, Madison, WI
12 General Motors Centre, Oshawa, ON*
13 TD Place, Ottawa, ON*
14 Quebec Colisee Pepsi, Quebec City, QC*
15 CEPSUM Montreal, Montreal, QC*
17 Rock on the Range – Mapfre Stadium, Columbus, OH
18 Dow Events Center, Saginaw, MI*
19 Ford Center, Evansville, IN*
20 Aragon Ballroom, Chicago, IL*
22 Tyson IBF Events Center, Sioux City, IA*
23 Rocklahoma/Prior Creek Music, Pryor, OK
24 Rockfest, AT&T Center, San Antonio, TX
25 Baloonfest, Wet & Wild Water World, El Paso
27 Verizon Grand Prairie, Dallas, TX*
28 Bayou Music Center, Houston, TX*
30 Rockfest, Liberty Me. Park, Kansas City, MO
31 Outdoors at Pop’s, St. Louis, MO*
As previously reported, Van Halen performed live on Jimmy Kimmel Live! last night (March 30th). Watch their performances of Panama and Runnin’ With The Devil below.
Kimmel stated that six thousand fans lined up on Hollywood Boulevard to see the band. Unfortunately, Roth reportedly had to call an abrupt stop to Panama, when he announced that he had injured his nose on his microphone. “Let me get this taped up,” Roth said, making an apologetic exit from the stage. “How do I look? Like fucking Hiawatha, right?” Roth joked.
The band is promoting their new live concert album, Tokyo Dome Live In Concert, which is out today (March 31st). Van Halen have also announced tour dates starting July 5th in Seattle, WA and wrapping up on October 2nd in Los Angeles, CA. To view their entire tour schedule, please click here.
Also, in honor of Van Halen appearing on the show that night, Kimmel asks during a man-on-the-street segment, “Do you have a Van Halen tattoo?”
Van Halen will be back tonight on Jimmy Kimmel Live! for their second night of a two night appearance on the show.
Led Zeppelin have teamed with media and technology company Interlude to produce a groundbreaking interactive video to the previously unreleased rough mix of Trampled Under Foot, which goes by the early working title Brandy & Coke. The video can be viewed now at ledzeppelin.com/video.
Through this immersive music video, Led Zeppelin fans will be able to see beyond the façade of one of rock’s most iconic album covers, Physical Graffiti , and step inside the building through each of the 16 featured windows. Until now, no fan has had so many ways to explore and see a music video come alive. By selecting one of the featured 16 windows, the audience can enter into the room and will discover events that pay homage to the window illustrations on the original artwork. Featuring archival footage, such as the band’s full Earl’s Court performance of the song, original animation and more, Interlude technology allows viewers to follow and interact with characters from room to room without disrupting the flow of the song.
Brandy & Coke (Trampled Under Foot – Initial Rough Mix) is featured on the newly released deluxe edition of Led Zeppelin’s legendary album Physical Graffiti , which is currently celebrating its 40th anniversary. Certified 16x platinum in the U.S., Physical Graffiti is generally regarded as one of the greatest double albums of all time with the original 15 tracks representing a creative tour de force that explored the band’s dynamic musical range. Led Zeppelin released a deluxe edition on February 24th.
As a member of the Legendary Rock Band Ratt, Bobby Blotzer has headlined arenas the world over, selling over 20 million records worldwide. In 2015, the acclaimed drummer affectionately known as “The Blotz” plans to introduce the world to his own one of a kind Ratt Experience Live Show.
While the members of Ratt are currently on hiatus, Blotzer has assembled a group of world class musicians that will perform not only the Ratt hits fans have come to expect, but also several deep album cuts as well, including many songs that have never been performed live!
The Experience is rounded out by Josh Alan (Sin City Sinners), Scotty Griffin (Ex LA Guns), Doc Ellis (Jizzy Pearl’s Love/Hate) & 21 Year Old Guitar Hero Blaze.
Each Bobby Blotzer’s Ratt Experience show will include (depending on venue & time slot):
*Performing Invasion of Your Privacy in its entirety to commemorate the records 30th Anniversary
*A never before seen video history introduction
*A Tribute to Robbin “King” Crosby
*Over 20 songs including some that have never been played live before
*Exclusive VIP Meet & Greet packages & opportunities to hang out with The Blotz!
By the mid/late ’80s, Iron Maiden was unquestionably one of the biggest heavy metal bands on the planet – regularly headlining arenas/stadiums, each new album rocketing up the charts, and t-shirts sporting their ghastly mascot (Eddie) was one of the most popular fashion statements by metalheads. But by this point of their career, most of the band members were different than the ones that appeared on their classic 1980 self-titled debut album, while musically, they had transformed from a raw “punk metal” sound to a more refined “prog metal” approach.
Written by journalist/author Greg Prato, ‘Iron Maiden: ’80 ’81’ focuses solely on the early era of the band. Set up in an oral history format, interviews include Paul Di’Anno (Iron Maiden singer, 1978-1981), Dennis Stratton (Iron Maiden guitarist, 1979-1980), Wil Malone (‘Iron Maiden’ producer), Biff Byford (Saxon singer), Udo Dirkschneider (former Accept singer), Kim McAuliffe (Girlschool singer/guitarist), Brian Tatler (Diamond Head guitarist), Lips (Anvil singer/guitarist), Doro (Doro singer), Scott Ian (Anthrax guitarist), Charlie Benante (Anthrax drummer), David Ellefson (Megadeth bassist), Dave Lombardo (former Slayer drummer), Mike Portnoy (former Dream Theater drummer), Richard Christy (Death and Iced Earth drummer), Glenn Tipton (Judas Priest guitarist), Pete Way (former UFO bassist), and Eddie Trunk (That Metal Show co-host, radio DJ), among many others.
Available as a paperback version [$16.99], a Kindle download [$9.99], and a Nook download [$9.99], ‘Iron Maiden: ’80 ’81’ helps put it all into perspective.
Daniel Kreps of Rolling Stone reports:
. Watch their performances of Panama and Runnin' With The Devil below. Kimmel stated that six thousand ... )
