GUITARIST BRUCE KULICK DISCUSSES THE ROCK N’ ROLL HALL OF FAME AND WHAT HE THINKS ABOUT KISS CONTINUING WITHOUT GENE AND PAUL

brucekulick640 Alex Obert of Journey of Frontman spoke with former KISS guitarist Bruce Kulick. Highlights from the interview appear below.

Alex Obert: KISS had a huge year in 2014 with the band’s induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, though there was much controversy surrounding who went in. Looking towards 2015, what are your thoughts on the recently announced inductees?

Bruce Kulick: I was real happy about Joan Jett. I gotta say, knowing how political it is, her doing the Nirvana thing, which was real important and ballsy, I was pretty impressed. I didn’t actually stay that late because KISS had to film something really early the next morning, so I didn’t actually see it, but he did watch the HBO special. Joan Jett did a great job. I wouldn’t be surprised if they wound up voting for her because of that. I’m pretty impressed they picked Green Day, but they were always a critic’s band. Rolling Stone really supported them big time. If you think about it, they even got a show on Broadway from the music that they wrote. They’ve got a lot of talent, I’m not surprised that they got in. Stevie Ray Vaughan getting in is awesome, it was a long time coming. Every night before Grand Funk goes on stage, some of the music is just house music, but we control what plays when people come in an hour before the show. And Stevie Ray Vaughan sets us up, but it’s kind of interesting for Don Brewer to pick that because he was a little later than the start of Grand Funk’s fame. But everybody knows that he was just a monster guitar player who died way too young. That one I really agree with.

Alex Obert: Who else do you think should be inducted?

Bruce Kulick: I don’t study that stuff a lot, but I remember Deep Purple was being discussed for the year KISS went in. They definitely belong in there. Judas Priest should be in there. I definitely think they haven’t really looked at certain hard rock and metal bands that should be in there. But I think they jumped the shark a long time ago anyway. Knowing from my experience, just being a part of the KISS family and seeing how they were treated and how it was dealt with and the politics behind it, the whole thing is a little nuts. And it is based more on Rolling Stone Magazine and that kind of group of editors and judge and jury. It’s not necessarily the best representation, but obviously the biggest. And it is very cool for someone to be able to say that they’re in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. But there’s many, many people that should be there. Maybe they’ll get around to it. I’m always wondering if they’re just trying to sell tickets or really give it to people that deserve it.

Alex Obert: People are waiting for Eddie Trunk to start his own.

Bruce Kulick: (laughs) That’s funny. I went to the Classic Rock Awards and that was really cool. I really love that magazine. They really do very, very cool in-depth articles on any band. So they finally did one here in California, all the other years were in England. That’s where you will see Ozzy and Joe Perry. And they’ll give awards. Is it as big as the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame? No way. But, to me, it’s the best awards show that’s related to the genre that I’m known for with KISS. You’re not gonna see a rap artist there! (laughs).

Alex Obert: Do you agree with the idea of KISS continuing as a brand after Gene and Paul are gone?

Bruce Kulick: We’re not there yet. (laughs) I know that Eric made some comments saying he wouldn’t be into it. And I don’t think he would be into it. I think it would be kind of weird because you’d have twenty, thirty years in the band and then be playing with guys that are cover guys. Bands like Judas Priest having Ripper Owens pop in for a while, he did a good job. Or Journey with the Philippine kid that can sing like Steve Perry. I think that that model works. I mean, look, Gene and Paul didn’t wanna work with Ace, Peter was done, it’s possible to insert somebody else to do that. So I don’t even think what they’re doing now is wrong at all. And honestly, I think it would be completely different if Gene and Paul were actually ready to step down. They’re not ready to step down yet. But obviously KISS fans love the conjecture of “what if?” and “what do you think?” Everyone goes wild, the boards and everything. It’s very askew in many directions. And I know Doc had said some things about it, then Gene says, “It’s not true! Paul would come out and say something like that. Nothing like that is happening!” It’s silly to talk about [it] while they’re still very vital and hungry and relevant and out there. But I don’t think just because Gene or Paul would say that they’re retiring that Tommy and Eric would still hang around, even though they’re little younger. Tommy’s actually the youngest. I think it would be a whole different angle if something else would happen. That’s just my opinion. I have no facts behind it. I think what they created is iconic. I wasn’t part of that version of KISS, and yet, I’m a part of it. So there’s a whole [a]nother era that I represent. And I know there’s many fans that really love that too, it’s not as identifiable, but certainly unique. Many great albums and songs and tours, that’s what I concentrate on. But certainly, these guys could carry on the four iconic characters in many, many shapes. That’s why merchandising is unbelievable. And now they’re doing something with a Japanese artist, doing stuff like that. They were big with Hello Kitty. It’s really incredible what they created. Truly incredible. It’s timeless and it keeps attracting new generations. And then when they get really into it, the parent pops in and notices something like KISS Unplugged. Then they’re mesmerized by it. And it’s still KISS. With no crazy outfits. I can’t believe how many of these young kids that might meet me at an event or something and they’re just so enamored with me. I didn’t wear any makeup or anything, but I did get to perform that music. I got to be presented in the manner of lead guitarist with KISS.

Alex Obert: What was your favorite year of KISS while in the band?

Bruce Kulick: That’s a tough one to say. I mean, when I first joined, that was amazing. I toured really big before, but now I’m a featured guy on stage. Backing up Meat Loaf was a lot of fun in some ways because we were headlining arenas all around the world. Not right away, but within three or four months. But that was a different kind of show. And all of a sudden, five years later, I’m on stage as the lead guitarist for KISS. So the beginning was really exciting. It got a little routine, maybe in the middle, for me. But I did always give it a hundred percent. Some of the Crazy Nights times was very exciting because we got to do Monsters of Rock and really tour everywhere. And I remember Hot in the Shade had some really incredible highlights because of the long tour and great bills with bands like Winger and Slaughter, which was very, very important at that time. Album wise, Revenge was probably my favorite, even though each album had highlights. Doing Unplugged, even though it was my last real gig with the band, I’m still super, super proud of it. I believe it was thirty years just recently for Animalize. It’s kind of funny, the more I look back at some of this stuff, I know there were other years where I look back and I go, “Oh my! I’m playing that too fast!” or “What the hell am I playing?” And now, I don’t know why, maybe it’s because I’m seeing it in a little different light, I’m really more and more proud of everything that we accomplished and everything that I did. I’m not looking at it so critically.

Read Bruce Kulick’s entire interview with Journey of Frontman here.

source: journeyofafrontman.com

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MOTLEY CRUE’S NIKKI SIXX SAYS HE WOULD DECLINE AN OFFER TO BE INDUCTED INTO THE ROCK N’ ROLL HALL OF FAME

NikkiSixx400 Motley Crue bassist Nikki Sixx lacks love, and respect, for the Rock N’ Roll Hall of Fame.

The bassist posted on his Facebook page:

“The only award I look forward to getting is the one I will probably decline and that’s the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame. It’s a fixed old-boy network that has lost touch with art, songwriting craft, lyrics and influential music and usually has other agendas at hand. Young bands tell me it’s a joke, and these bands are the future.”

Our own Eddie Trunk told the New York Daily News last month, “How can you have a Hall Of Fame where it takes KISS, Rush and Alice Cooper twenty years to get in, but Green Day and Guns N’ Roses go in on first ballot but it Deep Purple doesn’t get in.”

Deep Purple has been eligible for induction in the Hall of Fame for the past 20 years and has been passed over each time favor of other artists.

additional source: blabbermouth.net

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BLACK SABBATH’S TONY IOMMI ON WHY HIS CANCER SCARE WON’T STOP HIM ROCKING

TonyIommibig Warren Manger of the Mirror reports:

Rock legend Tony Iommi, 66, had just begun working on a new album with Ozzy Osbourne and his Black Sabbath bandmates when he was diagnosed with the blood cancer lymphoma in January 2012. But he was determined not to let the gruelling treatment stop him working.

When the doctors told me I had cancer I thought, ‘That’s it then.’ Cancer was death as far as I was concerned. I found a painful lump in my groin while I was in New York promoting my book. I thought it was my prostate acting up again, but Ozzy told me I should get it checked out. I came back to England and had an operation to reduce my prostate. It was painless but afterwards I needed a catheter. When that came out I went to see the surgeon.”

He adds, “ ‘Good news on the prostate. It’s been cut down to a sensible size and everything is good there. But on the lump we took out, we found follicular lymphoma.’ It’s a type of Non-Hodgkin lymphoma. I went for scans to see if it had spread. It hadn’t. But I was still suffering the after effects of my prostate operation. All the antibiotics and other medication had knocked me about a lot, I was really weak and tired. The band had just started work on our latest album, 13, so I got the guys together to tell them the bad news. Ozzy came in and said: ‘Oh yeah, didn’t so and so die from that?’ Which is exactly not what you want to hear. I thought, ‘Thanks a lot, Mr. Bloody Cheerful.’ But that’s Ozzy all over, he always puts his foot in it. It was a relief to be working on the album because it gave me something to focus on instead of sitting there waiting to die. Some days I could join in, other days I felt too ill. But the band knew it would be like that. Ozzy was actually really helpful. It was good to have someone around who had experienced it all before because you always fear the worst when you talk about cancer. Ozzy went through a lot of that stuff when Sharon had colon cancer and it spread to her lymph nodes. When I felt tired he would say: ‘This is what happened with Sharon, you ought to go and lie down, have a rest.’ He even offered to make the tea, but he’s still Ozzy. He’d disappear for three hours then come back empty handed. You’d ask him, ‘Where’s the tea?’ And he’d say, ‘Oh yeah, I forgot.’ Once I got over my prostate operation the doctors started chemotherapy. I needed six courses of chemo, one every three weeks. It takes about six or seven hours to give it you on a drip. I had to change my whole lifestyle, including in the studio. We laugh about how different it was this time. In the good old days there was cocaine everywhere. This time we had tea and coffee and health drinks that my wife, Maria, made for me because I’ve had to change my diet. Thankfully red wine is still on the menu, though. I’m determined to hold on to as many of those little pleasures as possible. I can still go out for dinner with my friends, Jasper Carrott and ELO drummer Bev Bevan, too, but I have to ask if we can eat a little bit earlier these days.”

He continued, “Nobody is used to going to eat at 7pm, but I don’t have the energy to eat late and go out drinking until 2am. I need to go to bed early. It’s not very rock ’n’ roll, but it works for me. After we released the album we went on tour and played 81 shows in 28 countries. I really enjoyed it, but it was tough. After the illness I got really tired. Every six weeks I had to fly home for treatment at the Parkway Hospital in Solihull, just outside Birmingham. I was hooked up to a drip and given an antibody that sort of coats the cancer cells and stops them spreading. Then I had to be home for two or three weeks recovering before I could join up with the band again. We had to plan the whole tour around my treatment. That meant a lot of travelling. And to make matters worse, flying affects my blood cells now because of the cancer. By the time I got to the hotel I’d have anxiety, the shakes, all sorts of things I’d never had before. It was so bad I began worrying whether I was going to be all right. It took me two months to recover after the tour finished, but the doctors said: ‘What do you expect? You’ve been pushing yourself so hard.’ I finally finished my antibody treatment over the summer. It’s good in a way because I have more energy now, but I still don’t know whether the treatment worked.Because I had two different operations at the same time, one on my prostate and one on my lymph nodes, I had too many scans last year and too much radiation. So I can’t have any more scans yet. Every day I feel around for lumps and bumps. Every time I get a pain in my stomach I think, ‘Oh God, it’s cancer’. It’s horrible. I even dream about it. But that’s my life now. The surgeon told me he doesn’t expect the cancer to go away. There’s a 30 per cent chance that it could, but more than likely it will come back and it could be any time. I look at life differently now. I could be here another 10 years or just one year – I don’t know. Sometimes I wonder if I should try to live a more peaceful life. Then I think, ‘I don’t want to let the illness take over’. After all, I enjoy where I’m at now. I’ve even become a guest lecturer at Coventry University after they awarded me an honorary doctorate. If someone had suggested that to me years ago I’d have turned it down, but I’ve been through a lot and I’ve learned from it, so it feels good to pass that on. These kids are fans too, so I love spending time with them. After everything that has happened, I couldn’t wish for anything better than that.”

source: mirror.co.uk

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GUITARIST JASON BECKER MIGHT RELEASE UNRELEASED DAVID LEE ROTH SONGS

jasonbecker400 Jason Becker says he could finally reveal previously unreleased songs he recorded with David Lee Roth.

The guitar icon – who suffers from the debilitating disease ALS – replaced Steve Vai in David Lee Roth’s solo band and recorded guitars for the 1991 album A Little Ain’t Enough.

Becker, now 45, was diagnosed with ALS just days after joining the band and he was never able to tour with former Van Halen frontman Roth. But he says there are a handful of tracks that the two recorded which didn’t make it onto the album.

He tells Talking Metal, “There were a couple that didn’t make it. I think I might put them on my next album, but they won’t have Dave’s singing.”

On the decision not to tour with the band, Becker adds, “We were planning on going on tour, but when I was helping Dave, I auditioned some other players for the tour. I was having a hard time standing and playing. My legs would shake, so I had to sit the whole time. After that day, Dave and I talked and we decided I wouldn’t tour. He was depressed. I tried to make jokes and pick up his mood, but that didn’t really work.”

Becker made his name as part of the band Cacophony, which he formed with friend Marty Friedman. They released two albums, 1987’s Speed Metal Symphony and 1988’s Go Off.

source: Classic Rock magazine

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LED ZEPPELIN TO RELEASE “PHYSICAL GRAFFITI” DELUXE EDITION AVAILABLE FEBRUARY 24TH

ledzeppelin400 The Led Zeppelin reissue campaign continues in 2015, turning the spotlight on the double album Physical Graffiti. The deluxe edition of the group’s sixth studio album will arrive 40 years to the day after the original debuted on February 24th, 1975. The reissues of the first five Led Zeppelin albums in 2014 found both commercial successes, with multiple titles reaching Top 10 chart status in countries around the world, as well as widespread critical acclaim, including the recent Classic Rock “Reissue Of The Year” Award.

As with the previous deluxe editions, Physical Graffiti has been newly remastered by guitarist and producer Jimmy Page and is accompanied by a disc of companion audio comprising previously unreleased music related to the original release.

Physical Graffiti will be available February 24th from Atlantic/Swan Song in the following formats:

• Double CD – Remastered album packaged in a replica of the original LP jacket.
• Deluxe Edition (3CD) – Remastered album on two discs, plus a third disc of unreleased companion audio.
• Double LP – Remastered album on 180-gram vinyl, packaged in a sleeve that replicates the LP’s first pressing in exacting detail.
• Deluxe Edition Vinyl (3LP) – Remastered album and unreleased companion audio on 180-gram vinyl.
• Digital Download – Remastered album and companion audio will both be available in standard and high-definition formats.
• Super Deluxe Boxed Set – This collection includes:
o Remastered double album on CD in vinyl replica sleeve.
o Companion audio on CD in card wallet featuring new alternate cover art.
o Remastered double album on 180-gram vinyl in a sleeve replicating first pressing.
o Companion audio on 180-gram vinyl in a sleeve with new alternate cover art.
o High-definition audio download card of all content at 96kHz/24 bit.
o Hard bound, 96 page book filled with rare and previously unseen photos and memorabilia
o High-quality print of the original album cover, the first 30,000 of which will be individually numbered.

Certified 16x platinum in the U.S., the commercial success of Physical Graffiti was equaled by its critical reception. Generally regarded as one of the greatest double albums of all time, the original 15 tracks represent a creative tour de force that explores the band’s dynamic musical range, from the driving rock of Custard Pie and acoustic arrangement of Bron-Y-Aur Stomp to the Eastern raga of Kashmir and funky groove of Trampled Under Foot.

The companion audio disc that accompanies the deluxe edition of Physical Graffiti has seven unreleased tracks, including rough mixes of “\In My Time Of Dying and Houses Of The Holy, as well as an early mix of Trampled Under Foot called Brandy & Coke. All the unreleased companion tracks offer fans a chance to hear well-known songs from a different perspective, including the Sunset Sound mix of Boogie With Stu and Driving Through Kashmir, a rough orchestra mix of the band’s eight minute opus Kashmir. Also featured is Everybody Makes It Through, a strikingly different early version of In The Light with alternate lyrics.

Physical Graffiti Track Listing:

Disc One:
1. Custard Pie
2. The Rover
3. In My Time Of Dying
4. Houses Of The Holy
5. Trampled Under Foot
6. Kashmir

Disc Two:

1. In The Light
2. Bron-Yr-Aur”
3. Down By The Seaside
4. Ten Years Gone
5. Night Flight
6. The Wanton Song
7. Boogie With Stu
8. Black Country Woman
9. Sick Again

Companion Audio Disc:

1. Brandy & Coke (Trampled Under Foot – Initial Rough Mix)
2. Sick Again (Early Version)
3. In My Time Of Dying (Initial Rough Mix)
4. Houses Of The Holy (Rough Mix With Overdubs)
5. Everybody Makes It Through (In The Light Early Version/In Transit)
6. Boogie With Stu (Sunset Sound Mix)
7. Driving Through Kashmir (Kashmir Rough Orchestra Mix)

In 1968, John Bonham, John Paul Jones, Jimmy Page and Robert Plant formed Led Zeppelin, one of the most influential, innovative and successful groups in modern music, having sold more than 300 million albums worldwide. The band rose from the ashes of The Yardbirds, when Page brought in Plant, Bonham and Jones to tour as The New Yardbirds. In 1969, Led Zeppelin released its self-titled debut. It marked the beginning of a 12-year reign, during which the group was widely considered to be the biggest and most innovative rock band in the world.

Led Zeppelin continues to be honored for its pivotal role in music history. The band was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1995, received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2005, and a year later was awarded with the Polar Music Prize in Stockholm. Founding members Jones, Page and Plant – along with Jason Bonham, the son of John Bonham – took the stage at London’s O2 Arena in 2007 to headline a tribute concert for Ahmet Ertegun, a dear friend and Atlantic Records’ founder. The band was honored for its lifetime contribution to American culture at the Kennedy Center Honors in 2012. In January of 2014, the band won their first ever Grammy award as Celebration Day, which captured their live performance at the Ertegun tribute concert, was named Best Rock Album.

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GUITARIST ULI JON ROTH TO RELEASE A DOUBLE ALBUM CALLED “SCORPIONS REVISITED” ON MARCH 10TH

ulijonroth640 UDR, The Home Of Legends, is set to release guitar legend Uli Jon Roth’s brand new double album of 19 re-invented Scorpions tracks, entitled Scorpions Revisited, on March 10th. Pre-orders for the album will be available soon.

For over four decades, Uli Jon Roth has forged new frontiers in the world of guitar, both in terms of approach and style. He even managed to invent the sky-guitar, a six octave lead instrument that remains unparalleled. But before he started to explore the creative worlds of music, philosophy and art, Uli Jon Roth was a member of European rock giants, the Scorpions, a band with which he helped create a new path in hard rock music. In 2013, venerated for his originality and dynamism at the time, Roth found himself intrigued by the memory of those early days which began 40 years ago, and specifically by the music he helped write, perform and occasionally sing on the albums Fly To The Rainbow, In Trance, Virgin Killer and Taken By Force. It lead to Roth deciding to spend a year re-visiting, exploring, performing and re-recording his favorite Scorpions songs.

The first results of this magical, mystical journey into his own past can be heard on Uli Jon Roth’s Scorpions Revisited,a double-disc CD recorded in Hanover, Germany which sees the maestro re-harness all the collective power and poise of those original Scorpions classics, and re-imagine them as he feels today. No one in their right mind would dare call these mere re-recordings, as it’s clear that Roth reinvents these songs from the soul up.

Scorpions Revisited track listing:

CD1:

1. The Sails Of Charon
2. Longing For Fire
3. Crying Days
4. Virgin Killer
5. In Trance
6. Sun In My Hand
7. Yellow Raven
8. Polar Nights
9. Dark Lady

CD2:

1. Catch Your Train
2. Evening Wind
3. All Night Long
4. We’ll Burn In The Sky
5. Pictured Life
6. Hell Cat
7. Life’s Like A River
8. Drifting Sun
9. Rainbow Dream Prelude
10. Fly To The Rainbow

“The material for this double CD was recorded last year in the same hall in Hanover that we used for the Scorpions rehearsals 1973-1978,” explains Roth. “Together with an amazing bunch of very talented young musicians, I revisited my personal favorites from the early Scorpions period, some of which were written in that same hall. It was an emotional few days and I am very pleased with the results in more ways than one. The idea was to stay truthful to the original spirit of the music, while also putting a new slant on it whenever it felt like the right thing to do. I feel we really succeeded in this and I’m very excited about this project. It was a intense journey into the past and I think we really managed to bring the songs back to life with a vengeance.”

The band which performed with Roth for these historic shows was Nathan James (vocals), Jamie Little (drums), Ule W. Ritgen (bass), Niklas Turmann (guitar, vocals), Corvin Bahn (keyboards, vocals) and David Klosinski (guitar).

As noted, this is the first fruit from a re-engagement with his history that left Roth enjoying a surge of fresh creativity and approach to this classic material. Expect a further announcement for 2015. But for now, feast your ears, heart and emotions on Roth’s unique return to his most famous musical legacy.

2015 Uli Jon Roth US Tour Dates:

January:

21 Ramona, CA Mainstage
22 Anaheim, CA House of Blues
23 Hollywood, CA House of Blues
24 Las Vegas, NV Vamp’d
25 San Josè, CA Rock Star Bar
26. Portland, OR Tonic
27 Seattle, WA Studio 7
29 Moorehead, MN The Garage
30 Spring Lake Park, MN POVS
31 St. Charles, IL Arcada Theatre

February:

1 Chicago, IL Reggie’s (& Sky Academy)
2. Detroit, MI Token Lounge
3. Toronto – Mod Club
4. Cleveland, OH Agora Ballroom
5. Hartford, CT Infinity Hall
6 Londonderry, NH – Tupelo Music Hall
7. Poughkeepsie, NY The Chance
8. Manhattan, NY BB King’s
9. Springfield, VA The Empire

For more information, please visit ulijonroth.com.

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