On February 20th in Germany, February 23rd in Europe and March 3rd in America, UFO will release their latest studio recording, their 22nd to date.
The album will be called A Conspiracy Of Stars, and the band consisting of Phil Mogg (vocals), Paul Raymond (keyboards, guitar), Vinnie Moore (guitar), Andy Parker (drums) and Rob De Luca (bass) have recorded almost a dozen fantastic new songs, produced and mixed in the Kentish town of Deal by Chris Tsangarides, renowned for his work with acts such as Judas Priest, Thin Lizzy and Gary Moore. A Conspiracy Of Stars will be available as a Digipak (including poster and bonus track), jewel case, vinyl double LP and for download.
More or less simultaneously with the release, UFO are scheduled to go on tour in February and March 2015, playing Germany, Poland, the Czech Republic, Lithuania and Switzerland, and more, followed by a tour of Britain and Ireland in April and May.
The band is already looking forward to the reactions to their latest release, “A Conspiracy Of Stars is another successful combination of those typical UFO elements with fresh, contemporary ideas. We’re confident that not only our longstanding supporters will get their money’s worth, but that younger rock fans will also enjoy the album. We look forward to seeing you on tour!”
Greg Prato of Songfacts spoke with former Iron Maiden singer Paul Di’Anno. Excerpts from interview appear below.
Songfacts: Do you still enjoy singing the Maiden classics?
Paul Di’Anno: Yeah, I do. There are days where you don’t really want to do it. You feel like, “Oh God, what am I doing?” You know, we’ve done it for so long on and off and I’ve been lazy – I don’t make records, which I should do! I just think, Oh God, I’m going to be stuck doing this for the rest of my life. There are days when I say, “I don’t want to do this,” but as soon as I get on the stage, everything’s fine. We play a lot heavier, as well.
Songfacts: As far as songwriting, how would you say that you write your best songs?
Paul Di’Anno: In jail. [Laughing] No, me and Joey – my guitar player from Architects – we seem to have hit it off really well. Joey’s the newest member with us – he’s only been with us a couple of years when the rest of the guys have played with me for about six, seven years. He’s absolutely phenomenal. We couldn’t believe it. We knew he was good, but we didn’t realize just how great a guitar player he is. Both my guitar players in the band are absolutely awesome. It’s really changed the whole feel of the band. And yeah, we’re coming up with some really good stuff at the moment, so we’re really happy.
Songfacts: How would you describe the songwriting in Iron Maiden?
Paul Di’Anno: Well, it’s Steve Harris, isn’t it? [Laughs] Steve’s band, Steve’s rules, Steve does what he wants, and if you’re lucky, you get to write the odd song.
Songfacts: But as far as the songs that you had a hand in writing, such as Remember Tomorrow and also Running Free, was it the lyrics that you contributed?
Paul Di’Anno: Yeah, I did some of that. Running Free is basically my song. I asked Steve to play this certain bass line, he did, and I actually ended up getting a songwriting credit – I thought, “Oh… great!” But Steve would have an idea and I would make up some lyrics on the spot, or make up some sort of melody line, and then we’d just carry on with it after.
Songfacts: As far as the song Running Free, did you pretty much write all the music, as well?
Paul Di’Anno: Yeah. I had the idea for it all. I stole the idea off of Gary Glitter, with a drumbeat and stuff like that. I wanted that kind of vibe and feel for it. It’s quite simple. I think it was Rock and Roll, Parts One and Two – it was the same drum beat, we just sped it up a little bit.
Songfacts And then the song Remember Tomorrow, if you want to talk a little bit about that.
Paul Di’Anno: That was about my grandfather. I lost him in 1980, when I was on tour. He was a diabetic. They cut off his toe and his heel, then he lost his leg from the knee down, and he just sort of gave up. But the lyrics don’t relate to it, to be honest with you – just the words “remember tomorrow.” Because that is what he always used to say – that was his little catch phrase. “You never know what is going to happen, remember tomorrow, it might be a better day.” So I just kept it in, and that was it.
Songfacts: Were the lyrics to Running Free based on any of your real-life experiences?
Paul Di’Anno: Yeah. [Laughing] I’ve always been a rebel. I don’t know why, I just don’t like conforming to the norm if I can help it. I don’t respect authority, which is a bit unfortunate, as it’s a bad thing for me sometimes!
Songfacts: What about the song Killers, that you also co wrote?
Paul: Steve had the song and I had the idea for the lyrics. But Steve wanted to play it live at the Rainbow when we’d done that DVD, and I thought, Oh crap. I had a rough idea, but I made up the words as we went along – live on stage, in front of all those bloody people. And they’re different to how they are on the album, as well. It was about a psychotic killer, what he’s thinking about while he’s doing it.
Songfacts: Looking back at those two Iron Maiden albums, what song is your favorite and why?
Paul Di’Anno: I don’t know really – they’re all bloody good. It’s just the production is really bad on the first album. I prefer all the songs on the first album.
Songfacts: What was the hardest or most challenging Maiden song to sing?
Paul Di’Anno: The one we don’t do anymore – Women in Uniform. [Laughs] We played it a couple of times with Iron Maiden, and I played it a couple of times recently over the years – it’s such a bloody pain in the ass, it really is. And it’s not even one of our songs – it’s Skyhooks, the Australian band. I just didn’t get on with it. I don’t get on with that song at all.
Songfacts: One of my favorite Maiden songs has always been Murders in the Rue Morgue.
Paul Di’Anno: Steve came up with that – it’s from the book, The Murders in the Rue Morgue [a short story by Edgar Allan Poe]. Steve is into all that stuff – the historical stuff – and it came out really good. I still love playing that song live, and I’ll be doing it tonight again.
Songfacts” What about the song Wrathchild?
Paul Di’Anno: That’s one of Steve’s inventions. I don’t really know what it’s all about, to be quite honest with you.
Songfacts: Was there ever a lyric that Steve presented that you didn’t really care for?
Paul Di’Anno: Yeah, there’s a couple. Invasion was one of them – one of the very first tracks we ever did. The hook line: “The Vikings are coming, the Vikings are coming.” Oh blimey, that sounded really rubbish. But it still went down great live, so I can’t complain – what do I know?
Songfacts: Let’s talk about your new project, Architects of Chaoz.
Paul Di’Anno: This is my German touring band. We’ve been friends for so many years and we just decided that we’ve had enough of this, let’s become a band. We still play some of the Maiden songs, but we started writing and it’s all going very, very well. We had an EP we put out to try and get a record deal, and somehow, Metal Hammer got a hold of it and Rock Hard Magazine have both made us the EP of the month in August. And the vibe on us is going absolutely crazy, so we’re loving it. We go into the studio in February to start recording the full album. Still got a couple of songs to finish off the album when I get off tour. And then it’s a May release. We’ve already got the title, it’s Architects of Chaoz, A League of Shadows. So we’re just going to see what happens with this now.
As their week long residency on Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson rolls on, Metallica performed Fuel on the November 18th episode of the show. Watch it below.
Watch Metallica’s performance of Hit The Lights and their interview here.
As previously reported, Metallica started their week long residency last night (November 17th) on the Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson.
Watch clips below of Ferguson’s Metallica monologue, his interview with James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich (which can be viewed at 21:21) and the band’s performance of Hit The Lights below.
The performances help mark the 10th-anniversary reissue of the Metallica documentary Some Kind of Monster, which will be available on November 24th as a digital release and on Blu-ray.
AC/DC are streaming the title track to their forthcoming album, Rock Or Bust, which will be released on December 2nd. Listen to it below.
In related news, AC/DC will be having a listening party for their new album at Webster Hall in New York City on November 18th, click here for more information about that event.
Rock or Bust track list.
1. Rock or Bust
2. Play Ball (To listen to this song, click the name)
3. Rock The Blues Away
4. Miss Adventure
5. Dogs of War
6. Got Some Rock & Roll Thunder
7. Hard Times
8. Baptism By Fire
9. Rock the House
10. Sweet Candy
11. Emission Control
CD and LP versions of Rock or Bust are packaged in a limited 3D animated cover. All digital pre-orders of Rock or Bust come with an instant download of Play Ball.
Rock Or Bust is available for pre-order by clicking on the highlighted links below:
Eddie’s guest on his lastest podcast was Skid Row guitarist Dave “The Snake” Sabo.
When asked if he ever gets “tweaked” because he is constantly asked questions about a possible reunion with the band’s former lead singer Sebastian Bach, Sabo responded (as posted by blabbermouth.net:
“I don’t get tweaked about it per se, because I realize how fortunate I am. We’re going to Europe in October, November and December, so I’ve been doing a bunch of press for the UK. And I get asked it in nearly every interview. And my whole thing is that I’m proud of the complete 28 years of the band — the ups, the downs, the fights, the love… everything; I’m proud of it all.”
He continued, “The thing is that I understand that the majority of people that ask that question have an attachment to our band at that particular time and those songs have a specific importance to them; it brings them back to a time that was very special to them, and I am humbled by that. I am humbled and I’m thankful, and I have nothing but gratitude for that. So I’ll answer those questions, because I get it. I understand what it’s like for me to hear [Van Halen’s] Somebody Get Me A Doctor, and I could always revert to, ‘Oh my Gosh’ — before Dave [Lee Roth] came back into Van Halen — I could always sit there and go in my mind’s eye, ‘Oh gosh, I want that back again.'”
Sabo added, “You can’t recapture the past — I don’t believe that you can do that — you can only hope to improve upon it. We had a great moment for a bunch of years with Sebastian and Rob [Affuso, former Skid Row drummer] and Scotti [Hill, guitar] and Rachel [Bolan, bass] and myself, and I’m proud of it — I’m really proud of it. And I’ve always said this, I wish no ill will upon anybody. I want everybody to be successful, man — I want Rob to be successful, I want Bas to be successful, I want Scotti, Rachel and myself, all of it, I want everybody to be successful — because this is a hard business, man, and people have families they need to take care of, and we make music for a living, and it’s such a wonderful gift to be able to do that. So, that being said, I’m also extremely, extremely proud of where we are right now.
“There’s so many haters out there and we get hit all the time. And we get busted about, ‘Oh, yeah, how does it feel to be playing here?’ Well, you know what?! It feels great to be playing wherever I’m playing, because I get to perform in front of people, and people who are in the audience have given me the gift of being able to play music for a living. And that doesn’t resonate any more than it ever has than right now. For me, every night before I go on stage, I’m reminded of the fact, and I remind myself of the fact that, you know what?! ‘You get to play music for a living, dude. You are lucky.’ And it’s the truth.”
To listen to Eddie’s entire podcast with Dave Sabo, please click here.
Skid Row released their second EP in a series of three entitled, Rise of the Damnation Army — United World Rebellion: Chapter Two, on August 5th. Watch a lyric video for song We Are The Damned, here.
 on the Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson. Watch clips below of Ferguson's Metallica monologue, his ... )
