Author Archives : Dana

GUNS N’ ROSES AND KISS TO HEADLINE THE “HELL AND HEAVEN” FESTIVAL IN MEXICO CITY IN MARCH

Guns N’ Roses and KISS will be the headlining acts for the Heaven and Hell Metal Fest scheduled to take place in México City on March 15th-16th. Eddie Trunk will be there both days as special guest host!

Other acts also planning to appear at the two day festival will be: Rob Zombie, Twisted Sister, Testament, Flotsam and Jetsam, Korn and others. To purchase tickets to this event, please visit www.int-tkts.com.

 

GUITARIST MARK TREMONTI REVEALS THAT VAN HALEN IS WORKING ON NEW MUSIC

Mark Tremonti has revealed that Van Halen are busy working on new music after explaining the band’s studio time is preventing Van Halen bassist Wolfgang Van Halen from working with Tremonti in his solo band.

Chatting to VH1 Radio Network’s Dave Basner about any news on Tremonti’s self-titled solo band he said: “With Wolfgang in the band now, he does a lot of work with Van Halen right now, they’re putting together a new album, so it’s going to be hard to get everybody’s schedules to line up. You know, he doesn’t [say how the music is going]. He just says, ‘Yeah, sounds great, man. Sounds great.”

Van Halen singer David Lee Roth confirmed last year the band’s intention to record a new album to follow on from the well received A Different Kind of Truth which was released in 2012. That record was an collection of songs which could be traced back to the band’s earliest days.

The album debuted at Number two on the Billboard album chart, selling 187,000 copies in its first week of release.

source: classicrockmagazine.com

SAMMY HAGAR PLEADS WITH THE FDA TO ALLOW EXPERIMENTAL TREATMENT ON DRUMMER’S WIFE

David Lauser’s partnership with Sammy Hagar stretches back to his pre-Van Halen solo albums. He also helped Lauser find his wife Liza, who was managing Hagar’s web site. Now, as Liza struggles with inoperable brain cancer, Hagar is gathering members of Chickenfoot, Night Ranger and Mr. Big for a sold-out February benefit concert to help defray mounting expenses.

That’s testament to what the drummer has meant to Hagar, beginning with 1981’s Standing Hampton, which featured a co-written track called Sweet Hitchhiker. Lauser also played on Three Lock Box, VOA, and I Never Said Goodbye through 1987. After Hagar’s stint with Van Halen, Lauser then created the nucleus for the Wabos, who have worked with Hagar ever since. Hagar and the band shared credit on four albums between 1999 and 2006 before Hagar founded Chickenfoot, and they remain his principal solo touring group.

But Lauser’s most recent shows with Hagar, in support of his 40 Years of Rock tour, were played with a heavy heart. The discovery of Liza Cozad-Lauser’s tumor, walnut sized at its center but with tentacles woven around her brain stem, led them to four different radiologists. The Lausers were told that irradiating that area of the brain would damage healthy tissue around it — perhaps causing blindness, loss of smell, deafness. Those treatments do not represent a cure, either, as doctors said most tumors later return.

Worse, the tumor itself can not be removed. Those stricken with tumors in the periphery of their brains are good candidates for surgery. Brain stem tumors, however, are generally inoperable because of their positioning where the spine connects to the skull. There would simply be too much collateral damage to other needed brain functions.

That led the Lausers to antineoplaston therapy. They had, quite serendipitously, earlier seen a documentary on this experimental option, which helped some similarly ill patients. Unfortunately, by the time Liza was diagnosed, the ANP project had already been halted after two rounds of government-approved testing. David is now furiously lobbying for an exemption, in the hopes that this therapy might benefit Liza. The chances of it working have been placed at only 30 percent. But that’s 30 percentage points more than Lauser feels they have right now.

“Our mission today, because we know what we are up against, is to get her that ANP,” Lauser tells us in an exclusive SER Sitdown. “I have great respect for doctors, and the AMA and people who have dedicated their lives to helping people, but when it comes to certain areas, you have to be your own advocate.”

Meanwhile, Liza is losing her ability to walk and talk, Lauser says. They have downsized into a condo, even as fundraisers were launched in their honor — including Hagar’s benefit show next month. Lauser talked to us about this pitched battle for Liza’s life — and how members of the couple’s extended musical family have helped along the way …

Please share this and sign the petition. When does a person get to make a decision for their own life? Liza does not have much time to live and they want to try something experimental. They understand the risks but they also know it’s likely her only chance at survival. It should be their decision and their decision alone.

Sign the petition here.

AUDIO SAMPLES FROM KXM, THE NEW BAND FEATURING GEORGE LYNCH, DOUG PINNICK AND RAY LUZIER, POSTED ONLINE

KXM, a new band featuring guitarist George Lynch (Lynch Mob, Dokken), bassist/vocalist Dug Pinnick (King’s X) and drummer Ray Luzier (KORN) will release their self-titled debut album on March 11th through Rat Pak Records.

To read more about KXM, please click here.

Audio samples can be heard below.

The track listing for KXM is:

1. Stars
2. Rescue Me
3. Gun Fight
4. Never Stop
5. Faith Is A Room
6. I’ll Be Ok
7. Sleep
8. Love
9. Burn
10. Do It Now
11. Human Friction
12. Tranquilize (Bonus Track)
13. Rescue Me (Radio Edit) (Bonus Track)

MOTLEY CRUE’S NIKKI SIXX ON WHY YOU WON’T BE HEARING ANY NEW MUSIC FROM THE BAND, BASSIST SAYS IT IS BECAUSE RADIO IS “FORMATTED”

Last month Motley Crue announced plans for a 72-show final tour in North America with overseas dates to follow in 2015. But the rock veterans will not be hitting the road with any new songs with Nikki Sixx casting doubt on the worth of any band in their position making an album in todays climate, citing the difficulty of getting radio play as the main barrier preventing bands reaching an audience.

Nikki Sixx tells Classic Rock in an interview printed in full next issue, “We’ve written some songs. But this is difficult to say and probably harder to hear: when you spend nine months working on an album, all the work that goes into it and recording it, mixing it, mastering it, then you release it and it falls on deaf ears. Radio is so fuckin’ formatted, if you don’t have a banjo and a beard they’re not playing you over here. If you’re this kind of band at this stage of your career you can’t be played on Active Rock; if you’ve been around for more than fifteen years you’re classic rock, but classic rock radio doesn’t play new music. You just think, “Fuck, man, this sucks. I have the belief that I would rather have less music reach more people through different opportunities, whether it be through movies, through sponsorships or co-sponsorships through integrated marketing with other types of companies that want to use your song specifically to reach tens of millions of people. I’d rather work on two songs under that plan than do eleven songs that only reach 100,000 people.”

Mick Mars echoed Sixx’s sentiments to Artisan News stating, “I don’t know … maybe I’m retarded or something, but I like to put a lot of effort into this last, farewell tour…”

Watch Artisan News‘ interview with Mick Mars and Tommy Lee below.

source: classicrockmagazine.com