Cinderella’s Stripped will be released on May 16th through Collectors Dream Records. Recorded live over the course of two nights — October 2nd-3rd, 1998 — at the Key Club in Hollywood, California during the band’s Unfinshed Business tour, it is comprised of 14 hard-rockin’ and blues-based tracks; included as a bonus are two songs recorded live in 1991.
Stripped track listing:
1. The More Things Change
2. Push Push
3. Gypsy Road
4. Fallin Apart At The Seams
5. Heartbreak Station
6. The Last Mile
7. Shelter Me
8. Coming Home
9. Hot And Bothered
10. Nightsongs
11. Nobody’s Fool
12. Somebody Save Me
13. Shake Me
14. Don’t Know What You Got
15. Sick For The Cure (bonus track)
16. Make Your Own Way (bonus track)
Black Label Society has landed its first Number one on Billboard’s Top Rock Albums chart, as Catacombs of the Black Vatican sits at the top spot with 26,000 sold, according to Nielsen SoundScan. The Number one charting bests the band’s previous Number two top peak set by Order of the Black in 2010. On the the “Billboard 200,” Catacombs sits at number five.
The new release also sits atop Hard Rock Albums, where it’s the group’s second Number one, following Order.
Catacombs of the Black Vatican was released on April 8th.
Black Label Society will also be headlining the Revolver Golden Gods Tour that began on April 16th in Seattle, Washington. See the remaining tour dates below.
Revolver Golden Gods Tour dates:
Fri/Apr-18 Boise, ID @ Knitting Factory Concert House
Sat/Apr-19 Missoula, MT @ Wilma Theater
Mon/Apr-21 Billings, MT @ Shrine Auditorium
Fri/Apr-25 Milwaukee, WI @ The Rave
Sat/Apr-26 Nashville, TN @ Marathon Music Works
Tue/Apr-29 Ybor City, FL (Tampa) @ The Ritz
Wed/Apr-30 Lake Buena Vista, FL @ House of Blues
Fri/May-02 Birmingham, AL @ Iron City
Sun/May-04 Silver Spring, MD @ Fillmore
Mon/May-05 Clifton Park, NY (Albany) @ Northern Lights
Wed/May-07 Philadelphia, PA @ Electric Factory
Thu/May-08 Worcester, MA @ The Palladium
Fri/May-09 Sayreville, NJ @ Starland Ballroom
Sat/May-10 New York, NY @ Best Buy Theater
Mon/May-12 Norfolk, VA @ Norva
Tue/May-13 Stroudsburg, PA @ Sherman Theater
Thu/May-15 Pittsburgh, PA @ Stage AE
Sat/May-17 Ft. Wayne, IN @ Piere’s
Mon/May-19 Sioux Falls, SD @ The District
Tue/May-20 Chicago, IL @ House of Blues
Wed/May-21 St. Paul, MN (Minneapolis) @ Myth
Fri/May-23 Grand Prairie, TX (Dallas) @ Verizon Theater
Tue/May-27 New Orleans, LA @ House of Blues
Wed/May-28 Houston, TX @ House of Blues
Sun/Jun-01 Denver, CO @ Ogden Theater
Mon/Jun-02 Salt Lake City, UT @ The Complex – Rockwell
Wed/Jun-04 Tempe, AZ @ Marquee Theater
Thu/Jun-05 Las Vegas, NV @ Brooklyn Bowl
Fri/Jun-06 San Francisco, CA @ Regency Ballroom
Sat/Jun-07 Los Angeles, CA @ Fonda Theater
Tesla’s brand new studio album entitled, Simplicity, will be released on June 6th in Europe.
The Sacramento Rockers are back with 14 new songs offering a ride of energy that doesn’t come easy for a band of rookies much less a band whose been doing this for over 20 years. Simplicity is Tesla’s seventh all original studio album which follows a six year creative break from the release of the previous album Forever More.
After a string of shows in the USA in 2013, the band went back into the studio in early 2014 and came out with a new album, which goes straight back to the the band’s roots. The band worked and produced it as they did with Into the Now, their successful come-back album from 2004. Helped by the legendary Tom Zutaut who was the man behind the best Tesla albums, this new album rocks from start to finish, showing a variety of emotions where each song has its own twist–not sounding like another.
The first new song off the new album Taste My Pain, was released last summer digitally via iTunes and Amazon. The track was recorded during a two-day (June 5th-6th 2013) session at J Street Recorders in Sacramento. The new song is, according to the band, “A heavier song with a hard-driving beat and Tesla trademark blazing guitars.” Listen to it below.
Guitarist Frank Hannon says about Simplicity: “I must say that this new TESLA album is really gonna be awesome. We went in more prepared with the songs and ideas way more than Forever More, and the style is pure Tesla back to our roots. I truly believe you guys are gonna love it!”
“The opening track is called MP3”, continues Hannon “and starts off with an opus intro that orchestrates into a heavy slow groove with lyrics about technology and how we miss simplicity, vinyl albums, family values…and has a heavy ass riff! Then we segue into a rock n roll song called Ricochet that talks about uncle Ted…can’t wait to play this stuff live!”
Simplicity track listing:
M P 3
Ricochet
Rise and Fall
So Divine…
Cross My Heart
Honestly
Flip Side!
Other than Me
Break of Dawn
Burnout to Fade
Life is a River
Sympathy
Time Bomb
‘Til that Day
Burnout to Fade (writing demo version)*
*Bonus track
Tesla European tour dates:
5/1/2014 -Milan, IT – Frontiers Rock Festival
6/5/2014 -Sölvesborg, SE – Sweden Rock Festival
6/6/2014 -Copenhagen, DK
6/8/2014 -Gelsenkirchen, DE – Rock Hard Festival
6/9/2014 -Aschaffenburg, DE
6/10/2014 -Pratteln, CH
6/12/2014 -London, UK
6/13/2014 -Donington, UK – Download Festival
Kory Grow of Rolling Stone spoke with Alice Cooper about his documentary, Super Duper Alice Cooper, which premieres at the TriBeca Film Festival today (April 17th). Excerpts from interview appear below.
Rolling Stone: How did it feel to see your life flash before your eyes?
Alice Cooper: It’s funny, because I don’t live in the past. I understand how people want to know how it all worked, how it all started and everything, and it was an interesting story. But it was fun for me to go back. And I don’t apologize for anything – it all happened in the “Golden Age,” when you could make references to Jimi Hendrix and Jim Morrison and realize, “I used to get drunk with those guys.” That makes it infinitely more interesting because you were there for the “Lost Weekend.” In fact, I think was the bartender that week. [Laughs]
Rolling Stone: As you recounted stories about people like Hendrix and Morrison, what struck you?
Alice Cooper: What I learned from them – except for John Lennon, of course, which was a really different thing – was that they all just burned out. Jim Morrison, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Keith Moon: They all were of that mindset of, “Get it done now, because I don’t want to be doing this when I’m 30.” And my mindset at that time was, “I’ve got to figure out how to separate myself from this character, or it’s going to kill me.” [Laughs] For me, it was figuring out how to eliminate the gray area so that I could have a life, and “Alice” can have his own life, without apology.
Rolling Stone: [Regarding your live show], did you ever devise any practical effects that were too dangerous to pull off?
Alice Cooper: Not too dangerous, but there were a lot of “Spinal Tap moments.” When I saw Spinal Tap, I went, “Oh, boy.” I got stuck in the pod a couple of times. But there were things like, “Well, let’s shoot Alice out of a cannon,” and we bought the cannon and it worked great. I’d get in the cannon, I’d get out the back, and they’d shoot the dummy across into the thing and I’d already be on the other side and walk out. It’s an illusion, but it looked great. And of course, I got it on stage and the cannon goes “BANG!” and the dummy comes out about about six inches. You have to play it like, “O…kay.”
But nothing has been too dangerous. The guillotine is a 40-pound blade; it misses me by six inches every night, for the last 40 years. Same thing with the hanging: It’s a piece of piano wire keeping you from hanging, and you got to hope that piano wire has been checked that night. When you get a 12-foot python on the stage, 99 percent of the time, he’s gonna be OK — but what if there’s that one night when he decides, “This is the night I’m gonna just do it?” I’ve always liked the idea that there’s an element of possibility of something really happening.
Rolling Stone: The [movie] includes the Toronto concert where fans threw a chicken onstage, you threw it back and the audience tore it to shreds. At that show, you were opening for John Lennon. Did he ever say what he thought of that?
Alice Cooper: Oh, he loved it. John Lennon was a Hollywood vampire. He was one of our drinking guys. But it was John Lennon and Yoko when they were doing their art. So they saw it as that; Yoko and John were like, “Yeah, this is great.” John thought that was funny. And I didn’t kill the chicken. [Laughs] Even if they would have wanted me to, I wouldn’t have killed the chicken. But I realized at that point how bloodthirsty people at the peace-and-love festival — that’s what it was — were. They had no problem killing the chicken.
Rolling Stone: In the doc, Bernie Taupin expresses remorse for turning you on to cocaine right after you had cleaned up. Did he ever apologize to you personally?
Alice Cooper: No, Bernie was my best friend. And cocaine was, like, breathing in Los Angeles at the time. I didn’t know anybody that didn’t do coke. I was maybe the only one that didn’t. Having an addictive personality, it was the worst thing I could’ve tried. At least I had the experience of kicking alcohol, which was the hardest thing for me. So kicking cocaine was not hard. That was just a matter of, “OK, enough of that.” The alcohol was really the drug for me that was a tough one, because it was so available, it was legal.
Look for Kix– Steve Whiteman (lead vocals), Jimmy Chalfant (drums, vocals), Ronnie Younkins (guitars), Brian Forsythe (guitars) and Mark Schenker (bass)—to release their first new album in almost two decades on July 22nd, thanks to their new partnership with Loud & Proud Records. What makes this project even more exciting and anticipated is that the album features the band’s original line-up, with the exception of Schenker on bass.
“The boys and I are so happy that our old friend, Tom Lipsky, has invited us to join the Loud & Proud family,” exclaims Whiteman. “We worked with Tom and Madelyn Scarpulla on our last studio album, Show Business, and we’re looking forward to working with them again with the release of the first new Kix album in almost 19 years! We’ll still be coming to a dump near you very soon!”
Loud & Proud Owner & President Tom Lipsky adds, “What I have always loved about Kix is they make rock ‘n roll fun. What I love about their new music is that it’s pure, genuine Kix music, straight up guitar rock with no compromise. They’re not chasing trends or trying to re-invent themselves. They’re simply doing what they do best…and now they can do it Loud and Proud!”
Marking the re-emergence of Kix in early-2000’s, the band had teamed up a few times a year to test the waters with reunion shows in the Maryland/Pennsylvania, which were very well received. Then in the summer of 2008, they performed outside the mid-Atlantic for the first time in 13 years at two of the biggest rock festivals in the U.S. Rocklahoma in Pryor, OK and Rock the Bayou in Houston, TX. The band was hailed by many music websites and attendees as “Best Performance” at both festivals, where they played alongside Sammy Hagar, Alice Cooper, Tesla, Queesryche, Ratt, and more.
As the demand for new music has never subsided and in fact has only increased over the last few years, the band decided that they can no longer ignore the overtures from their fans and are currently recording new Kix songs. The new album, due out summer 2014, is produced by Taylor Rhodes, who last worked with KIX on 1991’s HOT WIRE album. Rhodes has also written hit songs for Aerosmith, Ozzy Osbourne and Journey.
Stay tuned for new album news, which will be announced in the coming weeks, and check out Kix on tour at any of the following stops (with more to be announced soon):
4/25 Columbia, MD M3 Festival
5/24 Pryor, OK Rocklahoma
5/31 Sandusky, OH Ohio Bike Week
6/6 Vernal, UT Thunder Rocks
6/21 Idaho Falls, ID Rock The Falls
7/25 Royalton, MN Halfway Jam
7/31 Leemore, CA Tachi Palace Casino
Greg Prato of Songfacts spoke with iconic guitarist Michael Schenker. Excerpts from the interview appear below.
Songfacts: How did the songwriting work in the band UFO? Was it more of a collaboration?
Michael: Well, when I joined UFO, they were a psychedelic band. They were playing very different music. But I was attracted to them being British, since that’s where the music that I fell in love with came from: Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, and Johnny Winter. Well, Johnny Winter was American, but a lot of the music that we were listening to at that point in time when I was 15 years old was coming from there.
When I toured with UFO and Scorpions, the guitarist from UFO lost his passport, so in order to continue the tour, I had to play for both bands. That was when I was 16 years old. I opened up with the Scorpions and then I played with UFO for a couple of days. And that’s when they asked me to join them.
I always told the Scorpions that if a British band would ever ask me, I would go just to get to a country where there was the interest for rock n’ roll. In Germany it was dead. It was disco music and it wasn’t very interesting what I was doing. So I was more than happy to go over there. They invited me over and I took the offer.
When I got there I just laid down a riff and another one and another one, and Phil [Mogg] did his vocals to it and it just became a totally different band based on the pieces that I gave them, which every song was built on. I wrote that way right from the beginning, and it’s still how I write today.
But because I had just joined them, we were more in the mode of making a record, touring, making a record, touring, making a record, touring. Because we were doing everything in the short amount of time, we spent a lot of time at the rehearsal studio.
Some very early songs, like Rock Bottom, were very spontaneous. We were just sitting there looking for an additional song, and when I played “Rock Bottom,” the riff, that’s when Phil jumped up and said, “That’s it! That’s it!” So we started putting it together and putting it into form.
But in general, I would always come up with some riffs, give it to the singer and he would find something, too. Then we’d go into the rehearsal studio and work on it. That’s basically how we used to write.
Songfacts: You just mentioned the song Rock Bottom, which I was always a big fan of. The studio version and the live version are a bit different, as the live version had a long jam section. How did that come about?
Michael: Well, Rock Bottom has that piece in the middle of free expression, and it’s perfect for me because I love pure self-expression. It’s a really, really good part to play over that particular chord there, and it leaves a lot of space to come up with a whole bunch of creative ideas. Over the years, the solos have changed. I keep the basic structure of it, but there is a lot of space to put new “sparks” on here and there and keep it fresh.
It’s always enjoyable to play over and over and over, because I can be very creative with it on the spot. That’s a very fascinating, enjoyable part of music for me.
Songfacts: Another favorite UFO song of mine is the song Lights Out. Was that song pretty much the same, that you came up with the riff first and then it was a collaboration?
Michael: Well, on songs like Only You Can Rock Me or Lights Out, Pete Way would come up with (guitar sounds – play the clip to hear), and that was it. Then I get inspired by that and find the additional parts. Or in the other song, that kind of happened quite a few times, too, that Pete came up with, like, Only You Can Rock Me, for instance (guitar sounds). But that was it. And then I added all the other pieces to it.
So that is also a way of writing. It’s a combination based on the circumstances and on the moment. But there was no particular strategy of how to do it. It’s just like, “Who has got something? What is it?”
If it was complete or just a riff or anything that sounds good or inspiring, we had enough people in the band that would create additional parts to it. Like, Paul Raymond is a very good songwriter himself, so he would also come up with stuff. I think most of his songs were complete. Most of Pete Way’s were just riffs. They needed additional ideas. And my stuff usually would be a riff and a bridge and a chorus, but not necessarily a complete, ready song.
Songfacts: Is it true that the UFO song, Lipstick Traces, you played that whole song with your feet?
Michael: I was about 18 years old and I don’t know why I was thinking or what I was thinking. I don’t know. Maybe I was thinking, “I wonder if I can play with my feet?” And so I was just wondering if it was possible. [Laughing] So I started playing Lipstick Traces with my feet, and I went, “Wow, it is possible.” I played it to Andy.
But then I decided, “I think it’s better I just focus playing it with my fingers. It’s easier.” [Laughs]
Songfacts: So the actual studio version is you playing with your fingers, right?
Michael: Absolutely. Yeah.
Songfacts: I’m glad that I had the opportunity to ask you that, because I’ve always been curious about that, if you were playing with your feet or your fingers!
Michael: Yeah. I didn’t in the studio, no, no. The studio was with my hands. It was an experiment.
Songfacts: Is it true that you were asked to try out for the Rolling Stones back in the ’70s?
Michael: Yeah. When UFO invited me, I came over. I was only over in England for a few months and then I get a phone call from someone asking me to audition for The Rolling Stones. I was very, very scared. [Laughing] I called my brother and told him and said to him, “What shall I do?” I was very nervous about it. I never called back and I left it.
I had joined UFO, I’m 17 and very shy and very sensitive in a country without any knowledge of English. It was quite a big step already. So when that came my way, I remembered images of The Stones in the paper. First of all, Brian Jones had just died. And then I saw pictures of The Stones looking at each others’ lice. I mean, like, in the hair, looking for lice! The whole image that The Rolling Stones had, I was scared that it was a dangerous thing to be with them.
UFO and Great Britain was a step that was big enough at that point in time.
Songfacts: Did you also try out for Aerosmith a few years after that?
Michael: Yeah. That was when I was finished with UFO and Peter Mensch started managing me. They flew me to New York just to see what the Aerosmith situation would be like, with Joe Perry not being there.
I went there, but we never really got to play, because Steven Tyler wasn’t in any good shape. I was sitting for five days in a hotel, waiting. I wasn’t in the best shape myself, and so it never really got to anything, other than when I started my first songs for the first MSG album [The Michael Schenker Group], I actually went in with Joey Kramer and Tom Hamilton after that time, because Steven Tyler went to a hospital and he disappeared. I was getting ready for a solo album, and Joey Kramer and Tommy Hamilton, they wanted to do the rhythm section. So I went to Boston and we started to rehearse, and then Steven Tyler got better and they started Aerosmith.
Then I got my next lineup with Denny Carmassi on drums and Billy Sheehan on bass. That lasted for a month. I almost got Geddy Lee and Neil Peart to help me out on that – we talked about it and they almost did it. We knew each other from the UFO days. We toured a lot together. And then I ended up with Mo Foster and Simon Phillips, who was with Jeff Beck.
Songfacts: How close did you come to joining Ozzy Osbourne’s band after Randy Rhoads’ death?
Michael: That was around ’81. Graham Bonnet just came over and we started writing and doing things, and then I get a phone call in the middle of the night from a very devastated Ozzy Osbourne telling me what happened [Rhoads was killed in an airplane accident, on March 19, 1982]. I said, “Okay, it’s the middle of the night. I’ll let you know, but I have to speak to Peter Mensch” and so on. And then I had to look… I was tempted to do that, but at the same time I was in the middle of doing Assault Attack and it was going to be the second album with Cozy Powell. We were getting ready, and I had to look at my situation.
Then I heard some crazy stories about Ozzy dragging people across the stage by their hair and stuff like that. And then some other horror stories that didn’t sound too good. I was tempted to do that, but something tells me, you know what, Michael, first of all, the Scorpions, my own brother, he asked me to play, to help the Scorpions and to join them and tour with them. And I couldn’t do it because I’m not made for copying people. I love to invent things, to express myself, and so my vision is a different vision. Sometimes you have to battle a little bit with your true vision and temptation.
Same with Aerosmith: It was a good thing it didn’t work out, because again, I would have not enjoyed myself. I know that. At the end of the day, I said, “I can’t do that.” It came to the point when I stretched it for so long that I think Cozy Powell took it over and told them, “He’s not going to do it.” And that was that. It was a very strange situation.
Cinderella’s Stripped will be released on May 16th through Collectors Dream Records. Recorded live over the course of two nights — October 2nd-3rd, 1998 — at the Key Club in Hollywood, California during the band’s Unfinshed Business tour, it is comprised of 14 hard-rockin’ and blues-based tracks; included as a bonus are two songs recorded live in 1991.
. Excerpts from interview appear ... )
, Jimmy Chalfant (drums, vocals), Ronnie Younkins (guitars), Brian Forsythe (guitars) and Mark Schenker (bass)—to release their first new album in almost ... )
