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FORMER CHEAP TRICK DRUMMER BUN E. CARLOS DISCUSSES POSSIBLE ROCK HALL REUNION AND HIS FALLING OUT WITH HIS ONE-TIME BAND MEMBERS

Andy Greene of Rolling Stone spoke with former Cheap Trick drummer Bun E. Carlos. Highlights from the Q&A appear below.

RS: Congrats on the Hall of Fame. It’s definitely time.

BEC: Thanks. It was a surprise.

RS: Why?

BEC: Nobody gets in on the first year, I figured.

RS: You’re going to perform, right?

BEC: Yeah. As far as I know.

RS: Why do you say that?

BEC: The Hall of Fame is inducting the four original members, and I assume that is who they want to get up there and play.

RS: I spoke to Rick [Nielsen], and he envisioned a scenario where there would be two drummers on Hall of Fame night. How would you feel about that?

BEC: [Laughs] Rick has visions, I guess. He’s a good dad and he supports all his sons, and he probably thinks it would be great if his boy was up there playing along. I can see why he would lead the conversation that way.

RS: A lot of fans are confused as to why you left the band. Can you explain what happened?

BEC: Me and the singer don’t get along very good. A couple of days before Austin City Limits in 2010, we had a big argument on the phone about scheduling for the summer and all this kind of stuff. We’d argued before over 40 years; all of us had. In the middle of the night, he called the office and said, “[Whiny voice] I can’t work with this guy. He hates me.” He didn’t want me at Austin City Limits. I said, “OK, if you don’t want me there, we need to work out some kind of arrangement since I’m a quarter member of the band.” They were like, “We don’t want you there. Can we use your drums?” I was like, “Déjà vu all over again.”

We just drew up a contract that said, “I don’t tour with the band, but I’m a full member of the band.” We’ve got all these corporations. The touring company said, “If you quit touring, you lose your vote.” I wasn’t going to let that happen. I’m a full member of the band. So we drew up a piece of paper, and a couple years later the check stopped coming. I met with Scott Borchetta — that was something special. And then I had to sue them in federal court to get my money back. We did a settlement last spring and its all hunky dory. That’s the short story.

RS: What was the basis of your disagreement with Robin over scheduling?

BEC: The final straw was, we were offered 100 Sgt. Pepper shows in Las Vegas with a huge back-end. He only wanted to do 50. I said, “Why do you only want to do 50?” He said, “[Whiny voice] I have to take my daughter to kindergarten in September. I don’t want her to go to school in Las Vegas.” I smartly replied something like, “We’re scheduling shows around your daughter’s kindergarten classes?” Then he was like, “F–k you, you f–king asshole.” Then I just hung up the phone. People tell me to get f–ked, I hang up. That happened two days in a row. There you go.

RS: Have you guys spoken since?

BEC: I saw him at a settlement conference a year ago, but we don’t speak. Someone sent me a link from Tampa Bay the other day where he said he was going to call me, but he didn’t call. I’m not heartbroken over it. It’s not the end of the world.

RS: Do you think Hall of Fame night will be awkward since you’ll have to play with them?

BEC: Nah. I’m assuming everybody is going to make nice. Me too. I have no agenda here. I won’t get up there and be like, “F–k these guys!” I’m not Jeff Beck. He got up and nailed the Yardbirds.

RS: Do you see any scenario where you’d return to the band on the road?

BEC: I don’t see it happening. Rick’s kid got a gig here and Dad loves that. I’m sure Rick would rather his kid gets paid than Rick supports his kid. Even besides that, any friendship we had went away when I had to file a federal lawsuit. That cost a bucket of f–king money. Going after these guys wasn’t pleasant. The friendship sort of frittered away there.

RS: Is there any scenario where they refuse to let you play drums that night? Is that possible?

BEC: If they do, I think the Hall will do what they did with KISS. They’ll be like, “Well, f–k it, then. Don’t play.” That doesn’t really do much for anybody. These guys got a record to promote. They want the band to be up there playing.

RS: I asked Rick point blank and he didn’t give a firm answer. He said, “He’ll be invited.”

BEC: I was invited by the Hall.

Read more at Rolling Stone.

source: rollingstone.com

GUITARIST CRAIG GOLDY ON WHY HE IS A MEMBER OF MULTIPLE BANDS, “[I] HAVE TO DO EIGHT TO TEN DIFFERENT THINGS TO MAKE THE EQUIVALENCY OF WHAT [I] USED TO MAKE WITH ONE”

Ruben Mosqueda of Sleaze Roxx spoke with guitarist Craig Goldy (Dio, Dio Disciples and Resurrection Kings). Excerpts from part one of the interview appear below.

Sleaze Roxx: How do you plan differentiating Resurrection Kings from Dio Disciples which was only a touring entity, but sounds like will soon be recording a record and Black Knights Rising which was a “just for fun” project to Last In Line which features the original Dio lineup minus Ronnie? Also, Vinny also plays in Last In Line. That could cause a lot of confusion amongst casual fans.

Craig Goldy: Yeah, that’s an interesting question. The casual fan will have you pegged as a person that has no scruples. The [music] world has changed so much that some of us have to do eight to ten different things to make the equivalency of what we used to make with one. We need to make money. In my world, money isn’t the core reason why I do anything. It has to be something that I believe in. I know that isn’t the shrewdest way to go about my musical career, but that is just the way that I am. I’m of the belief that “If you build it, they will come.” — like in that movie Field of Dreams. People don’t realize that a lot of us were paid as “sidemen” in the ’80s and we didn’t have the big piece of the pie like a lot of the others guys.

Sleaze Roxx: You were part of Project: Driver at one point which featured Rudy Sarzo, Tommy Aldridge, Bob Rock and you. You left and Tony MacAlpine stepped in.

Craig Goldy: That was interesting because of the relationship that Ronnie and I had when he was recording Hear N’ Aid. He flew me in to record while I was on tour with Giuffria to be a part of that. He actually had me go first. I was like “Great! I have to go first and there’s George Lynch, Neal Schon and Yngwie Malmsteen. Why am I going first?!” So, I laid down some guitar and Ronnie grabs my arms and says “See, I knew that you’d start with a theme and not just start noodling around. That’s why I had you go first!”

It was during those recordings that I got noticed by Rudy Sarzo and Tommy Aldridge who had just left Ozzy’s band. We started talking about the possibility of putting a band together with Rudy and Tommy and at the time, they had Jeff Scott Soto on vocals. I was like “This is going to be outstanding!” Jeff left and we got another guy that sounded like a cross between David Coverdale and Ian Gillan. I was like “Good Lord! This is going to be great!” We were getting offers from labels then I got the call from Wendy about joining Dio. It had been close to three years to the day when Ronnie had said to me “Goldy, if things don’t work out with Viv at some point, I would like you to be in the band.” He was true to his word and called me to join Dio. Those guys were the best ever, they were so supportive.

Read more at Sleaze Roxx.

source: sleazeroxx.com

KIX FRONTMAN STEVE WHITEMAN ON THE BAND PUTTING OUT NEW MUSIC, “WE WOULD LOVE TO DO IT, BUT IT’S GOT TO MAKE SENSE”

Angel Alamo spoke with Kix frontman, Steve Whiteman. Excerpts from the interview appear below.

Angel Alamo: How did you guys come up with the title for the new album, [Rock Your Face Off] and were there any other titles for the album being considered?

Steve Whiteman: I was reluctant for the title. I wasn’t really a big fan of calling it Rock Your Face Off. I thought Can’t Stop The Show would have been a much more appropriate title but we have a song called Rock Your Face Off and apparently there was banter going around among management, record company, and Mark Schenker who was in charge of doing mixing and help set up the record deal. They just went ahead and thought we would all be ok with it. Now, that it is all set and done it doesn’t really matter. I wasn’t a big fan of it initially.

Angel Alamo: Being it was 19 years between albums did the band feel nervous about putting out Rock Your Face Off?

Steve Whiteman: No not at all. Once we realized after we got together and did some pre-production. We first thought about doing it we threw so much material at Taylor like 25 songs he narrowed it down to 12 songs. When we worked on those 12 songs we came away feeling really good about it. Then a couple of songs like Rock Me With Your Top Down and Can’t Stop The Show came in as later additions on top of what we worked on and we felt that we had a pretty strong record.

Angel Alamo: How do you keep your voice in great shape?

Steve Whiteman: I teach vocals, so I took training. I know how to protect myself and keep myself strong. Sharing that with people for the past 20 years has kept me really strong, so I have been fortunate and I work really hard at it.

Angel Alamo: What has been the key to the band’s longevity, music wise you never follow the trends, you guys are like an AC/DC where the band just wants to rock and put on a great show?

Steve Whiteman: Exactly, we are about fun, we are not preachy. We are not going to tell people what to do or how to live their lives. We are not going to glamorize politics. We are about let’s get a beer, let’s pick up a girl, let’s get f*cked up and have some fun. It has always been about having fun. People come up to me sometimes and say my friend just passed away can you give him a shout out on stage. I’m like no, that is not why people are here. People are not here to be bummed out. They are here to have a good time. They want to forget about that stuff. That has always been our approach, have a good time make the people have a good time and forget your troubles for a couple of hours.

Angel Alamo: Can fans expect a new album next year or in 2017 or will you release an E.P or put out singles?

Steve Whiteman: We’re now just starting to think about another record. We are not shooting it down. We got to look at what the logistics of what the last one did. If it’s just a waste of time. Records don’t sell anymore how many people are downloading it we are not sure. How many people are stealing it we don’t know. We don’t even care we just want the music out there so we can go out and play it live. If we go and try to play new music and they don’t know what the hell it is then it’s no fun. For us we would love to do it, but it’s got to make sense. We have to find a way to hit the people and make them want to buy it. It isn’t just us it’s everybody having trouble with record sales. A lot of people have just given up. 20,000 is considered really good. 20,000 is a piss in the bucket compared to what we used to do. We used to do 80,000 alone in Baltimore/Washington area alone back in the day. Those days are gone, long, long gone.

Read more at angelalamo.com.

source: angelalamo.com

GIUTARIST ULI JON ROTH ANNOUNCES “THE ULTIMATE GUITAR EXPERIENCE” 2016 TOUR DATES

Uli Jon Roth has announced next year’s The Ultimate Guitar Experience tour dates which include guitarists Jennifer Batten and Andy Timmons (Danger Danger).

Roth says, “I’m really looking forward to this tour and I’m sure that between the three of us – and the audience – sparks will fly. We will all play our own separate sets first and then play some pieces together, which should be great fun.”

He adds, “My own set will be drawn from a combination of all my albums, including the latest Scorpions Revisited and Transcendental Sky Guitar, but I will also emphasize some Electric Sun songs which I haven’t played live for over 30 years and which I feel deserve to be heard again. This is in order to celebrate the 35 year anniversary of the release of the first Electric Sun album, Earthquake.”

The trio will also play an acoustic set for VIP ticket holders prior to the main show, where they’ll perform a different selection of songs from the later set.

Roth continues, “In that context, you are also going to be able to be present at an onstage rehearsal of some of my new songs for the next album. This is an unusual idea, but I always felt that songs are benefiting greatly from being played in front of a live audience before actually recording them. I am sure that this will help us to galvanize things and to fully crystallize the new material that I have written.”

Purchase VIP tickets, ulijonroth.com/vip-passes.

The Ultimate Guitar Experience 2016 tour dates:

Feb 26: Fort Lauderdale Culture Room, FL
Feb 27: Orlando Plaza Live, FL
Feb 28: Atlanta Variety Playhouse, GA
Feb 29: Nashville The Basement East, TN

Mar 2: Dallas Trees, TX
Mar 3: New Orleans House Of Blues, LA
Mar 4: San Antonio The Korova, TX
Mar 5: Houston Concert Pub North, TX
Mar 8: Phoenix Joe’s Gotto, AZ
Mar 9: Las Vegas Country Saloon, NV
Mar 10: Ventura Theater, CA
Mar 11: Ramona Main Stage, CA
Mar 12: Los Angeles Whisky A GoGo, CA
Mar 13: San Jose Rock Bar Theater, CA
Mar 14: Concord Vinnie’s, CA
Mar 15: Reno PB&JJs, NV
Mar 16: Redding The Dip, CA
Mar 17: Portland Dantes, OR
Mar 18: Seattle Studio Seven, WA
Mar 19: Vancouver BC Venue, BC
Mar 22: Denver Oriental Theater, CO
Mar 24: Moorehead The Garage, MN
Mar 25: Savage Neisens, MN
Mar 26: St Charles Arcade Theater, IL
Mar 27: Chicago Reggie’s, IL
Mar 28: Detroit Token Lounge, MI
Mar 29: Toronto Mod Club Theater, ON
Mar 30: Montreal Katacombes, QC
Mar 31: Londonderry Tupelo Music Hall, NH

Apr 1: Ottawa Brass Monkey, ON
Apr 2: Poughkeepsie The Chance, NY
Apr 4: New York B.B. King’s, NY
Apr 5: Sellersville Theater, PN
Apr 6: Pittsburgh Rex Theater, PN
Apr 8: Melbourne Black Box Theater, FL

additional source: classicrock.teamrock.com