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BRITISH FILM DIRECTOR DRUMMING UP A NEW DOCUMENTARY ABOUT ICONIC ROCK PERCUSSIONIST, COZY POWELL

Steve Newton of The Georgia Straight reports:

British independent film director Lee Hutchings has announced plans to shoot a documentary about the life and times of hard-rock drummer Cozy Powell, who played for artists such as: Jeff Beck, Gary Moore, Rainbow, and Black Sabbath before perishing in a high-speed car crash in 1998 at the age of 50.

A posting from Hutchings’ website:

“Featuring exclusive and extensive interviews with family, friends, work associates and fans, inbetween various archival footage, Dance with the Devil – The Cozy Powell Story will be an essential, in-depth and personal account of the man who, from humble beginnings, would go on to play an essential part in British and American rock drumming by playing in and alongside multiple bands and solo artists including Jeff Beck, Rainbow, Whitesnake, Black Sabbath and Brian May, as well as his own solo recordings including his signature instrumental Dance With The Devil, up until his tragic death in 1998.”

Powell–who had a fascination with fast cars and motorbikes–died on April 5th of ’98 when the Saab 9000 he was driving at a reported 104 mph went flying off the M4 motorway near Bristol, England, possibly because of a punctured rear tire. As well as speeding in bad weather, Powell had been drinking and was talking to his girlfriend on his cell phone. He wasn’t wearing a seatbelt, either. He once said in an interview: “I drive like I drum–madly.”

Highlights of Powell’s career include performing on two Jeff Beck Group albums in the early ’70s, the Michael Schenker Group’s 1981 debut MSG, Whitesnake’s multiplatinum Slide It In of ’84, Gary Moore’s After the War, also of ’84, and Black Sabbath’s Headless Cross of ’89.

But he’s best remembered for his work in the seventies with Rainbow, particularly on 1976’s Rising and 1978’s Long Live Rock N’ Roll. On the latter album he earned a songwriting credit–along with guitarist Ritchie Blackmore and singer Ronnie James Dio–for the barnburner Kill the King, an early example of what would become known as “speed metal.”

[Dana’s note: Thank you to Todd for passing this along.]

source: straight.com

BLACK SABBATH EXTENDS “THE END” TOUR INTO FALL 2016, MORE NORTH AMERICAN DATES ANNOUNCED

Due to overwhelming demand, the road to The End just got longer.

On the heels of their much-anticipated performances in North America, Australia, New Zealand and Europe, Black Sabbath will end the epic journey they began nearly five decades ago with another run of North American dates in fall 2016. These shows will follow a mix of summer headlining and festival performances throughout Europe.

The second run of North American dates begins August 17th at Jones Beach Amphitheater in New York and includes stops at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles (where the band last performed a sold-out show on their wildly successful 13 world tour in 2014), Chicago, Philadelphia, Toronto, Detroit, and Dallas, among others, before wrapping September 21st at AK-Chin Pavilion in Phoenix, AZ.

The massive 2016 world tour by the greatest Metal Band of all time marks “the end” for Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommi and Geezer Butler as they close the final chapter in the final volume of the incredible Black Sabbath story with this tour. Black Sabbath’s The End farewell tour promises to surpass all previous tours and will feature the band’s most mesmerizing production ever.

See the updated video announcement below.

When this tour concludes, it will truly be the end, of one of most legendary bands in Rock ‘n Roll history…Black Sabbath.

Black Sabbath’s 2016 Tour Dates are as follows:

North America:

January

20 Omaha, NE CenturyLink Center
22 Chicago, IL United Center
25 Minneapolis, MN Target Center
27 Winnipeg MN MTS Centre
30 Edmonton, AB Rexall Centre

February:
1 Calgary, AB Scotiabank Saddledome
3 Vancouver, BC Rogers Arena
6 Tacoma, WA Tacoma Dome
9 San Jose, CA SAP Pavilion
11 Los Angeles, CA The Forum
13 Las Vegas, NV Mandalay Bay
15 Denver, CO Pepsi Center
17 Kansas City, MO Sprint Center
19 Detroit, MI The Palace of Auburn Hills
21 Hamilton, ON First Ontario Centre
23 Montreal, QC Bell Centre
25 New York, NY Madison Square Garden
27 New York, NY Madison Square Garden

Australia/New Zealand:

April:

15 Perth, AU Perth Arena
17 Adelaide, AU Entertainment Centre
19 Melbourne, AU Rod Laver Arena
23 Sydney, AU Allphones Arena
25 Brisbane, AU Entertainment Centre
28 Auckland, NZ Vector Arena
30 Dunedin, NZ Forsyth Barr Stadium

Europe:

June:

1 Budapest,Hungary Groupama Arena
8 Berlin, Germany Waldebuhne
11 Donington, UK Download**
13 Verona, IT Arena Di Verona
15 Zurich, Switzerland Hallenstadon
17 Dessel, Belgium Grasspop**
23 Halden, Norway Tons of Rock**
25 Copenhagen, DE Copenhell**
28 Vienna, Austria Stadthalle
30 Prague, Czech Rep. 02 Arena

July:

2 Krakow, Poland Tauron Arena
5 Riga, Latvia Riga Arena
7 Helsinki, Finland Monsters of Rock**
9 Stockholm, Sweden Monsters of Rock**
12 Moscow, Russia Olympisky Arena

**Denotes festival appearance

North America:

August:

17 Wantagh, NY Nikon at Jones Beach Theater
19 Philadelphia, PA Susquehanna Bank Center
21 Washington DC Jiffy Lube Live
23 Holmdel, NJ PNC Bank Arts Center
25 Boston, MA Xfinity Center
27 Uncasville, CT Mohegan Sun Arena
29 Toronto, ON Molson Canadian Amphitheatre
31 Detroit, MI DTE Energy Music Theater

September:

2 Indianapolis, IN Klipsch Music Center
4 Chicago, IL Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre
7 Dallas, TX Gexa Energy Pavilion
9 Albuquerque, NM Isleta Ampitheater
11 Salt Lake City, UT USANA Ampitheater
13 Portland, OR Sunlight Supply Arena
15 Oakland, CA Oracle Arena
17 Las Vegas, NV MGM Grand Garden Arena
19 Hollywood, CA Hollywood Bowl
21 Phoenix, AZ AK-Chin Pavilion

Details on Tickets, VIP packages and more for the North American shows can be found at Live Nation.

Black Sabbath on the web:

blacksabbath.com
facebook.com/BlackSabbath
twitter.com/blacksabbath
instagram.com/blacksabbath/

UFO ANNOUNCE NORTH AMERICAN TOUR DATES FOR MARCH 2016

According to UFO’s official website, the band have announced some North American tour dates for March of 2016. See tour dates below.

March 2016:

2 – Akron, OH – The Tangier
3 – Detroit, MI – The Token Lounge
4 – St Charles, IL – Arcada Theater
7 – Milwaukee, WI – Shank Hall
8 – St. Louis/Sauget, IL – Pop’s
9 – Kansas City, MO – The Voodoo Lounge
11 – Dallas, TX – Gas Monkey
12 – San Antonio, TX – Alamo City Music Hall
13 – Houston, TX – Concert Pub North
15 – Denver, CO – Buffalo Rose
18 – Ramona, CA – Ramona Mainstage
19 – Corona, CA – M15
20 – San Juan Capistrano, CA – The Coach House
21 – Phoenix, AZ – Joe’s Grotto
23 – Las Vegas, NV – Count’s Vamp’d
24 – Agoura Hills, CA – The Canyon Club
25 – Los Angeles, CA – Whiskey A Go Go
26 – San Francisco, CA – The Independent

UFO’s latest release was A Conspiracy Of Stars, released on March 3rd, 2015 through Steamhammer/SPV.

JUDAS PRIEST FRONTMAN ROB HALFORD REVEALS THAT HE LISTENS TO RONNIE JAMES DIO BEFORE GOING ONSTAGE, SAYS “I FIND HIS VOICE INVIGORATING”

Rob Halford says he listens to Ronnie James Dio to get himself in the right frame of mind before a gig.

The Judas Priest frontman has always been a fan of the late Sabbath, Rainbow, Dio and Heaven & Hell singer, and he has revealed that Dio is his number one inspiration as a vocalist.

Halford tells OC Weekly, “I always listen to Ronnie before I go on stage with Priest because I find his voice invigorating. It gets my blood pumping and gets me in the zone before I go out and do my thing with Priest. I pretty much listen to him almost every time.

“I listen to Ronnie for so many weeks at a time. I find his voice so inspiring and so powerful for me as a singer. He was a very influential singer. If you listen to him now, you can almost imagine what he was like behind the mic in the studio because he’s so committed.

“You can tell in his delivery, presence and performance. It’s almost as if he’s just recorded it and laid the track down last week. That’s the great thing about Ronnie – he had that kind of engineered dynamic that is very difficult to capture in the studio, but he delivered that at every show night after night.”

Halford has also spoken about his admiration for military personnel and his pride that openly gay people can serve in the US forces. America scrapped its controversial “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” policy on gay servicemen and women in 2011.

He adds, “The fact that there are now gay men and women who can openly serve their country is a wonderful thing. I think it’s also possible it has to do with my own struggles as a gay man. Being a masculine gay guy, and please don’t take that the wrong way either. I love all of my gay friends no matter how they appear, I’m trying to use that as an open reference.

In my own journey as a gay guy in a straight band and a gay guy in a straight world and a metal world, I found the connection again through the Marine Corps.”

Priest will return to the studio next year to record the follow-up to 2014’s Redeemer Of Souls. They are currently on a North American tour and start a European tour next month.

additional source: teamrock.com

JUDAS

RITCHIE BLACKMORE’S RAINBOW AND GUESTS ANNOUNCE TWO GERMAN SHOWS

Shooter Promotions have announced that Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow will be playing at the Monsters Of Rock Festival appearance in Germany on June 18th and in Loreley, Freilichtbühneon June 17th. The announcement reads as follows:

“Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow live in Germany for 2 exclusive shows in Loreley and Bietigheim-Bissingen June 2016, playing the classic rock anthems of Rainbow and Deep Purple.”

Monsters Of Rock write:

A long-awaited sensation for all hard rock fans: with two new editions of the legendary Monsters Of Rock festival and Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow confirmed as headlining act, Shooter Promotions is set to present the highlight of the upcoming festival summer:

It’s a double honor for us to bring this ground-breaking festival back to life. On the one hand it’s the festival itself, and on the other it’s the fact that Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow are an absolutely legendary band who have just been confirmed as the headlining act. Ritchie Blackmore has won worldwide acclaim as the driving force behind the likes of Deep Purple, Rainbow and Blackmore’s Night and is without a doubt one of the most important personalities in the history of hard rock.

Now the guitarist extraordinaire is about to make history again by performing his greatest hits from the Deep Purple and Rainbow eras at those upcoming German shows (two of only three gigs worldwide!). “I’m doing it for the fans,” says the Man in Black. It has not been confirmed yet who will join him on stage, but one thing is for sure: he is planning to film and record the performances for future release. In addition, on November 20th, Eagle Vision is about to release The Ritchie Blackmore Story, a Blu-ray/DVD/CD package, presenting for the very first time the whole story of Blackmore’s remarkable career, featuring videos from his time with Deep Purple, Rainbow and Blackmore’s Night. It will also include extended interviews with the man himself and his colleagues and admirers, such as Brian May (Queen), Glenn Hughes, Lars Ulrich (Metallica), Steve Lukather (Toto), Joe Satriani, the late Jon Lord, David Coverdale, Gene Simmons, Joe Lynn Turner, Steve Vai, Graham Bonnet and Ian Anderson.

With the return of the Monsters Of Rock festivals, headlined by Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow, the dream of a whole generation of hard rock fans is about to come true. More information to follow.

Blackmore recently told Billboard about his plans to revisit Rainbow and Deep Purple classics, stating, “I’m now 70, so I just felt like playing some rock n’ roll for a few days. We’re going to do four or five dates” — most likely in England, Germany and Sweden — “of just playing the old rock stuff, Purple stuff and Rainbow. I’m doing it for the fans, for nostalgia, and the singer I found is very exciting; he’s a cross between [Ronnie James] Dio meets Freddie Mercury. So this will mean exposing a new singer to the masses, and I’m sure he’ll become pretty famous because of his voice.”

[Dana’s note: Thank you to Todd for passing this story along]

source: metalshockfinland.com