Former Ozzy Osbourne and Badlands guitarist Jake E Lee might never be seen again after his new band Red Dragon Cartel complete their current touring duties.
He says he’s already resisting pressure to make a follow-up to this year’s debut album – unless he can do it on his own terms. And he’s vowed he’ll shut down the project if the moment feels right, adding that he doesn’t believe he’ll be missed.
Lee returned with Red Dragon Cartel after more than two decades away from the music business. Right now he’s enjoying every minute, but he knows how he’ll react if the situation changes.
He tells Sea Of Tranquility, “There’s an abundance of song ideas – but I’m not guaranteeing that there will be another album. I know the record company hopes there is and the band hopes there is. I just did this as a last hurrah, to see what it felt like to be back out. I’ve had a lot of fun doing it. I miss my home life, though. I don’t need this; as long as it’s not tiresome or becomes too much of a job, I can see it going on.
Right now I don’t know. If making another record makes me happy then I’ll do it. If it becomes grueling, I’ll just stop – and feel reassured in knowing that there’s really not going to be a whole big world that’ll miss me. Some fans will, and if that’s what happens, I apologize to them.”
Lee admits he believed his days on the road were long behind him. “I don’t need the spotlight; I don’t need to be in the public eye,” he says. “My only reason for doing this at all is for the love of music and if this all goes away tomorrow. I’ll be okay.”
And while he’s enjoying Red Dragon Cartel’s current run of European shows – including a rescheduled set of UK dates – he states: “If it taxes me too much I can easily go back into retirement.”
Aerosmith started a tour in Bulgaria last week that will take them throughout Europe and North America over the next four months, but don’t expect to hear another new album anytime soon. “Our contract to Sony is fulfilled and we’re free agents right now,” guitarist Joe Perry tells Rolling Stone. “We’re trying to figure out what that means. I don’t even know if making new albums makes sense anymore. Maybe we’ll just release an EP every six months. I don’t know what the future looks like.”
Part of the group’s reluctance to commit to a new album comes from the tepid response to their 2012 LP Music From Another Dimension!, which was their first collection of original songs in over a decade. It debuted at #5 on the charts before disappearing without a trace. None of the four singles even scraped the Billboard Hot 100. “I’m obviously disappointed it didn’t work out the way it was supposed to,” says Perry. “But on the other hand, once a record is out, it’s out forever. Maybe in two years someone might hear a song off it and go, ‘What was that song? It should have been on the radio.’ And it might hit a wave again.”
Heart’s 2013 induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame has triggered a lawsuit.
Billboard.com says former Heart bassist Mark Andes and drummer Denny Carmassi make a number of accusations against the Cleveland museum, including libel, slander, and injurious falsehood, for using music and photos from their tenure in the group when they were not inducted with the band.
They say in their lawsuit that a Rock Hall induction is “normally a positive thing,” and the misleading promotion forced them to have to “continually correct the record on an issue of such personal importance.”
Andes and Carmassi were in Heart from 1982 until 1993, during Heart’s most commercially successful period. They played on Heart’s biggest hits, including These Dreams and Alone, as well as all of the band’s Grammy-nominated work. They aren’t asking to be inducted into the Rock Hall, but are seeking punitive, compensatory, and other damages.
Though he’s maintained a dizzying schedule as a solo artist, spent time as a member of Poison and Mr. Big, and collaborated with dozens of other musicians from heavy metal to jazz, Richie Kotzen is currently in the dog house. But at least there’s good stuff to drink in there.
Kotzen – along with bassist Billy Sheehan (David Lee Roth, Steve Vai, Mr. Big), and drummer Mike Portnoy (Dream Theater, Adrenaline Mob) – formed the Winery Dogs.
“What has made it work so well is that we had a very relaxed attitude when we met. And we were only going to pursue something if we liked it,” Kotzen says. “Billy and Mike have very unique sounds. It is a band, but no one has lost their identity. If you are familiar with our playing styles, this band isn’t too much of a departure.”
The group came out when Kotzen’s friend, DJ and host of VH-1’s That Metal Show Eddie Trunk called and up and told him that Sheehan and Portnoy were looking to put together a power trio, and the singer/guitarist slot was open.
After a couple of initial jamming and writing sessions, the three seemed to click, and their debut, The Winery Dogs, came out last year (a recently re-released special edition includes a bonus live disc from a gig in Japan).
Still, one look at the lyric sheet can’t help but make the listener wonder if…um…everything is ok.
Uh, Richie, how are you…really?
“It wasn’t until I put the razor blades down and stopped cutting myself that I realized how dark the lyrics were,” he offers. “I’m kidding!”
He continues: “The songs people write have to do with what’s happening in a certain period of time. If you just won the lottery, you’ll write happy songs. If you’re going through a breakup, there will be a cloud over your head,” he offers.
“But this has been a good year! So maybe the next record will be about cherry blossoms and sundaes.”
“When this band was announced, some people thought it would just be an album of nonsense shredding with no songs, but we proved them wrong!” Kotzen laughs. “This record has done amazingly well. And here it is a year after it came out, and we’re still adding tour dates.”
Kotzen is also smartly directing fans who have just discovered him via the group to his lengthy solo career. He’s been working on The Essential Richie Kotzen, a two CD set that will feature previous material, re-recordings, and demos, which will also come with a DVD of previous music videos.
He’s also finishing up a new solo record, which he’ll support with a world tour after the current Winery Dogs jaunt ends. Then early next year, the Dogs will reconvene to plot out their sophomore release.
As to his favorite grape drink and canine breed aluded to in the band’s name, Kotzen says he likes to drink Amarone and Shiraz wines and is partial to German shepherds for dogs.
Finally, perhaps as a testament to his popularity in the Land of the Rising Sun, Kotzen has fond memories of being picked to open dates for the Rolling Stones on their 2006 A Bigger Bang tour there. And he did have one brief, but memorable, encounter with the rock legends.
“They brought me back to Ron Wood’s dressing room because he wanted to see me. And he put his hand on my throat and said ‘your voice!'” Kotzen remembers. “Then he turned to Mick [Jagger] and said ‘Have you heard him? He sounds like a cross between Rod Stewart and [Stones backing vocalist] Bernard Fowler!’ That was like, a special thing for me!”
Ruben Mosqueda of the Orgeon Music News spoke with guitarist Yngwie Malmsteen. Portions of the interview appear below.
OMN: Yngwie, you have The Guitar Godstour coming up. Was this idea conceived by you, or was this something that was pitched to you?
YM: My wife, April Malmsteen, who, as you know, is also my manager — it was her idea, the whole thing, to put together this guitar festival. I thought it was a great idea. So we got on the phone and called up a few friends. I think you’re going to love this tour.
OMN: Is that literally what you did — you phoned guitarist friends that you felt would fit the bill?
YM: Well, we put the word out, and we auditioned a lot of people. We had a number of people who wanted to be on the bill; we auditioned them and picked who we felt were the best ones for this tour. Uli (Jon Roth) is a very good friend; we asked him if he was interested. He said yes, and that was that. It’s going to be a great mix. We have two opening acts; it’s going to be a nice guitar fest.
OMN: Sounds like it’s a tour that could give G3 a run for it’s money.
YM: I guess you can look at it that way, but I’d say that this tour is more diverse. There were a lot of guitarists who were influenced by me that auditioned, and I didn’t want that; I wanted this tour to be diverse.
OMN: Yngwie, I know that often times your confidence and your desire to see your vision through might be viewed as arrogance. I think that those who haven’t spoken to you or met you would greatly benefit from reading Relentless, because they’ll realize that you’re a regular guy.
YM: Yeah, since I was very young I was always extremely serious about I was doing. I have one shot at this, and I have to do it myself. I’m like a painter or like Classical composer because a composer wouldn’t have someone else write the cello parts of a piece of music — they’d write it themselves. Now, that might come off as arrogance, but when I put my name on something, it has to be my work. Like it or hate it, it’s my vision and my creation. I don’t work in the traditional way, how most rock ‘n’ roll bands or musicians work. I like to see myself as similar to a painter. I think that comes through in the book, because like you said, most in the past would view it as arrogance.
Multi-platinum guitar icon Ted Nugent returns with a new full-length album SHUTUP&JAM!, due out Tuesday, July 8th on Frontiers Records.
This release marks the first all-new studio album from the Motor City Madman in seven years. Nugent leads the pack of renowned musicians, handling guitar and vocal duties, alongside bassist Greg Smith, drummer Mick Brown and longtime musical cohort guitarist/vocalist Derek St. Holmes. Special guest Sammy Hagar brings his vocal power to “She’s Gone.” SHUTUP&JAM! is available now for pre-order at Amazon.
SHUTUP&JAM! 2014…the unstoppable firestorm of Ted Nugent, all American Motor City, high energy R&B&R&R soul music erupts once again with what many gungho music lovers are raving to be the best songs and best music and highest energy rockout of my insanely wonderful musical American Dream,” Nugent exclaims. “Sammy Hagar sings his balls off on She’s Gone and Derek St. Holmes proves once again that the MotorCity produces not just the greatest guitar grind master licks ever but one of the most powerful soul voices of all time on Everything Matters!’Unleashing early July 2014. Read em & weep! SHUTUP&JAM! you know who I am, you know where I stand, so SHUTUP&JAM! I am!”
“When I first heard Ted’s demo of this song, I immediately responded with ‘I’m in,’” HAGAR shares of his involvement on the track She’s Gone. “Ted’s ripping the guitar like the days of old…very inspiring to sing to a track like that—old-school blues riff, hard edged rock ‘n roll on fire!!!”
To coincide with the release of SHUTUP&JAM!, Ted has announced that he’s packing up and hitting the road. On Saturday, June 7th he will join Black Sabbath, Alice Cooper, Volbeat and other rock titans at the Sweden Rock Festival in Sölvesborg, Sweden. He’ll then prepare for his national headlining tour, kicking off July 3 in Wichita Falls, TX. Ticket info for all shows is available here.
Nugent has carved a permanent place in rock & roll history as the ultimate guitar-shredding showman, selling more than 40 million albums, performing 6,500 high-octane live shows, and continuing to set attendance records at venues around the globe. Hailing from Detroit, the guitarist’s prodigious talents, earshattering volume & over-the-top onstage antics quickly earned Young Ted the moniker of “Motor City Madman,” along with international acclaim.
Recognized as the world’s leading guitar showman, Nugents’s no-holds-barred career spans five decades of multiplatinum hits. From the ground breaking Amboy Dukes’ Journey to the Center of the Mind, to classics like Stranglehold (ranked in the Top 100 Classic Rock Songs and #1 Guitar Lick) and Cat Scratch Fever”(32nd Best Hard Rock Song of All Time), Damn Yankees chartbuster High Enough and cult classic Fred Bear (the most requested song for radio airplay in Michigan & Wisconsin).
NUGENT was recently named Detroit’s Greatest Guitar Player of All Time by readers of MLive. For millions of passionate music lovers everywhere, TED delivers the Ultimate Life Soundtrack. A TED NUGENT show is not just a performance—it’s a firebreathing celebration!
Check out Ted Nugent’s SHUTUP&JAM! TOUR in the following cities:
June:
7 Norje (Sölvesborg), Sweden Sweden Rock Festival
July:
3 Wichita Falls, TX Wichita Falls Memorial Auditorium
4 Santa Fe, NM Camel Rock Casino
5 Oklahoma City, OK Starlight Amphitheater at Frontier City
6 New Braunfels, TX River Road Ice House
8 Phoenix, AZ Celebrity Theatre
9 Ramona, CA Ramona Mainstage
10 Prescott Valley, AZ Tim’s Toyota Center
11 The Canyon Club Agoura Hills, CA
12 Las Vegas, NV Orleans Hotel & Casino
14 Anaheim, CA City National Grove of Anaheim
17 Council Bluffs, IA Mid-America Center*
18 Merrillville, IN Star Plaza Theatre
19 Detroit, MI DTE Energy Music Theatre
21 Huntington, NY The Paramount
22 Montclair, NJ The Wellmont Theater
23 Jim Thorpe, PA Penn’s Peak
24 Columbus, OH Newport Music Hall
25 Morgantown, WV MountainFest at Mylan Park
26 Oshkosh, WI Leach Amphitheater at Riverside Park
27 Medina, MN Medina Entertainment Center
29 Kansas City, MO Arvest Bank Theatre at The Midland
30 Englewood, CO Gothic Theatre
31 Salt Lake City, UT The Depot
August:
1 Sheridan, WY Trails End Concert Park
2 Tacoma, WA Emerald Queen Casino
3 Tacoma, WA Emerald Queen Casino
6 Sturgis, SD Full Throttle Saloon
8 Maumee, OH NW Ohio Rib-Off at Lucas County Fairgrounds
9 Oxford, OH Indian Creek Amphitheatre
11 North Myrtle Beach, SC House of Blues
12 Lake Buena Vista, FL House of Blues
14 Houston, TX House of Blues
15 Biloxi, MS Hard Rock Live
16 Fort Worth, TX Billy Bob’s Texas
