Tora Tora bassist Patrick Francis was recently diagnosed with bladder cancer. Francis had surgery last week and is recovering.
Due to missed work, the band, along with their friend Matt Montgomery, are having a fundraiser to assist the bassist with his expenses.
The event will be taking place on August 21st at Minglewood Hall in Memphis, TN. It will feature silent auctions, raffles and lots of amazing music. Musicians appearing at the event include Tora Tora, Every Mother’s Nightmare, Roxy Blue, The ShotgunBillys, Zach Myers Band, Fevertree, Surrender The Fall, Jeff and Leslie Caughron. Tickets range between $10 and $15 with doors opening at 2PM.
Tora Tora celebrated their 25th anniversary 2013 with a limited edition “super fan” package. You can purchase this item at fnarecords.net and other releases from band by clicking here.
[Dana’s note: We here at EddieTrunk.com send our best wishes to Patrick and hope that he has a swift, and complete, recovery]
Alice Cooper vividly remembers the shock he felt when he learned that Joe Perry had collapsed onstage mid-song during a Hollywood Vampires concert in Brooklyn. “It scared the hell out of me,” he tells Rolling Stone. “The lyrics to [Raise the Dead], the first song we played that night, go, ‘Cardiac, heart attack … they never feared the reaper,’ and I look around the stage and he’s gone. He was lying behind an amp on his back, and I went, ‘Oh, my God.’ We didn’t know what happened until after the show.”
The causes, he learned, were dehydration and exhaustion.
“Aerosmith does two shows a week, but we were on our eighth show in nine days, and I’m used to working like that,” the singer says. “I’m used to working an hour and 40 minutes or two hours, five nights a week. I was in shape and so was Johnny and everybody else. I think Joe was not ready for that kind of pace.
“We were doing 25 to 30 songs with no break,” he continues. “You’re in fourth gear, and there’s no 24-hour resting period. I think it just caught up with him. He finally got up there onstage, dehydrated. And I think he was exhausted. He told me the night before he hadn’t eaten in two days.”
When asked why Perry hadn’t been eating, Cooper says, “I said, ‘Man, you’ve got to know when to sleep. You’ve got to know when to eat on a tour.’ I think it just finally got to him. It was not a heart attack; it was pure exhaustion. They checked his heart and said his heart was actually very strong.”
It took two weeks for Perry to recover and reunite with the Vampires at a Bay Area gig. “I’ve never seen him play so good,” Cooper says. “He looked great and he played great for the next few shows.”
Former UFO bassist, Pete Way’s wife, Jenny Way, has posted the following message on her Twitter account:
“My husband Pete Way has collapsed after a short business trip to Germany and is currently in [the] hospital being treated by cardiologists. He has had a heart attack and a blood clot has been found in his lung. Needless to say, I am in bits, but Pete is fighting like he always does. We are NOT going to lose another one. Please keep him in your thoughts and prayers atm.”
In the summer of 2013, Way was diagnosed with prostate cancer during a routine check-up. A year later, he had officially beaten the disease, but in doing so, he also expressed a bit of remorse about having lived a rock and roll lifestyle for so many years. “I’m ashamed when I think of the things I did, testing every drug you can imagine,” he said. Way also used his experience to advise other men of a certain age that they shouldn’t take their health for granted. “I was so lucky that I had symptoms, because some people don’t, and then it can be too late to treat. All men over 50 should go and get tested — it’s a simple procedure and it could save your life.”
Way co-founded UFO in London in 1969, but left in 1982, during which time he played bass with Ozzy Osbourne. UFO broke up in 1983, but re-formed a year later, with Way waiting until 1988 to return to the fold. He remained with the band through 2008.
We hear at EddieTrunk.com wish Pete a speedy, and complete, recovery.
In a recent interview with Dave Ling of Classic Rock, Angel frontman Frank DiMino was mistakenly misquoted, confirming “that plans are afoot to reunite his former group Angel for a handful of farewell concerts.” The interview also suggested that DiMino ‘broke the news on July 31st via his Facebook page with the declaration, “Special Announcement Coming Soon. Hint: It’s ‘Angel related,”‘ when, in fact, the veiled reference was to Angel guitarist Punky Meadows making an appearance in DiMino’s new video for Never Again (which can be viewed by clicking the hyperlink above).
According to Peter Kalish from Kalish Management, “Frank never said Angel was planning reunion shows simply because there are no plans. What one wants to see happen versus what is reality are two ‘very’ different things. We had requested a copy of the interview recording, but were unable to obtain it.
This isn’t to say that an Angel reunion show (or shows) is entirely off the table, but it would have to be a situation that would make sense for all involved.”
DiMino agreed with a statement Meadows had made to Classic Rock previously, in which he stated, “We couldn’t go on tour and be Angel again, that’s in the past. But doing two final shows to cap it all off, that’s something I’d never say never about.”
DiMino says, “I would like to thank Teamrock for doing the latest interview with me and premiering my new video for Never Again. However, I would like to address a misunderstanding between myself and Dave Ling, whom I did the interview with. I never at anytime meant to mislead Dave into thinking that I was confirming an Angel reunion. If there was an Angel reunion in the works I would know about it. There simply is no reunion at this time. Punky and myself are working on our solo projects and all our energy is pointed in that direction. In my interview with Dave and Teamrock it was not my intention to be misleading in any way. We appreciate the loyal and ongoing support of all of our fans.”
The new music video by Frank DiMino “Never Again” feat. Punky Meadows can be seen here.
Twisted Sister’s Jay Jay French says there doesn’t seem to be a younger generation of true rockstars.
The guitarist recalls that most of the bands he watched growing up were in their mid-20s – but he says nowadays veteran acts such as Iron Maiden, AC/DC and Black Sabbath still dominate the rock and metal industry, despite nearing the end of their career.
He tells Kaoos TV, “When I was 17-years-old I listened to The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Who, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Jimi Hendrix, Bob Dylan, Janis Joplin, The Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, The Doors. None of them were older than 26 when I was 17.
Now we, as 17-year-olds, never went to see bands that were 60. We saw bands that were all 25, 26 years old. If I told my mother I was going to go see a band with 60-year-old guys, she’d look at me like I was crazy or I was going to some jazz band or some classical group.
So now we play festivals where all the bands are 60 years old – us, Whitesnake, Kiss, Black Sabbath, AC/DC. They’re all 60 Maybe 50, with Metallica.”
French continues, “So I ask everybody out there – where are the 25-year-old rock stars? Where are they? There’s a huge gap. You can’t name them.
Someone goes, ‘Muse.’ They’re not 25 years old – they’re way older than that. Avenged Sevenfold – they’re not 25 years old, they’re way older than that. Slipknot – they’re not 25 years old, they’re way older than that.
So the next generation doesn’t seem to be there, and I don’t know the reason why. I wish I knew the reason why.
Pop music is huge – female pop stars are huge, right? And hip-hop is huge, and rap is huge, and country music is huge. So where’s rock? Rock is kind of not there.”
French has previously described Rock N’Roll as an “ageing cultural phenomenon” – as it was revealed last year that the 10 best-selling musical artists of 2014 had an average age of 38.
The guitarist suggests that declining record sales, rock dropping off the charts and the loss of radio airtime for rock acts spell an uncertain future for the industry.
He adds, “It’s not Jay Jay saying rock is dead, but if the kids are not buying it, who’s creating it?
In South America, we have fans that are 17 to 22 – they fill soccer stadiums. And I say to them, ‘Who’s your new band?’ They say, ‘Oh, we don’t like our new bands.’
I don’t know what to say then. Like, really? There’s got to be hundreds of them. You can’t find one? Two?
We just played Mexico, and there are a couple of bands there on the bill that are young and up-and-coming, but the enthusiasm isn’t there for it. So I don’t know, it’s a strange time.
Look, I am grateful – Twisted Sister are grateful that we have an audience, that we matter, that people love the band and they wanna see the band. Iron Maiden are grateful, and AC/DC are grateful, and Judas Priest are grateful. But we’re all getting older.
In five years, there’ll be no more KISS and Maiden, and they’ll all be retired. So who comes up? I don’t know.”
Twisted Sister have a few dates left on their Forty And F–k It farewell tour – including an appearance at Bloodstock Festival tonight (August 12th).
As recently reported, the band will also release, Twisted Sister: Best Of The Atlantic Years, on August 28th. Read more about this release, here.
Slayer has just released a brand new video clip with Tom Araya and Kerry King talking about the band’s upcoming Fall tour of North America. Fellow Big Four members Anthrax will special guest, and Death Angel will support. Watch the promo below.
September:
9 Jacob’s Pavilion, Cleveland, OH
10 Freedom Hill Amphitheatre, Detroit, MI
12 Sound Academy, Toronto, ON
13 Metropolis, Montreal, PQ
15 Stage AE, Pittsburgh, PA
17 Revolution Rock Fest., Mashantucket, CT
18 Rock Allegiance Festival, Chester, PA
20 Egyptian Room, Indianapolis, IN
22 The Pageant, St. Louis, MO
24 Houston Open Air Festival, Houston
25 Knotfest, Devore, CA
27 Hard Rock Live, Orlando, FL
28 Fillmore, Miami, FL
30 Horseshoe Casino Tunica, Tunica, MS
October:
1 Louder Than Life Festival, Louisville, KY
3 Norva, Norfolk, VA
5 Tabernacle, Atlanta, GA
7 Gas Monkey Live, Dallas, TX
8 ACL at the Moody Theatre, Austin, TX
10 Fillmore, Denver, CO
11 The Complex, Salt Lake City, UT
13 The Wilma Theatre, Missoula, MT
17 ENMAX Centre, Lethbridge, AB
19 S. Okanagan Cvents Centre, Penticton, BC
20 Abbotsford Centre, Abbotsford, BC
22 Aftershock Festival, Sacramento, CA
23 Reno Events Center, Reno, NV
27 El Paso County Coliseum, El Paso, TX**
For more information about Slayer, visit the band’s official website.
