Category : LATEST NEWS

GUNS N’ ROSES REPORTEDLY “DAYS AWAY” FROM ANNOUNCING A REUNION TOUR

Dish Nation reports:

Legendary ​rock giants ​Guns N’ Roses​ are ​​”days away” from announcing ​a​ world​ reunion tour ​next year, Dish Nation is exclusively reporting.

Guitarist Slash ​has confirmed that he ​and lead singer​ Axl Rose have​​ ​reconciled after ​almost a decade of ​arguments and now Los Angeles music insiders close to the band say they ​have tentatively​ agreed to perform together again in 2016.

It’s expected that they will headline several festivals across Europe and the United States before heading out on a staggered world tour that will coincide with their 30th anniversary​.

“Slash and Axl have verbally agreed to get things together again and reform the original band. The live shows is where they can show the world what they had and also make the greatest earnings,” ​a music insider exclusively told Dish.

“Promoters are quietly working away to land opportunities. Details of the reunion are expected to leak out in the next few days. Everyone is expecting huge demand for tickets, but the boys are very humble and are not sure what to expect.”

Reports have recently come out saying that the band has been offered gigs in Australia, Sweden and Portugal — although reps for the band have refused to comment.

Last month a friend close to Slash confirmed that he and Axl are now talking again and a comeback tour ​is close to being rev​e​aled.

Marketing experts say that the American band are on course to bank a whopping $100 million thanks to ticket sales, CD revenue, licensing and merchandising.

“I know that he and Axl talking again is a really good sign, because we all grew up loving Guns N’ Roses. I mean I am an LA kid and I remember when they were playing the Sunset Strip,” ​Slash’s close friend John Murdy told the UK’s Mirror.

“It is so cool to see these guys back when they have been around so long.”

G​uns N’ Roses keyboard player Dizzy Reed ​recently hinted a band ​comeback is close​, too.

“With GNR, timelines don’t really apply,” Dizzy told Loudwire.

“And that’s fine, things will come out when they’re ready and we’ll go on tour when we’re ready…”

​Even Slash, who refused to speak with Axl, has painted the singer in a more positive light.

“There’s no animosity. Over time we all just got sick and tired of the black cloud,” Slash said in an interview with CBS.

“The biggest thing that happens when you have a break up that is less than harmonious, you build up a bad energy because of the distance. The bad feelings get exaggerated.”

It has been over two decades since Slash, Axl, Duff McKagan, Izzy Stradlin and drummer Matt Sorum all stood on stage together to perform on their “Use Your Illusion” tour.

It wrapped July 17, 1993 in Argentina, and since then Axl has only since brought Duff and Izzy onto the stage with his new Guns N’ Roses band. However, he refused to appear at the 2012 Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame Museum induction.

The band — which started in a Hollywood deli​ and were signed in 1986​ — sold over 100 million albums worldwide.

source: dishnation.com

RANDY RHOADS’ MOTHER DELORES PASSES AT AGE 95

Delores Rhoads, the mother of guitar legend Randy Rhoads, has died at the age of 95.

Bassist Rudy Sarzo, who played with Rhoads in Quiet Riot shared the news wrote on his Facebook page, “The world today has lost one of the most gracious and sweetest ladies I’m blessed to have known, Delores Rhoads. Please keep her and the Rhoads family in your prayers.”

Delores Rhoads graduated from UCLA with a Bachelor’s degree in music and founded the Musonia School of Music in North Hollywood, Calif., in 1949. After receiving his first guitar at the age of six-and-a-half, Randy began taking lessons at Musonia.

Randy’s brother Kelle told Patch.com, “She plays 15 instruments; her main instruments were trumpet and cornet. She primarily excelled in brass. She changed a policy at UCLA when she was a music student there. A woman couldn’t sit first-chair in the brass section. Until my mom. My mom challenged this because she was so much better than the guys. So they had a little contest, she smoked them, and she was the very first woman that got to sit first-chair in a brass section. In the very early ’40s. She graduated in 1944 and got married. Plays piano, violin, flute, flugelhorn.”

When discussing Randy once, Delores stated, “Randy grew up musically in my school. I am sure he was influenced by this in many ways. He started when he was so young, he was somewhere between six-and-a-half and seven when he started lessons. In those days, way back then, we started them with the folk guitar where they learned the chords and a few pop songs.”

But she also made sure that he learned that being able to play simple pop songs was only a small part of the equation. “To play in my little group that I had even way back then,” she continued, “he had to read [music notation], because he couldn’t play in the group unless he read. And then I worked with him when he was very young. I gave him some piano lessons, so he had to learn to read. I always make my students count very accurately and read properly and do everything the right way, so he had some help in that.”

Rhoads’ 50-second classical guitar interlude from Osbourne’s Blizzard of Ozz, Dee was written as a tribute to her.

additional source: ultimateclassicrock.com

RUSH’S “R40 LIVE” CONCERT FILM AVAILABLE ON NOVEMBER 20TH

All roads have led to this. Forty-one years in the making, the R40 Live tour took a very real journey back through time. Beginning with the grand design: a state-of-the-art stage set that pivots, rolls and dives, and brings Clockwork Angels in to bombastic, colorful life before marching stridently back in time (through theater stages, a panoply of band and fan shots, the accrued memories of a life spent playing live) to a mocked-up school gym and the band playing there; a solitary bass amp set on the chair behind Geddy Lee, a mirror ball spiraling crazily above, casting thin rods of light like a light rain across the crowd, Working Man coming to a shuddering halt as the band’s beginning becomes their end.

Rush recorded and filmed R40 Live over two sold-out shows in the band’s hometown of Toronto at the Air Canada Centre on June 17th & 19th, 2015 in the middle of their R40 Live 35-date North American tour.

R40 Live had the trio of Geddy Lee, Alex Lifeson and Neil Peart, performing a career-spanning live retrospective, celebrating their 40+ years together. The epic live shows by the Rock Hall of Famers were captured with 14 cameras to present the band feature-film style.

The center-point of this tour was the remarkable setlist, coupled with their idea of a “de-evolution” set design. When the band opened the show with cuts Headlong Flight and The Anarchist from their most recent studio recording, 2012’s Clockwork Angels, they did so with all the bells and whistles from that extensive tour. They worked backwards through their catalog as the show progressed, the innovative set design making for constant visual eye-candy, as stagehands exchanged the gear and props on stage to resemble the era-correct tour staging in accordance with the songs being played.

The first set featured the infamous dryers on stage while they played Roll The Bones, Subdivisions, and for the first time ever live, Losing It featuring violinist Ben Mink, who appeared on the original studio recording from 1982’s Signals.

The second set opened with classics Tom Sawyer, followed by crowd favorite, The Spirit of Radio, but also included Jacob’s Ladder, which hasn’t been performed live since 1980 on their Permanent Waves tour.

The last few songs of the R40 were set against the persimmon curtained theatre-looking stage, with the crowd raising their lighters and camera phones to Closer to the Heart, and then Alex and Geddy appeared with their signature doubleneck guitars as they played Xanadu, into the epic 2112 and encored with Lakeside Park/Anthem and What You’re Doing/Working Man.

The concert film also includes the the band’s renowned tour videos, highlighted by Roll The Bones (R40 Live), that features an array of special guests in the rap part of the song: Jay Baruchel (She’s Out Of My League), Les Claypool (Primus), Peter Dinklage (Game of Thrones), Tom Morello (Rage Against The Machine, Audioslave), Chad Smith (Red Hot Chili Peppers), The Trailer Park Boys, and Jason Segel & Paul Rudd (I Love You, Man). It is the first time the band put the song back in the setlist since the R30 tour, a full decade ago. During the R40 Live tour, Roll The Bones gained new life and became a fan-favorite with an arena sing-along to the chorus “Why are we here? Because we’re here – Roll The Bones.”

Singer/Bassist Geddy Lee explained how the large group of cameo appearances came about, “We had this older video of an animated skeleton doing the “rap” part of Roll The Bones, and felt it was time to update the concept for this tour. So, after a lot of joking around with our show design team, we thought it would fun if we called upon some of our well-known pals and see if they wanted to have some fun with the lyrics. There were so many good and funny moments that it was hard to choose, some really hilarious and outrageous stuff. I’m so glad it worked out as it brought a big smile to the faces in the audience (and to us) every single night!”

R40 Live audio was produced by Rush & David Botrill, and mixed by David Botrill (Tool, Muse); the film was directed by Dale Heslip, and produced by Allan Weinrib. The live photograph on the cover of R40 was shot by baseball Hall of Famer Randy Johnson, who captured the band in a rare moment when both Geddy Lee and Alex LIfeson were on Neil Peart’s drum kit riser. “As a friend and fan of Rush, and the passion I have for photography to capture moments, it’s great that both can blend together in a lasting impression, here for the world to see,” commented the self-described ‘6”10 ninja in the photo pit,” who was on a portion of the tour in his new role as photographer.

HAPPY VETERANS DAY

We here at EddieTrunk.com send our love and respect to all of the veterans who have proudly served our country. You are the true super heroes and we have undying admiration for your commitment and bravery.

God bless, all branches of our military. Thank you, for your service.

IRON MAIDEN FRONTMAN BRUCE DICKINSON TO WRITE AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY

Iron Maiden frontman Bruce Dickinson will write his autobiography during the band’s Book Of Souls world tour next year, he’s confirmed.

Also, he’s hoping the experience of flying the biggest-ever version of Ed Force One will add to the story.

Dickinson will have plenty to tell, including his recent cancer battle, his two stints with Maiden and his solo years in between, along with his life as businessman, sword fencer and author.

He says, “It was flattering to be approached to write a book about my experiences. It seems an appropriate time to do it, as I will have plenty of time on tour to work on a book. I’m sure flying the 747 round the world will add to the tale with some unusual scenarios!”

The title is to be published by HarperNonFiction in 2017 as a hardcover, e-book and an audio book, with a paperback edition following in 2018. Four Nordic language versions have also been confirmed.

HarperCollins senior editor Denise Oswald says, “Bruce might quite literally be the world’s most interesting man. Being one of the greatest rock singers of all time is merely the beginning.

“His memoir, like his voice, is sure to set a new gold standard.”

Iron Maiden’s Book Of Souls was released on September 4th.

US tour dates:

Feb 24: Fort Lauderdale BB&T Center, FL
Feb 26: Tulsa BOK Center, OK
Feb 28: Las Vegas Mandalay Bay Events Center, NV
Mar 30: New York Madison Square Garden, NY
Apr 5: Detroit Palace of Auburn Hills, MI
Apr 6: Chicago United Center, IL
Apr 11: Tacoma Dome, WA
Apr 13: Denver Pepsi Center, CO
Apr 15: Los Angeles Forum, CA

Previously announced dates:

Apr 29: Christchurch Horncastle Arena, New Zealand
May 01: Aucklane Vector Arena, New Zealand
May 04: Brisbane Entertainment Centre, Australia
May 06: Sydney Allphones Arena, Australia
May 09: Melbourne Rod Laver Arena, Australia
May 12: Adelaide Entertainment Centre, Australia
May 14: Perth Arena, Australia

source: classicrock.teamrock.com

FORMER FRONTMAN MIKE TRAMP REMINISCES ABOUT WHITE LION AND SAYS, [GUITARIST] VITO [BRATTA] AND I HAD NO CONNECTION WHATSOEVER EXCEPT THROUGH MUSIC”

Paul Elliott of Classic Rock reports:

May 25th, 1988 was a day that Mike Tramp would remember for the rest of his life. White Lion, the New York-based rock band fronted by Danish singer Tramp, were beginning a three month tour as support act to AC/DC at Indianapolis’ massive 15,000-capacity Market Square Arena.

White Lion were riding high. Their second album, Pride, had sold a million copies, and they’d been on the road for the best part of a year, opening for Kiss – whose bassist/vocalist Gene Simmons had told Tramp he had “the coolest name in rock’n’roll” – and then Aerosmith, whose singer Steven Tyler would greet Tramp each night by singing White Lion’s breakthrough hit Wait.

…There would be more good moments for Mike Tramp and White Lion on that tour. When The Children Cry would reach Number 3 on the US chart, a personal triumph for the singer who had written the song three years earlier as a struggling wannabe. And Tramp was ecstatic when AC/DC’s Brian Johnson told him: “This is the first time we’ve seen a big amount of women in our audience!”

But the good times didn’t last. In Tramp’s words, “the rise of White Lion was like climbing a ladder with a rocket up your ass!” But, at similar velocity came the band’s decline. And although this resulted from a number of contributing factors (including record company politics), what ultimately destroyed White Lion was the very thing that made them great – the strange relationship between Mike Tramp and guitarist Vito Bratta.

As Tramp says now, “Vito and I had no connection whatsoever except through music. It’s sad, but true.”

…“I was the engine that made Vito move,” he says. “[Back in the early days] Vito lived with his parents on Staten Island, and he never lifted a finger to make any money. If he drove to my place in Queens, I’d have to give him $10 for gas.”

…The story of White Lion ends as so many rock’n’roll stories do – in a battle for the band’s name. In the 21 years since the band broke up, Bratta’s public profile has been virtually nonexistent, while Tramp has remained active, recording and touring as a solo artist and with the bands Freak Of Nature and Mike Tramp And The Rock’N’Roll Circuz. Tramp has also continued to use the name of White Lion. He has toured, with varying band line-ups, as Tramp’s White Lion and White Lion II. He recorded 12 classic White Lion songs on his solo album Remembering White Lion (“A silly album,” he says, “but I was able to pocket $40,000 and live off that”). And in 2008 came a brand new White Lion album, Return Of The Pride, fronted by Tramp.

But in 2010, Tramp ceded ownership of the name White Lion to Bratta in an out-of-court settlement. Tramp says that he and Bratta came to this agreement following “a deep conversation.” But he adds, more pragmatically. “I didn’t want to spend all my money on f–king lawyers.” And as Tramp sees it, what Bratta has achieved is a pyrrhic victory. “I’m proud of what Vito and I did with White Lion,” he says, “and for that, I still love him. But the only thing Vito will take with him to his grave is the name White Lion. He would never have left f–king Staten Island – which he still lives on – if it hadn’t been for a kid from Copenhagen with the energy of a rocket.”

Read more at Classic Rock.

source: classicrock.teamrock.com