An exclusive teaser clip of Hotel Diablo’s new video Psycho, California, which can be found at GuitarWorld.com as part of a brand new interview with guitarist Alex Grossi, can be viewed below.
The video was recently shot in Los Angeles with nine-time Emmy Award-winning and MTV Video Music Award-nominated director Fabio Jafet (Pitbull, Enriquw Iglesia, Children Of Bodom).
“We are beyond excited to be working with Fabio,” says Grossi. “We have all been fans of his work for a long time and feel he is the perfect director to bring ‘Psycho, California’ to life on screen.”
Hotel Diablo’s The Return To Psycho, California was released in September through Scarlet Records and is currently available digitally via iTunes, Amazon and other online music retailers.
For more information about Hotel Diablo, please visit thehoteldiablo.com.
Rock icon Izzy Stradlin was recently at Ocean Way Recording in Hollywood to record and mix a new single,Baby Rann, which can be viewed below.
Released in December and available on iTunes, Baby Rann was recorded and mixed (and videotaped) in Ocean Way’s renowned Studio B. Joining Stradlin on guitar and vocals in the studio were Rick Richards on lead guitar, J.T. Longoria on bass, Joey Huffman on Hammond organ, and Taz Bentley on drums and backing vocals.
Stradlin is well known as the co-founder and former rhythm guitarist of the hard rock band Guns N’ Roses, which he left in 1991. Following his departure, he led his own band, Izzy Stradlin and the Ju Ju Hounds, for one album and tour. Since the late 1990s, Stradlin has released 10 solo albums, the last six independently. In 2012, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Deep Purple, who have also announced a new studio album due in April 2013, will be digging through their past, reissuing 10 classic albums over the course of the new year.
The reissues will be begin January 29th, when Live In Paris 1975 will be released as a double CD. The album has been digitally remixed and re-mastered from the original multi-track recordings.
The show, recorded April 17th, 1975, at the Palais des Sports in Paris, was the band’s last concert with Ritchie Blackmore, who was leaving Deep Purple to form Rainbow. Blackmore would eventually return to the band, several years later, to record Perfect Strangers. However, the guitarist eventually left the band for good in 1993.
Blackmore, vocalist David Coverdale, bassist/vocalist Glenn Hughes, keyboardist Jon Lord and drummer Ian Paice roared on classics like Burn, Stormbringer, Highway Star, Space Truckin’ and Smoke On The Water.
Deep Purple’s Live In Paris 1975 will be re-released through Eagle Rock Entertainment.
Sammy Hagar says the estate of Ronnie Montrose is behind the delay in releasing the guitarist’s tribute show DVD and the frustrated singer vows that if the concert film doesn’t hit shelves soon, he’ll take action himself.
Guitar icon Montrose shot himself in March this year. He had suffered from clinical depression for much of his life, and the deaths of his uncle and dog within weeks of each other are understood to have been factors in his decision to commit suicide.
The following month, surviving Montrose members Hagar, Bill Church and Denny Carmassi fronted a memorial event that also starred Joe Satriani, Neal Schon, Tommy Thayer, Jimmy DeGrasso and many others. It was filmed, and an early release was predicted, but it has not come to pass.
Answering fan questions in the video below, Chickenfoot frontman says “There were some problems with the Montrose estate people. They weren’t co-operating and stuff. But we filmed everything and it was great stuff. If it doesn’t get done sooner than later I’m going to just take it and do it myself.”
Chickenfoot are planning a year without action in 2013 due to drummer Chad Smith’s commitments to the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Satriani’s solo work, but the singer says that he and bassist Michael Anthony might work on a project together.
Bon Jovi’s upcoming What About Now? will mark a musical “evolution” for the band, but not to the point that might be off-putting to group’s worldwide legion of fans.
Guitarist Richie Sambora tells Billboard that “Jon (Bon Jovi) and I, when we get together it sounds like Bon Jovi. It sounds like us. That’s basically the way it is and what comes out comes out.” But for What About Now?, due out this spring, he says the band and co-producer John Shanks focused on dynamics, and “just basically pushing the production a bit more or lessening the production so you’re a bit more naked. It goes both ways on this particular record. We’ve stripped it down, taken some away and added some different elements.”
Meanwhile, Sambora says the album’s first single, Because We Can, which will be released on January 7th, is indicative of the album’s upbeat tone to the album. “The lyrics are very positive — obviously Because We Can, What About Now?, it’s all empowering and that’s what we were trying to get to. We were trying to get some positive lyrics. That’s kind of where we landed.”
Bon Jovi begins a world tour on February 9th in Uncasville, Conn., with dates booked into late July that include two South African dates in May, a headlining slot June 16th at England’s Isle of Wight Festival and a two-night home state run at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J.
John Parks of Legendary Rock Interviews spoke with iconic guitarist George Lynch about T&N, Lynch Mob and Randy Rhoads. Portions of the interview appear below.
LRI: Is it true that Michael Sweet of Stryper will be the touring singer for T&N when you tour?
George: Yeah, that was the decision we all collectively came up with, we thought he was really the right choice. Lynch Mob has done quite a few dates with Stryper and we know Michael as a man and he’s just such a wonderful guy which is important at this stage in the game. I’ve learned that lesson the hard way over the years and now it’s to the point where you just wanna work with people who want to work with you and are dedicated, honest, transparent and have a good work ethic. Michael is obviously talented, we all knew that but he is also just a good person who has all of those qualities and architecture and is a solid guy but more importantly his voice is really suited to what we are trying to accomplish live which is to recreate the Dokken stuff faithfully. Jeff’s voice is not necessarily ideal for all of that because he has a bit of a raspier, harder edge which is better suited to the original music that T&N has done, Jeff will do some of the Dokken stuff but then Michael will come in and do some of the material that he’s better at. The other advantage we have with Michael Sweet other than him being just a great human being is that he’s a really good guitar player and really suited to playing the rhythm parts we have which is something we really need collectively in this band and for this material. There’s a lot of guitars on this record and we wanna reproduce the record faithfully. Plus, he’s not a bad lookin guy either!
LRI: There are also a great many people who are under the impression that your band Lynch Mob is also over and broken up which is partially because of Robbie Crane talking about his leaving the band. The last EP was probably the best thing you’ve ever done. Is there any future for Lynch Mob?
George: We have half a record which is just on the shelf, it’s something we’ve been working on for quite a long time and it’s beautiful and I would really hate to see the record not be heard but at this point it’s only half done and I don’t know exactly when we will be getting back together to finish it, if at all but I am hopefully optimistic (laughs). We all have a lot of other things going on though and I understand that, Robbie’s got some other project, Oni (Logan, vocalist) is doing Dio Disciples and I have two or three very heavy projects going on with the T&N thing, the movie and associated band Shadow Train which is working on the soundtrack to the movie and then the album I am making with Doug Pinnick of King’s X and Ray Luzier of Korn.
LRI: I had heard about that, You, Doug and Ray, that is pretty amazing sounding on paper….
George: Yeah, we are doing a power trio thing and have been writing. We’re getting through the initial stages of the album and have completed a few sketched out song ideas which are pretty exciting to me and are hitting it really hard this winter. We’re gonna see where this goes.
LRI: I have to ask, you’ve talked about your interaction with my all time favorite guitarist, Randy Rhoads. I worked with Kelly Garni on some quote gathering and editing for his upcoming book talking about growing up with Randy and was just wondering, what was the extent of your relationship with Randy?
George: Well, I gotta be honest with you, we were not like best friends or anything, it was more like casual acquaintances. We would play shows together, share a dressing room, hang out and talk. He liked the way I played and we shared a mutual respect in that sense but we didn’t know each other much beyond that. He was obviously on the radar in the Hollywood scene before breaking out but I didn’t understand or have an appreciation for how deep of a player he was until he went to England and made the records with Ozzy. At that point, I took over his teaching duties at Musonia, his mom’s school and really started delving into the repertoire of what Randy had actually recorded. Of course when I later auditioned for Ozzy it gave me an even greater appreciation for the complexity and depth of his compositions.
LRI: Much has been made of Randy’s distaste for Black Sabbath’s music. When you auditioned for Ozzy were you a fan of those classic Sabbath songs?
George: Oh sure. I mean, I had a Black Sabbath poster hanging on my wall in the early 70s and my band played Sabbath songs. I can remember the first album coming out and blowing our minds and the Paranoid album and all of that, that was the material we cut our teeth on and learned from.
Deep Purple, who have also announced a new studio album due in April 2013, will be digging through their past, reissuing 10 classic albums over the course of the new year.
Sammy Hagar says the estate of Ronnie Montrose is behind the delay in releasing the guitarist’s tribute show DVD and the frustrated singer vows that if the concert film doesn’t hit shelves soon, he’ll take action himself.
Gary Graff of Billboard reports:
John Parks of Legendary Rock Interviews spoke with iconic guitarist George Lynch about T&N, Lynch Mob and Randy Rhoads. Portions of the interview appear below.
