Category : LATEST NEWS

TRACK LISTING FOR JUDAS PRIEST’S “REDEEMER OF SOULS” REVEALED

There are only a select number of bands that have accomplished what Judas Priest has throughout their career (as well as having served as a stylistic influence on such a wide variety of bands). Soon the group – singer Rob Halford, guitarists Glenn Tipton and Richie Faulkner, bassist Ian Hill and drummer Scott Travis – will be offering up more classic Judas Priest metal with the release of Redeemer of Souls.

To be released in the US on July 8th, 2014 through Epic Records (as a standard version and a deluxe edition with five bonus tracks), Redeemer of Souls is Judas Priest’s latest collection of epic metal – “raising the bar is consistent for us and Redeemer hits the ground running” – it matches up perfectly to earlier Priest classics as evidenced by the album’s lead off single March of the Damned (“we are forging ahead, slamming the pedal to the metal!”) – the band mean business once again.

“We feel Redeemer of Souls reinforces our passion for what we believe in from the Judas Priest style heavy metal.” The album also marks Richie Faulkner’s studio debut with Priest and is the co-writer of the material along with Glenn Tipton and Rob Halford.

And while fans are undoubtedly starved for more Priest (their last studio album Nostradamus was released in 2008) the band themselves are eager for the world to hear their latest studio triumph. “Classic combination of all the statements we love to create with raging guitar riffs and solos, thundering drums, thick grooves of bass and vocals tearing it all up!”

Redeemer of Souls track listing:

Dragonaur
Redeemer Of Souls (listen here)
Halls Of Valhalla
Sword Of Damocles
March Of The Damned
Down In Flames
Hell & Back
Cold Blooded
Metalizer
Crossfire
Secrets Of The Dead
Battle Cry
Beginning Of The End

Bonus tracks:

Snakebite
Tears Of Blood
Creatures
Bring It On
Never Forget

First bursting onto the scene with 1974’s Rocka Rolla Judas Priest is responsible for some of heavy metal’s all-time great albums – 1980’s British Steel, 1982’s Screaming for Vengeance, 1990’s Painkiller etc – and anthems Breaking the Law, Living After Midnight, You’ve Got Another Thing Comin’ etc – as well as trailblazing metal’s now instantly identifiable look – leather and studs – 2014 marks the 40th anniversary of the band.

Judas Priest members Rob Halford, Glenn Tipton and Richie Faulkner will be guests on Eddie’s,Trunk Nation show on Sirius/XM, Monday, May 5th.

“AMERICAN IDOL” CONTESTANT CALEB JOHNSON PERFORMS WHITESNAKE’S “STILL OF NIGHT”

On last night’s (April 30th) episode of American Idol, contestant, and resident rocker, Caleb Johnson performed Whitesnake’s Still of the Night. Watch his performance below.

Still of the Night appears on Whitesnake’s 1987 self titled album which sold over eight million copies in the US where the album went platinum eight times. Besides Still of the Night, other singles released from the Whitesnake album included: Here I Go Again, Is This Love?, Crying in the Rain and Give Me All Your Love.

American Idol season 13 is broadcast on the Fox network and features judges Keith Urban, Jennifer Lopez and Harry Connick Jr..

As per a poster’s suggestion (thanks Gary) I have also included Caleb’s performance of Led Zeppelin’s Dazed and Confused below.

THE SCORPIONS RELEASE A BRIEF STATEMENT REGARDING DRUMMER JAMES KOTTAK’S ARREST IN THE UAE

The Scorpions have released the following statement regarding reports that their American drummer, James Kottak, will spend a month in a Dubai, United Arab Emirates jail after he was convicted on Tuesday morning of insulting Islam.

“Dear fans, when James Kottak arrived in Dubai on April 3th, he ran into problems at immigrations and got busted. Whatever happened is totally out of our control and we don’t know any details about it at this point. For the concerts in Germany, Johan Franzon, a Swedish drummer, will take James’ seat. Please understand, we keep you posted.”

According to the Associated Press, Kottak was convicted of insulting Islam, raising his middle finger, and being under the influence of alcohol while in transit at Dubai airport.

The Scorpions latest double CD was their first MTV Unplugged which was released on November 29th.

SINGER MICHAEL SWEET TALKS ABOUT HIS AUTOBIOGRAPHY, COLLABORATION WITH GUITARIST GEORGE LYNCH AND STRYPER

Greg Prato of Brave Words spoke with Stryper frontman Michael Sweet. Excerpts from the interview appear below.

BW: Let’s discuss your book, Honestly: My Life and Stryper Revealed. Did things come back to you that you hadn’t thought about in many years?

Michael Sweet: Oh yeah, definitely. And to this day, I’m thinking of things that should have been in the book. There’s so much that’s happened. I tend to focus on one thing at a time. It’s very difficult for me, I’m not a multi-tasker, so it’s hard for me to think of a hundred different stories. I’ll just think of one. But I did my best to just hit all the key points and all the stories that I felt people would want to know and want to hear. A lot of question marks over the years by fans, like, why did Tim not play on To Hell with the Devil and In God We Trust? What happened during Against the Law? We heard the rumors, but what really happened? Why did you leave the band? Why did you remarry so soon? All these things that people have really come at me with serious questions – deep questions – over the years, that I wanted to address. And that’s what I did in the book. But at the same time, tell my life story – from the time I was born until now. I talk about being arrested as a kid and a lot of things that people might not expect to hear from Michael Sweet.

BraveWords: I heard there is going to be an upcoming project with George Lynch, too.

Michael Sweet: It is going to be released on Frontiers. I was really blessed with the opportunity to produce it and to co-write it with George. It’s myself, George Lynch, Brian Tichy, and James Lomenzo. And that will come out roughly this time next year, maybe a little earlier.

BraveWords: And what is the name of that band?

Michael Sweet: We don’t have a name yet. It’s been a real difficult decision for some reason. I can’t tell you why. The good thing is we have probably five or six months to do so, so we’re all good.

BraveWords: Lastly, what is the current status of Stryper?

Michael Sweet: The current status is we’re very busy. We’re prepping for some touring. We’ve got a live album coming out in October or November on Frontiers. We are starting on a new album next year, I’m already writing for. We’ll start recording that in January/February. That will come out next year. And then the Sweet/Lynch album that’s coming out – that’s being mixed right now. So I’m juggling a lot of different stuff. I’m literally on the phone calling in mix tweaks while I’m going downstairs with a cup of coffee and putting in my in-ears and running through the set with Stryper. They’re all here at the house right now. So it’s just been a little crazy around here. And the biggest thing for me to overcome is I’m OCD, and I’ve got to keep cleaning toilets and picking up after people. I want to definitely get in the ring with some guys in the band right now!

Read more at Brave Words.

SAXON’S BIFF BYFORD DISCUSSES MUSIC, SONGWRITING AND HIS FAVORITE SAXON ALBUM

Greg Prato of Songfacts spoke with Saxon frontman Biff Byford. Portions of the interview appear below.

Songfacts: Let’s start off by talking about the new Saxon album, Unplugged and Strung Up. How did the idea come to do this album?

Biff Byford: Well, it’s a mixture of different projects that we were doing. I had the idea to do an unplugged album, and then we moved off that to more general projects. I just thought it would be a good idea to put all our projects together on one album and try to make it interesting for the fans. I think it’s a good package.

Songfacts: Looking back, how would you say that you write your best songs?

Biff: I’ve usually come in with a couple of ideas. We all play instruments, so we can all write. We have a lot of ideas, and then we’ll just bash them around a bit and I’ll usually take them away and arrange them and put down some melodies, maybe write some lyrics, and we’ll take it from there.

We don’t really consider the guitar riff a song, if you know what I mean. We have to work a lot harder than that. So it’s just basically bouncing around from different members, I suppose.

Songfacts: Something that I’ve always felt about Saxon is that the band is very underrated when it comes to the amount of great guitar riffs, especially songs like Strong Arm of the Law, Wheels of Steel, and Princess of the Night. Were those parts entirely written by Paul [Quinn] and Graham [Oliver] back in the day, or did you ever have a hand in coming up with those melodies for those riffs?

Biff: I wrote some of the stuff in 747. I wrote a few of the riffs. We all play, you know. I think the Strong Arm of the Law riff is Graham Oliver’s originally. But the thing is, when I’m writing melodies, we sometimes change the guitar part to put on a melody. So I suppose it’s a bit more of a group thing. We tend to split the songs into 50/50 melody, lyrics, and usually the melody goes with the lyrics with this band. So that’s usually how we work.

Songfacts: What do you remember about the writing and recording of the song Princess of the Night?

Biff: Well, Princess of the Night, I remember exactly. I had two titles. I had a title of Wheels of Steel and I had a title Princess of the Night. And I didn’t use Princess of the Night on the first two albums. But Paul Quinn came up with a riff and it sort of fit my lyrics. So that song was written very quickly, very quickly indeed. I already had the lyrics and the riff went together so simply, really smooth.

Songfacts: And you just mentioned the song Wheels of Steel.

Biff: I was heavily into AC/DC’s first album, and a few of their bootleg things that we found. I turned the band on to AC/DC. And I think although that track doesn’t sound like AC/DC, it’s a bit more rugged, I suppose. Wheels of Steel has definitely got an AC/DC influence in that.

Songfacts: What about the song Strong Arm of the Law?

Biff: Strong Arm of the Law, I think that was Graham’s riff, the verse riff. We were stopped by the police on numerous occasions when we had this huge American car, and that’s basically what it’s about. It’s a story about the police stopping us on London Bridge in London and it stuck in my head. So I wrote some lyrics about it when I got the opportunity.

Songfacts: You mentioned coming to America. What were your initial impressions of America when Saxon first played there?

Biff: The very first tour we did was with Rush in the ’80s. Which was great, since we’re huge Rush fans. It was a fantastic place to come. It still is, actually.

We were very busy in them days. We were playing with Rush, we were doing the Whiskey A Go Go and we were all over the place, really. We were doing gigs on the West Coast in America. We were flying backwards and forwards all over the place. So it was quite an exciting time, those early ’80s.

Songfacts: From a songwriting perspective, what would you say is your favorite Saxon album and why?

Biff: It’s always got to be the last one, hasn’t it? I think Sacrifice is a great album. I’ll leave you to that, really. [Laughing].

Read more at Songfacts.

source: songfacts.com

SINGER GEOFF TATE ON SETTLING HIS LAWSUIT WITH FORMER QUEENSRYCHE BANDMATES: “I’M VERY HAPPY IT’S OVER AND WE CAN ALL MOVE ON WITH OUR LIVES”

Christa Titus of Billboard spoke with former Queensryche vocalist Geoff Tate about the bandmembers finally settling their lawsuit in regards to who owns the band’s name. Portions of the interview appear below.

Billboard: How are you feeling now that the announcement is out about the settlement?

Tate: I think it’s great. I’m very happy that it’s over and done and we can all move on with our lives. It’s been a long, bitter two years, I’ll tell you. I’m glad it’s over.

Billboard: What was the turning point when everyone started getting on the same page with the settlement? I understand that for a while you guys were trying to work something out.

Tate: We’ve been trying to work something out for months and months and months, and it’s like any kind of lawsuit, it’s just slow going. But finally I think the realization that going to court over the whole thing was going to be a huge nightmare and huge financial mess for everybody that [we] really started to look at it more seriously and realistically.

Billboard: Once you filed the suit, that would say to me you were ready to go to court over it.

Tate: Yeah, that’s typically what it means.

Billboard: Some people are confused by the joint statement both parties released regarding who could do what. One of the points was being able to perform both Operation: Mindcrime albums live. Queensryche is permitted to play selections, but they can’t do a front-to-back version of either one live, correct?

Tate: It’s pretty similar to the Pink Floyd settlement where one group got the name and Roger Waters got The Wall. It’s very similar to that. I retain Operation: Mindcrime and everything revolving around that, and they got the name, so it’s a win-win for everybody.

Billboard: I don’t know what you are limited to discuss in terms of terms of the agreement. Is there anything you can mention in terms of being entitled to, say, future payments from the band? There were the three band corporations and things of that concern.

Tate: Honestly, I’d really don’t feel comfortable commenting on the details of the settlement. I think what’s out there is sufficient. I’m just really happy to be done with it all, and I think the other side is probably happy as well so we can turn the tide in this episode in our lives and move on to nicer things.

Billboard: One thing that does remain in question is, since you still have dates booked under the Queensryche name, on your Queensryche website you have dates into May.

Tate: We’re both allowed to do all of our pre-contracted dates as they were advertised, so once those dates are over then it all changes.

Billboard: I know that this has been a really long two years. Is there anything you think you would have done differently, looking back on it now?

Tate: Oh gosh, you know, the whole experience was such a betrayal and so negative that I’m really ready to get past it, not think about it anymore, and it doesn’t really bear looking back on in my mind right now. [laughs] That’s the last thing I want to do is think about it some more.

Read more at Billboard.

source: billboard.com