That Metal Show returns this week with their biggest episode of the current season to date. In the midst of the controversy around KISS not allowing two of it’s original members to perform on stage during the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony on April 10th, KISS original drummer Peter Criss shares how he really feels about this matter with hosts Eddie Trunk, Don Jamieson, and Jim Florentine. Peter also recounts the joyful early days of KISS, his battle and triumph over male breast cancer, and the joy he felt when playing with Ace Frehley again at host Eddie Trunk’s recent 30-years-in-radio celebration.
In Put It On The Table, Peter answers which band he wishes he could be in if it wasn’t KISS, the song he wishes he wrote, and the best concert he ever attended. The episode ends with Criss addressing the KISS Army telling them how sad he is that he won’t be able to play for them one more time and, as he so eloquently says to Paul and Gene, “What’s wrong with giving ten minutes of your time, for the forty years that you’ve given us?”
Charred Walls of the Damned drummer Richard Christy also drops by the show to take on the coveted guest musician job. Christy showcases his drumming skills while performing in front of his childhood hero, Criss. At one point Richard thanks Peter saying that if it wasn’t for Peter and Kiss, Richard would not be playing drums today. Christy also lets us know that he is currently in the studio working on the new Charred Walls of the Damned album, which will be out some time next year.
Episode ten also features the usual fan-favorite segments: The TMS Top 5 tackles the Top 5 KISS Songs with all three hosts only agreeing on one song, the epic Black Diamond. Peter then adds a few of his own that were missed. This week’s Throwdown pits the KISS classic live albums Alive against Alive II. The decision is unanimous as the original Alive wins the title. This week’s Stump The Trunk finds Eddie battling to regain his dominance over the audience questions with the end result being lots of camera time for everyone’s favorite Miss Box of Junk, Jennifer.
Episode ten of That Metal Show airs this Saturday, March 22nd at 11:00PM ET/PT.
This season marks some monumental changes for the show as it returns to New York City for Season 13. Previously, the show was taped over several days of one week out at Sony Studios in Los Angeles. The new season is shot at Metropolis Studios on Tuesday nights for broadcast that Saturday. Season 13 also consists of 12 new episodes making it the longest season in the show’s history. Fans can also catch the complete season 12 and brand new exclusive bonus clips at ThatMetalShow.VH1.com and in the new VH1 app. New episodes of season 13 launch on the web and in the app every Sunday morning following the show’s on-air premiere.
Travis Failey of Rocket Sports & Entertainment spoke with our very own Eddie Trunk about…Highlights from the interview appear below.
Travis: What was the big catalyst for you when you were young to get into this business?
Eddie: Musically, you mean?
Travis: Yes, musically and knowing that you wanted to be in this business.
Eddie: Well, as far as the band that was my gateway into all of this hard rock world was KISS. I’m 49 years old, so I was exposed to KISS when I was in junior high school. And that would have been around ’77, ’76. My first concert was KISS at Madison Square Garden. So for me, it was all about KISS, and that was the thing what made me obsessed with hard rock music. And then from there, of course, I went on and got into so much other stuff. But as far as getting into it at the level that I did in terms of the media, I’ve worked in all areas of music industry. It’s another thing that people don’t really know about my background who only see me on the TV show. I worked for a record label for four years. I worked in artist management for a while. I have been on both sides of the fence. And I started doing a metal radio show right out of high school back in ’83 that I still do to this day. And for me, it was always about spreading the word about these bands that I loved. That was what drove the whole thing. I just wanted to be able to have a platform and an outlet to be able to shout from the rooftops, or shout to a bigger audience than I could from the rooftop, say, Hey, this band is..this band is great, you should check them out. So for me, it was all about how can I spread the word. And the jobs I had were all music-related. Worked in a record store; did free-lance writing; worked in a radio station; worked for a record company; worked in artist management; worked for a TV channel that was music based, with VH1 Classic. So, it was always about that and that’s what it is still about, honestly. Just whatever I could do to help spread the word about the bands that I love. Now, clearly, the difference is as a kid you are just doing it because you love it. Now I love it, but I also make a career out of it. So you have to make sure that you are paid and that you can pay the bills. But it was always the same driver, just to kind of share the music that I loved with other people.
Travis: The music and radio business are two of the toughest industries out there. Was there ever a time that you thought about changing careers?
Eddie: Well, I would say that I always – I was always told and it was drilled into me by my parents to have a backup plan when I told them what I wanted to do, because I was not good in school, I didn’t really go to college, and I just chased all this music stuff. And they are like, Well, you’d better have a backup plan. And I was really very much kind of just so headstrong about making this work that I never really did have a backup plan. But that was always in the back of my mind. I tell you, I don’t – I mean, there was a time when – a big transitional point for me happened when I moved from doing radio in New Jersey to radio in New York City, which was 1994, for the first time. And even though I only lived 35 miles from Manhattan in New Jersey, doing suburban New Jersey radio versus being on in New York City, you are going from Market 70 something to Market 1. And that was a huge change for me, when I got that break to be on the air in New York City, because suddenly, instead of broadcasting to a couple counties, I’m broadcasting to three states. And suddenly I’m, being heard by a lot more people, and there’s a much greater impact. That was the time in my life that I decided that I was going to chase the other, that side of the fence, meaning that up until that point I was actually more working behind the scenes in the industry. It wasn’t until I broke into New York radio and started to see that you can make a little money and have some more impact that I said, Well, maybe I’m going to try to be the guy on the other side of the fence and actually..to be the host, the presenter, what have you. So that was the big change for me. If that hadn’t happened, then I may have been starting to think about, “Okay, what am I going to do here?” Also, I’ve only been fired from radio one time in my life. And the one time that happened and I was kind of like, “Okay, there could be time to look for a new gig here and doing something else.” But fortunately, I was able to bounce back kind of quickly. And if you are just able to stay around long enough and build enough of a following and enough of a reputation and do the right thing most of the time, usually you are going to find somebody that’s going to give you a shot to keep working. And that’s kind of how I just kept building it. But there were times where I was concerned, but never that I said, “Okay, I’m going to have to go and completely do a total 180 on what my goals are.”
Travis: You’re scheduled to be down here with Red Dragon Cartel in Largo on March 28th. Will you be doing a signing on that day?
Eddie: I will, actually, at the show prior to the gig, I guess in the lobby or what have you there. I’m looking forward to that. I haven’t been in that area of Florida in a very long time. I’m going to be going on that Monsters of Rock cruise, which leave from Miami the next day. So the promoter who is putting that show on with Red Dragon Cartel, who is a band that I also helped out and who I know pretty well – and Jake coming back kind of was launched on That Metal Show – I’m going to come down and host that show and do a signing and sell and sign some books as well. I’ll have both copies available to purchase, or if people have them already, they can just come and I’ll gladly sign them. So that’s what will be happening there. And then intro the band and then head to the [Monsters of Rock] cruise the next day.
Travis: Well, what’s your thoughts on the [New York Football Giants] and Eli Manning going forward?
Eddie: Well, he’s in his early thirties now. I heard some rumblings that they wouldn’t be surprised if they dropped in a quarterback if one fell in their laps coming up for maybe two, three years down the road, although they did that with (Ryan) Nassib a year or so ago. So, they are kind of stockpiling these guys a little bit. But, I think Eli certainly is really an enigma, because the guy has won two Super Bows, and you can never take that away from him; but, he’s still very up and down as a quarterback. And to me, I think all of that rides on protection. I think that the guy is going to sink or swim on how comfortable he is with his offensive line. And I think that was probably the number one problem with the Giants last year was the offensive line was horrible. The guy was under pressure constantly, and that led to sacks, it led to a no-running game, and it led to a ton of [interceptions]. So I think that that’s the number one thing they need to address. And we also didn’t have a strong running game. So you put all that into the equation, and the quarterback, no quarterback is really going to succeed in that sort of scenario. So I’m not looking to chase him out. I think that, he’s obviously the quarterback of the Giants and will be until he retires, more than likely. But, he’s not a kid anymore. You’d like to see more consistency. But I think his awful year this past year is more because of what was around him..I’m sure there’s things he can improve on too. Now there’s a new offensive coordinator coming in, so maybe, that will help some. We’ll see.
Hard-hitting new rock band, California Breed together legendary vocalist-bassist Glenn Hughes, drummer extraordinaire Jason Bonham and 23-year-old newcomer guitarist-singer-songwriter Andrew Watt. Today (3/19), the powerful trio have unleashed their first single and video Sweet Tea. Check out the video below.
California Breed will be available as a CD, digital download and a Deluxe Edition CD + DVD featuring the bonus song Solo, two video clips and a documentary. Fans that pre-order the digital download on iTunes will receive an instant download of the first single, Sweet Tea upon ordering. It is also available as a pre-order from Amazon in CD format and as a CD Deluxe Edition CD + DVD.
March 19th is the 32nd anniversary of the tragic passing of Ozzy Osbourne guitarist Randy Rhoads.
To pay special tribute to his life and the working relationship that he had with bassist Bob Daisley, Bob has not only agreed to answer some questions regarding the seven hours of audio tapes that he recorded during the writing, rehearsing and recording sessions of the “Blizzard Of Ozz” and “Diary Of A Madman” albums, he has also agreed to share some snippets of those recordings with the fans.
Some snippets from the Q&A appear below.
Q: Why do you refer to your tapes as ‘The Holy Grail’?
BD: Several years ago, I was talking to someone about what I have on tape and I said that to those people who love that band and the Blizzard and Diary albums, what I have would be considered ‘The Holy Grail’ to them. It just refers to its rarity, a sort of ‘ultimate treasure’, not to any religious connotations.
Q: What time-span does the ‘Grail’ cover?
BD: From December the 8th 1979 to March the 23rd 1981.
Q: Have your cassette tapes been transferred to digital?
BD: Yes, all of my analogue tapes have been transferred to digital for safety sake, although I still have the original cassettes as well.
Q: Have the Osbournes, or the Rhoads family, heard any of your tapes?
BD: Ozzy heard them when we were writing and rehearsing in 1979/’80/’81, the whole band did, but Ozzy hasn’t since then. Kelle Rhoads has heard snippets that I played him over the phone, and he loved what he heard, he’d love to see the ‘Grail’ released.
Q: A so-called rare demo of Suicide Solution was on YouTube for a while, the sound quality was poor to say the least, is that ‘demo’ from your tapes?
BD: No, that’s not from my ‘Grail’, I don’t know how that got out there, and it’s not a ‘demo’. It is us, we were writing Suicide Solution, but we didn’t demo it, and if we had, the quality would’ve been way better than that. That’s not Lee Kerslake on it either, it was a drummer that we were auditioning at the time, before we found Lee, but we tried out many drummers so I’m not sure who it is. Maybe he made a tape that day too. We only ever went into a demo studio once and recorded four songs – I Don’t Know, Crazy Train, Goodbye to Romance and You Looking at Me. I remember writing the outro lyrics to Goodbye to Romance in the control room at the demo studio before Ozzy recorded the vocal. That was in Birmingham in early 1980, we had a drummer with us called Dixie Lee. We thought that he might be ‘the guy’ but he wasn’t the final piece of the puzzle.
Read more and listen to “Holy Grail” examples at bobdaisley.com.
Vinny Appice has explained why he left his band Kill Devil Hill-citing one of the main reasons was the band’s failure to generate interest in their work.
Appice admits it was “really, really hard” to grab attention, even though the lineup also included former Pantera bassist Rex Brown.
The former Black Sabbath drummer tells Mitch Lafon (via Blabbermouth): “Kill Devil Hill was my band, then Rex came in and it became a great band. So it’s not a musical problem at all; it’s more a business thing. You devote four years, almost five years to this thing. And it’s like, ‘Wow! What does it take to get this across?’ People know Rex, people know me – it’s not like it’s a bunch of new guys trying to make it. It was, like, ‘It’s really, really hard to get this thing off the ground.’ You’re going out and you’re making merch money, but it’s all going back into keeping this thing alive. There’s no tour support, there’s no advertising.”
Instead, Appice had decided to concentrate on Dio offshoot Last In Line and WAMI, his project with Doogie White and Marco Mendoza.
“Last In Line is a lot more sellable on this level than Kill Devil Hill when it comes to agents booking gigs,” he says. “That’s the way the business works. People want to see or hear music that they know.”
The band are currently working on new material after touring a set of classic early Dio tracks.
Judas Priest have finally completed work on their first album without original guitarist KK Downing, frontman Rob Halford has revealed.
The band started on the follow-up to 2008′s Nostradamus following Downing’s surprise departure in 2011. He was replaced by Richie Faulkner.
Halford tells Artisan News: “The record is absolutely finished as of today. It’s a relief, because whenever Priest make an album you put your heart and soul into it. It’s not an easy thing to do 40 years later. But Priest has always been up for the challenge of that. It’s one of the things we love to do more than anything else. This is a great time – 40th anniversary, a brand new record. Life couldn’t be better.”
A release date has yet to be confirmed for what will be the band’s 17th studio album, although it is expected later this year. They’re unlikely to embark on a large-scale world tour in support of the launch, after saying their Epitaph tour, which ended in 2012, would be the last of its kind.
