Category : LATEST NEWS

BLACK SABBATH GUITARIST TONY IOMMI DISCUSSES RONNIE JAMES DIO AND HIS BATTLE WITH CANCER

Black Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi spoke with Jim Harrington of the San Jose Mercury News. Sections from the article appear below.

Discussing why after reuniting with Ronnie James in 2006, they decided to call themselves Heaven & Hell as opposed to Black Sabbath:

“I didn’t want to live on the Black Sabbath name with that lineup, because it stood for itself. And, of course, we went out as Heaven and Hell because we weren’t playing any of the Ozzy stuff. All the stuff we were doing was with Ronnie. Ronnie was a superb singer-one of the best. It’s a sad ending. But Ronnie did give it his all, right to the end.”

Discussing his health issues:

To be honest, I was wondering whether I could do (the tour). I have to treat life very differently now. This, for me, has been a big challenge. So far, it’s been OK. The medical thing is still going on. It’ll be ongoing, really, for life. It’s not going to go away. I just have to try to treat it. So I go back to England every seven to eight weeks for a treatment. Then it takes 10 days, two weeks, to start feeling normal again. Then we go back out on the road.

My whole life has changed. My attitude has changed toward everything. Life becomes a lot more precious. I appreciate when we’ve got the opportunity to get together and be onstage and play and do what I like to do.

I think my illness, in one way, has helped everybody, because it’s brought the reality of you really don’t know how long this is going to last. It was easy to take things for granted before. I think everyone now appreciates what we’ve got and what we get to do.

Read more at the San Jose Mercury News.

source: mercurynews.com

JUDAS PRIEST BANDMEMBERS TO PARTICIPATE IN ROCK N’ ROLL FANTASY CAMP IN LAS VEGAS ON FEBRUARY 27TH

Hold your excitement, metal fans, here’s the ultimate Rock ‘N’ Roll Fantasy Camp specifically for you metalheads. Rock ‘N’ Roll Fantasy Camp is proud to present Judas Priest bandmembers — including singer Rob Halford, bassist Ian Hill, drummer Scott Travis, and guitarist Richie Faulkner. (Please note: Glenn Tipton is still in the band but is unable to attend the camp.) More metal masters include Zakk Wylde (Ozzy Osbourne, Black Label Society) and Geoff Tate (Queensryche). This camp will be hosted in Las Vegas at the Rock ‘N’ Roll Fantasy Camp complex and MGM Grand Hotel & Casino from Thursday, February 27th through Sunday, March 2nd, 2014.

Over the course of four metal-filled days, campers will be placed into bands led by rock star counselors, including Rudy Sarzo (Queensryche, Quiet Riot), Vinny Appice (Dio, Black Sabbath), Phil Soussan (Ozzy Osbourne), and Lita Ford. Musicians will hone their stage presence, learn to play some of metal music’s greatest songs, get tips on playing as a band and hear stories of life on the road from their rock star counselors. Campers will also attend master classes with these renowned musicians prior to performing live with their band in front of an audience at MGM Grand Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas.

For more information, please visit RockCamp.com.

AUDIO SAMPLES FROM STRYPER’S “NO MORE HELL TO PAY” POSTED ONLINE

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Stryper has uploaded audio samples from their forthcoming album, No More Hell To Pay, which will be released by Frontiers Records on November 1st in Europe and November 5th in North America.

Samples of Revelation, Saved By Love and Marching Into Battle can be heard below.

To read more about No More Hell To Pay, please click here.

No More Hell To Pay track listing:

Revelation
No More Hell To Pay
Saved By Love
Jesus Is Just Alright
The One
Legacy
Marching Into Battle
Te Amo
Sticks & Stones
Water Into Wine
Sympathy
Renewed

Stryper tour dates:

August:

9 Bolingbrook, IL Tailgaters Sports Bar & Grill
10 West Allis, WI Wisconsin State Fair
13 San Juan Capistrano, CA The Coach House*
14 West Hollywood, CA The Whiskey A Go Go*
16 Henderson, NV Club Madrid at Sunset Station Hotel & Casino*
30 Wendover, NV Peppermill Casino

METALLICA TO PLAY THE FAMED APOLLO THEATER IN NYC ON SEPTEMBER 21ST

Metallica will headline slot the Apollo Theater in New York next month. The band are set to perform at the famed Harlem venue on September 21st, and the show will air live as part of a revived Mandatory Metallica channel on SiriusXM.

The Apollo show comes a week before the band releases its 3D movie Metallica Through the Never to IMAX screens across the country on September 27th. Metallica filmed the movie last year at concerts in Edmonton, Alberta; and Vancouver. It combines live performance footage with a fictional storyline tracing a roadie’s adventure during an arena show.

Mandatory Metallica will return to SiriusXM September 13th through October 6th, and will remain available online through next summer, the band said on its website. SiriusXM subscribers and Metallica fan club members will be able to win tickets to the Apollo show. More information about entering to win is available here.

additional source: rollingstone.com

MOTLEY CRUE FRONTMAN VINCE NEIL ON THE BAND’S FAREWELL: “IT’S NOT GONNA BE LIKE A KISS FAREWELL”

Gary Graff of Billboard reports:

Motley Crue frontman Vince Neil says that all the farewell talk surrounding Motley Crue these days “is definitely for real” — and the group even has its exit strategy (i.e. a farewell tour) in place.

I think we’ll start the tour around May — I’m just kind of guessing on that, but in the spring of ’14, and we’ll do one more time around the world and kinda call it quits,” the Crue frontman tells Billboard. “It’s just that time. We’re going out on top. We don’t want to be some band that people are like, ‘Oh, they’re playing a club now,’ that kind of band. We still sell out arenas, have stadium stuff and things like that, so let’s go out when it’s a big deal.”

Neil adds that guitarist Mick Mars’ continuing health issues — he suffers from ankylosing spondylitis, a form of arthritis, and has also had hip replacement surgery — are also a factor. “Touring is tough on him, so this’ll give him some time to relax.”

Neil doesn’t think it will be the last we see of the Crue, though.

“I’m sure in five, 10 years from now we’ll probably do something again together, if other people’s careers don’t get in the way,” he says. “But it’s not gonna be like a KISS farewell to the farewell to the farewell to the farewell tour. It won’t be like that. We’re not going to say farewell and then try to get people to come back again in a little while.”

Neil expects there will be some new Motley Crue music in the future, too — most likely to accompany the film adaptation of the group’s autobiography The Dirt, which is still in development.

“It’s going to come out at some point before our tour starts,” Neil reports. “We’re hoping an early spring kind of thing.”

Neil is currently touring with his solo band, while the Crue is gearing up for September shows in Oklahoma and Miami before starting a 12-date return to The Joint at the Hard Rock Hotel/Casino in Las Vegas. Neil promises the shows will be “over the top, even by Motley standards” and even bigger than the group’s first run in Sin City last year.

“The thing about playing in Vegas is you can do so much more because you don’t have to tear it down and build it back up the next day. You can do effects that stay there. So we’re really looking forward to it. You can call it our most dangerous show ever — not danger for us but danger for the crowd. I thought the last residency was cool, but we learned we could do way more than we actually did, so this will be really, really over the top.”

Or, he adds, deeper into the bottom. “Just think of hell, what would happen in hell,” Neil teases.

source: billboard.com

RICHIE SAMBORA REPORTEDLY RELEASED FROM BON JOVI’S TOUR DUE TO MONEY

Michele Amabile Angermiller of The Hollywood Reporter reports:

In what seems to be the messiest divorce in rock, Bon Jovi has reportedly fired lead guitarist Richie Sambora from the band’s current tour.

According to the website RumorFix.com, Sambora’s departure is all about money. Sources say that Sambora was earning in $2 million a month and 20 percent of the profits from the tour, whereas fill-in guitarist Philip “Phil X” Xenidis was earning far less — about $10,000 a month while on tour.

Although Sambora will still collect songwriting royalties and profits from merchandise, the 30-year bandmember is not taking the news well.

“Richie wants to go back onstage — that’s his first love,” a source tells the site. “He’s really upset over the news.”

The 54-year-old musician departed the group in the spring citing a “personal matter,” but has since remained mum on the subject, opting to tweet pictures of himself hanging out with his daughter and talking about his most recent solo album, Aftermath of the Lowdown.

Earlier this month, the Woodbridge, N.J., native shared a new song, Come Back as Me, that seemed to be aimed at Jon Bon Jovi, but the guitarist took to his Twitter feed to dispel those rumors.

“This songs gettin’ some traction, so I would sincerely appreciate any help. BTW this has nothin’ to do with Jon…,” he wrote on August 4th.

A week ago, Bon Jovi pulled out of a booked appearance at the New York State Fair so that the band could play a fundraiser for Governor Andrew Cuomo instead. The cancellation angered local fans. As Binghamton radio host Lee Ann Taylor, of classic rock station 99.1, told The Hollywood Reporter, “The New York State Fair is struggling and Bon Jovi would have been a huge boost for them like Aerosmith a few years back. Choosing politics over the people is becoming a disturbing trend. … The musicians need to remember who put them in the position to go to perform at these fundraisers to begin with.”

additional source: billboard.com