If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!
Blabbermouth.net - U.K.’s Diss Express reports: A teenager’s dreams have come true after he met global rock giants METALLICA.
Attleborough High School pupil Andrew Ladell benefitted from children’s charity Dreams Come True, which organized the meeting at the band’s London O2 arena concert.
He said: “It was a dream — they are my favorite band and I met every one of them.”
Andrew suffers from Crohn’s Disease, a condition that causes inflammation of the digestive tract.
A year ago Andrew was so ill he had to try an experimental new drug, Infliximab, to stop him wasting away.
Blabbermouth.net - Vocalist Brian Fair of Massachusetts metallers SHADOWS FALL recently spoke to Noisecreep about the band’s decision to form their own label in conjunction with Warner Music Group’s Independent Label Group and Ferret Music.
“We had an amazing run with Century Media that opened up many doors and taught us even more,” he said. “This led to our decision to sign with a major label like Atlantic Records to see what that world was all about. We realized quickly that the entire music industry was in a state of flux and panic as sales figures and profits were dropping by huge percentages each year. It was time to change up the business model in a way that would help break the cycle of large unrecouped budgets and put the power and profits back in the hands of the band.”
Fair continued, “In a traditional record deal, the band is fronted large amounts of money by the label and they control the spending for promotion and video that then must be paid back through album sales, leaving the band as the last ones to get paid as the money trickles in. In our current deal, we have the power of a major label distributor combined with the everyday input of an independent label that understands our music and scene.”
Fair told Revolver magazine that the band’s new songs are similar to those on 2007’s “Threads of Life”, though darker and almost ballad-free. “There’s more like two half-ballads,” he said. “There are some acoustic moments and some melodies that let the songs breathe, but there’s old-school thrash as well. We’ve written a lot of fast stuff which is definitely going to be fun to play live.”
“Threads of Life” was made available through Atlantic in the U.S. and Roadrunner Records in Europe. The CD shifted around 100,000 copies in the United States since its April 2007 release — a fraction of the 300,000-plus sales total achieved by its predecessor, 2004’s “The War Within”, which was issued by Century Media.
Blabbermouth - VELVET REVOLVER/ex-GUNS N’ ROSES guitarist Slash has commented on his “mentor” appearance next week during “Rock Week” on “American Idol”, the annual reality show and singing competition. Slash wrote on his MySpace page, “As you may or may not know, the producers for ‘American Idol’ have asked me to be the mentor for ‘Rock Week’ next week. I was reluctant at first, but they offered me the freedom to do it however I wanted. More importantly, there are a few singers this year who are really impressive. It’s the first time any ‘American Idol’ lineup has really caught my attention.”
Slash added, “The approach I’m taking is different than usual on the show and I’m going to make this as rock and roll an ‘American Idol’ as possible. Wish me luck!”
Previous stars who have mentored hopefuls on the show include Mariah Carey and Neil Diamond, while Jon Bon Jovi has mentored “Rock Week.”
Slash has also posted a new update on his solo album, which he is in the process of recording with various guest vocalists appearing on different tracks. He wrote, “Things are going great in the studio. We are officially past the halfway point, with some really cool collaborations coming up in the days and weeks ahead.”
Ozzy Osbourne and AVENGED SEVENFOLD frontman M. Shadows are two of the vocalists confirmed to appear on Slash’s record.
The guitarist said there are eight songs still to record, and also posted some working song titles, including “We’re All Gonna Die”, “These Last Words”, “Crucify The Dead” and “Beautiful, Dangerous”.
Slash has recruited ex-NINE INCH NAILS drummer Josh Freese and former JANE’S ADDICTION bassist Chris Chaney to play on the record.
Blabbermouth - MetalUniverse.net has uploaded a six-minute video clip containing footage from LAMB OF GOD’s April 17, 2009 signing session at the HMV Megastore in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Watch it below.
LAMB OF GOD’s new album, “Wrath”, has sold 139,000 copies in the United States since its February 24 release, according to Nielsen SoundScan.
“Wrath” was produced by Josh Wilbur and was recorded in studios in New York, Virginia, and New Hampshire.
The “Wrath” album was released in four configurations: an LP, a CD, a deluxe-edition CD with bonus disc - which contains isolated recording parts - as well as a super-deluxe version featuring a limited-edition box containing an LP, deluxe-edition CD and USB drive containing two exclusive bonus tracks.
ContactMusic.com - Rocker Matt Sorum has blasted Axl Rose for touring under the name Guns N’ Roses, insisting he should follow Sting and Paul McCartney’s leads and rename the group or go solo.
A former Guns N’ Roses drummer, Sorum feels the rock group’s name should only feature on tour tickets and albums when Rose is surrounded by his original members, including his Velvet Revolver bandmates Duff McKagan and Slash.
He tells ThePulseofRadio.com:
“I’m not saying I’m an original member, but I understand the core of the band is Slash and Duff and probably Izzy (Stradlin).
“This goes back to a Paul MCCartney thing. Does he call himself The Beatles? I’m not saying we were as big as The Beatles, but… Does Sting call himself The Police? No. Does Jimmy Page and Robert Plant go out there calling themselves Led Zeppelin? Nope.“
Blabbermouth - All five members of TWISTED SISTER recently spoke with Goldmine contributor Bryan Reesman about the forthcoming “Twisted Christmas” musical, the 25th anniversary re-release of “Stay Hungry”, the sequel to frontman Dee Snider’s “Strangeland” movie, guitarist Jay Jay French’s official TWISTED SISTER book, and how they are the biggest “part-time rock band” in the world. Several excerpts from the story follow below.
Dee Snider on “Strangeland: Disciple”:
“‘Strangeland: Disciple’ is the official title, and it looks like it will finally go into production this year, which is great. It has been a nightmare, 10 years with legal battles and everything. The government seized all their [Shooting Gallery's] property, so for literally eight years I’ve had lawyers going in and fighting [for me]. Every time the government tried to just dissolve everything, they said, ‘You can’t do that, that belongs to Dee Snider.’ Then they would try to dissolve it again six months later. They finally turned the stuff over to me. It was pretty ugly.”
Mark Mendoza on the band’s reunion success:
“What’s not to be happy about? Who would have thought in 1990 that I would be doing this again? I’m pretty sure we are the largest and most successful part-time rock band in the world. We’re not even part time. What do we do, 16 shows a year? In Europe, we’re headlining some of the biggest festivals ever. It’s kind of a unique situation. I love performing, I love playing onstage, especially with TWISTED SISTER, but I love playing anything at anytime, whether it’s to eight people or 80 or 8,000 or 80,000. I love playing and performing, so it’s not something I ever want to stop doing. I do plenty of small gigs. It feels great to know I’ve just come off a show with 40,000 people and now I’m playing a benefit at a club for 200 or 300 people. It makes you feel good. TWISTED SISTER is in my heart, it’s in my blood, it’s in my soul. I love what I do.
Snider on the “Twisted Christmas” musical:
“I’m trying to create a property that we could remove ourselves from, that could continue to exist after we’ve stopped playing. Even though the fictitious band is currently called BENT BROTHER, it’s designed to be a performance piece that TWISTED SISTER would not actually have to get onstage for, even though I could see where we’re more than likely going to have to initially perform the thing to set up the awareness of it.”
Jay Jay French on managing bands in an iTunes world:
“I am trying to analyze the music business and find out where it’s going. I believe that the record is a dead issue, the CD is a dead issue, so the challenge is, how do you find a young band, develop it and make money? Music is exciting, and there’s more music out there than ever, but the record labels are over and the CD as a medium is going to be over in the next four to five years. I think the concept of having 10 songs for a record is done. It’s going to be a track world. What does that mean? How do you develop a band or an artist that way? How do you make careers? What does it take to manage a band like that?
Blabbermouth - Italian journalist Paolo Bianco recently conducted an interview with Mike Portnoy, drummer of the American progressive metal band DREAM THEATER. During the chat, Portnoy shed some light on the upcoming DREAM THEATER album, “Black Clouds & Silver Linings”, due out on June 23 via Roadrunner Records. Portnoy said that the inspiration for the song “The Count of Tuscany” came from an Italian trip by his guitarist John Petrucci; then explained some of the symbols drawn on the album cover, and talked in great detail about the new song “The Shattered Fortress”, the last chapter in his personal “12-step saga”, which started in 2002 on the album “Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence”, and ran through five albums and twelve chapters. Portnoy also talked about the status of the reactivated supergroup TRANSATLANTIC (where he shares duty with Neal Morse, Pete Trewavas and Roine Stolt), which is working on a new studio album for a late 2009 release.
The 15-minute interview can be streamed on Musica Metal (click the green play button to launch audio).
In addition to the standard-version CD, “Black Clouds & Silver Linings” will also be available on vinyl LP, as well as a three-disc, special-edition CD that will include the full album, a CD of instrumental mixes of the album and a CD of six cover songs, the titles of which will be revealed at a later date.
Six weeks prior to the June 23 street date, Roadrunner will release one cover song per week through digital retailers.
DREAM THEATER commenced work on “Black Clouds & Silver Linings” - the band’s second for Roadrunner, following up 2007’s “Systematic Chaos” - in October of last year.
Drummer Mike Portnoy and guitarist John Petrucci are once again at the helm as producers, while Paul Northfield mixed the record.
“Black Clouds & Silver Linings” track listing:
01. A Nightmare to Remember
02. A Rite of Passage
03. Wither
04. The Shattered Fortress
05. The Best of Times
06. The Count of Tuscany
A video for the first single, “A Rite of Passage”, was shot in late March.
Portnoy previously stated about the upcoming CD, “Imagine a DREAM THEATER album with ‘A Change Of Seasons’, ‘Octavarium’, ‘Learning To Live’, ‘Pull Me Under’ and ‘The Glass Prison’… all on one album… COULD YOU HANDLE IT?? Excited? I sure am!!!!”
This was recorded live to TV on a show called ‘After Hours’ back in 1981! Ozzy doesn’t have the best performance here but it’s great to see Randy tear it up!
www.megaplatinum.net - Former MEGADETH and current F5 bassist David Ellefson has posted another webisode in “David Ellefson’s Rock Shop”, an ongoing YouTube video series hosted by the bassist himself. The nine-minute clip, where Ellefson discusses packing for the road and travelling with the instruments for gigging and touring, can be viewed below. Ellefson comments, “I’m always asked questions from fans and other musicians about playing the bass, the business side of our industry, and music in general. So, I decided to create these regular video webisodes as a way to inform and respond to many of those questions.”
In addition to numerous gold and platinum records and seven Grammy-nominated works, David is the author of the book “Making Music Your Business” and has two metal bass guitar instructional DVDs through Rock House Method entitled “Metal Bass Vol. 1″ and “Vol. 2″. He is also a featured bass clinician, keynote speaker and panelist on the subject of music and the music industry.
