10/20/2012
- Blabbermouth reports according to Interbridge.com's "The Late Night TV Page", legendary rockers AEROSMITH will appear on the November 1 episode of "Late Show With David Letterman" on CBS. Check your local listings for details. AEROSMITH will complete their contract with Columbia Records on November 6 with the release of the band's new album, "Music From Another Dimension", and the group may join the ranks of acts like RADIOHEAD, NINE INCH NAILS and PEARL JAM who have left the major label world behind. According to The Pulse Of Radio, AEROSMITH singer Steven Tyler told reporters on a conference call earlier in the month that "if the band stays together, yeah, we'll definitely go that route, something somewhere over there. We've been keeping record companies stocked with millions of shekels for years, been making a lot of people rich — not that we haven't, but every now and then you get into arguments with labels (and) you think, 'Where is all this money going?' We've definitely thought of putting stuff out." Guitarist Joe Perry was more cautious about the idea, however, saying, "We've talked about every idea you can think of out there, and we really don't know. There's so many different directions we can go." "Music From Another Dimension" is AEROSMITH's first album of all-new material in 11 years, although three singles released so far from the disc — "Legendary Child", "What Could Have Been Love" and "Lover Alot" — have failed to catch fire at radio stations. The band will begin a new leg of touring on November 8 in Oklahoma City, and plans to follow that with a world tour in 2013. Beyond that, Tyler plans to record a full solo album next year as well, while Perry will become the third member of the band, after Tyler and drummer Joey Kramer, to publish his autobiography.
- Blabbermouth reports according to Christa Titus of Billboard.com, a Washington state judge ruled on Friday (October 19) that singer Geoff Tate — who was fired from the Seattle progressive rock band QUEENSRŸCHE after fronting it for three decades — may tour with his own version of the group until a lawsuit he filed against three former bandmates is settled. Guitarist Michael Wilton, drummer Scott Rockenfield and bassist Eddie Jackson requested a motion for partial summary judgment September 21 to stop Tate from using the QUEENSRŸCHE name and associated imagery as the case proceeds to trial. "QUEENSRŸCHE is disappointed in the denial of the motion to prevent our former vocalist from using our name, but we respect the court's decision to do so. That said, we apologize for any confusion to our fans that a second entity sharing our name may cause," Wilton, Rockenfield and Jackson said in a statement to Billboard.com. "We look forward to seeing all of you on the road and bringing you new QUEENSRŸCHE music in the near future. Thank you all for your continued support, and for now we will just have to let the rocking do the talking." Wilton, Jackson, Rockenfield and Parker Lundgren (guitar) announced on June 20 that they were parting ways with Geoff Tate and recruiting Todd La Torre of CRIMSON GLORY as his replacement. The new QUEENSRŸCHE lineup previously played two shows in their home city of Seattle under the name RISING WEST. Tate, who still owns his 25% stake in the QUEENSRŸCHE corporations, claims he was illegally fired from the band because of "blind greed" masked as "creative differences," and that his former bandmates' attempt to carry on as QUEENSRŸCHE with a new singer will "lead to the destruction of the QUEENSRŸCHE name and brand … by failing to maintain the level of professionalism and interaction with media and the fan base as compared to Tate's efforts during the past 30 years." He and and his wife, Susan, QUEENSRŸCHE's former manager, want the judge to award them the rights to the band's name in exchange for Tate paying Jackson, Wilton and Rockenfield the fair market value for their interests in the QUEENSRŸCHE companies. Wilton, Rockenfield and Jackson filed a countersuit against the Tates in which they accused Geoff of creative obstruction and violent behavior, and Susan Tate of questionable business practices. In their motion for partial summary judgment, Wilton, Rockenfield and Jackson disputed Tate's claim he had a reasonable expectation to remain in QUEENSRŸCHE forever, explaining that the fact that "he engaged in a fully admitted assault on his bandmates at a Sao Paulo, Brazil performance [in April 2012 served] as fully reasonable grounds for terminating him as lead singer." If the case goes to trial, the date is set for November 18, 2013. On September 2, Tate announced that he was launching his own version of QUEENSRŸCHE with RATT drummer Bobby Blotzer, former QUIET RIOT, OZZY OSBOURNE and WHITESNAKE bassist Rudy Sarzo and former MEGADETH and KING DIAMOND guitarist Glen Drover. Also on board in the new group are returning QUEENSRŸCHE guitarist Kelly Gray — who played with the band from 1998 until 2001 and also produced several of their albums — and keyboardist Randy Gane, who has toured and recorded with QUEENSRŸCHE and Geoff's solo group in the past. In a recent interview with TheMetalCircus.com, Geoff Tate stated about his split with his former bandmates, "It's ridiculous and really bad business to take a very successful band, like QUEENSRŸCHE, for example, that's been very successful for 30 years, and tear the whole thing apart and tarnish the name and devalue the brand name and then try to proceed. It makes no business sense at all. Especially at the age that all of us are. I mean, realistically, we have probably less than ten years of productive work ahead of us. So why on earth would you take something very successful, something that works very well, and destroy it? It makes no sense at all. It's greed, really. They wanted to make more money. And so they've been very busy about justifying all of their actions by putting out all this information that, oh, I can't sing anymore, I don't wanna sing heavy metal, I don't wanna sing the old material — paint this picture to justify their actions." He added, "My version of QUEENSRŸCHE has had no problem getting shows. In fact, I'm getting guarantees that are equal to what QUEENSRŸCHE was getting before. So where I'm getting an equal amount of money for my show, they are not — they are getting very little money for their shows. In fact, I don't believe they're gonna be even able to tour. They might be able to go out and do a weekend show here and weekend show there, but they can't get enough money to support doing an entire tour. So it's very tragic that they've done this, and very disappointing and very hurtful, to me, and to the fans, that they've been motivated by greed and jealousy to pursue this. And I wish them the best of luck, 'cause they're gonna need it. It's a very tough market out there."
Asked if he thinks the other guys' decision to kick him out of the band will backfire at some point, Geoff said, "Oh, it's already backfired. They're hurting pretty badly financially. In fact, they're calling my attorneys daily begging to come to some sort of mediation, because they're realizing now that they can't make a living doing what they're doing. They can get on the Internet all day and say what a bad person I am and spread all these lies about my inabilities or my dominating them and all this, and that's all very well and good, but it doesn't pay the bills. They've actually got to produce something — they've gotta make a record and they've gotta tour. And they can't financially tour, 'cause nobody wants them. I mean, first off, the people that are talking in support of them are a very small number of QUEENSRŸCHE fans, a very small segment of the big pie, so to speak. And also, Michael, I know, and Scott both have multiple Internet accounts and they go online and pose as different people and they go on Facebook and all these different social medias and they are on a smear campaign of trying to create a public opinion in a negative way for me. And it's backfiring on them now. I think people are getting tired of reading all this negative stuff. And any smart person, any person with any kind of intelligence, can just look at what they're saying and see that it's riddled with inaccuracies, exaggerations and downright lies. Saying that I don't sing the old material is a direct lie. I mean, you can look on the Internet and see the setlists from different shows. So any smart person can do that." Read more at Loudwire
- Blabbermouth reports BLACK COUNTRY COMMUNION drummer Jason Bonham spoke to Classic Rock magazine about his frustration over the band's inability to tour in support of its new album, "Afterglow". BLACK COUNTRY COMMUNION guitarist Joe Bonamassa revealed in a recent interview that the band's frontman Glenn Hughes, tried to "bully" him into playing live even though Glenn was fully aware of Bonamassa's intensive solo touring schedule. Bonham, who says he wasn't aware that Bonamassa wouldn't be available to tour to promote "Afterglow", tells Classic Rock: "It is kinda sad that we do this product, then when it comes to touring there's no plans. I find that really amazing. "When I started this project I didn't know what we were doing. As it took off I thought we were bound to start working more. I'm not blaming anybody in particular — but we should tour. I love everyone in the band and I'd love to take it on the road. Certain powers-that-be are holding us back." He continued: "All I know is, when we did the album there was talk of touring to promote it. I thought there would be. "I can go on the Internet and I can see Joe's schedule — he's booked up throughout the whole year. So I felt: what was the rush to start the album when we did? Surely we should have done it when we had time, and Joe had time, to promote it?" "It's very fucking frustrating: I absolutely adore Joe to bits. He's one of the best guitar players around. But I just wish we could tour. "I know he's busy; I get it, I do get it. But Glenn, myself and Derek Sherinian [keyboards], we'd love to tour. Maybe we'll figure out some way to do it. Who knows? I just hope we can work something out." "Afterglow" will be released on October 30 (one day earlier internationally). Just like its two predecessors, the new CD was overseen by Kevin Shirley, whose catalog of hit records for LED ZEPPELIN, IRON MAIDEN, AEROSMITH, JOURNEY, THE BLACK CROWES and many more has made him one of the hottest producers that rock music has to offer. Shirley — who had the idea of putting Hughes and Bonamassa together in a band together after seeing them jamming onstage in Los Angeles back in November 2009 — is the group's unofficial "fifth member." Read more at Classic Rock and Noisecreep
- Blabbermouth reports Danish/American hard rockers ROYAL HUNT will release a 20-anniversary special-edition "best-of" CD/DVD set with bonus material. The package will consist of three CDs and one DVD, including the best ROYAL songs from all 11 albums a brand new track plus three newly recorded acoustic versions of three additional cuts and a DVD containing all the promotional video clips shot by the band during their long ride. ROYAL HUNT's 11th studio album, "Show Me How To Live", was released on November 29, 2011 in North America and December 2, 2011 in Europe via Frontiers Records. The follow-up 2010's "X" was recorded at NorthPoint studio in Copenhahen and will be mixed at RoastingHouse Studios in Malmö, Sweden. The mastering duites were handled by Jan Eliasson at AudioPlanet in Copenhagen. In 2011, ROYAL HUNT was rejoined by D.C. Cooper, the American singer that performed on the band's two most successful releases in the '90s: "Moving Target" and the concept album "Paradox". "Show Me How to Live" was described in a press release as "highly melodic with rich, lush arrangements and stellar production" and certain to "please the fans of neoclassical yet progressive music."
- Blabbermouth reports Eduardo "Topo" Topelberg, former drummer of Chile's death metal legends PENTAGRAM, is running for political office. The 45-year-old former musician is hoping to become elected one of ten councilors of Ñuñoa, a commune of Chile located in Santiago Province, on October 28. Topelberg's campaign jingle, which can be seen below, has had more than twenty thousand views in less than two weeks. Asked why he stopped drumming for PENTAGRAM, Topelberg told Paniko.cl, "I started to feel a pain in my right leg and I was diagnosed with neuropathy [nerve damage]. I had to stop playing and change some of my habits. I underwent gastric bypass surgery last year and lost 80 kilograms, Now I have two musical projects: OGRE, which performs covers of Camilo Sesto and other songs in Spanish, and my other band is ELECTROPÓNICO, a 'tango trash' project which I began before my trip to Buenos Aires and which I intend to finish mixing soon." PENTAGRAM earlier in the year announced the addition of drummer Juan Pablo Donoso (SADISM, THORNAFIRE) to the group's ranks. The band's guitarist/vocalist Anton Reisenegger explained at the time, "We all love Eduardo dearly and we wish him nothing but the best, but my impression is that playing drums is just not a priority for him anymore. I sincerely hope he proves me wrong in the future, as he will always be part of the PENTAGRAM family, but we needed a change if we wanted to move forward."
- Loudwire reports Three Days Grace’s Brad Walst joins Neuroblastoma research fundraiser
- Classic Rock reports Joe Bonamassa manager says point fingers at me over Black Country Communion
- Rolling Stone posts a concert review of Trey Anastasio In Chicago
- Rolling Stone reports Sting moves Philippines concert after environmentalists' petition
- Blabbermouth posts video of Megadeth's Dave Mustaine visiting India's Taj Mahal
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