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Day in Rock Report for 05/15/2015


Blues Legend B.B. King Dead At 89

(Classic Rock) Blues great B.B. King has died at the age of 89 after being ill for some time, it's been confirmed. His lawyer Brent Bryson reported that he died peacefully in his sleep at home in Las Vegas.

Born Riley B. King in 1925, he was known as one of the Three Kings Of Blues Guitar alongside Albert King (1923-1992) and Freddie King (1934-1976).

His single-string vibrato style, influenced by Blind Lemon Jefferson, T-Bone Walker and others, is said to have influenced most of the guitarists who followed him.

King's career began in 1943 as a guitarist with the Famous St John's Quartet in his home state of Mississippi. He later played with Bukka White in Tennessee before starting solo work in Arkansas in 1948. He was soon a regular DJ on Tennessee radio, using the name Blues Boy, which led to his onstage moniker. Read more here.

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Jimmy Page Vs. Robbie Williams Feud Heating Up

(Radio.com) It looks like the hottest beef in classic rock real estate development is about to get hotter. We first reported on the conflict between Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page and Robbie Williams back in January, when Williams announced plans to renovate the house he'd bought next to Page's the year before.

Page wasn't pleased about changes to his beloved neighborhood, and wrote a letter to the council estate. 'I have been responsible for the protection of the Tower House for over 40 years and I am always concerned when proposals are made for nearby properties which may be detrimental to the well-being of this important heritage asset," he stated.

Now, NME reports that Page has filed a new brief against Williams to prevent him from changing the home, which was constructed in the 1870s by famed architect William Bruges.

Page warns that 'special characteristics" of the house, including 'extremely delicate and, of course, irreplaceable" finishings,would be damaged by the construction. Read more here.

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Singer Not Taking Guns N' Roses 'Sweet Child' Theft Claim Seriously

James Reyne, the singer of the now defunct band Australian Crawl, has responded to the recent claims that Guns N' Roses' "Sweet Child Of Mine" sounds very similar to his band's "Unpublished Critics" which was released half a decade earlier.

"I'm not about to take on the might of the Guns N' Roses lawyers," Reyne said to Australia's Daily Mail (via Ultimate Classic Rock.) "It is not inconceivable that there are similarities between the two songs. It's also not inconceivable that they wouldn't have been aware of certain Australian songs."

Reyne went on to recall that the Guns N' Roses song didn't make much of an impression on him the first time he heard it. "I didn't think, 'Oh my God.' I didn't really listen to the song," he said.

"I was more looking at the video thinking, 'Are they stoned? Or on smack?' I was probably more interested in their drug habits. I really wasn't that aware of Guns N' Roses. It just didn't cross my radar because I was listening to other things." Read the UCR report for more here.

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Megadeth's Dave Mustaine Reveals New Album Details

(hennemusic) Megadeth leader Dave Mustaine is sharing an update on the progress of the band's 15th album, which features new guitarist Kiko Loureiro and guest drummer Chris Adler from Lamb Of God.

"We have 15 tracks - 13 originals and two cover songs," Mustaine tells Rolling Stone. "We did 'Melt the Ice Away' by Budgie and 'Foreign Policy' by Fear. At this point, the drums are all done and Chris is back home.

"Kiko finished all his rhythms and he's now doing solos. He's an amazing musician, very well-rounded. He did a lot of acoustic stuff, both steel-string and nylon-string, and he played a little piano at the end of a song called 'Poisonous Shadows.' It's a really haunting piece, and the part that he played is very Chopin-meets-Megadeth, if that makes sense."

Mustaine also revealed a few song titles, as well, for the follow-up to 2013's "Super Collider." "There's a song called 'The Emperor Has No Clothes,' and another called 'Tyranocide'," he says. "Several have working titles but I don't want to say what they are. After we write the lyrics they'll come."

Megadeth's storied past also seems to have also crept into the vibe of the project, according to Mustaine. "Over the years we've always said, 'We're going back to our roots'," he explains. "But the naysayers, they just want 'Rust In Peace' 20 times, which is never gonna happen. Because I've never written the same song twice.

"Unlike a lot of other rock and metal bands that, you know, they rely on a set formula, I try and make the songs all different." Read more here.

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Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder To Perform On Last Week Of Letterman

(hennemusic) Pearl Jam frontman Eddie Vedder will appear as one of the final musical guests on The Late Show with David Letterman. On Monday, May 18, Vedder will deliver a special music performance backed by Paul Shaffer and the CBS Orchestra.

Vedder's appearance comes in the final week of broadcasts by Letterman, who will deliver his farewell program on Wednesday, May 20 after more than three decades in late night.

The singer has performed on the series several times through the years, as both a solo artist and with Pearl Jam. His first appearance was in 1996, when he surprised the host by joining Shaffer and the band for a portion of Pearl Jam's classic 1991 track, "Black." Check out video from that appearance here.

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Steven Tyler Performs New Single On American Idol Finale

(hennemusic) Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler delivered the debut live performance of his first country single, "Love Is Your Name", on the season 14 finale of American Idol on Wednesday.

Tyler performed the tune on the day of its release, before teasing a snippet of "Walk This Way" as a segue to a cover of Janis Joplin's "Piece Of My Heart" with third place contestant Jax.

Tyler has been in Nashville since January working with songwriters on material for his debut solo album on Big Machine Records' affiliated label Dot Records.

Next month, the singer will regroup with Aerosmith for the Blue Army Tour, with summer dates beginning in Glendale, Arizona on June 13. Check out video of Steven's Idol performance here.

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Duff McKagan Wants To Write Definitive Alice in Chains Book

(Radio.com) Former Guns N' Roses bassist Duff McKagan is currently on the promotional path for his latest book, How to Be a Man (and other illusions), but in an interview with Radio.com, he says he already is thinking of his next book.

Whereas his first two were very much about him: How to Be a Man features different chapters of advice, taking stories from his time in Guns, Velvet Revolver, Walking Papers, the Kings of Chaos and as a solo artist; his first book, It's So Easy: And Other Lies was his memoirs.

But his next one will focus on a legendary band of which he counts himself as a fan and friend. "I hope [How to Be a Man] is just my second book in a string of 10," he tells Radio.com. "I actually hope to write the Alice in Chains book next."

He certainly has an interesting vantage point to write the story from: although Guns N' Roses was very much an L.A. band, McKagan himself is from Seattle (and lives there today). He's good friends with Alice's guitarist/leader Jerry Cantrell; a chapter in the book details their friendship and mutual fandom of their beloved Seattle Seahawks). McKagan's current band Walking Papers toured with Alice In Chains a few summers ago, and McKagan's bandmate in Walking Papers, drummer Barrett Martin, was bandmates with late Alice in Chains frontman Layne Staley in the short-lived band Mad Season. Read more here.

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Black Sabbath's Bill Ward On The Horrible Loss Of Ozzy's Friendship

(Classic Rock) Original Black Sabbath drummer Bill Ward spoke in a new interview about the loss of his friendship with frontman Ozzy Osbourne after they were unable to come to terms for Ward to be a part of the band. Below is an excerpt from the Classic Rock Revisited Interview:

Classic Rock Revisited: There are two sad things that come from this. All of the fans, including me, want to see you on that drum stool. The other sad thing is that Ozzy and you were always close, but this is really f***ing everything up between you.

Bill: Definitely. I love him and I miss him. I grieved his loss in 2012. I went through absolute murder, emotionally, with him saying the things he was saying. I was absolutely gob smacked, I couldn't believe it was somebody that I had known for so many years. It was really horrible going through that.

I don't dislike Oz. I don't have any animosity, or any revenge, and I am not seeking to be better than him, or anything like that. I am not trying to be right in these things in terms of "You are wrong and I am right." I am simply stating the facts and asking for an amendment of the facts, as they stand. It is very matter of fact with me. It is actually quite simple.

I am really saddened that all of the Ozzy fans and all of the Bill fans are all upset. All the Ozzy fans f***ing hate me. There is a lot of controversy. We try to keep an open mind to all of the fans and all of the interested parties. We are very concerned, my team, we are very concerned about the way these things are handled. We are very concerned about the people who dislike me, but they have every right to dislike me. I actually support them in their right to dislike me and they are entitled to their opinions. I don't necessarily agree with them that I am an a**hole, but if they want to call me an a**hole I will support their right to do that. I've got no axe to grind with anybody. I am at peace in this. I offered a real pathway. I just did it a couple of weeks ago.

CRR: Has there been any talks other than Ozzy's public reply?

Bill: Absolutely not. They found it offensive. I had no expectations. The thing that I needed to do was to write down and tell the public the things that I require and that these are the things that happened to me. I don't expect everyone to understand because they didn't walk the walk with me. I walked the walk through this and some of my family members did as well. It felt very sinister and not very nice at all. I had to rebuke that. I had to say, "That wasn't really nice. Before we move forward and before we are all happy families, let's get some things straightened out." It is what any family would do. When somebody comes in and f***ing sh*ts all over the place you go, "Hey, clean that sh*t up and then maybe we can talk."

CRR: Have you had any contact with Tony or Geezer?

Bill: Tony emailed me and I emailed Tony only a few weeks ago. Geezer, I have not spoken to for about five months. I haven't said a word to Ozzy, not one single thing.

CRR: My gut feeling is that this is not going to work out. I hope I am wrong.

Bill: I've put these things out into the universe and whether they are going to be received through the universe, or whether they will be received through ego I don't know. If they are received through ego then they will fail. If they receive these things with understanding and with an open mind there is every possibility this could succeed.

Read the full interview here.

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Yes Releasing 2014 Live Set In Multiple Formats

(hennemusic) Yes will release a new live set, "Like It Is - Yes At The Mesa Arts Center", on July 3 in Europe and July 10 in North America and they are sharing a performance of "Heart Of The Sunrise" as a preview to the package.

Available in 2CD/DVD, Blu-ray and Digital formats - with vinyl to follow at a later date - the package presents material from the band's August 12, 2014 show at the Ikeda Theater in Mesa, AZ.

The lineup of Chris Squire, Steve Howe, Alan White, Geoff Downes and Jon Davison were on the road at the time playing dates in support of their 21st album, "Heaven & Earth."

"That evening in Mesa, Arizona was a great one," says Squire. "The audience was fantastic; they loved the music and really made it a very special night for us. And we were in top form. The music sounded great and we could have played all night.

"Like It Is brings the magic and wonderful music of that evening to fans everywhere, and we're sure they'll enjoy listening to it as much as we did performing it."

Watch the 11mins+ "Heart Of The Sunrise" video clip here.

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Van Halen Video Of Rehearsal Of Classic Track From 1978 Debut

(hennemusic) Wolfgang Van Halen is sharing audio/video of "Feel Your Love Tonight" - from the band's self-titled 1978 debut - from rehearsals this week as Van Halen prepare for their summer tour of North America.

It's the latest Instagram footage from the bassist as the group works through possible setlist songs at Eddie's 5150 studios. Wolfgang has previously posted footage of the never-before performed "1984" album track "Drop Dead Legs", "Little Guitars" from 1982's "Diver Down" and "Light Up The Sky" from 19879's "Van Halen II" ... as well as "Dirty Movies" from 1981's "Fair Warning" and "In A Simple Rhyme" from 1980's "Women And Children First."

Fans will find out which songs made the final cut when Van Halen launch a North American tour in Seattle on July 5 in support of "Tokyo Dome Live In Concert", their first live release with David Lee Roth.

This weekend, the group will perform at the 2015 Billboard Music Awards in Las Vegas on May 17. Check out the video here.

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Nikki Sixx Heading Into The Studio With Sixx A.M. This Summer

(Classic Rock) Sixx A.M. will be back in the studio this summer, according to mainman Nikki Sixx. The bassist is in Australia with Motley Crue and posted a Facebook update in which he says his other band will record new music after Crue's run of European festival dates.

He says: "I'll be home for four days before Motley plays a couple of festivals in Europe, then back to America and into the studio with Sixx AM before Motley starts our final American tour."

Sixx AM released their third album Modern Vintage in 2014. Sixx is joined in the band by guitarist DJ Ashba and singer James Michael. Nikki Sixx said this month that Sixx AM would never trade off of Motley Crue's legacy, insisting he won't play Crue songs live with his other band. See Nikki's full post here.

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Lucifer's Friend Reunite After 20 Years

(Classic Rock) Lucifer's Friend have reformed 20 years after they called it a day. They released six albums in the 70s, with frontman John Lawton jumping ship to join Uriah Heep in 1976. He was replaced by Mike Starrs for two albums before returning for Mean Machine in 1981.

They split the following year but reformed briefly in 1994 under the moniker Lucifer's Friend II for their ninth album Sumo Grip. They disbanded shortly after.

Now they're back and will play Hamburg's Downtown Blues Club on May 31 and the Sweden Rock Festival in Solvesborg on June 5. They've also released a best-of compilation titled Awakening featuring classic tracks along with four new songs. Read more here.

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Slipknot's Corey Taylor Pays Tribute To Paul Gray

(TeamRock Radio) Slipknot frontman Corey Taylor has paid tribute to late bassist Paul Gray as the fifth anniversary of his death approaches. Gray was 38 when he died of an accidental drugs overdose on May 24, 2010. The tragedy brought Slipknot close to splitting until they regrouped and later dedicated fifth album .5: The Gray Chapter to his memory.

Taylor writes in Kerrang: "There's not a day goes by that I don't think about him. When I'm on the road, the live shows bring back our times together. When I'm home, this house and the pictures in it remind me of good times and bad.

"When I'm listening to music, I think about the two of us, cranking new and old tunes in his car or mine, rocking out like little kids and giggling because the stuff is so awesome."

The vocalist regards Gray's "energy and excitement" as the biggest gift he left to his colleagues. "If you weren't feeling something musically or anything else to do with the band, he was the world's best cheerleader," Taylor says. "After one conversation with him, you'd be so ready to play, tour, record or whatever that you'd be jumping out of your skin." Read more here.

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The Beatles Museum To Open In Japan

(Gibson) Paul McCartney recently made news when he performed at Japan's Nippon Budokan, staging his first appearance at the legendary venue since The Beatles performed there in 1966. Now, Japan is set to open that nation's first museum to feature a permanent display of memorabilia related to the Fab Four.

Located in the city of Nakatsu, the Beatles Museum will house thousands of items, including a piano played by John Lennon and a Japanese "happi" coat worn by Lennon during the band's 1966 visit.

Recording equipment used by John, Paul, George and Ringo, as well as other items of Beatles-related clothing, will be featured as well. All told, more than 2,500 items of memorabilia will be on display. Read more here.

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Deep Purple Enjoy 'Volume Without Pain' Now

(TeamRock Radio) Ian Gillan says Deep Purple are a better live act since they stopped trying to be the loudest band on the planet. The singer believes his band - and their audiences - enjoy more sensible volume levels these days.

Gillan says via Something Else "We used to be pretty loud, but I think the focus has changed now. The impact of sheer volume was one thing that used to get written up about. The equipment now is so sophisticated, you can have volume without pain.

"It's actually enjoyable. You're not running around with your ears ringing after the show, like you used to be. There's a lot more focus on what's actually going on on stage. You can get involved with that a lot more. I think it's a vast improvement over what it used to be." Read more here.

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Between The Buried And Me Release 'The Coma Machine' Video

(TeamRock Radio) Between The Buried And Me have released a music video for their track 'The Coma Machine'. It's lifted from their upcoming album Coma Ecliptic which will be launched on July 10 via Metal Blade.

They previously announced their seventh studio album follows the travels of a man in a coma in search of a better life. And frontman Tommy Rogers says the video further explains the concept.

He reports: "This video is special to me because it looks beyond the story that is on the record. It showcases the character preparing for his journey and is him basically saying bye to his old demons/life.

"This footage adds dialogue to the story and I think that is very unique." Watch it here.

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Phil Collins Remastering Solo Catalog For Reissue

(Prog) Genesis icon Phil Collins and Warner Music Group have signed a deal to remaster and re-release his solo back catalogue. All eight of his albums will be brought under one banner, starting this autumn with 1981's Face Value and Both Sides from 1993.

They'll be followed by Hello, I Must Be Going! (1982), No Jacket Required (1985), �But Seriously (1989), Dance Into The Light (1996), Testify (2002) and Going Back (2010).

Collins tells Billboard: "I've had a fantastic relationship with Warner and Atlantic throughout my career and I'm thrilled to be continuing that. I'm working with them now on these new presentations. Very exciting." Read more here.

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Every Time I Die Frontman Lands Comedy TV Gig

(TeamRock Radio) Every Time I Die frontman Keith Buckley is to write comedy material for TV, he's revealed. The singer, who is also planning his debut novel, will team up with writer and comedian Rob Fee and director Brandon Derner to pen scripts for Comedy Central.

Buckley says: "Brandon is currently fulfilling a residency at Comedy Central as their head writer and director for digital one-offs. Me and Brandon are also working on several other projects. This is my official statement. I f***ing hate talking about myself."

Fee says via Facebook: "Comedy Central brought me on to start writing sketches for them along with my lovely pal Keith Buckley. I can't wait for you guys to see them." Read more here.

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Korn's Jonathan Davis Releases Studio Clip

(TeamRock Radio) Korn frontman Jonathan Davis has released a studio clip of him recording the track Can You Hear Me. The video was produced by Steve Oropeza and shows Davis recording on Antelope Audio's portable Zen Studio platform.

In March, the band's Brian 'Head' Welch reported they would take a few months off and spend the rest of the year recording their 12th album - the follow-up to 2013's The Paradigm Shift.

Korn toured the UK with Slipknot earlier this year and return for dates at Manchester's O2 Apollo on July 15 and London's O2 Academy Brixton on July 16. They're expected to play their 1994 self-titled debut in its entirety. Watch the video clip here.

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Anvil Frontman Slams Modern Metal

(TeamRock Radio) Anvil frontman Steve 'Lips' Kudlow says modern metal is lacking in melody and is often performed by "non-talented" artists. The outspoken singer believes his band's brand of old-school metal has died out in America and has been replaced by "un-musical" noise.

Lips tells Classic Rock's Dave Ling: "Sad to say that, in America at least, it's become virtually non-existent. That really distresses me. A lot of metal is extraordinary in a technical sense but just so un-musical that you can barely listen to it. It's a guy yelling and screaming into a microphone with no sense of melody. It's just noise.

"The songs are so fast, they're just one or two beats, changing time signatures all over the place - you can't follow a damned thing." As well as the overly-technical aspect to the songs, the tendency for vocalists to scream rather than sing also grates with Lips. Read more here.

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Rolling Stones' Ronnie Wood Reveals His Regret

(Classic Rock) Rolling Stones guitarist Ronnie Wood says his biggest regret is not being able to remember all the girls he's been with in his career. Years of heavy drinking have taken a toll on his memory - and he only knows about some of the things he's done because he found a diary from 1965, which was recently published.

Wood tells NME: "One regret I have, going back through this diary, is that I can't remember what a lot of my girlfriends looked like years ago. I don't regret the drinking. I drank for Britain until I got sober five years ago. That was a learning curve I had to go through - but not remembering the wonderful girls is a regret."

The memoir has helped him recall nights out with comedy icon Sid James and soul hero Wilson Pickett. "In The Midnight Hour was the biggest record there was for me," Wood says, "But I'd forgotten all about our adventure together until I picked up the diary." Read more here.

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Halestorm Frontwoman Amazed At Classic Rock Scene In Europe

(Classic Rock) Halestorm frontwoman Lzzy Hale has praised the classic rock scene in Europe, saying it's "amazing." The band recently wrapped up a 10-date UK tour to promote their third album Into The Wild Life. And the singer says it's encouraging to see the genre alive and well outside of her home in the US.

She tells Albany's Q103: "It was amazing. It's weird to go over there and see how much things have grown. There's such a huge rock fanbase over there - it's still a lifestyle. There's still a classic rock genre over there. Seriously, it's amazing.

"I was talking to a couple of the press agents and they were like, 'America thinks of classic rock as a past tense.' There's new bands that are considered classic rock over there. So it's a party the whole time." Read more here.

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Limp Bizkit's Wes Borland Not Informed Of New Album Progress

(TeamRock Radio) Limp Bizkit frontman Fred Durst has begun tracking vocals for long-awaited 7th album Stampede Of The Disco Elephants - but guitarist Wes Borland hadn't been told.

The follow-up to 2011's _Gold Cobr_a has been in the works for three years, but no firm release date has ever been mentioned. The singer says on Twitter: "Recording in Hamburg, Germany, for the next few weeks Stampede style."

Borland wasn't aware of the development. He told TeamRock: "That's news to me. Oh boy! I've recorded 25 songs so I don't know which ones he's working on. I'm excited to see what it sounds like." Read more here.

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Extreme Announce Pornograffitti 25th Anniversary South America tour

(hennemusic) Extreme have announced dates for a tour of South America next month. The Boston rockers will perform 7 shows on the continent as part of their Pornograffitti Live 25th Anniversary tour.

The run will see Extreme playing the album in its entirety alongside with a greatest hits set. The band's second album, "Extreme II: Pornograffitti (A Funked Up Fairy Tale)", put Extreme on the map; it featured two hit singles, "More Than Words" and "Hole Hearted", both acoustic-based numbers�while most of the album was a mix of hard rock and funk.

Jimmy Fallon and Jack Black recently produced a shot-by-shot remake of "More Than Words" for The Tonight Show. Black sang lead vocals in place of Gary Cherone while Fallon handled guitar duties originally performed by Nuno Bettencourt. Check out the tour dates here.

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Kingcrow Release 'The Moth' Video

(Prog) Kingcrow have premiered their video for The Moth with Prog. It's taken from the Italian outfit's sixth album Eidos, to be released on June 23 via Sensory Records.

Vocalist Diego Marchesi tells Prog: "The Moth seemed the obvious choice for first single. It's short, busy and catchy, and shows also some new ingredients to our sound."

The band were inspired to contact Radiohead collaborator Gaston Vinas after they saw his video for 2+2=5. Marchesi says: "I told Gaston how much I appreciated his art. He wrote back that he loved Kingcrow - and that's how it started.

"I gave him some input about the album concept, the artwork and the lyrics, and he came out with another brilliant piece of art." Watch the video here.

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Singled Out: Ascendia's The Lion and the Jester

Today John Lovatsis from Ascendia tells us about the inspiration for the title track of their debut album "The Lion and the Jester" and the recently released music video for the track. Here is the story:

The Lion and the Jester was a song that was inspired by recent events and deals with the topic of religious extremism and religious warfare in general. While writing this song, it became very apparent to us how lucky we are to be from such a beautiful country like Canada. We felt obligated to write this song for those people suffering at the hands of "religious warfare."

Although the lyrics were inspired by horrific news events, we have certain memories where the music itself inspired the words and themes of the track. For instance, during the mid section of the song there is an obvious "waltz" rhythm throughout. Dancing is a very unique and creative form of expression; we capitalized on this waltz pattern to form a lyrical theme that created a very important metaphor. In the pre-chorus there is a lyric that says "come here and share this dance with me". This is truly a beautiful way of saying to an extremist, come here and look at what you're doing through my eyes, and the eyes of the suffering. It's an attempt to put the harm doer in the shoes of another soul and to see if they feel any empathy at all. Although none of the members of the band are particularly religious we all felt invested in this topic.

Recording the music video was extremely intense and a long process. It took us over two months to dress the video location and three days to shoot our scenes. We even had neighbors threaten to call the police because we were shooting scenes very late at night and had no choice but to blast the song!
In addition to the theme of dancing a waltz, we made a conscious choice to explore the theme of "things of beauty being destroyed." We have this belief that all religions are beautiful and their messages are meant to inspire goodness; it is corrupt human beings who are twisting the words and these stories which ultimately leads to the staining of religion as a whole. In the video we show scenes of a beautiful flower shriveling and dying, a violinist playing to sheets of burning music, and our physical set slowly being destroyed as pieces and artifacts are smashed on the floor.

Once the video was shot, it took us close to four months to edit; quite a painful but rewarding process! After finishing the project we contacted the Canadian Red Cross and asked to see if they would let us support their efforts by donating half our profits to them for a three month campaign. We are very grateful that they accepted our request and have been running our donation campaign since April 29, 2015. All members can proudly say that we did everything we could to make our message come to life and hopefully impact people in way where they will try and help make a difference as well!

Hearing is believing. Now that you know the story behind the song, listen for yourself and watch the video here plus learn more about the album right here!

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