Rockstar Tour

Rockstar

Taste Of Chaos Tour Manchester 12-12-2010: It’s not often that you get a tour with FOUR great rock bands - I’ve been to shows where you didn’t even get one (lol). So when the Rockstar Energy ‘Taste Of Chaos’ tour was announced featuring headliners Disturbed and three ’support’ acts Papa Roach, Buckcherry, and Halestorm…

After six hours sleep and another killer dj set at Liverpool’s #1 alternative club ‘The Krazyhouse’ I’m up and driving to Manchester with my photographer Danni in tow. It’s freezing when we get into the city and after circling the venue several times we get inside to have our little chats with Buckcherry and Papa Roach, both of whom are quite supurb - it’s so refreshing and inspiring to chat to artists who are still reaching for new heights - then back out into the cold winter air and it’s ‘food time’ and in a blink of an eye it’s ‘doors’ time…

Tonight’s opening act Halestorm take the stage. It’s just one woman’s voice that pierces the night air before the full band join in. I’ll tell you this, not since the days of watching Heart/Lita Ford/Pat Benatar in the eighties have I seen and heard pipes this good from a female, mixed with melodic, hard hitting riff-friendly songs.

The more the set runs, the better it gets, there’s even a drum solo mixed in with a percussion gun-run and the crowd react like they are seeing old friends not a brand new first time in the UK rock act.

By the end I’m hooked and want the album… And I have to tell you I don’t

like female-fronted bands since Vixen kinda killed it for us all. But this is great rock music, played so well, by a band that just happens to have a female singer, name of Lzzy Hale. If you don’t know the difference, go watch this band and learn something… Halestorm already feel bigger and better than any support slot. We last saw them opening up for ‘Theory Of A Deadman’ and they have come on leaps and bounds, they even hang out at the merch stall to chat for the next couple of hours, and it’s been a while since I saw that… Jj

Halestorm unleashes a turbulent torrent of infectious hard rock on their self-titled Atlantic debut. The band-guitarist Joe Hottinger, bassist Josh Smith, drummer Arejay Hale and singer/guitarist Lzzy Hale-churn out uncompromising rock n’ roll anthems. Drawing from an arsenal of songs that she’s penned since she was 13, Lzzy examines love and life on the edge.

Lzzy and her brother Arejay formed Halestorm in 1998 while in middle school.

They immediately began playing local shows and garnered a following across Pennsylvania. The band line-up was solidified with the addition of Joe and Josh. Further honing their sound, Halestorm began showcasing for labels in 2005. Lzzy explains, “We were doing a show at Don Hill’s in

NYC. Don Hill himself loved the show and asked us to come back on a regular basis to help us build a buzz in the area. It was snowing hard in New York on the coldest night of the year when Atlantic Records first saw us perform. From there it was only a matter of time until we solidified our relationship, and put ink to paper.”

Halestorm signed with Atlantic and released the live EP, One and Done. The band immediately hit the road, touring with Shinedown, Seether, Flyleaf, and Trapt. Playing more than a thousand gigs, they cultivated a captivating live show, while appearing on various festivals and the annual Sno-Core tour.

In 2008, Halestorm entered a Los Angeles studio to record their debut album with Grammy-nominated producer Howard Benson (Three Days Grace, Flyleaf, My Chemical Romance) and mixer Chris LordAlge (Underoath, AFI, Green Day). The album’s a fiery flurry, and Lzzy describes the band?s sound best: “It’s powerful rock’n'roll. We have a lot of classic rock influences, but the music never feels dated. It’s got an old school feeling with a modern edge.”

The record’s first single, “I Get Off,” blends a sexy hook with a rough and tumble groove. “On that song,” says Lzzy, “I reach outside of myself and explore sexuality. It also has this crazy metaphor of me getting off on the crowd getting off on me.”

Lzzy casts a hypnotic spell on stage. Drawing from influences as diverse as Pat Benatar, Janis Joplin, and Metallica, she has a dark sensuality that’s undeniable. Her sultry side comes through on the moody “Familiar Taste of Poison.” “That track is an amazing journey for me,” she explains. “It’s very low key, but it’s a bit of a performance piece. It shows a different side of this band.”

Lzzy’s dynamic voice cuts across genre boundaries.

“I approach my timing and singing like a blues singer,” she says. “I’m very influenced by blues and soul. For me, it’s always about making sure I have feeling in my voice.” The soaring standout, “Bet U Wish U Had Me Back,” highlights Lzzy’s range as her voice oscillates from a sultry croon to a massive hook.

She exudes that feeling on stage and in the studio, because she’s not afraid to be herself. She laughs, “As a kid, when a lot of my friends were into Backstreet Boys, I attached myself to Alice Cooper, Cinderella, and Van Halen. I want to give the audience a ride and connect with them.”

Ultimately that connection will be tangible,

because Lzzy and co. were meant to be in a rock band. “My brother and I were very fortunate to know what we wanted to do at an early age. When I was 13 and he was 10, we got together and wrote five songs. We wanted to be in a band together, we wanted to make music, and that was it. Everything came second to that.”

In the end, that philosophy will ensure Halestorm’s longevity.

“This album has been a long time coming,” says Lzzy. “There’s been a lot of dirty work that went into making it. Creatively, we went to rock’n'roll college through the experience.

It was crazy, raw, down and dirty. Our blood, sweat, and tears went into this thing.”

Buckcherry Buckcherry are a band that always seem to be looking for a good time, their intro tape mix of James Brown/ Aerosmith sets the scene. They are a rock ‘n’ roll band in the old school style, with swagger and sway that swings high and reaches low. They also have a punk attitude that oozes through their seams, with tracks such as ‘Lit Up’ and ‘All Night Long’ really setting the venue on fire - they are better live than on record.

Many bands that have been around this long lose their fire but no such thing is happening with the ‘cherry, if anything they seem ready to move up a gear and perhaps take their place at the head table.Tclose with ‘Crazy Bitch’ and the crowd can only do one thing… Bounce!

All Night Long — the fifth album from Buckcherry — is the vital sound of rock and roll endurance at its very best. It’s not just rock, it’s rock and roll. More than a decade after first establishing its good name with the popular eponymous 1999 debut effort, Buckcherry has created the band’s most eclectic and impressive effort yet. All Night Long is a thoroughly rocking song cycle in the grand tradition of classic albums by the group’s forefathers and now friends Aerosmith, AC/DC and Kiss.

“We set out to make a great rock record from beginning to end,” says lead vocalist Josh Todd. “That’s always been our quest. When I listen back to All Night Long, I think that this is definitely one of our strongest efforts to date and has a really definitive overall vibe. Now I can’t wait to sing these songs live for people and let everyone hear the results for themselves.”

All Night Long finds the band returning to its roots with original independent label Eleven Seven Music, thus giving Buckcherry the freedom over the creative process that the band has always desired. As Buckcherry cofounder and guitarist Keith Nelson explains, Buckcherry is by design a real rock band that’s built to last. “I think we endure and evolve because we genuinely do this for the love of the music,” says Nelson. “All the by-products of loving the music — being rock stars, having nice cars and lots of toys — are pretty cool too, but that’s not the motivating factor for us. The motivating factor for Buckcherry is that we all truly love being in a rock and roll band — specifically, in this rock and roll band —and that’s the passion that drives everything else that we do.”

Today, Buckcherry — Todd, Nelson, guitarist Stevie D., bassist Jimmy Ashhurst and drummer Xavier Muriel — is clearly a band fired up and ready to bring All Night Long alive on a stage near you. “Buckcherry is not a party without the five of us,” explains Keith Nelson. “Though the majority of what you hear starts off with Josh and I, the whole thing only takes on a life of its own when the five of us get together and get rolling. Each one of the guys in the band now is vital to our sound.

Stevie is incredibly great to play guitar with, and with the rhythm section, Xavier is the rock and Jimmy is the roll. That’s just the way it is.

Throughout their already illustrious history, Buckcherry has never been a group to chase trends or fashions.

“There’s always a void open for a rock band like us to fill,” says Josh Todd. “I don’t think anyone else does quite what we do. Hey, it’s not that we’re re-inventing the wheel, but we’ve been doing this for over a decade now and part of what makes it work is our chemistry as a band.

We don’t sound like anyone else. We sound like Buckcherry. We also don’t put a lot of bells and whistles and samples in our music, and so what you see is what you get.”

Still, it’s been an intense journey for Buckcherry to get to this point and kick off their second decade as a recording and touring rock band.

The group first formed as Sparrow back in the mid-Nineties in Southern California, eventually choosing a new name inspired by an early transvestite fan and a great Chuck Berry quote.

They hit hard right out of the box with their first album (1999’s Buckcherry) that featured such notable rock hits as “Lit Up,” “For The Movies” and “Check Your Head.” 2001’s Time Bomb would prove less successful, and soon early original band members left Buckcherry. Josh Todd and Keith Nelson soldiered on for a time, but in 2002, Todd decided to leave the band, suggesting that Buckcherry was done.

Then in 2005, Todd and Nelson decided to revive Buckcherry with a new lineup and together staged a truly remarkable second coming. Released in April, 2006, the band’s acclaimed,

platinum album 15 contained its biggest rock hit yet in “Crazy Bitch,” as well as Buckcherry’s first ever Top 10 hit “Sorry.” 15 went on to spend an impressive 98 weeks on the Billboard’s Top 200.

The band’s 2008 follow-up Black Butterfly debuted at #8 on Billboard and became a #1 rock album.

All Night Long was produced by Keith Nelson with Marti Frederiksen, who’s served as a valued collaborator for Buckcherry since 15.

“Marti is a great outside party to have involved,” says Nelson. “I try to take off my band member hat and put on the producer hat, and it helps to have Marti there to bounce things off of. He’s really invaluable, like a sixth member.”

As Nelson explains, recording All Night Long was about Buckcherry showing up at his home studio and working, literally, all night long “without anybody looking at the clock. The process was long by our standards — three months, but it was a totally different approach.

The longer we do this, the more we’re inclined to keep rewriting and re-

examining what works in a song. But I’m a lifelong believer in the art form of making records. That’s a part of my old school can’t-let-it-die mentality, and we’re going to keep fucking making records.”

Expect the solid diversity for which Buckcherry has come to be known on All Night Long - from the classic arena-sized rock and roll party of the album’s title track to the straight ahead rock of “Our World,” which was rewritten to include lyrics specific to the oil spill disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, to help draw attention to the cause.

The main support act tonight is Papa Roach who have been around for ten years. They really did come out hitting the ground running with that debut album, followed by ego’s and demons that followed and a loss of direction. Their last studio album ‘Metamorphasis’ really stepped the band up a gear, and the recent ‘Live-Studio’ album brought home how great a live band Papa Roach are and tonight it’s time to see and hear them in the flesh. Tracks such as ‘Lifeline’ and ’Getting Away With Murder’ mix effortlessly with ‘Kicked In The Teeth’ and ‘Burn’.

The band in 2010 are better than ever, they have grown up for sure, yet they have lost none of the fun, irreverent, full force riot that garnered all the fans in the first place. They end with ‘Angels’ and ‘Last Resort’ and leave the crowd wanting more with the feeling that they could (and maybe should) be headlining tonight. I hope we see them back here sooner rather than later… Jj After signing with DreamWorks Records in October 1999, they immediately hit the studio to record their debut major label album titled Infest which was released on April 25, 2000, and sold 30,000 copies in its first week of release. With their debut album released, and the music video for “Last Resort” recorded, they hit the Vans Warped Tour and numerous other large tours. The song “Blood Brothers” was also featured on the majorly popular video game Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2.

After enormous amounts of touring worldwide, most notably in the United States, United Kingdom and Japan, the band hit the studio again to record their second major-label album which was to be titled Born to Rock, but was re-named to Lovehatetragedy. The album was released in the United States on June 18, 2002, and though it didn’t outsell Infest, it managed to chart higher in both the United States and United Kingdom album charts. The album has sold over 500,000 copies and has been certified Gold. The album marked a change in sound, morphing from nu metal to rock, except on the album’s first single, “She Loves Me Not”.

In late 2003, Papa Roach wrote and recorded their third major-label album with the working title Dancing In the Ashes, but released as Getting Away with Murder. The band worked with well-

recognized producer Howard Benson. Getting Away with Murder outsold Lovehatetragedy, mainly due to the enormous popularity of the album’s second single, “Scars”. Currently, the album has sold more than 1 million copies and has been certified Platinum On September 12, 2006 Papa Roach released their fourth major-label album The Paramour Sessions. The band chose the title in respect to the recording location, the Paramour Mansion. The band was given the idea of doing an album in a mansion, while they were recording Getting Away with Murder, by Slipknot, who were recording their Vol. 3: (The Subliminal Verses) album in the Houdini Mansion and told the band it was “the only way to make an album”. Jacoby Shaddix stated on a fan board that the album was likely to be titled Days of war, Nights of Love, which is a lyrical quote from the song “No More Secrets” on the album, as well as an anarchic book published by CrimethInc. in 2000. Other tentative titles for the album were “Redemption” and “Forever”, the title of the album’s second single. However, “…To Be Loved” ended up being the first single for the album, and was the official theme song for WWE Raw from 2006 to 2009.

The album marked a more alternative rockbased sound compared to earlier efforts but still contained the softer ballads akin to Getting Away with Murder. The album debuted at #16 on the Billboard 200 Charts.

On January 28, 2008 Jacoby announced on Papa Roach’s MySpace that Dave Buckner would officially be parting ways with Papa Roach for good. He stated that Dave was still trying to get his life back together. Jacoby also mentioned that the band would be going back to the Paramour Mansion for the next month to begin work on their fifth studio album. Tony Palermo would continue drumming with the band for their upcoming album and for their tour in support of the album. In an interview in February 2008 with 99.7 The Blitz, a rock radio station in Columbus, Ohio, Jacoby Shaddix stated that the band was currently working on their new album, which, like The Paramour Sessions, was to be titled Days of War, Nights of Love, which is a lyrical quote from the song “No More Secrets” However, the album was renamed to Metamorphosis to mark the band’s ten years since their signing with DreamWorks Records in 1999 and to mark all of the changes the band has gone through in the past ten years.

On October 26, Papa Roach released the music video for the song, “Hollywood Whore”, and was released as an EP in Canada on October 28. According to the band, the video was just something for the fans while they waited for Metamorphosis,

and was not intended to be a single. The album’s first official single, “Lifeline”, was released on the band’s MySpace profile on January 9, 2009. The band also went on tour with Buckcherry, Avenged Sevenfold, and Burn Halo in early 2009.

On June 29, the band’s former label, Geffen Records, released a greatest hits compilation of the band’s biggest hits, titled …To Be Loved: The Best of Papa Roach. The band, however, told fans not to buy it, saying that the band was making no money off of the album’s sales and that the label released the album against the band’s will. Masters and/or copyrights by Papa Roach are represented by Downtown Music Publishing. The band no longer owns the rights to their songs, but can still play the songs live. On August 1, the song “No Matter What” was leaked onto the internet. Four days later, the rest of the Time for Annihilation album was leaked.

Time for Annihilation was released on August 31. The band announced that the next singles from the album would be “Burn” and “No Matter What”. In October, Papa Roach began the “Monsters of Annihilation” tour with Skillet. From November 15th to December 13th, The band toured with Disturbed, Buckcherry and Halestorm on the Taste of Chaos tour.

Tonight’s headline act also celebrate ten years since their breakthrough debut album ‘Disturbed’.

David Draiman - Vocals Dan Donegan Guitars/Electronics Mike Wengren - Drums John Moyer - Bass.

They are one of rock’s outcasts who divide opinion. Yet they became the first band ever this year to have four #1 albums in America, (new album, Asylum was released August 31st via Reprise Records) which shows the level which this band has achieved. They open with ‘Asylum’ from their latest album and over the next hour they race through ‘Prayer’, ‘Stupify’, ‘10,000 Fists’ and a great version of ‘Land of Confusion’. I have to say that it all starts to sound the same after a while and the band seem ‘disconnected’ from the crowd, yet by the time they encore with ‘Down With The Sickness’ there are 10,000 fists in the air and once again Disturbed have triumphed… Jj

Disturbed released their breakout debut The Sickness in 2000 and immediately began infecting heavy metal with hit singles like “Stupify” and “Down with the Sickness.” Their follow-up, Believe (2002) debuted at Number One on Billboard’s Top 200 chart. Current bassist John Moyer joined the band in 2003 and their next two releases, Ten Thousand Fists (2005) and Indestructible (2008) each also debuted at Number One, making Disturbed one of only six rock bands in history to have three consecutive releases debut at Number One. That trend continued when Asylum also hit #1 in 2010. The band has sold in excess of 11 million records worldwide and had eight No.1 singles at Active Rock Radio. Smash hit “Inside the Fire” garnered the band their first Grammy nomination for Best Metal Performance in 2009. All these accomplishments have set the stage for Disturbed to open their Asylum.

Disturbed began building Asylum as soon as they got off the road in the summer of 2009. Officially entering Groovemaster Studios in February 2010, the band set about self-producing the album, as they did with Indestructible. Draiman declares, “This record shows a certain degree of maturation and enhanced complexity. Asylum is still identifiably Disturbed, but the evolution is clear. It preserves the elements of what we do but at a more advanced level.” “We took our signature foundation, and we tried to build on that,” adds Donegan. “For every album, we’ve pushed ourselves even more than in the past. Asylum is no exception.”

There’s a duality to the title that encapsulates a thematic thread for Draiman.

“The immediate connotation of the word Asylum is the image of a mental hospital or sanitarium, but it’s also meant to be a haven or a safe place,” says the singer.

“The dual meaning of the word pushed things over the edge for me. The title track itself deals with the memory of a lost love driving you. You’re not able to let go of that memory and it brings you to the point of insanity. At the same time, that memory is a safe place for you; it’s a haven you go to when times are tough.

Overall, this record is a reflection of that.”

First single “Another Way to Die” is classic Disturbed, blending a syncopated riff with a hypnotic hook. Donegan reveals, “Thematically, the song’s about global warming and how the choices we make affect the planet. It’s a new topic for us, and

it’ll hopefully raise a little awareness.”

Storytelling remains a central component of Asylum. About “Animal,” Draiman states, “That song is huge. It’s written about someone who is an actual werewolf, and it’s inspired by films like Underworld and Wolfman. It’s about someone who enjoys the power and lives for the transformation.”At points, the lyrics become nearly cinematic in scope. Draiman goes on, “All of the songs deal with dramatic elements such as pain, loss, suffering and remorse. There are no flowery subjects here. The lyrics on this record are a lot less cryptic than they’ve been in the past. They’re far more direct. I felt it was time for me to write like that. Some of these subjects required that approach, and these songs tell stories.”

Not only did the band tread new territory lyrically on Asylum but also musically.

Their first instrumental track “Remnants” ignites the album intensely. Donegan divulges, “We’ve never done a pure instrumental piece before. Our plan was to start the album that way and build anticipation with something fresh. The vibe sets everything up perfectly.” Then there’s “The Infection,” which will no doubt be a crowd favorite. From its percussive stomp to the wah-pedal solo, the song feels like it could derail, but it’s forged together by Disturbed’s focused fire. “It’s one of those tracks that makes you feel like getting in the car and going over 100 mph,” laughs Donegan. “It’s got a cool driving groove and an extended lead.”

“This is a statement for us,” says Draiman. “We’ve never strayed from our identity. Disturbed records are always going to be rhythmic and powerful. They’re always going to deal with the darker side of things. They’re always going to be records you can take with you for a little bit of inspiration. That will forever be a common theme with every one of our records.” The frontman concludes, “We want fans to walk away from this record with strength and release. That’s exactly what Asylum’s supposed to be. Hopefully, this is an album for people to deal with the insanity of today’s times; it’s another piece of music to help get you through the chaos and madness of the world in which we live.”

I’m hoping that over the next few years we see more tours like this; great acts who compliment each other; and all for a great ticket price. Tonight’s show ends 2010 on such a high with a ‘Great Four’ followed by the news that in 2011 ‘The Big Four’ will grace the UK… Metal may be struggling like every other business, but with great artists and more nights like tonight, the future is still bright…

Words: Jj Live Shots: Danni 2010