The Beatles Unseen at Abbey Road
Paul Stanley Behind the mask: At home with the Starchild
Megadeth
“There was no Plan B” ‘Peace Sells…’ – The making of a metal masterpiece
On Divorce, Depp and ‘DC
“Metal? Rap? It’s all just music”
A trip into their weird world
Pink Floyd Aerosmith Chris Wood Meat Loaf
MAY 2017 issue 235
Features 32 Brian Johnson
We look back at the former AC/DC frontman’s career, from life as a skint car roofer to stepping into the huge shoes of Bon Scott and conquering the world. Then fate intervened and he was ousted from AC/DC. So what happens next?
42 Royal Thunder
How dark times, loss and difficult changes helped the band to find themselves, and inspired a powerful, uplifting new album.
46 The Beatles
Previously unseen photographs from the Fab Four’s historic live TV broadcast of All You Need Is Love.
50 Danny Worsnop
After dark days and high times with Asking Alexandria, the singer is now sober and back with a country-rock confessional.
52 Chris Wood
A tortured soul who left behind some memorable music, the one-time Traffic man remains a mere footnote in rock history. He shouldn’t.
60 Paul Stanley
On stage he’s the Kiss icon who rock’n’rolls all night and parties every day. Off stage? Meet the chef and family man, hiding a birth defect but finally growing to accept himself.
68 Megadeth
That the feral delinquents’ 1986 album Peace Sells… But Who’s Buying? was a classic was a surprise. That they’re still alive to tell the tale is an even bigger one.
74 Bat Out Of Hell
How Jim Steinman’s vision went from stage show to classic monster hit album and now back to its roots.
80 Ice-T
Criminals operate legally, guns in America are here to stay, music fans will gravitate to anything that’s good… These and more make up the Gospel According to the Body Count man.
84 Inglorious
Producer Kevin Shirley says they’re “the best British band since Led Zeppelin”. Can they live up to that lofty billing?
32
Brian Johnson
Chris terry
From working on cars in the North East to singing on the biggest stages in the world and the biggest-selling rock album ever. But what’s next for the former AC/DC man?
Regulars
MAY 2017 issue 235
14 The Dirt
Roger Waters and Nick Mason divulge more detail on a new Pink Floyd exhibition… Jon Anderson to reunite with Yes at Hall Of Fame… the Eagles return… David Bowie postage stamps… Welcome back Life Of Agony, KXM and ManDoki Soulmates… Say hello to The Picturebooks and Nikki Lane, say goodbye to Joey Alves, Al Jarreau, Larry Coryell…
21 Raw Power
If you want a bejewelled Music Man John Petrucci signature guitar, you’d better be quick as well as rich.
26 The Stories Behind The Songs Aerosmith
How they beat drink, drugs and depression to finally score their only US No.1 single: I Don’t Want To Miss A Thing.
28 Q&A Ryan Adams
The singer, songwriter, poet and painter on heartbreak, hope, loving AC/DC and his stunning new album.
30 Six Things You Need To Know About My Dynamite Meet the Melbourne retro-rockers set to go ‘boom’.
87 Reviews
New albums from Mastodon, Ray Davies, Quiet Riot, Boss Hog, Mike + The Mechanics, Procol Harum, Brian Jonestown Massacre, Eclipse, Texas… Reissues from Fleetwood Mac, The Doors, Sammy Hagar, Uriah Heep, Pink Floyd, Ministry, Girlschool, Chickenfoot…DVDs, films and books on Lemmy & Motörhead, Eric Clapton, Backyard Babies, Sebastian Bach… Live reviews of X Japan, Biffy Clyro, Admiral Sir Cloudesley Shovell, Dan Reed Network, Strand Of Oaks…
102 Buyer’s Guide 60s West Coast Rock
From surf guitars to psychedelia, peace to paranoia, the 60s sound of Los Angeles and San Francisco was multicoloured.
108 Live Previews
Must-see gigs from Dream Theater, Joe Bonamassa, John Mayall, Black Spiders and Eclipse. Plus full gig listings – find out who’s playing where and when.
130 Heavy Load Mike Rutherford
The former Genesis man on his old band, school, guns, women, trips of both kinds and being “from Mars”.
60
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Welcome
THE COVER Brian Johnson BY Ashley Maile Archive / IconicPix
icture this. You’ve spent much of your adult life as frontman for one of the biggest and greatest rock’n’roll bands that has ever stalked the planet. Then circumstances beyond your control force you off the road. What do you do next? What can you do next? That was a question that AC/DC’s Brian Johnson had to ask himself last year when health issues conspired to make him leave his antipodean heroes behind. This issue we profile rock’s most down-to-earth frontman, discover how he got where he did and learn what 2017 has in store for him. (Hint: he hasn’t strayed all that far from high-voltage rock’n’roll, as it happens.) We also spend some quality time at home with Kiss’s Paul Stanley to try to learn what really makes him tick. We take a look back at the shenanigans that Megadeth were up to while making their classic Peace Sells… But Who’s Buying? album before the resulting tour drove that line-up apart. Ice-T gives us his opinion on the state of the world, and we also tell the tragic tale of Traffic’s Chris Wood. And that’s just for starters…
Siân Llewellyn, Editor
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This month’s contributors Jaan uhelszki
One of the first women to work in rock journalism, and a co-founder of Creem, Jaan got her start alongside Lester Bangs, Ben Edmonds and David Marsh – considered the ‘dream team’ of rock writing in the mid-1970s. She is listed in Flavorwire’s 33 Women Music Critics You Need To Read, and remains the only journalist to ever perform in make-up with Kiss. She caught up with Paul Stanley on p60.
David Quantick
David Quantick is a music journalist and comedy writer. He loves everything Jim Steinman has ever done. The best gig he ever went to was a Meat Loaf warm-up show for the Bat Out Of Hell II tour. David revisits Bat for us this month on page 74. He is crowdfunding Go West, a novel about fakery, fraud and old John Peel Shows at https://unbound. com/books/go-west
Paul Brannigan
Paul Brannigan has been offending rock stars globally for the best part of 25 years. Bush frontman Gavin Rossdale, currently a judge on ITV’s The Voice, once called him a “cheap c**t”, and may have had a point. Barring death or dismemberment, Brannigan’s Eddie Van Halen biography Eruption should finally emerge later this year. Paul profiles Jonno on p32.
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