Armored saint issue 18

NEW ALBUM AS WE DIE SPRING 2017

NEW LP SPRING

emplabelgroup.c 2 Rock N Roll Industries Magazine

F/ WAYLON REAVIS ON TOUR WITH FORMERLY OF THIS SPRING! MUSHROOMHEAD

BACKGROUND ART BY MISTER SAM SHEARON

BEHIND THE FALLEN | BROKEN TEETH | DANGEROUS TOYS YOUR CHANCE TO DIE | CO-OP | DOPESICK

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COMING G 2017

COMING SPRING 2017

com | empmerch.com

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Stephanie Cabral

Features

Interviews

Cover photo by: Stephanie Cabral

10 10 14 16 18 20 26 36 44 50

Dave Ellefson Thom Hazaert EMP Label Entombed AD Doyle Mark Slaughter Gemini Syndrome The Mendenhall Expt Armored Saint Varna Ulrich Wild

Write ups 22 28 40 45 46 46 47 47 48 48 49

Aftershock Ozzfest meets Knotfest The XMAS Rocka Make America Rock Again Summer Slaughter Ghost Nik Kai Edge of Paradise Final Drive Doll Skin Mr Creepy

Industry 51 52 52 54 56 58

Music with Michael G Pedal to the Metal In Phase Know Your Gear Gear reviews CD Reviews

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Editor’s Words EDITOR IN CHIEF Mike Smothers

mike@rocknrollindustries.com

PUBLICATION DIRECTOR Jessica Johnson jess@rocknrollindustries.com

SENIOR EDITOR Angelica Ulloa

angelica@rocknrollindustries.com

ASSISTANT EDITOR Dea Meeks, Peggy Murphy ILLUSTRATOR Steev Moreno

CONTRIBUTING ARTISTS Steev Moreno, Tony Sinicropi WRITERS: Raquel Figlo, Michael G Clark, Alison “MetalBabe” Cohen, Scott Schoenkopt, Sandy Martin, Tim Phoenix, Evlin Lake, Billy Zee, Parker Minor, Wolf Navarro, Daniel Hicks, Miranda “Panda” Johnson

You don’t have to look far to find the Industry’s greatest coverage of Rock n Roll shows, because you found it right here!

With interviews including Doyle, David Ellefson (of Megadeath) and festivals with line-ups like Ozzfest meets Knotfest and Aftershock, Rock N Roll Industries is there to cover it for you. As we finished up 2016 it was our greatest pleasure to be the official magazine for Ozzfest meets Knotfest a 2 Day weekend of heavy metal in your face, dirt grinding mosh pit mayhem, taking the stage and in your face Armored Saint, Megadeth, Disturbed, Zakk Wylde + many more.

Bringing you non stop music all weekend, headlining the festival was Slipknot and Black Sabbath finishing off the night in true Rock n Roll fashion! (Thank you to everyone involved at Ozzfest meets Knotfest and for having us!)

Mike Smothers Editor in Chief Follow us Facebook.com/rocknrollindustriesmag Twitter @RockNRollind Instagram @rocknrollindustriesmag

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From there we headed up north for Aftershock another two-day Festival, that makes you move to its atmosphere, with stages all around you and bands like Primus, Zakk Sabbath + upcoming bands like The Mendenhall Experiment along with rockin vendors like Squiggy from the Music Experience, Aftershock truly is an experience worth going to.

Please enjoy this issue of Rock N Roll Industries Magazine as we keep you updated with your favorite stars. Keep an eye out for our next issue starting at the Namm show, in search of the newest products and services where we’ll be.

We’ll also be hosting and sponsoring various events thoughout the convention, hope to see you there. After that we’ll be setting course to Haiti on 70000tons of Metal for a fun filled adventure on the high seas.

* Photojournalists

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Rock N Roll Industries (ISSN 2164-9863 print ISSN 2164-9871 online) is published bi monthly, 34955 Cella Ln Yucaipa Ca 92399. Annual Subscription costs $16.95. Submission of manuscripts, illustrations, media kits and/or photographs will not be returned.

The publisher assumes no responsibly for unsolicited materials. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or part without written permission of the publisher is strictly prohibited.

Photo By: Gonzo Sandoval

Hitting the Mini Golf at Aftershock

PHOTOGRAPHERS: Neil Zlozower, Igor Vidyashev, Chad Lee, Alex Kluft*, Gonzo Sandoval*, Enrique Nuñez*, Cyndi Johnson, Lan Nguyen*, Matt Upton, Scott Dworkin*, Neil Lim Sang, Ramon C Ward Jr., Misael Ruiz*, Stephanie Cabral, Jessica Howell*, Arthur Stump*, Missie Tong*, Arthur Gonzales*

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EMP Label Group Music Moguls: David Ellefson and Thom Hazaert Domination, One Band at a Time

By Raquel Figlo RNR: David, how did you and Thom meet and why did you join forces to create EMP? David: Thom and I had some prior conversations back in the mid 2000’s when I was doing Artist Relations for Peavey and he was in management for some of my clients. We reconnected in early 2015 when he reached out to me about participating in special features he was directing for the Blu-Ray re-release for the film “Wes Craven’s Shocker”, which included the Megadeth cover of Alice Cooper’s “No More Mr. Nice Guy”.

As I got involved in the production and management of the DOLL SKIN EP, Thom became a true comrade to me, which led to us forming the label. It goes to show how much this business is one of building relationships with people, as you never know when paths will cross time and again RNR: David, you live in Arizona and Thom lives in Wisconsin. Where is the headquarters of EMP and how does a company like EMP work cross-country?

Thom: Technically our address is Phoenix (Scottsdale), but as I run most of the day to day operations, a lot of the activity ends up over here in Green Bay. I basically hold down the fort while David is out being a Rockstar with Megadeth. But EMP has a great staff all over the US, and really, the World. With the internet and everything the way it is now, you don’t even need to be central anymore, we have an amazing staff and team over in Europe with our partners at SPV, and artists and fans all over the World, Pitch Black Process in Turkey, Semblant and Machinage in Brazil, White Dream in Mexico, so EMP has really grown into a strong Global brand, regardless of our address.

David: Yes, like so many things in life now, the music industry has quickly become a “world without borders” as is music itself. As Thom stated we have our HQ in AZ, but the efforts are global, for sure.

RNR: Thom, you have a long history with 10 10 Rock Rock N N Roll Roll Industries Industries Magazine Magazine

David Ellefson starting out as a Megadeth fan. You mentioned in an interview that Megadeth was your favorite band since you were 12 years old. What is your favorite story with David Ellefson our readers would enjoy?

Thom: Every day of my life is my favorite story with David Ellefson, hahaha. Literally, one of my idols is now my business partner and one of my best friends, it’s surreal. Megadeth was definitely one of my favorite bands growing up (still are), and David was my GUY in the band.

I liked Mustaine, Chris Poland, Marty Friedman, but Ellefson was my guy. He was just so cool, and humble, and that always came across in interviews and stuff, and it really was kind of prophetic, as when I met him, and got to know him, that’s truly how he is. And, as a kid trapped in the Midwest, his story always spoke to me. He moved to LA, joined Megadeth and became a Rock Star. My life ended up following a similar trajectory, and, honestly, we have a lot in common in that regard, but David is one of the most talented musicians on Earth, and an amazing, genuine human being who I am blessed every day to be friends, and in business, with. My Mom says all the time how she prayed for someone like David to come into my life, and not sure if that had anything to do with it, but regardless, I’m extremely grateful he did.

RNR: Thom, what is the “Sponsored Artist Submission” and how did it come about?

Thom: Well, as the A&R guy for EMP, and David being David, we literally get thousands upon thousands of submissions from artists, through EMP, on the road, through our social media. It’s overwhelming, and to be honest, we have a few A&R interns who go through them, I try to when I can, but as you can imagine, it’s pretty much impossible to keep up with.

So I came up with the concept of the “Sponsored Submission”, where artists pay a small fee ($50 or $100), and submit 3 songs, we check out their material, social media etc, and then they actually get a 20 minute conference

call with either me, or me and David, and we give them feedback on the songs, direction, general advice, really whatever they want to talk about. We both thought it would be a tremendous opportunity to give back a little to some artists, and honestly, we’ve actually already found a few artists we are discussing doing deals with.

Even outside of EMP, myself and David are both pretty established, experienced guys in the business, so I think it really is on some level more a one-off consulting service than a traditional “label submission”. The reality is, the artist isn’t “paying” to submit their music to the label. They can do that for free, but the guaranteed listen, and the phone call and feedback, is what they are paying for, which, access to guys like me and David normally isn’t even something you can pay for. Especially not for a hundred bucks. Of course there’s always gonna be assholes who complain, God Forbid, you ask an artist to pay for a service.

There’s always going to be that entitled, outdated mentality that everything should be given to artists for free, or done on some kind of imaginary backend percentage that really doesn’t materialize anymore.

Fact is, more and more, the development side of the music business is becoming a paid service industry, and those with experience and tenure, labels, managers, etc, are moving towards fee-based models where they are charging for their services, while the old norms are falling to the wayside. I think, as a label, we have done a lot of progressive things, and moved the ball forward, and at the end of the day, this will end up being another one of those instances.

RNR: How has joining forces with other organizations like Alpha Omega, eOne and SPV Records benefited EMP? David: Overall, I think strategic alliances are essential for a start-up business because you can win bigger together. As for our distributors, we have transitioned from eOne over to AMPED/Alliance for our North American distro

Clayton Lancaster Photography

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now for 2017, but SPV is still our distributor for Europe. These are really big and powerful distributors who pack a big punch for our company because distribution channels are essential for getting records into stores and even digital outlets for visibility and sales.

Thom: Originally, when David approached me and I became involved in EMP, we were partnered with Megaforce, who put out the original DOLL SKIN EP. They are a great label, but for us it turned out to be a bit of an ill fit.

So, eventually, I took the reins a bit more, and shopped it around, and we ended up with eOne, and later SPV for Europe, and recently, as David mentioned, we transitioned over to AMPED/ AEC for North America, who are a great distributor who do stuff for Metallica, Billy Idol, a lot of huge, established artists. As a label, to me, it’s important to keep evolving, and forging strong alliances whether it’s with distributors, third party marketing companies, booking agencies, or management entities like Alpha Omega.

At the end of the day we’re always just looking for new ways to improve and build our business model, grow our reach, and serve artists.

do you offer?

noon. At some point I do have to sleep!

David: The coffee business has been a really fun venture and something that aligns well with my coffee interests and international lifestyle.

Because of how we established the business model from the beginning, first as an online mail order business, we were profitable from the very first bag of coffee we sold. That helped us see terrific opportunity with the company. Now that we’ve established the brand, we are venturing into much larger retail opportunities.

Thom: Roast in Peace. Hands down.

Thom: David called me out of the blue last year and said “Someone pitched me on the idea of making my own coffee, should we do some kind of Coffee Line”? I said “absolutely, we can call it ROAST IN PEACE”. We both laughed heartily, and the die was cast. Turned out who he talked to was Paul Waggoner from Between the Buried and Me, who runs a boutique Roasterie called Parliament Coffee Roasters. We hit the ground running and never looked back. We now have

RNR: What draws you to a band, like Heaven Below, SkumLove and Behind the Fallen on your label. What in particular about these bands enticed you to sign them?

David: They each have a very unique place in our catalog and I think that while they are all in the rock genre, they represent different niches within the genre. I’m glad we have such a wide array of music in our catalog.

Thom: I sign most of the artists, and run the A&R, and there’s really a variety of things that draw me to certain artists. Obviously, our personal musical tastes come into play to a limited degree, but honestly there’s so much more beyond that.

Skum was a great friend of mine and David’s for many, many years, and we just dig what he does. Like all of our bands, he hustles, and works his ass off like we do. Same with Patrick and Heaven Below. He was a good friend, and myself and David were both just floored by their new album GOOD MORNING APOCALYPSE. Patrick approached us about putting it out, and it just worked out and made sense. Behind the Fallen were just an AMAZING band with amazing songs. A lot of it comes from personal relationships, but really, we just look for great artists who are ready to work their asses off.

There are so many amazing artists in the EMP family it’s hard to even single out a few. But we give them a jumping off platform, and support them however we can, and it’s a really great symbiotic building relationship, how it should be.

RNR: How is the coffee business going?

Where can coffee drinkers buy your coffee?

Where is your coffee grown? What flavors 12 12 Rock Rock N N Roll Roll Industries Industries Magazine Magazine

several roasts, Roast In Peace, the flagship, which is a Brazilian Dark Roast, Kenya Thrash which is a high caffeine blend of Kenya-Kichwa Arabica, and India Robusta, She-Wolf, which is a light blend Nicaraguan, and our latest offering URBAN LEGEND, a Dark Roast blend of premium Latin American, Indonesian, and East African Coffees, all of which you can order from ellefsoncoffeeco.com We also just opened our first brick and mortar ELLEFSON COFFEE CO. store in David’s hometown, Jackson, MN, which is like a kickass cross between a Starbucks and a Hard Rock Café.

RNR: What is your favorite coffee?

David: I like different roasts for different times of the day. Because the lighter roasts tend to me more caffeinated, I prefer them in the morning and then the darker roasts like ROAST IN PEACE as my second cup later in the after-

RNR: Thom, how did you save Corey Taylor’s life?

Thom: I honestly don’t really talk about this much publicly, for a long time it was sort of a “What happens on the road, stays on the road” thing, but Corey has talked about this a lot now, and it’s become such a huge piece of Slipknot lore, that I’ve sorta opened up a bit more about it. But there was a period during Iowa, sorta preVol 3 when me and Corey were really tight and hanging out a lot. And yeah, drinking.

The occasional social fall off the wagon aside, I have many years sober from alcohol, and even then, I was sort of over that whole thing, so to a certain extent while there was some debauchery, I’d drink a bit socially with him to be a proper sidekick, I was sort of the Jiminy Cricket. I was the “safe” friend his wife and management trusted, who wouldn’t let him get into TOO much trouble. At least I tried. Haha, but he’d hang out and crash at my place in Hollywood, we’d go get tattoos and run off to Vegas and have adventures. It was a great time. Then he actually moved out to LA for a while to make The Subliminal Verses and it got a little darker, as he’s touched on, and I think he was working with/through some demons that, to an extent I had NO idea about.

Eventually a lot of it started coming to a head with his wife at the time, Scarlet.

We’d all gone out to see Steel Panther, when they were still Metal School (or Metal Shop) at the Viper Room. I walked Corey and Scarlet back to the Hyatt and jumped in a cab to go home. As I pulled up to my place I got a frantic call from Scarlet asking me to come back to the hotel, so I turned around and went over there. Anyway, it was sort of a domestic situation, Corey was blackout angry/sad drunk, the room was trashed, and they were fighting. He ran out on the balcony and started threatening to kill himself, in an almost proper Jim Morrison-like fashion, jumped up on the ledge and attempted to swan dive.

I sort of just instinctively grabbed him by the shirt and pulled him down and kinda tackled him. And it wasn’t like a gentle, “oh hey buddy come away off that ledge”. It was a full-on, adrenaline-pumping, throw him down and beat his ass a little. I just remember being on top of him, holding him down just SCREAMING at the top of my lungs at him. At the time, I didn’t even really think much of it, in terms of it being a suicide attempt, or what was behind it, or the significance. We’re all Midwest guys. Get drunk and do stupid shit. That’s sort of what we do. And now people say I saved his life, and he has said that. To me it was just about being there for my friend in a weird, dark moment.

The accolades are nice, and to me, Corey will ALWAYS be the most talented motherfucker of our generation, and I’m honored to not only call him a friend, but to have a piece of shared history, and a tiny footnote in his legacy. Of course, after that he cleaned up and got sober, and has a new wife and family, and is still a lovely man who I love and adore deeply.

RNR: David, I read recently that you have been doing lectures regarding business and marketing. Can you expand on this?

David: I’ve authored several books over the years and they always open up opportunities for speaking engagements. I think the first one I did was in San Francisco around the release of my first book “Making Music Your Business…A Guide For Young Musicians” (Hal Leonard) back in 1997. The first publisher brought me in to speak for an event they arranged to discuss topics on the music business.

These past few years I’ve been speaking at several colleges and book stores across the country behind my autobiography “My Life With Deth” (Howard/Simon & Schuster). Those topics are everything from music, life, faith, addiction recovery and so forth. It’s fun to be able to meet fans in a more intimate setting away from the big stages of rock n roll, and the book tours allow those moments to happen in a very informative yet casual manner.

RNR: David, Tom Araya (Slayer) says,” Your

bass is either On or Off.” On the other hand, your new X Series Signature Bass has five controls (Master Volume, Blend knob, Active 3-Band EQ (Bass, Middle, Treble) what’s your philosophy to bass tone?

David: I would actually agree with Tom on that! In fact, I recall playing Peter Steele’s bass (TYPE O NEGATIVE bassist) and he literally had no knobs for volume or tone, but rather only one switch toward the bottom to turn it on and off…I loved that because it’s so practical for us professional rock bassists.

For my uses, I open the bass up and put everything on “10”, but in the studio it’s nice to be able to have options to tailor the tone. So, the pragmatic sense for selling a bass at retail, it’s wise to offer an instrument with a variety of tones because the customer may use it for more than just one application. So, why limit their needs? That’s why I offer the full arsenal of options that come standard with the EMG active circuitry. I’d rather they can use my bass for all their needs, not just metal.

RNR: David, do you ever plan on retiring from performing, and making EMP a top priority?

David: I don’t see retirement from touring any time soon but it is nice to have things like the label and coffee company as other interests along the way now. I’ve spent a good many years on the road now, and my other ventures provide a nice balance to it all these days.

RNR: Thom, what is your involvement with PUCK HCKY and why do they call you “Thom Puckin Hazaert?”

Thom: PUCKHCKY is an amazing Lifestyle Hockey clothing company based in Detroit that I got involved with a couple years ago. I was a huge hockey fan, and saw they were not only doing killer stuff with NHL players like Tomas Tatar, Marian Hossa, and Freddie Andersen, but were starting to foray into crossover Hockey and Metal stuff, which was right up my alley.

So I reached out blindly, literally I just emailed them one day, and ended up getting involved with them, bringing some artists to the table, and, in addition to having my own THOM HAZAERT line through them, I’m sort of an artist liaison/marketing guy for the other lines and artists. We have lines with 36 Crazyfists, David Ellefson (duh), Bumblefoot, and we recently just launched lines with All Hail the Yeti, (hed)pe and Doyle. There’s a few more we’re launching in the New Year that are just gonna blow it out of the water, but they are great people, and it’s really amazing stuff. I am blessed to have fallen into some really incredible opportunities the last few years, and PUCK is definitely at the top of the list. I’d suggest everyone check them out at puckhcky.com.

As for the second part, well, I’m a Bad Mother Pucker.

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Entombed AD: Interview with Nico Elgstrand and Guilherme Miranda RNR: How long have you been touring?

Nico: This is like our 40th gig, way too many and exhausted.

RNR: how did the band members of Entombed AD get together?

Nico: We are the remains of the original Entombed. I started ions ago what was known as Entombed. Every second album we had someone new. I like when people refer to Entombed as a tank. It is not just the vocalist, it is an entity, and it goes through changes. In my time, which has been 14 years with the band, I have seen three changes. We are still the same band, right now it is the most friction free and strongest unit since I started..

RNR: Why did you name the new band Entombed AD and not remain as Entombed?

Nico: It was turning into a legal horse shit battle. One jumped shipped and said it was all him and we were like no, it is a band and you are a part of the band. We all wanted to do different things and that was one way to solve it. Even though we didn’t sit down and come up with a solution we are now doing what we wanted to do anyways. It was the quickest way to get out of it and move on.

RNR: How is Entombed AD different now than back when it was entombed?

Guilherme: I don’t see much difference with the songs. The band is a unit. They have a signature sound, but maybe more aggressive and more energy. The feedback with the last album is amazing, the fans love it and we are very happy about that.

RNR: You put out two albums back to back, which are “Back to the Front” and “Dead Dawn.” How were you able to record and put and out the music so fast?

RNR: What is your favorite beer to drink?

Nico: I love red wine with food.

We have had so much craft beer on this tour. I like to drink Italian red wine and just about anything from Italy.

Guilherme: I like beer like IPA and Portuguese red wine.

Nico: It wasn’t that quick, but what was happening with Entombed before, was super slow. And this is a big reason why we wanted a change. One and half years between albums is how it should be. You go on tour you make an album you go on tour you play the songs. As an artist it is really important for me to make an album that sounds really good, at least once a year. The USA is a hard market, we want to play more USA shows, but there is so much competition here with other bands. It is like coming from being a shark to a gold fish when we come to the USA.

RNR: What got you into this heavy metal life style?

RNR: Is touring a constant party?

RNR: What inspires you to write your music?

Nico: To live the rock n roll life style you have to be fit, MAN! You need balance. There are exceptions like Lemmy, but these are role models. It is not the way it is or we would all die. We did the plank challenge just for fun.

After the age of 30, the machine (our bodies) start to break down and you need to put in 14 Rock N Roll Industries Magazine

the service, meaning work out!

Nico: I remember it was the same time I started liking girls. There was this one girl who could play the “Number of the Beast” riffs on an acoustic guitar and it blew my mind like, how is this possible? The fact that you could actually reproduce this insanely cool sound from this album straight from a guitar was really cool to me at such a young age and at that point I had to learn the guitar.

Nico: Everything to me is about sound. I sing a lot about the devil and negativity. Subject wise it is always bad. Even if it is a happy ballad it turns into suicide. If you are into death metal and you write happy lyrics then there is something wrong with you.

By Raquel Figlo

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Doyle and David Ellefson join forces to Abominate the Music Industry As We Die!

By Raquel Figlo

RNR: Your next album As We Die will be out on the EMP Label Group this year, exactly four years after the Abominator album. What took so long?

Doyle: Abominator came out in 2013. I had prior commitments touring with Danzig and I couldn’t go on tour until I was done with that. We then had a couple tours lined up, one with GWAR, but then David Murray “Dave” Brockie died a couple days before the announcement of the tour and that set us back a couple months. We booked a tour in Europe and the guy that was booking it stole all the bands money and there was no show because he would not pay us up front. By the time my band got on tour it was September 2014.

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RNR: Will there be special guests on the new album?

Doyle: On the title track, we have my girlfriend Alissa White-Gluz of Arch Enemy singing and Michael playing guitar on it as well. We have a song with Randy Blythe of Lamb of God. It is going to be good!

RNR: Now that you are teamed up with EMP, how do you expect it to be better?

Doyle: EMP has better distribution, promotion and more money to be put into the album than I had. I funded Abominator on MonsterMan Records. When you pay for yourself you can only do so much. They are going to give us financial help to tour which is great because that always comes out of my pocket.

I’m the only one who doesn’t make any money when we go out on tour. They are going to help with the promotions and distribution of the record, and they are going to repackage Abominator.

RNR: You have been friends with David Ellefson for 20 years.

Were you waiting for EMP so you could make your next album?

Doyle: No, we were having a really hard time mixing it. We had spoken to Dave during Metal Allegiance and he told me he was managing multiple bands and was starting his own label. It sounded like a good deal because they really wanted it, they wanted to push it and they showed a lot of interest.

RNR: How did Alice Cooper influence you as a kid?

Doyle: I love Alice Cooper as a musician. I think all his music is great. I like him because he is so different from everyone else. He was dark, influenced by horror movies. As a kid I use to watch horror movies like it was going out of style! I finally got to meet him and when I did, he knew who I was… my head exploded!

RNR: In my last interview with you in 2013, you talked about reuniting with Glen Danzig and Jerry Only, You wanted it so BAD! Now your dream has come true only after 33 years. How did you do it? What was the process and was it worth it?

Doyle: I wanted it so bad, but now I want to get away from them so bad (laughs). I’M KIDDING! We had a lot of fun, they are really funny. We laughed a lot and it was easy because we all knew the songs. Riot Fest in Chicago was awesome, but when I get up there on stage it is just another day at the office. I like the way Jerry’s bass sounds with my guitar and I have been playing with Glen on tour with Danzig. So it wasn’t like this is so different to me, it’s normal.

RNR: Not only are you a “MetalHead” you are a metal mechanist.

You have a family owned business in New Jersey called Congruent Machine Co. Did you work there as a kid? Do you still work there when you are not on tour or writing?

Doyle: I stopped working there, its Jerry’s business now because my dad had passed. We worked there since I was six. We made our guitar’s there. We still rehearse there; we each have our own rehearsal space in the building. We also have a big gym there and anything we need to make we make there.

RNR: You have said you suffer from social anxiety. Can you explain what that is? Any advice you can share with your fans how you handle it?

Doyle: I’ll put it this way. I can play a show in front of thousands of people, but put me in a room with five people or at a signing with fifty people and I can’t handle it. I want to get out of there. I feel like everyone is looking at me, but when there is a lot of people, like at one of our concerts, I don’t feel like any of them are looking at me, because it is like a big thing and I am suppose to be there. I don’t think I fit in with humans, I never have.

You have to have a bumper to handle social anxiety. Mine is my girlfriend because if she is there at least I feel more comfortable. She has it too. We are each other’s bumper.

RNR: Did Alissa White-Gluz turn you into a vegan?

Doyle: The first time we ate together she came to New York and she had to get back on an airplane and we were running around in the city and it got late, we were starving.

She said to me, “If we can’t find something for me to eat, we will find something for you to eat.” and I said, “Fuck that! I would never disrespect you by eating something that grosses you out in front of you.” She taught me more and more about veganism. She showed me videos of the slaughtering of animals and it really enlightened me on the things that were happening around us. I was already eating healthy. I would only eat two chicken breasts a day, so for me to switch was easy. I take a vegan protein drink so that helps as well.

RNR: What can you tell us about your upcoming European Tour?

Doyle: I am excited about it because it is not in the United States.

Hopefully we can get more people to go to the shows in Europe because there are more die-hard music fans than here in the States. In the States they don’t want to come out as much. I lose my shirt when I play the States. If I can do well out here in the States then we could get better shows and we can approach bigger bands that we want to tour with out in Europe, because we will draw. Here nobody gives a fuck, but who knows maybe it will get better with EMP backing us up. I think it will, but it is going to take a little while.

Rock N Roll Industries Magazine 17

“Up all Night, Sleep All Day!” Mark Slaughter Still going at it!

By Raquel Figlo

Mark: Thom reached out to me and invited me to work with him and my longtime friend Dave Ellefson. I sent them my previous solo CD and a few new tracks and they both felt that this is a perfect fit for the EMP label. The album to me has classic rock sensibility with a modern blend.

RNR: Who will be producing the album? Will there be any special guest performances? When will it be out?

Mark: I wrote, recorded, produced, and played all instruments (except for the drums). Most people do not realize that the Slaughter records were produced by Dana and me. This solo adventure has been both inspiring and a growing experience to wear all hats and carry the responsibility on my own. There will be no guest appearances at this time, however I reserve those outside projects for further development later (lol). Release date should be April or May 2017 for the title of the record “Halfway There.”

RNR: In addition, you have guest appeared on many other artist projects contributing vocals and guitar. Do you consider yourself a prolific writer? How do you stay relevant and continue to do music?

Mark: Music is, and always will be, my first love. You can stop wars, make love, throw a party, or hum your favorite tune in an elevator, and bring back the soundtrack to your life. I’ve always approached music as a songwriter, first, rather than an ego to exemplify my attributes. It begins with a song that should stand the test of time. In fact, I just sang on a project with Roxy and Maxine Petrucci that was a tribute to Lemmy from Motorhead called “The Aftershow.”

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RNR: My favorite song from Slaughter is “Up all Night Sleep All Day.” Is it still this way or not anymore?

Mark: Are you kidding me? That’s my lifestyle! Rock’n Roll 24 hours a day, I’m always in my studio or traveling to some far, distant place to play a show.

RNR: I find it interesting that you do voice over’s for the Cartoon Network and the Kids WB. How did you get involved in this line of work? Who have you done voices for and are you still doing it?

Mark: I’ve shifted gear into television and film music rather than doing voice-overs. I enjoy the process of both, but am concentrated more on music.

RNR: You are actively involved with Charities like St. Jude Children’s Hospital. I read in an interview you did with Glide Magazine, that your album “Never Give Up,” you gave part of the proceeds to Red Circle Foundation, a non-profit organization providing immediate gap funding assistance to the families of United States Special Operations Forces. How did you get involved with the foundation and do you have a personal connection to it?

Mark: St. Jude Hospital does miracles every day, and I encourage anyone to learn and see what this charity does for not only the children, but for mankind. The Red Circle Foundation is for government gap funding of families (where our government gets stuck in red tape) for special ops forces.

It is very rare to find charities like these that 86-100% of their donations go to those in need, and not in administrative gibberish.

Chad Lee

RNR: Thom Hazaert mentioned to me you are putting out a new album on the EMP Music Group Label. Can you expand on this?

How did you meet and how did it come about?

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days. It’s not the late 80s kind of idea….like signing a record deal, millionaires, people do everything for us, all we have to do is show up and play. That is not the world that live music exists. If you’re not a hustler and doing everything you can to make it go, it’s not gonna go. Don’t ever think you’re a Rock star…you’re a musician. If you come to the table with this arrogant mentality like people owe you something. This is a job. You have a to be on time. People talk, it’s a small industry.

You guys play a lot of club shows as well as huge festivals what do you prefer? Club shows or festivals better?

Aaron: They both have their own kinda qualities. It’s the same thing if you ask about recording or playing live. When you’re playing a small club everybody’s right there in your face…it’s very intimate. I can see everyone better. But then there’s something to be said about walking out to thousands of people and that crazy festival environment atmosphere vibe.

Your new album came out on August 19th, you guys also had some cool packages what where some of the your favorite things fans could get.

Yeah, there’s was all sorts of stuff. T-shirts…a couple of guitars. . Hand written journals of both records of all the lyrics written by yours truly.

They’re these cool little leather bound books.

What are somethings you do personally on tour or some of your band mates that keep up your routine? What’s your sanity to keep you going?

Aaron: There’s exercise routines to a degree. I’ve been pretty bad about it on tour. I study Chinese Kung Fu and Shingon. It’s more like relaxing…

Tai Chi stuff. Try to eat as healthy as you can. Try and rest as much as possible which isn’t always easy. Try to stay as healthy as possible given the circumstances.

What would you tell kids just starting off to keep them going in music? I’ve gotten to watch you guys go from being the local band in LA to you know, playing these awesome tours in front of these huge crowds, like Rock On The Range and now Houston Open Air. Aaron: You gotta work. It’s not gonna be handed to ya, especially now

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How are you guys liking the new label and I know you guys got some new band members for this album. Tell me how that’s changed kinda the sound of the new album and with the new label.

Aaron: So I’ll start with the new guys, we got David Sahagun and Charles Lee Salvaggio. They brought a totally new energy and creative vibe to it. It’s just comfortable…it’s like family. Everybody’s in it for the same reasons…everybody’s in it to win it. The struggles of being on the road, the tiredness and crankiness… it only last for a little bit. As far as the label change, everyone from Another Century, they’ve been fantastic. We’ve known them for a long time, since the beginning of the band. They’re hands on with us; they understand what we’re trying to do.

They’re absolutely accessible. If I have a question, there’s someone there willing to jump in and help out...not a lot of red tape. A bigger company is a lot more difficult for a smaller band…younger band.

What is your favorite track off of Memento Mori?

Aaron: I can’t pick a favorite. I don’t have one. I love them all. They all have a different story. We have the same problem with this record that we had with the last one. “What do we have to cut?” Cutting a song sucks.

We have two B sides. One of them is kinda like borderline Punk Rock meets 9 Inch Nails, old school Ministry stuff. It didn’t fit the character of the rest of the album so I understand why it was cut. But it’s so f-in cool man. Such a cool different weird tangent from the rest of the album. It’ll be a bonus track so it will get out there.

Where did you record the current record?

Aaron: We did this record at The Hideout Studio in Las Vegas with Kane Churko…Kevin Churko worked on it for a bit too. Love those guys till the end of my days.

Is there anything else you’d like to tell your fans?

Aaron: Always thank you. We wouldn’t be doing this without them. We have the best fans.

You have been doing an expansive tour with Anthrax and still had time to do the Ozzfest Meets Knotfest and After shock festivals, how are you managing to fit this all in?

Ted: We just do this, we are the type of band that plays a ton of shows, with hardly any days off We find a way to squeeze it all in. .

The album that you guys are currently touring on is incredible. What was the real noticeable change in this album than what you guys have been doing over these years?

Ted: Wow! That’s a good question! Its three albums in with the same lineup. The three albums with this lineup is intense. You get to know each other really well, musically and personally. You get to know which buttons to push and which to not and mutual respect on a lot of things. Having to interact on and off stage, there’s just this chemistry there it’s kinda hard to describe. To me, that’s what the new album sounds like. Everyone in synch firing on all cylinders, it’s hard to explain, you just gotta listen to it, and you’ll hear it.

With the history of Gary Holt and Anthrax, Slayer and Exodus- the Bay area, how’s the camaraderie between everyone because you have that history? You guys are all working together on this tour.

Ted: It’s been an amazing tour. We’ve toured with many bands, and I’m not just saying this cause we’re on tour with them, but Slayer is the best band to tour with as of right now. Not only do they kick ass on stage, writing the most brutal Satanic music that influenced everyone…as people, they’re great humans. They make sure this tour; everybody is accommodated as much as they can so everyone could put on a good show. Slayer wants every band on their tour to put on a good show. It’s makes it great for not only us, but the fans, because that energy’s there.

Tell me about the guitar, everyone loves your ESP Signature guitar that is white on white. I see young kids playing these guitars that are modeled after you. What’s that feel like?

Ted: It’s great! My whole dream about guitars was if I could get one custom ESP. I don’t need anything else. One pick up, one volume knob (about the signature series), I guess the all while custom got out and made waves and ESP said, “Let’s do one.” At first I was hesitant because I thought the signature series always went to the shredders; I decided to it. I put 2 pickups and 2 volume knobs on this one instead of just one. Instead of the toggle switch up top on the right, we decided to put it down there. Right hand movement on that toggle switch is perfect. I have the prototype and it plays great, man. It sounds good. It plays good.

It just looks really clean and kinda cool. The white’s cool cause you don’t see finger prints on it. I’m stoked about it.

It’s been a long tour with just the Slayer and Anthrax portion of it. The one offs. You’re close to home and you aint going home and you have a week left. Are you guys giving yourself a couple months off? Or have you written while you’ve been out and about?

In 2017, the only thing we have going on right now is the 70000 Tons of Metal Cruise. That’s February 2nd to the 7th. There’s stuff being worked on. We plan to go out after that, maybe to Europe. Do another state’s run. Then we go to Europe for the Summer festivals. We’re touring in Winter and Spring. Who and where?

That’s yet to be determined, trying to work out some details.

What’s the ending on a high note phrase for this entire tour for you? What are you gonna walk away with from this?

Ted: A lot of knowledge, the most knowledge I ever had on tour. This tour, I’m walking away with not only meeting new people but knowledge on (1.) how to be a good person and (2.) how to run a band. That’s what I’m coming off this tour with.

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California is known for it’s danger of one day being hit by the seismic shakes of “the big one”, day and time is unknown, but what it is certain is that every year in Sacramento, Monster Energy’s AFTERSHOCK festival sure does make rock and metal waves that resonate in different states in the vicinity and way beyond (The Alaskan band “City In Ashes” and crew make their way to CA every year for this festival). Tool and Avenged Sevenfold were the headliners for this

two-day festival along with direct support by heavy-hitters Slayer, Korn, Primus, Disturbed, Meshuggah, Puscifer, Anthrax, Ghost, The Pretty Reckless, Chevelle, Zakk Sabbath, Motionless In White, Max and Igor Cavalera Retun to Roots, etc. There is definitely something for every single person attending, from the “new bands” making a name in the festival circuit to the well-known and established names that we know about.

This year for me was definitely a challenge. Only a night before this festival started, I was covering Korn’s “The Serenity of suffering” launch party private event presented by SIRIUS XM at ACE Hotel in Downtown LA and with enough time to hop in the car and drive to Sacramento, our editor in chief, senior editor and yours truly, as true rock n roll troopers, made our way to the state capital to witness even more awesome music madness.

Rock N Roll is not dead and definitely is not slowing down. Music and the times change, but I believe that I do, like many of you, my part in keeping it alive. Do share these experiences, drag a friend along to a festival, share the camaraderie that comes with being in the pit, being on your feet all day sweating and singing along to your favorite tunes from new and classic bands. This, is what I love about recurring festivals, the amazing experiences we get to take home, now… that’s an AFTERSHOCK!

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By Enrique Nunez

Enrique Nunez

This year, I would like to share a couple of other experiences, aside from stating the obvious: bands and how awesome the festival was (by the way, thank you Aftershock for taking great care of the media).

This year, despite walking about 12-14 miles running back and forth between stages and media area carrying 20+ lbs of equipment, I managed to take a few minutes here and there to reconnect with friends from Alaska (previously mentioned), Reno and even from LA, whom I see perform but not hangout as much. I also met new friends with whom I kept crossing paths at LA shows and one of them, Jenna, even became a concert buddy and model. It is because of these recurring festivals that music lovers like myself, look forward to not only the music, but the experience overall that it leaves with us once the final song has been played and the crew tears down the stage. To many of us, these festivals is not only about the rockstars, it is about friendships too.

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Enrique Nunez

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We met up with Brandon- vocalist and founding member, Mike- guitarist and Bruce- drummer after opening on the main stage at Aftershock festival.

How did it feel to open the main stage today?

Mike: For me it was extra exciting because last time I came to Aftershock with TMX (the Mendenhall Experiment) I was backstage hauling his equipment , to actually be on the main stage with him was a surreal moment and just a blessing its self. I’m very proud of the band and Brandon- all that he has accomplished.

Brandon: Honestly, I’m tired man, but playing up there on main stage it was awesome. It was the best feeling ever! So much preparation, weeks and weeks went into getting ready for this gig to have it go off without a hitch. It was amazing to look out there and see a couple thousand people throw their fists in the air, I totally live for it man. I think it everyone dug it and I hope there is a whole lot more of it.

Can you give us a little back story of the band?

Brandon: For anyone that doesn’t know about the Mendenhall Experiment we are a band that is focused on raising disability awareness, I myself am a founding member and I was born with Cerebral Palsy, I used the guitar to rehabilitate my left hand and heavy music to deal with the emotional aspect of having a disability.

Bruce tell us a little about winning a drum off at the age of 12 (that we were judges of and first met him) and how that has helped you to get to this point at such a young age.

Bruce: It was a trip, I was so little, and my brother wanted me to try out this competition. He really supported me and pushed me to make something out of myself. Doing this now, just a few years later, I never thought I would be were I am at aftershock, just strive for your goal and never give up!

Mike to Bruce: Dude did you realize you’re only 17 and you’re playing at Aftershock MAINSTAGE, you know what I was doing at 17?

Mike: For me it started off as just a hobby playing guitar, I have always had an eye for playing music, well ear- I guess you would say and I showed an interest in it, but my parents never got me any lessons. They would buy me a piano and just leave it up to me, like here you go; figure something out. It wasn’t until a buddy put a bass in my hands and told me, “let me show you something,” and that was it. From then on I knew I just wanted to play music. Eventually I asked my parents for some 26 Rock N Roll Industries Magazine

Enrique Nunez

You can stage on the mic (ALL Laugh) for anyone that doesn’t know Mike and Bruce are brothers. What made you guys decide to play music together?

drums and my brother would come into the room so, we brought him in sat him on the throne and he couldn’t even reach the pedals unless he sat on the very edge of the seat, but just showed him a 4/4 count and by the end of the week he could play the intro to For Whom The Bell Tolls, he was only 4 years old at the time, so I knew he had something.

Brandon How did you met Brandon, what made you decide to take a chance on a kid?

Brandon: In 2015 we got in an accident on our way home and half of our gear was destroyed. The band broke up so I called Mike and told him that he had a really good energy, want to be in my band? So, we were looking for members and he was like well my little brother plays drums, check him out and at the time I was thinking no way because he was so young. He sent me a video of Bruce playing Slipknot and I took one look at it and I was like alright he’s in! Now, today I can say that I couldn’t be more proud of that kid, because he’s the man and he’s going to be around for a very long time.

Our interview was cut short as the guys are pulled away so that they could sign at the Monster Energy booth. Being friends with these guys and having seen them rock small stages, was great to be able to see them at a huge festival like Aftershock. Not only there, but on the main stage and during their signing which had a huge line of people that were waiting to get in to meet them. Check these guys out, they have a new release coming soon as well as a documentary that they have been working on and collecting footage for the past 3 years, there are many great things to come from this band and they just want to prove that a disability is just a hurdle, but if you want anything bad enough, nothing can stop you!

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Stephanie Cabral

MEETS

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n May 12th, 2016 at the Hollywood Palladium, during a press conference, Â rumors were confirmed about two major festivals merging for a historic music chapter that would take place in southern California. First seeing Jose Mangin step out to welcome the crowd at the intimate gathering and introducing members of some of the bands to perform at Ozzfest meets Knotfest, including the prince of darkness himself and company. Corey Taylor, Dave Lombardo, Scott Ian, Jill Janus, were also there and with a few introductory words from Sharon Osbourne herself, the crowd was pumped up and began sharing the news on social media. The attending fans were able to purchase advanced discounted tickets for the festival that took place on September 24-25th, 2016 and well, it has come and gone and it was definitely one heck of a show.

Yes, nothing is ever perfect, some delays here and there, the general admission lawn was PACKED, let me tell you, I was recording footage and made my way there and trying to make it across from one side to the other took a lot of effort also working my way around the trash fires and moshpits, it was crazy in the general admission area and I’m sure it was awesome, raw rock n roll at a big festival.

There were many mixed emotions about seeing Black Sabbath in their final SoCal appearance, I crossed paths and chatted with people who had seen them many times and had been fans for decades and there

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were also those new generations who had heard of the Godfathers of metal but had never experienced their music. Yes, still many mixed emotions in the crowd about the old and the new, but one thing is certain. Ozzcamp always makes sure the fans get their money’s worth of fun and entertainment. Held at the San Manuel Amphitheater, the bill as most of you may remember was Black Sabbath and Slipknot (of course) headlining their respective fest days and some of the top names included Slayer, Anthrax, Trivium, Disturbed, Megadeth, Amon Amarth, Sabaton, Motionless In White, Opeth, Black Label Society, Suicide Silence, Butcher Babies, Rival Sons, Huntress, Devil Driver, Suicidal Tendencies, etc.

Being a multi-stage festival, this sure was set to be a skull-crushing weekend with the possibility of losing your hearing, this was definitely not for the faint of heart. Only true metal fans could endure the high temperatures and not mind paying $5 for a bottle of water. Walking back and forth between 3 stages until the main stage was opened around 5pm for the final and headlining acts took an act of love to metal music only true fans have.

We know we will see and hear more from most of the bands in this year’s festival but would like to add a few more personal notes before we sign off this article and pay our tribute and respect to the one band that deserves it all, without them, many of these performing bands would not be where they are today. Black Sabbath plowed the road for almost 50 years for what is known today as our music, heavy metal. Rock N Roll Industries Magazine would like to thank Ozzcamp and all involved for allowing us to be part of this historic event, as official program sponsors, we were able to release our first ever double sided cover featuring Black Sabbath and Slipknot. We thank all the fans who continue to support print media as the digital days take over and many magazines are rapidly fading into just memories.

Sabbath definitely left us with a bittersweet taste in our mouths and ears (if that is possible even). With the years of experience of performing all these decades and leavin a treasure of music behind for all of us and future generations to enjoy, Sabbath allow new generations to carry the torch of metal and for that, we salute and thank you. Now that was a way to celebrate 20 years of Ozzfest and quite a way to allow us to say Thank You and goodbye to the pillars of heavy metal, Black Sabbath and company, farewell, “Sabbath Bloody Sabbath” -Enrique Nunez

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Armored Saint an American heavy metal band originating from Los Angeles, California. The band was formed in 1982 when brothers Phil (guitar) and Gonzo (drums) Sandoval brought David Prichard (guitar) in while attending High School. John Bush (vocals) and Joey Vera (bass) came on board next. In 1988 Jeff Duncan was added to the lineup to replace Phil who returned after the demise of David.

This group has disbanded and reunited twice since they started but have kept the same line-up.

They are a hard working bunch and have a long list of releases to prove it. Their latest studio album Win Hands Down which was released on June 2, 2015 was a huge success, selling twice the number of copies that La Raza did in 2010.

Carpe Noctum Armored Saint’s newest endeavor was recorded LIVE at the band’s 2015 Wacken Festival and Aschaffenburg performances in Germany. The album is slated to be released on February 24, 2017. The band has already completed one USA tour in support of their live CD during November and December of 2016. The single live version of “Aftermath” was released and may be previewed on Metal Blade Records site.

- Peggy Murphy

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Tells us a little about this live album. Who did the mastering?

Where was it recorded at?

Joey: It was recorded at a couple of shows in Germany in 2015 when we were doing some touring out there. Recorded 2 shows in Germany particularly. It was mastered by Maor Applebaum who’s done a couple of records with us. We’re super excited about it, it’s just a live record.

Its 5 guys on stage. There’s nothing fancy…no overdubs. It’s what we sounded like that night.

haven’t played. We haven’t played Florida since Simple Salvation. So it’s gonna be cool. Chicago… I think we haven’t played there in like 15 years.

Tell me about this live album. Is it all off your last album or mixed with some of the back ones. John: There’s 2 songs from the new record and there’s some deep cuts from our catalog…some classic hits.

I think it’s kind of a good mix of everything personally.

So they get to hear the real Armored Saint?

Stephanie Cabral

Joey: The real deal! That’s what we do.

John: We’ve always been a great live band. I think this one captures us a little better than Saints Will Conquer did. Maybe we’re a little bit better than we were then….possibly. It sounds like a kind of ode to some of the classic live records that we love like Strangers in the Night… Kiss of Life….things like that were kinda like the template for this.

You guys just got back from tour overseas and you’re getting ready to go out on tour next week with Queensryche. What were some of your favorite stops this year?

Joey: Barcelona. We just played Japan, Which was awesome…both of those places were awesome…we hadn’t played either in the history of the band’s career. Tokyo was awesome…we played Loud Festival…it was a killer festival.

John: We did another string of dates with Metal Church. It was a great bill. We played the West Coast of the United States. It was a great bill for fans. Every show was sick!

Joey: There’s places on this upcoming Queensryche tour that we

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Will the audience hear the same songs as your live album on the next tour?

Joey: Mostly I think so. We’re supporting Queensryche so our set times are gonna be a little shorter than if we’re headlining. What we try to do is mix our set up every night…we don’t like going out and playing the same songs. Even if we’re only playing 45 minutes or 50 minutes every night we try to mix it up, even if it’s just adding a different one from the night before. Our sets gonna be pretty varied over the course of the whole run.

We’ve got some deep things we’re pulling out for this.

You guys have always been great at social media. How has social media like Pledge Music changed the way you guys do releases?

John: Well you know if it wasn’t for Pledge Music we probably wouldn’t be doing this tour. As Joey mentioned we’re the support act. There’s only a certain amount of money that the support act can generate. We’re obviously grateful that we’re going out with Queensryche. They’re an amazing band and we’re happy that we’re doing it. They’re paying a certain amount of money and for us to do the tour properly and not be in a van and staying at Motel 6 every night… to do it with some kind of enjoyment…we need help. This is kind of our way of getting tour support in a sense so we’re grateful to all the pledgers and everyone that’s helped to do this tour What would you tell the little bands on how to use the social media world to the best of their advantage.

Joey: {laughs}they might be telling us because we’re the old guys. Still trying to conquer the keyboard on a computer.

Joey: That’s we’re we come from. I think it’s important. It’s a new way of the model of how people do anything these days.

You gotta use it to your advantage…to be connected to people.

People want to be closer to the artists. It reminds us that we have a connection with people all over the world. When you do something like Pledge Music…it’s kind of a glorified fan club.

It brings in so many people that are so dedicated to the band.

Reminds you how much of impact you have. It’s humbling.

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John: {laughs} We’re putting up flyers!

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and I figured he’d be good, I didn’t expect just how great he was. His charm was that he was the least ”heavy metal” looking/acting of all the bands on the 2-day bill. Coxpulled out songs I never thought I’d see performed such as “Euthanasia,” “Slave To Freedom” and “Suzie Smiled.”

I got to speak to him the next day and he mentioned he didn’t plan on doing many shows and probably not the states. He was more interested in running his label Metal Nation Records (putting out the new Blitzkrieg) but agreed to perform since some of his artists were on the bill. I’m glad he did and that I was lucky enough to catch him. It was a nice surprise to see how great he was.

December 2: After a two hour train ride I finally arrived in Sheffield, just in time to drop my bags off and walk (conveniently located) across the street to the 02 Academy Sheffield for the XMAS ROCKA NWOBHM. I was pumped and in a rush to get over by 2pm for Jaguar (one of the bands that brought me over five thousand miles to see). Jaguar never played America so I was really excited to finally see them. Garry Peppard wasted no time and kicked into full gear with the opening riff of “Dutch Connection” sending the front row into a frenzy. Jarvis Leatherby from Night Demon was a perfect fit for Paul Merrill’s shoes as he wailed away through classic after classic such as “Prisoner,” “Master Game,” “Back Street Woman,” “War Machine” and their anthem “Axe Crazy.” Finally, an almost thirty-five year itch scratched. For the next 10 hours I spent ping ponging between Room 2 and the Main Arena without a breather. One classic British band after another, most of who I never thought I’d ever get to witness live.

Mythra hit the Room 2 stage burning through classics such as “U.F.O,” “Killer,” “Death and Destiny” plus “England,” “Overlord” and “Vicious Bastard.” Unfortunately I had to leave so I could make it to the Main Arena where Yorkshire’s Black Rose had taken the stage. After Black Rose I headed back to Room 2 for Cloven Hoof but could barely make it through the doors so I went back to the Main Arena for Persian Risk.

After checking out a little of their set I headed back upstairs just in time for Fist (UK), featuring original member’s Harry Hill on drums and Dave Irwin on guitar. Fist powered through favorites such as “The Vamp” and “Collision Course,” ending with the one two punch “Name, Rank and Serial Number” and “You’ll Never Get Me Up” from their first single.

The rest of the action took place in the Main Arena where Witchfynde, resurrecting the classic 1980 line-up, were already on the stage unleashing their theatrical brand of heavy occult rock. Next up, one of my personal faves, Blitzkrieg. I had seen Brain Ross in the U.S. a couple times with Satan but this would be the first time I witnessed Blitzkrieg live. It was now a packed house as Blitzkrieg took the stage, kicking off with “Armageddon” and plowing through other classics such as “A Time of Changes” and “Hell To Pay” plus “Nocturnal Vision,” Ross’s tribute to Alice Cooper. Ross also gave a shout out to Russ Tippins of Satan who was in the house before blasting into Satan’s “Pull The Trigger,” and ended with their now-legendary anthem “Blitzkrieg.”

Next up was Tygers of Pan Tang’s Jess Cox backed by the Filth Hounds.

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Here we go. Closing out a perfect night was Rock Goddess, fully intact (Turner sisters and Tracey Lamb)! I never got to see Rock Goddess in the day. By the time they played the U.S. I was on to other types of musical adventures. They came on like a hell storm and were a lot more “punk” than I thought, with Jodie sporting a Motorhead shirt and plaid trousers, which suits me fine. It was great finally hearing high energy songs like “Heartache,” “My Angel,” “Back To You” and “Satisfied Then Crucified.” Talk about times changing for the better. I kept thinking how great is it that both Rock Goddess and Girlschool were the two headliners after fighting their way in a scene that was once perceived as a “boys club.”

December 3: After traveling from London, feeling a flu coming on pretty strong and running around for over 10 hours the night before, it was hard to roll out of bed in the morning but roll I did, right into a shower and food and off

Todd Nakamine

Two nights celebrating the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal movement, most of the bands never having played the US even in the day! To see most of these bands now you would have to travel to London to see them individually which is why I jumped on the chance to them all gathered in one festival in over the course of two days.THE XMAS ROCKA brought together a wide variety of English bands from the underground metal scene that we in the states only read about in rags like Kerrang! and Sounds.

to the venue to catch the first act, the mighty Savage. Savage was another HUGE reason I came to Sheffield to see.They hit the stage at 2p sharp (the whole festival ran like clockwork). Wow! Like Jaguar, Savage is one of those bands that should have made it a lot bigger than they did. Featuring original members Chris Bradley (vocals and bass) and Andy Dawson (guitar) plus Chris Bradley’s son Kristian on guitar and Mark Nelson on drums, Savage was a non-stop battering ram of classics such as “The China Run,” “We Got The Edge,” ‘Ain’t No Fit Place,” “Cry Wolf” and ending with “Let It Loose.” conjure I caught a few songs of Quartz’s set before heading over to catch Tokyo Blade featuring original vocalist Alan Marsh. Today there was much more overlaps than the night before. Tokyo Blade played tracks culled from the first three album. Overall a stellar set with the exception of a little glitch as the band fumbled through “Sunrise In Tokyo.” Like pros,

they laughed it off proving how fun a real live show can be and continued through the rest of their set flawlessly.

I ran upstairs to Room 2 to catch Tytan featuring Kevin Riddles from Angel Witch. Riddles, as always, holding court between songs, mixing old with new including “Blind Men and Fools,” “Ballad of Edward Case” and “Far Side of Destiny” from their 1985 debut which Riddles joking it only took them 30 years to release.

Back downstairs for the tail-end of Demon’s set before checking out a little of Trespass’s set in Room 2 and, again, back to the Main Arena for Grim Reaper’s set. By this time my flu was kicking into full swing, sore throat and all, so I decided it was best to sit it out in the press room if I was to survive the final three bands. After a long sit and seriously contemplating sleeping on the couch, I managed to conjure enough energy

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to get up and go back down to the Main Arenato catch the last three acts, Vardis, Venom Inc. and Girlschool.

Closing out The XMAS ROCKA was Girlschool featuring original members Kim McAuliffe, Enid Williams, Denise Dufort along with Jackie Chambers on guitar.Girlschool has long been one of my favorites, hammering through thundering classics such as “C’mon Let’s Go,” “Demolition Boys,” “Screaming Blue Murder” and “Yeah Right,” mixed with tracks from their latest album Guilty As Sin including “Come the Revolution” and “Take it Like A Band,” Girlschool’s set was solid and flowed perfectly proving that they can still write songs that live up to the high standards they set in the late 70s and early 80s. Tonight Girlschool played for keeps bringing the festival to an explosive end.

Unfortunately I was way to sick and exhausted to stay for the late night NWOBHM Disco that went on until 2am so I took one last look around and made up my mind to go back in 2017 for THE XMAS ROCKA 2017 (towards the end of the night HRH posted an announcement on the screens. THE XMAS ROCKA returns to the 02 Academy Sheffield in on December 2nd & 3rd, 2017. Featured: Diamond Head, Raven, Praying Mantis, Avenger, Lionheart, Airrace, Mick Underwood’s Glory Road, Holocaust, Gaskin, Salem, Traitors Gate, Blackmayne, Toledo Steel, Tysondog and Seventh Son. -Todd Nakamine

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Todd Nakamine

The power trio Vardis, featuring original guitarist/vocalist Steve Zodiac, brought their brand of guitar boogie playing an hour set playing favorites such as “Destiny,” Situation Negative” and “The Lion Share.” After Vardis I eagerly awaited Venom Inc. I saw them in Los Angeles this past summer and couldn;t wait to check them out on English soil. After a small bass glitch delaying the start for a few minutes while they fixed the rig, I was pleasantly surprised when they went into “Rip Ride” from At War With Satan, an album they hadn’t touched in Los Angeles. They pounded the rabid crowd with Black Metal anthems such as “Angel Dust,” “Welcome To Hell,” “Sons of Satan” and “Witching Hour” but oddly deciding not to play “Black Metal,” the song and style that christened the genre to begin with. Nonetheless it was great to see them play among the more traditional metal acts on the bill in harmony, both on stage and crowd.

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Tiana: “All these people are above you and it’s so amazing to know you can achieve this without a label. I’m guessing their marketing guy is getting screamed at because an unknown band is up there, it’s quite an accomplishment. We have a great fanbase and team that rallies behind us.

All the PDs love the single and are playing and new fans are responding to it and requesting it. It’s very cool for us. We are not opposed to be signed, we are open for discussion and what a company has to offer and how they can help VARNA be the best we can be”

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Sean: “It’s a matter of looking for the right deal, you cannot go after a company just for the name, it’s a business partnership” Who nominated you guys for the Independent Music Awards?

Tiana and Sean: Amy Lee of Evanescence, Shinedown, Sepultura, Slayer…

Tiana: It’s really cool to be legitimized by that! I freaked out when I found out!

Sean: I started doing flips when I found out, I mean, a band like Slayer nominating us?!!! I had to do a double take.

Varna: We were nominated for best hard rock song (Living a lie). We flew to NYC and had such a great time and meeting other bands. We were like the loner band that is not signed to a label. We are just trying to create a career out of our passion, it solidifies that we are doing the right thing, we’ve been working very hard.

-Enrique Nunez

Enrique Nunez

We had a live Google Hangout interview with VARNA who recently played the Lestat Ball in New Orleans by direct invitation of Anne Rice’s team. We had Tiana (vocalist) and Sean (drums) share with us a bit of what the last 3 months have been like. With a release of a second single called “Survival of the fittest” which received a great reaction from the listeners and radio stations landing them on spot #35 with a bullet (still climbing at the time of the interview) on Billboard’s mainstream list. Very impressive considering they are the only independent unsigned band to achieved this amongst names like Metallica, Korn, Sick Puppies, Otep who were in similar ranking spots at the time their single was released, again, all this without a label.

By Arthur Gonzales

Arthur Gonzales

What a killer lineup loaded with hours of fist pumping tunes! The artists on the roaster were 12 Stones, Tantric, Crazytown, Alien Ant Farm, Saving Able, Saliva with select dates featuring Drowning Pool, Puddle of Mudd, and P.O.D. On this hot Texas night the bands serving up the tunes were Tantric who hit the stage at 6 pm. They set the rone for the night and were flawless and working the crowd up fast. Alien Ant Farm hit the stage next with hits and keeping the crowd rocking from start to finish. The sun was starting to set as they wrapped up and Saving Able was ready to crush it. Without missing a beat, they picked up where the momentum had been left and kept the energy high. Ending their set with the crowd still chanting their name a quick change over saw Saliva hit the stage with a vengeance!

They not only slammed their hits but did a medley of tunes from In the Air Tonight, Another Brick in the Wall, Don’t Really Care About Us into the ACDC monster TNT. The bar was raised once again & Trapt was ready to close the show with nothing short of high energy that kept the Texas rockers in attendance screaming along. They closed the show with their hit, Headstrong and it was obvious that those who packed up the outdoor venue had their faces rocked off.

This was one of the absolute best festival show tours of 2016 and was very well worth every penny spent by attendees.

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Summer Slaughter

Mylissa Graves

The tenth annual Summer Slaughter headliner was Cannibal Corpse and I was excited to get a front row seat for death metal in all its glory!

The Observatory is the ideal place to have Summer Slaughter because of the main room. It is like a half circle and the stage is in the middle. I feel it brings people together and the pit is the nucleus. This year’s lineup included Ingest, Slaughter to Prevail, Krisiun, Revocation, Carnifex, Suffocation, After The Burial, and Nile. A few years ago I interviewed George Kollias, drummer of Nile, but I never saw him in action. When Nile took the stage, the crowd lost their minds. They did an epic job keeping the energy going and leaving the crowd wanting more! The crowd was screaming NILE! NILE! They played some songs off their 2015 album “What Should Not Be Unearthed.” San Diego’s best deathcore band Carnifex was another band that stood out to me. I love the stage presents of lead singer Scott Ian Lewis, he always looks and sounds great. He really captures the crowd’s attention with his stage presents and growls.

Cannibal Corpse began their set with the ever brutal “Evisceration Plague,” and followed with “I Cum Blood,” “Time to Kill,” and “Sadistic Embodiment.” It was an excellent night for death metal. I saw a lot of familiar faces and made new friends. Cheers to all the bands that played, each one did an outstanding performance.

- Raquel Figlo

Swedish rockers Ghost have been climbing to the top of the world within the past couple of years. In 2015, the band released their third album Meliora which earned them a Grammy in Sweden. The album’s lead single Cirice (Sa-reese) won the 2016 Grammy award for best metal performance. On September 16, 2016, Ghost released their second EP Popestar which included a brand new track Square Hammer and four covers. Ghost set out

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on the North American Popestar tour and the Riverside Municipal Auditorium in Riverside, California was the perfect setting for this night of ritual. The lights went out and the two intro tracks began before the band members came out and started the show with Square Hammer. The fans were going wild as Ghost played their music to perfection and fans were seen singing along. Lots of fans were also dressed in attire to match the band whether dressed as Nameless Ghouls, Papa Emeritus, or satanic nuns by female fans. Ghost played songs from their catalog which included: From the Pinnacle to the Pit, Secular Haze, and Con Clavi Con Dio. One of the main attractions to the show is when Papa Emeritus would bring two female audience members, dress them up as nuns called Sisters of Sin, and have them pass out communion wafers and wine.

Beforehand, Papa Emeritus showed his more humorous side and spoke to the audience how they should behave with the Sisters of Sin and told the audience no touching and made clicking noises with his mouth and hand gestures making references to the audience so they don’t grab the Sisters of Sin’s boobs, butt, or lick their fingers.

Halfway through the show, the instrumental Devil Church track was played by the band while Papa Emeritus changed his outfit from a

satanic pope to a more gentlemanly look with a tuxedo. Ghost continued to put their fans in a trance as Papa Emeritus used his beautiful yet haunting vocals to sing one of their biggest hits, Year Zero. Another beautiful track is He Is from their Meliora album and is perhaps the band’s most beautiful song that can bring people to tears. During the performance of Mummy Dust, cannons filled with confetti and dollar bills valued at six-hundred and sixty six dollars with a photo of Papa Emeritus where the president would be were shot into the air towards the end of the song for fans to pickup and take home. The show came to a grand finale with Monstrance Clock as the Ghouls left the stage one by one as the song outro faded.

The fans got Ghost, and now they had everything. -Miseal Ruiz

Miseal Ruiz

Ghost

Nik Kai Nik Kai is a 15 year old American Heavy Metal Lead Guitarist who has only played guitar for 6 years. He has incredible hand-eye coordination and an exceptional ear for music.

Which has helped him rack up the musical achievements en mass which began with his featured episode on the Howard Stern Show at the age of 11 then continued on to various national television programs then won the 2011 LA Music Awards ‘Rock Guitarist of the Year’. Later that same year Nik stunned the crowds at Dimebash 2011 on the Sunset Strip, which lead to his unprecedented nod as the youngest “Metal as F#ck” nominee in the history of the prestigious Metal Hammer UK’s Golden God Awards. He is the youngest lead guitarist ever invited to play Wacken Festival in Germany.

Major endorsements soon followed.

This young musician has played with many of today’s top players and musical legends and he now has his sights set on finishing his first album and releasing his merchandise line. Nik is also currently working on a reality television project with various celebrity artists, all while continuing to tour and collaborate on musical endeavors. He is proud to have founded the rock/metal/alternative band & also his new EDM Project.

Nik has been in studio the past few months writing producing and engi-

neering not only his own projects but other artists as well. He is especially excited to be working with virtual reality company, Holor, on a NAMM-themed 360-degree video. Holor, which was founded by veteran creatives from Disney, Pixar and Lucasfilm, is looking to work with several musician influencers on an upcoming fully integrated platform to create and distribute VR content throughout 2017. The VR title with Nik will be available soon on holor.com.

Keep current on his activities at Nikkaiofficialmusic.com Nik’s endorsers here at the NAMM Show are: Epiphone Marshall Coffin Case Dunlop Westone Ghost Circus Apparel Monster Energy Music As well as: Jason O. Jaeger, DC Chiropractor LV St Rose Urgent Care Animal Hospital LV Ira Smith Dog & Service Animal Training LV

Press Note/Story update: Nik will be celebrating his 16th birthday on Jan 19, the first day of NAMM 2017

Edge Of Paradise Edge of Paradise, fronted by female vocalist Margarita Monet plays heavy metal music. The band was formed by Margarita in 2011 in Los Angeles, CA. You wouldn’t know by looking at her but this girl can whale, such an amazing vocal range! Margarita is also an amazing Pianists, along with Dave Bates (Guitarist), John Chominsky (Percussionist) and Nick Ericson (Bassist).

The band has two studio albums, “Mask” and “Immortal Waltz” and have shared a stage with Kamelot, Bullet Boys, Hellion, Helmet, Chris Broderick of Megadeth, Dave Lombardo of Slayer and Michael Angelo Batio.

Check out their unique sound of metal music in a city near you, don’t miss out on seeing this band in action! US tour starting in Spring and Europe in the fall, this also includes Female Metal Event Festival in Eindhoven, Netherlands.

Edge Of Paradise is gearing up to release a new album titled “Alive” on March 10th, the first single (title unknown until release) and music video for the song will be released on Feb 3th.

Miranda Panda Rock N Roll Industries Magazine 47

“Lifeswork” FINAL DRIVE is definitely one to watch this year as they prepare to tear through North America again to bring DIG DEEPER to a stage near you. Catch FINAL DRIVE on the “NAMM YOU ALL TO HELL” tour with MOBILE DEATHCAMP.

DOLL SKIN, a self proclaimed band of, “glitter-fueled, teenage, punkrock super heroes” are creating quite a stir in many circles. In October 2015, the group’s debut EP In Your Face was released worldwide under the EMP Label Group and distributed through Megaforce Records in North America and Cargo Records in Europe. It was produced by David Ellefson and mixed by Ryan Greene. In December 2015, “In Your Face” was released in Europe, Asia and Australia by Cargo Records. The debut video “Family of Strangers” has already reached over 40,000 views via Vevo and Youtube.

DOLL SKIN was named one of the ‘10 Best Bands and Musicians in Phoenix Under the Age of 21’ in Dec 2014, one of the top 15 bands to watch for in March of 2015 and’ #1 band under 21 in Phoenix, AZ’ in No-

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We do this for ourselves and for our Metal Family, nothing else matters. - FINAL DRIVE DIG DEEPER by FINAL DRIVE arrives February 3, 2017.

vember of 2015. They were also hailed as the ‘Best Breakthrough Band’

by Heavy Metal Television and featured in an Alternative Press Magazine article “7 Of The Best Rising Bands Under 21” at the end of 2016. Then finally in Jan 2017 Stone Chrome Radio & TV announced that DOLL SKIN had been chosen as 2016’s Listener’s Choice Award for “Favorite Female Fronted Band”.

They have played shows with Social Distortion, Green Jello, DRI, SLUNT and have toured extensively around the West Coast with bands as diverse as Dead Kennedys and Escape The Fate.

DOLL SKIN will be playing in the NAMM JAM 2017 at the Anaheim City Garden Walk with Buck Cherry.

Kaley Nelson Photography

FINAL DRIVE, a crushing and new force on the scene with a singular focus on getting asses out of seats for some hell raisin’ beer drinkin’ F*CK YEAH metal! Dig Deeper, their brand new studio album release launches February 3, 2017 and signifies the evolution of FINAL DRIVE as they take daring new approaches and include new collaborations that have yielded their most impressive and powerful music yet. Produced by Charlie Bellmore (Jasta, Kingdom of Sorrow), mixed by Nicky Bellmore (Dexters Lab Studio, Toxic Holocaust), and mastered by Zuess (Hatebreed, Rob Zombie), Dig Deeper is an auditory assault of groove heavy thrash metal that drags you by the teeth and leaves you bruised, bloodied and exhilarated in its wake. Tracks like “The Last Time” & “Life Decided” amplify the progression of FINAL DRIVE’s melodic prowess while “Built to Break” and “This is How” solidify the thrash elements and signature aggression of FINAL DRIVE that keeps you in the moshpit long after the songs have ended. Following two years of nonstop touring on behalf of their last effort entitled

Mike Sedlack Photography

Bands to Watch

Our Friend Author Gonzales aka Mr. Creepy has been such an inspiration to the RnR team we wanted to take a moment to recognize his perseverance.

Arthur lost the love of his life due to liver failure, plus good friend and fellow guitarist Shane Gibson from a blood disorder around the time he released his first Mr. Creepy EP. Not feeling the drive to push his new EP he took to the studio for some guitar therapy playing ghost for other artists, which helped him battle depression and deal with his own health issues. Art has a bone disease that has resulted in facial decomposing and he will need most of his face rebuilt.

None of this has stopped Mr. Creepy!! He is hard at work in Texas, he is so entertaining and the locals love him!!

Art is putting a project together for 2017 with various artist such as Jessie Snider, Mike James, Paul Phillips, Militia Vox and Varna band, RnR magazine will have all the updates and new music.

We wish Art all the health and luck in 2017, keep rockin brother!!

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Dethklok’s favorite METAL producer Ulrich Wild adapts to the times, producing bands and now launching his own label, Wurm Group.

By Raquel Figlo

RNR: Why did you create Wurm Group?

seen now that is working or not working?

Ulrich: There needs to be a way for bands to get started. Labels do not want to take the time to develop bands anymore, because it is expensive. Everyone is struggling to make money. Producers have always found new bands and they use to find record deals for them. We would make the album and get paid that way, but that doesn’t really happen anymore. Bands are on their own making their first recordings and doing a lot of self-releases.

Financially that does not always workout for the producer involved. Basically, I am doing what I have always done with a band. I produce them and now release them through my own label, Wurm Group. I am trying to build their brand and put them in a better negotiating position to get a label deal or stay completely independent.

Ulrich: I started learning recording techniques in the late 80’s/ 90’s, in the heyday of tape recordings. It was amazing to have all these big machines, and it was impressive and fun. Then the computer came along and everyone got scared of it, and just like any new technology it needed to be learned. It was a new medium and they were very new to it. They, meaning producers, said it sounded brittle and stale. To a point they were right, but tape sounded hissy and muddy.

RNR: What do you think bands need to do more of?

Ulrich: The most important thing bands need to do is play live and make their shows special by telling their story and have this emotional connection with the audience. A lot of times I see bands playing at the audience instead of for the audience. Bands need to have that emotional connection with the audience so their fans will come out and support them. If you come up with something cool that resonates with your audience then I think you are on the right track. It could be nudity, face paint, masks, whatever works. If it works, it works. If it doesn’t, it doesn’t.

RNR: What is Ulrich Wilds story?

Ulrich: I am still the same guy that I was when I started out, potentially a little smarter and not so naïve anymore. I am still doing this for the music. I don’t know what else I would be doing.

This is fun and yes it is a job, but I don’t feel like I am working. I am striving to have a good time with every project and I think the kids can tell that I am having a good time recording. I am always trying to look out for the artist I am working with whether they are famous or just starting out. That’s my story, pretty short and simple.

RNR: What changes in technology have you 50 50 Rock Rock N N Roll Roll Industries Industries Magazine Magazine

Neither of the two mediums were perfect. But what had happened is everyone had developed their recording technique to accommodate the tape. Producers then used their recording techniques and brought them into the digital world. They used Pro Tools at the time, taping the imperfect medium that it is. You do lose a lot of time in the tape. My best advice is learning the new medium and accommodating it by changing the microphones. Make it sound good.

RNR: A lot of bands use Pro Tools to make their music. What are the pro’s and con’s of using Pro Tools? What is your opinion on Pro Tools and it taking away the business to producers?

Ulrich: It use to be that bands had 4 track cassette decks to make their initial demo recordings. And they would come out horrible.

That doesn’t happen anymore. Now you can have a really good recording right out the gate.

Now you don’t even need to be in a band. That is a real big problem and ruining the music business I think, because everyone can just go make a record and have pretty decent results with very limited gear. So there is a lot of awful stuff out there. You also have really talented people out there using the same technology.

So it goes both ways. The talented people are diluted in this sea of mud.

As far as producers are concerned, it is cut both ways for us as well. The whole decline of the music business forced us to have our own studios and it would have not been possible if it wasn’t for Pro Tools and other logic. We are still here helping bands make the best product they can make. Some stuff bands can do on their

own is just fine and others can’t and eventually come back to me to help them with what they need help with. Some are just fine doing it on their own. Sometimes they are better off doing it on their own. There is a freedom there that makes things fresher. Part of our production skill is knowing when to do nothing. That’s when the art of doing nothing comes to play and letting the artist figure it out on their own.

RNR: Before a band comes to you, what do they need to be prepared with?

Ulrich: Most bands are usually at the stage where they know who they are. The most important thing is always the songs. It doesn’t mean the songs are always written. Last minute songs come up, that’s what I call “Shitting out gold.” I got that from Ari from Otep. Some bands may not have any songs written yet, but they might have a really good track record.

They usually have good ideas floating around and that is a good start. The baby bands usually have some songs already written that’s how they got the attention. Usually it is a good attitude and talent. Those are the most important things.

RNR: Tell me about your up and coming project with Brendon Small.

Ulrich: Brendon Small is a talented dude. I made a lot of records with him. We did three Dethklok records, and Metalocalypse which was the most fun I have ever had. I did his first solo record and now I am working on his second solo record.

Brendan Small has a very orchestral sound. It is going to be a lot like that again. We tracked the drums, rhythm guitars and bass. He is doing his guitar and vocal over dubs on his own which he has always done. He needs time to work it all out. Here is a situation where not all the songs are initially complete, so there is a lot of writing that needs to be done. This is the way he works and this is a situation where Pro Tools works out really well.

hat’s up my guitar wielding soldiers? Are you ready to rock? Good! If you’re reading this at the NAMM show, don’t forget to visit the Rock N Roll Industries Magazine booth 2493! There will be a large number of rock stars signing autographs and who knows what could happen; it’s NAMM!

Now, if you’re at home, I’m sorry you missed the party at NAMM! But you can still learn to play better!

Today’s lesson is about bending the strings!

I’ve seen many a shredder that, while they can play a thousand notes, they can’t get the emotion and meaning that B.B. King gets with one single lick. A lot of being a successful guitar player is knowing when to play, and sometimes not playing, but knowing when that one note is perfect; just like a heavenly sigh. In Gary Moore’s “Parisienne Walkway” is a perfect example. Listen to how long he is able to get one note. That note that just sustains on and on is beautiful.

the 5th fret note to match the 3rd fret on your B string. Moving up play the sixth fret on the B string and bend it to the 5th fret of your E string. Keep moving this pattern up and down the fret board and enjoy, bends are one of the most sensual notes. You can feel the notes when they match! Give this a try and don’t give up! I hope to see y’all at the NAMM show at the Rock N Roll Industries Magazine booth 2493, I’ll be rocking (literally) my new Zerberus Stone top guitar, her name is Bella Carreno at the magazine booth and my other endorsers. Can’t wait to see y’all and remember keep your strings clean and your riffs mean. Much love to everyone!

Michael G.

Now when you’re bending your strings there are spots you want to be able to hit quarter bends, half and whole notes on your G string bend

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Pedal to the Metal Using a pedal tone to create fast and harmonious riffs and licks is a fundamental part of learning to shred on the guitar. Listen to some of the heaviest bands of the 80s and you’ll know exactly what I’m talking about.

To get us started, we’re going to take notes from an A Harmonic Minor Scale [A B C D E F G#] to create 3 basic triads on string 1.

The first triad you’re going to use is Am [A C E] playing in sequence C A E. The second is going to be E Major [E G# B] playing in sequence B G# E. Third, we have D B E which I am going to take a liberty of calling E7 no 3rd [E G# B D].

To make it fit a 4 measure progression we’re going put them in the order Am E E7 Am. Getting these up to speed might be tricky, try alternate picking, pull offs and finally tremolo picking once you see how fast your pull offs can go. I think of it like skipping rope. See the rope tempo (right hand) and jump in (left hand). The next segment sets the motif for the right hand rhythm for the next set of riffs. Notice it’s just a, E5 with a palm muted E and B E double stop stacked 4th underneath. To make it sound heavier, I used a b5 on top of the major 7th to leave a bit of tension unresolved before going into the next part. Going into the next phrase, we keep the pedal idea going, this time expanding the fretboard using single notes D E F and G up and back on the A string. The F is the b2nd which was taken from the Phrygian Mode [E F G A B C D], but the chords use a combination of the Bb5 A5 and G5 in the 4th measure which add the metal tone I hinted at in the previous sequence. The same route is used the second time through, but to make it more interesting I’m using chromatic power chords dragging them back and striking them again to get a “chug-a-duh” feel. If you’re not familiar with the term Chromatic, it simply means moving from one note to the next using semi-tones or half step intervals. This means I’m moving from Bb5 to A5 to Ab5 to G5 to Gb5 finishing on F5. A lot of great metal riffs have been based on chromatic intervals, but if you’re writing your own riffs my suggestion is

not to over use them. Also, try not to feel limited to power chords. The same concept works great with both major 3rd and minor 3rd diads. Since most of the riffs so far have started out using a variation of E, I’m changing keys by working my way into Gm. Since Gm has 2 flats (Bb and Eb), I’m going to keep the rhythm from the previous examples but only use the notes from the G natural minor scale [G A Bb C D Eb F]. In the first section I suggested using skipping rope as a way to get this one up to speed. If you can do that with this example, great! Just keep in mind that now we are really using a 16th note sequence rather than a triplet grouping from before. Picking each note is suggested, but if you need to bounce the notes around first feel free to take liberty to craft your own rhythm in that works best for you. The next section is going back into Em and if you can get it rhythmically in two strikes, possibly using inside or outside picking that’ll be most efficient. If you need a 3rd or 4th strike to get every note in the 4 note initial pattern, that’s fine too. Notice the bend isn’t a half or whole step, but simply a ¼ bend. This might also help speed you up! Really, the note doesn’t need to be bent at all. I just use it for extra texture. Moving the Em box 1 in a 3 note sequence from the A is pretty common, however I shift to box 5 at the end grapping the G on the 10th fret of the A for ease at the end. The bend at the end of the measure should only be a half step adding some vibrato to get you back into E to finish the lick. The last line I’ve taken a different harmonic minor scale and eliminated to 4th tone. E Harmonic Minor [E F# G A B C D#] without the 4th is [E F# G B C D#]. Taking the 3 note descending pattern again I’m descending backwards to E hitting the major 7th at the end and after the briefest pause I’m bending the E up to F# and back down to E with a touch of vibrato before dropping down to an E5 power chord.

Those last two notes chords you see are a diminished chord slide used once again to end on a bit of tension. I hope you enjoyed this month’s column. Feel free to send me questions at http://www.takelessons.com/ with/Jason-M and I’ll see ya next time!!

-Jason Martin

In Phase The Corporate Gig: How to Make A Buck Without Selling Out Technology can be a real mixed bag for musicians. On one hand, record companies seem to promote about a half-dozen artists on their labels, reformulating corporate pop song(s) into their own respective genres. On the other hand, you now have access to almost LIMITLESS resources for the production and distribution of your music that few could have even dreamed of 20 years ago. You no longer need a record label (let alone a high-priced recording studio!), in order to get your song out into the world. Of course, nobody’s going to pay you for it, but hey... that’s not why we do what we do! It’s all about the love, the artistic integrity, right? Still, a few bucks would be nice...

Whatever your motivation, why don’t we see if we can make some money while we’re at it? First off, let’s talk about DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) programs. There are several low-cost and even no-cost DAWs out there.

Naturally you’ll want to do your own research, but here are a couple of examples to get you started if you’re new to home recording: Audacity is a free, basic, open-source DAW from Sound Forge that will do the job, and is fairly intuitive to learn. (https://sourceforge.net/ projects/audacity/) Reaper (my recommendation) is a not quite free, more sophisticated DAW that’ll give you

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the first 30 days unrestricted use on the house.

After 30 days, they ask that you pay, relying solely on your conscience, either $60 for personal or commercial use (under $20k/year), or $225 for commercial use (over $20k/year).

Whichever license you choose, (or even if you stiff them - a total dick move), the software is fully functional! (http://www.reaper.fm/purchase. php Okay, you’ve got your recording software. In the interest of brevity, I’m just going to suggest that you read the help files, watch some YouTube, and get to know your new studio through simple trial and error. Trust me, it ain’t rocket surgery. The hard part comes next – scoring the corporate gig! For this, there are plenty of resources out there as well, depending on what you’re trying to accomplish. Some are obvious, e.g. the “gigs” section of Craigslist. A simple search for “audio engineer” on L.A. Craigslist brings up a whole host of opportunities.

However, as with anything involving Craigslist, a healthy dose of caution is always advised.

You don’t want to get ripped off, so be sure you know who you’re dealing with!

If you ever wanted to do voiceovers, www. voices.com is the site for you. If you have a good voice and a decent microphone, with a bit of luck this site can be a goldmine. Create a profile and post your V/O demos, reply to job

posts, audition with sample scripts, set your price range, and increase your visibility. Plus, you can stay up to date on the industry with blogs, videos, insider tips and a whole host of resources. Basic membership is free, premium membership will set you back $399/year.

Finally, the most crucial part of this whole thing is simply this: Sell YOURSELF! You’ll need a basic website and a Facebook Page for your new business. You’ll also need to make up a basic Rate Card that you can send to potential clients. This should be prominent on your Facebook page/website as well, for obvious reasons. Cut a few demos to feature on your site (who says anyone has to know these weren’t high-profile clients?). Find out what the competitive hourly rate in your region is with a quick Google search. These rates will vary quite a bit, so aim directly at the middle. With a little luck, and a little hustle, you can be suckling that corporate teat in no time! Now this seems like a good and poetically just way of financing some of those artistic endeavors you’ve been working so hard on your whole life.

Next time – The Ins and Outs of Home Recording: Choosing the right microphone and monitoring system.

by Steve Boyd

Pedal to the Metal Atomic Bob Standard tuning

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54 54 Rock Rock N N Roll Roll Industries Industries Magazine Magazine

Rock N Roll Industries Magazine 55

Zerberus Guitars

By Michael G. Clark What do you get, when you combine select beautiful tone wood, with a gemstone top?

Zerberus guitars, having the top of the guitar a solid piece of one of the companies many gemstone from Onyx to amethyst, marble with gold, tigers eye? You name it and Frank Schuler from Zerberus guitars can make it for you.

I first came across Zerberus in a trade magazine, I was blown away at the absolute beauty of these guitars, not to mention top of the line hardware, no cheap short cuts, these guitars are like a Bentley automobile, beautiful, simply gorgeous.

Zerberus gorgonized guitars with their stunning tops are simply a sight to be seen and a guitar to be played with. Coming in at weight of around seven pounds, most of the guitars are very comfortable to hold and play, the neck is a beautiful five piece neck with a purple heart.

Roller nut, locking Grover tuners, Lace death bucker pickups, both of which you can split with the simple puss I push pull knobs. Even the knobs are a gemstone! I’vehandled some very sexy guitars in my life , but these guitars take the cake..

How does it play? Like butter...the guitar unplugged has the most amazing sustain and the harmonics seem to just sing out when you strum the strings, the pickups are amazing as much powerful as anyone could ever dream of. With a p.a.f. kinda sound, jazzy chords ring out...metal licks just scream-blues. The action was perfect after its long trip from Germany.

The company will customize your guitar to be a extension of your body, pick your wood, your top, pickups, hardware, make it yours.

Each Zerberus guitar is truly a one of a kind guitar, and with prices still low. I put this guitar through the guitar test, from sea level to 10,000 feet on the side of a mountain in Idaho, no neck change, and still in tune. To some sweaty smokey beer joints, the guitar performs with you...

I you want to be flashy, with a simple flick of a switch light to come on underneath the stone, this lights up your guitar and it’s really cool. Do yourself a favor, check out Zerberus guitars, talk to Frank, have him make you one, it will last forever!

Peavey 6505 Pirana Check out our product review video on our Youtube channel which talks about the Peavey 6505 Piranha 4 ohm, 20 watt amp. It can push a full size cab and has EQ, distortion, gain, crunch and a lead button. There’s an AUX IN for your practice tunes to play along with and a headphone jack so you won’t disturb anyone during your midnight practice.

56 Rock N Roll Industries Magazine

‘2112’ at 40 Rush celebrates the 40th anniversary of its classic ‘2112’

By Peggy Murphy

December 16, 2016 marked the 40th anniversary of Rush’s futuristic concept album ‘2112’. In celebration of 40 years together with the same 3 musician line-up, Universal Music Enterprises released three different expanded sets of the 1976 ‘2112’ album. They created the 2CD/DVD edition, a 3LP 200gram vinyl edition and the Super Deluxe edition.

These 3 versions can all be ordered at Rush.com, us.udiscovermusic. com and udiscovermusic.com.

The DVD contains a newly restored vintage 1976 Rush concert recorded in black & white at the Capitol Theatre in Passaic, NJ plus bonus videos. These include 2112 – An Overture in B Major performed in studio by Dave Grohl (drummer for Nirvana & Foo Fighters front man), Taylor Hawkins (Foo Fighters drummer) and Nick Raskulinecz (record producer/musician), Passage to Bangkok & behind the scenes with Billy Talent Band and a 25 minute Q & A with Rush guitarist Alex Lifeson and long time producer and engineer Terry Brown. Some of the questions asked of the two were, “Who is the voice that says ‘We have assumed

control’?’’ “For Geddy’s vocals, how many takes would he normally do for a song?”

“Any reason you stopped playing Twilight Zone live?”.

The DVD is 45 minutes in length. It was a very pleasant experience stepping back to 2112. Rush fans everywhere will enjoy the chance to do so, I’m sure.

Rock N Roll Industries Magazine 57

h)

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,

CD Reviews Spellcaster Score 9.5 of 10

Night Hides the World Founded in 2009, Portland, Oregon heavy metal band Spellcaster recorded Night Hides the World in January 2016 at Sharkbite Studios, Oakland, CA and in February of 2016 at Falcon Recording Studios in Portland, OR. Mixing & Mastering was performed by Zack Ohren.

Night Hides the World is Spellcaster’s third release, following their 2011 debut Under the Spell and their Sophomore effort, Spellcaster which was released in 2014. This eight song CD, distributed by Prosthetic Records, was written in its entirety (music and lyrics) by the members of Spellcaster.

The first thing you hear as you push play is the great guitar work that sets the pace for ‘Aria’. The guitar solos scattered throughout the CD are phenomenal! Guitarists Boyd and

Jay Santiago: Vocals Fresh Meat: Bass Cody James: Lead Guitars Stephen Todd: Rhythm Guitars Logan Miano: Drums

Hailing from Jacksonville, Florida, thrash metal, hardcore, crossover band Rhythm of Fear came together in 2010. The group’s first full length contribution, Maze of Confusion was released on March 18, 2016. The CD version was self released and the LP format released by Panic Records. Prior endeavors include Ancient Deception, an EP made available in 2011 and Mass Illusion, an EP released on tape under Injustice Records in 2015.

Recording, mixing and mastering were performed by John Howard; Production was by John Howard and Rhythm of Fear at Warhouse Studios in Gainesville, Florida from the summer of 2014 through summer of 2015. All the music and lyrics were written by Rhythm of Fear.

Scattered Hamlet Score 9 of 10

Van Hoosen trade off the spotlight in a manner so smooth that without having them in front of you one cannot discern where the first ends and the second begins. Nicely done, guys! The magnificent opening drum beat of ‘Betrayal’ cuts through whatever the listener is doing, drawing undivided attention to the music that follows. Also worth noting is the guitar work at the beginning and the end of ‘Betrayal’.

According to the bassist, who was very helpful in answering my questions, the guitar has, “A dotted 8th kind of delay thing going on”. The strong, vibrant bass line that flows through the guitars, first emphasizing the down-beat, then switching to the off-beat of the drummer, adds a spellbinding feel to the total sound. The strong vocals are the mainstay of the music on this CD. The combined effort of all the musicians in this group is quite compelling. This is a band I would love to see live!

Rhythm of Fear

Genre (s): Thrash Metal, Hardcore Band Members:

by: Enrique Nunez

Swamp Rebel Machine Outlaw biker head bangers Scattered Hamlet has released Swamp Rebel Machine, the follow up to 2013’s Skeleton Dixie on Buck Moon Productions. Certified road warriors, the non jabroni quartet travel cross country in a fart stenched pre-2000 Dodge van bringing the honky-tonk blues metal to the masses.

Singer/harmonica enthusiast Adam Joad now doubles up on guitar duty with lead guitarist Adam “Chili Bowl” Newell, picking and sliding the six-string do-si-do. Four string titty toucher Rich Erwin rages through his 8x10 bass stack, and Jake “Irish Thunder” Delling Le Bas keeps the Busch tall boys swilling and swigging with his tasty snare work.

Scattered Hamlet makes no apologies with their righteous testosterone fueled rock and roll anthems. Recorded at NRG studios and their secret bunker tucked away in the Appalachian mountains, this 11 song masterpiece reeks of the next day aftermath

Genre (s): Heavy Metal Band Members:

Tyler Loney: Vocals Gabe Franco: Bass Bryce R. VanHoosen: Guitars Gary Boyd: Guitars Colin Vranizan: Drums

Maze of Confusion

by: Peggy Murphy

Score 8.75 of 10

This is a thirteen track collection of tunes that drive home some good points for today’s society. The guitar work throughout this album is reminiscent of 80s hard rock and heavy metal. Bass lines were played well but could have been brought forward a little more in my humble opinion. Please keep in mind that I am a bassist so I prefer in-your-face bass with my metal. In all fairness, I must mention that I prefer to listen to music with lyrics that I can easily understand. The instrumentation on this album is great. The lyrical content is quite compelling with a message in each track that needs to be heard by the people. The saving grace for me in this situation is that the band had the forethought to include the lyrics with the CD. I love what you are trying to do, stay metal! by: Raquel Figo from a coke fueled all nighter with Clutch, Hank III, and Molly Hatchet. Heavy as a whiskey drenched hangover and slick as a shiny 357 slug, Scattered Hamlet will leave you with a smile on your face after they kick your ass and make tender love to your wife. My favorite track is Green Bastard with its locomotive steam engine punk energy, sing along chorus, and guitar solo so tasty both the Iron Sheik and Borat would high five each other while yelling, “Very Nice!” The eleven songs of southern comfort are woven together with a common thread blues soaked beer rock topped with a “Do not fuck with me” attitude. Easily one of the best releases of 2016, “Swamp Rebel Machine” has shot up the Billboard Heat Seekers Chart and placed highly on Loudwire’s most anticipated release poll. “Swamp Rebel Machine” is the high octane antidote blue collar rockers have been craving to wash out the taste of civilian member-berry punch.

Genre (s): Hard Rock/Southern Rock

Band Members:

Adam Joad- Vocal, Harmonica, Guitar Jake Delling Le Bas- Drums Richard Erwin- Bass, Vocals Adam Newell-Lead Guitar, Vocals

Want to see your band here? Submit your digital press kit to review@rocknrollindustries.com or mail one to the main office.

58 Rock N Roll Industries Magazine

(not all media will get reviewed)

Find out more and Submit Your Music at www.creativedefensemusic.com

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