Rnr issue 12

Photo Credit: Christoph Konigsmayr 2 Rock N Roll Industries Magazine

Rock N Roll Industries Magazine 3

4 Rock N Roll Industries Magazine

Features

Interviews 10 12 14 16 18 22 28 29 30 31 32 33 33 34 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 44 50 52 54 55 56 60 63 69 70

34 Wayne Static - RIP

Lan Nguyen

Write ups 37 38 42 44 54 49 58 62 64 65 66

68 LA Amp Show 68 JJ Salvage 70 Rock on the Range 72 Roast on the Range 75 MX Rock Festival 76 Mayhem 78 M3 78 Soundwave 80 Johnny Ramone Tribute 81 Make Music Pasadena 82 Ride for Dime 83

The String Cheese Incident Throwback Metal Fest London After Midnight Motley Crue Korn & Slipknot Deep Purple Pagans Mind Black Market Research Joe Bonamassa Ghost Jane’s Addicition NYE on the Queen Mary

Music Experience Arch Enemy The Adicts Flyleaf Trippy the Clowns “Metal Madness with Zloz Devil City Angels Iced Earth Swirl Crazy Town Steel Panther Prong LunchBox Spades and Blades Wayne Static Powerman 5000 Steve Stevens Travis Bowlin Judas Priest Phil X Rigor Mortis Kill Devil Hill Living Colour Miss May I Asking Alexandria Exit North Within Reach Buckcherry Kix Five Finger Death Punch Clearview Edith

Industry 84 88 90 91 92 92 94 95

Know Your Gear Music City Metal Mellisha Book Review-David Ellefson Drum Corner Music with Michael G CD Reviews Theater Review-The Black Version Use the FREE Microsoft

Tag reader app for your smart phone to Scan “Tags” pictured here to get extra content throughout the magazine!

Rock N Roll Industries Magazine 5

Always my deepest love and admiration for my brother Randy - Kathy Rhoads D’Argenzio

RANDY RHOADS LIMITED EDITION 2005 VINTAGE CABERNET SAUVIGNON Available at: www.dargenziowine.com

Or Burbank: D’Argenzio Winery Tasting Room 818-846-8466 ©2010 D’Argenzio Winery Sonoma County CA

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Rock N Roll Industries Magazine 7

Editor’s Words EDITOR IN CHIEF Mike Smothers

mike@rocknrollindustries.com

SENIOR EDITOR Angelica Ulloa angelica@rocknrollindustries.com

PUBLICATION DIRECTOR CONTRIBUTING EDITORS Jessica Johnson Andrea Granillo, jess@rocknrollindustries.com Winnie Flugger CONTRIBUTORS ASSISTANT EDIOTOR Gemino Smothers, Dea Meeks Mercedes Keveson Steiner ILLUSTRATOR Steev Moreno

CONTRIBUTING ARTISTS Keith Stixx, Steev Moreno, Tony Sinicropi Chairat and myself at D’Argenzio winery annual Birthday celebration for Randy. The review of this event was written

by Chairat and came out in our first issue.

Welcome to the twelfth issue of Rock N Roll Industries Magazine where ‘We’re Never Far From The Stage’. We started the year stronger than ever with the most in-depth stories and news around! What we love the most is without a doubt “YOU” and the emotion you get from reading the most powerful rock n roll magazine in the world. Thank you for picking up the latest copy of Rock N Roll Industries Magazine.

We have brought you some of the best stories by some of the greatest staff of writers and photographers in the world along with stories by new members and new events like the MX ROCK FESTIVAL. So sit back and enjoy new talent along with your favorite writers as we move into the future that is 2015.

2014 was an interesting year for me as I traveled the nation and met great new friends. It was a year to remember.

Tennessee was a great experience; The weather was incredible during the summer Namm Convention with good kin folk, but throw in a variety of musical instruments with every sound imaginable and you have a very interesting mixture that keeps you coming back year after year. We caught up with The Ride for Dime in Texas and paid our respects to Dimebag Darrell RIP. We met other ‘good ole down-to-earth friends’, lots of bands and had great experiences throughout the year. Now I don’t mean just listening to

Mike Smothers Editor in Chief Follow us Facebook.com/rocknrollindustriesmag Twitter @RockNRollind Instagram @rocknrollindustriesmag 8 Rock N Roll Industries Magazine

music, but actually creating it. I gueststarred on an album that will be coming out later this year, but you will have to wait to hear about that! I also recently had the good fortune to be involved in the MX Rock Festival featuring Buckcherry, Kottonmouth Kings, Otherwise, Archer, Exit North, Dayzero, Rick Thorne and Metal Mulisha’s Dirt Bike Kids performing all kinds of stunts along the front of the stage. The Event was sponsored by Epiphone Guitars, ColdCock Whiskey and hosted by Rock N Roll Industries Magazine. But, for all the ups this year, there were also some downs that were very hard to endure. You see, my personal friend of many years and a colleague at the magazine passed away this year. He had helped out at NAMM, written articles, taken photos, edited, and supported the magazine since the very beginning. The whole team and everyone that met him will never forget him yelling out “ROCK N ROLL INDUSTRIES MAGAZINE” at shows, dinners, events or just quiet times.

I know that everyone has had loses this year (a family member, friend, or favorite artist), but I wanted to take a moment to honor Chairat Roberts. RIP my friend.

Remember we would love to hear from you so please email us any ideas you have and we’ll keep trying our best for you… Rock n Roll!

WRITERS: Raquel Figlo, Stacey Shaw, Manny Rivas II, Michael G Clark, Peggy Murphy, Julian Douglas, WINJOW, Rob Gainey, Alison “MetalBabe” Cohen, Roger Stoddard, Nicole DeMarco, Taylor Hicks, Laura Chen, Sarah Roberts, Scott Schoenkopt, Toshi Iseda, Sandy Martin, Monni McCleary, Tim Phoenix, Ray Laracuente, Raya Morrison, Justin Ingold, Evlin Lake, Billy Zee, Parker Minor, Wolf Navarro, Daniel Hicks PHOTOGRAPHERS: Neil Zlozower, Igor Vidyashev, Chad Lee, Leah Burlington*, Alex Kluft*, Jazmin Monet Estopin, Simi Friedman*, Gonzo Sandoval*, Enrique Nuñez*, Cyndi Johnson, Lan Nguyen*, Doug Gouge, Larry Dimazio, Matt Upton, Graham Denzler, Craig Morse, Scott Dworkin*, Neil Lim Sang, Ramon C Ward Jr. * Photojournalists

Advertising/ Intern Inquires sales@rocknrollindustries.com Tel: 909 289 8872 www.rocknrollindustries.com SUBSCRIPTIONS To order by phone: 909 289 8872 To order online: www.rocknrollindustries.com Check, money order, Credit and PayPal accepted.

Subscribers: Please alert us of any changes of address 6-8 weeks before the date of your move. Rock N Roll Industries is not responsible or obligated to re-ship issues missed because of a move we were not informed of.

Rock N Roll Industries (ISSN 2164-9863 print ISSN 2164-9871 online) is published bi monthly, 34955 Cella Ln Yucaipa Ca 92399. Annual Subscription cost is $12.95. 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.

Rock N Roll Industries Magazine 9

The instrument industry is becoming

D E C N E I R EXPE with Squiggy

S

quiggy, for those that haven’t seen the experience yet, tell our readers what you guys do and how it got started?

Music Experience was birthed to tell the iconic stories of the brands that built our instrument industry. Without any education, when a kid walks into a music store, to that kid, the primary distinguishing factors of the instruments are their color and shape.

Their real distinguishing factor is the story behind the brand. Why does Metallica play ESP, or why did Randy Rhoads play Jackson, or why does a Marshall sound the way it does? You always see pictures of Jimi Hendrix, but I always noticed his Strat and Marshall stacks. The instruments are as important as the people that play them. Whenever I see a band, I look at their gear first. Crazy Dave’s Music Experience gives the best manufactures a platform for their cast of characters to get recognized outside of a Namm show or any other “Industry” function. People like Bill Acton, Matt Masciandaro, Chris Cannella, Nick Bowcott, Jimi Dunlop, Kevin Bebout, Jeff Diamant, Don Lace, Jessica Sullivan, Scott Uchida, Harry Reese and Chad Lee are my rockstars. People need to see these guys and hear their stories. We call the people who work for the manufactures “Brand Ambassadors”. The Brand Ambassadors are able to humanize their brands. The Brand Ambassadors give their respective brand a face in a way that has been challenging for them to do before. It also allows them to reach and interact with the end user in a way they have never been able to. Most importantly, The Crazy Dave’s Music Experience gives our industry a face.

Y

ou also give back to the Community, tell us about some of those events and what you did?

With music programs in schools falling by the wayside, everyone who benefits from a person playing guitar needs to band together and make instruments accessible to people and especially kids. We do a “Student Experience” at every festival. We invite kids that are enrolled into music programs in the surrounding areas to have time at Music Experience with just them and the Brand Ambassadors from the manufacturers. We also invite Rock Stars to come and talk with the kids and talk about their experiences. I give backstage tours to all the kids so they can see all the jobs that our industry provides. They get to meet the promoters, FOH Engineers, Lighting Designers, Techs and band members. It is always a great learning experience for the kids. Musicians Institute has been instrumental in making the Student Experience as special as it is. We are so happy to be “Powered By” Musicians Institute.

W

ho were some of your favorite acts that signed this year during the festival stops?

There are so many. The Butcher Babies are wonderful. John 5 gives every kid a pick and shakes each of their hands. Rob Caggiano from Volbeat will sign every autograph and really enjoys the interactions.

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Corey from Trivium hung out after his signing and judged one of our shred contests. They are all just great people.

W

hat brands have been involved in your experience?

Manufactures are my Rockstars. I pick the manufacturers that have iconic stories, truly remarkable products, cutting edge technology and most importantly, THEY NEED TO BE GOOD PEOPLE. The manufactures that have been involved since the very beginning are Jackson, ESP guitars, Hercules DJ and Chauvet Lighting. Manufacturers currently participating in the Crazy Dave’s Music Experience are: ESP, Korg, Vox, Blackstar, DBZ, Yamaha, Steinberg, Hercules DJ, PRS, Chauvet Lighting, Epiphone, Kramer, Jackson, Charvel, Gretsch, Fender, CAD and Affliction Clothing. We feel like family with

Lead PicturePhoto Credit: Chris Condon

all the manufacturers. We strip everything down and just let passion and inspiration happen. We encourage everyone to play Stairway to Heaven as loud as they can.

With Musicians Institute now a part of our team, I really could not be happier with the group we have now.

W

here can someone check out The Crazy Dave’s Music Experience this year?

Right now we are focusing on Welcome to Rockville, Carolina Rebellion and Rock On The Range. We will also be doing the Fall Festivals like Aftershock, Louder Than Life and a few new ones.

Find out more at: www.crazydavesmusic.com www.facebook.com/CrazyDavesMusicExperience Email: Experience@crazydavesmusic.com

Rock N Roll Industries Magazine 11

vocalist for other bands like Kamalot?

Alissa: Yes, I had some shows already booked with Kamalot. Whenever I am available I am going to try to keep doing that because it is so much fun and I love the people in the band. As long as they keep inviting me to do it, I am going to do it.

It has been quite a year for Arch Enemy as they introduced their new front woman Alissa WhiteGluz as lead vocalist replacing Angela Gossow who is now acting as their manager. Their new album “War Eternal” debuted this June and its single with the same name hit an incredible 1.5 million views on YouTube in its first ten days.

Arch Enemy has been touring throughout Europe and at the many heavy metal festivals that sets the European metal scene apart. I am excited to see Alissa and Arch Enemy grace the House of Blues with an appearance this November in Los Angeles. Alissa is happy to see that the longtime fans from her previous band, the Agonist, and new Arch Enemy fans are welcoming her with open minds.

What is different about playing in the Agonist and playing in Arch Enemy?

Alissa: In my band I had total carte blanche!

Whatever I wanted to do, whatever I wanted to say, I could go and do it! If you are crazy, people are okay with that. Now it’s totally different because I have a standard to maintain. Angela set the bar so high, I really have to respect what she has already done. Plus a lot of the songs we are going to be playing are songs I was not around for. We are going to be playing a lot of the old classics. There are songs that I already knew just by listening to them. Now I am not using my clean voice.

That is half of my singing repertoire that I am not going to use, it will be put on back burner for now

Do you have a lot of creative freedom in this band?

Alissa: Yes I do, absolutely. That was something I wasn’t sure about because it was not my band that I started from the ground up. It’s a band I joined, preestablished. They were really nice and they trusted me writing lyrics and arranging vocals. I am totally satisfied with the amount of expression I have with this band.

What can Arch Enemy fans expect different with you singing?

Alissa: Things will be different when it comes to the live shows.

I am going to sing the old songs exactly like Angela did because I think they sound awesome and there is no reason to change them. For the new stuff, I feel I have more creative freedom, my screams are a bit different from hers. I try to play with pitch a lot. I play with melody within the scream on the track we released. I like doing that, and I like going just straight death vocals also. It’s still going to be an Arch Enemy show if you come to see us live. It’s still the same band and they’re still the same songs.

Everyone in the band 12 Rock N Roll Industries Magazine

is working towards a common goal. We just want to make the best show and the best albums we possibly can.

Have you ever imagined you would be singing for Arch Enemy?

Alissa: I always knew I would be doing something that makes me happy.

If it doesn’t make you happy and it is not fun, then there is no point in doing it. I never expected Angela to leave, but when we started talking about this and I started talking to Angela in depth about it I asked her, “Are you sure you want to do this?” Angela is very intelligent; she had been thinking about this for a long time, something like this doesn’t happen overnight.

Now it feels natural working with Angela as management. But to answer the question: no I never thought I would be doing it. Now it feels pretty natural and not that weird. Plus I was already a huge fan of Arch Enemy, I know them and I know a lot about the band.

Do you continue seeing yourself as a guest

Do you think in future albums you will go back and use your clean voice once you are more established?

Alissa: I know we are all open to it. We snuck in a little clean singing in the new album. I did a melodic scream and there are a few songs where we have a live orchestra. A clean voice goes nice with that. Like I said, the band is open to it, but Arch Enemy has such strong melodies in the guitars that I don’t feel it is really necessary for the clean singing; the brutality is in the vocals and the melody is in the guitar. It is an interesting balance that not many bands use. We want to maintain that and might utilize it in the future, depending if the song needs it or not.

How have your fans reacted to you moving to Arch Enemy?

Alissa: I did not want to upset the Agonist fans, but for the most part, I think they understand that I was kicked out of the band and it was not my choice to leave.

There was not much I could have done about that. I really appreciate those Agonist fans; those are the ones that have been with me since the beginning. They have stuck with me through so many shows and so many albums. I am really appreciative of those fans and they are why I wanted to make sure I delivered a solid album with Arch Enemy.

Even though I wasn’t able to

Angelica Ulloa

RNR: How was the writing process with Michael Amott and was Angela Gossow involved?

Angela is no longer involved musically. She heard the songs for the first time when they were done, once they were sent off to mix. It’s really great working with Michael. He has a very different style of writing lyrics compared to me, but our topics are similar. We play off each other’s different styles. The way he structures songs are so well thought out, it is fun to write lyrics to them.

Alissa White-Gluz: Arch Enemy’s new weapon

By Raquel Figlo give them an Agonist album, I think those fans will really like the new Arch Enemy album. The fans have been positive over all, a really good reaction to the whole thing.

In one word how would you describe your singing style?

Alissa: Eclectic.

How did Angela approach you when she picked you to be the new singer for Arch Enemy?

Alissa: Angela and I have been friends since 2007. In the beginning of 2013 I heard that Arch Enemy was not touring anymore. I remember writing to her and asking “Is everything cool?

I just wanted to make sure because it is weird that you guys are not touring, you having been touring for 13 straight years!” Angela reassured me that everything was fine and to not worry about it. Then I left it alone and forgot about it.

Eventually she wrote back and said, “You should really go on Skype and talk to Michael. We really need to talk to you.” So then I was worried that something was really wrong? Did I do something wrong? I didn’t know what to think. When I spoke

to Michael, he told me what was going on and asked me if I wanted to be the new singer for Arch Enemy. I was like…yeah. Then I spoke to Michael and Angela about it again and asked if this was for sure what they wanted to do? I don’t want to step on anyone’s toes. They assured me that is was what everyone wanted. Michael said “We all want you to do it. Let’s work together, let’s write some songs, let’s jam some old songs and let’s see what we get.” I flew to Sweden and started working with them. We jammed the old stuff and wrote new material in Michael’s kitchen.

We ended up working very smoothly together.

“War Eternal,” but then there are songs like what I wrote, for example “As the Pages Burn.” I don’t think Arch Enemy would have had lyrics like that before. “Time is Black,” is a song I wrote the lyrics for. Musically it is way more progressive and different from what I have heard from Arch Enemy before. I think this album is good in the sense that it satisfies those that want to be reassured that the band is remaining the same, but it also goes places that I think the band has not gone before. So at least it’s moving forward because it wouldn’t make sense to rewrite another album that they have already written.

How would you compare the new album “War Eternal” to the last album by Arch Enemy?

Alissa: I am going to quote Michael here because we have done so many interviews together. He said that it feels a lot like “Wages of Sin,” which is really a compliment to me because that is still my favorite album of all time.

I feel like that last album was a song of rebellion, anarchist, really political and heavy. This album is more personal, introspective, and complex and it deviates from straight Arch Enemy. There are traditional Arch Enemy tracks like the single

What is your favorite song on the album?

Alissa: “As the Pages Burn” is my favorite and my other favorite is “Avalanche.” I wrote those both. They just really stick out to me.

What is one secret your fans don’t know about you?

Alissa: That I am really sensitive. I come across really hard and metal. But I am actually super susceptible to people’s feelings and energy.

For more information: www.archenemy.net

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So you guys are going out for Punk Rock Bowling, how has that show changed from the show that you guys put on out here?

Monkey: “Well it’s a little different ‘cause it’s a festival show. So people go to see all the bands. We’re here; the majority of the people have come to see us. It’s more of a broader audience. Festivals, you get to play a shorter time so you can’t do the whole show. Usually we play for an hour, sometimes 45 minutes at festivals …depending on where we are- the billing and stuff…type of festival.”

Being the longest running Punk band with the same guys how is it that you guys keep going together?

Monkey: “I don’t know, we’re just a brotherhood, us three…our other brother there. It’s just a like family…we love what we do so we keep trying to What is something your fans don’t know do it. No reason to change.” about you?

Monkey: “I’ve got my AARP card! So I’m taking You guys had your last CD out in 2012, any advantage of all the discounts.” words of another one coming out?

Monkey: “Yeah, we’re starting to get into the mode of thinking about that, nothing planned yet, If you were stranded on an island and could only bring five cds with you, which cds would it’s on the agenda. they be?

Monkey: “That’s too hard to pick! I think your How did you guys come up with your outratastes change…your favorites come and go… geous stage shows…was it a slow progrescurrently what I’m listening to is a double cd of sion, or did you guys start off that way? early obscure 70’s Glam Bands like Jet, Milk & Monkey: “ We always did a little bit, tried to be Cookies, Bret Smiley …kind entertaining and have something of a stage presence, but it’s built over the years, new ideas of underkeep coming and I think, “Well, why didn’t I think of that 10 years ago?”

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ground…mostly American stuff. I don’t listen to a lot Punk Rock anymore ‘cause I’ve heard enough of that, I like more Indie bands…I’m a big fan of Gusta. I like Vampire Weekend. I think they’re really cool. I like older stuff....classical music…. Brahms or Bach…go to sleep to…little bit of everything.

Anything else you guy got coming out this year you guys wanna talk about? Tour?

Monkey: “Well, we’re going back to Europe in July. Then we have some more California shows around Halloween.”

Now we’re over here with Pete Dee. I want you to tell me about your Schecter Guitar you got with them, your signature series.

Pete: “It’s got my name on it and they helped design it, so it fits my lovely little hand.”

How long have you been with Schecter?

Pete: “Quite a few years now, they’re very nice people. I love them.”

If you were stranded on an island, what cds would you take with you?

Pete: “#1 would be Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars- David Bowie #2 would probably be “Wish You Were Here,” by Pink Floyd. #3 would be The Gorillaz, “Laika Come Home”… it’s a dub album...Reggae. #4 would probably be “Suck My Balls” by The Tulips.

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Flyleaf

“Set me on fire, set me on fiiiiiire!!! *catchy riff follows*”

Well, 2 hours or so before the video filming of “Set me on fire” (first single off the new album) Jared and Kristen Hello, Kristen and Jared, how are you?

Thank you for sitting with us, I know you are super busy getting ready for today.

Please tell us what’s going on today?

Jared - Good man, thanks. We are shooting the video for “Set me on fire” it’ll be the first single for the new record.

she has done and then she brings it to us and then we add or remove parts and we play around with it until we all like it.

K- It’s a great collaborative process honestly, we all pitch in our ideas, we’re all different. Sometimes it’s just a riff and then me, Pat and Sameer collaborate on lyrics. Jared is great at coming up with some great rock riffs, every song kind of has its own story of how it was made.

How do you feel about the new stage for the band? What has the fans response been with all the changes?

J- The response has been great, they have really embraced Kristen and I think that going out on the road and people coming out and seeing her and all of us in action has convinced them, people can see she’s a great singer and that she fits well in the band.

K- Yeah, Jared is right. When people get to see us when we play live and get to experience it for themselves it may balance what may be a predetermined idea. With this new album it’s really going I understand it’s a pledge campaign, to give us a chance to show what we do now as a right? How has that worked for you so far? band.

Have you reached the goal?

Where can the people that don’t know you J- It’s been great, the fans have been very supportive. PLEDGE has helped make it very personal find you? What can you tell us about your experience for the fans and they’ve helped us fund “sound”? I hate to “define sub-genres” but in your words, What can you say you the record which is something we have not been sound like? able to do before.

J- The music is pretty eclectic for this record, but I Kristen- It’s been awesome to interact with the fans think we land int he “alternative” niche as we have and see what they like as we’ve been making the in the past. record, behind the scenes footage of the making of K- There’s still a lot of guitar, I still think we are rock, the video, I’ve never done that before, it’s been an everybody plays their instruments… guitar, bass and incredible process. drums, there’s not a lot of extras. I’m bringing in new How long have you been working on the songs, a bit of a new writing style. Everybody has record for? grown artistically throughout the years so naturally J- We’ve been working on it for about a year now, things change, but it’s still the root of what Flyleaf writing songs for about a year. We all live in different was. places now so we try to get together and work on it and take advantage of the time. We got together like Who has flyleaf been influenced by or who inspired to be musicians? four or five times to work on it.

J- Me, by local Texan musicians and bands. Guys I What’s the process to produce an album look up playing guitar, more specifically Greatness in this new stage of the band? Who does In Tragedy and The Feds. the lyric and music writing? Is it music K- I grew up on a lot of classic rock and pop. My first and then lyrics?

J- It really depends on the song, it’s very collabora- dad playing Deep Purple and Led Zeppelin albums tive. Sometimes Kristen will have a piano song that and then on the other side I loved Paula Abdul and 16 Rock N Roll Industries Magazine

Mariah Carey around 5th grade. Then I discovered the grunge scene when I was in Junior High so Nirvana, Sound Garden, Smashing Pumpkins, that led me to The Cranberries. Now I listen to a lot of female vocals, strong female vocalists, I just love seeing a big strong voice.

I remember hearing your name for the first time because someone I know, Shae Padilla, posted a video of her joining you onstage playing “Breathe Today” at the Hyundai Pavilion for the Family Values tour in 2006. I just think it was a great gesture towards a (then) 15 year old upand-coming guitarist. As a known band you get to influence many younger musicians. How did that come to be?

J- There was a death in my family and I had to fly back home with my wife to be at the funeral and it was in the middle of the tour. The band found a video of her online and she happened to be in the area That’s how I fell in love with rock n roll, my mom had “The Wall” (Pink Floyd), because of vinyl. One last question, How did they find you Kristen? Or did you find them?

K- My previous band had broken up, FLYLEAF didn’t know that, they were looking for a singers. It was actually my booking agent that told their manager about me “Hey, she’s not in a band anymore.

Maybe she should come and give it a go” It wasn’t something I expected but it was exactly what I needed and it’s been an amazing ride so far.

We cannot end this interview without a classic “One on One with Enrique” single word game. I ask, you answer the first thing that comes to mind. Deal? ok, here we go… Favorite food?

J- Pizza Favorite place in the US? K- New York First favorite band?

J- Third Eye Blind Favorite female artist?

K- Joni Mitchel Favorite sport?

J- Football, never mind GOLF! K- Futbol! (Soccer), I played as a kid.

Enrique Nunez

Did not even imagine that I would have this song stuck in my head for days after the interview day in Downtown Los Angeles, close to the LA river at Atomic Studios. Being honest, I had sort of, kind of, semi paid attention to Flyleaf’s music. I came across their name various times but finally paid attention thanks to a YouTube video that featured a fellow Sick Puppies fan, Shae Padilla (who uploaded videos of herself covering various songs of her favorite bands), as she performed with Flyleaf during a SoCal festival filling in on guitar as Jared was not able to play that show due to a family emergency.

SteevMoreno.com

Rock N Roll Industries Magazine 17

TRIPPY – Holy shit Zloz! Of all the great “KISS” photos that I found in your archives, I chose this one cuz its primitive KISS with the original line-up. Dis is one hell of a shot man.

Tell us WTF went down?

ZLOZ - Trippy this particular photo was shot backstage at the “Aquarius Theatre” on Sunset, across from the “Hollywood Palladium.” It’s a funny story cuz they used to have this show called “IN CONCERT” on channel 7-ABC in Los Angeles. So they’d have these different bands playing, and you could watch them on your TV and then you could turn on “KLOS” radio station, which was one of the biggest radio stations around at that time, and you could listen to the music. So you’d have the visual on TV but in18 Rock N Roll Industries Magazine

stead of music coming out of a shitty TV speaker you could hear it through your FM receiver. So I was down there shootin whoever was there and some girl comes up to me and goes, “Hi, I’m with ‘Bill Aucoin Management’ and we have a new band called KISS and we want to know if you would like to shoot them.” I’m like, “Oh KISS isn’t that pretty”, and right around the time there was a big band called “BREAD.” It was a really soft mellow sorta folksy band called “DAVID GATES BREAD” that I absolutely hated cuz that wasn’t the type of music I listened to. So I’m thinkin, “Oh KISS isn’t that pretty, this must be like BREAD.” I said “Okay, whatever; I’ll shoot em.” Then I see these guys come out, and they had the masks and the makeup and these outrageous costumes

which no one had before them except for maybe ALICE COOPER. KISS was even more over the top in a certain way. They were blowing flames, Gene’s stickin out his tongue, and they had these boots with 12 inch heels on them. I actually thought it was a joke. I said, “These guys are gonna be laughed out of the music industry in about a month.” Well, I guess that was probably the biggest bad call I ever made cuz here they are about 40 years later just as big and just as strong and musically better than ever. That was my first initial experience with the band KISS. TRIPPY – HA HA HA.. Hey Zloz, maybe you should have taken more acid man. Just sayin.

Okay, tell us about the actual photo shoot

Neil Zlozower AtlasIcons.com

Hey, METAL HEADS! I’m “TRIPPY THE CLOWN” a.k.a. “DA METAL GOD” hangin with NEIL ZLOZOWER at his world famous studio in Hollywood, California. If you don’t know who “ZLOZ” is then, you don’t know shit! Look at any bad ass rock magazine in the past 40 years, and I can guarantee you will see a photo credited to my good pal “ZLOZ.” In every issue of this cool magazine, I dig deep into Zloz’s archives and choose my ‘TOP 5’ favorite metal shots that Zloz has taken over the years. Zloz then gives you a play by play on WTF went down during that shoot. Let the madness begin… Let’s go!

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out there and whenever they come to my studio and see that one shot hanging on the wall their always like, “Oh my god, this is really early KISS. Look at Pauls makeup, look at Genes Makeup, look at Aces makeup, look at Peters makeup.”

They’ve changed their makeup over the years and back then it was at one of their most primitive stages of makeup, so the hardcore KISS fanatics always come here and their just in awe

TRIPPY – Sheeez…. You need to drink more beers man! Ok, onto da next killer metal shot!

IRON MAIDEN hell ya! What went down on this primitive shot?

ZLOZ – This is obviously IRON MAIDEN in their early primitive stages. I shot this photo in 1982, and it was probably the first time I really worked closely with the band. They were a true metal pioneer back then. This was shot backstage at Long Beach Arena, which was one of the bigger venues in town at the time. If a band plays Long Beach Arena then they were pretty big but this was just a shot I did backstage. I think I was shooting their guitar collection back then for a Japanese magazine and somehow I rustled up a photo shoot with the whole band. This was actually with their first drummer that they had. This was right around the time when Bruce Dickinson just got in the band because they had the other singer, Paul Di’Anno, who was their first lead singer. I really liked the band with Paul. They had a song called ‘Running Free’, and that was probably my favorite IRON MAIDEN song of all time, but then they got Bruce, which obviously led to enormous success. They were pretty nice, mellow English lads back then. They were young,

and they did this photo shoot with me, and this was 32 years ago. A long time ago…

at that shot.

TRIPPY – What year was this shot taken Zloz?

ZLOZ – It’s funny cuz I can never remember what year I shot that and every time ‘TOMMY THAYER’ comes to my studio, who’s like the KISS historian I always gotta ask him, “Tommy, what year was this photo shot”? I could never remember. He knows exactly, but I ask him that same question over and over.

Neil Zlozower AtlasIcons.com

and WTF went down…

ZLOZ – Well this was just something I did really fast back stage with an ON camera flash so I wouldn’t call it a photo shoot. I went back there, and I was probably in the dressing room for a whole five minutes shooting about ten frames in black and white. But those shots have become classic because all the KISS fanatics, and believe me, there are millions of KISS fanatics

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TRIPPY – Onto my next favorite shot of EXODUS, an American thrash metal band from San Francisco that kicks ass! Give us da metal details Zloz?

This shot rules Zloz!

ZLOZ – I did this

Neil Zlozower AtlasIcons.com

shoot at my studio in 1990. Obviously they were a little bit different than most of the music I was shootin back then: HEAVY, HARD, BRUTAL. It was the first time I really met JOHN TEMPESTA, and later we became good friends. John’s an amazing drummer. The band came in, a bunch of fucking Goof Balls in a heavy metal band, but there was something about them. They were pretty big in their day. It’s funny because one of the guitarists, GARY HOLT, well I see him all the time at all the METAL MASTER shows that my good friend MARK MENGHI used to put on for SAMSON HARTKE, and I didn’t realize Gary was in EXODUS until one day when we were talkin, and he was like, “Yeah I was in Exodus”, and I was like, “Really?” We were in the van going to the Metal Masters show, and I popped up all my EXODUS photos cuz I couldn’t recognize which one he was. Obviously 1990, that’s about 24 years ago, so Gary had to point out who he was. He was just a little young looking little whippersnapper with no beard or anything back then.

You can tell by this photo that they were pretty animated, and a lot of fun to shoot back then, but no crazy stories Trippy. Not that day.

TRIPPY – (screams) All hail “PANTERA”!

Fuck ya! “REX BROWN,” best known as the longtime bassist for PANTERA, and not to mention KILL DEVIL HILL and DOWN! One hell of a metal shot brother ZLOZ. ZLOZ – Thanks, Trippy. Yeah, Trippy I know you love PANTERA. Good ole REX BROWN. I started workin with Rex about 1993, when

PANTERA could do no wrong. I was a little slow into PANTERA and EXODUS. The music was a little hard and brutal. I started with SLAYER in 88/89, but that’s not really what I listen to: SLAYER, MEGADETH, PANTERA, METALLICA… TRIPPY – WTF! Quit lyin! I was over at your house partyin, and we woke up da entire building playin “GODSMACK”!

ZLOZ – GODSMACKS a little different Trippy.

Yes, I do love GODSMACK. Is a matter of a fact when you gonna bring over some GODSMACK records so I can burn them into my itunes?

TRIPPY – Never fucker! Maybe when you grow a brain and start listenin to some heavier shit man! Now get back to Rex before ya piss me off more than I already am!

ZLOZ – You clowns are all the same… You know Trippy; PANTERA was a little bit more musical than most of those other bands. I remember when I worked with them the first time. They were good old Texas boys. I don’t know much about Texas boys, but I love Texas chicks.(laughs) This was about 93. They were a little bit harsh and brutal. I remember the first session I did with them was backstage at the Hollywood Palladium, and it was a great shoot.

They were pretty cooperative, most of the time.

Phil was usually in another world, but young Phillip has come back down to earth in the last few years and he’s a pleasure to work with now and he’s funnier than ever. I love all those guys.

Vinnie’s a good friend of mine. I wish DIME was here cuz we miss him. It was a sad, tragic thing that happened to him. Rex is a great guy, and I really like workin with him. A really nice sweet guy, and a great bass player. He disappeared for a while out of the music scene, and now I see him at Bass Player Live and Metal Master’s and he’s in the band KILL DEVIL HILL. He looks great, skinny, back in shape, and I don’t think he’s drinkin so… Congratulations Rex! Lov ya brother!

TRIPPY – Right on Zloz. Good times, but we gotta end this cuz I need to get to the RAINBOW and drink!

ZLOZ – I gotta go home and clean up dog piss and dog shit. It’s getting worse than ever now.

One of my dogs is old and blind, but his bladder works flawlessly… Later Trippy. Say hi to Lemmy for me.

TRIPPY – Later Zloz. DONE! ZLOZ – Double done!

Tim Phoenix, Sandy Plute Martin

TRIPPY – Well said Zloz! Check out this killer shot of SCOTT IAN from “ANTHRAX”. Give us da metal scoop Zloz and hurry up about it cuz I need a beer!

ZLOZ – (laughs) What can you say about Scott.

I mean I started shootin ANTHRAX when Scott actually had hair which was back in 1989, and they’ve been through different versions of ANTHRAX. They were pretty big back then. It was METALLICA obviously but next it was SLAYER, ANTHRAX and MEGADETH back in the late 80’s. It’s funny cuz I think those bands are as big now if not bigger as they were back then, other than PANTERA obviously cuz Dimes not around.

ANTHRAX is pretty much the original band now all except for Danny. Their great, and Scott’s just a real character. He looks so funny on stage.

He had that little pink beard for a while, and he’s really animated at photo shoots. He’s really a great, talented guitarist. If you ever watch Scott live, he’s jumpin around the stage like a maniac.

We also have something in common. We both love the band “MOTHER SUPERIOR.” MOTHER SUPERIOR was a band with ‘JIM WILSON,’ who to me wrote some of the best songs I ever heard in my life. I love Jim’s guitar playing. I love his singing. About six to eight months ago, Scott (for his 50th birthday) wanted to do a MOTHER SUPERIOR reunion, and he played guitar. I think JOHN TEMPESTA actually played drums, and Jim Wilson also played guitar and sang the songs and it was great to see MOTHER SUPERIOR back.

Rock Rock N N Roll Roll Industries Industries Magazine Magazine 21 21

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W

e sat down with the Devil City Angels to see what makes them Angels.

This group’s been brewing for a little bit. Tell me how you guys all got together… cause I know there’s a few different stories here.

Rikki: Initially Tracii and I played the Ox and The Loon, which is a Keith Moon and John Entwistle Old tribute. Brian Tichy stuck us in the same little combo. It actually went really well. Out of everybody, we were the ones who kept going back to the, “What if we did this in a song??” People are like, “Look, they’re cover songs, ok? Relax!” I just thought it went really well. Then we’re down in the green room doing an interview, and somebody says, “Hey look its Guns & Rockett, hey wouldn’t that be cool?” And we’re like, “We’re already doing that!” So a couple of days later he reached out to me and said, “Hey what do you think about that whole thing?” and I’m like, “I think I’ll come over to your studio and talk about it.”

Tracii: “We we’re very professional about it. Our first meeting, we had David Kersh involvements and Monster Energy Drink was here…formulating this plot to take over the world…it’s all kinda of tongue and cheek…It’s Rock N Roll. We just figured let’s shoot for the stars in a kinda of lazy way. Then we get Brandon, who Rikki knew for years. I called him and we hit it off right away. With the age difference, I thought his head would be in a completely different atmosphere….but it wasn’t…it was like, yeah, let’s play good old fashion Rock N Roll. We took it from there. He was already playing with Eric. Rikk and I said yes and we asked Eric to be a part of this. They flew out and we did an old song that Brandon and Rikki had put together a few years ago…it was a killer song…recording was great. We put it on-line and all of a sudden people go, “We like it!”

Rikki: “I’ve known Eric for a long long time.

One of very first tours was Loudness. It was Cinderella and Poison. We were first on the bill.

Later we flip flopped because our record started to soar. It was crazy because I didn’t know these guys and both of our bands, Cinderella and Poison, are from the middle of Pennsylvania…

Philly/Harrisburg area. We didn’t know each other oddly enough. But I do know if I’d known Eric, I would have been a band-mate a long time ago. I feel like I’ve been in a band with them for a long time because we’ve done several tours together. We’ve always crossed paths & been friends with each other for a long time.

Tracii: Yeah that was the crazy thing…when we started recording, Eric was plugged to the bass.

You play with a lot of musicians as a musician when you’ve been doing it professionally for years and he just started playing with these big ole hot dog fingers and it’s like WOW!! He had all this soul coming through and all these rifts. Everything just fit so good…it was just such a relief. You know, everybody’s good…but then there are people that it’s just natural for them and it’s amazing. Eric’s one of those guys as it is with Brandon and all the guys.

Rikki: “Music is a lot like other forms of art. There’s a lot of people that can paint extremely fluid and realistically. You sit there and you go, “Wow, that guy’s good.” But then there’s another guy…so after a while it doesn’t have any personality…it didn’t come from anywhere… it just becomes a technique. We didn’t want that. We wanted members of this band that we’re unique….something to say… a signature… in what they play and what they leave behind. It works that way.”

Tracii: Even if we didn’t think it a head of time it is the way it is.

How did you guys turn it into the Devil City Angels? Where did you guys get the name from?

Tracii: Originally it was Angel City Devils.

Rikki: We went, We’re no devils. We’re nice fellas…gems of guys. We figured we’re here to save Rock N Roll. We’re Rock N Roll’s saviors.

The first single is out. When can we expect the first album?

Rikki: I was thinking about how to answer that question on the way over here. The idea is to maybe have a full record available in the spring.

Tracii: The song that’s out right now, it’s actually not a single, we just put it out to introduce ourselves to our core fan base and let them know what this band’s about…it’s mainly just more for the Poison…LA Guns…Cinderella core fans, to just kinda introduce the band to them. We’re doing smaller venues….just gonna out and have fun…kinda hone ourselves as a live band….just baby steps and having fun doing it.

Rikki: The thing is, we could’ve put together this “quote unquote” All-Star Band, gone out and done a bunch of covers from our respective bands and did the whole casino thing and made pocket money. There’s other bands that have done that, it’s not a horrible thing…I just don’t want to do it. Poison’s done well enough that I don’t need to go do something like that at this point in my life. I don’t even know if I like that. Then there’s tribute bands that are actually comedic with it. To me, I don’t think Rock N Roll’s really funny. I think I have a little bit more of a story to tell and I think all these guys do too. We’re gonna do it together.

For people who haven’t got to hear you yet, how do you describe yourselves?

Rikki: We’re pretty much 70’s kinda influenced Rock. The first “single” as you call it is pretty much a cross between Aerosmith and Billy Squier.

We’re proud of anything that’s reminiscent that we come up with because that’s what our fans like.

Brandon: I like what you said yesterday, you said, “We’re Rage Against The Machine meets Marvin Gaye.”

Rikki: The next song that should be done in a couple days, ready to be put up is Rage Against The Machine Meets Marvin Gaye clearly. We’re not doing that consciously, these are the things that naturally.

Eric: Kinda like Tool meets Bread.

How has social media impacted the way you guys put this band together?

Rikki: It definitely keeps us positive. That’s the thing, you work so hard on something and put it out there and nobody cares. We made a band page and it’s been about a month and a half and we got over 6,000 followers already. They’re all rooting for us and we’re rooting for them. For this band it’s been our only conduit for people, but it’s working…unlike other things I’ve tried to do.

Eric: Well, it makes sense because you actually feel like you’re part of it. We’re hands on. Tracii’s always putting out little blurbs of things that we’re doing or clips…some silly clips. They actually feel like they’re here with us from the start, which is really cool…I wish we had had that 25…30 years ago. When we had Metal Edge Magazine …we’d do an interview and they wouldn’t even see it for like 3 months. Now it’s like instantaneous. Fans can actually feel like they’re here with you and it’s a cool thing.

Sitting here with founding members from Poison, LA Guns, and Cinderella is awesome. The fact that you’re all on the same project together is unbelievable. How are you guys going to use the knowledge from these past bands in this project?

Rikki: It’s impossible. All you can do is hopefully…it’s what you don’t do. There’s no formula for success in this particular business. You never know, ‘cause it’s psychological. You can make this psychological scheme of how we’re going to draw people in and BLAH BLAH BLAH…. But there’s no guarantees to anything in this business. The best that we can do is through the experience recognize when a song is headed in the right direction and make sure that that song is great and not compromise and go, “Oh, it’s alright.”

Eric: We definitely push each other.

Tracii: Big time!

Brandon, we’re gonna put you on the spot…as a younger musician, you‘ve played opening for these guys with the Gibbs Brothers, now you’re getting a chance to be in ‘em…how does it feel…did you ever dream of that as a child?

Brandon: In a way I feel like Mark Wahlburg in that movie Rock Star, I feel like I got the call. I’ve been working since I was 14 years old, touring…missing school, weddings, and proms to go out on the road. When I got back from my European tour, I was like, “I don’t see myself moving forward making a record with this band currently…with Cheap Thrill.” We have a lot of fun. I kinda told the band that maybe we don’t need to be doing this. I need to do something creative. I just sat down on my couch

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Speaking of Poison, how does it feel to be in a new project after always being with Poison all these years?

Rikki: The only way I’ve kept grounded outside the Poison swoon, CeCe and I both refer to it as that…I went and played with my wife…did percussion for her…she’s does acoustic singer/songwriter stuff and she yells at me constantly…so I had to be the Roadie , I had to the sound guy, and the percussionist. I let her down on all three levels most of the time. To make a real effort in a real Rock band, I’ve never done it since Poison. I’ve been in Poison half my life and it’s crazy.

You just got endorsed by a new stick company. Tell me about that and what sets Rockett Drum Works apart from all the other companies out there.

Rikki: It was just time for me to move on from Vader…I think they’re an absolutely awesome company. I was a small fish in a really huge pond over there. They treated me good and serviced me with product but I kept running into the Los Cabos people at NAMM. They were always close by, we’d go out to dinner , and hang out, and their philosophy, and what they do with their sticks 24 Rock N Roll Industries Magazine

are so similar to what I do with my drum company, which is just a small boutique company…very hand crafted… we’re all American, they’re all Canadian. It’s all North American. We just related.

They’re very family oriented. I feel like my company is. It just made sense for me to go to a boutique company. Rockett Drum Works is a custom company. I tried to do it where we were just this smaller drum company and it didn’t work that way. It didn’t make sense.

We’re for people that carry their own gear and want something special. That’s our nitch. That’s what we do.

Tracii, you got the NashVegas tell us about that.

Tracii: They have my signature model with Dean. Interesting kinda of story, I’ve kinda been with Dean on and off since I was a kid.

Then I was with BC Rich when we got signed for a long time. I had a great relationship with Bernie Rico. We did the Gun Slinger. The Gun Slinger enabled Bernie to have a great life. It retailed as a 799.

It was an American made guitar. They could really do it. I always liked having the signature guitar because either I’d make money off it or I got all the guitars I want. Fast forward to 2008 when the NashVegas idea happened. Chad Stewart, who was the drummer for LA Guns at the time was with Dean. They also have Ddrum.

Josh Maloney, who’s my main man at Dean, was at Rocklahoma , and he’s like, “You know, we should do a signature guitar.” I basically only played vintage guitars so at the time I had a 52 Nocaster & a 59 Les Paul. We toyed around with it and I was finally like, “You know what, man? I need an extra fret on my Nocaster. It’s only 21 frets.” I threw a design together. If I’m gonna play it all the time, it better stay in tune. So we went with the Floyd. It’s the extra fret.

It’s got a big ole neck. It’s a real big baseball bat neck. The guitar’s a little heavier too. Originally I had this like Vegasy graphic idea, so it would look like a card table…sparkly card table. He’s like “NO!, that will look nice on the wall. I got this guy that does pin striping.

So all the American ones would be unique. Flat black. Make it kinda Hot Rod looking.” I’m like, “Oh, yeah that sounds really cool!” I’ve never played just a black guitar. I’ve got a thing about just black.

So they did a mock-up and I was like, “Man that looks fantastic!” It only took about three months and I had the prototype. That’s still the one I play. I play the prototype. It came out and they started

Enrique Nunez

and heard my iPhone go DING… Oh, Rikki Rocket…I haven’t heard from him in a little bit… “You. Me. Tracii Guns. What do you think?” And I was like “WHAT?? YOU’RE TIMING IS SO RIGHT!” Eric thought it was a good thing for me to do and a little while later we were at like a vintage car show and Eric goes, “Huh, I just got a text from Rikki Rockett he said he’s gonna call me.” And I go, “I think I know what this is about.” And he goes, “Well looks like I’m gonna be in a band with you again and I was like, “YES!” To answer your question, that movie, Rock Star, just plays in my head. At first I thought it was a joke, but here we are and we have almost four songs done. I’m very happy. When I was 16 years old, 3 piece band with my twin brother, that’s actually when I met Rikki Rockett, was opening for Poison as a teenager. That’s we’re I got the real Education…I had been out with 70’s bands…Peter Frampton…The Doobie Brothers…love ‘em…absolutely love ‘em…took that influence…when I was opening for Poison I was like, “WHOA! THAT’S A ROCK SHOW! So that’s how you’re supposed to act on stage.”

“let’s play good old fashion Rock N RolL”

selling. Josh still bitches at me because I play the 59 a lot… the Les Paul still. I don’t play the Nocaster. I only play my Dean. I have some other nice ones too. I have a very traditional one…that doesn’t have a tremolo on it. I got a hollow body one that’s red with a mud-flap grill on it. So I’m really happy with that. I can’t see ever being with a different guitar company. Elliot, the owner, is just the coolest man. They’ve helped me out a lot besides just guitar stuff. When I down in Florida, they always take care of me and whoever ‘s with me.

It’s just a great relationship. And you can buy that guitar at Guitar Center.

Is there any other gear that make your guys’ sound that you guys uniquely use?

Rikki: The idea of the band is that we don’t use anything special per se or something that’s affected. We’re more organic. I basically use a brand new 1971 Marshall 50 Watt Head. It’s not a Marshall, but it is. Brandon’s going through his little boutiquey choices figuring out what he wants. Eric plays a Pea Bass.

Brandon: I’ve been with Sublime out of Tampa for about six months now and they’ll send me some Les Paul like cuts.

I always used like a 335 Hollow body kinda thing. Fender amp. Marshall cabinet. Kinda different contrast.

Rikki: (talking about Brandon) Talk about finding a needle in a haystack. The old soul that comes out of his throat, it comes out of his hands. It’s incredible. I generally don’t work well with other guitar players and singers, which I’ve proved to the world at times because I’m an asshole. I want the guy that’s fronting whatever we’re doing to be the spark… the highlight…the most natural great thing that could occur without being pretentious. I’ve worked with Phil, he’s a great singer, Axl’s a great singer…they’re not Brandon Gibb…I’m telling you right now, they can’t do what Brandon does.

Brandon: I’m still learning. When I go home, the things that are on my playlist is like Imagine Dragons, Safety Suit. I really try to take myself out of Rock N Roll so I can bring something soulful into this so it’s just different. I’m very much still in learning mode. I feel like I just jump in a band with like

Stevie Ray Vaughn. I’ll only get better from this experience.”

Tracii: “When you’re in a Rock N Roll band, you gotta be cool…it’s gotta be honest and real. We’re really lucky to have Brandon.”

Rikki: I think with Rock bands, in general, when you’re buying into a Rock band…you’re not buying just the music.

You’re buying into the whole thing. Rock bands start with an attitude. Everything comes from the attitude…the music, the way they look, the way they act…everything comes from that little central part…the attitude. You’re buying a lifestyle kinda.

When you buy into KISS…you’re buying KISS atmosphere… you’re a part of something. I think that’s what’s working with us…people feel a part of it…we’re bringing our history, but yet we’re not stuck in it, we’re going forward. People want to go forward. There isn’t a whole lot of this type of Rock N Roll around at the moment.”

Tracii: We fight with that in all of our respective old bands.

The fans have already accepted what we’ve done in the past and they love the band for that music. To come out with something new, it’s more skepticism than anything. It’s like, “Well, are they gonna do another “Every Rose” are they gonna be able to pull that off?” And it’s like, “No, we already did it.” So doing it this way, people aren’t comparing it to anything. People will pay attention. Like Rikki has said in past interviews, had we gotten a singer from our genre, we would have sounded like their band and that’s a problem too.

Brandon, tell us what it’s like working with Creative Defense.

Brandon: I love Creative Defense. They’ve had my back for a very long time. Tammy Prock, Dianne Gibbs, Adria Force, John Force Racing Team, have always like used some of my music. They’re pretty much responsible for the reason my solo song, “This Town” is on ESPN. Call them in the middle of the night with a question… I’m still a little green, I have to call up… I love them, they always have my back. The Force Family and the Prock Family, they’re very Team Brandon and don’t give up that’s what their thing is with me. I’m blessed to have them in my corner.

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26 Rock N Roll Industries Magazine

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

Rock N Roll Industries Magazine 27

LA House of Blues 5/2/14

by Michael Taylor & Leah Burlington

Las Vegas. Early morning, two metal heads get ready for a journey to California in the name of music. Four hours of stories, new CDs and coffee, the two arrive in LA. Respects were to be paid first, to one of the metal gods, Ronnie James Dio. It was a quiet, serene, and beautiful location, but it was extremely moving and emotional for both of us. It was a sobering reminder that everything we do, we do for the love of the music and it wouldn’t be what it is today without Dio’s influences. After a brief moment to collect ourselves we were off to the House of Blues on the Sunset Strip. After parking and saying hello to some friends, we met Jon Schaffer quickly before he disappeared into the venue. Walking around a bit, we bumped into Stu Block, and conducted our interview earlier than expected.

First up was Floor Jansen’s ReVamp, by the gods, does this woman have a voice on her. Being classically trained, she has the ability to sing with an operatic voice, but when she growls, she takes the music to another level. It doesn’t hurt that she is as beautiful as she is talented. At the end of her set, she invited fans to join her at the merch booth.

Next up was Sabaton, these guys had so much energy that they almost stole the show, lead singer Joakim was bouncing around the stage, and seemed generally shocked and appreciative that between every song the crowd would chant “Sabaton, Sabaton, Sabaton” until the next song started. This is a band you need to see live, for their energy and good loving nature alone. They also gave one of the youngest fans in attendance a memory for the rest of his life, being brought up on stage he was given Joakim’s glasses and allowed to fist pump and head bang for the final song of their set.

Finally, the band we traveled from Vegas for, Iced Earth ... Stu Block’s voice lends itself perfectly to Iced Earth’s style, and his vocal range is just outrageous I’m sure those highs have to hurt just a bit. Seeing Stu on stage and visiting Dio, was just too much for me to bear and when “Watching Over Me” was played, I lost it and I cried through out the song. But back to the metal! Iced Earth opened with “Plagues of Babylon” and with the opening notes, came shouts of excitement and glee, enough so that I though we would certainly blow the roof off of the building. Jon Schaffer is a master of creating riffs and story driven music, it was a sight to see him rolling up and down his fret board. After the set, the crowd was left wanting more, but the day had to come to a close and we were ushered out. It is not a journey for the faint of heart, but for those willing to make the trip for the music, I salute you and will see you by the barricade.

Stay metal, my friends.

ReVamp Setlist:

Wild Card, Limbic System, Head Up High, Neurasthenia, Disdain, Wolf and Dog

Sabaton Setlist:

“The March to War”, Ghost Division, Gott Mit Uns, Carolus Rex (Eng), Swedish Pagans, To Hell and Back, White Death, 40:1 – Art of War, Primo Victoria, Metal Crue

Iced Earth / Stu Block Interview

By Leah Burlington

What’s been the biggest challenge for you having to sing songs that Tim & Matt did, to not only honor their performances, but make them your own as well?

Stu: You want to basically make the songs your own obviously, I’m singing it so I am not going to sound exactly like Matt Barlow or exactly 28 28 Rock Rock N N Roll Roll Industries Industries Magazine Magazine

There is a big difference in the growling in Into Eternity to Iced Earth. You ever thought about doing some growling in Iced Earth?

We have “Dystopia,” it has a scream at the beginning and there’s a few songs on the new album, but it’s more of an ambient thing, but not a focal point. I just don’t see it being something that would be incorporated as a major thing in IE. We gotta keep true to the sound and all that kind of stuff and I think it would be too much of a stray really. Yeah, we use it for ambience and we try out different things in the studio. High growls, low growls, mid growls and put them together and see how it would sound in the backround, but I don’t think it would be something we would pursue and a major thing.

What is the one thing you learned about Jon that you never would have expected?

That’s a good one! He surprises me all the time. The way he is and his personality and all that. There’s a lot of misconceptions about Jon, that he’s a hard ass and that he is difficult to work with. It’s bullshit; I have never experienced that. He just knows what he wants. He’s been running this band for about 30 years. And he knows the sound and what needs to be done in order to execute an album and bring out the best in people. I didn’t go thinking that and of course, I didn’t know him as a person before I’d ever met him when I got the gig over the phone. The whole time going to the airport to meet him, I had things going through my head that was like “I hope he’s cool”. And I am sure the same thing was going through his head, but literally the moment I met him, we were driving to his house in Indiana to his studio, I knew all I needed to know and I knew this guy was a just passionate guy. We were in Calagary and I saw him give the sweater off his back to a homeless guy. It was freez-

ing cold out, he’s just that guy. He knows what it’s like to be homeless too. He’s lived that life. He surprises me all the time, there’s all these little things he does and they are all very positive. He has a lot he deals with, with the business and he wears so many hats, and we’re able to make him laugh when he’s having a bad day. We are all learning new stuff about each other all the time. There are no real misconceptions and I don’t listen to people and go “Ok well that’s what it’s going to be like.” I met him and I go… “Fuck those people, they don’t know this guy”. They just know what the media has twisted and formed for their own benefit to make him look like something that he totally isn’t.

What song do you feel connects you the most to the audience?

Most of the time “Watching Over Me”. Everyone’s singing it, they sing most of the songs, and everyone’s really into it. “If I could See You”, is a really good connecting song, but then you got “Vengence is Mine” and people are like, ‘Yeah!!’ And the pit always explodes! I think this set-list is really cool, we finally got something that’s really good right now that’s making people jump and go crazy!

Why do you think European audiences “get it” more than American ones when it comes to Metal and NOT follow the music trends like we do in the States?

I honestly think that Europeans connect to music more as a total thing, not just as just music. It’s more of a musical place; A lifestyle.

A lot of people play instruments or they are singing or they have been surrounded by music. It’s unfortunate that North America is surrounded by football, surrounded by reality TV, or sitcoms and that’s all they really care about. I’m not saying that’s the total population of North America, but I am talking about Canada and the United States as well. I think it’s a downfall of North American society through the brainwashing of Television and the brainwashing through the news and the media to be afraid, so people don’t want to try new things. They only want to listen to what the media tells them to listen, they are really sheep to the media. A lot of people don’t think for themselves anymore.

There are sheep in Europe as well, but I find as a whole as a general rule of thumb they are just more connected to music, they understand it. If they don’t play a musical instrument, it’s usually their parents, they have been around it their whole life and it’s a way of life. They are more open to explore new genre’s of music. They are more open to people that actually play instruments and actually are trying to be musicians as opposed to digital musicians.

Photos: Leah Burlington

Sabaton, ReVamp

like Tim Owens, there’s always those challenges. There’s a few songs that I had to sort of re-work- with my vocal range to approach it differently again, in order to not stray away from what was originally done. I mean with Tim’s stuff, I can remember “Ten Thousand Strong”, being something I had to work on for a while to really find the right pocket in the voice to execute it correctly. You know that Matt has always been an influence of mine and so I sang to a lot of that stuff throughout the years. It’s just really a lot of emotion and he throws that grit to his voice and he has that howl to his tone. Those are some signatures that he has, and I try to do my own thing with it also, but still keep true to the influence. There’s always challenges, but you get through them and if it’s something I can’t do - you just move on because Iced Earth has a lot of songs. (Laughs)

Duane “DT” Jones -Swirl-

Neil Zlozower AtlasIcons.com

You had a photo shoot with Neil Zlozower, how was the experience?

It was incredible. Obviously Neil is a legend in the rock n roll photo industry. He is truly gifted behind the lens, but until you shoot with him you`ll never understand just how engaging, funny and charismatic he is. We ended up shooting for 3 hours. Lots of great shots came from that afternoon.

The way we came to get that shoot together was a bit of a story on its own. He openly admits he saw Swirl by accident when he went to the Whisky A Go Go to see the debut show of Jake E Lee`s Red Dragon Cartel. He got to the venue early enough to sit through some opening slots. That was in December of 2013, then in January 2014 while attending a post NAMM party at the Hilton hotel in Anaheim, CA he approached me for the first time to say how impressed he was with my playing. The man has taken some of the most iconic photos in music history and obviously seen a lot of great guitar players, so for him to say I definitely left an impression on him. He said he was interested in doing a photo shoot with me to give me some exposure in guitar magazines and a couple of months later we were shooting.

won the “Best Feature Film” award at the Burbank International Film Festival and we are pleased to announce that the film is now available to view by the public in an online streaming format straight from the website for the movie at www.ditchdaymassacre.com.

Tell us, what can we expect to see when Swirl hits the stage?

There is a passion about what we are doing that is very obvious when you see the four of us on stage together. A brotherhood, (literally in the case of Brian and I) that comes off the stage and encompasses the whole room.

Alfred, Shane, Brian and I are all strong musicians and even stronger friends. Nothing like putting yourselves on tour in the US covering over 50,000 miles in a Ford Econoline van to make four guys get on the same page.

What is your outlook on the hard rock music scene as a whole?

I recently read where Gene Simmons of KISS proclaimed “Rock is Dead” and I have since seen several artists at different “successful” levels of their careers respond to his comment. I think the hard rock scene is flourishing because more musicians are making music with little to no restriction. There is less “conformity” since there is no “big record deal” to chase. The business model in place when KISS was starting out is definitely no longer available to many rock artists. There is no more “nurturing” of bands by labels. I don`t see that as a bad thing when it is far Swirl is the featured artist in the too easy for any artist to get their music straight out to the people movie “Ditch Day Massacre”. through the internet. I think the What was it like having your onus falls on the artists to create music featured in the film?

They recieved an advanced copy something of real value. I think that`s great! Now more than ever, and liked it so much he took it to the film`s producer Megan Waters THE PEOPLE DECIDE. If an artist is creating something (owner of Watertree Media) who worthy of attention and is also liked it so much we wound up with 3 songs in this film. We were willing to put the effort into the business side of the MUSIC invited to a private screening to view the film when it was finished BUSINESS then they certainly are at an advantage when they find and it`s just plain “cool as fuck” their crowd. I used to read all the to be watching a movie and hear your own music mixed in with the time about bands that were getting ripped off by the “team” they scenes. “Spell” comes in during a party scene, “Rise Up” appears trusted with their careers while within the first 30 minutes and “We they were just busy “playing rock Are Alive” was used during a par- star,” those stories are less and less because the artists are more ticularly sexy scene. On September 7, 2014 ‘Ditch Day Massacre’ in control of their careers.

Andrea Granillo Rock N Roll Industries Magazine 29

CrazyTown’ s official Comeback An Interview with Bret Mazur

By Angelica Ulloa They’ll promote it as CrazyTown to get people to come. That’s even another issue we had to work through. He would go do a simple appearance, for whatever reason, that got put on Poll Star. After he had gotten about a year sober, Evan from Bio Hazard was actually at my studio, he was talking about starting a new project with me. We were going through some of these unreleased CrazyTown songs. I told him I wanted to release these to the fans so the songs don’t die in my hard-drive. I met with Seth and told him we should put them out independently, at least our fans can get them. Beyond that, the talk got deep and I saw that this was a different person I was talking to. So we decided to do one or two new songs for this unreleased songs record. That ended up turning into, “Let’s just do a whole new record.”

“Our career was cut short. We are completely 100% relevant moving forward right now as if we were a brand new band. This is not some revival thing at all. We almost have to use the CrazyTown name because if we started a brand new band, people wouldn’t know. We wouldn’t be able to be playing Download Festival, Rockin’ Ring, and Rockin’ Park… all these big festivals…100,000 people at each one. It’s a double edge sword…you get a lot of value out of using the name, but with the name comes a lot of pre-conceived notions.

Most of the people out there know us as the guys that did, “Butterfly,” it’s like they have no idea what the rest of our stuff is like…no idea that song is nothing like the rest. If you stripped away all the radio play and success that it had and listen to it in the context of the rest of the record, it makes perfect sense. There were these heavy songs… groovy songs. It was a blessing and a curse all at the same time. We need to tell a story, our story… before the world gets a chance to tell their side of the side or who we are. We need to define who we are before anybody else re-labels us. We’re not a Rock band. We’re the heaviest band in Hip Hop. In radio, the label is Active Rock. In reality, we always saw ourselves as more Alternative Hip Hop. ” “I came from Hip Hop. I was producing the first Black Eyed Peas album. Will I Am introduced me to Seth. I was doing a lot of stuff for Ruthless Records...Eazy E’s label. I came up learning in a studio called Auto Achievements. I learned a lot from just hanging in the studio with Dr. Dre... he was working on NWA and stuff like that.”

“Anything else you’d like to tell the readers or want the world to know?”

“What I want the world to know …it’s stupid for me to say our music is amazing because that’s all subjective, but we are not this manufactured band. We never were. Honestly, we’re just grateful to get a second chance. If this whole thing ended tonight, then I got to say farewell to all my family and friends that are gonna be here tonight and it is what it is. If it could go on from here and amazing things can happen, that would be great.

Unfortunately, we need people to join us on Twitter and Facebook, and build our social media and YouTube. We just love what we do. We’re grateful to be here in this moment. What I want them to know is that I’m loving- being here right now.

That’s all I can say right now. If I start having too many expectations for tomorrow, I’m bound to be disappointed.” “You have to develop a fan base and a relationship with your fan base where it’s like they’re your friends. When you have a friend that does music or paints or does any sort of art or creation and they’re your friend and they play you that song or show you that painting or watch that show or movie or whatever it is you’re going to usually, even if it’s bad… you’re going to find a redeeming quality in it and if it’s good, you’re gonna flip over it.”

Angelica Ulloa

Every artist will encounter a fall-out in life, not all survive, or stage a comeback. Those who do, end up coming back stronger, and with both feet on the ground. I had the privilege to sit one-on-one with Bret Mazur from CrazyTown before his official comeback at the Whisky A Go Go. I didn’t expect what we planned as a 15min interview to turn into an hour. I left that day feeling pumped full of lifeinspired to get back on track with my own dreams and goals. This man is full of heart in all his words, and that passion breathes new life into his work as can be read in the following interview.

What are you guys currently doing?

Bret: “We’ve been rehearsing…this is actually the first show of us coming back together so tonight’s a really big night. It’s important because we’ve had so many starts and stops with us coming back together that a lot of people, especially the industry has a kind of wait and see attitude… is this really gonna happen? It’s me and Seth as the two main front guys. We’re the same. The whole thing started with just us two. Even our old band, we brought into the mix after the fact. We started out as a strictly Hip Hop band. We were doing so much stuff in the studio with guitars and drums and it just made sense that we wanted a band. As far as the new band is concerned, fortunately we found three guys that we know are amazing and dedicated. We’re still great friends with the other guys, but everyone’s gone off and done other things. This is just the way it had to go down.

“What have you learned so far from previous shows and experiences to come back officially today?”

“You can’t put your finger on the one thing. Its crazy the difference now, from then. I’m self-managing the band, also before we had handlers…we had so many people around us pointing us in the right direction. It’s so much better being present and aware and in control of everything that’s going on. The business aspect too as the industry has changed so much. We were broken up by the changing of the industry. Record labels were firing staff members and dropping bands. Downloading was really the main visible culprit. There were other reasons. We were on a major label…we were with Sony Columbia. They had people in every building around the world making extremely great livings. So now days the difference is if you want to be a successful artist and make records and tour, you can’t just be good at what you do.

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You can’t just go into some record executive’s office with a guitar or a demo and play your music and it’s done. Now days you have to be a whiz at marketing, social media, and business. You need to be able to take off your own business. Especially if you have a band and plan on going on the road. I would strongly suggest if you can manage yourself or at least make a deal with a manager that they’re not taking 20 % of your gross income… do that, because you will not make any money and you will quit. A lot of great talented people won’t be able to get noticed because they can’t afford to make a living.”

“So aside from the heat and Europe, what else do you have planned?”

“We’re finishing the record. We are going to be making another changing of the times in the record industry. We’re making separate deals for separate parts of the world. The company that we’re doing our record with in Europe, they want to put the record out in the fall. So we’re in the middle of talking to different labels about being able to have the same exact release date here in the states and in Australia.

The difficult part is that we have fans in different parts of the world, organizing that will be a little tricky. We’re in full show mode. I’m producing a number of different artists. One of the artists, I think is gonna be on Warner Brothers and they’re gonna be here tonight.

“Tell me about the history of your name.”

“In high school, I was DJ. I was actually DJing at a lot of big clubs here in LA. I wasn’t even old enough to get into them. I couldn’t just be DJ Bret.

One of my friends in high school said, “You should be DJ Epic!” Shifty has always been a shifty character, he’s not so shifty anymore, but he definitely plays the part in our band.”

“His coma incident, how was that feeling of thinking you were gonna lose your best friend? How did that affect you? How many days was he in a coma?”

“It wasn’t long. I believe it was about two or three days. It was really scary. I was really mad at him at the time. I got the call and heard what happened.

That’s not the first time. That was 100% his wakeup call. He had to die to wake up. He’s been sober ever since. I don’t think he had that walking into the light thing or anything crazy like that.” “That came on the heels of us trying to get back together actually about a year earlier. We were gonna be on Suburban Noize Records. We played this festival… just a mellow show… just did a couple of songs…in front of like 10,000 people. The KottonMouth Kings introduced us and welcomed us to the Suburban Noize Records family. They were working on all this touring stuff; it was like half a million dollars’ worth of touring on the books. We were supposed to be in the studio working on stuff.

They were waiting for me to let them know if they can commit to these shows. Seth is missing in action. One week goes by…two weeks goes by… finally they say, “Listen, if we don’t commit right now, we’re gonna have to let it go”…I said, “Let it go.” I put it behind me and just had to forget about it. About a week or two later, I get a text from him and he’s like, “What’s up? I’m ready to do this!” and I was like, “Man that ship has sailed. Too late now.” The other unfortunate thing was he was doing solo shows, as Shifty or Shifty’s CrazyTown. I told him, “You can’t do shows as Shifty’s CrazyTown because promoters will promote it as CrazyTown and it’s not CrazyTown. I have nothing to do with it. He’s like, “No! I’m not booking like that. That’s not what the contracts say.” I said, “Yeah, but promoters are dogs and they don’t care.

A Look into the Eyes of the Panther An Interview with Steel Panther’s Satchel

by Curt Miller “Hey dude, you’re going to have to speak up a bit.

I’m driving in my new Ferrari and I’ve got a stripper with me. You know how loud they can be. They get all hopped up on cocaine and just can’t stop talking.” Yes, friends. Thus began my conversation with Steel Panther’s guitarist, Satchel, regarding the latest goings-on with the band, their current release, upcoming tour, and some of the other projects he’s been working on. One thing’s for sure. There’s no such thing as a “standard” Steel Panther interview.

On September 7, 2014 Steel Panther’s “Hail to the Victor” video featuring Rob Riggle and Lil’ John appeared on FOX’s NFL Sunday. Who initiated the concept for this collaboration and how did it all come together?

Rob Riggle directed “Party Like Tomorrow is the End of the World,” the first video from our latest release, All You Can Eat. He’s a big fan of the band, a huge metal fan, and he has the NFL show on FOX. He gave us a call and said he wanted to get us on the show reworking some of the words to our song, “Tomorrow Night,” about Riggle winning the picks. It was an awesome concept. We filmed it in just a few hours in an airport hanger in Santa Monica with a whole bunch of strippers. Dude, it was killer! I think a lot of football fans got turned on to Panther that day. We’re bringing heavy metal back and Riggle’s right on the front lines with us.

Scott Dworkin

There’ve already been three fantastic video releases in support of All You Can Eat. Have you rapped up production on the video shoot for the track “Pussywhipped” and, if so, can you give us a little teaser as to what fans can expect?

Well, there’s going to be a lot of chicks in it and some testicles, as well. Usually when there are girls around there are testicles, but you don’t always see the testicles. With this video there’s going to be some very visible testicles.

While Steel Panther’s sound can only be described as edgy, raucous, and in your face, the concept has definitely resonated well with fans and critics alike. To what do you attribute Steel Panther’s terrific rise to stardom?

We’ve been doing this for a long time and there was never any doubt in our minds that we’d be the biggest band in the world someday. We’re all doing exactly what we love, which is party, play heavy metal, and have sex with a lot of girls. Even when we were playing small clubs the enthusiasm from our fans was a very good sign that we were going to do well. For most bands the hard part is getting the word out and doing shows. We never stopped doing shows. No doubt, we’ve had just as rough a road as any other band. We’ve had lawsuits, lost money, and gotten VD from different strippers; you name it. But everyone in this band has been determined to rock the world from day one and we haven’t stopped. That’s the key.

good music. I have a passion for heavy metal and rock and roll! It all comes back to that. I want to write emotional rock music. It’s got to touch you somehow, whether it makes you laugh or bang your head. (Laughing) I don’t even remember what you asked. Heavy metal rules!

What brought about your collaboration with Corey Taylor for yours and his contribution of “Rainbow in the Dark” to the DIO Tribute Album This is Your Life?

Corey asked me to do that. He’s such a great artist so, of course, I wanted to do it. That, combined with the fact that it was “Rainbow in the Dark,” which is one of the best DIO songs, had me really stoked to do it. That song just epitomizes everything that’s awesome about DIO. Corey The Steel Panther / Judas Priest tour heading sang great, the band did a really terrific job, and two headline acts performing together, though I’m very pleased with how my solo turned out, as each with completely different styles and per- well. I didn’t want to just copy the original, because sonalities. What can fans expect at this truly Vivian Campbell has a style and flavor all his own. once in a lifetime show?

I set out to do my best solo, personally, and I feel We’re definitely different bands, but Judas Priest like it came out really great. and Steel Panther have a lot in common. Priest has heavily influenced my style of playing. There What, if anything, do you really want your are Steel Panther songs that have ideas taken fans to know about you, personally, or Steel directly from Judas Priest. We’ve opened up for Panther?

Mötley Crüe and Def Leppard and other big bands Wow! That’s another good question! People in the past and it really brings a lot of flavor to the should know that we’re a real band. We split show. We’re so different than Priest, yet we’re everything equally, four ways. Nobody gets paid very entertaining in our own way. We’re funny and more. We all put in 100% into every album and we sexual, and both bands are great at what we do. have equal say in every decision made regarding Fans leave the show completely exhausted, hav- this band. Every member of Steel Panther has ing had a fantastic time! things that are his strong suits, but we’re all equal partners. Some people think that we’re fakes. No Who are some of your biggest musical infludude! This is a real band! We’re the real deal and ences and what’s given you the drive and dethe way we work together is something I’m very termination to develop your incredible mastery proud of! of the instrument?

Without question, Steel Panther is as outrageous When I was younger I was inspired by guitar and entertaining as they come. But, as Satchel players, such as Eddie Van Halen, the guys in very correctly states, they are the “real deal.” Each Judas Priest and Iron Maiden, and Jimi Hendrix. member of the band is a talented artist. Their lyrics There’s just so many. As I got older, my influare funny, but their recordings and LIVE shows ences shifted from guitar players to really gifted are tight and well put together. Steel Panther is in songwriters. When you first start playing guitar, it’s easy to be into the flashy licks, however; what a category all in its own and they’ve got it wired.

This is one band that works as hard as it parties you discover is, over the years, what stands the test of time is great songwriting. I’m just into really and knowing how hard they party, that’s a hell of a lot of work and it shows!

Rock N Roll Industries Magazine 31

the only way to do that was to get in a band. Since everyone played the guitar, I picked up the bass.

When Prong started we didn’t know if I was going to play bass or guitar so I pretty much learned to play as we went along. Those who inspired me were Gene Simmons of KISS, Black Sabbath, Deep Purple and pretty much anything hard that could help me deal with my anger somehow. I never knew I was going to make a career out of playing the guitar. I would think, “Well I play in a band; let’s see what works and when my career is over at 30, I will work as an A&R rep at a record label.” We all see what is happening to record labels so that was a dumb idea. My career kept going out of the grace of God. My favorite song is “Snap your Fingers Snap your Neck.” How did you come up with those lyrics and what is it about?

Tommy: That lyric was written in 5 minutes. I was with Troy Gregory, who was the bass player in Prong at that time. We were on the subway going to my apartment and he said, “We should do a song called snap your fingers.” Then I said, “Snap your neck!” I went into the bathroom and wrote the whole song about living in the moment. I wrote it in five minutes. It’s one of those miracle songs. I took that riff from a front line assembly and just built upon that. Basically I stole it.

How do you think Prong’s music has improved over the years?

Prong then and now

By Raquel Figlo

With the release of Prong’s new album, “Ruining Lives” it is the first time that Prong has released two records within two years and both are sounding better than ever before. Tommy Victor who is currently touring with Danzig and Prong is happy with the outcome of the album and his new positive outlook on life reflects that in the music.

32 32 Rock Rock N N Roll Roll Industries Industries Magazine Magazine

How did Prong get started?

Tommy: I worked at CBGB from 1986-1990 as a sound guy and I got to see a lot of bands I liked and a lot I didn’t like. I took the pieces that I did like and used them to form Prong.

Who inspired you to play the guitar?

Tommy: I started playing guitar late in life. I wanted to get out of my neighborhood and I thought that

Tommy: I think it’s better. I really didn’t play guitar much before the band started. It was one year of cramming. On original demos of Prong there are no guitar solos.

We laid down tracks and put guitar solos over it. I practiced solos for a couple months. I faked it, I never wrote songs before, I never was in a band, but the more I keep going the more I improved and got better. Both my vocals and guitar playing improved. It was on the job training that developed my style. People can study and go to school, but it is different when you are out in the real world. As a musician, it is more than just learning scales.

How is this album different from previous records?

Tommy: It has more style. The packaging is better and it’s on digipack and comes with a poster. It is the ultimate Prong record. It has good lyrics and it reflects old thrash and hard core with postpunk influences. We are really proud of it. Twelve great songs,

each one treated like a single.

How was the writing process?

Tommy: It was really fast. The riffs were designed when I was on tour with Danzig. I wanted the lyrics to be heard and to have clarity in the vocals; that’s another progression.

Hooks are very important in a song and we are dealing with rock n roll anthems. I guess that’s hard wired into me because I grew up on KISS. Hooks and a message people can relate to are what makes a good song. Prong lyrics are known for self-torture and getting out of it. In the past I was always pissed off. On this new album everything ends up on a positive note.

What is the most memorable tour you have been on?

Tommy: In a positive way or a negative way? (laughs).This last one was pretty cool. I don’t get too excited about things anymore, because I don’t want to be let down too much, but this last tour was great, smooth sailing. It was the easiest tour I have ever been on.

I don’t like drama. I like to do a show, doing the best I can, staying healthy and having everything normal. That’s a good time.

If you were stranded on a deserted island and you only had 5 albums to bring with you, what would they be?

Tommy: The Killing Joke 2003, Sabbath Bloody Sabbath by Sabbath, MachineHead, Deep Purple, KISS “Hotter than Hell” album and the Best of Cream.

Tell me one thing your readers don’t know about you?

Tommy: How about that I believe in God. You and Dime Bag Darrell were really close friends. Being the 10th anniversary since his passing, how would you sum up your pal’s impact then and to this day?

Tommy: He taught me a lot of stuff. He had a great attitude about life and about music. Forget it!

He was incredible. It was a spiritual thing and I don’t think he was aware of it. He had a great spirit and that impacted everything in his life, his relationships with other people and his ability to perform, write riffs and play them. Great people like that don’t last that long on earth. They do their part, now they are off to a different realm.

For more information on Prong: www.prongmusic.com

LunchBox Studios!

Interview with David Franklin, professional drummer and owner of Lunch Box Studios to see it get even better. I will always be drumming, whether it is studio projects or playing live shows.

How did you get started?

I have been drumming since 2000. I started in middle school and have been playing ever since. I am influenced by What artists are you several styles of music so my plan is currently working with to become the most versatile drummer at Lunch Box Studios?

I can be. I have always had a passion I don’t work with many high for playing music; I just didn’t know profile clients on their personal where I wanted to go. One day I picked projects because most have up some drumsticks and started to play their own producers with their the drums and I just fell in love. The own studios. But I do seem to next week my mom took me down to be getting a lot of features and the music store and bought me my first hired work. I have been asked kit. to keep confidential everything What kind of music are you into? that I have in the works until Now that you are no longer in Honestly, my taste in music changes the bands make announcements.

I Dantes Boneyard, what does the by the day, over the last few months I love the fact that, for the most part, future hold for David Franklin? have been reviewing some work I am I have worked with almost every David: As of right now I am focused finishing, For the most part I listen to member of the Sullen Family in one on keeping the success of the studio way or another, also a good portion of what I am currently working on just so going, Over the last two years I have seen dramatic increase in business out them call The LunchBox Studios home. I can make improvements on my work and become a better engineer and of The LunchBox Studios, and I want How long have you been rumming? producer.

More than meets the eyes!

Brutality with a soul

Metalcore, as far as the heavy music genre is concerned. But it’s not unusual for one of us to throw on something completely outside of that realm, get really into it, and try to incorporate that influence into what we’re doing and make it heavy. Long standing influences have been Guns N’ Roses, Pantera, Killswitch Engage, Zao, and As I Lay Dying. Newer bands like Impending Doom, Born of Osiris, Memphis May Fire, and Suicide Silence have also come into our blend of influences.

By Raquel Figlo

What is the story behind the bands name?

TJ: Well, we were trying to come up with a really epic band name, but couldn’t think of anything. So we decided we would use whatever was in my glove box to name the band. All I had was a small garden spade and some plastic picnic knives. So I said “Ok, so we’re calling ourselves...Gardening Tools and Cutlery?” It didn’t have the ring to it that we wanted, until Jason screamed “DUDE!!! IT’S SPADES AND BLADES!” Then we all were like...”YES!” Jason: Not really though. That never happened. Hahahaha. The name came from our previous band, whose logos were accompanied by a spade and a blade. We wanted to carry over some of our history into the new project and a fan of ours said to us “You guys should call the new band Spades And Blades.” We agreed...the rest is history.

How did you get involved with Sullen and Sullen Musik?

TJ: My friend Brian was working for them at the time and he had been a fan of the band. He put me in touch with Jeremy Hanna (one of the owners at Sullen), and I had a brief talk with him.

Then we set up a meeting with Jeremy and the whole band. At that meeting, things just felt natural and it was a good fit. So we shook hands, had a few Rockstars, and hugged it out! Things have progressed from there. We are really excited to have them on our side.

The sullen family is full of really friendly, talented, people and the rad clothing hookup is awesome too!

Who are your influences?

Jason: It’s a mixed bag, but everyone likes a combination of heavy music and melodic music. Everything from Classic Rock, to Heavy Metal, to Contemporary

Justin: Everything from Motörhead, to Maroon Five, to Pantera. Heavy, melodic, and brutal.

Tell me about “The End Is Near” how will this album be different?

TJ: We have all been progressing musically and our talents have grown by leaps and bounds since the last time we made a full album in 2009. I wasn’t even in the band then, so this album will definitely be different in the drumming department. Even since the release of the “Proud to be Loud” E.P, I think the improvements really show in the songwriting and technicality of the new songs. However, we have still been conscious of completing the new material with our own style in mind; Crushing metal with groove.

Jason: Exactly. We’re not trying to stray too far from the sound we set out to accomplish back then but we’re also striving to stay relevant to what’s happening musically in the current market.

We’re combining our original sound and implementing more modern production style, heavier turnings, and more djent riffs, at the same time.

When you are not playing music what are you doing?

TJ: I run my own motorcycle shop called “TJ Brutal Customs”.

Jason: I have my own business, also. I’m in the event entertainment industry as a vendor for my company “Instaglam Photo Booth”.

Justin: I’m also a business owner.

I have my own print shop called “Dead and Buried Inc.” We print merch for bands that are heavy, melodic, and brutal.

Any up coming tours? If so tell me all about it?

Jason: We will be covering most of the Midwest and the South.

Dates can be found on our website at www.spadesandblades. com Justin: We’ll be direct support for deathcore new comers Solus Deus, which features members of Chimaira, Bleed The Sky, and Living Sacrifice.

Rock N Roll Industries Magazine 33

Interview update:

It’s a summer weekday in K-town and I am a tad worried why Wayne hasn’t checked in for our interview, so I decide to carry on with my sporadic chores at my apartment. An hr or so later I finally get a call and I hear a raspy and weak voice saying: “Hey Enrique, this is Wayne…”

He carries on to explain to me that him and his party drove all night, were tired and pulled over at a grocery store to take a 2-hour nap but ended up sleeping for 8 and now they were in a rush to get to their next show on that same night. Do I share this to make him look bad?

No, I do because despite the circumstances he apologized and still made the interview happen, it could’ve been so easy to just postpone, right?

Party on Wayne!

I bet you hear a lot of “I’m your biggest fan” lines right? I’m not going to lie and say I’m the biggest Wayne Static fan (he interrupts my statement with an honest loud giggle) but I do enjoy your music and have since I was in my teens. But I like to dig deeper into the personality and the likes of a “rockstar” like yourself. For what we know, it was 1994 that Static X was born, how did that come to be?

Yeah, basically, it wasn’t Static X yet as we came to know it. We had completely different style, more straight forward metal in the lines of Pantera. I moved to Los Angeles with my drummer with whom I had been playing with in Chicago. We auditioned a whole bunch of bass players and ended up with Tony and then we had another guitar player at the time, his name was Emerson and he jammed with us for a while, we were a 4-piece. Then one day he decided he didn’t want to play metal, he is more like an R&B guy. Then we got Koichi, it was a funny situation because Koichi used to have a rehearsal space across the hall from us and we had placed an ad on the bulletin board at the rehearsal building. So Koichi took the whole ad off the bulletin board, brought it over knocked at our door and said: “I AM your new guitar player” (laughs), it was not like he asked us, he was just letting us know. He didn’t even say “I want to audition” We were like: “Woah, alright!” and basically that was the birth of “Static”, we didn’t have the “X” back then.

Where did you rehearse at the time? Is it still around?

It was called Downtown Rehearsal by Alameda and 7th, we used it as the entire Static X career rehearsal place. We actually recorded “Machine” in that rehearsal studio.

34 Rock N Roll Industries Magazine

Many of Wayne’s friends and musicians expressed their love and respect, specially over social media. Ozzy Osborne, Jonathan Davis, Aaron Lewis, Dave Mustaine, John5, Motorhead and Billy Corgan to name just a few Twitted their shock and condolences to family, friends and fans. Personally, I was touched to read ex bandmates Tony Campos and Koichi Fukuda statements by the passing of their “old” friend and saddened that they did not get a chance to mend their turbulent past. Thank you WAYNE and Party on (on the other side)!

We would like to know who is “Wayne” aside from what we read online? Where were you born?

I was born in a small farm town in Michigan.

Very small, nothing to do there but get in trouble.

Is that what YOU did? Get in trouble?

Ha ha, we would just buy a whole bunch of beer and drive around and cause trouble.

Has our hometown renamed a street with your name by now? They should right? Let me set up and online petition!

Ha ha, no, may not be a good idea.

What were your musical influences as a kid?

When I was really young it was all about KISS, before that it was the Partridge Family, The Jackson 5, the carpenters,all that kind of shit and then later I discovered KISS when I was 9 and it changed my life. From that point and on I thought “I’m be a rockstar!”, Paul Stanley was my idol, I wanted to be Paul Stanley, I lived it and breathe it. Then at some point in High School I discovered RUSH and that took it to a whole new level, that’s where I learned the chops, it was all about rush. I learned how to play more than just 3 chords and then i branched out into punk rock. I had an older sister in college and she would send me back mixed tapes with black flag, circle jerk, all these great punk rock bands that just blew my mind and then I went on to be in my goth face. After that I went through my metal phase, Metallica, Megadeth, Prong and then the Industrial phase.

Ministry, Skinny Puppy, etc. It’ just so many influences and you can’t really place your finger on ONE genre that influenced me.

Do you recall what was your first instrument and how old were you?

Yeah, I got my first guitar when I was 7 and I learned to play a song that a girl that lived next door taught to me and I was in 2nd grade and then I played it at a talent show at school and won the first prize, which was to play in front of a bunch of old ladies for some meeting they had, ha ha ha!

Do you remember what guitar it was?

Not the first one,it was a real cheap guitar, but the first REAL (second) guitar was an Epiphone, it was a real nice guitar which I don’t have anymore I think I sold it for $100 back then when I was really poor, I had to sell it to make rent.

Then after I played nothing but Gibson for years.

How many guitars do you own? Do you have a guitar collection?

I sold most of them over the last year, I had

maybe 30-40 guitars. I have probably like 10 now.

Not a guitar-aholic anymore?

No, I don’t play guitar anymore, only when I’m performing on stage… kinda bored with it now.

I’ve played my whole life and I’m 48 now, I’m more into writing songs at the moment.

Do you play any other instruments?

I play everything. I played everything in my last solo album. I played the keyboards, the drums, you name it, I played trumpet in high school. If I don’t know the instrument, give it to me I can pick it up and figure it out in a couple of days.

What do you do when you are not recording or on tour?

Lately we’ve been working on our house, my wife and I, started renovating our house for a few years now. We did all the plywood on the outside, drywall, insulation, tore down some walls and put in a whole new kitchen… we’re going to do the bathroom next. So that’s what we do mst of the time, and I also love 4-wheeling. That’s why we moved to the dessert in the middle of nowhere. I have a 60’s bronco which I turned into a dune buggy so I can go really fast.

That’s another passion I have, working on old vehicles. At some point we had like 7-8 vehicles, which was too much, so we sold a couple and just kept like 4.

At the time of our interview, the “Civil Unrest” tour had just finished ending in Pomona, Ca and the next one was “Wisconsin Death Trip” which was playing the album front to back, only a 40 min record plus 30 more mins of more songs celebrating the 15th-year anniversary of the album’s release. After these questions, we went into a couple of minutes chatting about Wayne’s rough late 2012-2013 challenges.

I know you may just want to leave those years behind but looking back at it, How do you feel now?

I have my house back, which is a great thing, not facing felony drug charges anymore (stops and laughs almost nervously) It was a TOUGH year man. I got framed for those charges and finally got those dropped. Then that bad hernia which led to surgery and left me stuck in bed for months and months, I couldn’t do anything. So it feels good, im back, just normal again.

Did that kinda feel like a forced vacation?

Was it good to take some time off? Were you looking forward to playing live or just wanted to call it quits for a while?

Enrique Nunez

Widely known, Wayne Richard Wells passed away on November 1st 2014 as he and bandmates were days away from kicking off a (longawaited by me) tour with Powerman 5000. It really took many of us by surprise, specifically myself as I was about to shoot Kottonmouth Kings at our MX Rock Festival in Adelanto, Ca. It took a few mins to swallow and digest the news and realize that “the show must go on”, so I grabbed my gear and recomposed myself to cover the headlining band for that night, Buckcherry.

I didn’t really know what I wanted to do, it was hard. Everything was falling apart. I didn’t have a band, didn’t have a manager I didn’t really have anything. I didn’t know what i wanted to do. Sometimes I still like that now (laughs), sometimes I feel like quitting, everything is such a struggle. The music industry is all fucked up right now and so hard to do anything and make money. So I still enjoy playing live, one of the reasons I still do it.

Nowadays you just have to work twice as hard to make that money? From a fan point of view we thank you performers for keeping the show alive, many times don’t completely understand what you guys go through to make it happen, for us fans to have a good time.

Yeah, when people come to me and say that my music has helped them through their rough times I take it very seriously. The same thing happened to me when I was younger I would blast Ozzy or Rush and it would just take me to a different world, it helped me through those tough times. So I do appreciate those kind words from the fans.

Any “new bands” you are listening to?

Shit, i don’t want to sound like a grumpy old man but I don’t listen to any new music. I think most new bands suck, I don’t understand it, their vocals all sound the same. A good band to me is Soundgarden or Alice In Chains or (pauses) I fucking love Journey. I’m sure there are a bunch of good bands out there. The internet has changed that, it changed everything. It’s so massive and hard to find a good band. In the old days you had to be really good to rise to the top and be known and heard. Now, anybody can put whatever they want on the net and there’s just so much music out there it’s ridiculous.

Speaking of voices and styles since you say all sound the same, that kinda sets you apart, right? Your music sometimes helps me get chores done!

Every band needs to have a singer that is very recognizable, when you hear my voice you know it’s me. You have to have a style to write songs that people will tell apart from the rest. Even my guitar tone… 2 seconds into the song and you can probably tell it’s me.

What gear do you use?

I use Marshall, it’s just a tight sound, that’s where my tone comes from. They have a super high gain sound. That’s what I’ve always used.

It’s the cheapest stuff that they make (laughs)

, you don’t need a $2,000 amp, it’s all in your skills.

Tell us about your band, how did you arrange this current line-up?

Sometimes I keep up with Mechanical Ashes’ (lead guitar) happenings and cross paths at shows, he is a fellow Mexican brother, please tell him I say “Hola Cabron!” (Wayne bursts in laughter).

The vibe is awesome, I’ve got a really good band right now. They all have great skills and professionalism under the belt.

What do you prefer, small venues or large festivals?

I like both, I’m comfortable in smalls and huge stages. The main thing for me is that they have air conditioning. Like the House Of Blues venues, you know, 1,000 or so capacity. that’s really my favorite. But so many small clubs don’t have AC and it’s so hot and both the audience and I are about to pass out, I can’t play my shows when it’s too hot. as long as there’s good AC I’m happy.

Yeah, it’s important to keep that signature “do” and for the gel to keep that hair in shape. What do you like to do when you are not performing?

I like working on vehicles and trucks and stuff like that. I’ve even sometimes thought about quitting music and just getting a job at a shop and modifying vehicles, etc it’s my other passion. I honestly think about that all the time.

Being in music is such a fight, you never stop.

The more successful you are the more shit you get thrown at you, the harder it gets. You just have to keep fighting and fighting to stay at that level of success. It’s just so exhausting and tiring, sometimes I just want to be a normal person and quit and say “fuck it!” but then at the same time I know eventually I will get tired of that and go back to music. that’s who i am, that’s what i love to do.

So, to end this “1 on 1” with Enrique, I came up with this special edition named “Wayne’s World” (Wayne laughs out loud) and I would like to know a few more things about your tastes and likes. What’s your favorite type of food? (laughs, long pause) A… grilled cheese sandwich? i’m not really a food guy, really.

You can survive with the bare essentials?

Food for me is like a pain in the ass. it’s a waste of time, a waste of money. I eat and then a couple of hours later I’m like “Fuck, i’m hungry

again…?”, that kinda sucks. i’m more of an alcoholic. I drink ALL the time, plus I’m a vegetarian.

If I go to a restaurant, like 90% of the menu I can’t eat so, grilled cheese it is!

Is your wife vegetarian also?

No man, she’s the total opposite of me. She get’s all excited about food, she dreams about it!

So what’s your favorite drink?

I like bourbon, you can just drink it straight out of the bottle. I’ve had my phases, sometimes it was vodka with orange juice. I love alcohol.

My wife doesn’t drink at all, she hates alcohol, it’s bizarre. When we first met each other we thought, “Oh Gosh, we’re completely and totally opposite!” She eats meat, I’m vegetarian, she doesn’t drink, all i do is drink, she used to smoke pot and i hated it, but on the important things we do have common ground and on the same page.

Do you watch any tv? Any favorite shows?

Cartoons, like American Dad, Family Guy, South Park. probably my favorite kind of stuff, comedy, anything that Will Ferrell does, he’s fucking awesome.

Did you get a chance to catch the Will Ferrell vs chad Smith Drum off?

No, I didn’t…

Spoiler alert, Ferrell took it! Favorite part of the day?

Seriously, i’m not even joking. South Park and American Dad we just play that over and over again. We just leave it on the DVD player and we can watch that for a whole month non-stop.

What do you have for this year? Will there be a new record?

This year is all about touring and maybe write a few songs after that is over. We are going to China on the first week of October.

Any final thoughts or words for your fans?

I am very sincere when I say i’m thankful to everyone that’s supported me through all the years, 15 since “Wisconsin Death Trip” came out and that’s when people got introduced to what i do. Many have been there supporting me through all the records and tours, that’s why I do it. When i’m on stage and see people smile and enjoy it, it’s a big satisfaction, I realize it brings some joy to people’s lives, it helps me to keep going.

Realizing he was now tight on time to make it to the next city/venue for that night’s show, we concluded our interview with a promise to catch up at the next L.A. show and chat more. To the sounds of the silent desert, Wayne Static drove away...

Rock N Roll Industries Magazine 35

Powerman 5000’s Nick Quijano Speaks!

Career, the Resurgence and More

P

owerman 5000’s latest album ‘Builders of the Future’, which released May 27 via UMe – Tboy Records, has been burning up rock radio since it dropped, and the band (henceforth PM5K) has been obliterating stages world-wide in support of it ever since. Given that, Rock n’ Roll Industries thought it high-time to catch up with PM5K guitarist and co-writer Nick (Sci55ors) Quijano to get his thoughts on the album, songwriting, tour life, and all things PM5K. Fronted by singer Spider One and rounded out by current guitarists Quijano (ex-American Head Charge) and Richard Jazmin, bassist Gustavo Aued and drummer DJ Ratan, Powerman 5000 burst onto the scene in 1999 with the hits ‘When Worlds Collide’ and ‘Nobody’s Real’ from their debut album ‘Tonight the Stars Revolt!’ Blending horror and sci-fi with an infectious metal cum pop mentality, the public responded fanatically.

Following this success, and for reasons I’m unable to ascertain (though I’ll blame American radio’s predilection for hip-hop), stateside interest in the band, regardless of their subsequent quality releases, waned, and PM5K

36 36 Rock Rock N N Roll Roll Industries Industries Magazine Magazine

became regardless of their loyal worldwide fan-base, an American underdog. Apparently that’s just the way they like it, because quite simply, ‘Builders of the Future’ is the strongest album of their career, and if audience response is an indicator, the album and their blistering live performances have launched them into the stratosphere once again. Chatting with guitarist Quijano following another sold-out show on their second American tour of 2014 (with support by Hed PE), the Bismarck, North Dakota native turned L.A. transplant said of his musical beginnings, “I started playing at the age of ten, after being given a classical guitar that my parents used to play. Living in a small town, there really wasn’t much to do other than to engage in sports, or to learn an instrument. I basically used that guitar to get out of a town that had little opportunity, and to do something bigger with my life.” After turns in the rock bands American Head Charge and The Dreaming, Quijano humbly stated of his addition to the ranks of PM5K in 2012, “They’d lost their drummer and guitarist and were looking for some new members, and my good friend and drummer Adrian Ost, who’d played in

Powerman previously, decided to rejoin the band, and asked if I wanted to join him. I was honored to have the opportunity, so I learned the music, and the rest is history.”

History was to quickly add another chapter to the band’s sonic discography, however, as in addition to his duties as the band’s rhythm guitarist, Quijano co-wrote with singer Spider One the PM5K songs ‘Invade. Destroy. Repeat’, ‘We Want It All’, ‘You’re Gonna Love It, If You Like It Or Not’ and ‘Modern World’. All catchy, driving anthems, to be sure, and all of which appear on ‘Builders of the Future.’ “‘We Want It All’ is probably my favorite,” Quijano told us, “because it’s my favorite to play live. It’s moody, and it’s also my first ever written radio released single on a major label.”

Regarding his approach to songwriting, the guitarist told us of his process, “It’s simple. First I made sure I knew the basics about recording. You can remember your ideas when they are laid down, and can then refine them. Next, I try not to think too much about the song. I just hit ‘record’ and play the first thing that pops into my head, then find the cool part of the riff and use it. I do that to make my verses and choruses. Once I have a good foundation, I dig into my music theory background, and come up with a bridge that makes sense, add a ton of cool electronics, and ‘done’. The whole process takes about three hours per song.

I try not to take it so seriously, and figure for every ten shitty songs that there will be a handful of good ones, guaranteed. ”As for his musical influences, “Growing up I listened to a lot of music, so I had many, from Kurt Kobain, Dimebag Darrell, and Kim Thayil to John Lennon, Jimi Hendrix and Jimmy Page,” Quijano offered, who at the time of this interview was rocking his ever present Ray Bans (the guy’s a huge fan of the 1987 flick The Lost Boys), black combat boots and generally disarming demeanor.

“As I got older I got more into electronic music and drew my influenc-

By Sean Decker

es from NIN, The Cure, Depeche Mode, White Zombie and John 5.” We queried him regarding his personal guitar playing style, but Quijano remained humble, giving us little to report (though those who’ve seen him play can attest to his virtuosity), so for the sake of this article, we’ll let his endorsements do the talking. They include Line 6, Engl Amplifiers, Peavey Amplifiers, Intune Guitar Picks, Big Bends, 7hirteen Clothing, Everly Strings and ESP Guitars.

Most exciting, ESP’s custom Japanese shop is currently working on a Nick Quijano signature guitar, which he designed. “It’s a 27” scale baritone,” said Quijano enthusiastically of the guitar, “with a burned and scarred up matte silver burst body, neck-through mahogany with a maple top and ebony fret board. It’ll have Emg het set pickups, a single tone knob and light-up inlays! It’s a beautiful thing.”

With PM5K having recently returned from playing sixteen festival dates in Europe to roughly 200,000 people combined (dates included the infamous Download Fest UK), Quijano stated of his favorite show of the tour, “It had to be Hellfest in Clisson, France. It was one of the bigger festivals we played with around sixty thousand people (in attendance), and we got to open up for Iron Maiden on the main stage, although come to think of it, every show was fricken awesome over there!” Powerman 5000, following their August tour, will next appear as direct support for the second time to Rob Zombie for the opening night of 2014’s Rob Zombie’s Great American Nightmare in Scottsdale, Arizona on September 19th, following which, concluded Quijano, “There’s rumors of a PM5K tour with Static-X, and we are working on dates in Asia, and hopefully South America, with another trip to Europe to follow up on our last festival tour.”

For more on Nick Quijano, visit him online at www.nickquijano. com and follow him on Twitter and Instagram @nickquijano, and check out all things Powerman 5000 at www.powerman5000.com and on Twitter @therealPM5K

The 10th Annual LA Amp Show

by Alison “MetalBabe” Cohen

The 10th Annual LA Amp Show took place October 4th and 5th at the Airtel Plaza in Van Nuys, CA. Three floors of hotel rooms were emptied of their usual amenities and filled with exhibitors demonstrating their latest amplifiers, cables, guitars, pedals, and music related products. The registration desk had free issues of Guitar Player Magazine, Al Bane for Leather displayed an array of handmade leather guitar straps and colorful wrist cuffs in the foyer, and Guitar Center gave away $10 gift cards to attendees upon entering their Ballroom.

There were dozens of private demo rooms, and a “Tone Wizards” seminar that was moderated by Myles Rose and featured participants Mitch Colby, James Demeter, Pat Quilter, Rick Skillman, and George Metropoulos.

Stages were set up in two main ballrooms for live performances and demos, and Guitar Center/ Friedman Amps presented Phil-X, (Bon Jovi) Justin Derrico, (Pink, Tina Turner, The Voice) and Steve Stevens (Billy Idol) in Ballroom 3.

Some of the exhibitors included: Atomic Amps, Celestion Speakers, Colby Amplification, Friedman Amp, G&L Guitars, Lotus Pedals, PRS Amps, Roland/ Boss, ToneGuard, and Vintage King. Attendees were allowed to bring their own guitars to the show too, which is definitely a fun (and ideal) way to test out various products. Guitars could be heard from every direction. The LA Amp Show is without a doubt a melting pot of musical styles and sounds.

Steve Stevens

by Alison “MetalBabe” Cohen

Billy Idol released ‘Kings and Queens of the Underground’ on October 21st of 2014, and during our interview Steve Stevens said “this was the most enjoyable record I’ve ever done with Billy.” Stevens talks about the new studio album, the first single, and what fans can expect from the road.

What was it like going back into the studio with Billy Idol and releasing a brand new album?

This was really a different experience for us because we knew that Billy would have an autobiography coming out at the same time. We wanted the music almost to be a soundtrack to the book. We approached the music almost like film directors. In some cases Billy would have an idea about a timeframe, (I want this to be about London 1977.) The music in most cases came after the lyrics, which is different for me.

How did having Trevor Horn as the producer affect the overall sound?

Once we knew that Trevor Horn was going to be involved in the record as the producer, we knew that it would be a bit more cinematic. That’s the best way I can describe the record. There’s a lot of textures. The last record we really shied away from earlier sounds. Things that we were known for in the ‘80’s, like dance music elements and synthesizers. We were gonna embrace it this time, and Trevor Horn’s gonna update it for us…

The classic Billy Idol sound. We didn’t run away from any of the classic Billy Idol things. I have to say this was the most enjoyable record I’ve ever done with Billy.

From beginning to end, everything fell into place really naturally. It’s not like you read the book and listen to the record… (LAUGHS) It’s just that there’s a lot of references to biographical things in Billy’s life. I met him in early 1982 and 32 years later… However long it’s been,

we’re still working together. So, pretty much every facet of his life, since he moved to America, I have been there. When he would talk about things I was able to really take them to heart.

Why did you choose the anthemic “Can’t Break Me Down” as the first single?

When we finished the sessions with Trevor Horn, we were a couple songs shy. Since Trevor lives in England we decided to see who was available in the States.

We worked with Greg Kurston, who’s a producer here in Los Angeles, and does definitely more of the pop kind of thing, but is a huge Billy Idol fan. We worked with him on two tracks. (He also produced “Can’t Break Me Down.”) It just seemed like a natural thing. They sounded like classic Billy Idol songs. One of the things you have to take into consideration is how guys of our generation are gonna sound on the radio next to all of the modern pop that is predominately played on the radio at this point. We thought this song could fit in and it seemed like the obvious first song to go onto the album.

How much of the new material are you playing on the road?

We had finished the record when we went out four months ago, and we were doing five songs in the set, off the new record. The band had just learned every song. We change our set up each night, so maybe we’ll switch songs around. We’ll be playing the whole record.

It’s important for us as artists to play new music as well as play the stuff everyone knows. We have to be excited as well.

Anything else you would like to say to our readers?

I just hope people enjoy the new Idol record and come out and see us play.

Rock N Roll Industries Magazine 37

JJ Savage “Joey has the look and the charisma of a true Rock Star. The coolest thing is he doesn’t act like one.”

Guitarist Richie Scarlet “The Emperor of Rock” at press time on the road as co-lead & rhythm guitarist in the Ace Frehley Band. Ready to hit the stage in Pomona, California

Very few guitarists start to live out their dreams at an early time in their lives. Joey Pettinato or as he’s known to the rest of the world, JJ Savage is doing exactly that. Joey is rolling into the ripe age of 14 but clocking in & hitting the stage with musicians that most can only dream about playing along side. He sites “I Plead the Fifth” by Richie Scarlet, “Destroyer”

by KISS & “Ride the Lightening” by Metallica as three albums he can’t live without.

JJ knew he wanted to play guitar by the time he was 7 years old & by age 9 was starting out on an Ibanez micro. That is where things took a turn & he was able to open doors within his mind & learn as much as he possibly could take in daily. His spare time wasn’t wasted & within a couple of years he was invited on stage by a guitarist who has been dubbed by fans & peers, “The Emperor of Rock”, Richie Scarlet. As the current co-guitarist of Ace Frehley, Richie has also shared his chops with,

Mountain, Sebastian Bach & Alice Cooper. It’s safe to say that Richie took a liking to JJ’s guitar playing abilities & also became a friend & mentor to him.

At this age JJ has more credits to his name than most adults. He plays in several bands, Twist of Fate, The John Morse Band & has been seen in a couple of tribute bands. JJ also has three albums to his credit. He recently went chop for chop with a legendary shredder, Michael Angelo Batio. JJ Savage has pushed his way passed being bullied in school to becoming a musical force that will send heads spinning & horns in the air. Keep your eyes & ears open for this guy!

Arthur Gonzales

Travis Bowlin

-Rhythm & Blues Right Down To His Shoes

It’s been said legends are born, not made. Rhythm and Blues artist, Travis Bowlin, was born on June 7th, 1988 in a tri-state area where Ohio, Indiana, and Kentucky meet. He was exposed at an early age to Gospel by his grandparents and Rock & Roll by his parents. He lives and breathes Rhythm and Blues, right down to the soles of his Lizard & Ostrich skin shoes, which were a thrift store find, he does love a good deal. When you’re first introduced to Travis’s music and his singing style, you’d imagine he’s an old soulful African American man when in truth, he’s 6”3’, young, and Caucasian with the music world at his fingertips. He’s an old soul. With the passing of such amazing 38 Rock N Roll Industries Magazine

Blues artists such as Freddie King, Albert King, Muddy Waters, Johnny Winter, and Stevie Ray Vaughan, one might wonder who will carry on the torch and tradition of the Blues. Not one artist has shaped Travis’s love of Blues & Rock N Roll, instead he’s been shaped and molded my many. His taste in music ranges from Little Richard to Led Zeppelin. Travis is managing to pay homage to the legends while making a name for himself.

He moved to Nashville, Tennessee two years ago and hasn’t slowed down. He just recently finished recording his debut album at 16th Edge Studio on Music Row with Rock band, Hinder’s lead singer, Nolan Neal, producing the record. When asked about the album, Bowlin remarked, “I’ve recorded things {in the past} that I’ve never been happy with, and this is the first time that I feel like I’m happy and proud to say, that’s me. It’s a product. It’s what I do.

It’s Rock N Roll. It’s Blues. It’s Southern Rock.

It’s Soulful. I just tried to capture me live on a record, which is hard to do. I still think the live shows are different and always better…it’s personable.”

Travis says he’s different from any other artist in that he tells a story. He’s not only an artist, writer, and musician, he’s an entertainer.

He’s inspired to write his songs by lots of things in his environment. He’s a wonderful singer and mutli-instrumentalist. He plays guitar (Electric & Acoustic), Bass Guitar, keyboard, harmonica, percussion, Mandolin, Ukulele, and drums. Travis is one of the rare left-handed guitarists. He’s been able to adapt to a right handed guitar by playing it with the strings backward, but normally switches the strings, getting a new nut, and setting up the bridge. His ability to captivate an audience has gained the attention from many in the music industry. He can be seen performing his original tune, “Traveling Man” on the episode of “19 Kids

& Counting” in which Amy Duggar travels to Nashville. He’s sponsored by Musicvox, ToneRite, and Jim Oliver’s Smoke House.

It takes lots of different elements to make a successful music career, and Travis has them all. He’s a talented attractive business savvy artist. Bowlin’s booking agent and longtime friend, Dea Meeks of DeaVa Music Management remarks, “ Travis is a rarity in the music world. His talent and professionalism are wonderful assets. I still remember the first time I heard him perform. He had a very powerful voice that I didn’t expect. His talent still blows me away every time he takes the stage. Any time I book Travis a gig, I know he’ll show up on time, be responsible, professional, and give the audience what they want. He leaves a little bit of himself behind with every person he meets.” He has an extensive line of merchandise that’s unheard of for an independent artist. At his live shows, you’ll find stickers, t-shirts, picks, albums, candles, and lighter/bottle openers. He also hand makes necklaces, bracelets, and earrings that showcase his guitar picks. His newest merchandise item is a signature sauce called “Travis Bowlin’s Rhythm & BluesBerry” sauce. The sauce has a blueberry taste followed by a mild heat. Bowlin remarked of the new sauce, “It’s good on everything from chicken to waffles!”

He’s in the process of raising funds to market his debut album. He’s always looking for new endorsements and sponsorships. These endorsements help Travis get his name and music out to the masses with the hopes of becoming a household name.

Like many of his left handed predecessors and idols such as Paul McCartney, Albert King, and Jimi Hendrix, Travis Bowlin is bound for greatness.

To find out more about Travis and to follow his road to success, check out www.travisbowlin.com and all social media sites.

Dea Meeks

Richie Faulkner of Judas Priest -Confessions of the Redeemer

by Curt Miller

and convey emotion by combining different sounds.

What’s been your experience as the newest member of Judas Priest?

Joining Priest surpassed every expectation I had going in. It’s been a big family right from day one. I’m the new guy, but everyone asks one another for opinions and feedback. From stage costumes to set-lists, everything is all-inclusive. Starting with the Epitaph tour, we were all living in close proximity. If you don’t get along it’ll end pretty quickly. From the very beginning, the whole vibe from the band was very inclusive.

It’s not a dictatorship. We’re all in it together.

With more than 40 years of metal music to their name, a new release, and an upcoming fall tour, Judas Priest truly epitomizes the phase, Defenders of the Faith. I had the chance to chat a bit with Priest guitarist, Richie Faulkner, as he vacationed in Barbados before the band heads out on tour. Aside from the detestable sound of a rooster crowing outside his window from 4:00am-11:00pm, Richie’s vacation seems to have been delightful. More importantly, here’s what he had to say about playing guitar for Judas Priest, the band’s latest release, Redeemer of Souls, and the tour that will follow in support of the new record.

Todd Nakamine

What got you started in music, who were your biggest influences, and would you include Judas Priest as one of them?

In terms of Judas Priest being an influence, absolutely. My father introduced me to the music of Jimmy Hendrix, and it was from listening to Hendrix, Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, and Thin Lizzy that I developed a real appreciation for hard rock and the heavy guitar sound. Eventually, (Iron) Maiden came into play with their dual guitar harmonies. That dual guitar attack, which I first heard in bands like Thin Lizzy, was hard hitting and very much present in the music of Judas Priest. That gave me a point of reference when I began to write and develop my own style of playing. Listening to these bands taught me how to create different musical landscapes

Along those lines, how would you describe your collaboration with Glenn Tipton arranging the guitar parts for Redeemer of Souls as well as with the other members of the Judas Priest as the album was being written?

Does this band follow a timetested formula for song writing or is it more of a dynamic, open forum among the members?

They’ve always had two guitar players and Rob (Halford) writing the majority of the material.

Priest has been doing this for 40 years and each member of the band brings his own character to the music. Then, collectively, there’s an additional personality that comes forth that’s unique to this band. Recording this and every album is all about capturing that essence.

Having grown up with Priest, it’s amazing to now be a part of it. Recording with Judas Priest is an incredibly organic and creative process.

We actually had to cut off the writing session for Redeemer of Souls. We wrote song after song, eighteen of which appear on the deluxe version of the album. But eventually we needed to get into the studio and start recording. There is so much material, I wouldn’t rule out another Priest record in the future.

Judas Priest is such an icon, pioneering metal music for over 40 years. With each new release, including Redeemer of Souls, the band not only stays current and pushes the genre in new directions, but always remains 100% Judas Priest. To what do you attribute this amazing ability and consistency?

From an insider’s perspective, it comes from a genuine love and passion for what they do.

They love creating, performing, and representing everything we identify with metal and, in turn, Judas Priest. Because of the differing

personalities within Priest, the band can push boundaries and forge new paths in music while retaining its unique essence. That’s a rare commodity. It’s all about retaining the band’s identity and maintaining a balance. Each Priest album is very different from the others, yet they all have references and character that we’re all familiar with. The way the music industry is these days, no one wants to take those types of chances. But you need to push boundaries. You need that sense of adventure while retaining your own, unique identity. That’s one of the many things that are special about Judas Priest.

Redeemer of Souls offers such an incredible mix of rhythms, melodies, as well as tracks that are lyrically aggressive, sometimes uplifting and at times very dark. How did this album develop and were all of these themes intentionally touched upon?

We didn’t put any restrictions on ourselves.

We just threw all of our ideas into a big, heavy metal pot, took from it, and embellished upon it. Eventually, we narrowed it down to the eighteen songs that made the deluxe release.

The album is a journey. It starts off with a clap of thunder and follows through until “The Beginning of the End,” when the curtains close (standard 13 track record). There are five more songs on the deluxe edition that we didn’t want to put on the shelf and we didn’t want the fans to miss. Though they didn’t quite fit into the statement we were making or the flow of the record, we still wanted to get them out there.

We loved the songs and we knew that Priest fans would love them as much as the songs on the standard release. It was really a question of flow. The songs on the bonus disc didn’t quite fit in with the vibe we had on the standard record. It’s very important to us to have all of the music we’ve created accessible to our fans.

We’ve also assembled it in a fantastic package, which we’re making available on vinyl, as well.

Do certain tracks from Redeemer of Souls or throughout the Judas Priest catalog stand out as your absolute favorites?

From this album I’m really looking forward to playing “Halls of Valhalla,” “Sword of Damocles,” “March of the Damned,” and several others. As well, it’s the 30th anniversary of Defenders of the Faith, which happens to be my favorite Priest album. I’m hoping to play some of that material LIVE on our upcoming tour, too.

There’s little question, given Judas Priest’s 40 year reign as metal royalty that they’ll make it out alive. This is one tour you’re going to want to be sure to see. Plus, with all of the material they left on the cutting room floor, it’s not too much of a stretch to expect another album down the road. Judas Priest: 40 years in and not slowing down one bit. I don’t know how they do it. If it were I, I’d need a Painkiller!!!

Rock N Roll Industries Magazine 39 Rock N Roll Industries Magazine 39

Phil X

by Arthur Gonzales

sought after guitar slingers. Is there ground you haven’t conquered yet?

Of course it’s an incredible accomplishment reaching this level as a guitar player. I don’t think my own band The Drills has reached it’s potential as it’s own entity. I don’t mind the underground-ness

I

n today’s music scene there’s few that are considered to be “new name & face” but have roots settled from that older school of rock.

Phil X comes from that place where he was able to create music with artists that are iconic from all major eras in music to becoming a legendary guitarist in his own respect.

From his humble beginnings with a family that lived modestly to living on the road & staying in hotels built for royalty with marble floors, to his own home life with his wife & kids he is the epitome of what aspiring musicians would love to become.

Having filled the shoes of guitarist in Triumph to playing along side with Aldo nova, Rob Zombie, Alice Cooper & Tommy Lee, Phil X is more than just a “hired gun,” he’s a one man production & marketing team. He just so happens to know how to rock faces off with any guitar in his hands.

What made you pick up a guitar & were there any other instruments you learned along the way?

Basically, my dad. He was an incredible man.

He played the bouzouki and when he went to parties, it was like Elvis was in the building. He would entertain all night long and even though I got that part of me from him, I think he just wanted some accompaniment so he put a guitar in my hands as soon as I could hold one. I also learned bouzouki. When I was 11 I learned it for him. When I was 17 I learned it for me. It gave me this crazy articulate picking style that no other guitar player around had.

When was your first life-changing event that made you feel accomplished as a musician?

My life of accomplishment has 2 chapters. The Canadian chapter with Frozen Ghost, Aldo Nova and Triumph. The US one recording with Alice Cooper, Rob Zombie, Tommy Lee, Kelly Clarkson, Chris Cornell (check my discography) and touring with Bon Jovi. I mean, I could go way back to girls ripping my clothes of at recess after the 6th grade Talent Show, but really, I played Maple Leaf Gardens with Frozen Ghost in 1988 (I think) and that was the arena where, growing up, I saw Van Halen (Roth style), Cheap Trick, Black Sabbath, AC/DC, Aerosmith, Iron Maiden...etc. I remember sound check and showing my guitar tech where I sat for each show.

You’ve become known as one of the most

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What’s on your personal pedal board?

A tuner, 2 overdrives for variety and a Radial Tonebones ABY box to mix 2 amps. Some I use are, Bad Monkey, Distillery, Chandler Li’l Devil, Oddfellow Caveman....etc. For studio purposes, I bring everything under the sun. I never know what kind of modulation/bit mangling/octave dividing crayons I may need to complete an aural scape.

You’re known for using a wide variety of amps. What’s your loaded touring rig?

I now have a Friedman Phil X 100 watt head that I’m really proud of. It really is the best amp I’ve ever played and not because my name is on it. The Friedman BE100 is amazing too. I just asked for a few things that weren’t available on that model. It does EVERYTHING and responds to my hands like no other amp EVER. You’re now a father. You come home one day to find out the boys wanna be rock stars. What advice do you give them?

Don’t make music to make money. Make music to make music. Money will follow if your spirit is true. Put your heart into every note.

How did The Drills come about?

I wrote some songs that didn’t quite fit the POWDER vibe and put a band together. One of my favorite dudes, Jeremy Spencer, who is now the drummer in Five Finger Death Punch was the original drummer. Daniel Spriewald has been here from the beginning on bass.

We were unstoppable from the very start, but we couldn’t get out of 1st gear because I had POWDER with my now ex-wife and I was making crazy money doing sessions. It’s easy to put your heart and soul into a project. It’s hard to put your own money into it. I mean, we did but nobody had an extra $30-50K to buy onto a tour or effectively market our cd’s, and we all had homes, mortgages. We weren’t teenagers that could jump in a van, play everywhere and build a following the traditional way.

Lately it has been an anomaly. You got this guy out front (me) that can play and sing his ass off mixed with some super catchy tunes and a killer band. Now add the fact that the guy out front fills in for Richie Sambora in Bon Jovi and wins fans over to the point where they buy all 3 DRILLS cd’s. To all of you, THANK YOU ALL FROM THE BOTTOM OF OUR HEARTS. The YouTube experience is part of the anomaly as well. We had no idea people would like our little channel’s show so much. I get stopped in airports all over the world by fans that yell, “HEY! IT’S PHIL X!” How many albums did The Drills record & will there & will there more?

We have 2 EP’s (ROCK in Epic Proportions) and 1 full length. 2015 will mark our 4th recording adventure. I say adventure because we will

have 10-12 drummers on this record. It’s been tough to manage that many world class dudes that all tour and have lives, but jamming in the studio and checking out the interpretive drumming styles from song to song has been mind blowing. Going down the line of who I’m talking about from day 1 is Jeremy Spencer, Gary Novak, Brian Tichy, Taylor Hawkins, Kenny Aronoff, Randy Cooke, Abe Laboriel Jr, Matt Chamberlain and Glen Sobel with the possibility of grabbing Tommy Lee, Josh Freese and Stewart Copeland in January.

Gene Simmons made the comment about rock being dead. A lot of people have been voicing their thoughts about that statement.

What are your thoughts on that?

Musically I don’t agree. There are some young bands out there that write great songs and put on great shows so what about that is “dead”?

You’re known as one of the social media pioneers in the guitar-playing universe. How do you feel about the whole Spotify issue, free streaming & almost non-regulated internet?

This is a broken record. So the model has changed. Why cry about it? Fans are fans.

Some buy music and some don’t, but the ones that don’t still buy concert tickets and T-shirts sometimes in the range of hundreds of dollars.

Instead of constructively going into survival mode, the Rock Stars and Record moguls of old just stand there with their dicks in their hands complaining not knowing what to do. Figure it out, man, or take your millions and pay someone to figure it out for you.

Do you have any ideas about how to solve the issues with artists being paid less for their music & being handed bunk label 360 deals?

The shitty deals, if you truly believe in yourself, don’t settle. The 360 deal was designed as a bandaid solution for record companies to make more money. They want a piece of EVERYTHING! Well that EVERYTHING should belong to artists and if record companies want to make more money, how about some new and fresh ideas since the way it used to be went down the drain? Having said that, obviously if your band is full of ROCK STARS and you have awesome songs with a huge potential demographic, labels will fight for you and you’ll get a better deal. Does that mean you beat the system? No ‘cause that label could still drop the ball and you’re FUCKED! Work hard and be smart.

Is there anything else that you’d like to let the world know about, now’s the time to plug away.

We already talked about new music with THE DRILLS. Gear wise: aside from my Friedman Amp being released NAMM 2015, I also have a new signature guitar with Framus that will be released NAMM 2015 as well. It really is my dream guitar. Home in my hands and incredible to my ears.. If you’re at NAMM, there will be 3 of my new guitars with super sick finishes at the Framus booth. Go and check them out. That’s it, baby. Stay real and thank YOU for helping me to keep guitar alive.

Rigor Mortis Interview with Casey Orr

By Jonathan Heier

cord coming that Mike Scaccia produced.

Now that this is your final album with Rigor Mortis what does the band have planned for the future?

Are there new projects waiting to be done?

We knew right after Mike died that we could not go on under the name Rigor Mortis. But we later decided that we would play some shows in support of the record release. We enlisted our longtime friend and disciple of Scaccia’s playing, Mike Taylor, to play guitar, and we decided to call the band Wizards of Gore. I’m not sure what the future holds for WoG, on one hand we want to play our music and keep Mike Scaccia’s spirit alive, but on the other hand, we don’t want to come off as a cover band of our own band! If the demand is there, and we feel like we can maintain the integrity of Mike’s and Rigor’s legacy, then you very well might be hearing more from us. But besides that, we all have other projects that are ongoing. Bruce and I are in Warbeast, and we’re writing a new record right now. I also have a punk band called The Hellions that are going to get together for some shows and hopefully record some new stuff. Harden has a band called Hint of Death, who have a new record in the works. And Mike Taylor has a band called Rabid Flesh Eaters, and they have a re-

What gear (bass) did you use to record the album? Where did you get to record the album?

I used several basses in the studio. I used a Dean Edge, Epiphone Thunderbird, and Schecter Stargazer. Also, a Schechter P Bass copy.

What were some of your favorite memories of Mike?

Any funny tour stories?

We always had a good time together. Always joking around, we were never serious. We watched so many movies together, especially in the early days, that we spoke a sort of movie dialogue twin speak that used to drive our wives or girlfriends crazy! They had no idea what we were talking about, but we would be rolling on the floor laughing, and they just thought we were crazy!

If you were to pick one song from the album which one would be your favorite?

What do you think the favorite for Mike was?

That’s a tough question because I like them all! In fact, the other day we were trying to decide what the next single would be to release online, and we all felt like any of them would work. I guess maybe I’d have to say Blood Bath would be my overall favorite, because not only is the first half a bar burner, but the second half is without a

doubt one of the most hauntingly beautiful guitar pieces Mike ever played. As far as Mike’s favorite, hard to say. I think, as with all of us, his favorite changed from week to week during the recording process. We are all really happy with the songs and the record.

After such a long run in the industry where do you see it evolving in next few years? Do you see it becoming a full digital atmosphere where we no longer have cd or vinyl?

I sure hope not, and I kinda doubt it. I think people are getting bored with the digital only concept. I mean you can’t deny the convenience of digital and downloadable content, but there’s something about unwrapping that cd, or holding that LP cover in your hands, reading the lyric sheet while you’re listening for the first time, that just doesn’t happen when it’s all on your computer. Vinyl is definitely coming back to some extent, because I think there’s something that connects you to the music when you’re holding a physical “source”. I’m sure cds and vinyl will never recover to the numbers they once saw, but, just like printed books vs. Kindle, etc., the digital versions will never have the “magic” of the physical version.

Since you spent some time in GWAR, having two main vocalists with one being a strong female lead with Kim Dylla now to be known as Vulvatron?

slice it, GWAR will never be the same. It will never be as dangerous. To me, Dave was the only person in that group who couldn’t be replaced. He was the twisted genius that drove that Juggernaut from day one. I understand that GWAR must move forward or die, and they’ve all worked too hard to let it die. GWAR truly is bigger than any one person, and in order to carry on they had to change direction, and instead of trying to find a new “Oderus” type, they’re going a totally different route. Mike Bishop is a GWAR elder and a great singer and musician, and Kim is hot and sex sells. I love all my Scumdog brothers and I wish them all the success in the world.

Maybe the new direction will even take the group to the next level, but it will never be the same.

What message would you like to leave your fans, both new and old about the final album?

First, I would sincerely say thank you to everyone who stuck with us over the years and supported, not only Rigor Mortis, but all of us individually in our other projects, as well. I especially want to thank all the people who contributed to the fundraiser and made this record possible. Without you there is no us. And to the new generation of Thrashers I want to say keep the fire burning! There’s a reason why this music still holds up after all these years and is seeing such a resurgence right now. You guys are the future of Heavy Metal.

Don’t fuck it up! Ha ha!

First of all, you can’t replace Dave Brockie. I don’t care how you

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Rock On The Range

Kill Devil Hill How’s the tour been going so far?

Johnny: “We started two days ago and so far so good. It was a little chaotic. We were in Colorado Springs two nights ago and it’s a long drive. We got here an hour before we had to play. We managed to get everything up and running and had a few minutes to spare.

After this (Rock on the Range), I heard you guys got another tour you’re going on.

Johnny: “We’re on a tour now. We go until next week and then we’re home for just a couple of weeks and then we’re heading over to Europe.

We got some festivals. Not really sure what’s next...the goal is to tour everywhere and as much as possible!”

Interviewer: “Tell me a little bit about how you got into Kill Devil Hill.”

Johnny: “Pretty much small world stuff. There’s a long history between Type O Negative & Pantera. I’ve been friends with Rex for…Jesus…

Almost 20 years now. We just happened to run into each other. I was on tour with Danzig. Kill Devil Hill was on a tour. Our buses were parked across the street from each other at one point. Caught up with Rex again...a little small talk, couple of emails. Vinny was leaving the band, Rex called me up and was like, “ What are you doing?” I had been a fan of the band and following them since they put it together. He wanted to know if I wanted to come down and jam and see how it goes. I got on a plane and went to California and met up and it clicked. That whole thing has moved so fast. I’m still trying to wrap my head around what the hell is really going on.”

Tell me a little bit about the CD you guys got going on right now.

Johnny: “The record came out in I think October. It’s the 2nd record from the band. It was a really big step into songwriting and production. The songs are really strong. It definitely earns its place in the Rock N Roll History. It’s a lot of fun to play.”

Which one’s your favorite to play?

Johnny: “I like… out of all the songs we play, I like, “Rise from the Shadows.”

Are you working on new material that you get to write on?

Johnny: “We haven’t gotten into that yet…we’re just trying to focus on how we can get the word of Kill Devil Hill out to people. Hopefully it catches on and people pick up the record, come to see the shows, so that we can continue to do what we do.”

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Photos: Igor Vidyashev

Guns N Roses

Ben Wells - Black Stone Cherry

John Fred Young- Black Stone Cherry

Rock Rock N N Roll Roll Industries Industries Magazine Magazine 43 43

Living Colour Living Color Band Members: “I’m Doug Wimbish, Bass player for Living Color. I’m Will Calhoun, drums for Living Color. Hi, I’m Corey Glover and I’m fed up!

Interviewer: ‘Tell me about the tour you guys got coming out in the Fall to support a new album.”

Doug: Well, we have a new record coming out in the Fall, we plan on touring the states…going over to Europe. We’ll start around the middle of September, we’re coming around 3rd base, heading towards home finishing our record… new record that’s going to be coming out to support that tour.

Will: He pretty much nailed it. Looking forward to it. We’re in the studio now, trying to complete the music.

“Is this your first Rock On The Range?”

Living Color: “Yes, it is.”

Interviewer: “So, how does it feel to be on Rock On The Range this year?”

Doug: “It feels just like a class reunion, we just left half the guys at ShipRock and at the SoundWave Festival in Australia.”

Will: “ We’re on American soil now.”

Roast on the Range cal evidence. Pearl Aday, M. Shawn “Clown” Crahan, Craig Gass, Scott Ian, Finesse Mitchell, Jim Florentine, Don Jamieson, Jamey Jasta and Brian Posehn were together to accomplish one goal. . . roast Corey Taylor.

Although, the nine roasters did a good job roasting Corey, the gloves were not taken off until Corey was able to take the stage and reciprocate. Corey proceeded to make

fun of his roasters by showing them just how easy it is to roast him. According to many of his roasters, Corey Taylor is an upstanding guy, who is admired by all who he surrounds himself with. All in all, the evening proved to be filled with gut wrenching laugher and an all around damn good roast.

Crystal Gire

Photos: Igor Vidyashev

As a precursor to Rock on the Range, Monster Energy and XM radio put on a comedy roast for the talented Corey Taylor.

Corey, who is the lead singer of both Slipknot and Stone Sour, was the honoree-roasted celebrity.

Rock n Roll Industries was one of many media covering the Roast. Jessica Johnson, the publication director, was taking photographi-

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ZaKK Wylde - Black Label Society

Guns N Roses

Rock Rock N N Roll Roll Industries Industries Magazine Magazine 45 45

Alter Bridge

Alter Bridge

Slayer

Mastadon

46 46 Rock Rock N N Roll Roll Industries Industries Magazine Magazine

Slayer

Mastadon

Jason Bonham

Staind

Photos: Igor Vidyashev

Miss May I

The Pretty Reckless

Rock Rock N N Roll Roll Industries Industries Magazine Magazine 47 47

Avenged Sevenfold

Avenged Sevenfold

Photos: Igor Vidyashev

Avenged Sevenfold

Kid Rock

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Kid Rock

Mayhem Festival

Bigger and Better than ever!

Photos: Matt Upton

By Raquel Figlo The Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem Festival attracted an astonishing 27,000 metal heads to the hillsides of Devore, California this July, doubling its fans from last year, with its biggest attendance ever. Loyal and true, we gathered in the blistering heat to witness 19 bands on four stages. Whether you are into growling, screaming, thrashing, shredding or whatever type of sub genre metal you like, it was represented and represented well.

Rockstar handed out free energy drinks including Rockstar water. If you were smart, you kept yourself hydrated because it was close to 100 degrees throughout the day.

The highlights of Mayhem for me included Ice T and Body Count.

Ernie Cunnigan killed it on the guitar. Favorite moment was Ice T singing “Cop Killer.”

In between the sets of my favorite artists, I kept cool at the

Coldcock Herbal Whiskey tent.

They were giving out shots under a free shade. Korn was another highlight. On the song “Shoots and Ladders,” Jonathon Davis played the bagpipes and the audience ate it up. Another audience favorite was the song “Get up” that they performed with Skrillex. People liked it and it was received well.

Avenge Seven Fold was a major highlight of the night and rightfully so. They had a killer performance full of fire, theatrics and a stage that was over the top. They played close to an hour and a half and focused mostly on their latest released album Hail to the King.

The crowd went wild during “Bat Country” and everyone sang along. During the song “Hail to the King” a giant skeleton came out waiving a large sword, it was very cool and by far the best Avenge Seven Fold concert I had ever seen!

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Miss May I

How do you feel about being such an influence to not just people your age, but people even older than you?

It’s like the last thing you would think of. You write songs because you think they sound cool. They get you through a lot of stuff, but then at the end of the day you don’t think there’s gonna be all these people who it affects and changes their lives. It’s literally the cherry on top that you don’t expect. It’s the full court shot that’s not supposed to be made. When that does happen, you’re already having a good time.

New albums? New songs?

We’re playing a bunch of new songs on this tour…new singles. We have a new music video coming out soon for “You Want Me”…nobody knows that, now you know that. Just doing Mayhem and touring non-stop.

Touring the US more, we toured the whole world last year, so we’re trying to focus on the US now.

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Tell me a little bit more about the CD album. What song would you say is the deepest?

The cool thing about this record, all the lyrics aren’t really personal, ‘cause our last record’s really personal. This one is from a fan point of view. We get boxes of letters all the time. We basically wrote from their point of view. A lot of subjects we never really went through. I guess the deepest song would have to be “Echoes.” It’s our first time really trying to do a slow song…more emotional. It’s about losing someone close to you, It just happens in an instant and how to get through it. The whole record’s are letters back to fans. Every song’s pretty deep for us because we had to put ourselves in the fan’s perspective and sometimes it’s like real buzz-kill sometime.

Have you thought about making it acoustic? Like a live acoustic performance so that you can break down in front of everybody and everybody can watch your tears and break down with you?

Maybe one day, I doubt it though.

It’d be like a funny YouTube video.

Maybe if I could learn how to sing real good; Like a pretty singing voice, not like a mean raw, maybe next CD. Anything you would like to say to your fans or anybody out there?

Yes, thank you guys for all the support and thanks for getting the new record, Rise of The Lion, and stay Metal.

-Angelica Ulloa

Photos: Matt Upton

Levi Benton: What’s up? I’m Levi Benton from Miss May I. I’m the vocalist in Miss May I. We started in high school. We’re still young, we’re all like 23…22. We got our record deal in high school. It was a pretty weird crazy story. We were just local. We finished our first record in school. We’d go to school, then drive to the studio, record, drive back to school, sleep all day in school and do it back and forth for a couple of months. Our first CD came out, like a month after we graduated. We left the day after graduation and toured. That was 5 years ago. We’ve been touring nonstop. We’re from Dayton, Ohio. The middle of nowhere.

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Asking Alexandria

Sam Bettley: I’m from Yorkshire in England. I’ve been here for like 6 or 7 years now.

Tell me a little bit about from before you were with the band to now?

It might sound weird, but we’ve all grown up a shit load since before the band. It’s such a short amount of time, we all came over here and kinda threw ourselves into the deep end. All our families, we left everyone in England.

Kinda started living on our own. I’ve grown up. Being homesick and being away from family and friends is possibly the hardest part about being in a band.

What do you think about the people? How is it different from over there?

I feel like Americans are nicer on the whole. Maybe that’s because English people are blunt and straight to the point.

So now going back to music, tell me a little bit about new music or

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touring, after the tour, what are you guys gonna do?

I know Ben’s been writing loads. I’ve been writing. We actually have a studio bus out with us so we get to write and record on the road. We’re always writing on the road. That’s just one of the luxuries we’ve got. Loads of new music, loads of new cool things.

What’s your favorite gear?

I play a Schecter, I got a signature; I love it. Been with them for nearly a year now. Absolutely love it. I just love my Schecter.

Any words to bands or anybody that you would like to reach out to?

Yeah, I just want to say huge thank you to people who show up today. I’m looking at people right now just like coming across this hill and there’s so many of you, so thank you to everyone who comes out. If you can’t make it out to this one, we’ll be back because we’re always touring. Huge thanks!

-Angelica Ulloa

Photos: Matt Upton

Where are you from?

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Exit North

Backstage at MX Rock Festival we caught up with Jacqui Ehden (Vocals) Tyler Hartsook (Bass) Ronnie Johnston (Drums) and Matt Mattera (Guitar) of Exit North just after their set.

How is it going guys?

Thanks for giving us a few minutes, good to catch up with you all. How does it feel being on the same bill with Buckcherry?

Jacqui- It’s incredible and insane, both at the same time, like a dream to be honest. Personally, I’m a huge fan of Kottonmouth Kings, so I’m excited to see them perform later today and share the stage.

Where is the band based? What city?

Matt- Long Beach, essentially, we all live in different cities but that’s where we are based out of.

Jacqui- We play in Orange County very often, but basically LB. What do you guys have going on lately?

Jacqui- Still in the process of finishing our first album.

What can you tell us about your musical influences growing up? Who are some of your musical heroes?

Ronnie- So many bands, but a couple are AC/DC, Led Zeppelin, some of the classic rock bands for me.

Jacqui- My ultimate idol is Freddy Mercury. I try to take a little of Sarah McLaughin, Carole King, Alanis Morrisette and shift it into something of my own.

Matt- I grew up listening to 90’s rock. Alice in Chains, Silverchair, Incubus blew my mind, so many names I won’t even start.

Tyler- I grew up listening to contemporary Christian music… (all laugh).

Visit Exit North’s social media pages to stay updated on all their happenings and upcoming shows.

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WITHIN REACH How did you win the battle of the bands to play the MX Rock Festival?

We got word through our manager, he thought it would be a good idea to promote, and we thought it would be a good idea for us to promote for a long time. This was a really good opportunity and as soon as we heard we put up a picture, messaged as many people as we could, posted all over internet, IG, FB…we were really trying hard, even going to malls, hanging out with people etc…. pretty much everywhere trying to spread the word.

Tell us a bit about your band?

We started the band about a year and a half ago, went through a couple name changes, a couple members, and as soon as we got what we thought was a good solid lineup, we named our band, started writing music, and jumped right in, playing as many shows as possible.

Photos: Matt Upton

Favorite song to write together or most meaningful?

It’s different for every single person, but it’s definitely “Kid in the Crowd” for most of us. We just finished filming for that and trying to put a music video together for it. We put a lot of work on that one. That’s the one that definitely speaks the most about our band.

You just go out there in the crowd and you want to be on the other side of the stage doing what you love instead of working a 9 to 5 job and hating your life. Which is what we do currently. (laughs) All of us do it, and all of us hate it.

If you guys were give one million dollars to invest and do/be something and kick off tour what would make you different from any other band, to stand out or define yourselves, what would you do differently?

That’s a good one. You didn’t tell us you were gonna make us think.

Our ticket prices would be very low, or general admission. Those are our favorite kinds of shows. Where you can get right up there as close as you want and be with the band.

Also, we always like being able to hang with the band, so our band members would be hanging out and talking to people as much as possible. We’re all just regular people. And that way we’d also have people to help load up our

stuff after. (laughs). But, that would be the main thing, just to hang out with as many people as we possibly could. That’s one of the biggest things we’re trying to do, instead of just going up there and trying to be rockstars, and drunk buffoons, we try to, as much as we can, invest in people, and help in any way that we can. We don’t do it for us, granted, we love what we do, and it’s fun being up on stage, but really, we’ve all been though tough times and when somebody from a band has come up to us and helped us out in some way, and we want to be that band for other people. So,if we had a million dollars, we would buy a bus and probably spend half of that on booze, and the other half would be free shows.

Also, lights, awesome equipment, video games for people, wireless so we can all be in the crowd. Figure something out where Jeremy can be wireless, grab the mic and jump into the crowd. Anyway we could spend the money to help us present ourselves and connect with the audience.

What is your writing process?

Writing a lot of guitar stuff. Chris is our newest member, so we haven’t had a lot of chance to write with him, but usually the writing process, we me and him jam everything out we possibly can.

Write it all down. Structure it all out, play it, change a couple things, and then Eddie puts his flavor in, because, you know, his bassage is just great. Then, eventually the vocals end up last, and we work on the melodies last, because the melodies are usually the hardest.

Everything just falls in together.

Pretty easy. One main part of our process though is, when one song is done, seven months later we go back and change things. It’s kind of all over the place.

Where can we listen to you guys, check you out?

You can check us out on Facebook, IG, Twitter, and our album is coming out.

What do you want to say to your fans?

Well, we have a group quote. “To any kids in the crowd, if you have a dream, you can make it, if you want it, you can get it, anythings within reach.”

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Buckcherry

are getting older. Rumor has it, there won’t be that many tours left. I’d really hope to do some dates on that. That would be a dream come true. We’ve toured with them before and got to hang out with them. They were so incredible to us. That would be fun.

As far as festivals go, in the United States, we’re really starting to get more of a grasp on the festivals. I’m really happy to see that. It’s something that the people in Europe have been experiencing for a long time.

These really amazing 3 day events where there’s all these great bands.

It’s nice to see it happening more often in the United States.

What’s one intense fan story that has probably stayed with you?

We went and played a really huge American Armed Force base. It’s What about some of the bands you one of the few bases that actually enjoy touring with? all wings of the military use…Army, Absolutely! We’ve become great Navy, Air Force, Marines. We played friends with guys in so many bands. a New Year’s Eve show about 4 or The nicest guys that we’ve toured 5 years ago. As we were playing, with have always been bands that there’s these three dudes with their were older than us: KISS, Motely shirts off. They started a mosh pit…

Crue, Aerosmith, and AC/DC. Bands no one else was in it. The next day, like that have always been for some we did a bunch of touring around the Aside from having your five songs, reason very kind to us, and very base. We got to see certain facilities. any information on future full accommodating. Some of the newer The person that was taking us around albums?” bands- the guys in Avenge Sevenfold, said, “The guys from the Special Yeah, basically what we did with the have become really good friends of Forces would really like for you to Fuck EP, we started our own record ours. We did a long tour with those come over to their private bunker.” label. It’s called F Bomb Records. guys a couple of years ago. We The leader was the guy that was in It’s the first release on our own label. know the guys in Papa Roach really the mosh pit the night before. He We are also, during our down time, well, we’ve done many many tours started telling us a story about when working on another record, which we with those guys. The guys that are he was in Afghanistan. When these hope to put out in the spring, also on out here today OTHERWISE, we’ve guys are in Afghanistan, they have F Bombs Records a full length record. toured with those guys a bunch. It’s everything that they can carry on their Basically the goal for us right now fun to have those guys out. We had backs and they’re going up and down is to just continue working, staying them on the last leg of our US tour. these hills. I don’t know if you’ve ever on the road and releasing records We tend to make friends wherever seen any documentaries about it, more frequently and shortening the we go. but’s it’s pretty fucking gnarly, the shit time period between releases. We’re that they’re going through. They’re really lucky in that we’ve been able What is one band that you would getting shot at while they’re trying to to tour and have a fan base all over like to tour with in the future and protect people. They fight for months the world, not only North America, but one festival you’d like to play in the to overtake a hill. Then, as soon as Europe, like I said Japan, Australia. future? they overtake it, they get pulled out.

We’re really busy. There’s always I know AC/DC is putting out a new The people that they were fighting some where for us to be. record at the end of the year. They against take it over again. It’s pretty At the signing today, you had some girls bring some penises to sign.

How did that feel?

It’s not the first time we’ve signed one of our sex toys. We started a line of sex toys called, Crazy Bitch Toys.

It’s a smashing success. As much as people like to use the toys, they also like for us to autograph them as well, which we don’t mind doing.

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exciting. We played Woodstock 99.

That was an exciting festival.

grueling stuff. He told me that all the guys in his company had our “15” record in their ear buds as they were walking up and down the mountains and it was the soundtrack for them and what they were doing in combat.

I was really touched by that. These guys are really young kids. They’re like 19…20. They’re young guys and they’re out there risking their lives for our country and we were the soundtrack for what they were doing.

That was really moving.

Some of these bands that you just mentioned that you toured with, were you listening to any of them?

Absolutely! I was a huge KISS fan.

It was so odd meeting them. For as much as we got to know those guys, when we’re hanging out during the day, and seeing them without their make-up, meeting them and knowing them and then seeing them later in their make-up before they would go on stage , walk down the hallway…it was completely different. They were great to us. We’ve been on tour with them a few times. KISS, Aerosmith, AC/DC…I listened to all those bands growing up.

What is something that you would like to get out there to be said or what would you like for people to read…fans, any messages?

I think people just need to know the only thing in this whole business of music, it’s changing so much and there’s so many bands, but the one thing that you cannot replicate or fake is the live experience. We take a lot of pride in showing up every night playing our own instruments. We’re not playing to prerecorded tracks. Playing the songs and digging deep, playing long sets. Trying to give people their money’s worth and entertain them and give them an honest Rock N Roll product. We hope people appreciate that. We’ve been very lucky to have been supported so long doing what we love to do.”

Photos: Lan Nguyen

How do you feel about the MX Rock Festival, being the headliner tonight?

Keith: It’s really exciting for us. You know, we’re big fans of all things Motorsports. We’ve done many, many different kinds of events from NASCAR events to biker events. I think this is our first out here doing the MX Festival. We’re really looking forward Where’s your favorite place to to playing tonight.” play? Do you like to play small or large festivals?

Tell me a little about your EP …tell There’s something really great about me about the process of the songs playing a thousand capacity club that you guys put… when it’s packed. The people are The EP’s called Fuck. Every song on right up on top of you. Then, there’s the record has the word fuck in it. It something great about going over fucking rocks. to Europe and playing for 200,000 people at some of those festivals.

Can you give some example of some of the songs?

Is there a particular festival you There’s a song called, “Somebody enjoy?

Fucked with Me.” There’s a song There’s a big festival over there that’s called, “It’s A Fucking Disaster. called The Download Festival now There’s another one called, “I Don’t that used to be called Castle DoningGive A Fuck.” There’s a couple of ton. We played one of the last years examples of some of the songs. it was Donington. That’s been very

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M3 Festival

Missie Tong

After Femme Fatale, I hauled ass back over to the main stage to get a little religion Stryper style. These guys, God love’em, are some serious shredders. Whether or not you are into the whole Christian metal thing or not, you have to respect them as metal shredders. “Soldiers Under Command” will exercise the demon thoughts of wimpy-ness right outta ya! After receiving my once a year dose of religion, I again made the steep uphill trek to the second stage (WTF were they thinking putting that stage way over a hill?? Don’t they realize the majority of us at this festival are old and out of shape?). Red Dragon Cartel was up next and I wasn’t missing this for anything! OMFG was it worth it!!! Jake A local band signed to Roadrunner/Atlantic ReE. Motherfuckin Lee is back, he was so happy to cords called Bad Seed Rising kicked off Friday be up on that stage, playing his heart out!! You night. A very powerful band with young energy could just feel his happiness!! Everything they that is sure to hit the big time after playing a played- a few songs from his past to the new gig like M3. Lita Ford set the precedence for music on their recently released album was just the whole weekend by bringing out a surprise mind blowing. They paid tribute to the late great guest, former Runaway front lady and bandmate Ray Gillen with “Highwire” and I couldn’t have Cherie Currie to sing with her on her song about been anymore of a fan-girl at that point in time. that time in her life called “Living Like A RunJudging by the crowd, I wasn’t the only one havaway,” which is the title track to her album that ing a fangasm over this… was released in 2012. Of course if you have Cherie there on stage you can’t just have her Queensryche set - I had never seen nor heard do one song and then leave so they busted out this version of Queensryche before. I had only with Runaway hits “Queens of Noise”, “Ameriheard Geoff Tate sing and although it was good, I can Nights” and the infamous “Cherry Bomb.” was always left feeling like something was missAnother shock and surprise for me that night was ing, never quite satisfied. Well that something Extreme. I was never a fan because back in the missing was Todd LaTorre. day when MTV actually played music videos all day long, they crammed the sappy assed “More Sebastian Bach was next on my list. There is so than Words” and “Whole Hearted” down our much energy and it’s the kind of nervous, twitchy, throats until us die-hard head bangers wanted to ADD energy that is harsh and abrasive, leaving piss all over anything this band put out. Unforyou begging for a 714 break. Baz delighted the tunately that meant I never got to hear any of crowd with mostly hits from his ill-fated time with Nuno’s badass face melting guitar licks or see Skid Row such as “Slave to the Grind”, “Big what a madman Gary Cherone was on stage.

Guns”, “Monkey Business” and a few songs They gained a new fan after seeing them at M3. from his solo releases. The less than excited Kix definitely blew my fuse that night with some response from the general population on our over the top energy that started with the first favorite bands from the 80’s releasing new matesong and stayed thru the last encore. Kix is one rial is across the board, not just with Sebastian. of those bands that sound just as phenomenal He pulled a pretty cool move at the end, having now as they did back in the 80’s. Kix has a new his son, Paris play drums on “Youth Gone Wild”, album coming out soon that is promised not to telling us the story behind the “P” in his Youth disappoint.

Gone Wild tattoo. Paris proved to be a really great drummer creating a proud papa moment Day two of M3 Festival brought better weather for Sebastian. and more bands. Heavens Edge started off day two on the second stage pretty early and Keel Night Ranger was next after Sebastian and it started the party on the main stage at the ass was exactly what we all needed to recover from crack of noon way too early by rock n roll stanthe verbal assault we received from him. A Night dards, but that didn’t keep the crowd from their Ranger show is just one gigantic party. This is Right to Rock with Keel. I can never get enough a band that is really having the time of their lives of hearing “Speed Demon” or “Somebody’s on stage. They have so much fun doing what Waiting” one of my favorite bands from my high they do and the feeling is contagious. After the school days. verbal beat down we received earlier, we really needed the upbeat happy fun time Night Ranger After catching the last few songs of John Coradelivers. bi’s band on the second stage, I stayed there to wait for Femme Fatale and decided to just watch Wrapping up the M3 Festival was this year’s Jack Russell’s Great White on the jumbotron. headliner Tesla. This is a band that has never Despite all the health issues, setbacks and per- really changed over their career, staying the sonal problems, Jack Russell sounded fucking course that has led to their continued success. great, absolutely phenomenal. Femme Fatale They make it look easy by keeping it simple hit the stage, now here is a group of ladies that and that is what keeps them still in demand. So know how to rock and look good doing it. Lormuch in demand that it was announced that raine Lewis sounds as good as she looks, Nita Tesla will be headlining the 2015 Monsters of and Courtney can put any man to shame playing Rock Cruise. and drink him under the table while they are at

it. Now that’s rock n fuckin roll baby!!! Linda I drove over 6 hours to attend the 2014 M3 FestiMcDonald from the Iron Maidens filled in for the val and would I do it again? Hell yeah!!! injured Athena Kottak on drums that day.

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Photos: Missie Tong

This year’s M3 Festival in Columbia, MD was rock n roll history in the making, breaking M3 attendance records for all the years the festival was done. This historical event hosted by That Metal Show’s Eddie Trunk and SiriusXM Hair Nation DJ Luc Carl kicked off Friday night with a torrential downpour but that didn’t stop the hard core fans with lawn tickets from standing there in the cold dark rain rocking their asses off to some of the best bands the late 80’s and early 90’s had to offer. Looking around, you couldn’t tell if it was 1987 or if it was present day 2014. Only thing that gave it away was the cell phones lighting up in the crowd instead of bic lighters.

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KIX Steve Whiteman

By- Missie Tong

Since it’s a new album and its been 20yrs, are you still sticking with, the sound that people, if they hear, they go “Oh that’s Kix playing right now!”

When you were thinking about doing this, was it something that you have something stock piling, just waiting for this moment or did you all of a sudden decide ok we’re gonna do this album?

Well it actually came about, I mean my other band, Funny Money, has been writing for that band for the past 18yrs and Mark Schenker who is in Funny Money and Kix has been writing, Brian’s been writing for Rhino Bucket and Ronnie’s been writing for his band The Blues Vultures. So it’s not like we just stopped writing for 20 yrs.…we just weren’t writing as Kix. So we had a stockpile of material when the opportunity came around. Frontiers Records after releasing the “Live in Baltimore” DVD cd, really pushed for a studio record and that’s what got the whole thing going, they had some legal problems and we had a chance to speak with Loud and Proud Records. We thought that would be a better deal for us so after some

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Yeah we brought in Taylor Rhodes who was a co-writer, since Donnie Purnell is no longer in the band, we wanted to have somebody with that kind of direction, with that kind of influence…so, Taylor got involved and we submitted all these songs to him, letting him go down the list of songs he felt we could turn into Kix songs. We sent him like 40, he narrowed it down to like 15, we got together as a band for about a week and worked on these songs and refined them, we Kix-ized them. I think people will be pleasantly surprised. Fuck modern!! That’s not us!

MORC…. This is the 3rd year for you guys to be on it?

Yep and our asses are back again next year!

What are some of the challenges of being on a ship playing? You have the stage swaying back and forth, audience swaying…. some band members’ sea sick… what are some of the challenges of playing on a ship compared to being out there (on stage)?

I didn’t find the ship movement to be a problem at all. I see the people doing this (rocks back and forth) and I just kind of make fun of them.

I go the opposite way just to fuck with ‘em! I think the hardest part, when we played the pool stage, when the ship takes off, you got this head wind coming at you and we are going right at this headwind so it was like 40-50mph gusts of wind and I am singing and its blowing everything right back in my face. That was the hardest part for me. I took my shirt off and was going to throw it out to the crowd and it just came right back at me!!

When you are out on a tour and you play 3 nights in a row, you see different people, but when you are on a cruise, you see the same people….

Everyday, you go in expecting that and understanding that part of it and if you want to hide in your cabin and not be sociable, that’s your prerogative, but if you want to go out and have a good time, you are going to sign a few autographs and take a few thousand pictures, that’s part of it…

I want to thank Amanda Cagen of ABC PR for arranging for me to do this interview at The M3 Festival and Frank Royce for rearranging times for me to be able to squeeze this interview in between my photo shoots. And I would especially like to thank Steve Whiteman of Kix for taking time out of his crazy busy schedule to sit down for a few minutes with me for this interview.

Photos: Missie Tong

legal finagling, we got to Loud and Proud and got signed by them. Now it’s a matter of getting it out and see what people think about it.

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Soundwave 2014: Soil & Five Finger Death Punch

Words and Pictures by Kelly Koolstra-Aplin

Australia’s Soundwave festival is regarded as one of the leading alternative music festivals of this age. Showcasing some of the best international and homegrown talent and popular among travelling artists, many have quoted it as being a main stay in their touring schedule. From humble beginnings in Perth to now annually travelling major cities around Australia, creator AJ Maddah’s Soundwave has skyrocketed with the help of past headliners Metallica, Slipknot, Iron Maiden and many others.

As Soundwave 2014 arrived I was lucky enough to go to not one, but two of the Festivals; Bris-

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bane and Melbourne. Interviewing Five Finger Death Punch and hard rock legends Soil, as well as photographing Korn, Avenged Sevenfold, GWAR, Panic! At the Disco, Rob Zombie with guitarist John 5, AFI, Alice in Chains, Alterbridge and Australian Rock legends The Living End. So to any of you out there travelling to the land down under in the months of Feb/Mar 2015 be sure to go get your ticket and go check out this festival, its line-up is released six months prior and is a must for metalheads and fans of a festival environment minus the pop radio acts in between bills.

Five Finger Death Punch Chris Kael

Kelly Koolstra-Aplin

good vibe off him. And then to hear like 2 months later about him going down. Then to have the chance of meeting him, and getting to hangout with him at Soundwave, well that was the most memorable. Amongst other things as well, but that was definitely the most, meeting Dave.

How did it feel to win the Indie Artist of The Year for the last three straight years?

It’s incredible you know, with us people always assume we’re a major label band but we’re not. Prospect Park is an independent label. So I mean, everybody assumes we’re like What were you expecting from a Warner Brothers. When the band Australian fanbase at Soundwave first started they wanted to be comand the festivals themselves? pletely in control of content and muI’ve been in the band 3 years and it sic. Zoltan is a genius when it comes was the first time we have been back to graphic design and what not. They to Australia since I joined. So you really wanted to have a hands on never know what the reactions are approach and going independent going to be. But it was through the allowed them to do that. If you end up roof, It was jam packed out there and going with a major company as a new there was a lot of fans with Death band your kinda under their thumb Punch t-shirts on. all the time. Prospect Park was great and to be an independent band sellYou guys played some sidewaves ing half a million records each time shows with with Avenged Sevenwe put a record out. We got three fold, what brought that about? gold records so far and a fourth and We actually had done a Novemfifth one well under way, so fingers ber/December run with Avenged crossed we’re trying to get behind Sevenfold over in Europe. We were Avenged Sevenfold again and have doing an Arena tour with them, so another gold record. we already had a working relationship. Good friends with those guys, What was it like to work with Rob and you know pairing up two massive Halford on ‘Lift Me up’? metal bands together and able to get It was you know, one of those things us in on that same stage, with Asking where as I was growing up learning Alexandria they were with us as well, music and becoming a fan of metal so getting us as friends together to and rock in general, Judas Priest play a show, that’s pretty much what ‘Screaming for Vengence’ was one it came down to. Mutual respect for of those big albums for me. Probably still Top 5, Top 10 albums for me and How was playing Soundwave mu- ing around from one state to the next. one another, we both realized that both bands are doing really well to have been that little kid in my room sic festival in Australia?

What were your most memorable these days and been mates since. singing and acting like I’m playing It was awesome, it’s my first time moments in Australia? guitar along to Judas Priest, fast having been there to Australia. Five Can you tell me about The Golden forward so many years later, actually Finger Death Punch went a few years The biggest one that stands out Gods Awards that you attended to singing with Rob Halford on stage, ago back before I joined the band, but to me and because of the terrible this year? playing bass behind him singing back it was my first chance to get over and circumstances, was meeting Dave Well, this year we were nominated from Gwar. That dude was on fire up vocals. So one of those full circle see the country and part of Soundfor a couple of awards at the Golden wave. Very well-oiled machine, there the whole time. He had a great spirit Gods. I actually brought home ‘Best life events for me. He’s such a nice, in life. He was always ready to go, down to earth person, I mean he’s was huge incredible crowds, travel Bassist’ which is absolutely crazy. we were playing the same stage the Metal God you know. He could be schedule was really really hectic.

Thank you guys, that was one of that Gwar went on before them and a dick and everybody would be like those things that’s driven a lot of Did you get to see a lot of places he was out there every single show ‘Oh, its cool man, I get it, your Rob votes out there.

The kids have always there? watching every single band giving Halford, you’re the Metal God’ But no, supported me, it’s very cool to have a I got to see Sydney, Melbourne and positive comments to everyone. He I mean he’s like completely approachmassive army. So thanks to everyone Perth cause we had a day off at those was like ‘Man, I love you guys, love able and we had great conversations.

3 cities. But the rest we were bounc- what you guys are doing.’ I got a real out there, I really appreciate it.

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August 24, 2014 marked the 10th YR Anniversary of Johnny’s Passing. Fans from all over, came together to celebrate the memory of one of the world’s beloved rebelsJohnny Ramone, at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery. John William Cummings better known as The Ramones guitarist- Johnny Ramone. Johnny died from Prostate Cancer in 2004 at the age of 55, he had been suffering for over 5 years. Many knew Johnny as a headstrong stubborn man, but with a great heart. Those who knew him and were close, loved him and continue to do so.

Which is why his wife Linda Ramone started a tribute every year after, to keep the memory and love alive. For the first time, all original founding members of The Ramones have passed away- Tommy Ramone died a month before the tribute day with Bile Duct cancer -Age 65; Creating 2015 the beginning of a new celebration- A Tribute to The Ramones. Hosting this 10th Anniv- memorable night, was Rob Zombie - a very close friend of Johnny’s in life and death. Rob Zombie surprised us with an amazing 10-minute set that blew everyone’s mind performing classic hits.

Duff Mckagan of Guns N’ Roses, Steve Jones of the Sex Pistols and surprise guest Billy Idol also performed! Kirk Hammett’s horror memorabilia was displayed at the mausoleum - creating a spectacle. Many stars came to show their respects and support as Q&A with the Devil’s Rejects cast members took place. Inside the VIP area where all the Rock Stars were, was a beautiful Johnny Ramone Fondue- statue made out of fondue chocolate cake, provided by Angie Hernandez owner of Bake n’ Destroy we had to baby sit the cake as people took pictures confusing the cake with an actual statue!

The event had an amazing crowd, helpful and friendly staff. Linda Ramone has put together with much courage every year a night in which we all havehad the pleasure to get together and share it with amazing guest performances, and stories shared to relive moments and memories. Overall a tribute that has been enjoyed by all. RnR had the pleasure to photograph and help sponsor this event to bring everyone a closer look and feel to this celebration. For all pictures please visit our website!

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Make Music Pasadena 35er bar stage presented by Rock N Roll Industries Magazine

By Peggy Murphy

The Last Gang

sk

Skin Ma

At the 35er Bar in Pasadena earlier this year there was a grand commotion of music being made with a flare. Musicians from several different genres gathered together to prove that no matter what type of music you play or listen to, it’s possible to mix it up and have a great outcome.

The 35er Bar’s participation in this year’s historic festival event was a nine hour gig which included nine bands and a wide range of styles. The bands that played that day included Floorplan, Johny Stachela Band, SkinMask, Chelsea & The Traveling Band, Inside Riot, The Last Gang, Exit North, Switchblade 3 and Magnetico with Rafael Moreira (Lead guitarist featured on American Idol, The Voice and Rockstar INXS).

Highlights from this event made it a very memorable one. SkinMask brought the local fire department in because their fog machines had ‘smoke’ coming out the back of the building. Good times! They also brought a crowd and had many people coming in from the street to see them play. Inside Riot’s Fawn brings with her a voice you’ll never forget..

Far-reaching vocals with great harmonies plus she’s one hot guitar-playin’ Babe! Oh, and the rest of the band is on fire! Exit North and The Last Gang have Babes of their own as well.

That belt it out and have the moves up on that stage! Oh yeah! Switchblade 3 had everyone up and out of their seats dancing to their awesome Rockabilly sound. Magnetico pumped up the crowd once again as the festival was closing down.

Their high energy performance wound up drawing in the crowd from the streets.

Magnetico

Inside Rio

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Matt Upton

Exit North

Chelsea & The

Switchbla

de 3

Band Rock N RollTraveling Industries Magazine 65

Ride For Dime Texas

By Peggy Murphy

August 15th and 16th 2014 marked the tenth anniversary of the Ride For Dime mother chapter in Texas to honor Darrell Abbott with their ride from Fort Worth to Dallas The night prior to the ride Texas Hippie Coalition played at The Rail Club in Fort Worth along with Volume Dealer, Junk, White Light Cemetery and Heavy As Texas as part of the celebration. Special Guests Nick Bowcott, Nik Kai, Randy Cooper, Michael G and Arthur Gonzales played on the 15th.

Bowcott also played on the 16th. To kick off the ride at the, many of them wearing pink beards. Fort Worth Harley

Davidson Michael G and Arthur Gonzales played a medley of Pantera tunes that got everyone involved pumped up for the run. From the Harley shop in Fort Worth the riders drove

by Dime Bag Darrel’s house while Rita, Chad Lee and Nick Bowcott greeted the riders. The ride continued to the cemetery where everyone paid their respects with guitar picks, cds and memorabilia of all sorts left at the graveside. The ride terminated at Trees (the venue) in Dallas, Texas. Pinkbearded Rob Eichelderger of Easy Dude’s BBQ had lots of food available for the event and the drink of choice seemed to be the Black Tooth Grin. At Trees, later that night, Rex Brown, former Pantera bassist, played with his current group Kill Devil Hill along with PumpJack, Thy Will Be Done, Generator and Habit Of Force. Participants were left with the feeling of getting to know Dime, even though they had never met him..

A very cool experience, indeed.

Commemorative T-Shirts for the event were made by Affliction Clothing.

s stopped by the Friends, family and fan e to show respect rid the ing dur site ve gra

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Nick Bowcott of Marshall played a melody of Dimebags songs/solos as Chad Lee jumped onstage to get the roaring crowd

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RNR writers Arthur and Micheal G kicked off the ride with the Star-Spangled Banner

Rock N Roll Industries Magazine 67

The String Cheese Incident Headlines the Huck Finn Jubilee On June 13th and 14th in Ontario, California’s Cucamonga-Guasti Regional Park, blue grass fans at the Huck Finn Jubilee were treated to two special nights of one of the most electric “JamGrass” bands to exist today. The Colorado based band, The String Cheese Incident, took music fans around the world with their eclectric style and far ranging genres of musical talent.

Friday’s set had an acoustic blue grass beginning featuring classical SCI hits such as “Dudley’s Kitchen” and “Panama Red”. As the sun was setting, the band went loud and took us on a musical journey from the Caribbean with “Yo Se” and Bob Marley’s “One Love” to Africa with “Under African Skies”. The set ended with the deep blues/soul song “Mannish Boy” featuring blue grass extraordinaire Sam Bush.

Night two featured SCI playing along side guitar genius, Keller Williams. Known as the Keller Williams Incident, they took the weekend to another level playing “Best Feeling” and “Restless Wind”. From blue grass to funk to rock to jazz, this was an amazing weekend of music in a wonderful venue. The String Cheese Incident is a truly unique band that can play it all.

Matt Isenberg, Friend of Cheese (FOC)

Throwback Metal Fest

By Peggy Murphy

68 Rock N Roll Industries Magazine

Peggy Murphy

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hrowback Metal Fest joined forces with Ragnarokkr Metal Apocalypse to bring together metal bands from Canada, South Dakota, Ohio, Arizona and Southern California. 3rd Generation Tacos (3GT) were on hand outside Frogees serving up $1 Tacos $3 Nachos and $5 Drunk Nachos. The lines were long and the food was excellent. This was “the first of many” annual Throwback Metal Fest weekends planned for the high desert according to metal band Kantation’s vocalist Martin DeBourge, who helped bring this grand event which was partially sponsored by Rock N Roll Industries Magazine, among others.

Those performing on the first day of the metal fest were Ashbury, Blackmore, Hour Eleven, Serpent Within and Wretch. The second day there were performances from Battlefront, Doctors of the Earth, Heretic, Iron Kingdom, Kantation, Night Demon, Ninth Circle, Resistance, Ruthless, Seventh Calling, Tyrant, War Within and Wretch returned in the afternoon to play a ‘party set’ of classic metal covers and their own original songs.

Both days were incredibly entertaining. The bands all put forth a lot of energy, the food was delicious, the alcohol was affordable and the servers were all very accommodating making this a great weekend.

Clearview

Lan Nguyen

By Andrea Granillo

Zach and Vince, you two came out victorious at Guitar Center San Bernardino’s acoustic battle of the bands. What was your coupled mindset going in to the competition?

Zach: We happened to be at guitar center and saw the flyer advertising the contest so, we thought why not? We practiced a lot leading up to it and are just always striving to be the best musicians and performers we can be. All we wanted to do was give a great show and have a good time doing it and people responded to it well. We were super grateful for that. I (Zach) was also grateful to win a great acoustic guitar since the guitar I was playing the contest with

literally was breaking as I was playing it. As far as our edge goes, we just try to be real to ourselves and to our music. We are who we are and don’t try to change it.

We sing about pain and real life experiences and I think that is what music is all about, telling your story and connecting with the listeners.

Most of us in the band have grown up in musical theatre. We are all theatre geeks and we also love doing vocal harmonies, which is something you don’t really hear too much these days.

Vincent: I started gaining and interest for singing when I started high school. My sophomore year I had gotten into choir and fell in love with listening to people sing and what the human voice was capable of. Before I wanted to play guitar for bands, I never thought of being the front man.

Your band played at a show we sponsored called “Rock the Arts”. What were a few of your noteworthy moments from that night?

Vincent: a noteworthy memory of Rock the Arts for me, was having the crowd sing our songs back to us. It is always a wonderful feeling to bring happiness and joy to a crowd of people, but to have them truly acknowledge the music that we write for them- is absolutely amazing.

To know that we have reached people to the

point- where they want to spend that time with us and sing to us as we play for them. Life can be beautiful and those moments are the most beautiful ones that life has to offer.

Vincent, where did you first realize that you had an affinity for singing?

Vincent: I started gaining and interest for singing when I started high school. My sophomore year I had gotten into choir and fell in love with listening to people sing and what the human voice was capable of. Before I wanted to play guitar for bands. I never thought of being the front man Clearview’s music seems to relay the fact that this band is a close-knit operation.

How did the group manage to maintain its level head and sense of companionship?

Vincent: Well it’s been four years of hard work and between all of us in the band. We have moments, we argue and disagree, we even have moments when we don’t want to be in the same room with each other. But we do have a deep friendship with one another in the group. We have a GREAT understanding of what we have and can achieve together as a band. We also stand by what we tell people at our shows which is, “be the change you wish to see in the world.”

We have gained trust in each other and formed a friendship and created music to reflect our closeness and friends and an extended family.

We welcome anyone who wants to listen and join us with our music.

Rock N Roll Industries Magazine 69

London After Midnight Review by Alison “MetalBabe” Cohen Photos by Lady Lea Photography

A dark cloud of black clothing and white faces descended upon the usual glitter and glam of the Sunset Strip on Friday night, August 30th. Gothic clad fans came in droves to see the one and only U.S. appearance of London After Midnight (LAM) at The Roxy Theatre in West Hollywood. LAM recently played several European dates, including Germany, Poland, Russia and Finland, and are cur-

rently in the process of working on a followup to their 2007 release “Violent Acts of Beauty.” London After Midnight, who was founded by singer/songwriter/ multi-instrumentalist Sean Brennan, has quite a creative and varied history, beginning with the release of their first cassette in 1991.

tographer, and before the first note, the makings of a mosh pit were already in the works.

The four-piece elaborately graced the stage, one by one, with members taking their respective places as music played over the P.A. and their names appeared on both video screens.

Fog enveloped the stage as colored lights and ever-changing pictures/ videos set the mood, along with two dimly lit chandeliers hanging from the ceiling.

Fans were mesmerized from the first note of “Your Best Nightmare,” and captivated for the duration of the performance. Their entire set was accompanied by full video, lyrics, and sing-alongs. They played a full set of classics, that fans all know and love, and included three brand new songs as well. Sean told us as he introduced one of the new songs, “Complex Messiah,” that this was the first time they had ever played it live, and he even had a ‘cheat sheet’ in hand, in case he needed to take a peek at the lyrics.

We were right in front of bass player Randy Mathias, and Sean made his way to our side frequently, as well as lead guitarist Matthew Setzer.

The band played for almost two full hours, carefully taking their time with each song, and engaging and thanking fans as well. Although I loved every minute of it, highlights included “A Letter to God,” “Beginning of the End,” “Shattered,” “Demon,” “Claire’s Horrors,” and “Nothing Sacred,” in addition to the encore.

LAM truly are in a league of their own, with politically driven lyrics and relevant musical content. Their musical style and technique is one of a kind. The band exited for a few moments after “Bondage Song,” and then guitarist Setzer came out to get us excited about the encore. He had some time to kill while Sean and Randy were having a “Pow Wow” and told us about how fans in Europe said that they can’t have a good show in L.A. but we had proved them wrong!

Brennan, Mathias, and Pace joined Setzer onstage for a two song encore, “Kiss” and “Sacrifice” and ended the show with fans throughout the venue singing along to every word. Myself included.

Brennan does all the sampling/programming himself, and he records all the instruments on It had been his CDs, including guitar, bass, cello, violin, keysix long years boards, and drums. During live shows, Brennan since the doubles up on guitar at times with touring guitarband’s last ist Matthew Setzer, has Pete Pace on drums, Los Angeles and Randy Mathias (who has been playing live performance with LAM since 2005) on bass. at the Knitting London After Midnight put on a truly amazing Factory in performance, and it was a real treat to be privy 2008. Fans to three new songs, and to hear “Complex lined the block Messiah” performed live for the first time ever! outside the club and packed the Roxy floor in Please visit www.londonaftermidnight.com for anticipation of the night’s performance. I was information on LAM and keep a lookout for their positioned stage right, with my friends and pho- upcoming CD! 70 Rock N Roll Industries Magazine

You guys have ties with Lunchbox Studios owner Lunchbox. How do you think his experience as a musician has helped him create the most appropriate environment for recording artists? Tell us about your experience recording at this location.

Aaron - One of the things we liked most about working with Lunchbox is how comfortable he has made it for all the musicians i.e. the drums, guitar, bass, vocals. He has a top of the line studio that puts out great sound. Lunchbox has set his studio up so that it is comfortable and easy to record as an artist.

Daryl - I think because of his experience as a musician he was able to set his studio up in a way that makes sense to musicians, its comfortable and easy to record. It was a pleasure working with him and we cant wait to go back into the studio to record another EP with him.

What is your reflection on the ALS benefit show you did at The Black Marble Room in Moreno Valley?

Aaron - It was a great time with a packed house and the show was for a great cause and we hope the money that was raised is able to help.

What can you tell us of the progress the band is making on the recording of its latest EP? Daryl - We were able to work with Mike DeArmond on this EP. It was a great learning experience.The recording is complete and we released the EP in October. You can find our upcoming shows on ediththeband.com or on Facebook at facebook. com/eDiTHorDIE. Edith was a battle of the band winner, and the prize was to play at a music festival in Oregon.

Tell us about the experience from beginning to end. What transpired?

Aaron -This was our first road trip together, so it was definitely an experience. We really wanted to see how we all would get along on a trip and everyone made it back so thats a good thing. As far the show goes it was a great show, the sound was good, the crew running it was great and the people were amazing.

Nathan - What a crazy trip it was. We made it a three day trip and spending that much time in a small vehicle tells you a lot about each other. No one was harmed during the trip so that was good.

Andra Granillo

Rock N Roll Industries Magazine 71

M

otley Crüe in Toronto.

Big smoke! Big bangs! Great big balls of fire.

On reflection, will history paint the Crüe as a hybrid of the Sex Pistols, Gary Glitter and Brownsville Station or maybe the illegitimate offspring. Before any homage these bastards blow “Wild Side”, “Primal Scream”, “Same Ol’ Situation (S.O.S.)”, “Looks That Kill”, “On With The Show”, and “Too Fast For Love” right in your face like you’re Pam Anderson. This ain’t Tommy’s band though, It’s Nikki’s. All cameras on the star of the show, Nikki moves like he’s 30 years younger. Mick’s fingers do too, but he stood on his mark and courageously so. While Vince looked a little worse for

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wear, he was genuinely givin’ ‘er. Doused in sweat early on he battled through the screaming and sincerely sounded awesome!

Crüe pays respect to their elders with “Smokin’ In The Boys’ Room” mixed in and out with Gary Glitter’s “Rock ‘n’ Roll” anthem. Also, one of the highlights “Anarchy In the U.K.” fitting “Without You” and “Mutherfucker Of The Year” in between.

Enough with the respect, the Terrors of Tinseltown flip it into gear with “T.N.T.” and the fan favourite “Dr. Feelgood”. MAYHEM! The unholiness continues with “In The Beginning” and the ear-popping “Shout At The Devil”. Explosions were mind-blowing and possibly upsetting to the faint of heart.

So very fitting that the next tune was “Don’t Go Away Mad (Just Go Away)”. Tommy takes his turn in the spotlight with a spectacle. Drumming solo several stories above

Photos: Igor Vidyashev

Pyro was a big part of this show. Hitting on the beat and heating up the front rows.

Motley music is already of eye melting proportion nevertheless, Nikki blasts into bottom lines with a flamethrower bass shooting fireballs to the top of hell-fire’s stage. It’s over the top! Crue goes big or stays home and when they go out, they go out with a bang! With a huge pentacle of lights overhead, infamy ain’t the only place they’re going. “So Long, Farewell” (Rodgers & Hammerstein) piped out as “Saints Of Los Angeles” begins the long good-bye.

‘All Bad Things Must Come To An End’ is the official name of this tour that blasted through the Amphitheatre in Toronto. A long way from the Starwood West Hollywood, Pookies, and Whiskey A Go Go and a long 33 years.

Chapters: Dallas, Ft Worth, Philadelphia, Chicago, Florida, Nashville and the UK www.ridefordime.org Rock N Roll Industries Magazine 73

Time for high gear now! “Live Wire”, “Too Young To Fall In Love”, “Girls, Girls, Girls” and “Kickstart My Heart” for a frenzied crowd but then they’re gone. It’s hard to imagine that the Crüe are too old; too beaten up to tour. The road has been their home. The dream has been their life. There’s just one more thing to do as the crowd screams for more and that’s

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to sneak out to the middle of the packed house and play “Home Sweet Home” on an elevator/lift stage. Even the toughest shed a tear and as everyone filed out they piped in “My Way” by Frank Sinatra - a fitting end to LA’s fab four. Fear and regret aren’t in their vocabulary and when Ozzy mentored these LA hair punks, he had an idea that they could be as gross and perverted as himself. This Motley fucking crew were born bombastic blasphemers and it was with Ozzy that they first escaped the USA 30 years ago. Full of piss and vinegar is the only way to go out. Yes - loud music increases testosterone levels, obviously!

So let’s all sing about sex and love and coming home. Bring on the sexy girls; tattooed abs; high flying upside down drum kits; self indulgent rock star lead singers; over-achieving bassists; shredding through pain and injury. Pack the house with partiers and play some fucking really loud music. Words don’t cut it. You will be missed. b!||yzee

Photos: Igor Vidyashev

the crowd as his kit turns upside down on what looks like a roller-coaster track. Hard act to follow for most, but Mick Mars mostly motionless with motor-fingers. The guitar solo is simply spectacular to the ear.

korn and Slipknot

Photos: Igor Vidyashev

California based metal band Korn opened the show. The two time Grammy winners warmed up the crowd with an eleven song set highlighted by lead singer Jonathan Davis playing the bagpipes on their hit “Shoots and Ladders.”

They ended the night with two of their most popular songs “Freak on a Leash” and “Blind”.

The Air Canada Centre in Toronto, On November 30th and jam-packed prepared for a full-blown, skull bashing, heavy-metal onslaught and metal kings SLIPKNOT. As the curtain lifted, Slipknot began tearing into “Sarcastrophe”, with frontman, Corey Taylor’s aggressive vocals piercing through the heavy, distorted guitar riffs.

“The Heretic Anthem” was next, showcasing rotating drum kits, and extraordinary pyrotechnics that lit the up the entire stage. Old classics and new songs from the recently released “.5: The Gray chapter”, filled the nearly two hour set.

Some notable new tracks included, “The Devil In I”, “The Negative One” and “Custer”. When front man Taylor found some fans sitting on the floor, anticipating “Spit It Out”, he addressed the crowd saying “whether you have been with us for 15 years or for 55 minutes, you know what the fuck to do!” Once “Spit It Out” began, the entire crowd jumped up, horns in the air and rocked the ACC to its core. As Slipknot exited the stage one by one, the crowd was left in awe of the spectacle they just witnessed; the music, the costumes, the firem and pyro provided an experience that was well worth the price of admission.

Words by Allan Zilkowsky

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Deep Purple Review at Casino Rama

D

eep Purple sold-out Casino Rama August 22nd, more than 45 years since their beginning as one of the world’s first hard rock bands. Thousands of faithful fans braved the Friday afternoon ‘goin’ up north’ traffic. The predominantly boomer crowd remained seated for most of this hard rock show which fittingly began with the high energy of ‘Highway Star’. Front man, Ian Gillan had the crowd in the palm of his hand as he appeared in jeans and a tee and effortlessly engaged in his hi-level screams for the 3rd show in as many nights. Gillan, who just celebrated his 69th birthday 3 nights prior, reached his signature highs often aided by Don Airey’s trills on the high keys.

He’s now super cool about it as he has scheduled us breaks strategically. After a classic mix of ‘Into the Fire’, ‘Hard Lovin’ Man’ and ‘Strange Kind of Woman’, ‘Now what?!’ Purple’s 19th studio release and the first in seven years. ‘Vincent Price’ was the choice cut complete with Don Airey’s SFX keyboards and haunting sounds.

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Steve Morse took the spotlight with his infectious smile and scintillating riffs as they powered through ‘Contact Lost’; ‘Uncommon Man’ which is a dedication to Jon Lord; and ‘Well Dressed Guitar’. Best known as founder of the Dixie Dregs, he has earned his keep with Deep after over 20 years as lead guitar. Ian Paice’s at 66 is still chopping his chops with power and grace. The colorfully illuminated drumsticks were the only lights other than portable devices capturing this historic solo in ‘The Mule’. Otherwise, the lighting was broadcast quality and yet unspectacular.

After ‘Lazy’, back to ‘Now What?!’ with ‘Hell to Pay’. This number featured Glover, Morse and Gillan sharing the mic for the chorus.

This was the amateur photo-op of the night.

The keys solo brought the audience participation piece as Don Airey played O Canada. This was the first point at which the audience all rose to their feet. It’s been thirty years since the release of ‘Perfect Strang-

ers’ and from that announcement onward, the decibel level from the audience was markedly increased. Jon Lord has been gone for two years now, but Airey has been a force since 2002. Lord left his Hammond organ to his replacement, rock keyboard veteran Don Airey (Rainbow, Ozzy Osbourne, Black Sabbath, Whitesnake), who had helped Deep Purple out when Lord’s knee was injured in 2001.

The night comes to climax with multiplatinum crowd pleasers ‘Space Truckin’’, ‘Smoke on the Water’. Just before Lord passed on, ‘Machine Head’ celebrated its 40th Anniversary. It is still the uber-quintessential Hard Rock record that had a tri-fold of calligraphy lyrics included. While the guitar work was written by Blackmore, Morse recreates the tone and feel with many nuances of his own thrown in. The obligatory encore included ‘Green Onions’, as well as the always exciting and nostalgic ‘Hush’. Finally ‘Black Night’ the night cap brought the ovation and a grieving feeling that we may not have them all together around here ever again. Rest in Peace Jon Lord. Jam well with the band in heaven. Hopefully, Deep Purple will keep Hard Rock alive around Ontario and the world for years to come. b!||yzee

Photos: Igor Vidyashev

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T

band their launch into the stratosphere. It’s also where Pagan’s Mind is most comfortable- with their Prog Power USA family in Atlanta at the Center Stage Theater. They launched a Crowd Funding campaign August 11th to fund the DVD, and it went way beyond their expectations by Sept 11th by the time the show was being filmed.

The Prog Power kick off show with Pagan’s Mind was a spectacle that you have to see to believe. The pure talent of these five musicians comes out in the live setting as they play the songs to perfection as clean and tight as the CD. They played an epic 1.5 hour set of their entire second album “Celestial

his issue I want to talk about Black Market Research. An Indie/Alternative band formed in 2009, as the brainchild of front-man Nick Britt and drummer Troy Woodward. BMR released their first EP “Insult to Injury” in January 2011, which found

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Entrance” with the mighty from Circus Maximus belting out a stellar performance on two songs along with Nils. After a short break they played all their “best of” songs to the delight of the fans. The band totaled almost three hours of music without a glitch in Nils K Rue’s voice. He is a force to be reckoned with as a vocalist. This DVD will be a fan’s dream-come true! It will put you right smack in the middle of their one of a kind show!! The whole package should be available in the Spring of 2015.

Check them out on their site here: www. pagansmind.com Leah Burlington

its way onto local radio stations and helped create a loyal following in Tennessee. The song “Insult to Injury” caught the attention of Grammy-winning producer, Adrian David Payne, who gave the band their first music video.

These guys recently took home two awards from the 2013 Nashville Independent Music Awards: Best Pop Rock Band and Best Live Rock Performers. Congratulations guys!

These guys put on a great show! From playing 12th and Porter to The Bluebird Cafe to Exit/In and Hard Rock Cafe here in Nashville. You may also find them in your neck of the woods on tour! If you ask me, this is one of those bands to follow! There’s always something big going on with them. But don’t think they have that “Rockstar” attitude. These gents are as humble as they come. They just want to play and have a great time.

Black Market Research is a band I love having on Revolver Underground! Their fans are always ready to join in the fun and help support the cause. In fact, they are one of the most requested bands on the show to date. Also, big shout-out to the newest member of BMR, Paul Nycz on Bass!

Check out their music at www.blackmarketresearch.com and then grab their latest full-length album titled “Shapeshifter’s Masquerade” available on iTunes and Amazon.

Eric Black

Photos: Leah Burlington

Pagan’s Mind is an epic- symphonic-progressive-power-melodic-space-metal band from Skien Norway. Formed in 2000 by Nils K Rue (Vocals), Stian Kristoffersen (drums), Ronny Tegner (Keyboard), Steinar Krokmo-(Bass), and Jorn Viggo Loftstad (guitars). This band has played the Prog Power USA fest a total of three times before this show on Sept 11th 2014. Their first show at Prog Power was in 2003. The festival has been on-going for 14 years and the band decided when they came back this year to Prog Power USA yet again, that they would film it for a special live DVD/ Blue Ray. Since it had come to a full circle, they wanted it to be at the place that gave this

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Rock N Roll Industries Magazine 79

The opening number “Woke Up Dreaming" was greeted with eyes and ears open - wide open and impressed. The acoustic set was studded with classic covers from Bad Company, Charles Mingus, Tom Waits and Chris Whitley. Following a brief intermission, a 75 minute critically acclaimed electric set, rocks the joint and spotlighted Tal Bergman and Lenny Castro's percussion solo. Just a couple of covers pay homage to Tim Curry and Howlin’ Wolf. Joe has cranked up his number one albums on the Billboard Blues Chart to 11.

The work horse boasts 10 studio albums 7 live albums and 7 live videos all since the turn of the millennium. At this rate the word prolific might be used before the age of 40. The blues-rock star is a singersongwriter as well as guitar virtuoso. Vocal stylings resemble older raunchier singers with bending and frequently injected rasp. However, Joe's smoothness shines through in this skill as well. Talent abounds under the spot and the effort is full force. In support of the most recent release Tour De Force - Live In London, Bonamassa is on the road again almost perpetually.

“When I heard Rod Stewart and the Jeff Beck Group singing “Let Me Love You", it changed my life. I knew exactly what I wanted to do." Yes! Joe is doing it and doing it very well. He's doing it for his love - music! And he's doing it for the millions of fans all over the world. Bonamassa believes that the blues may have many more renaissances. His work inspires this idea.

His resume of collaborations is jaw dropping. Black Country Communion exemplifies his ability to rock-out with the best of rock royalty like Jason Bonham. Always playing with the best demonstrates the uncanny ability to perform at the highest level with the most respected musicians of our time. The world needs this Renaissance Man. Get one of Joe Bonamassa's shows on your bucket list. You'll enjoy it thoroughly and on many levels, it's sure to inspire! b!||yzee onamassa's influences are the English B blues like Jeff Beck and Rory Gallagher. Dark shades help create the iconic

image. He sure is a cool cucumber with hot licks. Sometimes sublime, solos often escalate into speed picking, sweeps and dynamic resonance. His charismatic, GQ image matches his mastery of the guitars, both acoustic and electric.

Joe starts this 33rd and last show of the tour seated while ten acoustics have his back. At the ripe old age of 37 Joe may be getting a little 'more' nostalgic. An Evening With Joe Bonamassa' features tunes inspired by American Legends as it should.

Joe was 12 when he hit the stage with B.B. King. This night, the first hour was 'unplugged' featuring international musicians on banjo, piano, percussion and a unique instrument that made its first appearance at the Sony Centre called a Nyckelharpa.

The Sony Centre was the perfect choice of venues for this dynamic blues-rock show as it has impeccable acoustics and a very cool stage with top-notch lighting. Immaculate sound reinforcement enhanced the creative accompaniment to Joe's guitars.

The ambiance was electric. The crowd was classy and like the star, cleaned up pretty nicely. Three thousand Torontonians vehemently approved.

Photos: Igor Vidyashev

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The Fonda Theatre, Los Angeles By: Craig Frantz

The night opened with King Dude reigning from Seattle.

The stage was decorated with a destroyed American flag and semi-inverted crucifixes, which seemed to go along with the tone and themes of King Dude’s music. Audience members were signing along with their low-key satanic folk songs and consistently requesting tunes to be played. The band perfectly fit alongside Ghost on the bill with their unique brand of rock ‘n’ roll that echoed Johnny Cash hybridized with folk, country, blues, and hints of heavy metal.

Although some weren’t sold on the band, King Dude threw together a solid set, ending with the humorously titled “Lucifer’s the Light of the World.”

The stage was adored with an illuminated backdrop that depicted stained-glass church windows with ghost-like whispers of burning incense passing across the stage. It was time for Ghost.

The band started at a relatively early time due to Sunday night curfew, but it did not affect their energetic 17-song set that lasted until 11:15. Opening with the haunting “Infestissumam,” the Nameless Ghouls charged through the intro to their 2013 release of the same name. “Per Aspera ad Inferi” followed, which also lead to the appearance of lead singer Papa Emeritus

II. Papa’s haunting presence casted a devilish spell across his devout worshipers with some audience members eagerly pushing to the front to receive a handshake. The band quickly treated their audience to classics such as “Ritual,” “Con Clavi Con Dio,” and “Elizabeth” before breaking out some newer songs like “Depth of Satan’s Eyes” and “Year Zero.” A high point of the night preceded “Body and Blood” when Papa introduced the Sisters of Sin: two women dressed as nuns, holding what appeared to be chalices of wine.

The audience cheered for the women to commit sins, only to see them quickly disappear when the opening piano notes set in.

Ghost ended their main set with their cover of Roky Erickson’s “If You Have Ghosts,” which brought the loudest sing-along from the crowd. Even before the lights went dark, the audience was cheering for an encore.

The band reappeared, diving right into the highly requested “Ghuleh/Zombie Queen” before closing the show with the catchy, melodic, and beautifully satanic “Monstrance Clock.”

If there are any down sides to seeing a Ghost show, it is that the band is perfectly uniform.

There were no hiccups from the Nameless Ghouls, or Papa.

Arguably some of the best moments at concerts are when the audience realizes that their favorite musicians are human and make mistakes. But maybe that’s what a Ghost show is really about. Maybe the Nameless Ghouls and Papa Emeritus II are fallen angels, raised from the depths of hell to bring their devout followers the music of Satan. They truly are something inhuman with their exquisite instrumentality.

Photos: Alex Kluft

Nothing was more fitting for Ghost’s return to LA than their Sunday night show at The Fonda Theatre. Known as Ghost B.C. in the States, the Swedish sextet filled the Fonda to capacity, selling out only a month after tickets went on sale back in late January. The night was filled with metal horns, screaming, moshing, and Devil worshiping— all courtesy via Ghost’s soothingly satanic hymns that would nostalgically remind a listener of a rock and metal era long since passed.

Check out their brilliant 2013 LP release, “"Infestissumam",“ as well as their most recent EP release, "If You Have Ghosts."

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Jane’s Addicition A line ran along the sidewalk in front of the Andaz Hotel and across the street to the door of the Hollywood House of Blues. Fans stood before the red carpet to get a look at the members of Jane’s Addiction, skateboard king Tony Hawk, artists including Dead Sara, Dirty Machine and Toni Monroe to name a few. Starting up at 7 o’clock, the step and repeat wall got hot, but the party was fired up indoors.

KROQ Radio’s Ted Stryker stood onstage to announce the festivities.

Calling out to the members of Jane’s Addiction, drummer Steve Perkins, guitarist Dave Navarro, bassist Chris Chaney and front man Perry Farrell, the audience cheered as they were honored from the stage with praise for works recorded and years in writing and performing around the globe.

In the band’s history, they began with their first performance at the Roxy on Sunset in 1985, immediately creating a stir with their album titled “Nothing’s Shocking” and MTV’s refusal to play the video for the song “The Mountain Song” due to a shot of full frontal nudity. While the album received little love from FM radio, the supporting tour for the album put the band on stages with artists including The Ramones and Iggy Pop – launching the band into stellar status worldwide.

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Along with words from people including Whisky and Rainbow owner Mikeal Maglieri, KROQ’s Rodney Bingenheimer and members of the West Hollywood Town Council, the audience was treated to a ten minute film reel of highlights from the band’s career. Then the magic happened. Set up to perform on stage was the equipment of the band Dead Sara. Farrell asked the crowd if the band could play a song, and to rave response, they in fact played two – “The Mountain Song” and “Ain’t No Right”.

The rest of the evening offered other artists taking the stage and performing music by Jane’s Addiction in their own personal renditions.

An after party ensued across the street at the Andaz Hotel with attendees including the LA band Love and a 38 and former Skid Row frontman Sebastian Bach. As a precursor to the Sunset Strip Music Festival 2014 that would take place on Saturday, where Jane’s Addiction would perform their original album “Nothing’s Sacred” in its entirety, this happening was one of those events that only happens by surprise in Hollywood. Along with the spoken praise, the band was gifted with four pairs of Silver Sunset Strip Headphones and a plaque to commemorate the years of success they have shared as a band.

Photo: Igor Vidyashev (Uproar 2013)

Review: Joe Dolan

NYE At The Queen Mary Words by Angelica Ulloa

Many of us celebrate our holidays with friends or family at a house. Where we have the comfort of warmth, unlimited booze, and familiar faces we embrace. There comes a moment after doing this for so many years, that you find yourself wondering what it would be like to do something completely different for a change.

The significance of celebrating NYE for many, is to welcome the next one and to shut the door of the old one. This is how I ended up at the Queen Mary for New Years Eve. Of all places, the Queen Mary was that drastic option that I wouldn’t have considered unless it was planned accordingly. Instead it was a very last minute plan (2 weeks to be exact). That alone, made the day even more exciting!

The day came, windy and cold, but that didn’t stop anyone from dressing up in beautiful dresses and suits.

As we approached the Queen Mary, the staff members were very friendly and helpful directing people to the line or their needs. All those who stood in line received party favors to play and celebrate with.

As we entered- the floors were divided with themed sections from Italy, France, Spain, Greece, Morocco, Egypt and NY representing the USA. As much as I wished I could have made it to all sections, we ran out of time!

If you choose to eat at the Queen Mary, expect everything to be costly. For the experience and to support such a historical place to continue with the festivities and to keep it functioning, I don’t mind.

The restaurants inside were sold out of reservations leaving a 10pm slot open for most of them, in which the wait to be seated or served took about an hr or so.

In order to enjoy this experience, I don’t think you should come expecting anything at all, other than to want to enjoy the scenery, the themes, and whoever you’re experiencing it with. Only this way, everything you experience will be magical. From being extremely cold, and running inside to random heat lamps next to

tables for people to sit and eat, in which I stood under and found that warm breeze give me energy to explore more floors!

The Spain Salon was beautiful, with live music from The Gypsy All Stars, as Flamenco dancers joined them on their second set of songs. Aside from the NY themed section, this was the 2nd most crowded section, with ladies and gents dancing and drinking.

Each country themed place had music, banners- written in their language as well as themed food, and architecture and deco to represent.

France was very fancy, when we entered people were laughing and gathered together playing Black Jack and Roulette. Amazing Moulin Rogue Cabaret and other shows through out the night were being performed.

Italy- was romantic, the mood and shows were more mellow and artistic.

NY- Is where I would say all the younger generations were at. It was towards the prow of the QM, with all the hits of today being played and everyone dancing! There was a section inside that you could sit in if you were cold or wanted to chat or rest, with a pianist performing as everyone with drinks in hand would sing along.

I headed downstairs as the night hit 11pm, we found Morocco, It was like walking into a different environment in matter of seconds!

There was a Pyramid Hookah Lounge and an Elephant Bar, this is where later at night towards midnight we came to enjoy the view of the Fireworks!

Meanwhile, we went past a staff member into another salon area leading to Egypt. This was another favorite- time flew by watching the beautiful Belly dancers entertaining us as time got closer to midnight.

For those who like Henna- there was a table for those who were VIP to get a little

art done.

The bar lines were so long, we decided to run outside for the midnight fireworks to start instead.

The fireworks started and this show alone, was perhaps my favorite part of the whole night.

Standing in the Queen Mary enjoying amazing and beautiful kinds of fireworks was definitely not what I expected my night to end or start like.

The fireworks paused for a minute or 2 and as everyone was satisfied thinking it was the end, they began again, only faster. It was the big finale! Finally, everyone applauded and whistled, strangers hugged and wished each other a Happy NY. We ran back in, to get our drinks before the night ended.

The feeling of the night ending so magical, left this amazing adrenaline, I took off my heels and ran around the QM looking for all the areas I missed. Sadly, I had missed Italy’s buffet, aside from having seen it only when I first arrived, I didn’t get to see or go through the live music or performances!

I would definitely recommend this experience for anyone that decides to tour or want to have a taste of the LA life inside the Queen Mary with a touch of culture, but due to the weather being very cold this time around, I would suggest a long coat and maybe ladies, carry flats in your purse, because taking off my heels and running around had never felt greater!

As I exited the QM, there were staff members in golf carts giving people rides to their cars, whoever thought of this is a genius!

I am happy that I got to start my New Year in a beautiful historical ship, with (if there are any such) ghosts and beautiful strange faces that I have never met before til this day. Not just on a holiday, but every now and then, it’s great to do something different. Spending a little extra to treat yourself like a king or queen, sometimes gives you a little push in perspective with where and what you want in life.

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Photo: Neil Zlozower/ Atlasicons

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Music City MUSIC CITY It’s pArker back with you again from Nashville!

Thanks for tuning into another edition of Rock N Roll Industries Magazine’s Music City column for your latest on what’s happening in Music City, U.S.A.!

DAVE GROHL & THE FOO FIGHTERS VISIT THE MUSIC CITY Foo Fighters front-man singer, Dave Grohl, talks about the role Music City plays in his new documentary. After the success of his first documentary in 2013, Sound City, Grohl decides to road-trip it’ once again and take the Foo Fighters on a recording-studio-tour across the country to record their 8th Album, at different studio locations, including a stop in Nashville where the rock band will film some of their new HBO series “Sonic Highways”.

As the rockers travel to different locations across the red, white, & blue, Grohl and the guys collaborate and write with local artists. Grohl has already made one stop to Music City earlier this year, as he dropped into several Nashville recording studios, and even an unannounced visit for the first time to the world-famous “Bluebird Café” for a private performance, which Grohl stated to be an honor to play at and to be able to understand the history behind the

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intimate venue.

Nashville, TN right in “The Bluebird I knew a little bit about, but I learned the heart of Music a lot. In Nashville, it seems like there are these City. Band rites of passage that you have to go through members to become a star, whether you’re a singer or consist of: a songwriter, and the Bluebird is really one of those. If you can get down at the Bluebird, you’ve Weston Capone got a gig”, says Grohl, earlier in the year, at a Vocals, Elliott previous Television Critics Association event.

Harsh - Lead Guitar, Jay McPherson - Bass, & Josh Stubbs - Drums.

The new eight-part HBO series, “Foo Fighters: Sonic Highways” scheduled to hit the network This is a band that I have personally seen start in October, will premier some of Nashville’s featured artists, such as Willie Nelson, and more! from the beginning and successfully continue to make their way down the road to success. With With Dave Grohl’s ties to Nashville, and having all of the band’s hard work and dedication, War made a special appearance on last year’s CMA Music Awards, the Music City episode of the new All The Time have made a name for themselves throughout the rock-scene in the Music City, with HBO series should be very entertaining! many performances and shows in the well-known music venues around Nashville. Their singles, “Deadman” & “America”, have gotten them much FEATURED ARTIST deserved recognition. The rock band has made their way into getting radio interviews on the Rock In every issue of Rock N Roll Industries Radio Station & current radio-play in Nashville Magazine, we like to bring you a Featured Artist with their singles, as well as being honored with from one of the world’s talented musical cities, the opportunity to interview with ‘Breaking-Metal’ Nashville. A lot of the focus in Nashville is put of the SpikeTV Network. Go check them out! on country music, but as said before…rock n’ You can check out their interviews, music, and roll lives in Music City! This issue’s Music City find more out about the band at the following Featured Artist is… (drum-roll)… “War All The link: http://www.warallthetime.com, and also be Time”. sure to Like them on Facebook! War All The Time - check them out!

War All The Time is a rock band based out of

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Metal Mellisha In my first column we used the G Major scale to start to develop a bit of understanding on how to move notes in thirds as well as ascending and descending in groups of 3 or 4. That’s how I’d like you to attempt your modal scales this month once you got the hang of them.

When you start off with the modal scales the first one being the G major scale I want you to think The Ionian Mode. Even more importantly, I’d like to you think in intervals. When thinking about intervals, the order of the G Ionian mode starts on G or your “root” tone. Every other note has a relationship to this tone and could be broken down as root, major 2nd, major 3rd, perfect 4th, perfect 5th, major 6th, and major 7th. It will be good to memorize these not only in the position I’ve given you, but linear as well as backwards. By linear I just mean learn the scale on one string, by backwards I’m asking you to understand the intervals behind the root tone. To easily understand the modes, every mode this month will be in the key of G. Therefore, every mode will consist of G A B C D E and F#. Since we already did the Ionian mode, let’s move on the mode 2 or the Dorian mode.

The Dorian mode will start on the 2nd tone of G which is A and progress A B C D E F# and G. Same notes, but our intervals have changed.

The interval pattern for the Dorian mode is root, major 2nd, minor 3rd, perfect 4th, perfect 5th, major 6th and dominant 7th. Dominant 7th simply refers to the minor 7th and is considered the same thing. The minor 3rd tells you the C is one and a half steps up from the root.

I first learned about the Dorian Mode playing metal leads by Kirk Hammett and would like to help you understand how metal this mode is.

The notes A and B are a whole step apart, and B and C are a half step apart. A lot of metal guitar players gravitate toward the minor 3rd to create a sonic texture that sounds dark and evil. As we progress we’ll discover modes that are more widely reserved as metal modes that sound particularly evil because of this interval.

If you’d like to look ahead think Harmonic or Hungarian minor. The other tone the dominant 7th is a whole step back from the root and sort of creates this nice blues sound that has been adopted by metal primarily through the minor pentatonic. As we move to our next mode we’ll be looking at some other notes that may create some heavy metal tones, the Phrygian Mode.

Using the notes B C D E F# and G you’ll see that it starts off with a minor 2nd. Already, that’s pretty metal. One of the most metal tones in music in my opinion which I think verse riff for Enter Sandman where it pummels from E into that F5 power chord. Then you have the minor 3rd, perfect 4th, perfect 5th, minor 6th, and dominant 7th. When I think minor 6th I think of Crazy Train, one of the heaviest metal riffs of all time. In the Lydian Mode it’s pretty much just the major scale except it has the augmented 4th, also known as the diminished 5th. Sometimes I refer to this tone as the Black Sabbath tone because of the song Black Sabbath and the irony or the lower case b standing for Black and the 5 resembling and S for Sabbath. When we compare scales to the major scale or Ionian Mode I’m simply saying we have something in relation to root, major 2nd, major 3rd, perfect 4th, perfect 5th, major 6th and major 7th. So the Lydian Mode C D E F# G A and B was all of those with the

exception of the perfect 4th. We’ll look at the Mixolydian Mode the same way. It’s simply the major scale with a dominant 7th or D E F# G A B and C. When first starting to play guitar solos, whether blues or metal you can do what’s called window soloing where you play the Mixolydian Modal scale of the particular chord that you happen to be playing over. The dominant 7th once again adds a darker texture that metal guitarists gravitate to.

Finally, we’ve come to the Aeolian Mode. You may know this as the natural minor scale and would be played E F# G A B C and D or root, major 2nd, minor 3rd, perfect 4th, perfect 5th, minor 6th and dominant 7th. As I mentioned in my previous column, metal is flooded with E minor. When shredding on my own I’ll often woodshed the minor scale for hours just coming up with crazy licks. Last we have the Locrian Mode or F# G A B C D and E. Probably the darkest mode in existence, we have root, minor 2nd, minor 3rd, perfect 4th, diminished 5th, minor 6th and dominant 7th. The diminished 5th being the star of this one true, but look how heavy every single one of those other tones is.

You can create any tone you want with modal scales and once you get the grasp of where the intervals fall under the fingers there is nothing to say that you can’t alter the modes by creating hybrid modes which might be a combination of two modes or just borrowing notes from other modes or just adding chromatic tones to fill in the gaps to make things more metal.

Which should be dangerous and unpredictable.

Send questions to atomicbobrocks@gmail. com! Keep rockin’ and I’ll see you next time.

Jason Martin

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vercoming addiction and discovering a life of faith is NOT what you think reading a book about Megadeth would be about. Having had the opportunity to interview Dave Mustaine last year, I found that David Ellefson’s book gives an entire different perspective of the band. He talks about the drugs, sex and rock ‘n roll and the beginnings of Megadeth, but the intriguing part, is his road to recovery and how he found sobriety that lead him to faith that eventually lead him to his church and God.

O

In the book, Ellefson is often referred to as one of the good guys in the music industry. He is always there to help others and listen to them if they need it. He is not a bad guy but was pulled

into bad situations we can all relate to.

He does not preach that drugs are bad and about how he was saved, he just lets the reader know that he is human and that the top things in his life are his sobriety, his family and God. According to Ellefson G.O.D means good orderly direction.

I knew about MegaLife!, a ministry he started, but I didn’t know how it got started and why. He takes the reader into his church, the people he meets and he is completely honest about his life he doesn’t sugar coat anything. Instead he lets the reader know he is a recovering addict and even if that is not the best publicity, it makes this book is so real and makes you respect him so much more than just because he is a killer bassist. He is not afraid to humble himself and get real.

I totally recommend this book to Megadeth fans and music lovers because

Ellefson gives a human perspective to what it is like to be in a heavy metal band. Although you are surrounded by sex, drugs and rock n roll, it is also hard work, sacrifice and a clear vision of what you want to accomplish in your life.

This book teaches lessons that everyone can apply to their own life and is easily relatable no matter who you are.

Through his life experiences, Ellefson shows that we all struggle with sin, and making the right decision, but each day is a new opportunity.

Ellefson does a great job telling about his experiences in the band and how he picked himself back up again. What I truly applaud him for is he never speaks poorly about anyone in this book. He never complains or is bitter although he does admit that at times he was upset and not fun to be around.

You don’t have to be an addict to relate to his story, nor do you have to be a die-hard Christian. He just tells you that good, orderly direction, G.O.D can help you get through obstacles in your life and unfavorable situations. He doesn’t preach, but he talks to you through his thoughts and scriptures that he quotes at the end of every chapter. He talks a lot about his faith, but it is a huge part of his life so you have to respect that.

This book was uplifting, motivating and gives hope. Like most musicians that go through a downward spiral, Ellefson regroups and focuses on what is important. He gets pushed up against a wall and fights back.

He is an example that being a good person, having humility and faith can get you through any of life’s challenges. I will be a MEGAfan of Megadeth for life and I look forward to see what the future holds for David Ellefson and Megadeth!!!!

Raquel Figlo Rock N Roll Industries Magazine 91

Drum

Corner Welcome to the debut edition of “The Drum Corner” I am Sulli - founding member/drummer for Seventh Rize. I have spent over 25 years in the music industry, working at various capacities and on all levels! I began drumming at the ripe young age of 5 after witnessing KISS during their “Dynasty” tour- n experience that changed my life. Massive obsession with music and drums from then on! By the age of 14 I was playing professionally on a regional basis and a few years later, began touring nationally. I have a career long endorsement with Sonor Drums, Aquarian Drumheads, Ahead Drumsticks and Sabian Cymbals. In addition to Seventh Rize, I have had the privilege to tour and record with a wide variety of artists - Texas Country Star “Aaron Watson”, America’s Got Talent Season 1 Winner “Terry Fator”, Mark Slaughter of “Slaughter”, Jeff LaBar of “Cinderella”, Bruce Turgon of “Foreigner”...to name a few.

To be a working musician, it’s of the upmost importance to have your basic “tools” ready to go. A basic set of skills along with a strong work ethic will keep your co-workers

What’s up fellow guitar players? Welcome to another installment! The past few months have been filled with music and I hope you all have been practicing!

move up to position three shown below, now again it’s the exact same notes, just in a different place- let it rip! You’re rocking now so let’s move to the next position, and the next... now that you have all five positions of the pentatonic scale, you can apply it to any key, the shapes will never change. The shapes should start to seem familiar by now and you can use this to ascend and descend the neck of your guitar at will! You wanted to rock?...you got it! Take the time to enjoy playing, it’s what makes our life so great. I hope to see y’all at winter NAMM! Make sure you hit the RocknRoll Industries booth! Todays biggest stars are always there signStart with the first position of the ex- ing autographs and hanging out with ample below, play both- forward and fans like you & come pick my brain back, bend If you want, once you about guitar If you like! have it down comfortably then proUntil then my legions of guitar playceed to the next position. Don’t allow ers, keep your strings clean, and yourself to jump to the first position your Riffs mean. just because it’s what you know, stay in position two until play the scale in Michael G out! time. Once you feel good again let’s In this issue I’m going to cover the five positions of the minor pentatonic scale! Learning to play the same scale in different places of the fret board will allow you to gain a plethora of fret board knowledge! Not only will it help you in your playing, but your phrasing as well, the way you choose notes for your solos often change as well as more of a variety becomes available.

You can practice with or without a backing track, there are thousands available, but I would recommend you to use a metronome-it’s key to learn timing, set your speed and play.

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happy, the listener moving and YOU drumming!! My plan for this series is to go back to the basics, but with a little twist and build from there. I practice what I preach and these very ideas and concepts that will be covered are in my regular rehearsal routine. Tried and true techniques that have helped build my career and will help strengthen yours!

This month’s lesson is centered around what I would call “the money groove”. A basic rock pattern that has been used more times than can be counted - but once mastered, it will improve your time keeping abilities, endurance and build a stronger foundation to build everything else upon.

This exercise also illustrates another important element - the space within the groove! Drums are drums, what separates us apart is our individual soul, feel and passion for playing. As drummers, we are a very unique breed and what is produced through our playing is a combination of so many factors. This is why you can have 10 drummers all play this groove and each one of the them will “sound”

slightly different from one another.

So, the basic pattern is in standard 4/4 time (4 beats per measure) broken down you have the hi hat doing eight notes hitting “1-and-2and-3-and-4-and”, the kick drum will impact on “1” and “3” and finally the snare will nail it home on “2” and “4”. Very basic, right? Well, now here is what I challenge you to do. In awareness of time keeping, get a click track - set it to a desired starting tempo say 120 beats per minute (bpm). Begin playing this pattern and only this pattern, no cymbal or tom hits AT ALL staying restricted to the 3 “voices” (kick, snare, hi hat).

Repeat the pattern over and over for a minimum of 3 minutes to start, more advanced players jump it to 5 or 6 minutes. Once complete, rev up the tempo, possibly at 5 or 10 bpm intervals. Continue doing so until your get to a tempo that will only allow you a few minutes to play. Be sure to make either mental notes or physically write your progress down.

That way you can reference back to what you accomplished on previous rehearsals and grow!

Some other ideas, accent the “1, 2, 3, 4” (downbeats) on the hi hat with a harder hit, keep the “and’s” (upbeats) on the lighter side, play with the dynamics have fun! Explore keeping the hi hat closed tightly for half of the time and then loosen the hi hat slightly for the second half. Be sure that when the hi hat and snare and/or hi hat and kick hit together that it is nice and tight, don’t slug your way through it. Regarding tempo...once you are done with the faster tempos slow it down - playing this groove at slower tempos can be a challenge!

Side note - when looking at the drum tab- the kick drum is the first space from the bottom, the snare is the third space from the bottom and the hi hat is on the top.

This “back to basics” approach will improve your overall confidence on the kit. Whatever your current rehearsal routine is composed of, at the moment keep it in place. Having these three elements in your “skill set” or “bag of tricks” will only make you a better musician. I want to thank you for your

time and hope that you find this first lesson informative, it is my honor to be with you over the next year! I encourage you to reach out to me anytime with any questions or shoot me an update on your progress, as I would love to brag about you during the next lesson! In the coming issues, we will expand on this basic idea with additional patterns and how it impacts your ability to construct the “right” drum part when writing original material or when cramming to learn material for other artists gigs. Plus, we will throw in some really cool drum licks to spice it up! Thanks again - make people move to the groove and Happy Drumming!!!

Best, Sulli thedrumcorner@gmail.com

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CD Reviews

Blocks Of Seven Score 8.3 of 10

Outta Nowhere!

Blocks Of Seven from Coventry, Rhode Island burst upon the Rock scene seemingly ‘Outta Nowhere’ in 2011 using vintage equipment.

Their music is completely homemade and covers a wide range of topics from thanking a father for being such a great example of how to be a good man to the pretentiousness of modern media. ‘Outta Nowhere’ contains six original tunes which were originally written and performed by Dana Pettigrew, Dan Reilly, Paul Rogers and Peter Leveille. Lyrics were written by Dana & Shari Pettigrew. These songs were produced, engineered mixed and mastered by the group’s drummer, Dana

21OCTAYNE Score 9.3 of 10

William Control

Discovery

This eight track CD of purely enjoyable classic/traditional/power metal grabs one’s attention right away with its eerie intro and spoken wordage which immediately breaks into a rippin’ drum intro and then the band joins in. Incredible! Kantation has a wonderfully full sound with amazing percussion, unduplicated guitar work, incredible bass lines and euphoric vocals. Then they bring in guest performers which complete the sound perfectly.

Guests include Ojo Taylor, Hande Burdg,

Band Members: Dana Pettigrew - Percussion Al (Fess) Coulombe - Guitar Lyo Braga - Lead Vocals John Sundstrom – Bass

by: Peggy Murphy

by:Peggy Murphy

This twelve track CD stands out when stacked up against most other debut endeavors. This is due to the fact that 21 Octayne is a solid group of veteran musicians, featuring members of the Joe Perry Project, Axxis, Rhapsody and Paul Gilbert bands. The instrumentation is great, the vocals very powerful and the recordings themselves are excellent.

“Into The Open” was produced by Hagen Grohe and 21 Octayne. All music was written by 21 Octayne and lyrics were done by Hagen Grohe.

Recording of the drums and vocals was done

Genre (s): Rock, Alternative Rock

Score 9.2 of 10

Michael Cerna, Jeremy Jimison and Chris O’Rourke. All of the music and lyrics were written by Kantation’s guitarist, Nano Lugo and are posted on Kantation’s web site.

Recording was performed at 15HiFi Studio in Apple Valley, CA which is owned by the band’s vocalist, Martin DeBourge. Mixing and mastering were done by Bryant Crawford.

This is totally music you can get into.

Headphones recommended!

Into the Open

at Studio2ndFloor in Ketsch, Gemany by Jens “Bubbes” Stefan. Guitars, bass, percussion and additional vocals were recorded by Hagen Grohe at 21O Studio in HaBloch, Germany. Mixing and mastering were performed by Hagen Grohe.

The diversity shown in this album is remarkable. Styles ranging from classic ballad to a pop/ rock sort of feel easily transcend into powerful hard rock riffs with sophistication and grace. 21 Octayne has successfully created a unique style of music. “Into The Open” is worthy of taking us into a new age of Rock!

William Control

Genre (s) Band Members:

Pettigrew at Hatrack Studio. All tracks were arranged by Blocks Of Seven, also included on this cd is one cover, Rain On The Scarecrow by John Mellencam. Contributing artists include Laura Maine on backing vocals in Now and Together, Bill Sundstrom on piano in Familiar Face and Harold Lawton on mellotron in Flying Free. In an effort to get their music out to the masses in a timely fashion, the group began recording as soon as they felt they were ready without ever performing a live show. Their music is easy to listen to and before long you will find yourself tapping your foot in time to the beat.

Kantation

Genre (s): Metal Band Members: Nano Lugo - Guitars Martin DeBourge – Vocals Brian Khairullah - Bass Vinny Galore - Drums

by: Peggy Murphy

William Control’s fourth full length album, The Neuromancer, was released April 4, 2014... Yeah, no wounder these guys spent time on tour with Rob Zombie’s Great American Nightmare in 2013, some of their visual content is very graphic and pornographic, just like Rob’s, good stuff man... I love it, front man Wil Francis smokes more than Mike Ness from Social D, atta boy! After looking into the history of WC, I’m starting to dig what they do and who they are. As far as electronic music goes, to me, they’re leading the pack with a vintage sound going back to the 80’s, like a heavy dose of Depeche Mode...Vocals provide a razor sharp edge full of uninhibited expression... I can respect Wil’s

Genre (s): Classic/Pop/Hard Rock Band Members:

Hagen Grohe - Lead & Backing Vocals, Percussion Marco Wriedt – Guitars Andrew “The Bullet” Lauer – Bass Alex Landenburg – Drums

The Neuromancer

use and exercising his freedom of his explicit lyrics, they don’t offend me. The spoken word in the intro is ok, maybe you might want to save that piece for a poetry slam (Wil, you know what I’m talking about)... With no doubt WC is committed to their craft and it shines through brightly, well done. The Neuromancer has a lot of dark moving sounds and messages to get into, with rhythms that rival the best electronic music has to offer! It takes a lot of guts not to compromise your vision of your music to what the mainstream says what to play and what what not to play... That is William Control’s question, and as far as I’m concerned, they answered correctly!

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

94 Rock N Roll Industries Magazine

by: Daniel Hicks

Score 8.5 of 10

(not all media will get reviewed)

The Black Version T

he comedy improv sensation that seems to be taking Hollywood by storm – “The Black Version” – has cut its path through the annals of comedy history and into the pages of Rock ‘n Roll Industries Magazine and we love it! This All-Star group of African-American comedic geniuses, carefully crafted an incredibly well thought out and remarkably entertaining theme – taking well-known movies and reenacting them in “the black version” of the film. The cast, consisting of founder Jordan Black, Cedric Yarborough (Reno 911), Danielle Gaither, Phil LaMarr (Madtv), Keegan-Michael Key, Gary Anthony Williams, and Jordan Peele are all woven together in a beautiful and inspirational fashion through the directing talents of Karen Maruyama. The show runs on Mondays (see www.the black version.com for show details) and have parodied dozens upon dozens of memorable films in the following cunning the comedic fashion – “The Exterminator 2: I’ll Be Black” (Terminator 2), “Cray-Cray” (Psycho) and countless others.

Rock ‘n roll industries magazine gives the black version a solid and well-deserved four-star review. Catch this must-see show today!

Jaime Katonic

Rock N Roll Industries Magazine 95

Exit North STARVING DEAN

Trippy the Clown FUKERS of FAME Featured Video Archer “My Atrocity”

Kantation Make Your Mark

Gooding Hey Hey

“My Atrocity” Written by Archer Produced by Mike Clink Mastered by Maor Appelbaum Video by Sofa King

Castle Pines Palm Springs

Santa Cruz-based hard rock/heavy metal trio Archer released their first single - “My Atrocity” - on October 31.

It is the first official release from their upcoming studio album due out early 2015.

The album was produced by Mike Clink (Guns N’ Roses, Megadeth, UFO) and mastered by Maor Appelbaum (Halford, Sepultura, Yngwie Malmsteen).

For more about Archer visit Archernation.com and on Facebook at facebook.com/archernation

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