Thursday, September 15, 2011

Brief Update for Thursday 15th September, 2011

JUDAS PRIEST RELEASE THE CHOSEN FEW THIS OCTOBER



JUDAS PRIEST
New Album: The Chosen Few
Release date: Tuesday, October 11th, 2011

"(Judas) Priest has always meant one thing - take no prisoners. For decades.  Across one continent to the next, they have never wavered in their commitment to treating the Stage as Holy Ground…” – Gene Simmons, KISS

Sony Music are proud to announce the release of a unique Judas Priest album.  'The Chosen Few' is an album curated by Judas Priest’s contemporaries in the music world – each artist picking their own favourite Priest track and explaining why it is special to them. Included are legends such as Ozzy Osbourne, James Hetfield, Alice Cooper, Joe Elliott, Slash, Lemmy, Kerry King and Corey Taylor. All build an album from the very best of Judas Priest – from 1977’s “Diamonds And Rust” through to 1990’s “Painkiller”. A selection of excerpts are below:

LARS ULRICH, METALLICA - BEYOND THE REALMS OF DEATH“The blueprint for the epic rock ballad. Copied thousands of times, never eclipsed.”

OZZY OSBOURNETHE RIPPER
“This has always been one of my favorite Judas Priest songs…. I just want to know what the fuck that note is that Rob Halford hits in the beginning of the song. Fucking hell!! That note is probably just below what only dogs can hear.”

ALICE COOPER - LIVING AFTER MIDNIGHT
“For a metal band, Priest has always used tons of melody... when you have a singer as great as Rob Halford, you have to write great riffs WITH great melodies, you can’t just have riffs. Living After Midnight is the perfect example…”

SLASH - SCREAMING FOR VENGEANCE
“Judas Priest have put out their fair share of great albums to be sure. But my all time favourite is Screaming For Vengeance. It was and still is, one of the best metal records ever produced and the title track is in my humble opinion, still ahead of its time.”

COREY TAYLOR, SLIPNOT - YOU’VE GOT ANOTHER THING COMING
“Judas Priest: the blueprint for the ultimate heavy metal band…..”

The Chosen Few tracklisting is as follows:

1) Diamonds And Rust (1977) - chosen by Joe Elliott (Def Leppard)
2) Dissident Aggressor (1977)
- chosen by Steve Vai
3) Exciter (1978) - chosen by Accept
4) Beyond The Realms Of Death (1978) - chosen by Lars Ulrich (Metallica)
5) Delivering The Goods (1979) - chosen by Kerry King (Slayer)
6) The Green Manalishi (with the Two-Pronged Crown) (1979) - chosen by David Coverdale (Whitesnake) and Randy Blythe (Lamb of God)
7) The Ripper (1979) - chosen by Ozzy Osbourne
8) Victim Of Changes (1979) - chosen by James Hetfield (Metallica)
9) Breaking The Law (1980) - chosen by Lemmy (Motorhead)
10) Rapid Fire (1980) - chosen by Vinnie Paul (Pantera and Hell Yeah)
11) Grinder (1980) - chosen by Zakk Wylde (Black Label Society)
12) Living After Midnight (1980) - chosen by Alice Cooper and Geezer Butler (Black Sabbath)
13) Screaming For Vengeance (1982) - chosen by Slash (Guns 'n' Roses)
14) You’ve Got Another Thing Coming (1982) - chosen by Klaus Meine (Scorpions) and Corey Taylor (Slipknot)
15) The Sentinel (1984) - chosen by Chris Jericho
16) Turbo Lover (1986) - chosen by Jonathan Davis (Korn)
17) Painkiller (1990) - chosen by Joe Satriani

Confirmed North American concert engagements:

October 2011

12 October
AT&T Center, San Antonio, TX 

14 October
Concrete Street Amphitheater, Corpus Christi, TX 

15 October
The Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion, Houston, TX 

16 October
Allen Event Center, Dallas, TX 

18 October
Ava Amphitheater, Tucson, AZ 

19 October
Cricket Wireless Amphitheatre, San Diego, CA 

21 October
AZ State Fair, Phoenix, AZ 

22 October
San Manuel Amphitheater, San Bernardino, CA 

23 October
Hard Rock, Las Vegas, NV 

25 October
TO BE ADVISED 

27 October
Sleep Train Pavilion, Concord, CA

29 October
WaMu Theater, Seattle, WA 

30 October
Rogers Arena, Vancouver, BC 

November 2011

1 November
Shaw Conference Center, Edmonton, AB 

2 November
Scotiabank Saddledome, Calgary, AB 

4 November
Maverik Center, Salt Lake City, UT 

5 November
1STBANK Center, Denver, CO 

8 November
US Bank Arena, Cincinnati, OH 

9 November
Prairie Capital Convention Center, Springfield, IL 

10 November
The Family Arena, St. Louis, MO 

12 November
The Venue at Horseshoe Casino, Chicago, IL 

13 November
Joe Louis Arena, Detroit, MI 

15 November
Quicken Loans Arena, Cleveland, OH 

16 November
The Armory, Rochester, NY 

18 November
Izod Center, East Rutherford, NJ 

19 November
Cambria County War Memorial, Johnstown, PA

20 November
Paul E. Tsongas Arena, Lowell, MA

22 November
Air Canada Centre, Toronto, ON 

23 November
Colisee Pepsi Arena, Quebec City, QC 

24 November
Bell Centre, Montreal, QC 

26 November
Sovereign Center Arena, Reading, PA

27 November
Lawrence Joel Veteran's Memorial Coliseum, Winston-Salem, NC 

30 November
1-800-ASK-GARY Amphitheatre, Tampa, FL 

December 2011

1 December
Bayfront Park Amphitheatre, Miami, FL 

3 December
Hard Rock Biloxi Hotel & Casino, Biloxi, MS 

For more information, visit:
www.judaspriest.com



Six years in the making … at long last MECCA II 'Undeniable' is scheduled for release!

Frontiers Records is pleased to announce the release of MECCA’s anticipated second album 'Undeniable' on November 4th in Europe and January 10th 2012 in North America.



Six years in the making 'Undeniable' is the culmination of hard work, blood, sweat and tears.
Rewind to 2002: the Melodic Rock community is taken by storm by the debut album of a new band named Mecca. Formed by vocalist Joe Vana, he enlisted among others, the services of former Toto members David Hungate (bass) and Fergie Frederiksen on vocals and close friend and former Survivor founding member Jim Peterik, who contributed masterfully to the songwriting and production of the album.

 'Mecca'  created a sonic treasure bringing the energy to drive diamond hard rockers and the finesse to create lush power ballads, all with the texture that, until now, only super-groups such as Journey, Toto or Foreigner could provide. Amazing press responses blessed the album’s release and Joe Vana soon started putting together plans for a follow up album. “I wanted a BAND sound, like the old days where all the guys played together in the room” tells Joe. “We came very close to doing just that... PLUS, I wanted an album Jim Peterik would hear and be proud that he worked so hard mentoring me for so many years. I had a challenge”.
Songwriting started in 2005 between Vana and Swedish guitarist Christian Wolff. In 2007 things really took a ground breaking turn with the songwriting masterpieces that Vana wrote with Swedish Producer/Songwriter/Guitarist Tommy Denander. Vana said: “The writing synergy between Tommy and I has been amazing, we think so much alike in terms of melody and space but sounds very different melodically than what we both have done separately, so it truly is a union of ideas...”.


The musical direction soon showed that new heights in Melodic Rock music could be reached. “Since Tommy and Christian were my co-writers” continues Vana “I had parts of theirs from when we wrote the tunes that were stellar and it integrated wonderfully”.
Several problems created bumps in the road, including the death of Vana's longtime friend and co-producer / engineer Bryan Mitchell which made the completion of the recording process extremely slow. Joe explains: “It took a lot of time to build the right team to produce with me, Mark Alano and Chuck Macak and to get the right combination of guys. I had an opportunity to hand pick a band and I was not going to ruin that! I know I was getting killed on the internet, but I needed to make sure it was ALL correct. The music had to be able to carry the melodies and the lyrical content I had written, this album had to flow correctly and I had a vision sonically I wanted as well... it was not an easy road.... and as far as the songs themselves, it is the best writing Tommy Denander and Christian Wolff have done. They were SO EASY to write with and we make a GREAT team!”.
Vana enlisted the talents of session masters such as Pat Mastellotto (King Crimson, Mr Mister), Tony Levin (Peter Gabriel, King Crimson), along with Denander and Wolff. His core band was also created around Rick Vitek on drums, Brian Moritz on keyboards, Wally Hustin on bass, Eric Ragno on keyboards, Mark Alano on guitar and Joe’s ace in the hole....his son Joey (Vana) on guitars and backing vocals.

Fast forward to 2011. Mecca II 'Undeniable'  is finally completed and delivered. The results are breathtaking. According to Vana: “This is a thinking man's record with a lot of Chicago AOR, Prog and a good dose of West Coast thrown in! You can listen to the album 10 times, and will hear different things each time...”. An album which perfectly melts the outstanding High-Tech AOR approach of Mr. Mister’s “Welcome to the Real World to the commercial sheer brilliance of Toto’s “The Seventh One”.
Oh and... the good news is that Mecca III is underway!

If  was born to unveil the treasures of the Melodic Rock genre to the unsuspecting public, then Mecca II 'Undeniable' sets in stone the gospel of this music with stunning arrangements and unbelievable melodies. Mecca is now here to stay....get converted to their music!!!

 'Undeniable' tracklisting includes:
Perfect World; Closing Time; 10life; Life's Too Short; I Know; Did It For Love; From The Start; Deceptive Cadence; W2w; Undeniable ; As I Walk Alone.
The first single – the title-track 'Undeniable' - can be streamed in full on the Frontiers Records web radio www.frontiers.it/webradio
MECCA is
Joe Vana: Vocals
Joey Vana: Guitars
Brian Moritz: Keyboards
Paul Pisciotto: Synthesizers
Wally Hustin: Bass
Rick Vitek: Drums
Mark Alano: Guitars

Official weblinks:
http://www.myspace.com/meccaofmusic
http://www.frontiers.it


Status Quo, 'Hello Quo' documentary on the way

It seems a little recognition of credit where credit is due is coming Status Quo's way in the shape of a new documentary.
Details are brief at the moment, but this was posted at Quo's website:



Status Quo are currently filming their first ever cinematic documentary with Emmy nominated director Alan G Parker. Provisionally entitled 'Hello Quo!', the production is planned for release in the autumn of 2012.

More details to follow.  
http://www.statusquo.co.uk/



STRANGEWAYS: WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE: THE DVD - LIVE AT FIREFEST 2010



For the very first time the UK/American AOR Gods Strangeways can now finally be seen live in concert on DVD. Recorded at the reunion show at Firefest 2010 in front of an adoring crowd, Terry, Ian, Jim, Munch and Warren combined some of the greatest AOR tracks ever written such as ‘Love Lies Dying’, ‘Only A Fool’ and ‘Never Going To Lose It’ with some brand new tracks from the comeback album ‘Perfect World’, such as the title track, ‘Borderline’ and the monstrous ‘Bushfires’.

   For those that have waited 21 years, this is finally your chance to see the band in all their glory on stage for the first time since 1989 , and re-live what was for band and fans a truly emotional homecoming in front of a sold out Rock City , Nottingham . We urge you to show your support, not just for Firefest but for Strangeways and grab a copy of ‘Where Do We Go From Here’ by pre ordering on line from the Firefest Webshop at www.thefirefest.com

Check out the You Tube promo video for this item, right here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SErIP4AXdsI&feature=player_embedded

Pre-ordering will be available from Monday September 12th and orders will ship on or before October 1st. This is a limited edition of 1000 copies worldwide and features a magnificent jet black cover with Silver ink artwork on the first 500. There will be no reprints , and once they are gone … they are gone. Be sure to grab yourself a copy of what will surely become a treasured collectors item.
Official website:
www.Firefest.com

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