Monday, February 13, 2012

Late News Update for Monday February 13th, 2012

Hi folks, hope you had a great weekend?

I will start by saying that although she was not a rocker, I can't doubt or fail to recognise the talent that Whitney Houston had and it was sad to hear that she had passed away this past weekend.
I see now after no previous details were given, that she was found underwater in the bath of her hotel room. 
That just doesn't sound quite right, they are saying on one hand that there is no criminal probe to indicate any foul play and then they say there were prescripton drugs in the room, but no more then in anyone's home medicine cabinet ...
Tell me folks, who takes that many prescription drugs to a hotel room?
Very sad ... 
RIP Whitney, you were a talented vocalist, even if I have never owned any of your material, but that's just personal taste.
So, moving on ... Who caught the Grammy's then?
I caught bits and pieces of it and enjoy certain aspects, but have to say that I was surprised, nay stunned, that when they went through all those that had passed away this past year, they did not include Warrant's Jani Lane?
Of course plenty of respects to Whitney and good to see that they at least recognised Gary Moore's talents, by including him in the list of those that passed away in this past year.

How they could ignore and not respect the passing of Jani Lane and the success Warrant had with him fronting the band, is beyond me?
The band scored two double platinum albums in 'Dirty Rotten Flithy Stinking Rich,' and 'Cherry Pie,' not to mention achieving gold status on their next release, 'Dog Eat Dog.'
Was I a big Warrant fan? No, not really, but again I recognise success levels and the Grammy's should too.
Not cool Grammy organisors, of course based on performances in the show - That I caught - hard rock or even classic rock was barely represented. Foo Fighters was about it ...

I guess when Coldplay, actually played without Rhianna, it was OK, but hardly rock 'n' roll, Paul McCartney tried to rock things up a little at the end, probably more so than anyone else had done all night, bar the Foo's of course.
Shame the way the industry still seems to overlook rock. I guess we'll just have to wait for this years VH1 Rock Honours award show for any decent rock award ceremony.
Ah well, enough of my rants, here's a little news update for you, cheers, Al.

 




EDDIE TRUNK UPDATE
TONIGHT'S SIRIUS/XM SHOW MOVES TO HAIR NATION!


Editor's note: Sorry folks, due to the delay in this update, when you read this, this weeks show will be over, but at least you'll know for next week onwards, the Eddie Trunk show details!
This from Eddie Trunk's email newsletter:
Happy to report my show is still alive on satellite radio! As many of you know my show has been a fixture on the Boneyard channel since I started as an XM host in 2003.
 
I was informed this past Thursday with the start of "Ozzy's" Boneyard as the new full time format of the channel, under the direction of the Osbourne family, that my show would no longer be included.
Today, SiriusXM offered for me to move my show to channel 39 Hair Nation and I accepted.
To me what is most important is I have the outlet to reach you guys and do my thing on Sirius and XM. Honestly they could have put me on a polka channel and as long as I could do my show you guys would find me. That I was confident of!
Details here:

Also ...
VH1 Classic's THAT METAL SHOW is back and ready for another season of celebrating all things hard rock and heavy metal.
We will have another season of AMAZING Guests, so get your reservations in now!
For tickets go here:
 
Eddie Trunk's website:
 

 

Saxon due to release 'Heavy Metal Thunder - Live - Eagles Over Wacken' DVD

 

British metal institution Saxon, who last year completed some serious touring in support of the brilliant 'A Call To Arms,' album, are set to release a new live DVD.
I don't have the full press release - Well, not one that's working for me format wise, but ...
The band has shared the following update on the expected release, through both their website and their Facebook web pages.

Hi Everyone,
 
We are happy to announce that our new DVD production “Heavy Metal Thunder – Live – Eagles Over Wacken” is now scheduled for release on April 20th in Europe, April 23rd in the UK and May 22nd in North America.
This has been a long time in the making as it features live performances from the legendary Wacken Open Air festival in Germany dating back to 2004, 2007 and 2009. 

Check out the official press release for a full overview of the tracklistings and formats, including the limited D2C/Direct To Consumer Box.

As they say at Wacken – Thanx for your support!


The full press release can actually be viewed here:
http://www.saxon747.com/en/images/stories/press/UDR0100PR_saxon_hmt_pressrelease_120213.pdf

 
Official band links:
 
 
 
WALTER TROUT RETURNS WITH BLUES FOR THE MODERN DAZE
VIA THE MASCOT LABEL GROUP ON APRIL 24, 2012
FIRST 35 DATES OF MAJOR NORTH AMERICAN TOUR ANNOUNCED

Trout Hits The Road On February 25 In Regina, SK

New York --- The Mascot Label Group has announced an April 24 release date for Walter Trout's 21st album Blues For The Modern Daze. The offering displays the contemporary guitar legend returning to his hard-core blues roots, with songwriting at a creative and personal zenith. Blues For The Modern Daze is Trout’s sixth recording for Provogue Records, a division of the Mascot Label Group, and his first pure blues album in 23 years as a bandleader.

 
Trout’s practical schooling in blues started when he arrived in Los Angeles in 1973 and got gigs behind John Lee Hooker, Big Mama Thornton, Finis Tasby, Pee Wee Crayton, Lowell Fulsom, Percy Mayfield and Joe Tex. In 1981 he joined the remaining original members of Canned Heat. But the real turning point was his tenure with British blues giant John Mayall. Trout became part of the Bluesbreakers’ lineage of great guitarists along with Eric Clapton, Peter Green and Mick Taylor. Beginning in 1984 he shared six-string duties with Coco Montoya in Mayall’s band, creating a flexible guitar dynamic that helped provide the Bluesbreakers a renaissance that returned the group to the apex of the international blues touring circuit. Trout began leading his own group in 1989 and cut his debut album Life In the Jungle, rapidly becoming a star in Europe. His first Stateside release, 1998's critically heralded Walter Trout, made him start down the road towards becoming the fixture of the American blues-rock scene that he is today.

Trout's travels over the past 39 years, and his wide appreciation of his predecessors, yield a significant influence to Blues For The Modern Daze. Trout shares, "My main inspiration for this album was the country bluesman Blind Willie Johnson, an early blues innovator who recorded such timeless gospel informed blues numbers as 'Soul of a Man' and 'Nobody’s Fault But Mine.' His music is so beautiful, primal, direct and deeply spiritual that I wanted to feel it at my back when we were cutting these songs.” He continues, "This album captures my interest in exploring a side of my music that’s rooted in my first musical love, and it reveals something about me too. It sums up the thoughts and attitudes of somebody who is getting a little older and is feeling a little like he’s a part of another era, with different values and a different perspective on life than often seem to be prevalent today. And I stand behind those values, like compassion, authenticity and honesty, as strongly as I stand behind my music.”

 
Blues for the Modern Daze was recorded at Entourage Studios in North Hollywood, California, with Trout and engineer Eric Corne producing. It’s the fifth time Trout has collaborated with Corne, who contributed to the arrangements and sonic palette of the songs that Trout wrote and demoed on acoustic guitar during the year before the sessions.
The EPK for Blues for the Modern Daze can be streamed here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GaFtrJBknmM&feature=youtu.be

 
Trout returns to the road in the U.S. on April 25th in Solana Beach, CA. Confirmed appearances include:

February 2012
2/25 Regina, SK (Canada) Mid-Winter Blues Festival @ Casino Regina

April 2012
4/25 Solana Beach, CA Belly Up Tavern
4/26 Las Vegas, NV Boulder Station Casino
4/27 Santa Ana, CA The Observatory
4/28 Simi Valley, CA Simi Valley Blues Festival

May 2012
5/09 Collinsville, CT Bridge Street Live
5/10 Bethlehem, PA River Jazz Festival @ Musikfest Café
5/11 Shirley, MA Bull Run
5/12 Stanhope, NJ Stanhope House
5/14 Buffalo, NY The Tralf
5/16 Fall River, MA Narrows Center for the Arts
5/18 New York, NY Iridium Jazz Club
5/19 New York, NY Iridium Jazz Club
5/20 New York, NY Iridium Jazz Club
5/21 New York, NY Iridium Jazz Club
5/23 Charlotte, NC Double Door Inn
5/24 Asheville, NC Orange Peel
5/25 Atlanta, GA Smith’s Olde Bar
5/26 Biloxi, MS MS Gulf Coast Music, Art, Craft & Seafood Festival
5/27 Biloxi, MS MS Gulf Coast Music, Art, Craft & Seafood Festival

June 2012
6/02 Hagerstown, MD Western Maryland Blues Festival
6/06 Davenport, IA Redstone Room
6/07 Milwaukee, WI Shank Hall
6/08 Canton, OH Canton Blues Festival
6/09 Minneapolis, MN Famous Dave’s Blues Festival
6/10 Des Moines, IA House of Bricks
6/12 Lincoln, NE Zoo Bar
6/13 Kansas City, MO Knucklehead’s Saloon
6/14 St. Louis, MO Old Rock House
6/15 Chicago, IL House of Blues
6/16 Henderson, KY WC Handy Blues Festival
6/30 Silverado, CA Irvine Lake Blues Festival

August 2012
8/12 Duluth, MN Bayfront Blues Festival
8/26 Marshfield, MA North River Blues Festival

September 2012
9/01 Laramie, WY Snowy Range Music Festival

Also this from the UK Press, in addition to the general press release:


Walter Trout announces new album and UK tour!

Critically acclaimed American blues rock guitarist, Walter Trout, today announced the release of his new studio album Blues For The Modern Daze. 
The album is released by Provogue Records (a division of Mascot Label Group), in the UK on Monday 23rd April, followed by US release on 24th April.

To support the upcoming album, Trout will embark on a UK tour in March. Ticket Hotline: 0844, 478 0898, www.thegigcartel.com
Dates include Leeds City Varieties (March 8), Sheffield O2 Academy (March 9), Clitheroe The Grand (March 10), Salford The Lowry (March 11), Bristol The Tunnel (March 15) and Tavistock The Wharf (March 16).



You can read the official UK press release here:
www.noblepr.co.uk/Press_Releases/provogue/waltertrout.htm.

Official weblinks:
www.mascotlabelgroup.com



SPOCK'S BEARD BRINGS FANS 'THE X TOUR LIVE' ON NEW MULTI-DISC SET


NEW YORK - "The X Tour Live," the new release from progressive rockers Spock's Beard, out February 14 on Music Theories Recordings, documents the one and only American show from the acclaimed band's tour in support of their last studio album, "X."

Being spread out geographically makes live shows in the band's Los Angeles-area home base a rarity these days, but Spock's Beard was afforded the opportunity to do a one-off with CalProg promoter Jim Harrel at the Downey Civic Theater in Downey, Calif., during area rehearsals for an upcoming European tour.
"Jim Harrel puts on a helluva good production, so we really didn't have to stress out about technical details," said bassist Dave Meros. "He brought in a great sound system, lights, the venue was deluxe, and he treated us right."
At the time, there was no intention of recording a live album. "It was just a chance to play in the USA for a change, which we don't do nearly enough of," Meros said. "But the venue was already set up for 32-track digital recording and some friends of ours wanted to take a run at recording video as well, so it just kind of fell into our lap."
Meros admits that recording the first show of a tour is not the wisest of decisions in most cases, but for Spock's Beard, it couldn't have worked out better.

"The first couple of shows are when kinks are worked out and we gain confidence playing the set," said Meros. "We figured if we made some little mistakes here and there we could cover them up in the mix, and if the whole thing was horrible we could just simply not release it. But fortunately we had a pretty good show. Rob Aubrey did an absolutely superb job mixing the CD and DVD audio, so it sounds fantastic. The feedback has been great so far."


 
"The X Tour Live" is a two-CD set, and will also be available in a limited edition deluxe version that includes a bonus live DVD with exclusive extra features such as a photo slide show, backstage and rehearsal footage, a version of "Their Names Escape Me" without the names but a killer sax solo, and also a time lapse video of the stage set up.

Spock's Beard has established itself as the crème de la crème of modern progressive rock. Not simply a musician's band, Spock's Beard has also mastered the art of penning catchy, harmony-driven songs that will appeal to any fan of well-written pop songs. The music of Spock's Beard is a reflection of their varied influences, which include classical, pop, rock, jazz and jazz fusion, and R&B, while their intricate multi-part vocal harmonies and use of counterpoint add a whole other dimension.
Mascot Records is an independent record company based in The Netherlands that specializes in guitar music, from metal to instrumental guitar, hard rock, prog rock and (guitar) fusion.
Official weblinks:
 

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