Guns N' Roses Releases Dates For US Tour!!!!!!
Mood:  celebratory
Now Playing: GN'R Returns For A US Tour!
Topic: Hair Metal
Guns N' Roses has added more dates to its U.S. itinerary. The schedule is now shaping up as follows:

Sep. 16 - Las Vegas, NV @ The Joint
Sep. 17 - Las Vegas, NV @ The Joint
Sep. 20 - San Francisco, CA @ The Warfield
Sep. 21 - San Francisco, CA @ The Warfield
Sep. 23 - Devore, CA @ Inland Invasion 2006
Sep. 30 - Reno, NV @ Reno Events Center
Oct. 2 - Sacramento, CA @ ARCO Arena
Oct. 3 - San Diego, CA @ iPayOne Center

Guns N' Roses frontman Axl Rose has been saying that the band's long-delayed new album, "Chinese Democracy," will be out later this year.

Guns N' Roses' "Greatest Hits" collection, which was originally issued in March of 2004, was certified triple-platinum on April 11th, 2006 by the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) for shipments in excess of three million copies. The CD sold almost 15,000 copies in the United States last week alone (week ending August 13), bringing the total number of copies sold since its release to 3.11 million, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

source: blabbermouth.net

Queensryche Remastered & Expanded
Mood:  vegas lucky
Topic: Hair Metal
LOS ANGELES - Queensryche recorded its seventh studio album in 1999 during a time of uncertainty. Emotionally devastated by the departure of one of its founding guitarists, the Seattle-based, progressive-metal quintet was also reeling from the twin losses of its management group and record company. Despite the chaos, Queensryche returned stronger than ever with an album that marked a new beginning. Rhino Records revisits the band's triumph of will with the remastered and expanded version of Q2K. The album will be available August 29 at traditional physical and digital retail outlets and www.rhino.com for a suggested retail price of $18.98. The iTunes version of the album will also feature an exclusive video for "The Right Side Of My Mind."

The rereleased album contains remastered versions of all 11 original studio tracks and includes a pair of songs recorded during the Q2K sessions that have never been released before - "Until There Was You" and "Howl." Also included are different versions of two albums tracks: the radio edit of "Breakdown" and a live version of "Sacred Ground" recorded during the Q2K tour.

With new guitarist Kelly Gray, Queensryche - singer and chief songwriter Geoff Tate, guitarist Michael Wilton, bassist Eddie Jackson, and drummer Scott Rockenfield - rallied to record a stellar collection of songs featuring the band's trademark mix of bone-crushing metal intensity and the dynamic progressive rock arrangements. The album includes the rock radio hit, "Breakdown," along with fan favorites, "Liquid Sky," "Sacred Ground," "Falling Down," and the epic "The Right Side Of My Mind."

Writing in the album's updated liner notes, Tate recalls the tumultuous time that spawned the album: "With the rerelease of Q2K and some water under the bridge, I listen back to what we created in that very stressful time with an open mind and I hear a band working to redefine themselves musically and forge ahead after suffering several devastating blows. The music is unique and with the inclusion of 'Until There Was You' and 'Howl,' the project feels complete. Why these two songs were not included on the original release I can't actually say...I don't remember; it was a very strange time."

The release of Q2K continues an ambitious year for Queensryche, which includes the April release of the long-awaited sequel Operation: mindcrime II, which debuted at #14 in the Billboard Top 200. In addition, the band embarks on an extensive summer/fall tour in August. Presented by VH1 Classic, the epic live show will feature a full stage production, including surround sound, video imagery, and actors playing out both parts of the Operation: mindcrime saga in their entirety.

Q2K Track Listing

1. "Falling Down"
2. "Sacred Ground"
3. "One Life"
4. "When The Rain Comes..."
5. "How Could I?"
6. "Beside You"
7. "Liquid Sky"
8. "Breakdown"
9. "Burning Man"
10. "Wot Kinda Man"
11. "The Right Side Of My Mind"
12. "Until There Was You" *
13. "Howl" *
14. "Sacred Ground" - Live *
15. "Breakdown" - Radio edit
16. "The Right Side Of Mind" - video #

* Previously unreleased
# iTunes exclusive

Courtesy of RockStarPR

A Small Ratt Reform
Mood:  a-ok
Now Playing: Stephen Pearcy & Juan Croucier Team Up.
Topic: Hair Metal
Original Ratt members Stephen Pearcy (vocals) and Juan Croucier (bass) will team up for the "Metal in America" tour 2006, which will take place from September-November.

Pearcy and his Rat Bastards will play all the Ratt hits and music from Arcade, as well as Stephen's solo material. Croucier will be fronting this power trio — also featuring John Medina (drums and vocals) and Jeff Cohen (guitar and vocals) — and handling bass guitar as well. Juan will be on as many shows as his schedule will permit.

Exact cities and dates will be announced soon.

Pearcy released a live acoustic album, called "Stripped", in May. It features Ratt hits like "Round and Round" and "Lay It Down," as well as covers of Led Zeppelin's "Bring It On Home" and Fleetwood Mac's "Oh Well."

source: blabbermouth.net

A Cinderella Interview
Mood:  a-ok
Now Playing: Read the interview in full at http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/ats/entertainment/story/6620799p-6469703c.html
Topic: Hair Metal
Scott Cronick of The Press of Atlantic City recently conducted talked to Cinderella guitarist Jeff LaBar. An excerpt from the chat follows:

Q: It's 20 years. Did you ever think it would last this long?

Jeff: "No. Actually, I'm a little surprised. But when we set off with Cinderella, it was our goal not to be a flash in the pan but to be a long-lasting member of the rock community like the Stones and Aerosmith. I'm not claiming to be there, but it is awesome to be around this long and still have as many fans as we do that really enjoy seeing us and hearing us."

Q: Fans of Cinderella always say the band was wrongly labeled as a 'hair metal" band, yet you still go on the road and tour with bands that are or were clearly hair metal. Is it just too late to try to avoid it?

Jeff: "I don't know we're trying to avoid anything. We are who we are. If people think we stand out as being better than so-called 'hair metal' bands, that's awesome. I appreciate that. But we were popular during that time and dressed the part, too. We were doing what it took to be popular at that time. And we enjoy touring with other bands that were popular at that time. With Poison, it's very cool, because we're two of the only bands that have all of our original members. And we all go way back. We did our first tour together opening for a Japanese band called Loudness. So as far as being bunched in that whole '80s thing, that's who we are, and we're OK with that. At the time, it was cool and awesome. It's a derogatory term after the fact."

Q: Will Cinderella ever put out new material?

Jeff: "Who knows? We have a ton of material that we never played live and never released. And we're not about to go on a tour like this and start playing that stuff because while it would be cool for a die-hard fan to hear that, the average fans wants to hear our hits and see us rock as hard as we can. As far as something new, only time will tell. I would love to do another record with the band. But we would have to get with record companies and see who would be interested. I've been working with the band Naked Beggars with Eric and his wife — we have two records. Tom has been working on a solo record. I played on some demos for that record a long time ago, so I'm not sure what's left from those sessions. But I am looking forward to him releasing that. And Fred does a lot of stuff from dance remixes to video games to cartoons. He's even acting. We all keep busy."

Read Jeff LaBar's entire interview at http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/ats/entertainment/story/6620799p-6469703c.html.

Some Bon Jovi Gossip
Mood:  spacey
Now Playing: We're not a tabloid, but I did find this a bit interesting.
Topic: Hair Metal
According to the New York Post's Page Six, Jon Bon Jovi was conspicuously absent at the "Hollywoodland" premiere in Southampton last weekend.

The Jersey-born rocker has a place in East Hampton and has been a fixture on the swanky South Fork social scene this summer. But he had good reason to skip this movie, which stars Ben Affleck as original TV "Superman" George Reeves, and Diane Lane as the movie mogul's wife Reeves was having an affair with when he died under mysterious circumstances in 1959.

When Bon Jovi split from his high school sweetheart, Dorothea Hurley, in the mid-'80s, he had a torrid love affair with Lane that ended very badly. In fact, he wrote "You Give Love a Bad Name" about Lane: "An angel's smile is what you sell/ You promise me heaven, then put me through hell." The heartbreak drove Bon Jovi back into the arms of Hurley, who married him in 1989 and bore him four children.

C.C. Banana Talks With Frankie Banali
Mood:  accident prone
Topic: Hair Metal
For the final interview of his month-long Bananiversary Celebration, rock & roll comic C.C. Banana spoke with drummer Frankie Banali about Tracii Guns, Blackie Lawless and the upcoming Quiet Riot studio album. A few excerpts from the interview follow:

C.C. Banana: When can fans expect to hear more of that sweet, sweet Quiet Riot sound?

Frankie Banali: The new album is a work in progress. Kevin (DuBrow) and I made a conscious decision last year to record new Quiet Riot music that would represent the style of music we both like. Since we are financing the project ourselves, we are in no hurry to churn it out because it is not time sensitive. Do we want it released? Of course, but when we are ready to do so and on our own terms. Let's face it, the Quiet Riot fans will likely go out and buy it when it's released. All those who aren't interested in Quiet Riot will ignore it. Then of course, the legions of malcontents who don't like Quiet Riot (or anything else, for that matter) will slam it as usual, without ever hearing it. So the album will be available when we decide to release it.

C.C. Banana: What was the reason for Quiet Riot re-recording 6 of its past hits for the 1999 studio release Alive & Well, an album that featured the reunion of the celebrated Metal Health lineup?

The label that released the CD insisted on including remakes of the "hits" in order to consummate the deal. We hated doing it, but it was a deal breaker with the label. It would also give them the opportunity to further dilute Quiet Riot by making licensing deals based on those songs.

C.C. Banana: Tracii Guns lasted only about 3 weeks in Quiet Riot (which is less than the 3 years he was in Brides of Destruction yet longer than the 3 days he lasted in Poison). Even L.A. Guns, the band named after him, doesn't seem to want him back anymore. Tracii has always been cool with us, but can you shed any light on why the man can't seem to stay in a band these days for more than 2 seconds?

Frankie Banali: Well, the timetable for Tracii's musical participation was in fact much shorter than 3 weeks, in any real sense. I spoke with Tracii at Kevin's suggestion, as he thought that Tracii would work out great in the band. I agreed that musically, he could. The discussions between Tracii and myself (and Tracii's manager) were very mercurial. One day it would all be positive, the next day there would be issues. After much debate, it seemed on paper that the arrangement would work but that no announcement should be made until Tracii had completed some European dates with Brides of Destruction.

The reality is that we had one rehearsal with Tracii, then called it a day. Again, Tracii really is a great rock guitar player so there were no issues there. But I couldn't overlook his history with different bands in the past. So when Tracii called Kevin the day after our one brief rehearsal and indicated that he no longer wanted to participate, we agreed that such would be best for all concerned. Kevin and I were already having misgivings about the association. In fact, I had mentioned to Kevin after that rehearsal that I would not be surprised if Tracii wanted out. Lo and behold, the next day he was gone. There were no issues, there are no issues. It was just simply not going to work for any of us. I do still hear from Tracii. As a matter of fact, I just got an IM from him a few days ago. He says hi!

C.C. Banana: In 2004 you had a falling-out with W.A.S.P. main man Blackie Lawless, after having worked with him since the late 1980s. During an interview with Wendell Neeley on The Classic Metal Show, you revealed that the rift stemmed from the fact that Blackie did not want to pay you a fair rate in exchange for your live drumming services. This rift later manifested itself in Blackie leaving your name off the credits of The Neon God, Part 2 CD, despite the fact that you'd drummed on the entire album. How did things go so far south?

Frankie Banali: The issue was never really about the money. He made his offer, I declined to accept and we went our separate ways without issue. Or so I thought. He then decided to devalue my participation on his recordings. He would have taken my credit off The Neon God, Part 1 but the artwork had already been completed and the discs were already being manufactured. But he did remove my credit from Part 2 since that release came after the fact. Blackie instead gave the credit to Stet (Howland).

This is typical BL BS 101. He used this same tactic when he and I didn't see eye to eye at the conclusion of recording The Crimson Idol. He went on to do interviews at the time, saying that I had only played on a few tracks, which was not true. I recorded every song except for a portion of one.

It's a shame that things ended the way they did between Blackie Lawless and myself because I always got along with him and I understand him. He is actually very talented when he doesn't paint himself into a musical genre corner. But as long as he travels in the company (and with the mentality) of "I, me, mine," the end result is evident. I have no desire or intention of working with him again and fortunately for me, I think he feels the same way. I will always be grateful for his attendance at my mother's funeral in 1990, which is one of the reasons we started working together again, but he lost a good friend when he could not leave well enough alone after we went our separate musical ways.

The entire interview is available here:

http://www.CCBanana.com/sludge/rewindfrankiebanali.htm

Courtesy of www.ccbanana.com

Tracii Guns Speaks
Mood:  loud
Topic: Hair Metal
L.A. Guns founding member and undisputed leader Tracii Guns has reunited with original members Paul Black and Nickey Alexander to a special series of limited shows to celebrate the band's 20th anniversary!!!

"It's been great jamming with the guys I started this journey with 20 years ago," says Guns. "All the classics sound better than ever and we'll be performing them all as well as some surprises at these special shows!"

Paul Black and Nickey Alexander are L.A. Guns original vocalist and drummer, respectively. Black co-wrote the band's fan favorites along with Tracii Guns and Alexander played all drum tracks on the classic self-titled debut album. The band released a CD titled The Black List earlier this year which is a collection of previously unreleased recordings of L.A. Guns standards from 1986 and 1987, and are currently recording new material for release in early 2007.

Tracii hopes to eliminate confusion between his version of L.A. Guns and any other act using the name. "About empty clubs... I have too much respect for the name L.A. Guns to drag it through small clubs and bars, I can do that anytime without dragging and disrespecting the legacy under my own moniker."

As for Tracii, Paul, Nickey and Jeremy, upon announcing the project were immediately booked onto special event shows such as festivals in Trinidad with SCORPIONS, plus Rio and Brazil with DOKKEN!

"If you want to hear the best L.A. Guns songs performed by the artists who actually wrote them and played authentically by the guitarist how formed the band (not to mention the fact that the band is NAMED AFTER ME) as well as the original vocalist and drummer then please, by all means DO NOT confuse the two groups (although the other group consists of 3 beautiful people). I have surrounded myself with a team of positive, established professionals from management to the band itself who believe in the project and are ready to rock n roll!" Are you ready to rock n roll???????

Confirmed dates currently include:

1 - Florence City Music Festival - Florence, SC
2 - Ambrosia Amphitheater - Trinidad, West Indies (with Scorpions)
9 - Prime Time - Burnsville, MN
16 - Galaxy Theatre - Santa Ana, CA
17 - Key Club - Hollywood, CA
12 - Rock for Life Festival - Rio De Janeiro, Brazil

Courtesy of www.tracii-guns.com

Axl Rose Collapses On Stage
Mood:  accident prone
Now Playing: From eddietrunk.com
Topic: Hair Metal
Guns N' Roses' management has issued the following press release:

Guns N' Roses completed their European tour Sunday night (July 30th) with their second consecutive sold-out show at London's Wembley Arena. The tour, which started May 25th in Madrid, Spain, played to 700,000-plus people over 32 shows in 18 countries, making it one of the biggest tours of the year on the continent and in the U.K.

The final show at Wembley almost didn't come to fruition as vocalist Axl Rose was diagnosed with low blood pressure and low blood sugar Sunday morning. He became ill after performing two concerts on Saturday night — the first was the band's scheduled sold-out show at Wembley Arena which lasted two and a half hours — and the second an unannounced surprise semi acoustic set which thrilled as many fans as could be jammed into London's Cuckoo Club at 4 a.m. on Sunday morning with hundreds left standing outside. Rose became ill a couple of hours after the 75-minute performance ended, with a doctor being called to his hotel room. The physician advised that Rose should be hospitalised and not perform Sunday evening. Rose's response — "F*** that, I have a show to do and I am not missing it." He made it through the two-hour performance to the final song of the evening — "Nighttrain" — before collapsing. The mic was handed to his friend, Sebastian Bach, who completed the performance with an encore of "Paradise City."

Axl Rose commented, "We have had an amazing tour and it has been fantastic for the band and I to experience this. I approached this last show with equal parts determination, obligation, responsibility and insanity. It was an amazing night. I want to thank everyone in Europe and the U.K. for inspiring us and for giving us the opportunity to play for them. We are now looking forward to the U.S. in September."

Bulletboys May Reunite
Mood:  celebratory
Now Playing: Marq Torien discusses with CC Bannana the chance of Bulletboys reunion.
Topic: Hair Metal
As part of his month-long Bananiversary Celebration, rock & roll comic C.C. Banana spoke with singer Marq Torien about the current state of the BulletBoys as well as Marq's recently-completed new album. A few excerpts from the interview follow:

C.C. Banana: What is the present status of the BulletBoys? Does the band even exist at this point? Who is in the current lineup and are there any plans to tour or release a new album?

Marq Torien: There is going to be a BulletBoys semi-reunion and we'll be doing some shows during the summer and into the fall. I say "semi" because there is one member who is still resistant to the idea. I love this guy very much and I just wish he'd come back so that the four of us can do what we do best. I care about this person immensely and I think he's one of the greatest musicians I've ever played with. We shared a lot of things together and we've gone to battle alongside one another in the music world. So far I've spoken with both Lonnie Vencent and Mick Sweda and they're both on board. Lonnie's definitely ready to go and Mick has said that the only thing he'd ever turn down is a warm Budweiser. So we'll just have to see what happens with Jimmy D'Anda.

(I am also) starting a new project. A brand-new band called Ten-Cent Billionaires. I've been working on the record for a couple of years now and I'm really excited about it. We're getting ready to drop it with a brand new record company but I can't really go into detail just yet. I'm not trying to sound secretive or anything but we honestly have something really, really solid with this record. We're just trying to dot the I's and cross the T's. God willing, I hope to have this record out by the end of summer with a video on one of the video channels.

I would say that the sound of this band leans toward the old school with a fresh touch of the new school. It actually sounds very Sunset Strip to me. There's not really a lot of embellishment on it, it's real meat and potatoes. Vocally, I'm screaming my butt off so the fans should dig that. People who hear it really seem to like it and I'm very happy about that.

Originally I wasn't even planning to release it. I was just going to form the band and play some shows and see how things went. But people just kept asking me to play them the new music and they'd always be baffled that it hadn't already gotten me signed. The music actually got picked up by 6 or 7 radio stations in the state of Florida and it just did really well so we went in and started to make a record.

C.C. Banana: What happened on your ill-fated tour with L.A. Guns and Black 'N Blue in 2003? It seems like the BulletBoys dropped off the bill pretty quickly.

Marq Torien: It was a combination of a lot of different things. One of them was that we were told the tour would pay a certain amount of money, which it ultimately did not. Plus, when the BulletBoys were onstage the place was full. After we finished, the place emptied out. I won't say which band would be out there playing, but there would only be about 20 people left. So monetarily it just didn't seem fair.

We were also having a lot of problems on the road. I was out there with a new drummer and a new bass player, with guitarist Keri Kelli pulling double duty with BulletBoys and L.A. Guns. Keri is an amazing dude and I love him to death but I think it was just too much for him. He was burning off a lot of energy playing the BulletBoys' set because we just go off and have a great time. Then he had to play in L.A. Guns and he was just exhausted. It started out to be a good arrangement but it just turned into a mess.

Then one day I woke up to find that our tour manager Mark Rojas had been stabbed by our bus driver. He literally tried to kill him! When something like that happens on the road, it's just a bad omen. Then after the bus driver was sent to jail, we found out that he had been wanted for attempted murder and that he had a big gun on the bus that nobody had known about. I just didn't feel comfortable continuing after that so we decided to pull out. I think we played 2 or 3 shows, maybe few more than that. It had nothing to do with L.A. Guns, it just wasn't right for me. I felt that there were a lot of Indians out there and that I was the chief. And that was a little hard on me because I like to have fun, too. Plus like I said, the money wasn't right and I just felt very uncomfortable playing our songs with people who hadn't written them. I don't know, it was just very difficult out there on that tour.

C.C. Banana: Who or what were Kagny & the Dirty Rats?

Marq Torien: Kagny & the Dirty Rats was a band signed to Motown, featuring a singer by the name of Steven St. James. This was actually the first time I was ever signed with any record company. The band had been put together by Berry Gordy's son Kerry Ashby along with Benny Medina. Benny now has a huge management firm, Handprint Entertainment, where he's managed artists like Jennifer Lopez and Mariah Carey.

A friend of mine had asked me to come in and sing with the band when they were recording at Hitsville USA. They needed someone to sing on a song called "Emotions," a real R&B-style ballad which featured The Temptations on backgrounds. So I was just amazed that they wanted me to come in and sing on it! But when I showed up, Benny and Kerry just kind of looked at me as if to say, "What's going on with this surfer dude?" They thought I looked too much like a rock guy and wanted to know if I could sing R&B. So Steven said to them, "Hey, I'm telling you, this guy is great." So they played the track for me and I just fell in love with it. Fortunately, I was able to give them what they wanted and they were just amazed that I could sound like that. We ultimately recorded a full album for Kagny & the Dirty Rats, which got MTV airplay and everything. This was way back in the early days of the channel, around 1983 or 1984.

The entire interview is available here:

http://www.ccbanana.com/sludge/20questionsmarqtorien.htm

Courtesy of www.ccbanana.com

Warrant Releases New Album On Cleopatra
Mood:  chillin'
Now Playing: In stores now is Warrant's "Born Again," released on Cleopatra Records.
Topic: Hair Metal
HOLLYWOOD, CA (July 26, 2006) - Every show-date in 2006 is a record release party for 80's metal legends, WARRANT. Come join "The Down Boys" as they celebrate their first album in almost 10 years. "To me this album picks up where Cherry Pie fell in the lap of that girl that just got off the bus in LA," explains Jerry Dixon, bassist and founding member. "It even has guitar solos (remember those?). No drum machines, no rock rap, no samples just drums, bass, guitars and vocals. It's old school Warrant at it's finest."

WARRANT's new release BORN AGAIN [Cleopatra Records], which was produced by famed producer Pat Regan (KISS, Deep Purple, Mr. Big). This is WARRANT's first new material since 1997 and they are currently performing summer shows in support of the new CD. The first single 'Bourbon County Line' is gaining airplay across the states. "We wanted to make a record in the true Warrant fashion," states Erik Turner, founding member and guitarist. "I think we accomplished that sound again. It sounds like what a Warrant record should sound like."

The band's four founding members, Erik Turner (guitar), Jerry Dixon (bass), Joey Allen (lead guitar) and Steven Sweet (drummer) are together for the first time in over a decade. Joining the band is Jaime St. James, formerly of Black N' Blue produced by Gene Simmons [KISS]. The reformation of these metal heroes has been overwhelmingly positive giving the band inspiration to write new material for the fans.

WARRANT PERFOMANCE DATES:

July 28 Grove of Anaheim Anaheim, CA w/FireHouse & Skid Row
Aug. 3 Logan's Bar & Grill Freeport, IL w/FireHouse
Aug. 4 Stratford Ballroom Fenton, MO
Aug. 5 Quincy Raceway Quincy, IL w/ FireHouse
Aug. 11 Rockin' the Rivers Three Forks, MT
Aug. 12 Brewfest/Westfair Amph. Council Bluffs, IA w/ FireHouse, Bad Company's Brian Howe, Starship feat Mickey Thomas, Blue Oyster Cult, Lou Gramm, & Dennis DeYoung (Styx)
Aug. 19 Hanger Amphitheater Rochester, MN w/FireHouse
Sept. 1 Stern Wheel Regatta Charleston, WV
Sept. 3 Echo Basin Ranch Mancos, CO
Oct. 12 Club Mate Baltimore, MD
Oct. 14 Pepsi-Cola Roadhouse Burgettstown, PA w/FireHouse
Oct. 27 Northern Lights Casino Walker, MN W/FireHouse
Oct. 28 Northern Lights Casino Walker, MN W/FireHouse
Dec. 22 The Mohegan Sun Casino Uncasville, CT
Dec. 31 Prime Time Burnsville, MN

Courtesy of www.vqpr.com