Interview with Jason Conde-Houston of Skelator

Conducted by Robert Williams

Seattle, Washington’s true metal warrior’s Skelator hit me like a ton of bricks the first time I heard them. I had gathered a stack of promo’s I received in the mail to listen to on the drive down from Austin to San Antonio for an Iron Maiden concert and from the second their latest album “Agents Of Power” was introduced to my admittedly jaded ears it would be month’s upon month’s before that disc would leave my car stereo.  Skelator plays heavy metal with a certain reverence and purity to the genre that is something of a rarity these days. Their songs are finely crafted, revealing reflections of some of metal’s all-time great forefathers while still carving their own respective niche in the genre. Skelator vocalist Jason Conde-Houston recently took the time to speak with Metal-Rules.com about the band’s early beginnings, where they are at as a band now and what all we can expect from them in the immediate future. Do yourself a favor metal brethren and seek out their music at once! Read the rest of this entry »

The Winery Dogs (@TheWineryDogs), the power trio featuring rock veterans Mike Portnoy (Dream Theater, Avenged Sevenfold), Billy Sheehan (Mr. Big) and Richie Kotzen (Mr. Big, Poison), have signed with Loud & Proud Records.  The Winery Dogs’ self-titled debut album will be released in North America on July 23.  THE WINERY DOGS was self-produced and mixed by Jay Ruston (Anthrax, Stone Sour, Steel Panther).  It features a classic rock/power trio sound which seamlessly melds the immense talents of the three veteran rockers.

The band has already released two videos from the new album, “Elevate” and “Desire,” the latter of which recently premiered on Ulitmateclassicrock.com.  Both videos can now be seen on their official YouTube page.

Of The Winery Dogs’ signing, Mike Portnoy commented, “I am so excited about The Winery Dogs and am proud and honored to be working with two of the greatest musicians on the planet!  Richie Kotzen is such an unbelievable talent, as a vocalist, guitarist and songwriter.  I think The Winery Dogs will finally get him the attention and recognition that he so richly deserves.  And what can be said of Billy Sheehan that hasn’t been said already? He is one the true pioneers of the instrument and a legend.  I am looking forward to working with the great staff of Loud & Proud Records, some of whom I worked very closely with during their time at Roadrunner and my time with Dream Theater. I look forward to continuing that relationship with The Winery Dogs!”

Loud & Proud Owner & President Tom Lipsky added, “The debut by The Winery Dogs absolutely rocks and we are very excited that Loud & Proud is their label partner. This body of work showcases not only their renowned skills as musicians and vocalists, but also the depth of their talent as songwriters. Billy, Mike and Richie delivered some of the best performances of their illustrious careers and I am confident this album will be recognized as one of the truly great rock albums of the year.”

Touted as one of the best guitar players in the world, Richie Kotzen also possesses a voice on par with some of the greatest rock/soul singers and is highly regarded as a gifted songwriter.  With guitar styles ranging from rock, blues, jazz and fusion to pop and soul, Kotzen has built a remarkably diverse 20-year career as a guitarist, singer and songwriter.  A prolific songwriter, Richie has written several songs that have gone on to become hit singles around the world and he continues to appear in countless books, magazines and websites, being acknowledged as one of the top guitarists in the world.

Mike Portnoy is one of the founding members of Dream Theater, with whom he played drums for 25 years, selling more than 10 million copies worldwide.  Portnoy’s long list of awards include 26 Modern Drummer magazine Reader’s Poll Awards, including Hall of Fame Inductee in 2004, MVP of the Year in 2010, Best Progressive Rock Drummer (for the magazine’s record of 12 years in a row), Best Clinician (twice), Best Educational Video/DVD and Best Recorded Performance of the Year (seven times) while in Dream Theater and Avenged Sevenfold.  He also holds the distinction being the second youngest drummer ever inducted into the Modern Drummer Hall of Fame (at age 37) and is currently the youngest in the magazine’s Hall of Fame.  DRUM! Magazine named him Drummer Of The Year for the last two years in a row (2011 & 2012), and he won the Revolver Golden Gods Award for “Drummer Of The Year” in 2011.

As a founding member of Mr. Big, Billy Sheehan forged his place in hard rock history.  Mr. Big’s trademark virtuosic musicianship with stellar vocal harmonies and earned them numerous hit songs, including the ubiquitous “To Be With You,” which was a Billboard Hot 100 #1 single in 15 countries, propelling the band to major international success and record sales in the multi-millions.  Sheehan was voted the “Best Rock Bass Player” 5 times in Guitar Player magazine’s Readers Poll, earning him a spot in their “Gallery of Greats” along with Jimi Hendrix, Paul McCartney, Geddy Lee, Eddie Van Halen and more, and he has won several Reader’s polls around the world.  He won the prestigious Player magazine (Japan’s #1 Music mag) Reader’s Poll for Best Bass Player an unprecedented 14 consecutive times and Burrn! magazine’s (Japan’s #1 heavy metal mag) Readers’ Poll five times.  His hands and signature are preserved in cement on the Rockwalk at Guitar Center in Hollywood, CA.

Stay tuned for U.S. tour news, which will be announced in the coming weeks.

About Loud & Proud Records:
Loud & Proud Records was founded in 2007 by Tom Lipsky, and is currently in an exclusive distribution, marketing and label services agreement with RED Distribution, a division of Sony Music Entertainment.  The label’s mission is to provide a true and transparent partnership between artists and their record label.  Loud & Proud aims to establish and proliferate a new business model which will appeal to both veteran and emerging artists of all levels and status.  Labels under Lipsky’s direction in the past (CMC International, Sanctuary) have been among the market leaders in the veteran artist space, delivering Gold and Platinum albums and DVDs for Neil Young, Lynyrd Skynyrd, KISS, The Allman Brothers Band, Widespread Panic, Iron Maiden, Styx, Megadeth, Bad Company, REO Speedwagon and more. In a previous joint-venture with Roadrunner Records, Loud & Proud was responsible for new albums by Rush, Rob Zombie, Lynyrd Skynyrd, KISS, Lenny Kravitz, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, The Steve Miller Band, Collective Soul, Meat Loaf and Ratt.  Loud & Proud Records is a registered trademark of Lipsky Music, LLC.

For more information, please visit:
www.facebook.com/TheWineryDogs
www.twitter.com/TheWineryDogs
www.youtube.com/user/thewinerydogs
www.loudandproudrecords.com

ALBATROSS (India)
WINGS DOWN UNDER – 2013 AUSTRALIAN TOUR

Australian tour dates:
Friday October 25 – Central Club Hotel, Melbourne
Saturday October 26 – The Bald Faced Stag, Sydney
Sunday October 27 – Dicey Riley’s, Wollongong

Special guests to be announced.

Sponsored by Metal Obsession, Loud Online Magazine, Dominus Entertainment, Roadcrew Records and Bmusic.

Mumbai-based traditional heavy metal quintet Albatross is a band that combines bone-chilling stories with bone-crushing metal. The band started out as the solo project of bassist Riju Dasgupta (Workshop, Old Monks) who wanted to marry his love of literature with his other love: metal.

Later on, a lineup of like-minded musicians was standardized and hence Albatross was born. The band released the critically acclaimed ‘Dinner is You’, a concept EP about cannibalism and the Kuru disease, which was mastered by Grammy nominated Swedish producer Andy LaRocque from King Diamond, in September 2010.

Since then, the band has been a regular in India’s live circuit and recently released ‘The Kissing Flies’ EP as part of a split CD with American doom metal band Vestal Claret to critical acclaim. This EP features contributions from famed luminaries such as Niklas ‘Viper’ Stalvind (Wolf), The Demonstealer (Demonic Resurrection) and Murari Vasudevan (Rat King).

Subsequently, the band completed a four-city India tour to launch the EP. The tour started in Chennai, and then took the band to Bangalore, followed by their hometown suburb of Thane, and ended in the scenic Northeastern region of India, in the city of Guwahati. And most recently, on June 16, the band played India’s biggest heavy metal festival – the prestigious Bangalore Open Air, where they got to share the stage with the likes of Kreator, Suidakra, and some of India’s best bands including Dying Embrace, Kryptos and Bevar Sea. In the latter half of 2012, the band embarked on tour again and played 3 cities around the country, namely Bangalore, Nasik and Mumbai. The highlight of the tour was Albatross sharing the stage with their idols from Wolf in Bangalore for the annual Harley Rock Riders Festival.

Now, the band plans to disperse the terror of the Kissing Flies and expand their Indian fan base by performing in cities they weren’t been able to reach previously, and eventually take their incredible show overseas. Be on the lookout for Albatross as they visit a town near you, real soon!

Albatross is endorsed by Warwick basses and ESP guitars.

A Hard Rock highlight from the early 90‘s finally will be made available again: „Back To The Bullet“ by MAT SINNER. On June 21st, this album RE-RELEASE (incl. bonus track, videos, completely redesigned cover artwork/booklet and remastered by Achim Köhler (Primal Fear, Brainstorm etc.)) gives every fan the opportunity to complete his collection with a true gem which was out of print for many years.

“Eternal Defiance”, the new masterpiece of Celtic Metal masters SUIDAKRA, is released now in Europe. The CD first edition comes as Digipak, incl. bonus track, videos and an additional poster booklet.

Frontman Arkadius explains the whole story in the „Track-by-Track“ video.

You want to listen to snippets of all “Eternal Defiance” songs? Check out the new album trailer!

DIMEBAG DARRELL – Wax Figure At Rock Legend Wax Museum

The Metal Den reports – Late great PANTERA guitarist “Dimebag” Darrell Abbott has been honored today with his own wax figure during an unveiling ceremony in Niagra Falls, Ontario at the Rock Legend Wax Museum.

From Rock Legend Wax Museum:

“From the early pioneers of rock n’ roll to present day musicians, the realism and authentic detail of our life-size wax figures will astound you! All of our one-of-a-kind originals are sculpted by local Niagara Falls artist Pasquale Ramunno, exclusively for Rock Legends! Dimebag stands out as one of the greatest musicians to ever play heavy metal music and though he has been gone since 2004 his wax figure stands as a true testimony to the incredible love he enjoyed and still enjoys to this very day from the fans that helped make Pantera one of the most popular heavy music acts of all time.” Read the rest of this entry »

HERMAN RAREBELL

INTERVIEW AND LIVE PHOTOS BY MARKO SYRJALA

Herman ‘Ze German’ Rarebell is a German drummer, best known for his long and successful career with the band Scorpions. Rarebell joined that band in 1977 and played on 8 studio albums including; LOVEDRIVE, BLACKOUT, LOVE AT FIRST STING and CRAZY WORLD. Rarebell was an important composer in the history of the group as he wrote many Scorpions songs like “Another Piece of Meat” and “Passion Rules the Game”. He also wrote the lyrics for some of the Scorpions biggest hit songs like:  ”Rock You Like a Hurricane”, “Blackout” and “Bad Boys Running Wild”.  Rarebell quit the Scorpions in 1995, after 18 years, prior the release of PURE INSTINCT album. Later on he released a few solo albums and toured with his band Herman Ze German. He also participated on the Drum Legends project with Pete York and Charly Antolini and formed Monaco Records together with Prince Albert of Monaco. In 2011 Rarebell released his autobiography AND SPEAKING OF SCORPIONS… and later on the same year he formed a new super group called Strangers in the Night together with Michael Schenker, Michael Voss and Pete Way. In late 2011, Schenker released the album TEMPLE OF ROCK which featured Rarebell, Way, Voss, Wayne Findley and several special guests. In early 2012 Schenker, Rarebell, Findley, vocalist Doogie White and another former Scorpions band mate, Francis Bucholtz, toured under name Michael Schenker’s Temple of Rock. The bands highly successful LOVEDRIVE REUNION tour landed finally in Finland on early May. In Helsinki I had a chance to sit down with Mr. Rarebell and here are the results of our interesting discussion. Read on!

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Udo Dirkschneider of U.D.O.

Interviewed by Celtic Bob

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Jeff Hanneman

Kerry King (SLAYER), Dave Lombardo (SLAYER), Gary Holt (EXODUS, SLAYER), Robert Trujillo (METALLICA), Shavo Odadjian (SYSTEM OF A DOWN), Robb Flynn (MACHINE HEAD), Paul Bostaph (SLAYER, TESTAMENT, EXODUS), Chuck Billy (TESTAMENT) and John Tempesta (THE CULT, EXODUS, TESTAMENT) are among the musicians who attended the public memorial celebration for SLAYER‘s late guitarist Jeff Hanneman, which was held yesterday afternoon (Thursday, May 23) at the Hollywood Palladium in Los Angeles, California.

High-quality photos of the event from photographer Stephanie Cabral can be found at this location. Fan-filmed video footage is available below.

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Civil War – First to Fight

Civil War, the new symphonic power metal band from ex-Sabaton members, Rikard Sundén, Oskar Montelius, Daniel Mullback and Daniel Myhr, along with frontman, Nils Patrik Johansson (Astral Doors), and bass player, Stefan “Pizza” Eriksson (Volturyon), has posted the new song, “First to Fight,” for streaming on YouTube at: http://youtu.be/jq43IM1DtRg. The track comes from the band’s debut full-length, The Killer Angels, out June 11 on Despotz Records.

According to the band, “First to Fight” is about an elite force that, according to some, even surpasses the U.S. Navy SEALs when it comes to tough recruitment requirements. “GROM,” Grupa Reagowania Operacyjno-Manewrowego (Operational Maneuver Response Group), is a 350-man strong elite force that was formed on June 13, 1990 to protect Polish citizens from global threats.

1. King of the Sun
2. First to Fight
3. Saint Patrick’s Day
4. Rome is Falling
5. Sons of Avalon
6. I Will Rule the Universe
7. Lucifer’s Court
8. Brother Judas
9. My Own Worst Enemy
10. Gettysburg
11. March across the Belt

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Stratovarius & Amaranthe

Nordic Nexus Of Nemesis Tour 2013

Seven Kingdoms (support)

Kulturbolaget, Malmo, Sweden
April 17th, 2013

Review and live pictures by Anders Sandvall

  Read the rest of this entry »

Carcass (2013)

Disinterred British extreme metal legends CARCASS have signed to Nuclear Blast Records for the world excluding Japan! Surgical Steel, the band’s first studio release since their 1996 LP Swansong, was produced by Colin Richardson (NAPALM DEATH, BOLT THROWER, GOREFEST, CANNIBAL CORPSE, SINISTER, RODRIGO Y GABRIELA) and mixed/mastered by Andy Sneap (MEGADETH, ACCEPT, EXODUS, TESTAMENT). Joining guitarist Bill Steer and bassist/vocalist Jeff Walker in the band’s current incarnation are new drummer Dan Wilding (ABORTED, TRIGGER THE BLOODSHED) and guitarist Ben Ash (PIG IRON, DESOLATION, LIQUEFIED SKELETON). Expect some guest vocals from original sticksman Ken Owen as well, when Surgical Steel is released this Fall world-wide.

CARCASS has released the following statement regarding their new found partners in medical deviancy: “We are pleased to announce that we have found the perfect home for Surgical Steel, the first CARCASS album for, what, eighteen years?! We’ve inked a deal with Nuclear Blast for our new baby.

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Hypocrisy – Interview With Peter Tägtgren

By Peter Atkinson

Photos from www.facebook.com/hypocrisy and www.hypocrisy.cc

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German thrash veterans, EXUMER, have confirmed a New York City show on September 21, 2013. The show will be the only U.S. appearance in 2013 for EXUMER and the band’s second visit to the United States. Main support for the evening will be Florida death metal act MALEVELONT CREATION. The show will be at The Paper Box in Brooklyn, NY.

Vocalist Mem V. Stein comments: “We are beyond thrilled to be finally playing in NYC. We haven’t played on North American soils since the THRASHO DE MAYO festival in L.A., four years ago. New York is close to mine and our bassist’s hearts, since both of us live here and we have never brought the band to play in front our home crowd.”

Thrash fans can catch a glimpse of what EXUMER’s live show is like in the band’s music video for “Fire & Damnation” on youtube HERE.

EXUMER
09/21 Brooklyn, NY The Paper Box

http://www.exumer.de
http://www.metalblade.com/exumer