Interview with Bruce Kulick

Conducted by Robert Williams

Long considered by his peers to be one of today’s most in demand axemen, former KISS lead guitarist Bruce Kulick is set to offer up his third solo outing in the form of the upcoming "BK3" album. An all star cast of contributing musicians make guest appearances on BK3 and help to make this record Bruce’s most eclectic work to date. Speaking with Bruce recently; the talented guitarist took the time to talk BK3 and reflect on his long running career; from playing lead guitar in Meatloaf on the "Bat Out of Hell" tour, to recording and touring the world with KISS, and everything in between that will lead you as a listener to his latest work.

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Wacken Open Air 2008

Once again tens of thousands of lunatic metal freaks travelled from all over the world to the small German village located in the middle of the beautiful northern German countryside. The small peaceful Wacken literally goes upside down when nearly 80.000 conquer the village during one weekend in a year. Wacken Open Air celebrated its 19th birthday from the 31st of July to the 2nd of August, whose biggest headliner ever in the history of Wacken was Iron Maiden. Despite Iron Maiden being the biggest name on the bill, however there were tons of other interesting and fascinating names.

Brat: The mass convergence of catholic youth in Sydney for World Youth Day the week Ray and I left brought a smile to my face and a feeling of warmth as I realised it wouldn’t be long until I was part of a similar pilgrimage but to Hamburg Germany and with two major differences—where Sydney was awash with colourful youth, Hamburg would be invaded by a swarm of black; and the trolley suitcases carrying clothing would instead be trolleys full of beer; songs of the gospel would be replaced by metal anthems. They came to worship at the cross—we to worship at the flaming longhorn but we all would display our nations’ flags proudly.

Tickets for W:O:A 2008 sold phenomenally fast. The special edition X-mas pack with extra goodie bag sold out before I could take a long breath after my 2007 trip. By February the official festival ticket seller was “SOLD OUT”. Suddenly the ebay market was flooded with tickets with one ticket reaching a record price of 800 British Pounds—obscene. Even in July with less than 1 month before the festival, there was an average of 5 new listings a day for tickets, which nullified all “SOLD OUT” credibility. (Brat)

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AVANTASIA

Live in Mexico City 06/15/08

Live Photos & Review by: Vanessa De Campos

Maybe Tobias Sammet underlined his name in the Metal market when rumors flooded the internet about his "strong consideration" in undergoing a sex change in 2005. Maybe it was just Edguy’s fist full of energetic German Power Metal that left fans and newbies thirsting for more. Whatever makes you think of Tobi – by rumors, because you’re a long time fan, or as a devoted hater of cheesy Power Metal, one thing is certain, don’t cut the guy short for his creative song writing, his immense stage presence and his talent.

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Tobias Sammet is currently one of Metal’s most engaging personalities. His work with Edguy has taken him to all corners of the world and has proven to be highly successful. However in 2001 Tobias surprised the Metal community with a project called Avantasia and the release of THE METAL OPERA PART 1 was a massive gift to fans. The album bought together a host of Power Metal’s greatest stars, the highlight being that Tobias was able to entice vocalist Michael Kiske back from a self imposed Metal exile. THE METAL OPERA PART 2 followed in 2002 and now we have the latest installment, THE SCARECROW. A different album in many ways THE SCARECROW shows another side of Tobias with many tracks leaning towards a Rock format, more so than ever before. It’s a great album nevertheless made even better with guest appearances from Eric Singer on drums and Alice Cooper on vocals. Michael makes a return as do a number of artist from the first two albums, so do check it out if you haven’t already. I had the opportunity to chat to Tobias and as always he was amicable and ready to talk.

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Gamma Ray’s Kai Hansen

Interviewed by EvilG

Transcription by Alxs / Live Pics By Arto Lehtinen & Hanntu

Kai Hansen is easily one of the best frontmen in heavy metal today. I recently caught up with my idol (ha) to talk about the band’s latest masterpiece LAND OF THE FTEE II and other things going on in the land of Gamma Ray. Since our conversation it was announced that Gamma Ray and Helloween would be making a stop at this year’s ProgPower USA festival. Plans for this to be more than a one city stop haven’t been announced yet but even when I spoke to him he said they were working on it…so lets hope it works out! Anyway, enough from me, onto the interview…… Prepare for glory!

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Eric Singer

ERIC SINGER

INTERVIEW AND PICTURES BY MARKO SYRJALA

Additional questions and transcription by Jani “Ozzy” Salo

Legendary drummer Eric Singer first rose to fame playing drums on Lita Ford’s DANCIN’ ON THE EDGE tour back in 1984. Subsequently he joined up with Tony Iommi and played on two classic Black Sabbath albums, SEVENTH STAR in 1986 and THE ETERNAL IDOL the following year. Thereupon he toured the world with Gary Moore before reuniting with his old Black Sabbath colleague Ray Gillen in Badlands. In quick succession he hooked up with Alice Cooper for some touring before stepping in to replace the ailing Eric Carr in KISS and proceeding to record the classic REVENGE album in 1992 and the follow up CARNIVAL OF SOULS in 1997 as well as the live albums ALIVE III in 1993 and MTV UNPLUGGED in 1996. More recently he has, in addition to touring with both KISS and Alice Cooper, appeared on Alice’s BRUTAL PLANET album in 2000 and THE EYES OF ALICE COOPER album in 2003. He has also toured and put out albums with ESP (Eric Singer Project) and worked with Tobias Sammet’s Avantasia, Gilby Clarke and that’s not all… read all about it in this forthright interview.

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Vocalist Sharon Den Adel

Interview by Lord of The Wasteland

(***Transcription by Claudia with extra questions from Mortuai; Wacken Open Air 2005 live pics by Brat)

It’s taken the band ten years but Holland’s Within Temptation is finally getting some long-overdue exposure here in North America.  Their fifth album, THE HEART OF EVERYTHING, is being released domestically in July on Roadrunner Records and the band also just landed a string of dates supporting Lacuna Coil through May and June.

Speaking with vocalist Sharon Den Adel prior Within Temptation’s show in Montreal on May 13th, I got her thoughts on the band’s first trip to our shores, “The Hottest Chicks In Metal” tour, comparisons to Evanescence and the influence of Celtic music on her band.

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