Followers

Thursday, June 21, 2012

OPETH Frontman Collaborates With Legendary GENESIS Guitarist



Mikael Åkerfeldt of Swedish progressive metallers OPETH has recorded some vocals in collaboration with legendary GENESIS guitarist Steve Hackett. Mikael is featured on a re-recording of the classic GENESIS mega-epos "Supper's Ready" from 1972's "Foxtrot" album. More information about the upcoming release will be released soon.

In other news, due to popular demand,Mikael has recorded a further eight shows for Swedish national radio. "De Bortglömda Mästerverken" (The Forgotten Masterpieces) is a series of shows where Mikael flips vinyl on air, playing mostly obscure progressive and psychedelic rock. The show is being produced by Andreas Matz for radio P4 and will start airing on July 15. You can also catch it online at www.sr.se.

OPETH recently completed a North America co-headlining tour with MASTODON. The trek kicked off on April 4 in Portland, Maine, and visited more
than 30 cities in the U.S. and Canada before wrapping up at Atlanta's
Masquerade on May 12.

OPETH's new album, "Heritage", sold 19,000 copies in the United States in its first week of release to debut at position No. 19 on The Billboard 200 chart. The band's
previous studio CD, 2008's "Watershed", opened with more than 19,000 units to land at No. 23.

"Watershed" was the follow-up to the band's acclaimed "Ghost Reveries" CD, which debuted at No. 64 on the Billboard chart back in September 2005 with first-week sales of just under 15,000.

OPETH's 2003 album, "Damnation", premiered with a little over 5,000 copies.

RITCHIE BLACKMORE, CANDICE NIGHT Welcome Second Child


 
Former DEEP PURPLE/RAINBOW and current BLACKMORE'S NIGHT guitarist Ritchie Blackmore (a.k.a. Richard Hugh) and his wife, BLACKMORE'S NIGHT singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist Candice Night (a.k.a. Candice Lauren), welcomed their second child, Rory Dartanyan, on February 7. The couple have a two-year old daughter, Autumn Esmerelda.

Ritchie, 67, and Candice, 41, were married on October 5, 2008 at a small gathering of friends and family at Castle on the Hudson in Tarrytown, New York.

The third BLACKMORE'S NIGHT DVD release, "A Knight In York", will be made available on DVD, Blu-ray, CD and 3-LP set (limited edtion) in late June/early July.

"A Knight In York" was filmed and recorded during BLACKMORE'S NIGHT's British tour at York Opera House on September 30, 2011.

BLACKMORE'S NIGHT's latest album, "Autumn Sky", came out in 2010.

HAWKWIND Founding Member JOHN HAMILTON Dies At Age 69


 
Cleopatra Records has released the following statement:

"With great sadness we wish to announce that John Harrison, founding bassist for legendary space rock band HAWKWIND, passed away in his sleep on May 26, 2012. John had been suffering from Huntington disease, having been diagnosed with it in 2005. At the time of his death, John was being cared for at Garden Crest clinic in Los Angeles. His
caregivers there reported that he passed peacefully at approximately 8
p.m. John would have been 70 on May 28.

"John's throbbing and inventive bass parts on the band's self-titled 1970 release laid the foundation for HAWKWIND's influential sound, both then and now. After his departure from the band, John also worked successfully as a producer and staff engineer at Village Recorders in Los Angeles."

Former HAWKWIND guitarist Huw Lloyd-Langton said in a statement: "John was an integral part of HAWKWIND's formation and eventual success. His honest, solid character and playing held the whole thing together in that first year of the group's
existence (in more ways than one)! All who worked with him and have
followed in his footsteps, i.e. Lemmy :) and all Hawkfans, old and young, wherever you are, owe him big-time! May he rock in peace wherever he is now!"

Huw recently guested on several Cleopatra releases, including a highly acclaimed BLACK KEYS tribute on a track with THE KINKS founding guitarist Dave Davies (Huw plays guitar, Dave sings lead vocals), and on "Love Reign O'er Me" for the eagerly awaited THE WHO tribute album that also features rock legends Rick Wakeman, Carmine Appice and DEF LEPPARD lead vocalist Joe Elliott.

RUSH Guitarist: 'We Really, Really Don't Care' About Being Inducted Into ROCK HALL


 
In a brand new interview with RollingStone.com, guitarist Alex Lifeson of Canadian rock legends RUSH was asked how he feels about having yet to be inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame. "Honestly, we really, really don't care about it," he replied. "It's
someone's thing, and they can do whatever they want with it. They can
have whomever they like. It's their thing." He added, "It's a little bit different here in Canada. We've received awards that mean an awful lot
more to us than being in the Hall Of Fame. We got the Governor General's Performing Arts Award a couple weeks ago. That's really the highest accolade you can get in
this country for the performing arts, and it's recognized nationally,
and I felt so proud as a Canadian to be in this esteemed group of
artists that have been there for the last 20 years."

When asked if he and his bandmates would show up at the ceremony if they were eventually chosen to be inducted into the Rock Hall, Lifeson said, "I think we'd consider it at the time and just see where we're
at. I mean, you don't want to be rude, and we're Canadians, and we find
it very difficult to be rude as much as we'd really like to. [Laughs] So we'd probably have to look at that one, if it ever came. I know there
must be pressure from their end. We keep going on and getting more
popular…

"Look, there are a lot of other bands that should be in there before we should be in there... If the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame doesn't want us in there, that's fine. I don't care. It really, really
doesn't matter at the end of the day. It's probably better left the way
it is. There's more controversy for them and for us."

OPETH Announces 'Swedish Heritage Tour 2012'


 
Swedish progressive metallers OPETH will embark on the "Swedish Heritage Tour 2012" in November. The dates are as follows:

Nov. 29 - KB - Malmo, Sweden
Nov. 30 - Katalin - Stockholm, Sweden
Dec. 01 - Club 700 - Örebro, Sweden
Dec. 02 - Nefertiti - Gothenburg, Sweden
Dec. 03 - Nefertiti - Gothenburg, Sweden
Dec. 04 - Sodra Teatern - Stockholm, Sweden
Dec. 05 - Sodra Teatern - Stockholm, Sweden
Dec. 06 - Maxim - Gävle, Sweden
Dec. 07 - Skandiateatern - Norrköping, Sweden


Metal Hammer TV conducted an interview with guitarist/vocalist Mikael Åkerfeldt of Swedish progressive metallers OPETH at this year's Download festival, which was held June 8-10 at Donington Park in Leicestershire, United Kingdom. You can now watch the chat below.

OPETH recently completed a North America co-headlining tour with MASTODON. The trek kicked off on April 4 in Portland, Maine, and visited more
than 30 cities in the U.S. and Canada before wrapping up at Atlanta's
Masquerade on May 12.

OPETH's new album, "Heritage", sold 19,000 copies in the United States in its first week of release to debut at position No. 19 on The Billboard 200 chart. The band's
previous studio CD, 2008's "Watershed", opened with more than 19,000 units to land at No. 23.

"Watershed" was the follow-up to the band's acclaimed "Ghost Reveries" CD, which debuted at No. 64 on the Billboard chart back in September 2005 with first-week sales of just under 15,000.

OPETH's 2003 album, "Damnation", premiered with a little over 5,000 copies.

When asked how OPETH planned to deliver the more technical songs from "Heritage" in the live show, vocalist/guitarist Mikael Åkerfeldt said in a 2011 interview, "I thought that might be a problem. But it's
not been difficult at all. The live versions of the new songs sound
closer to the originals than many of the other songs. We have a new
keyboard player who's really into the different sounds we create and
he's got lots of kit. When he plays, it's like he has four arms. He's
doing a lot to make sure the current live show is something very
special. But we'd never record anything that we didn't think we could
pull off live."