GLEN DROVER Quits GEOFF TATE's QUEENSRŸCHE

 

Former MEGADETH and KING DIAMOND guitarist Glen Drover has left the Geoff Tate-fronted version of QUEENSRŸCHE before playing a single show with the band. He says in a statement: "I
am really sorry to say that I have decided to bow out of Geoff Tate's QUEENSRŸCHE. I was very excited about doing this gig initially, but learned in the
past week or so that it's in my best interest not to do this right now. I feel really bad for those who were excited about the idea, and to Geoff himself, who, I have to say, was very nice to me on my past trip to
Seattle. I, of course, am very disappointed for arriving at this point,
and making this decision, to say the least. I sincerely wish the Geoff and the band all the luck on what they do in the future."

Tate, who was fired from QUEENSRŸCHE in June after fronting the group for three decades, recently sought to
prevent his former bandmates from touring and operating under the QUEENSRŸCHE name without him. While ruling against Tate, the presiding judge determined that there was no legal hurdle in Tate also using the name with an all-new lineup of musicians. "I don't see any reason that Mr. Tate can't have the benefit, if he gets other members, of whatever name he uses of using the brand," Superior Court Judge Carol A. Schapira said during the July 13 court hearing. "I think [doing that would be]
inherently confusing, although I'm sure the market can get these things
sorted out," she added.

On September 2, Tate announced that he was launching his own version of QUEENSRŸCHE with RATT drummer Bobby Blotzer, former QUIET RIOT, OZZY OSBOURNE and WHITESNAKE bassist Rudy Sarzo and Drover. Also on board in the new group are returning QUEENSRŸCHE guitarist Kelly Gray — who played with the band from 1998 until 2001 and also produced several of their albums — and keyboardist Randy Gane, who has toured and recorded with QUEENSRŸCHE and Geoff's solo group in the past.

In a recent interview with Screamer Magazine, Geoff stated about how he recruited Drover for his version of QUEENSRŸCHE: "Glen I've known for a while and I came at him more as a fan. I love his
guitar playing. He's just a really special guitar player and a very
fluid player. And I thought that he and Kelly Gray would be a really interesting guitar team because they're complete opposites in their style. Glen is very fluid and Kelly, every time he picks up a guitar he picks a fight with it — it's just
this chunky, kind of forceful style — and I thought that would be an
interesting juxtaposition of styles."

JOLLY - Hurricane Sandy Completely Destroyed Band Equipment: Band Kicks Off Indiegogo Help Fund Campaign

JOLLY - Hurricane Sandy Completely Destroyed Band Equipment: Band Kicks Off Indiegogo Help Fund Campaign

American rock act JOLLY suffered severely from hurricane Sandy in New York. JOLLY has been working on recording their second studio album Audio Guide To Happiness, Part II, but hurricane Sandy completely destroyed the band's rehearsal room and drummer Louis Abramson's studio. All of the band's equipment was ruined by the massive flooding of the enormous storm. In March 2013, JOLLY is planning to go on tour with label-mates RIVERSIDE. They are currently asking for help from their friends and fans and have set up a rescue fund to finance the new band equipment and the reconstruction of the studio, so the European tour can take place next year and they can finish the recording of their album. Depending on the donated sum, the band is offering different thank-you gifts to the donors. JOLLY uploaded a video, showing the entire extent of the damage: http://youtu.be/0dKQA5yDfJ0  Find more details about the Indiegogo campaign and donation possibilities here: http://www.indiegogo.com/jollyband JOLLY ONLINE: http://www.jollyband.com http://www.facebook.com/JOLLYBAND https://twitter.com/jollyband http://www.myspace.com/jollyband   INSIDEOUTMUSIC ONLINE: www.insideoutmusic.com www.youtube.com/InsideOutMusicTV www.facebook.com/InsideOutMusic

OPETH Frontman Discusses Band's First-Ever 'Unplugged' Concert

 

Roadrunner Records recently conducted an interview with guitarist/vocalist Mikael Åkerfeldt of Swedish progressive metallers OPETH. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

Roadrunner Records: You played what was described as your first-ever "unplugged" show
earlier this month at Union Chapel in London, but you were playing
electric instruments, so how was it different from a regular OPETH gig?

Mikael: Well, none of the so-called "unplugged" shows are really unplugged, because there's always microphones [laughs], even if you've got acoustic guitars. But we just played some more
mellow stuff, I guess. We've got a bunch of those songs, so it was kind
of easy for us to do that. The problem we had was that the dB limit in
Union Chapel, where we played, was 85 dB, so we had to have the amps on
really low. That was the only problem that we noticed, really. Other
than that, it was fun. It was a bit like throwing ourselves off a cliff
in a way, because out of the 10 or 11 songs that we played, I think half of them were songs we'd never played before. So it was interesting. But it went really well. I was quite happy with it.

Roadrunner Records: One of the songs you played was a cover of "Var Kommer Barnen In" by HANSSON DE WOLFE UNITED, who are pretty much unknown outside of Sweden. Could you talk about that song a little?

Mikael: Well, they're not really all that well known in Sweden, either, because they were active in the early '80s, and it's a bit of an odd song — I
guess a lot of people expect us to cover a KING CRIMSON song, or a VAN DER GRAAF GENERATOR song or something like that, but I just love that song, you know? I guess I got the idea from Jonas [Renkse], my best friend, in KATATONIA, who played me that song. I'd heard it before, but he played it for me
and said, "I'd love to cover this song," and I was like, "Ah, I want to
do that too," because I loved it. So I asked him, "Are you gonna do
that?" and he was like, "No, no, no, we're not gonna do it, you can do
it," so we did it instead. They're not really well known — it's a bunch
of geeks, basically; I'm not sure what scene they were connected to in
the early '80s, but there were quite a few of those melancholic bands
singing in Swedish back in those days, and they were one of them, and
they were not really famous. I think they might have reunited to do a
tour a couple of years back, I'm not sure what they're doing. But
they're quite obscure, even in Sweden. And the reason why we did it was
not to be really difficult and obscure, it was just that I love the song and everybody in the band thought we could do a really good version of
it. Which I think we did. So it was fun to do one of those covers from a band that's just completely unknown, and as far as I know we've never
done anything in our native language, apart from the cover that we did a while back for the "Watershed" record ["Den Ständiga Resan", by MARIE FREDRIKSSON]. We'd definitely never played anything live [in Swedish]. So that was fun.

Roadrunner Records: You're doing two more shows like this, in Germany; are you filming or recording these shows at all?

Mikael: We bought some type of rig, so we can record every show. I'm not sure
if we're recording every show, but we did record the London show, and
we're probably gonna continue recording whenever we can. But I'm not
sure what we're doing with that stuff, to be honest. It's always good to have material, and maybe further down the line, if we have a bunch of
shows recorded we can pick and choose the best segments of the shows and maybe put something out, but we don't know yet.

Roadrunner Records: Your tour ends December 9; what are your plans for 2013? Will you be returning to the U.S., or will you be writing again?

Mikael: Yeah, we're probably returning. We still have a few details to work
out, but we were supposed to be in the U.S. in the fall and we didn't do it, so we're gonna be in the U.S. in the spring, I think. But it's not
completely settled yet, so I'm not sure — I can't say 100 percent that
we're gonna be there. But 90 percent sure, we're going on a North
American tour, which will be the last lengthy tour that we do for this
record. We're also doing a few shows down in Australia and Japan and
perhaps South America and some summer festivals as well, but generally
it's gonna wind down after May of next year.

JOE LYNN TURNER Has 'No Idea' If He Will Be Included In Possible PURPLE 'Rock Hall' Induction

 

Robert Cavuoto of Guitar International recently conducted an interview with legendary singer Joe Lynn Turner's (RAINBOW, DEEP PURPLE, YNGWIE MALMSTEEN). An excerpt from the chat follows below.

Guitar International: What was it like to be in the RAINBOW legacy and perform the Ronnie James Dio songs?

Joe Lynn Turner: I loved doing the Dio songs. I grew up listening to him, David Coverdale and Ian Gillan. I performed a lot of those songs in cover bands, but to be standing on the stage next to Ritchie Blackmore was a whole other level, of course.

Guitar International: Your legacy in RAINBOW spawned the most video and commercial radio hits for the band. Was that the intent?

Joe Lynn Turner: That's was the actual design of it. We were supposed to be more commercial. When Ritchie got me in the band, he point-blank told me that we were going after a
commercial market. Other bands on the label were going that way like DEF LEPPARD who were getting played on the radio. Ritchie wanted to get played on the radio too. I said then let's go after
their throats; we are going to write songs that are hook, line, and
sinker hits. That was mission and we accomplished it.

Guitar International: Do you still keep in touch with Ritchie?

Joe Lynn Turner: Not much. It's pretty difficult with the whole personality thing. It
could be one line in an e-mail. I could send an email saying
congratulations on this or that and he would write back, "Thanks." [laughs]

Guitar International: Do you have any insight into the DEEP PURPLE Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame induction?

Joe Lynn Turner: I have read that he was not going to attend. He was never one of those
guys that believe he needed an award. In a way, I respect that. There
are a lot of people that think it is a scam, money and politically
oriented. So I understand what he means.

Guitar International: I ask because you were in DEEP PURPLE and was wondering if you were going to be included in the induction?

Joe Lynn Turner: That would be interesting. I really have no idea. I have no idea which of the other members of DEEP PURPLE will be included. I don't know if it's just the Mach 5 lineup. DEEP PURPLE is a band that had a lot of members run through it. I haven't really
pursued it or tried to find out, because I'm personally half and half
about it. I have a little bit of Blackmore's attitude in the sense that DEEP PURPLE should have been in 20 years ago. What's that all about?

RUSH Leads Fan Voting For 2013 Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame

 

With about one week left to let fans' voices be heard for the first time on who deserves to get into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame next year, RUSH has pulled in nearly a quarter of the votes at 24.3%, followed by DEEP PURPLE at 17.1%. HEART is third with 12.4% of the votes cast.

Although
the public vote could influence the outcome of who is inducted and who
isn't, it will most likely be used only as a tie-breaker. The top five
acts will comprise a "fan's ballot" that will count as one of the more
than 600 ballots that determine the Class Of 2013. The results will be
announced in mid-December.

RUSH has been eligible for the honor since 1999, 25 years after the release of the band's self-titled debut album.

"I'm really happy for the RUSH fans who feel that it is really important, and I hope we're inducted for their sake," RUSH guitarist Alex Lifeson told NorthJersey.com. "Personally it never really mattered to me, but at the same time it's nice to be nominated."

According to Lifeson, the Rock Hall induction would pale in comparison to the band's having received one of the prestigious Governor General's Performing Arts Awards for Lifetime Artistic Achievement in March, the highest honor bestowed on artists by the Canadian government.

"The acknowledgement we got from the Canadian government, and by extension Canadians, is very dear to us," Lifeson said. "The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame is more a popularity contest."

The
April 18, 2013 event is set for Nokia Theater in Los Angeles, marking
the first time the ceremony will be held in the city since 1993. HBO will tape the show for broadcast at a later date.