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DEEP PURPLE's Ian Gillan and BLACK
SABBATH's Tony Iommi took everybody by surprise in 2011 by releasing a charity
single, "Out Of My Mind", renewing the collaboration that led the
pair to record an album in 1984, "Born Again", under the BLACK
SABBATH moniker. For the occasion, the two rock legends called a few friends
and were soon joined by Jason Newsted (METALLICA, VOIVOD, FLOTSAM AND JETSAM),
Jon Lord (DEEP PURPLE) and Nicko McBrain (IRON MAIDEN). Not only jamming
together for the sheer fun of things, this new project has united for a cause —
rebuilding and helping the music school in
Gyumari, Armenia. The single was a joyful and inspired moment. Iommi and Gillan
have now decided to make WHOCARES an album for their devoted fans. Classic
songs and a lot of rarities
and unreleased material in two CDs of fantastic rare music.
The single was a joyful and inspired moment. The spark to bring Iommi and
Gillan in a studio, together again was to finance the rebuilding of a music
school in Armenia they had visited together on various occasions in past years.
Far from being a spectacular charity project, WHOCARES was a nice gesture, done
with class, from two musicians with nothing to prove, willing to support music,
where music is considered a luxury.
"As I said once in the song 'Razzle Dazzle' (DEEP PURPLE's 'Bananas'
album), 'It's a real fine line between an orgy of destruction and a wonderful
time,'" Gillan tells PanArmenian.net about the forthcoming CD. "The
destruction of conformity in this case:
Some of these pieces never really fitted into their contemporary program and
got side-lined or forgotten, and some of the album tracks never had much
exposure. As the track listing for this album came together, I
noticed many of the titles had character similarities; a combination of
freshness as they finally felt the sun on their backs and rebellion in a 'yeah
told you so' kind of way. And that adds up to a wonderful time.
And that adds up to more money for the music school we are building in
Armenia."
"And what about WHOCARES… this ad-hoc benefit band put together by Tony
Iommi and myself on a flight home from Yerevan, where we'd been deeply
humbled by the honors and expectations bestowed upon us. Well that's it
really, in a nutshell, so to speak, what more can I say; it's all there
in the music."
Among the tracks set to appear on the upcoming album are the two original
WHOCARES songs; DEEP PURPLE's unreleased studio jam "Dick Pimple"; a
song from REPO DEPO (a band Ian Gillan formed before the DEEP PURPLE reunion
which never released any material); two previously unreleased songs from Tony
Iommi featuring Glenn Hughes; obscure collaborations, B-sides lost on
seven-inch vinyl; and exclusive live versions recorded live on radio.
The album is set for release on July 13 via earMUSIC..
CD1
01. WHOCARES "Out Of My Mind" (fi rst time on an album)
Featuring Jon Lord, Linde Lindström (HIM), Jason Newsted (METALLICA), Nicko
McBrain (IRON MAIDEN)
02. BLACK SABBATH "Zero The Hero"
03. Ian Gillan feat. Iommi, Ian Paice and Roger Glover "Trashed"
04. M. Rakintzis feat. Ian Gillan "Get Away" (fi rst release on a
Gillan album, only released in Greece before)
05. Tony Iommi feat. Glenn Hughes "Slip Away" (fi rst time on CD)
06. Gillan "Don’t Hold Me Back"
07. Ian Gillan "She Thinks It’s A Crime" (vinyl single B-side, fi rst
time on CD)
08. Repo Depo feat. Ian Gillan "Easy Come, Easy Go" (previously
unreleased)
09. DEEP PURPLE feat. Ronnie James Dio "Smoke On The Water" (live
with the Royal Philaarmonic Orchestra)
CD2
01. WHOCARES "Holy Water" (fi rst time on an album)
Featuring Jon Lord, Linde Lindström (HIM), Jason Newsted (METALLICA), Nicko
McBrain (IRON MAIDEN)
02. BLACK SABBATH "Anno Mundi"
03. Tony Iommi feat. Glenn Hughes "Let it Down Easy" (fi rst time on
CD)
04. Ian Gillan "Hole in My Vest" (7" vinyl single B-side, fi rst
time on CD)
05. Gillan & Glover feat. Dr. John "Can’t Believe You Wanna Leave
me"
06. Ian Gillan & The Javelins "Can I Get A Witness"
07. Garth Rockett & The Moonshiners aka IG "No Laughing in
Heaven" (rare track)
08. Ian Gillan "When A Blind Man Cries" (Live at Absolute Radio,
previously unreleased)
09. DEEP PURPLE "Dick Pimple"
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.
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.
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.
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."
