Hard News Page 3
2/8/99 Page 2
According to Net source Carrie Borzillo, Thirsty Ear, which has released albums from such left-of-center artists as BRIAN ENO, ADRIAN BELEW, and THE SWANS, is releasing Vivaldi: The Meeting by Lorenzo Arruga, Dave Lombardo, and Friends on May 4. The album is a seven-song suite, which includes the theme from one of Vivaldi's most famous works, Four Seasons. "It's my drumming with classical music. It's very strange, very strange," explains former SLAYER/present GRIP INC./FANTOMAS drummer Dave Lombardo. "I would listen to the song first, without drums, and then I would somewhat structure it in my mind and then jam with them, and they would feel out where I'm going. That's how we created it. They would use the Vivaldi elements and then I came in with the rock structuring and kind of helped them along, and I followed their structure too." Lombardo recorded the project over a three-day period in August in Mantova, Italy, which is just two hours outside of Milan. This is his first experience with classical music: "I was never into classical music," he admits. Watch for Grip Inc.'s Solidify later this month. Lombardo is also found bashing the skins on the new TESTAMENT album, The Gathering, due out in June.
LILLIAN AXE will be releasing their sixth full length album, Fields Of Yesterday, in May through Z Records. Recorded primarily between their 'Love + War' and 'Poetic Justice' albums (1989 - 1992) the fifteen songs on Fields Of Yesterday, have never been released. Frontman Ron Taylor says, "We're very excited putting out some of these unreleased songs that people have been asking about for years. Imagine having a new car and not being able to drive it and show it off; that's how we felt putting these songs together and not getting to share them with our fans. We're excited!" Guitarist and founding Lillian Axe member, Steve Blaze, comments, "Everytime I compose a song I'm giving the fans a piece of my soul. It's an utter waste to have these pieces lying dormant with noone to experience them", he continues. On the 15th of January, the members of Lillian Axe, with special guest drummer, Craig Nunemacher (CROWBAR, NEAR LIFE EXPERIENCE) took the stage together for the first time in over four years at the Galaxy Club in Dallas, TX to a packed crowd of over 500 screaming fans.
DREAM THEATER are starting work on their new studio album at Bear Tracks Studios in Suffern, New York. Doug Oberkircher will be the engineer. The album will be self-produced (mixer to be announced) and written and recorded spontaniously, much like LIQUID TENSION EXPERIMENT. Recording will probably last through to May. The band will take March off for the birth of Marlene and Mike Portnoy's son. The album will feature new keyboard player Jordan Rudess. The band will also try to incorporate a new version of 'Metropolis Part II' into the record. In related news, former DT keyboardist, DEREK SHERINIAN, who got the walking papers from the band recently, is busy working on his first solo album. Set for release in May on Magna Carta Records, it will feature guests such as bassist Tony Franklin (Blue Murder, The Firm) and drummer Virgil Donati.
RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE are rumoured to be co-headlining Ozzfest this summer with BLACK SABBATH. Other acts mentioned to share the main stage include RAMMSTEIN and ROB ZOMBIE. Net sources say that AC/DC and GUNS N' ROSES are believed to have already been asked to headline the tour and both declined the invite. Other bands mentioned to appear include MONSTER MAGNET, COAL CHAMBER, MACHINE HEAD, TYPE O NEGATIVE and SPINESHANK.
The new DEF LEPPARD album supposedly will be finished in two months and a world tour will begin in May. They'll start in Europe then hit the US and Canada in the summer. The Leps are set to play the final day of a three-day festival called the Classic Rock Weekend, slated for July 30 - August 1 in Minnedosa, Manitoba, Canada. Other bands to perform: LYNYRD SKYNYRD, STREETHEART, PRISM, LOVERBOY, NAZARETH, LEE AARON and THREE DOG NIGHT. For more on the festival check out www.classicrockweekend.com.
The once again reunited TNT - vocalist Tony Harnell left the band following the release of their comeback album Firefly only to return - are currently putting the finishing touches on their next album, which is scheduled to hit the streets in May. The disc is said to be a return back to the band's earlier albums without completely abandoning the more experimental side guitarist/mastermind Ronni Le Tekro pushed for on Firefly.
As reported by the PRNewswire, SAMMY HAGAR introduces his upcoming album Red Voodoo and his own Cabo Wabo brand of tequila during a string of performances at selected Hard Rock Cafes around the U.S.. The mini-tour wraps up in Sammy's home turf of San Francisco on March 23, the day Red Voodoo"lands in stores. The first single from the record is 'Mas Tequila'. Hagar's band includes guitarist Vic Johnson, drummer David Lauser, bassist Mona, and keyboardist Jesse Harms.
Former BLACK SABBATH vocalist TONY MARTIN has resurfaced in a band named THE CAGE whose Kit Woolven (THIN LIZZY, CRADLE OF FILTH) produced album is due out this month. The project is masterminded by well known Italian guitarist Dario Mollo and also features Fulvio Gazlini (bs), Ezio Secomandi (dr), and keyboard legend Don Airey (Rainbow, MSG, Ozzy). For more info go to: http://www.homecage.com.
SUPER TRANSATLANTIC, guitarist/singer/songwriter/producer Jason Bieler's SAIGON KICK offshoot, are the latest high profile act to make their music available for downloading at mp3.com. Full-length versions of four songs from the band's unreleased self-titled debut album, mixed by Jack Joseph Puig (BLACK CROWES, BIG WRECK, TONIC), can currently be sampled at the increasingly popular site. Self-described as "a car crash between Liberace and the Sex Pistols, if the Beatles were the paramedics", STA have been kicking for a little over a year and were briefly signed to MCA/Universal, but are now looking for a new label. Still no word on the fate of the next Saigon album, Bastards, which has been in limbo ever since the band turned the finished master in to their Japanese label, Pony Canyon, back in 1997 (!)...
BLUE OYSTER CULT will contribute a new, unreleased track to the Heavy Metal 2 soundtrack, which will be out in July...
The Atlanta-bred hard-rock band SEVENDUST plan to begin recording a new album in March...
METALLICA and performers from the original Woodstock, have been booked for the 30th anniversary celebration of Woodstock in Europe this summer. The festival will take place in Weiner Neustadt, Austria, July 16-18. 250,000 people are expected to view over 100 acts on two main stages. A week later, a second Woodstock 99 concert will occur in Saugerties, N.Y. The performers for that event, to run from July 23-25, have yet to be determined...
DOKKEN's Jeff Pilson told Metal Edge recently that new guitarist Reb Beach "has been our saving grace. He plays great and it feels so much better than it ever did, like night and day. It's a band for the first time"...