Metallica To Headline Two Nights Of Sonic Temple Festival

It's all happening! Metallica will headline the Friday and Sunday nights of Sonic Temple Festival in Columbus, Ohio this coming May. It's a no repeat weekend! Their support will be Rob Zombie on Friday night and Alice in Chains on Sunday.

Earlier today, Sonic Temple organizers announced that Killswitch Engage would also appear. Bands will be announced regularly for the next few months. Organizers promise the biggest fest ever.

Tickets go on sale next week. The festival is set for May 8,9,10 and 11 at historic Crew Stadium.

'Nothin' But A Good Time: The Uncensored Story of '80s Hair Metal' Part II

Part two of Nothin’ But A Good Time: The Uncensored Story of '80s Hair Metal picks up right where segment one left off. Called “The Second Wave,” the middle years of the Sunset Strip hey day are covered, including a look at workhorses Poison and the rise of Guns n’ Roses.

[RELATED: Part One recap and review]

Bret Michaels is actually a featured interview in this segment, making him one of the biggest names from the era to appear in the film. There’s also interviews from Don Dokken and Phil Collen of Def Leppard. 

Bret talks about writing “Every Rose Has Its Thorn,” the famous green paper that Poison got a great deal on to flyer the town and explained how Poison would always go back to the Strip at 4 a.m. and cover up ads from other bands.

Warrant’s Steven Sweet talks about power ballads and says he likes more than one on an album. He also admits the video for “Cherry Pie” was (is) misogynistic (no kidding). There’s plenty of “How did we let them [male artists] get away with this?” questioning going on and a recognition that it was nearly impossible for female rockers to get record deals at the time. Vixen is featured in this segment, explaining some of that frustration.

Filmmaker Penelope Spheeris and Riki Rachtman also add commentary, with Rachtman especially talking about the crazy club scene and his own Cathouse (shared with Taime Downe of Faster Pussycat fame). I’ve always wondered where Rachtman and Downe got the money to open Cathouse considering they were roomies at the time and thus splitting living costs. Anyway, there’s an animation of the famous fight between Axl Rose and David Bowie that went down at the Cathouse… with Axl chasing Bowie out the door and down the road.

Surprisingly, this middle section of the documentary features a nice segment on Hanoi Rocks, an interview with singer Michael Monroe and recap of Vince Neil’s car accident that killed Hanoi drummer Razzle. Hanoi Rocks did have an outsized impact on the Glam bands we love – but it seems they are forgotten in a lot of 80s retrospectives. It was good to see them included here.

Another fun 45 minutes. Stream it on Paramount+.

Stream It: 'Nothin’ But A Good Time: The Uncensored Story of ‘80s Hair Metal' Part 1

The three-part documentary, Nothin’ But A Good Time: The Uncensored Story of ‘80s Hair Metal finally premiered on Paramount+ yesterday! I watched part one and I was more entertained than I had expected. The documentary is based on the non-fiction book of the same name and does feature commentary by authors Tom Beaujour and Richard Bienstock. The doc is directed by Jeff Tremaine.

Not surprisingly, most of part 1 hinges on the very early beginnings of Sunset Strip glam. In fact, this section is simply called “The Sunset Strip.” There’s a look back at how rock was struggling in the 70s and how record labels were obsessed with new wave acts. Motley Crue and Quiet Riot get a huge portion of this first section since they were pioneers of the look and lifestyle of the heyday. WASP also gets a nice bit of airplay, even interviewing an individual who helped Blackie Lawless develop his saw-like costume pieces. They really were (are!?!) made of metal and developed at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory!

The series is smart in using cartoons to illustrate stories that have no video, like Jack Russell’s criminal history and incarceration for robbery and shooting a woman (she didn’t die) to Motley Crue biting all sorts of people like Eddie Van Halen.

There are musician interviews of course but also commentary from insiders like Tom Zutaut, Alan Niven and Doc McGhee – the usual suspects as it were.

Part one is about 45 minutes long. I didn’t check but I will assume the other two parts clock in at around the same. I am looking forward to watching part two, which I believe focuses a lot on Poison and is called “The Second Wave.”

Rikki Rockett Announces New Band

The Rockett Mafia is the new band by Poison's drummer Rikki Rockett. The band also features Brandon Gibbs (Hoekstra/Gibbs), Mick Sweda (BulletBoys) and Bryan Kimes.

No more details are available yet but I assume we'll get new music and some shows out of this. Hopefully soon!

Another Las Vegas Residency: This Time STYX (Again)

STYX will do a short residency at The Venetian in Las Vegas starting in January. Tickets go on sale Friday, continuing the trend of little advanced warning before on-sale dates.

The band has done a residency at The Venetian in the past, so these new dates are not a surprise.

Mike Tramp, 'The Road To Valhalla' -- New Music

From Songs of White Lion: Vol. II, Mike Tramp brings us a reimagined "The Road To Valhalla." The song originally appeared on the 1985 release Fight to Survive. In mythology, Valhalla is like a warrior's heaven. The new release is available via Frontiers.

Original:

'Awake' - Violent Breed, New Music

Violent Breed is a new band formed by bassist Brian Wheat of Tesla and new rock voice AleX. The group's debut single is called "Awake" and the official video came out yesterday. Also, guitarist Dave Rude (Tesla) played on the track as well.

From his book, it is pretty clear that Wheat likes to keep busy and he's always interested in finding new talent and making music. Wheat and AleX have been working together a long time, so the collaboration seems and feels natural. I would assume shows will happen sometime soon and obviously more music is coming.