Acey Slade and the Dark Party Announce Tour

I'm a big Acey Slade fan - you should be too! If you live in Europe, you can see him and his band The Dark Party our tour. Here's a release:

This month sees the long awaited return to European shores for ACEY SLADE & THE DARK PARTY. This will be the bands first full tour in support of their debut album The Dark Party which was released earlier this year on TrashPit Records to endless rave reviews all over the world and also sees the band on first time visits to Ireland, Germany and the Czech Republic.

The Reptile House Tour 2010 will give the band's hordes of fans the chance to hear new material in it's raw, live format and promises to build on last years successful live shows which won the band an award at the prestigious Pure Rawk Awards in London.

"The Dark Party album seems to be the perfect soundtrack for late night decadence" explains Acey, whose band mates include Andee (Guitar), Per C (Bass & Keyboards) and new drummer Matt Kepler. "Matt really is bringing the band together as players and people" reveals the front man.

With the promise of a totally new set list including songs from Acey's past, never before performed album tracks and even brand new material, The Reptile House Tour is something European Fans do not want to miss.

"The UK is ALWAYS the best, and playing Ireland for the first time only makes it better. I'm looking forward to seeing if Germany and The Czech Republic can keep up!"

Prior to their overseas trip the band have revealed they will be appearing at the Triton Festival in New York City on Sunday, September 5th and Acey has also contributed to the soon to be infamous new book 'Sex Tips From Rockstars' by Paul Miles which will be on sale at the live shows!

The Reptile House European Tour 2010

September 21st - The Fleece, Bristol
September 22nd - Joiners, Southampton
September 23rd - Purple Turtle, London
September 24th - Craufurd Arms, Milton Keynes
September 25th - The Central, Nottingham *TRASHSTOCK Headliners*
September 26th - The Asylum, Birmingham
September 27th - Corporation, Sheffield
September 29th - Baker's Bar, Limerick
September 30th - Filthy McNastys, Belfast
October 1st - Stereo, York
October 2nd - New Gasworks, Bradford
October 3rd - Yardbirds, Grimsby
October 5th - The Sugarmill, Stoke
October 6th - Moho, Manchester
October 7th - K-17, Berlin
October 8th - Kaiserkeller/Grosse Freiheit 36, Hamburg
October 9th - TBA, Germany
October 10th - Matrix, Prague CZ

Click for more information.



I Guess Red Siren Were Rock...

Truth: I have no knowledge of the band Red Siren. I saw them pop up on YouTube and was curious. The song "All is Forgiven" is bad pop but the video is very traditional "glam" and the band has a Heavy Harmonies page, so...

Do you remember this band? I believe they were (are?) also known as Siren. The band's debut All is Forgiven came out on Mercury/Polygram around 1990. I just thought this was an odd find and wanted to pass along...you probably know more about Red Siren than me, so if that's the case, fill me in via the comments section.

'Jet City Woman' - Acoustic Version

The guys in Queensryche are celebrating the 20th anniversary of Empire. A couple days ago, a radio station held a special event at a casino in Snoqualmie, Washington with the band to hype the 20th anniversary Empire package. The cool part is that Queensryche did some acoustic versions of their songs...including my favorite "Jet City Woman." I don't think I've ever heard "Jet City Woman" acoustic before...so I wanted to post here. The clip below has an interview on the front, so just weed through that part.

Bon Jovi to Play Free Concert

How cool is this? Bon Jovi and Brad Paisely will play free concerts to boost tourism on the Alabama coast after the Gulf oil spill. It's all part of "Concerts for the Coast."

Bon Jovi will play October 15 while Brad Paisley's show will take place October 17. The shows are wrapped around the Thunder on the Gulf Boat Races October 14 - 17.

"We are thrilled to announce the addition of these two concerts that will enhance an exciting weekend that already features the return of our powerboat races," said Herb Malone, president/CEO of Gulf Shores & Orange Beach Tourism. "We are extremely pleased that fans will have a weekend filled with exciting race action and capped off with two nights of phenomenal beachside music."

Even though the concerts are free, you need a ticket to attend. You can get a ticket as part of a lodging package. Tickets are available starting September 8. Check here for more information and let me know if you're going to the show!

Let's Stay Relevant

My friend Vince Neilstein over at MetalSucks wrote a great opinion piece the other day about Iron Maiden's strong album sales and staying relevant. Do yourself a favor, take two minutes and give it a read.

Vince's thesis is this: a band can stay relevant by consistently releasing new music and playing it live. That is, not pandering to fans only screaming for the hits and not falling prey to laziness of the same set night after night. Down with lowest common denominator metal!

So many of us complain about seeing the same set over and over. Think about Poison. We all love them here - they created some of the best party songs of the genre - but the set is tired. You go to a Poison show, you're going for the atmosphere and not the music. You already know what you're going to hear...and probably in what order, too! What if the guys in Poison - and I mean all four of them - set out to write a really strong album of all new material...and then made the commitment to at least play half those new songs live? Would you be interested?

Artists have the right to change up their shows any way they want for their own benefit. I know musicians that are sick to death of their so-called "hits" but fear riots if a popular song is dropped. Fans might be riled at first. Or they might appreciate a band attempting to stay relevant well into a long career.

I think it's time we have a frank discussion about bands and relevancy around here and Vince's article is a great jumping-off point. How do we get kids interested in bands like Motley Crue and Def Leppard? I firmly believe if Iron Maiden can make strong, new records and sell-out arenas, others can follow. But, work is hard and going through the motions is easy. It doesn't take much thought to repackage and repurpose a greatest hits album nor does it take much effort to dust off the same old set list. I'm in total agreeance that Iron Maiden works for their position as kings of metal. Let's all learn from them.

Jani Lane Steps in for Jack Russell...

I'm usually upbeat here. I love Glam bands. The music is part of my childhood and also helped me find many like-minded friends as an adult. Still, some things have to be criticized. Some ideas are just so bad, you have to shake your head and go..."What?"

It's been confirmed that Jani Lane will step in for Jack Russell at more than 10 upcoming Great White shows. (Jack is recovering from major surgery after suffering a perforated bowel). At one of the shows Warrant is opening. I'll get to that point in a minute. First, you may recall my post from last week about band's and retirement. Great White was the main topic of discussion there. My good pal Kenny Ozz said he had heard that Jani was stepping in to front Great White but I couldn't find any confirmation of this...until now. So here we are.

Great White + Jani Lane.

In normal days, a one-off of Great White and Jani might be cool. But here's the deal: I am having trouble separating my love for Jani's songwriting with his clear disdain for all other human life. No one with a conscience would continually get behind the wheel of a car and drive drunk. So Jani gets arrested for DUI (again) a couple months ago and was sentenced to jail. Is he out of trouble now? Did he serve due his time? Learn a lesson? Is he sober? Why can't we let him take care of his demons and get well before throwing him back into bars, surrounded by temptation?

I'm a 'live and let live' kind of girl. I say, do whatever you want on your own time and to your own body - but leave me out of it. When you get plastered and get in a car and drive down my street, I have a big problem with that. You're supposed to be in alcohol counseling but you get to go on tour instead? How is that fair?

Now, to the other issue of Jani fronting Great White. Again, a one off would be cool. But 12 dates? Won't people be annoyed if they are advertised a Great White show but don't get Jack on vocals? What about the show that has Warrant opening? How does that work? The guys in Warrant and Jani don't exactly get along anymore. Will one band be ushered  onstage while another waits, hidden in the wings -- separated like kids?

At what point does all this become high comedy? We all know "hair metal" is unfairly mocked. But when you start talking about a replacement singer fronting an opening act that was originally fronted by the replacement front man for the headline act it's all a bit much. Just writing that gave me a little bit of a headache so I hope I got it right. In short, I don't see how Jani will last 12 shows. It's a train wreck waiting to happen.

Here's the tour dates:

Sept 3, 2010 El Paso, TX Speaking Rock
Sept 4, 2010 Galveston, TX Moody Gardens Conv Cntr (with Night Ranger)
Sept 24, 2010 Bolingbrook, IL Tailgater's
Sept 25, 2010 Farmington, MN Rocktoberfest
Sept 26, 2010 Council Bluffs, IA Horseshoe Council Bluffs
Oct 1, 2010 Yuciapa, CA Angel's Roadhouse
Oct 2, 2010 Ramona, CA Ramona Mainstage
Oct 29, 2010 Redding, CA Harvest Festival 2010
Oct 30, 2010 Lewiston, ID Clearwater River Casino
Nov 6, 2010 Lisbon, Portugal "Live in Lisbon"
Nov 12, 2010 Medina, MN Medina Entertainment Center (with Warrant)
Dec 31, 2010 Tower, MN Fortune Bay Casino

I'm sure everyone disagrees with my opinion on this one. Oh well.

Here's a little clip of Jani singing with Warrant while drunk. This was at Rock the Bayou. I've got no problem posting this as I was there and witnessed this spectacle.

What if Fergie and Slash Formed a Band?

I'm not really into the Black Eyed Peas but I always dug Fergie when she was in Wild Orchid. That's neither here nor there. Slash played the Sunset Strip Music Festival over the weekend and Fergie helped him out. She has a great rock voice that's basically wasted in the Black Eyed Peas. I have to admit being impressed with Fergie and Slash's rendition of Heart's "Barracuda." Check it out:

I know it's trendy these days for rock bands to have a female singer. Too bad most of those bands are screamo and you can't really enjoy the vocals. Why can't we have a massive arena band featuring an icon like Slash and someone with a great set of pipes like Fergie? Of course, the obvious solution is to have Fergie front Velvet Revolver.

What do you think?