Another Search for the Next Big Band

A few months ago, we had "Make Rock History" thanks to Motley Crue and Guitar Center. Now, Myspace and Toyota are teaming up for their own competition. Here's the release:

MySpace, the world’s premiere social portal, in partnership with MySpace Records and Toyota Motor Sales (TMS), USA, Inc., today announced the official launch of Rock the Space, an exclusive competition encouraging unsigned bands or solo artists to submit an original song for the opportunity to score a recording contract with MySpace Records, the company’s full-service independent label. Beginning today through July 1, 2009, aspiring artists across the country can enter to win the chance of a lifetime by visiting Toyota’s MySpace Music profile for submission details and contest rules http://www.myspace.com/toyotamusic.

To enter the Rock the Space competition artists must submit an original mp3 demo. All entrants will have the opportunity to create a viral music widget with an easy embed code to help them spread their music across MySpace and the web. MySpace users can share in the experience by adding the music widgets to their profiles and posting comments on the Toyota Music profile. In July, MySpace Records will select five finalists who will be featured prominently on the Toyota Music profile and the MySpace community will vote to select the winner. The five finalists will receive a media allocation to promote themselves with My Ads targeted advertising throughout MySpace.

“Rock the Space allows the MySpace Music platform to do what it does best - enable new music and new artists to be discovered,” said Jeff Berman, President of Sales and Marketing for MySpace. “MySpace is excited to offer these artists a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and to take part in their journey from the very first step.”

The Rock the Space winner will be announced in September and will receive a recording contract as well as a $10,000 musical instrument prize package provided by Fender, the world’s leading guitar manufacturer. The winner’s song will also be available for download on the MySpace Music Home Page. The four runners-up win a MySpace Records Development Deal friends package.

You know what this means, right? That contests such as this one, "Make Rock History" and even American Idol are the new "showcase." Bands no longer need to play the same dive club 30 nights in a row for labels. Thanks to social media, bigger and more affluent opportunities exist to try and get bands hooked up with labels which can then generate sales. Pretty crazy when you think of all the changes in the industry - but really, mass marketing is the only way to succeed these days. 

Adam Lambert Loses 'American Idol,' The Glam Mistress Is Not Surprised

I’d like to say that Adam losing the title of American Idol shocked me – but it doesn’t. After all, this is America: the land of the free and home of the brave. If you are middle of the road “normal” you’ll be embraced. In America, mediocrity is king.

Kris Allen, often referred to as “that other guy” by every legitimate artist in the business will have a fine career. He’s not without talent: the guy can sing in his own, laid back style. He’s not a star, he’s not a super talent, he’s safe.

A lot of people were surprised at my enthusiastic support for Lambert. There’s no denying the guy can out sing anybody – but he’s so much more than that. For everyone that thinks Adam is a phony or cocky, I disagree, but that is neither here nor there. I don’t know Adam and neither do you – so really such arguments have no merit. Since American Idol has evolved to the largest popularity contest in the world, we need to look at both Allen and Lambert as the entire package: excellent vocal chords aside.

So much has been written about Lambert over the past three months. In short, Adam became a media darling, thanks in large part to his immense talent, but also for his good looks and interesting back story. See, Allen is a cheerful newlywed from nowheresville USA. Lambert is an over-the-top androgynous creature from Los Angeles. What a lot of casual fans don’t know about Lambert is that he’s been trying to make it in music for years – and that includes singing in off-Broadway productions, in cabarets, at Bar Mitzvahs and in a band on the Sunset Strip. Yep, Adam is the lead singer for a band called The Citizen Vein and he’s played in some of the same clubs as our beloved Glam heroes.

Moreover, Adam didn’t need to be styled for the stage. What you see is what you get: a man who likes to experiment with stage persona, to match song to performance. Sounds like a star to me. That voice certainly doesn’t hurt anything.

A lot of people will immediately point to Adam’s sexuality as to why he lost the prize. I don’t discuss a person’s sexual orientation on this site, but I will say this: I’ve never understood why straight people would want to keep others from the same rights and happiness? Why is it better for a straight person to get married and divorced six or seven times, but Glam forbid someone else from choosing one life partner and being happy. I guess unhappiness is next to godliness in some people’s eyes.

But maybe that’s the point. Maybe America really is just a backward nation, where the ones with the loudest voices and biggest platforms – and Bill O’Reilly, I’m looking at you here – always prevail. I think America made a giant step forward electing Obama to the presidency – but please believe he benefited a lot from the anti-Bush vote. You know, the “anyone but another Republican” mentality – and that isn’t great either. Republicans are not the enemy, any more than Democrats are a bunch of freewheeling baby killers. It’s all perspective. I have no doubt in my mind Kris won because of the Christian “anyone but a gay Jew” vote. I also wholeheartedly believe Kris has millions of fans who genuinely prefer his voice. Is he a better singer than Adam? No, not by a long shot. Then again, American Idol has never been about the voice: it’s always been about the most popular kid in school.

The real contest begins in a few months when Adam and Kris hit the studio to record their debut albums. There’s no doubt both will be on the opposite end of the rock spectrum, with Kris sounding exactly like Jason Mraz and Adam sounding like...well, no one knows what Adam will do. That’s the endgame right there: far too many people would rather go with what they know instead of the unknown.

Being different is always, undeniably, METAL. Good luck Adam!

Kiss with Adam Lambert - American Idol Season Finale

Win a Copy of 'Gipsy Lady' by Michael Schenker and Gary Barden!

Michael Schenker is back with a new, acoustic album. It's sort of a different sound for the guitar god. Gipsy Lady is a new collaboration between Schenker and Gary Barden. Barden goes way back to the One Night at Budokan Days, so I'm sure you're familiar with his voice. At any rate, you can read my review and interview with Michael Schenker here.

I'm giving away a copy of Gipsy Lady. If you're a Schenker fan, this contest is for you! To enter the drawing, send an email to allyson@bringbackglam.com. Write "Gipsy Lady" in the subject line. In your email, please tell me your real name and mailing address. Enter by 11:59 pm ET on May 22. Good luck.

'American Idol' Final Competition Tonight – Vote for Adam!

Guess what? Josh Todd of Buckcherry loves Adam Lambert and I bet he’d want you to vote for Adam tonight! Read my article about Josh and Adam by clicking here.

Tonight is the final “sing off” on American Idol season 8, featuring Adam Lambert and Kris Allen. I’m sure Kris is a great guy. He even has some talent and seems to love acoustic guitar. That said, he’s way out of his league here and Adam deserves to win. Voter complacency will help Kris win because everyone thinks Adam has the competition locked up – not so - you need to vote!

Adam lost the coin toss, so he’s performing first. Both contestants will do three songs each: a reprise performance (which sucks, but whatever), a producer’s choice and the official American Idol single. Adam’s number to vote will be 1–866–IDOLS-01, 1–866–IDOLS-03 or 1–866–IDOLS-05. The call is free.

I fully expect each and every one of you to vote at least once for Adam if for no other reason but to piss off Kris fans. Pissing people off is Metal, right? Look, I support all musicians to a point, but the time has come to choose sides and Adam has a rock voice and can really make a go of it in the music world. I don’t care that I’m being totally biased at this point. Just vote for Adam. Don’t make me cry.

American Idol airs tonight at 8 pm ET on Fox. Following the show, phone lines will be open four hours = plenty time to vote.

Photo credit: Adam Lambert, no copyright assumed. 

Rock on the Range Day 2 Review

Rock on the Range Day 2 – Columbus Crew Stadium – May 17

The second day of Rock on the Range 2009 featured more of what I’ll call “Bring Back Glam” friendly bands. You know: Motley Crue, Avenged Sevenfold, Charm City Devils, Shinedown and Buckcherry. In other words: the day kicked much ass.

Oh, and I totally hung out with Tommy Lee and Mick Mars in their dressing room, but we’ll get there.

So, the day started early with some greasy breakfast food, some voicemails from a few publicists and Hoobastank. Once inside the festival, we went on a pilgrimage to find festival hoodies (it was cold, people!) Alas, everything long sleeved was sold out.

You know what? Saving Abel does not suck. In fact, the crowd for them was darn huge and people were singing right along. I don’t know if I’d consider the band Glam exactly, but they are not alternative or heavy either. Maybe just middle of the road rock. At any rate, they were fun enough.

Sometimes fun things happen when you are in the right place at the right time. I had an appointment to meet with a relatively new band named Pop Evil back in the media area. I trek along and wait and find out the band was bumped earlier and I guessed I missed them. But lo and behold, I’m offered a sit down with Josh Todd of Buckcherry.

Score!

So, Josh and I talk about all things Adam Lambert, how he’s tired as hell and likes to box and jump rope to stay in shape. When I watch Buckcherry live several hours later, I see the boxer in Josh clear as a bell. Good times.

So I kill some time, check more voicemail and then I watch Baltimore-based Charm City Devils. Since I’ve had 24 hours to reflect on their show, I’ve decided it was pretty great. CCD were on the smallest of the three stages, but that’s ok. The newest band signed to Eleven Seven, Charm City Devils will hit the road with Motley Crue this summer for Crue Fest 2. The band only has one CD – their debut – which is out in a few days. “Let’s Rock n’ Roll (Endless Road)” was the theme to announce the last Crue Fest, but I digress. So, I talked to the band after and that was a hilarious conversation that deserves its own article. I mean, there was a little hugging, some blood and talk of migraines. I’ll leave it at that for now.

Shinedown are awesome live. This was my third time seeing them and at each show they get a little tighter and the crowd gets a little more crazy. The band did play a lot of stuff off The Sound of Madness, but there were older tunes thrown in as well.

If you saw Buckcherry on Crue Fest last summer – or have seen them period – you know the band really loves to play live. They are the definition of a workhorse band: always on the road. I asked Josh if Buckcherry would be on the road another six months and he said more likely another year – so you’ll have plenty of chances to check them out. My only issue with Shinedown and Buckcherry was the sets were crazy short. Tons of songs cut because of set times – but I must say this: I have never been to a festival that is dead on accurate when it comes to set times like Rock on the Range. If a band is posted to play at noon, they are on stage at that time no matter what. I love when things run smoothly. So anyway, Buckcherry does their most famous songs and closes with “Crazy Bitch” as they do but Josh cut his long part of that to make time. Still, good times all around and the sound was much improved over day one.

Now it’s time for the Mick Mars/Tommy Lee dressing room story. Perhaps I should clarify: I was in Mick’s dressing room – Tommy was in there as well for press. I’ve always wanted to shake Mick’s hand, and that’s exactly what I did. He was happy and very animated, just like Tommy. We talked about ROTR, Crue Fest 2, The Dirt movie and some other epic randomness that always befalls a conversation involving anyone in Motley Crue. While waiting for my interview, Nikki Sixx and Kat Von D totally scoped the crowd for Avenged Sevenfold. Avenged Sevenfold went on about 15 minutes before my interview and it sounded like the world was falling apart – and I mean that in the best way possible. I’ve seen them before, so I knew they were good – but my Glam – A7X had everyone whipped up into a green tizzy. Seriously, the pit for Avenged was way more violent than it was for Slipknot. While waiting for my Motley interview, I was close enough to the emergency exit to watch as medics pulled bloody kids from the barrier. Those same kids ran around and got right back in!

Motley played their usual set. If you saw the winter leg of the Saints of Los Angeles tour – then you saw the show the band did at Rock on the Range. Push comes to shove, Motley Crue will not allow anyone to out-pyro them and they had giant flames shooting way above the stadium by the time the set was over. It was an interesting mix, watching older fans interact with teenagers seeing Motley for the very first time. The crowd was full of fans wearing Motley shirts – and that’s a good thing. A lot of the people in the crowd didn’t seem to know much of the new stuff, but no matter. Perhaps hearing “Shout at the Devil” and “Dr. Feelgood” live helped some younger kids convert to Motley? We can hope.

Photo key: Jason Null, Jared Weeks (Saving Abel), Josh Todd (Buckcherry), John Allen (Charm City Devils), Emma Anzai (Sick Puppies), Eric Bass (Shinedown), Shinedown Crowd, Vince Neil (Motley Crue).

Rock on the Range Day 1 Review

Rock on the Range Day 1 – Columbus Crew Stadium – May 16

Despite the fact that it is now mid-May, Rock on the Range 2009 is easily the coldest festival I’ve ever attended. By the time Slipknot reached the stage Saturday night, the crowd was either burning up in the pit – or huddled together in a freezing mass in the stands. Since the pit for Slipknot was like no other I’ve ever seen, you can shove me into the “freezing” category.

The festival started much earlier and much warmer with bands like Black Stone Cherry, Saliva and Duff McKagan’s Loaded. Black Stone Cherry played way too early. The crowd was already huge well before 2pm and yet BSC played a set worthy of at least early evening. Since the set was very short, the band stuck to their most “known” songs which means tunes off their self-titled album but they did work in a few from Folklore and Superstition.

So who knew Saliva worship Motley Crue? I mean, Dave Novotny (bass) looks exactly like Nikki Sixx about 20 years ago. No lie. I guess when Nikki and James Michael helped Saliva write some songs awhile back, the look stuck. The band opened with “Click, Click Boom” which sort of surprised me and then proceeded to sing a lot of songs which sounded exactly like... “Click, Click Boom.”

No one was more excited than me to see Duff McKagan’s Loaded. See, I’ve never seen Duff live so I was curious. Most others at ROTR were too because the side stage crowd for him was quite large. There was no moshing or surfing or punching. People were seriously just sort of staring up at him, observing. At the very least, I knew the words and could sing along to most songs – even if everyone else looked confused. Heather and I enjoyed Duff, Eric took pit photos and Christian was one of the intent observers. I must admit, it was fun watching the guitar tech at the back of the stage. He was totally wearing the Seinfeld “puffy” (pirate?) shirt and an eye patch. He removed the eye patch later so I guess it was part of his Metal look. Dunno.

Some of you have specially emailed me about Flyleaf, but I didn’t watch them – Eric did. He reports the band sounded great, Lacey Mosley looked good in her prom gown and the entire band was nearly impossible to photograph because they were so energetic. Apparently Lacey was jumping around so much, her mic pack kept coming undone. Such wardrobe malfunctions will occur whilst wearing a prom gown to a Metal show.

So it turns out that of my group of four, I’m the only one that likes Alice in Chains. We all watched Korn’s entire set but I swear I don’t have much to say about them. Jonathan Davis played his bagpipes and people cheered and moshed. The sound was crap for Chevelle and Korn and it was really hard to understand what anyone was saying – period. As a result, every one of Korn’s songs sounded the same to me. Anyway, back to Alice in Chains. So, I know every word to every AIC song. As many of you know, I consider AIC Metal and not grunge, but today isn’t the time or place for that argument. I will say I was curious to check out William DuVall’s vocals. He isn’t Layne Staley, but who is? DuVall does bear a striking resemblance to Lenny Kravitz and Heather kept hoping for “American Woman.” Instead of that we got “Man in the Box,” “Would?” and “Angry Chair.” Old Seattle friend Duff McKagan even hopped on stage to jam with the band at the end of their set. Grunge? Nah. Just rock.

So, 14,566 hours of waiting in the rain and freezing cold and it was time for my beloved Slipknot. I made a gutsy move and decided to stay with my friends and watch bands all day instead of hanging the media tent waiting for the ‘knot. I mean, I really love those guys and I want to talk to them but I love my friends more and there was no guarantee the ‘knot would show. Remember how I said the sound sucked? Man, it wasn’t great for Slipknot either. The more screamo songs were really hard to discern – even the guy behind me who was having a seizure over the band couldn’t make out half the songs. Even so, we were treated to some new and old alike, including “Sulfur,” “Psychosocial,” “Dead Memories” and “People = Shit.” So Eric was down in the pit, taking photos and it was so violent security made all the photogs leave for their safety. Feet and shoes everywhere! I’m just not Metal enough for the Slipknot pit. I took refuge in the stands and called it a day for that one – great band though and Corey Taylor totally loved the crowd and was definitely enjoying walking through the massive pit to sing amongst the thousands of fans. I’d say if it had been 10 degrees warmer, those fans would have torched the stadium and called it a day. Alas, it was cold and even Corey commented on the “crazy weather.” Slipknot were energetic as always, members jumping all over shit and spinning around on their drums. I love it.

Rock on the Range 2009 - Day 1 Photos!

A proper review is coming, but until then, enjoy these images.

A view of at least 30,000 fans (before 2 p.m.)!

Saliva - circa Motley Crue 1983?