Rapid Album Review: Poison'd

Owning Poison'd for 24 hours, I'm ready to give the disc a formal review.

First thoughts?

It's a surprisingly better album than I initially expected. I know most of you will agree that cover albums are never nearly as good as a record of all new material. Of course, this is the case with Poison'd, still, glam metal icons Poison make the songs work.

With innovative marketing, Poison'd is selling strong over at www.amazon.com. I would assume the disc will land Poison somewhere on the Billboard Top 40 chart next week.

The album, produced by Don Was, features these songs:

Little Willy                                       
Suffragette City                                
I Never Cry                                       
I Need to Know                               
Can't You See                                 
What I Like About You                      
Dead Flowers                                   
Just What I Needed                          
Rock and Roll All Nite                       
Squeeze Box                                   
Your Mama Don't Dance                   
You Don't Mess Around With Jim       
We're An American Band                

A special version available only at Wal-Mart stores features the bonus cover of Justin Timberlake's "Sexy Back." Since I purchased my copy at Best Buy I haven't heard the Timberlake classic, but the song is available on iTunes, so you can hear that clip that way.

For ten bucks, Poison'd is a fun spin for the car, especially a summer road trip. No, it's not Grammy worthy and no, it won't go down in history as the best rock album ever made. No matter. Poison'd is classic Poison: raw, fun, energetic. 

Haters be damned! 

Look What the Cat Dragged In

Today is the day.

Poison's new album POISON'D! is officially released.

To celebrate, the band is planning a live webcast performance on www.poisonweb.com. The performance and chat session will be hosted by adult film star Kristen Price and will air at 3pm EST. During the chat session of the webcast, band members will answer fan questions submitted via www.myspace.com/poison.

On Thursday, Poison will perform "What I Like About You" on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson. The Romantic's classic "What I Like About You" is the first single from Poison'd and Pennsylvania's favorite glam sons even made a video for this track. You can watch the very cute video at http://music.yahoo.com/premieres. The page wouldn't let me steal the code to post as a clip here, but I'm sure some programmer will figure out a way to post on YouTube by the end of the day.

Here's a screen shot from the video:

Remember, Poison'd is a covers album including David Bowie's "Suffragette City," the Sweet's "Little Willy" and The Marhall Tucker Band's "Can't You See." If I can get away from my computer long enough during lunch, I fully intend on heading to Target to purchase the disc. Patrons who choose to buy the album at Wal-Mart will get a special bonus track of Justin Timberlake's "Sexy Back."

Seriously.

Expect an album review within the next two days.

Wild, Beautiful, Damned

Today, the debut album by the Gypsy Pistoleros  Wild Beautiful Damned hits stores. It's a unique mix of flamenco, sleaze and classic rock. I promise, you've never heard anything quite like the Gypsy Pistoleros. To coincide with today's release, I spoke with Lee Pistolero, lead singer of this very motley crew.

BBG: We should just start at the beginning. Tell me a little about your band, the Gypsy Pistoleros.

Lee: Well, I used to be in a band called White Trash, and we would play around the UK in the 80s. Then I moved to L.A. and we supported the Ramones, Dio, Black Sabbath, and quite a few bands. On tour, that was the first time I came across flamenco, from then on we started incorporating a couple of tracks to the set…and it worked, strangely enough. We were half English, half Spanish at that time, and crowds, they didn’t quite understand. They were like, “No, you can’t do that, it’s sacrilege!” But we did it anyway. That’s the first time we went out, oh God, it was 1993, with the Ramones on one of their last tours of Spain. We played three tracks then. So it was sort of like, I’d had enough and after the 1996 tour, I just sort of gave up music and we’ve been back for about a year and half. I said I would come back and do this but I didn’t want to be a traditional rock band, so we came back with totally, mostly flamenco based stuff. It kind of amazes people wherever we’ve gone. This last tour with L.A. Guns was the best, the furthest we’ve taken [the act] out of Spain and the U.K. really. It’s working really well.

BBG: Tell me what it was like to tour with L.A. Guns and Joe Leste of Bang Tango.

Lee: Oh! Joe Leste, total legend! Mad as a hatter. Tracii Guns is a total gent, a great guy we got on very well with them. We looked like we were all in a band together, a mini bus split so we got to know each other quite well. Jeremy Guns is brilliant, a good chap, we had fun with Bang Tango, Love/Hate. We got on like a little family.

BBG: So, with White Trash you were in L.A. was that the Sunset Strip scene and is that where your band’s glam elements come from?

Lee: We were sort of the London equivalent of L.A. Guns actually. We were over in London and all we did was support bands like that. When we were a band – we were a real mess in those days. It was enough for us just to get in free everywhere, it really wasn’t about writing and performing songs. We used to get really trashed (laughs). Music was secondary in those days. I came over [to the U.S.] and there were a few bands, I sort of fiddle with them, hang around. I used to see Janice Dickinson – Bruce Dickinson’s ex-wife, and we came over and stayed with Phil [Lewis of L.A. Guns]. It’s very strange, my odd connection with L.A. Guns. When we toured with Tracii [of L.A. Guns] we had our reservations about it. You know, I know Phil and that is the version of the band we were familiar with. Tracii is great. They do a great job. The package went really well all throughout Europe, so it’s like great. Now I’m just trying to recover. I still wake up thinking I’m still in a van.

BBG: So you list Motley Crue as one of your influences. Do you hope to tour with them?

Lee: I’ve seen Motley Crue on a few occasions. That would be the ultimate goal. Hanoi Rocks would also be great for us. We’re looking into that…there’s some talk of that…maybe.

BBG: You say Hanoi Rocks because they have a new album, Fashion?

Lee: Indeed, and they are about to start a European tour.

BBG: You want on that tour?

Lee: Oh yes.

BBG: You mention Rocklahoma on your website. Are you playing that festival?

Lee: Yes! It’s a massive, massive…big show. Artists nationwide. Bang Tango, L.A. Guns, all those.

BBG: Oh, I know. I’m going to Rocklahoma!

Lee: We’ve been invited by Tracii. They told us we couldn’t play because we’re a new band, with no connection to the 80s. So Tracii has invited us to do ten minutes during their set. We’ll just get up on stage and Jeremy and Tracii will stay on as well. We’ll be part of the L.A. Guns set, and we’ll do a least two songs.

BBG: We’re talking 50, 000 people each day. That’s massive exposure.

Lee: I think we’ll be the only U.K. band on. And one of the few new bands as well.

BBG: Tell me about your new album, Wild, Beautiful, Damned.

Lee: It’s a record by Joe Gibb, who is a genius. A crack eccentric he is. He would have been, well—he was on his way to becoming one of the top producers worldwide. I think he just finished up with Madonna and he got sick of it. He moved out to Wales of all places, and started bands he wanted to produce. I think he came out with Funeral for a Friend before us. Somehow, he’d heard of us through the grapevine. He was just really into the stuff we were doing. He liked flamenco rock. So we did the whole album with him, and he’s very cool. Do you have the album?

BBG: Oh yes, it’s very good. Very interesting.

Lee: Oh, yes. Well there’s load going on for us. It’s mad. There’s major interest in us right now as well. It’s going to come out on June the 4. We would like to be signed to the majors. There’s some money being talked about.

BBG: Really?

Lee: Of course, we’ll sign to a major!

BBG: Your current label, Evil Boy, is Indie. How did you hook up with them?

Lee: They are decidedly Indie, and they gave us carte blanche to do whatever we wanted. They had no say over it, told us to just do it. They covered all of that. So this album comes out no matter what anyway, even if we sign to a major, it’d be great. They are cool [Evil Boy] they market us in their own way. I think, the interest from the majors, I am not sure of the licensing. Actually, I am on the trashy compilation as well.

BBG: Tell me about that.

Lee: Well, let’s see 69 Eyes, Vains of Jenna, a lot of other –well, with this band, we’re marketed as a glam band – which we are not totally. We can cross genres, which is great. That’s the joy of being in a band that you can’t really pigeon hole. We sort of cross those barriers. That’s what I’ve always wanted. In the first place it was really difficult because people would say “What are you?” We are very rock n’ roll based, but, we can go out with a wide variety. I mean, we’re playing with Thin Lizzy, which will be great. That will be the album launch. So I mean, the first gigs we did as this band were supporting Dogs D’ Amour so it’s nice. We’re based in the U.K., but everyone thinks we’re Spanish which is weird.

BBG: You say you spew Spanglish insults from the stage?

Lee: Oh yes, everyone is always totally confused. We spoke half Spanish at the U.K. gigs and there still people over here that still think we’re Spanish. My Spanish is street Spanish…and it comes across weird with my country English accent as well.

BBG: Tell me about your stage shows.

Lee: Oh, God. We do everything. We really go for it…the good thing about us is, we have fun. Those Metal and Thrash bands just stand there and try to look hard as hell. That’s been done, man. We just have a laugh. What we like about the glam scene is they dress up, they have a laugh, it’s fun and it should be. Think about the grunge acts, they all dressed like the roadies and in the end that became the norm. I like people having a good time. That’s what glam used to mean. That’s what British glam meant with the Sweet and Slade. It would be nice to get back to that.

Stick It to Ya!

Back in the glam-slam heyday of the 1980s, it was much more appropriate to physically show support for a favorite band. Take, for instance, all those band merchandise ads in Metal Edge and Hit Parader. Flip through a old edition of either rag and you'll find a cheaply produced advertisement on every other page. Today, it doesn't seem like bands produce as much merchandise, shirts excluded.

The other day I won an Ebay auction for a very sweet pair of buttons from the promotional launch of Poison's Open Up and Say...Ah! album. I'm not sure you can tell from the picture, but these buttons are in excellent quality and definitely a glam collector's item considering the side of each is stamped with "CBS/SONY Group - Not for Sale."

I can't remember that last time I've seen a person actually wear a band button to the mall or even a show. I'm not talking about the teenagers who collect odd little buttons for their messenger bags. I'm talking die hard fans here who will destroy otherwise perfectly good clothing with a cheap button emblazoned with the words RATT! or Dokken!

I think it's high time real fans start wearing band buttons again, at least to shows. If you don't support the music you love, who will?

A DeVine Choice

Apparently Vains of Jenna will replace White Lion on the Poison/RATT tour. VOJ are listed on the tour at myspace.com/therattpack. No official word (despite the report below) from the Poison or White Lion camps. I don't know what this means for Rocklahoma, but if I was a betting woman (and I am!) I'd say VOJ are a lock for the massive festival.

Here's the posting from www.blabbermouth.net:

"Sweden's VAINS OF JENNA has officially replaced WHITE LION as the support act on the POISON/RATT summer co-headining tour. A complete list of dates can be found at this location.

VAINS OF JENNA's full-length debut album Lit Up / Let Down, was the first release on skateboarding legend Bam Margera's new label Filthy Note. Bam (also of MTV's "Viva La Bam" and "Jackass" fame) says he signed the group on the spot after seeing their bombastic live show: 'This band is so good I had to start a label just to put their record out.'

VAINS OF JENNA — Lizzy Devine (vocals/guitars), Nicki Kin (lead guitars), JP White (bass) and Jacki Stone (drums) — formed in the small town of Falkenberg, Sweden in January 2005. In spring of 2006 the band toured Southern Europe and spent one month in the U.K. winning over critics and fans by night while playing gigs and sleeping in their van in an alley by day.

WHITE LION was reportedly removed from the POISON/RATT tour due to a threat of legal action by former WHIE LIONguitarist Vito Bratta in connection to the use of the WHITE LION name.

WHITE LION vocalist Mike Tramp recently made an appearance on Eddie Trunk's Friday Night Rocks radio show on New York's Q104.3 FM to respond to an interview with Vito Bratta in which Vito expressed interest in reuniting with his former band. While Tramp didn't rule out the possibility of a collaboration with Vito, he made it clear during his appearance on Friday Night Rocks that he wanted Bratta to take the first step and stop making excuses for why he has remained musically inactive for the past 15 years. "

Watch this video: Vains of Jenna, "Noone's Gonna Do It For You."

The White Lion Rumors...

I'm sure many of you have heard the rumors about White Lion getting kicked off the Poison/RATT summer tour. This afternoon I called Sideways Media, the marketing firm handling Poison's tour. I also called ARM Entertainment, the management company that books White Lion.

Sideways Media was much more helpful, and not surprisingly so. While the marketing representative couldn't elaborate on the White Lion situation, she did give me some invaluable information regarding White Lion and Rocklahoma. Apparently, the Rocklahoma shows for Poison, RATT and White Lion were all booked as a tour stop, and therefore inked under the contract deal. If White Lion is, in fact, off the tour, then they will also not play Rocklahoma.

The agent with ARM Entertainment would simply say that a press release on the matter will be released Monday.

Infer what you will.

The controversy stems over the use of the name White Lion, and the band has been down this road before. Singer Mike Tramp and former guitarist Vito Bratta own the name. As such, Tramp formed a new band known as Tramp's White Lion. A couple years ago, Bratta sued over the name before a new version of the band embarked on a club tour. All signs point to the same situation here.

Stand by people. I'm on the press list to get a release when -- and if-- one is issued regarding the matter.

Update on Tuesday, June 5, 2007 at 03:33PM by Allyson B. Crawford

In response to the recent rumors surrounding White Lion and the Poison / Ratt summer tour - White Lion frontman Mike Tramp responds:

"On behalf of myself and White Lion, I would like to clear up the many misperceptions and rumors that have been created by Live Nation's decision to withdraw White Lion as the opening act of the summer 2007 Poison tour. While we are limited in what we can say about the issue because of pending litigation, we can inform everyone that Live Nation's decision was not based on any controversy over whether Mike Tramp has the legal right to perform as White Lion.
Our information is that Live Nation's decision was based upon a threatened lawsuit by former White Lion guitarist Vito Bratta. Even though Live Nation believed Vito's lawsuit to be frivolous and had confirmed that Mike Tramp has the legal right to perform as White Lion, they did not want to spend '1 dollar' on litigation. Faced with the cancellation of a tour that was to begin within weeks, our attorneys went the extra mile to work out a deal with Vito Bratta to drop his threatened lawsuit but even with the threat of litigation eliminated, Live Nation continued on their ill-informed course of dropping White Lion from the Poison tour.
Like myself, I know that there are many fans across the United States who are extremely disappointed by Live Nation's decision and we intend to use all options to fight this arbitrary and misinformed decision. Hopefully, there will be a day when decisions about staging a rock n' roll tour will be more about pleasing the fans and less about conservative and baseless corporate decisions. Unfortunately, as has been the case far too many times, instead of playing rock n' roll as planned, we are going to end up in court." - Mike Tramp

Dirty Dog Blues

Talk about glam.

In the rough and tumble hip hop hotbed of Detroit, I found a glam thug known in nightclubs across the nation as Vic Wayne. If you’re not familiar with Vic, just imagine a mix of Nikki Sixx and every member of the New York Dolls. Got the image? Now for the history. Vic was the front man for glam outfit Fillmore Slim. The band parted ways and now Vic is starting over with a new group known simply as Vic Wayne.

I chatted with Vic by phone earlier this week. Below are highlights of our very colorful conversation.

BBG: Vic, tell me what you’ve been up to recently.

Vic: Uh, just writing and recording. That’s it.

BBG: Are you still looking for band members?

Vic: No, for the most I have a full backup band and for live, some other guys. I’m recording everything on my own. I’m not, like letting anybody else play anything except live, so, it’s kinda like once I’m done recording and I really start playing then I’m really going to decide on who I need to keep.

BBG: So is the band going to be the Vic Wayne Project then because of this or will you have a different name altogether?

Vic: No! It’s just going to be Vic Wayne.

BBG: Ok then. So it’s you 100%?

Vic: Yeah.

BBG: Is this because you were screwed over by your last band?

Vic: With my last band, yeah but I want nothing – I do not want to speak a word about them in any kind of interview because I don’t want to give them any publicity at all.

BBG: That makes sense. I was just wondering why you choose to do that with your back up members, because that’s not a conventional approach for a musician. So you have your own label?

Vic: Oh, yeah. I have my own music company. My merchandise I sell, taxes are paid. I get a company check every week, you know?

BBG: Very cool, so you run your business right out of your home?

Vic: Yeah. I got a home studio. I do it all. That’s how I make a living. (Laughs).

BBG: Do you record for other people?

Vic: No, just me.

BBG: You’ve got some really good songs on your Myspace page right now. Are these all recent recordings?

Vic: No, those are from my last band. They are songs I wrote. That’s mainly me doing all the guitar work. The drums and the bass are the other two guys.

BBG: Ok then. When do you hope to have some new stuff up?

Vic: I’m hoping to have at least one new song up in a few weeks.

BBG: Do you have any names for these new songs?

Vic: Well…yeah!

BBG: Tell me about your new work.

Vic: Uh, I have one I’m working on called “Dirty Livin’” and another called “Eyes are Never Satisfied.” Like I want to put out a CD where everything is two different extremes. There will be really sweet songs and just really dirty f----ng songs and no in between (laughs).

BBG: All on one pressed disc, or a two disc set?

Vic: No, on one CD. So, kind of like a shock to the system. Like, what you hear on my Myspace profile now is a sample of what I’m working on now but I’m going to take it further.

BBG: How do you take it further? You call yourself the “glam thug.” How can you go further than that?

Vic: Yeah. Well, I mean lyric wise, you know, the music is better the songwriting is definitely better you know, it’s just another step ahead. Like raunchiness (laughs).

BBG: Well, then, how has your songwriting progressed? You say it is better than before but the songs on your Myspace are pretty good.

Vic: I don’t know. Just…time, I guess. Looking back on the past stuff and seeing things that I didn’t like and just, you know, making it better. That’s what I’ve always done. You know, I’ll do something and the next time, it’s better. I just constantly progress.

BBG: Talk about some of your influences.

Vic: The Rolling Stones are a huge influence, Guns n’ Roses, you know, I always liked L.A. Guns, Faster Pussycat. A lot of punk stuff I like, I love Joan Jett. You know, Sex Pistols, Misfits I can get into that. I even like some country shit and rap, I like a lot of different stuff. Glam to me is just a look. That’s all.

BBG: Really?

Vic: Yeah.

BBG: See, I don’t agree with that. For 80s glam, there’s a certain sound, especially with the guitar solos –

Vic: See, that’s another thing. I’m trying to escape the 80s thing. I want to, definitely, draw on that influence, but not sound like 1983. You know, I want it to still be modern.

BBG: Well, along that same vein, what year did you first start recording music?

Vic: Oh, 1993, 1994 maybe.

BBG: Right, so you’re stuff would never sound 80s dated.

Vic: Yeah, I guess so. I have a major problem with people, they think – let’s take L.A. in general. They think they’re going to go out and it’s going to be 1983, and there’s going to be a bunch of dudes walking around like they’re in Motley Crue, and it’s not. And I’ve been there plenty times and I know, it’s not. And all of these glam people on Myspace allegedly live in L.A.? Every time I’ve been there, I’ve seen none of these glam people. None. Last time I was there, I was the VIP list, upstairs for an L.A. Guns show, and I was like hanging out with everyone: Taime, Pretty Boy Floyd all those guys were there, John Corabi. You know, but, the audience, it looked like I was in...Detroit or Ohio.

BBG: That’s kind of sad.

Vic: It is sad. You go to the Rainbow and it’s the same thing. Baseball caps, you’ve got your occasional long haired dude, un-styled. You know, wearing a Metallica T-shirt. I don’t know where the hell as these glam people are because I’ve never seen them.

BBG: Fair enough. The scene is completely different, so is the music business. How hard is it for you to get your music out there?

Vic: Yeah. Well, everything is Myspace, as sad as that sounds. If you don’t have a Myspace profile, you have nothing. Like every thing it seems I’ve gotten…I have a song in a porno movie. That came from Myspace. You know I did a tour with L.A. Guns last year. That came from Myspace. I did an interview for a major Italian magazine. That came from Myspace. I’m talking to you because of Myspace.

BBG: Very true.

Vic: It’s so sad. Every day, I’m on there and I’m like “What’s wrong with me?” The days of going out and passing out flyers, that’s done. You know. Now it’s just send out invites. The days of packing up, moving to the happening spot, over. No need to. Now, with the click of a mouse, anyone can hear you and know who you are.

BBG: You said you have a song in a porn movie, what film is that?

Vic: It’s called If It Ain’t Black, Take It Back 3.

BBG: (Laughs) Which song is featured?

Vic: Laughs. “Dirty Dog Blues.”

BBG: Nice.

Vic: Yeah. I mean, the biggest thing is, the kick I get out of showing it to people. I thought they were just going to use a clip of the song. They send me copies of the DVD. I put it in and it comes on and there’s features, right? Play, Special Features, and there’s a loop of the song and I think “Oh, that’s it.” No! I hit play and the song comes on and there’s all these big black dudes banging little white chicks and, you know, it’s saying “Starring Sledgehammer” and the whole song plays!

BBG: Laughs. So are you going to Rocklahoma in July?

Vic: Doubtful.

BBG: Really? That seems like something you would enjoy.

Vic: Yeah, but I’m so caught up in my own thing. I haven’t been to a concert in so long. I mean, the last concert I was at was Joan Jett in New York and that was like a year ago.

BBG: When you do go to shows, who is your favorite act to see?

Vic: Oh, definitely Joan Jett. Most definitely. I mean, I’ve hung out with Steven Adler, and it’s like cool. But when I met her, she was like the only person that I was star struck by. I almost cried. (Laughs).

BBG: Because of her talent?

Vic: Oh yeah and I love all of her stuff and I just have so much respect for her because, you know, every day all I get is “Hey Hot Thing!” “Blah, Blah, Blah!” I’m like “Why don’t you download my songs?” “No, how about I download you.” I get that. What about my music? I can’t imagine what she has went through, being a woman doing that, you know?

BBG: Other future plans?

Vic: Like I said, I’m working on something that is completely two different extremes. It’s definitely so far better than the last stuff I put out. I hope to have the stuff done by the end of the summer. Hopefully, be able to tour by the end of the summer.

BBG: I’m assuming a club tour?

Vic: Hopefully I can get on something like LA Guns again. Otherwise, I’ll just do dates here and there in different cities. I’m not going to just go on a balls out tour by myself.

BBG: Do you have a name for the CD yet?

Vic: No, I was thinking about calling it Suck It! Volume 1 but I don’t know. (Laughs!) Also, did you know I spent 10 months in jail?

BBG: Yes. Why did you go to jail exactly?

Vic: I was accused of burning down my kitchen and dining room.

BBG: For the insurance money?

Vic: Yes.

BBG: Did you do it?

Vic: No, I did not do it. My ex-wife did it! A week later took off to L.A. and collected the insurance money. Then I took the wrap for it.

BBG: Oh dear.

Vic: So I signed up for the ten months in the county jail, which was cool! I mean, I wound up in like the celebrity jail. I was in there with a famous rapper! Royce Da 5’9” and I’m this guy is like down with Eminem! There was a boxer in there [jail] and he’s like the only guy to go 12 rounds with Oscar De La Hoya. So I mean, really, it was a nice little vacation and a break from everything.

BBG: I don’t know. I couldn’t take jail.

Vic: That’s where I got all my song writing done. Obviously I had time to go over and over and over lyrics. To rewrite them. So, it kind of was a good experience. I had time to think about the people around me, who my real friends were.

BBG: You feel like that experience straightened you out in some way?

Vic: In some ways, yeah. It made me more appreciative of what I have. When you go there, you’re stripped of everything. You’re not even allowed to have headphones to listen to the radio- nothing. You have nothing but your friends around you. That’s it. If I could take it back, I don’t know if I would. That may sound crazy.

BBG: And you’re innocent?

Vic: Completely, yeah. Completely. Yeah.

BBG: Ok

Vic: It completely changed my way of thinking. I feel like before I went in there, I was blind. I came out being able to see. I see things completely different than before.

www.myspace.com/thevicwayneproject