JUNE
11TH The popular US act Savannah have signed a new multialbum deal with Now & Then / Frontiers. They will record a new album this year for an early 2002 release. THE
SIGN will be appearing at the LOKERSEEN FESTIVAL
in Lokeren / Belgium on saturday august the 11th, 2001
from 22.00 h until 23.30 h. The band will also have a
VERY special surprise guest appearing at the event which
will make their appearance even more worthy and unique.
For further informations concerning the event and in
order to arrange promotional activities like interviews
& features, please contact: The Jay Graydon Official Homepage has a new interview online with the man himself. Check it out at www.umu.se/users/KEO/graytxt.htx A2 Records have now scheduled the new, eagerly awaited album from Robin Brock for August 20th. The album, called Hidden Power, has been produced by Keith Olsen (Whitesnake, Fleetwood Mac) and features Randy Bachman (Bachman Turner Overdrive), Jeff Pilson (Dokken), James Kottack (Scorpions) and Tim Pierce. It has been co written by Robin, Randy Bachman and John Capek (Rod Stewart) Robin and her band, (including Jeff Pilson) will be performing at this years Ultrasound event in LA. The other musicians are to be confirmed but we are hoping that the band from the album will perform. Timothy B. Schmit of legendary rock band the Eagles has flown in for the Timothy B. Schmit Songwriting Challenge. Designed for rock, pop or adult contemporary songwriters, the winner will receive a $500 gift certificate from Music123, an autographed copy of Timothy's new solo CD, Feed The Fire, and a chance for your song to be used in a future project. As you already know, Timothy is the Eagles' longtime bassist who also sang the lead vocals for such classic radio hits as "I Can't Tell You Why" and "Love Will Keep Us Alive." While just launching the press tour for his new solo project, Schmit is also getting ready for the Eagles upcoming tour. 2 killer hard rock releases are scheduled for the upcoming July 3rd in the US on Hip-O Records. Black 'n Blue - Best of (yes this is the band with Jaime St. James and Tommy Thayer), this CD includes almost half the bands recordings all remastered. Also is Y&T - Best of which is remastered for the first time. Robert Berry (3, Alliance, Hush...) will release A SOUNDTRACK FOR THE WHEEL OF TIME via Magna Carta on July 10. The disc is a soundtrack to author Robert Jordan's successful nine-volumn "The Wheel Of Time" series of fantasy novels. The album is being billed as "an official accompaniment" to the series. Berry is listed as the "principle writer and performer" on the album, which also features songwriting and guest spots from mandolin player Leif Sorbye (Tempest), vocalist/guitarist Andy Frazier, singer Lisa Bouchelle, and violinist Michael Mullen. For more info see the following: http://www.mazurpr.com/wheeloftime.html. If you're in the Dallas Ft/Worth area, the Andy Timmons Band will play June 29th at the Canyon Club and on June 30th I'll be making a guest appearance at the Caravan of Dreams with Maylee Thomas. (Possibly playing a few tunes to open her show). NEXT STOP: L.A is a new Westcoast project that features some great west-coast musicians such as ;ichael Thompson, Richard Page or Carlos Vega among others. Some songs were recorded during the 80's and others more recently that's why all westcoast & aor fans should love this cd. The music style is said to combine elements of TOTO, AIRPLAY,DAVID ROBERTS, TIM FEEHAN, JAY GRAYDON, LE ROUX or RICHARD MARX... Phil Naro now has a new web site which features up to date news re the forthcoming Naro cd and much more. The web site can be found at http://phil-naro.fateback.com/home.html Talisman and Seven Wishes will play together in a one-off Swedish show in Karlskoga on Friday 15th June. Venue: Home,
Karlskoga In addition Talisman will play a special one off show this coming Sunday [June 17th] at Liverpool's world famous Cavern Club. tickets can be ordered in advance from the following hotlines: 01695 556302 or 0151 709 4321 JUNE
4TH JUNE
3RD JUNE
2ND Escape Music will be releasing Grand Illusion both earlier albumsb (recorded under the Promotion name), Yeah Yeah, and Not for Sale, as a double CD and both disc will contain two previously unreleased tracks. The bonus tracks are CD1. Poor Cow, and Breathe, CD2. Big Stuff Solution, and Without Goodbye Fleetwood Mack's Stevie Nicks has confirmed more dates for a summer North American tour in support of her new Reprise album "Trouble in Shangri-La." Now and Then/Frontiers announce a new signin: Haven. The female-fronted band plays skillfully crafted songs which range from Power Rock Ballads to up tempo Hard Rock. August 27th will see the European release of the 3 piece band debut album which features special guest players including Matt Sorum (Guns n' Roses, Jeff Paris, Bourgeois Pigs and The Cult) on drums, and Robin McAuley ( MSG, Grand Prix, and Elements Of Friction) supplying background vocals on some songs. Haven is the first female fronted act to be signed to the label in 5 years and is only the third in total, following Jaime Kyle and Dante Fox. LOST WEEKEND have a website dedicated to their activities. The site can be found at www.lostweekend.supanet.com and will be updated with news and pictures regularly. The band also apologises for having to withdraw from the Phoenix Rising show last weekend. This was due to singer Paul Uttley having throat problems. New demos have recently been recorded by the band and plans are being finalised for them to enter the studio over the summer to record their third album. MAY
28TH Electric guitar stars Joe Satriani and Steve Vai are presenting a new incarnation of Satriani's G3 tour this summer, also featuring John Petrucci (Dream Theater). Just received this email from ex-DANGER DANGER guitarrist ANDY TIMMONS: "Hello Everyone! Just wanted to let you know that the new double cd, And-thology 1 and 2 (the lost "ear X-tacy" tapes), is now available from www.andytimmons.com. The cds contain 21 rare and unreleased tracks spanning from 1988 to 1994, the same time period of the ear X-tacy, earX-tacy 2, and Orange Swirl recordings. An incredible collection of high-energy songs (some never heard before now!), along with 2 Jimi Hendrix covers. Both discs feature the classic Andy Timmons Band line-up of Mike Daane on bass and Mitch Marine on drums. Also included is a fantastic 24 page booklet packed with photos from the early days along with detailed liner notes. Very cool!!!! Take care, Andy Timmons." Norwegian rockers SONS OF ANGELS have signed with Z Records. The bands debut sold over 200,000 copies when released by Atlantic records, and featured the MTV hit Cowgirl. The bands new album will be released during October of this year and already has the working title "Slumber with the Lion". The material on "Slumber with the Lion" still keeps the trade mark style of their debut with a slightly rockier edge, lead Vocalist Solli is of course also known for his work with fellow Z Label mates 21 Guns and Psycho Motel. Fans will be able to hear some new material by the band on the forthcoming compilation Rock the Nations which will be released on June 12th. TYGERS OF PAN TANG have now finished two new tracks for the Rock the Nations compilation "The Story so far 2001" and "Secret Agent". ECLIPSE will hold a special playback and release party for their forthcoming debut album "The Truth & a Little More" on May 30th at Pub Anchor, Sveavägen 90, Stockholm Sweden. The playback will start at 9:00pm and Eclipse will also appear Live. According to pinkcream69.com, Pink Cream 69 guitarist Alfred Koffler is suffering Carpal Tunnel Syndrome in his left hand. He's finished his parts on the band's new album, and now he is considering surgery on his hand. Because of this the band has had to cancel their appearance at the August 16 Bottom Row Promotion Festival at the Live Music Hall in Cologne, Germany. Gotthard, Axxis, Vanden Plas, and Silent Force are still slated to play the fest. NORWAY have uploaded an old demo titled "Caught In The Middle" which can be now downloaded for free. The song is available for a limited time starting June 1st, exclusively at the band's MP3.COM page. MAY
19TH VAUGHN
AND THE SPIRIT OF THE BEATLES Michael Clayton declared that he was very excitted with the gigg at the Cavern and he advanced that "Mr. Vaughn has hit us with some INCREDIBLE new music (7 so far and counting). In my humble opinion as Danny's drummer and manager, his best stuff to date. Enough of the old school TYKETTO "Don't Come Easy" sound with a very modern melodic edge. We'll also be selling a very interesting video on the tour. We are documenting the making of the new album on video. This will be raw, unedited and very REAL." Look out for VAUGHN's sophomore studio release in late July 2001. Check the website www.vaughn.de for further tour info and updates. MAY
18TH
Perris Records' Poison tribute disc, NAME YOUR POISON, is due out June 5 with this track list: "Talk
Dirty To Me" - Steve Summers (Pretty Boy
Floyd/Shameless) on vocals, Keri Kelli (Ratt/Slash's
Snakepit/Warrant) on lead guitar, Alexx Michael
(Shameless) on bass; All 10 tracks feature Paul Lidel (Dangerous Toys/Broken Teeth) on rhythm guitar and Kris Beavers (E.M.N.) on drums.Visit http://www.perrisrecords.com for more information. Fans who can't make it to Azusa, California, this weekend to see Stryper perform at the Stryper Expo will at least be able to view last year's event on video. The 90 minute tape of the first Stryper Expo, which took place May 21, 2000 in Parsippany, New Jersey and contains footage of the band performng together for the first time in 10 years, will be offered for sale starting this weekend by Planet Rapture. See stryperexpo.com for more info on the event or planetrapture.com for details on the tape New breed popsters Weezer is currently on the road in North America for what it has dubbed the Hooptie Tour, consisting of special promotional appearances and shows in support of its just-released self-titled third Interscope/ Geffen album. MAY
14TH NEW
DOKKEN CD IN THE WORKS SHYANNE
JOIN Z RANKS AS SAVANNAH LEAVE: SPECIAL
FOOTAGE AT BONJOVI.COM WESTWORLD
LIVE ALBUM RECORDING Rainmaker will start work on their second release in two weeks time. Geir Ronning has of course just returned home after a dazzling performance at Z Rock 2001 pt1 with Prisoner. Rainmaker line up will remain the same as on the debut Tommy Denander, Geir Ronning and Tony Franklin. The working title for the album is "Brother to Brother" and the release can be expected January 2002. All the fans eager to hear the great Eclipse's debut "The truth and a little more" will have to wait until June 4th as the release has been postponed due to manufacturing problems. As announced some time ago in this website, Sounghaus Music reissue of the classic AIRBORNE album feat. legendary producer BEAU HILL will be released as soon as the artwork and remastering are finished. Expect a late June release. EMERALD
RAIN CANCEL PHOENIX RISING GIG Ten Tickets are very reasonably priced at £10 in advance (certain outlets may be subject to handling/booking fee) or £12 on the door. To obtain up to the minute info see our web site www.phoenixrising.co.uk. MAY
10TH Meanwhile here are various previews of the artwork of the upcoming releases by Now and Then and Frontiers. First the debut solo album from the ex-STRANGEWAYS vocalsit TERRY BROCK. The album is titled "Back To Eden" and it's said to be in the classic Strangeways vein with influences from Survivor, Journey, Bad Company and Foreigner and will features performances and guest appearances from JOE LYNN TURNER, JIM PETERIK, MARK MANGOLD and BILLY GREER. . Then we have the debut release by LAST TRIBE which is the new band brainchild of MAGNUS KARLSSON, a talented guitar player already acclaimed for his work on the last MIDNIGHT SUN record "Nemesis". LAST TRIBE is a melodic Heavy Metal band inspired by the likes of QUEENSRYCHE, SABBATH (Dio era), YNGWIE MALMSTEEN with some hints of american hard rock bands like DOKKEN.
Finally we have PARADISE which is the new band from ex-Loverboy keyboardist Doug Johnson. The album will be released by Escape Music.
Frontiers Records and Now & Then Productions are also happy to confirm the signing of Mickey Thomas, the legendary singer of the band STARSHIP. The album is expected to be the logical follow up to STARSHIP "Love Among The Cannibals" highly praised release, with a rockier and punchier attitude. Recording of the album will commence in Los Angeles during summer 2001 under the supervision and production of Klay Shroedel (Jimi Jamison's Survivor, Jeff Paris, Under Suspicion) And another signing by NOW & THEN / FRONTIERS!!! How many acts do they have in their roster?? Norwegian act Hush, after a critically acclaimed debut album, has spent the past couple of years writing and recording the follow up. The 10 song album, entitled "II", was mixed by Murray Daigle of Emerald Rain in Toronto. The track "Don't Say Goodnight" can be heard on the forthcoming Union 4 sampler and gives a good representation of the bands ultra melodic sound. A release date is currently being set for the album within july 2001. Invertigo (feauring the leigh bros from Pseudo Echo Race era) have a new single called Say You Do out on June 11. Their debut album Forum is out July16. Those of you who have heard the preceding singles should chase up the album on its release. The album should get released in the US on Atlantic. Lovers of the classic 80s AOR style should be satisfied to hear that the mega classic PROTOTYPE album will be released on CD within the next two months and also the mega classic STRESS album "Killing Me Night And Day" should be out on CD, soon Jesus Espin (91 SUITE voclaist) will carry the vocal duties in an AOR upcoming project called WILDEST DREAM. Hotwire is supporting Bonfire at their homecming gig in Ingolstadt may 27th! We're really looking forward to rock our hometown with our former producers Lessmann/Ziller. In a recent
update the organizers of the ULTRASOUND
festival have confirmed the following bands for this
year's festival to be held in LA this next September. MAY
1ST EDDIE
CONFIRMS HIS CANCER: NEW
TAKARA CD IN THE WORKS: TREAT
OBJECT OF RE-ISSUE: VAUGHN
UPDATE: MEDIA
NEWS INVOLVING ROCK ARTISTS: 91 SUITE will be finally released in Japan by MARQUEE/AVALON in August. Expect the Euro release on September. If you browse mp3.com you'll be ablo to find two new tracks from a new Mike Tramp DAM album entitled "Better Off". If I am not wrong DAM albums are cheaper cds only containing audio but also mp3 tracks. There's a very interesting interview with Jorn Lande explaining his side of the whole Yngwie Malmsteen story at the House of Shred website. MarcieFree.com has just released the video for the 2000 Signal LIVE release. The video is available in both the US NTSC and Euro PAL formats and can be purchased via secure credit card transaction. Marcie has also continued to post full CD quality MP3 demos that have been highly booted on ebay with over 12 tracks now available completley for FREE. New material is in the works for an early 2002 release. Having recently signed a multi-album deal with Z Records, Westworld are pleased to announce they have signed with Dreamscape Record for a US release of their latest album, 'Skin', due in US stores in late June or early July and will be appearing at the Date: ZROCK2001 part2 Festival:Sunday, August 26th 2001 Maximes, Wigan, England. The band are already planning to record an upcoming show for their LIVE album release. Westworld will record their LIVE album on MAY 19th at The Chance in Poughkeepsie, New York. Its a beautiful old theatre which hosts many national acts and is quite large, the band needs as many screaming fans there as possible! They are also taking a poll on which songs to include in their set for that special gig. The live album is due to be released in Japan and Europe in August and in the US in September. More info at: http://www.westworld-web.com There are three new websites featuring AOR legends. Paul Sabu, Heavy Pettin and Shy. All worth cheking it and full with interesting info. TALON have just added 5 new audio samples at their Web Site. Remember the band will reelase their debut album through Frontiers/Now and Then. Here's the link: www.talonrocks.com Enuff Z'Nuff's "Wake Up" off of their album "10" (Z RECORDS) is set to be included in the motion picture "Dead Awake", starring Stephen Baldwin, Macha Grenon and Michael Ironside. US power-poppers Supremium are working on new songs for their upcoming album. Tomorrow Tuesday...big update (promise)! New mp3s feat. Prisoner, Von Groove and Eclipse plus NEMELROCK review plus KURT'S KRAP plus REVIEWS....does it get any better! Sorry for the lack of updates in the last days. APRIL
17TH SPAIN's
BEST KEPT SECRET! Time
to say goodbye FRONTLINE:
NEW ALBUM GEOFF
TATE GOES SOLO: Z
ROCK 2001 TO BE FILMED BY TV CREW: KEN
PREPARES NEW & EXCITING PROJECT: LION'S SHARE "Entrance" will be released by MASSACRE in Europe on April 23. I emailed DAVE BALDWIN this week and he confirmed that he is out of DEPARTURE and currently concentratred in his solo stuff which will be more modern pop/rock in the vein of Matchbox 20 or Vertical Horizon. Meanwhile he let me know that there will be a new TRADIA album released this month. More info as soon as I have it. RACER X will play one U.S. reunion show in Los Angeles in support of their last record Superheroes. Paul Gilbert (who has been living in Japan and is doing a string of Asian clinic appearances from April 19-May 5), Scott Travis, John Alderete and Bruce Bouillet will perform at the Whisky in W. Hollywood on May 25. Westcoast fans should be pleased to hear that there are some more classic albums to be reissued in Japan. The titles include: PRESIDENT/By Appointment Of, FAR CRY, CHINA and RUSS TAFF which are scheduled for released on late May/early June. MARCH
21ST BAD COMPANY AND STYX have joined forces for a co-headlining tour that will play 40 dates this summer. Billy Squier and young blues-rocker Joe Stark, who's said to be similar to Johnny Lang, will join the groups on the road. The Bad Company lineup features lead singer Paul Rodgers, drummer Simon Kirke, guitarist Dave Colwell and bassist Rick Wills. Original guitarist Mick Ralphs and bassist Boz Burrell both have other commitments this summer and have chosen to sit this tour out, but there are no hard feelings among the group's founders. A complete tour itinerary is being finalized, and it's expected to be announced shortly. There are also plans to hold a formal press conference to announce the outing later this month at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, although that date hasn't been confirmed. BOURGEOIS PIGS is the name of the last signing by Frontiers/Now and Then. Participating are: Richard Black (Shark Island) on vocals, Jake E. Lee (Ozzy Osbourne, Badlands) and Michael Guy (House Of Lords) on guitar, Tony Franklin (The Firm, Blue Murder) on bass and Linsday Vannoy (Alice Cooper) on keyboards. Guests in the recording sessions will include Matt Sorum (The Cult / Guns'n'Roses) and Ken Mary (House Of Lords) supplying the drums, with Kelly Hansen (Hurricane) to handle all backing vocals. The album is being recorded in Michael Guy's studio in the Los Angeles, California area and has been titled "Calamity of Vanities". Scheduled for completion by the end of Summer 2001, the release is being slated later in the year. Michael Guy states: "The sound style will be quite adventurous, but will remain firmly rooted in melodic hard rock." Now & Then/Frontiers Records has also signed licensing deal for Europe with Roastinghouse Productions for the Finnish band URBAN TALE. The release of the band's debut album is planned for late summer in Europe. On may the 14th 2001, Now & Then and Frontiers Records will celebrate the 4th year of their UNION releasing a brand new compilation which will feature tracks from all the recent hits of the label's releases plus some exciting previews. This is the list of the bands/artists which are going to be featured in the double cd: Bob Catley, Bailey's Comet, Iain Ashley Hersey, Prime Time, Brad Gillis, Kip Winger, Heaven & Earth, Mark Boals, Into The Light, Millenium, Praying Mantis, David Glen Eisley, Voodoo Hill, Teer, The Sign, Ten, Kelly Keagy, Emerald Rain, Seventh Key, Stan Bush, Terry Brock, Under Suspicion, Hurricane, Skin Tag, Johnny Lima, Robert Fleishmann, Hardline, Bourgeois Pigs, Giant, Urban Tale. There are still two more bands to be included which will be announced shortly as contracts are in the final process of being signed. MARCH
16TH Let's go for the news: It looks like it's re-union time again...after Giant here comes PROPHET who have reformed and signed to Z Records. Original members Scott Metaxas, Russell Arcara and Ken Dubman have already confirmed that they will be part of the reformed line up.The threesome have already began writing material for their comeback album which will be released March/April 2002. The bands early albums have already become serious collectors items. Z Records will be re-releasing the entire back catalogue during 2001! The bands extremely rare 1985 debut Prophet will be re-released on May 21st. Their second album 1988's Cycle Of The Moon will be re-released on August 6th with a bonus track entitled "Hard Lovin Man". The bands third album 1991's "Recycled" with bonus tracks will be re-released on October 14th. Album no4 at present untitled will follow during early 2002 with possible live appearances. Chages in the NEMELROCK line-up. It's confirmed that MILLENIUM won't be able to play in the Nemelrock festival this year. The gap left will be filled by no othe than DARE. Necessary Productions can also confirm that HAREM SCAREM/RUBBER will play the better songs from their first and second records and more... Remember that the you can reserve your ticket for Nemelrock by email: necessaryprod@yahoo.es Rhino Records has set a summer release for the two-disc INXS collectionb "Shine Like It Does (1979-1997): The INXS Anthology." STYRPER EXPO ANNOUNCED. This May Southern California will host the second annual STRYPER Expo. The first one was held in New Jersey last May and was a huge success. This year the expo has expanded. While last year it resembled a Kiss expo this year it's a combination of the Kiss Expo and Ozzfest. This year the mainstage will have on Friday, Irene Kelly, Sin Dizzy and Michael Sweet. On Saturday the line up will be East West, Disciple and Stryper who will play a full 90 minute set, the first full set they have played in California in almost ten years. In addition to the mainstage, this year will bring the addition of the 'Xtreme Village' an Extreme side stage featuring Oil, Ultimatum, and Joshua. For all the information check out their website. www.stryperexpo.com MARCH
12TH The DAVE MATTHEWS BAND have already sold 750,000 units of his latest and amazing studio album "Everyday". The record released at the end of February was produced by Glen Ballard (Planet 3, Alanis Morrisette...). Expect a review soon. You can now purchase your tickets for the NEMELROCK FESTIVAL sending an email to:necessaryproductions@yahoo.es. For more information about the festival you can visit the web page: www.oocities.org/nemelrock. Remember the Festival will take place in Madrid the upcoming April 6-7th. More great news for the melodicrockers. Frontiers Records and Now & Then Productions have inked a worldwide deal with no others than GIANT. The band will be formed by brothers DANN and DAVID HUFF, plus bass player MIKE BRIGNARDELLO (nothing has been said about the participation of Alan Pasqua). As of today, it appears that the new songs will be completed in the next 3 months and the release date should be set sometime after the summer of 2001. American singer EDWIN McCAIN has completed his fourth CD on Lava/Atlantic Records titled FAR FROM OVER. It will have 12 tracks and the first single should be released to radio in April, with an album street date to follow in May or possibly June. The band will be on tour supporting the CD shortly before the album is released. Check out http://www.edwin.com for more details coming soon. Serge Entertainment Group has launched a 12-minute multi-media DEF LEPPARD "Internet Pictorial" at http://www.serge.org/DefLeppard . The RealAudio slideshow features 50 pictures taken at the band's two concerts last August in Wisconsin, including Flash animation and Def Lep song clips and a medley of "Back In Your Face," "Photograph," and "Rock, Rock (Till You Drop)." Zoom Club Records will release the classic and obscure 'When Midnight Comes' by Jack Ponti's SURGIN' on March 26th 2001. PRISONER have now completed their second album entitled " II ", the album will be released on March 30th. Tracks included on the album include Deadend, Jasmine, Hold On, One Way, Prisoners and One Step Closer. A special ltd edition version of the album will be made available first containing 3 exclusive bonus tracks. DOUG HOWARD has recently completed a new track titled "Human" for inclusion in an upcoming MTM 5th Anniversary compilation due out later this year. The song once again remains in Doug's style of hard and heavy rock with a good dose of strong melodic hooks. It is possible that this will be the only authorized commercial release of this song, so Doug has decided make the enitre song available for free download from the Stun Leer home page http://www.stunleer.com some time in the next few months. CONTAGIOUS have now found a new keyboard player named John Larsson who joined the band 4 weeks ago. Meanwhile Contagious are just about to start preproduction work on their forthcoming debut release. VELOCITY's much anticipated followup to 'Impact', entitled 'Activator' will be released on April 3. The lead off single from 'Activator', "Stay" will be serviced to radio with an add date of March 26 / 27. "Stay" will appear on Album Netwok's Tune Up industry compilation series the week of March 5 and an Active Rock and Rock co-op is being done with R&R, the music industry's leading trade publications for the weeks of March 5 and March 12. www.acceleratorrecords.com ENUFF Z NUFF will tour the UK during May, the following dates are now fully confirmed.... The Z Rock 2001 date will be a special greatest hits set, and the rest of the tour will be different. May 6th: Z
ROCK 2001 pt1, Manchester This spring Kivel Records will release an eight-song EP from ADRIANGALE, tentatively titled UNDER THE HOOD. It will contain "acoustic versions of several FEEL THE FIRE tracks, live tracks...one brand new track, as well as one unreleased track from the FEEL THE FIRE sessions." The band's second full-length studio album should be out later this year. FEBRUARY
5TH Right now the most important news is the NEMELROCK festival to be held in Madrid (venue: REVOLVER at Fernandez de los Rios n.67) the next April 7th (new feature soon!). This festival is the first to be held in my homeland (Spain) and I think it'll be a success. Also hope many of the site regulars show up the day of the show and not only the Spanish ones but also from abroad. I have received the confirmation hat there'll be an AOR party on April 6th. Skyline and Ice Blue will play that night and the artits will sign autographs. I think that's pretty cool and captures the magic communion between fans and musician just like at the Gods o Z Rock. Just book your flight right now for a greta rock weekend with the follwoing bands: RUBBER/HAREM SCAREM, HOUSE OF SHAKIRA, ADRIANGALE, MILLENIUM and the Spanish armada formed by: RAFA MARTIN, ELYTE and 91 SUITE. Tickets cost 5.000pts or 30$ and you can get further info in the festival website or directly emailing the promoter Jose Herrera at: necessaryprod@yahoo.es Now & Then/Frontiers is proud to announce the signing of a new act by the name of SKIN TAG. The band is made up of the following musicians: JIMMY LAWRENCE - Vocals (Best known for his MTM solo album "The World Is Round" on which he worked with the likes of Dan Huff, Tim Pierce, Peter Wolf, Rick Neigher, Tom Werman, etc..) CHARLIE CALV - Keyboards (Shotgun Symphony, Melodica, Message) RON SIVULICH Jr. - Drums (Shotgun Symphony, Intruder) DAVE TSIEN - Guitars (Shoot The Doctor) JOHN BONGIOVANNI - Bass (Joe Lynn Turner) SKIN TAG plays high quality melodic rock which can be described as a mixture of Jimmy`s solo album and SHOTGUN SYMPHONY`s classic debut. The band will begin recording of their debut album immediately with a view to a late summer/early Autumn release. One track from the album will be recorded in it`s entirety during early February in order that the band can be featured on the upcoming UNION 4 compilation due for release in April. A full European tour with BOB CATLEY / TEN is being planned to support the "Babylon" and "Middle Earth" albums throughout April and May 2001. Dates will be scheduled in the UK, Germany, Spain, France, Benelux, Italy with possibilities of Switzerland and Sweden also being negotiated. More details on this long awaited joint tour will be released soon. After the tour is completed Bob will be involved in the 25th Anniversary reunion album/tour of MAGNUM which will bring huge amounts of media interest and will only serve to boost his solo career. GARY HUGHES has made a recent guest appearence on the ARYEON album "Ayreonauts Only" released by Transmission Records. He sings lead vocals on the track "Beyond The Last Horizon". PETER CRISS, the original drummer of Kiss, has apparently exited the band for the second time in his career. He will be replaced on the hard rock group's ongoing farewell tour with Eric Singer, who sat behind the drums with Kiss from 1991-96. GARTH BROOKS' two-CD "Double Live" (Capitol Nashville) was certified for U.S. sales of 14 million copies in a January accounting by the RIAA, making it the best-selling live album in history. More on the upcoming DREAM THEATER video release... METROPOLIS 2000: SCENES FROM NEW YORK, directed by drummer Mike Portnoy, is due in March. The VHS version features the full METROPOLIS PT. 2: SCENES FROM A MEMORY album recorded live at New York City's Roseland Ballroom last August. The special edition DVD will feature the same show plus a full-length audio commentary by the band, another hour of live material including "A Change Of Seasons," a behind-the-scenes documentary, and a "Metropolis 2000 World Tour Photo Gallery." See http://www.dreamtheater.net for more. Cult pomprockers STARCASTLE are pleased to announce the formation of the band's own label Sunsinger Records. Their 1st release will be an Archive CD of early Starcastle Demos and unreleased material recently discovered by the band. This has a tentative release for late February, mid- March and will be available through the web site: www.starcastlemusic.com DECEMBER
5TH Though just three cities are on its December itinerary, TESLA intends to tour more extensively starting in February or March that will probably extend into summer. The band's October 25 Sacramento, Calfiornia show was recorded and the upcoming December 9 gigg in Fresno, California will be as well for use in a live album, and so may future shows in 2001. JOE CERISANO former lead vocalist for early 80's California band Silver Condor is touring with the Trans-Siberian Orchestra as one of the vocalists for their "Christmas Eve And Other Stories" Holiday Tour. Visit the Official Joe Cerisano Web Page at: http://www.cerisano.com ROB ROCK has also been confirmed to perform at the UltraSound. So far the line up is formed by Rob Rock (band), Tony and Mark from Westworld, Mitch Malloy, Velocity, John Taglieri (band) and Robin Brock (band). Robin's band includes: Jeff Pilson, James Kottack and Tim Pierce. Conversations have also started with Kamelot and Eidolon right now. ... and without leaving the festival camp, the Sweden Rock Festival organizers announced that JOHN NITZINGER (US) has been added to this year's bill. Other bands confirmed are Metalium (D), Symphony X (US), Rose Tattoo (Aus), The Flower Kings (Swe) & Hammerfall (Swe). There will be a total of 26 bands attending and headliners and the rest of the artists will be announced from February. Here's the link to their site:www.swedenrock.com ANTS
MARCHING, which is a cool Dave Mathews
tribute band, will play in Long Island this next December
8th Fri. 12/8 -
The Downtown - 10:30PM BURNING RAIN have begun work on songs for third album. in Los Angeles. The band are also planning a Japanese tour for next year. Doug Aldrich has written two songs for a Japanese TV show called "Mikazuki". One song is twenty minutes long and has guest appearances by Rudy Sarzo, Frank Hannon, and Tim Bogart. Z Records product will finally be available within Canada from February 2001. Z has agreed a distribution deal with Sextant/Koch Int. The first release will be 24K's bulletproof. Kurt Torster has just opened a mailing list dedicated to Departue and Tradia's vocalis DAVE BALDWIN. If you wih to join this list simply visit this page in order to send you subscription: http://www.egroups.com/group/davebaldwin SAMMY HAGAR 's "Ten 13" is currently being featured on mp3.com. Meanwhile ex-Van Halen vocalist has signed with a deal with MCY.com for worldwide digital, broadcast, cable, satellite, DVD, home video and radio rights to his November 18 Chicago, Illinois concert, which will be made available early next year. Heren are some news from last week... sorry for the lack of updates! Tommy Denander done with most recordings for the RADIOACTIVE album and the final track list is: Crime of Passion , When Your In Love (both co-written with Bobby Kimball), Waiting for a Miracle, Grace, Played the Fool (co-written with Fee Waybill), On My Own, Cermony Of Innocence, Haunt Me Tonight (by Richard Marx, Fee Waybill, Bruce Gaitch), LA Movies, Voices, The Story of Love + a still untitled instrumental. The release is planned for March -01. GUILD OF AGES finished the recordings of the bands third release. The new album titled "Citadel" was recorded at the NEH Studio in Denver, Colorado. And the full track list: Wicked Game, Losing My Religion, From Now On, Until The End, So This Could Be, Reaching Out, Thats Why, How Many Times, Feeding the Fire, How Can I Say. Also SLAMER-THOMPSON finished most of the recordings of this legend duo project and the full song list is: Wasting Time, Cant Get a Hold of Love, Get Up and Dance, Like Dust in the Light, One Man Mission, All Over Me, I Wont Lie Down, Angel, Girls Kick, Till The End, Ticket to Thailand, You Got Me. LOUD N CLEAR which been taking some good time in the studio to finish their new album and debut MTM release starting to reach the final stages of the >recordings. The album´s work in progress title is "Disconneceted"...and the song to be incl: Take Another Look, Aint Talking about nothing, Vanishing Point, Lovers In The Night, Disconnected, If You Want It, Take Me Higher, Love and Pain, If You Ever, Time to let go, Making Memories, Behind My Eyes, What Are You Waiting For, Better Than Radio... SINGER REQUIRED BY Z ACT: Z Records are currently searching for a singer in the Dio / Coverdale style. The singer is required by an as yet undisclosed signing. The band members have all been involved within successful acts over the past decade, so this could be a perfect opportunity for the right man [Track record is not essential]. If you think that you have what it takes, please send 2 cdrs. CV and photo to.... Z RECORDS PO BOX 58 SKELMERSDALE LANCASHIRE WN8 6FN ENGLAND ARABIA will release their debut album during late April 2001, the album title is as yet undecided but has the working title of "One thousand and One Nights". Details re the bands line up will be released shortly. Frontiers Records and Now & Then Productions proudly announces that they are to be the label of the recently announced come back to the melodic hard rock scene of the mighty HARDLINE The worldwide record deal was in fact struck in early november between the anglo-italian company and the leader of the band JOHNNY GIOELI. The band, fronted by the GIOELI brothers, Johnny and Joey, have previously released one KILLER album, featuring NEAL SCHON and DEEN CASTRONOVO (both of JOURNEY) and TODD JENSEN (of DAVE LEE ROTH`s band), which was universally recognized as a classic amongst melodic hard rock fans ! JOHNNY explains: "Although I never felt I left the rock scene, I certainly slowed down quite a bit. The slowing was great timing as I was blessed four years ago with my beautiful daughter Kaitlin who I got to spend a tremendous amount of time watching her grow. Now I am SO SO SO SO ready to put out another Hardline record for all of the fans who really believed it was more than a one record wonder... Neal Schon and I spent days, months and years writing songs that would have been on future Hardline records. Will I use them????? Hhhhhmmmmmmmm. I don't know. I have swarms of new ideas turning in my mind for the new record. Why am I doing this record? Not for money-not for fame-but for the love of a great melodic chorus. Sometimes when I stop and think of the past, I can still hear the crowd and see the millions of faces and their reactions...I live for this...and I am going to make this the record of records". "It is still undecided as to who will be on the record but I do know that - apart from JOEY (on rhythm guitar) and myself on vocals, famed guitar hero JOEY TAFOLLA will play lead guitar." As to the rest of the lineup, many serious 80s and 90's stars have been contacted and have shown interest in being involved. Further announcements will be made at the relevant times. HARDLINE will start recording the album at the famed Record Plant studios in Los Angeles, produced by JOHNNY GIOELI himself in early march 2001 for a release to be expected in late summer. Following the successful European release of "Empires", JIMI JAMISON along with Frontiers Records / Now & Then Productions is happy to announce that the album will finally get a proper USA release in early 2001. To bless this official return on the North and South American market, JIMI gave the label the rights to include two bonus tracks exclusively, which are "KEEP IT EVERGREEN" and a storming live version of the SURVIVOR classic "Too Hot To Sleep". The album will be released under the JIMI JAMISON tag, in order to avoid confusion between the fans, now that JAMISON has rejoined the original SURVIVOR family with Frankie Sullivan. DOKKEN have released a new live CD, DVD and VHS, Live From The Sun, on CMC International Records. The performance was recorded on November 4, 1999, before a sold-out hometown crowd at the Sun Theatre in Anaheim, CA. NOVEMBER
27TH There's a poll in the JOURNEY site to find out what songs the fnas would like to hear when the band begins the "Arrival" tour. They currently have 135 songs from the past albums and you can choose up to 22 songs from the list. Here's the link to the band's official site: http://www.journeytheband.com Regarding the much likely WINGER reunion, Paul Taylor confirmer to MetalEdge last week that "It's 80%-90% that it's gonna happen". A tour is being mapped out for a May or June start. "Everybody's up for it." said Taylor. What that will mean for REB BEACH's participation in DOKKEN remains to be seen. Meanwhile, Now & Then/Frontiers will be releasing Kip's new solo album plus his first two solo albums: "This Converstion Seems Like A Dream" and "Down Incognito" at budget price. "Down Incognito" is the revised version of "Made By Hand" and features 2 live bonus tracks "Rainbow In The Rose" and "Blind Revolution Mad". Kip will be on tour in the UK and for one date in Spain during December with Bob Catley, more dates are to come during 2001. A full
listing of the upcoming FOREIGNER
Tribute Album is now available. The album should be
released around 28th January 2001 BY Escape
Music. DAVID FOSTER will chat online November 28th, 2000 at 5:30pm PST on Yahoo chat. For more info regarding the live chat browse to David's new internet adventure called Tonos.com. Tonos is a great place for musicians and features courses and pieces of advice by people like Max Martin or Steve Lukather. ...also regarding STEVE LUKATHER... Toto's guitarrist received the MVP Award at this year's LA Music Awards, taking place on 21 November. He also performed one tune with Simon Phillips, Jeff Babko and Phil Soussan. For more information on this event check out www.lamusicawards.com. www.ten-online.com has a in-depth review of the TEN Spanish shows with many pictures. The band's recent tour of Spain along with MILLENIUM and ELYTE was a huge success. The show in Madrid was described by singer Gary Hughes as being like playing in front of a football crowd and comparable with any reaction that the band has ever had in Japan (Everybosy agreess ...we are the best crowd around!). To capitalise on the current positivity within the band a full European tour is to take place in February / March of 2001. Full details will be announced shortly. VINNY RECORDS has just confirmed that 91 SUITE have ended the recording of their debut album. Mark Mangold will be mixing the whole album. The sound of the band is said to be huge melodic rock. ELYTE also in the label are ready to start the recording of the English version of their debut album. It's also rumored that guitarrist Pablo Leon might perform in Gary Hughes' next solo album. MELODICA's "Acoustica" album is now available from the following UK mail order specialists as well as direct from Now & Then. Destiny Records http://www.destinyrocks.co.uk, Loud One Mail Order http://www.loud1.co.uk , The Groove Machine http://www.thegroovemachine1.co.uk. Canadian Rockers VON GROOVE will enter the studio on December 2nd to start work on their first full electric album for Z. The album is as yet untitled, but the material will have the big hooks of "Mission Man" mixed with the rockier side of "Driving Off the edge of the World". The band will of course be making their first ever live appearance within Europe at the Z 2001 show on May 6th. Austrian band AMUN RE is going to record a full length album. All the preparations and predefinitions are running quite well, and the band will introduce the new material live at the PLANET MUSIC in VIENNA (formerly known as the ROCKHAUS) on the 20th of DECEMBER THE SPIRIT OF THE BLACK ROSE is the ultimate Tribute To PHIL LYNOTT. At last the line up is ready. The record will include many Lizzy classic and will feat. (among others) people like Robin George, Carl Dixon (coney Hatch), Kelly Keeling (Baton Rouge), Dogface (signed to MTM). Release date will be Feb 5th 2001. Half of the profit will go directly to the Roisin Dubh Trust Fund. For further detailed info follow this link: www.rhcd.net/parris.htm A special competition has just been posted at the Z Records web site at www.zrecords.net that will interest fans of the band. Simply answer the question and you could stand a chance of winning a copy of the 21 GUNS album "Nothings Real" and a special 21 Guns promo shirt. The draw will be made on December 1st and the winner will be announced at the site on December 2nd. DAMNED NATION
will be playing live on December 10th in Karlskoga,
Sweden. And US Rockers SAVANNAH will
be playing Friday, December 1st at club Fuel in Lowell,
MA, on Market Street, upstairs from the Blue Shamrock.
Also, Savannah will be performing at Sharky's on
Saturday, December 16th in Nashua, NH for a two hour show
with special guests MASS. The band has half off the
door tickets to give away. Contact Tony if NOVEMBER
13TH German melodic rockers HOTWIRE have finished our new CD which will be out in January 2001. On their homepage you will find news, tourdates, infos, pictures and soundfiles. Here's the link: http://www.hotwire-rock.de Good news, TESLA fans. The band's October 25 reunion show in Sacramento, California was such a success that there will be more in the coming months. So far, one has been tentatively slated for December 8 at the House of Blues in Las Vegas. We hear that the band members are getting along great and are considering a tour for next year. Also, the two-hour Sacramento show was recorded and there's talk of releasing it in some form. BON JOVI keyboardist DAVID BRYAN's solo album Lunar Eclipse will be released December 5. Included is an instrumental version of "In These Arms." The release of 24K's forthcoming album has been delayed until January 15th to accommodate further pre release PR to be carried out. ACES HIGH expect to complete their third album in full later this month, the album currently has a working title of "Forgive & Forget". Fans will be pleased to know that the material leans towards the sound of their classic debut. MITCH MALLOY is the second artist to confirm his appearance at the ULTRASOUND'01. BOB CATLEY has finished recording lead vocals at Gary Hughes' home recording studio for his third solo album. The album continues in the majestic style set by his previous works. Currently with the working title "Middle Earth" the album features songs based around Tolkein's "The Lord Of The Rings". Once again the album features the songwriting talents of Gary Hughes with Vinny Burns also returning to embue the songs with his vitality and emotion. But Bob's vocal performance is once again the heart of the album which will be released in early 2001 EMERALD RAIN are currently hard at work on their follow up to the critically acclaimed "Age Of Innocence". Drummer Kyle Lazenka has recently left the band but still remains on good terms. Randy Cooke played on all the tracks on the new album. Randy is Kim Mitchell's regular drummer and probably in the top 3 session guys in Canada. The music continues in the style of "Age Of Innocence" with giant rifs and hard hitting melodies. As far as touring goes Randy Cooke and Darren Smith (Harem Scarem) have both showed interest for next year. STAN BUSH has already started recording his new album, which is being co-written and produced by Curt Cuomo. As Stan explains "Curt and I are planning to do a Hard Rock album, with great songs, searing guitars, big drums, killer high background vocals and huge mixes. I'm using the first Stan Bush & Barrage album as a criteria." What more could you ask for?! The UK's very own BAILY BROTHERS are currently ensconced in the studio recording their debut album for Now & Then/Frontiers. Better known for their DJ work for Metal Hammer and MTV, as well as their tireless work in trying to keep the flag flying for all things rock, this album will come as a shock to many. Best described as a cross between early Dare and Thin Lizzy, the Celtic feel to the music captivated the record company on first listen. The album even contains a Phil Lynott co-write, one of the last pieces of music composed before his unitmely demise. The band have recently recruited former Graffiti lead vocalist Rick Chase. This is sure to be one of the major surprises of next year! European release will be mid 2001. NOVEMBER
5TH JOURNEY is pleased to announce the following show dates: December 30th, 2000: Mandalay Bay Event Center, Las Vegas, Nevada. Also appearing will be REO Speedwagon. (Note: This show will be filmed by Direct TV for a 2001 air date.) Jan
30th/31st International Forum, Tokyo, Japan I have
received a preview of the cover of the new PHIL
VINCENT album to be released before the end of
the year (hopefully) by SONGHAUS/AORHEAVEN. The title
will be "Tragic".
KEN TAMPLIN is to record a new solo album to be released September 2001. The material will be in the vein of Radio Bikini and will feature many well known musicians. Ken commented "I am looking forward to making an album in the style of my classic years, and working with some of rocks most respected players". More news to follow shortly. After the the band's tours in Europe, VAUGHN will be heading into the studio this winter to record the follow-up to their debut album. "What started out as a band of "Hired Guns", has become a monster concert band. With the live shows being so successful, the band really knows the kind of record we want to write and record", says drummer Michael Clayton. "We will be recording this album as if we are onstage performing these great new tunes Danny has written." Look out for a August 2001 release, and a UK/European tour soon to follow. Now &
Then Productions is giving away a Fender Squier
Strat guitar at the Gods 2000! The full prize
package includes: Tony Harnell and Mark Reale from WESTWORLD are the first artists confirm their appearance at next year's ULTRASOUND. The guys will play an unplugged set. Remind that the UltraSound'01 is gonna take over a new hotel. This time it's the Hilton Burbank Airport & Convention Center (aka The Burbank Hilton) in Burbank, CA on March 10 - 11 with the pre-party on March 9th. SANTERS is proud to announce the launch of their own web site at www.santers.com . In celebration, Dandelion Records has just released the very best of SANTERS on one CD titled Cold Fusion. Cold Fusion rocks with 14 SANTERS songs, including 2 previously unreleased bonus tracks - plus rare photos, exclusive to this release. This musical journey features the best songs from the bands four studio albums: Shot Down In Flames, Racing Time, Guitar Alley and Top Secrecy, previously only available in the SANTERS IV - Box Set and on the Top Secrecy German Import. SANTERS is also currently in the studio working on their reunion album set for release in September 2001. Updated dates for STEVE VAI's Brazilian tour: 11/30 - Bar Opinao, Porto Alegre, Brazil; 12/1 & 12/2 - Olympia, Sao Paulo, Brazil; 12/3 - ATL Hall, Rio De Janeiro, Brazil. Some news in the MTM newsletter explain the reasons of the delays in some of their upcoming releases: "...We rescheduled the release date for Dogface - unleashed and for Elements of Friction´s selftitled debut album. Both these albums will now be set for release early 2001. We feel that both these debut albums will get more attention with a release on the other side of the holidays, especially with the very hectic release schedule at the moment from other labels... " The yet un-titeld second album from ACT is to be released end of January. The album is finished recorded and is to be mastered in Gothenburg in mid November. CARL DIXON finished the recordings of his debut MTM album and the tracks to be incl. on the former Coney Hatch frontman's new album are: Into The Future, Hot Streak Gone Bad, Cold River, Strange Way To Live, Busted, Back The Where we Started, Shadow, Lonely You, Where Do I Begin, It's About A Girl, There He Is, Can't Lose and Gone. DIVING FOR PEARLS will start the recordings of the comeback album during November. All prework and songwriting been finished between Danny Malone and producer David Prater. GUILD OF AGES just started the tracking of the songs for the bands third (fifth if you count the two albums under the former name CITA) album. An album which the band promises will see them return into full action. SEVEN WISHES have now nearly fully completed their new album "Utopia", songs to be included are: Not So Innocent, Don't Fade Away, Out Of Sight, Unchain The Night [cover of the Dokken classic], Face That Evil, Justify, Take My Heart, Too Late For Tears, Restless Heart, Holyman, Out Of Indifference. The album will be released during February and the band will of course be appearing at the forthcoming Z2001 show on May 6th. OCTOBER
20TH Friday 15th
Dec - The Rock Cafe 2000, Stourbridge MICHAEL JAHNZ, former lead singer to Gary Richrath of REO Speedwagon has released a new award-winning album called "Project 3:13" that has been tearing up the radio waves. Listen to a clip of "I Found In You" on Radio Free Kansas, named by Rolling Stone Magazine as "One of the Coolest Stations on the Web" http://www.tafcommedia.net/html/ . Just scroll down and click on "Michael Jahnz" . Also, check out Jahnz's Offiical website at http://www.mjahnz.com The former Yngwie Malmsteen singer, MARK BOALS has licensed his new solo album "Ring Of Fire" to the Frontiers label. "Ring Of Fire" is Boals second solo album and features Mark himself on bass and all lead vocals along with the likes of TONY MCALPINE (Planet X) on all guitars, VITALIJ KUPRIJ (Artension) on keyboards and drummer extraordinaire VIRGIL DONATI (also Planet X). The release date for Europe is set to be on December 4th, 2000.
Into The Light is the brand new studio project featuring TIM DONAHUE with Hurricane singer KELLY HANSEN. The musical style of Into The Light can be best described as very original class metal with hard rock and peculiar AOR elements. The European release date of the album is set to be December 4th.
Due to the rescheduling, we regret to inform the fans that HEAVEN & EARTH will not be able to attend the GODS festival in Wigan on November 4th as previously announced. The final line-up of the festival shall therefore be as follows: TEN Billy Greer is happy to confirm that production duties for the album are to be handled by none other than Mr. Mike Slamer. They have also co-written and recorded the basic tracks for 6 new songs which will be included on the SEVENTH KEY album to be tentatively released in March 2001. Also Billy reports that some Kansas band mates and Steve Morse have contributed with the remaining songs which shall be featured on the album. Following the appearance at the GODS festival in Wigan, PRAYING MANTIS has landed the special guests slot for Glen Hughes' concert at the "Astoria" in London on 22 November 2000. NEW RECORD LABEL FORMS TEMPE, AZ - With many changes happening so rapidly in the music business, a new decade, century and millenium seemed to be the right moment to launch Dreamscape Music Group. Non genre specific in nature, Dreamscape will consider all musical formats, lending itself to outlets not accessible via the normal melodic rock channels. Formed by Dave Tedder, a thirteen year veteran of the independent hard rock and heavy metal "scenes" Dreamscape is set to focus it's strategies within North America through aggressive promotion and marketing platforms. Dreamscape titles will be available in traditional brick and mortar stores as well as the various internet favorites. Orders will be fulfilled through Alliance Entertainment Corporation, Valley Media Inc., Southwest Wholesale and others providing access to over eight thousand outlets continent wide. The first three releases from Dreamscape will be a self titled Ep from Picture Perfect, self titled full length album from Joe Robinson and 'New Kid In Town', a Christmas Ep from Tiffany Nicole. For more information on Dreamscape Music Group, please eMail info@dreamscape-group.com or phone 480.827.8686 OCTOBER
16TH
The 6 bonus tracks will appear on the Z version of "Nothings Real" by 21 GUNS are: 1.Slam the Hammer 2.The Picture 3.Blood Gone Bad 4.Cold Heart 5.Dear Mother 6.House Of Cards. The album will be released on November 13th 2000. Vocals on the tracks are handled by Solli and Tommy La Verdi. A fan based ToTo Tribute is about to be completed. This album, currently without a title, contains Toto covers recorded by Toto fans for Toto/AOR fans and will come available in a limited version (50-100 copies). There is no record company behind this release, and there are no commercial reasons for making this record! Amongst the participants are a number of known names, like: Phil Vincent, vocals, John Taglieri, vocals, Lars Säfsund, vocals and Michael Riesenbeck, guitar. The current list of songs is: All Us Boys, White Sister, I Will Remember, Home Of The Brave, Take My Hand, Endless, I'll Supply The Love, A Secret Love, Hey Little Girl and Child's Anthem. There will be added some additional songs. The expected release date is 01-01-2000 For more information, soundclips, photo's, etc: http://home.wanadoo.nl/~michael.riesenbeck/ttcd/ or email Michael Riesenbeck at m.riesenbeck@net.hcc.nl. Guitarist Michael Riesenbeck is also currently writing and recording for his new solo CD. Amongst the guests on the album are: Phil Vincent, John Taglieri, Paul Lancia and Michael Bormann. The music on the album will be AOR/Melodic Hard Rock with strong melodies. COMPANY OF SNAKES has a new singer who will be replacing Gary Barden. The man is the ex- SNAKES IN PARADISE Stefan Berggren from Stockholm, Sweden. JOE CERISANO has a CD out called "Carbon Copy". Joe was former lead vocalist for early 80s AOR California band Silver Condor. This band also featured guitarist Earl Slick (who is presently touring as David Bowie's guitarist) and keyboardist John Corey (Don Henley, Eagles). Silver Condor had a Top 40 Hit in 1981 with the song, "You Could Take My Heart Away." Z Records Sister company Zero Option Rock Pro has announced it's contribution to help toward a melodic rock revival during 2001. The company moved into management and event organization during late 1993, and later branched out even further during September 1997 when Z Records was formed. Despite running the Z Records shows, it was felt that the company could also organize another event that would be open to acts from outside of it's sister companies roster. Zero Option Rock Pro has already put together the following line up:VAUGHN, HEARTLAND, SAVANNAH, CHANGE OF HEART, PONTUS NORGREN, CONTAGIOUS and NEWMAN. The Venue: MAXIMES, WIGAN, ENGLAND; Date: Sunday August 26th 2001. Tickets £20 [may be subject a BOOKING FEE] and will go on sale November 13th 2000.By Mail-order: Cheques payable to Zero Option Rock Pro, PO Box 58, Skelmersdale Lancashire, WN8 6FN, ENGLAND. Or via the following credit card hotlines: 0191 232 6104, 01782 522370, 01489 603549 A2 Records
are proud to announce that they have signed JOHN
JORGENSON for the European release of his album,
"Emotional Savant". The cd will be released on
Nov 13th to tie in with the start of his UK tour. John is
Elton John's guitarist, as well as being a member of the
Hellacasters, and the Byrds. The UK tour dates are as
follows: WIN FREE STUFF !!!! NORWAY announces their "Click, Count & Win" Contest. The boys have hidden a small icon on pages thoughout our website. All you have to do is find all of the icons, send them your answer and you could be a winner. The band is giving away an autographed T-shirt, Mousepad, and autographed copies of their two cds. Just visit the contest page for all the details on how to enter. Contest starts now and runs until Jan 15, 2001 Another nice COMPETITION: You can also win one of three handsigned copies of the new Best Of-album "The Wizards Chosen Few" by German guitarrist AXEL RUDI PELL. What you have to do? Just try to create an Axel Rudi Pell Winamp Skin and e-mail it to Axel's management at management@axel-rudi-pell.de. If you don't have any idea what a Winamp Skin is or looks like in general, you should visit www.winamp.com for further infos and examples. Axel will choose his personal three favourites, i.e. the winners, himself which will be put on the www.axel-rudi-pell.de site for download when the competition is over. The deadline for e-mailing your self-created Pell-topic skin is November 15th, 2000. OCTOBER
8TH C.C. DeVILLE will be CYBILL SHEPHERD's guest on her talk show Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus next Tuesday, October 10. The POISON/SAMANTHA 7 guitarist will join in the discussion of the topic "Why Men and Women Cheat." SLAUGHTER launches a headlining club tour in Anaheim, California on October 26 that wraps up with a three day stand at Gussie L'Amour's in Honolulu, Hawaii on November 5-7. The band's Los Angeles date on November 1 at the Key Club will be supported by BULLETBOYS. You can now stop by the HIT THE GROUND RUNNIN' website, and check out their 1988 debut video from the band's first album on Autograph/BMG called Sudden Impact. The video Over & Over was seen in Canada only back in 1988 on the Much Music Network. Here's the link: http://hitthegroundrunnin.homepage.com Fans within Germany will have recently been able to hear PONTUS NORGREN on the the cover cd of Hammer magazine. His solo album has so far received rave reviews everywhere, Swedish fans living within Stockholm will be able to tune into a two hour Pontus Norgren special on the Dr. Rock show on 106.7 fm on October 22nd at 7pm. Norwegians RETURN have a new release out very soon called "Live". You can catch some soundbyte at Terje's website http://www.rockofnorway.com/ . "Live" will came out the 16th of october on Oslove records. Classic pompsters STARCASTLE have aweb site on line at:www.starcastlemusic.com Lenny Wolf's KINGDOM COME will release an new album Oct. 16 2000. For more info, go to Lenny's official website at: www.lennywolf.com SIGNAL's LIVE, which was previously only available at MarcieFree.com in a limited 500-copy run, is now being distributed throughout Europe by Frontiers Records. MarcieFree.com is also now offering demo/rare tracks for free download each month due to the demand of Marcie's unreleased material and the subsequent bootleg market that it has created. The following is a sad statement from HEAVEN'S FIRE who have just released their debut album through Frontiers/Now and Then: "On behalf of the band HEAVEN`S FIRE, we are very sad to announce the passing of Mike Mackinnon, known to everyone as "mic mac". He was a good friend as well as the drummer for the band and he will be greatly missed spiritually, musically and personally by both of us. Losing someone close to you is never easy and it will take us some time to heal. The second album will go forward as planned and we will be auditioning drummers as soon as possible. Although it is a most difficult task, we do have some promising propects that even Mike respected. It is what we all want and what Mike would have wanted as well. We are certain that much of the emotion that we feel right now will be channeled into the writing of the new album that will be dedicated to him. We will continue for ourselves and for our fans in memory of Mike. Mic mac you will be missed. Andy and Jim" The followin November 22nd is the tentative Japanese released date for the new ROBBY VALENTINE album. The opus will be entitled BELIEVING IS SEEING and nothing has been said wether it'll be released in Europe or not. US Rockers albums BURNING RAIN have signed to Z Records within Europe. The band have released two to date but only within Japan, both albums will be released by Z. The official release dates are "Burning Rain" to be released on the 13th of November and "Pleasure to Burn" on the 15th of January 2001. The band is:DOUG ALDRICH - Guitars, KEITH ST JOHN - Vocals, IAN MAYO - Bass, ALEXX MAKAROVICH - Drums. In addition the band have been added to the line up for Z 2001. This will be the bands first ever show outside of Japan. The Final Line Up for the show is: ENUFF ZNUFF · VON GROOVE · SHY · BURNING RAIN · DREAMHUNTER · PRISONER · SEVEN WISHES · CONTAGIOUS. The Date is Sunday May 6th 2001 and the Venue: The Ritz, Manchester, England. SEPTEMBER
27TH BTW, I know the website has been a little bit quiet in the last weeks but now I am working extra time and I have almost 20 new reviews ready to be released someday this week. My apologizes to the bands and labels who are waiting for the reviews of their albums. Let's go
with the news: First of all here's the preview of the
first release by the British band CONTAGIOUS,
which will be the EP "Red, white and
slightly blue", and the awaited THE
VU cd featuring Kevin Chalfant, Ross Valory...
(Does anybody said JOURNEY??)
ROBIN BROCK will be returning to the studio to record her follow up album, in November. The album will be produced by Keith Olsen, and will feature songs co-written by, amongst others, Randy Bachman and John Capek (Rod Stewart). The line up of musicians is provisionally: Guitars · Tim Pierce and Randy Bachman, Bass · Jeff Pilson (Dokken), Drums · James Kottack (Scorpions). The new album is scheduled for a spring release by her label, A2 Records. Here's some info regarding the first ever THUNDERSTRUCK 2001. The event is a tribute to Thunder who have provided their fans with 11 years of great entertainment and music. Out of respect for the band and for the fans, it has been decided to hold a convention in honour to them. The event will take place at the Pontins Holiday Camp, Blackpool during Friday 1sst June 2001 and Saturday 2nd June 2001. The line-up is still being finalised, but it can be confirmed that TEN and BOB CATLEY will both headline a night at the event, with The Promise, Razor Babies, Throat Oyster and Stilettos all making an appearance. The cost for this is £80 per person. This cost includes a two day ticket to the event and two night’s full board accommodation. For more information please visit my site at http://www.captainthunder.badland.com. Awesome 80's melodic rock band White Sister has a new web site. http://www.whitesister.com/ HOME SWEET HOME RECORDS has just released 6 new westcoast and christian cd's incl.: DANN HUFF "SOLOS" an instrumental cd of 17 dann huff solos spaning over 10 years. CHRIS CHRISTIAN "Harbour" First new cd in over 10 years. Guest include Kenny Passereli, Dann Huff, Larry Baird, David Martin, and Steve Kipner and WHITEHEART "Millenium Series" which is a copilation with demos, lost masters, and interviews. SEPTEMBER
21ST
... the label realizes the cover is very strong and wishes to know your opinion regarding this matter. So you can tell me what you think and I will forward your personal points of view to Mark Alger and co. In a statement at its Web site, GREAT WHITE confirmed that drummer AUDIE DESBROW and also bassist SEAN McNABB are no longer with the band, and also revealed that vocalist JACK RUSSELL "at his request, is secluded in rehabilitation for the next sixty days" and noted that the band will get to work on a new record around Thanksgiving. TONIC (8 P.M. EST) and then MARVELOUS3 will answer your questions ina live audio chat to be held at BUGJUICE.COM the next Tuesday September 26th. The Marvies will also perform live at 9:30 P.M. EST! Due to some line up changes in Stun Leer, the new album will be released as DOUG HOWARD'S STUN LEER The title is still "Last Man Standing" and watch out for this hard rock tour-de-force to be released this fall. One good chance for the Westcoasters in living in California: The CARMEN GRILLO BAND will be performing this Sunday, 9/24 at: FISHERMANS VILLAGE-MARINA DEL REY TIME: 2:00 P.M. UNTIL 5:P.M The line up will include CARMEN GRILLO (Guitar and Vocals), TIM SCOTT (Bass and Vocals), JEFF BABKO (Keyboards and Vocals). HERMAN MATHEWS (Drums), LEE THORNBURG (Trumpet and Vocals) and BILL ESPARZA (Sax). Tickets for THE GODS2000 can now be ordered online using a secure server from ticket agency Ticketline.Telephone orders can be made on the credit card hotline, which is open 8am to 8pm Mon - Fri, 8am to 6pm Sat, 10am to 5pm Sun. 0161-832-1111 or 0870-444-5556 Tickets are £20 and subject to a booking fee. Finnish AOR hopefuls URBAN TALE have signed with ROASTINGHOUSE PRODUCTIONS who will release the band's debut. In a note the band declared "Many of you are probably asking why we chose this company, after all there were 7 companies The reasons are simple. First of all, these guys were always there for us. They always answered their phones if we had something to ask. They even kept in touch with us when we waited for other companies to contact us! And most important: THEY HAVE THE BEST SOUNDING PRODUCTIONS OF THESE COMPANIES AND MOST DIVERSE BACK CATALOQUE. The deal is for two years. It is a production deal, which means that they will produce our album(s) and licence it to a third party, in other words a record label. This means that our album may well be released by one of those companies that were interested in us! The recordings will start on 30/10/2000 at RoastingHouse studios in Malmö, Sweden." Fnas of ASIA and AOR/Prog in general should not miss this new band coming from Germany. Their name is ARIS and you can listen to some soundbytes of their new album "Rain dries" at the IUMA site. SEPTEMBER
15TH
I have heard through the grapevine that BRYAN ADAMS had a bad motorcycle accidnet in Jamaica during his holiday. He seems to be now resting at his London home. SPOCK'S BEARD's new album V debuted on the German national charts at #37. A two-month headlining tour of 11 countries starts October 11 so don't miss this chance to capture one of the best melodic-prog bands. If you are into hard rock you should not miss the new MP3´s and the new updated site of the band FATAL SMILE at www.listen.to/fatalsmile . The frontman of this Swedish combo HB Anderson (ex-SCUDIERO) ESCAPE has set for release a new PHANTOMS OPERA album featuring Dean Fasano (MESSAGE, PROPHET) who actually was the original lead singer of the band 20 years ago. SAMANTHA 7 will expand from a trio to a quartet for the upcoming tour slated to begin September 27 in Sandusky, Ohio, (my second home!) thanks to the temporary addition of GREAT WHITE's MICHAEL LARDIE on guitar and keyboards. "I wanted to concentrate on singing, and some of the songs needed a bigger sound," says frontman C.C. DeVILLE, who's already writing with Lardie for possible usage on the next GREAT WHITE album. BAR 7 (ex Tesla) is going to play a Promo-Accoustic-Set in Munich/Germany on Friday Sep. 22th as special guest during the Melodic Rock Night at Garage-Club/Kunstpark Ost. Z RECORDS wants to let know to all the fans of the label living in Gothenburg or Stockholm that they will be able to hear Z product on their radio in FM Stereo from October onwards. Z has linked up with RED HOT ROCK RADIO 106.3 fm in Gothenburg and sponsored a special Melodic Rock hour between 4pm and 5pm on Wednesdays, the first shows will be on October 11th, 25th, November 8th and 22nd. The show will feature special previews of all our releases plus back catalogue. Those of you living within Stockholm can also hear our product played frequently on the Dr Rock show on 106.7fm Rockklassiker. The new SAVANNAH album "Forevers Come & Gone" will be fully completed this week. Release can be expected on the 23rd of October. DANNY DANZI has been locked away in the studio in preparation for his forthcoming follow up to 1999's "Somewhere Lost In Time". Earlier this year we gave you a sneak preview of one of the possible tracks to be included on the forthcoming as yet untitled release. The track Eternity was a demo and Danny wishes to assure fans that his new album will have major league production. |
