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Judas Priest EpitaphJUDAS PRIEST celebrates 40 years of heavy metal dominance with ‘Epitaph‘, a 23-song live concert Blu-Ray/DVD from the closing night of the “Epitaph World Tour” – the band’s final world tour – recorded at London’s HMV Hammersmith Apollo in May 2012.
 
This release contains live versions of at least one song from each of JUDAS PRIEST’S 14 classic albums from 1974 to 2008.
 
“Epitaph” track listing:
 
01. Battle Hymn
02. Rapid Fire
03. Metal Gods
04. Heading Out To The Highway
05. Judas Rising
06. Starbreaker
07. Victim Of Changes
08. Never Satisfied
09. Diamonds And Rust
10. Prophecy
11. Night Crawler
12. Turbo Lover
13. Beyond The Realms Of Death
14. The Sentinel
15. Blood Red Skies
16. The Green Manalishi (With The Two-Pronged Crown)
17. Breaking The Law
18. Painkiller
19. The Hellion
20. Electric Eye
21. Hell Bent For Leather
22. You’ve Got Another Thing Coming
23. Living After Midnight
 


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Stephen Pearcy - Sex, Drugs, Ratt & Roll My Life In RockRATT singer Stephen Pearcy’s long-awaited book, “Sex, Drugs, Ratt & Roll: My Life In Rock“, will be released on May 7, 2013 via Gallery Books, an imprint of Simon & Schuster. The 288-page hardcover is described in a press release as “a jaw-dropping tell-all from the lead singer of the 1980s supergroup RATT: the groupies, the trashed hotel rooms, the drugs — and just how much you can get away with when you’re one of the biggest hair metal stars of all time.”
 
In the mid-1980s, RATT, alongside MÖTLEY CRÜE, POISON and QUIET RIOT, were laying down the riffs and unleashing the scissor kicks that would herald the arrival of music’s most flamboyantly debauched era. Now with “Sex, Drugs, Ratt & Roll”, RATT frontman and chief rabble-rouser Stephen Pearcy divulges all the dirty details of the era when big-haired bands ruled the world.
 
Stephen was primed for a life of excess from an early age — his father died of a heroin overdose when he was twelve, and by the age of fifteen, Stephen was himself a drug addict. When Stephen met the thrill-seeking Robbin Crosby, he knew he’d found his perfect partner in crime — both in music and partying. RATT’s 1984 debut single, “Round And Round”, became one of the top-selling metal songs of all time, but it was the band’s off-stage escapades that were the stuff of legend.
 
“Our tour bus is like our pirate ship, it’s where we rape and pillage,” said Pearcy in 1987. Now Pearcy’s memoir reveals all the rock star excess — the partying, the women, the $2,000-a-day drug habits — letting fans see into this harrowing hair-metal lifestyle and what it’s really like behind the scenes when you’re a rock star.
 
Famed book editor Jeremie Ruby-Strauss, editor at Gallery Books stated about what fans can expect from Stephen Pearcy’s forthcoming book: “There will be a ton of sex, mind-boggling amounts of drugs, and, of course, a whole lot of RATT and roll. There’s also stuff about him breaking both legs as a kid and whatnot, but are you seriously not more intrigued by the sex and drugs?”
 
In a 2011 interview, Pearcy stated about “Sex, Drugs, Ratt & Roll: My Life In Rock” — which has been in the works for more than three years: “[It will include] so many stories. The good, the bad (real bad) and the ugly.” He added, “It’s a big wakeup call to remember some things, but have to share. Some might learn something from my experiences and get something positive in the end. There are bright moments; it’s not all about Ratt ‘n’ Roll.”
 
Pearcy told the San Antonio Metal Music Examiner in a separate interview: “There’s lots of tales in there that people need to know or haven’t known. You know, to get the real opinion. . . It’s a real honest book. The kitchen sink is in there. It’s time to share because nobody knows what we’re about or how you got there or what you went through. I got into music by accident — realistically by accident (laughs).
 
When asked if his book be a rebuttal to RATT drummer Bobby Blotzer’s “Tales Of A Ratt – Things You Shouldn’t Know” autobiography or if it will be more autobiographical in nature, Pearcy said, “Both. Because when I started that band, people got the wrong perspective on so many things. That’s why we’re on the level we don’t wish to be on, by default and admission. But everything I say is going to be honest. Bob took his own side on his book. But it’s his own. It’s like when I read the Keith Richards and [Steven] Tyler books, I thought, ‘That’s how I want my book to read.'” Blabbermouth.net
 
Culture Brats: A good portion of the book focuses on Robbin Crosby, your relationship with him, and his contribution to RATT. Was it important to you to make everyone know his role in the band?
 
Pearcy: Definitely. 100%. Because as the first incarnation of RATT after MICKEY RATT had imploded, Robbin had been jamming with Jake E. Lee and myself. We were actually opening up a lot of club shows for MÖTLEY [CRÜE]. His band imploded and he was very important in the direction and the look we created and where we were going musically. I don’t want him forgotten. I want him to forever be associated as an integral part. Granted, what made RATT RATT as we know it are the surviving members and thank God we’re together doing what we do to this day. But if it wasn’t for Robbin, we could’ve had a totally different direction.
 
Culture Brats: There’s a reason the book’s called “Sex, Drugs, Ratt & Roll: My Life In Rock”: there are tons of pages devoted to sexual conquests and drug usage. You have any estimate on how many women you’ve been with?
 
Pearcy: Oh God, no. I don’t. I actually had a quota of three a day, but I did have normal relationships that did last awhile. I told myself until I was married I would just be me. It’s like a kid in a candy store. I didn’t keep track, I just knew I was going for that grab bag every day.
 
Huffington Post: Stephen Pearcy’s New Memoir Is Awesome. Period. Rock memoirs are a dime-a-dozen these days, and my expectations of this one were not high. But Pearcy delivers big, and if you like the rock ‘n roll debauchery kind of thing, you’ll love this thing. That said, there’s some truly moving and heartfelt moments throughout, particularly when it comes to Pearcy’s discussion of his late ‘partner in crime’ RATT guitarist Robbin Crosby, his own battle with addictions, and his daughter, Jewel.
 
Q: On a more serious note, you speak very warmly of the late guitarist Robbin Crosby throughout the book, but I feel like you hold back a little as his problems increase and he ultimately loses his battle with addiction. Not saying you gloss over it, but you don’t dive very deep. Tough subject, I imagine?
 
A: Well no, I could write 10 books and not fully cover what went down. We (the band) all went thru our own trip with the partying. I didn’t feel I had to make the negatives into a positive. Robbin was so important to the band, he was my right hand man starting RATT, as we knew and know it. I was on my own and his band imploded around the same time. Thats when we became partners in crime.
 
Q: Conversely, you’re frank throughout on the difficult relationship you and drummer Bobby Blotzer have always had. How are things between the two of you today? Has he read the book? He pissed? He comes off as a huge dick, which surprised me as a fan. He kind of always seemed like the chill one…
 
A: We (in the band) have a saying: Bob is Bob. We are brothers, and sometimes brothers fight. He hasn’t read it but I’m sure he’ll have something to say. Matters not. Bobby is a great drummer, take it as you may.
 
Q: I was surprised to find that you are a Duran Duran fan, but looking back on how you dressed around the time of the first album in particular, I can totally see it. I love Duran, so I was bummed to read that Simon LeBon was a dick to you at Limelight. Was that as soul-crushing as it sounds?
 
A: I was a bigger fan of Adam and the Ants, that’s where the pirate image came from. I wasn’t that pissed off at LeBon, it wouldn’t have bothered me if he said hello or not. We had the picture taken just to piss him off, LOL.
 

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Slayer_Jeff_Hanneman_1964-2013_RIP
Blabbermouth.net: SLAYER guitarist Jeff Hanneman passed away at about 11 a.m. today (Thursday, May 2) near his Southern California home. He was 49. Hanneman was in an area hospital when he suffered liver failure. He is survived by his wife Kathy, his sister Kathy and his brothers Michael and Larry, and will be sorely missed.
 
Hanneman — who in January 2011 contracted necrotizing fasciitis, likely caused by a spider bite, and has been undergoing surgeries, skin grafts and intense rehab since — spoke to U.K.’s Classic Rock magazine in the fall of 2011 about his recovery which has seen him sit out an entire two years’ worth of touring with the band.
 
Hanneman was kicking back in a hot tub with a couple of beers when noticed a spider bite him on the arm.
 
“Didn’t even feel it,” he said. “But an hour later, I knew that I was ill.” On his way to the hospital, “I could see the flesh corrupting,” he recalled. “The arm was real hot. I got to the emergency room, and thank god the nurse knew straight away what it was. By chance, although it’s pretty rare, she had seen a case a little while before. At that point, I was an hour away from death.”
 
Although the spider bite itself was not serious, it had caused bacterial infection in the deeper layers of the skin and tissues of the arm.
 
“Unbelievably, the doctor was a SLAYER fan,” said Hanneman, “First thing he said to me was: ‘First I am going to save your life. Then I am going to save your arm. Then I am going to save your career.'”
 
Hanneman underwent emergency surgery to remove the dead and dying tissue. The doctor was able to save the muscles and the tendons, but the guitarist had a large open wound on his arm. He spent the next two months in hospital, having extensive skin grafts and heavy doses of antibiotics to suppress the infection.
 
“I had to learn to walk again,” Hanneman said: “I hadn’t stood up for a month, apart from anything else. The skin grafts were very painful and all the muscles and tendons in the arm where very weak. That was OK, though. I count myself lucky that the nurse and doctor knew right away what had happened to me, because things could have been a whole lot worse.”
 
At the April 2011 “Big Four” concert in Indio, California, Hanneman joined SLAYER onstage for a two-song encore, but he hasn’t yet been able to tour again. Read More
 
Slayer_Jeff_Hanneman.jpg
Slayer_Jeff Hanneman.jpg

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The Merciless Book of Metal ListsWho Are The Top 20 Metal Bands Of All Time?
 
Depends who you ask and how they define who is metal or just hard rock. For example, many agree that Metalica, Iron Maiden and Judas Priest are metal, but KISS, AC/DC and Guns N’ Roses are not metal.
 
That is how the authors of the new book ‘The Merciless Book of Metal Lists‘ see it in one of several indexes they compiled for this release set for April 9, 2013 by Abrams Image.
 
Howie Abrams and Sacha Jenkins’ book features numerous compilations of bests (songs, guitarists, album covers featuring goats) and worsts (embarrassing metal videos, metal fashion faux pas’).
 
80’s metal fans will also surely appreciate unconventional lists such as: ’10 Reasons Why EVERYONE Loves Slayer’s ‘Reign In Blood” and ’10 Accomplishments Iron Maiden Would Never Have Achieved had Paul Di’Anno Remained Their Singer’.
 
One of the lists sure to spark some debate is ’20 of the Greatest Metal Voices.’ They nailed the top three (my opinion) and Queensryche’s Geoff Tate certainly deserves a top five appearance:
Ronnie James Dio 
1. Ronnie James Dio (Black Sabbath, Dio)
2. Rob Halford (Judas Priest)
3. Bruce Dickinson (Iron Maiden)
4. Eric Adams (Manowar)
5. Geoff Tate (Queensrÿche)
6. King Diamond (Mercyful Fate, King Diamond)
7. Tom Araya (Slayer)
8. John Bush (Armored Saint/Anthrax)
9. James Hetfield (Metallica)
10. Max Cavalera (Sepultura, Soulfly)
 
In an interview with the New York Times, Abrams said Dio was the unanimous choice for the top spot because he had a virtuosity that set him far apart from other top metal vocalists.
 
“If he needed to apply darkness, he could do it,” said Abrams. “If he needed to belt and go to a higher range, he could. He replaced Ozzy Osbourne in Black Sabbath, and I’m not sure there was a taller task for a vocalist. He did it with ease and grace, and he may have improved on what Oz did in the first place.”
 
‘The Merciless Book of Metal Lists’ is a fun read. I especially enjoyed viewing the artwork from ‘200 Embarrassingly Bad Album Covers’… Anthrax took the top two spots with ‘State of Euphoria’ and number one ‘Fistful of Metal.’
 
Embarrassingly Bad Album Covers

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Last night in Hollywood, California, ANTHRAX, who are headlining the Metal Alliance Tour, played to a sold-out crowd at the House of Blues. But the fans got a little more than Anthrax playing their classic Among The Living album front-to-back, or songs from the just-released covers EP, Anthems.
Anthrax
Joining Anthrax on stage for their AC/DC cover of “T.N.T.” was none other than Slash who played lead on the song, and then, later in the show, Chuck D came out for “Bring The Noise,” the song Anthrax and Public Enemy recorded together in 1991.
Anthrax
Also in the House last night were Slayer’s Kerry King, John Tempesta from The Cult, Justin Chandellor from Tool, Dethklok/Metalocalpyse’s Brendon Small and actor/musician Brian Posehn.
 
The Metal Alliance Tour, that also features Exodus, High on Fire, Municipal Waste and Holy Grail, will be touring the country through late April. Click Here for remaining dates.
 

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RATT N Roll was in full force at the Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California on Sunday, March 24 2013, as NASCAR made its yearly visit to my backyard. RATT

Going to a race and concert means waking up at 5am to get to the track for the pre-race concert. For this year’s concert was L.A. Rockers RATT took the stage at 10am and kicked ass through an 11-song set.
 
Even though that’s early for Angelinos, over 80,000 fans showed up for the race and concert. The race itself had plenty of excitement with two drivers wrecking each other on the last lap on turn 4 heading to the checkered flag. Unfortunately, Driver Denny Hamlin hit the wall very hard and had to be taken to the hospital… he suffered a broken back.
 
Below are some additional photos of the concert and race. -Enjoy, Ralph

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Armored Saint guitarist Phillip Sandoval made a special guest appearance at ‘Rock A Bello’ on Saint Patrick’s Day (March 17, 2013).
 
Held in Montebello, California and hosted by METAL SHOP Rocks, Rock A Bello was a first of its kind music fest, featuring great local bands out of Southern California.
 
Sandoval was a special guest for the day/night event, taking photos with fans before getting on stage and rocking ‘God Save the Queen’ with local cover band H8TORADE.
 

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Maiden England 88EMI will release Iron Maiden’s double-disc DVD “Maiden England ’88” on March 25, 2013. Now available for the very first time on DVD, this live show was filmed across two sold-out nights at Birmingham N.E.C Arena, U.K. in November 1988 during the band’s “Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son World Tour”.
 
Disc one contains the concert which has been specially upgraded and extended from the existing 1989 longform VHS release and now includes three previously unreleased encores — “Running Free”, “Run To The Hills” and “Sanctuary” — thereby completing the full concert with a total running time of 110 minutes.
 
Maiden’s own film producer and director Andy Matthews went back to the 1988 edit and painstakingly remastered each shot digitally; color correcting and grading to give the image the best possible look from that time. As well as the VHS stereo sound track by Martin Birch, the band’s producer between 1981 and 1993, the DVD also includes a brand new 5.1 audio surround mix by MAIDEN’s current producer Kevin Shirley.
 
The concert was meticulously directed and edited by bass player and founder member Steve Harris, so as to capture the performance from a fans-eye view of the stage, focusing fully on the music, the elaborate stage production and the lighting. Add into the mix an electrifying set list and, of course, Eddie, and “Maiden England” now offers a snapshot of a bygone era in which the band, as they continue to do today, devote their all in delivering the ultimate live experience for their fans.
 
Disc two is an extensive bonus disc featuring an exclusive documentary charting Part 3 in “The History Of Iron Maiden”. This 40-minute film comprises recent interviews with the five band members and manager, Rod Smallwood. Picking up the story in the aftermath of the ’84/85 “World Slavery” tour, this interesting and insightful documentary sees the band speak candidly about their memories of an exciting and occasionally turbulent period from which would emerge the albums “Somewhere In Time” and “Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son”. As the Eighties began to draw to a close, so did another chapter in Maiden’s compelling history.
 
Other special extras on the bonus disc include “12 Wasted Years”. First released as a longform VHS in 1987 and available for the first time on DVD, this documentary runs for 90 minutes and includes archive interviews and dynamic live footage from the band’s beginnings in the now-legendary Ruskin Arms pub, via London’s Marquee club and three world tours. Five promo videos for the singles from the aforementioned albums are also featured and have been carefully restored and improved upon from the original films using the very latest software with the audio remastered in digital stereo.
 
Smallwood comments: “We’ve been busy upgrading this concert footage for a long time, with our in-house film producer and director Andy Matthews working tirelessly to weave his magic yet again! The 1989 VHS video has been largely unavailable for many years and we know how eagerly our fans have been awaiting the new version so we wanted to give it the best possible treatment. The current ‘Maiden England’ world tour, which continues later this year, revisits much of the set list and production from the initial 1989 VHS release so it will be interesting to compare just how much has changed in terms of our 2013 live show production, especially with all the advances in modern technology and the improvements we’ve been able to make to the set.”
 
The “Maiden England ’88” concert soundtrack will also be made available on 2CD album, limited-edition double vinyl picture disc and digital download formats. The audio had previously only ever been available before on CD as part of EMI’s 1994 “Sound And Vision” series packaged alongside the VHS, but with two tracks fewer than the video contained. “Can I Play With Madness” and “Hallowed Be Thy Name” were not featured as there was no space on the 1CD disc. Now with the three encores also included, the double disc offers a total of five tracks previously unavailable on CD making this the first full and complete audio recording release of this historic tour.
 
Disc One – “Maiden England ’88”
 
01. Moonchild
02. The Evil That Men Do
03. The Prisoner
04. Still Life
05. Die With Your Boots On
06. Infinite Dreams
07. Killers
08. Can I Play With Madness
09. Heaven Can Wait
10. Wasted Years
11. The Clairvoyant
12. Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son
13. The Number Of The Beast
14. Hallowed Be Thy Name
15. Iron Maiden
16. Run To The Hills *
17. Running Free *
18. Sanctuary *
 
* previously unreleased.
 
Disc Two – “The History Of Iron Maiden Part 3”
 
01. The History Of Iron Maiden – Part 3
02. 12 Wasted Years
03. Wasted Years (promo video)
04. Stranger In A Strange Land (promo video)
05. Can I Play With Madness (promo video)
06. The Evil That Men Do (promo video)
07. The Clairvoyant (promo video)
 
 

 

 

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METAL SHOP Rocks fan and friend Jennifer Martinez attended the D.R.I. show at the House of Blues on the Sunset Strip in Hollywood, California on Sunday, March 10, 2013 and was able to get these great shots of the band backstage and performing live! Look for Dirty Rotten Imbeciles and Suicidal Tendencies on tour. Thank you Jennifer!

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Quiet Riot - Metal HealthIt’s the 30th anniversary for Quiet Riot’s landmark album ‘Metal Health‘ released on March 11, 1983. Artisan News spoke to drummer Frankie Banali (see below) at the Sunset Strip Music Festival last year about the band’s debut record and the huge success that followed.
 
When recording the album, Banali said, “We were booked on available time, so it wasn’t… Everybody thinks that you went in and you had all this money (to make a record), and it really wasn’t the case. We were going in and recording at midnight and ending at six or seven in the morning and coming back in the next day. But it was great. We had a lot of hopes and we thought it was a great record. We just didn’t think anybody would agree with us, and thankfully, we were wrong.”
 
Asked whether the band thought during the recording sessions that “Metal Health” would turn out to be such a huge commercial success and have such a lasting impact on the rock scene in the years that followed its release, Banali said, “No. How can you even imagine that? At the height of that record’s release, we were moving about half a million units a week. I mean, it was, like, ridiculous. Now you can’t even… If a record sells 50,000 copies, you’re No. 1. And we were moving 500,000 a week.”
 
Quiet Riot singer Kevin DuBrow died in November 2007 of an accidental cocaine overdose at age 52. Guitarist Carlos Cavazo replaced Randy Rhoads in the reformed Quiet Riot in 1982 and remained with the band into the 2000’s… he is now playing with Ratt. Bassist Rudy Sarzo has played with Ozzy Osbourne, Whitesnake, Dio and Blue Öyster Cult and is currently the bass player for Geoff Tate’s version of the band Queensrÿche.
 
Quiet Riot’s current touring lineup: Scott Vokoun (Vocals), Frankie Banali (Drums), Chuck Wright (Bass), Alex Grossi (Guitar).
 
‘Metal Health’ Original Track Listing:
 
1. Metal Health (Bang Your Head)
2. Cum On Feel The Noize
3. Don’t Wanna Let You Go
4. Slick Black Cadillac
5. Love’s A Bitch
6. Breathless
7. Run For Cover
8. Battle Axe
9. Let’s Get Crazy
10. Thunderbird
 

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