Def Leppard Isn't Just Another Las Vegas Cover Band

One of the best Rock scenes recently spotted on primetime weekend TV was during the hot new TBS show Wedding Band. A Def Leppard cover group meets up with a client, "We're writing new songs. We've played the original band's music so much that we think before they think. " Then I bump into a Charleston, SC story about a former AC/DC cover band lead vocalist being chosen to play Bon Scott. Copycat cover bands aren't new. I spent all of 2012 writing and producing commercials for Radio parties featuring the next best thing. One of my favorite nights in Los Angeles was at the House of Blues which featured a group called Diamond; all night they did it right: Neal Diamond. I was convinced the smooth crooner was standing on that stage. But away from it do cover bands return to a normal life and style? Or...do the Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley look-a-like's physically believe they're the second coming. With so many cover bands flooding bars and clubs (because they're affordable) when the real players stand up and make noise not a cheer is risen therefore nothing is given and all that once was returns to a land of "We used to be." Thank God we've still got Las Vegas. Popping their heads up inside the realms of Sin City is Def Leppard. Who wants fans to know they're aiming to write new material. Absolutely I started laughing out loud. Did they consult the cover band on the TV show Wedding Band first? Classic Rock Magazine reports that fans should expect a new album. Frontman Joe Elliott hopes to hire an extra hotel room and set it up as a recording studio in between concerts. First, however, the band have to complete preparations for performing classic album Hysteria in full – including songs they haven’t played in decades. Elliott tells Rolling Stone: “It’ll not be too hard; we’re not changing arrangements like Bowie or Tom Waits might do. We’re going to play the songs as they are on the record. We’re going to revert back to the original versions.” He admits delivering Pour Some Sugar On Me partway through a show, when it’s usually reserved for encores, will be “a bit of a head trip” but he adds: “I think it’s okay. It’s going to be weird, but people are going to be expecting it.” With the Vegas shows during March and April based on a schedule of three days on, four days off, the band should find time to concentrate on writing material. “I don’t know if we’ll do an album,” Elliott says. “Maybe the way to go is put one or two tracks out at a time and see how it goes – almost like a seven-inch single.” That’s not the priority at the moment. “We’ve got a golden opportunity,” the singer reflects. “We’ve got ample opportunity to look each other in the eye and go, ‘What you got?’” Meanwhile, he’s marked the 30th anniversary of the release of Def Lep’s third album Pyromania, which saw guitarist Phil Collen replace Pete Willis. “It had been a labour of love to make,” he recalls. “Little did we know, in comparison to Hysteria it was a piece of cake.” His memories include “multiple studios in London, one guitarist out, one guitarist in, equipment breakdowns, tapes turning transparent because of the thousands of times they were rewound and fast forwarded for multiple overdubs.” But he continues: “We found our sound on this record, with the help of a great producer in Mutt Lange, the new studio technology that we eagerly embraced – unlike many of our peers – and an incredible enthusiasm to make a record no one else had ever made. “Whether we did or didn’t isn’t important. What is, is that we made the record we wanted to make. We finally sounded like the us we wanted to be.”

Stealing Music Proves To Be Good For Business

Is it wrong to say that we've grown seriously out of control with an addiction to finger pointing? Or can we just agree to disagree that the current generation to which we live has too many blood sucking lawyers with nothing better to do but stir up trouble? For extremely selfish reasons I've never locked onto the idea of ripping songs from the internet. I voice radio commercials worldwide; nothing pisses me off faster than jamming to a favorite station like a teenage boy with his car stereo cranked beyond live concert acceptability only to be interrupted by your voice, your commercial that wasn't paid for. The MP3/YouTube era has injured a lot different performers in several unassociated careers. Don't expect anything to change. Classic Rock Magazine reports a public survey sponsored by Google suggests that peer-to-peer filesharers spend 30% more money on legal music purchases than those who don’t join peer-to-peer networks. And while 80% of the public think it’s acceptable to share copyrighted material with family, and 60% believe the same about passing it onto friends, around 85% say it’s unacceptable to upload content for general consumption. Columbia University’s American Assembly conducted the survey with support from internet search giant Google. Responses were sought from the USA and Germany in order to establish whether cultural differences existed. In the US, median P2P users have a music collection of 2000 tracks, of which 760 were purchased legally. Non-network users’ digital collections contain around 1300 songs, of which 580 were sourced legitimately. The figures suggest that, while filesharers possess more stolen content, they also buy more legal content. Technology site Ars Technica notes: “There is a perennial debate about whether peer-to-peer file sharing reduces the market for music and other creative content. “It’s obvious why those who download pirated files from peer-to-peer networks might purchase less content through legitimate channels. But some scholars argue file sharing can make it easier for fans to find new content they like, broadening their tastes and causing them to buy more music in the long run.” Ars Technica says of the survey results: “It’s an important reminder: heavy P2P users are also heavy consumers of music from legitimate channels.” The survey also suggests that the vast majority of people – 69% in the US and 71% in Germany – are against internet monitoring as a means of enforcing the law. Researchers also found that, in general, Germans are more supportive of other efforts to protect copyright: 59% felt that illegal downloading should result in some form of punishment, compared to 52% of Americans.

The 70's Didn't Suck. Classic Rock Shaped The Way We Play In 2013

No matter how many fans Justin Bieber and Taylor Swift stuff into worldwide arenas. No matter how many Voices Adam Levine and Blake Shelton toss onto the planet from a ship called NBC. It truly doesn't matter if Adele goes all out and sells the most compact discs a third straight year. There'll never be another time in music history like the Classic Rock 70's. For two decades every radio station program director that tried to shape me sang the same song, "You came along to play along at the wrong time." Radio has never loved the 1970's. It was the boring decade. Music was all over the place. People listening to their car radio felt no need to carry notes when asked to sing their favorite song. The Carpenters, John Denver, Disco, Grease and Cher singing Gypsies Tramps and Thieves turned everything plastic, candy coated and too sweet to fit on the back of Alphabet Cereal. The junk in the trunk once identified as AOR (Album Oriented Rock) restocked its shelves by downloading availability. Our Rock became the 80's generations Rock whose kids grew up loving the very Rock that once stomped our eardrums into a thin piece of nearly next to absolutely nothing. The mid 2012 arrival of Mumford and Sons, the Lumineers and Phillip Phillips is nothing more than a long awaited heavily welcomed spinoff of the greatest of the greats The Eagles. No other band in music history has sold as many collections of music. Not Michael Jackson not even John Lennon and his one time friends. Henley and Frey own whatever's grown then attached it Timothy B and Joe Walsh. And they keep on creating. RollingStone Magazine reports after remaining notoriously mum for the majority of their career, the Eagles let the world in on the Sundance Film Festival premiere of The History of the Eagles Part 1. 
"We were very private," Don Henley said at a press conference for the movie. (Glenn Frey, Joe Walsh and Timothy B. Schmit were also present for the premiere.) 
"We didn't allow access. We tried to keep it in-house. But we had the foresight to film some backstage stuff. And that's in the film." The rockumentary, directed by Alison Ellwood and produced by Alex Gibney (Taxi to the Dark Side), uncovers the band's personal Super 8 footage, photographs and tape from a never-finished Haskell Wexler documentary. Featuring interviews with Jackson Browne, Linda Ronstadt and David Geffen, the film follows the band from its Troubadour-filled beginnings in Southern California to its beer-bottle-throwing end in 1980. Acquired by Showtime, Part 1 will air on February 15th at 8 p.m. EST, and Part 2 – which picks up with the band's 1994 reunion – will premiere February 16th at 8 p.m. EST. Rolling Stone sat down with Don Henley on the eve of the film's Sundance debut. He talked about why they finally made the film (someone might die), what type of movie he wanted to see (an honest one) and how his bandmates still drive him nuts (but he's learned to live with it). How did the movie come about? Did Glenn approach you on this? I don’t know who brought it up first, probably our manager. Probably Irving Azoff said it’s time for you guys to do a documentary. We'd been kicking it around for a few years but we finally decided that the time had come and, after 42 years had passed, it was probably a good time to get it done, because we said it was a three-year process. We knew it was going to be time consuming so we thought we’d better get started. You know, at our age people keel over, and so we wanted to get it done. What did you learn about yourself in pulling this project together and digging back into your life? Some of it was painful – you know, the self-destructive behavior that a lot of young people go through. The insecurities, the fear, the feelings of unworthiness, we don't deserve this, and the feeling that it's all going to disappear up in smoke tomorrow. It's a dream I'm having and it's all going away. That sort of thing. And it was sort of painful to relive all of that. And of course the substance abuse was part of it, and of course all the time that was wasted that could have been more productive time. But hey, it was all a learning experience that made us the people who we are today. And the fact we survived it is a small miracle in and of itself. Nobody in this band has died. This is the web and the chances of you still being here zippo. More RS interviews still ahead or visit http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/q-a-don-henley-opens-up-about-the-history-of-the-eagles-at-sundance-20130120#ixzz2IjtHNV7J

I Love My Dad But Can't Become Him

Maybe it's just me. I never see a movie more than once. If I spot a primetime sitcom locked on rerun instantly its erased from the DVR. I'm so convinced that we live too much in a past that can't be changed therefore my hourly goals are to constantly discover where I've never been. Music is my weakness. Easily its compared to that cup of hot coffee the heart doctor keeps screaming at me to give up but what's a sip or six here and there gonna hurt? I love my Classic Rock but find being with it the first step toward becoming my damn Dad. I love the man to pieces. But his addiction to a musical fix has kept him locked in a box of 45's, albums and 8-track tapes. How then is one supposed to feel when news of the legendary group Genesis surfaces? I feel horribly ill that fans of the band are rejoicing! According to Classic Rock Magazine EMI is re-issuing five of this legendary prog-rock band’s first six studio albums (leaving out their rightfully despised debut, 1969′s ’From Genesis to Revelations’), all in fancy “180 Gram Audiophile Virgin Vinyl” format. This five-album spread covers the British band’s incredible early ’70s run with Peter Gabriel as singer, Steve Hackett as guitarist, and Phil Collins still firmly behind the drum kit: 1970′s ‘Trespass,’ 1971′s ‘Nursery Cryme,’ 1972′s ‘Foxtrot’ (home to the 25-minute anthem ‘Supper’s Ready’), 1973′s ‘Selling England by the Pound,’ and their 1974 double-album epic ‘The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway.’ Each reissue is available for pre-order at SoundStageDIrect (No release date info is available yet). They’re all listed at $39.99 a pop — except for ‘Lamb,’ which will run you $49.99. All five albums constitute one of the most acclaimed streaks in prog-rock history, and all were collected several years ago for the remastered 1970-1975 box set (both in CD and vinyl formats). But these? These are ‘Audiophile’ versions, which means EMI probably had help from NASA. In case you’re not familiar with the ‘Audiophile’ language, here’s a definition from SoundStageDirect: “These vinyl records are produced with 180 or 200 grams of high definition premium grade virgin vinyl. This is a higher quality audiophile pressing than the typical vinyl record of 100-120 grams. These limited edition LP’s are manufactured with the hi-fi enthusiast in mind. A 180 or 200 gram LP is sometimes also referred to as an audiophile pressing, there is a higher bass response and an even warmer High Fidelity sound.”

RollingStone Magazine's Top Ten Rock Concert Fan Generated Problems

Since the beginning of time there's always been "Countdowns." Way before Dick Clark's New Years Rock n Eve. Even before the official kickoff of how the West was won, the Biggest Baddest Band Leader of all took six endless days and nights to whip out an everlasting stage and light show. Casey Kasum did American Top 40. David Letterman can't do a night without his Top 10. The Travel Channel constantly counts down the biggest amusement parks, craziest RV's, best tour buses, hottest cupcakes and blah blah blah. RollingStone Magazine is just as guilty. If it's not a list of the greatest Springsteen moments or the most mind melting albums of all time. The big sticks typing pieces are methodically conjuring up maddening ideas to fill our addiction to always being hoisted or compared to whatever fits onto a Top 10 list. This latest one from writer Andy Greene is a brilliant move toward relating with every walk of life, hair color and style. Going to rock concerts has always meant dealing with a bunch of unruly people, many of them very drunk – but it seems like lately things have been worse than ever. Attention spans are at an all-time low, and the ubiquity of smartphones has resulted in a huge percentage of the audience at any given show barely paying attention to the action onstage. Here are the 10 most annoying behaviors at rock concerts: 1. Taking pictures the entire freaking show. I get it. You want to show all your friends on Facebook and Twitter that you saw a cool concert. Fine. Take a photo. Take five if you want! But please, don't take 77. You always manage to hold your camera right in my line of sight. You don't even look like you're enjoying the show while you're doing this. All your attention is on the photos. And you know what? Those photos are all going to look like shit. Every single one of them. You're too far away. You'll probably never even look at them. Also, you see those guys right in front of the stage with the giant cameras? They're taking great professional pictures. There's really no need for yours. 2. Checking e-mail, Facebook and Twitter every couple of minutes. Unless you're a surgeon or a firefighter, everything can wait. Live in the moment. Enjoy the show. You paid good money to be here. You can e-mail your friends when you get home. Also, that cellphone emits a very harsh and distracting glow. For the love of God, just turn it off. On Daily Beast: Technology's Awkward Bathroom Invasion 3. Incessantly talking to your friends. You might not like whatever song is playing. You may be bored with the show in general. You may have been dragged here against your will. But you've been chattering the entire show, and I can hear every word. It's driving me crazy. Please shut up. Please. I can't tell you how many shows I attend where the two people in front of me are yelling in each others' ears the entire night. Not only is my sightline blocked when their heads come together, but I can hear them. Maybe go to a coffee shop when the show is done. Lie under an oak tree and talk until the sun comes up. I don't care. Just quiet down so I can enjoy the show. 4. Yelling out requests. Look, I hope Morrissey plays "There Is A Light That Never Goes Out" also. That would be cool – but stop screaming for it. Most of the time the set list is pre-determined, and you're screaming in my ear. They're going to play what they're going to play. Go along for the ride. And to the guy screaming for a super obscure B-side from 15 years ago? Nobody thinks you're cool. 5. Yelling out "Freebird!" This request deserves its own subcategory of irritation. This joke has never been funny. Not once. Just stop. It was lame in 1981. Now it's just infuriating. 6. Pushing your way to the front. If a concert is general admission, the people in front earned their spots. They got there early and laid claim to their space. The people all the way in front might have even spent all day camped out by the doors, so when the lights go off and you shove your way to the front, you're being a huge asshole. Don't do that. If you show up late and there's only room in the back, you've just gotta deal with it. 7. Getting so drunk you puke. At pretty much any big concert, you'll see a janitor emerge after a couple of songs with a big broom and a bucket of sawdust. It means somebody puked. It's a bummer for the puker, but the people all around have to deal with the aftermath. Don't be the vomit guy. There's no worse kind of person to be at the concert. 8. Loudly complaining after the show because the band didn't play your favorite song. Not all artists take the Rod Stewart/Billy Joel/Tom Petty approach of "nothing but the hits." Performers like Neil Young or Van Morrison are unpredictable. This is actually a good thing. Try to enjoy the show you're getting as opposed the one you wish you were seeing. Besides, haven't you heard "Brown Eyed Girl" and "Southern Man" enough? 9. Filming the entire show on your iPhone. This distracts people even worse than taking pictures, and usually results in an equally horrid product. The sad irony is that people tend to film their favorite songs, but the smiles on their faces are gone when all their concentration goes into capturing these moments on film. Tomorrow morning, YouTube will be cluttered with crappy cellphone videos of every song from whatever show you're seeing. There's no need to add to that. You paid good money to see a show, and you're joylessly watching it through a tiny screen on your iPhone. It just doesn't make any sense. 10. Yelling "Sit down!" at people who are standing up. This is a real problem at theater and arena shows that attract fans over the age of, say, 40. Nobody can quite agree when to stand or when to sit down. Inevitably, there are some people standing right in front of people that wish to remain seated. Between songs, someone will scream "Sit down!" The stander either obliges, or yells back something like "Go fuck yourself." The person in the seat just seethes with rage, and the tension seeps through the whole section. Often the person is standing only because someone in front of them is standing. It leads to chaos, and grumpy old people spending the entire show miserable. This has to stop. Here's a simple rule of thumb: If you can't see, stand up. It's very easy. Inversely, if everyone in front of you is seated, sit down. Go with the flow and just relax. We're all in this concert together.

Evil Knievel Didn't Jump Over Generation Gap

For weeks I've bummed around the radio station snagging conversations about Rock music and into the center of the verbal exchange I toss in, "Paul McCartney and Dave Grohl. Which one was more excited about collaborating on a new song?" Talk about the river that runs through Generation Gap. Classic Rocker's versus New Rock Bangers. I can't shake a Blog free from my fingertips before being chastised by either party. It's a ligament Hatfield and McCoys. A fight between the separated sides of Rock, "Quit puttin up stuff about Nirvana and the Foo Fighters. We don't care about Metallica and Tom Morello. They aren't Classic Rock!" Then Paul McCartney walks out from behind the curtain with Dave Grohl at his side. I'm not so f***ed up after all. Ultimate Classic Rock Magazine reports; if it seemed ‘Cut Me Some Slack,’ Paul McCartney‘s collaboration with the surviving members of Nirvana that was unveiled during the 12-12-12 benefit, came out of nowhere, don’t feel like you’re out of the loop — according to Dave Grohl, that’s really the way it happened. Describing McCartney as “just the sweetest, nicest, most awesome person,” Grohl delved into the story behind the song during a recent interview with KROQ (via the NME), saying it came together after the pair jammed for Grohl’s upcoming ‘Sound City‘ documentary. “We walked in; we jammed the song. It just came out of nowhere. The best songs happen that way,” said Grohl. “We recorded it live and put a vocal over it and that was it. It was three hours and it was perfect.” ‘Cut Me Some Slack’ wouldn’t make its public debut for another eight months, but Grohl was clearly still buzzing on the experience. “You have to understand, one of the great things about playing with Paul McCartney or playing with Neil Young is that that generation of musicians, they cherish and respect and value the practice of just going into a room and coming up with something and jamming and making it a song,” he pointed out. “There’s not like seven songwriters and seven producers and digital technology or whatever. It’s like people getting in a room.”

Unheard of Collaborations On Tour

Country Music and Hip Hop have always done it. Looks like the world of Rock has taken a liking to the old motto: Leave your ego at the door. Paul McCartney and Dave Grohl of Foo Fighters and Nirvana fame got together a few weeks back and now seems to be a running theme as two shocking collaborations have been blended into the final mix.

Bob Seger and Kid Rock will appear on the same ticket Classic Rock Magazine reports the Detroit based pair will do two shows in March. The rockers have been friends since 2000. Kid Rock was on hand to induct Seger into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2004, and he also made a guest appearance on his 2006 ‘Face the Promise’ album. Seger returned the favor by playing piano on ‘Collide,’ Kid Rock’s duet with Sheryl Crow. They’re both from Michigan and share an interest in classic cars, and Seger and his Silver Bullet Band often rehearse at Kid Rock’s rehearsal space. The friends have been talking about doing shows together for years, and it turned out they were able to make two dates of their respective spring tours coincide. Seger and the Silver Bullet Band will perform with Kid Rock and the Twisted Brown Trucker Band in Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minn. on March 15, and again in Fargo, ND on March 16. Seger has also been working on a new album, and he recently admitted that his ‘Rock & Roll Never Forgets‘ tour could comprise the final shows of his career. Tickets for the Bob Seger / Kid Rock dates go on sale January 26th at 10 AM. Bob Seger and Kid Rock fan club members will have early access to tickets. Visit www.bobseger.com and www.kidrock.com for more information.

And now there's word of Bruce Springsteen having to be without Steven Van Zandt for a few this summer. Little Steven's a busy man outside the ranks of E Street which has forced him to live up to previous commitments. Who did the Boss run with? Springsteen announced that Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine will take over for Van Zandt when Springsteen tours Australia in March. Morello appeared on two tracks on Springsteen’s ‘Wrecking Ball’ album and has sat in with the E Street Band on many occasions over the past five years, including an appearance on NBC’s ‘Late Night with Jimmy Fallon‘ and two nights at Wrigley Field in Morello’s hometown of Chicago. Morello will also honor Springsteen at the 2013 MusiCares benefit next month. The lineup also includes Sting, Jackson Browne and gospel/soul legend Mavis Staples. Van Zandt will be in Norway filming the second season of ‘Lillyhammer,’ in which he stars as an American mobster living in Norway. He will re-join the E Street Band when the band begins its European tour on April 29 in – not coincidentally – Oslo. This will mark the second time Van Zandt has left the E Street Band since joining in 1975. In 1984, he quit during the recording of ‘Born in the U.S.A.’ for a solo career and was replaced by Nils Lofgren. Van Zandt rejoined the band when Springsteen re-formed the group in 1995 for the recording of new songs for the ‘Greatest Hits’ compilation.