Check out Dee Snider tearing it up doing a cover of AC/DC’s “Highway To Hell” (NSFW–language) at last weekend’s Harley Davidson Show in Montreal.
Mötley Crüe bassist Nikki Sixx sat down with GQ recently to talk about the band’s curtain call later this year. Said Nikki, “I love Mötley Crüe, but goddamn does it take a lot of my time up. It’s like being an athlete: You can win Super Bowls, but in the end, you’re going to be a quarterback standing on the field, and somebody’s going to bust your f***ing knee, and you’re going to be lying in the middle of the field with 10 million people watching you while you can’t get up. And that’s a fact of life — but it’s not going to be a fact of our life. We’re going to win the Super Bowl, and we’re going to f***ing leave.: He added, “There is no amount of money that would ever make me do it again. We’d have so much egg on our face.”
Dee Snider is gearing up for the release of Rock And Roll Ain’t Dead – Dee Snider Essentials 1983-2015, due out in March on Rhino Records. The compilation includes tunes from all of Dee’s bands over the years, from Twisted Sister to Widowmaker, Desperado, Van Helsing’s Curse and Dee Does Broadway, plus three brand new songs.
During a recent podcast with Canadian rock journalist Mitch Lafon, Dee explained the inspiration behind the solo tunes: “My solo guitar player; his name is Nick Perri…he’s a young gun and he’s just a f***ing dream. I’ve known him for a long time, and he’s a guitar player that I just marveled at, watching him play. And as life came together, he wound up filling in for a solo show. And after the show, my crew and everybody were blowing my phone up and they said, ‘You found your Randy Rhoads.’ And I said, ‘What?’ They go, ‘Nick Perri is your Randy Rhoads.’ I said, ‘At 60, I found my f***ing guy?’ I’m done, man. I’m f***ing done. Now I find my guy?’ And so I went home…and I was talking to my wife and my son, and I was telling them about the weekend, and they said, ‘Why don’t you do it?’ I said, ‘Do what?’ They said, ‘Why don’t you put out some new music with this guy?’ I said, ‘Are you f***ing nuts?’ And my son said, ‘I haven’t seen you talk like this about anything musical in decades…as long as I’ve lived, I’ve never heard you talk like this.’ So I call up Nick. I said, ‘Nick… You got any…?’ ‘Cause I haven’t written new music in decades. I said, ‘You got any songs?’ He says, ‘Three hundred. They’re just missing vocals.’ I said, ‘You have three hundred songs with no vocals?’ he goes, ‘I can’t write melody.’
So he’s sending me the stuff, and it just speaks to me.” Of the three new songs, Dee says, “One’s called ‘Rock And Roll Ain’t Dead’, which my son Jesse wrote. I’ve always loved the song, and it was my rebuttal to Gene Simmons and when people say the music scene is so dead. Then there’s ‘Soul Lady’, and then there’s ‘To Hell And Back.’” While there could more Dee Snider solo stuff in the works, he’s quick to point out, “ I’m not leaving Twisted Sister. I wanna be clear. We’ve got four shows together this year — maybe five or six now this summer — but I’ll be doing a lot more solo shows this year.”
Pictured (l-r): Nick Perri, Dan McCafferty, Dee Snider, Nikolai Nifoussi, Joe Franco
Def Leppard guitarist Vivian Campbell recently gave an update on his ongoing struggle with Hodgkin’s lymphoma to Ultimate Classic Rock. A initial post-transplant scan “came back really, really good. There’s no sign of the tumors,” Campbell confirmed. “So, I’m hopeful that we’re on the right path. I mean, that’s certainly the way I’ve been thinking. I’m not letting it concern me at all. But continuing for the next few years, I’ll be doing more scans and follow-ups and stuff, just to make sure, but I’m certainly feeling healthy, you know?”
He was diagnosed with the cancer in spring of 2013; by the fall, he announced he was in remission, only to have it return in 2014.
What to do after you’ve filed for divorce? If you’re Slash, move in with a formal flame from 25 years ago and and get matching tattoos, of course! Duh.
Slayer and Venice Beach, CA-based footwear store The Ave have teamed up to offer 18 new Slayer-inspired Converse Chuck Taylors and Vans slip-ons. The shoes are each custom made at the store.. Check ‘em all out here.
The Ronnie James Dio Stand Up And Shout Cancer Fund will commemorate the upcoming fifth anniversary of the passing of the Rainbow/Black Sabbath/Dio singer with an entire weekend full of events.
Dio, who died on May 16, 2010, after struggling with gastric cancer, will be remembered at a free public memorial service, celebrity bowling tournament, an inaugural Ride For Ronnie motorcycle ride and a barbecue.The memorial service will take place at Forest Lawn in Hollywood Hills on Saturday, May 16. Seating is limited; the organizers are asking that if you’re interested in attending, please forward your name, phone number and the number of seats requested to: info@diocancerfund.org.
The previous day (Friday, May 15) will be the Rock ‘N’ Bowl tournament at PINZ Bowling Center in Studio City and will include a silent auction featuring bowling pins signed by Metallica, Aerosmith, Anthrax and more. THe first “Ride For Ronnie” motorcycle ride and barbecue happens on on Sunday, May 17.
