Extreme, Tom Keifer, Sebastian Bach, Dokken + More At “Cathouse Live” Festival This August
The Cathouse was THE place to be in Hollywood back in the late 80’s and early 90’s. Owned and operated by MTV’s Headbangers Ball host Riki Rachtman (with plenty of early help from his roommate Faster Pussycat’s Taime Downe) the Cathouse became the place to see rock stars and hear great metal music.
Now, Rachtman is reviving the Cathouse name to bring back many of the rockers who populated the club over the years for a special “Cathouse Live” concert on Saturday, August 15 at Irvine Meadows in CA. This is a MUST go to event! Stay tuned to the HOH for more news coming up!
Tickets for the Cathouse Live festival go on sale TODAY (Friday, May 15) at 10AM PST. For further details see their website.
Guitarist Jay Jay French On The State of Rock and the Future of Twisted Sister
As Twisted Sister mourn the recent death of drummer A.J. Pero, guitarist Jay Jay French has been doing many wide-ranging interviews about the state of rock and specifically, the future of Twisted Sister.
On the state of rock, French says, “When I was 17, none of my heroes — The Beatles, The [Rolling] Stones, The Who, Led Zeppelin, [Pink] Floyd – none of those guys were older than 27; most of them were 25 years old. Think about this for a second. Most of these guys were 25 or 26 when I was 17. You tell me how many unbelievably great rock musicians there are that are 25 years old right now. You’re gonna have to think long and hard. You’re gonna find tons of female pop artists, tons of hip-hop [artists] or rappers, tons of country artists. Name me any [rock] bands that are 25 and younger who are blowing up the charts. That’s the scary part — the replenishment of the genre.”
French also clarified Twisted Sister’s future plans after their recently announced farewell tour. “Our final leg is the way it always is, which is however… We didn’t say… We never… What we said was that 2016 will mark the end of our touring career. But we play shows — we play handfuls of shows every year. Do I imagine we’ll play more than a handful in 2016? Absolutely. Do I know where they are? I have no idea. Do I know where the last one’s gonna be? Do I know when the last one’s gonna be? No. We’re getting through this year, because we have dates to get through and honor A.J.”
Hear the full interview at DailyHeadbanger.com. (Interview courtesy of the Jim Chinnici Show.)
Steven Tyler Goes Country
Steven Tyler has just released “Love Is Your Name”, his first country single on Dot Records under the Big Machine Label Group umbrella. Labelmates include Taylor Swift and Tim McGraw. Tyler is heavily promoting the song with interviews and a live televised performance.
BuzzChic gets that everyone’s Goin’ Country… but Steven should keep his day job!
Bret Michaels Goes Country, Too
Bret Michaels has just released his new take on the Poison classic “Every Rose Has Its Thorn”. This time, he duets with country legend Loretta Lynn. The single will be featured on Michael’s album True Grit, a country-tinged album featuring some new songs (“Girls On Bars”), some old Poison songs redone, and previous solo material.
In other Bret news, Michaels recently told Fox Sports Radio about some of the legendary battles he had with Poison guitarist C.C. Deville. “Let’s start with New Orleans, me and CC at Archie Manning’s sports bar,” says Michaels. “This is no lie. Me and him were having a few words, having a good time, next thing you know, maybe a couple drinks, a little substance here, next thing you know a few words, and we are beating the living crap out of each other. And then it continued. They broke us apart. We went back to the hotel, right, and all of a sudden the elevator door opens and we just happened to be going down to our buses, they were trying to separate us, and it started again. Old CC came at me and we went at it again. And it was like an old Army/Navy bam, boom, boom, we got some punches in. It was good…”
And that Poison reunion is happening when??
Ozzy Osbourne Finds $10K to Give Away
Ozzy Osbourne warmed many hearts recently when he donated $10,000 to the Louisville Leopard Percussionists, a children’s band that scored a viral hit two years ago with their all-percussion take on “Crazy Train.” The song has racked up over 800,000 views. After seeing the video, Osbourne sent a note to the group saying, “Myself, my whole family and my fans all loved your rendition of ‘Crazy Train.’ Keep up the good work.” Check out the Crazy Train video here.
In other Ozzy news, Bill Ward and the Ozman are still going at it in their now long-running feud. Ward says, “All the Ozzy fans f—ing hate me. We are very concerned about the people who dislike me, but they have every right to dislike me. I actually support them in their right to dislike me and they are entitled to their opinions. I don’t necessarily agree with them that I am an a—hole, but if they want to call me an a—hole, I will support their right to do that. I’ve got no axe to grind with anybody. I am at peace in this.” – Classic Rock Revisited
Duff McKagan Recalls Seeing “Famous Actor” Prior to Overdose Death
Duff McKagan‘s dalliances with substance abuse during his Guns N’ Roses days and his path to sobriety have been well documented. Having been through that experience, McKagan has come across others dealing with similar struggles and as he reveals in his new book, How to Be a Man, he actually crossed paths with “a famous actor” the night the actor died of a drug overdose. Though not mentioning the actor by name out of respect, the timeline and experiences discussed suggest that it’s the late Philip Seymour Hoffman.
The rocker was in New York for the Super Bowl, hanging out with Alice In Chains’ Jerry Cantrell and a friend named Ed, all of whom had past woes with substance abuse. He recalls, “We were going to see the Foo Fighters later that night and maybe get some Super Bowl t-shirts for friends and family back home. Exiting the apartment, we ran smack-dab into a very famous actor. Being as this was an almost private street, we simply nodded to him and kept on our way, not wanting to intrude on his private life. Ed commented that the actor had been clean for something like 23 years, but he’d heard that he’d recently started using again. Should we turn around and offer to take the guy for a coffee? As I said, keeping sober is a group effort. We trudged through the cold, discussing the matter.”
He adds, “Later that afternoon, when we came back, we saw the actor in the street again and could tell that he was waiting to score. Should we offer our friendship and a safe place? This is sometimes the dilemma for sober guys — as we all know, you can’t force a guy to get sober. He has to come around to it himself. We went back into the apartment.”
Read the rest of the story at Loudwire.com.
Dio Tributes Scheduled For This Weekend
The fifth anniversary of Ronnie James Dio’s untimely passing will be commemorated this weekend with a star-studded 3-day celebration of his life and music.
Events are scheduled to begin the evening of May 15 with a celebrity bowling tournament at Pinz in Studio City, CA featuring appearances by a long list of participants that include present and former members of Foreigner, Guns N’ Roses, Rage Against the Machine and Dio, as well as a silent auction.
On May 16 a free memorial service will be held at Forest Lawn, where some of Dio’s friends and peers are set to gather for a program featuring remarks and performances from Lita Ford, Vinny Appice, Great White and many more.
Finally, on May 17, there’s the “Ride for Ronnie” motorcycle ride, barbecue and live auction.
For a complete overview of Ronnie James Dio’s 5th Year Remembrance Celebration — visit the Stand Up and Shout Cancer Fund website.
Lars Ulrich‘s butt has become quite the topic of conversation. Like a certain blue (no white!) dress before it, people can’t quite decide what they’re seeing in the photo below, reportedly taken onstage during Metallica‘s weekend stop at Rock in Rio USA. Wait, is Ulrich wearing a red thong? And what the hell is sticking out of his ass…or into it??
In other Metallica news, look for them to headline the X Games in Austin, TX on June 6.
Megadeth, Testament, and Ex-Dream Theater Members have united and inked a record deal under the band name Metal Allegiance.
Mark Menghi brought Megadeth‘s David Ellefson, The Winery Dogs’ (and now Twisted Sister’s) Mike Portnoy and Testament‘s Alex Skolnick together to begin writing material for an album. Keeping the “all-star” concept in mind, the musicians have reached out to some of their hi-profile pals for their musical input as well. Look for the CD with nine brand new tracks this fall.
BANDS ON TOUR
Van Halen has added a third stop in New York on August 15 at Jones Beach. In Los Angeles, they’ve added an additional Hollywood Bowl show on October 4.
Winery Dogs have announced their North American fall tour which begins October 3 in Ridgefield, CT.
Rush kicked off their ‘R40 Live’ 40th-Anniversary Tour on Friday, May 8 at the BOK Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The concert featured no opening act and contained a number of video vignettes created for the tour, including an animated sequence shown at the start of the show that displayed the progression of the trio throughout the years.