In March 2011, Japan was beset by a huge earthquake, a monstrous tsunami and the subsequent meltdown of the Fukushima nuclear plant. In the autumn of 2011, despite advice to the contrary, AEROSMITH brought their “Back On The Road” tour to Japan, a country with which they’d always had a special relationship. The Japanese fans came out in their droves and AEROSMITH responded with some of the finest gigs of their distinguished career.
“Rock For The Rising Sun” follows the band on that tour combining full-length live tracks with behind-the-scenes footage which is at times touching and emotional and at others humorous and insightful. More than anything else it demonstrates the Japanese fans’ love affair with AEROSMITH and their music.
AEROSMITH singer Steven Tyler wrote on Facebook about the movie: “Hey, ya’ll…How ’bout sum of our new movie!!! 2 start ur day or nite. Can’t wait for u to see it.”
“Rock For The Rising Sun” was directed by Casey Patrick Tebo, and combines live performance material with behind-the-scenes footage that shows the nation coping with the destruction. The movie is due for release on DVD and Blu-ray in June.
According to the NYPost.com, AEROSMITH‘s Steven Tyler and his fiancee of one year, Erin Brady, have officially split. A source close to the couple insists, “It’s over for good this time.”
Brady was noticeably absent when Tyler vacationed in Hawaii with his extended family over New Year’s – especially because he proposed to his girlfriend of five years in the same spot and even had a commitment ceremony there in 2011.
But despite reports that Brady was compromising Tyler’s sobriety, the insider says, “Steven was just not that nice to her in the end. His family and entourage never really accepted her and she can do better.”
So with Tyler set to go on tour for Aerosmith’s new album, the source says, “They’re still friendly but they’re going their own ways. The engagement is off.”
In October 2012, Kovac Media Group alleged in a lawsuit that attorney Dina LaPolt had cost AEROSMITH vocalist Steven Tyler a $6 million – $8 million deal after she supposedly poisoned the negotiations for Tyler to return as judge on American Idol.
After filing the lawsuit, Kovac Media Group, run by Allen Kovac, added new claims, asserting that in retaliation for the lawsuit, LaPolt has been “conspiring” to “set up a competing management company” to steal away a “world-famous rock band” that Kovac has repped for 15 years.
That band is MÖTLEY CRÜE, and on Monday (January 7th), its band members made its objections to Kovac’s claims very loud and clear. Declarations by Mötley Crüe guitarist Mick Mars and drummer Tommy Lee were filed along with new court papers by LaPolt that urge a Los Angeles Superior Court judge to reject the lawsuit in accordance with California’s anti-SLAPP statute.
In a declaration in December, Tyler said about his former manager, “It is an understatement to say that I was very unhappy with the services and conduct of Allen Kovac. Among other things, he was disrespectful and rude to my business associates, insulted and verbally abused my fiancé, my lawyer, my family, my assistants, and my accountants.”
Now on Monday, Mars and Lee followed Tyler in voicing displeasure with Kovac and others who have been taking the manager’s side.
According to Mars’ declaration, he first learned of what had happened on October 15th, when he got an e-mail from LaPolt describing the dispute and stating that he should get an independent attorney if he was concerned. Mars says he was “completely shocked and mad that Mötley Crüe’s manager had sued our lawyer. I trust Dina implicitly, to the point that she is my trustee if I die or become disabled.”
A few hours after getting the e-mail, he says he was informed that Pam Malek, the band’s business manager, had told one of Kovac’s attorneys to draw up documents giving Kovac $200,000 of Mötley Crüe money. According to Mars, the money was supposed to repay a personal loan that Kovac had given to the band’s singer Vince Neil (no longer a shareholder in the band), but Mars said that he never voted for that to happen.
METALLICA, VAN HALEN, SCORPIONS and AEROSMITH had some of the top-grossing tours of 2012 worldwide, according to industry tracker Pollstar.
The top spot went to Madonna, whose 2012 tour took in a whopping $296.1 million from 88 shows.
METALLICA landed at No. 8, with a gross estimate of $86.1 million for 30 concerts.
The “Top 50 Worldwide Tours” did a combined gross of $3 billion, which was down about 2 percent from $3.07 billion in 2011.
Total tickets sold was 34.9 million which continued the decline from 35.48 million the previous year and is well off the pace from 2009 when the Top 50 sold 45.3 million. The average global ticket price was $85.93 which was down 60 cents from last year but still well above the $73.83 charged in the more robust year of 2009.
Heavy metal/hard rock artists on Pollstar‘s 2012 “Top 50 Worldwide Tours” chart:
#8 – METALLICA: $86.1 million from 30 shows
#15 – VAN HALEN: $49.9 million from 50 shows
#38 – SCORPIONS: $32.7 million from 74 shows
#44 – AEROSMITH: $31 million from 33 shows
Today (Saturday, December 1st) at 2:00pm PST, Julien’s Auction House in Beverly Hills, CA will be auctioning over 80 guitars with proceeds going to the RONNIE JAMES DIO Stand Up And Shout Cancer Fund. Guitars have been donated to the cause by SLAYER, DEF LEPPARD, CARLOS SANTANA, EDDIE VAN HALEN, STEVE VAI, BRIAN MAY, AEROSMITH and many more.
DREAM THEATER have donated a metallic orange Ernie Ball Music Man John Petrucci Signature electric guitar, signed by the band members John Myung, James LaBrie, Jordan Rudess, and John Petrucci, who has additionally inscribed “Dream Theater 10-20-2010.”
On Saturday, December 1st at 2:00pm, Julien’s Auction House in Beverly Hills, CA will be auctioning over 80 guitars with proceeds going to the RONNIE JAMES DIO Stand Up And Shout Cancer Fund. Guitars have been donated to the cause by SLAYER, DEF LEPPARD, CARLOS SANTANA, EDDIE VAN HALEN, STEVE VAI, BRIAN MAY, AEROSMITH and many more.
Vai has donated a signed Ibanez guitar for the auction. It is an Ibanez Gio electric guitar signed on the black body “God Bless RJD! Steve Vai 10/10.”
Complete specs details can be found at this location.
Formed in honor of the legendary singer who lost his life to stomach cancer, The Ronnie James Dio Stand Up And Shout Cancer Fund held their 2nd Annual Awards Gala/Halloween Spooktacular Event on Halloween, Wednesday, October 31st at Avalon in Hollywood, CA.
As previously reported, Croatian cellists Luka Sulic and Stjepan Hauser, known as 2CELLOS are back with a new music video and a brand new album. The music video for their first single is a powerful and intense rendition of AC/DC’s ‘Highway To Hell’ featuring Steve Vai. “Our fans love this song at our live shows and we really wanted to add it to the album,” says Stjepan. “It was very exciting to work with an amazing musician such as Steve and we really want to show the people that the cello can rock as hard as the guitar!” says Luka.
On Saturday, December 1st at 2:00pm, Julien’s Auction House in Beverly Hills, CA will be auctioning over 80 guitars with proceeds going to the RONNIE JAMES DIO Stand Up And Shout Cancer Fund. Guitars have been donated to the cause by SLAYER, DEF LEPPARD, CARLOS SANTANA, EDDIE VAN HALEN, STEVE VAI, BRIAN MAY, AEROSMITH and many more.
METALLICA have donated an ESP LTD EC-200QM electric guitar signed in 2010 by James Hetfield, Lars Ulrich, Kirk Hammett and Robert Trujillo is up for auction at Julien’s Auctions. Go to this location to check out the guitar and for auction details.
Formed in honor of the legendary singer who lost his life to stomach cancer, The Ronnie James Dio Stand Up And Shout Cancer Fund held their 2nd Annual Awards Gala/Halloween Spooktacular Event on Halloween, Wednesday, October 31st at Avalon in Hollywood, CA.
Metallica dedicated ‘Fade To Black’ to Ronnie James Dio when they played Pavilhão Atlantico in Lisbon, Portugal on May 18th, 2010:
On Saturday, December 1st at 2:00pm, Julien’s Auction House in Beverly Hills, CA will be auctioning over 80 guitars with proceeds going to the RONNIE JAMES DIO Stand Up And Shout Cancer Fund. Guitars have been donated to the cause by SLAYER, DEF LEPPARD, CARLOS SANTANA, EDDIE VAN HALEN, STEVE VAI, BRIAN MAY, AEROSMITH and many more.
Check out the auction details for the guitar donated by Slayer here.
Formed in honor of the legendary singer who lost his life to stomach cancer, The Ronnie James Dio Stand Up And Shout Cancer Fund held their 2nd Annual Awards Gala/Halloween Spooktacular Event on Halloween, Wednesday, October 31st at Avalon in Hollywood, CA.
The Blairing Out show with Eric Blair caught up with DIO DISCIPLES at the event. Watch the interview below:
AEROSMITH, BON JOVI, BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN, BILLY JOEL, STING, CHRISTINA AGUILERA and JIMMY FALLON were among the performers who will take part in NBC’s concert last night (November 2nd) to benefit victims of Hurricane Sandy. Money collected will go to American Red Cross relief efforts.
On November 6th, AEROSMITH will release Music From Another Dimension! on Columbia Records. It marks the band’s 15th studio album and their first studio album of all-new material in 11 years.
RollingStone.com are premiering the album, one track at a time, in the weeks leading up to the release. ‘Out Go The Lights’ is a hard-rocking, lip-smacking blues, set to a cowbell beat as an anxious Steven Tyler vamps about, “Living on coochie and romance/ Waiting for Cupid to call.” Female backing vocals take on a taunting, torrid flavor, as Joe Perry ignites a red-hot guitar solo that doesn’t quit for the song’s nearly seven minutes.
The track’s working title was ‘The Guilty Kilt’: “There’s a joke about the guy who gets a hard-on with a kilt on,” explains bassist Tom Hamilton, “so it’s a guilty kilt.” It’s a riff idea that dates back to sessions for 1989′s Pump, which popped up spontaneously between songs on tour over the years, with Tyler sometimes scatting on-the-spot vocals.
“I remember jamming that live during the show,” says Perry. “There was something about that tempo – it’s got that funk that we do. It just wouldn’t leave us alone.”
Read more and hear ‘Out Go The Lights’ at this location.
Commentary and audio for the track ‘Tell Me’ can be found at this location
Read about and hear the album track, ‘Beautiful, at this location.
The album track, ‘Oh Yeah’, can be heard at this location.
Aerosmith recently released the latest video from Music From Another Dimension!, for the song ‘What Could Have Been Love’. The clip can be seen below.
Check out Making Of Music From Another Dimension! episodes at the following links:
Music From Another Dimension! was recorded in Los Angeles and at the band’s studio in Massachusetts; it was produced by Jack Douglas, Steven Tyler and Joe Perry, with the exception of three tracks produced by Tyler and Marti Frederiksen.
“It’s not that it took ten years,” Steven Tyler says, “but that we were busy getting ready!”
“This is the album we wanted to make since the band got back together in 1984,” Joe Perry says. “Can’t complain about number one singles or album-driven sold-out world tours, as we blaze the Aerosmith trail with our fans. But this is the record that when the five of us are in a room yelling turn up the volume, that room could be 1325 Commonwealth Avenue (a reference to the band’s first apartment where they lived and wrote their first song).”
Steven Tyler and Joe Perry talked about Music From Another Dimension! on October 20th edition of The Jonathan Ross Show. Check out the chat below:
Aerosmith recently announced the second leg of The Global Warming Tour, which will include support act CHEAP TRICK. Tickets are on sale now at LiveNation.com. For VIP ticket packages, including opportunities to meet band members, backstage tours, great tickets and more, visit Aeroforceone.com.
Dates:
November
8 – Oklahoma City, OK – Chesapeake Energy Arena
11 – Wichita, KS – INTRUST Bank Arena
14 – Kansas City, MO – Spring Center
16 – Austin, TX – Frank Erwin Center
20 – New York, NY – Madison Square Garden
23 – Atlantic City, NJ – Revel Resorts – Ovation Hall
25 – Columbus, OH – Nationwide Arena
27 – Toronto, ON – Air Canada Centre
December
1 – Las Vegas, NV – MGM Grand Garden Arena
3 – Los Angeles, CA – STAPLES Center
6 – New Orleans, LA – New Orleans Arena
9 – Fort Lauderdale, FL – BB&T Center
11 – Tampa, FL – Tampa Bay Times Forum
13 – Nashville, TN – Bridgestone Arena
