There’s always a fair amount of fuss when bands refuse to reunite with former members for their Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction performances, but DEEP PURPLE‘s Ian Gillan knows exactly where those groups are coming from, as reported by ultimateclassicrock.com.
Using Gene Simmons‘ and Paul Stanley‘s decision not to do a set with ex-bandmates Ace Frehley and Peter Criss following KISS‘ induction into the Hall as an example, Rolling Stone asked Gillan if, should Deep Purple be inducted, they’d be willing to play with former guitarist Ritchie Blackmore. “This is the longest that any lineup has ever been together in this band,” he responded simply. “And it would be unconscionable to think about bringing Ritchie in.”
Gillan’s stance regarding Blackmore, who left in 1993, is nothing new, but he stopped to note that his point of view has more to do with honoring the work done by the current version of the band — and the talent of Blackmore’s replacement, Steve Morse — than old grudges. “I don’t have an issue with Ritchie, nor does anyone. I’ve been in touch with Ritchie recently and everything’s cool, so there’s no bitter, personal problem. We’re too old for that and everything’s in the past, but no. That would be out of the question.”
While he made a point of staying as diplomatic as possible about the Rock Hall in general, saying the band doesn’t “really understand it, but if I treat it with respect, we’ll see what happens,” Gillan made it clear that if Blackmore’s involvement in a ceremony set was required for their induction, he’d turn it down. “If that’s the stumbling block, fair enough,” he shrugged. “Never the twain shall meet.”
Of course, Deep Purple isn’t exactly crying out for the extra help — their most recent release, 2013′s ‘Now What?!,’ was well-received, and Gillan was speaking with Rolling Stone on the eve of the band’s biggest U.S. tour in years. But most importantly, he sees Blackmore’s departure as a crucial turning point in the group’s ongoing development.
“Let’s get the record straight: I was just as much of an a–hole as Ritchie was,” Gillan admitted. “But Ritchie carried it on for a little longer. Had Ritchie stayed with the band, it would have been all over. It would have just ended. Without any doubt in anyone’s mind — it was all over. So the day he walked out was the day we had to rebuild. … It’s good to go through those crises. It doesn’t do your heart any good, but that was the spirit of the band. So to go back to the question of ‘Would we do the show with Ritchie?’ I think that would be hugely disrespectful to what I call the living, breathing, Deep Purple. There’s always been a living, breathing, Deep Purple, good or bad at any stage of our evolution, and how it is now is particularly healthy and it wouldn’t be right.”
English metallers ABSOLVA have announced via their official Facebook page that bass player Dan Bate has left the band. The statement can be read below: With sincere regret we have to announce that Dan Bate has left Absolva with immediate effect. This situation had not been anticipated but has been discussed in detail & sadly we’ve accepted Dan’s explanation that he feels unable to commit himself 100% to the band going forward & therefore has no choice but to reluctantly give up his position as bassist.
Although we’re more than a little shocked at this turn of events, the situation has been entirely amicable & we have nothing but good to say about Dan & his period with the band. The past 2 years have seen him working hard, playing some incredible shows & we’ve had many laughs together where his wit & humour have been especially welcome during long hours on the road. In this period he’s grown significantly as a musician. We’re very sad to see him depart & we thank him wholeheartedly for all his contribution to the music & work of Absolva. We wish Dan every success & good fortune with all that he does in future.
Regarding the future for Absolva, it’ll come as no surprise to many of you that Luke Appleton will be stepping in as bassist on the forthcoming tour dates both in Scotland & in Europe. Anyone interested in an audition for the full-time position as bassist should email chris_apps2000@yahoo.co.uk
Thanks for your continued incredible support. See you out there!
Riju Dasgupta hails from Mumbai, India and is bass player AKA Dr. Hex with horror metallers ALBATROSS. Check out the band here. Riju travelled thousands of miles to visit the hallowed metal ground of Wacken Open Air 2014, the 25th anniversary of the festival, but not before stopping off in Berlin where he met up with Metal Shock Finland‘s Blackdiamond. (Stay tuned for more about that!) Riju felt compelled to write about his Wacken experience, so to discover more from a fan’s point of view, read on :
I’m home after a gruelling week in Europe, and I already have quite a few PM’s asking me how Wacken Open Air was. I think it’s time to come out of review writing hibernation (the last one was a review for a school report back in 2004, when I reviewed a band called Colossus, a band my current bandmates Jay and Kiron played in back then); and write down my Wacken experience in a gist. These are just my thoughts and observations, so if you disagree, feel free to let me know what you feel, and rest assured that I will take no heed of your opinions because I’m a pompous asshole.
I’ve made it my life’s purpose to avoid crowds (the Mumbai trains, working in offices, making friends, 6 member bands); and if you think like me, Wacken Open Air is not for you. The setup is great, the bands are fantastic, the whole ambience is a breathtaking experience…but the positives are counterbalanced by Portaloos (toilets which stink more than anything Metallica’s done in the recent past); and the massive crowds. Think about this…for a lot of Indians, the Maiden gig in 2007 with 40,000 people is the benchmark for a big crowd. This year, Wacken allegedly had 92,000 people! While it’s fantastic to see so many metalheads in a given place at one time, the crowds can be overwhelming. Of course, (almost) everyone’s well behaved, courteous, polite and sweet…but the magnitude of seeing 92000 people in black together can overwhelm you. As a musician, it’s probably it’s something one dreams of…to play to a crowd this big . But as someone in the audience, already sore from camping, I couldn’t wait to get back home. But now, on to the music.
I caught only 2 days of the festival, because of the reasons outlined above, and bad overall planning (my tickets and those of my fellow attendee- Nitin from Primitiv were booked only hours after Kreator stopped playing on the final day)…but Nitin, I and Madhav (from Headbangers India) caught a whole lot of quality acts:
SKYLINE: I’ve been told that this band consists of the Wacken founder, and his friends; and they kickstart the festival every year. With Manowar, Maiden, Van Halen, AC/DC covers…it was a fun beginning to the fest with the whole crowd singing along.
HAMMERFALL: The band came out of a 2 year hibernation, with a special set for Wacken, consisting of songs only from Glory to The Brave. Now, while I love the title track, the rest of the album hardly has the kind of singalong appeal that I like about Hammerfall. They delivered every song fantastically, but I couldn’t wait for them to get started with Bloodbound, Hearts on Fire, Any Means Necessary, etc. Great set, with several special guests…but I preferred their setlist in IIT Chennai by a mile. PS: Their new song – Bushido, sounds better than any other song in the set.
STEEL PANTHER: It’s amazing how these guys can get women to take off their tops anywhere in the world. Steel Panther is fun, does not take themselves seriously, and is enjoyable up to a degree. The crassness got to me and my friends after a while, and we left to get some food.
SAXON: From crass to class. Biff Byford, at 63, commands a voice that can take your breath away. I’m not very well versed with all of Saxon’s albums, so I’m glad they played their classics- Crusader, Wheels of Steel, Power and The Glory, Motorcycle Man, Denim and Leather, Princess of the Night, etc.. An orchestra backed the band on certain songs, and the band was definitely one of my highlights for the festival.
ACCEPT: It’s hard to explain just how powerful Accept sounds live. Tornillo snarls like a beast possessed, and Wolf Hoffman has the best tone known to man. All of us were tired, and couldn’t catch the entire Accept set, but the little we saw was devastating! I’d even go as far as to say that Tornillo does the UDO era stuff maybe slightly better than UDO ever did. If I wasn’t biased towards King Diamond, I’d say that they were the best band at Wacken this year.
SKID ROW: Skid Row played at 11 in the morning, and we caught them from right up front! I haven’t heard much of the new stuff, but most of it sounded quite crushing live. Of course, we know that Johnny Solinger is no Sebastian Bach yada yada yada, but it was fun to actually be in an audience and sing along to ’18 and Life’, ‘Youth Gone Wild’, ‘Slave to the Grind’ and ‘I Remember You’.
CHILDREN OF BODOM: I’m not a fan, but the little I heard sounded quite cool. Shreddage 4 lyf.
BRING ME THE HORIZON: made me walk away towards the horizons, not to return until Carcass much later.
CARCASS: I’ve never been a Carcass fan, and only heard Surgical Steel after hearing all of my news feed wax eloquent about what a masterpiece the album is. They were playing at the same time as Motorhead and Hell, two bands I was quite keen on catching. But, the perils of people in black tshirts getting lost in a crowd comprising of 50000 black tees was too much; and I decided to stay put with my death metal loving friends. And Carcass were GREAT! I’m not familiar with any of their set…but the set has inspired me to check out more of their material now. The band kept taking digs at Motorhead throughout, since they got a smaller stage at the same time- ‘When we were kids, we dreamed of opening for Motorhead. When we became adults, we never wanted to’.
MOTÖRHEAD: We reached the Motorhead stage just in time to see them wind up their set with Overkill. Lemmy, quite ironically, looked like Hell, and almost like a Carcass. It was great to see him power on and entertain an audience despite his health problems though. Mickey Dee and Phil Campbell were on fire.
SLAYER: Slayer was……..underwhelming. I mean here was Slayer, playing all of my favourite songs, but they just seemed tired and exhausted. Araya’s voice is not aging well. There was a guitar battle of sorts in the middle, which was borderline laughable. But then, in my mind I was thinking, Slayer can go to h…south of heaven, because King Diamond was up next.
KING DIAMOND: Metal perfection. All biases aside, King and Livia are singing better than ever, the band is delivering exceptionally well live, and the theatrics were brilliant (if you know King Diamond lore- King turned the tables on Grandma and burned her at the end of the set specially for Wacken). The two Mercyful Fate songs (Evil, Come to the Sabbath) in the middle of the set were a great addition. When you dream of watching a band live for over a decade, the expectations are HUGE, and every expectation was exceeded.
WASP: I heard just a little of their set, back in my tent, but they sounded awesome.
Other writers would write a concluding note at this point, but screw that. I’m not a real reviewer anyway.
British metal act THRESHOLD recently revealed the first track from their forthcoming album “For The Journey” and today sees the release of the first in a series of album trailers.
Watch as Guitarist and Producer Karl Groom walks you through Thin Ice Studios and chats about the guitars used on the new album:
Check out new track ‘Watchtower On The Moon’ below:
Order the digital single of ‘Watchtower On The Moon’ :
“For The Journey” is the successor to the band’s 2012 release “March Of Progress” and was produced by guitarist Karl Groom and Richard West at Thin Ice Studios in England. The album was mastered by Mika Jussila (THERION, AMORPHIS) at Finnvox in Finland and will be released on September 22, 2014 via Nuclear Blast.
The new album also marks the band’s second release featuring vocalist Damian Wilson since his departure from the band in 1997. In a recent interview with Prog Magazine, Damian spoke about the band’s relationship and how easy it was recording the new album: “I think it’s just the fact that we’ve become really good friends and it’s the companionship in the band. We seem to care a lot about each other and we’ve become really close. So we thoroughly enjoy making music together”.
Commented West: “For The Journey is one of our strongest albums and one of the most enjoyable to make. I’ve probably heard it a thousand times during the recording process but now that’s it’s over, I still can’t stop listening to it!”
The album artwork was created by Polish Surrealism artist Leszek Bujnowski, who the band found on the internet. “He’s designed some beautiful pieces and we thought this was a perfect TRESHOLD cover”, states West.
“For The Journey” CD track list:
1. Watchtower on the Moon
2. Unforgiven
3. The Box
4. Turned to Dust
5. Lost in your Memory
6. Autumn Red
7. The Mystery Show
8. Siren Sky
Bonus tracks:
9. I Wish I Could – available on the digipack, vinyl and download versions
10. Lost in your Memory (Acoustic Version) – available on the vinyl and download versions
Side A
1. Watchtower On The Moon
2. The Box
Side B
1. Unforgiven
2. Turned To Dust
3. Lost In Your Memory
Side C
1. Autumn Red
2. The Mystery Show
3. Siren Sky
Side D (Bonus):
1. I Wish I Could
2. Lost In Your Memory (acoustic)
Danish thrashers ARTILLERY started out in 1982 and were one of the pioneers of the thrash scene, though have always been more underground than others. The band went through some changes and break-ups, but came back in 2007 and now are a strong unit, having released their most recent album “Legions” in 2013 after signing with Metal Blade Records.
ARTILLERY have recently completed the UK ‘Thrash Invasion’ Tour, also their first UK tour, with English thrash legends ONSLAUGHT and Indian metallers DEMONIC RESURRECTION.
Blackdiamond caught up with axeman Michael Stützer at Sheffield’s O2 Academy before the show on 18th July and discussed the band’s early days through to now and the changes there have been. To listen to the interview in full click on the audio player below, apologies for the interference on the recording!
ARTILLERY UK Thrash Invasion Tour Sheffield 18/07/14
The organisers of the biggest metal festival in the world, WACKEN OPEN AIR, have announced via their official website that tickets for 2015 are sold out already!
For the 10th time in a row Wacken is sold out! The deconstruction of the W:O:A festival site has just begun and the last Metalheads have left the Holy Ground less than 24 hours ago. Never had we expected that the amazing rush from the last year could be overcome that easy but you did it!
When the pre-sale started, the amount of visitors was four times higher than in 2014 and after the 10.000 X-Mas Tickets were sold out within a very short time, we proceeded with the sale of the regular3-DAY-ALL-IN Tickets but the rush was unstoppable and after 12 hours it was over.
ALL 75.000 TICKETS ARE SOLD OUT – THANX FOR YOUR SUPPORT, METALHEADS! YOU ARE AMAZING!!!
For those who haven´t bought a ticket yet there are the following options:
Due to the masses of orders we assume that there will be several doublings and reversals for example due to missing payments after the deadline for paying is over. As soon as these reversed orders are filtered we will bring this small ticket contingent back on sale with a waiting list. This waiting list will be online soon and we will inform you in time when it will happen. Currently it is NOT POSSIBLE to enlist on the waiting list – neither via phone nor online.
Fifteen bands for the billing have been already announced including several special and exclusive shows as well as high-class acts. As every year we have made every effort to provide a terrific billing!
Together we will turn the 26th Anniversay of Wacken Open Air into the biggest metal party on earth!
Although there are 12 months left until the festival starts and we are still busy with the deconstruction, the arrangements of course are already running. We can´t wait until next August. The tickets will be shipped (depending on the payment receipt) as soon as possible!
Important!!!: Tickets you hitherto ordered at Metaltix will be certainly delivered if you received an order acceptance! Our colleagues at Metaltix are working hard to process all orders in time.
Please be aware that due to the enormous demand on tickets the processing of orders will take it´s time. So please be a bit patient and only call in urgent cases. This will also ensure that Metaltix can keep on processing all orders in time. Thanks for your understanding!
Fans and loyalty were always the heart of the festival!
Blasting the North in August! See you in Wacken – Rain or Shine!
We thank you all again for your amazing support and your loyalty.
THE ROCK ALCHEMIST – Italian Rock Band from Turin with a strong sonic identity that blends modern rock with progressive, hard, alternative, and pop elements!
Kimmo Kuusniemi’s SARCOFAGUS return with a Historic 2010 Concert Video Premiere on YouTube! Click image to watch the video
English metallers ABSOLVA have announced via their official 
Metal Shock Finland (World Assault ) 