For Canada’s The Metal VoiceNeil Turbin spoke to Quiet Riot Bassist Rudy Sarzo at this years ‘Rock for Ronnie concert in the park on May 7, 2023 at Los Encinos park for the Ronnie James Dio Stand up and shout Cancer fund.
Sarzo was asked if there was a new album or new music coning up for Quiet Riot he said, our strategy is to do one song at a time because we have at least two albums that we got to play (live), that’s Metal Health and Condition Critical. That’s the set. And for us to record a new album and have to pick three songs to stick on the set it’s pretty impossible. So why record a whole album, if were just gonna play one song, so right now it’s one song at a time. We have songs in the can already and it’s just a matter of finding the right time to release them. He was then asked if there were any archived songs with Kevin Dubrow or with Frankie Banali, Sarzo replied,” you never know, Alex (Grossi) might find some stuff.”
For Canada’s The Metal VoiceKenny Kessel spoke to Living Colour’s singer Corey Glover on May 3, 2023 at the Newburgh Vintage Emporium in NY in celebration of the 35th anniversary of the bands debut album ‘Vivid‘ which was released May 3, 1988.
In the chat Corey Glover talked about the writing, recording and touring of ‘Vivid’ and how Rolling Stones’ singer Mick Jagger helped in breaking the band in the early days. Plus Glover spoke about some new music he was working on and if Living Colour was working on a new album.
When asked how Mick Jagger helped in breaking the band in the early days, pre Vivid “Vernon (Reid, Guitarist) got a chance to play for Mick Jagger (Rolling Stones) on his solo record and Jagger had heard about Vernon and Living Color and he (Mick Jagger) and Jeff Beck actually came to see us play at CBGB’s. After that he (Mick Jagger) was like if there is anything I can do to help you guys just let me know. We’re looking for a record deal at the time right so he’s like I’m recording and mixing my record at the studio in the city on 48th Street. I’ve rented out the whole studio and I have spare rooms if you want to come in and we’ll do some demos. We’ll work on some stuff and see if that works out. We went in and we did ‘Which way to America’ and we did ‘Glamor boys’ which we thought was sort of commercial in its own right. So he (Mick Jagger) produced and recorded those two songs as a demo, to send out to record companies. And we got some interesting people coming around and saying stuff, we can make this happen, we can make you the biggest stars in the world and…so on.. Then we went to Epic Records and Epic was like what will make this work, we can listen to it all day and it sounds great and sonically that’s good but we want to make a record that sounds like you playing live.”
When asked if Living Colour was working on new music “Oh absolutely we’re always working on the music. It’s difficult, take our time in making albums, that’s a blessing and a curse. Because you get a lot of material while in the space between. So if there’s nothing to do something will come up to do and we all have something to do. We’re all working all the time. Everybody’s doing other things, so it’s hard. We have to carve out times to be able to get together and really sort of concentrate on making a record. Which is difficult. “
Canada’s The Metal Voice filmed a VIP Q and A Former Yes Keyboardist Rick Wakeman on April 5 2023 at the Paramount in New York.
Wakeman spoke about his contributions and recordings on Black Sabbath’s Sabbath Bloody Sabbath (5th studio album) and Ozzy Osbourne’s ‘Ozzmosis’ album (17th studio album).
Rick Wakeman recalled the time when he played keyboards on Sabbath Bloody Sabbath he said, “We were great friends, I mean Ozzy and Tony (Iommi) and I’ve been mates since the late 1960s. There was one stage where Black Sabbath and Yes were the same management office and we supported Sabbath towards 1972. They’re great friends and we were recording in one studio (Yes) in 1973 and they (Black Sabbath) were recording over the road in another studio. And this studio had a bar that was over 24 hours a day. So it’s quite busy and Ozzy said to me I’ve got a couple of things that really need to be done on a keyboard on the album. Which was very unusual for a metal album (at the time). It’s as common as mud now. But he (Ozzy) said would you come do it for us? I said yeah I will do it for you no problem at all. So we planned to do it just after midnight after the Yes sessions had finished. I’d go over the road and go in and there’d been (large) amounts of alcohol. I went into the studio and they were all unconscious in a pile. I wasn’t far off it. The only person who was less sober was the tape operator, a young lad who was terrified. He said I’ve set it up where they want you to play it and Ozzy said you’d know what to play. I said I haven’t a clue? So they put it on. I listened to it a couple of times, worked out things to do, then did that. Well hopefully that will work and if it doesn’t I’m sure they’ll let me know and I’ll come and do it again. And at that moment Ozzy opened his eyes and came forward a bit and I’ll change the adjective he just went BLOOMING BRILLIANT and then went unconscious again. Going forward many years later in fact about 20, 21, 22 years ago and my son Adam, my second oldest son, called me up and said uh I’ve just joined Ozzy, the band I went to, okay. He said and Ozzy wanted to do a couple of tracks from Sabbath Bloody Sabbath that you played on. Can you tell me what you played? I said everybody was comatosed, yeah that’s what Ozzy said. I said work it out and when you do, let me know (laughs).
Rick Wakeman then went on and talked about his work on Ozzy’s Ozzmosis album,” I did his Ozzmosis album which I think that’s one of the best albums ever, it’s like a prog metal album, it’s brilliant. And that was a totally different Ozzy I mean he produced that and was so on the case. I mean Ozzy is really clever, he is a very bright guy, he’s very clever musically and we’re still great friends. “
Rick Wakeman is an English keyboardist and composer best known as a former member of the progressive rock band Yes across five tenures between 1971 and 2004, and for his solo albums released in the 1970s
Rick Wakeman of the band Yes (who were recording Tales from Topographic Oceans in the next studio) was brought in as a session player, appearing on “Sabbra Cadabra” at Morgan Studios in Willesden, North London in 1973
The Metal Voice recently interviewed singer bassist Kip Winger of Winger. In the chat Kip talks about the bands upcoming studio album SEVEN and the ups and downs of the bands career.
‘Seven’ will be released on May 5, 2023 via Frontiers Music Srl a 12-track album produced by winger frontman Kip Winger.
When asked why it took nine years to release a new Winger album “Time got away from us. Reb (Beach) was working heavily in Whitesnake, I did a lot of other projects, classical music and the Get Jack (musical) and quite a few solo shows. I wrote a lot of solo music that has yet to be released. I was super busy and time just got away from us. We actually started this album in 2019 but then Covid hit and kind of wiped everybody out. So it might have been out a little earlier but basically because we were both too busy to get it together.”
When asked what they did differently on the new album compared to last studio album “This is the only album that every member of Winger played on every single song. So it’s actually the definitive Winger album because Paul Taylor played on every song and actually Paul has a solo on this album for the first time in our history. He played the solo on Broken Glass. The main difference is that it’s all original guys playing on every song, so it’s really the ingredients of our whole history on every track on the album. I tried to grab the inspiration from the first album and then combine it with the depth of the stuff that followed.”
When Kip Winger spoke about the band’s early image and sound “We’re a very misunderstood band. In the early 90s stuff didn’t help us at all when all that kind of stuff went down with grunge and Beavis and Butthead. It really was kind of a nail in the coffin for a lot of people to just keep an open mind about who we actually are. Part of it’s our fault because. I was not Savvy about marketing. When Reb and I were writing the first album we watched MTV and there’s Bon Jovi and Whitesnake and Poison and Def Leppard. So we thought what are we gonna wear? Well, let’s just do that kind of thing .We were so focused on the music, if the solo is cool, if the Riff is cool. We didn’t like to go, well wait a minute, let’s not dress up that much.”
When asked how Bevis and Butthead hurt their career early on “For example we’ll take White Zombie, Beavis and Butthead were like oh White Zombie’s cool and then White Zombie went triple platinum, like overnight. It was the biggest show in MTV history so a lot of people benefited from Beavis and Butthead but we were like the on the shirt of the geeky guy who represented it sucked. There’s a lot of other bands that might have been better suited for that role. I did speak to Mike Judge (creator) through email at one point and he was just kind of like It just happened to stick. I think it hurt a lot of the bands like us and you have to also add in the aspect of Metallica throwing darts at my poster. So that came first and I think it inadvertently chose us because of that. Mike Judge said it was just luck of the draw, bad timing. As far as the 80s goes, I don’t think that the 80s would have survived much longer anyway. 80s music had run its course and we came a little too late. I tell this story a lot. I moved out to New Mexico, we lost our record deal,our publishing, everything was gone. Then my first wife passed away in a car wreck and I was totally in Oblivion and that’s when I decided to write and to start studying classical music for real. I’d always wanted to write orchestral music and never felt like it was within my reach and I thought you know what, I’m just gonna go for it and I had the time because I couldn’t get arrested. I mean there were no gigs to be had, for years. The only gig that I did during that time on my first solo record was Porter’s bookstore at 4: 00 p.m in the afternoon playing to 10 people after a year before headlining to 8 000- 10 000 people.”
Winger ‘Seven’ Track Listing 1. “Proud Desperado” 2. “Heaven’s Falling” 3. “Tears Of Blood” 4. “Resurrect Me” 5. “Voodoo Fire” 6. “Broken Glass” 7. “It’s Okay” 8. “Stick The Knife In And Twist” 9. “One Light To Burn” 10. “Do Or Die” 11. “Time Bomb” 12. “It All Comes Back Around”
Canada’s The Metal Voice recently spoke to Marillion‘s guitarist Steve Rothery.
In the chat Rothery talks about the upcoming Marillion’s weekends; the legacy of the band; their latest album; the band’s connection with Iron Maiden’s manager Rod Smallwood and the bands appeal to metalheads in the early years.
Steven Rothery is the original guitarist and the longest continuous member of Marillion.
In the interview guitarist Rothery was asked about the bands connection to Iron Maiden manager Rod Smallwood in the early years, he said, “Rod (Smallwood) was brought in by John Arnison ( Marillion management) as a consultant manager in the 80’s when we’re trying to break America. I’ve known him since those days. There was a period after we left John Arnison Hit and Run Management where Sanctuary managed us for a year or two. He’s (Rod Smallwood) one of a kind. “
Rothery was then asked if the band was purposely marketed by Rod Smallwood at the time to appeal to Metalheads, Rothery replied,” No, That just came about quite naturally. The logo was so distinctive on the first records. You know you’d see people with denim jackets or the leather jackets with the logo written or or painted on. I think there’s a very strong identity and it’s that wanting your own thing, wanting your own new band for your generation. We had tracks like Kayleigh and Lavender in the top of the Heavy Metal charts which obviously was about as far from Heavy Metal as you could get. But it was Rock Fans really I would say more than Heavy Metal Fans. Just people who like to hear guitars who like music with a bit of attitude and I think there was quite a crossover, especially in the Fish years with that kind of audience. “
Tickets available for Montreal, Canada and all other upcoming weekends via www.marillionweekend.com
The Metal Voice recently interviewed vocalist guitarist Randy Jackson of the legendary prog rock band Zebra.
In the chat Jackson talks about the bands upcoming tour dates celebrating 40 year anniversary of the bands debut album. Jackson also talks about the material he has written in the past 20 years for the next Zebra album and how band has gotten a renewed public interest on Netflix TV Corba Kai series.
Randy Jackson was asked by The Metal Voice when can fans expect the next Zebra album he said,” I’ve been saying that for 20 -25 years, I mean it is embarrassing at this point. I started writing right after the fourth album and I’ve got so much material it’s just ridiculous. I guess it just seems like days are shorter, as we get older and they get filled up. I can make every excuse in the book. I got a lot of them after 20 years but I do have a ton of material. We actually did start working on some Arrangements in November to play live in a couple of shows we did last year. We’d work on them but Guy and Felix were not confident enough to play him on stage and so we didn’t . And now we’re playing again and we’re gonna have to revisit the songs again to be able to play. I do hope that there is a Zebra 5 album and I hope we’re all still alive when it (new album) comes out (laughs) it’s just stupid. I remember when Zebra four came out Guy said this is great let’s do an album every year we could just throw them out there. I said no. I said let’s don’t just throw them out there I said I don’t want it to be like a shit trail for uh for the rest of our career , let’s make sure the stuff is good but that wasn’t even really the reason. It’s just one year goes after another you get involved in other stuff, you got family, you’re making living playing live and then with the downloads and everything. There’s no record company putting up money to have you stop working, so we were always working. It was just one thing after another but there will be a Zebra Five hopefully soon. It’ll be a good record because you know we I got 20 freaking years of material. “
In celebration of the 1983 release, ZEBRA has announced nationwide 2023 tour dates, performing the entire ZEBRA debut record from top to bottom, in order, along with other fan favorites and deep cuts from their entire catalog. ZEBRA will also return to their club days to give the fans a special treat by playing several LED ZEPPELIN classics the way only ZEBRA can.
Zebra is a hard rock band founded in 1975 in New Orleans, Louisiana. It features Randy Jackson (guitar and vocals), Felix Hanemann (bass, keyboards and vocals) and Guy Gelso (drums and vocals).
ZEBRA’s self-titled debut album went gold, and at that time was the fastest selling debut album in Atlantic Records history thanks to the radio and MTV airplay of “Tell Me What You Want” and “Who’s Behind the Door?”
Tour Dates April 14 – The Landis Theater, Vineland NJ April 15 – The Space, Westbury NY May 17 – The Wildey Theater, Edwardsville IL May 19 – The Sanctuary, McKinney TX June 01 – The Van Buren, Phoenix AZ June 02 – Counts Vamp’d, Las Vegas NV June 03 – Whisky A Go Go, Hollywood CA June 17 – House Of Blues, Houston TX Nov 18 – House Of Blues, New Orleans LA
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
