Do they have Best Buys in China for Axl Rose of Guns N Roses new Chinese Democracy album?
September 30, 2008
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When Axl Rose first dreamed up the name ‘Chinese Democracy’ for the sixth Guns N Roses album in 1994, the phrase was taken to be an oxymoron. But after 14 years of recording sessions and line up changes, during which the album allegedly became the most expensive ever made ($13 million and counting), the music business joke was that the Chinese would get democracy before Guns N Roses released their masterpiece. Or whatever it is.
Cool doesn’t come into it: Axl Rose
Anyway, latest news is that the long delayed album from what’s left of the 80s superstar rockers (procrastinating singer Axl Rose and some hired guns, basically) will see the light of day in November. China may have got Starbucks and the Olympics in the interim, but it still hasn’t quite got democracy, which means Rose doesn’t have to think up a new name. But some things have changed. During the recordings’ long gestation, the music business has altered so much that the album is not going to be released by a record company at all. It is going to be exclusively retailed (in the US at least) through consumer electronics superstores Best Buy.
For a rebel rocker, you might have thought there was something deeply uncool about being signed to a big budget shopping chain but if you have seen Axl Rose lately you might speculate that cool doesn’t come into it (the headband remains but I’m not so convinced by the hair sprouting underneath). After two decades of high overheads and no visible means of support, Rose is clearly looking at the bottom line. So he is following in the mercenary footsteps of the Eagles, whose comeback album ‘The Long Road To Eden’ was released in America exclusively by WalMart, a big budget supermarket chain, a bit like Tescos with added aisle space. The problem with such exclusive retail deals are that they are not fan friendly solutions. It apparently didn’t matter to the Eagles that there is no WalMart in either Los Angeles or New York. I mean, there must be a few Eagles fans in LA, wouldn’t you think? Maybe they figured their fans are old enough to drive, so they could just hit the road if they really wanted to get their hands on a CD.
These days it seems like everybody is a record company. Sensing the weakness of the major labels, mobile phone operators, coffee shops and supermarkets have been signing up big names for big bucks and releasing records as loss leaders. It doesn’t matter if they don’t make a profit as long as they bring customers to the brand. You know the deal, you go in to buy some batteries and come out clutching a discounted CD of overcooked spandex metal.
Old rockers never die. They can be found wandering the aisles of their local supermarket, looking for the best deal.
Just a thought, but do they have Best Buys in China? Probably not..
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/neil_mccormick/blog/2008/09/30/guns_n_roses_democracy_is_coming_to_the_usa
During interview, is it really fans loss if they don’t get Sebastian Bach Angel Down album after being in Skid Row
September 30, 2008
Mick Burgess of Norway’s Metal Express Radio recently conducted an interview with former SKID ROW vocalist Sebastian Bach. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.
Metal Express Radio: Do you think it’s important in this day and age to be able to offer something extra to the fans to encourage fans to buy the product rather than downloading it?
Bach: I’ve sold 22 million SKID ROW records and if the fans don’t get [Bach’s new solo album] “Angel Down”, then it’s their loss. It is just as good, if not better than those records, and I should know — I’ve heard those records a million times and I’ve heard “Angel Down” a million times and it’s right up there with them. If you’ve spent 15 years listening to “Slave To The Grind” then it’s your loss not getting “Angel Down”. It’s really, really good. All the fans keep telling me it is and the reviews do too.
Metal Express Radio: “Angel Down” [was] released in the UK on DR2 Records which is linked to Demolition Records. How did you get involved with Demolition?
Bach: Demolition offered me a record deal at the time when Spitfire was giving me a deal. Both are labels from the UK. Demolition picked up because the people that work at EMI in the UK must be brain dead or something. EMI has the right to put out my record everywhere in the world and they put it out everywhere except the UK. I can’t understand why they didn’t put it out especially after we’d sold out two nights at Wembley and me and Axl [Rose] did a record together so I’m sure most of them would be interested in getting this so I don’t know how many nights you have to sell out before they’ll put your record out.
Metal Express Radio: Do you think being a priority act on a specialist hard rock label is more beneficial to you than being one of many artists on a major label who in many cases don’t know how to market rock bands?
Bach: What label would not want to release the new Axl Rose material?? Forget about me — there’s three songs on there with Axl Rose that people will want to hear. That’s nuts. EMI’s loss is DR2’s gain.
Metal Express Radio: You’ve always seemed to be a music fan who found himself in a successful rock band and you never seem to have lost your enthusiasm for other bands. Your love of KISS and RUSH, amongst others, is well known. Do you still feel that sense of excitement when you hear some great music that makes you sit up and take notice?
Bach: I listen to music constantly. My iPod is always on. If I’m in the dressing room before the gig I’ll be cranking out heavy metal from HATEBREED, OZZY to MALICE, EZO to ANVIL and MANOWAR’s “Battle Hymns”; it’s just so heavy, we all love it. In my iPod, I’ve got HATEBREED next to HELLYEAH next to HANOI ROCKS, so with a little flick of my thumb I can listen to something that was recorded today or something that was recorded 25 years ago. I don’t analyze what I listen to, I just listen to what I want. I just love music.
Read the entire interview from Metal Express Radio.
http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermouth.net/news.aspx?mode=Article&newsitemID=105850
Robert Plant kills all hope of a Led Zeppelin reunion tour
September 30, 2008
Despite various rumours that Led Zeppelin would tour following the massive success of last year’s reunion show, Robert Plant has put an end to fans’ hopes with a statement posted on his official website.
The statement reads:
‘Contrary to a spate of recent reports, Robert Plant will not be touring or recording with Led Zeppelin. Anyone buying tickets online to any such event will be buying bogus tickets. ‘It’s both frustrating and ridiculous for this story to continue to rear its head when all the musicians that surround the story are keen to get on with their individual projects and move forward,’ Robert Plant said. ‘I wish Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones and Jason Bonham nothing but success with any future projects,’ he added.’
Various sources have reported recently that the legendary band would be embarking on a world tour sometime in the near future, but it looks like the chances of this are now incredibly slim.
For more details about Led Zeppelin, see www.ledzeppelin.com or visit www.robertplant.com.
Can’t live without Led Zeppelin? Why not check out some of the UK’s incredible Led Zep tribute bands, here on Ents24!
http://www.ents24.com/web/news.html?id=00097205
Maybe Lars Ulrich may be deaf if he does not think new Metallica Death Magnetic album is too loud
September 30, 2008
Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich has rejected fans’ claims that their new album ‘Death Magnetic’ is too loud, and that the version available via the ‘Guitar Hero’ video game is superior.
Thousands of fans have taken to the internet to complain, but Ulrich - the first member of Metallica to speak publicly on the issue - disagrees.
“Listen, there’s nothing up with the audio quality,” he said. “It’s 2008, and that’s how we make records.”
Speaking to Blender, Ulrich added: “(Producer) Rick Rubin’s whole thing is to try and get it to sound lively, to get it sound loud, to get it to sound exciting, to get it to jump out of the speakers. Of course, I’ve heard that there are a few people complaining. But I’ve been listening to it the last couple of days in my car, and it sounds fuckin’ smokin’.”
Ulrich also said he believes that the internet magnifies the voice of “complainers”.
“Listen, what are you going to do?” he asked. “A lot of people say (the CD) sounds great, and a few people say it doesn’t, and that’s OK. You gotta remember, when we put out ‘…And Justice for All’ (in 1988), people were going, ‘What happened to these guys, this record? There’s no bass on it. It sounds like it was recorded in a fuckin’ garage on an eight-track.’ And now …’And Justice for All’ is sort of the seminal Metallica record that supposedly influenced a whole generation of death-metal bands.
“The difference between back then and now is the internet,” he added. “The internet gives everybody a voice, and the internet has a tendency to give the complainers a louder voice.”
–By our Los Angeles staff.
http://www.nme.com/news/metallica/40087
Maybe Lars Ulrich may be deaf if he does not think new Metallica Death Magnetic album is too loud
September 30, 2008
Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich has rejected fans’ claims that their new album ‘Death Magnetic’ is too loud, and that the version available via the ‘Guitar Hero’ video game is superior.
Thousands of fans have taken to the internet to complain, but Ulrich - the first member of Metallica to speak publicly on the issue - disagrees.
“Listen, there’s nothing up with the audio quality,” he said. “It’s 2008, and that’s how we make records.”
Speaking to Blender, Ulrich added: “(Producer) Rick Rubin’s whole thing is to try and get it to sound lively, to get it sound loud, to get it to sound exciting, to get it to jump out of the speakers. Of course, I’ve heard that there are a few people complaining. But I’ve been listening to it the last couple of days in my car, and it sounds fuckin’ smokin’.”
Ulrich also said he believes that the internet magnifies the voice of “complainers”.
“Listen, what are you going to do?” he asked. “A lot of people say (the CD) sounds great, and a few people say it doesn’t, and that’s OK. You gotta remember, when we put out ‘…And Justice for All’ (in 1988), people were going, ‘What happened to these guys, this record? There’s no bass on it. It sounds like it was recorded in a fuckin’ garage on an eight-track.’ And now …’And Justice for All’ is sort of the seminal Metallica record that supposedly influenced a whole generation of death-metal bands.
“The difference between back then and now is the internet,” he added. “The internet gives everybody a voice, and the internet has a tendency to give the complainers a louder voice.”
–By our Los Angeles staff.
http://www.nme.com/news/metallica/40087
