The OTHER Hair Metal Blog

Kiss and Bowie Set to Appear on American Idol Final?

The May 19, 2009 edition of The Washington Post speculates that both Kiss and David Bowie may make an appearance on tonight’s American Idol final episode. That’s quite a classic rock vibe. I guess Def Leppard was busy!

Tune in and find out!

Click here for Tracii Gun's League of Gentlemen tour dates.

Music news: Butch Walker's new song now available on iTunes

Butch Walker brings great hooks and melodies to the rock n roll table. A former member of Southgang, Butch has done well for himself with producing, but commercial success for his own music has been elusive. His new single sounds a little like Tom Petty, but it's still one of the best singles of 2008.

From Rock-Music-Blog-Online:

“The Weight of Her” is the brand new single from Butch Walker. It is available on iTunes, and another new song can be listened to at http://www.myspace.com/butchwalker. Very rootsy. Very good. Almost like music from the heartland – but Butch Walker style! His new album will be available in November 2008.

This is brought to you by http://www.rock-music-blog-online.com/.

God dammit Butch – it’s time to get the word out!

Blog Post: Introducing Black Tide!

Music blog Rock Revival writes about a group of youngins that have totally embraced the 80's classic glam rock/hard rock/heavy metal sounds. Ladies and gentlemen, here is Black Tide!

"Here's a great album i just listened to, the recent winner of Kerrang!'s Best Newcomer Award, Black Tide."

"What sets them apart is both the quality of the music and their youth. The lead singer is only 15 years old and they have alrady opened for the likes of Lordi, Static-X, Lamb of God, Ozzy Osbourne, Avenged Sevenfold and All That Remains."

"Their debut album Light From Above, was released on March 18, 2008. Blabbermouth.net stating the album contains 'Big, sometimes pop-based, melodies meets crunchy, guitar-driven metal that falls somewhere between thrash/traditional metal and the dirtier end of '80s glam/hair metal'."

"Dan Epstein of Revolver Magazine saying 'Listening to the debut album from Miami's Black Tide is a little like stumbling across a cool late-80s metal record you'd completely forgotten about. A very promising debut'."

"Despite their youth they are certainly not ignorant of their roots: they have started performing Prowler - an Iron Maiden cover - on their current tour. The album also contains a cover of Metallica's first written song, 'Hit the Lights'."

Read the rest of this Rock Revival post about Black Tide...

Music news: Old school metal from Archer

Young guys rocking like it's 1984? Holy David Lee Roth! Well, in this case, maybe more like Vivian Campbell during his Dio years. Bands like Endeverafter and Archer are embracing retro hard rock and classic metal-esque sounds to bring today's rock back down to basics. This article is from MetroSantaCruz.com.

(Santa Cruz - By Garrett Wheeler) Sporting leather pants, black boots and long blond hair, Dylan Rosenberg of Archer is the quintessential heavy metal frontman. Before any given show, there's an unmistakable gleam in his eye that warns audiences of what they are about to witness: the relentless force of the world's loudest, fastest and arguably most difficult genre of rock & roll. Classic metal--not to be confused with classic rock--exists as the apex of shreddage, the ultimate showcase for the electric guitar. No other genre demands such mastery of the instrument, from screaming harmonics to thundering power chords. And like the pioneers of the trade who were intent on creating the most technically complex sounds possible (see Yngwie Malmsteen), Dylan Rosenberg plays at a level most guitarists can only dream of. And he does it in style, banging his head in methodical twists and twirls, and crouching during solos, and approaching the microphone to deliver an impressive barrage of James Hetfield-like vocals.

At 22, Rosenberg is already a highly accomplished musician. He teaches at Musicscool Santa Cruz, and he's the winner of the 2008 Metro Santa Cruz Goldies Award for Best Local Musician. Archer, a trio made up of Rosenberg, bassist Isaiah Black and drummer Jimmy Giovacchini, won Best Local Band. Recently, Archer flew to Sweden to play a four-day festival larger in scale than any concert of its kind in the United States. Headliners at the Sweden Rock Festival included Judas Priest, Def Leppard, Coheed & Cambria, Blue Oyster Cult, Disturbed, Joe Satriani--the list goes on.

"It was the kind of show I would go to even if we weren't playing in it, just to see all those bands," says Rosenberg. "It was four days of rocking."

So how did a young up-and-coming trio from Santa Cruz land onstage alongside legendary rockers like Ace Frehley (the Kiss guitarist performed with his new band) and Warren DeMartini of Ratt?

Read more of Archer: Big In Sweden...

Music news: New Metallica -- "The Day that Never Comes" Has Arrived

Okay. For the past decade or more, there always has been a sense of controversy with Metallica. Whenever new music is released from the band, hard core fans cry "sell out" or "this sucks." Newer fans don't seem to mind. There's always interest and debate. And in the end, albums are sold. Here is one long time fans point of view.

From Associated Content.com:

"I found out through my local radio station, Atlanta's Rock Station, Rock 100.5, that they were going to air the new Metallica song, "The Day That Never Comes" today at 3:00 p.m. and was excited. New Metallica ! Finally. After hearing rumors and reading snippets and interviews on metal music websites that this album was being promised as a return to the "old school" Metallica, I truly was looking forward to the new song and the new album, "Death Magnetic." Their first album in five years and none too soon!"

"I've been a Metallica fan since I bought the album "Ride The Lightning" for less than five dollars just for the cover. The electric chair under the shiny Metallica logo amid a lightning burst coupled with the capital punishment slang appealed to my dark side. But when I got home and listened to the long guitar riffs, the penetrating solos, and the black lyrics, I was hooked."

Read more of New Metallica -- "The Day that Never Comes" Has Arrived...

Butch Walker ROCKS, dude!

Butch Walker possesses a certain charm and wit that just does not come along every day. He is rock’s answer to Woody Allen. Unfortunately, Woody Allen movies do not earn $100,000,000 at the box office. And also unfortunately, I can’t see old Butch going multi-platinum any time soon.

Witnessing Butch live may help those “on the bubble” fans understand exactly why his fan base is so loyal to an almost freakish degree. Therefore, Butch Walker: Live At Budokan is a perfect exhibition of his talents. The first section of the DVD features seven songs that were filmed while opening for Avril Lavigne in 2005. It illustrates Butch’s ability as an emotional and charismatic front man. There are no obvious musical overdubs, so you really witness a Butch performance that is “warts and all.” The show has some flaws, but nobody ever claimed that rock n’ roll had to be perfect. Observe the look in his eyes during “The Best Thing You Never Had,” and tell me that you can’t actually see his pain. Butch connects with the audience, and the video just doesn’t lie. During “Mixtape,” you can’t help of think of those times in high school when you compiled all of your favorite songs onto one cassette. That maybe one reason why he has yet to connect with a younger audience, but the words “Mix CD” or “iPod on shuffle” just do not roll off the tongue in the same manner. Overall, I have not seen anything this compelling since the OJ Simpson trial. Okay, bad example. But I think you know what I mean.

Velvet Revoler returns with the anticipated Libertad.

Trust me when I say that I am pulling for Velvet Revolver to be a mega-success. Remember when there was much debate over Brides of Deconstruction vs. Velvet Revolver? There were weeks of discussions on Metal Sludge, and the bottom line was simple - Brides sucked, and Velvet did not. Well, at the very least, the industry and those people with budgets backed Velvet, and Brides didn't last past 2 releases.

Well, the new Velvet Revolver CD Libertad is out. The reviews are a little mixed, but so far its come out of the gate looking good.

Here are some from around this big thing we call "The Net":

Chicago Trbune: A competent, oddly reverential take on classic Sunset Strip metal from the '80s. A shame they forgot to write a hook. Read the review.

Arizona Republic: The star-studded Velvet Revolver has outlived the naysayers and survived to release a follow-up to its well-received debut album, 2004's Contraband. In stores today, Libertad picks up where that hard-rocking first album left off.  Read the review.

StarPulse.com: Either way, it works, and much more than it did on their respectable multiplatinum 2004 debut ''Contraband.'' Read the review.