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Manos Spanos

HAGAR Says EDDIE VAN HALEN Is ‘Not As Fluent And Versatile’ On The Guitar As JOE SATRIANI Is

Manos Spanos
Peter Hodgson of Gibson.com recently conducted an interview with Sammy Hagar(CHICKENFOOT, VAN HALEN). An excerpt from the chat follows below. Gibson.com: I've always wanted to ask you how you rank yourself as a guitarist. It takes balls to stand up there with Eddie Van Halen or Joe Satriani. I've been lucky to jam withSatriani and Vai, and to a certain point it's intimidating but also at a certain point you've just got to tell yourself "Screw it, this is what I do." Sammy: I'm a little bit intimidated if we go too long, but in CHICKENFOOT and VAN HALEN, I just put the guitar on and got a big cheer always, and then I'd burn for a little bit and then take it back off before I ran out of chops, y'know? I rate myself as a guy that can play, and I can express myself extremely well but only in one language. I can only play blues-based guitar. And when a guy like Joe steps up there, he can play. Once he finishes with my repertoire, he can go into French, Spanish and Russian on the guitar! He's just so versatile and fluent.Eddie's not as fluent and versatile. Eddie's got a style for himself and he's very much in that pocket, but Joe can play anything. He freaks me out. When Joe and I start to write together, he'll show me some chords and I'll start singing, then I'll pick up a guitar just mainly to figure a lick out: "What chord is that? What are you playing?" so I can know what notes I have to choose from to sing. Then he'll go "That was a cool lick, what did you play?" and I'll go "[Expletive], I don't know!" I don't get it. I just play. Gibson.com: There were so many great guitar players to come out of the '80s where you knew they'd kind of fade away, but even early on it was apparent that we'd still be hearing about Joe Satriani in 40, 50 years. Sammy: Oh, Joe's here to stay. I think he's going to have a kind of Jeff Beck career. He's going to have these little windows where he gets a little bump, a little more publicity, a little more recognition, and then he kinda just cruises along, then all of a sudden somebody's gonna say, "Wow, Joe Satriani's the best guitar player in the world" and everybody gets hip again. He ain't going nowhere. The thing that amazes me the most about Joe's guitar playing over any other musician is he knows exactly what he's playing and he can play it twice, three times exactly the same. He works his parts out but he does it really quick. It's not like it takes him forever to come up with a part. He comes up with it, BAM, instantly, and he knows every note he's playing and I don't know how he does it. He's too smart for his own good. But you're a lucky man if you stood up and played next to Joe Satriani. What I do is, I learn. He immediately makes me better because it makes me aware of what I'm playing, because if I see him solo I think, "I don't know what I'm doing." So I start to think a little more, like "Oh I know why that note works." So he just enlightens. He's enlightening to play with. I don't know if that works for you, but that's how it works for me. Read the entire interview at Gibson.com.
03 min read
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MONSTER MAGNET Mainman: ‘I Miss The Album As An Art Form

Manos Spanos
Christopher Lee of Crypt Magazine recently conducted an interview with MONSTER MAGNETmainman Dave Wyndorf. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below. Crypt Magazine: It's 2013, and the new MONSTER MAGNET album, "Last Patrol", will be hitting the racks in a couple of weeks. Where have you guys been the past couple of years? Dave Wyndorf: In the three years, we did "Mastermind", toured the fuck out of Europe and the world, just completely going on! Um, so we had one record and a lot of touring. I toured that new record, plus did a bunch of tours doing whole-album performances of early albums like"Spine Of God", "Dopes To Infinity", and that's how I spend my time, ya know?! On the road! Not in America a lot, but the rest of the world; that's what I do. Crypt Magazine: So what do you think about this whole thing with people being pacified with buying one single on iTunes and the whole art of the "album" being reduced to nothing. An artist's life's work to write that one song has been condensed into a little meaningless MP3. Dave Wyndorf: It's brutal, dude, it's brutal, but what are you gonna do? It's like the people have spoken, and ultimately, they're the people that make the decision. It's, like, there's no conspiracy behind it, there's nothing, it's like we just have to face the fact that we live in a world full of idiots.
04 min read

LIV KRISTINE To Guest On New PRIMAL FEAR Album

Manos Spanos
Norwegian singer Liv Kristine Espenaes Krull (LEAVES' EYES, ex-THEATRE OF TRAGEDY) has recorded a guest appearance on the song "Born With A Broken Heart" from the upcoming album from German power metallers PRIMAL FEAR. The CD was mixed with Jacob Hansen (VOLBEAT, PRETTY MAIDS, DESTRUCTION) at his Hansen studio in Ribe, Denmark for a January 2014 release via Frontiers Records. 12 tracks were recorded during the new album sessions, including "two epic songs, one guitar ballad, and nine crushing metal songs with all the trademarks you know and love to hear from PRIMAL FEAR," according to the band. The effort was engineered by Achim Köhler (EDGUY, MASTERPLAN) and was produced byPRIMAL FEAR bassist Mat Sinner. In a recent interview with Jump Metal, PRIMAL FEAR vocalist Ralf Scheepers stated about the musical direction of the band's upcoming album: "It's not so far away [from what we've done in the past], because we have our style, you know. It was hard for us to imagine… because [2012's] 'Unbreakable' was a pretty tough... and really, in our ears, pretty great album, and for us, it was somehow hard to top it. But as soon as we started to write the new songs, and as soon as I heard what Mat and Magnus [Karlsson, guitar] did in the first place — because then they sent me some stuff and I added my ideas on it — I just thought, 'Wow, this is amazing.' And in the end, it really turned out to be a better album than 'Unbreakable'." Frontiers and PRIMAL FEAR in January announced that they have renewed their partnership for another multi-album deal, which will include two more studio releases and one live CD and DVD. PRIMAL FEAR's latest album, "Unbreakable", sold around 600 copies in the United States in its first week of release. The CD landed at position No. 44 on the Top New Artist Albums (Heatseekers) chart, which lists the best-selling albums by new and developing artists, defined as those who have never appeared in the Top 100 of The Billboard 200.
02 min read

CREMATORY: ‘Shadowmaker’ Single, ‘Inception’ Box Set Cover Artwork Unveiled

Manos Spanos
Southern German gothic metallers CREMATORY have inked a deal with Steamhammer/SPV. The band's new album, "Antiserum", will be released on February 25, 2014 (one day earlier internationally). The first single from "Antiserum", a song called "Shadowmaker", will be made available on November 22. CREMATORY drummer Markus Jüllich says: "Even before the whole record was finalized, we knew that 'Shadowmaker' had absolute hit potential. You'd be hard put to announce our new album better than with this song." On the day of the single launch, a special box set, "Inception", featuring CREMATORY's first ten studio albums in a cardboard sleeve will be made available. It is described in a press release as "an absolute must-have for all fans and collectors." "Our fans can look forward to 'Antiserum', on which we have gone one step further than we did on our comeback album, 'Revolution', in terms of our electronic influences," says Jüllich. In collaboration with Elmar Schmidt of Hamburg EBM act CENTHRON, we have come up with a haunting mix of metal riffs and EBM keyboards. That's why I'd refer to 'Antiserum''s musical direction as 'EBM metal.'"
01 min read

TODD LA TORRE-Fronted Version Of QUEENSRŸCHE Films Two New Music Videos

Manos Spanos
On September 24, Honduras rock journalist Alvaro Villatoro (a.k.a. Lemmy Simmons) ofHard Heavy conducted an interview with conducted an interview with QUEENSRŸCHE drummerScott Rockenfield. You can now listen to the chat using the SoundCloud widget below. A few excerpts from the chat follow. On the next QUEENSRŸCHE video: Scott: "A couple of weeks ago, we finished two brand new music videos for the new record. We went down to Los Angeles and shot the next two videos. "The next single, I believe, is going to be 'Spore'. And then the follow-up single after that is going to be 'A World Without'. "So what we did is we shot a 10-minute movie of the two songs put together, and it's really great. It's a full scripted storyline, there were actors in the videos, and it's very conceptual. And we do appear in the video as well. But it was really fun and really different, because it's like a movie." On parting ways with original singer Geoff Tate and replacing him with Todd La Torre: Scott: "I've gotta be honest. We just didn't know what to expect when we made the decision to move on last year. And Todd has been perfect; I mean, it's absolutely just perfect. He sings so great our old, great songs. Listen, we hadn't done 'Queen Of The Reich' in years, andTodd stepped in and he just sings it — he just does it — and it's just perfect. I can't even tell you how excited we are about what's going on for us right now having him in the band." On whether the band felt any pressure to release a new studio album as quickly as possible to compete with the Geoff Tate-fronted version of QUEENSRŸCHE: Scott: "To be honest, we actually didn't — we never felt any pressure to get a record out as fast as possible or to do anything to sacrifice the quality that we always had wanted to keep ourselves at. This record was a great example of that. Our focus was on just writing great songs and getting them to where we felt it was at the top of our game, so to speak, and we wanted to keep our level very high and challenge ourselves. And so we were gonna get the record done when the record was gonna be done. "We were lucky, because the chemistry amongst the five of us now is so great that we just felt that we didn't have any pressures — we knew we were gonna have a great record and feel really good about it. And I think the response is kind of the proof. The fans and the media have embraced the new record in such a high way; I mean, we're getting almost 10-star reviews on this record all around the world. So for what that's worth, I think that's just the proof that we've done what our fans really had wanted us to be doing for a long time. I think they're very happy that we're back doing what we feel good about. "We've been around for 30 years as a band, and we've made a lot of records, and some really great ones that I'm very proud of. I think this new record is a record that I'm proud of… It's probably a record that I'm most proud for probably the last 20 years. So, for me, it's really special and I feel really great about it. And we're having a great time. We haven't had a great time for a long time, to be honest; it hasn't been very fun. I think this is now a turning point for us and we just feel really good. We're energized and the fans are energized." On whether "Queensrÿche" signals a return to the band's classic sound: Scott: "I think so. I really do. "In the last year that we started playing all these shows with Todd, our setlist is a lot of just our first five records — it's all that great QUEENSRŸCHE classic stuff that we hadn't played for a long time. And in doing that, I think that started to put us in kind of that mindset, that energy that we had back then, and the chemistry we had together. And so I think when we started making this new record, it was almost natural that we were kind of revisiting that feel for us. And I think this record does.
05 min read

METALLICA: ‘Through The Never’ Has Best Opening For Concert Film Ever At IMAX Theaters

Manos Spanos
According to The Wrap, METALLICA's new movie, "Metallica Through The Never", opened this weekend to an estimated $1.67 million — the best opening for a concert film ever at IMAX theaters. The movie, which debuted on 308 3D IMAX screens, earned an estimated $780,000 on its first day. That gave the film a per-location average of $5,482. A blend of concert movie and fictional narrative, it will expand to 650 theaters next weekend. Financed by the METALLICA members themselves at a budget of $18 million, "Metallica Through The Never" is the first new release via Picturehouse, the full-service independent film marketing and distribution company started in 2005, which reopened its doors with founderBob Berney at the helm. The film, written and directed by Nimród Antal ("Kontroll","Predators"), stars members of the iconic rock band and Dane DeHaan ("Chronicle", "The Amazing Spider-Man 2"). DeHaan plays a young band crew member who is sent out on an urgent mission while the band is playing a rousing live set in front of a sold-out crowd and unexpectedly finds his world turned completely upside down. "The hardest thing in Hollywood is trying to sell an idea that has no point of reference,"METALLICA drummer Lars Ulrich told the Los Angeles Times. "If you can't sit there and go, 'It's like 'The Bourne Identity' meets 'Private Ryan' meets 'Star Trek', they just look at you like, 'What are you talking about?'" Berney told The Wall Street Journal that "Through The Never" doesn't need to draw the uninitiated to theaters for the film to succeed. The band's fans — hardcore or casual — are enough. "Maybe we can wake up the ones who haven't thought about them for a while, like the guy in the cubicle with the METALLICA shirt on under his suit," he said. "We decided we needed to make this unique," METALLICA guitarist Kirk Hammett told QMI Agency about the "Through The Never" movie. "So we came up with the concept of having a running narrative in the movie that weaves in and out of the concert footage. We liked that idea enough to tell our managers, 'This is the type of movie we want to make.'" "I think that METALLICA fans that are really into action films and movies with a lot of energy are going to be blown away," Ulrich told Revolver magazine. "This is a very unique film. I don’t know what people are going to think of it. I like it. But obviously I’m biased." The soundtrack, which features a number of METALLICA classics performed live in the movie, was released on September 24. The two-disc CD came out on METALLICA's own label,Blackened Recordings, also in digital and vinyl formats. The concert sequences for the movie were shot in August 2012 at two shows in Vancouver, Canada and feature a stage containing elements of many of METALLICA's previous live productions from the past 30 years.
03 min read

PAUL STANLEY’s Autobiography To Be Released Next Spring

Manos Spanos
KISS frontman Paul Stanley has confirmed via Twitter that his much-anticipated autobiography will be released next spring. During an appearance on the "Sixx Sense" radio show hosted by MÖTLEY CRÜE/SIXX: A.M. bassist Nikki Sixx last November, Stanley, 61, was asked if he has read some of the other rock and roll autobiographies out there and whether he has plans to write a book of his own. "This will come back to haunt me, because, of course, mine is in the works," Stanley said. "Autobiographies, for the most part, to me, are like writing a love letter to yourself," he continued. "I mean, George Orwell said that the autobiography is the most outrageous form of fiction. How objective can you be when you are writing about yourself. "I've seen people around me write books and somehow they're always in the center of everything that happened, they were the one who made it happen. There's been a lot of those books that didn't really interest me much. I thought Duff's [McKagan] book was great. I think a book that just says, 'Gee, aren't I the greatest thing?' And 'I was smarter than everyone else.'…"
03 min read

METALLICA’s LARS ULRICH: ‘We’re All Psyched To Get Back To The Studio’

Manos Spanos
The members of METALLICA took part in a question-and-answer session following the September 23 screening of their new 3D IMAX movie, "Metallica Through The Never", at New York's Walter Reade Theater. Video footage of the discussion can be seen below. Regarding comparisons to the classic 1976 LED ZEPPELIN film "The Song Remains The Same", METALLICA drummer Lars Ulrich said: "I don't mean to be disrespectful, but [we felt strongly that] it shouldn't be 'The Song Remains The Same'. We don't want to be in the non-concert part. We don't see ourselves acting." He added: "[We decided] it shouldn't be in the infomercial style that a lot of the current ones are, where they follow a band on the road, and here they are on and off airplanes. There wasn't a blueprint for this movie, and that's what made it so hard to sell in Hollywood." "[Director] Nimród [Antal] came up with the story line," frontman James Hetfield added. "It really is two movies in one. We wanted to have the best concert footage ever filmed and also have a story line and give it some legs that will be open for interpretation. There are so many metaphors in there. And there's no good side or bad side. There's just turmoil. That's just a part of human nature — fight or flight at times. For me, when the rider shows up he's the embodiment of hate. And then there's fire. Of course. You gotta have fire."
03 min read

DREAM THEATER Keyboardist: ‘We Feel That This Is One Of The Best Albums That We’ve Done’

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Brian Giffin of Australia's Loud magazine recently conducted an interview with keyboardist Jordan Rudess of progressive metal giants DREAM THEATER. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below. Loud: Does releasing a self-titled album mark some sort of new beginning for DREAM THEATER? Rudess: I think it was more that we wanted to put the stamp of a self-titled album here because we felt very strong about it. We felt like we're at this great point where we felt that people should take notice. We've been very clear — we're all getting along so well; musically we're having a great time together in the studio; and we felt that we've made a great album that we want people to know about. If you want to know what DREAM THEATER is about, check this album out, because we feel that this is one of the best albums that we've done. Loud: What was it like reconvening to record this time with [new drummer] Mike Mangini a part of the band? Rudess: He was really well behaved, so it was good. It was a lot of fun to have him there, unlike the previous album where we brought him in for the drum parts after the music was written. For this one, he was there the whole time. Some people know it, some people don't, but Mike Mangini is a very upbeat character. He's very funny, he's got a very good nature, he's lively and in front of the drums, he's a madman. He can play things no one else can play. So him being there personally, with his upbeat personality, and him contributing to the dynamic to the music we were writing really gave the music a real spark. So we enjoyed that quite a lot. With "A Dramatic Turn Of Events", we had a good time writing that, but this time, all being together working on the album as a band was great. We had been on tour with Mike Mangini for a year, we knew that we all got along, we knew that we were a very effective unit with each other playing music. The fans had all voiced their opinions and they all loved our shows. Loud: Tell us something about "Illumination Theory", because that's quite an extensive piece.
04 min read

WITHIN TEMPTATION: ‘Paradise’ Video Featuring TARJA TURUNEN Released

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Dutch symphonic rockers WITHIN TEMPTATION have just released the "Paradise (What About Us?)" EP and promotional video, featuring a unique collaboration with classically trained Finnish rock diva, former NIGHTWISH singer Tarja Turunen, guesting on the title track. Comments WITHIN TEMPTATION frontwoman Sharon Den Adel: "When we had written the first version of 'Paradise' and listened back to the demo we'd recorded and the epic power of the song, we thought of Tarja instantly. How well this track would fit her classical voice and how extra special it would be if we sang it together. The more we thought about this wild idea, the more excited we got about it!" Following several video trailers teasing the track, fans have been speculating on the band's Facebook page who the duet would be with, some guessing it couldn't possibly be a "competing" artist like Tarja. However, the two singers had no hesitation joining forces, having never thought of themselves as competitors. Sharon continues: "Of course I didn't know what to expect from Tarja, as we'd never actually met in person 'till June this year. Our first encounter was via a Skype call we'd set-up to discuss the collaboration and we immediately clicked, not only creatively but personally. After we'd spoken, it felt completely natural that we would do this together!"
04 min read

Manos Spanos

Manos Spanos (Metalpaths' co-editor-in-chief), eight years in this site but still can't be characterised as a metalhead.