Search Results for

blaze bayley

New ARCH ENEMY Singer ALISSA WHITE-GLUZ: ‘I’m Just Going To Do My Absolute Best’

Metal Blast recently conducted an interview with new ARCH ENEMY singer Alissa White-Gluz. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below. Metal Blast: When you were first offered the position as Angela's [Gossow] replacement, how much of a challenge did you feel you were going to face filling her shoes? Alissa: Angela is very iconic and broke down a lot of barriers not just for women in music, but in music in general. It's not a simple task to step in after her, but I feel confident in the album we wrote, and I know I have her support in this, since we're all a team working towards a common goal. I'm just going to do my absolute best, and hope everyone enjoys it as much as we do. Metal Blast: Angela is still involved with ARCH ENEMY, working in management. How much influence did she have on you being picked for the band, and what sort of influence does she still have in you and in your performance for ARCH ENEMY? Alissa: It was actually Angela's idea for me to be her successor, so to speak, so she definitely had a big role in that choice. For now she doesn't really have any influence in terms of the performance of the music, but she works very hard as the manager, so I speak to her every day about the business side of things. Metal Blast: Did she give you any advice that you felt was important in terms of your performance in ARCH ENEMY? Alissa: Yeah, I guess so; everyone in the band has kind of offered advice, because they all know what it's about. She hasn't really given anything specific, but she's always been good at giving me advice. For years and years she's been sort of a mentor to me, so if she offers it, I always listen. I mean, who better to learn from, right? Metal Blast: It's interesting because metalheads are quite an interesting breed, so to speak. Once fans develop some sort of sense of possession in regards to your band, they get very protective of the sound or what they want the band to be. For instance, when you think of Blaze Bayley replacing Bruce Dickinson in IRON MAIDEN, or Anette Olzon replacing Tarja Turunen in NIGHTWISH, there was a backlash where people said "That's not what we want." Was there some fear of facing the ARCH ENEMY's fans who associate the band mostly with Angela? Alissa: Yeah, but we've been pretty fortunate in this case. I've seen a couple of singer switches happen right before my eyes, one being Roy Khan to Tommy Karevik in KAMELOT, and the other was Anette Olzon to Floor Jansen in NIGHTWISH. Those happened with me present, and I saw how well the fans took to these singers because they were presented in the proper way. That's why we wanted to be careful with how we presented these news, and make sure that people knew that this is what the band wants. This is what Angela wants, this is what Michael [Amott, ARCH ENEMY guitarist] wants, this is what everybody in the band wants. We wanted to have new music right away, so fans wouldn't have to wait and wonder what it was going to sound like; we showed them [the title track of the new ARCH ENEMY album] "War Eternal" right away, so that they could put their fears to rest. I obviously understand what it's like. Even when Angela told me she was stepping down, I was, like, "Hey, wait, but I wanted you to keep singing!" [laughs] But people change, priorities shift, and this is what Angela wanted, so in the end it all worked out well for us, and we're very happy with the music. We just hope that the fans will also understand that we're still the same band, we're still making the same music, and that it's just a new era for us. So far, they have been very receptive to the music. Read the entire interview at Metal Blast.

IRON MAIDEN Is Biggest Foreign Concert Draw Ever In Chile

According to MaidenRevelations.com, Chilean newspaper La Tercera has called British heavy metal legends IRON MAIDEN the biggest foreign concert draw ever in Chile, with a total of 226,000 tickets sold for the seven shows the band has played in the country since 1996. This feat is made even more remrakble by the fact that MAIDEN was banned by the church from playing in Chile in 1992. IRON MAIDEN wrapped its massive "Maiden England 2013 World Tour" on October 2 in front of an audience of 60,105 spectators at the national stadium Estadio Nacional in Santiago. "Because we were banned in the '90s, people have felt a very strong connection to us," IRON MAIDEN singer Bruce Dickinson told La Tercera. "And we have always brought great shows with us and worked hard not to disappoint the audience." IRON MAIDEN first played in Santiago in 1996 at a time when the band was fronted by Blaze Bayley. The concert was attended by 18,000 fans and included the infamous "Blaze Gets Mad" version of the song "The Trooper". During a brand new interview with Chile's Radio Futuro, IRON MAIDEN guitarist Dave Murraywas asked if there are any plans for the band to return to the studio to begin work on material for the follow-up to 2010's "The Final Frontier". "We've been out on tour quite a few months this year," Dave explained. "So when we finish, we're actually going to go and head back and take a break, really." He continued: "We haven't got any plans, as such, really, what's gonna happen next year. Basically, we're just gonna wait and see. [laughs] But there's things that are going on in the meantime. I mean, we just had a beer come out — it's like the Trooper beer — and that's actually doing really well. So we'll just let the Trooper beer go on tour for us. [laughs] And then we're just gonna spend some time off recuperating. So I'm not quite sure what's gonna be happening next year. It's all up in the air." IRON MAIDEN in August landed at position No. 1 on Billboard.com's "Hot Tours" list of top-grossing tours with $8.5 million in ticket sales from six performances on their summer tour of Europe. The shows were attended by a total of 121,280 fans, including a two-night, sold-out stand on August 3-4 at the O2 Arena in Lonon, England, where the band played to 27,000 fans. With totals added from this summer's Europe dates, overall ticket sales from the tour top $42 million from 45 reported concerts.

PAUL DI’ANNO: U.S. Tour Officially Canceled

Former IRON MAIDEN singer Paul Di'Anno's previously announced U.S. tour, which was originally scheduled to kick off in January, was then postponed until May/June, and then pushed back to the end of the year, has now officially been canceled due to issues with the tour's promoter.Di'Anno states: "My apologies to the American fans who have been let down and to the various promoters who got so badly burnt in this way." Di'Anno completed his first North American tour in early 2010, 17 years after he was deported following a prison term for guns and drug offenses. On August 27, 2011, Di'Anno played his first show since serving time in a U.K. prison after he falsely collected U.K. government benefits by claiming he suffered nerve damage to his back that prevented him from working. Due to a number of health issues, including a knee problem which will req