Archive News Nov 23, 2001

Veteran German thrashers KREATOR will be recording a live CD and DVD on their upcoming European tour, according to an official statement posted at the group's web site. The album will reportedly include 24 songs from all periods of KREATOR's history, while the DVD will contain one professionally-recorded, full-length live concert, as well as all the video clips, TV appearances, rare material and obscure stuff from the band's private archives. The release date for both is tentatively penciled in for late 2002. KREATOR is presently asking their fans for help in naming the live album/DVD, with the Grand Prize set to consist of “an exclusive dinner with the band”. All suggestions should be e-mailed to: [email protected]

TWISTED SISTER frontman Dee Snider has addressed the group's upcoming reunion appearance at the New York Steel show (which is set to benefit the families of NYC firemen and policemen affected by the recent terrorist attacks) at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City on Wednesday, November 28th and the possibility of a full-fledged reunion via his regular column, dubbed Dee Speaks, at Dee's official web site at www.deesnider.com. Here is Snider's statement on the matter:

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“Certainly everybody has been incredibly affected by the attacks on the World Trade Center. [TS guitarist] Jay JayFrench lives in Manhattan, was born and raised in Manhattan, and the closer you get to ground-zero, the harder it hit home. So if people in Minnesota or LA are feeling it, you can only imagine what someone living in Manhattan must feel like. So Jay Jay was feeling real frustration because—what can he do? He's a band manager. As many people in the entertainment industry came to feel, a real perspective was put on our careers, on everyone's careers really, on what's important. Someone once said: if you think your job is important, think if the garbage man stops collecting: how long would you last? Jay was feeling very useless, and then it dawned on him that one thing he can do is play rock'n'roll, he can entertain, and a result of that raise money and help people feel better, get their minds off things, and raise revenues for the cause. So he started calling around, very motivated to do something, and who's going to say no to a cause like that? Certainly not me. It seemed like a good reason. We've always been looking for the right moment, the right show, the right offer, and this seemed like something that was right. Whether we could have played a bigger venue or whatever, it didn't matter. It was the even that mattered.

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“We're not wearing makeup and costumes. It's a big enough undertaking just getting the band ready to play. It's coming together. We practice once a week, and some of the guys have been getting together on their own an additional day a week. [Guitarist] Eddie [Ojeda] and Jay Jay are getting together and working on leads, you know.

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“It's been pretty funny. During the rehearsals, people walking by the rehearsal space are probably chuckling saying, 'Listen to that band trying to play TWISTED SISTER!' It's hysterical to see the people who created these songs stopping in total confusion, then walking over and putting the CD on to figure out the parts. They're looking at me going, 'What is that?' and I'm going, 'I don't know,' and they're like, 'You wrote it!' and I say, 'Yes, and I forgot it after the first time I showed it to you, I don't know, who's got the CD?' It's been fun. As individuals we're all getting along, we're friends again. And I say that to everybody, including me and [bassist] Mark [Mendoza]. Since the VH1 special, we've gone through some real significant things, we've talked and worked through some stuff. One of the last things that happened was just great. I lead a March of Dimes motorcycle ride with 1000 bikes. Mendoza has been a bike guy his whole life, while I've always been a car guy. So I used to talk to Mark about getting an Indian motorcycle, and now I'm endorsed by Indian, so I have a bike. Mark and I used to always talk about how one day I'd have my Indian and we'd ride together. So I invited him to come on the ride with me, and he accepted. That resulted in not only the ride, but him spending the night at my place, us traveling to Connecticut together, doing this forty-mile ride, him and me leading these thousand bikers on this gorgeous September day, and then us having a barbeque at my place. Just a real long, quality time together like we used to do. As we were riding I said, 'Twenty years ago we used to talk about someday riding together, and now we're finally doing it!' It was a really cool thing, a really bonding thing. Hopefully we can move on from here, it feels like that. It was just great.

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“I think we'll be ready for the show. Will it be TWISTED SISTER as good as it ever was? Doubtful. We were a friggin' machine back in the day, playing thousands of shows, day after day after day. And this is going to be our first show, so it certainly is going to be a little rusty. Mark and Jay haven't played on stage in like fifteen years. But I think it will be, all in all, a pleasant experience for the audience, and a pleasant experience for us as well.

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“There are certain core people who have been asking if we're going to play the REALLY old stuff at our show. Those people really represent a minority in the audience. But the New York show will have a larger amount of them, because that's our home. There may be some surprises, that's all I can say.

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“I think that this show is the next step in putting together a formal reunion. It's a big step. Everybody has laid out a scenario under which we could reform, and it's limited due to everybody having careers that they can't give up. We've spoken with our agents, and it doesn't seem to be out of the question to play Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and then fly home during the week to take care of our other lives. Our people are looking at offers, possible dates, and we have to see if it will work. It still requires a large amount of effort to put this together, especially to do it on a full-blown production level. It's definitely not the kind of thing we would do if we only had an offer for a show or two, going through all that trouble for one show. Even though our agents wish we would, because they believe that more offers will pop up once people see there's actually a couple booked shows.

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“I personally think we're getting closer to more reunion shows than farther away. A full-out reunion is more likely than less.”

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In other news, look out for Dee's appearance on The Drew Carey Show, which was filmed in L.A. last week. According to Snider, he is playing himself in the episode, which is tentatively scheduled to air on November 28th, “but that might change. It turns out that Mimi [a character on the show] is president of the TWISTED SISTER fan club, and I have to fire her—that's the basic bit. So I'm in what's pretty much the opening scene, toward the beginning of the episode, with Mimi and Drew and myself. Drew is a really nice guy, big 80s rock fan, and it was interesting. I broadcast my radio show from LA that day. It was a fun little thing to do. People will get a kick out of it.”

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DEE SNIDER AND THE SMFs are scheduled to play the following shows during the coming weeks:

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Nov. 30 – Ft. Lauderdale, FL @ Metal Factory

Dec. 01 – St. Petersburg, FL @ Jannus Landing

Dec. 08 – West Springfield, VA @ Jaxx

Dec. 15 – Poughkeepsie, NY @ The Chance

JUDAS PRIEST have replaced “Machine Man” in their current European set list with another new track, “Feed On Me”, according to a report published on the Exciter unofficial PRIEST site. The same site has published the full set list from JUDAS PRIEST's November 18th show at Zeche in Bochum, Germany. It is as follows:

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01. Metal Gods

02. Heading out to the Highway

03. Touch of Evil

04. Blood Stained

05. Victim of Changes

06. One on One

07. The Ripper

08. Diamonds and Rust

09. Feed on Me

10. Green Manalishi

11. Beyond the Realms of Death

12. Burn in Hell

13. Hell is Home

14. Breaking the Law

15. Another Thing Comin'

16. Painkiller

First Encore:

17. Hellion/Electric Eye

18. United

19. Living After Midnight

Second Encore:

20. Hell Bent For Leather

Former DEEP PURPLE/WHITESNAKE vocalist David Coverdale has reportedly written 19 songs for his forthcoming studio effort, which is currently being demoed at the singer's Lake Tahoe residence with the help of bassist Tony Franklin. In addition, there are said to be seven or eight leftover tracks from Coverdale's last studio CD, 2000's Into The Light, that are being considered for inclusion on the upcoming CD, which is tentatively due to be released at the end of 2002.

UK “noise merchants” MEDULLA NOCTE have officially split up. 'We are sorry to say that its all over folks,' the band said in an official statement. 'We've rolled with the punches for quite a while now, each time our strength and desire weakened, as we've encountered theft, label hassles, back stabbers and our own weaknesses. We wont bullshit you either with 'musical differences' either, the fact is we can't stand each other any more, a sad fact but a very accurate one too. The whole band are devastated by the split but its the only thing we can do now. The fans/friends of this band are the reason we have stayed around as long as we have, and your support is something we have appreciated so much and is something we will take to the grave, and we hope to see you all again in whatever projects we decide to do next. We are 'lifers' in this business, we'll be back in different bands, still hanging out and still being the same people. We'll still be on the web site answering questions and keeping in touch. For the people who have supported us, we will always be there to support you. Here's to the future......'

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Former MEDULLA NOCTE vocalist Paul Catton commented on the group's split to Live 4 Metal web zine by stating that “it's been on the cards a while, not just the arguments, but all the sh.t we've had over the past few months... the kit being stolen, cancellations of tours and cool gigs. It really pissed us off as u can imagine, we tried hanging in there but it wasn't happening. Then we left the label [Copro Records] and deep down I think we all thought, do we really want to sign to another label for another 3 years, when its really not that much fun anymore? It had come to a point when people couldn't agree on anything, the friendship had gone. It had to be stopped, you wouldn't let an animal suffer in misery, why should we have to??”

THE WILDHEARTS mainman Ginger will be playing a few UK shows under his own name in a few weeks' time. The only date to be confirmed so far is Wednesday, December 19th at the Garage in London, but a full list of shows will be announced shortly. Says Ginger: 'These gigs are going to feature songs from the Singles Club releases, tracks that THE WILDHEARTS never did live, and other odds and ends —basically all the stuff that people have wanted to hear played live, but which I've never been able to 'fit in' to any band that I've been touring with. I'm thinking of calling the mini-tour 'Too Many Tunes To Relax'.” The band line-up for these shows is 'more than likely' to include bassist Jon Poole (SILVERGINGER 5) and drummer Andrew “Stidi” Stidolph (ex-THE WILDHEARTS).

The third edition of Sweden's 2000 Decibel Festival will be held on May 18th 2002 in Bengtsfors, Sweden (180 km north of Gothenburg). Fourteen bands, including SPIRITUAL BEGGARS, SOILWORK, EVERGREY, LOST HORIZON and F.K.Ü, will play on two different stages. More confirmations are expected shortly. For more information, visit the festival new homepage at http://www.mfdecibel.com.

“Deeper Down”, the last-ever track to be written/recorded by the once-promising Swedish act SUNDOWN, featuring CEMETARY mainman Mathias Lodmalm, is available for download via this location.

Sweden's ZONATA will be entering Studio Underground in Västerås, Sweden on April 22nd, 2002 with producer Pelle Saether to studio to record their as-yet-untitled third album for Century Media Records. The recording is set to last three weeks, and the album is tentatively scheduled to be released at the end of next year. In the meantime, Scandinavian fans can catch the group performing live at the following venues:

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Dec. 01 – Copenhagen, DEN @ Tex Rock Bar

Dec. 07 – Borås, SWE @ Kashmir (w/BACKDRAFT, FIVE FIFTEEN)

Jan. 04 – Göteborg, SWE @ Belse Pub (w/CRYSTAL EYES, IRONWARE)

Feb. 02 – Sala, SWE @ Rockland (w/CRYSTAL EYES, LOST HORIZON)

Mar. 09 – Växjö, SWE @ TBA

German power metallers PRIMAL FEAR have completed work on yet another track for their upcoming Black Sun CD, which is tentatively scheduled to be recorded in early 2002 at House Of Music Studio in Winterbach, Germany for a mid-year release through Nuclear Blast Records. So far, the following songs are set to appear on the album:

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01. Veiled Control

02. Magic Eye

03. We Go Down

04. Lightyears From Home

05. Merciless

06. Armageddon

07. Cold Day In Hell

08. Revolution

09. Black Sun

10. Mind Control

Swedish black metallers SIEBENBÜRGEN have parted ways with guitarist Linus Ekström and vocalist Kicki Höijertz “due to musical and personal differences”. Replacements have already been found in the shape of Fredrik Folkare and Turid Walderhaug, respectively. SIEBENBÜRGEN will be issuing their latest album, entitled Plagued Be Thy Angel, through Napalm Records on December 3rd.

Finland's THROES OF DAWN have parted ways with guitarist Toni Jokinen, drummer Teemu Jokinen and bassist Matti Suomela, and have replaced them with ENOCHIAN CRESCENT guitarist Mathias, rhythm guitarist Mikko, ex-…AND OCEANS/ENOCHIAN CRESCENT drummer Martex, and bassist Harri. The revamped line-up is currently composing material for their next studio CD, which is tentatively scheduled to be recorded during the summer for a late 2002 release through Avantgarde/Wounded Love Records.

Finnish “melodic gothic/doom metal” act LOST IN TEARS have signed with Spain's Locomotive Music and are planning on entering the studio shortly to record their debut CD for the label, due in mid-2002.

British death metal pioneers BOLT THROWER will make their first live appearance in the UK in seven years when they take the stage on January 9th at London's Camden Underworld on a Terrorizer magazine-sponspored bill that will also include sets by MISTRESS (featuring members of SALLY and ANAAL NATHRAHK) and DETRIMENTUM.

EARTHTONE 9 have lined up the following UK shows during December:

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Dec. 01 – Newport, UK @ TJ's (w/FOREVER UNTIL OCTOBER, SPURIOUS)

Dec. 08 – Shefflield, UK @ Corporation (w/LIBERTY37, SIKTH, FOREVER UNTIL OCTOBER)

Dec. 11 – London, UK @ Mean Fiddler (w/CORTIZONE, GOD FORBID, BOSUMMONKEE)

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