QUIET RIOT, WARRANT, L.A. GUNS: Australia, New Zealand Tour Canceled

According to QUIET RIOT's official Twitter feed, the previously announced "Metal Health" tour of Australia and New Zealand featuring QUIET RIOT, WARRANT and L.A. GUNS (the Phil Lewis version) has been canceled.

Affected dates are as follows:

Apr. 29 - The Palace - Melbourne
Apr. 30 - Anu Bar - ACT
May 02 - The Powerstation - Auckland (NZ)
May 05 - HQ Complex - Adelaide
May 06 - Metro City - Perth
May 07 - The Tivoli - Brisbane
May 08 - The Metro – Sydney

Jeb Wright of Classic Rock Revisited recently conducted an interview with Mark Huff, the San Diego, California-based vocalist who has signed on as lead singer for QUIET RIOT, succeeding Kevin DuBrow, who died in 2007.

"I am honored and very excited to be QUIET RIOT's new singer," exclaimed Huff. "I am also humbled and feel a bit of pressure. Who wouldn't feel pressure? Kevin DuBrow was a one-of-a-kind songwriter, musician and a consummate performer. He had an incredible vocal range; I have mass respect for Kevin."

Regarding what fans should expect to see from the new lineup of QUIET RIOT, Huff said, "I don't think trying to duplicate Kevin's every sound or movement is what honors Kevin DuBrow or QUIET RIOT. It's important for me to stay true to the songs as they were written, as the fans remember them, and to bring the live show to full strength. I am not here to replace Kevin DuBrow."

He continued, "Frankie [Banali, drums] summed it up best when he said, 'Kevin DuBrow was one of a kind and cannot be replaced.' I am here to help QUIET RIOT continue to keep the music alive in the most flattering way possible."

QUIET RIOT 2011 is:

Chuck Wright - Bass
Alex Grossi - Guitar
Frankie Banali - Drums
Mark Huff - Vocals

WARRANT has set "Rockaholic" as the title of its new album, due in May via Frontiers Records. The CD was produced by Keith Olsen, who has previously worked with OZZY OSBOURNE, WHITESNAKE and SCORPIONS, among others.

When asked if WARRANT's new material — which will appear on the group's forthcoming studio album — will have that same Sunset Strip influence as the band's earlier stuff, singer Robert Mason told the Green Bay Press-Gazette, "The new material doesn't sound exactly like the old stuff did, because we're all a little older and wiser — and maybe a little more sober, I don't know, slightly more sober — but it's still the same spirit. You can take the kid out of the city, but you can't take the city out of the kid, ya know?"

Phil Lewis' L.A. GUNS is not to be confused with the Tracii Guns-led version of the group, which is also continuing to record and perform under the L.A. GUNS moniker.

L.A. GUNS' latest album, "Tales from the Strip", was released in August 2005 in the U.S. via Shrapnel Records. The CD, which was produced by Andy Johns (LED ZEPPELIN, THE ROLLING STONES),was lyrically inspired by a historically significant rock scene that L.A. GUNS had a strong hand in creating.