Here's something from Metal Edge: The RATT/WARRANT/L.A. GUNS tour got off to a good start in Los Angeles on Friday night with a sold-out show at the House of Blues. LAG, with ex-FASTER PUSSYCAT guitarist BRENT MUSCAT and bassist MUDDY (BURNING TREE) joining PHIL LEWIS, TRACII GUNS and STEVE RILEY, the band rocked through a hit-laden set of tunes like "One More Reason," "Never Enough," "Electric Gypsy," "Ballad of Jayne," and "Rip & Tear." Warrant also featured a new player: lead guitarist BILLY MORRIS, a longtime friend of JANI LANE from Ohio who runs a recording studio in Cleveland and plays with JAIME ST. JAMES in GLORIOUS THINGS. Warrant also mainly stuck to the hits, opening with "Down Boys" and ending with "Cherry Pie," with "Uncle Tom's Cabin" and a medley of ballads "Heaven," "Sometimes She Cries" and "I Saw Red" in the middle. As he intro'd them to the crowd, Lane blamed the women who f**ed him over for the plethora of ballads he wrote in the past but promised to "only bore you with three of them," and made it clear that he still holds a grudge against the inspiration for "I Saw Red." "To this day, I hate this f***ing bitch," he said. Ratt had less than two weeks of rehearsals to break in new singer JIZZY PEARL (LOVE/HATE, L.A. GUNS) and touring guitarist JOHN CORABI (UNION) but they worked--the band was tight and on it as they played vintage Ratt tunes for the home town crowd. Included in the set: "Shame Shame Shame," "Lack of Communication," "Wanted Man," "I'm Insane," "Way Cool Jr.," "Back For More," "Love Sick," "Nobody Rides For Free," "Lay it Down," "You're in Love," followed by encore tunes "Walkin' the Dog" (featuring Corabi on some verses) and "Round and Round." Before heading to Las Vegas for the next gig, Ratt welcomed guests including BRUCE KULICK and KERI KELLI, who had been playing with both Ratt and Warrant before SLASH tapped him to join SNAKEPIT and the AC/DC tour. Considering that Kelli's very first concert--in vitro--was an AC/DC show, he's more than thrilled to be part of this. Metal Edge Online Members can see him talk about this as well as view interviews with all three bands on the bill later this week. Also on hand were JOE LeSTÉ, D.J. ASHBA and ANTHONY FOCX of new band BEAUTIFUL CREATURES, in great spirits because they just inked a deal with Warner Bros. Records. They'll be playing this Wednesday, July 26 at the Pretty Ugly Club at Dragonfly in Hollywood.
This could be rumor control, just so none of us think that VAN HALEN is actually going to reuinte, but it seems DAVID LEE ROTH may go out on another solo jaunt in September because he doens't like all of the waiting around Van Halen is doing.
SOULMOTOR, (which is the band that BRIAN WHEAT and TROY LUCCKETTA of TESLA are now playing in) are going to be joinging the IRON MAIDEN / QUEENSRYCHE / HALFORD tour. VH1 is also planning a Behind the Music on Tesla, but considering that VH1 recently announced they were going to head away from the rock audience and toward a younger one, that may not happen.
It was announced over the weekend that ANTHRAX is no longer a part of the Maximum Rock tour, and it has been confirmed on their official webiste. All of their headlining shows were cancelled as well. No comment has yet been made by MÖTLEY CRÜE, whose New Tattoo debuted on the Billboard Top 200 at #41 with slightly over 37,000 albums sold.
BON JOVI will perform on The Tonight Show tonight, July 24, and Tuesday morning they'll play a few songs live on Los Angeles radio station KLOS' Mark & Brian Show.
DEF LEPPARD's JOE ELLIOTT and PHIL COLLEN are compiling a MICK RONSON tribute called Boy Could He Play Guitar. They'll assume the name CYBERNAUGHTS, along with SPIDERS FROM MARS members TREVOR BOLDER and MICK WOODMANSEY.
TYPE O NEGATIVE and FEAR FACTORY will both release new discs on October 31. Type O Negative's will be a Greatest Hits package.
DEE SNIDER is scheduled to release Never Let the Bastards Wear You Down, his first solo disc in years, on August 22 via Koch Records. Koch will also release a TWISTED SISTER tribute album in November, featuring contributions from SEVENDUST, MOTORHEAD, LIT, SUGAR RAY and others. No Twisted reunion record is planned anytime soon.
This could be total online rumor, but former KISS drummer ERIC SINGER has said that the reason Alive IV album hasn't been released yet is that the band wanted too much advance money from the record label. Evidently, the label refused to pay the amount KISS wanted based on the fact that they haven't sold enough records in the past to justify it. After reading C.K. Lendt's book, KISS and SELL, I wouldn't be surprised if this was true. KISS is notorious for asking for way too much money and not delivering the goods in terms of album sales and ticket sales. Of course, ticket sales are booming on the Farewell tour, but would just as many people buy Alive IV? Neither party has been able to compromise, and until they do, there will not be an Alive IV.
