Posts Tagged ‘Journey’

MICHAEL SCHENKER
TEMPLE OF ROCK – LIVE IN EUROPE

UK Release: Monday 3rd December 2012

RELEASED ON THREE FORMATS & LIMITED DELUXE EDITION
CD EDITION (2 DISCS) / DVD EDITION (1 DISC)
BLU-RAY EDITION (1 DISC)
LTD DELUXE EDITION (2CD, 1 BLU-RAY, 1 BONUS DVD)

(c) Stephen Fourie

inakustik is pleased to announce the December 3rd release of Michael Schenker’s Temple of Rock: Live in Europe on CD, DVD, Blu-ray and Limited Deluxe Edition.

This essential live rock’n’roll release includes songs performed live in Tilburg, The Netherlands in May 2012, plus songs performed at London’s 2011 High Voltage Festival.

At the ripe age of 15, after a very early start in his professional music career recording his first album with the Scorpions and after joining UFO age 17, Michael Schenker focused exclusively on lead guitar and pure self-expression.

The second chapter in his career was focused on experimenting and developing his expertise on a more musical and personal level. With excellent musicians, friends and fans from all over the world, this live recording is part of this celebration.

Michael Schenker sees himself and his music as a building block with the entire construction of the Temple Of Rock.

“The Temple Of Rock is almost finished,” explains Michael Schenker. “The foundation was laid in the 60s by Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, Black Sabbath, Jeff Beck, and Cream. In the late 70s, the pillars were then built by bands like UFO and AC/DC. By the 80s it was further reinforced by the likes of Judas Priest and the Scorpions, and many other influential rock bands”.

“There’s not much new left to expect, but I am glad to be a part of this temple,” says Michael Schenker. “It is unbelievable fun and an honor to share a stage and make music with some of the world’s best musicians.”

A concert from Tilburg, the Netherlands was recorded in May 2012 that noticeably distinguishes itself from previous releases due to the line-up that includes Michael Schenker (lead guitar), Doogie White (vocals), Herman Rarebell (drums), Francis Buchholz (bass) and Wayne Findley (rhythm guitar, keyboards).

In addition to this Tilburg concert, fans can experience extracts from London’s 2011 High Voltage Festival with Michael Voss (vocals), featuring awe-inspiring guest appearances from Michael Schenker’s friends and musical companions including his brother Rudolf Schenker (The Scorpions) who plays rhythm guitar on “Rock You Like a Hurricane”, “Hanging On” and “Doctor Doctor”, UFO’s Pete Way who plays bass guitar on “Doctor Doctor”, and vocalists Jeff Scott Soto (ex-Journey), and Doogie White, who jointly sing on “Doctor Doctor”.

All in all, there has never been such extensive and high quality material from Michael Schenker for your viewing and listening pleasure.

TRACK LISTING

LIVE IN TILBURG

1. Into The Arena
2. Armed And Ready
3. Lovedrive
4. Another Piece Of Meat
5. Hanging On
6. Cry For The Nations
7. Let Sleeping Dogs Lie
8. Coast To Coast
9. Assault Attack
10. Before The Devil Knows You’re Dead
11. Lights Out
12. On And On
13. Let It Roll
14. Shoot Shoot
15. Rock You Like A Hurricane
16. Rock Bottom
17. Holiday
18. Blackout
19. Doctor Doctor

LIVE AT HIGH VOLTAGE

20. Armed And Ready
21. Another Piece Of Meat
22. Rock You Like A Hurricane (ft. Rudolph Schenker)
23. Hanging On (ft. Rudolph Schenker)
24. Doctor Doctor (ft. Rudolph Schenker)

You can watch the trailer for The Temple Of Rock below and visit the mini site HERE.

Having recently reviewed the Rock Landmarks book on Judas Priest’s British Steel written by rock journalist Neil Daniels (which I rather enjoyed), I felt I needed to know more about Neil and his work.  Taking some time out from working on upcoming projects on Metallica and Iron Maiden, Neil took the TAPEtoTAPE Q&A and tells all about life as a Rock scribe….

What made you decide you wanted to be a music journalist?

Well, I first started writing about music after I left Uni back in 2003.  I started writing for websites like musicOMH and other lesser known sites and then I moved onto fanzines like Fireworks and Powerplay.  I’ve contributed to Record Collector, Big Cheese and Rock Sound over here in the UK. I write mostly for Fireworks these days though.  They’re great to write for and very lenient with the word count.  It’s becoming a joke now in some magazines.  I mean, how can you possibly say what you think about an album in 100 words? There’s hardly much point in listening to the whole album.  It’s the same with music books.  I read 100 word reviews of my books and wonder if the reviewers have actually read it or just skimmed through and looked at the pictures!

I then had an idea for a book which became Defenders Of The Faith: The Story Of Judas Priest and from there the books have rolled on, thankfully. The Priest one was fortuitous timing because of the reunion and the new album Angel Of Retribution.  Since then of course there have been more books on them (some very good ones!) as well as my second book on the band Dawn Of The Metal Gods, written with ex-singer Al Atkins and now my third one: Rock Landmarks – Judas Priest’s British Steel. Other books include, Journey, Bon Jovi, Linkin Park and four anthologies.

Your main focus seems to be on rock and metal acts, what is about the genre that interests you the most?

I like blues music too so bands like Sabbath, Zeppelin, Cream, AC/DC and early Stones are favourite bands of mine.  But then I like AOR bands like Journey and Foreigner and classic British bands like Motorhead and Saxon.   Basically, I like strong melodies, powerful vocals and a terrific riff.

I like mostly rock and metal but don’t forget that those genres are very broad.  Even Britney Spears has called her self a rock star. I like blues players like Robert Johnson and less heavy rockers like Bruce Springsteen and Eric Clapton.

Does your music writing mask a failed musical career yourself? 

Ha, no, not really.  I took guitar lessons as a kid but was never very good and never really wanted to pursuer it anyway.

Musicians and the press often have a love/hate relationship, have you had any difficult encounters when you have been writing/researching for your pieces?

Fortunately I’ve never had any difficulties with anyone I’ve interviewed.  The difficulties, however, have come from management.  I’m not going to name names buy they can be awfully difficult to deal with.  Most of my interviews are done at home over the phone.  The days of writers travelling the world with rock bands for access all areas type features are over as record companies don’t have the cash to fund it anymore.  There are some cool tales in my books All Pens Blazing that might interest you.

Which other music journalists (past or present) do you admire?

That’s a good question and one that ties in with the publication of my books All Pens Blazing: A Rock & Heavy Metal Writer’s Handbook Vols 1 and 2.  The first vol was my first print on demand book – which seems to be the way to go for music/non-fic writers at the moment because of the recession – and is available from Amazon and Authorsonline.co.uk as well as other online book stores.  OK, so now the book plugging is out of the way (ha!) I’ll directly answer your question: I like the ex-Kerrang! scribes like Derek Oliver, Paul Suter and Dave Reynolds.  I’m not old enough to have read them back in the eighties but have discovered their writings through back issues.  They were/are very, very passionate about music and have encyclopaedic knowledge of rock and metal.  That kind of enthusiasm comes across better than a few well written sentences, if you know what I mean.  Some writers try to be too clever and are more interested in themselves than the music, but with those guys you could tell it was the music that matters.  They’re interviewed in All Pens Blazing along with fellow ex-Kerrang! scribes Neil Jeffries, Dante Bonutto, Dave Dickson, Malcolm Dome and Howard Johnson.  There are 65 writers in total in vol 1 and about the same in the second one.

I also like Martin Popoff – as every other metal writer does – because he is also very passionate and knowledgeable and, with Martin, he intellectualises a style of music (classic rock/metal) that has been derided for years and that, I think, is very admirable.  There should be more writers like him.

How long does it take to write a biography?  Is the research the most time consuming part or is it putting the whole thing together that is the hardest?

It depends on the subject to be honest and what the publisher wants. I’ve written books in as little as 3 months but then I’ve written some in 10 months.  All depends on the word count too and my own knowledge of the bands.

You co-authored Dawn Of The Metal Gods: My Life In Judas Priest & Heavy Metal with original Judas Priest singer and co-founder Al Atkins, how did this come about?

Basically, I’d worked with Al a lot during the researching and writing on my Priest bio Defenders Of The Faith, which came out through Omnibus Press in 2007 and is now out in paperback (gotta get that sales pitch in, right?).  He has loads of great stories about the band from the pre Halford years (1969-1973) and kept a few stories to himself for his own book.  He’d already started work on his book but the word count was too low and he needed somebody to assist him to finish it off and make a coherent narrative.  I had nothing else on the go and liked what he’d written so I thought, “Why the hell not?” Matthias Mader at Iron Pages in Berlin liked my Priest bio and was keen on the Atkins book so there was no problem getting a small book deal.  Any book deal is better than none, right? I thought IP did a really good job on the production of Biff Byford’s autobiography so it was a no-brainer for us.  Matthias is a really cool guy and has an immense knowledge of metal history so he was keen to work with us.  He’s also very friendly and approachable.  His reputation preceded him which is not what you’d say about a lot of publishers.

Nobody else was all that interested because I had a book out on the band as did Martin Popoff and Matthias himself had published a German bio so the book market was already saturated with Priest tomes after years and years of starvation.  The Atkins book came from a different angle in that it’s the autobiography of a former member, plus Al had been in bands before and after Priest and had released a handful of solo albums.  He’s a down to earth bloke with some really cool stories and the picture sections in the book speak for themselves.  Sales haven’t been that great which is a shame because Priest fans and metal archivists, if they gave the book some time, would enjoy the pictures and anecdotes.  It’s an historical document about metal history, at least that’s what I tell myself.  Most of the reviews were positive.  Naturally some criticised us for cashing in on Priest’s recent success, etc. and complained that we went off on tangents in the narrative but that’s Al’s style.  He’s a humble working class guy and has only ever used the Priest name when record companies (on his solo albums) have required him to do so.  You can read all about it on my website.

With your recent Rock Profiles book on Judas Priest’s British Steel album, what is it about Judas Priest that keeps you coming back?

They’re the most diverse and influential metal band of all time! With this little book on British Steel I wanted to work with Jerry Bloom because I liked his Rock Landmarks book on Rainbow’s Long Live Rock N Roll and British Steel seemed like a no-brainer.

What effect do you think KK Downing’s departure from Judas Priest will have on the band?

In the long run, possibly more than Halford’s departure because he was bound to come back after he tried his hand at a solo career but with Downing, I don’t think he’ll come back now. I saw them on their recent UK tour and though they were much better than the previous road jaunt but they still looked fatigued.

In an increasingly digital world, do you see a time when physical books will be completely replaced by a virtual format?

At some point, yes, but not during my lifetime.  We will live in a Star Trek world where everything is digitised. Personally, I like books.

I believe you have an Illustrated History Of Iron Maiden coming out next year.  This must be an expansive project given the amount of merchandising/touring they have done.  Will you be concentrating on any specific Countries/time periods? 

It will be a massive coffee table book with a potted histories, extensive reviews of every album plus pocket boxes of information on merchandising, their success abroad, etc etc.  The graphics will be pretty cool too. You can check out the cover at Amazon.

Which is your favourite period in Maiden’s history?  What do you feel Di’Anno and Blaze brought to the sound?

Certainly the 1980s with Dickinson.  I’d much rather listen to the Di’Anno albums than the Bayley ones.  The Di’Anno era was certainly more punk than metal so when Dickinson came into the fold, they become a fully-fledged metal band.

What can you tell us about the new Metallica book you are working on?  You say it focuses on the early years, which period exactly are you looking at?

It’s’ be out in early 2012 by IMP Books and will focus specifically on the first four albums before the drastic change in sound with The Black Album. This was the period when Metallica were kings of the underground metal scene and recorded some of the most dangerous and aggressive metal of the eighties.  Metallica fans will usually always refer to this period as the most creatively interesting era in the band’s history.  Of course, it’s all changed since then. Look at what they’re doing now!

Have you heard the Metallica and Lou Reed album yet?  What do you think, genius or ludicrous?

No, not yet. I’ve heard it’s dire though.  There’s been massive backlash so it’s not a surprise that they recently announced they’re heading back into the studio with Rick Rubin for a new album.

What other artists would you like to do projects on?

There are lots of artists I’d love to write books on but they’re not necessarily ones that would be commercial books.  It’s even harder now to get these types of books commissioned as sales are down massively.  At present, I’ve got the Metallica and Iron Maiden ones out next year and I’ve just signed a contract for a bio of a major American metal band.  I’ve also got a fictional rock memoir written which I’d like to release as a POD book next year.

You can find out more about Neil Daniels’ and his work by visiting his official website HERE.

You can also read the TAPEtoTAPE review of the Judas Priest Rock Landmarks book HERE.