Sunday, April 24, 2011

Song of the Week: Helix - Rock You




If not maybe their biggerst, at least "Rock You" was the very first hit bu the Canadian hard rockers Helix. Song was ritten by Bob Halligan, Jr., and the first track from Helix's 1984 album Walkin' the Razor's Edge. It is best known for its call-and-response refrain of "Gimme an R, O, C, K." When published, it only reached number 32 in Canada on the Billboard AR chart on August 4, 1984. Next month it was number 101.

Songwriter Bob Halligan offered the band "Rock You" while they were looking for extra material for Walkin' the Razor's Edge in 1984. It was road tested in concert, played for the first time at the Alrosa Villa in Columbus, Ohio. Helix vocalist Brian Vollmer claims that he wrote a new verse for the song but was denied a co-writing credit.

Later a new acoustic studio version was recorded and released in 2010 on the band's Smash Hits...Unplugged! CD. The chorus of "Rock You" has lent itself to Vollmer's autobiography, Gimme An R! (price on the amazon is $68.99!!!, as well as many Helix T-shirts and merchandise.



The music video for "Rock You", filmed in a quarry in Kitchener, Ontario, is perhaps best known for the image of guitar player Brent Doerner emerging from the water to play his guitar solo. The video is available on the Helix DVD S.E.X. Rated.

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Stampede release video for new single 'Having Fun'

Stampede have revealed the promo video for the first single from their forthcoming new album 'A Sudden Impulse'.



The single, entitled 'Having Fun' is out now and available to download from iTunes, Amazon and Play.com.

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Faces Behind The Hair: Sebastian Bach


Sebastian Bach was born as Sebastian Philip Bierk on April 3, 1968 in Freeport, Bahamas, and spend most of his childhood and teen years in Peterborough, Ontario, Canada.

In the late eighties band named Skid Row did not have a singer until they spotted Bach singing at rock photographer Mark Weiss's wedding. Skid Row asked him to join but he first turned down the offer down. Still he changed his mind after hearing a demo tape of "Youth Gone Wild" and "18 and Life" andsent the band a demo of him singing the song Saved By Love. Skid Row liked it and flew him to New Jersey where they began rehearsinf and playing gigs.
Bach was eventually fired when he booked a show where Skid Row would have opened for KISS in 1996. Other band members told Bach that Skid Row was too big to be an opening act and that they weren't going to do the show. Bach then left a message on a bandmate's answering machine telling him that you're never too big to open up for KISS, and subsequently left the band. Ironically enough, four years later, Skid Row was one of the opening acts for the 2000 Kiss Farewell Tour sans Bach.

In 1993, Bach provided vocals for Triumph's "Rock N' Roll Machine" during the Q107 Hall of Fame broadcast and a couple of years later Bach formed a rock band called The Last Hard Men, with Frogs guitarist Jimmy Flemion, The Breeders lead guitarist Kelley Deal, and Smashing Pumpkins drummer Jimmy Chamberlin. The group recorded a full-length, self-titled album for Atlantic Records, who then opted not to release it. In 1998 it was released on Kelley Deal's label, Nice Records, with no fanfare and a very limited pressing of 1000 CDs. The album has since been re-released and can be purchased commercially.

In 2000, Bach began performing in Broadway productions, debuting with the title role in Jekyll & Hyde in April 2000. Although originally only contracted through early September, Bach received good reviews and was asked to extend until October 15. Replacing him was David Hasselhoff, whom Bach mentored slightly during rehearsals. He also appeared as Riff Raff in The Rocky Horror Show in 2001.




In early 2002, Bach became the host of VH1's Forever Wild. In October that same year, Bach was signed to perform in the national touring production of Jesus Christ Superstar, playing the title role alongside JCS veteran Carl Anderson (who reprised his familiar role from Broadway and film of Judas Iscariot). On April 2003, following a disagreement with the director, Bach was fired for alleged diva-like behavior. He has said if he ever did the show again, he would like to try the role of Judas next time. A DVD video of live performances called Forever Wild was released in June 2004. That same year, he reprised the title role(s) in another showing of Jekyll and Hyde.

Sometime in 2003, Bach tried out for Velvet Revolver before the band found Scott Weiland, but was turned down because, according to Slash, "We sounded like Skid Roses!"

From 2004 to 2007, Bach had a recurring role on the WB television show Gilmore Girls as "Gil", the lead guitarist in Lane Kim's band, Hep Alien. In 2005, Bach cooperated with Henning Pauly to be the singer on the Frameshift album called An Absence of Empathy, which was released in April 2005.

He still performs with his band, Sebastian Bach (formerly noted as Bach Tight Five and Sebastian Bach and Friends). Members of Bach Tight Five lived with him and his family as recently documented on VH1's "I Married ...Sebastian Bach", one of the "I Married ..." series.



Bach has worked a lot together with Axl Rose, and can be heard performing backing vocals on the song "Sorry", from Guns N' Roses new 2008 album Chinese Democracy. Bach toured as an opening act for GNR's "Chinese Democracy Tour" 2009-2010, and performed "My Michelle" with Axl Rose in Quebec City on February 1, 2010.)


Bach and his wife, Maria Bierk, have three children: sons Paris and London and daughter Sebastiana (born 2007). Paris was formerly the drummer of Thrash Metal band Severed Hand; Severed Hand opened up for Bach on occasion and were also featured on the VH1 special I Married Sebastian Bach. On the 31th December 2010 Bach informed fans on his Facebook page that he and Maria separated in April and were going to file for divorce in 2011.

Thursday, April 7, 2011

Def Leppard revealed track listing for Mirrorball, their next album


Def Leppard have set a release date (June 6) and unveiled the tracklisting for upcoming album Mirrorball, their first ever live album. The album includes three new studio songs along with the live recordings, taken during the past few years (recorded throughout The Sparkle Lounge Tour). The new tracks include "Undefeated," composed by Joe Elliott, "All About Believin'," by Phil Collen and "Kings of the World," by Rick Savage, described by Joe Elliott as "a big, epic, rock anthem...kind of 'We Will Rock You' with guitars."

Disc 1:

01. Rock! Rock! (Till You Drop)
02. Rocket
03. Animal
04. C'Mon C'Mon
05. Make Love Like A Man
06. Too Late For Love
07. Foolin'
08. Nine Lives
09. Love Bites
10. Rock On

Disc 2:

01. Two Steps Behind
02. Bringin' On The Heartbreak
03. Switch 625
04. Hysteria
05. Armageddon It
06. Photograph
07. Pour Some Sugar On Me
08. Rock Of Ages
09. Let's Get Rocked
10. Action
11. Bad Actress
12. Undefeated (new studio track)
13. Kings Of The World (new studio track)
14. It's All About Believin' (new studio track)

Monday, April 4, 2011

Guns N' Roses To Pay Fine If Band Hits Stage Late At ROCK IN RIO Festival

Axl Rose has agreed to pay a fine if he and the band show up later than scheduled for its their headlining appearance at this year's Rock In Rio festival, on Sunday, October 2 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Last time when G N'R were on stage in Rio - ten years ago - back in 2001, they turned up two hours late. Back when the band was so big that the crowd patiently waited for their idol to come on stage and didn't create any problems for the festival organizers.