Posts by Leslie Michele Derrough

With the band’s first new record in approximately five years, there was a lot of curiosity in what Astbury and guitarist Billy Duffy had been busy contemplating over all this time and what sounds they were preparing to unleash. Would it be another Sonic Temple or perhaps another “She Sells Sanctuary”? Or would it be something completely new and surreal,eerie and dark?

Best known as the drummer for Def Leppard, Rick Allen recently took an artistic swing in another creative direction. Instead of banging away with a pair of wooden drumsticks, he picked up some lightsticks and in place of sound he gave birth to colorful images, a process that invigorated his passion. With eleven of his pieces now on display at his website, Allen recently took MY ROOTS on a journey through his art-inspired beginnings just prior to the start of Def Leppard’s current tour with Poison and Lita Ford.

“Can ZZ Top play some blues for you?” Billy Gibbons is standing tall, center stage, a sly sideways grin creasing his bearded face. Headlining the Gang Of Outlaws tour with 3 Doors Down and Gretchen Wilson, ZZ Top has been feeling a little frisky with some old songs that sound as fresh in 2012 as they did in the raising hell 70’s and choreographed 80’s. With no egos attached, the band from Texas have long played boogie, gravel-throated, guitar driven rock and this stop along the month-long jaunt through the states was no different.

Lita Ford is back. After a ten year sabbatical living on an island and raising two sons, who are now fifteen and eleven, Ford has just unleashed Living Like A Runaway, a soul-diving expose’ with enough sharp edges and guitar shreds to leave no doubt that the woman in the black leather pants is back on the metal scene.

The last show of Van Halen’s tour was everything you might expect it to be: David Lee Roth did his fun schticky vaudevillian act, Eddie Van Halen took your breath away with his finger-tapping, Alex Van Halen did what any disciple child of Bonham would do and pounded the hell out of his drums with sticks the size of Redwoods, and Michael Anthony … well, he wasn’t there.

Earlier this month, Glide had a chance to talk with one of the founders of the legendary 60’s band, Big Brother & The Holding Company. Sam Andrew, who still tours in a version of the band to this day, shared memories of his time playing with Janis Joplin during the heyday of the Haight-Ashbury Summer of Love and the release of Live At The Carousel Ballroom 1968, a remarkably sharp and pristine recording that sat in perfect hibernation at soundman Owsley Stanley’s home for years. For music fans who have always focused their attention on the breathtakingly otherworld vocals of Joplin, this recording will be a surprise as it brings to the forefront the talent of Big Brother as a whole band.

Starting a new leg of the No More Mr Nice Guy tour that began last year, Alice Cooper has made a few changes, tweaked a few songs and brought the overall nucleus back to the music. Cooper, known as much for his stage theatrics as his anthemic songs and rabid raccoon eye makeup, has toned down his over-the-top spectacle just a tad and made his recorded repertoire more of a musically vivid presence. Having last witnessed him in 2009, where he brought out everything but the snake, this time around he was just Alice; albeit in black leather, studded top hat and another stellar band beside him. “He’s such an amazing showman,” guitarist Orianthi praised before the show. “He gets so into character, it’s scary (laughs).”

When you hear the name Appice, you know good, solid, mammoth drumming will follow. With older brother Carmine leading the way into rock & roll by playing with Vanilla Fudge, Jeff Beck, Rod Stewart and Ted Nugent, it was inevitable that his younger brother would pick up the sticks and follow right along behind him. Carving out his own niche keeping the groove with such metal legends as Black Sabbath and Dio, Vinny Appice is back on the beat with his new band Kill Devil Hill.

If you live outside the New York City circumference, there is a good chance that The Compulsions is not in your rock & roll vocabulary. Not that they suck, it’s just a simple case of a band that has not had the luxury of venturing out of their backyard. But that may be coming to an end as there is positive label interest in their debut full-length, Beat The Devil.

Following a few more solo dates and a couple big festivals, Slash will take his band to Europe and Canada, this time hitting our North American neighbor more thoroughly than last time, and also a few more exotic countries are on the agenda. “Slash has never played India or Beirut so it’s pretty exciting,” said Kerns about the band’s upcoming plans. In the fall, they plan on making another run through the states and from what some fans have told me, they are letting the Hard Rock in Biloxi know that they want Slash back again ASAP.

Fronting the Roxy Gunn Project for only a little over a year now, the band is percolating just under the rock & roll radar. But things are really beginning to kick in. Late last year Roxy was picked to play the part of Michael Pare’ and Diane Lane’s musician daughter in the movie sequel to Street Of Fire, which should premier sometime later this year. The band also contributed both original songs and material written by Jim Steinman, who is most recognized for penning songs for Meatloaf and Bonnie Tyler. It was an exciting time for Roxy and her band, which consists of guitar player Jon Mills, bass player Chris Reject and drummer Ryan J.

With “The Pretender” coming early in the set all the way up through the closing “Dear Rosemary/Breakdown/Everlong”, it was a Foo Fighters mash up at breakneck speed. “We like to play as long as we can, “Grohl spouted before kicking off “Learn To Fly”. “So I hope you don’t mind if we just play until we feel like we’re going to barf … If you want to hear a couple hours of music, we’ll try to go there for you.” And you knew that if they could get away with it, they wouldn’t stop till dawn.

Do you ever wonder if professional musicians are really happy? They claim to love their time on the stage but most of the other hours tend to be a series of bus rides, generic dressing rooms, interviews with journalists and lots of sitting around doing nothing. After a while this can become insanely monotonous. But if you listen to Megadeth’s bass player Dave Ellefson talk, you get the impression that life on the road and in the studio is nothing short of total bliss.

Slowly the Syracuse, New York band Brand New Sin has been building a following up and down the East Coast with their unique brand of punk-flavored rock & roll. With original guitar player taking over the lead vocal spot a few years ago and with the addition of new guitar player Tommy Matkowski, BNS is finally seeing all their hard work and hard-headed determination pay off with more touring dates, even more fans and a new CD called United State

You wouldn’t think that a man who plays atomic guitar riffs for Marilyn Manson and Rob Zombie would be so "normal"," but that is exactly what John 5 is.

 Enter Brad, the musical child of Pearl Jam’s Stone Gossard and Satchel’s Shawn Smith and Regan Hagar, who also played drums for Malfunkshun during their tenure before Wood headed up Mother Love Bone with Gossard. With their new record United We Stand released last week, Brad is back with some 70’s-like grooves and a fresh-sounding energy with tunes such as “Diamond Blues”, “Needle And Thread”, “Miles Of Rope” and first single, “A Reason To Be In My Own Skin”.  Regan Hagar recently called Glide to talk about the new album.

Jack Blades is driving. After talking for a few minutes about his new solo record Rock N Roll Ride, he has to switch to his cell phone and finish our interview as he heads out on an errand.  The Night Ranger front-man is exactly as you would imagine him to be: friendly, energetic, happy. If you thought maybe his stage persona of the hyperactive lead singer running all over the stage, singing and talking fast was just part of the performance – rest assured, Jack Blades has no plans on slowing down anytime soon.

The first weekend of the annual Jazz & Heritage Festival in New Orleans has come and gone with an incredible bang. Not only did a reunited Beach Boys close out the first day but Tom Petty dug his heels into some blues on day two and Bruce Springsteen amassed a congregation thousands strong on day three as he preached and prayed, boogied and rocked. It was a weekend of legends not ready to settle down slowly.

Most know guitarist Steve Morse as the lead guitarist for Deep Purple since 1994, replacing the legendary Ritchie Blackmore. However most recently, Morse has joined forces with ex-Dream Theater drum hero Mike Portnoy, vocalist Casey McPherson, multi-instrumentalist Neal Morse and bass player Dave LaRue to record an eclectic new CD with a band they have dubbed Flying Colors.

Blue October vocalist Furstenfeld is a poet how does not hide his emotions, he does not run from them and he certainly doesn’t consider them to be private. By sharing his experiences he can possibly change a person’s life.