As the opener on Motley Crue’s Final Tour, Alice Cooper and his band performed a set of greatest hits to an enthusiastic Southern California crowd. The three-guitar attack of Nita Strauss (who recently replaced Orianthi Panagaris), Ryan Roxie and Tommy Henriksen is sterling. With a lavish stage production (boa constrictor, Dwight Fry straight-jacket, creepy-looking dolls, etc.), and a killer sound, Alice Cooper gave Irvine a show that arguably upstaged the headlining act.
Sabaton’s showmanship won the crowd straight away. Fans sang along while singer Joakim Brodén’s antics and ear-to-ear smile energized the audience as the band worked the stage, pulling out all the stops.
Iced Earth opened with “Plagues of Babylon”. After its ominous, building intro, guitarists Jon Scaffer and Troy Seele virtually shook the audience by the scruff of the neck while drummer Jon Dette battered the room with rhythmic mayhem. Vocalist Stu Block manned the microphone with authority, frequently belting out high-register screams reminiscent of Rob Halford (Judas Priest). The moving “If I Could See You” from Plagues of Babylon provided contrast in the heavy set. “Boiling Point” followed, putting the wicked, almost foreboding vibe back into the air.
It was just what the doctor ordered when Ted Nugent and his band of Nigerian Rebels (Derek St. Holmes, guitar and vocals; “Wild” Mick Brown, drums; Greg Smith, bass) played the City National Grove of Anaheim. Supporting the recently released album Shutup & Jam, Nuge’s setlist included a few new songs and several of his smash hits. The guitar god, as usual, showed no restraint of tongue between songs, expressing contempt for U.S. Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi and big government. Some of us don’t give a shit about Ted’s political views or what he shoots with his crossbow or sidearm. We just want to hear that Gibson Byrdland sing. Shut up and jam, Ted!
On the L.A. stop of the “Worldwide Plagues Tour”, Tampa’s power metal vets Iced Earth and Sweden’s Sabaton, performed for a fully-packed House of Blues in Hollywood.
‘Shroom to Grow! Mushroomhead vocalist, J Mann, talks about the band’s new album, The Righteous & The Butterfly, being back in Mushroomhead after a 10-year hiatus, and the band’s slot on this Summer’s Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem Festival. “It’s almost beyond a band. It’s like a sports team almost. Everyone’s got to put the team first.”
Probably the most anticipated act playing this year’s Mayhem Festival is Body Count. The Los Angeles band, fronted by Ice-T, played some old favorites and a few songs off the recently-released Manslaughter album.
Showing off new vocalist Eddie Hermida, Suicide Silence gave the crowd an arresting performance in the desert heat. No stranger to Mayhem, the Southern California deathcore band was welcomed by the multitude who came to hear the heavy shit.
Death metal veterans Cannibal Corpse performed a short, but impressive set during the Southern California kickoff date for Mayhem.
At the Pomona stop of the 2014 Civil Unrest Tour, three bands were keeping disco evil and rocking The Glass House. Two of the bands, Dope and Wayne Static, were an obvious pair-up with their nu-metal credentials and party sensibilities. Smile Empty Soul, with a more subdued and melodic approach to music, was not such an obvious choice.
While it has been 43 years since the Alice Cooper Band tasted mainstream success with Eighteen, the man known as Alice Cooper is still playing that villainous character, rocking stages all over the world. In a new, tell-all documentary, Super Duper Alice Cooper, writers/directors Sam Dunn, Reginald Harkema, and Scot McFayden reveal Alice Cooper (Vincent Furnier) in all his different incarnations.
Dubbed the first-ever “doc opera,” Super Duper Alice Cooper is the story of Vincent Furnier, the slight, docile, son of a preacher man who found release from normalcy through rock and roll and his alter-ego, Alice.
No radio ads, no skywriters, no billboards. It all started with an e mail from a publicist that read: “This invitation is not to be posted or shared… and the location must not be revealed in any form of media or social media.” On Tuesday, April 8, Aerosmith affirmed its upcoming “Let Rock Rule Tour” with Slash featuring Miles Kennedy and the Conspirators in a very rock and roll way. The venerated band from Boston played a show on Hollywood’s Whisky a Go Go on the Sunset Strip.
No radio ads, no skywriters, no billboards. It all started with an e mail from a publicist that read: “This invitation is not to be posted or shared… and the location must not be revealed in any form of media or social media.” On Tuesday, April 8, Aerosmith affirmed its upcoming “Let Rock Rule Tour” with Slash featuring Miles Kennedy and the Conspirators in a very rock and roll way. The venerated band from Boston played a show on Hollywood’s Whisky a Go Go on the Sunset Strip.