He added, “In as much as I want to make it so that it is known that it is me, at the same time I want to be able to experiment. I don’t want to feel that I’m constrained or have to sound in this vein of music or I’m going to lose my listeners. I think if anything they want to hear new things, and that’s what we did coming from ‘Elements Of Persuasion’ to ‘Static Impulse’. It was all about that. Hitting them over the head with ‘Static Impulse’, I don’t think a lot of them were expecting there to be the thrash metal or screamo vocals on a James LaBrie album. It also has to be sincere and genuine. Matt and I over the years have appreciated that approach, and what I said when we were actually implementing the screamo vocals into the ‘Static Impulse’ album was, ‘I don’t want to look at it like it’s a vocal, I’d rather view it as an instrument. This instrument has a distinctive sound. Where can we bring it in and have it really embellish the direction of the song or that certain section?’ So that’s what we did.”

Read more from Attention Deficit Delirium.

James LaBrie‘s solo tour — which was scheduled to kick off on November 26, 2010 in Charlotte, North Carolina and end on December 20, 2010 in Houston, Texas — was canceled “due to some unfortunate, unforeseen difficulties with securing work visas” for a couple of the members of LaBrie‘s band.

“Static Impulse” sold around 1,700 copies in the United States in its first week of release. The CD landed at position No. 14 on the Top New Artist Albums (Heatseekers) chart, which lists the best-selling albums by new and developing artists, defined as those who have never appeared in the Top 100 of The Billboard 200.

“Static Impulse” was released on September 28, 2010 (one day earlier internationally) via InsideOut Music. The CD marked LaBrie‘s first solo effort in over five years.

Mixed and mastered by Jens Borgen (OPETH, KATATONIA), “Static Impulse” featured Guillory; Peter Wildoer from Swedish thrashers DARKANE on drums and screaming vocals; Marco Sfogli on guitar; and Ray Riendeau (HALFORD) on bass.

“I Need You” audio stream (taken from “Static Impulse”):

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“One More Time” audio stream (taken from “Static Impulse”):

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For more information, visit www.jameslabrie.com.

Original story source: Blabbermouth.net.

In honor of Las Vegas’ first hard rock residency, “Mötley Crüe In Sin City”, Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman has proclaimed Friday, February 3, 2012 as “Mötley Crüe Day.”

Speaking to The Huffington Post, MÖTLEY CRÜE bassist Nikki Sixx said of the upcoming show, which will include an array of theatrics, pyrotechnics, aerialists, wild video displays, a rollercoaster drum set and even a “little people” version of the band, “I’m looking forward to it, but — to be honest — I don’t love Vegas. I’m sober so it doesn’t make sense for me. It is hard for me to appreciate. There are so many people there and so many people are drunk. Still, if you get outside of the city, the place gets pretty hip. We played a show outside the city last time around and it was very different. Not everyone was drunk. It seemed a long way from all that.”

He added, “To play in one place is really different because we can do all sorts of crazy stuff we can’t usually do because certain pyrotechnics and pieces of equipment are not movable. It is also particularly nice in bad economic time. I think things are going to get worse before they get better, so I’m happy that people can go stay at a Vegas hotel and enjoy our band. I want people to relax and go over the top in Vegas with MÖTLEY CRÜE.”

To purchase tickets, go to Ticketmaster.com.

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Original story source: Blabbermouth.net.

Decibel: How far along is [the new TESTAMENT album] “The Dark Roots Of Earth”?

Chuck: Well, we just finished all of the recording the day before we left before this tour. We turned everything in and they’ve started mixing it now. Right now it’s just the beginning of the mix process.

Decibel: Andy Sneap is producing it; did you go to England to track it?

Chuck: We did it at our place in Oakland and at Trident Studios and Andy came out and did all the recordings with us — as much as he could — and then we finished off some vocals and guitars at Trident studios. I think over the years Andy really knows the sound of this band, and kinda knows what we want. We’ve mixed stuff with Andy, so I think he knows without has having to be there physically with him what we are looking for. And I just haven’t heard anybody in metal come out with any better mixes! Honesty!

Decibel: What can you tell us about some of the songs on the album?

Chuck: Well, there’s a song called “Native Blood”, which is basically a song about my Native heritage. It’s almost like a protest song, that the Native Americans have a voice that needs to be heard — that’s the chorus of the song. There’s another called “True American Hate”, which was kinds inspired by when we sent all our troops overseas there, and we were just seeing in the news when all that was going on a lot of young kids, under 10 years old, out there with their families burning American flags. And that was a pretty shocking thing to see, to see that generation, a kid that young being taught to hate that much. It makes you think what’s going to happen, 10 to 15 years from now when the majority of these kids have just been raised to hate? It struck me as a little odd. There’s a song called “Cold Embrace”, which we kinda hoped we’d be able to pitch the song into one of the “Twilight” series movies; it’s a song about a girl becoming a vampire and never being able to see the sun again. “The Dark Roots Of Earth” is kind of a play on the band we have together, just like a metaphor, like TESTAMENT is a tree and all of us in this group are really embedded in the planet, in the earth, the environment and our surroundings. It was kind of a play on that. “Rise Up For War” is more of a war song, like your preparing yourself for war, going into battle. There is a lot of cool stuff there.

Decibel: “Native Blood” must be a very personal song for you. What message are you sending out with “Native Blood”, what sort of issues need addressing for the Native American community?

Chuck: It is much different now compared to 10, 15 years ago, like on our reservation it was a pretty bad place 15 years ago. There was no help from the government, the schools were run down, no transportation, the housing was bad, broken down cars piled everywhere…. It was bad until we put a casino on our reservation and the money generated put people in work, brought back the schools, the culture, the language and the transportation to get the kids to school. But it’s just a bit of a sad thing that once you start helping yourself, the next thing you know the government’s got their hand out wanting their share for something you’ve done yourself and helping your own. It’s a sad thing; you ask for help and you don’t get it, as soon as there’s money involved the hands are out wanting a part of it. To me it was just about having a voice, for the Native Americans to have a voice that could be heard.

Read the entire interview from Decibel magazine.

Original story source: Blabbermouth.net.

Since 2009, Los Angeles based Pornstar DJ Helly Mae Hellfire has been successful at making her mark in both the electronic dance music scene and the adult entertainment industry. Most famously, she starred as Lady Gaga in Hustler Video’s feature film parody This Ain’t Lady Gaga XXX and has deejayed at top dance clubs, raves and celebrity-studded private events in North America and Europe.

In 2010, Helly completed her first American East Coast Tour as the DJ for Brazzer’s “Are You Hardcore Tour” and wrapped up the year with shows in Cannes, France and London, England. Now in hot demand as an international DJ, she is setting her sights on creating her own all-female DJ tour and is working on producing her own original tracks for release later this year.

It’s just been announced that Helly will be deejaying for Brazzers at Bike Week in Daytona and will be the official DJ of Brazzers new mainstream website.

We caught up with Miss Hellfire a few days ago to talk about her rising popularity in porn and her love for music – especially when it comes to being a DJ and spinning her own original music.

In your “previous” porn life you were known as Eden Sinclair. Please tell me you took your name from the badass character in Doomsday.

You know what? It was a total accident! I don’t really know how I came up with that name. I was living in London, England, for the summer. I was gonna make some money so I needed to come up with a cool porn name. It was just a weird coincidence that I picked that name.

So you left the industry as Eden Sinclair and suddenly came back into the biz, full steam ahead, as Helly Mae Hellfire. What inspired your enthusiastic return to porn?

I was deejaying under the name Helly Mae Hellfire with this shock rock band Rock Stars On Mars. I decided I really wanted to focus on deejaying and a really great way to make money and have a lot of spare time is to go back into the adult industry. I took the name I was using as a DJ and entered the industry using that name. That way I could cross-promote the two and be the porn star DJ.

They both really work off of each other.

Yeah. I get a lot more publicity just because I have the gimmick of making adult films. This past year with the AVN nomination and the XBIZ nomination for Best Actress, doing the Lady Gaga parody for Hustler – it’s just really pushed me in the right direction musically. It’s been like walking a tight rope between doing porn and being a respectable DJ. The projects that I’ve landed have helped me solidify myself as a DJ.

The Lady Gaga parody has done for you what Nailin’ Palin’ did for Lisa Ann. It’s really catapulted your career.

It was a huge launch for me. It came up three months after I really got back to the business. I did my first “official” scene February of last year. The Lady Gaga parody literally fell into my lap in May. I didn’t even know I was going to be playing that character until someone at my agency called and said, “By the way, you’re playing Lada Gaga in a parody tomorrow.” You’ve gotta be kidding me!

It looks like you’d have a lot of preparation for a role like that – wardrobe, makeup, the choreography. And you had one day to prepare!

I’ve been a trained dancer for 15 years. They showed me the video a couple of times while I was on set at Hustler and I hadn’t learned the songs before. I listened to them a couple of times. I was able to knock them out after a few tries. That was all done on the spot.

And think of all the fantasies you made come true with the Beyonce scene.

That scene got so messy!

And the age spots on Larry King – that looked pretty gross.

Totally! Good job on Scott Lyons having all that done to him, sitting through all that makeup. They did such a good job. I really felt like I was having sex with a 70-year-old! (laughs) It was a trip!

They were just slowly building you up to your Ron Jeremy scene, right!

Oh yeah! (laughs) I run into him all the time at the Rainbow now, too. It’s so funny. He’s a really nice guy.

You mentioned briefly that you’re the DJ in Rock Stars On Mars featuring London LeGrand. Tell me more about how you hooked up with that project.

I met London at the salon where he was working. He overheard me say to the woman that was doing my hair that I was a DJ. He quickly came up with this sketch of what my character Helly Mae Hellfire would look like. He showed it to me and gave me the rundown of the band and asked me if I wanted to join. I enjoyed the theatrical aspect of it was like, “Yeah, sure!” It’s been an interesting project ever since.

It’s obvious you’re a big music fan. What kind of music did you grow up listening to?

I was always in heavy metal from the 80s. I love Motley Crue, Guns N Roses. Then I got into the industrial side with Nine Inch Nails and Ministry and then Marilyn Manson and White Zombie. I think that’s what got me into electronic music. Now that I’ve started making my own music – which I did for the AVNs – I really want to do something that’s on the industrial, metal, electro side.

You seem to have a ton of things going on!

I know! I’m also going to be deejaying the first of a kind virtual adult entertainment convention. They’re building me a web avatar and I’m going to be deejaying via a live webcast. My avatar is deejaying the XBIZ party after the convention.

Porn and music seem to be so important, like it’s all just a natural part of your life. Does it all just smoothly flow together for you?

Pretty much. I think of myself as a DJ that pretends to be a porn star to make money and get the publicity that I need. I think of myself as a DJ and the porn thing is a job – a job that I really enjoy.

Well you pretend really well!

(laughs) That why I got the nomination for Best Actress! (laughs) Sometimes you go to work and you’re having a shit day but when those cameras come on you have to put on a show or otherwise they’re not going to hire you back.

So what’s next for Helly Mae Hellfire? Any live gigs or big feature movies coming up?

We did a sequel of the Avatar parody for Hustler studios. That should be out soon. That was really cool. As far as live dates, I’ve been in talks to do some summer festivals. I’m also in talks with a band right now to be on the cover of their album, on their merch and in their music video. That should happen later in the year.

Very cool! I hope you keep on havin’ fun! What would you like to say to your fans to wrap things up?

Thanks for your interest in me for Rock Confidential. I’ve done several interviews lately and this is one I’ve been particularly excited to do. Thanks for listening to my music and thanks for enjoying my scenes. I love you guys!

RELATED LINKS:
ThePornStarDJ.com
AdultVirtualConvention.com
Helly Mae Hellfire @Twitter

Three decades after beginning its iconic journey of debauchery and decadence, Mötley Crüe has announced plans to invade Las Vegas with the city’s first-ever hard rock residency: Mötley Crüe In Sin City. The world’s most notorious band will he heading to the world’s most notorious city where they will perform an extended run–starting February 3 through 19–at The Joint at Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas. The iconic band will perform four shows a week. Super Bowl, Valentine’s Day and President’s Day fall within these dates.

In honor of Las Vegas’ first hard rock residency, “MÖTLEY CRÜE IN SIN CITY,” Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman has proclaimed Friday, Feb. 3, 2012 as “Mötley Crüe” Day.

Hailing from Los Angeles, CA, the quartet—VINCE NEIL (vocals), MICK MARS (guitars), NIKKI SIXX (bass) and TOMMY LEE (drums)—has commandeered the rock pantheon for over 30 years. In that time, they have accumulated worldwide album sales exceeding 80 million, seven platinum or multi-platinum albums, 22 Top 40 mainstream rock hits, six Top 20 pop singles, a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, three Grammy nominations for Best Hard Rock Performance, a New York Times bestselling memoir, and countless sold out gigs across the globe, playing to millions of fans.

2012’s MÖTLEY CRÜE IN SIN CITY show is sure to leave the loud impression that what happens in Vegas will be heard around the world. MÖTLEY CRÜE have big plans for MÖTLEY CRÜE IN SIN CITY to create a never-been-done before and incredibly interactive Vegas experience.

MusicRadar.com: You were on the ["Rock Of Ages"] movie set when Tom Cruise sang “Pour Some Sugar On Me”. What was that like?

Phil: It was surreal. What happened was, we were in Florida on tour, and we got a phone call telling us that they were filming just up the road. They were literally shooting that sequence that day. We went to the set and met Tom Cruise, who was absolutely great. Brilliant! I really appreciate when other people do such hard work – it’s inspiring. We were just knocked out by his singing, which he was doing for real. We said, “We didn’t know you could sing.” He smiled and said, “I couldn’t — I just learned five months ago.” He was having lessons and practicing five hours a day — crazy stuff. Extremely impressive. But you know, that’s the kind of guy he is, swinging from cables and jumping off buildings. It’s pretty nuts!

MusicRadar.com: OK, now you’ve seen people cover DEF LEPPARD songs on YouTube clips and on “American Idol” and the like. But what’s it like when the biggest star in the world is singing your song?

Phil: You think about it in a totally different way. You get over the song and the subject matter, and all you can focus on is that somebody so iconic doing it. With a lot of people, their ‘iconic-ness’ gets in the way. Take Beyonce, for example: She’s a really good singer, an amazing singer, but nobody even notices how good she is because they’re so focused on her being Beyonce. Her whole aura gets in the way. It was a little bit like that with Tom Cruise. You’re like, “Oh my God, it’s Tom Cruise!” But he’s got it down. He looked a little bit like Iggy Pop and some…I don’t know, some cool rock star! [laughs] It was trippy. But what’s great is that he can really sing. On his track, he sings the backgrounds, so he’s doing my parts, as well.

MusicRadar.com: Any plans for the next DEF LEPPARD record?

Phil: Recording, yes, but it’ll probably be a DEF LEPPARD song or two. We’re going to go on tour this summer, so we’re going to try to have a new song together. Coming up with material shouldn’t be a problem — I wrote two new songs this week. A whole album won’t happen this year, I can be pretty sure on that. There’s so much involved with putting a record together, and the demographics for the people who buy albums is shrinking. We’ll do a record next year, but it would be cool if we could do it differently. I’d love to do what we did with the MANRAZE album, recording the entire thing in two weeks.

MusicRadar.com: Why couldn’t you? Everybody in DEF LEPPARD must have laptops.

Phil: Yes, but not everybody in the band records that way. I’m the only one who does that. If they could do that, it would be killer. It’d be really good.

Read the entire interview from MusicRadar.com.

Original story source: Blabbermouth.net.

OVERKILL will release its new album, “The Electric Age”, in North America on March 27 via eOne Music. The CD will be made available in Europe on March 30 through Nuclear Blast Records.

“The Electric Age” was recorded and mixed at Gain Studios in New Jersey, owned and operated by OVERKILL bassist D.D. Verni.

OVERKILL will embark on the “Killfest 2″ headlining tour in April/May. Support on the trek will come from BELPHEGOR,BLACKGUARD and DIAMOND PLATE.

OVERKILL‘s latest CD, “Ironbound”, sold 4,100 copies in the United States in its first week of release to debut at position No. 192 on The Billboard 200 chart. The effort landed at No. 4 on the Top New Artist Albums (Heatseekers) chart, which lists the best-selling albums by new and developing artists, defined as those who have never appeared in the Top 100 of The Billboard 200.

OVERKILL‘s previous album, “Immortalis”, opened with 2,800 units back in October 2007.

“Ironbound” was released on February 9, 2010 via E1 Music (formerly KOCH Records). The CD, which was issued in Europe on January 29, 2010 via Nuclear Blast Records, was mixed by PAIN/HYPOCRISY mainman Peter Tägtgren and is described in a press release as “a true thrasher-piece.”

OVERKILL is Bobby “Blitz” Ellsworth (vocals), D.D. Verni (bass, backing vocals), Derek “The Skull” Tailer (rhythm guitar, backing vocals), Dave Linsk (lead guitar, backing vocals) and Ron Lipnicki (drums).

(Thanks: NJthrasher)

Original story source: Blabbermouth.net.

According to John 5, “God Told Me To”will be “half acoustic and half metal and feature music that will blow you away.” He has already whetted the fans’ appetite by releasing four digital singles from the album: “Beat It” (MICHAEL JACKSON cover), “Welcome To Violence”, “Noche Acosador” and “The Castle”.

As well as the stunning cover art by Rob Zombie, art from the solo singles will also feature within the album. The single covers were created by ROB ZOMBIE bassist Matt Montgomery‘s (a.k.a. Piggy D.) and Emma (John 5‘s web manager) from Nineteen76-Designs.

In an interview with U.K.’s Kerrang! magazine, John 5 stated about his forthcoming CD, “I have an album called ‘God Told Me To’ [coming out] and it’s half heavy and it’s half acoustic, which I’ve never done before. I’m doing a cover of MICHAEL JACKSON‘s ‘Beat It’, an instrumental version of it. And it’s gonna be amazing. I’m really excited about this record ’cause of the acoustic stuff, ’cause I’ve never done that before. And it’s gonne be awesome. I’m so excited for this to come out. I think I’m gonna put a [making-of] DVD out with it. People always like to see how I do things and stuff.”

“The Art Of Malice”, the last solo album from John 5, sold around 1,200 copies in the United States in its first week of release. The CD landed at position No. 27 on the Top New Artist Albums (Heatseekers) chart, which lists the best-selling albums by new and developing artists, defined as those who have never appeared in the Top 100 of The Billboard 200.

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Original story source: Blabbermouth.net.

Luella Bennack invested over 20 years of her life to helping disadvantaged children and adults with cerebral palsy, mental retardation, autism and related developmental disabilities and conditions by giving tirelessly of her time, efforts and contacts for United Cerebral Palsy Of New York City. Upon her passing in 2002, with the blessing of her husband Frank A. Bennack, Chairman and CEO of the Hearst Corporation, UCP Of NYC dedicated the marquee Women Who Care award in her honor. This award is presented annually to a high profile individual who has dedicated themselves in service to others at home and around the world.

Stated UCP of NYC: “The committee has selected Amy for this award for her commitment to bring attention to issues of education and personal dignity of people living with a disability by serving as the international spokesperson for Out Of The Shadows. Also, the message and integrity of Amy Lee’s music has undeniably healed, inspired and transformed millions of women worldwide. Because of her personal pledge to making life more accessible and understood by everyone, we cannot conceive of a more interesting, motivated and deserving individual to honour on Luella‘s behalf.

“In our first ten years we have had the opportunity to pay tribute to many incredible women, including supermodel Petra Nemcova; philanthropist Lauren Bush; Anne M. Sweeney, president of Disney-ABC Television Group; trailblazing journalists Diane Sawyer and Ann Curry; Cosmopolitan magazine icon Helen Gurley Brown; actresses Marlo Thomas and Susan Lucci; and dozens more. We are delighted to be adding Amy‘s name to this list of extraordinary women.”

UCP Of NYC is one of America’s most established charities helping children and adults with disabilities throughout New York City. UCP Of NYC currently serves 14,000 individuals and family members through more than 75 programs. The mission of United Cerebral Palsy Of New York City is to create opportunities for people with disabilities to lead independent and fulfilling lives.

Original story source: Blabbermouth.net.

In a brand new post on his Facebook page, Slash writes, “[It] looks like we’ll be finished recording next week. Then mixing begins. It’s all going on.”

Speaking to Total Guitar magazine, Slash stated about the recording sessions for the new CD, “We’re just going for the one take that sounds good, so my solos are more raw, probably sloppier in a way, because they’re very spontaneous to the point where it’s in the heat of the moment. Everything is being played live with the music tracks, the solos, everything. We’re trying not to overdub extra bits. So if there’s a solo, I’m playing on one side, Myles‘ rhythm track is on the other.”

In a recent interview, Slash stated about the musicians in his band, “I was really fortunate. When I’d done the [first solo] record, I thought, ‘I’ve gotta tour on this.’ And I had to figure how I was gonna actually pull that off. And I set about auditioning musicians in L.A. and I just happened to meet Brent Fitz, who I’d never played before and who is not from Los Angeles; he was one of the guys I auditioned and he was great. And then he introduced me to Todd Kerns, who fit in perfectly. And it turned out to be a great band from the start — definitely worth going in and making a record with.”

Valentine previously worked with Slash on the guitarist’s self-titled solo album. But “the big difference,” according to Slash, will be that Eric is “also gonna be mastering this one” in addition to recording and mixing the CD. “So it’s like one-stop shopping, which is pretty cool,” the axeman said.

Regarding the musical direction of his new material and how it compares to last year’s self-titled effort, Slash said, “This one’s definitely a very focused… Very hard. Some of it’s very heavy. It’s got sort of a more unified sound to it, especially with one vocal all throughout.”

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Original story source: Blabbermouth.net.