Author: planetsixstring

Former GREAT WHITE frontman Jack Russell spoke to “The SDR Show” about “America’s Deadliest Concert: The Guest List”, a documentary about the infamous concert fire nearly two decades ago that killed a hundred people and injured hundreds more. The film received its premiere on Reelz on February 20.

The 61-year-old singer, whose pyrotechnics ignited the deadly blaze on February 20, 2003 in Rhode Island, stated about the making of the documentary: “It was tough. ‘Cause I wear my heart on my sleeve. And I didn’t wanna do anything but be really honest and upfront and open about everything that I know and my knowledge about the fire and about what happened and about what it did to me personally and how it affected my friends and my family.

“It’s a beautifully done movie,” he continued. “It’s really, really well done. The producer, he was real sensitive about how he approached it and how he did it. You have to cover both sides of the story. There’s people that like Jack and there’s the people that hate Jack, and there’s the people in between. So you’ve gotta kind of put both sides up there. And some of the stuff was really difficult for me to hear. When people call you a murderer or they wish you were dead, it’s hard to hear that stuff. But I do understand it. People grieve in different ways, and if that’s what it takes for them to grieve and feel better, more power to ’em.”

Last December, Russell told Tulsa Music Stream about “America’s Deadliest Concert: The Guest List”: “We took three years shooting this thing. I mean, it was a long time. A lot of footage — a lot of footage. But it’s really moving. It is really moving, touching, and it’s a beautifully shot piece of film. It lets you know how beautiful music is and how music can heal everything, no matter what people think. There’s a certain thing in music that is very healing, and it’s helped a lot of people through the aftermath of the fire.”

Russell also said that he wanted the tragedy to serve as a reminder to remain alert about public safety.

“Honestly, I haven’t been asked a question about the fire in — I can’t remember how many years now,” he said. “It’s been a long, long time. The public has a short memory, unfortunately. It was something that I hoped that people would remember, just because of the nature of it and the fact that we need to take care of ourselves when we’re out at places; we need to be conscious of our safety.”

Five years ago, Russell told Psycho Babble TV about the documentary: “What it is is partly my life story, as a kid growing up, and then it goes off into the fire, unfortunately, and the aftermath of that, and testimonies… not testimony, but… talks by the victims and their families and how it affected them.”

Russell said that parts of the movie are especially hard for him to watch “because a lot of people blame me.” He then corrected himself: “I wouldn’t say a lot, but they’re very vocal.” Still, he said he understood why some believe he should be held accountable for what happened fifteen years ago. “I look at it like this: if it makes it easier for them to grieve the loss of somebody close to them, then my shoulders are big enough,” he explained.

The fire at The Station nightclub in West Warwick began in an overcrowded club when pyrotechnics from Russell’s GREAT WHITE ignited illegal soundproofing foam lining the club’s walls.

“I’ve seen so many video tapes of pyro shooting off in that club with the foam — bigger stuff than we had — and it never happened,” Jack told Psycho Babble TV.” Why it happened that night… Who knows? I mean, it’s like a plane crash — it takes all these little things to fall in line for that one big thing to happen. So [the movie] gave me the opportunity to talk about how I felt and for me to apologize. Not a guilty apology, but because I just…

“I mean, I feel horrible that it happened,” he continued. “I lost a lot of friends that night — a lot of friends. People that I didn’t even know were even there. And people have said, ‘Well, he’s not remorseful.’ And they’ve gotta understand, when all this went down, my legal team, they said, ‘You cannot ever say you’re sorry, because it implies guilt.’ And I’m, like, ‘But I am sorry.’ [And they told me], ‘But you can’t say it.'”

According to Russell, at least one “really beautiful” thing came out of the tragedy. “There was a man named Joe; they call him ‘The Lizard Man,'” Jack said. “He was the worst, most badly burned of all the people. And he met his wife in the fire and they had a beautiful son. And his comment was, ‘If this wouldn’t have happened, I wouldn’t have met the love of my life.'”
Russell added that he is “glad” the film was made. “It may not be the best thing in the world for me, but it’s very cathartic,” he said.

At least one relative of a Station fire victim was angered by Russell’s plan to make a documentary about the incident and discuss it in the upcoming book.

“I think it’s ruining all the positive strides that we’re now making to heal here in Rhode Island,” Jody King, whose brother Tracy was a bouncer at the Station, told the Associated Press in 2015. “If he wants to help, stay away, shut your mouth.”

Russell’s bandmate Ty Longley (guitar) was one of the people who perished in The Station blaze, which became the fourth deadliest fire in U.S. history.

In 2008, the band agreed to pay $1 million to survivors and families of the victims of the fire.

GREAT WHITE guitarist Mark Kendall founded the band with Russell in 1982. At the time of the fire, the group that was on the road was called JACK RUSSELL’S GREAT WHITE. Kendall later said he was asked to join Russell and his solo band on the tour to help boost attendance.

“America’s Deadliest Concert: The Guest List” includes interviews with Russell, Dee Snider (TWISTED SISTER), Don Dokken (DOKKEN), Lita Ford and Michael Sweet (STRYPER).

Russell exited GREAT WHITE in December 2011 after he was unable to tour with the group due a series of injuries, including a perforated bowel and a shattered pelvis. Jack largely blamed these injuries on his alcohol and painkiller addictions as well as the prednisone drug he was prescribed.

Russell sued his onetime bandmates in 2012 over their continued use of the GREAT WHITE name after Jack had taken a leave of absence from the band for medical reasons. A short time later, Russell was countersued by Kendall, rhythm guitarist/keyboardist Michael Lardie and drummer Audie Desbrow, claiming the vocalist’s self-destructive behavior was damaging the GREAT WHITE name (they also alleged he was charging promoters less for his own touring version of GREAT WHITE). The parties settled in July 2013 without going to trial, with Russell now performing as JACK RUSSELL’S GREAT WHITE while the others are continuing as GREAT WHITE.

This is an IMPORTANT rock doc that EVERYONE needs to watch. The truth is ugly but should never be forgotten. “America’s Deadliest Rock Concert: The Guest List” premiers Feb 20th on @ReelzChannel https://t.co/uQPOE13agm
— Dee Snider?? (@deesnider) February 5, 2022

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Cleveland speed demon Athenar, the one-man force behind the studio recordings released under the name MIDNIGHT, built that name in the decade following its mid-2000’s formation by piling layers of sleaze, grime, and filth on top of blackened riffs cribbed from VENOM and MOTORHEAD’s playbooks. This formula stayed in place through 2017’s “Sweet Death and Ecstasy” with minor alterations here and there. MIDNIGHT made the jump to Metal Blade and its 2020 debut for the label, “Rebirth by Blasphemy”, saw a major reduction in overt sleaziness. That resulted in tighter songwriting with the overall power of its blackened riff assault coming off as more sinister with the more prurient aspects of its previous lyrical focus taking a backseat.

MIDNIGHT’s latest record, “Let There Be Witchery”, has multiple moments where its creator shamelessly revels in the over-the-top salaciousness that fueled the lyrical mayhem of the project’s earlier recordings. Song titles such as “Let There Be Sodomy” and “Szex Witchery”, which Athenar himself states formed the basis of the album title for his latest full-length, would have fit on pre-Metal Blade releases. That said, the refined songwriting and riffcraft that was found on “Rebirth by Blasphemy” remain strongly abundant here. The welding of old-school sleaze and shock with the newfound refinement of tightly packing metallic mayhem has resulted in what may be the ultimate expression of what MIDNIGHT stands for in 2022.

Athenar reasserts his ability to craft uproarious collections of filthy guitar work from the album-opening “Telepathic Nightmare”, and his vocal shouts are as caustic as ever. The rippers are plentiful, with “In Sinful Secrecy” and “Snake Obsession” doing his influences proud. The tracks contained on “Let There Be Witchery” are very firmly on the “heavy” side of heavy metal. What allows MIDNIGHT to rise above the dozens of modern acts belching out thrice-chewed VENOM worship is that Athenar has also mastered the art of the rock-solid d-beat drum sound that is ever so important to keeping the metallic chaos well-organized. He also knows the value of shredding guitar solos that drip with rock swagger. The latter is especially prominent on “Frothing Foulness” and “Devil Virgin”.

The record moves along as a fairly speedy gallop, though when Athenar slows the pace down on “More Torment”‘s, trudging stomp he does the “Morbid Tales”-era of CELTIC FROST quite proud. “Villainy Wretched Villainy” is a relatively mid-tempo cut compared to the majority of the record, but the track still drips with plenty of irreverent rock swagger with its catchy chorus

The renewed injection of lascivious filth back into some of MIDNIGHT’s lyrical inspirations on “Let There Be Witchery” may seem to some like a slight step backward, but Athenar’s ability to wrap that within the well-honed and finely focused songwriting formula of 2020’s “Rebirth by Blasphemy” ultimately results in what may be the most purely MIDNIGHT release yet. It’s sleazy and at times a little icky, but it is also incredibly catchy.

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You could WIN an Align Series Reverb from LR Baggs in today’s I Love Pedals giveaway! Ends March 1, 2022.Align Series ReverbThe Align Reverb was built from the ground up to complement the natural body dynamics and warmth of acoustic instruments that we love so much. The circuit seamlessly integrates the wet and dry signals with the effect in side chain so that it never overwhelms the original signal. We shaped the reverb with analog EQ to reflect the natural voice inherent in acoustic instruments. Additionally, the tone control adds versatility by sweeping from warm and muted to open and present. The result is an organic reverb that maintains the audiophile purity of the original signal with the controls set in any position.I Love Pedals Day #28: LR Baggs

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Robert Plant and Alison Krauss have released their first official music video in nearly 14 years. Set to “Searching For My Love”, a highlight from the duo’s chart-topping, long-awaited new album “Raise The Roof”, the visual follows a series of lonely travelers on a mystical journey up a mountaintop, through the smoke and fog, down dirt paths and into the ocean, crossing paths with mermaids and more in a quest to discover a deeper treasure.

“Searching For My Love” was directed and produced by Matt Mahurin and stars Julia Lucey and Rolan Meyer.

Originally written and recorded by Bobby Moore and THE RHYTHM ACES, “Searching For My Love” is a song that Plant first started singing as a teenager at school. He calls it “another nugget of beautiful lost soul music which has been ricocheting between me and Alison for a long time,” and the two recently performed their arrangement on “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon”, “CBS Saturday Morning” and NPR’s “Tiny Desk (Home) Concerts”.

Beginning in June, Plant and Krauss will bring the music of 2021’s T Bone Burnett-produced “Raise The Roof” and 2007’s Grammy-sweeping “Raising Sand” on their first international tour in well over a decade. The run of bandshell and amphitheater shows includes stops at New York City’s Forest Hills Stadium and Chicago’s Jay Pritzker Pavilion, as well as top spots at Bonnaroo and Roskilde festival, and more.

“Raise The Roof” is currently in its 13th consecutive week at No. 1 on the Americana radio charts, following its debut in the Top 10 on the Billboard 200, No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Rock, Americana/Folk, Bluegrass and Independent Albums charts, No. 3 on Top Country and Album Sales, and No. 5 in the U.K. Named one of the best albums of 2021 by Esquire, Mojo, Uncut and others, “Raise The Roof” amassed critical acclaim from The New York Times, New Yorker, Vanity Fair, Variety, Pitchfork, People, Associated Press, NPR and more, in addition to appearances on “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert”, “The Kelly Clarkson Show”, CBS, PBS, MSNBC, the BBC and beyond.

Following the monumental debut of “Raising Sand”, which won all six Grammy Awards for which it was nominated (including “Album” and “Record Of The Year”), Plant and Krauss “are still proof that sometimes the best things come from unlikely collaborators” (Entertainment Weekly). Across “Raise The Roof”, the Rock And Roll Hall Of Famer and 27-time Grammy-winning Bluegrass Hall Of Famer step further outside their comfort zone, expanding their unexpected, unparalleled partnership in remarkable new directions.

While sessions for the album began in Nashville in November 2019, wrapping just weeks before the world went into lockdown, Krauss remembers sending Plant the Randy Weeks/Lucinda Williams classic “Can’t Let Go” at least 10 years ago — and “it seems like time hasn’t passed at all” (NPR Music). Elsewhere on “Raise The Roof”, Plant and Krauss reimagine songs from Merle Haggard, Allen Toussaint, THE EVERLY BROTHERS, Anne Briggs, Geeshie Wiley, Ola Belle Reed, Brenda Burns and more, with arrangements even more evocative and hypnotic than those on “Raising Sand”.

“It’s such a far cry from everything I’ve done before,” said Plant. “I love the whole kaleidoscope of music that I’ve explored, but this is a place where you can think within the song, you can decide how to bring home an emotion. It’s another blend that we’ve got, and long may we have more of them.”

Photo by David McClister

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Watch Philly-based speed rock force Roadkiller team up with CYK’s Jess Margera for the project’s latest single.
The post Video Premiere: Roadkiller ft. Jess Margera  – “Like the Crow” appeared first on Decibel Magazine.

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Multi-instrumentalist Jason Hartman (Vanishing Kids, Night Eyez, Jex Thoth) weirds out heavily in Old Spirit. Streaming “Snow Leopard” now!
The post Track Premiere: Old Spirit “Snow Leopard” appeared first on Decibel Magazine.

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