New Releases
The man and his axe
“I blame Keith Richards, really. I mean he was the one to do it first right?”
Blaming a guy with probably very little memory of much of his life as a rock guitarist for anything, is either very smart or a little rude, but either way this was the explanation given when Stacey Blades was questioned about his dress sense. “Still rock n roll, but less lycra!”
“You know, now it’s more just denim and a tee everyday, but it really is a way of life. All part of rock and roll.” That too can be said for the teased black hair and guy liner!
Blades who is a guitarist with the band LA Guns has been around a bit! YES. He has lived in Calgary, Toronto, Florida and Los Angeles.
Of course Blades job takes him all around the world, but Hollywood is now home and many references are made to the movie capital of the world in LA Guns music.
More often than perhaps not, LA Guns frontman Phil Lewis is not far from wherever Blades can be found. Blades explains; “I think it’s because we are very similar, Canadians and Brits. We have the same sense of humor, we use the same words and we even have the same candy.” All of that may be true, but it’s well known that the folks in the US have always had a great love for LA Guns as a whole.
Pure rock
As a Canadian you have to wonder if Blades has any special affinity for Hockey? “I skated as a kid,” he tells, “But you know, I was more of a Baseball and Football player. My dad played hockey with the New York Rangers farm team back when there were only nine teams in the NHL! Golf was really my thing though. If I hadn’t become a musician I would have definitely become involved in the world of golf.”
Many music fans thank god Blades didn’t become a golfer. He works well as a guitarist with LA Guns, but not so long ago there were two bands, both bearing the same name. How did Blades feel about that?
“Tracii (Guns, former founding LA Guns guitarist) had left the band to do The Brides of Destruction project with Nikki (Sixx, Motley Crue bassist and founding member). It didn’t work out well for them, but instead of coming back and making amends Tracii just started another LA Guns. Tracii’s new band was never a stable thing; he had a constantly revolving line-up, probably five singers. It was a tough battle for us as a band when that was happening, but it finally stopped in early 2012. We are the only LA Guns now. We kept on making great records and it even got us an article in Rolling Stone magazine. We always stayed positive. It doesn’t help things to waste energy on the negatives when you can use it on the positives.”
Living for the music
As the only LA Guns the decision was recently made to cancel a UK tour. There were many disappointed fans. Headbangerwoman asked about the reasoning behind that call?
“The dates were not great. It’s not that we don’t like the UK. It’s just that sometimes you have to have pride in your bands worth. It was a call we had to make. We will be on The Monsters of Rock Cruise in March 2013 and we had a busy summer with lots of shows, but it will be a little quieter now into winter.”
Winter may be quieter on the show front but the new cd Hollywood Forever is making quite a bit of noise….
Hollywood Forever
“It was a bit of an experiment.” Blades is honest about the origin of the record. “We all came to the table with four or five songs and we picked thirteen out. We had all buckled down at home for five weeks or so and as each one of us have a slightly different style; it gave us lots of variety.”
Variety may be the name of the game, but the voice on the record is undeniably Phil Lewis, the sound is definitely LA Guns. Belting drums and screaming guitar are present throughout. Songs such as Sweet Mystery and Underneath the Sun providing a snippet of flashback to Lewis singing Ballad of Jayne. Tattoos and Vine Street get a deserved mention. This is about Hollywood rock n roll, right?
In other recent news LA Guns appeared in Slice TV’s Ex-wives of Rock. Blades made a cameo appearance in more than one episode of series one. The explanation of how that happened is as follows…
“I’ve been friends with Athena (musician, mom and mogul) for a really long time. We met up when they were on the way to Las Vegas to start filming and she suggested I hang out from time to time. The girls are cool and fun, Athena is just an awesome chick. She played a show with us that was shown as part of an episode. I haven’t seen it yet though. I hope to very soon!”
Ex-wives of Rock is currently only airing in Canada.
LA Guns are currently hanging out in Hollywood and being cool.
by Karen Graham 30 October 2012
Pictures courtesy of Stacey Blades
Happy Halloween ;)~ Headbangers :)~
Share Headbangerwoman.com
Not being a musician it is sometimes difficult to translate how music makes one feel at any given time.
But one thing is certain and that is that Corey Taylor and his other band Stone Sour have no problem provoking thought, emotion and energy in musicians and non musicians alike.
House of Gold and Bones Part 1 is a musical merry go round. There are one or two songs where the haunting piano and long guitar solos are a little reminiscent of Sixx AM’s Heroin Diaries, but that is not a bad thing at all.
This is after all a record of memories, feelings and historical happenings. It would be entirely wrong for the music to not awaken the senses and give you a little breathing time before leading into a less or more aggressive break for freedom.
Taylors at times haunting and often thoroughly aggressive vocal is the only one that could have pulled this off and his emotional investment is not going to go unheard.
Stone Sour don’t make shit. They have once again proven that with House of Gold and Bones Part 1.
That indeed means there will be a second part!
This record is perhaps heavier than previous records released by the band, but without a doubt it is Stone Sour, a new episode, a change of direction and you would be an arse not to buy it!
Absolute Zero and Taciturn are a great first listen.
Share Headbangerwoman.com
Click here for the latest from American rock outfit STONESOUR
House of Gold and Bones Part 1
11 songs
A second record to come in 2013
A book and videos to follow….
Share Headbangerwoman.com
Lita. Non sempre un Evaso
Lita Living Like a Runaway
“Love To Hate You is the happy song on my new record, Living Like A Runaway.” Lita Ford told her producer when he asked if she could write some more happy songs for the record. Ford laughs when she tells of her reply to that request. “I love to sing that song. It is my happy song on the record!” Compared to titles such as Hate and A Song To Slit Your Wrists By she is not wrong.
“After almost seventeen years in a controlled relationship, this record is a blessing.” Ford shares. “My ex had pretty much forced me to record just after my hiatus, that record wasn’t me. I didn’t want to do it.”
Living Like A Runaway sounds much more raw, intense and aggressive. This really is a return to the Ford of old.
“This record is long overdue and is pretty much a gift from God,” Ford offers Headbangerwoman. “It’s a survivor record, so deep. It has already touched so many lives. People are telling me that they are so pleased I made this record; it is making a huge difference for them. It’s a record for the happy times and the tough hard times. It really is an emotional record. It is very difficult to explain it.”
There have been many tough times for Ford, who by her own admission used to “ditch school to go off and jam at other peoples houses,” she interrupts herself, “not that I condone it.” As a result she failed to get enough points for her Graduation. “I was lucky. One of my teachers saw that I really was working towards my music career, saw me in magazines and realized that I was going to be someone. As a result I was awarded my points.” She laughs hard when she says, “I had my Dad pick up my Graduation certificate because I was on tour with The Ramones.”
All girl band Runaways
Of course soon after Grad came The Runaways, an all-girl outfit manufactured by Kim Fowley. Ford describes it as a classroom… “You never always like everyone in your class, but you have to be there and you are given the daily task of being with them. You don’t always like them. We were not close. We got on to a point, but in the other direction we were given to bicker. We were chosen for that band, but we were not chosen because we got on well. Of course, the Runaways are probably more popular now that ever we were back then. We really were way before our time.”
Nikki and Lita
A 2010 Movie about the 70’s girl sensations, Joan Jett, Cherie Currie, Sandy West, Jackie Fox and Ford named after the band has not been watched by Ford and she sounded doubtful as to whether she would give it viewing time.
“I heard there was a scene where I was portrayed as kicking someone in the stomach.” She tells. “I have never kicked anyone, not even so much as a dog in my life.”
It is documented that Cherie Curries memoirs were used for the movie… So, it was put to Ford. Where then do you suppose the producers farmed the information for content relating to you in the movie?
“Well, probably my ex-husband,” laughs Ford, but you can hear the hidden concern in her voice. It was a relationship which ended badly and would seem to be still being used to attempt to continue the control.
Several of Fords relationships were public and out there for the world to see and judge. There was an engagement to Tony Iommi, a live in relationship with Nikki Sixx and a marriage to Chris Holmes. Not to mention last husband Jim Gillette.
Picture by Gunner Kal
“It’s a great story, the way I met Nikki. It was a girls night, a few of us were sitting around the table and one of them asked; who would you really like to be with in here? Nikki walked by; this is before Motley Crue, with scrawly hair, all rocked out and I took one look and said, probably that guy there. So they say go and talk to him and I did. I went over and said would you like a qualude? That is how it happened. Nikki is still super cute!”
So does Ford prefer to be single? “I like to be single, but not alone. You know I spent seventeen years in a relationship with a control freak. You can’t really control me! I’m really not controllable. These days I live to work, for my music and my fans.”
A very hard worker Ford admits; “I have only been back in my own bed for two nights.”
Monsters Of Rock Cruise 2013
No, no, you dirty buggers. Ford was in Las Vegas for Rock N Roll fantasy camp. “It was really just a bunch of old rockers,” she chuckles. “But seriously, Gene Simmons was there, Kip Winger, Rudy Sarzo, Zakk Wylde, Sebastian Bach and Phil Soussan who is always at these events. Phil is a very talented musician, so giving and such a great guy.”
Soussan is certainly not the only talent in this article though. Lita Ford started playing guitar at age eleven. “I would sit in the living room and Mom and Dad would be watching the TV. I have lived with my guitar since. Of course back then the only real female role model was Janis Joplin. There was Pat Benetar and Chrissy Hynde, but they were not guitarists, they were from a totally different musical vein. Both were, still are great, but no other women were shredders, they were not metal. I was really the only one at the time!”
Continuing on her path of hard work and music making Ford is all set to appear and show off her shredding skills on The Monsters of Rock Cruise in March 2013. She sounds excited when she tells Headbangerwoman that, “I have never been on a cruise before. We are playing two shows in four days; there probably won’t be much time for relaxation!”
Not having a role model didn’t dissuade Ford and she has had a very successful run as the premier woman of metal, a title she has held tightly and deservedly since the 80’S! Herself becoming a role model for 1,000’s of women and men alike!
Ford is in negotiations right now and will hopefully be sitting down with a writer on November 1st 2012, to begin the penning of her book which will be published by Harper Collins.
http://monstersofrockcruise.com/
By Karen Graham 17 October 2012
Turn It Up To Twelve 