Tommy Lee Posts Snippet of New Song

As you know, Tommy Lee is big in to electronic music, among other genres. A few hours ago, he posted a snippet of a new song he's working on called "Where Am We" and he listed it as funk. I have no idea if this is for an upcoming solo album of if Tommy was just bored and wanted to record something new, but here you go:

ShipRocked Celebrates Record-Breaking Attendance

ShipRocked--the ultimate rock music cruise vacation--wrapped its fourth year with record-breaking “full ship” attendance of nearly 2,500 guests from all 50 U.S. states and 20 additional countries onboard the MSC Poesia cruise ship from November 27-December 1. Guests enjoyed unforgettable performances from 18 bands including Godsmack, Korn and Five Finger Death Punch during the 4-day trip out of Ft. Lauderdale, which visited Key West, FL and Nassau, Bahamas, and featured onboard music, parties, and themed events.

Plans are already underway for the next ShipRocked cruise, with a pre-sale for returning guests beginning soon. For more information, sign up for the ShipRocked mailing list at www.GetShipRocked.com, and visit www.facebook.com/GetShipRocked and www.twitter.com/ShipRocked.

The lineup for ShipRocked 2012--Fueled by Monster Energy and also sponsored by General Snus--included Godsmack,Korn, and Five Finger Death Punch, along with P.O.D.,Sevendust, Filter, Fuel, 10 Years, Pop Evil, Lit, Helmet, In This Moment, Geoff Tate, The Halo Method, Gilby Clarke, The Letter Black, comedian Big Jay Oakerson, Pianotarium, and Andy Wood & The Amalgam. Performances were held on the large outdoor Monster Energy Deck Stage, in the luxurious Carlo Felice Theater and the more intimate Zebra and Pigalle Lounges.

For the fourth year in a row, the ShipRocked held an onboard charity auction benefitting Cancer Sucks (www.cancersucks.com), a nonprofit organization dedicated to funding innovative medical research and finding a cure for cancer. This year, the auction--which featured items including one-of-a-kind rock memorabilia from current and past ShipRocked bands--raised an unprecedented $70,000.

The media raved about their experiences on ShipRocked. Liz Ramanand of Loudwire.com (December 3, 2012) called ShipRocked “the most hard-rocking adventure at sea.” She continued, “The coolest cruise of the year kicked off with an acoustic set by none other than Godsmack. The gig sounded impeccable…the very raw and intimate setting was truly captivating – Godsmack, outside, at night, performing acoustically, on a ship, how could things get any better?” Describing the diverse performance settings on the ship, Liz noted, “Carlo Felice Theater is an elegant venue on the ship that holds a little over 1,000 people with a lovely purple décor and comfortable seats – Five Finger Death Punch ripped it to shreds. Their rabid fans had the ship rocking, literally, as they bounced through FFDP anthems which could be heard throughout the 15 decks of the boat.”

M3 Rock Festival Dates Announced

M3 Rock Festival is slated for May 3 and 4 in Columbia, Maryland. Band lineup comes in January. Consider this your official heads up!

Nickelback in Australia --- Live Review

Photo by Christian GrausHaving been front row for a Nickelback show in Houston earlier this year, I was very excited to hear they were coming to Australia, and keen for both my kids (big fans) to get to see them.  It was my son's first ever concert, so I was happy that it would be a 'big' show.

First I went with my daughter to see both Sydney shows.  We stood for the second show, and got pretty much to the front, without really queuing for long.  My son and I then saw them in Melbourne.  The shows were basically the same, so my review will be for the combined effect of all three.

The opening band was weird - two brothers, lead guitar and drums.  I've never seen a rock band with no bass guitar, let alone for such a band to be given such a big audience.  They might have been OK with a bass player, as it was, they were a weird sounding novelty act.

Nickelback started the show with "This Means War."  I immediately noticed the lack of pyro compared to the US show.  I had not expected them to bring all the effects they used in the US, but was surprised that the moving side wings of the stage did not get a look in.  The one-two punch of that and "Something in Your Mouth" (especially with the excellent light show for the second song) was a great start to the show. They alternate "Bottoms Up" and "Never Again" for the third song, the only difference in the show when they play two nights in a row in the same place.  Apart from that, the rock songs were "Animals," "Figured You Out" and "Burn It to the Ground."  That's five songs out of eighteen, the rest being ballads.  I personally think that Nickelback are very similar to Def Leppard, except the rock songs rock harder, and some of the ballads are actually really good.  However, while I note that most of the audience was middle aged women and bored looking men, I did feel that the lack of pyro and other effects really showed me why some people don't like these guys much.  They have a killer set of rock songs with a few ballads that they could easily put together, but because they play so many ballads live, without any pyro, the show lost momentum quickly and was quite boring in places.  I certainly felt bad that I'd told my son his first ever rock show would have lots of explosions and there was not one, not even at the end of the last song.  I still enjoyed it, and I really like some of the slower songs they did ("Gotta Be Somebody, "When We Stand Together," "Lullaby"), but some more rock would certainly have made it a lot better than it was, or failing that, a bit of pyro would have lifted the proceedings. 

The next day, because we had concert shirts on, we met a lot of people who told us how awesome they thought it was, so I suspect that their perspective was very different to mine (my having seen how much better it could have been), and so long as the local fans don't know any better, I guess there's no reason for them to change it, but I would love it if next time Australia got something a bit closer to the show I saw in the US.
 

Vince Neil Swings and Misses

I'm on vacation right now, so the posts you've been reading this past week were pre-loaded. I am in paradise, so checking my email isn't exactly high on the priority list - but I try to glance at it once a night. Anyway, a good friend shot me an alert about Vince Neil. The alert was enough for me to stop my Hawaiian anniversary vacation and rush to a computer.

You see, Vince Neil attempted to slug a fan last Friday. Apparently the whole exchange was on TMZ as well. Anyway, some guy ticked Vince off and expletives were shouted and then Vince tried to punch the guy and he missed. Watch.

Aerosmith in Texas -- Live Review

Photo by Christian GrausA few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to travel to Austin, Texas to see Aerosmith.  I had seen them once before, in San Franscisco, but I had poor seats and their setlist was entirely songs from the 70s, which left me feeling I'd not really seen them (I love the 70s stuff, but I am a child of the 80s).  So, I was very excited to go again.  I had also bought VIP tickets that gave me excellent seats and a 'meet the band' opportunity for only $300.  Remember, for an Aussie, it's usually $150 just to see a band from the average seats, so that all feels like a bargain to me. 

So, we drove in to Austin and went to the venue. Given that we had to gather at 3:30 pm on a Friday, it was perhaps not surprising that numbers were low.  We got let in and left standing for an hour before we go in to the arena.  From there, we were seated near the front of the extension on the stage, and Joey Kramer came out.  He came down from the stage to talk to us.  In theory, there were people who had his name under their seat and they could ask questions, but he walked around encouraging people to ask.  I asked him why they don't come to Australia and he said they don't really sell albums there.  Someone else asked him to sign her book, and I found out later she was taken backstage to get it signed and met Steven Tyler. Joey was really down to earth, open and friendly, he seemed to really enjoy meeting some fans.  Tom Hamilton came out next.  He stood on stage, as he had a bass on.  He also answered a lot of questions and was very friendly.  Finally, Brad Whitford came out.  He had his strat on and played an extended free form solo.  It felt a little self indulgent, but I admit I was blown away, I had no idea he played so well. I had intended on asking him about his involvement in the Deep Purple Remachined CD, but in the moment, I decided to ask him if he knows a lot of theory or plays entirely by feel (as I was under the impression that a lot of players of his vintage didn't have access to a lot of resources to learn theory).  I got tongue tied, I am sure Brad Whitford thinks I am a moron.  He said he did learn a lot of theory, but tries to play by feel.

It was advertised that there were give aways, but this equated to two copies of the new CD Music From Another Dimension (standard edition), not signed or anything.  I thought that was a little cheap.

So, we got early access to the merch, where I spent too much, as always, and we went in and took our seats. We were 5th row on the sides, with a stage extension going right out by us, the seats were terrific.  Cheap Trick opened.  There are things I don't get with Cheap Trick.  They don't play "If you want my love" or "The Flame" live, but they play a lot of songs no-one knows.  Steven came out and did a Beatles medley with them  (the one on the end of Abbey Road, not their own) and then Brad came out and played a 60s rock n roll song with them ( I confess, I forget which one ).  It was OK, but I would not go and see Cheap Trick.

The setlist for Aerosmith was:

Mama Kin
Love in an Elevator
Jaded
Oh Yeah
Livin' on the Edge
Movin' Out
Walkin' the Dog
Last Child
Drum Solo
Rag Doll
Boogie Man
Combination
Lover Alot
What It Takes
No More No More
Come Together
Dude (Looks Like a Lady)
Walk This Way
Dream On
Sweet Emotion

I could live without "Jaded," but the rest was brilliant.  The thing with their extended front stage area is there's no one perfect spot, and certainly being as close as we were, I looked at the back of Steven and Joe Perry for most of the night.  However, we had our time with both of them being right up on our side, so it seems like the system is democratic enough, and it always sounded great.  The new songs fit in well with the set list, I had two copies of the CD, but had not played it yet, but even then the new songs sounded great and were not a lull in the show.  I was ecstatic to hear "Dude Looks Like A Lady" and "Love in an Elevator" live.  Joey said in the meet and greet that they make up their set list every night, and he doesn't know until they go on.  He said several times, sometimes they just start something they've not discussed, and he has to wing it.  That may happen from time to time, but the setlist they had been playing and was on record online, was the setlist we got.  I have no complaints, I just wondered if he knew that we can see what they played every night, on the web.

There was another level of meet and greet, for $1400, you got a photo with Steven and Joe.  I'm not sure I would ever pay that, but the level I bought at was definitely good value.  I would do it again ( if only to convince Brad that I'm not an idiot...).  Aerosmith put on a great show, with a lot of energy, and they were clearly all having a great time up there.  There were people in the audience requesting new songs  (they did three, but people asked for others ), so the album seems to be well recieved, which I think it deserves.  If you don't have the CD, I recommend it, it's way better than the last few.  If you get a chance to see Aerosmith, I recommend checking them out, but if you don't have VIP, there's no need to show up for Cheap Trick.

Hardcore Superstar, 'One More Minute' -- New Single

Hardcore Superstar is working on their new album and just as they promised, the first single, "One More Minute," was released in the end of November. The new album will be called C'mon Take On Me and will be out March 1.

I can't say I'm blown away but the song grows with each listening for me. Even though I'm not a big fan of the slower and more calmer parts, the chorus is just so classic Hardcore Superstar and you can't really go wrong with that. It makes me very excited to hear some new material and I can't wait for the album to be released.

What do you think?