.:FRACTURED SOUNDS:.

Sunday 8th February 2009 - 12:42pm

Former Ramones drummer Marky Ramone has announced he is bringing his bang 'Blitzkrieg' to Australia for a number of club shows during April this year. Blitzkrieg is a band he put together in late 2008 with former Misfits vocalist Michale Graves, along with guitarist Alex Kane and Clare on bass. The band have only been touring for a month and have already gathered rave reviews of their show.

Amongst other projects, including a clothing line with Tommy Hilfiger, Marky is also preparing for the release of a biographical documentary DVD titled 'The Job That Ate My Brain - the Marky Ramone Story'.

April 8: Melbourne @ The Corner

April 9: Sydney @ The Manning Bar

April 11: Perth @ The Capital Theatre

April 13: Adelaide @ The Governor Hindmarsh

April 14: Brisbane @ The Step Inn

Tickets available from Ticketek and Moshtix.

In other Australian touring news for this year, AC/DC will be making the round early in the year and later in the year Motley Crue will be bringing their circus back to town. Other bands in discussions for an Australian tour include Aerosmith, Buckcherry and Alice Cooper, but all bets have been placed on hold due to the current economy crisis.

Sunday 1st February 2009 - 11:37am

Prequel has become the 'it' word for movie franchises over the past decade. Unfortunately, for the most part, these back-stories have failed to deliver the same success as their saga predecessors.

This is not the case for the latest installment in the gothic vampire Underworld franchise. 'Rise Of The Lycans' delivers an epic expansion on the historical references somewhat vaguely portrayed from the original release. Without a doubt the stand-out performance comes from British veteran Bill Nighy. His reprise of the vampire elder Viktor, albeit in his 'younger' days, is as near to flawless as any portrayal in a sci-fi epic in recent memory. He is dark and cold, providing next to no emotion which is a stunning contrast against the love story between Sonja (Rhona Mitra) and Lucian (Michael Sheen).

'Rise Of The Lycans' is a real breath of fresh air compared to other current vampire franchises currently in production. It takes a darker direction similar to that of the adapted version of Anne Rice's 'Queen Of The Damned', as opposed to the angle many vampire films take which are more comparable to the tongue-in-cheek 'Buffy The Vampire Slayer'.

[4/5]

Sunday 18th January 2009 - 1:34pm

KISS bassist Gene Simmons spoke in November to Classic Rock magazine about the possibility of a brand new KISS record with new tracks. As with most things Gene says there was not a whole lot of attention thrown at the comments (anyone remember the promised ten part KISSology DVD series...?). That is until the official KISS website threw their attention at it and posted the comments of their homepage. Now it seems there will be a new album and is has been reported that there are anywhere up to thirteen songs already in preparation for the album.

After his vocals were debuted on the 2008 Australian tour, Tommy Thayer has been slated to perform lead vocals on at least one new track. This will be the first studio KISS album to feature Tommy on vocals. A new stage is also in preparation for the next tour, supposedly in support of the new album. The evil lame-rock empire of Rolling Stone (albeit the Brazil chapter) reported after an interview with Gene that it would be a "multi-dimensional stage, following the concept started with the Psycho Circus 3D tour."

from: classicrockmagazine.com

Gene Simmons appears to have confirmed the news that Paul Stanley broke exclusively to us on the Clog - there is going to be a new Kiss record in 2009.

In a chat with Jane Stevenson of Canada’s Sun Media, Gene suggests that the band will record the album and release it next summer with Paul Stanley producing. There will also be a handful of show to go with this release.

“We’ll do a handful of shows just to keep in the game (next) summer, maybe 10 (dates), some Canadian shows. I know Halifax is one, but before you get out there and start the baseball season, they hold exhibition games, that’s what we’re doing. ‘Cause once we go out, it’s going to be for a year and a half.”

Rumours persist that once the record is finished, the band will head out on a Stateside tour with Queen.

Sources: KISS Online (kissonline.com), Classic Rock (classicrockmagazine.com), Deuce News (deucenews.jimdo.com).

Saturday 17th January 2009 - 2:48pm

After the tragic depression that dominated the majority of the first half of 2008, (apart from the insanely over-the-top performances from Iron Maiden, Nightwish and KISS), this Rock N Roll train has jumped back onto the tracks, (as opposed to the total derailment of AC/DC's Rock N Roll Train...!), and is ready to continue in bringing you the best this universe has to offer. I have decided that this sacrament should be offering a full-service treatment and as such have decided to also report of all things entertainment, now including movies and television. However, Rock N Roll will always take preference. If your wondering where the previous articles and interviews have disappeared to they will be re-added here as soon as I find a spare minute in between Entourage re-runs.

After promising albums from AC/DC, Judas Priest, Motley Crue, Metallica and Guns N Roses, 2008 was intended to be a year that we could finally say actually delivered what it was promised. But out of that illustrious list, only the sleazy gutter-trash of Motley Crue could truly deliver a masterpiece. The only place the other albums belong on is our 'Bottom Five' list of the smelliest pieces of musical waste from the past twelve months.

Even the concert scene was severely lacking in greatness, with only Nightwish, KISS and Iron Maiden truly delivering knock-out performances. Has the entire world lost that rocking feeling...! All the while living on an island, widely considered to be the farthest corner of the Earth, I am still hopeful that at worst a handful of great bands will be making the voyage to see us this year.

We will keep you posted and pray that the music God's, however cruel they may be at times, greet us with all we wished for during the final mouthfuls of Finlandia and dying seconds of 2008.

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