I love me some Slash. The guy is all over the map when it comes to his career - and I mean that in a great way. He's creative to the enth degree and not afraid to take risks. He also uses his celebrity to help all sorts of charities and I love that - I mean, we should all give back but celebs can usually make a huge impact in whatever cause they approach. So what's Slash up to now? He's designing backpacks with Dora the Explorer. Well, sort of. Obviously, Dora the Explorer is a fictional character, but her brand is huge and kids love her. So, Slash is working with Dora to design a backpack for auction this summer. Television network Nickelodeon will hold the auction. Other celebs are involved too, including Shakira and Selma Hayek.
The backpacks will be auctioned in the United States, France, the United Kingdom, Mexico, Canada, Spain, the Netherlands, Greece, Australia, New Zealand and Israel.
In America, proceeds will benefit the Children's Defense Fund.
My friend Irvin - and sometimes BBG! poster under the name "Lep Fan" - passed away yesterday. As his screen name would suggest, Def Leppard was his favorite all-time band. Irvin and I became friends because of Rocklahoma and we had already made plans to meet up for dinner before this year's event. I will miss Irvin and our chats.
Bullet For My Valentine is going on tour with Airbourne! Here's the press release. I'm lucky I get to see the Rock on the Range stop right here in Ohio. Let me know if you're going to see this.
Bullet For My Valentine (Jive Records) have announced dates for their U.S. headline tour in support of the band's upcoming third release, Fever, in stores April 27th and featuring the blistering single "Your Betrayal" which was the #1 most added track on alternative radio. This marks the bands first trip back to American soil since playing the main stage at The Mayhem Festival last summer.
The tour starts in Worcester, MA on April 30th at the Palladium and concludes on May 30th in Detroit, MI at the Fillmore. Joining Bullet For My Valentine on tour will be Chiodos and Airbourne. Tour highlights include New Jersey's Bamboozle Festival on May 1 and Columbus, Ohio's Rock on the Range on May 23rd.
Fever was produced by Don Gilmore (Linkin Park, Good Charlotte) and recorded in both Wales and Los Angeles. Fever is the follow up to 2008's Scream Aim Fire which has sold over one million copies worldwide and debuted at #4 on The Billboard album chart.
Bullet For My Valentine have just wrapped up shooting 2 videos in support of their upcoming album and have revamped and launched a new website www.bulletformyvalentine.com, which is a one stop shop for anything Bullet! Stay tuned and check back to the site for updates and announcements! Bullet For My Valentine are vocalist/guitarist Matt Tuck, guitarist Michael Paget, bassist Jason James and drummer Michael Thomas.
BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE HEADLINE TOUR WITH SPECIAL GUESTS CHIODOS AND AIRBOURNE:
DATES:
April 30 Worcester, MA Palladium
May 1 East Rutherford, NJ Bamboozle
May 2 Baltimore, MD Ram's Head
May 4 Atlanta, GA Tabernacle
May 5 Nashville, TN Rocketown
May 7 Dallas, TX House Of Blues
May 8 TBA
May 9 Tulsa, OK Diamond
May 11 Phoenix, AZ Marquee
May 12 Las Vegas, NV House Of Blues
May 14 Anaheim, CA The Grove *Main Support TBA
May 15 San Diego, CA SOMA *Airbourne not on this date
Musicians often lead very unglamorous lives. Sure there can be fame and money, but usually only after years of toil and poverty. I've interviewed enough musicians now that I'm rarely surprised by any back story of stricken youth or hurt egos or really much of anything anymore. Still, Simon Cruz, the new singer of Crashdiet surprised me with his candor regarding his not so distant past. I interviewed the Swedish Cruz via phone for Noisecreep to talk about Crashdiet's upcoming album Generation Wild. Stereotype or not, it usually does turn out to be the case that musicians are generally laid back and cordial. When Cruz spoke, it was as if we'd known each other for some time. I've interviewed other members of Crashdiet long ago, but had never really had any contact with Cruz. Still, the lulls in the conversation were comfortable and I even questioned his accent. In a lot of ways, Cruz sounds British. He says this is because he's "spent a lot of time in London."
I knew from my research that Cruz had told at least one other reporter that he had to "pee in juice packages" when he was with his unsigned band, Jailbait. I had to ask exactly what he meant by the statement.
"I lived in the rehearsal space at one point with my last band. I lived there for a couple of months because I didn’t have anywhere to go," explains Cruz. "We were going to have a house together as a band but they [the band members] f*%ked up and they didn’t move along with me [and] I didn’t have anywhere to go so I was living in the rehearsal space. I lived there for awhile and I showered at work and I peed in juice packages because it was too far to go to the toilet. You’d have to go outside and down a couple flights of stairs so that was the way it had to be. It was kind of charming but it was rough at the same time. I came there during the evenings, we rehearsed and the rest of the guys would say 'Bye bye, goodnight' and I’d go to sleep."
At this point, I'm completely startled because 1) I've tried to clear up if Cruz was homeless or not and 2) the odd word choice of calling what is basically a squatter's life "charming" has me reevaluating my own priorities. Is it wrong I like a home with a warm bed and hot, running water?
"I had somewhere to stay but I wasn’t allowed to live there because of the owners but no one noticed," Cruz continues, as if to clarify."I was a bit concerned sometimes because they had workers in the building and they saw me sneaking out in the mornings and stuff. It worked out for awhile and then I swapped bands and I got to move into Eric [Young, Crashdiet drummer] mom's place and I stayed there for awhile and now I’m living with Martin [Sweet, Crashdiet guitarist] here in a flat. I haven’t really been trying to build up my materialistic surroundings very much. I’ve always just wanted to do music and I don’t really care so much as what happens around me as long as I’m doing music. I can put up with most things. Definitely hardship and troubled times helps you express things through music."
Needless to say, this conversation made me an immediate Cruz fan. I was already rooting for him considering just how important Crashdiet is to the modern glam movement. Crashdiet's new album, Generation Wild, will be released next month. The single, "Generation Wild" is available now via the band's website and Cruz promises the video will be very dark and edgy.
The full interview with Simon Cruz will post on Noisecreep soon.
Who is down for seeing The Runaways movie later this month? I never go to the movies because I think it's way too overpriced, but I'll be taking in this show.
The Runaways stars Kristen Stewart and Dakota Fanning. We all know the story of The Runaways, but the movie is most closely adapted from the book Neon Angel: The Cherie Currie Story. I'm not sure how I feel about the trailer: I mean, Joan Jett and Cherie Currie were a huge part of The Runaways but the preview sort of makes it seem like those two were the entire band.
Tickets are on sale today for Heavy MTL, a massive rock festival in Parc Jean-Drapeau at Île Saint-Hélène, Montréal. The fest is set for July 24 and 25. Check out this roster:
Megadeth Slayer Korn Rob Zombie Alice Cooper Lamb of God Mastodon Five Finger Death Punch Testament Fear Factory Hatebreed 3 Inches of Blood Anvil Winds of Plague Chimair Kataklysm Atreyu In This Moment Norma Jean
Heavy MTL was first held in 2008. Last year, organizers took a respite to retool and to make this year's event a big one. If I was in Canada, I'd definitely be down for this event - it's an interesting array of metal and anytime Alice Cooper is involved, I'm interested. Buy tickets online. Tickets are officially available starting at noon EST.
If you're experiencing issues with Bring Back Glam!, send an email to allyson@bringbackglam.com or Tweet me. I worked hard yesterday to fix some wacky site issues.
I was supposed to talk to Billy Rowe of Jetboy yesterday but a ton of technical problems on my end pushed the interview back to today. I spent most of yesterday listening to Off Your Rocker to get ready for the chat.
The new Jetboy album was digitally released just this week and it's worth your time and money.
Holy Glam! "Perfectly Wrong" sounds just like Rocks-era Aerosmith. I'm serious. The guitar breakdown is so Joe Perry-esque, I almost fell off my couch. The song is just that good. I also really love "Going Down (Above the Clouds)." I just can't say enough good things about Off Your Rocker. I'm really looking forward to seeing Jetboy (again!) at the M3 rock festival in Maryland this June.
Wednesday, March 10, 2010 at 12:01AM 
