The Press Release:
LincStar Events is amped to announce the Orange Loop Rock Festival taking place at the Showboat Festival Grounds outside the Showboat Hotel in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
The weekend-long celebration of rock music and hair metal will feature iconic acts such as Stone Temple Pilots, Chevelle, Puddle of Mudd, Hoobastank, Hinder, John 5 and the Creatures, Stephen Pearcy, Great White, Doro, and more to be announced!
John 5 says “I’m super excited to play the Orange Loop Rock Fest in Atlantic City . With all these great acts – its gonna be a blast with all of the great fans… Lets get weird! See you soon.” Continue reading Announcing The Orange Loop Rock Festival→
Hey readers, I was out earlier on Thursday evening and missed this news based on no real signal down in the Best Buy Theater but when I got home and powered up the PC I learned that longtime Ratt frontman Stephen Pearcy has officially left the lineup. The artists statement is below the logo.
After 30 years creating the band RATT and losing a real brother, Robbin [Crosby, late RATT guitarist], it’s time that I personally part ways with the band. I am officially done with having anything to do with them due to the constant turmoil, unresolved business, personal attacks/threats in the public forum, and most of all, the disrespect to the fans. I’m very content and proud of the legacy and the music I’ve created. This music will live well beyond any of our lifetimes. I owe no one anything but a huge heartfelt thank you for coming to the party for the last 30 years. With much respect, life goes on and the music I created will continue to be heard for years to come despite the dark clouds that have lingered for far too long. I will personally continue to make music and perform live shows. See you out there.
The photos that accompany my sharing this news with you hail from a 2007 appearance that I caught when they were opening up for Poison. I’ve long enjoyed the music of the band but in all honesty never caught them more than twice on the live stage. They had some great tunes and while they were sometimes discounted as being just another LA Hair Band, there was a little bit more to the melody that they made together. It will be interesting to see what the band does without Pearcy at the helm. I know I will be watching both sides of the fence to see what happens. What do you think about this news or even Ratt in general? I’ve left the comments open for you to discuss.
Artist: Ratt Title: “Tell The World: The Very Best Of Ratt” Label: Rhino Entertainment Release Date: 8/21/2007 Genre: Hard Rock Rating: 4/5
Following in an almost hot on the heels pace of their DVD release “Ratt: Videos From The Cellar: The Atlantic Years” came “Tell The World: The Very Best Of Ratt” – a twenty song greatest hits compilation that will surely give you something tasty to sink your teeth into. I had to admit that I always liked the early material from Ratt because even though they were often lumped into the Glam Rock movement of the eighties, there was just something about their level of guitar work and overall melody that made them so much more appealing than 80% of the other bands that came out around that time. The release covers the bands Atlantic Records years and as result omits everything from their debut EP which in some sense is a crying shame since at least two of those numbers are worthy of placement here. I am speaking of course about the stellar “You Think You’re Tough” which even had an early video in the infancy years of the MTV generation. Also missing is this very albums title track of “Tell The World” and it made me wonder who thought that was a good idea. Fans of the band who already own the long ago released collection called “Ratt & Roll 8191” should plan on keeping that in their collection a little longer since there are tracks presented there but not here. Now back to this particular collection because despite these couple of concerns it is a really solid one that is worth owning. Add to this the fact that all tracks are remastered and as result are a lot “bigger” than we first heard them on the individual CD’s that some of us have in our music libraries. Continue reading “Tell The World: The Very Best Of Ratt” by Ratt→
Artist: Ratt Title: “Videos From The Cellar: The Atlantic Years” Label: Rhino Entertainment Release Date: 7/31/2007 Genre: Hard Rock Rating: 4/5
Continuing their fulfillment of the wish-list dreams of many eighties Hard Rock and Metal fans, Rhino Entertainment delivers “Ratt: Videos From The Cellar: The Atlantic Years”, a DVD compilation that presents their two out of print home videos along with several others that never received an official release. It was during this period in Hard Rock history that MTV was in full-swing and really showed a lot of actual videos as opposed to the seemingly endless reality programs and juvenile dating shows that they are most known for today. With Ratt being one of the most popular attractions that the genre had in its roster of bands their individual albums would of course come with a number of videos. The band debuted with “Out Of The Cellar” which was a rough-edged but pop-savvy recording loaded with memorable anthems and powerful guitar hooks. This album gave birth to three videos that are presented here and from their original VHS release “Ratt: The Video” (1985). It was great to see the “Round And Round” clip again since it was so tongue in cheek with a drag-queen Milton Berle doing his thing while Ratt performed upstairs from a huge banquet table. What Metal fan from way back can forget when the waiter served a tray full of rats to the table or when guitarist Warren DeMartini crashed through the ceiling to perform his shredding solo in front of the shocked dinner guests. Continue reading “Videos From The Cellar: The Atlantic Years” by Ratt→
Artist: Various Artists Title: “Metal Mania: Stripped Across America” Label: Sidewinder Records Release Date: 2/21/2006 Genre: Hard Rock Rating: 2.5/5
Filmed at both the record release party as well as during the actual tour comes the “Metal Mania: Stripped Across America” DVD. The idea was a pretty good one, and played off the once popular MTV Unplugged idea by taking a number of classic 80’s performers and putting them on tour together. The tour featured such performers as Kip Winger, Great White, Slaughter and Stephen Pearcy (former Ratt) among several others and each musician would play acoustic versions of their hits. I was sad to not attend this tour when it came through town but one cannot hit every show which makes this DVD of some interest to people who had the same thing happen to them. Yet as I looked to it and hoped to find a comprehensive document of the performances, I admit that I felt let down by only finding a single DVD and one that ran a mere 12 songs. The DVD medium is taking over a large amount of ground on the CD and I felt that a lot more could have been included to make this something incredible for the buyer. Most of the performances are top-notch and I have to lend some kudos to Jani Lane, as the former singer of Warrant does a terrific job especially. Lane has had some well-publicized fall-downs and I think the quality of his playing should help him realize that life’s obstacles can be overcome. Slaughter performs their staple track as a full band which to me is not quite stripped but sure sounds good. Winger’s two of their three hits are performed and he does this with no one helping him but his twelve string guitar. Continue reading “Metal Mania: Stripped Across America” by Various Artists→
