Michael Schenker Releases Temple Of Rock - Live In Europe DVD

I have to admit that Temple Of Rock is a real letdown, but the idea of watching Michael Schenker shredding alongside Herman Ze German, Pete Way, and Rudolph Schenker is intriguing. Here's the details on Michael's new dvd:

Michael Schenker Temple Of Rock - Live In Europe 
to be released on January 15, 2013

Assault Attack!!

Inakustik will release Michael Schenker's Temple of Rock: Live in Europe on CD, DVD, Blu-ray and Limited Deluxe Edition, on January 15, 2013 in North America. This essential live rock'n'roll release includes songs performed live in Tilburg, The Netherlands in May 2012, plus songs performed at London's 2011 High Voltage Festival.

At the ripe age of 15, after a very early start in his professional music career recording his first album with the Scorpions and after joining UFO age 17, Michael Schenker focused exclusively on lead guitar and pure self-expression. The second chapter in his career was focused on experimenting and developing his expertise on a more musical and personal level. With excellent musicians, friends and fans from all over the world, this live recording is part of this celebration. Michael Schenker sees his music as a building block in the construction of the Temple Of Rock. "The Temple Of Rock is almost finished," explains Michael Schenker. "The foundation was laid in the 60s by Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, Black Sabbath, Jeff Beck, and Cream. In the late 70s, the pillars were then built by bands like UFO and AC/DC.

By the 80s it was further reinforced by the likes of Judas Priest and the Scorpions, and many other influential rock bands. "There's not much new left to expect, but I am glad to be a part of this temple," says Michael. "It's unbelievable fun and an honor to share a stage and make music with some of the world's best musicians."

A concert from Tilburg, the Netherlands was recorded in May 2012 that noticeably distinguishes itself from previous releases due to the line-up that includes Michael Schenker (lead guitar), Doogie White (vocals), Herman Rarebell (drums), Francis Buchholz (bass) and Wayne Findley (rhythm guitar, keyboards).

In addition to this Tilburg concert, fans can experience extracts from London's 2011 High Voltage Festival with Michael Voss (vocals), featuring awe-inspiring guest appearances from Schenker's friends and musical companions including his brother Rudolf Schenker (The Scorpions) who plays rhythm guitar on "Rock You Like a Hurricane", "Hanging On" and "Doctor Doctor", UFO's Pete Way who plays bass guitar on "Doctor Doctor", and vocalists Jeff Scott Soto (ex-Journey), and Doogie White, who jointly sing on "Doctor Doctor".

All in all, there has never been such extensive and high quality material from Michael Schenker for your viewing and listening pleasure.

LIVE IN TILBURG - TRACK LISTING
Into The Arena
Armed And Ready
Lovedrive
Another Piece Of Meat
Hanging On
Cry For The Nations
Let Sleeping Dogs Lie
Coast To Coast
Assault Attack
Before The Devil Knows You're Dead
Lights Out
On And On
Let It Roll
Shoot Shoot
Rock You Like A Hurricane
Rock Bottom
Holiday
Blackout
Doctor Doctor

THE MUSICIANS
Michael Schenker (lead guitars)
Doogie White (lead vocals)
Herman Rarebell (drums)
Francis Buchholz (bass)
Wayne Findlay (keyboards, guitars, backing vocals)
Michael Voss (lead vocals, guitar - Special guest on 'Hanging On')

LIVE AT HIGH VOLTAGE
TRACK LISTING

Armed And Ready
Another Piece Of Meat
Rock You Like A Hurricane (ft. Rudolph Schenker)
Hanging On (ft. Rudolph Schenker)
Doctor Doctor (ft. Rudolph Schenker)

THE MUSICIANS
Michael Schenker (lead guitars)
Michael Voss (lead vocals, guitar)
 Herman Rarebell (drums)
Wayne Findlay (keyboards, guitars, backing vocals)
Elliott Dean Rubinson (bass)

SPECIAL GUESTS
Rudolf Schenker (rhythm guitar on Rock You Like A Hurricane, Hanging On, Doctor Doctor)
Pete Way (bass guitar on Doctor Doctor)
Jeff Scott Soto (vocals on Doctor Doctor)
Doogie White (vocals on Doctor Doctor)

Accept - Stalingrad

To admit to liking the German heavy metal band Accept requires an understanding that you’ll always end up defending the sheer ridiculous of the video to the band’s biggest stateside song, 1983’s “Balls To The Wall.” If the image of a short, chubby vocalist with short-cropped blonde hair and a penchant for camouflage isn’t enough to put your infatuation through easy ridicule, then the image of a dummy version of Udo Dirkschneider actually riding a wrecking ball as it slams into a fake wall of bricks should surely do the trick.

I make no effort to defend that video, only offering that the riff on “Balls To The Wall” is so awesome that most guitarists would gladly give their left testicle to come up with a guitar part as spectacular. I’d also add that Sebastian Bach was spot on when he declared “Udo Dirkschneider” as the most metal name in rock music.

Accept circa 2012 is not the same band as it was thirty years ago during the heyday when they could afford things like Styrofoam bricks, stuffed Udos and videos recorded in bullet time. Hell, Udo isn’t even in the band anymore and only two of the band’s original line up remains active: guitarist Wolf Hoffman and bassist Peter Baltes.

To put it bluntly, why should you even give a shit about Accept circa 2012? For most of you, you probably shouldn’t, but for anyone else who can appreciate the beauty of metal’s adhesion to the riff itself and admire the sheer power of a male chorus chanting in an ominous Wagnerian manner such phrases as “Hellfire!” “Hung, Drawn and Quartered!” and “Stalingrad!” then Accept’s 13^th offering is worth considering.

Stalingrad is the second record featuring former TT Quick vocalist Mark Tornillo as frontman. Tornillo possesses a larynx scraping vocal style that resembles Dirkschneider, but certain performances also demonstrate a greater range that’s similar to legendary British vocalist Graham Bonnet.

That’s fine for when the band makes a go of all the Accept songs that most fans will end up wanting during the subsequent tour, but it does nothing for the sake of the band’s relevance, seemingly two decades beyond their welcome.

Remarkably, guitarist Wolf Hoffman has put together a line-up and a set of songs that defy the perception of Accept beating a dead horse, making Stalingrad a legitimate contender in the metal community and a source of inspiration to anyone who isn’t quite ready to let their dreams die.

Hoffman unleashes 11 tracks of uncompromising Flying V action, and he does it with such ferocity that it sounds too good to be a second wind. He also catches everyone off guard with an entire concept album about the battle of Stalingrad that’s as heavy as the subject matter.

Utilizing the same epic approach found in many Power Metal bands, Accept is distinctively European even with Tornillo’s New Jersey heritage as the voice of their recent insurgence.

Much of the Stalingrad’s success comes at the hands of producer Andy Sneap, who presents each member with stunning clarity. He leant the same skills to Testament’s The Formation of Damnation and Megadeth’s recent releases, proving that he’s clearly adept at bringing old metal bands into the sonic landscape of the twenty-first century while retaining certain highlights of their catalog.

With Stalingrad, he’s helped renew Accept’s good fortunes, streamlining all of their talents into one tight package that suggests the band’s metal heart transplant is an overwhelming success.

This review originally appeared in Glorious Noise.

Scorpions - Lovedrive

If Animal Magnetism caught my ear, Blackout confirmed the hard rock abilities of Germany’s Scorpions. Of course, this was before I had any knowledge of their 70’s output. This was at the point in the band relationship where one begins the awesome task of digging into an established band’s back catalog.

For many fans, that can only be a rewarding experience if the previous work happens to be good as isn’t too far from the excitement of what caught your ear to begin with.

Thankfully with the Scorpions, you really can’t go too wrong with picking up anything from their older material when you’re looking for further listening. Aside from the debut, which is misguided weak-sauce, the band gets progressively better, and they barely miss a beat when they lost their incredible lead guitarist Uli-Jon Roth towards the end of the decade.

That’s where I started. Under the recommendation of a friend, I was steered towards Lovedrive. I learned later that this was the album that began to get some consistent airplay across America, particularly with the opener “Loving You Sunday Morning” and the infectiously silly ballad, “Holiday.”

I remember thinking that Lovedrive was not as intense as the album’s I had heard, but in the years since I’ve grown fonder of some of the album’s tracks that I wasn’t too keen on upon first listen.

Lyrically, the band continues to string broken English with common themes like loose women, touring, and missing the loose women from back in Germany when they’re on tour. After a bit, the humor of some of the couplets transition from hilarious to hilariously awesome.

Particularly on “Another Piece Of Meat,” an ode to a Japanese fan who told Klaus “I’ve been too long alone/I need hot love, you know/And I need it now.” The entire song plays out like it was written by someone who’s never had sex in their life and the fact that the potty-mouthed chick was from Japan is the equivalent of a thirteen year-old saying that their girlfriend lives in Indiana.

Yes, I want the wallet sized school picture of this woman, Klaus. Prove it.

More incredulous is the part where Klaus tries to make up for the fact that his partner only refers to him as another piece of meat, bragging “She was screaming for more blood/Loved it more than any slut/I couldn’t stand it!”

But you consider the language barrier-a recurring excuse for Scorpions-you begin to see how utterly innocent these songwriters are. The band simply takes their second language (third, maybe, if you consider Tokyo Tapes) and tries to add provocative English words together that phonetically rhyme without fully realizing how utterly ridiculous they really sound  together.

God bless ‘em for trying, and God bless ‘em for coming up with the amount of riffage that they do for such unintentionally funny words.

Lovedrive is a surprisingly tentative affair as the band tiptoes around new guitarist Mathias Jabs, even letting  younger brother Michael Schenker guests as a guitarist for a few tracks just as a precaution.

All of this must have led to an awful amount of ambivalence when it came time to collect enough songs for the record. At one point, even “Is There Anybody There,” a misguided stab at reggae, finds its way on to the album.

They’d get more comfortable with this line-up for the next album, and they’d find enormous success around the corner. Lovedrive is the first Scorpions record that points the way to their commercial zenith while doing little to damage the high reputation of Uli Jon Roth’s era of the band where they used brute force to get your attention.

The cover is certainly attention grabbing to say the least, but there are hints throughout Lovedrive that show how their formula for a U.S. Arachnid invasion is proving to be successful.

Michael Schenker Announces 2012 Tour

Lots of open dates, and that troubles me. Michael isn't known much for his ability to follow through on lengthy travels through the U.S. and this tour looks to be filled with consequtive nights in small bars and clubs. It could be a recepie for disaster and this is clearly not the larger venue tour they had in mind before when Uli Jon Roth and Leslie West tour.

He's now paired up with Robin Mc Auley again, which means that I won't be seeking out this show like I was with the original tour package.

Mc Auley isn't even featured prominently with this latest album, so maybe someone figured out that latest vocalist Michael Voss is a bust.

Here's the press release:

"Michael Schenker, a true purveyor first-class hard guitar rock, released the aptly titled "Temple of Rock" on October 11 on CD, digital formats, and vinyl. He will now be touring with Robin McAuley in support of the album."



02.15.12 - SAN FRANCISCO, CA - MEZZANINE
02.16.12 - SANTA ROSA, CA- THE LAST DAY SALOON
02.17.12 - PORTLAND, OR - DANTES
02.18.12 - TACOMA, WA - BACKSTAGE BAR & GRILL
02.19.12 - SEATTLE, WA - STUDIO SEVEN
02.20.12 - VICTORIA, BC - 9 ONE 9 NIGHTCLUB
02.21.12 - VANCOUVER, BC - VENUE NIGHTCLUB
02.23.12 - ORANGEVALE, CA - THE BOARDWALK
02.24.12 - CORONA, CA - MARQUEE 15
02.25.12 - WEST HOLLYWOOD, CA- HOUSE OF BLUES
02.26.12 - SAN DIEGO, CA - 4 TH AND B CONCERT THEATRE
02.28.12 - TBA
03.01.11 - LIBERTYVILLE, IL - AUSTINS
03.03.12 - DETROIT, MI - HARPOS
03.04.12 - ETOBICOKE, ON - THE ROCK PILE
03.05.12 - CLEVELAND, OH - PEABODY'S
03.07.12 - SPRINGFIELD, VA - JAXX
03.08.12 - FOXBOROUGH, MA - SHOWCASE LIVE
03.09.12 - ASBURY PARK, NJ - THE STONE PONY
03.10.12 - NEW YORK, NY- THE GRAMERCY THEATRE
03.11.12 - ALLENTOWN, PA - CROCODILE ROCK
03.15.12 - TBA
03.16.12 - SAN ANTONIO, TX - BACKSTAGE LIVE SA
03.17.12 - DALLAS, TX - TREES
03.18.12 - TBA
03.20.12 - TBA
03.21.12 - TEMPE, AZ - CLUB RED
03.22.12 - LAS VEGAS, NV - VAMP'D
03.23.12 - AGOURA HILLS, CA - THE CANYON CLUB
03.24.12 - SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO, CA - THE COACH HOUSE

3 Guitar Heroes Postpone Tour

As soon as this tour was announced, I was excited about it.

For real, if I were to lay down my Baker's Dozen favorite guitar players, two of them would be former members of the Scorpions: Uli Jon Roth and Michael Schenker.

And Leslie West? Well, I did Mountain enough and I absolutely adore West, Bruce and Laing's Whatever Turns You On.

So the notion that these three legendary guitarists were touring together was something I was genuinely looking forward to, particularly when an Iowa date was announced on a Friday evening.

Just as I was getting excited, I got this announcement:

Michael Schenker, a true purveyor first-class hard guitar rock, is set to release the aptly titled Temple of Rock on October 11 on CD, digital formats, and vinyl. Unfortunately, his US visit with Uli Jon Roth and Leslie West on the 3 Guitar Heroes tour has been postponed until early 2012 due to Leslie West's leg amputation. More info will be made available at a later date.

Holy shit! The dude had his leg removed!

I thought surely a story like this would get more traction, but it obviously flew completely underneath my radar.

Evidently, it was an emergency amputation that occurred last June when his leg began to swell. They rushed Leslie to the hospital and, while there, he was advised that the procedure was needed to save his life.



Total bummer.

At first, I was convinced that Michael Schenker had done something silly.

On a press released concerning Schenker's upcoming record Temple of Rock, Schenker said:

"The Temple of Rock is within me where I create since I was introduced to the amazing invention of the distorted Guitar which is for me the most enjoyable and the best possible way to express myself. The Rock Guitar Sound that I fell in love with, mostly expressed as Lead break, is what I have nurtured and treasured all of my life. Combined with the infinite spring from within and the amazing musicians around me I keep expressing an ongoing development of my Art(Being). With Temple of Rock I am entering a new stage of my life, a new level of existence enjoying life more than ever, reaping the joy of all sorts of developments from the past.

Also, it seems to me that collectively, with true expressive makers of Rock Music, we have been building the external Temple Of Rock for many years and have now come to the point of putting on the roofing and celebrating the almost completion of the Temple. All generations of this period are meeting all over the world on one stage it seems celebrating an Era of 'Hand Made Rock' which will never be the same again due to invention of new technology but of course New Temples and New Wonders will arise to enjoy expressions in new ways."

What the fuck?

So you can see why I thought the postponed tour had something to do with Michael's deep fried synapse.

Here's for a speedy recovery.

To be able to see Uli and Michael playing together would be awesome.