Deep Purple New Album Next Year

Deep Purple are very excited by the prospect of making a new and significant album. To that end, they have decided to extend their writing and recording period through the summer of 2012.


Commented Deep Purple singer Ian Gillan: "We know we will disappoint some of our fans this summer. However, we look forward very much to our autumn/winter tour and continuing our worldwide tour with our new album in 2013."


During a 2011 interview with U.K.'s Express & Star, Gillan was asked when fans might be able to expect Deep Purple's follow-up to 2005's Rapture Of The Deep album.


"The fact is that we've been touring flat out," said Gillan. "We did 48 countries last year. We're getting so much off on that we just don't feel the drive at the moment for writing."


Gillan did reveal, though, that Deep Purple convened for a mini writing session earlier in the year.


"We were in Spain for a little while and we had a week off," he said. "We spent most of the time in the bar, to be honest with you. It was a good session, but nothing absolutely dynamic came out of it.


"I think to get some progress as far as an album's concerned you've got to have a target, you've got to work to a date, and that gives you pressure. If you've got the pressure, you get stuff done. We don't have a plan, to be honest.


"Things have always been chaos, certainly since I joined, and we've never been able to plan anything. If we'd been able to make plans, we'd probably have retired by now!"


"People like to do stuff that they're good at, that they enjoy, that they get something out of. So while it's fun and we're all getting older and bits are dropping off here and there, it's still great. I think there probably will be another album.


"And because we're not doing an album (right now) doesn't mean I don't write every day. It's a day off today and for me it's a full day at the office. This morning is interviews and this afternoon I've got two or three interesting pieces I'm working on at the moment. I write every day and so when I do come round to making an album there's never a shortage of what I call color material."


Deep Purple's 18th studio album, Rapture of the Deep, was released in November 2005. It was the fourth studio CD from Deep Purple since guitarist Steve Morse joined the band in 1994. It was also the second album to feature veteran keyboardist Don Airey.

KISS drummer Peter Criss named Drum Legend

Original KISS drummer Peter Criss was honored Saturday night with theDrum Legend award during the grand finals of Guitar Center's annual Drum-Off event.

The Drum Legend induction, at Club Nokia in Los Angeles, honors icons in the drum world that have paved the way for today's drummers. The award is given to those that have made significant contributions to the craft and have hugely influenced players by their style and illustrious musical career. 

Past inductees include John Bonham, Billy Cobham, Nicko McBrain, Steve Smith, Dave Garibaldi, Alan White, and Greg Errico.

“All of us drummers are the same,” said Criss. “We’re all like brothers. Nobody knows what it’s like to get back there and break your ass, and sweat yourself to death, while the guys in the front are kinda gettin’ the spotlight. If there’s not a great drummer, it ain’t a great band.

Van Halen New Single

New Single By Van Halen called Tattoo:

Dream Theater Frontman James Labrie Starts Writing Third Solo Album

Dream Theater frontman James LaBrie just announced via his official Facebook page that he is beginning to write for his next solo album. LaBrie’s longtime writing partner Matt Guillory will once again lend his talents for the Dream Theater vocalist’s third solo album.

Keyboardist Matt Guillory began working with LaBrie more than a decade ago in the progressive metal project MullMuzzler. After releasing two albums under the name, the duo most recently composed LaBrie’s 2010 solo album ‘Static Impulse.’

Labrie posted the following update on his Facebook page:

“Hey everybody! Matt Guillory and I are very happy to announce that writing for my next solo album has started. We’re very pleased with how well ‘Static Impulse’ was received and are excited to be making a follow-up.”

“You can expect all the usual suspects: (Marco Sfogli, Peter Wildoer, Ray Riendeau) In addition to this, we’d also like to announce that Peter Wichers (Soilwork) is on-board as a co-songwriter. Peter loved ‘Static Impulse’ and looks forward to making a kickass record with us. He is extremely talented and we’re stoked to have him! More news to come. Stay tuned – and Happy New Year!”

Meanwhile, Dream Theater are as popular as ever — releasing one of the most celebrated albums of 2011, ‘A Dramatic Turn of Events,’ which earned them their first Grammy nomination.

Slash Says New Album is "Raw"

Slash has been talking about his new in-progress album. It will feature singer Myles Kennedy for all tracks. After the festive break, Slash and Co. return to the studio to continue recording and mixing the as-yet-unnamed album, and the Les Paul-toting star predicts an April release.

Slash tells Total Guitar magazine, “We’re just going for the one take that sounds good, so my solos are more raw, probably sloppier in a way, because they’re very spontaneous to the point where it’s in the heat of the moment.”

Slash and his band – Kennedy on lead vocals and second guitar, Todd Kerns on bass, and drummer Brent Fitz – have completed mixing three songs with another 14 to go. The album is being recorded live, Slash saying the main challenge is “rehearsing the s--t out of them.”

Of the completed individual songs, Slash says, “There’s one song at this point called ‘Bad Rain’ which is a mid-tempo, very heavy and dark song. It’s in a drop-D tuning – and we’re already playing a half-step down – and the solo has a kinda chromatic feel.

“There’s one very uptempo song with a cool riff called ‘Halo.’ The third song is called ‘Standing in the Sun’ and it’s very melodic, mid-to-uptempo… just a rock ’n’ roll song! All three of these songs are relatively short, they’re all in a rock mold, and I guess I always come from that pentatonic point of view. For me, any time you go too far out of that, it ceases to be rock. It has to have a basis around that, otherwise it no longer has any essence of that Chuck Berry kinda deal.”

Slash says he is “pretty excited” about making such a raw album with “natural tone” everywhere. “Everything is being played live with the music tracks: the solos, everything. We’re trying not to overdub extra bits. So if there’s a solo, I’m playing on one side, Myles’s rhythm track is on the other.”

Myles Kennedy adds that the album is “real stripped-down and simple,” saying his own favorites so far are “Standing in the Sun” and another song called “Far and Away.”

Despite “sharing” singer Kennedy with Alter Bridge, Slash insists, “I’ve been happiest in my career these last couple of years.”

Zakk Wlyde Planning Kids Book Dubbed "Bible Of Stupidity"

Zakk Wylde is known for many things, most of them relating to music or being an all-around badass. His latest endeavor has the Black Label Society frontman storming the literary world with what he calls the ‘Bible of Stupidity.’


Wylde spoke at length about his next unexpected project, his delayed literary debut ‘Bringing Metal to the Children,’ which is expected sometime in 2012:

“A new literary masterpiece up there with Gone with the Wind. It’s basically a literary bible of stupidity. (laughs) Me and (co-author) Eric (Hendrikx) were writing the thing, we were just laughing our balls off when we were writing some of this stuff. A lot of the situations are really real. It’s me talking about a lot of real situations that have actually happened and talking about how ridiculous the music business is. The whole thing is, you’ve got your posters of Jimmy Page up on the wall and Randy Rhoads and Eddie Van Halen and Jimi Hendrix, Frank Marino, Robin Trower—all my favorite guys—and you practice your balls off ‘til your fingers and your hands are bleeding to hone your craft, and anything after that just basically goes down the s—ter. It’s one rude wakeup call after another.”

Zakk is currently planning an upcoming DVD featuring stripped down acoustic-based performances of BLS tunes — what he refers to as “Unblackened” — with some electric guitar leads, guest appearances, and a string section. Based on his prior statements, we expect that the long-planned project will materialize at some point in 2012.

New Supergroup:Giraffe Tongue Orchestra

Giraffe Tongue Orchestra — the new supergroup featuring members of Mastodon, Jane’s Addiction, and Dillenger Escape Plan — just announced the addition of ex-Mars Volta and current One Day As a Lion drummer Jon Theodore to the roster.

The group of talented, yet stylistically different musicians boasts Dillenger Escape Plan guitarist Ben Weinman, guitarist/vocalist Brent Hinds of Mastodon, bassist Eric Avery formerly of Jane’s Addiction, and now One Day As a Lion stickman Jon Theodore. The announcement contrasts previous reports that Thomas Pridgen — also a former Mars Volta drummer — was on board to man the kit for the group. Theodore explained that his interest in the project was sparked by it’s unusual direction:

“When I first heard some of the ideas these guys were working on I immediately knew this project was right up my alley. Both beautiful and technical but not spastic, thematic but not cheesy, hard but delicate.”

It may be a minute before we hear any ideas the guys are working on, as both Mastodon and Dillenger Escape Plan still have overseas dates on their shared tour through March and according to Weinman they have yet to settle on a vocalist, or vocalists as it were:

“This band [Giraffe Tongue Orchestra] has been a long time coming. Now that we have actually started creating together, it’s great to see it all materialize into what I feel is some really interesting material. G.T.O. is a true collaborative effort, which in my experience rarely works, so I think we have something pretty special here. It just so happens to be with some of my favorite people and musicians. Almost every day this experiment seems to take on some new characteristic, and I think some of the people we’ve been talking to about contributing vocals would be a big surprise to many. It’s even surprised me!”

As always you can check back here for the latest info, we will have more details on G.T.O. as they become available.

Ringo Starr Writing Broadway Musical

Ex-Beatle Ringo Starr is preparing to work with Eurythmics man and top producer Dave Stewart on a musical.

According to the U.K.’s Daily Express, Ringo collaborated with Stewart on material for his new album, Ringo 2012, and the writing sessions resulted in extra material, enough for stage show.

Starr told Mojo magazine, “Me and Dave wrote a musical, a complete thing – characters, story, a lot of songs. We wrote it for Broadway, but it will more likely end up [as] a movie... and I’m not telling you anything else. It’s about other people.”