Marshall Of Rock

The fourth and latest episode of Joe Bonamassa's "Driving Towards The Daylight' video series has been posted. If you haven"t seen any of these yet, you owe it to yourself to check them all out. CG Film did a really well done chronicles of the recording of the upcoming Bonamassa album, due May 22nd. 'Driving Towards The Daylight' will be Joe's 13th studio album. The latest clip covers the reasons and history of recording in Las Vegas at Palm Studios.

The coming together of the great producer Kevin Shirley, guitarist Brad Whitford of Aerosmith, drummer Anton Fig, bassist Michael Rhoads, keyboardist Arlan Schierbaum and Australian music legend Jimmy Barnes are all featured so far in the series of videos, of which 6 more will be released. I am so glad Joe and all these guys are making such fantastic music and can't wait to hear the whole album.

Guitar great Joe Bonamassa will release a his "lucky" 13th solo album, "Driving Towards The Daylight" on May 22nd via J&R Adventures. The album was produced by Kevin "Caveman" Shirley at Studio At The Palms in Las Vegas, Nevada; The Village Recorder in Los Angeles, California; and The Cave in Malibu, California.

An official press release states:
"Driving Towards The Daylight" is a balanced back-to-basics album that highlights Bonamassa's signature style of roots blues with rock-and-roll guts, while honoring the traditions of the original blues musicians. "We've taken some really traditional old blues songs — the Howlin' Wolf song 'Who's Been Talkin'?' and the Robert Johnson song 'Stones In My Passway' — and we've tried to imagine how they would do them in a rock context," said Shirley. "It's a very exciting return to the blues in a very visceral way. It's vibrant and it's gutsy and it's really, really rugged."

As expected, the musicianship is top notch on the album, with guests including Aerosmith guitarist Brad Whitford, Blondie Chaplan (guitar), Anton Fig (drums and percussion), Arlan Schierbaum (keyboards), Michael Rhodes (bass), Carmine Rojas (bass), Jeff Bova and The Bovaland Brass, Pat Thrall (guitar), and Brad's son Harrison Whitford (guitar).

Speaking from the studio in Vegas, Brad whitford said, "This is definitely more influenced by the stuff that the guys and musicians in this room love, early '60s English and American rock and blues. I guess we'll never get that out of our system and its fun to come in here and find our own path down that highway."

Four Bonamassa-penned originals made the album: the opener 'Dislocated Boy', the title track (and first single, 'Driving Towards The Daylight', 'Heavenly Soul' and 'Somewhere Trouble Don't Go'. Other tracks include covers of Tom Waits' 'New Coat Of Paint', 'Lonely Town Lonely Street' by Bill Withers, 'A Place In My Heart' by Bernie Marsden of Whitesnake, and 'I Got All You Need', by Willie Dixon. Australian rock singer Jimmy Barnes sings lead vocals on his 1987 hit 'Too Much Ain't Enough Love' to complete the album.

Once a week for the next ten weeks, 'Countdown to Daylight', a new reality series of 3-4 minute webisodes featuring interviews with Joe and his band as well as behind-the-scenes footage of the band recording 'Driving Towards The Daylight' in the studio. Tune in every Friday for a new episode on JBTV, Joe's official YouTube channel, and check out the first webisode below.

'Driving Towards The Daylight' track listing:

1. Dislocated Boy
2. Stones In My Passway
3. Driving Towards The Daylight
4. Who's Been Talkin'?
5. I Got All You Need
6. A Place In My Heart
7. Lonely Town Lonely Street
8. Heavenly Soul
9. New Coat Of Paint
10. Somewhere Trouble Don't Go
11. Too Much Ain't Enough Love (w/ Jimmy Barnes)

Sebastian Bach joined Billy Idol guitarist Steve Stevens for some special shows the last couple of days at The Iridium in New York City. Check out some awesome footage of the two performing Billy Idol's 'Rebel Yell,' and Van Halen's 'Hot For Teacher' below. It kick ass! Really f**king awesome!

Tonight (Jan. 29) will be their last performance together, at least for shows at The Iridium. Bach and Stevens were joined onstage by guitarist Pete Thorn, bassist Neil Jason and drummer Anton Fig, best known as the drummer on 'Late Show With David Letterman' for years.

photo: Frank White/powerlinemag.com

Ace Frehley has announced that he will perform his 1978 self-titled solo album in its entirety at a festival show in Wales this December. The former KISS guitarist will dust off “New York Groove,” “Snow Blind” and the rest of the classic Space Ace tracks at the Hard Rock Hell V festival in Prestatyn, Wales on December 3.

In 1978, all four members of KISS each released their own solo album. Frehley’s disc, which featured the #13 single “New York Groove,” rose to #26 in the U.S. album charts and was eventually certified platinum. The album also featured appearances by future David Letterman musicians, Anton Fig and Will Lee. Frehley’s current band includes drummer Scot Coogan, bassist Anthony Esposito and guitarist Todd Youth.

Other acts confirmed for Hard Rock Hell V now include: Dan Baird, Black Spiders, Black Stone Cherry, Bonafide, Girlschool, Little Caesar, Magnum, Million Dollar Reload, Reckless Love, Tygers Of Pan Tang, Quireboys, Tyketto, Voodoo Johnson, Voodoo Six and Wolfsbane. Hard Rock Hell V will be December 1st - 4th at Pontins in Prestatyn, North Wales.