Stern Pinball have announced an improved version of their best-selling AC/DC pinball machine, which was first introduced in 2012. The new game represents a significant upgrade from the prior Pro model and comes equipped with state of the art LED technology, a swinging bell, a new metal and wood back box and decaled cabinet and speaker housing.
According to Gary Stern, CEO of Stern Pinball, timing and an array of technological enhancements made the decision to produce another AC/DC pinball machine a no-brainer. “With the AC/DC license expiring at the end of December 2014, we wanted to offer our operators and enthusiasts a great earning game with the enhanced features that we’ve recently developed.”
The new AC/DC LED Pro features technological upgrades implemented by Stern in its current Pro models. In addition to the LEDs and the swinging bell, the new AC/DC LED Pro is manufactured with Stern’s updated modern metal and wood back box with a decaled cabinet and speaker housing. All the other great game features, art and music are unchanged from Stern’s earlier AD/DC Pro.
Stern also makes a Metallica-themed game and in the past has partnered with the Rolling Stones and Elvis Presley‘s estate on other machines. The AC/DC Pro LED Pinball will be produced in a limited run and retails for $5,595. For more information, visit Stern’s official website: www.sternpinball.com
After the swirl of rumors surrounding guitarist Malcolm Young's apparent illness and the possibility that AC/DC would no longer continue as a recording or touring entity, the band released this statement on their Facebook page this morning:
"After forty years of life dedicated to AC/DC, guitarist and founding member Malcolm Young is taking a break from the band due to ill health. Malcolm would like to thank the group’s diehard legions of fans worldwide for their never-ending love and support.
In light of this news, AC/DC asks that Malcolm and his family’s privacy be respected during this time. The band will continue to make music."
AC/DC frontman Brian Johnson told the UK's Telegraph today:
"We are definitely getting together in May in Vancouver. We're going to pick up some guitars, have a plonk, and see if anybody has got any tunes or ideas. If anything happens, we'll record it."
“I wouldn’t like to say anything either way about the future. I’m not ruling anything out. One of the boys has a debilitating illness, but I don’t want to say too much about it. He is very proud and private, a wonderful chap. We’ve been pals for 35 years and I look up to him very much.”
"AC/DC is such a tight family. We've stuck to our guns through the Eighties and Nineties when people were saying we should change our clothes and our style. But we didn't and people got it that we are the real deal."
We know now that the ailing member is rhythm guitarist Malcolm Young, who's health issues were first reported by friend Mark Gable, who said the 61-year-old is “unable to perform anymore," most likely because of a stroke. AC/DC was planning a huge 40th anniversary tour, playing 40 concerts in 40 different venues. “That would be a wonderful way to say bye bye,” Johnson added. “We would love to do it. But it’s all up in the air at the moment.”
Time will is AC/DC to record new music or tour again at this point, but most importantly is the health of the great Malcolm Young. We wish him and his family nothing but the best.
Are AC/DC about to end their 41 year career on a terribly sad note? As the rumors that have surfaced on the end of AC/DC continue, there are unnamed source denials and Australian music reporters that today are saying that now that since the apparent news is out, the band and their management will be making an official announcement on the situation tomorrow.
AC/DC vocalist Brian Johnson has said in past that the follow-up to 2008′s ‘Black Ice’ had been delayed due to someone’s poor health, but at the time didn't specify which member, but two months ago Johnson did say that the band would be entering a Vancouver studio in May to record a new album, followed by a 40-city tour to commemorate their 40th anniversary.
Reports from various sources are saying that more than a month ago, founding member, rhythm guitarist, co-producer and co-songwriter Malcolm Young had a stroke, which left a blood clot on his brain.
Australian Rock journalist Darryl Mason is reporting today that when AC/DC reunited at the start of April to begin a month of rehearsals, Malcolm discovered he couldn't play. Or at least not play like he he used to be able to.
Apparently friends and family members have been discussing what happened to Malcolm for the past couple of weeks and believe the decision was made last week to call it quits. If this is all legit and the band is done, it does not mean that Malcolm won't recover, either to being able to play, or more importantly, regaining motor skills lost after the stroke so he can live out his days in peace and with a great quality of life.
An announcement is expected tomorrow (Wednesday, April 16), with a reported press conference having been scheduled.
Billboard however is reporting today that “there’s no truth to the rumors” citing unnamed “insiders.” They also report that neither their management nor record label have issued any comment on the matter as of yet.
Peter Ford, an Australian entertainment reporter originally reported that Malcolm Young was ready to retire for “personal reasons,” and that the five band members have a pact that prohibits the band from continuing in the event of a member’s departure.
All indications lead us to believe at this point that AC/DC, or at least Malcolm Young will not be recording or performing anytime in the immediate future. If the band itself as an entity is done however, it will be a sad, sad day if we get that formal announcement tomorrow. LONG LIVE AC/DC!! ONE OF THE GREATEST ROCK BANDS IN HISTORY! And all the best to the great Malcolm Young!
With the 'The Lego Movie' becoming such a major hit, we must bring forth the best of the Hard Rock world Lego concert clips!! Check out the AC/DC Lego concert, along with Motorhead and KISS rocking Lego style!
Motorhead
KISS
There are many other rock band lego videos out there, so create your own lego Hard Rock show and Rock On!
Stevie Nicks of Fleetwood Mac has been keeping extremely busy as she readies the return of Fleetwood Mac, as a key member of Dave Grohl‘s Sound City Players. Nicks has already performed multiple times with the band, including a show and a speaking engagement at the SXSW Music Conference in Austin, Texas.
Nicks will spoke on March 15th in the Austin Convention Center, and her Sound City compadre Grohl was the keynote speaker this year at SXSW, and was joined by Nicks, John Fogerty, Lee Ving of Fear, Rick Nielsen, Rick Springfield, Brad Wilk of Rage Against the Machine, Corey Taylor of Slipknot and more at a concert held at the rock hall Stubbs. The Meat Puppets will opened the show.
The Sound City Players track with Stevie from the 'Sound City: Reel To Real' soundtrack quite possibly may be my favorite track on the album. 'You Can’t Fix This' is a haunting, emotional track that features the finest vocal by Stevie that I've heard in a long time. They performed the track on 'The Late Show with David Letterman' last month as well, which you can watch below.
In addition to appearing in that film, Nicks recently produced her own documentary called 'In Your Dreams,' and ten days after her speaking engagement, Nicks' interview with Oprah Winfrey will air on the OWN Network. That episode has already been taped, and it’s expected that Nicks will speak candidly about her history with drugs. On April 4th Fleetwood Mac will begin their 2013 North American tour in Columbus, Ohio. They’ll play 34 dates this spring and summer. Stevie and the band are expected to release at least two new songs, in hopes for inclusin on a new Fleetwood Mac album if the response the the new tracks is positive. If they sound half as good as this song, that is a no-brainer.
Eric Clapton's 21st solo studio album 'Old Sock', features his take on 10 of his favorite songs from throughout his life, along with two new tunes. The album features guest artists Paul McCartney, Chaka Khan, Steve Winwood, J.J. Cale and Taj Mahal. The album was released on March 12th.
Clapton covers the reggae flavored 'Further on Down the Road,' by Taj Mahal, shows off his slide-guitar skills on a version of Leadbelly’s 'Goodnight Irene', honkey-tonks it up on the country standard 'Born to Lose' and covers a vintage show tune on 1937's Jerome Kern-Oscar Hammerstein ballad 'The Folks Who Live on the Hill.' The Gershwin Brothers 'Our Love Is Here to Stay' gets the slowhand treatment, with Steve Winwood's Hammond B3 Organ joining in on the cover of Gary Moore's 'Still Got the Blues,' with Peter Tosh's 'Till Your Well Runs Dry' covered as well.
Two Clapton originals, 'Angel', and one of the rock pick of the week 'Gotta Get Over,' round out the album. 'Gotta Get Over' is a solid original, bringing the classic Clapton sound back for us to enjoy. It's a great track from one of the all-timers!
'Old Sock' track listing
1. Further On Down The Road
2. Angel
3. The Folks Who Live On The Hill
4. Gotta Get Over
5. Till Your Well Runs Dry
6. All Of Me
7. Born To Lose
8. Still Got The Blues
9. Goodnight Irene
10. Your One and Only Man
11. Every Little Thing
12. Our Love Is Here To Stay
Clapton is getting ready to head out on the road for U.S. leg of his 2013 concert tour. It kicks off Thursday in Phoenix, Arizona. Then, EC heads to Texas for dates in Austin, Houston and Dallas followed by 10 more U.S. cities.
The Anthrax eight-track E.P. 'Anthems' that pays tribute to the classic songs by some of the band's favorite acts from the 1970s, will be released in North America on March 19th (MRI/Megaforce), and on March 22th in Europe (Nuclear Blast). The band's versions of Rush's 'Anthem' and AC/DC's 'T.N.T' are both in Rock Picks this week.
Joey Belladonna said about the E.P., "These are all bands I grew up with and have listened to forever. It's just great music. I had fun singing these songs and I was happy recording together with ANTHRAX, doing classic rock songs. Fun stuff!"
The band paid particular attention to the cover of Rush's "Anthem" in order to recreate the nuances of the original song.
"I have to get every little part of Geddy (Lee) down, 'cause I'm a fanatic with that stuff, and I have to," bassist Frank Bello said. "It's great. I love it."
Added Scott: "Charlie bumped into Neil Peart at the (Revolver) Golden Gods Awards a few months ago, and Neil actually said to Charlie, 'Yeah, we heard you guys are covering 'Anthem'. That's so cool. We put the clip of you playing drums [to the song] up on our web site.' And Charlie, I swear to God, he was like, the light, the glow that was coming off him after that was… I'd never seen anything quite like it."
Drummer Charlie Benante told Loudwire, "Back in the day, when we would do encores we would play AC/DC’s ‘Whole Lotta Rosie.’ We never recorded it back then, but when we were in the studio making ‘Worship Music,’ we decided we wanted to. But [singer] Joey [Belladonna] really wanted to do 'T.N.T.' He felt it was more in his style, and he knew the song backwards and forwards, so we recorded that, and it’s great. We recorded the track in Chicago and in Los Angeles [and] the sessions were really easy, felt really good. The thing about ‘T.N.T.’ for me is that there’s not a lot of drumming on it. So the challenge for me was to not go crazy with fills, but to pay tribute to the original recording, and keep it AC/DC."
'Anthems' was produced by Anthrax with Jay Ruston and former guitarist Rob Caggiano and recorded throughout 2012 at Benante's home studio, in Ruston's New York studio, on the band's tour bus while on last summer's Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem Festival, in hotel rooms, and backstage at their Berlin show last December.
The 'Anthems' E.P. will be available on CD and digitally via iTunes and other online retailers. Benante and artist Stephen Thompson have redesigned each track's original album cover art to "Anthrax" it. The "Anthems" EP will first be housed in one of the "re-imagined" digipak covers, and then inserted inside the main CD cover sleeve. The main cover sleeve has been designed in such a way so fans will be able to see which one of the six "re-imagined" covers is inside.
Anthrax will continue touring North America on the Metal Alliance Tour kicking back off on March 22nd. For all of these dates, the band will be joined by Shadows Fall guitarist Jon Donais.
RED’s latest album ‘Release the Panic’ was recently unleashed and hit the Top 10 on the Billboard album chart in its debut week. The disc, which features the hit single ‘Perfect Life,’ marks the first time the band has worked with producer Howard Benson (Halestorm, Papa Roach, P.O.D.). The song impacts immediately and doesn't let up, showing great musicianship and a band on the brink for a major step up in exposure.
The band is also in the midst of Winter Jam Tour 2013, an annual Christian music festival featuring artists in many different genres. After that tour wraps up, they plan on embarking on a headlining run in April.
Stillwater, Oklahoma band Taddy Porter are back with the follow up to their self-titled debut from 2010, which was a favorite of mine. The band just released their sophomore album 'Stay Golden' and show a positive progression, while maintaining the esscence of what they are about....great Rock N' Roll.
In talking about the title of the new album, singer and guitarist Andy Brewer recently said, “We wanted the title to pay homage to Oklahoma because it’s our collective home. At the same time, it gives a broader idea of our view on life and nods to that line in The Outsiders, ‘Stay gold, Ponyboy.’ It’s about holding on to your innocence and optimism. You’ve got to stay golden in the face of life’s curveballs, and stay true to yourself. As a band, that’s was our singular goal when we set out to make this album. We needed to remain true to the music we want to make.”
The fantastic first single, 'Fever' follows the guys to the beach surrounded by beautiful ladies "It’s an observation of an untouchable girl who can’t get enough of the nightlife,” reveals the vocalist. “You want her, but you can’t have her. While she’s sexy and has everything that will make you go crazy, she’ll never let you get close enough to figure her out. You can’t get enough of her, and you’ve got the fever.”
I got the fever! Taddy Porter just played 5 gigs surrounding SXSW (South By Southwest) in Austin, Texas this week, followed by a month long tour that will wrap on April 10th in Seattle, Washington.
Swedish rock band Free Fall make their first appearance in rock picks. I really like the straight ahead rock sound and vibe of this band. Free Fall features guitarist Mattias Bärjed (Soundtrack Of Our Lives) and drummer Ludwig Dahlberg (THE [International] Noise Conspiracy)
The band's bio:
As far as a musical direction there was a clear intention to sound like a mix between early Van Halen, the Stooges and the WHO. Other obvious influences on the band would be rock classics such as Led Zeppelin, UFO, AC/DC and Judas Priest to name a few. First in line to join the band was long time friend and bass wizard Jan Martens, who was joint shortly there after by drummer Ludwig Dahlberg (International Noise conspiracy).
The final, last and very vital piece of the Free Fall puzzle was to find a lead vocalist. And not just any vocalist - but a guy that could deliver the very high standard closing in on over the top vocals that the band was looking for to front Free Fall. The word hit the streets that the band was looking – for a vocalist in the school of Steve Marriot and Bon Scott – and after some time help was found from Mattias and Ludwigs long time friend and producer Don Alsterberg (Graveyard, José Gonzales etc).
Don claimed that he knew a guy called Kim from his hometown – that he was close to sure was the right guy for the job. Kim Fransson showed up at rehearsals, the band jammed a couple of songs and the rest will be history. After signing a deal with Nuclear blast the band went into Studio Cobra in Stockholm and have together with producer, engineer and mixer Martin Ehrencrona recorded an album that will show the world what Free Fall and their Freedom rock is all about. - Power and volume
"World Domination" comes off Free Fall's debut album, 'Power & Volume', which was released on February 22 via Nuclear Blast Records.
'Power & Volume' track listing:
1. Power & Volume
2. Free Fall
3. Midnight Vulture
4. Top Of The World
5. Attila
6. World Domination
7. Love Bombing
8. Damnation
9. Meriola Blues
10. Meat
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