Great White Infests Roanoke Bike Show

There was something in the air last month on April 10. Maybe it was all those exhaust fumes from all the motorcycles gathered for the Blue Ridge Bike Festival at the Roanoke Civic Center. Then again, maybe it was aroma of aqua net and spandex that gathered outside waiting for the doors to open. The scene outside was almost like a time warp: excessively teased hair, over applied eyeliner and very tight pants. Actually, that was just most of the guys!

That night's entertainment saw two of the best "hair bands" from the eighties on the same stage as Great White and Dokken were there to rock the crowd. Great White's career has been all over the radar throughout their thirty plus year career. The band gained national exposure in the late 1980s with several MTV friendly videos and songs that rode the "hairband" wave of popularity. Their popularity declined a bit in the 1990s but they continued to tour strongly and release new material. In 2003, they received national exposure again, but for all the wrong reasons. A club that they were playing at in West Warwick, Rhode Island caught fire due to a deadly combination of pyro that the band were using and foam soundproofing material that was behind the stage. 100 people dies in that accident including the band's guitarist Ty Longley.

Most of Great White's "classic lineup" is still intact with Jack Russell on vocals, Mark Kendall on guitar, Michael Lardie on guitar and keyboards, Audie Desbrow on drums and Scott Snyder on bass. The show was definitely a stripped down version of their eighties tours with less lights and no pyro techniques at all. This allowed the focus to be on the music: less style, more substance.

One couldn't help but notice that lead singer Jack Russell came out on stage on crutches and sat on a stool for most of the band's performance. In a meet and greet with the band after their set, Jack told me, "I just out of the hospital a few days ago from back surgery. I figured, going out on the road and performing for our fans was going to be more fun than some morphine drip!"

Jack didn't let his setback hinder his vocal performance. He may not look the part that he did in the 1980s and 1990s, but that voice of his is still just as magical. The band has been known for its bluesy style of metal and they haven't lost a step.
The band ripped through such classic cuts as "Rock Me" and "Call It Rock And Roll". A personal highlight of mine was "Save Your Love" during which Jack's vocals were insane! This man still has a set of pipes on him! The band was very tight and proved why, after 30 plus years of touring and recording, that they are still around.

The crowd was very into the band's set from the beginning through the "who would have guessed it?" encore of "Once Bitten, Twice Shy" and actually were hungry for even more! It's always great to see bands like this who resist to roll over and play dead just because their style of music isn't the flavor of the week. Great White does this because they love to do it, not because it's the cool thing to do. That's why the industry today has too many "here today, gone today" artists. Great White is a rare breed that is true to its calling....true rock and roll pioneers.

Lacuna Coil Launches Attack On US

Italian alternative/metal rockers Lacuna Coil have been busy the last few months. We have seen them burning up the road as part of the Music As A Weapon tour with Disturbed, Killswitch Engage and Chimara. We also saw the release of their newest CD "Shallow Life". I got to talk to Andrea "Andy" Ferro, co-lead vocalist of the band, backstage before their show in Charlotte,NC on April 13.

JP- "Well, let me first thank you for taking the time to talk to me Andy. I'm a big fan of the band and it means alot. My first question is dealing with your trademark of having duel lead vocalists with Cristina and yourself. How did that come about?"

Andy- "In the beginning, I was playing bass and singing, we were mostly deathmetal and hardcore with some melodies, but mostly heavy music. Then in the early nineties, we started listening to goth metal and alot of European bands and we loved their style. So, we started playing slower and slowing down our melodies. We decided to add an extra vocalist in the practice room. We found Cristina working in a store and she wasn't singing professionally, she was only singing karaoke and asked her to sing some background vocals. We knew she could sing and when we heard her sing with us it sounded awesome. We knew it was making a difference. We were not sounding like any other band with the addition of a second vocalist. So, we added her as a second lead vocalist, I mean it was a shame to use her for only background stuff. That's how we started because it sounded different from everything that was out there. It gave us more space and added to the atmosphere. Some people do that with keyboards, we thought with vocals it would be more original."

JP- "On your new CD "Shallow Life", you chose to use producer Don Gilmore, who has worked with Good Charlotte, Linkin Park and Avril Lavigne to name a few. Did you guys choose him or did he come to you. How did all that work out?

Andy- "Our management approached many different producers. We had worked with the same producer from our first album through our fourth. We thought that we had done enough with him. I mean, it's not a marriage, we need to refresh ourselves and work with someone else. Plus, the way that our songwriting was going with more rock sounding songs and more in a rock vein, our last producer had not worked with rock bands, just mostly metal bands. Out of all the names we considered, Don was the one who really wanted to do it. He really liked the demo that we gave him of the songs. He wanted to work with the band and he was available at the right time. We decided to go for it and we met him and wanted to see he was as a person. He came down to Milan for a couple of days and we went out to dinner to get to know him and it was immediately a good relationship. He was a simple guy to talk to even though he had sold millions of records with Linkin Park. He was very down to earth and easy going. The next day, we took him to the rehearsal room to listen to other demos and he loved them and offered some opinions of the music. We then kept in touch by email and his ideas worked very well.

JP- " I listened to the CD that you streamed early on your MySpace page. I really loved the different sound on some of the songs like "I Like It", did Don bring that out in you guys?

Andy- "The songwriting and main structure of the rough version was done by us, Don contributed on arrangements and he cut parts that were too long or he simplified parts. He didn't change or write anything musically. The song is exactly how we wrote it. We've been very open musically to do what we want. If we want to do a ballad, then we do a ballad. We didn't care about the cliche of the band. We wanted to refresh our sound and the only way we could would be to go anyway possible and see what fits and what's out of the picture. We ended up with 20-25 songs, alot were too extreme or too much out of the picture of where we were going. Some songs we didn't change that much but so we really went out of our way to be not so ordinary. We wanted to find a new, fresher sound and still make it interesting. Many bands just repeat themselves and sometimes that's good. For AC-DC, it's good for them to repeat themselves if that's what you do but for us, we try to change a little bit with each album. We're not the kind of people who want to make exactly the same record but at the same time, we're not going to do a techno or rap album either. That would be too much out of our way. We do want to experiment as much as possible within the spectrum of rock and metal."

JP- "I like to ask a few personal questions that are more for your hardcore fans. Do you and the band have any guilty pleasures that might surprise your fans? Is it something that we can print?"

Andy- "Ha ha! I think most people think we just listen to metal but sometimes when we are on the road, we have a dance part and listen to ABBA or the Bee Gees or crazy seventies music. I mainly listen to rock but it's good not to limit yourself."

JP- "One last question for you. If you were trapped on a desert island and could only have one CD, it has to be a store bought CD, what would you want to have with you?"

Andy- "Wow, one CD is very limiting. I guess maybe a sampler of metal with Alice In Chains and Metallica and other rock/metal acts. Maybe Bob Marley would fit the atmosphere of being on an island better. You know, drinking and being on a beach."

Our interview was then over and ventured back outside. Lacuna's set was first on the bill that night in Charlotte. They came out to a great response from the crowd and opened with "To The Edge" and the crowd, although small, was really into the band. They followed it up with "Fragments Of Faith" and "Spellbound", which got a great pop from the crowd. An incredible version of "Swamped" as next followed by "Not Enough" and the band closed with "Our Truth". Their set was limited to thirty minutes but it was a tight set and it was surprising how into the band the crowd was considering they were there mainly to see Disturbed and Killswitch.

It seems that I will get my wish to see a longer set as the band has just announced headlining dates here in the US. That was the only problem with a thirty minute set, there was so much more that I was dying to hear. My only other complaint was not getting to meet Cristina as she arrived at the venue late. Oh well, maybe on one of their headlining dates. My thanks to George at Century Media for the tix and photo pit pass and to their tour manager Gus. Everyone, especially Andy, was a class act.

A Light Divided

Every band has to start somewhere. I didn't use to be much on seeing local bands perform because all I was seeing was the same old song and dance. Well, that recently changed when I went to the Somewhere Else Tavern in Greensboro, NC to check out A Light Divided. They were at a show in Danville,VA that I attended at Plan B and I only caught two songs and it had me a little intrigued. I actually checked them out on MySpace and I really liked what I heard. I contacted the band and made arrangements to see them the following Saturday.

The band had been together for about a year and was actually members from three bands that combined into one. The show that i was attending that night was actually the first show for new bassist Mike Underwood and guitarist Eric Humiston. I talked to the band before the show to get a little insight into what they were made of. I asked guitarist James Lewis about where the name originated from. "Well, I actually came up with the name. It was the third thing that I had written down. Actually, nobody liked it at first, but we had to have a name that day. It's actually grown on everyone since then."

I asked lead singer Jaycee Clark how she met up with the band. " I was actually driving down from Jersey where I was staying and rehearsing and playing with these guys and then driving back home 3 and 4 times a week and finally moved here."

I was also curious as to the limitations or obstacles of having a female fronted band. Drummer Adam Smith said," There are lot of bands that we know who use it as a gimmick. I mean it has its advantages, but a gimmick can only last for so long. We play what we play because it's what we'd wanna hear if we were in the crowd. It's really hard to define our sound. Sometimes when you do so, you limit yourself as to who you can play with."

"I believe that we would play with just about anyone as long as they believe in us," responded bassist Mike Underwood.

The band's influences include a slew of artists ranging from the Deftones to Killswitch Engage to Atreyu. Those artists plus similar bands including Coheed and Cambria, Kill Hannah, Secret Lives, gaslight Anthem and Trivium are among there artists of choice when it comes to personal listening tastes.

Who would the band love to share the stage with one day? Jaycee was quick to respond with the Deftones! Other responses ranged from Sevendust to Killswitch Engage to Severe Your Ties. During the entire interview, Jaycee was constantly "abused" by her band mates. "Do you see how they treat me? It's tough being the only female in the only female in the band, but I can stand my own against them. They are constantly running around the stage, so I have to be on my guard or I will get run over."

Adam then told me that the band usually takes the month of December off and would be entering the studios hopefully in February of 2009 to start recording the followup to their first CD "Before The Fall" which came out in April of 2008. I did ask them my traditional question of being stuck on a desert island with only one store bought CD, what would it be? Jaycee's choice would be Green Day "Dookie", to which I found out we went to the same show at the Cricket Arena and saw them on the American Idiot tour. Adam's choice would be the Smashing Pumpkins "Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness" CD. James' choice was GWAR's "13 Ways To Bleed Onstage" CD.

We then went inside as the guys started setting up their equipment. The band went on stage with a furry and quickly grabbed the crowds attention. Jaycee has great vocals that translate very well on the live stage. She is a very attractive woman who gets your attention visually, but she really does have the chops to back it up. I also have to say that James' personality on stage really gets the crowd involved. He can be a bit of a comic, but he really does lay down some mean riffs on the guitar. James is also in charge of "screams" . Adam worked up a fury on the drums as he was drenched in sweat by the end of the first song.

Adam told me that they like to keep their set short so that it leaves the audience wanting more. "There's nothing like being in the crowd and watching a band who drags out their set too long. You lose your audience's attention and they get bored. We don't wanna do that."

The band did hang around both before and after the show to pose for pictures and sign autographs. They had a merchandise booth with a tshirt and their CD and stickers available. I was lucky enough to see them again about 2 weeks later and the show was really hot. The new members definitely seem to have fit in really well. The second show that I saw was alot tighter and the band was really on their game that night.

You should go to their MySpace page and check them out. You can hear a few songs from their first CD there. If you like rock with an edge, you need to check them out. Having a female lead singer is not a gimmick for them, it's a element that works very well. I have to admit that my favorite tracks on the CD are "Just Like You " and "If You Don't Succeed", but their is not a bad track on the CD. I bought it at the first show I went to and it did not leave my CD player for days.

How would I describe their sound? Good question, I can hear different influences in their music. James does a little of the screamo stuff like on some early Hawthorne Heights.....R.I.P. Casey. I think they have a unique sound, it is kinda metal pop, but they can get a little hardcore if they wanna. They play all around North Carolina and you can catch dates on their MySpace. It is well worth the drive and money to catch these guys. I personally think that they are something special just waiting to break free. There is alot of potential there and they seem hungry. Only time and hard work will tell.