We Will Rock You

Drummer Michael Cartellone has had a diverse career, to say the least. His early interest in British progressive rock set him on an unlikely journey from his hometown of Cleveland, Ohio to New York City, where he spent several years recording various demos with former Roxy Music/ UK/ Jethro Tull keyboardist/violinist Eddie Jobson. From there Cartellone landed a tour with Styx singer/guitarist Tommy Shaw; Cartellone’s very first tour was in support of Shaw’s Ambition record, opening for Rush in every major arena in the country.

In the early Nineties Tommy Shaw joined forces with Ted Nugent and Jack Blades to form Damn Yankees, and Cartellone fell naturally into the drum chair for the all-star group. On paper a collaboration betwen a former member of Styx, a former member of Night Ranger, and Ted Nugent might have seemed implausible, but the group’s debut managed to balance the superior singing and pop songwriting sensibilities of Shaw and Blades with Nugent’s flamboyant guitar heroics, and the result was a radio-friendly multi-format smash. Damn Yankees went Double Platinum and spawned rock radio hits like “Coming Of Age” and “Come Again”, as well as the soaring power ballad “High Enough”, which crossed over to #3 on Billboard’s mainstream charts. The follow-up album Don’t Tread saw Damn Yankees expanding its songwriting into new territories, but the sudden emergence of grunge as the principal force in the marketplace virtually destroyed  the band’s radio market, and Don’t Tread missed going Platinum. The band had another album in its contract, but with the marketplace changing so rapidly Warner Brothers decided to pay the band’s option off instead of releasing a third album.

Cartellone spent the next several years in a wide variety of recording and touring projects including Cher, Peter Frampton, John Wetton, John Fogerty, Adrian Belew, Accept, Big People, and even country star Suzy Bogguss. In the late Nineties he joined Lynyrd Skynyrd, and since then he has spent the majority of his time on the band’s massive touring schedule. Cartellone also still plays on a number of outside projects, and he is a painter as well; his ‘Road Series’ of paintings have shown to substantial acclaim.

I interviewed Michael Cartellone on Sunday, October 11, 2009 by phone. This was my second interview with Michael; we had spoken at great length before for my book The Grand Delusion: The Unauthorized True Story of Styx. The drummer was exactly as I remembered him; humble, soft-spoken, and full of interesting and funny stories about his long and varied career.

In Part One we discuss Lynyrd Skynyrd’s current live dates in support of the God and Guns album; choosing which new songs to play with such a large back catalogue; how to integrate new songs into a set of classics without alienating fans; fan reaction to the new songs, especially “Still Unbroken”; the recent deaths of Billy Powell and Ean Evans, and Lynyrd Skynyrd’s history of  overcoming adversity and moving on; the process of replacing members and how that affects the music; whether a band that replaces members can still be seen as that band; Michael’s own entry into Lynyrd Skynyrd, and how he found his place in the band despite being a “Damn Yankee” joining a Southern Rock band.

My thanks to Michael Cartellone for this interview.

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FROM HTTP://NIGHTWATCHERSHOUSEOFROCK.BLOGSPOT.COM:

To celebrate their 40th anniversary legendary British hard rockers Uriah Heep have decided to look back to their past without melancholy or nostalgia.

The band have re-recorded twelve of their most successful songs: classics like “Free Me”, “Gypsy”, “The Wizard”, “Easy Livin’” and of course their all-time smash hit “Lady in Black”. The result is the brand new collection ‘Celebration : Forty Years Of Rock’.

Already released October 6th in Continental Europe and due to be released October 26th in the U.K., the album is slated for a U.S. release in November.

In addition to the twelve re-recordings the band have composed and recorded two completely new songs as a special gift to their fans: “Only Human” and “Corridors of Madness”, self described as ” two of their best tracks in years”.

“Celebration” will also be a tour, reaching every major city in Europe and all over the world.

“Celebration” will be delivered in three different editions:

• Standard Edition (CD Only)
• Deluxe Edition (CD + DVD)
• Collector’s Edition (CD+7″ Vinyl) signed by the band.

For more information go to this location.

FROM HTTP://NIGHTWATCHERSHOUSEOFROCK.BLOGSPOT.COM:

It is with a sad, heavy heart that we report that Rock ‘n’ Roll lost a true legend today, as Dickie Peterson, the singer and bassist for pioneering metal/psychedelic band Blue Cheer, died in Germany this morning, October 12th. He had been battling liver cancer for several months. He recently turned 61 on September 12th.

Inspired by the heavy blues improv of Cream and Hendrix, legendary proto metal gods Blue Cheer roared forth from the San Francisco Bay area onto the national scene in a big way in early 1968 with their debut album ‘Vincebus Eruptum’. Completely at odds with almost all of what was coming up from the hippie flower power underground, they were the antithesis of bands such as The Grateful Dead, as subtle as a jackhammer and louder than a 747.

Named for the particularly potent “Blue Cheer” acid, incredibly they hit paydirt with both the album and the single culled from it, the classic cover of Eddie Cochran’s “Summertime Blues” soaring towards the upper reaches of the Billboard charts, peaking at #14 and #11 respectively. Contemporaries of Hendrix, Joplin and The Doors, their powerhouse performances elicited Jim Morrison to pronounce them, “The single most powerful band I’ve ever seen”.

The first American band to use Marshall amps, the power trio, initially consisting of bassist/vocalist Dickie Peterson, drummer Paul Whaley and guitarist Leigh Stephens were undoubtedly the heaviest and loudest band of the time. So loud in fact that due to said loudness, these pure volume dealers had to, for their Eddie Kramer engineered sophomore release ‘Outside Inside’, record the basic track sessions outside on Pier 57 in Manhattan.

Live, they were the first band ever listed in the Guinness Book Of World Records as “Loudest Band In The World”, establishing a precedent which was eventually eclipsed by Ritchie Blackmore and Deep Purple.

After a long recording hiatus, the beast was defiantly back with their first new studio release in 15 years, 2007’s ‘What Doesn’t Kill You…’. Not the usual cash grab by veteran rockers attempting to pad their retirement fund, it showed that after 40 years the band hadn’t lost a step.

In June 2009 the band released their first ever DVD Blue Cheer -Rocks Europe, filmed live at Rockpalast, in Bonn, Germany.

Last year I had the wonderful opportunity to talk with Peterson at length and in depth, covering the entire career of the band. That interview can be accessed at this location.

Our deepest sympathy and condolences to Dickie’s family, and multitude of friends throughout the world. RIP, you will be sorely missed, but never forgotten.

FROM WWW.CLASSICROCKMAGAZINE.COM:

Kiss have their highest-charting album ever in America with Sonic Boom.

The new record will debut at No.2 on the Billboard charts, having sold 108,000 copies in its first week. The previous highest position that the band have reached was No.3 with Psycho Circus in 1998.

Sonic Boom is the eighth Kiss album to make it into the US Top 10.

For further info, go to www.kissonline.com

FROM WWW.CLASSICROCKMAGAZINE.COM:

The Faces reunion in London on October 25 might not be a one-off.