| For Immediate Release |
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LOCAL MUSIC NEWS COLUMN by Tom Lounges NIGHT ROCK GOES LIVE!
My NIGHT ROCK radio show, which regularly airs on Sunday evenings at 6:00pm, will be getting a special Friday night premier on August 6, when we go live over the X-ROCK 103.9 air waves from the Lake County Fairgrounds that night from 6-8pm. A good deal of that two hour broadcast will be featuring some super talented local artists playing acoustically live on the air. Our on air/on stage guests will be region favorites like M&R RUSH (more on them below), KEVIN M. BUCK, plus Perry Jordan and J.C. Hartsfield of HEARTSFIELD! In between those live mini-sets and interviews, we will be spinning the kind of deep cuts and forgotten classics that you are used to hearing on the Sunday night show. Please come out and join us live that night at the X-ROCK tent. Following the broadcast, we will be presenting a free all ages concert performance from 8:30 to 10:30 by Black Sabbath/Ozzy Osbourne tribute act, Blizzard Of Ozz.
CHEVELLE SHIFTS INTO GEAR...
Chevelle, the hard rocking modern band of brothers from Gurnee, Illinois report that work is well under way on their new album. The as-yet-untitled disc is the Loffler siblings –– Sam (drums), Pete (guitar/vocals) and Joe (bass) –– follow up to their 2002 Epic Records platinum release, Wonder What’s Next, which spawned the radio hits “Send The Pain Below,” “The Red,” and “Closure.” The trio spent 2003 performing non-stop, including a run as a mainstage act on last year’s OzzFest tour, and opening for Audioslave, Foo Fighters and fellow Chi-town platinum selling act, Disturbed. “Chevelle’s extensive touring hardened the band’s sound,” said Pete Loffler, who will co-produce the new collection, along with his brothers. Helping behind the board will be Elvis Baskette, who engineered Wonder What’s Next. “I want to avoid being one of those bands that follows up a successful album by watering down what they did before,” he continued. “I asked Sam to break out the double-kick bass drum pedal, because I want to make an album that is more aggressive than anything we have done before, but that doesn’t sacrifice melody or dynamics.” One of the tracks expected to be included on the new Epic album, to be released this fall, is “Still Running,” which appears on The Punisher film soundtrack. “We’re pretty sure that song will make it to the finished album, but it probably won’t be the same version,” concluded the guitar-slinging singer. Former rock ‘n’ roll regionite, Jef Moll, who left for the smoggy skies of Los Angeles four years ago to work with Filter (he engineered their last two albums), is back in the Midwest and working with Chevelle on their new album sessions. Moll engineered the version of “Still Running” that is heard in The Punisher. For more on Chevelle, log on at: www.chevelleinc.com MICHAEL McDERMOTT PLAYS THE FIELD...
• Chicago rocker Michael McDermott, who is among my favorite songwriters ever, will be headlining a great outdoor concert at the Field Museum on July 22. His hot rocking new band, consisting of veteran L.A. cats will rock their way through McDermott’s sensational songbook against the beautiful backdrop of the classic Chicago skyline. For those who might have missed last month’s issue of Midwest BEAT Magazine with McDermott on the cover, he has a brand new national CD now out the racks called, Ashes, that is a rock solid collection guaranteed not to disappoint. Lansing singer/songwriter, Tristen will open the show, followed by the always entertaining Waco Brothers. For more information, log on the McDermott site at: www.MichaelMcDermott.com DJ WOZ REMEMBERED...
• The late McCool’s house DJ, Don Wozniak was memorialized in the way he lived…with rock ‘n’ roll! There was an all day memorial concert featuring a slew of great region bands that rocked hard and long to raise money for his widow and kids on June 6 at McCool’s. The bands who donated performances were Mas Kaos, Resizt, Force Five, Takabit, Demag’in and The Crawpuppies. The turn out was strong, lots of drinks hoisted in the air in honor and tribute to DJ Don Woz, as he was best known, and a damn good time was had by all who were in attendance. Kudos to McCool’s owner Sean Castor and Mas Kaos band leader Bubba Price for putting together this great event that did a lot to help the family Don left behind.
BAND BITS...
• Multi-platinum Rockford rockers, Cheap Trick, will release their From Tokyo To You DVD on June 15th via Big3 Records/Cheap Trick Unlimited. Featured will be live performances, exclusive interviews and behind the scenes footage from the band’s 2003 Japanese tour. Cheap Trick is no stranger to Japan, as the 1979 release Live At Budokan is one of the most celebrated live recordings of all time, reaching quadruple-platinum. Footage from this show is seen as the band reflects on the momentous occasion. “This is Cheap Trick- the H-O-L-E story… hilarious, outrageous, loud and exciting,” says Trick’s guitarist and co-founder, Rick Nielsen. • Three powerful and well-respected area groups released brand new, full-length albums last month, showing that great original music does continue to flourish in our region... M&R Rush gave up their first album of all new studio material in over 15 years, The Thrill Of The Chase. Though it has been available to their local following for the last couple of months, the national release of American Motherload’s album, Come To Life, was celebrated with a rip-roaring show last month at McCool’s. Likewise, The Steepwater Band’s first international release, Dharmakaya, hit retail racks around the global last month. • On June 11, the local music community lost 40-year-old keyboardist/vocalist Gwendolyn Kamradt of the Dave Sanchez Band. She was killed when an automobile she was a passenger in, hit a NIPSCO utility pole on U.S. Route 6 in Jackson Township. Also killed in the crash was her 48-year-old husband, Scott Kamradt. Our condolences to the family and friends of both… • Chicago hard rockers DROP have teamed up with NHRA Championship Drag Racing and will perform live at some of the organization’s summer events, beginning this weekend with a July 4 set of music at the Texas Motor Speedway in Dallas. The group’s latest album, Suckerpunch, was released nationwide via Dark Star Records/Direct Impact last May and has already received a good deal of radio air play in several major and secondary markets across the U.S. Catch DROP live on July 16 when they open the show for TANTRIC at McCool’s in South Haven. More info: www.drop-music.com • Veteran region drummer –– Randy Peterson –– who was sidelined with serious health problems in recent years is back to beating the heck out of his drum kit a year after undergoing kidney/pancreas surgery. Peterson is best remembered for his years with the Digital Hair, The Dave Carl Band and Force Five. “I have rejoined with my old buddies Force Five once again,” exclaimed Peterson. “I am in top shape once again and have 86-ed the dialysis and insulin shots for good!” Peterson makes his debut performance with Force Five on July 16 at Buddy & Pal’s in Valparaiso. • Long running local band, TRAXX, has splintered. Lead singer George Zaharias, drummer Phil Dietrich and bassist Jeff “Chainsaw” Zimmerman parted ways with group founder and guitarist Doug Henrichs. The three have formed a new band called Terminal Velocity. Henrichs reports that is still deciding if he is going to recruit a new Traxx line-up. • A bunch of well known local musicians who once were fixtures in area clubs during the late 1980s and early 1990s, have hooked up together for one more go around in region rock haunts. Aptly named – Retropolitan – the sextet play ‘80s dance/rock hits and consists of bassist Brian Smolar (ex-Joker/Force Five), guitarists Jim Nawrocki (ex-On The Rocks) and Steve Rempis (ex-Posterior), drummer Jeff Ronco (ex-Bad Habit/Red Shift), keyboardist Tom Brinkman (ex-Rock Candy) and Tressa Luttrell (ex-High In The Low 80s). More info at: www.retropolitan.us • According to their manager Steven M. Sime, Chicagoland rock group Big Big Shoulders, has inked a deal with Associated Television/UPW (Ultimate Pro Wrestling). The pact makes it official that four UPW DVDs will be released in the fall featuring original Big Big Shoulders songs. The songs to be used will all be pulled from the band’s newly released disc, Department of Jagoff Control. • Northwest Indiana’s female rock trio –– Allergikreaction –– may have been scaled down to a duo in February, when drummer Esther Raehl parted company with bassist Lin Wyatt and guitarist Michelle Krueger, but the sudden loss did not slow down the musical project. Wyatt and Krueger have been writing and recording a slew of original tunes with the help of a drum machine and samples, while keeping an ear open for a talented female beat keeper. If one does not turn up, the duo plan to forge ahead with their electronic rhythm partner and release a full length album by late fall. • Jesse Klemz (ex-V.O.R.) has taken over the beat-keeping duties for Drena Reign, replacing drummer Toni Zielinski in the line-up, whose day gig prevented him from continuing on with the popular region classic rock outfit. • Northwest Indiana blues guitarist extraordinare, Mike Gallemore (ex-Sam Cockrell Band), emailed this column from his new digs in Jersey to report that he has put together a new self-named blues outfit and is rippin’ it up in the Big Apple. He sends his regards to all the homies he jammed with in “da region.” • “Lakestock: An Afternoon of Peace and Sixties Music” will take place on July 25 at the Lakewood Forest Preserve in Wauconda, Illinois. Headlining the four band bill are late-‘60s hitmakers, Jimy Rogers & The Mauds, the Chicago pop-rockers once signed to Dunwich/Mercury. • Hoosier country rocker, Joe Reeves and his Crossroads Band will appear on the WGN-TV morning news show during the 8am hour on August 6... • Gold Star, an original melodic metal group from Michigan City, has inked a recording deal with Old Metal Records. The band – TJ Gold (vox), Dean Tavernier (bass), Stevenvy (guitar) and Jerry Roc (drums) – is hard at work recording tracks for their debut CD, Aurum, targeted for a late Fall 2004 release. • Gone All Summer wrapped up work on their latest album, Meanwhile...Back In The Real World, and will debut it for fans on July 2 during a CD release party at the Oak Lawn Ice Arena in Oaklawn, IL More info on the new disc at: www.goneallsummer.com • Umphrey’s McGee released their latest CD, Anchor Drops, on June 29 with a celebratory two-night run at Navy Pier’s Skyline Stage. They will return to Navy Pier to reprise the event on August 6 and 7. Don’t miss ‘em! • Congratulations to Nekole and Noe Perez of the Northwest Indiana classic rock cover band, Autumn Dawn, on the birth of their third daughter, Noelani Perez. After a what was described as a “rough pregnancy,” I’m happy to report that mother and baby are both fine! • Congratulations also to Northwest Indiana Symphony Orchestra’s cool rock ‘n’ roll marketing director, Kim Radu, on her marriage tomorrow! Strike up the band Mr. Ellman...for you are one luck guy! | ||
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