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Vince Neil: “I Cut a Nun’s Head Off With a Chainsaw - Bands Don’t Do That Anymore”

Photo: Harrison/Getty Mötley Crüe released their first album of new material in nearly a decade this past summer, but that’s business as usual for singer Vince Neil. “We stop touring and don’t put a record out and everybody says we broke up, and it’s not really true,” Neil insists. “We were just taking a vacation.” That break fully came to an end this year. The veteran glam-metal act celebrated the release of Saints of Los Angeles with the inaugural Crüe Fest, a traveling multi-act hard rock roadshow that also included Sixx A.M., the side-project of Crüe bassist Nikki Sixx (with producer-vocalist James Michael). Crüe Fest 2 is already planned for summer 2009. And last week, Mötley convened again for a special show at the Hollywood Palladium in preparation for a 2009 U.S. arena tour that begins in San Diego on February 2nd. That concert marked the debut of a new support act, the Last Vegas, a band chosen in a nationwide competition sponsored by Guitar Center to open the show every night on tour (along with Hinder and Theory of a Deadman). The Palladium gig also brought the four members of Mötley Crüe back to L.A.’s Sunset Boulevard, where the band notoriously began its career more than two decades before. “We walked down the street with our high heels on — stiletto heels — and dog collars,” Neil remembers with a laugh. “We didn’t have any money, so we looked cheap, but it was good cheap.” Why choose an unknown band to open for the tour? Kiss took us out when we were just playing clubs, and then when Ozzy took us out it really broke Mötley Crüe. Those bands took chances on us. So why not give back and take a chance with a new unknown band? The Last Vegas are young and aggressive, their songs are good and they look good. If you could go back and see Mötley from the early days, how do you think you’d react to them as a new band? I’d probably go, “What the fuck are these guys thinking about, man!” Bands don’t do what we used to do. Bands don’t have the theatrics. We wer

Published: 2008-11-18
Provider: Rolling Stone
Keywords: Rock News

Cream’s Jack Bruce Starts Feud With Led Zeppelin 35 Years Too Late

Photo: Shugerman/Getty Jack Bruce of Cream recently unleashed some harsh words about Led Zeppelin, airing some grievances to the press at a recent award ceremony by saying “Fuck off, Zeppelin, you’re crap.” “Everybody talks about Led Zeppelin, and they played one fucking gig — one fucking lame gig — while Cream did weeks of gigs,” Bruce said in the unprovoked attack. “Fuck off, Zeppelin, you’re crap. You’ve always been crap and you’ll never be anything else. Cream is 10 times the band that Led Zeppelin is.” Bruce was apparently angry that Zeppelin and not Cream (as had been scheduled), became the headliner of the Ahmet Ertegun tribute concert at the O2 Arena in London in December 2007. Bruce later tried to back away from the comments, saying “I was just having some fun with the press gallery, really” but then added a post script to the apology by lambasting Zeppelin some more. “The thing about Zeppelin is that obviously it’s a little bit of jealousy on my part — or more than a little bit — because the audience was created by Cream and Jimi Hendrix…this sort of very large audience…Then Zeppelin came along and had a very easy ride in that way. We were the pioneers and pioneers don’t always get the recognition they deserve, maybe.” As for Led Zeppelin’s decision to tour with a replacement for Robert Plant, Bruce added “Well, I always thought Robert Plant used the wrong kind of fertilizer, anyway, so I think he might be an improvement…I’m just joking.” As for the battle of the guitar gods, “Let’s face it: Jimmy Page ain’t no Eric Clapton, no matter what anybody thinks,” Bruce said. Related Stories: • Fricke’s Picks: The Cream of Bruce • Jack Bruce Wants More Cream Reunion Gigs • John Paul Jones Hints At Led Zeppelin Tour Without Robert Plant • Led Zeppelin: Full Report From O2 Arena

Published: 2008-11-05
Provider: Rolling Stone
Keywords: Rock News

Having Survived Industrial Rock, Ogre Takes on the Future

Nivek Ogre, the founder of industrial icons Skinny Puppy who was born Kevin Ogilvie but now just goes by “Ogre,” has been around both literally and figuratively. Born and raised in Canada, his work with Skinny Puppy (as well as KMFDM, Pigface, Ministry, Revolting Cocks and just about every other major band in the genre) took him all around the world before he finally settled in a serene mountain area in suburban Los Angeles. “My head is always my head, and it’s my most dysfunctional tool, but I have a sense of comfort in places that don’t feel like home,” he explains. He’s produced all brands of art and survived heroin addiction and has had an amazingly productive year: he stars in the surreal movie musical Repo! The Genetic Opera and also has a new album from his project OhGr called Devils In My Details. The album, a left-field construction of processed jams and samples, moves further away from the pounding noise of his former bands towards something more abstract without sacrificing Ogre’s trademark theatricality. “We wanted to make the album an immersive experience. For me, records used to be that, but for today’s kids it’s video games, so we crafted a lot of sound design based on jump starts from video games. It’s a very crafted record. You’ve got to turn it up really loud.” “Looking for a reason to do the record became a big deal for us,” adds Mark Walk, the other half of OhGr. “A lot of people make a record just because the label says they can.” Walk created a number of audio-video loops based on images and films in the public domain. “We started jamming while watching these loops and using them as inspiration. We had a clip of Liberace performing this sort of classical lick, so at least part of the record was inspired by the image of his hands playing the keys. It was a different way to make a record, but it felt really natural after a while.” As for his participation in Repo!, it was a dream come true for Ogre. “My fantasy as a kid was to be able to sit in

Published: 2008-10-16
Provider: Rolling Stone
Keywords: Rock News