NEWS: Paul Stanley Super Bowl Washburn on eBay

Wow, it's a big week for ex-rockstar axes being sold on eBay. First Nine Inch Nails offload an arsenal of axes, now this: The Washburn Black Diamond played by Paul Stanley at the 1999 Super Bowl. Rad!

CLICK HERE to see the listing on eBay.

Here are some details from the listing:

PAUL STANLEY`S PERSONAL AND HISTORIC WASHBURN BLACK DIAMOND No 9 - “THE SUPERBOWL GUITAR”

PLAYED ON 31 JANUARY 1999 AT THE SUPERBOWL XXXIII at the Pro Player Stadium, Miami, Florida

Comes with FULL and personalized COA and is also signed on the guitar back, and well documented in both rock and American History..

This is NOT just your typically signed limited edition guitar, This is Paul Stanley’s Personal and customised Black Diamond No 9, ONE OF A KIND, “Played” live in front of America and across the world

This is it…… This is KISSTORY ….this is THE SUPERBOWL GUITAR …….

SET UP TO SUIT PAUL STANLEY AND CUSTOMISED WITH THE UNIQUE SUPERBOWL PICKGUARD. PERSONALLY SIGNED AND DATED ON THE BACK PLEASE NOTE - THERE IS A NUMBER OF SMALL PERFORMANCE SCRATCHES ON THE BACK OF THE GUITAR CAUSED BY PAUL`S STUDDED COSTUME. AND SIGNING THE DATE OVER THESE HAVE CAUSED THE DATE TO RUN AND BLUR, HOWEVER THIS IS EXACTLY AS THE GUITAR WAS SIGNED.

EXCELLENT ORIGINAL CONDITION AND IS JUST AS PAUL HANDED THE GUITAR OVER

The Guitar has only been strummed a few time since !!!!

There were Only 3 guitars taken to the Superbowl. There were 2 backup guitars - one being the Green PS200 which is in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio. The other is a black version which is in the BSG collection …. But there is only one Original

The Washburn Paul Stanley Model PS2000M Black Diamond Cracked Mirror #9 of 100. Is a Mahogany Body, Maple Top, Mahogany Neck Ebony Fingerboard with pearl/abalaone/pearl block inlays. Buzz Feiten Tuning System, Seymour Duncan SH6 Distortion and a 59' model in the neck. Multiple layer binding on body and headstock. This guitar originally had a list price of $10,000.00 and the first Guitars were sold for that price, and the run was never finished !!

THE CURRENT PS2000 “10th ANNIVERSARY” CRACKED MIRROR GUITAR RETAILS AT $9999.00

So you can see what a steal this piece of Kisstory actually is.

Comes with a custom G&C leather case with black crushed velvet lining made for the Limited edition Black Diamond.

You can see Stanley use the guitar in this video:

REVIEW: Ace Frehley - 'Anomaly'

CLICK HERE to read my interview with Ace Frehley about Anomaly once you're done reading this CD review.

Alright stop! Collaborate and listen! Ace is back with a brand new invention! Ace Ace baby! Oops, sorry about that, just got carried away… Okay, unless you’ve been living under some manner of space rock you would be aware that the original KISS spaceman, one Mr Ace Frehley, has beamed back down to record stores with his first album in 20 years, Anomaly (CLICK HERE to buy it from Riot Entertainment). A lot of water has passed under the proverbial bridge since Trouble Walkin,’ and Ace would probably be the first to admit that a lot of that was of the firewater variety. But here in 2009 Ace has been sober for three years, and he seems determined to make up for lost time.

‘Foxy and Free’ (the song contains a few sly references to Jimi Hendrix) opens with a chugging guitar riff and a tom-tom thunder that kinda reminds me of Alex Van Halen, before launching into a big classic hard rock verse. In true rock fashion we’re at the chorus by 37 seconds. Awesome. The production is reminiscent of that kind of early to mid 80s sound, with bright double-tracked guitars, reverbed drums and multi-tracked vocal takes. Two minutes in, we get the first guitar solo of the CD: a classic greasy Les Paul festival of blues licks. Awesome.

Track two, ‘Outer Space,’ tends to get lodged in my head at 4 in the morning. Some fans have reported taking a few listens to really get into this one, and while I liked it from the start I can sorta see what they mean, as I like it even more now. The guitar tone is a little more distorted here compared to ‘Foxy and Free,’ and the guitar riff behind the chorus vocal melody bridges the gap between T Bone Walker and Pantera. There are some cool atmospheric space sounds to tie the theme together, and lots of prototypical Ace double-stop pentatonic licks. The solo itself is a little raw and ragged, in the best possible way.

'Pain In The Neck' starts as a straightforward rocker with another cool distorted (as opposed to overdriven) guitar tone. The first half of the verse riff kinda reminds me of something from Van Halen’s 5150 album. The song takes a surprising turn in the middle section with a cleaner-toned, spacious, orchestrated section, before kicking into a classic rocked up Ace solo full of pinch harmonics, oblique bends, squeals, hammer-on/pull-off licks and heavy vibrato. Again, awesome.

Now for ‘Fox On The Run.’ Wait, what? ‘Fox On The Run?’ Really? Yep! Might sound like an odd choice at first, but once you hear the verse riff it’ll all make sense. Interestingly the verses make this track probably the most KISS-sounding thing on the album. Nice backing vocals too. Sweet solo too but it’s nowhere near long enough. Yeah, I’m a guitar geek, I want long friggin’ solos, okay?

‘Genghis Khan’ is mostly instrumental with the exception of the chorus, this one starts with a very processed, electronicy acoustic guitar sound before a much brasher, brighter electric tone comes in. Could be a Telecaster or the Gibson Reverse Firebird Ace mentions using. Certainly not a standard Les Paul tone. Ace takes the song through a lot of different sections and feels, but I dunno, it could use an instrumental hook in addition to the vocal one to just push it right over the edge for me. Great wah wah solo starting at 4:37 though.

‘Too Many Faces’ has more of the cool layered guitar tones that seem to be rapidly defining the CD for me. The drum sound on this one makes it sound particularly 80s, while Ace’s vocal delivery has a kind of George Harrison vibe, if not in voice then in cadence and direction. I kinda like the line ‘too many faces in the mirror looking back at me’ – obviously a reference to his previous job where he wore a lot of makeup.

There are a lot of songs out there called ‘Change The World’ but none of them have quite so nice a guitar tone as whatever the hell’s going on in this one. Throw on some headphones to appreciate its full majesty. Great drum performance too.

Now comes ‘Space Bear,’ my favourite song on the album. Ace opens this instrumental track up with a filthy, dirty, fuzzy, edgy, angry guitar tone. Almost like Link Wray’s ‘Rumble’ mashed up with Edgar Winter Group’s ‘Frankenstein,’ I’d say this one is destined to be rehashed on tennis rackets in bedrooms across the world for years to come, but all the kids play Guitar Hero now so they’ll probably all be jamming it out on that before too long, if the makers of Guitar Hero know what’s good for ‘em.

‘A Little Below The Angels’ is a predominantly acoustic folkish strummer about Ace’s battle with alcoholism. Parts of it could be considered a little corny but the sentiment is very heartfelt and it must be difficult to talk about this kind of stuff, so props to Ace for bearing his soul and getting himself together. ‘Sister’ features an awesome drum performance and a great heavy rock feel – another track that sort of sounds like it could have been recorded in the 80s, and one that demands to be utterly and thoroughly cranked to the edges of tolerable volume.

'It’s A Great Life’ is packed with great semi-clean guitar tones with lots of atmosphere and a driving rhythm. I could hear this being a hit single, if not now then at some other time in the past when radio actually mattered. I think it’s pretty cool that Ace hid such a catchy track so far back in the album. On the ‘My trip’s over but I’ll just sit in the driveway til I get to the end of the CD’ scale, Anomaly rates about a 9 for me, partly on the strength of this track.

Anomaly closes out with ‘Fractured Quantum,’ another instrumental with some tasty acoustic overdubbage and some understated little guitar melodies. It’s a pretty relaxed way to round out the album, and feels like it belongs on a film soundtrack. Maybe a montage in a road movie or something like that. It finishes with a solitary guitar just drifting off into the distance, and with that we bid Anomaly adieu.

CLICK HERE to order Anomaly from Riot Entertainment

INTERVIEW: Ace Frehley

"The album was 20 years in the making," Ace Frehley says, in reference to the years that have elapsed since Trouble Walkin' in 1989 and the September 15 worldwide release of Anomaly. "I started tracking in 2007. I tried to make it as close to my first solo as possible because most of my fans cite that as their favourite record, y’know? I did an interview the other day and I ask the guy, who had heard the whole album in its entirety, what he thought of the record, and he said ‘You could call it ‘Son of,’ you know? So hopefully I think I achieved that."

Ace Frehley, 2009 edition is a more sober man than the Ace of 1989 or even 1999, when Ace was back in the KISS juggernaut supporting the controversial Psycho Circus album. Although that CD was the first original KISS studio recording to feature Ace since Music From The Elder in 1981, Ace's contributions were, by his own admission and much to his dismay, rather minimal. Today though, with KISS about to release their own album, Sonic Boom, Ace has his eyes fixed firmly on the future. Y'know, just what you would expect from rock's preeminent guitar-slingin' spaceman.

CLICK HERE to order Anomaly from Riot Entertainment.

One thing I really like about Anomaly is that even though you used Pro Tools, it doesn’t sound like a ‘Pro Tools album.’ It sounds like it could have been recorded 20 years ago, 30 years ago…

Yeah, well I used a lot of old amplifiers, old guitars, old mics. And I’ve worked with some of the greatest producers in rock and roll: Eddie Kramer, Bob Ezrin and a host of others. And I’ve learned a lot of mic’ing techniques and ways to record from them. Plus I threw in a couple of tricks I’ve learned over the years on my own. I think I achieved an analog sound even though 90% of the record was done directly into the computer.

One thing that really struck me was that the drum sounds are really sharp and snappy, which is really cool.

Yeah! I had Marti Frederiksen and Anthony Focx mix the record. Anthony Focx really specialises in drums because he’s a drummer himself. He really tweaked the drum sound. I just think he did a wonderful job with the mixing, tweaking the drum sounds, the digital reverbs, and the actual room sounds that we got.

Being a guitar geek, I couldn’t forgive myself if I didn’t ask about your approach to gear on the album.

I used a bunch of old Marshall amps, old Fender and Vox amps. I used about a dozen acoustic guitars. Les Pauls, about a half a dozen vintage Fenders. I used a (Gibson) Reverse Firebird. I probably used 25 different guitars on the record. I even used a synthesizer guitar on ‘Change The World.’

Cool! Was that a new one, or one of the old ones people seem to be digging into lately?

It was just a Roland synth guitar I had laying around. I just went into Pro Tools and recorded the MIDI information. Then once you have the MIDI information recorded you can trigger anything, any exterior module or plug-in module.

I’ve been getting into that myself a bit.

This is the first album I’ve done completely digitally, and after working that way I could never go back to working all analog again. The flexibility of digital editing is unbelievable. I did a lot of editing, sampling and cutting and pasting in my hotel room. While Marti and Anthony were mixing one song, I was fine-tuning other songs in my hotel suite, which expedited the album.

Did you use it as a songwriting tool too, or more of just a recording or editing medium?

Nah, I don’t use Pro Tools as a songwriting tool. Most of the songs I write, I just have a drum track in the background. Just the beat, and either an acoustic or electric guitar. That’s the way I write, then I add vocals and build it from that. Some tracks were recorded as a three-piece with Anton Fig and my bass player. Some tracks I recorded into Pro Tools with a drum machine and Anton played drums to them.

I hear you’re working on a new Gibson Les Paul model?

Yeah! The first Ace Frehley signature series guitar came out in 1997. That was a Cherry Sunburst. The new one’s going to be a Blueburst with some special features: pickups I designed, speed knobs, lighting bolts… It’s going to be a special guitar. It’ll be released by the end of the year. The new pickups are basically a collaboration between me and Gibson.

One of my readers wanted to know what you use the middle pickup for. Does that come up often or is it just because it looks really cool?

I don’t use the middle pickup very much. I mainly use the treble pickup. In concert I only have the treble pickup – that’s the only one wired.

Are there any plans to do an Epiphone version of the new guitar?

I believe so!

Cool! Speaking of guitar, the instrumental track ‘Space Bear’ has a really bright, powerful tone. What are you using on that one?

I’m using a Les Paul and I doubled it with another Les Paul… actually I doubled the rhythm track on that with a Reverse Firebird. That song, I wrote that a couple years back. I wrote it for a television pilot for a police show that was never picked up by the network. I had that laying around and I developed it into ‘Space Bear.’ That song was probably the least amount of overdubs of any song on the record. I kept that pretty sparse except for a guitar solo and the riff overdubs.

The ‘Fox On The Run’ cover – when I first heard you did that I thought it was a weird choice, but once I heard it, and especially the verse, it really made sense.

Well last year when I was trying to finalise the songs for the record, I thought it’d be a good idea to do a cover. We were kicking around a few different ideas, and the gal who does my makeup for photo sessions came up with the idea to do ‘Fox On The Run.’ I ran it by my engineer, my assistant and Marti Frederiksen and everyone thought it was a great idea. When I went out to LA to mix the record we had not recorded that song yet. Me and Marti threw that song together one afternoon directly into Pro Tools. Marti programmed the drums, played bass, sang backgrounds, and I did everything else. Then I took the track back to New York and overdubbed live guitars on it. Then I brought the track back to LA and Marti put Brian Tichy on it, and that’s basically what you’ve got there.

I’ve had so many guitar students wanting to learn your licks. Is that amount of influence something you think about when you’re writing and recording new songs, or do you try and not think about it?

It’s something I don’t really think about very often, but when people bring it to my attention it seems a little in the abstract. Cos I never took a guitar lesson, I don’t know how to read music, and the fact that I influenced so many upcoming musicians – I almost feel like maybe I should have practiced a little more (laughs). But it’s something I don’t really think much about. I kind of try to live in the now and just focus on what’s at hand, you know?

The packaging of the album is really cool and unique.

It’s something I designed on the computer. I took from a lot of different influences. The actual kinda tentacles coming off from the side came from an alien from the movie Invaders From Mars. And obviously the lightning bolts are part of my persona as a spaceman… it’s just something that developed.

Well that’s all the time we have. Thanks so much!

Thanks so much for the interview. I just want to thank all my fans down in Australia for all the support over the years and I’m looking forward to coming down there.

Huge thanks to Riot Entertainment for arranging this interview. Riot are releasing Anomaly here in Australia on September 15.

For more info visit http://acefrehley.com/

NEWS: Ace Frehley joins the Riot family

Killer news about Australian distribution for Ace Frehley's new CD. I always looked forward to when guitar students would bring in KISS stuff so I could show them how to steal Ace licks.

Riot Entertainment are extremely proud to announce a licensing deal for the brand new album by ‘Space’ Ace Frehley titled ‘Anomaly’ for Australia.

Ace Frehley is finally ready to add a new exclamation point to his celebrated career. For the first time in nearly 20 years, the legendary Ex-Kiss guitarist has concocted an explosive new solo effort. Flaunting fiery riffs, pristine production by Marty Fredrickson and jaw-dropping craftsmanship, Anomaly, on Frehley’s own Bronx Born Records licensed in Australia by Riot Entertainment, ties together the original KISS axeman’s trailblazing past, present and future.

One of the most beloved personalities in rock ‘n’ roll, Frehley’s the man behind not only KISS’ iconic logo, but the all-time stadium classic ‘New York Groove.’ His supercharged cover of Sweet’s 1975 classic ‘Fox on the Run’ will blow you away, and the record includes several nods to his distinguished career throughout, from the pickup acrobatics of ‘Fractured Quantum’ to the unmistakable signature solo on ‘Outer Space’ and wah-wah scourge of ‘Genghis Khan’
(featuring backing vocals from Meat Loaf’s daughter Pearl Aday).

It should go without saying, but “this album has some heavy, heavy songs,” Frehley promises.

‘Anomaly’ will hit stores on Tuesday 15TH September!

www.riotact.com.au

VIDEO: KISS shreds

I'm sure some of you have already seen this but ...

at the risk of alienating some of my readers with a barrage of netspeak...

ZOMG. WTF. Roffle. 

FEATURE: Magic 8 Ball looks at the reunion revolution

So what’s with all these reunions and re-joinings lately? The last few years have seen the return of: Alice In Chains, Extreme, Van Halen with David Lee Roth, Living Colour, Led Zeppelin, Testament with Alex Skolnick, Winger, Mr. Big, Lynch Mob, Faith No More, Rage Against The Machine, The Smashing Pumpkins, Jane’s Addiction, and Black Sabbath’s Heaven & Hell line-up. And there are probably a whole bunch more in the works. It’s almost easier to list bands that haven’t reunited compared to those that have. So let’s look at some possible reunions and look at how likely they are to actually happen.

Soundgarden

When Soundgarden broke up in the late 90s, it was pretty much accepted that they were well and truly done. Singer Chris Cornell went on to Audioslave and a few solo albums. His recent collaboration with Timbaland has drawn the intense ire of casual and hardcore fans. Meanwhile guitarist Kim Thayll has been pretty much missing-in-action for about a decade, at least in terms of chart-topping band-dom. So is there any chance of a Soundgarden reunion? Has enough water gone under the proverbial bridge, or has that bridge been forever dashed into the raging waters of interband tensions and extraband aspirations?

Magic 8 ball says: Outlook not so good. Give Cornell another year of trying to flog his Timbaland stuff to a conflicted audience, before he starts calling around his former Soundgarden mates. Drummer Matt Cameron might not be down for a reunion because he’s doing quite well in Pearl Jam. Perhaps Dave Grohl will fill in.

Pantera

We’re all quite aware of the tragic death of Dimebag Darrell in 2004, not to mention the rising tensions between Dime/Vinnie and Rex/Phil, which drove the band apart in the first place. Obviously the great obstacle to a Pantera reunion is the fact that Dime is no longer with us, but hey, if Jason Bonham could step into Led Zeppelin to fill the role of someone as important to their sound as John Bonham was, perhaps some other guitarist could take the place of Dimebag for a sensitively-handled tribute tour on the 10th anniversary of his passing? Possible candidates: Zakk Wylde or Kerry King, both of whom were tight with Dime.

Magic 8 ball says: Very doubtful. Maybe Vinnie and Zakk will team up to do something some day in honour of Dimebag, and Rex might even be invited along, but it’ll take an awful lot of smoothing-over for them to get past their feud with Phil.

Megadeth Rust In Peace line-up

Dave Mustaine’s very happy with his current line-up of Megadeth, and they seem to be a big hit with fans too, but there’s still a lot of sentimentalism for the classic line-up which recorded Rust In Peace, Countdown To Extinction, Youthanasia and Cryptic Writings. Mustaine had a pretty public falling-out with bass player David Ellefson but if there’s one thing Dave’s known for, it’s changing his mind (cf: Mustaine Vs Metallica, Mustaine 4 Jackson, Mustaine 4 ESP, Mustaine 4 Dean, Mustaine 4 Line 6, Mustaine 4 Marshall).

Magic 8 ball says: Yes. Dave’s a dude who knows what he wants and isn’t afraid to walk through fire to make it happen, and if he decides the time is right to bring back the Rust In Peace line-up, you better believe they’ll be back. Y’know, the 20th anniversary of Rust In Peace is next year…

KISS

KISS reunited in their original form in the 90s, only to eventually do away with Peter Criss and Ace Frehley in favour of Eric Singer and Tommy Thayer respectively, wearing Peter and Ace’s makeup. Fans still long for a re-reunion of the original line-up, but are they going to get it?

Magic 8 ball says: Don't count on it. Instead, the Revenge line-up will get back together: Gene Simmons, Paul Stanley, Eric Singer and Bruce Kulick. However, the makeup thing continues to pay off, so they will dress Bruce up in prosthetic makeup to make him look like Tommy Thayer, then they’ll put Ace’s makeup over the top.

Black Sabbath

Sabbath have reunited many times over the years, and officially they still exist in the Tony Iommi/Geezer Butler/Bill Ward/Ozzy Osbourne incarnation. Will they once again strap on the demonic imagery and sludgy riffs to bless the metal world with classic Sabbath doom?

Magic 8 ball says: Very doubtful. With each year Ozzy seems to be less and less able to perform to the standard of his hey-day: I love the Ozzman myself but his 2008 Australian tour was a bit of a shambles in the vocal department, saved only by a Zakk Wylde tantrum and the solid bass playing of Blasko. I think Iommi and Butler will continue on with Heaven & Hell without formally putting an end to their partnership with Ozzy. The money and the will may be there, but until Ozzy’s able to meet the Sabbath standards, a new tour or album is unlikely.

8 Ball images courtesy of Spike’s 8 Ball.

Check back next Monday for Part 2!

NEWS: Bruce Kulick Australian clinic tour

Just saw this one on Blabbermouth.net.

Former KISS guitarist Bruce Kulick has scheduled the following in-store appearances/clinics in Australia in conjunction with Allans Music.

April 01 - Melbourne - 7 p.m. (soundcheck 5 p.m.)
April 02 - Brisbane - 6:30 p.m. (soundcheck 4:30 p.m.)
April 03 - Adelaide - 7 p.m. (soundcheck 5 p.m.)
April 04 - Sydney - 5 p.m. (soundcheck 3 p.m.)

Kulick has been back in the studio working on his next solo CD, tentatively titled "BK3". The album will feature guest appearances by a number of acclaimed rock and heavy metal musicians, including TOTO's Steve Lukather, John Corabi (MÖTLEY CRÜE, UNION, RATT, ESP), Gene Simmons (KISS) and Tobias Sammet (EDGUY, AVANTASIA).

Cool! I haven't been to a Kulick clinic before, but I hear they're quite worthwhile, even for non-guitarists who are just going because he was in KISS.

NEWS: New releases - 01/12/2008

The first week of December is typically sparse on new releases but is a big one for reissues ahead of Christmas, so this week there are re-releases of the entire back catalogues of Bon Jovi, Guns N' Roses, Nine Inch Nails and Marilyn Manson.

CDs

Warrel Dane/Jeff Loomis: Praises to the War Machine/Zero Order Phase Century Media
Here’s a Christmas present for the headbanger in your life. Specially packaged gift set of solo albums by Nevermore’s Warrel Dane and Jeff Loomis (who is a very Jason Becker-inspired guitarist with his own signature Schecter 7-string). Check out that skull-and-Flying-V ribbon on the packaging. There are various other 2-CD sets in this Century Media series, including Strapping Young Lad’s City and Heavy As A Real Heavy thing

Kings of Leon: Only by the Night (2008 UK Tour Edition) (Incl. Bonus DVD) Sony BMG
One of the surprise hits of the year (at least to me: when I saw them live there was only a small crowd, then five years later, BOOM!), this special UK-only two disc (CD + PAL/Region 0 DVD) tour edition of their 2008 album includes a bonus five track live DVD that features Use Somebody, On Call, Sex On Fire, Crawl and Manhattan. The version also includes the original UK only artwork.

Best Of Chess: Original Versions Of Songs in Cadillac Records Chess
The 2008 movie ‘Cadillac Records’ is the story of Chess Records. The soundtrack album includes covers of songs by Etta James (played by Beyonce Knowles), Muddy Waters (Jeffrey Wright), Little Walter (Columbus Short), Willie Dixon (Cedric the Entertainer), Chuck Berry (Mos Def), Howlin' Wolf (Eamonn Walker) and more. This album, though, features the original classics.

DVDs

Led Zeppelin: The Song Remains the Same [Blu-ray] Warner Home Video
Blu-Ray version of this classic live concert film, complete with freaky fantasy sequences, Jimmy Page’s heroic double-neck Gibson-wrangling, and the understated genius of John Paul Jones. The playing and cinematography are notoriously flawed, and Zep sure could go on and on in concert, but this is an important concert film if only because it's the only full show the mighty Zep ever released.

Kiss: Kissology Volume II 1978-1991 VH1 Classics
This 6 disc set covers KISS’s simultaneous solo albums, several full concerts including a 1980 show from Sydney, Australia, a 1990 show from Detroit, Michigan, the Vinnie Vincent years, the abandonment of make-up, and, oh my god, the made-for-TV movie ‘Kiss Meets The Phantom Of The Park’ in its entirety. Check out the other volumes in the series too.

Metal - A Headbanger's Journey Warner Home Video
This brilliant documentary by a metal-loving anthropologist will be of immense interest to metal fans but is also entertaining enough for non-headbangers, as it traces the development of metal as a parallel to social, geographic and economic factors.