Burning Rain CD Release Party @ Vamp’d 3/29/19
By: Leah Burlington
Burning Rain has been around since 1998 and was the brainchild of guitar God Doug Aldrich (Whitesnake, Dio, Dead Daisies, Revolution Saints) and vocalist Keith St John (Montrose). At the time they had Alex Makarovich (ex-Steelheart) and Ian Mayo (ex-Hurricane Alice) on bass. With this line-up Burning Rain released two albums in Japan, “Burning Rain” in 1999 and “Pleasure to Burn” in 2000, but because of Doug’s hectic schedule with Whitesnake and Dio, and Keith joining Montrose they went into hibernation until 2013 when they released “Epic Obsession” with Sean McNabb and Mike Starr. I was able to see this band at Count;s Vamp’d in 2014 and they really were tight and rocked the place down! I loved that line up and they were killer!
Jump ahead to 2019 and Doug and Keith came out of their hiatus from the band and brought on Y&T’s fantastic bassist Brad Lang and world renowned drummer Blas Elias (Slaughter), with this excellent line up of some of the best musicians in rock, they have released an amazing new CD called “Face the Music.” This album just rocks!! I have played it non- stop since I bought it at the show.
The show was just insanely good from start to finish. As everyone knows Doug is my all time fave guitarist and he never fails to blow me away, with his tasty licks and solos you gotta love Mr Aldrich. This album is very blues based rock and it shows that Doug is loving his new creation. Then you have Keith St John who is just an incredible singer and performer. He keeps the girls up front mesmerized. I was so happy to see our friend and one of the coolest bass players out there, Brad Lang just smiling and grooving the whole night. You could see the joy on his face while he played. I adore this man as I do all of these guys. Last but not least you have the mighty Blas Elias hammering those drums like there’s no tomorrow. He has not aged and he can play as hard as the kids out there today and not miss a beat.
This was their only USA date on this tour until after their acoustic tour in Europe. They totally killed it and this show was exciting and a blast!!
Some of my fave songs off of “face the Music” are “Nasty Hustle”, “Face the Music”, “If its Love” and “Hideaway.” This album kicks ass all the way through! Zero filler here guys! One of the best albums of 2019 for sure! If you have a chance to see this killer band, do it! These four musicians are some of the most talented out there. You cannot go wrong with this line-up!! Get “Face the Music” and rock your face off!!
Sin City Presents Shredder Of The Year Awards at Count’s Vamp’d was an incredible night of music and friends. This was also the final Weds night John Zito Jam, to be continued next year one Thurs night a month.
Many talented local Vegas musicians came out to support the Mag and the scene. It was one huge rockin jam!! We had a great Red Carpet as well…
Andy Sarcone Rooney of Spelled Moon took the award of e Shredder of the Year 2018 and won a custom killer guitar from S.L. Designs. Runner up in the fan choice voting was Maya Martillini of Queens Riot and won a custom one of a kind designed vest from Svanlund Design.
Spelled Moon with Andy Sarcone Rooney
Stoney Curtis Band
Mandy Lion
Duover
John Zito Band
Ronee Pena Band
Robert Guiluppi Jr Band
Chris Tofield
Queens Riot
Danny Wilde Band
Planet Desert Rock Weekend in Vegas by Vegas Rock Revolution and John Gist
photo’s by: Photography of Leah Burlington
Night 1 – John Garcia and friends at Vinyl Las Vegas / Hard Rock Hotel and Casino Las Vegas
Arthur Seay’s DEATH in Pretty Wrapping kicked started the whole weekend off to a healthy crowd ready to rock for 3 straight evenings. Incredibly unique night as we built up to the finale of the Desert rock legend John Garcia by rocking to Nick Oliveri of Kyuss/ Queens of the Stone Age/ Mondo Generator and then Dave Angstrom’s Luna Sol. All 3 of the opening bands with ties to John Garcia and all 3 diverse different sets. Needless to say the final set was shock full of wow moments. @Chris Hale popping on stage to do “July” was a special moment. Heck they all were. The final 5 Kyuss songs were just jaw dropping. I have never been hugged more in my life than I have that night. Its a magical feeling to know you made some folks very happy for those moments of their lives. Really such an honor to do a show with such legends…
John Garcia & The Band of Gold
Night 2 Planet Desert Rock Weekend Day 2 : Wino at The Bunkhouse Saloon
First off let me fill you in on something wild. I was fortunate enough to have Scott “Wino” Weinrich as my guest all weekend. Really got to know the man and I have a new friend now. Such a smart and sincere guy. He was so positive and reinforcing throughout the madness. He helped me sort t-shirts for couple hours after the insane first night. Winona M Thomson sold so much shirts were flying! LOL
As the show moved through the evening each band just kept knocking it out of the park. King Chiefs led things off to a 7:00 Friday night crowd. I could go on and on but don’t want this too long….lets just say cool surprises with Nick Oliveri as he popped on stage for a quick set but also shared stage with House of Broken Promises and Scott “Wino” Weinrich. Joe Mora of HOBP handed the bass duties over to Nick and proceeded to take do the Kyuss classic “Green Machine”. Joe brought the fire in his vocals as Arthur Seay and Mike Cancino drove the song to the limit. War Cloud , The Heavy Eyes and Valley of the Sun all supplied kickass diverse sets to keep the fans on their toes.
Night 3 – Planet Desert Rock w/ Wo Fat, Sasquatch, Freedom Hawk, Blackwülf at Beauty Bar Las Vegas.
The crowd braved the weather and came out strong! We went thru cold temps, strong winds and even some raindrops. All bands played like total animals on stage and did so with such teamwork we have come to expect in the heavy rock genre. Heavy dose of Ripple Music that evening and ended with the almighty Wo Fat. These Texas boys got the crowd in a frenzy to finish off Planet Desert Rock Weekend. Red Desert , Strange Mistress , Powered Wig Machine, Blackwülf , Freedom Hawk and Sasquatch heated the crowd up with each and every set. So many people told me it was the best bill they had ever seen. Deven Pahl did the sound masterfully and all of the Beauty Bar Las Vegas staff helped make it a memorable event.
Thank you!!
The Renaissance Rock Orchestra played a exclusive showcase for some of their investors and management last Weds at Count’s Vamp’d and I had the honor of covering the show in photos.
The Renaissance Rock Orchestra is the worlds newest symphonic rock concert experience. This powerful “Rock meets Bach” rock show features performances by rockers from some of the biggest bands in rock history including Foreigner, Survivor, Ted Nugent, Whitesnake, RATT & Yngwie Malmsteen. The music combines elements of classic rock, progressive metal and symphonic influences into a highly energetic and beautiful blend of powerful, spellbinding rock majesty. Brain child of Gregg Fox and Mikey “Bones” Gerbino (RIP), this has been in the works for several years and is finally coming into fruition in 2019!!
They had some excellent players in the band on this night, and as time goes, there will be many other talented musicians added to this line up of what could well be called a “Super Group!”
RRO performances will be known for being highly energetic sonic and visual experiences with a live orchestra, state-of-the-art digital graphics and sound, and often include elaborate theatrical presentations with dancers and actors.
RRO’s album “In Times of Olde” has broken new ground in the world of progressive metal and symphonic rock. It is a definite “must-have” for anyone who is into powerful and epic melodic metal.
This show was with Robin Mc Auley and Mark Boals on vocals. Gregg Fox on keys, Brian Tichy on drums, Christian Brady and Toni Aleman on guitars, and Ralph Ciavolino on bass and an four piece string section consisted of (V1) Krista Solars / (V2) @Kat DeGarcia / (Viola ) Micaela Nielson / (Cello) @Rachael Brown.
This band is totally fantastic!!! Imagine the talents of the two incredible vocalists, Robin and Mark together along with the symphonic styling’s of keyboardist Gregg Fox. The heaviness of Tichy on drums is epic as well as these two amazing guitarists, Toni and Christian who are a perfect fit for this kind of neoclassical and symphonic melodic metal!! This music is right up my alley!!! When this band goes on tour, this will be a show to see, hear and feel!!! It is an amazing experience you guys will love!!!
By: John Gist
This past Thursday at Count’s Vamp’d was a spectacular night of excellent high level heavy rock.
The Watchers came down from The Bay Area just for the show and blew people off their chairs and closer to the front area. I have seen The Watchers twice before this including SXSW Ripple Fest and this was their best. Always delivering an excellent pro show with amazing songs that just naturally get you rocking as it has a fragrance of familiarity but you can’t quite pin them down. Anyways I am already in talks with them to come back to Sin City again. Importantly they rocked and were cool to work with along with of course being good people. Ripple Music was very smart grabbing these guys. Buy their music and support if you can! Their newest album, “Black Abyss” is truly amazing!
Local act, Honor Amongst Thieves slid into the middle spot and torched the place for 30 minutes of fury sure to leave a mark. The boys ignited fans and had the floor good and crowded. Some rumor this might be the last show of the year for them?
Kyng returned to the land of Milk and Honey… Oh those were the stripper’s names… I kid I kid… SiriusXM Octane stalwarts came in with full set of their killer songs from their three releases (Two of the releases charted) as well as a few tricks up their sleeves. Front-man Eddie Veliz whispered delicately (Kidding) in my ear that Christian Brady of HELLYEAH was coming up to join with the band to do “Hot for Teacher.” Folks were so fired up to see Christian Brady one of our hometown heroes getting up there randomly and shifting Eddie to just sing the David Lee Roth part… This was a masterful set and the crowd was non-stop rocking all night long!
Excellent showcase of killer heavy rock from Vegas Rock Revolution brought to Count’s Vamp’d by John Gist.
By: Leah Burlington
Guitar Center: Daisyland
We got up front and personal with The “Mighty” Dead Daisies at our Las Vegas Guitar Center at Town Square here in Vegas. The fans that showed up were treated to a short acoustic set (Four songs!) with the band and a short Q&A. After that we were escorted to the store where we were all given posters, stickers and photo ops with the entire band!! They signed anything we had and treated all of us fans like GOLD!! This is how done!!! That was a very special moment for all of us! Thank you to John Corabi, Doug Aldrich, Deen Castronovo, Marco Mendoza and to David Lowy! We appreciate all you guys did!! Thank you!! No one out there does what this band does. They do the acoustic sets before the show, (called Daisyland!) with a FREE meet and greet. They sign anything and everything! They pose for pics and smile and chat. They also put on a KILLER show and then after the show another quick meet and greet and more signed posters and guitar picks!! The guys are just so generous with their time for the Fans!! These guys are one of the most FAN friendly bands I have EVER seen!! Thank you The Dead Daisies for ALL you do for the Fans and all the great energy you give to us!!
A few hours after the acoustic set at Guitar Center we all headed downtown to see The Dead Daisies with Hookers & Blow at Fremont Country Club!! Was good to see so many friends come out for a kick ass rock show on a Weds night!! The show was off the hook!! Both bands brought the rock n roll spirit to the stage and blew everyone away! I had a blast shooting and rocking, like I always do!! Fan for LIFE!! Music like this and bands like this, makes life so worth living!! The Dead Daisies, we love you guys!! I had the best time on Weds night’s show at Fremont Country Club!! They Rocked!!!
John Gist review:
Yesterday was a really cool day. We went to Guitar Center and got to meet all the guys from The Dead Daisies John Corabi, Marco Mendoza , Deen Castrovono, Doug Aldrich and David Lowy. They played a few songs, answered some questions from the audience and told stories.
Then off to Fremont Country Club to catch the show The Dead Daisies with Dizzy Reed’s Hookers & Blow + one more, local boys Honor Amongst Thieves got an earlier start than many of us were expecting but for me the good news is they are playing the Kyng and The Watchers At Count’s Vamp’d next Thursday at my Vegas Rock Revolution Showcase. (More on that show in this issue!)
Dizzy Reed of Guns N’ Roses band Hookers and Blow guided us through various GNR songs to keep the energy pumping some as the crowd continued to fill up this large venue. The darn song “Pretty Tied Up” has been in my head all day now!
The Dead Daises took the stage and really showed what an amazing collection of musicians are part of this band. Highway Star got the crowd in a frenzy. The Dead Daisies put on a hell of an energetic show and brought the house down!