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Red, White & Black: A Loud Ode to Classic Van Halen 02/07/15

There are a plethora of tribute and cover bands in Las Vegas. Some great, some not so great. Some entirely played out, some that rarely play. This new band will be a rarity as the musicians in this band are in a lot of other bands, but when they do play it will be a treat for any classic Van Halen fan in Vegas and beyond. I am talking about the newest tribute band called “Red White and Black, A Loud Ode to Classic Van Halen.” No Van Hagar here (Although I do love a lot of that myself) Just plain outright blistering old school raw, rockin’, Halen…

For full review March 1st, go to: http://www.sincitypresentsmagazine.com/ Online Magazine and subscribe for FREE!

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Scot Coogans All Star Jam at Backstage bar & Billiards 12/18/14

GREAT night with Scot Coogan’s All Star Jam with 6 Foot Nurse, Arsenal from Rock of Ages, Stoney Curtis Band, Members of Eagles of Death Metal, Members of Ace Frehley’s band, Chickenhawk, Eric Dover of Jellyfish & DJ Lethal.

Excellent jam with SO many talented musicians who all played into the wee hours of the morning. All star jam’s and killer cover bands had everyone rocking all night long!! So much love and comraderie was celebrated amongst good friends, old and new. Rockers and hipsters, punkers and cowboys. They were all there to celebrate rock and its thriving scene in Las Vegas, especially at downtown’s very own Backstage Bar & Billiards for its two year anniversary. Music and liquor flowed with ease with zero drama and bands eager to please. Thanks goes out to Big Daddy and Ava for their hospitality and to Scot Coogan and Traci Smith for hosting and putting on an excellent show. Especially much love goes to Scot “The Coogiemonster” Coogan for playing most the night behind the kit with most the bands. Good times had by all!! Lets do this again next year!!! \mXm/

 

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Burning Rain: Count’s Vampd 12/06/14

One really cool thing about living in Vegas is that we have a kick ass old school rock club like Count’s Vampd, that is owned by Danny “The Count” Koker, where we get some off the wall shows/bands that come through there that a lot of places dont get. This time we had the privilege of seeing a band called Burning Rain who has this guitar God that you may know named Doug Aldrich. He played in a little band called Whitsnake and another called Dio for a while, amongst many others. Yes its Doug’s band that was incarnated in 1998 with this amazing singer that is a throwback to Robert Plant, Keith St John, who sang in Montrose and Lynch Mob. These majorly talented musicians formed a band and released two albums in Japan and Europe, Burning Rain (1999) and Pleasure to Burn (2000) that are now re-released on Frontiers Records at this moment, along with a new album called “Epic Obsession.” The band went on hiatus for a long time while Doug played with his band Whitesnake but has done some shows here and there on and off for a few years…

More of this review to come in the new January issue of Sin City Presents online Magazine on the 1st. Click here:http://sincitypresents.com/

Subscribe to this rockin Las Vegas magazine here:http://www.sincitypresentsmagazine.com/

Check out Burning Rain’s website here:http://www.burningrain.net/

 

 

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Jake E Lee’s Red Dragon Cartel @Count’s Vampd 11/23/14

Red Dragon Cartel: Count’s Vampd 11/23/14
By: Leah Burlington
Anyone that is into rock or metal knows who Jake E Lee is. If you don’t, he played guitar with a crazy singer called Ozzy Osbourne for about 5 years starting in 1983, who incidentally replaced one that could never be replaced, the legendary Randy Rhoads when he was killed in a tragic plane accident. Jake soon after proved himself to the fans after the “Bark at the Moon” album came out. (Which since has gone triple platinum and he wrote a huge amount of by the way.) He then wrote the “Ultimate Sin” while Ozzy was in rehab which was released in 1986 and then of course was let go by Sharon Osbourne soon after to the dismay of fans all over the world…

More of the review for Sin City Presents Magazine here out online Dec 1st: http://www.sincitypresentsmagazine.com/ Subscribe to the magazine now for FREE!!!

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Judas Priest: At The Pearl, Las Vegas 11/14/14

Judas Priest: The Pearl Concert Theater 11/14/14
By: Leah Burlington
How does a band survive for forty years of playing heavy metal? Well with a band like Judas Priest, it’s all a way of life. And some ups and downs. With the mighty Rob Halford going off to do his thing with Fight, going an opposite direction with TWO and then becoming the Metal God again with Halford. Then finally making his triumphant return to the Priest on “Angel of Retribution”, this band will survive anything and have. With the the loss of platinum blonde axe man KK Downing a few years ago, I wasn’t sure they would survive that loss. Then in walks this kid. Richie Faulkner, known only for his stint with Steve Harris’s daughter, The Lauren Harris band, a guitarist full of energy and life, who came in and just breathed a breath of life into an otherwise somewhat fading band. Priest was still kicking ass, mind you, but Richie made this band that I grew up with have fun onstage again. Especially in 2011 when I caught He and Glenn Tipton cracking up onstage the whole show. This kid is just what this band that formed in the early 70’s needed. A huge shot of adrenaline and youth, is what Richie Faulkner is to Judas Priest…

“Watch out for the rest of my review in December issue of Sin City Presents Magazine on December 1st with more exclusive shots…  Click Here:

While you are waiting for the next issue to come out check out some of the back issues featuring more of my work and don’t forget to subscribe! It’s FREE!

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Gus G & Jeff Scott Soto @Vampd 10/17/14

Gus G is a guitar virtuoso from Greece that started out with his own band Firewind back in the late 90’s. I have always loved Gus and his stylish metal shred and melodic hooks since I first heard Firewind on Allgience. (In 2006) He gained a lot of fame when Ozzy picked him to replace Zakk Wylde in 2009. If anyone deserves a gig like that it’s Gus, who is always a humble and kind man to his fans while being an immensely ferocious player onstage.
His new solo CD, that was released last March on CM, called “I Am the Fire” is just that. On fire!! Every song could or should be a hit. Very melodic rock/metal with catchy hooks and fierce guitar playing with powerful vocals by some fantastic guests that sang on this CD. Gus recruited some amazing vocal talent for his vision: Mats Leven (ex-YNGWIE MALMSTEEN/THERION), Blake Allison (DEVOUR THE DAY), Michael Starr (STEEL PANTHER), Alexia Rodriguez (EYES SET TO KILL), Tom S. Englund (EVERGREY), Jacob Bunton (ADLER) and Jeff Scott Soto (TRANS-SIBERIAN ORCHESTRA, ex-JOURNEY)….

Read more of this review and an “Exclusive” interview with Gus, when the next Rock n Roll Industries Magazine comes out: http://rocknrollindustries.com/

Check out Gus at his site here: http://www.gusgofficial.com/

Check out Jeff Scott Soto’s site here: http://jeffscottsoto.com/news/

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Devil City Angels @Count’s Vampd 10/10/14

What do you get when you put a bunch of musicians that were in huge hair metal bands from the 80’s all together in one band? You get a crazy mix of guys that have a blast on the road and who play all your fave songs that were huge hits when you were growing up with MTV, when it still was ALL about the music and the metal!!  With one exception of the singer who has fame in his own right but wasn’t old enough to be in one of those bands and that is Bradon Gibbs. The rest of the band are made up of exceptionally talented Tracii Guns from LA Guns, the ever exuberant Rikki Rocket from Poison and the talented but very quiet Eric Brittingham from Cinderella. You put these four together and you have a whole set-list of rocking hits that will make you rock out with your C**K out! They also have some kick ass originals and one of their songs is going to be featured on ESPN’s NFL Monday night Football starting Nov. 3 and throughout the season. That song is called “All My People”. The band has been rocking America on tour for some weeks now and they stopped in Vampd to bring the 80’s back to the masses at the club on 10/10/14 and they did just that!! Tore shit up!! Being in front of Tracii Guns is always a thrill and he just gives everything he has to the fans. The whole band was tight and Brandon Gibbs has the best voice for this kind of rock and brings style to the band. Rikki Rocket is just electrifying on the drums with so much energy, you gotta love watching him. Eric is the man in the back round unless he is singing back round vocals, that is. Always hiding in the shadows, Eric keeps the rhythm of the music. They put on a nostalgic yet modern rock show and they brought it hard!!
The band does VIP Meet & Greets even at small venues, but I was still able to talk with my pal Tracii and the rest of the guys after.

The set list is as follows:
Let Me Go to the Show
Bad Decisions
Never Enough
Back Home Again
No Angels
Sleazy Come Easy Go
The Ballad of Jayne
Nobody’s Fool
Gypsy Road
I’m Livin’
Talk Dirty to Me
Encore:
All My People
Nothin’ but a Good Time

Check them out on their official site here: http://www.thedevilcityangels.com/

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Hellion @Count’s Vampd 10/03/14

Ann Boleyn and Hellion played Vampd with her killer new band which consists of two members of Dio, Simon Wright on drums and Scott Warren on keys. She also enlisted Ted Nugent bass player Greg Smith and up and coming shredder, Maxxxwell Carlisle for the first tour she has done in many years. Hellion was one of the first female fronted metal bands that started in 1982. Ann was taken under Ronnie James and Wendy Dio’s wings in 1984 to help produce and manage her band. Many bumps along the road over the years made Ann go on hiatus and in that time she earned a degree in law. But now Ann is back with Hellion with a new CD called “To Hellion and Back” and has songs from her early days as well as some new tracks. She started her tour at the world famous Whiskey a Go Go and then onto Count’s Vampd in Vegas. She played to a very enthusiastic crowd of headbangers that banged their heads at the front of the stage to the old school metal coming from the blaring stacks at Vampd! They put on a killer show that made our necks scream in pain!!

Ann came out after the show to meet her fans and take photos all the while being kind and generous to all the people that wanted to meet her.

Check out Hellion’s website here: http://www.hellion.us/

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Devils Run @HOB, Las Vegas 9/20/14

HOB has a local band showcase every month or so and its called the Envy Showcase. I went to see my friends Chris Babbitt-Guitars and Ernie Rodrigues-bass, play the showcase in Devils Run. I have known these guys for many years and Chris’ band Devils Run was first called Seventh Son which they had to change to Taking Dawn, who had their own fame all around the world playing festivals and being on Roadrunner records as well. They changed the name again now to Devils Run. I went in not knowing what to expect and went to the photo pit to shoot and when this band took the stage it was insanity from the first strum of the guitar by Chris Babbitt. I was completely blown away by this kid that I have known since he was 17, now 29, Chris has the energy of a tornado tearing around the stage and shredding the guitar like a seasoned pro all the while channeling his own inner Angus Young!! Even to the point where he took Ernie on his shoulders and carried him around the stage while they both played and never missed a lick!! The whole show was like watching something out of the early 80’s with so much energy and so much talent. I swear this could be the next BIG band!! This band could change the world!! I then saw at the end of the set, Chris Babbitt take a RUNNING leap off the over 5 foot high stage, into the mosh pit and land on his feet (barely!) and run around the pit still shredding like a monster!! He then runs back behind the barricade and jumps up on it and continues to rip on his guitar a killer solo right in the faces of the young fans (Who by the way packed the floor!) who just ate that shit up!!! I stood there in AWE watching this kid fucking channel so many guitar Gods in that one song that I had goosebumps the rest of the night as I raved on and on to whomever would listen. This my friends is how rock n roll is done!!! Hails to Chris Babbit for showing what rock is all about!!! Go see this band if you can!! They kick major ass!!

Check out their page on Facebook here: https://www.facebook.com/Takingdawn