Misstallica UK Tour

Misstallica, the all-female tribute to Metallica, will tour in the UK. This will be their first international venture.

This are the tour dates:
May 22 2010 Sheffield O2 Academy2, Sheffield, North
May 23 2010 Newcastle O2 Academy2, Newcastle, Northeast
May 24 2010 Glasgow O2 ABC2, Glasgow, Scotland
May 25 2010 Liverpool O2 Academy2, Liverpool, Northwest
May 26 2010 Birmingham O2 Academy3, Birmingham, Midlands
May 27 2010 London O2 Academy2 Islington, London, London and South East
May 28 2010 Bristol O2 Academy2 Bristol, Southwest
May 29 2010 Oxford O2 Academy2 Oxford, South

Check Misstallica Myspace for specific show times and info.

New Vision video

“Bury You Alive” is the new video from Vision:

Vision will be playing at the Emergenza Festival at Klubben, Fryshuset, this
January 16th, and on Febuary 6th they will be playing at the Rest In Sleaze Festival.

Related links:
Vision official site
Vision @ Myspace
Vision @ YouTube

Las Brujas

Las Brujas are considered the first Argentine metal band composed entirely of girls. It was formed in 1987 by Gabriela Folgueras, who since then would be the rhythm guitarist of the formation.

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Country: Argentina
History: 1987-1992
Status: Inactive
Style: Heave Metal

Biography:
Las Brujas are considered the first Argentine metal band composed entirely of girls. It was formed in 1987 by Gabriela Folgueras, who since then would be the rhythm guitarist of the formation.

After several lineup changes, it came the solidity with Silvia Gers as lead guitar and vocals, Alex Bass on bass and Ysa Sierra behind the patches.

Its principles were hard rock, but they were gradually transformed into a pure metal band.

After several demos and concerts in various locations in Argentina, in mythical places of the metal scene such as “Halley” or “Cemento” sharing the stage with bands the likes of Los Violadores, Kamikaze, Letal, El Reloj o Hermética, they got their first record contract.

The company who put an eye on them was Barca, with whom Las Brujas released “Me Llaman La Loca” in 1989, a record where also contributed Laura Giarruso at bass.

The LP, released on cassette and vinyl, was so well received that in 1990 the fans voted Las Brujas as the best new band in “Metal” Magazine. It consisted of eight own songs and a spanish version of the classic “Johnny Be Good”.

But in 1991 Silvia Gers left the band. Her departure and the problems with the record label led Las Brujas to disband at the end of 1992.

Lineup:
Silvia Gers – Guitar, backing vocals
Graciela Folgueras – Vocals, guitar
Alexx Bass – Bass
Ysa Sierra – Drums

Former members:
Laura Giarruso – Bass

Discography:
1989, “Me Llaman La Loca” (LP)

Related links:
Silvia Gers @ Myspace

Vixen

Jan Kuehnemund was still at high school in St. Paul, Minessota, when she decided to form a band in 1980. She called it Vixen and toured the USA to finnish settling in Los Angeles. It was during these road days when Jan recruited Janet Gardner after enjoying her voice in a Californian club.

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Country: USA
History: 1980-1991, 1997-1998, 2001-Present
Status: Active
Style: Hard Rock, Glam Rock

Biography:
Jan Kuehnemund was still at high school in St. Paul, Minessota, when she decided to form a band in 1980. She called it Vixen and toured the USA to finnish settling in Los Angeles. It was during these road days when Jan recruited Janet Gardner after enjoying her voice in a Californian club.

It was 1984, the year when this early Vixen version, completed with Tamara Ivanov (rhythm guitar), Pia Miacco (bass, later Steve Vai’s wife) and Laurie Hedlund on drums, played live in a movie called “Hardbodies”. Originally made for Playboy TV, but released as a feature film instead, this R-rated movie was about beach & parties. Vixen appeared playing six songs as the on-screen band Diaper Rash.

The “classic” Vixen lineup was two members away, being the drummer Roxy Petrucci the first of them joining the formation. She was playing with her sister Maxine in Madam X, but after they splitted up Vixen sent her a demo, and after some jams together Roxy became the new band drummer.

As a four piece act they made a three track demo, fetaturing “Leave Me Alone”, “Waiting For You” and “You Oughta Know By Now”, which was sent to EMI. The company invited the four girls to a showcase, enough to seal their relation with a contract in 1988. This was the year when the classic lineup was completed, after Sharon “Share” Pedersen (discovered by Janet playing in Hollywood) replaced Pia on the bass, and the year they were interviewed by Penelope Spheeris for her film The Decline of Western Civilization II: The Metal Years. This documentary follows the heavy metal scene in Los Angeles, with particular emphasis on the glam metal sub-genre, and although Vixen were interviewed they didn’t play live neither collaborated in the movie soundtrack.

Soon after signing the record deal with EMI, Vixen began to work in their debut self-titled album, to release it the fall of 1988. It was produced by David Cole, Spencer Proffer, Rick Neigher and Richard Marx, who was the composer and keyboardist of the first hit extracted from the album, “Edge Of A Broken Heart”, which reached the 26th position in the US charts. It had a great MTV coverage, and was only overcome by the follow up single “Cryin’”, which went to the #22. “Love Made Me” was the last single coming out from this great debut album that sold more than a million of copies.

Vixen spent the next year touring the world, supporting acts such as Ozzy Osbourne, Scorpions, and Bon Jovi, as well as headlining their own shows. In 1989 they played at the Milton Keynes festival, headlined by Bon Jovi and with Skid Row and Europe in the folder.

A live gig in Düsseldorf (Germany) was broadcasted live on television on 1989 January the 5th, before they returned to the studio later this year to record “Rev It Up”. It was released in July 1990 and entered the UK Chart at No 20. Highest position on US Chart was #52, surely not the one EMI was expecting. While in “Vixen” the band members (mostly Kuehnemund and Gardner) participated in the composition process of 5 out of 11 songs, in its sophomore the number grew up to 10.

The singles “How Much Love”, “Love Is A Killer” and “Not A Minute Too Soon” were in the set lists of the tours following the album release and in the video “Revved Up”, a six clip compilation.

The tours included headlining shows, an unplugged concert for the MTV, and opening gigs for bands such as Kiss and Deep Purple. It was after their European tour with Deep Purple in April 1991 when the band called it a day due to musical differences and management issues.

In 1997 some Vixen members tried a comeback. Drummer Roxy Petrucci reformed the band again with Janet Gardner at the mic and rythim guitar and Gina Stile in the position of Kuehnemund, who later sued the band for copyright infringement. This lineup toured the States in 1997 with Rana Ross on the bass, and released an album “Tangerine” in 1998 on CMC International, with a grungy sound strongly different to the one trademarked by the original Vixen. All their songs where co-written by Gardner and Stile, and the bass was recorded by Mike Pisculli. Again they toured across their country, this time with Roxy’s sister Maxine on bass. The former bassist Share Pedersen joined her husband’s Dogs D’Amour and also formed Bubble with him.

This comeback attempt didn’t last too much, and in 1998 the band splitted up for the second time, but in 2001 it was Kuehnemund’s turn to reform the band she founded twenty years ago. The new Vixen incarnation consisted of Jan, Janet Gardner, Roxy Petrucci and Pat Holloway. But it was again not a pleasant comeback, as the lineup changed completely amid the U.S Voices Of Metal tour with only Kuehnemund holding the band’s name and quickly recruiting Jenna Sanz-Agero (Jenna Piccolo) as vocalist, Lynn Louise Lowrey on the bass and Kathrin “Kat” Kraft on the drums to complete the tour.

This lineup, currently together, in 2006 released a new studio album entitled “Live & Learn” (Demolition Records) and a live album and DVD called “Extended Versions”, recorded in Sweden Rock Festival in 2005. Before this, the classic formation reunited for a special show at VH1’s “Bands reunited” in 2004. Following its broadcast, EMI re-released the first two Vixen albums.

The current Vixen plans include recording a new studio CD and major tour promotion in 2009. A special remix with bonus tracks and a DVD of the Sweden Rock’ 05 concert, entitled “Live In Sweden” will be released in Europe.

Lineup:
Jenna Sanz-Agero (Jenna Piccolo) – Vocals
Jan Kuehnemund – Guitar, backing vocals
Lynn Louise Lowrey – Bass, backing vocals
Kathrin “Kat” Kraft – Drums, backing vocals

Former members:
Janet Gardner – Vocals, guitar
Liza Carbe – Bass, backing vocals
Tamara Ivanov – Guitar, backing vocals
Pia Maiocco – Bass, backing vocals
Laurie Hedlund – Drums, backing vocals
Roxy Petrucci – Drums, backing vocals
Share Pedersen – Bass, backing vocals
Gina Stile – Guitar, backing vocals
Rana Ross – Bass, backing vocals
Maxine Petrucci – Bass, backing vocals
Pat Holloway – Bass, backing vocals
Noelle Bucci – Vocals
Gayle Erickson-DeMatoff – Bass, backing vocals
Cindy Boettcher – Keyboards, backing vocals
Marlene Peterson – Drums, backing vocals
Nancy Shanks – Vocals

Session musicians:
Richard Marx – Keyboards on “Vixen”
Michael Alemania – Keyboards on “Rev It Up”
Mike Pisculli – Bass, backing vocals on “Tangerine”
Chris Fayz – Keyboards on “Live & Learn”
Randy Wooten – Keyboards on “Live & Learn”
Paulie Cerra – Saxophone on “Live & Learn”
Robert Lear – Bagpipes on “Live & Learn”

Discography:
1988, “Vixen” (LP)
1990, “Rev It Up” (LP)
1998, “Tangerine” (LP)
2006, “Live & Learn” (LP)
2006, “Extended Versions” (Live LP, 2006)

Related links:
Vixen official site
Vixen @ Wikipedia
Vixen @ Metalmaidens.com
Neil’s Vixen page

Videos

 
 
 
 

Astarte new material

Astarte are working in material for the new album, as Tristessa has announced in their Myspace. This will be the 6th Astarte’s album, the first since “Demonized”, released in 2007.

Read more about Astarte
Read the interview to Tristessa @ Metaladies.com

Bitchcock / LeSabre interview

Intuitive, obstinate, titillating, energetic, deadly melodic guitar-driven alternative rock with a raw, freaky edge. That’s Bitchcock in the words of Annemiek van Grondel, one of its founders, who talked to Metaladies.com about her band.

Listen to Bitchcock while reading the interview:

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Bitchcock stayed in the business for fifteen years. Do you think you really have finished what you started in 1990? Did you reach the expectations you had at the beginning?
The expectations were not as high when we started out in 1990. In the years we played, we did not only concerts in the Netherlands, but also in Switzerland (more than once), Austria and Germany. We never expected to be very famous, so the fact that this indeed did not happen was be taken into account and not at all disappointing. We had a lot of fun, and that counts.

Do you regret of something happened to the band, of a bad decision, of something that now from the distance you know it would have helped the band to continue in a successful path?
The only thing I regret is that we did not have the persistence to release our last album.

Being an all-female band was a concept to keep since the beginning. Why were you willing to form an all-female band?
Female bonding is something we thought was an attractive idea. We wanted to proof that guys were not needed to make good music. But to be honest, we had some guys in the band, on and off: we played in the beginning with a male solo-guitar player and the drum recordings of The Birds are done by a male drummer, who left the band quite soon because of a lack of chemistry. Sam Ford followed in his footsteps and the chemistry with her was a proven fact. And she played very, very well. In the end, after solo-guitarist Yolande and drummer Sam left, Ly and I for a short while worked with Abel and Yohan (both guitar) and Sandrijn (drums), but the dawning of the end of LeSabre was then already clear.

Let’s make a short trip through your history. Everything started when you and Elisabeth started rehearsing in the summer of 1990. But it was not until seven years later that you had a solid lineup, and made important gigs. What happened during this seven “dark” years?
In the Dark Age we had a lot of fun, struggled in the rehearsal room, tried out our first songs with no strings attached, ‘abused’ a lot of musicians, from which bass player Ly really turned out to be a consistent band member, did our first gig in 1993, played some local venues and festivals and did not take the music life too seriously.

Talking about gig highlights, you were touring through Netherlands, Switzerland, Germany and Austria, together with Hole or Babes in Toyland. This were great years for all-female rock bands (let’s add L7). What do you recall from this days and tours?
Magic! It was a great opportunity to be in bigger venues, like the Melkweg, and touring on the road with four girls was both stressy and hilarious. One of our last big gigs, as a support band in two big Dutch venues in Holland (Melkweg Max, Amsterdam and Het Paard in The Hague, both sold out) was for Rockbitch, the nude girl band with explicit sexual content. At first Rockbitch were suspicious of us, thinking we adapted our name to theirs, but as soon as they found out we were called Bitchcock for years, and also could actually ‘play’, they spontaneously doubled our meager fee, taken from their own income. The next gig in The Hague was a couple of days later, and we surprised them in the dressing room with a big cake, appropriately covered with the word ‘EAT ME’ in whipped cream on it. Ofcourse we played with our cloths on and were only eating the pie with them.

You played successful gigs in front of 6500 and few months later in front of 5 people. How did this affect the band, feeling like in the top of popularity and later like completely unknown?
That was more a matter of speaking. Don’t take success too seriously, has always been our motto.

Talking in terms of popularity. How popular do you were back then, in Netherlands and Europe? Did you get media attention?
We got reviews for our albums, were played a couple of times on national radio, did some radio interviews in Switzerland and that was it. O yes, and we won Spin/GeoCities internet competition for best unsigned band, but didn’t know at first; then had to threaten to ’sue GeoCities’ ass’ before eventually receiving our prize. We had some loyal fans who attended our shows, but no fanclub. And unfortunately no fanzine. This was in the days before MySpace, and we lazy bitches were not really standing in the nerd frontlines concerning a website of our own.

About the reviews, the ones written for “The Birds”, your first LP, where very good. Tell us a bit about this album, its recording and selling numbers.
We recorded it in about one or two weeks, in De Boventoon, a popular studio in Amsterdam. A local record company was willing to release it, but it was not very professional. The review copies were sent to the newspapers and music mags about two months before the album reached the stores. The reviews were almost all very good, I recall a review in de Volkskrant, one of our biggest national newspapers, that was raving and made us blissfully fly for days. But when the album finally was in the record stores, I guess people may have forgotten about it. The sellings were not so good, I am afraid. We haven’t received a penny for it.

And about the style. Your sound was very professional and skilled, and had your own original trademark. There were the alternative component, the rock riffs, the melodic voice and catchy chorus. How would you define your music?
Intuitive, obstinate, titillating, energetic, deadly melodic guitar-driven alternative rock with a raw, freaky edge.

After the release of “The Birds”, you changed your name to LeSabre. Why this change and why that radical?
Some people confused us with Rockbitch (see above), other people thought our name was childish and perhaps offensive. Because our drummer Sam Ford was a huge car freak, she came up with the name, and after we had seen LeSabre cars (the oldtimers, of course!) we were totally convinced.

And with the name change they came the problems. You recorded one LP, “The Devil Is A Woman”, that never saw the light. What happened with this record? Was it finally released? If not, what are we missing?
Like I said, we were not persistent enough, and did not have a big distribution network nor a record company that was willing to release it. So we lost quite some money on the recording. The fact that Yolande left the band was also not helpful. I think it is a shame, because I consider the songs on The Devil Is A Woman to be our best.

Yolande left the band, and Abel Cañizales came in. A male incursion in the band. Was it an easy decision to leave the all-female formation, or there was no way to find another female musician?
He was not the first man into the band, but he was a damn good guitar player. Also Yohan (guitar) and Sandrijn (drums) entered the scene at some point. We only did one gig with them, by the way. We left the idea of a female group in order to make LeSabre an even better band. But due to some reasons and a constant lack of time and other interests (Ly became a mum, for instance) we decided to call it a day after a while.

Which are the whereabouts of Bitchcock components nowadays? Do you still meet the girls? Is there any reunion possibility?
No, there will not be a music reunion. Sometimes we see each other to talk about the good old days and drink lots of wine and whisky. Liesbeth is still my best friend who I see at least once a week. I make music now with four guys in Superspade, which play on a not too serious basis in venues (like the Melkweg) and Liesbeth made a successful underground career as Solex (which at one point was signed to the Matador label in New York and got some good radio support of the late John Peel). Ly is also still making music in a non-female band.

Tell the readers why Bitchcock is a band worth to give an opportunity.
Bitchcock/LeSabre are not playing anymore but are mentally supporting all rock ‘n’ roll girls worldwide who are thinking of gathering their strengths musically. Making music together is so much fun! It has nothing to do with being famous or getting groupies, although some extra attention is always worthwhile. It is all about the Ecstasy of Electrifying Energy. You go girls!!

Read more about Bitchcock / LeSabre

Mab

Mab born in Sardinia, Italy, from Psycho Jeremy (bass and vocals) and Jecky (drums). Created as an all-female band since the beginning, it’s been a rule never broken even they suffered some lineup changes. They moved to London and started playing in small venues, that became bigger as did they popularity.

Country: Italy/UK
History: 1996 – Present
Status: Active
Style: Alternative Metal

Biography:
Mab born in Sardinia, Italy, from Psycho Jeremy (bass and vocals) and Jecky (drums).

Created as an all-female band since the beginning, it’s been a rule never broken even they suffered some lineup changes. They moved to London and started playing in small venues, that became bigger as did they popularity. Their hard work led them to open for Him at the Hammersmith Apollo in 2004.

Mab toured the UK with Breed 77, before going back to Italy to record a tribute song to a remarkable italian singer and artist called Giuni Russo.

The next big step for the band was to collaborate with Franco Battiato, singing 3 songs recorded at the Olympic Studios in London, and one for his movie “Niente e’ come sembra” (2007) which also sees MAB taking part as actresses.

After this Mab had a huge exposure in Italy; they in fact took part as guests together with F.Battiato to the greatest Italian Music event broadcasted worldwide called “Sanremo”, many other TV performances and finally a 2 months long Summer Tour in Italy followed by a Winter Tour in the most beautiful theatres in Italy and Spain.

Mab performed also at the Heineken Jamming Festival and played a special gig in honour of film Icon David Lynch after his conference about Transcendental Meditation that took place in Palermo in 2007.

After a short hiatus, Mab turned back to the stages with a new lineup, and passing from a quartet formation to a trio, keeping the Psycho Jeremy/Jecky core and addind new guitarist Elisa.

Lineup:
Alice “Psycho Jeremy” Dionis – Bass, vocals
Jecky Stella – Drums
Elisa Pisetta – Guitar

Former members:
Lisa Masia – Guitar
Marina Cristofalo – Guitar

Discography:
2007, “Decay” (EP)

Related links:
MAB @ Myspace

Videos
 
 

Diamond Beast

The first European Iron Maiden’s all-female tribute band, born in May 2008 from a common devotion to classic heavy metal.

Country: Italy
History: 2008 – Present
Status: Active
Style: Tribute to Iron Maiden / Heavy Metal

Biography:
The first European Iron Maiden’s all-female tribute band, born in May 2008 from a common devotion to classic heavy metal.

In 2009 the band stabilized on current line-up after many changes. Being a quintet, they remain loyal to the original Iron Maiden formation, and are spreading Eddie’s word and music across the transalpine stages.

Lineup:
Angie Prati – Vocals
Elisa Garbo – Guitar
Elisabetta Filippini – Guitar
Laura Mattiuzzo – Bass
Sara Tenaglia – Drums

Related links:
Diamond Beast @ Myspace
Diamond Beast @ Facebook

Dormitory Effect

Susan Wendelken and Urith Myre had already met at late nineties in a New York-based band called One Step Beyond. After parting ways they decided to contact the guitarist from Perseverance, Meredith Hermann, and Neutron Cafe’s drummer, “Gee” (Gina Ilasi) and Dormitory Effect was born.

Country: Unites States
History: 2004 – Present
Status: Active
Style: Heavy Metal

Biography:
Susan Wendelken and Urith Myre had already met at late nineties in a New York-based band called One Step Beyond. After parting ways they decided to contact the guitarist from the hardcore act Perseverance, Meredith Hermann, and Neutron Cafe’s drummer, “Gee” (Gina Ilasi) to form a cover band. Meredith contributed to the jams with songs discarded by her former band, which ended up becoming the first songs with the Dormitory Effect’s seal.

Gradually the original creations were displacing the covers, to finally have enough material to record a CD, “Wealth Of The Disease”. After its release they entered into a self-promotion, gigs and mixed events vortex. Without even realising it, it came 2007 without new songs to feed their music.

They forced themselves to compose, and soon their new creatures were born, “RJ”, “Hand That Feeds”, “To Belong” and “The Star You Are”. These songs bring a more aggressive touch to their alternative metal, to bring it closer to thrash, and they are working to release them in a CD very soon.

Lineup:
Susan Wendelken – Vocals
Meredith Hermann – Guitar
Urith Myree – Bass
“Gee” Gina Ilasi – Drums

Discography:
2005, “Wealth Of The Disease” (EP)

Related links:
Dormitory Effect official
Dormitory Effect @ Myspace

Videos
 
 

Atomic Blonde

Originally called Glass Lily, this Nashville quartet practices a commercial hard rock with quality. Their instrumental power, with some flash of sweetened garage/punk, is counterbalanced by the melodic and sometimes sensual voice of Dacia.

Country: Unites States
History: 2004 – Present
Status: Active
Style: Hard Rock

Biography:
Originally called Glass Lily, this Nashville quartet practices a commercial (in a good sense) hard rock with quality. Their instrumental power, with some flash of sweetened garage/punk, is counterbalanced by the melodic and sometimes sensual voice of Dacia. This contrast is clearly reflected in their name.

2005 winner of a competition between 12.000 bands, Atomic Blonde have appeared in publications like Metal Edge or Rolling Stone. They have also taken advantage of the resources offered by the Internet, and climbed to second place in the Myspace charts. An appearance in a promotional video clip for the contest “The Next Great American Band” (Fox) has given them some popularity, which pushed them to record their first and self titled album.

Lineup:
Dacia – Vocals, guitar
Kendra Kayne – Drums
Danielle Day – Bass
Fran Reed – Guitar

Former members:
Amber – Guitar

Discography:
2008, “Atomic Blonde” (LP)

Related links:
Atomic Blonde interview @ Metaladies.com
Atomic Blonde official
Atomic Blonde @ Myspace

Videos
 

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