BRUCE DICKINSON working on movie about Aleister Crowley

Rock star, pilot and expert swordsman — now IRON MAIDEN singer Bruce Dickinson has even becomes a movie producer.
Original post on BLABBERMOUTH.NET

Mike Portnoy's interview with Neal Peart in Rhythm Magazine

Today on Rush is a Band Blog:

A couple of months ago, DREAM THEATER drummer Mike Portnoy revealed in a radio interview that he finally got to meet Neil Peart. Mike had been chosen to be a "guest editor" for a special edition of UK drum magazine Rhythm (the January 2007 issue) where he could interview 4 of his drum heros. He chose Nick Mason, Bill Bruford, Lars Ulrich and, of course, Neil Peart.

Early last month Mike revealed details of the interviews along with some photos on his website. Yesterday he posted a scan of the cover of the issue and mentioned that it would be on newstands December 20th.

STREAM OF PASSION announces European tour dates

STREAM OF PASSION, the new band featuring AYREON mastermind Arjen Lucassen, has issued the following update on their page:

New tour dates!

Stream of Passion had such a blast playing for the fans during the last two tours and the Mexico gig, that they immediately started looking for a way to get together again, and play live once again. There were also quite a few venues who expressed an interest in hosting a Stream of Passion feat. Ayreon show.

Now that all the planning is done, we can confirm a short European tour. This will be the last opportunity to see the band live in action in Europe. They will play an adjusted set-list.

So come on down, and bring your friends!

We can confirm the following tour dates:

• 18 Jan The Rock / Kopenhagen (DK)
• 21 Jan Biebob / Turnhout (BE)
• 26 Jan Bibelot / Dordrecht (NL)
• 3 Feb Rotherham (venue TBA) (UK)

A few more dates plus ticket info will be added later on this month!

New Rush radio special: Rockline 2003

According to Rush is a Band Blog there is yet another radio special up on Rush.net. This one is the 2003 Rockline appearance with Alex and Geddy. To listen to this and many other old radio shows and audio clips, just go here and click on the huge banner saying "Rush Radio Specials". For the 2003 Rockline show look for Rush - Rockline (2/5/03) and click on it.

Original HEATHEN vocalist Sam Kress passes away

Sam Kress, the original vocalist of acclaimed San Francisco Bay Area thrashers HEATHEN and former co-editor of early '80s underground fanzine Whiplash, passed away several days ago. The cause of his death has not been released.

Read the whole article on BLABBERMOTH.NET

Ex-DREAM THEATER keyboardist scores new Turkish movie

Kevin Moore (DREAM THEATER, O.S.I., CHROMA KEY) has written and produced the soundtrack to new a Turkish movie called "Küçük Kiyamet" (roughly translated as "Little Apocalypse"; the film's official English title has not yet been confirmed). The keyboard player, who currently resides in Istanbul, previously wrote the soundtrack to the movie "Okul", which was released through Inside Out Music under the title "Ghost Book".

Read the whole article on BLABBERMOUTH.NET

DEVIN TOWNSEND BAND drummer issues update on TERROR SYNDROME solo project

Original Post by BLABBERMOUTH.NET

DEVIN TOWNSEND BAND drummer Ryan Van Poederooyen has posted the following message on his official web site:

"Well, here it is, the last update for 2006! Got a studio update for you all on my solo/side project TERROR SYNDROME and some related RVP session news.

"First of all, the TERROR SYNDROME album is going better than I could ever dream of. I just received Christofer Malmström's (DARKANE, NON-HUMAN LEVEL) guitar solo for the thrash song 'Riot of Red'. GODDAMN!!!!!! This solo is absolutely amazing and crazy. If you want speed, weirdness and creative guitar playing, then this solo is the one to listen to. Christofer complimented the craziness of the song as good as anyone could, with his incredible guitar solo. HUGE thanks to Christofer for a job extremely well done and for his contribution to the TERROR SYNDROME album!

"Mike Young (DEVIN TOWNSEND BAND, 10 WAYS FROM SUNDAY) will be laying down the equally crazy bass track for 'Riot of Red' this week. I've been in touch with Alex Skolnick (TESTAMENT), Michael Manring (session bass god), Trevor Dunn (MR. BUNGLE, FANTOMAS) and Devin Townsend (STRAPPING YOUNG LAD, DEVIN TOWNSEND BAND) and should be have their efforts within the next couple weeks or so. I'm sure you'll hear about their awesome contributions in my next update. Lastly, I've made a couple calls to the best studios in Vancouver for mixing and I am planning on mixing the album late December or early January. Things are finally coming close to an end. TERROR SYNDROME 2007!!!

"Deep Peace Design will start to work on the TERROR SYNDROME website very soon and will also design our CD artwork, so expect something ready to go online in 2007. Right now you can visit the TERROR SYNDROME MySpace page which will have some rough-mixed, sneak peak samples of the album any day now.

"As for RVP session news, the Polish hard rock band DELIGHT are getting ready to release their debut album, 'Breaking Ground', on Roadrunner Records on Jan. 19th 2007. I recorded 14 songs for their debut album earlier this year with Rhys Fulber (FEAR FACTORY, FRONT LINE ASSEMBLY) producing. They have posted a track named 'Divided' on their MySpace page. It's a straight-up ass-kickin' hard rock song. This recording was also the first recording I used my new Pearl reference kit from my Pearl endorsement. Killer-sounding drums! My hats off to everyone at Pearl Drums for making such awesome sounding drums! So keep your ears open for DELIGHT, I have a good feeling that this band is going to make a mark in the music industry.

"So, another year is coming to an end. 2006 was a great year for me and I hope all of you had a great year as well. 2007 is probably one of the most anticipated years for me in my life! I'm really excited about getting out there for you all to hear and hopefully getting some new DEVIN TOWNSEND BAND stuff done too, when Dev's ready. Which reminds me.... I would like to congratulate Devin and [wife] Tracy on the birth of their beautiful baby boy Reyner Townsend. The kid is friggin' adorable!!!! Watch out... Another musical genius is born."

RAGE split with Mike Terrana

German power metal band Rage splits with drummer Mike Terrana. There have been rumors for a while and today the other two bandmembers Peavy and Victor announced the following on Rage-On.de:

"From now on we won't continue our colaboration with Mike because personal and musical differences that exist since a while, became unbearable. This cut is definitely not easy for us, but to avoid damage for RAGE, we have no other choice. Unfortunately there's not much left from our former unity, since a while, comunication between Mike and us broke down completely, so we have to pull the emergency brake. We decided to work with a new drummer in the future, because we don't want to ruin it all to a point, where's no future at all. We want to keep our power and joy in music, so there's no other way.

We are aware, how much this Line up meant to you (and us), but that's life. A band, especially a three-piece, is like a relationship. Over the years we just developed apart from each other. We wish Mike all the best for his further carreer.

Nevertheless, there's a bright perspective in front of us: We definitely won't cancel a single show and work intensely at the moment, to present you a suitable new drummer soon. We have lots of plans for the next year, among others we'll play some exclusive orchestra shows for you.

We hope you all keep the faith in the future and promise, to keep up with our quality level to 100% ."

Geddy Lee makes Hit Parader's list of top 100 vocalists

Found on Rush is a Band, a blog devoted to the band RUSH and its members, Neil Peart, Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson:

Hit Parader is an American music magazine whose focus is hard rock and heavy metal. The November 2006 issue is currently on newstands. It's a special issue which highlights heavy metal's all-time top 100 vocalists. Although Rush is not really considered much of a "heavy metal" band these days, they certainly were back in the 70s. They helped to usher in the progressive metal genre and heavily influenced such bands as Queensryche, Dream Theater, Iron Maiden and Metallica to name a few. So it's not surprising to find Geddy Lee on this list. He didn't quite make it into the top 10 but he came pretty close at #13. Here's who rounded out the top 20:

1. Robert Plant
2. Rob Halford
3. Steven Tyler
4. Chris Cornell
5. Bon Scott
6. Freddie Mercury
7. Bruce Dickinson
8. Ozzy Osbourne
9. Paul Rodgers
10. Ronnie James Dio
11. Axl Rose
12. Sammy Hagar
13. Geddy Lee
14. Geoff Tate
15. Mick Jagger
16. Jonathan Davis
17. Roger Daltry
18. Paul Stanley
19. David Lee Roth
20. Kurt Cobain

Pain of Salvation - Release and Tour Dates

The long awaited Scarsick album is now done, and is expected to hit the stores January 22nd, 2007, just a few weeks before the European tour that will start mid February.

The album is (of course) a concept album, and clocks in at 67 minutes, consisting of the following tracks:

01. Scarsick
02. Spitfall
03. Cribcaged
04. America
05. Disco Queen
06. Kingdom of Loss
07. Mrs Modern Mother Mary
08. Idiocracy
09. Flame to the Moth
10. Enter Rain


Now that Scarsick is finished, the band will focus on finding a new bass player. The first auditions are already scheduled for December, but the quest will be "as long as it takes to find the right guy". Applications have been pouring in from all around the world, despite the band's request for a bassist living in Sweden. Thus, focus will be on the "domestic" applications. But this also means that the field is still open, in case you are hesitating.

The Tour is scheduled for February/March:

Feb 17	Norway	Oslo	John Dee
Feb 18	Sweden	Gothenburg	Musikens Hus
Feb 20	Poland	Warsaw	Progresja
Feb 21	Poland	Krakow	Klub Studio
Feb 22	Hungary	Budapest	Schiff A38
Feb 23	Austria	Vienna	Planet Music
Feb 25	Italy	Treviso	New Age
Feb 26	Italy	Rome	Alpheus
Feb 27	Italy	Milan	Rolling Stone
Mar 1	Switzerland	Pratteln	Z7
Mar 2	Netherlands	Amsterdam	Paradiso
Mar 3	France	Paris	Elysee Monmartre
Mar 4	Belgium	Vosselaar	Biebob
Mar 6	Germany	Augsburg	Spectrum
Mar 7	Germany	Aschaffenburg	ColosSaal
Mar 8	Germany	Bochum	Zeche
Mar 10	Denmark	Copenhagen	The Rock

Dog Fashion Disco quits

This statement has just been released on Dog Fashion Disco's MySpace Site:

"After much thought and consideration Dog Fashion Disco has decided to call it quits. Their last and final show will be 1-13-07 at Club Sonar located on 407 E Saratoga St. in Baltimore, MD. T

"They want to thank you all of their dedicated fans for enabling them to make a life and career out of the music of Dog Fashion Disco. This is something that not many people get to enjoy and do. It was a hard decision but after 10 years on CONSTANT dedication and touring it is time to pursue other interests.

Read the whole statement from Todd Smith, lead singer of Dog Fashion Disco on their website