Jeff Russo (born August 31) is a composer, songwriter, guitarist, vocalist and producer, best known as a founding member of American rock band Tonic. He is also a founding member of acoustic rock band Low Stars.
Recently he has scored films, TV programs and commercials, including the ABC dramas The Unusuals and My Generation, the NBC drama Crossing Jordan, the USA network show Necessary Roughness, the CBS network show Hostages and currently scores the FX drama Fargo and the Starz drama Power. He is currently scoring the second season of Extant, replacing Marcelo Zarvos and is about to begin his second season scoring CSI: Cyber. He has also worked with fellow composers Wendy Melvoin and Lisa Coleman.
Reb Beach (born Richard Earl Beach, Jr. on August 31, 1963) is an American rock guitarist. He is a member of the bands Winger and Whitesnake.
Beach is best known for his work in the melodic rock band Winger in the late 1980s to mid 1990s.
After graduating from Fox Chapel Area High School and attending Berklee College of Music in the early 1980s, he played in Fiona's backing band and became an accomplished studio musician, working with the likes of Howard Jones, Chaka Khan, The Bee Gees, Twisted Sister, and Roger Daltrey, among others, showcasing Beach's ability to adapt to various musical styles.
While working with Fiona, he was introduced to Kip Winger who was touring with Alice Cooper at the time. Eventually they formed the band Sahara along with Rod Morgenstein and Paul Taylor, which was later renamed to Winger.
Winger recorded and toured in support of three albums, Winger (1988), In the Heart of the Young (1990) and Pull (1993). The band also released a number of hit singles, including "Seventeen", "Madalaine", "Headed for a Heartbreak" and "Miles Away".
After Winger disbanded in the mid 1990s, Beach first joined Alice Cooper's band and later replaced George Lynch in the heavy metal band Dokken. With Dokken he recorded one studio album titled Erase The Slate and a live DVD titled Live From The Sun.
He was also involved with Sega, as he recorded the soundtrack for the video game Daytona USA 2.
Since leaving Dokken, Beach has been a part of several different recording and touring projects. In addition to sporadic touring with Winger, he released a solo effort entitled Masquerade in 2002. Since 2002 has been a member David Coverdale's current incarnation of Whitesnake and has been longest-serving guitarist/member of the band to this day.
A "supergroup" project called The Mob with King's X frontman Doug Pinnick and Night Ranger drummer Kelly Keagy, resulted in a single self-titled album, released in 2005.
A reformed Winger released their first studio recording in over a decade, IV in 2006.
He replaced Jeff Watson in Night Ranger for a series of dates in Japan and the US, but announced his departure in January 2008.
He currently splits his time between Winger and Whitesnake, recording Better Days Comin' in 2014 with the former band, and The Purple Album with the latter in 2015. He continues to tour with both acts.
According to band mate Kip Winger, Reb is quite adept at coming up with multiple rock riffs at a time, though he is often unable to remember them later.
Ibanez guitars produced his signature RBM models (stands for Reb Beach Model) in the early 1990s. On the 2005 Whitesnake reunion tour, he primarily used custom models by luthier Suhr Guitars.
Rudolf Schenker (born 31 August 1948 in Hildesheim, Lower Saxony) is a German guitarist and founding member of the hard rock band Scorpions, being the rhythm/lead guitarist and one of the main songwriters of the band.
Schenker founded the Scorpions in 1964 when he was only 16 years old. He has become one of the major driving forces in the band's song-writing and musical direction for 40-plus years. In 2014, Scorpions announced that their newest album, Return to Forever, the 2015 release,would be their last. The tour that supported the previous album"Sting in the tail",with the tour Get Your Sting And Blackout World Tour, was thought to be their last, however they had their farewell tour called "The Final Sting Tour" that concluded in Munich on 17 December 2012. Surprisingly, a new world tour was just launched in June this year, lasting until March 2016, ending in a long tour of the USA. Schenker has been the Scorpion's most consistent member, appearing on every album and at every tour. His younger brother Michael Schenker was a member of Scorpions in the band's earliest inception, before joining the band UFO. In the year 2000 Schenker was awarded the city of Hanover plaque. and the Cross of Merit First Class (Verdienstkreuz 1. Klasse) of the Lower Saxony Order of Merit.
Michael Joseph "Micky" Moody (born 30 August 1950) is an English guitarist, and a former member of the rock bands Juicy Lucy and Whitesnake. He was also a founder-member of Snafu. Together with his former Whitesnake colleague Bernie Marsden he founded the Moody Marsden Band, and later, The Snakes, having previously collaborated with unofficial 5th Status Quo member Bob Young in Young & Moody. Along with Marsden and ex-Whitesnake bassist, Neil Murray, he formed Company of Snakes and M3 Classic Whitesnake with which they mainly performed early Whitesnake songs. From 2010 he has been working with Murray, guitarist Laurie Wisefield, drummer Harry James, singer Chris Ousey and keyboard player Michael Bramwell in Monsters of British Rock which has morphed into Snakecharmer with Adam Wakeman on keyboards.
Besides this, Moody has also toured with Roger Chapman, Frankie Miller and Chris Farlowe. He has also performed live alongside the likes of Eric Clapton, Alvin Lee, Mick Taylor, Bruce Dickinson, Sam Brown, Gary Brooker, Suggs, Dennis Locorriere, Paul Jones, P. P. Arnold, James Hunter, Rick Wakeman, Jon Lord, Newton Faulkner, Uriah Heep, Alice Cooper, Mark King, Alfie Boe, Sandi Thom, Brian Auger, Paul Weller, Eric Bibb, Meat Loaf, Boy George, Elkie Brooks, Nona Hendryx, Mud Morganfield and one of his early guitar heroes, Duane Eddy. Since 2000 he has released several solo albums: I Eat Them For Breakfast (2000), Don't Blame Me (2006), Acoustic Journeyman (2007) and Electric Journeyman (2009). A versatile guitarist, Moody has been an active session musician and his own website lists over 100 albums to which he has contributed musically. 2006 saw the release of the autobiographical Playing With Trumpets – A Rock 'n' Roll Apprenticeship, a memoir about his early days on the music scene. His library music has been featured on such TV programmes as Waking the Dead, Bo' Selecta!, America's Next Top Model, How to Look Good Naked, Top Gear, Horizon, Jersey Shore, Mad Men, Wife Swap and Paul Hollywood's Bread.
Thomas Jacob "Jack" Black (born August 28, 1969) is an American actor, producer, comedian, voice artist, writer, and musician. His acting career has been extensive, starring primarily as bumbling and cocky but internally self-conscious outsiders in comedy films, though he has played some serious roles. He is best known for his roles in High Fidelity, Shallow Hal, School of Rock, King Kong (2005), Nacho Libre, Tropic Thunder, Bernie and the Kung Fu Panda films. Black is considered a member of the so-called Frat Pack, a loose grouping of comic actors who have appeared together in various Hollywood films, and has been nominated for two Golden Globe Awards. He is the lead vocalist of the comedic rock group Tenacious D, which he formed in 1994 with friend Kyle Gass.
KSCOPE PRESENTS: ANATHEMA'S "A SORT OF HOMECOMING," A CONCERT FILM BY LASSE HOILE FROM ANATHEMA'S LIVERPOOL CATHEDRAL SHOW
"A Sort of Homecoming" to be released on Blu-ray, 2CD + DVD-V, LP and digital download on October 30
ENGLAND - Anathema, one of the U.K.'s most cherished and critically acclaimed rock bands, will release a live Blu-ray/audio collection entitled A Sort of Homecoming on October 30 via Kscope. Directed by Lasse Hoile (Steven Wilson, Katatonia, Opeth), A Sort of Homecoming is a stunning concert film of Anathema's homecoming show on March 7, 2015 in the spectacular setting of the Liverpool Cathedral. The concert was described by Prog Magazine as "a once in a lifetime experience that words can barely do justice."
"I'm really happy that this night in particular has been preserved," commented Anathema guitarist/vocalist, Vincent Cavanagh. "As anyone from Liverpool will tell you, to be given the chance to play the Anglican Cathedral is monumental and a huge honor. The place is absolutely huge. Just look at the cover, it was like doing a gig in Erebor!"
- 4 disc box set: 2 CD concert audio (100 mins), DVD with full concert plus an additional behind the scenes film "A Temporary Peace" and concert on Blu-ray disc. In a deluxe rigid media book with 36 page booklet, presented in a slipcase
- 2CD + DVD-V: The set features the full 100 minute audio and DVD-V of the concert with 5.1 audio mixed by The Pineapple Thief's Bruce Soord
- Blu-ray disc: The full 100 minute concert plus an additional behind the scenes film "A Temporary Peace" with 5.1 audio mixed by The Pineapple Thief's Bruce Soord
LP: A gatefold triple 180g black vinyl LP including MP3 download code
Digital: Concert audio only
All formats, excluding digital download, are available to pre-order via the Kscope web-store at: www.kscopemusic.com/store.
Anathema will continue to tour throughout the remainder of 2015. A full list of dates can be seen below.
1. The Lost Song Part 2
2. Untouchable Part 1
3. Untouchable Part 2
4. Thin Air
5. Dreaming Light
6. Anathema
7. Ariel
8. Electricity
9. Temporary Peace
10. The Beginning And The End
11. Distant Satellites
12. Take Shelter
13. Internal Landscapes
14. A Natural Disaster
15. Fragile Dreams
Forming in the mid-90s, Anathema has spent the vast majority of its career making music that defies description.With its star rising ever higher, Anathema returned in 2014 with Distant Satellites. The new studio album showcased another imperious forward step into the realm of miraculous song writing. It has proved to be the band's most widely acclaimed and celebrated record reaching #32 in the U.K. charts with the likes of The Guardian (UK), Metal Hammer (UK /DE), Kerrang (UK), Classic Rock (UK/DE), Prog Magazine (UK), Aardschok (NL), Rock Hard (DE), Rolling Stone (Aus) heaping praise on the album.
Anathema has been at the forefront of the U.K. rock/metal movement since its inception, influencing a myriad of bands to follow. What began as a pioneering journey of melodic heavy music has outgrown all genres and limitations, fearlessly exploring new territory and new ways to express feeling through sound.
Stay tuned for more information on Anathema and A Sort of Homecoming, out this fall on Kscope.
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Anathema live...
8/31 - Tokyo, Japan @ Liquid Room
9/01 - Tokyo, Japan @ Liquid Room
9/05 - Sao Paulo, Brazil @ Overload Music Festival
9/07 - Porto Alegre, Brazil @ Opiniao (w/ Paradise Lost)
9/08 - Rio, Brazil @ Circo Voador (w/ Paradise Lost)
9/11 - Atlanta, GA, USA @ Prog Power Festival
10/01 - Moscow, Russia @ Volta
10/02 - Minsk, Russia @ Re:Public
10/03 - St Petersburg, Russia @ Avrora
10/23 - Christchurch, NZ @ Dux Live
10/24 - Auckland, NZ @ Kings Arms
10/27 - Adelaide, AUS @ The Gov
10/29 - Brisbane, AUS @ Triffid
10/30 - Sydney, AUS @ Metro Theatre
10/31 - Melbourne, AUS @ Corner Hotel
11/01 - Perth, AUS @ Rosemount Hotel
11/04 - Manchester, UK @ Manchester Cathedral
11/05 - Paris, France @ Église Saint-Eustache (acoustic)
Björn Gelotte (born August 27, 1975) is a songwriter and guitarist for the Swedish band, In Flames. He joined the band as the drummer in 1995, and continued his position as drummer during The Jester Race (1995) and Whoracle (1997). Gelotte switched to his current position on guitars after Glenn Ljungström left the band, sharing lead/rhythm guitar work with now former In Flames guitarist Jesper Strömblad.
In March 2004, Björn (along with Jesper Strömblad) were both ranked #70 out of 100 Greatest Heavy Metal Guitarists of all time by Guitar World.
Phil Shulman (born Philip Arthur Shulman, 27 August 1937, The Gorbals, Glasgow, Scotland), was a member of the progressive rock group Gentle Giant from 1970 to 1972 and performed on their albums Gentle Giant, Acquiring the Taste, Three Friends, and Octopus.
He is a Scottish musician and eldest brother of Derek Shulman and Ray Shulman. All three were members of seminal Prog Rock group Gentle Giant. A multi-instrumentalist, he has played alto and tenor saxophone, flute, clarinet, trumpet, mellophone, piano, plus occasional percussion and vocals.
Aleksandar Živojinović (born August 27, 1953) better known by his stage name Alex Lifeson, is a Canadian musician, best known as the guitarist of the Canadian rock band Rush. In the summer of 1968, Lifeson co-founded the band that would become Rush. Other co-founders are friend and drummer John Rutsey, bassist and lead vocalist Jeff Jones, and Jones's successor, current front man Geddy Lee a month later. Lifeson has been an integral member of the band ever since.
For Rush, Lifeson plays electric and acoustic guitars as well as other stringed instruments such as mandola, mandolin, and bouzouki. He also performs backing vocals in live performances, and occasionally plays keyboards and bass pedal synthesizers. Like the other members of Rush, Lifeson performs real-time on-stage triggering of sampled instruments, concurrently with his guitar playing.
The bulk of Lifeson's work in music has been with Rush, although Lifeson has contributed to a body of work outside of the band as well. Aside from music, Lifeson is part-owner of The Orbit Room, a bar and restaurant located in Toronto, Canada, and is a licensed aircraft pilot.
Along with his bandmates Geddy Lee and Neil Peart, Lifeson was made an Officer of the Order of Canada on May 9, 1996. The trio was the first rock band to be so honored, as a group.
He currently ranks 3rd in the Guitar World Readers poll of 100 greatest guitarists.
British heavy metal legends IRON MAIDEN, whose new studio album, "The Book Of Souls", their first for 5 years, will be released worldwide next week on September 4, are taking touring to a new level using a Boeing 747-400 Jumbo Jet (a.k.a. Queen of the Skies) for their world tour next year. Vocalist Bruce Dickinson is currently in training for his license to fly the massive four-engine jet, which is almost twice the size and over three times the weight of the Boeing 757 used on previous tours in 2008/9/11.
The new Ed Force One will take the band, crew and over 12 tons of equipment more than 55,000 miles (88,500km) around the planet with concerts in six of the seven continents (Australasia, Asia, North and South America, Africa and Europe), with "The Book Of Souls" world tour 2016 expected to visit around 35 countries.
Details of the precise schedule are currently being finalized and the band will commence announcements of specific dates for the different territories in a few weeks' time. However, it can be revealed that "The Book Of Souls" world tour will open in the USA in late February, with Ed Force One flying in for three shows before, in early March, heading into Central America visiting Mexico, followed by a much-anticipated first-ever concert in El Salvador and a return to Costa Rica. Ed Force One then proceeds into South America for concerts in Argentina, Chile and a number of shows in Brazil before flying back to the USA at the end of March for ten more cities covering the USA and, of course, Canada in the first two weeks of April.
A long awaited return to Japan follows later in April, and then the band are delighted to be playing their first ever shows in China before heading to New Zealand and Australia for a comprehensive tour during the first half of May. Shows in South Africa, MAIDEN's first visit there with Bruce, will be the last port of call before Ed Force One heads to Europe for a very extensive tour starting in late May and finishing in early August. This will the first time Ed Force One has ever been used on any European Tour dates (other than Bruce's fan club trips to shows) and will provide transport there for at least for the first few weeks.
Bruce Dickinson comments: "When the opportunity arose from my friends at Air Atlanta Icelandic to lease a 747 for 'The Book Of Souls' world tour, of course, we jumped at the chance. Who wouldn't? The greatest benefit of travelling in a 747 is that because of its colossal size and freight capacity, we can carry our stage production and all our stage equipment and desks in the cargo hold without having to make any of the immense structural modifications needed to do this on the previous 757, the extent of which fans will have noted on the 'Flight 666' DVD. Although in reality we cannot carry much more gear, the savings in complexity, time and cost make using the 747 even more practical. All we will need to do is 'paint' it and move a few seats around, with the added advantage that there is much more room for band and crew — our Krew can almost get a row of seats each to catch up on sleep on the flights! Furthermore, it is marginally faster 0.85 MACH and the range of around 7000NM (13,000 km) is much greater, which means we will not have to make the refuelling stops we needed to with the 757.
"However, even though we have worked out the logistics of taking a plane of that immense size out on tour, I still have to learn to fly it before we can go anywhere! So, I'm currently doing my training to qualify as a pilot and captain on a Boeing 747. I'm doing this at Cardiff Aviation, my aircraft maintenance facility in Wales, where we recently took possession of a rather splendid 747 simulator which I can't wait to get practicing on!
"We're all really excited at the thought of bringing our brand new tour to fans who have never seen us play live before, and, of course, re-visiting all our old friends again too. You can rest assured we are all working hard to put together a spectacular show for our fans."
The 747 is the world's most recognizable airliner on account of its distinctive hump. With its impressive dimensions of 70.7m (232ft) length, 19.4m (63.6ft) height and a jaw-dropping wing span of 64.4m (211ft) this double-decker aircraft has a range of 13,450km (7,262nm). (See grid for full and comparative specs)
Final dates, venues and ticket on sale times, along with full details of what MAIDEN fans can expect from "The Book Of Souls" world tour, will be announced by territory starting in a few weeks' time. As usual, where feasible, IRON MAIDEN fan club members will have exclusive access to purchase tickets before they go on general sale. Also, wherever possible, the fan club will again be running the First To The Barrier draw for privileged, early access to the venue to secure the best standing positions by or close to the barrier.
Michael David Cummings, better known by his stage name Spider One, (born August 25, 1968) is a musician; the lead singer, founding and only consistent member of the Boston-based metal band Powerman 5000, host of FEARnet.com's "on the fly", and owner of Megatronic Records. His most notable hit to-date has been "When Worlds Collide", featured on Tonight the Stars Revolt!. Spider One is the brother of singer/filmmaker Rob Zombie. He hopes to enter the field of filmmaking as well. Spider's television series Death Valley aired on MTV in 2011. Rob and Spider's styles have often been a source for comparison.
Derek Sherinian (born August 25, 1966) is an American keyboardist who has toured and recorded for Alice Cooper, Billy Idol, Yngwie Malmsteen, Kiss, and Black Label Society. He was also a member of Dream Theater from 1994–1999, is the founder of Planet X and also one of the founding members of Black Country Communion. His solo albums often feature a variety of prominent guest musicians, including guitarists Slash, Yngwie Malmsteen, Allan Holdsworth, Steve Lukather, Joe Bonamassa, Billy Sheehan, Zakk Wylde and Al Di Meola.
Sherinian has distinguished himself by his aggressive "guitaristic" approach to his keyboard style. He has appeared on the cover of numerous keyboard magazines around the world, including the November 2011 issue of Keyboard Magazine, which declared Sherinian a "Keyboard hero for a new generation". He has also been called the "King of the Keys" by Guitar World magazine and the "Caligula of Keyboards" by Alice Cooper. His main musical influences include Elton John, Van Halen and Jeff Beck.
Vivian Patrick Campbell (born 25 August 1962) is a Northern Irish rock guitarist who is a member of Def Leppard and was a member of Thin Lizzy from May 2010 to November 2011. Prior to joining Def Leppard in April 1992, he had been a member of Whitesnake, Sweet Savage, Trinity, Riverdogs, and Shadow King. He first rose to prominence in 1982 as the original guitarist of the band Dio.
Geoffrey Downes (born 25 August 1952) is an English rock keyboard player and songwriter for the bands Yes and Asia, and formerly of The Buggles, during which he played multiple keyboards to achieve a New Wave technopop sound. He was once entered for the Guinness Book of Records for performing with the most keyboards (28) on stage in one performance.
While currently active with the original Asia, he has also finished three albums with John Wetton on their side project 'Icon', and recorded a live DVD in February 2009 to promote the release of their third studio album. The project included guitarist Dave Kilminster (Roger Waters, Keith Emerson), Pete Riley (Keith Emerson, Ken Hensley), and Hugh McDowell (Electric Light Orchestra). In addition, Downes is also working on television, film and production music for a London West End film production company, Original Production Music Ltd.
Robert John Arthur "Rob" Halford (born 25 August 1951) is an English singer-songwriter, who is best known as the lead vocalist for the Grammy Award-winning heavy metal band Judas Priest. He is considered one of the most consistently powerful singers in rock, possessing a wide vocal range, and is particularly known for his trademark high-pitched, operatic, soaring screams. His vocal range currently spans nearly four octaves. In addition to his work with Judas Priest, he has been involved with several side projects, including Fight, 2wo and Halford. He is credited as the first openly gay heavy metal musician, having come out in 1998.
Gene Simmons (born Chaim Witz, August 25, 1949) is an Israeli-born American rock bass guitarist, singer-songwriter, record producer, entrepreneur, and actor. Known by his stage persona The Demon, he is the bass guitarist/co-lead vocalist of Kiss, a hard rock band he co-founded in the early 1970s. With Kiss, Simmons has sold more than 100 million albums worldwide.