The new line-up of Graham Bonnet Band with new guitarist Joey Tafolla on the left.
By Stefan Nilsson, Roppongi Rocks
Graham Bonnet Band reveals Joey Tafolla as Conrado Pesinato’s replacement.
As previously reported by Roppongi Rocks, fab guitarist Conrado Pesinato recently left Graham Bonnet Band. While no official explanation has been given for Pesinato’s departure, today the band revealed who will replace him: Jag Panzer guitarist Joey Tafolla. Tafolla has released a number of solo albums via Shrapnel Records. Back in February, Tafolla was a guest with Graham Bonnet Band when they performed with Uli Jon Roth. Now he is the latest in a long row of phenomenal guitarists who have been creating terrific music with Graham Bonnet over the years.
Graham Bonnet and Conrado Pesinato in Tokyo in March 2017. Photo: Stefan Nilsson, Roppongi Rocks
Jake E and Jesper Strömblad launch CyHra | Record deal inked, debut album and world tour coming up.
Vocalist Jake E, who recently announced his departure from Amaranthe, has teamed up with guitarist Jesper Strömblad (ex-In Flames, HammerFall) to launch a new modern metal band called CyHra. The band has signed a record deal with Spinefarm Records/Universal.
For CyHra, Jake E and Jesper Strömblad have recruited former In Flames bassist Peter Iwers and drummer Alex Landenburg, who has played with Annihilator, Bonfire, Masterplan and Stratovarius, to complete the line-up.
Jake E on stage in Tokyo in September 2016 during the Helloween/Amaranthe tour. Photo: Stefan Nilsson, Roppongi Rocks
The band is already working on its debut album, which is expected to be released later this year. Based on the great quality of early CyHra demo recordings I’ve heard, this new band will no doubt cause a stir and get attention from both Amaranthe and In Flames fans. This is modern and melodic metal bursting with energy. These four gentlemen have some serious pedigree, but I reckon the best is yet to come for them. Once the debut album is released sometime in the autumn, CyHra plans to do extensive international touring in support of the album.
Jake E on stage with Amaranthe in Tokyo in 2015. Photo: Stefan Nilsson, Roppongi Rocks
By Stefan Nilsson, Roppongi Rocks
Jake E has decided to leave Amaranthe, the very successful melodic metal band he co-founded. “I am stepping off the Amaranthe tour bus and will go on to do new things”, says Jake in a comment to Roppongi Rocks.
Jake E on stage with Amaranthe in Tokyo in 2016. Photo: Stefan Nilsson, Roppongi Rocks
Since 2011, Amaranthe has released four studio albums and relentlessly toured the world. Following Amaranthe’s Japan tour with Helloween in September last year, Jake E, one of the band’s three vocalists, has taken time out from the band. Smash Into Pieces’ Chris Adam has been standing in for him during Amaranthe’s gigs in the past few months.
Jake E in Tokyo in 2014. Photo: Stefan Nilsson, Roppongi Rocks
“I’ve had some fantastic seven years with Amaranthe. We have achieved success far beyond what I expected when we formed the band. I am very proud of what we have achieved with Amaranthe: creatively and commercially, in the studio and on stage in front of our great fans. Now I am stepping off the Amaranthe tour bus and will go on to do new things. I am involved with plenty of great things, both in the music space and in other creative areas,” comments Jake E exclusively to Roppongi Rocks.
Jake E has earlier announced that he will perform on stage in Sweden in March with his old band Dreamland. Recently he has spent time hosting a radio show, working on film projects and produced the debut album by Finnish band Ember Falls. Among other things. No doubt we will hear more from the multi-talented Jake E in the near future.
Jake E on stage with Amaranthe in Tokyo in 2013. Photo: Stefan Nilsson, Roppongi Rocks
Michael Amott of Black Earth on stage in Tokyo, 17th May 2016. Photo: Stefan Nilsson
By Stefan Nilsson, Roppongi Rocks
2016 was another year filled with great rock music. There was too much good stuff to mention here, but here are some of our favourites from the past year.
Lord Ahriman of Dark Funeral in Tokyo, 9th October 2016. Photo: Stefan Nilsson
Extreme Metal Album of the Year
Dark Funeral “Where Shadows Forever Reign”. Lord Ahriman and his men delivered above and beyond what we were hoping for. Bordering on sensational.
Runner up: Aborted “Retrogore”
Heavy Metal Album of the Year
Megadeth “Dystopia”. Megadeth is back on top. With the arrival of Dirk Verbeuren in the band this year, who knows what the band can do on the next album?
Runner up: Moonsorrow “Jumalten Aika”
Graham Bonnet and Beth-Ami Heavenstone in Tokyo 2016. Photo: Stefan Nilsson
Classic Rock Album of the Year
Graham Bonnet Band “The Book”. What a comeback by the former Rainbow, Alcatrazz and MSG singer!
New England in Kawasaki, Japan in November 2016. Photo: Stefan Nilsson
Live Album of the Year
New England “Live at the Regent Theatre”. Simply beautiful. The songwriting skills of John Fannon combined with four great musicians that complement each other so well creates magic.
Runner up: Motörhead “Clean Your Clock”
Napalm Death on stage in Tokyo, 5th September 2016. Photo: Stefan Nilsson
Gig of the Year
Napalm Death in Tokyo in September. Still quite possibly the best band in the world.
Runners up: Soilwork, New England, Michael Schenker, Exodus, Black Earth and Candlemass were among those artists who did excellent gigs in Japan in 2016.
Video of the Year
Kampfar “Tornekratt” Epic! A great song with a video to match it.
Black Earth on stage in Tokyo, 17th May 2016. Photo: Stefan Nilsson
Reunion of the Year
Black Earth – following 2015’s reunion of the original Arch Enemy line-up for a few songs at Loud Park, Michael Amott returned to Japan for a full-blown Black Earth tour.
Runners up: Michael Schenker Fest (a line-up of pure MSG royalty) and Dokken (yes, the much-hyped Japanese reunion tour for Dokken’s classic line-up was actually much better than expected)
Mikkey Dee on stage at Loud Park with Scorpions. Photo: Stefan Nilsson
Energy Injections of the Year
Drummers Mikkey Dee to Scorpions and Dirk Verbeuren to Megadeth! Simply wow! Very smart recruitment decisions.
Dirk Verbeuren in Tokyo in 2016. Photo: Stefan Nilsson
Newcomers of the Year
Open Surgery: Great debut album from this Swedish death metal band.
Eradikal Insane: Having previously self-released their debut album, 2016 saw the French extreme metal band toured Europe and sign a management deal with Alpha Omega.
Unearthed Elf: An epic fantasy power doom metal project by a sick American elf.
Vindland: Melodic pagan black metal from France.
Congrats to the winners and apologies for all the great music from 2016 that we’ve forgot to mention here. Now on to 2017! Cheers!
Graham Bonnet on stage in Tokyo in June 2015. Photo: Stefan Nilsson
By Stefan Nilsson, Roppongi Rocks
It’s been confirmed! Graham Bonnet Band will tour Japan in 2017 and the Japanese fans will get a special Alcatrazz encore during the tour.
In 2015, an early version of the Graham Bonnet Band toured Japan as opening act for Michael Schenker’s Temple of Rock. A few months ago, Graham Bonnet was back in Japan as one of the guest vocalists during the Japanese Michael Schenker Fest tour. In the spring of 2017, we will finally get the now-finalised Graham Bonnet Band line-up on stage in Japan.
The Japan tour will consist of three gigs in Osaka, Nagoya and Tokyo in mid-March. Graham Bonnet Band – Graham Bonnet (vocals), Beth-Ami Heavenstone (bass), Conrado Pesinato (guitar), Jimmy Waldo (keyboards) and Mark Zonder (drums) – will perform a full set and as a treat, they will be joined by bassist Gary Shea for a special Alcatrazz encore. While Shea and Waldo are on a Japan tour right now with their New England band, the planned shows with Bonnet in March will be the first time since 1984 that the three founding members of Alcatrazz will perform together in Japan. This will be special and not something you want to miss. Get your tickets now: www.ameblo.jp/tokyoonkyorock
New England’s classic line-up will reunite for gigs in Japan in November.
American melodic rock band New England will reform for a couple of reunion gigs in Japan in November. The band will also do a few US gigs this year. The band’s classic line-up with John Fannon (vocals and guitar), Hirsh Gardner (drums), Jimmy Waldo (keyboards) and Gary Shea (bass) will be on stage for the reunion.
The band was originally active in the late 70s and early 80s. They had KISS frontman Paul Stanley as producer and shared management with KISS. When John Fannon suddenly left the band in 1982, he was briefly replaced by future KISS member Vinnie Vincent on guitar and lead vocals (on Gene Simmons’ recommendation). New England changed its band name to Warrior and the band’s brief existence led to some demo recordings of songs written by Vincent that would eventually end up as KISS and Vinnie Vincent Invasion songs. When Vincent was offered to join KISS, Warrior broke up. Jimmy Waldo (now in Graham Bonnet Band) and Gary Shea then went on to play with Graham Bonnet and Yngwie Malmsteen, and later Steve Vai, in Alcatrazz.
New England has done some reunion gigs over the years and also released a new single, “I Know There’s Something There”, in 2015.
New England will play at Club Citta in Kawasaki, Japan on 18th and 20th November.
Swedish guitar hero Kee Marcello will return with a new solo album in October.
Former Europe and Easy Action lead guitarist Kee Marcello, perhaps best known for his guitar solo on Europe classic “Superstitious”, will release a new solo album in October.
Kee Marcello (2nd from left) with Easy Action.
Kee Marcello first made a name for himself in Swedish glam metal band Easy Action in the early to mid-1980s. In 1986 he joined Europe – just as they hit the big time with “The Final Countdown” – as a replacement for original guitarist John Norum. He remained with the group until they broke up in 1992 and also took part in the band’s one-off reunion gig in Stockholm on New Year’s Eve 1999, which was the first and only time Europe has performed with both John Norum and Kee Marcello. When Europe reformed with its classic line-up in 2003, Marcello was not included.
Since leaving Europe, while mainly out of the limelight, Marcello has remained active in the music business, not only as a musician but also as songwriter and producer. Among the artists he has performed with are Alannah Myles, In Flames and Snowy Shaw. In 2013-14, he was part of the cast in the Swedish edition of the Rock of Ages musical.
Kee Marcello (bottom right corner) with Europe.
In Kee Marcello’s band we currently find Ken Sandin (Swedish Erotica, Alien, Bobby Kimball) on bass and Darby Todd (The Darkness, Hot Leg, Gary Moore) on drums. A notable guest on the forthcoming album is Whitesnake keyboardist Michele Luppi.
Marcello’s new solo album will reportedly be steeped in the classic melodic hard rock sound of Europe but it will also have a few nods here and there to the glam of Easy Action. Two of the tracks on the album, “Wild Child” and “Don’t Know How to Love No More”, are songs that were written for Europe and known to Europe fans as they were part of the much-talked about Europe bootleg “Le Baron Boys” which consisted of demo recordings from 1989-90.
Frontiers Music will release Kee Marcello’s “Scaling Up” on 14th October. Kee Marcello will be touring in the UK and Sweden in September and October.
Death metal legends Morbid Angel have announced that they will release a new album in 2017.
Morbid Angel, a pioneering band on the American death metal scene, was founded in Charlotte, North Carolina 1984 and released its debut album, “Altars of Madness”, in 1989. That album is widely considered one of the death metal genre’s most classic albums.
The current line-up of the band, now based in Tampa, Florida, features founding member and guitarist Trey Azagthoth and returning long-time member Steve Tucker on bass and vocals.
They have signed a record deal with UDR Music to release their ninth studio album sometime in 2017. The plan is to follow that with touring.
KISS Expo is coming to Japan with KISS frontman Gene Simmons himself doing a special guest appearance.
KISS posing with Roppongi Rocks’ Stefan Nilsson in Tokyo in 2015.
In October, the first ever official KISS exhibition in Japan will take place at the Laforet Museum in Tokyo’s Harajuku district.
For the past 43 years, KISS has combined melodic rock music with elaborate stage shows and outrageous costumes and make-up, partly influenced by Japanese culture, such as manga animation and kabuki theatre.
Ever since the early days of the band in the mid-70s, KISS has had a very loyal following here in Japan. Most recently the band completed a very successful Japan tour in 2015, including a sold-out gig at the massive Tokyo Dome.
KISS on stage at Tokyo Dome in 2015. Photo: Stefan Nilsson
The KISS Expo Tokyo 2016 will offer all KISS fans a chance to see and experience some of the legendary costumes, instruments, personal memorabilia and collectables.
The temporary KISS exhibition will be open between 13th and 31st October. KISS founder and frontman Gene Simmons will make a special appearance on the opening day of the exhibition.
Dirk Verbeuren, one of my all-time favourite drummers, has been playing with Megadeth as a fill-in drummer on the ongoing “Dystopia” world tour. He has done very well and now Megadeth has offered him a permanent gig as the band’s new drummer. Thus, he will now leave Soilwork to work with Megadeth full time. It is not yet clear who will replace him in Soilwork.
A few months before Dirk Verbeuren joined Megadeth, I interviewed him and Soilwork’s mainman Björn “Speed” Strid here in Tokyo.
Dirk Verbeuren in Tokyo. Photo: Stefan Nilsson
Here’s what they had to say then about line-up changes in the band: “It is definitely tough sometimes. Being a touring band, you have to find somebody who fits in, especially personality wise and not just as a musician. It’s tricky but luckily we always seem to rebound,” explained Dirk. Speed continued: “We been lucky enough to have fresh new blood coming into the band that actually brought something to the table. Maybe from the outside it looks like there’s been a lot of line-up changes and maybe people think that ‘Björn must be really hard to work with because he’s the only one who has been there since the very start.’ I don’t know. It might look like a circus and a revolving door. But if you’re in the band…it’s been more natural.” “He’s not at all a difficult person to work with,” insisted Dirk. “I think it’s more just…life, you know?” Yes, now life (in the form of Dave Mustaine and his Megadeth) has turned up on Soilwork’s doorstep.
Björn “Speed” Strid and Dirk Verbeuren in Tokyo. Photo: Stefan Nilsson
Dirk Verbeuren, who joined Soilwork in 2004, is one of the best drummers in the extreme metal business. Apart from his Soilwork duties, the Belgian drummer now based in the US has played with acts such as Devin Townsend, Satyricon, Jeff Loomis, Aborted, Naglfar, Bent Sea, Scarve, Powermad, and many more. “When Dirk came in to the band he brought something new with the drums. He’s an extreme drummer but he also has that kind of unique groove to it even when he does blast beats for example. It is a lot more double kicks than compared to when Henry Ranta was in the band before. He definitely brought something new and fresh to the band,” said Speed of Dirk’s contribution to Soilwork’s sound. Now he needs to find Verbeuren’s replacement. Not an easy task. Soilwork has most recently used Bastian Thusgaard (The Arcane Order) as a stand-in drummer while Verbeuren has been playing with Megadeth.
By Stefan Nilsson, Roppongi Rocks
By Stefan Nilsson, Roppongi Rocks
By Stefan Nilsson, Roppongi Rocks
