Raven - Photos from Club Europa, Brooklyn, NY 8-28-09

Raven is sort of like the Dorian Gray of heavy metal - trends come and go, bands age, break up, change their sound and all the while Raven still seems like the exact same band that I saw in the 80's open for Judas Priest.

Raven was in town in August to play the Brooklyn Thunder Fest at Club Europa with Ross the Boss, White Wizzard and Zandelle. The band's latest disc is entitled Walk Through Fire and it was released last March on the Japanese label King Records.





Here is the set list from the show:

01. Take Control
02. Live at the Inferno
03. All For One
04. Gimme a Break
05. Breaking You Down
06. Long Day’s Journey
07. Rock Until You Drop
08.. Guitar Solo
09. Speed of the Reflex \ Run Silent Run Deep \ Mind Over Metal
10. The King
11. On And On
12. Bass Solo
13. For the Future
14. Break the Chain









Links:
Raven

Biohazard: The Original Lineup Plays L'Amour on Friday, June 20th

I don't think anyone anticipated the announcement in January that the original lineup of Biohazard was reuniting for a 20th Anniversary tour. Once the announcement was made though, it seemed inevitably that the band would play L'Amour.

Biohazard is playing L'Amour on June 20th and I would expect tickets go quick. Tickets are $35 (forget about tickets at the door) and here is the link to order tickets in advance.

Links:
L'Amour's MySpace Profile
Biohazard's Website

Law and Order play Reunion Show at L'Amour (with American Angel guesting)

On January 12, Law and Order play a rare reunion show at L'Amour. The reunion shows in 2004 & 2007 were fabulous so this should be a great night.

Also on the bill is the reunited American Angel. Rocco Fury is back and the new American Angel CD, Vanity, has to be one of the best metal albums of the year. Chavis Records just announced that Vanity had hit the #1 position on Billboard's Heatseeker (Northeast) chart.

Rocco Fury had this to say when notified; "Where is the candid camera, are you joking with me, is this a hoax? WOW! I am ecstatic and very very happy about this. I knew this was a solid project when we recorded it and I believe whole heartedly in the songs and album. And when we're all gone, VANITY will still stand on its own."

Links:
L'Amour's MySpace Page
American Angel's MySpace Page
Law And Order's MySpace Page
Chavis Records' MySpace Page

L'Amours Books More National Acts

It is great to see L'Amour booking some great acts as nowhere in Brooklyn in booking metal bands (and I hate going to BB King's). It looks like the club is still only open on the weekends but the quality of the bands is worth braving the weekend SI traffic.

The club has scheduled upcoming shows with Lizzy Borden, Brand New Sin and Zebra. Does anyone know if any of the old local L'Amour bands are still around? I used to be really into Gene's band (I am getting old - I think they were called Tripp but memory fades).










Links:
Lizzy Borden's Website
Brand New Sin's Website
Zebra's Website

Tramp's White Lion off Poison/Ratt Tour -- Replaced by Vains of Jenna

After White Lion guitarist Vito Bratta "surfaced" last month on Eddie Trunk's radio show and took the stage both nights at the L'Amour reunion, I think a number of people were hoping for a White Lion reunion. Bratta even said "[h]e never ruled out a White Lion reunion, just was not able to do it when Tramp wanted to due to family obligations and tending to his sick Dad who passed away 2 years ago." Bratta also said that "[h]e is not happy that Tramp does different versions of White Lion and says that hurts his desire to work with him again. He'd like it to stop and said it's like a girlfriend cheating on you." (quotes from www.eddietrunk.com)

It doesn't sound like a White Lion reunion will take place anytime soon as a threatened law suit by Bratta got Tramp's White Lion dropped from the Poison/Ratt tour.

"On behalf of myself and WHITE LION, I would like to clear up the many misperceptions and rumors that have been created by Live Nation's decision to withdraw WHITE LION as the opening act of the summer 2007 POISON tour. While we are limited in what we can say about the issue because of pending litigation, we can inform everyone that Live Nation's decision was not based on any controversy over whether Mike Tramp has the legal right to perform as WHITE LION. Our information is that Live Nation's decision was based upon a threatened lawsuit by former WHITE LION guitarist Vito Bratta. Even though Live Nation believed Vito's lawsuit to be frivolous and had confirmed that Mike Tramp has the legal right to perform as WHITE LION, they did not want to spend 'one dollar' on litigation. Faced with the cancellation of a tour that was to begin within weeks, our attorneys went the extra mile to work out a deal with Vito Bratta to drop his threatened lawsuit but even with the threat of litigation eliminated, Live Nation continued on their ill-informed course of dropping WHITE LION from the POISON tour. Like myself, I know that there are many fans across the United States who are extremely disappointed by Live Nation's decision and we intend to use all options to fight this arbitrary and misinformed decision. Hopefully, there will be a day when decisions about staging a rock n' roll tour will be more about pleasing the fans and less about conservative and baseless corporate decisions. Unfortunately, as has been the case far too many times, instead of playing rock n' roll as planned, we are going to end up in court."

Vains of Jenna will be replacing White Lion on this tour. VoJ have a good reputation as a solid Guns N' Roses style punk/metal band so they should be a welcome addition to the tour. Vains of Jenna is also headlining a show at Don Hill's on July 2nd.

Lamour (The Rock Capital of Brooklyn) Reopens on Staten Island in June

I had way too many misspent nights at L'Amour so it is great to see the original owners reopen the club. I'll even drive out to Staten Island for this. I have been debating with friends and no one has a clear memory -- we all agree that L'Amour East was in Queens but none of us can definately remember whether or not L'Amour had a club on Staten Isalnd as well. If anyone knows, please leave info in the comments.

It will be interesting to see if this is just a "L'Amour Night" at the Mystic Lounge or if the owners are opening up a new venue.

Bring on the metal...

Law & Order to Reunite for Two Shows

Early 90's rockers Law and Order are reuniting for two shows in the area over the next few weeks. They are playing the Heart 4 Mila benefit show at Chubby's in Red Bank, NJ on Jan. 27th and following this with a show at Don Hill's on Feb. 18th.



Shane (vocals) and Rob Steele (drums) return from the band's original lineup along with two new members. This should be a fun night as band put on a great show at their first reunion show in 2004 at Don Hill's. Here is a link to some pictures from the first reunion show.

I was doing some research on the band and hadn't realized that their third record was finally released. The band's third release The Glass House (originally recorded in 1992 and MCA sat on it for years) was finally released in 2005 on Z Records in the UK and is available from Dynasty Metal Music in the US. I also ran across an interview that SleazeRocks did in late 2004 with original Law & Order guitarist Phil Allocco where he discusses this [then upcoming] release.