As a gamer, I have played Guitar Hero and Rock Band and had a blast with them. But, I did not try Rocksmith. This new version looks awesome!! Of course, it doesn't hurt when Jerry Cantrell (Alice In Chains) is playing along. Check this out:
Alice in Chains guitarist Jerry Cantrell stopped by the Electronics Entertainment Expo (E3) on Tuesday (June 11) to give a few music lessons via Ubisoft's new 'Rocksmith 2014' edition. Debuting in October, the new version enables players to plug a guitar and bass into various consoles, including the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, as they attempt to reach new rock horizons.
'Rocksmith 2014' features over 50 songs, including the Alice in Chains track 'Stone,' 'Don't Look Back In Anger' by Oasis, and 'The Chimera' by Smashing Pumpkins. The Rocksmith franchise, according to a study conducted by the Toluna Group, reported that 95 percent of the players have improved their guitar experience thanks to playing the game. An estimated 1.4 million gamers have learned to play the guitar through past editions of the Rocksmith tutorial.
Fans who pre-order 'Rocksmith 2014' edition will receive the free bonus song 'Cherub Rock' by Smashing Pumpkins available for download. To pre-order a copy, go here.
July 12th cannot come soon enough. Guillermo del Toro is one of my very favorite directors who adds depth to everything he touches. That the studio has already green-lighted a sequel before Pacific Rim is even out does not hurt either. It's On!
I discovered THE CURE in high school just after Pornography was released but did not become a hug fan until college, with the release of 1985's The Head On The Door. The year after that album was released, The Cure unleashed their singles collection, Standing On A Beach, and it seemed they had reached a peak...we were wrong!
While on tour in 1986, the band recorded and released The Cure in Orange, a VHS concert video of their show at a French castle...which instantly became required watching for anyone visiting my house. 1987 would see the band release Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me making the band even more popular, followed in 1989 by their watershed album, Disintegration.
But, in regular rotation on my VHS machine until it died was that classic concert, The Cure in Orange. This was a very special concert performance for many reasons. Most people did not consider The Cure a rock band and this concert did a lot to show that the band comes alive in a concert setting. I won't spoil any surprises, just watch and become a bigger fan. (Thanks to my buddy Kyle for finding this nearly lost gem!!)
This is my favorite thing the band has done, including the exceptional Trilogy concerts on Blu-ray!
(Note: Director of the concert video, Tim Pope, who also directed fourteen Cure videos, went on to direct The Crow: City Of Angels. He also began work on The Last King Of Scotland, but left that film and has returned to videos.)
I recently had a friend post that bands should change their name if they
change their singer. This was in response to the new Stone Temple Pilots
track with Chester Bennington from Linkin Park. Immediately, I thought
of all the bands that were as successful, or even more, after changing
singers: Van Halen, Pink Floyd, Genesis, AC/DC, Black Sabbath, Iron
Maiden, Marillion, Deep Purple, Fleetwood Mac, Journey, Rainbow, etc.
There are always two sides to every story and I am sure we never hear the
full truth. While posting about STP, I made the comparison to the Pink
Floyd vs. Roger Waters battle. When it is many against one in musical matters, I
tend to side with the group. Floyd was better as a whole, but after
the split, their group work stands up much better than Waters' solo efforts.
Queensryche had a similar split last year, with the band deciding to
carry on after Geoff Tate left. Unfortunately, Geoff, decided to create
his version of Queensryche. I waited until I heard from both projects
and again, I have to go with the band.
This morning, Stone Temple Pilots released this statement:
"You may have read we recently filed suit against our former singer,
Scott Weiland. We wanted to clarify a few things:
Our purpose in taking this action is not to hurt Scott. We want to
move forward productively, and Scott’s choices and actions have prevented
us from doing that. We were in the process of putting our 20th
anniversary tour together to celebrate the release of our first album,
Core. The plan was for a big tour where we’d perform the album in its
entirety, along with some other favorite STP songs. So, you might imagine
our shock and disappointment when, without any notice, we learned that
Scott had seized this tour for himself as his solo tour, and decided to
do exactly what we as a group had planned. We found out about it the same
way you did—we saw an ad for it.
Without getting into legal details, the band has a binding agreement
that clearly states what each of us can and cannot do outside of STP.
Unfortunately many of the decisions Scott made violate this agreement,
have been harmful to the band, and prevented us from moving forward. When
our requests to Scott and his representatives that they abide by the
agreement were ignored, we finally had enough. So now, we’ve made our
choice. It was beyond time we made some new music, which was impossible
in the dysfunctional environment we were in. We’ve lived in it long
enough and have decided to move forward with STP. We wish Scott well.
We’re really excited about the new music we’ve been making with Chester,
including the song we just released, “Out of Time.”
We love this band and respect everything it means to you. We want to
always give you our best and the choice we made is completely in that
spirit."
-Dean, Eric & Robert
And there you go.
All the above being said, it comes down to the music. I like the new STP. And I think the "band" Queensryche sounds more like Queensryche than Geoff's version. What do you think?
