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Esoterik Guitars, Eminence Speakers, The Real School Of Music, Justice Howard Photography and Mass Destruction Incorporated Clothing are proud to announce the

“NAMM METAL JAM 2012″

Featuring:

Neil Turbin (Deathriders, Original Singer for Anthrax)- Lead Vocals

Dave Reffett (Shredding The Envelope, Solo Artist)- Lead and Rhythm Guitars

Jeff Martin (Racer X, Michael Schenker Group, Badlands, Dokken, Paul Gilbert, George Lynch)- Drums

Rev Jones (Steelheart, Mountain, Michael Schenker Group, Fuel, Black
Symphony)- Bass Guitar

Joe Gettler- Lead and Rhythm Guitars

* Performing Live in Concert at Chain Reaction on January 18th, 2012 for an All Ages Event

1652 W. Lincoln Ave, Anaheim, CA
(Less than one mile from the Anaheim Convention Center)

* These incredible musicians will be ripping through hits by Rock’s greatest
bands like Judas Priest, Deep Purple, Thin Lizzy, Rainbow, Accept, Motorhead,
Whitesnake and much more!

Plus special tributes to Gary Moore and the one and only Ronnie James Dio!!!

Tickets Onsale Friday December 30th

To purchase Tickets go to: http://allages.com/ or http://nammmetaljam.com
For more information

Also featuring Special guests to appear at NAMM METAL JAM 2012:

Eli Santana – Lead Guitars (Holy Grail)
Lloyd Grant – Lead Guitars (Original Metallica Guitarist Hit The
Lights/No Life Til Leather)
Michael T. Ross – Keyboards (Lita Ford, Neal Schon Band, Missing
Persons, Lizzy Borden, Great White)

The top 20 albums of the year countdown starts in a few minutes. Before jumping into that, here are the picks that didn’t make the top 20.

21. Vicious Rumors – Razorback Killers
22. Megadeth – Th1rt3en
23. Arch Enemy – Khaos Legions
24. Bobaflex – Hell In My Heart
25. Chimaira – The Age Of Hell
26. Kittie – I’ve Failed You
27. IWABO – Ruining It For Everybody
28. Wayne Static – Pighammer
29. Barn Burner – Bangers II: Sum Of The Earth
30. Indestructible Noise Command – Heaven Sent…Hellbound
31. Chickenfoot – III
32. Alice Cooper – Welcome 2 My Nightmare
33. High Spirits – Another Night In The City
34. Elder – Dead Roots Stirring
35. 3 – The Ghost You Gave Me
36. Foo Fighters – Waisting Light
37. Fishbone – Crazy Glue
38. Chevelle – Hats Off To The Bull
39. Sepultura – Kairos
40. Sarah Jezebel Deva – The Corruption Of Mercy
41. A Pale Horse Called Death – A Pale Horse Called Death
42. Generation Kill – Red, White And Blood
43. Vangough – Kingdom Of Ruin
44. Dream Theater – A Dramatic Turn Of Events
45. Straight Line Stitch – Fight Of Our Lives

Our good friend Dave Reffett just sent me this message. Dave has done a tremendous amount for Mars Attacks, so I wanted to post this and see if we can help him out.

Anybody who wants to take one minute and vote for me as a write in vote in the “Best Metal Guitarist”, Best Rock Guitarist”, “Best Shredder”, and “Artist to watch in 2012″ categories it would be hugely appreciated!

To capture even 1% of the vote would be huge!

Thanks so much for the support! My fans are THE BEST!!!!!!

Go here to vote.

Wildestarr’s A Tell Tale Heart is one of my most anticipated releases of 2012. Their debut album Arrival was stacked with great music from top to bottom. Searing, infectious melodies, bombastic riffs, and great all around song writing. The band has released a free download on their ReverbNation page, the track is called Transformis Ligeia. It picks up where Arrival left off, and goes straight for the jugular. If it is an indication of what we should expect to hear on A Tell Tale Heart, all I ask is that they bring on the main coarse! You can stream or download the Transformis Ligeia from here.

So for everyone that bitches about Metallica, and how you may or may not like what they’ve become, what they’ve done over the years, etc. you have to take your hats off to them for the Metallica XXX thirty year anniversary celebration of the band. They essentially played 80 songs in four nights with an assortment of guests. Metallica is one of the last remaining bands that actually rotates their set list on a nightly basis. I’ve often heard people boast about the band being able to play 40 different songs at any given moment. But 80? Who does that? There are bands that can consider themselves more “kult” or “true” etc. But none of these other bands (sans Pearl Jam and U2) have the sack or repertoire, to actually pull it off. Or in the case of a lot of heritage acts (boy do I hate that term) just too damn lazy to do it.

Here are the setlists for all four shows, hopefully we’ll end up with a DVD of some sort.

Night 1

01. The Call Of Ktulu
02. No Remorse (full version)
03. The Shortest Straw
04. Leper Messiah
05. The Day That Never Comes
06. Carpe Diem Baby (first time performed live)
07. Hate Train (previously unreleased song from “Death Magnetic” sessions)
08. Please Don’t Judas Me (acoustic; NAZARETH cover)
09. Wherever I May Roam (with fan-club member John Dent)
10. Sad But True (with John Marshall)
11. (Anesthesia) Pulling Teeth (impromptu jam by Robert Trujillo)
12. No Leaf Clover (with APOCALYPTICA)
13. One (with APOCALYPTICA)
14. Harvester Of Sorrow (with Jason Newsted)
15. Damage, Inc. (with Jason Newsted)
16. Motorcycle Man (with Biff Byford)
17. The Prince (with Sean Harris, Brian Tatler)
18. It’s Electric (with Sean Harris, Brian Tatler)
19. Helpess (with Sean Harris, Brian Tatler)
20. Am I Evil? (with Sean Harris, Brian Tatler)
21. Seek & Destroy (with everyone)

Night 2

01. To Live Is To Die (premiere)
02. Enter Sandman
03. Holier Than Thou
04. Disposable Heroes
05. Bleeding Me
06. Wasting My Hate
07. My Apocalypse
08. Just A Bullet Away (previously unreleased song from “Death Magnetic” sessions; premiere)
09. Breadfan (BUDGIE cover) (with METALLICA fan Andrew Dowis)
10. The Memory Remains (with Marianne Faithful)
11. Killing Time (SWEET SAVAGE cover) (with Ray Haller)
12. Turn The Page (with Kid Rock)
13. The Four Horsemen (with John Bush)
14. Iced Honey (with Lou Reed)
15. The View (with Lou Reed)
16. White Light/White Heat (with Lou Reed)
17. Creeping Death (with Jason Newsted)
18. Battery (with Jason Newsted)
19. Mercyful Fate Medley (MERCYFUL FATE cover) (with Hank Shermann, Michael Denner, Timi Hansen and King Diamond)
20. Seek & Destroy (with Jason Newsted, Scott Ian, Ray Haller, John Bush, Joey Vera, Gonzo Sandoval, and THE SOUL REBELS)

Night 3

01. Suicide & Redemption
02. Master Of Puppets
03. …And Justice For All
04. Of Wolf & Man
05. Fade To Black
06. The Thing That Should Not Be
07. I Disappear
08. The Outlaw Torn
09. Hell And Back (previously unreleased song from “Death Magnetic” sessions)
10. Blitzkrieg (BLITZKRIEG cover) (with fan-club members Joseph Guariglia)
11. For Whom The Bell Tolls (with Jerry Cantrell)
12. Nothing Else Matters (with Jerry Cantrell)
13. So What?! (ANTI-NOWHERE LEAGUE cover) (with Animal)
14. Tuesday’s Gone (LYNYRD SKYNYRD cover) (with Gary Rossington, Pepper Keenan, Jerry Cantrell, and Jim Martin)
15. Fuel (with Jason Newsted)
16. Fight Fire With Fire (with Jason Newsted)
17. Die, Die My Darling (MISFITS cover) (with Glenn Danzig)
18. Last Caress (MISFITS cover) (with Glenn Danzig)
19. Green Hell (MISFITS cover) (with Glenn Danzig)
20. Rapid Fire (JUDAS PRIEST cover) (with Rob Halford)
21. Seek & Destroy (with Jason Newsted, Jerry Cantrell, Pepper Keenan, Jim Martin, Glenn Danzig, Animal, LAAZ ROCKIT, and THE SOUL REBELS brass band)

Night 4

01. Orion
02. Through the Never
03. Ride the Lightning
04. The God That Failed
05. Welcome Home (Sanitarium)
06. Rebel Of Babylon (previously unreleased song from “Death Magnetic” sessions)
07. Blackened (with fan-club members Dennis, Annette Diaz)
08. Dirty Window (with Bob Rock)
09. Frantic (with Bob Rock)
10. Sabbra Cadabra (BLACK SABBATH cover) (with Geezer Butler)
11. Iron Man (BLACK SABBATH cover) (with Ozzy Osbourne, Geezer Butler)
12. Paranoid (BLACK SABBATH cover) (with Ozzy Osbourne, Geezer Butler)
13. King Nothing (w/ Jason Newsted)
14. Whiplash (w/ Jason Newsted)
15. Motorbreath (w/ Hugh Tanner)
16. Phantom Lord (w/ Dave Mustaine)
17. Jump In The Fire (w/ Dave Mustaine)
18. Metal Militia (w/ Dave Mustaine)
19. Hit The Lights (w/ Lloyd Grant, Dave Mustaine, Ron McGovney)
20. Seek & Destroy (w/ Jason Newsted, Dave Mustaine, Lloyd Grant, Ron McGovney, Hugh Tanner, Mark Osegueda, and THE SOUL REBELS)

The Classic Albums column moves forward, and this time around a Thrash gem will be discussed. The podcast alone will feature:

Mark Strigl
Alan Tecchio
Dave Reffett
Martin Popoff
Mitch Lafon of Bravewords
Jon Schaffer
Doro Pesch
Gene Hoglan
Glen Drover
Chris Poland
Hosts of Metal Assault and Iron City Rocks

Written comments from:

Bumblefoot
Dan Lorenzo
Jon Leon
Joel Gausten
Metal Mike
Erik Kluiber
Phil Rind
James J. LaRue
Will Carroll
Steve Smyth
Chad Bowar
Jason Bittner
Ripper Owens

As well as members of Madball, This Or The Apocalypse, Cancer Bats, Benedictum, Bonded By Blood, DC4, Angelus Apatrida contributors to Metal Sucks, Dose Of Metal, Focus On Metal and Metal Underground.

To top things off you’ll be able to read a Q&A from a founding member of the band who’s intro into the album’s title track is arguably the most recognizable piece of metal music of all time!

Get ready, I think/hope you guys will enjoy this episode.

In recent weeks I’ve mentioned PledgeMusic and Kickstarter on twitter, in the podcast, etc. The music industry is changing and needs to change, some labels are better than others, but in the end the vast majority have more to do with why people are downloading music off of Torrents. Sorry, but that’s the truth, regardless of what your out of touch idol is telling you. As I’ve mentioned in the past, Steve Jobs innovation with iTunes, actually knowing how to successfully use the lesson Napster taught everyone (people are tired of paying over $20 for a CD to only find out the single you hear on the radio is the only thing that isn’t a hot steaming turd on the album), and create a business model around it (e.g. $0.99 single song downloads) is what has helped bring the industry down to its knees.

Also, people keep bringing up how sales were so much better in the 90s. Ok, so let’s set something straight, those figures are skewed. Hear me out, back in the late 80s the industry had not gone to an all CD format yet. CDs cost too much, so the labels decided to start putting out poor quality vinyl albums. If you don’t believe me, check out any vinyl album that was released in the late 80s to early 90s, and compare the thickness of the album to something that came out a decade before. For anyone that says that doesn’t make a difference, than why are people now paying $30 to $40 for 180g vinyl albums? So they phased vinyl out, but the cassette tape took over, it was still cheaper than a CD, and everyone finally had a cassette player in their car, you could make a mix tape, etc. What happened? You guessed it, they cheapened the quality of cassettes. I was in collage radio at the time, and saw first hand how the vinyl albums, and cassettes we received were of better quality than anything you could find at a store.

So finally, they convinced people to start buying CDs in large quantities to replace their existing vinyl and cassette collection. But that wasn’t enough, the labels admitted to the fact that a lot of the early CDs were not mastered properly, so the remastering craze started, and people started buying a second remastered copy of certain albums. This is why 90s sales figures are skewed, if you take away/factor in people buying a piece of music only once, how would those sales figures be affected?

Now factor iTunes into all of this, how many people are just ripping their old CDs to MP3 and passing them over to their iPod, iPhone, MP3 Player, etc. instead of repurchasing something on iTunes? This is replacing the money that was made on people switching media from vinyl, to cassette, to CD. If people are going to iTunes, chances are, they’re only buying a song or two off of that long lost vinyl album, not the entire thing.

So now couple this with the fact that the labels are not paying artists more, and want to continue to pay artists under a business structure that accounted for things like scratched albums, broken tape, or damaged CDs, when the majority of what they are selling (in most cases) is digital media? If a track is corrupted, well you re-download it and you’re off! So why haven’t artists been paid more in accordance to what type of media is being sold?

In any event, back to the subject line. Similar to the old E.F. Hutton slogan, when Trent Reznor mentions something about the ever changing music business, artists should take notice! He just posted an article regarding TuneCore, and why people should look into their services when releasing an album, and wanting to have publishing administration of songs handled in a transparent manner. You can read it here.

- Victor

I was saddened to read that James Murphy may once again have health issues. James is best known for playing in groups like Testament, Death, Obituary, and has produced a plethora of great albums.

I have been trying to contact him to discuss some of the albums featured in the Classic Albums Column, and had not heard back from his management in a while. His management team mentioned that he would probably be psyched to comment, but that they would have to discuss this him further. Some time went by, and I figured he was just busy working on another great release, for my money Lazarus A.D.’s Black Rivers Flow is the best album to come out this year, James had a hand in making this album so special. But in the back of my mind, I did remember his cancer scare and hoped that nothing health related was keeping them from getting back to me.

Blabbermouth has posted the following quote from James:

“Some troubling news for me in the last couple days. The bloodwork that was done recently revealed that the hormone indicator for the tumor I battled and defeated nine years ago is now 20 times higher than the low it reached as recently as one year ago. This could be indicative of a recurrence. Next step is an MRI, scheduled for the 11th of this month, to determine how much the tumor has grown. I am keeping a positive attitude about it and just moving forward.”

They also mention that Deron Miller (World Under Blood, CKY) is trying to raise money to help James with his medical expenses. This comes from his Facebook Page:

“James Murphy, legendary rock/metal guitarist (helped me with WORLD UNDER BLOOD’s ‘Tactical’ CD) has just informed me that the brain tumor he was diagnosed with in [2001] had been improving and shrinking for the last several years… is returning rapidly. If my wife Felissa and I could get our Facebook friends to each PayPal at least $1, he will have an easier time covering the expenses that come with having no insurance and being a musician/producer. I’m asking you to contribute as much as you want, but the person that contributes the most will recieve something very special from my wife and I. I’m not trying to make a competition out of this, I just want my buddy well again. Please share this post and the PayPal address is felissarose123@aol.com. 100% of the money will go to his treatment and expenses. Thanks so much in advance!!!”

You can read the entire article here.

Let’s all band together and do what we can to help James out. From here we send our thoughts and prayers out to James Murphy and his family.

Just repeating what was mentioned last night. Tonight’s episode of the Mars Attacks Radio Show features an hour’s worth of Anthrax. I mention this at the beginning of the show, growing up Anthrax was the thrash band in my opinion. Everyone loved Metallica and Slayer, wore their t-shirts to school, etc. So I instantly hated those bands, and gravitated to Anthrax and Megadeth. Looking back now, I realize that was a bit ignorant, but it also helped me gain a certain appreciation for all four bands that would have not taken place had I of just gone with the flow.

Being the oddball that I am, the episode will contain obscure tracks, live tracks, covers, classic tracks and music off of the band’s new release Worship Music.

Mars Attacks Radio airs exclusively on stream A of Mark Strigl Radio 8PM EST / 5PM PST. You can also listen to the episode directly from our homepage.