You may have noticed some catching up the past few days, and as a little Christmas Present I have removed the pop-up panel and updated the Votes section! This is part of a much large revamp taking place to celebrate this site's 10th Anniversary next month, so look out for some spring cleaning and extra goodies being added early in the New Year! (I made these changes to show you all that I'm serious this time).
Many thanks for the concern that has been shown for my virtual absence, but everything's fine: it's just been a combination of more responsibilty at work and spending more time with my family. Something had to give and it was this site. I'm hoping that the changes I'll be making will help me to start updating more often, and start giving Ritchie some real competition again!
2004 hasn't been a bad year for UFO and MSG, with a string of successful dates for both with smiles all around (mostly). In addition we've had an excellent UFO album with new boys Vinnie Moore and Jason Bonham joining the family. Michael Schenker has also continued to surprise and amaze with an excellent contribution to his catalogue in the form of "Endless Jam". Life is good.. and 2005 looks like continuing in the same vein.
So what better way to end the year than to wish everyone in this UFO/Schenker community of ours a very happy, joyous and peaceful holiday period for you and your loved ones. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
An email from a long time friend of the site reminded me that in my state of absence I forgot to mention that Michael Schenker now has a deal with Dean Guitars (you may have noticed his new guitars on recent gigs). The first 100 signature guitars are numbered and personally signed by the man himself, but I think that these have already been snapped up, sorry! Anyway, you can find out all about it at Dean Guitars, with a direct link to the Signature Guitar here.
Next year's "NAMM Shows - A Night Of Guitars" has MSG headling, with other performances by George Lynch, Gilby Clarke, Bruce Kulick. The event is on January 20th at The Vault, Long Beach, CA and tickets are on sale (thanks Ken).
Hardradio has an interview with MSG members at this address.
There is a review of Michael Schenker with Siggi Schwarz from 17th December posted at Ritchie's Site by Christoph Gerlach, with some great photos.
Update at Chris Logan's site with news of his latest project with Jake E. Lee (Badlands) which sounds interesting.
If you live in the UK don't forget to support Waysted on their upcoming tour!
The Waysted tourdates have been updated to include Scotland! Follow link below for info.
The first five Waysted tourdates have been announced over at www.waysted.co.uk. Tickets are now on sale. Waysted will be touring with M.ILL.ION, the band who supported MSG on the recent UK dates.
There are photos of MSG over at SITN here and here and also some of M.ILL.ION here.
And of course also follow the links from Ritchies site.
Reviews and photos of the recent UFO shows in America are also at the SITN site here.
There is an interview with Waysted guitarist Chris George at here.
You can also vote for the best SITN interview of 2004 by following this link and emailing vote@strangers-in-the-night.com with (1) your favourite and (2) your runner-up. Results will be announced on Christmas Day.
Thanks to Batttttty for keeping my Latest News alive! :)
European leg of MSG tour well under way. On the whole going well, apart from an 'incident' that resulted in Chris Logan deciding to leave the tour (categorically not an incident involving Micheal). He has been replaced by Lief Sundin (previous MSG vocalist) for the remaining dates.
The new Waysted album 'Back From The Dead' is now available - see www.waysted.co.uk Tourdates soon to be announced.
Dave Ling's new website www.daveling.com includes articles on UFO and Heavy Metal Kids (Danny Peyronel) amongst others. Also, there are archive photos of Dave with Pete Way etc.
UFO tour of America headed into its second leg this week - see www.ufo-music.info for tourdates. Reviews and photos of Sept/October dates at SITN.
Q and Mojo Magazine Special - article on UFO's Strangers In The Night see SITN for details.
New interviews since last update:
1. Brave Words and Bloody Knuckles talks to Pete Way
http://www.bravewords.com/news.html?id=19608
2. Eddie Trunk talks to Phil and Vinnie http://eddietrunk.com
3. Dave Iozzia talks to Jason Bonham
http://www.strangers-in-the-night.com/jasoninterview.htm
Lyrics to 'You Are Here' have been added to the official site.
Catching up on stuff... busy at work.. more updates tomorrow.. but main news is that Pete's visa has not been sorted out as was hoped in time for the US tour, so unfortunately he will not be able to tour. His replacement has been named as Barry Sparks, who many will know through his work with Jeff Kollman, Uli Jon Roth and Vinnie Moore. Pete will be missed I'm sure, but Barry is sure to kick ass!
More US dates added.
HOT OFF THE PRESS: new interview with Phil Mogg at the SITN site.
MSG tour has been going well, please see usual sites for concert reviews. No reviews here yet because unfortunately, yet again, work and a baby running round the house mean I have to prioritise my time. And yes, Natasha is a hell of a lot cuter than any of you guys! :) With this site's 10 year anniversary coming up I am looking at ways to get updates back on track, thanks for everyone's continued patience.
UFO and Michael Schenker Web Site Temporarily Offline
As my partner and daughter are both Russian I felt a particular compulsion to ma rk these two days of national mourning in their home country for those killed in the Beslan school siege. Therefore this site will be off-line until Wednesday morning.
Whatever the politics, or whoever shares the blame, this was an appalling traged y. I am sure that every parent in the world who has followed the events over the past week has had the same thought go throu gh their head.. what if it was my son/daughter. Quite frankly, it doesn't bear thinking about. My thoughts are wit h the relatives of those who died, but equally with those children who survived, who must live with the memories for the rest of their lives. May they one day find peace.
Sorry for any inconvenience caused.
Tour dates page updated with the MSG US and European tour dates.
A couple of interviews worth reading:
Phil Mogg at Classic Rock Revisited
and Michael Schenke at Classic Rock revisited.
Also another great interview by Batttttty, this time with Dave Ling.
(Not very) Advanced warning: the site will be offline for extended periods over the weekend for essential maintenance.
Been overloaded at work, away and then laid low with food poisoning so trying to catch up on updates! First off UK tour completed with praise all round for the peformances. I didn't get to as many gigs as I wanted due to work commitments (next time guys, consult with me before booking tour dates!) but Manchester in particular was wonderful.. especially given the history of the band and that venue... that ghost was well and truly buried.
MSG will tour with Uli Jon Roth in the US! Dates are end of August start of September and I will update the tour dates page during the weekend mainatenance. A statement on the tour can be found at Uli's Official Site.
Tonight (Friday) during 7-9pm UK time (2-4pm Eastern US) an interview with Paul Raymond and Pete Way will be broadcast on Extreme Radio (www.extremeradio.co.uk). Late notice I know, but the show will be repeated on Sunday 6-8pm UK time (1-3pm Eastern US).
From the 'ooops forgot I had this email' files: Barry Spark's new album "Can't Look Back" is available and can be ordered from his web site at www.barrysparks.com. The album features guest performances by Ted Nugent and Barry Gibbons.
UFO tour in the UK is under way with Croydon gig last night. All the band were on form, I can't single any out for particular praise above the others. Sound was a bit ropey in places, but that seems to be a frequent problem with that venue rather than anything wrong with the band although I must mention that the mix was sympathetic to Paul's keyboards, which was nice. Set list as far as I remember followed the European list, including I'm A Loser.. a delight to have this back in the set: Mother Mary, Daylight Goes To Town, Let It Roll, I'm A Loser, This Kids, The Wild One, Fighting Man, Call Me, Too Hot To Handle, Jello Man, Only You Can Rock Me, Lights Out, Love To Love, Rock Bottom, Doctor Doctor, Shoot Shoot. The 'new boys' were accepted without question, although (and no offence to Vinnie) I couldn't help missing Herr Schenker on Rock Bottom. However well Vinnie played it, there's just something about that song that says 'give it your best shot, but you'll never beat me'.. Michael's lasting legacy in a band that goes from strength to strength. Nice one.
OK, managed to find time to update.. and seems an appropriate time since the UK leg of the UFO 'You Are Here' tour starts off in about 7 hours time in Croydon! So basically got time to update a few items before heading off :)
UFO news: US tour has been rearranged now that Phil Mogg has his visa. It starts off in Baltimore on September 22nd.. the full list of confirmed dates so far can be found on the Your Dates page. No news on whether or not Pete will also be able to tour now, but I will endeavour to find out.
MSG news: the three Californian dates passed and by all accounts went really well. Reviews can be found at Ritchie's site and some comments by Chris Logan can be found on his official site along with some news of some Korean dates. Thanks to Paul for the video clips of one of the shows, from which I can confirm that Michael was on form, and still happy (sorry, these will not be posted due to bandwidth)!
Also in the news, Nancy Lewis is no longer Michael's manager.
The long awaited WAYSTED album, 'Back From The Dead' is provisionally due to be released 27th September 2004 through Majestic Rock, but if you can't wait that long, June 28th sees the release of a Pete Way acoustic album, 'Acoustic Animal', also through Majestic (thanks for the info Batttttty!). Robin McAuley is in concert July 16th 2004 at the Paladino's Club in Tarzana, CA. More info at Robin's Official Site.
That'll do for now, I promise an update within the next 24 hours after the UFO gig and various bits and pieces around the site will get updated over the next few days as a break from exam-period-fever at work!
First off, UFO tour dates in the US are being rescheduled for August/September time. I will update the tour dates page when there are a significant number of confirmed dates. MSG have some tour dates in June (3rd, 4th and 5th in California.. I'll update the tour dates page in the next couple of days). And 'Endless Jam' has now been released, available through Amazon.com if you're American.
Secondly: sorry, don't usually use this page as a forum to have a rant, but got to get this out of my system:
I don't want to buy Viagra, or see the real Paris-Hilton video (whatever that is). I don't care that Sadie has moved into my area and wants a friend to fuck or that I can download teen slut movies from a random web address. I'm perfectly happy with the size of my 'c0ck' and already know how to satisfy my girlfriend thankyou very much (besides, adding an extra couple of inches would mean condoms wouldn't fit anymore). I don't want to buy a degree to improve my job prospects, I've already got a PhD... through hard work. I don't understand why I get so many emails with viruses attached, are so many people really that stupid to open attachments from people they have never heard of? I also don't need servers telling me that I have sent an email with a virus in it or sent an email to an address that doesn't exist.. I use Linux for all my emails... I do not have a virus and I don't want to know that NetSky or Worm_Klez is sending out emails with my address as the sender from someone who can't be bothered to buy a virus scan. If you want 'urgent assistance' to transfer money out of Africa, don't write the whole email with the caps lock on and just send me a cheque upfront for the 20% of 32 million dollars that you promise me. I know that the email from my bank asking me to confirm my details is a scam, but it's still clogging up my mailbox and I know that there is some idiot somewhere that will give away enough information to lose their entire life savings... and you know that they will then expect my bank to cover their loss and pass the costs on to customers like me. I don't need 'notification', 'your file is attached', 'is this you?' ..... no it's not fucking me, do you really think that I'm that stupid?
And most of all, I don't want to be wasting so much time deleting and sorting through 300 unwanted emails every day, even though I have a filter that catches most of them, so that doing this and then updating my site feels like such a chore rather than the pleasure it used to be. In the past, when a new album was coming out, or a tour was starting, I used to update every day, write reviews, get genuinely excited about being the first to break the news.. but now the whole thing has become such an effort.. before I can do anything I first have to clear the crap out the way...
Is this really what we wanted from the Web? Am I the only one for whom the internet Honeymoon is well and truly wearing off? What the hell went wrong?
P.S. Don't worry... I'm still going to carry on... just wanted to get that off my chest! Whenever I get low I just read the words of support I receive every day and put on a UFO/MSG CD to remind myself just why I set this site up in the first place!
IMPORTANT UPDATE RE US TOUR: Sorry to break this news, but due to unforseen circumstances the US tour, due to kick off shortly, has been forced to reschedule all the dates. I can guarantee that this is not another 'bout of laryngitis' or 'injured hand', the band and their management have been doing everything humanly possible to get this tour to go ahead, but as outlined below in the official announcement from the Official Site, they ran into one unexpected obstacle too many. I am sure that the band is just as devastated by this all as you.. please be patient and support them when the eventually sort everything out.
From the management:
"Dear fans and friends in the United States of America: Warning! The following
message only contains bad news…:
Today, the U.S. Embassy in London refused Phil Mogg, UFO's lead singer,
a Work Permit Visa. As you may know, without a Work Permit Visa, no non-American
is able to work (i.e. performing a commercial concert) in the United States.
This seriously impacts our upcoming U. S. tour (April 22 through May 16,
2004)
The band members all applied for their Work Permits (as usual) several weeks before the U. S. tour was to begin. Their Work Permits were approved and ISSUED on March 9, 2004 by the Bureau Of Citizenship and Immigration Services, located in the United States. Due to the new immigration and Work Permit laws, it is now also necessary for the applicant to attend a personal interview, in his home country, at the U.S. Embassy. During Phil's interview, today, in London, England, his name turned up in the government computer. The comment was that 'at some time in the past' his finger prints were taken while in the USA. When, where and why was not disclosed.
It is true, Phil's finger prints were taken in the USA 24 years ago (!!) in Buffalo, New York. The Immigration Authority did not think, at that time, his Visa was adequate so this fingerprinting occurred. His Visa was then reissued, straight away, and everything was in order.
During the intervening 24 years, Phil has returned to the USA 12 times on Work and Visitors Visas. Unfortunately, the only thing that matters now is that finger prints were taken. Under current immigration law, whether impacted by the war or not, a person having been finger printed promptly ceases the Visa clearance process.
Finger prints now have to be retaken from Phil. They are sent to the FBI and, according to the information we have been given, only when the FBI gives their approval, will it be possible for Phil to acquire a Work Permit Visa. This procedure, the Embassy advises, can take from 2 to 12 weeks.
The band is, therefore, forced to postpone its tour until this matter is resolved.
The new dates are currently being scheduled and announced shortly. Stay tuned.
We all respect that the United States must protect itself. We will, of course, cooperate. We are, however, puzzled and very perplexed at this unhappy last minute surprise.
We hope, with all our hearts, that you will understand and join with us in the rescheduling process.
Sincerely,
Peter Knorn (UFO management)"
UFO US Tour: OK, there is still not an official announcement of this, but the news has been leaked by Blabbermouth (www.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermouth.net/) that Pete Way will not be playing bass for UFO on the upcoming US tour, being replaced by Richie Scarlet ( http://www.mbruce.addr.com/richie).
This is due to Pete having problems with his US visa.. and yes... I know for a fact that this is the gospel truth. I am sure that Pete is as devastated as everyone else that he will not be on the tour. An official announcement should be made in the very near future.
In very related news, I forgot to mention in the last update that on the UK leg of the tour the band will be supported by The Quireboys.
Time for a monthly update! In no particular order.....
UFO tour dates for the UK have now been added to the Tour Dates page along with a few extra US dates. WARNING.. there have been some UFO dates advertised by VH1 in the US July/August time.. this is not UFO but a band called UPO, don't be fooled!
Message from UFO management: "Dear Friends,
We successfully finished the first part of the European tour
(February 28 through March 28) and I am happy to say the new line up
was fantastic. Everyone who saw the band live was very enthusiastic
and said that UFO is now back on track, and generates an incredible
live atmosphere. Vinnie Moore and Jason Bonham have truly and without
doubt established themselves as full members of UFO! They're back
home now for a well-earned break: Phil can fret about his neighbours
again for always putting their dust bin out on the street much too
early, Paul is working up some new keyboard sounds for the next tour
and Jason is replacing all the old windows in his house. Pete has
gone off to London to stay with a friend and is doing his best to get
his American visa sorted in time for the coming US tour, while Vinnie
is happy to be with his family in Delaware.
22 April is the kick-off date for the USA tour - and the band can
hardly wait to meet their American Fans. The show goes on!
See you soon!"
Latest Classic Rock includes a 5 star review of 'You Are Here' and an excellent interview with Phil Mogg.
The 'Endless Jam' CD (Gunter Nezhoda) featuring Michael Schenker is due out on 26th April in Europe (Mascot Records) and 27th April in the US (Shrapnel). As previously mentioned the CD features Michael Schenker, Leslie West, Davey Pattison, Gunter Nezhoda and Aynsley Dunbar and the full track listing is: Shapes Of Things To Come, Hey Joe, Pearly Queen, A Whiter Shade Of Pale, Never In My Life, Long Misty Days, I Got The Fire, Voyager, The Stealer, Theme For An Imaginary Western, Built For Comfort. There will be a dedicated page here soon (yes, really!) but in the meantime check out the page at the SITN site where there is an interview with Gunter.
Also at the SITN site an excellent interview with Vinnie Moore. An an interview with Pete Way (scroll down for the English version) at Rock Avenue.
Lots of updates at the Graham Bonnet page.
And talking of ex-MSG vocalists, Robin McAuley will be performing a solo show on Friday 30th April at Paladino's in Tarzana, California. Robin will be performing songs from MSG, Grand Prix, UFO and his solo material. Call 818-342-1563 for additional info or check out his official site.
That's all for now.... but look out for another update very soon.. and a few Easter goodies being added to the site.
UFO tour still going strong, and I have now added US dates to the tour dates page. Support acts for the tour vary from venue to venue,but include Uli Jon Roth and BOC (yes Mark.. got your emails!).
Due to lack of material so far I have not yet added a UFO tour page.....
However... I have now added a MSG Tour Page (eventually) with my Bradford review, pictures, links and other goodies.
Work has conspired to stop me updating stuff, but was at the MSG gig on Saturday (Bradford) and will post a review and photos tommorrow. But to keep you going here's a photo I took of Michael. And here's the setlist.
Briefly however, the band was on top form and Michael was amazing. I was positioned right in front of him for the whole show (close enough that my camera was too close to focus sometimes!) and he was flawless, happy and interacting with the crowd. After everything that has happened over the past few years it was nothing short of a miracle, especially here in the UK! Was also good to meet up with old friends, make new ones and get random abuse from total strangers for not updating my site!
UFO tour is also going well from all reports... US dates are finalised and will be added to my tour dates page (sorry for delay) and there WILL be UK dates later on in the year.
Finally, a new update! Sorry, been crap again the past month, due to all sorts of things but no excuse really (except for the havoc caused by the MyDoom virus sending vast swathes of emails to dave-wood.org). Lots of updates, so will split into UFO, MSG and Other (in no particular order of importance!):
..has some more interviews up at the SITN site, direct link HERE. Latest interviews include Barry Sparks (Cosmosquad, MSG, Uli Jon Roth, Dokken), Rev Jones (MSG, Black Symphony), Libby Wendt.
There is also a photo of Pete's all new 'Aston Villa' bass!
I was privileged to attend the penultimate UFO rehearsal session on Tuesday (thanks as always to Batttttty for blagging our way in!) and can report that the band are on tip-top form ready to put on a real show. The whole event was kinda surreal (imagine having UFO performing in your living room while you're chilling on your favourite sofa), and I can't let too much out of the bag, but it's safe to say that there will be a good mix of new stuff off You Are Here (which has now been released in Europe and Japan), as well as old favourites, and a few suprises. I think it's safe to tell you that Rock Bottom is on the set list, and that Vinnie really does it justice: both he and Jason (the 'new boys') gel effortlessly with the rest of the band and, rather than just filling in the gaps, add a new and fresh dimension. Is also good to see Paul Raymond back in the frame, Doctor Doctor (again, not a surprise I think!) was sublime. If you are thinking of missing the gigs because of Michael Schenker not being there, don't be stupid.. go... I promise you will not regret it. Tour starts this Saturday, February 28th, in Greece, with Uli Jon Roth as support.
Japanese release of You Are Here has a bonus track 'Messing Up The Bed', which to be honest I think should have been one of the main tracks, and is probably my favourite track.
Although not yet confirmed, there will be some UK dates later in the year.. stop emailing me! I'm not privvy to any confirmed US dates, but I think it's looking like an end of April start.
The Official UFO site has had a revamp for high-bandwidth surfers, which is pretty cool.. just don't mess with the bouncer!
There are some interviews that have gone up recently, including the rare event of a Phil Mogg interview at The Cutting Edge which is well worth a read. Click on Features, and then look in Issue 60 (thanks for the link Todd). There is also an interview with Jason Bonham at Live 4 Metal where he talks about the new album, tour and other stuff (thanks Scott).
There are also various reviews of the new album that I will link to from the You Are Here page later today.
Don't forget Tristan's new and improved 'Misty Green and Blue' site here.
MSG Tour kicks off tonight in Spain, there have been a few additions/changes to the tour dates that will be put up later today (on the tour dates page, not here).
The new edition of 'Guitar World' (April 2004, Jimmy Page and Joe Perry on the front cover) has an indepth interview with Michael: "In 2002, Michael Schenker lost his house, his marriage and his guitars, and went into hiding in a desert hotel. In this exclusive interview, Guitar World finds out what happened and how the Seventies hard rock icon is reclaiming his life, one day at a time. PLUS The essential Michael Schenker"
From an old press release: " Gunter Nezhoda, has just finished his bass tracks for a new, soon to be released CD titled "Endless Jam", which features Michael Schenker, Davey Pattison, Aynsley Dunbar. Insider sources who have catched a few soundbites say, that this CD features some of the best guitar solos ever played by Michael Schenker. The CD is expected to be out early Spring 2004." I keep getting odd bits of info about it, and tracks that have been mentioned are Whiter Shade of Pale, Hey Joe, Never In My Life and Built For Comfort. Everyone who has heard it is raving about it, so I think it's gonna be a gem. Also on the CD are Davey Pattison and special guest Leslie West. There is an interview with Gunter at Hardrock Haven. The album is due to be released May 2nd 2004 through Mascot Records.
For both the UFO and MSG European tours I will be setting up 'Tour Pages' with details and show reviews, pictures etc. Feel free to send such things and I will post them as soon as I can, or if you don't trust me to do it quickly (!) send them to the SITN site or Ritchie's site.
The new Waysted album, featuring Fin, Pete and Paul will be called "Back From The Dead". You can read an update on its progress (admittedly a couple of weeks out of date now) at the Official Paul Chapman site.
When I say 'other', I should probably say 'ex-MSG vocalists'!
Robin McAuley now has an official site at www.robinmcauley.com with latest news including an appearance on a forthcoming Kiss tribute album. Also showcased is his last studio album, Business As Usual, which I think is a pretty cool album.
There is another update at the Official Graham Bonnet web site, including a gig in Hollwood coming up and appearance on Matteo Filippini's forthcoming album.
Kelly Keeling and Jeff Martin will be touring as part of George Lynch's band in the US shortly.
I think that's everything for now!
I am in the process of having a major tidy up and update of the site, please bear with me over the weekend as there may be links moving and not working for a while.
News wise, have already updated the tour dates page, and am working on the page for the new UFO album You Are Here. Talking of which, have had a few listens through now and have to say, it rocks!
Michael Schenker news to follow in the next couple of days...
Still on holiday (!) but there is an exclusive, in-depth, interview with Michael Schenker at electricbasement.com. Here is a direct link.
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