M3 Rock Festival 2015 Preview: Part Four
M3 Rock Festival 2015 Preview: Part Four
May 1, 2015
Day one of the M3 Rock Festival keeps getting bigger and bigger each year, and 2015 is no exception. With the opening of the festival upon us, last minute tickets information can be found at m3rock.webs.com.
The first day will kick off with a special treat for all VIP ticket holders when Jack Russell will be playing a special acoustic set. Russell was the lead singer of hair metal band Great White from 1981 until 2009, when fell in a bathroom and suffered two cracked vertebrae and a herniated disc. While battling alcoholism and pain medication addiction over the years, Russell endured multiple back surgeries but has been soldiering on as Jack Russell’s Great White. The singer is no stranger to the M3 Rock Festival, having played in both the 2013 and 2014 editions. About three months ago, Jack Russell’s Great White released a new song called “Hard Habit”, with a full-length album in the works.
The first group that will be heard and seen by all ticket holders will be local Baltimore, Maryland rock cover band Korupt, who first played at the festival back in 2011. The group has experienced their share of tragedy, with the recent death of frontman Sean McCall in early March. Korupt was formed by McCall, drummer Karl Reichenbach and bassist Dave Beall in 1982 and have endured numerous line-up changes. Korupt have decided to forge ahead with their appearance at this year’s M3 Festival and recently announced,”After suffering yet a second devastating loss, the longest consistently running metal band in Maryland history has decided to forge on, and perform in honor of their founding band mate, and lead singer Sean (McCall) McAuliffe, at this years’ M3 Rock Festival held at Merriweather Post Pavillion in Columbia, MD on Friday, May 1st, 2015… The loss of Sean McCall and Louie Tonson (2009) has weighed heavy in the hearts of everyone. The core members will be joined by guitarist Robby Anderson who has over ten years in, guitarist Jeff Barnosky who has almost six years in, and long time friend and roadie, Buddy Zappa will be fronting this heavy metal quintet.”
Dio Disciples will be gracing a M3 Rock Festival stage for the first time this year. Although they have never released a record, the band boasts an all-star line-up of musicians that have a rich heritage and that pay homage to the legacy of powerhouse vocalist Ronnie James Dio (who passed away on May 16, 2010). Since 2011, Dio Disciples has consisted of guitarist Craig Goldy, drummer Simon Wright (formerly of AC/DC) and keyboardist Scott Warren, along with a rotating cast of well known musicians such as bassist Rudy Sarzo (ex-Ozzy Osbourner, Quiet Riot, Whitesnake, etc.), vocalist Tim “Ripper” Owens (ex-Judas Priest) and current Lynch Mob frontman Oni Logan.
Although Trixter are best known for their early ’90s output consisting of the studio albums ‘Trixter’ and ‘Hear!’, along with their covers album ‘Undercovers’, the band have released ample amounts of original material over the last four years. After disbanding in 1995, with the advent of the grunge scene, and following a twelve year hiatus, Trixter reformed and released 2012’s ‘New Audio Machine’, with another studio record coming shortly, ‘Human Era’. About a week ago, Trixter released a video for “Rockin’ To The Edge Of The Night”, from their forthcoming album.
A group that needs no introduction is Quiet Riot, which is largely regarded as the heavy metal group that opened the floodgates of the genre’s popularity back in 1983 when they struck multi-platinum success with the album ‘Metal Health’ and the smash hit “Cum On Feel The Noize”. Fast forward more than three decades and the group continues on with the lone original member from their commercial peak, drummer Frankie Banali, along with guitarist Alex Grossi, bassist Chuck Wright and new vocalist Jizzy Pearl (Love/Hate). Quiet Riot first played at the M3 Rock Festival in 2012, when frontman Scott Vokoun was still a member of the band. Recently the group joined the ever growing number of hard rock bands to be featured in a movie documentary. Banali‘s fiance Regina Russell completed the film, ‘Well Now You’re Here, There’s No Way Back’, which premiered at the Newport Beach Film Festival back on April 29th, 2014. The band continues to release original material on a semi-regular basis, with their twelfth studio record (and first with Pearl), ’10”, arriving last year.
Most hair metal bands from the ’80s that are featured at M3 went on a lengthy hiatus at some point in their respective careers. One band that has forged ahead for the last 22 years, albeit with various line-up changes and a short four year split, following a string of platinum records, is Dokken. For the last two decades the band’s mainstay has been lead vocalist and founder Don Dokken, who has continued to release studio albums under the Dokken moniker on a regular basis, with the latest being 2012’s ‘Broken Bones’. Dokken have already played M3 twice before, performing at the festival’s inaugural edition back in 2009 and onnce again in 2012.
The one group that has played every M3 Rock Festival is local Maryland favorite Kix, who are headlining day one, as has become the custom over the years. Sleaze Roxx was there to capture Kix‘s electrifying performance at M3 last year and had the following to say, “…frontman Steve Whiteman gave the honest assessment that the band does not get to play on such big stages all the time, and that if Kix were the last band to play on M3’s stage on this night it was clearly due to the Baltimore fans who raised a small raucous when they did not get to do so last year. Whiteman also pointed out that there were no headliners on this night — but that is really not true! Kix was clearly the headliner for day one of the M3 Rock Festival. Judging from the crowd’s reaction, most of the people were quite into Kix — not surprising given that Baltimore, Maryland is the band’s home turf,” and added, “Kix put on a clinic on how to deliver a great show and it seemed like just about everybody in the audience knew all the words to the songs.” A few months after last year’s performance Kix released their first studio album in nineteen years, ‘Rock Your Face Off’. Regarding the album Sleaze Roxx stated, “Topping Blow My Fuse or Hot Wire would be practically impossible, simply because those albums are timeless classics that conjure up so many fond memories for aging rockers such as myself…. I’d be a liar if I said Rock Your Face Off was Kix’ best work, because it isn’t and realistically never had the chance to be — but it has lived up to my lofty expectations, and that really is a testament to how good this return album is. After twenty years, Kix continue to be one of the most satisfying bands in the entire hard rock genre…”.
Courtesy of www.sleazeroxx.com