Quiet Riot confirm new singer James Durbin and not performing ‘Road Rage’ songs live
Quiet Riot confirm new singer James Durbin and not performing ‘Road Rage’ songs live
In an interview with Billboard, Quiet Riot‘s long-time drummer Frankie Banali has confirmed that American Idol finalist James Durbin is the group’s new lead vocalist.
Back in early October 2016, Quiet Riot announced that former Adler’s Appetite lead vocalist Seann Nicols would be the group’s new singer in 2017. The group including Nicols recorded a new album entitled Road Rage, which is scheduled for release via Frontiers Music Srl on April 21, 2017. The first single “The Seeker” from that upcoming new studio album was released a few days ago. Durbin and Quiet Riot guitarist Alex Grossi have also collaborated on a new project Maps To The Hollywood Scars that just released their first EP Maps To The Hollywood Scars Volume 1 on February 17, 2017.
Excerpts from the Billboard article are as follows:
“After doing all of five live shows [with Nicols], it became apparent to everybody that it really wasn’t going to work,” Quiet Riot drummer/bandleader Frankie Banali tells Billboard. “There were some serious creative and personal differences. I’m not the type of person who will stay in a bad marriage for the kids — the kids in this case being Quiet Riot. It was unanimous it could not go any further.”
The frontman change does, of course, create an odd situation for Road Rage. “There’s no comfortable thing about this situation,” acknowledges Banali. “I think the record turned out great. But it’s not that band anymore, so we have to deal with it. Is it troublesome? Absolutely. Is it risky? Absolutely. Is it the right thing to do? Absolutely!”…
Durbin notes that “Quiet Riot was the first band that made metal accessible back in ’83,” when its Metal Health album knocked The Police’s Synchronicity off the No. 1 spot on the Billboard 200. Being 28, Durbin wasn’t even born at the time: He first heard Quiet Riot during the early ’00s via the video game Legends of Wrestling, which featured the group’s “Bang Your Head (Metal Health)” on its soundtrack. “The game sucked, but I kept the disc because I wanted to listen to that song. Then years later, as I started to develop my singing voice and stage personality and everything, I was compared to two people: Geoff Tate of Queensryche and Kevin DuBrow of Quiet Riot. That always stuck with me, so this makes total sense.”
Durbin says Quiet Riot probably won’t perform any of the Road Rage songs live, leaning instead on the group’s heritage of hard-rock favorites that he’s anxious to wrap his pipes around.
“I think there’s some really awesome gems in the Quiet Riot catalog that are really overlooked,” says Durbin. “I love ‘Put Up or Shut Up.’ I love ‘Condition Critical’ and ‘Thunderbird,’ even the song ‘It Sucks to Be You’ from the Quiet Riot documentary [Well Now You’re Here, There’s No Way Back]. I’m really looking forward to putting my spin on it as a singer. I feel I’m much more melodic in my singing than some of the singers Quiet Riot has featured in the past, so I’m looking forward to soaring those vocals over the crowd.”
Quiet Riot is also planning to return to the studio sooner rather than later to start the recording era of Durbin in the band. “Alex and James have been working on some songs together that are not in the Quiet Riot style, but it showed me clearly that James is a very prolific writer, and he’s really good,” says Banali. “He’s really quick, and he really pours everything he has into every time he does a track. I expect to start writing soon. I don’t know if we’ll do another record next year or not. You can’t predict, but we’re certainly going to start writing probably in the next month or so in preparing for another record.”
You can read the rest of the article at Billboard.
James Durbin sings Judas Priest‘s “You’ve Got Another Thing Comin'” on American Idol on March 1, 2011:
American Idol: James Durbin Judas Priest – You Got Another Thing Comin – Season 10 March 1, 2011
American Idol contestant James Durbin performs Judas Priest’s You got another thing coming. March 1st, 2011
James Durbin and Judas Priest playing “Living After Midnight” and “Breaking The Law” on American Idol in 2011:
James Durbin + Judas Priest – Living After Midnight / Breaking the Law (American Idol – S10E39)
Desta vez James Dubin canta junto com Judas Priest um mix das músicas “Living After Midnight” e “Breaking the Law”. Espero que apareçam mais pessoas com o James Durbin defendendo a bandeira do metal.