Part tomboy, part femme fatale, Zeena Koda is a SiriusXM DJ, vocalist, journalist, and lover of all things hardcore. You can catch her radio show Monday through Saturday on SiriusXM Liquid Metal and watch her inquisitive feminist side via her video web series Boxx Talk and Ask A Bombshell. Rot and roll, baby!
Some teenage girls grow up idolizing the cookie-cutter sounds of pop icons like Britney Spears, but for Kobra Paige, who fronts her namesake band Kobra and the Lotus, she was fortified on a hearty formula full of Judas Priest and Iron Maiden. Beginning her singing career as a classical singer, Paige possesses the technical skill that is required in order to sing notes that are massively sustained at a highly-belted vocal range. Drawing passionate influences from classic metal voices such as Rob Halford, Paige and her band is not just interpreting a classic sound, but giving a modern nod to the brick-and-mortar sonic output that built the foundation. It’s readily evident that rock and roll is in her soul, and in a metal world filled with male archetypes, she acknowledges that, as a blond bombshell, she does indeed stand out. “People will think you’re just a pretty face put up there. They think there is no connect between the fact that you have to be there dedicated to the band” she confidently states. “They didn’t just pluck out a Barbie and put her onstage.” Although the picturesque frontwoman could easily be mistaken for a model, her persona is striking and oozes of amorous dedication to her craft. Paige combats the naysayers by stating, “Any person obviously has to be really into heavy metal, living and breathing for it, in order to be on the road constantly.” After officially changing her name to Kobra two years ago, there was no turning back on her mission to rock, this is her message.
As a vocalist who actually utilizes a sustained singing voice, it is key that Paige takes extra care of her signature pipes. In her classical trained, she learned the art of signing and segued to metal quickly at the ripe age of 15 after being blown away at a Judas Priest concert. “When I saw the way the crowd responded when ‘Painkiller’ started playing, I knew needed to be part of this culture” she recounts from her first show. Taking notes from the higher echelon of classic metal and built off of a love for the diversity and depth of Led Zepplin’s Robert Plant, she made the life-changing transition by starting Kobra and the Lotus in 2008. “I felt it was an extremely natural progression because metal allows for that chest voice to be used” she explains. “I wasn’t trying to emulate them but the singers I loved sounded similar to the range I was already working in.” Interestingly, many of those singers she emulated are male while singing in a predominately female range, something Kobra naturally was blessed with.
It takes a whole other form of discipline and dedication to make a sound so beautifully destructive in the studio come across consistently flawless onstage, which is one challenging factor on the full U.S. tour they are embarking on with Fear Factory. “There dates are six days on, and one day off, so I’m glad we only have a 30-minute set” Kobra admits. “I have no clue how Burton
from Fear Factory can do that long of a set every night. It’s crazy to me!” She adds, “Metal is vocally taxing. You have to be careful. The last thing you want are nodes–it’s my greatest fear.”It is Paige and her bandmates’ stamina and dedication that has brought the once-localized Canadian band to the label home of KISS’ Gene Simmons and helped them tour throughout the U.S. and Europe. Touring becomes a way of life for a band planting their seeds and often the conditions can present a quandary to the generally rigorous hygienic demands of the female sex. While most dudes may be all right with missing a few showers on tour, Paige recognizes that the “most important thing is being clean and I don’t care how I have to do it–tons of baby wipes on tour.” Understandable, considering as a frontwoman, she not only has to perform her musical duties but also spend time after talking to journalists, fans, peers, and everyone in between. As cordial as an artist might try to be, it is inevitable that the dreaded “creep hand” or unwarranted come-on will always sneak its obnoxious way in. This is not limited just to female musicians like Paige but applies to all females. When asked if she experienced any excessive creep handing, Paige cites a familiar scene. “A man will give me a friendly hug and it starts a wave of hugs” she laughs. “Nothing personal to those people but sometimes you don’t want people in your space.” It is hard to deny the magnetism that oozes from Paige, who through a rigorous touring and recording schedule still finds time to research nutrition and the effects various foods and natural resources have on the body. Perhaps the secret behind her amazing figure and energy is her dedication to making almost all her daily meals herself and keeping tabs on what is going into her body. No small feat given the lottery conditions of eating on the road while touring.
Life on the road for a babe like Paige can be hilarious in many ways, and early on she found some audience members oblivious to her talent–that is until she stepped onstage. “When we were touring around Canada the first time, I got a lot of questions like, ‘Are you the merch girl?’ but they shut up the minute I got onstage.” Fortunately, fans have come to recognize her for that firm vocal stance and can get a taste of Paige’s pristine pipes on their current tour with Fear Factory. She laments that one of her dream tours would of course be with Judas Priest. “I was beside myself when we got to open for them the first time,” she says, “and, not to be cliche, but it would be awesome to tour with Maiden–who wouldn’t wanna tour with Iron Maiden?” With the don of metal success, Gene Simmons, aiding to steer them in the right way, international success is only a matter of time. “Gene has built this empire and he’s a marketing guru. It’s amazing that his door is always open to us,” Kobra proudly admits. “It took me about a year to believe that it was really true. I kept thinking one day I’m going to wake up and this all going to be gone, but it’s been wonderful because, you never know, nothing is set in stone in this lifetime.” That endearing humility and graciousness will fuel Kobra and the Lotus to go in for the kill in 2013 and never look back.
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Besides being a fan of heavy music, comedian Craig Gass has close ties to the hard-rock and metal comunities–he’s opened for Metallica, lived in Eddie Van Halen’s back house, and is buddies with everyone from Pearl Jam to KISS. He recently helped skewer Twisted Sister’s Dee Snider at Revolver‘s and Guitar World‘s second annual Rock & Roll Roast. And on his new live comedy album and DVD, The Worst Comedy Show Ever, which hit stores today, Pearl Jam’s Mike McCready, makes a hilarious cameo on the DVD, while Alice in Chains’ Jerry Cantrell and Sean Kinney lend their fractured personalities to several news blackouts on the CD. In keeping with all this, Gass compiled his list of the Top Five (Unintentionally) Funniest Hard-Rock Concert Moments he has ever witnessed. Check it out below, and at the bottom of this post, watch a teaser clip for the DVD.
“I’ve been a huge hard-rock/heavy-metal fan for most of my life and never get tired of going to see my favorite bands over and over again,” Gass says. “Over the years, I think it becomes obvious to a lot of us that part of the fun of going to see certain bands is the entertainment that you’ll get out of it in between songs when the singer of the band starts to talk. Whether it’s David Lee Roth’s insane arrogance or Dave Mustaine’s bizarre politics, there are some shows you can’t wait to see for the real moments in between.
“I love sharing these stories with my comedian buddies and hearing the stories they like to add, but here are my Top Five Funniest Hard-Rock Concert Moments. Keep in mind, most of these were unintentionally funny…”
5) PANTERA
“I’ve seen Pantera easily about 20 times. They’re one of the most powerful bands of all time, but Phil Anselmo adds a tone of comedy to every show. He’s always angry about something, and he always says it with limited words.
“Pantera was on Ozzfest 2000, and I saw a couple of those shows, including one at the venue outside of Boston that was then known as The Tweeter Center. In between songs, AND I’M QUOTING, Phil Anselmo actually said, very slowly, ‘HEY…. Motherfuckers…. Check it out…. You go home tonight…. And you tell your friends who fuckin’ missed out on Ozzfest….. You tell them… HEY…… ….. …. You fuckin’… You missed out….. (At this point, you could see that Phil realized that he had repeated himself, and added)….. And you’re stupid.’ And then he hocked up some saliva and spit on the ground.
“Keep in mind, I was in the 18teenth row for this show, and I saw SEVENTEEN ROWS of people in front of me turning to each other and smiling, as if to say, ‘That was fucking HILARIOUS.’
4) MÖTLEY CRÜE
“Vince Neil is a mess. Even when I saw Mötley opening the Bark at the Moon tour for Ozzy back in 1984, I noticed that Vince didn’t seem to remember all the lyrics to Mötley’s songs. Add to that, the occasional show where he’s completely hammered, and you’ve got a funnier show than ANYTHING going on at The Comedy Store that night.
“This was at The Key Club in 2005, I wanna say, and Vince was HAMMERED. A show that was highlighted with Vince falling off the stage (here’s the fucked up thing… We weren’t even looking at the stage during the incident, and we HEARD Vince fall) and this amazing on stage moment:
“Vince had taken a long time in between songs to grab another drink, came back out and said, ‘OK, everybody, how about we do a little bit of LIVEWIRE FOR YOU RIGHT N–WHAT (his guitar player was whispering in his ear)? Oh, we already played that? OK…. What else have we got?’
“I love that guy.”
3) DOKKEN
“In 2002, there was a tour of ’80s bands featuring Dokken, Warrant, Ratt, and a few others. I know that it’s a cooler move to dismiss these bands than it is to give them any credit, and if you’re one of those people, you really are an idiot, because you miss out on moments like the one I witnessed at The Celebrity Theater in Phoenix.
“Warrant was onstage performing, and in the middle of their set, a dude came climbing on to the stage and walked right into the middle of the band while they were playing. Was it a drunk audience member? No. It was Don Dokkem, who grabbed one of the microphones and started yelling at the band for going over their allotted time! He actually lectured Warrant onstage, and demanded that they ‘Play some “Cherry Pie” and get the fuck off the stage,’ threw the microphone in the air, and stormed off the stage.
“Mike Fasano, the drummer for Warrant at the time, grabbed the microphone when it landed and said, ‘How about a hand for the amazing Don Dokken, everybody’ to the boos of the audience.
“You always hear about bands not getting along on tour, but how often to you get to buy a ticket to watch it happen live?”
2) KISS
“OK, this one I have to admit is intentionally funny by the band, and me makes me immediately respect Paul Stanley.
“The band was on a really long tour with Ted Nugent and Skid Row, and the guys in Skid Row did a thing every night that the audience was never aware of, where they would dare Paul Stanley to incorporate some really silly word or stupid phrase into his onstage banter.
“In Raleigh, North Carolina, they tell Paul, ‘You need to somehow incorporate the words, “Diaper Fight” into your onstage banter tonight.’
“Nobody in the crowd in Raleigh was aware of this, obviously. All I know is that I’m watching KISS perform, and about three or four songs in, the crowd is going nuts, and I’m not sure that I’m hearing it right, but I think I just heard Paul Stanley say, ‘All right people, settle down, settle down…. Let’s not get all worked up here and turn this into a Diaper Fight…’
“WTF?
“I found out the story behind it later, and thought, That’s just cool.”
1) Without question: LOUDNESS
“Opening the Theater of Pain tour for Mötley, I saw this show at The TCC in Tucson and at The Compton Terrace outside of Phoenix. You haven’t lived until you’ve heard the singer of a Japanese heavy-metal band yell out, ‘ARE YOU LEDDY TO LOCK N LOLL, MUDDA FUCKAS?’ followed by waves and waves of laughter from drunk teenagers.”
Every Tuesday–the day that new music comes out–we will be listing the hard-rock and metal releases that hit stores, and every Wednesday we will be offering you, the fans, the chance to pick the Album of the Week. Below, check out the albums, EPs, singles, and DVDs that came out this week; pick your favorite, and feel free to vote as many times as you want. Voting ends on Monday, October 15 at noon, when the results will be announced.
UPDATE: The poll is closed. Thanks for your vote. To view the results, click here.
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It’s Tuesday–the day that music comes out–and this one sees shit from Between the Buried and Me, Converge, Coheed and Cambria, KISS, and more hitting stores. Check out the list of releases below and let us know which ones you have already or are planning to pick up.
- The 69 Eyes – X
- The Acacia Strain – Death Is the Only Mortal
- All Time Low – Don’t Panic
- August Burns Red – Sleddin’ Hill, A Holiday Album
- Between the Buried and Me – The Parallax II: Future Sequence
- Beyond All Recognition – Drop Dead
- Blackmore’s Night – A Knight in York
- Blut Aus Nord – 777 – Cosmosophy
- Coheed And Cambria – The Afterman: Ascension
- Converge – All We Love We Leave Behind
- Danko Jones – Rock and Roll Is Black and Blue
- Daylight Dies – A Frail Becoming
- Defiler – Nematocera
- Dio – The Very Beast Of Dio: Vol. 2
- Downfall Of Gaia – Suffocating In The Swarm Of Cranes
- Inhale Exhale – Movement
- KISS – Monster
- Nonpoint – Nonpoint
- Sylosis – Monolith
- Texas In July – Texas In July
- Trash Talk – 119
- Weapon – Embers and Revelations
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With less than a week to go until the release of their twentieth studio album, Kiss are now streaming two new songs from Monster online. Check out “Long Way Down” and “All For the Love of Rock & Roll” below.
“There are no symphony orchestras, boy choirs, keyboards, outside producers or songwriters on this album,” said bassist Gene Simmons in a press statement earlier this year. “The best thing we did was to turn inwards to ourselves.”
Back in August, the band released the limited-edition Kiss Monster Book, a 3 feet tall, 2.5 feet wide tome that was limited to 1,000 copies and carried a hefty price tag of 4,250.
“This book is way beyond my expectations,” said Paul Stanley. “The photos are incredible at this size. It’s not a coffee table book, it’s a coffee table!”
The follow-up to 2009′s Sonic Boom is out next Tuesday, October 9.
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Hard-rock group Eye Empire released Impact this past summer and have been touring since. We asked lead vocalist Donald Carpenter (pictured third from left) to pick the top five live shows that impacted his career.
1. Metallica in Ft. Worth, Texas, 1997 Cunning Stunts Filming “To be a part of a DVD filming took the meaning of ‘live show’ to a whole new level.”
2. Slayer and Hatebreed in Orlando, Florida, 2004, at House of Blues “I had never seen such energy from a crowd. The command of the audience had me in awe. It was overwhelming. Meeting the guys after topped it all off!”
3. KISS in Dallas, Texas, 1999 Psycho Circus Tour “No one can fully understand just what a rock show can be until you’ve seen a KISS extravaganza. This was the first reunion and they brought the pain!”
4. Live in Dallas, Texas, 1994, Throwing Copper tour “I was just beginning to discover my vocal influences at this time and this record was huge. After seeing the passion and energy live, I knew what I wanted to do in life.”
5. Metallica in Orlando, Florida, 2003, Summer Sanitarium Tour “This was my third time seeing them but my first meeting them. A huge lineup with a once in a lifetime experience. Inspiring.”
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On August 21, Kiss will publish what they’re calling “the largest rock book ever to be published.”
Kiss Monster Book is 3 feet tall, 2.5 feet wide and 2 inches thick.
The launch price? An equally massive $4,250.
“This book is way beyond my expectations,” says Paul Stanley. “The photos are incredible at this size. It’s not a coffee table book, it’s a coffee table!”
The limited-edition book chronicles Kiss’ 40-year career and includes 127 photos by renowned rock photographers, including never-before-seen images from the band’s archives.
Only 1,000 copies of Kiss Monster Book will be made; each copy is individually signed, dated and numbered by the four members of the current lineup of Kiss. The books were printed in high-definition links by one of the world’s finest large-format printers, and they were hand stitched-and-bound in Italy by the same binder used by The Vatican. (Does the Pope know about this?) There are 10 different covers with matching signature pages; buyers can choose their cover when they place their order.
Kiss worked closely with the publishers and chose the best and rarest images. The photos include unseen gems, 35mm slides, famous moments and new pictures that bring the band right up-to-date. It includes photos from Richard Aaron, Fin Costello, Bob Gruen, Ross Halfin, Tom Hill, Steve Jennings and more.
The band will officially launch the book 2 to 4 p.m. August 21 at the Viper Room in Los Angeles.
For more information, visit kissmonsterbook.com and the official Kiss website.
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Kiss have announced the full details, including track listing, for their upcoming new album, Monster.
The band’s landmark twentieth studio album will be released on October 16 and contains a total of 13 tracks, including the lead single, “Hell or Hallelujah,” which can be heard below.
“There are no symphony orchestras, boy choirs, keyboards, outside producers or songwriters on this album,” said bassist Gene Simmons. “The best thing we did was to turn inwards to ourselves.”
The bassist was also quick to praise band members Erin Singer and Tommy Thayer for their hard work on Monster, saying “Tommy and Eric have revitalised this band with a work ethic and the talent to back it up. This is a real band effort. Kiss has become a behemoth. We’re going where no bands have gone before.”
Monster Track Listing:
Hell Or Hallelujah
Wall Of Sound
Freak
Back To The Stone Age
Shout Mercy
Long Way Down
Eat Your Heart Out
The Devil Is Me
Outta This World
All For The Love Of Rock & Roll
Take Me Down Below
Last Chance
Right Here Right Now
Check out “Nothing To Lose But Our Minds” off This Might Hurt below: