Tom Waits

Described as one of the last beatniks of the contemporary music, Tom Waits - in fact - had two separate careers. From 1973 (LP "Closing Time") to 1983 ("One From The Heart" soundtrack), he recorded nine LPs for Asylum Records, writing songs mainly in the manner of Tin Pan Alley, mixing them with jazz and blues. Extraordinarily, he never produced a hit, but he earned a cult following all over the world. In 1983 he signed with Island Records, and released a series of albums that stunned the music world. Beginning with "Swordfishtrombones", he introduced a whole new orchestration, which included some of the instruments invented by Harry Partch. He found a new ground for his innovations, searching in sound fields that never before were searched. This second part of his career coincided with his marriage to Kathleen Brennan, a former writer for Francis Ford Coppola (Zoetrope (1999)). His LPs "Rain Dogs" (1985), "Big Time" (soundtrack) and "The Black Rider" are today what Kurt Weill's music was once. "The Black Rider" brings music written for the show directed by Bob Wilson and staged in Germany.

Nick cave and the bad seeds

Nick Cave assembled the Bad Seeds, a post-punk supergroup featuring former Birthday Party guitarist Mick Harvey on drums, ex-Magazine bassist Barry Adamson, and Einstürzende Neubauten guitarist Blixa Bargeld. With the Bad Seeds, Cave continued to explore his obsessions with religion, death, love, America, and violence with a bizarre, sometimes self-consciously eclectic hybrid of blues, gospel, rock, and arty post-punk, although in a more subdued fashion than his work with the Birthday Party. Cave also allowed his literary aspirations to come to the forefront; the lyrics are narrative prose, heavy on literary allusions and myth-making, and take some inspiration from Leonard Cohen. Cave's gloomy lyrics, dark musical arrangements, and deep baritone voice recall the albums of Scott Walker, who also obsessed over death and love with a frightening passion. However, Cave brings a hefty amount of post-punk experimentalism to Walker's epic dark pop.
Cave released his first album with the Bad Seeds, From Her to Eternity, in 1984, which contained a noteworthy cover of Elvis Presley's "In the Ghetto," foreshadowing much of Cave's style and subject matter on the follow-up The Firstborn Is Dead. Kicking Against the Pricks, an all-covers album, broke the band in England with the help of "The Singer," which hit number one on the U.K. independent charts.

Following 1986's Your Funeral...My Trial, Cave took a two-year hiatus from recording, partially to appear in Wim Wenders' 1987 film Wings of Desire, and then returned with Tender Prey, which featured Cramps guitarist Kid Congo Powers and Cave's strongest vocal performance up to that point. Cave's productivity picked up immensely over the next two years after he kicked a heroin habit. He had two books (1988's King Ink, a collection of lyrics, plays, and prose, and 1989's And the Ass Saw the Angel, a novel) published; appeared in the 1989 Australian film Ghosts...of the Civil Dead as a prisoner; recorded a soundtrack to the film with Harvey and Bargeld; and released 1990's The Good Son, his most relaxed, quiet album. Cave received his due as one of the leading figures in alternative rock when he was invited to perform on the 1994 edition of the Lollapalooza tour to promote his Let Love In album. Early in 1996, he released Murder Ballads, a collection of songs about murder. Murder Ballads became Cave's most commercially successful album to date, and, with typical perversity, he followed it with the introspective and personal The Boatman's Call in early 1997. A spoken word release, Secret Life of the Love Song, followed in 1999. Two years later, a rejuvenated Cave teamed up with the Bad Seeds once again for the piano-laden No More Shall We Part. Nocturama was released in 2003, and the double-album Abbatoir Blues/The Lyre of Orpheus followed by the end of 2004. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine & Steve Huey, All Music Guide

Terence McKenna - Reclaim Your Mind

Terence McKenna Biography

Born in 1946, author and explorer Terence McKenna has spent the last twenty-five years in the study of the ontological foundations of shamanism and the ethno-pharmacology of spiritual transformation. McKenna, the founder of Novelty Theory, graduated from the University of California at Berkeley with a distributed major in Ecology, Resource Conservation and Shamanism. After graduation he traveled extensively in the Asian and New World Tropics, becoming specialized in the shamanism and ethno-medicine of the Amazon Basin. With his brother Dennis, he is the author of The Invisible Landscape and Psilocybin: The Magic Mushroom Growers' Guide. A study of the impact of psychotropic plants on human culture and evolution Food of the Gods has recently been published by Bantam, and a book of essays and conversations, The Archaic Revival quickly followed from Harper San Francisco. Most recently a group of discursive chats, Trialogues at the Edge of the West, with mathematician Ralph Abraham and British biologist Rupert Sheldrake, has been published in English, German, French and Spanish editions. His latest book is, True Hallucinations, a narrative of spiritual adventure in the jungles of the Colombian Amazon. He recently appeared on a number of CDs and live performances with musical groups such as The Shamen and Zuvuya in England and Space/Time in San Francisco. Other titles and CD releases are also being planned. McKenna is the father of two children, a girl fourteen and a boy seventeen. Currently he lives in Hawaii, where he divides his time between writing and lecturing. His most recent interests include web site building and multimedia modeling of historical processes using Novelty Theory, a branch of fractal dynamics invented by McKenna.

Edit: he died :(

Beastie Boys Biography

Beastie Boys Biography

Founded in Brooklyn, New York in the early 1980s, the Beastie Boys became one of the first huge-selling rap groups when their 1986 debut album, License to Ill zoomed to the top of the charts, the first rap album to hit No. 1. The strength of the hit singles "No Sleep 'til Brooklyn" and "Fight For Your Right to Party" (and plenty of exposure on MTV) made them superstars of pop and hip-hop. Their second album, Paul's Boutique suffered from underexposure, but was hailed as a critical success and eventually went platinum. The Beastie Boys proved they were more than a flash in the pan with the continued success of their albums Check Your Head (1992), Ill Communication (1994, featuring the hit song "Sabotage") and Hello Nasty (1998, winner of two Grammys). The Beastie Boys are: Mike D. (Michael Diamond, b. 20 November 1965, Brooklyn, New York), MCA (Adam Yauch, b. 5 August 1964, Brooklyn, New York) and Kid AdRock (Adam Horovitz, b. 31 October 1966, South Orange, New Jersey).

Before they hit it big, in 1985 the Beastie Boys' went on tour as the opening act for Madonna and for rappers Run-DMC... The Beastie Boys have been active in raising awareness and money for the political situation in Tibet... Kid Adrock was briefly married to actress Ione Skye (1991-93).

more: here

Rage against the machine

Rage against the machine biography

Rage Against the Machine earned acclaim from disenfranchised fans (and not insignificant derision from critics) for their bombastic, fiercely polemical music, which brewed sloganeering leftist rants against corporate America, cultural imperialism, and government oppression into a Molotov cocktail of punk, hip-hop, and thrash. Rage formed in Los Angeles in the early '90s out of the wreckage of a number of local groups: vocalist Zack de la Rocha (the son of Chicano political artist Beto) emerged from the bands Headstance, Farside, and Inside Out; guitarist Tom Morello (the nephew of Jomo Kenyatta, the first Kenyan president) originated in Lock Up; and drummer Brad Wilk played with future Pearl Jam frontman Eddie Vedder. Rounded out by bassist Tim Bob (aka Tim C., born Tim Commerford), a childhood friend of de la Rocha's, Rage debuted in 1992 with a self-released, self-titled 12-song cassette featuring the song "Bullet in the Head," which became a hit when reissued as a single later in the year.

The tape won the band a deal with Epic, and their leap to the majors did not go unnoticed by detractors, who questioned the revolutionary integrity of Rage Against the Machine's decision to align itself with the label's parent company, media behemoth Sony. Undeterred, the quartet emerged in late 1992 with their eponymous official debut, which scored the hits "Killing in the Name" and "Bombtrack." After touring with Lollapalooza and declaring their support of groups like FAIR (Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting), Rock for Choice, and Refuse & Resist, Rage spent a reportedly tumultuous four years working on their follow-up; despite rumors of a breakup, they returned in 1996 with Evil Empire, which entered the U.S. album charts at number one and scored a hit single with "Bulls on Parade." During 1997, the group joined forces with hip-hop supergroup the Wu-Tang Clan for a summer tour and remained active in support of various leftist political causes, including a controversial 1999 benefit concert for death-row inmate Mumia Abu-Jamal. The Battle of Los Angeles followed later in 1999, also debuting at number one and going double platinum by the following summer. In early 2000, de la Rocha announced plans for a solo project, and the band performed an incendiary show outside the Democratic National Convention in August. The following month, bassist Commerford was arrested for disorderly conduct at MTV's Video Music Awards following his bizarre disruption of a Limp Bizkit acceptance speech, in which he climbed to the top of a 15-foot set piece and rocked back and forth.

Plans for a live album were announced shortly thereafter, but in October, de la Rocha abruptly announced his departure from the band, citing breakdowns in communication and group decision-making. Surprised but not angry, the remainder of Rage announced plans to continue with a new vocalist, while de la Rocha re-focused on his solo album, which was slated to include collaborations with acclaimed hip-hop artists including DJ Shadow and El-P of Company Flow. December 2000 saw the release of de la Rocha's final studio effort with the band, the Rick Rubin-produced Renegades; it featured nearly a dozen covers of hip-hop, rock, and punk artists like EPMD, Bruce Springsteen, Devo, the Rolling Stones, the MC5, and more. By 2001, Morello, Wilk, and Commerford had formed Audioslave with former Soundgarden frontman Chris Cornell, and the group released an eponymous album by the end of 2002. With a de la Rocha solo album still not announced, Epic finally released the long-promised concert album Live at the Grand Olympic Auditorium on CD and DVD in time for Christmas 2003.

Jaroslaw Kukowski - psychedelic painter

gallery: http://kukowski.pl/

Jaroslaw Kukowski biography

Jaroslaw Kukowski (Poland) - he was born in 1972. He has been painting since youth. His public debut was in the Gdansk "Stara Laznia" Gallery in 1994. In his early works it is possible to notice the attempt to analyze the world and life against psychological background. The artist's work is directed towards the in-depth study of human nature. His work is the world of surrealistic creatures, which disturb the spirit of sensitive observer. In his work we can notice the grotesque and mockery of imperfections of life, and sense the signals of danger and threat. His view on life sometimes seems to be very drastic and exaggerated. Death, conflagration, disaster are frequent elements of his artistic reality. The work presented refers to the process of creation but it can be noticed that during the painting process emotions and impressions go beyond the artist's initial vision and such painting could have a number of titles. Kukowski is a master of drawing, he works in a classical way, he paints by scumble. He does it very skillfully. There are symbolic elements in his work, which can trigger contradictory reactions of the audience.

Scorpions biography

The Scorpions biography

The Scorpions are a heavy metal rock band from Germany. They are best known for a single from the 1980s called "Rock You Like A Hurricane". This band has sold over 75 million albums worldwide.

Rudolf launched the band in 1965, but things really began to come together in 1969 when Rudolf's younger brother Michael, and vocalist Klaus Meine joined in. Their debut album Lonesome Crow was a success, and the band was able to open for the British Band UFO. When Michael Schenker left the band broke up. He eventually decided he wanted to work with Uli Roth and resurrected the Scorpions.

In 1974 the new lineup of Scorpions released Fly to the Rainbow and was way more of a success than Lonesome Crow. This is where the band really began to have an established sound.

In 1975 the Scorpion released "Virgin Killer" who's album cover featured a nude prepubescent girl covered with broken glass. The cover art was designed by Stefan Bohle who was a product manager for RCA Records. This cover brought the band lots of criticism and the album was pulled and replaced in several countries. Despite the controversy music critics and fans loved the music.

more here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scorpions_(band)

NIRVANA !

Nirvana biography

Nirvana was an American rock band that was formed by singer/guitarist Kurt Cobain and bassist Krist Novoselic in Aberdeen, Washington in 1987. Nirvana went through a succession of drummers, the longest-lasting being Dave Grohl, who joined the band in 1990.


With the lead single "Smells Like Teen Spirit" from the band's second album Nevermind (1991), Nirvana entered into the mainstream, bringing along with it a subgenre of alternative rock called grunge. Other Seattle grunge bands such as Alice in Chains, Pearl Jam, and Soundgarden and also the San Diego based band Stone Temple Pilots had also gained popularity, and as a result, alternative rock in general became a dominant genre on radio and music television in the United States during the early-to-mid-1990s. As Nirvana's frontman, Kurt Cobain found himself referred to in the media as the "spokesman of a generation," with Nirvana the "flagship band" of Generation X. Cobain was uncomfortable with the attention and placed his focus on the band's music, believing the band's message and artistic vision to have been misinterpreted by the public, challenging the band's audience with its third studio album In Utero (1993).


Nirvana's brief run ended with Cobain's death in April 1994, but the band's popularity continued in the years that followed. In 2002, "You Know You're Right," an unfinished demo from the band's final recording session, topped radio playlists around the world. Since their debut, the band has sold over twenty-five million albums in the US alone, and over fifty million worldwide.

more here if you wanna :) http://www.lyricsfreak.com/n/nirvana/biography.html

Metallica - Open mind for a different view!

One of my favourite band ever!



Metallica biography

Metallica dominated heavy metal music in the 1980s and 1990s, emerging as one of the top musical acts in history by the end of the century. Drummer Lars Ulrich (26 December 1963) and guitarist James Hetfield (3 August 1963) started the band in 1981. After a few line-up changes (including guitarist Dave Mustaine, who left in 1982 to form Megadeath), the band released Kill 'Em All in 1983 and toured the U.S. with Ulrich, Hetfield, guitarist Kirk Hammett (18 November 1962) and bass player Cliff Burton (10 February 1962). In 1986 the band released Master of Puppets, signalling their development from speed metal thrashers to serious songsmiths who could pound out the heavy riffs. That same year a bus accident claimed the life of Burton, and Jason Newsted (4 March 1963) joined the band. Their major-label release ...And Justice For All was a critical and popular success (they had a top 40 hit with "One"), and the band toured relentlessly. Their so-called "black" album in 1991 included the hit song "Enter Sandman," and their exposure on MTV helped make them superstars. In 1996 they released Load, followed the next year by Reload, both top-selling albums that solidified Metallica's presence in mainstream rock. In 2000 they were in the news regularly for their legal battle with the online file sharing service, Napster, and drummer Ulrich appeared before the United States Senate, explaining to a sympathetic Orrin Hatch that file sharing was, in fact, stealing. Eventually Metallica and Napster reached an agreement, but in 2001 Jason Newsted left the band and James Hetfield entered a substance abuse rehabilitation program, leaving the band's latest recording on hold.

DMT - Spirit Molecule, Witkacy - psychedelic painter, Shadrack Chameleon

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dimethyltryptamine




Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz:

Psychedelic painter gallery:
http://witkacy.org/slideshow/paintings/gal1.html
Witkacy biography:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanisław_Ignacy_Witkiewicz



Shadrack Chameleon biography:

Shadrack Chameleon was not so much a band as it was a collective of musicians from a couple popular late-'60s Iowa rock bands. Steve Fox and Randy Berka were close friends growing up in Fort Dodge, Iowa in the early '60s where they were inspired to pick up guitars after hearing the Beatles. Fox's family moved to Illinois in 1964 but returned three years later to Humboldt, near Fort Dodge. By this time, Berka had started a band with organist Jon Porter, drummer Tom Northup, and guitarist John Callahan, which evolved into Lazy River. With Artie Strutzenberg taking over drum chores from Northup and with the addition of Mark Flanagan on bass, Lazy River became a popular band, playing gigs throughout the region. Steve Fox started his own band, Crosstown Traffic, with mates Dan Dodgen (drums), John Brandsgard (guitar) and Doug Sandvig (bss). By the outset of the '70s, internal conflicts ran high in both bands, and Callahan, Strutzenberg, and Flanagan formed Goo, taking Brandsgard with them. Berka and Porter asked Fox to join them, and Shadrack was born. In the summer of 1972, the owners of IGL Records in Iowa had heard Shadrack play and were impressed enought to record a single with the band, but by 1973, Shadrack was all but over, with members going off to college and other pursuits. At the end of 1973, various personnel from Lazy Smoke, Crosstown Traffic, and Shadrack (with Steve Fox the constant) recorded Shadrack Chameleon on a reel-to-reel tape machine in a studio they had built from an old storage shed. Only 300 LPs were released by IGL under the name Shadrack Chameleon, the 'Chameleon' added as an afterthought. ~ Stanton Swihart, All Music Guide

Animals biography - House of the rising sun

Animals biography

It was pretty big news in music when, in 1983, IRS announced it had signed the original (and reformed) classic rock band The Animals.

The Animals were part of the U.K. blues scene of the early 60s and one of the most noteworthy bands of the British Invasion. Originally known as the Alan Price Combo, they formed in early 1962 in Newcastle-upon- Tyne, England, the group changed its name to The Animals when Burdon joined later in 1962. The group's inspiration and much of its early repertoire came from American blues and R&B. Eric Burdon's gruff voice made him a natural blues singer. And while other "blues-based" bands of the British Invasion went "pop" (most notably The Rolling Stones), The Animals "stayed the course" and continued playing the blues, yet managing to blend a folk feel to their music. In fact, their breakthrough hit, was a scorching blues rendition the traditional folk song "House of the Rising Sun." With the release of that song in mid-1964, The Animals became the first British group after the Beatles to chart a Number One single in America. Other hits followed like "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood" and " Don't Let Me Down."

A big influence that made The Animals' sound unique at the time was Alan Price's organ playing, which provided dramatic accents and a blues-jazz atmosphere. Other founding members were guitarist Hilton Valentine, bassist Chas Chandler and drummer John Steel. This line-up lasted only until 1966, when Alan Price departed due to the conflicts between his fear of flying and the touring demands their "hit status" required. After that other members trickled out and new ones trickled in. With the name modified to Eric Burdon & the Animals the band transitioned to the West Coast psychedelia scene, having been to the Monterey Pop Festival (and writing a hit song about it -- "Monterey"). As members left, they made their marks elsewhere in rock: Chandler was Jimi Hendrix' first manager; Price scored the soundtrack to O LUCKY MAN! and pursued a successful solo career; A later guitarist known as Andrew Somers became Andy Summers, joined The Police and now enjoys a career as a "new age" player.

After breaking up the Animals at the end of the decade, Burdon entered the Seventies as frontman with a black funk group from the streets of Los Angeles known as War. As Eric Burdon and War, they recorded the hit single "Spill the Wine" and two albums. After Burdon left, War continued successfully into the pre-rap funk era with such hits as "Lowrider"...

The Animals have subsequently reunited on two occasions, first in 1977 and again (for IRS, the reason they're on this website) in 1983, to record and tour. These reunions have never endured, for whatever reasons, but their performances have shown that The Animals could still deliver the ferocious attack of their 60s sound at any time!

Infected Mushroom bio

Infected Mushroom are Erez Eizen and Amit Duvdevani (nicknamed Duvdev).

Erez, born 1980, has a classical music education, studying to play the organ since the age of 4. He has been working with music and computers since the age of eleven. Erez was a member of the legendary Shidapu group and also works with DJ Jorg (SST) as Shiva Sidpao. He released three CDs and numerous tracks with these groups. He also releases under the name I.Zen.

Duvdev, born 1974, has a similar training, 9 years playing the piano. He then turned into new wave / punk rock, as a member of a local band in the Haifa area named Enzyme. He was playing keyboards and wrote most of the band's material. One of the bands they used to play with was a punk rock band from Naharia (a small town in the north of Israel, near the Lebanese border), named Infected Mushroom, later that name was inherited by Erez & Duvdev, of course. All the guys in the band joined the army and the band ceased to exist. Then one week before Duvdev joined the army he went to his first trance party ('91), and from then on it became trance and trance only. Five years Duvdev was just dancing (and he still does when he gets the chance), and in '96 after coming back from one year in India, he decided to try and make trance music by himself. First he was working with Roy (another Shidapu member), they made 4 tracks together that were never released. Duvdev defines these as "terrible nitzhonot". Then he heard some stuff Erez made on his own and liked it. They met and started working together, making more victorious stuff for a while, which they both resent strongly. Then they started to work with serious equipment and left the realm of Impulse Tracker. They invested some money into equipment and started working together with the concept of Infected Mushroom.

Infected Mushroom's fan base has been growing steadily in the US in the past two years aided by relentless world wide touring schedule. This effort led up to a climax as Infected Mushroom's latest album - " B.P.Empire "was signed up by B.N.E to a major label in the US - STREETBEAT (www.streetbeatrecords.com), distributed by RED DISTRIBUTION (www.redmusic.com/redstory.html) which is regarded as a company that creates its own path and sets new standards of excellence for the industry by remaining the dominant independent distributor while efficiently and profitably supplying music/entertainment for the public through strategic alliances with innovative labels and entertainment companies.

We, at BNE, feel that the Infected success could not have been achieved without your support. We would like to take this opportunity and thank all of you for your contribution and on going efforts in this "never ending story"!

First Psychedelic Band - VANILLA FUDGE

Finally i found this gig record. This band is firs which played psychedelick rock and roll. They are great! If you wanna read about them. It is good start to learning about psycho-rock.


VANILLA FUDGE biography

Stein and Bogert played in a local band called Rick Martin & The Showmen and were so impressed by the sound of The Rascals (swinging and floods of organ) that they decided to form their own band with Martell and Rick Martin's drummer, Joey Brennan. Originally calling themselves The Pigeons, they changed the name to Vanilla Fudge in 1966, after the replacement of Brennan by Appice. A recording of the Pigeons was released in Germany in 1973 under the title of 'While the World was Eating Vanilla Fudge'. The group was then "discovered" and managed by reputed Luchese crime-family member, Phillip Basile, who operated several famous L.I. clubs — the Action House, Speaks, Channel 80, Industry — three of which were the same club (on Austin Boulevard, in Island Park, New York) with different names.

They had a number of popular songs, their biggest being their hit cover of "You Keep Me Hangin' On", a slowed-down, hard rocking version of the song originally recorded by The Supremes. This version also featured Appice's energetic drumming. One follow-up to this hit, "Take Me For A Little While", had a quite different lyric message from the former.

The members of Vanilla Fudge were great admirers of The Beatles, and covered several of their songs including "Ticket to Ride", as well as "Eleanor Rigby". The self-titled debut album quotes "Strawberry Fields Forever" at the end, with the line "there's nothing to get hung about".

Their rendition of "Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)" was featured in the 2007 film Zodiac.

On March 14, 1970, Vanilla Fudge played a farewell concert at the Phil Basille's Action House. After that, Bogert & Appice departed to form another group, Cactus (In 1972, they left Cactus and formed Beck, Bogert & Appice with guitarist Jeff Beck). Stein, left on his own, tried to keep the group going with two new players, Sal D'Nofrio (bass) and Jimmy Galuzzi (drums) (both of whom had been members of a Poughkeepsie, New York group known as 'Dino & The Cavemen'). But when nothing came from this, Stein ended up forming a new group, Boomerang, instead with Galuzzi.

Following the band's breakup in 1970, the band has reunited several times. In 1982, they reunited in support of the Atco Records release, Best of Vanilla Fudge. This resulted in another album of fresh material in 1984 called Mystery. Martell was not included in this initial reunion and Ron Mancuso played guitar on Mystery instead, along with Jeff Beck, who guested under the moniker "J. Toad". Two reunion tours followed in 1987/1988. with Paul Hanson on guitar. Lanny Cordola was guitarist when the band took the stage on May 14, 1988 for the Atlantic Records' 40th Anniversary Celebration. After that, the individual members went their separate ways once again to pursue other projects.

In 1991 Appice revived the Vanilla Fudge name for a tour with former Ted Nugent's player Derek St. Holmes (guitar, vocals), Martin Gerschwitz (keyboards, vocals) and Tom Croucier (bass, vocals), which resulted in the album The Best Of Vanilla Fudge - Live.

Then, in 1999, three of the originals (Appice, Bogert & Martell) reunited with vocalist/organist Bill Pascali replacing Mark Stein to record a "greatest hits" album, Vanilla Fudge 2001/ The Return / Then And Now, with all new recordings of previous songs and three new songs. 2002 had bassists Pete Bremy and T.M. Stevens subbing on bass for an ill Bogert and 2003 saw a release of Vanilla Fudge's live album, The Real Deal - Vanilla Fudge Live, recorded on tour in 1987 with Paul Hanson on guitar. Martell overdubbed his guitar and vocals later. That same year (2003) the group toured with Teddy Rondinelli standing in on guitar for Martell.

In 2005, Vanilla Fudge reformed with all the original members for a tour with members of The Doors (now touring as Riders On The Storm) and Steppenwolf. Pascali returned in place of Stein for some 2005 and 2006 shows before leaving to join the New Rascals.


The band then went back into the studio to record Out Through the in Door, a Led Zeppelin cover album released in 2007 only in Europe. Led Zeppelin had opened for the band in 1968-1969. The band performed "You Keep Me Hangin' On" for the PBS fundraising program My Music: My Generation - The '60s for the March 2008 pledge drive.
Out Through the in Door was released in the U.S. in 2008.

In the spring of 2011, Vanilla Fudge embarked on what was announced as their farewell tour. The lineup for the tour was: Carmine Appice, Mark Stein, Vince Martell and Pete Bremy(bass).

Allman BROTHERS band

Allman BROTHERS band biography

Formed: 1969 in Macon, Georgia
Years Active: 1969 - 1976, 1978 - 1982, 1989 - to present
Group's Main Members: Duane Allman, Gregg Allman, Richard 'Dickie' Betts, Berry Oakley, Butch Trucks, Jai Johanny Johanson, Chuck Leavell, Lamar Williams, Warren Haynes, Allen Woody

The Allman Brothers Band have sure had their share of ups and downs throughout the years. The band was formed by guitarist Duane Allman after a short spell as a session man for several artist including Aretha Franklin and Wilson Pickett. Duane had first been in a few bands with his brother, vocalist and keyboardist Gregg Allman. They first formed a garage rock n roll band called the Escorts in 1966, they then became a blues band and were called the Allman Joys. After that they formed a soul group called Hour Glass in '67 and recorded and released two albums. Even though these albums got good reviews they didn't sell and the band broke up in '68. After his gig playing sessions, Duane formed the Allman Bros. in 1969 with fellow guitarist Richard 'Dickie' Betts, bassist Berry Oakley, and two drummers, Butch Trucks and Jai Johanny Johanson. But the band was in need of a lead singer and after several months Gregg agreed to join the rest. They then signed a record deal with Capricorn records.

Their first album, a blues, country rock album, The Allman Brothers Band, got great reviews but at first didn't sell so well. One song on the album, "Whipping Post" would later become one of their most loved live numbers for years to come. Around the time of the first album's release, the bands' sound was being defined on the road as they would play long jams and were an instant draw. Their next album released in 1970, Idlewild South, also got great reviews and sold better. A stronger album than the debut, it also contained a few more soon to be concert favorites, leading the way with the songs "Midnight Rider" and "In Memory of Elizabeth Reed". 1971's early summer release of the double album Live At The Fillmore East, would turn out to be considered one of rocks best ever live albums. It highlighted the great guitar interplay between Duane and Betts, also some great slide guitar by Duane and powerful vocals from his brother Gregg. Included on the album was an extended version of "In Memory of Elizabeth Reed" and two twenty minutes jams, the cover tune "You Don't Leave Me" and "Whipping Post" which timed out just short of 23 minutes.

Unfortunately with the band at its peak, just three months after Fillmore East was issued, tragedy struck on October 29 1971. Duane was badly injured in a motorcycle accident with a truck. He refused any treatment and returned to his home where he died a couple of hours later. The band was working on their next album when the accident occurred and finished it up as a five piece band with Betts taking over the rest of the lead guitar parts. The album was titled Eat A Peach, consisted of live and studio material including the live 33-minute "Mountain Jam" (based on Donovan's "There Is a Mountain"). On the album's cover was a drawing of an old peach truck with one mammoth peach, this in memory of Duane, who once stated that he would "eat a peach for peace" as an anti-war statement.

The Allman Brothers never replaced Duane's guitar, but did add a second pianist, Chuck Leavell to their lineup. Then one year and 12 days after Duane's accident, tragedy struck again as Oakley was also killed in a chillingly similar motorcycle accident, just a few blocks from where Duane had his. The band had just started work on their new album with the song "Ramblin Man" being Oakley's last contribution. They recruited bassist Lamar Williams to take his place. The resulting album, Brothers And Sisters, released August 1, 1973, was a bit more mellow and country sounding with Betts playing all the lead and slide guitar parts and singing more lead vocals on the album too. A good album but still not as strong as the other ones were, yet it still went to number one on the charts and "Ramblin Man" was a hit single reaching number two on the single's chart.

At this point Betts was the band's new leader.Drugs were also taking over the lives of most of the band's members with Gregg overdosing on two occasions. By '75 all of the band's members had done outside projects which was affecting what was left to record when they returned to the studio and recorded Win, Lose or Draw. The whole band wasn't even in the studio for most of the album's work with Gregg living in Hollywood with his new wife, Cher. His vocals were recorded over there, away from the rest of the band. The album was a major bust and got poor reviews. The Allmans broke up in 1976 following a notorious drug trial in which Gregg testified against a former road manager who had once saved his life after one of his overdoses. It was that or go to jail for Gregg and he squealed like a pig. The other band members quit the band in protest and vowed never to work with him again.

But time is great in healing wounds (so is a lot of money, too) and in 1978 a reconstituted band was formed with Allman, Betts Johanson and Trucks. Dan Toler was brought in as second guitarist. Leavell and Williams (who would later die of cancer in 1983) stuck to their guns and refused to join, and Johanson would be gone by '81. 1979's Enlightened Rogues was a commercial success for the group but the next two albums released weren't and the band broke up again in 1982.

A new incarnation of the band appeared in 1989 with a line-up of Allman, Betts, Warren Haynes on slide and lead guitar, Allen Woody on bass, Johnny Neel on keyboards, Trucks still on drums and Mark Quinones on percussion. The reunion turned out a credible release: Seven Turns which sold well and got great reviews. Neel left after that and their next album Shades Of Two Worlds was also well received. In 1994 they met up with their old producer Tom Dowd again to put out another decent album Where It All Begins. Today they are still a major draw and still put on great shows that sell out. Their old material still sells great some 30 years later and they are still one of the most respected rock acts of their era.