Fantastic lineup coming to Club Carnage @ Fibber MaGee’s this Friday. On April 5th. Psykosis will headline the Thrash Assault which also features Exzeltic, Edenfire and Atominated. It’s just €5 on the door and drinks promos all night. It all starts at 9 so get in there son!
Now that things have calmed down, Tickets There would like to further explore the Arthur’s Day controversy the erupted within certain circles of the Irish music scene last month when Walls / Stunning front man, Steve Wall, attacked the day for promoting English artists ahead of Irish talent, given that the spirit of day is a celebration of Ireland’s most famous export – Guinness.
Steve is quoted in the Irish Times as describing this year’s Arthur’s Day celebrations as a “cynical act in pulling the wool over Paddy’s eyes”. A great number of people have supported Steve’s comments while many others (including The Minutes & Thomas Walsh of Pugwash) don’t see what all the fuss is about. From a bog standard point of view, it should be simple, an Irish festival for Irish bands – but that’s just not the way it is unfortunately. This article is not directed at Steve Wall, but rather the points he raised that a lot of other people / musicians agree with.
Diageo PLC, owners of the Guinness Brand and many others, are a British company that decided to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the Guinness Brewing Company in 2009 with an international tribute to Arthur Guinness, the man who started it all. They landed in Ireland on September 24th and spearheaded a massive celebration using international music acts with a massive Proud to be Irish / Guinness drinker theme running through it. Great success, made a bit of dosh for Diageo– everyone happy. However, when it returned a year later people got the message that this was not a once off thing. Obviously the chance to generate a guaranteed annual increase in revenue was a little too lucrative for Diageo to just ignore. Fair enough, this is a recession after all and more revenue equals more money for the country and St. Jame’s Gate employees getting to stay in the job. All good, no?
So the money-making side isn’t what’s annoying Steve and supporters of his comments. It all comes down to the entertainment being used to promote this supposed Irish / Guinness festival. While Diageo promoted that fact that over 500 Irish bands were taking part in this year’s Arthur’s Day celebrations, none of those names were headline artists. Indeed, no Irish act of any sort was chosen to be a headliner at a festival that used Ireland and Irish-ness as its foundation and platform worldwide. Very unfortunate and a little disrespectful to a country long renowned for its powerful traditional music and its massive contribution to the world of internaltional music over the years….not to mention all the pints of the black stuff us good auld Irish have purchased over the years. While Arthur’s Day could have been a chance to allow home-grown talent like Le Galaxie, Jape, Ham Sandwich, Cast of Cheers, (Shudder) Fight Like Apes..etc, etc to shine on an international setting, on a day when the whole world wanted to embrace Ireland and it’s culture. A very fair point, but Tickets There can’t unanimously agree we’re afraid and it’s for one simple reason. Arthur’s Day is a celebration for a man who endorsed the idea of British rule over Ireland and proclaimed himself an Irish Unionist. Therefore, isn’t it more fitting we get British acts in to represent Arthur’s Day rather than Irish ones?
To be fair, that’s not our real reason. Unlike St. Patrick’s day (incidentally, another plastic paddy festival for a man who was 1, ENGLISH and 2, brought Christianity to Ireland – something a lot of people these days would rather hadn’t happened), Arthur’s Day is an event invented by and run by a company, not a country. Sure pubs chip in and do their part, but they aren’t answerable to Ireland or its people. It’s all for a drink and the man that invented it and it just so happens they came from Ireland. We are fortunate a company has taken a lead at drumming up some good cheer and extra business for our streets, pubs and restaurants during these bleak recession hunkered days, rather than do nothing at all like most of our national companies. None of the Irish bands mentioned in any of this are tearing up the international charts so why would they be booked as major headliners just because of where they’re from? That folks is bias, discrimination and wouldn’t be tolerated in any other form.
We must all be getting sick of Irish people attacking anything and everything in sight. Why don’t we all just attack Oxegen and Electric Picnic for not exclusively booking Irish talent as their key headliners? Or fine MCD and Aiken for not ensuring that 50% of their events are Irish based? If Irish bands want to make it in this life they’ll have to do what every other band has to do, appeal to people, sell albums and make it. They’re not being discriminated against, they’re not be cast away or anything else. This is not 1960’s London, we are no longer below the dogs. We are a respectable country with a proud musical heritage and should be able to make our way in the 21st century without Bono or hand-outs. If people higher up in the Irish entertainment world have a problem, why don’t they arrange their own festival to celebrate our music? If our bands are as big a draw as they say then certain people will make a fortune and the bands will get a larger platform.
The Irish need to stop blaming their problems on everyone else and take some responsibility for themselves. How can we ever hope to restore our pride and dignity if we keep running back to internationals, pulling on their trousers asking for more? Ireland needs to re-carve its own identity and make other countries look to us with awe and excitement, rather than berate, guilt and sulk our foot through the door.
Incidentally, Steve Wall is a man I have a lot of respect for. He’s one of the greatest song writers Ireland has ever produced and founder / driver of two bands Tickets There (and myself, Robert O’ Connor) greatly admire and enjoy. This is not an attack on him, but a criticism of any Irish band that sits around waiting for ill-gotten hand-outs. It’s tough out there but that is life as a musician (and everyone else for that matter). Stop sitting around waiting for others to open doors and do it yourselves with your music. If Ireland doesn’t suit, re-locate or get a new job. If things are made too easy, everyone will be in a band and the whole scene will water down even further. Steve fairs better than most and works exceptionally hard to keep his bands going, but it’s time Ireland stopped blaming all of its problems on the English and got up and did something about it for ourselves. Let’s just leave Arthur’s Day for what it is, celebrating the black stuff!
The kings of the night time world are back with screaming glory ‘n’ a vengeance! MONSTER is the twentieth studio album by iconic rockers KISS and it looks like 19 previous records, countless live shows and 39 years in the business haven’t slowed down the guys one bit. Monster is one of the biggest releases in the band’s history and it comes hot on the tails of their 2009 record, Sonic Boom (at that time, their first album in ten years) which saw the band achieve the highest US chart success of their entire career. Now the task falls on Monster to satisfy the mighty KISS army, continue their never ending – steamrolling success, fuel the ship on their second and sold out KISS KRUISE and most importantly of all, add a few more hits to the indestructible KISS KATALOGUE (yes, everything KISS related must, when possible, begin with a K).
Monster delivers everything the band promised and more. No ballads, no outside song writers and a welcome return to the band’s classic seventies sound. Harder guitars, re-introduction of groove and balls to the wall rock ‘n’ roll. Opening track ‘Hell Or Hallelujah’ screams back to the days of Love Gun and Rock N Roll Over. Shredding guitars left right and centre, a pounding riff and Paul ‘Starchild’ Stanley standing firm at the forefront delivering the best song KISS have written in years. Fortunately, it’s not alone. ‘Take Me Down Below’, ‘Last Chance’ and ‘Freak’ are all stand out tracks, vocally endorsed by Mr. Stanley, each one making a case to outshine the others.
As with Sonic Boom, Gene’s tracks take a few more listens to really get to grips with. The demon seems to be on a quest for a pounding, thunder some anthem that correctly represents his larger than life character with all the dark coattails and demonic tendencies attributed to such a legend– with the obligatory sing along catchiness we all want from KISS of course. After three days of listening, we can happily agree ‘Back To The Stoneage’, ‘The Devil Is Me’ and ‘Wall of Sound’ achieve everything you’d want from a classic Gene track. However his work with Paul on ‘Take Me Down Below’ stands out as one of the true Monster gems.
Not forgetting Tommy Thayer or Eric Singer, both deliver the goods across the board on Monster. Once again they both get a shot at the spotlight handling vocals on ‘Outta This World’ and ‘All For the Love of Rock ‘N’ Roll’ respectively. Two feel good, sing along KISS tracks that fill their space nicely (of course, this writer is tipping his hat to Outta This World more so).
Well, Monster is everything you’d thought it would be. A solid KISS album with its fair share of tunes you’d happily invite into future live sets. The whole band put in a great performance and it’s a true credit to them, especially after so many years in the business. 37 years ago they preached about rocking and rolling every day and every night and unlike most of their contemporaries, they’re still doing it to the letter. Rock on KISS!
The wait is over people! Today, KISS release their twentieth studio album ‘MONSTER’. It’s their first since 2009’s ‘Sonic Boom’ which saw them achieve their highest ever chart position in the US….just writing this, I believe Tickets There may have indicated in another article that Monster is the first album by the current line-up, of course it’s not – Sonic Boom was. Not like Tickets There wasn’t plastering Sonic Boom everywhere when it came out. Chalk that one up to Jack Daniels head.
Anyways, the album is out today – it’s going to be awesome and you may as well check out the cool trailer than band have released for it. Now, let’s wait for the 2013 European tour announcement! (will they bring Mötley Crüe over? Dare we dream??)
Looking at Blackie Lawless in his thirtieth year of fronting W.A.S.P., it would be slightly forgivable to think the band is officially washed up. A man in the latter half of his mid-fifties still wearing eye liner, very unflatteringly tight get ups and his pre-emo hair sprayed do have all the hallmarks of a band that can’t move on. ….wait a minute, the person who writes those words should be shot!!
W.A.S.P. returned to Ireland tonight in spectacular form, bringing their much anticipated 1982 – 2012 Thirty year celebration tour to Dublin’s Vicar Street! A two hour, three part show that promised to dazzle, delight and rock your socks off, delivered everything a fan could ask for (no, no ‘Animal’ so stop wondering now). With a good two hours of hits and fan favourites to hammer out, the band wasted little time taking the stage and rocketing straight into ‘On Your Knee’s which sprang the audience to life. ‘The Torture Never Stops’, ‘The Real Me’, ‘ L.O.V.E. Machine’ all follow in quick succession with Blackie seemingly determined to prove W.A.S.P. have more than enough material to allow themselves to put some of their best right up front. The iconic ‘Wild Child’blasts through the PA with raw energy and nerve shattering vocals, fuelling the most pit that’s quickly expanding in the centre of the crowd.
Finally taking time to say hello, Blackie indulges in the famous “Irish hospitality’, even going so far as to attempt an Irish accent, as the band rattle on with a melody of fan favourites ‘Hellion, I Don’t Need No Doctor’ and ‘Scream Until You Like It’, pauing briefly before ‘Sleeping (In the Fire)’ and ‘Forever Free’. ‘The Headless Children’ and the classic ‘I Wanna Be Somebody’ are performed in full as the main set closers, ending amost an hour of intense, sing along hard rock. With that, band are off and the crowd settles in for one of several short films W.A.S.P. are playing between sets and encores on this tour. When the band return, they celebrate the 20th anniversary of ‘The Crimson Idol’ album with a mini set comprised of material from that album. ‘The Idol’ and ‘Misconceptions of Me’ receive the warmest greeting before another short intermission / short film.
With the audience now completely satisfied by the bands biggest hits and hardcore favourites, WASP have the easy job of finishing us off with some classic closers. Blackie takes the stage again, bandsaw arm bands shinning bright and recounts a tale where iconic W.A.S.P. guitarist Chris Holmes made the mistake of leaving change from $100 on a bar in Ireland after buying a drink. It seems poor Chris was unaware of an auld Irish tradition of using money left of the bar to buy drinks for the house – his security men saved him from likely beating when he tried to get it back. Thanking us for that experience, they kick off the encore. ‘Murders In The New Morgue (Chainsaw Charlie – \,,/)’ explodes out (sadly without the pyros some venues are getting on this tour) and sends the crowd into a frenzy. The sombre ‘Heaven’s Hung In Black’ gets the powerful performance it deserves before W.A.S.P. finish us off with the anthematic ‘Blind In Texas’. Thanking the crowd, the band leave the stage after delivering one of the best Irish performances of their career. No Elvis, no blood, no pyros and no Animal – but W.A.S.P. don’t need them. After thirty years in the business, Blackie has amassed more than enough material and stage presence to do away with cheap gimmicks and deliver a quality show based on his music alone. Long live W.A.S.P. – see you soon!
Tickets There kept the head down majorly last year, but you didn’t think we’d miss one of the greatest touring line-ups in living history did you? The heroic conquering heroes Def Leppard, the filthiest grime and sleaze you can scrape off the streets of LA (Steel Panther :p) and the tided up and looking great Mötley Crüe all under the same roof! Not something to be missed no matter how far you have to travel.
Anyone that’s ever been to the MEN arena knows two things. First, it’s massive! Entering at the top level and walking down those oh so fun steps in the dark with thousands of people behind you is no fun whatsoever; but if fills you with plenty of adrenaline that can be doused with pints. Second, there’s no smoking….officially. What happens in the toilets, stays in the toilets. Aside from that, it’s easily one of the greatest venues in the U.K. with plenty of bars, merch stands, standing room and incredible sound. Walking in at the obnoxiously early time of 18:30, it’s strange to see the arena so full, but then again Steel Panther are already on stage and nobody wants to miss this.
Opening with ‘Supersonic Sex Machine’ from their new album, Balls Out, Steel Panther are on fire from the word go. While some felt their tongue in cheek take on metal wouldn’t wash with the English crowd (I cannot fathom where that idea came from) it seems Panther know what they’re doing no matter where they play. ‘Tomorrow Night’,’ Asian Hooker’ and ’Just Like Tiger Woods’ gain them a rapturous response from the crowd and an understood, open invite to return to the UK anytime they choose; but the night’s over yet. Their onstage banter, led by guitarist Satchel, and riff heavy tracks are the perfect entertainment to kick off a night of hair metal. The group close with the classic ballad ‘Community Property’, ‘17 Girls In A Row’ and the almighty giant, ‘Death to All but Metal’ and it’s oh so appropriate line, “Where is Def Leppard, Where is Motley Crue?”…well they’re backstage ”fucking groupies” according to singer Michael Starr. With the group earning “literally hundreds of pounds” to play this tour and their promotion over Reckless Love in the spandex genre, no doubt they’ll come back for more in 2012.
With the novelty side of the night over, it’s time for the first of our two headliners to lay the marker, throw the gauntlet and blow our heads off! Mötley Crüe explodes onstage with all the fire, energy and power they’re known for. ‘Wild Side’ (the greatest drinking song in their repertoire), ‘Saints of Los Angeles’ (proof they still know how to write bitchin’ tracks) and ‘Live Wire’ open the show. Nikki Sixx, Vince Neil, Tommy Lee and the great Mick Mars all shine on stage with Vince and Nikki covering every inch of the stage, Mick holding his own with the fans and on guitar; and of course, Tommy the legend overshadowing all of them from behind his kit. How does he do it? Well you gotta be blonde to find that out. In every possible way, everyone in attendance tonight knows they’re witnessing one of the most iconic bands in rock music at their best.
‘Shout At The Devil’ boosts a mass sing along from the crows with arms raised, explosions from the stage and pounding on the bass. ‘S.O.S.’ and the awesome ‘Primal Scream’ keep the adrenaline going before the band convene around a grand piano for a stripped back rendition of ‘Home Sweet Home’ before re-launching the action with ‘Looks That Kill’. Taking a break, the band retires back stage to let Tommy begin his drum solo and did we mention….. his drum was set up on a rollercoaster track? Oh Yeah! Tommy kicks off his solo as standard before the whole kit starts to roll to the left and right of the track before going into full 360° action without a single beat being missed. Slowing down, Tommy asks for volunteers from the audience to come up, eventually catching one bewildered looking lady who gets strapped in and flown off as Tommy drums the beat from the Chilli Pepper’s ‘Love Roller-coaster’. And we thought Steel panther were meant to have the theatrics! With that, the band return for Mick Mars apocalyptic-solo before the bands returns for ‘Dr. Feelgood’.
As Crüe’s set comes to an end (still have another band! TT – you’re writing too much nonsense – Ed), Leppard singer, Joe Elliott, walks on stage to present Nikki with a birthday cake and rouse the crowd to sing to him. The set’s closed with ‘Mutherfucker of the Year’,’ Girls, Girls, Girls’ and ‘Smokin’ In The Boys Room’. With one encore of ‘Kickstart My Heart’, the boys are done and the stage is dismantled. While Vince’s voice has never been known for its dominating power in the arena, the sheer force of the band’s sound and incredible wealth of tunes makes them one of the must see bands on the road today. Anytime ye fancy an auld visit to Ireland lads, Tickets There will be waiting.
Now, time for the true Gods of the live arena. The band that sell sex, love and rockin’ out with every note! The one, the only (we’re fans – get over it); Def Leppard! While Panther have the comedy, Crüe have the edge; Leppard will always be the force that pulls it all together and adds so much more. They overcome every single obstacle in the book of ‘Shit things that happen to bands’ and still come out on top every time. They’ve lost members, limbs, fans, popularity and sales and yet here they are, 30+ years after their inception still headlining arenas around the world and breaking new ground with every step. No matter what you say about Def Leppard, they are a true model of how a band stays together, stays successful and comes out ‘winning’ every time.
Leppard kick of their set on a stage that suddenly looks twice as large with ‘Undefeated’ from their new live album, Mirrorball. The band looks every bit in shape and together as they ever have and they waste no time displaying those traits that help them outshine all others in their class. ‘Rocket’, ‘Action’, ‘Make Love Like A Man’ and ‘When Love and Hate Collide’ all lead the traditional route into the heart of their set with Joe Elliott’s voice literally decimating the sound system with its power. Despite the Crüe fans bickering about the true headliners tonight, no-one in the arena can deny that Elliott is knocking Vince Neil out of the park with every note. And it’s not like the rest of the band are taking a break either. ‘Gods of War’, a rare inclusion, sets the night on fire with its powerful riffs, courtesy of Phil and Viv. It’s pounding, yet starkly placed drums (aka – Mr. Rick ‘Thunder God’ Allen) and its incredible wall of backing vocals and heaving bas lines. Step up Mr. Sav. If this isn’t everything you want from a Leppard concert, I don’t know what is!
‘Two Steps Behind’, ‘Bringin’ on the Heartbreak’ and the mega ‘Switch 625’ really lay it home how good the band are sounding these days. It’s obvious the lads are delighted to be playing their first proper UK shows in four years (not including their 2009 and 2011 headlining shows at Download – ahem – Ed) and they’re basking in every minute of it. ‘Hysteria’ and ‘Animal’ follow before the pile drive the set home with the classics ‘Armageddon It’, ‘Photograph’ and ‘Pour Some Sugar On me’. The band scarified ‘Rock of Ages’ for Gods of War, but who’s complaining? Leppard return to the stage to round of an incredibly long but mind-blowing night with ‘Love Bites’ and the always classic, ‘Let’s Get Rocked’. Band happy, Lepp fans happy and Mötley Crüe begrudgingly tipping their hats – it’s a wrap. After eight shows in five years, TT doesn’t know when we’ll get to see the mighty Lepp again, but one’s things for sure; there will be a next time. ..
….MAD4IT!
**UPDATED – 31st January 2012 – TICKET INFO**
Tickets are priced €49.65 incl. booking fee and on sale this Friday, February 3rd at 10am from Ticketmaster outlets and online at www.ticketmaster.ie
Original Post Below…
Happy Mondays indeed! News has just reached Tickets There (cheers Bru) that the original Happy Monday’s line-up are playing a number of dates in May and yes, there’s an Dublin one!. May 15th. The MADFORIT-MunDAYS will hit Dublin’s Olympia theatre for a nice of thrills, pills and dare we say – bellyaches? Oh fact, this will be the Monday’s first Irish gig since 2007 when they also played the Olympia on their Uncle Dysfunktional (savage album) tour!
Expect to see Shaun, Paul, Bez, Rowetta and the gang have also been tipped to land support for the reformed (and far less fun) Stone Roses when they return to Manchester stages later this year. If this will go ahead or not is still to be confirmed. The full list of dates announced so far can be found below, we’ll follow up with price and sale date for Dublin as soon as we know it.
Oh, and did we mention they’re bringing Inspiral Carpets as support? You like that, don’y you 🙂
May 2012 – Happy Mondays May 2012 Tour Newcastle O2 Academy (3) Glasgow 02 Academy (4) Manchester Arena (5) Sheffield O2 Academy (6)] Bournemouth O2 Academy (9) London O2 Academy Brixton (10) London O2 Academy Brixton (11) Birmingham O2 Academy (12) Dublin Olympia (15) Leeds 02 Academy (17) Nottingham Rock City (18)
Is there anything better than glam metal? Def Leppard did it best (not open for debate), Guns N’ Roses made it dangerous and Bon Jovi tried to kill it; but 2011 sees a plethora of young bands revitalizing one of music’s most infamous genres. About bloody time!
In the thirty odd years since Leppard, Mötley Crüe, Poison, Guns N’ Roses and the likes took that old blues rock n roll, dumped a tonne of eye liner, Jack Daniels and explicit west coast sex into the mix; a lot has changed in the world. Geeks have taken over, bands ware scarves, converse, recycle like Germans and …God help us, Chris Martin and Thom Yorke are even considered rock stars. Don’t panic, there’s hope! Tonight, Finland’s extremely credible successor to Hanoi Rocks; Reckless Love are in Dublin to inject a little sleaze into our cold Irish blood.
Last year the band visited Ireland on their ‘Back To Paradise tour’ in support of their self-titled debut LP. Now they’re back with a new album, ‘Animal Attraction’ and a jump in venue; going from Crawdaddy to Whelan’s. A pint of the black stuff in hand, hair down; it’s time to rock n roll with openers The Dirty Youth who, if nothing else, manage to deliver a little ‘eazy on the eyes’ warm up. Not implying anything…. While we may not speak for everyone, this concert goer found it difficult to focus on their music right off due to the sight of their lovely lead singer Danni Monroe in short shorts. Yes, Tickets There likes short shorts. So, all’s well and they don’t sound bad either.
Taking the stage shortly after, tonight’s’ headliners easily manage to jump that all important step from opening act to main attraction. Pepe (guitars), Hessu (drums, crowd control) and Jalle (bass) take positions and kick into the group’s latest single, ‘Animal Attraction’. As the slow drums and feedback guitar fill the PA, lead singer Olli Herman slides on stage, teasing the impressive array of young Irish fillies lined up at the front. Despite some worries about Animal Attraction lacking in the balls department, Reckless prove the new material has just as much umpf as their standards, Animal Attraction and following track ‘Speedin’ deliver everything that’s good about the glam scene. Guitars, solos, speed and born-to-be-rock stars. ‘Badass‘ from their début comes next giving all fans the first major rallying point of the night. As calls come from the crowd for him to remove his shirt and a degree of tension from the ladies as he ponders it, Olli endorses the sound man and a few audience members to remove theirs first and start “to have romances together”. Ice firmly broken, let’s go.
The set is mostly taken from their new record with eight tracks getting an airing tonight. Born To Break Your Heart, Animal Attraction’s first single, ‘Hot’ and ‘Fantasy’ all get the band’s special live treatment and deliver a few instantly enjoyable riffs and chorus’s. The band blaze through tonight’s show with professional ease and arena style antics. Every pose, pout and kick are reminiscent of the greats; but revitalized with youthful energy from a band with a long career ahead of them.
Romance bring things back their full fighting harmonic best before the set gets rounded off with new tracks ‘Dirty Dreams’, ‘On The Radio’ and ‘Dance’. With the band fully in form and winning the crowd over with their new material, the return to their debut for the final pounding. ‘Wild Touch’ explodes from the PA like a panther, sounding stronger and more aggressive than any recording could capture. Returning for the encore, the band demand one final roar from the crowd before bringing it home with the cock rock-tastic ‘Beautiful Bomb’ and the anthematic ‘One More Time’. That’s twice Dublin Metal Events have had them over and hopefully they’re the first visits of many. Reckless Love are not a band you want to miss next time.
This page is the accumulation of several years’ research, hard work, frantic panic, image comparing, fact re-re-re checking and the near collapse of my better half’s admirable patience. If you’re in the market for a copy of this record or you’re close to someone who’s searched for it, you’ll understand.
So you know who Guns N’ Roses are and more than likely you know what Live Like A Suicide is. If you didn’t you most likely wouldn’t have found this page. Live ?!*@ Like A Suicide is a mini-album released by Guns N’ Roses back in 1986. It’s a fake live record and was recorded in a studio with audience sounds added after. It contains four tracks, Reckless Life, Nice Boys (Rose Tattoo song), Move To The City and Mama Kin (Aerosmith cover). It was released by the band on their own Uzi Suicide label under the guidance of Geffen Records who were worried about the band’s instability and they wanted to test the market before pushing a full studio album. Reportedly 25,000 copies were pressed but only 10,000 copies were sold. It never appeared on CD so legit formats only include 12” vinyl and the rarer cassette; but we’ll talk about that later on. Originally I was going to write a handy point by point piece, but feck it. If you’re in the market and have the cash, then take the time to properly research your future purchase and avoid getting ripped off.
(DISCLAIMER: The information contained within this guide is based on my own research and may not be 100% factual. Tickets There does not guarantee everything in this guide is true and the only reason we’re saying that is because psycho-bitches sue everything in sight.
Due to the rarity of this release and also the fact it’s an official album release in the bands discography, Live Like A Suicide is a must have for all Guns N’ Roses collectors. Normally this would be handy enough, fork out a couple of hundred dollars and bob’s your uncle, but like everything else GN’R related, there’s a complication. If you like seedy Russian tricksters, deceit, worry, exploitation and more worry; then read on.
The Myth
Live ?!*@ Like A Suicide is not a highly difficult record to find, despite some collectors insistence that it is. At almost every minute of everyday a copy is being sold on Ebay. As for the records high price tag, this is entirely dependent on how much a fan is willing to pay. Factory sealed, undamaged copies have been valued by long time reference guide Ladydairhean @ $300. However it’s rare you’ll find a factory sealed copy for less than $400, especially on Ebay, Eil.com, Discogs..etc Again, the value will only go up and if you have the cash, Tickets There says ‘go for it!’. Unless of course it’s a fake which brings is to the real point of this page.
I started looking for an original printing of this EP about three years ago. Like everyone else who does a little research, I was introduced to ‘the myth’ which scares 100% of all LLAS buyers away from immediately parting with cash for a copy. The myth goes as follows; in the early nineties, some chap in Russia bought a vinyl cutting press and reproduced several hundred / thousand copies of Live Like A Suicide in an attempt to cash in on Guns ‘Use Your Illusion’ success. Whether or not this is still going on is unknown. If it ever happened like that at all is also unknown. One thing that is guaranteed, not every copy of Live Like A Suicide sold is an original and there are some very obvious, some very difficult and some un-guaranteed methods of checking if the copy you’re buying is an original or not.
‘LIES’
LIES is the second album release by Guns N’ Roses. It came out in 1988 and as well as featuring the classic Patience, the notorious One In A Million and the savage Used To Love Her, it also includes the four Live Like A Suicide tracks. Technically the album is an E.P., but what can you do. The front cover was a take on all the bad press the band were generating with their off stage antics, the back cover was a re-print of the original Live Like A Suicide art work and that’s were the trouble begins.
People looking to buy LLAS will generally run into the LIES problem first. This is when a seller posts an image of the back cover of LIES and advertise it as LLAS. Most sellers will generally slip a note in somewhere saying it’s actually LIES you’re buying, but some miserable bastards won’t. Fortunately you’ve found this guide and we can help.
LIES Front & Back Covers: Spotting a copy of LIES is very simple. First of all, there’s a bar code in the top right hand corner and some writing and logos at the bottom. These do not appear on the actual Live Like A Suicide. The more adventurous tricksters will try to hide these using paint or photoshop so always ensure you ask the seller for several clear images and close-ups taken in daylight if you have doubts. As for back cover images, these are generally taken from the back of the LIES inner sleeve as this was also re-produced from the original LLAS artwork.
There are two main give-aways to look out for. First, the original LLAS does not have G SIDE 1986 printed after the Live ?!*@ Like A Suicide name. Again this can be edited out with paint and photo-shop so look for the second main give-away, the shading. While some sites will tell you there is no white text on the original LLAS, there is (the song titles appear in white); but not as much as there is on LIES. Checking the shading around the LLAS logo (especially the words LIVE & LIKE A) On Lies the shading will be white, on the original it’ll be a purple colour. Also check the overall quality of the record as the back cover of Live Like A Suicide is glossy and hard, the LIES inner sleeve is darker, plainer and paper. Here’s an image of the covers side by side for reference. (Live ?!*@ Like A Suicide is on the right)
FINDING FAKES
When it comes to spotting a fake, things get a little more difficult, especially using pictures. Time of day / artificial lighting and flash photography all change the particulars of the art work which some use as the basis for spotting a fake. Ladydairhean puts a lot of emphasis on colour in her guide but a lot of her points are not correct as far as I’ve been able to tell. The examples she uses are based on pictures she’s found and used to write the article from rather than using a genuine copy of the record. Unfortunately, colour is still one of the key factors in judging your copie’s authenticity. Fake copies generally have a darker front and back cover. The real Live Like A Suicide has a fairly dark front cover, but the back has a strong red tint that’s visible in the light. Since it’s hard to get a side by side image of the front cover, you’re best off asking for a photo of the back cover from a slanted birds eye view to verify the red tint.
As for the colour of the labels, the red side is a dark toned red, not blood red or bright. In certain lights the label can also appear slightly orange, pink and bright red –that makes things nice and easy don’t it? Here’s a few images of the official release’s label in different lights (All images taken of the same copy in different lights)
It’s reported that the Live Like A Suicide vinyl’s matrix engravings were also reproduced on the fake copies (I know, bastards!!!). So checking these is necessary, but again it’ doesn’t guarantee authenticity. The LLAS matrix numbers are,
There is good news though, one crucial stamp is reported to not have been included on most of the bootleg copies!! Engraved along the same lines as the matrix numbers you should see the world ‘STERLING’ machine stamped on both sides of the record. One final thing, there’s also a raised ‘A’ within the inner circle on both sides of the label, but like the STERLING stamp is sometimes impossible to photograph and won’t appear in 90% of the images you see of this release.
Again, some of the fakes are reported to have this stamp included, however it doesn’t appear as prominently as it does on the genuine copies. Considering the difficulty in photographing the stamp on the genuine copies, this will be difficult to assess on-line and would best to check in person. We are working with one of the forum users on HTGTH to get a photograph of the fake ‘STERLING’ stamp for comparison.
A special thanks to Rubber Soul Records in Stoke-On-Trent, England (yes, the home of Slash and Lemmy!) for allowing us to use this image. I may have gone overboard on the branding, but this is a very difficult picture to take on most camera’s and I’m sure no-one wants it stolen by some **** on Ebay. Thank you guys!
Vinyl Colour
One very obvious way to see a fake is the colour of the record itself. If you see anything other than black vinyl – stay away. There is no such thing as an official copy printed on red, yellow, see through or any other kind of vinyl other than black. Despite the fact that these pressing are fake, some collectors still view them as collectable and have been known to pay upwards of £70 for a copy. These are surprisingly rare these days but can be found from time to time on Ebay.
Misleading Photos
There is one problem that is difficult to find a resolution for, stolen pictures. Sellers can quite easily steal pictures from guides like this and others; or simply steal them from other on-line sellers. There’s little you can do to avoid this but if you’re wary of this, request specific images from the seller from various angels. If the item is legit, the images should be mailed and you’ll notice if the environment & lightening changes. If it does, be careful as it could mean the seller has hunted down the images from other sites. If all remains the same, then they most likely have the record to hand. Remember: If you’re paying £100+ £100+ €100 for an item, it is OK to ask for photos and receive them – do not deal with any seller that refuses to provide these.
Previous Sales (Ebay)
On Ebay you can check if a seller has sold copies of the EP before and this is another way of spotting fraudulent items. If you see a seller is selling the album regularly, do not buy. If you see a seller only selling privately, do not buy. If you see one or two occurrences, check other items for sale and see if 1, everything is high priced (rare for a private seller to only sell high priced items. Items like Live Like A Suicide should be gems in their collections and much more expensive than their other items) and 2, if there’s any trend to the music they’re selling. If they have rare Guns N’ Roses LP’s, then most likely they’re hard rock / metal fans and other items should sync with that. Shops won’t be good for this but private sellers will.
UPDATE: I just saw a LLAS cassette for sale on Ebay. Thing is, they’re using thumbnails from the copy I bought last week!!! 
The seller has 3 pieces of feedback (one of them negative) and has taken the pictures and description from the cassette I purchased a few days ago – FAKE!. The way I’ve gone about re-checking my items authenticity is simple, I went to the seller I purchased the cassette from, went into his feedback as a seller. Clicked through the recent ‘View Items’ from recent feedback and checked the background of the photos he’s been using. Fortunately, they’re consistent with the background from the LLAS cassette meaning he has the tape, the other seller doesn’t. This is another handy trick when buying any copy of LLAS but again, people don;t necessarily photograph their item in the same place.
CASSETTE
Live ?!*@ Like A Suicide was officially released on cassette in 1986. Like the LP, it came factory sealed and included the same four tracks on both A&B sides. The art work differed slightly from the 12” version due to the fact that the 12” graphics were printed on the front side of the sleeve while the credits were printed on the back against a dark grey background.
Tickets There has not been able to work out how many of these cassettes are in existence but the original overall figure of 10/25K copies printed of the EP seems to include both vinyl and cassette; however there were much fewer pressing of the cassette format than the vinyl one making it harder to find, but surprisingly enough, cheaper.
The cassette is valued at around £100 for a factory sealed copy, but chances are you’ll pick it up for a lot less than this. While researching it, I found copies going between $50-$90 (sorry for all the currency jumps, depends on the value I see). Because the value isn’t as high, the cassette has managed to avoid the counterfeit craze so copies sold are genuinely authentic…unless the seller is stealing images like the story above. Again, always request pictures, always ensure the pictures are clear and all sides of the cassette are re-taken with matching back grounds and no paint touch ups have been carried out.
Lots more pictures of the cassette can be found below in the gallery.
CD
Live ?!*@ Like A Suicide was never originally released on CD. Around 2003, it was released in CD format with Appetite For Destruction (original cover) as part of a Guns N’ Roses boxset. Bottom line, any CD of LLAS is not from the original 1986 pressing.
In Brief
Do not despair, you’ll find a copy. The majority of the versions I’ve seen (that aren’t LIES) are generally originals and the so called counterfeit scare does not seem to be as prevalent as most people assume. A lot of the scares are false and as long as you look out for the following on the 12”, you can’t go too wrong.
I hope this guide helps you find a genuine copy for your collection. I took a long time to gather this information and will provide updates if and when I have them. It’s a wonderful piece to own and every GN’R collector should have it, just a shame some bastards have made it so difficult. There are always people waiting to take advantage of you but if you put in the work and ‘have a little patience’, you’ll be fine. Good Luck!
Update: 15th Nov 2011.
As a safety check, I’ve posted a link to this article on Heretodaygonetohell.com ‘s message board. User ‘williambailey‘ has kindly sent on some detials about the Live ?!*@ Like A Suicide EP’s release that he got from former Guns N’ Roses manager, Alan Niven which you’ll find interesting. Thanks williambailey for sending this on!
Live Like A Suicide was only manufactured on vinyl and cassette, total number of both items was, to my best memory 25,000 units, which I sold to Important records, an indy distributor of the day. They were manufactured by Warner Bros on my request, with care to ensure there were no markings whatsoever to link the discs to Geffen or their manufacturer. [Of course, the fact that the band were already signed to a major was somehow overlooked as I got these out in the guise of an indy record. The $40,000 I got from Important funded the first foray into Europe, Hamburg, Dusseldorf and the first three Marquee shows – and the momentum was thus begun].
Legendary rockers KISS are set to unleash their new album ‘MONSTER’ next year. Originally pencilled in for a later 2011 / early 2012 release, Gene Simmons recently confirmed they’ve pushed it back to the spring. It’ll be the bands twelfth studio record and the follow up to 2009’s highly successful ‘Sonic Boom’, the bands highest charted record to date.
Like Sonic Boom, Monster will be completely written by the band and produced by their amazing lead singer, Paul Stanley. So far six song titles have been confirmed and to celebrate the album, KISS will also put out KISSOLOGY Volume IV around the same time Monster hits the shelves. Oh, and of course they will be embarking on a world wide MONSTER tour! Safe to say 2012 will be their year. Track’s confirmed so far are below and we advise you keep reading some other bits of news below.
Hell or Hallelujah
Born to Be a Sinner
Out of This World (Written by/to be sung by Tommy Thayer)
Are You Ready? (Written by Simmons)
Wall of Sound
Monster
That’s Not all though…
KISS KRUISE RETURNS: As well as an album, tour and DVD set; KISS are also set to embark on a few other tasty projects next year. 2012 will see the return of their KISS KRUISE, the first of which took place earlier this month. Taking place over five days and featuring several performances by the band themselves, the KISS KRUISE is Mecca for their fans and Tickets There does not intend on missing it this time. Stay tuned for updates later in 2012.
KISS TAKE LAS VEGAS: What’s the one thing Vegas is missing? A KISS themed casino, hotel and theme park, that’s what! Well fear not, January 2012 will see the opening of the KISS: By Monster Mini-Golf, Rock & Roll All Night Café, Hotter Than Hell Wedding Chapel and will incorporate the ‘largest KISS gift show in the world’. Ahhhh hell yes!! 18 indoor glow in the dark KISS themes golf holes, KISS themed event rooms, all day DJ’s a KISS gallery and much, much more. Next stop – KISS Konquers VEGAS!
Reviewer: Brian Mc Caul
Two years have passed since one of Britain’s biggest rock band of the last 30 years imploded in a flurry of flying plums and guitars. Oasis meant a lot of things to a lot of people, but most will admit the quality of albums after those first 2 dipped dramatically. Almost all those classic songs and B-sides were written by guitarist Noel Gallagher before Oasis had a record deal. Songs about youth, good times and escape that connected to the masses through huge choruses, loud guitars and legendary gigs. Liam immediately went on to form Beady Eye with the other members of Oasis while Noel stayed out of the limelight, having nothing more to say on Oasis. This summer Noel announced details of 2 solo albums to be released under his new moniker, “Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds”. In 2012 a ‘far out’ collaboration with Amorphous Androgynous will appear, but for now we have the debut album.
What Noel has delivered is 10 tracks of catchy, melodic pop rock. It’s not exactly a radical departure from Oasis. The noisy guitars are gone and Liam’s inimitable vocals too. But this is Noel’s most sing-along album since Morning Glory The addition of banjo, musical saw, female vocals and ‘wine glasses’ show signs of experimentation. Two tracks have actually been online in various formats for a few years. The wonderful “(I Wanna Live In A Dream In My) Record Machine”, with soaring strings, a gospel choir and a guitar solo all merging together. “Stop The Clocks” closes the album with delicate acoustic strumming, before twice breaking into guitars, feedback and noise. It works brilliantly.
The singles ‘The Death Of You And Me’ and ‘AKA…What A life’ have received mixed reactions. ‘The Death Of You And Me’ is uncomfortably similar to Oasis’ ‘The Importance Of Being Idle’, but when the brass section kicks in you have to smile. ‘AKA…What A life’ is the most adventurous song on the album, with a thumping house beat, keyboards, mellotron and bursts of guitar. Noel has released his first dance track and it works fantastically. While ‘If I Had A Gun’ and ‘Everybody’s On The Run’ are beautiful tracks. They feature a full blown orchestra and choir and it appears Noel is no longer afraid to write loved up lyrics. The chorus line of “Excuse me if I spoke to soon, my eyes have always followed you around the room” is simple but affecting.
Everyone is aware of Noels ‘magpie’ gift for stealing melodies and ideas from past legendary bands and now it’s the turn of The Kinks. The jaunty ‘Soldier Boys and Jesus Freaks’ and ‘Dream On’ bounce along aided by some lovely trumpet. This is a more polished gentle affair than Beady Eye’s debut, with much more melody. ‘The Chief’ rings in the second stage of his career with a great album. If he can bring some of the wit and cleverness he shows in his interviews to his classic song writing, there will be even better records to come. Currently outselling some X Factor robot 2-1, Noel has proven that music still needs him.
Innercity Pirates have been the band of choice for Tickets There recently. Still working from the bands MySpace Player (because we’re broke ass bloggers, too shy and lazy to ask for promotional material and even more lazy when it comes time to reply to mails offering stuff). One problem, there’s only four songs up. Curse you MySpace, there should be a four album minimum when a band is this good.
While you were wondering what side of the planet Tickets There fell off, we’ve been busy, busy repeating the same four songs over and over again because we apparently love it when bands mix The Foo Fighters, The Pixies, Silly fun and a little bit o-Punk and stick it all in one place. It works we tells ya.
Seen it All Before, Love’s Over, Locked in This Game and Bang Bang are all fantastic pieces of music. They’re not out competing for Stairway to Heaven’s title or anything but given the choice what we’d prefer to hear at this very moment, these four win hands down. There’s no messing, no nonsense and the talent is more than strong enough to turn these slightly silly compositions and turn them into very decent, guitar driven belters. The vocals can take some adjusting, it took us a while to figure out of lead singer Russell Toomey is pulling the piss or for real but they work so well after a few spins that they become the last thing you’d change. It’s over stretched and its kick ass.
It’s Friday, it’s International-Piss Up night and Tickets There feels (very strongly I might add) that this band right here (see name in articles title) are the ones that’ll make home drinking a lot more fun. Check out their MySpace now and while you’re there, check out their artwork, worth checking out on its own….check out. That’s four in one sentence, beat that!
'Ticket's There' - Irish and International Music Blog 
