It looks like Best Buy will be the exclusive retailer for the new Guns N’ Roses’ album that took a decade or more in the making. The new album “Chinese Democracy” is due out before year’s end. The group has been said to have worked on “Democracy” since the 1990’s. Since then, every original member of the once-mighty group has left besides vocalist Axl Rose, and millions of dollars have been spent working on the new album. In June, nine mastered and finished tracks from the album were leaked online, prompting an FBI investigation into their source. This was a sign that “Chinese Democracy” was finally nearing completion and due to be released. In July, the band agreed to debut a new track “Shackler’s Revenge” in the video game “Rock Band 2,” which hit stores earlier this month.

Guns N’ Roses is now managed by Irving Azoff’s Front Line Management, and Azoff is a well-known proponent of issuing albums exclusively through retailers. He released the Eagles’ “Long Road Out of Eden” through Wal-Mart in 2007. The album was a runaway hit, having sold 3.1 million copies in the United States alone.

Krank Amplification is an American company that is based out of Arizona. They design and manufacture guitar amplifiers. They manufacture tube amps as well as a new hybrid amplifier. This company has been notable in several publications such as guitar magazines, including guitar world, guitar one, and total guitar. Krank has been in business since 2003. They are known for the Revolution and Krankenstein amplifiers. They have other models including the Chadwick and the Junior. These amps have also been used in games such as Guitar Hero by the players.

Bottom Line Krank is the way to go as far as quality amps!

The NEW Rev Jr. micro stack and Krankshaft overdrive pedal came out in April/May 2008. Here is some info:

The Rev Jr. Mini Stack is a professional studio quality rig featuring a 20W all tube dual channel head (2 5881’s, 3 12AX7’s) with boost switch and active tube-driven effects loop. One thing we should mention is the 1×12 solid poplar wood cabs (same construction as their big brothers, the Rev and Krankenstein 4×12 cabinets) will handle a 100W head for home studio use, serving multiple purposes. The full stack will be $899 MAP, $699 MAP for the half stack (*NOTE: the head will not be sold separately). The Rev Jr. delivers great tube tone backstage, in the studio, at intimate club gigs or at home where volume and space can be an issue.

Also coming is the Krankshaft overdrive, a very hot-rodded tube screamer-type pedal that sounds great as a front end lead boost or as a dirty sound on a clean channel. That will MAP at $129.

Both got rave reviews and were listed as some the top items seen by the various guitar magazines this past January at Winter NAMM 2007. For any further inquiries please e-mail them at sales@krankamps.com.

The new album “Black Ice” due out October 20th, will be the next hug success for AC/DC. This is something that the fans have been waiting for. With their concert tickets going for $100 a piece you know that the band is back! This Australian rock band that formed in 1973 consisting of brothers never expected this type of overwhelming success. AC/DC underwent several line-up changes before releasing their first album, High Voltage in 1975. Some of their successes include “Highway to Hell”, “Back in Black”,For those About To Rock, We Salute You” , “Razers Edge”, “BallBreaker”, “Stiff Upper Lip”, and now in 2008 “Black Ice”. There has been some tough times for the band along the way and has not been an easy road. February 1980, after a night of heavy alcohol consumption. The group briefly considered disbanding, but soon ex-Geordie singer Brian Johnson was selected as Scott’s replacement. Later that year, the band released their best selling album, Back in Black.

AC/DC have sold more than 200 million albums worldwide, including 69 million albums in the US. Back in Black has sold an estimated 42 million units worldwide and 22 million in the US alone, making it the fifth highest-selling album ever in the US. AC/DC ranked fourth on VH1 ’s list of the “100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock” and the seventh “Greatest Heavy Metal Band Of All Time” by MTV . In 2004, the band was ranked number 72 in the Rolling Stone list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.

• UPDATE on AC/DC

Just in time for their new album Black Ice to top the charts in over two dozen countries, AC/DC grace the cover of the new issue of Rolling Stone. Hard to believe that 34 years later after releasing “Back In Black”, they would once again grace the cover of Rolling Stone and top charts all over the world. Their 1980 album, Back in Black, has sold 22 million copies in the U.S. alone. Over the past two years, AC/DC are second only to the Beatles in U.S. catalog sales, and they’ve sold a combined 23 million albums and DVDs worldwide since 2003, when the band moved from its longtime label, Atlantic, to Sony Music. And AC/DC’s new Columbia album, Black Ice, their first studio release in eight years, is poised to be the bestselling rock album of 2008.

Multi-platinum rockers Nickelback announced Dark Horse as the title for their new album, set for release on November 18th on Roadrunner Records. Starting Monday, September 29th, the first single “Gotta Be Somebody” will be available for free download.

A true modern success story, Nickelback has sold upwards of 26 million records worldwide, with 2005’s All The Right Reasons accounting for 10 million of that total. In addition, the six singles from the album totaled 9.3 million downloads and 5.5 million ringtones. All proceeds of digital single and video sales for the song “If Everyone Cared” between February 1 and July 31, 2007 were donated to charity, equally distributed between Amnesty International and International Childrens’ Awareness Canada. Each of the five videos from All The Right Reasons has reached #1 on VH1’s playlist: “Photograph,” “Savin’ Me,” “Far Away,” “If Everyone Cared” and “Rockstar.” In 2006 Nickelback was awarded a World Music Award for “World’s Best Rock Group,” a Billboard Touring Award for “Breakthrough Artist,” an American Music Award for “Favorite Pop/Rock Album” and a People’s Choice Award for “Best Rock Group.”

Nickelback plans to embark on a worldwide tour in 2009

“Gotta Be Somebody”, the first single off their new album “Dark Horse” is has already taken off. Nickelback has done it again by producing what is sure to be another winning song to the fans! The song is more main stream, but seems to fit with what the general public demands of music these days. The lyrics are cleverly matched along side consistently good guitar work. This album will no doubt be Nickelback’s next big hit! Nickelback is one of those bands, you either LOVE them or you HATE them. The choice is yours!

• Nickelback, “Dark Horse” UPDATE

Good NEWS! You can now pre-order their new cd on www.nickelback.com. The new cd hits stores 11/18, plus other features include a bonus track from their sound check recording.

One of the best local Arizona rock bands Razer has been around for several years.  Their first album “Falling In Line” was released on April 6th 2006, and had received nothing but positive reviews on iTunes from fans.    The band features Chris Powers performing lead vocals who does an amazing job with the lyrics his voice powerful and meshing well with the instruments, Chris Catero formerly from the band “Wardog” as the Bass Guitarist who shows as much enthusiasm playing his guitar as he does with his head banging on stage.  Jeromy Graves on electric who does an outstanding job playing alongside Paul Sullivan who also plays guitar.  What would any rock band be without its drummer?  Eric Gongiorno plays the drums and his timing and skill are outstanding to listen to as well as to witness live.

One of my favorite songs by Razer is one they just started playing live recently, and is going to be on their up and coming album.  What I Say is the name of the song, and this song never gets old to listen to.  It sounds just as good live as it does on the CD and I have seen Razer live three times now, besides the time they performed for Rock Along Production in our “Burning Up the Night” show.    In my opinion Razer doesn’t have a bad song on their first album and other quite notable songs include “Super Paun, Right Kind of Evil, Cut and Paste and Serpentine”.

I encourage everyone to check out Razer’s Music on iTunes, and you can hear samples of their tracks on the Razer Myspace page.

In the meantime stay tuned, Rock Along Productions has another show planned with Razer, details will be announced in the near future.

-Rock Along Productions