Rogers Bayfest 2008

They also made simple performance videos that emphasized lead singer Jon Bon Jovi's photogenic good looks, and these clips helped propel 1986's Slippery When Wet and 1988's New Jersey into multi-platinum status around the world. Both records were criticized for being more pop than metal, as well as being targeted toward teenyboppers, yet the group managed to subtly change its image in the early '90s, moving away from metal and concentrating on straightforward arena rock and big ballads. The shift in style worked, and Bon Jovi were the only American pop-metal band of the '80s to retain a sizable audience in the '90s.

Jon Bongiovi spent most of his adolescence ditching school to play rock & roll, usually in local bands with his friend David Rashbaum. Bongiovi's cousin Tony owned the famous New York recording studio the Power Station, which was where Jon hung out. He was hired as a janitor, and soon he was recording demos at the Power Station with several famous musicians, including members of the E Street Band and Aldo Nova. One of these demos, "Runaway," became a hit on local New Jersey radio, and Bongiovi formed Bon Jovi to support the song, recruiting not only Rashbaum, but also guitarist Dave Sabo, bassist Alec John Such, and drummer Tico Torres. Soon, Bon Jovi was the subject of a major-label bidding war, and the group -- or, according to some reports, just Bongiovi -- signed to Polygram/Mercury in 1983. Upon signing, Jon changed his last name to Bon Jovi in order to de-emphasize his ethnic background, and Rashbaum adopted his middle name Bryan as his last name. Before the group entered the studio, Bon Jovi replaced Sabo with Richie Sambora.

Bon Jovi's eponymous debut album was released in 1984, and "Runaway" became a Top 40 hit. Following its success, Tony Bongiovi sued the band, claiming he developed their successful sound; the group settled out of court. The following year, 7800 Fahrenheit was released and went gold. Despite the band's respectable success, Bon Jovi weren't becoming the superstars they had hoped, and they changed their approach for their next album, Slippery When Wet. Hiring professional songwriter Desmond Child as a collaborator, the group wrote 30 songs and auditioned them for local New Jersey and New York teenagers, basing the album's running order on their opinions. After ditching the original cover of a busty woman in a wet T-shirt for the title traced in water on a garbage bag, Slippery When Wet was released in 1986. Supported by several appealing, straightforward videos that showcased the photogenic Jon, the album eventually sold nine million copies in the U.S. alone, helping usher in the era of pop-metal. Two songs, "You Give Love a Bad Name" and "Livin' on a Prayer," reached number one, while "Wanted Dead or Alive" reached the Top Ten, and Bon Jovi were established as superstars.

Bon Jovi replicated the Slippery When Wet formula for 1988's New Jersey, which shot to number one upon its release. New Jersey was only slightly less successful than its predecessor, selling five million copies and generating two number one singles, "Bad Medicine" and "I'll Be There for You," as well as the Top Ten hits "Born to Be My Baby," "Lay Your Hands on Me," and "Living in Sin." In 1989, the band supported Cher, who was then dating Sambora, on her Heart of Stone album, which was recorded while the group was in the midst of an 18-month international tour. Following the completion of the tour, the band went on hiatus. During their time off, Jon Bon Jovi wrote the soundtrack for Young Guns II, which was released in 1990 as the Blaze of Glory album. The record produced two hit singles in the number one title track and the number 12 "Miracle," as well as earning Grammy and Oscar nominations.

The following year, Bon Jovi reunited to record their fifth album, Keep the Faith, which was released in the fall of 1992. While the album didn't match the blockbuster status of its predecessors, largely because musical tastes had shifted in the four years between New Jersey and Keep the Faith, it was nevertheless a big hit, and its more straightforward, anthemic sound produced the hit single "Bed of Roses." A hits collection, Cross Road, followed in 1994, and in the fall of 1995, they released These Days, which proved to be a bigger success in Europe than America. After appearing in the 1996 film Moonlight and Valentino, Jon Bon Jovi released his first official solo album in the summer of 1997.

Three years later, Bon Jovi regrouped and released Crush. "It's My Life" and "Thank You for Loving Me" were a chart hits, and Bon Jovi's star power soared beyond their wildest dreams. Crush eventually went double platinum in the U.S. and sold eight million copies worldwide, but Bon Jovi stayed focus. Within a year they returned with an eighth studio effort, Bounce, which appeared in fall 2002. Tours across the globe as well as dates with the Goo Goo Dolls fared well. In 2003 Bon Jovi re-recorded many of their most well-known songs for the release This Left Feels Right and followed it in 2004 with a DVD companion of the same title. The ambitious 100,000,000 Bon Jovi Fans Can't Be Wrong four-CD/one-DVD box set of rarities arrived later that November, followed by the all-new Have a Nice Day and a greatest-hits anthology called Cross Road in 2005. The band spent the following year in the studio, putting the finishing touches on a collection of pop-infused heartland country anthems. The resulting Lost Highway, which featured duets with LeAnn Rimes and Big & Rich, arrived in the summer of 2007 and grabbed the band a healthy, new-country music fan base in the process. Lost Highway's cross-genre formula proved to be quite potent indeed, securing the band its third number one album in the U.S., as well as making it to number one in Japan, Australia, Europe, and Canada. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide

That is a major event for a band that has sold more than 50 million albums, 25 million in the U.S., to date including '83's four-million-selling Shout at the Devil, followed by five consecutive Top 10 records in '85's Theatre of Pain (#6), '87's platinum Girls, Girls, Girls (#2), '89's six-million-selling and chart-topping Dr. Feelgood (#1), '94's Mötley Crüe (#7) and 1997's Generation Swine (#4).

Having survived three decades of decadence and nearly every possible obstacle, including several brought on by themselves, Mötley Crüe now find themselves in a once inconceivable position - that of rock royalty.

The band's new Eleven Seven Music album is described by chief songwriter Sixx as "loosely based on The Dirt," the band's 2001 autobiography, a New York Times best-seller that is currently being developed as a major motion picture - a tale of dirty needles, damaged minds, music industry battles and a whole lotta sex.

"We needed to make new music," says Sixx of Saints of Los Angeles. "We're not a nostalgia act. It seemed to make sense to me to get the bullsh*t out of the way and just make music. We've created our own sound and it was time to do it again."

Inspired by his experiences writing his own current N.Y. Times best-seller, the critically acclaimed The Heroin Diaries: A Year in the Life of a Shattered Rock Star, and recording the accompanying soundtrack with his band SIXX:A.M, Nikki turned to his collaborators on that project, James Michael and DJ Ashba, to help him, Mick, Tommy and Vince on the new album. The two co-wrote and co-produced the title track and first single, "Saints of Los Angeles," inspired, according to Sixx, by the 103 streets named after saints in Los Angeles. The single debuted on AOL Music's Spinner.com in April.

Coinciding with the release of Saints of Los Angeles, Mötley Crüe will embark on the first annual Crüe Fest, headlining their own version of the Next Great American Rock Festival. Dubbed "The Loudest Show on Earth" the inaugural tour features several acts poised to ascend to rock's royal throne currently occupied by the Crüe: Buckcherry, Papa Roach, Trapt and Nikki's own SIXX:A.M.. The 40-city tour gets underway July 1st in Florida.

The singers of all the participating Crüe Fest bands are featured doing background vocals in the "Saints of Los Angeles" video and on the single.

"Josh Todd from Buckcherry came up to me in the middle of shooting the video, with all these half-naked women and crazy-looking extras running around and said, 'This is going to be the summer of excess'," says Nikki. "'It's like we'll be leaving a trail of panties from coast to coast.'"

Regarding the new album's title, Nikki laughs, "It's supposed to be sarcastic, because obviously we're not saints, but we are from the streets of Los Angeles. As a lyricist, I've become a story-teller of reality. Much of life is looking back and remembering what happened to you. Let's share those memories, re-enact them, turn them into songs, plays, movies, books and a soundtrack to life."

That is just what Saints of Los Angeles does on songs like the opening "Down at the Whisky."

"When you hear that song, you're standing on the Sunset Strip somewhere between 1979 and 1981," says Nikki. "You can see it going down. You can smell it. We were there, so it's nice to be able to share that with people who weren't. What it was like back then."

Other new songs include "White Trash Circus," according to Nikki, "a Mick Mars-inspired sleazy strip club anthem that just drips with grime... I'm excited about that one."

Sixx describes "Facedown in the Dirt" as "straight-up sarcasm, mixed with anger... there's a lot of humor on the album because, let's face it, we're ridiculously funny."

That comes through loud and clear on "Chicks=Trouble." "That's like Groundhog's Day in Mötley Crüe land, where we just keep stepping in the same f###ing piles of sh*t. There are piles and we pick 'em."

That goes double for "This Ain't a Love Song (This is a F### Song)," a glorious return to the heyday of Shout at the Devil, Girls, Girls, Girls and Dr. Feelgood.

"It's snotty and we're not going to apologize for it," insists Nikki about the new album. "So let the critics line up with their poison pens and say what they will say, but in the end, they'll be backstage just like everybody else, wishing to get a glimpse of the decadence."

Recently named President of Eleven Seven Music, Sixx is raring to go with his new job, sharing his own experiences by guiding other musicians to achieve their goals, creatively and commercially:

Of course, the Crüe have been doing that for 27 years now, and the amazing thing is not that they lived to tell the tale (although that is, in a way, a kind of unholy miracle), it's that all of their wildly uncontrollable habits are clearly audible in their music, then and now. Just listen to these albums and, if you concentrate hard enough, you can hear the sound of the coke coming off the tables, the squeak of the bed springs, and the sheer sleazy grind of California heavy metal over the last two decades.

In 1981, bassist Nikki Sixx left his glam-rock band London and met up with drummer Tommy Lee. Both were strung-out adolescents in search of good times and a record deal (in that order) and had a knack for creating fists-in-the-air anthems that parlayed their ability to play loud. Responding to an add in L.A.'s Recycler for a "loud, rude and aggressive guitarist seeking a band" placed by Mick Mars (who reminded Sixx of Cousin Itt from The Addams Family) and singer Vince Neil (who Mars referred to, perhaps unwisely, as a "blonde bitch" at their first meeting), the band named themselves Mötley Crüe (the umlauts were intended to make them look tough. Of course, as Vince tells it, the idea came from a bottle of Löwenbräu) and recorded an album, Too Fast for Love, which was released in November 1981 on their own Leathür Records label. An insanely catchy, riff-driven record, Too Fast For Love turned rock fans' expectations upside-down and ultimately led to the formation of an entire glam-metal movement based in Los Angeles. Without Too Fast for Love, there would have been no Bon Jovi and no Guns n' Roses, but more than that, no Nirvana and maybe even no Green Day, either.

Picked up by Elektra, the Crüe released a string of classic albums in the '80s, beginning with Shout at the Devil (1983), controversial for its satanic reference, and Theatre Of Pain (1985), a slightly darker, more introverted record (perhaps stemming from Vince Neil's car crash with Hanoi Rocks drummer Razzle, who was killed in the incident). However, Girls, Girls, Girls (1987) was as rock and roll as anything they'd done before and, together with 1989's enormous Dr. Feelgood (which also marked the Crüe's wake-up call into rehab, after Sixx "died" from a heroin overdose and was revived with adrenaline, described in the classic "Kickstart My Heart"), catapulted the band into the mainstream.

By the '90s, Mötley Crüe was a full-blown stadium act, with all the freedom (big production budgets, a string of models and porn stars) and hindrances (censorship issues, management and intra-band strife) that this entails. Neil left the band in 1992 and it was Scream singer John Corabi that provided vocals for the 1994 album Mötley Crüe, which attempted to match up to the angst and power of newer metal bands. However, by 1997's Generation Swine, Vince was back and the Crüe's fortunes revived, leading them to issue Greatest Hits (1998), Live: Entertainment Or Death (1999) and a rarities collection, Supersonic and Demonic Relics (also 1999). All offered a unique perspective into the life and work of the Crüe, with remixes, live and demo recordings, and unissued tracks all part of the package. By 2000's New Tattoo, the band was working at full steam again, despite the departure of Tommy Lee, by then a tabloid star, thanks to his infamous home video high-jinx with his then-wife, Pamela Anderson.

Mötley Crüe is also one of the only bands in history to successfully acquire ownership of all their master recordings. In 2003, their wholly owned label, Motley Records, licensed their catalog to Universal Music and saw reissues of all of their albums as well as the first installment in their box set, Music To Crash Your Car To – Vol. 1, a four-CD set that is the first of three volumes chronicling the band's storied career. Volumes 2 and 3 came out in the spring and fall of 2004, respectively. The first-ever greatest hits DVD on the band was also released in 2003, entitled Mötley Crüe: Greatest Video Hits.

The band's 2005 reunion, their first concerts in six years, began in February with a 30-city U.S. tour presented by VH1 and VH1 Classic, dubbed Mötley Crüe: Red, White & Crüe Tour 2005...Better Live Than Dead, which kicked off with a press conference at the Hollywood Palladium, where the band performed. Eventually segueing to Latin America and Europe, they returned to North America that summer for another 43-city jaunt before wrapping up the year in Asia, Australia and New Zealand. VH1 produced a "behind the scenes" documentary which showed how the band's management company, Tenth Street Entertainment, managed to put the feuding group together. The four original members recorded three new songs for the two-CD anthology album, Red White & Crüe, which was distributed by Universal Music Group, going platinum. One of the three songs, "If I Die Tomorrow," was accompanied by a video culled from footage of the Hurricane Katrina disaster in New Orleans, helping raise funds for recovery, and became an Internet hit. A first-ever Mötley Crüe concert DVD with all four original members documenting the tour, Carnival of Sins, was also released, featuring Tommy Lee's notorious "tittycam" and the claymation footage from the animated film Disaster which opened the show. In 2006, they were honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and co-headlined with Aerosmith on the Route of All Evil tour.

How important is Mötley Crüe? Let's just say that they made rock and roll what it is today. Without the Crüe, stadium rock in the 1990s might have been all about Journey, Foreigner, Kansas and REO Speedwagon. And they're not about to let it happen in 2008, either.

"This is what we need," says Nikki about the band's new album Saints of Los Angeles and upcoming Crüe Fest. "Artists dictating what will happen musically. This is not a safe bet, a show for the weak of heart. This is f###in' rock and roll. This is what we need."

And Mötley Crüe is just the band to give it to us.

# # #

"WARPAINT is a declaration of our soulful independence," says Chris Robinson, the creative force behind this band with his brother Rich for the past 18 years. "The thing about the last three years has been, 'How do we continue to be independent? How do we begin to exercise control and freedom over our own trip?' That's what the title is all about."

"Every record was a great experience to get us to where we are today," says Rich Robinson. "This is what we love to do, and we want to do it the best we can. That's what's in this record and I think that shows."

Today, anyone checking in on "The Most Rock 'N Roll Rock 'N Roll Band In The World," as the U.K.'s Melody Maker once called them, will find THE BLACK CROWES more dedicated than ever to their craft which has resulted in a body of work with sales of 20 million albums worldwide. WARPAINT is the band's seventh studio recording and features 11 songs--all of which were written by CHRIS and RICH ROBINSON, except "God's Got It" by the Reverend Charlie Jackson. The disc, which features such standout songs as first single "Goodbye Daughters of the Revolution," "Oh Josephine," "Locust Street" and "Walk Believer Walk," hums with an apostolic zeal appropriate to a record that often delves into the things we place our faith in.

"If someone hears WARPAINT and they like rock n' roll music, it's going to mean something to them," says Chris. "People have wondered if it's a political record or if these are protest songs. I say no, my politics are the politics of beauty. And if that's something you're into then you have to understand the myriad of shades we have in something beautiful–from joy to pain to sorrow, from tenderness to ugliness. All those things are in there."

Says Rich: "You listen to Dylan, you listen to Bob Marley, you listen to anything, from blues to up until now, and really the things that last and mean something are beautiful songs about universal themes that mean something about the integrity of human beings, about love, about passion--all the great virtues we sort of lost through technology and TV and self-absorption."

THE BLACK CROWES are Chris (vocals), Rich (guitars), Steve Gorman (drums) and Sven Pipien (bass)--and WARPAINT introduces new members Adam MacDougall (keyboards) and guitarist Luther Dickinson, known for his work in the North Mississippi All-Stars and The Word, where he performs with Robert Randolph and John Medeski (of Medeski, Martin & Wood).

"Luther couldn't have complimented the material or what the band does any better," says Chris. "And what Adam has brought to the band is equally a gift to our music." Rich continues, "Luther fit in before he even plugged in to play. He comes from where we come from, he loves the music we love, and he brought so much new to our songs. Same thing goes for Adam. Bringing them in--their energy, playing and approach--just made it so seamless and great. The first week we were in the studio we recorded the majority of the album. We just knocked it out."

Paul Stacey, who's worked with Chris for years and played guitar with the band for a (by design) temporary period before Dickinson joined, produced the new album, which came to life at Allaire Studios at the foot of the Catskills in upstate New York. Not far from Woodstock, the live-in facility has been the birth place in recent years for My Morning Jacket's Z, Ray Lamontagne's Till The Sun Turns Black, Martha Wainwright's debut and many other resonant modern gems. WARPAINT easily joins this lineage, a work of instant depth and unrestrained gusto.

"It's a little more self-assured, and has a bit more swagger," enthuses Chris about where the new album fits into the band's body of work. "Not since Southern Harmony have we had such a crystal clear picture of where we are and where we're going." Rich picks it up, "Allaire is stunningly beautiful, so quiet and isolated...It brings a focus and inspiration to what you're doing. You do draw from the place where you are."

Right from their start in 1990 - with their six million-selling SHAKE YOUR MONEY MAKER, a pivotal work that kick started an authentic style of rock and roll in America - THE BLACK CROWES have been at odds with prevailing commercial trends. Their heady mix of '70s inflected rock, Funkadelic soul and heartfelt roots music jostled against the hair metal and high-gloss pop getting airplay at the start of that decade. While the sheer attitude and charm of "Hard To Handle" and "Twice As Hard" managed to make waves, the intervening years have seen the band steadily evolve an increasingly refined, singular sound that takes the best parts of hard rock, gospel, country, psychedelia and anything else it fancies into their hungry maw to create something several light years beyond the young men who recorded "She Talks To Angels."

"Even in our most commercially successful period," says Chris, "there was nothing like us on any format. By the time grunge happened, Southern Harmony (1992) and amorica (1994) didn't fit into any part of popular music. We looked different, we sounded different, and we set up our culture a little different," he adds. "Everybody who wanted to bag us because they thought they knew what we were missed out on a lot of good music, good concerts and a band that, even at our weirdest, had something to say."

THE BLACK CROWES not only had something to say; they became known as as one of rock's best live acts and have been called a "thoroughbred American rock 'n' freakin' roll band." Their panoramic live shows feature alternating set lists and signature incendiary musical explorations that are designed to take audiences on a journey.

The band took a break starting in late 2001 which turned out to be a four-year-hiatus. Then, on January 11, 2005, THE BLACK CROWES announced their highly anticipated and long-awaited return to the live concert stage with five special shows at New York's Hammerstein Ballroom (March 22-30, 2005). All five concerts - billed by brothers CHRIS and RICH ROBINSON as "ALL JOIN HANDS"--sold out instantly, marking the fastest New York sell-out that THE BLACK CROWES have experienced to date. To meet the absolutely overwhelming fan demand, two more shows were added at Hammerstein. And those sold out. Total tickets sold in New York City: 22,000. Clearly, THE BLACK CROWES were back.

Since then, the touring dynamos have explored their extensive catalog on main stages from Bonnaroo to the Voodoo Music Experience to the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, celebrating nearly two decades of "Cosmic Rock-n-Roll" in front of sold-out audiences everywhere. THE BLACK CROWES are one of the few acts to emerge in the early '90s still thriving today. And fewer still can claim to have shared the stage with Jimmy Page, AC/DC, Bob Dylan, Grateful Dead, Aerosmith, The Rolling Stones, Neil Young and The Who. Like these legends, THE BLACK CROWES create music that endures because it speaks to more than momentary concerns.

Now, with WARPAINT, THE BLACK CROWES are ready to tour the world, bringing their Freak N' Roll to the devoted fans that have embraced them. As always, THE BLACK CROWES continue to do things their own way.

By any measure, Rascal Flatts is in elite territory. They are the reigning 2006 CMA, ACM and CMT Vocal Group of the Year. In 2005 they added Billboard and R&R Artist of the Year trophies as well. The trio also picked up its first three Grammy nominations in 2005, and their "Bless The Broken Road" received the Grammy for Country Song of the Year. Rascal Flatts was the most played artist on country radio in 2005, spending ten weeks at #1 on the radio singles charts. Rascal Flatts also ended 2005 with the best selling country album of the year for Feels Like Today and so far in 2006 they have sold more albums than any music act- all genres- with the sales of Me And My Gang and Feels Like Today. Rascal Flatts has sold over 13 million albums.

In their mixing of traditional country sounds with hip-hop, rock, and the occasional Native American yell. Their employment, in their Muzik Mafia troupe, of a painter who works on a canvas during B&R shows, and of a former Foot Locker salesman, called Cowboy Troy, who's become the most prominent black country performer since Charley Pride - with one major difference. Troy raps. In Spanish, sometimes. As does Big Kenny, doing a little "hick-hop." And then there're their social messages, including "Love Everybody," flashing on big screens behind them, and emblazoned on the back of Big Kenny's guitar.