Too Cool For School

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Alice Cooper didn't have this in mind when he penned down School's Out.

The Local is reporting today that a student teacher in Germany has been given an ultimatum: Quit the band or quit school. Thomas Gurrath is the frontman of German Death Metallers DEBAUCHERY by night and a philosophy teacher at the Hegel Gymnasium, a high school in Stuttgart by day. Most of us are familiar with the romanticized story of School of Rock, however this time is no easy riff-chop. Gurrath's band was discovered after his principal found the band's website and promptly reported him to the school's superintendent.

Gurrath is the brains behind the band, in charged of writing, recording and producing the band's material in studio. Debauchery is signed to AFM Records in Germany, releasing Kill, Maim, Burn, their first album in 2003, and following up with new studio work every year there after. Their latest work titled Rockers & War was released on April 3rd of last year.

According to school officials, Gurrath's band and performances are a form of mental instability, adding that "It was very worrying to listen to his music and then realize he was teaching our children."

As is sadly common, some of the press coverage the case has received thus far is not the most positive, which certainly doesn't help the cause at all.

METALLERS OF THE WORLD, UNITE! show your support by adding Debauchery on Facebook, and while you're at it, why not e-mail the principal nicely asking the school to open their mind a little bit? After all, Hegel might even side with Gurrath on this one.

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• Gory Death Metal Teacher Too Gruesome For School (bravewords.com)
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MAD Dates!

A couple of days ago we talked about the upcoming BlackDiamondSkye tour featuring Alice in Chains, Mastodon and Deftones. Today the first batch of dates was announced and (yay for us!) they have included two Canadian dates thus far, Toronto and Vancouver.

The official site was offline as of yesterday, as was their Facebook and Twitter accounts, however today they have been activated and updated with dates and info. Alice's rep, David "Beno" Benveniste has been quoted saying "This is the poster kids will want to have on their walls, and ten years from now people will look back at this as a timeless and important tour," and he is not mistaken! Alice's comeback has been very well received by fans everywhere, and their new album is certainly a step forward.

More dates and info will be added on as it becomes official and available, so be sure to follow them on Facebook, Twitter or the tour's official site.

Sep. 16 - Chicago, IL - Charter One Pavilion at Northerly Island
Sep. 17 - Detroit, MI - DTE Energy Music Theatre
Sep. 18 - Toronto, ON - Molson Canadian Amphitheatre
Sep. 20 - Uncasville, CT - Mohegan Sun Arena
Sep. 22 - Boston, MA - Agannis Arena
Sep. 24 - New York, NY - Madison Square Garden
Sep. 28 - Atlanta, GA - Aaron’s Amphitheatre at Lakewood
Oct. 01 - St. Louis, MO - Scottrade Center
Oct. 04 - Denver, CO - Red Rocks Amphitheatre
Oct. 07 - Vancouver, BC - General Motors Place
Oct. 08 - Seattle, WA - Key Arena
Oct. 09 - Portland, OR - Rose Quarter - Memorial Coliseum
Oct. 16 - Las Vegas, NV - The Joint

The Gruesome Road

So we've been talking HERE and THERE about the Gruesome Twosome Tour featuring Alice and Rob. As previously mentioned, the guys laid waste to Winnipeg and Saskatoon and are in Edmonton tonight and Calgary tomorrow. Rob has posted a tour update with a handful of pics from the Saskatoon show and after.

And in case anyone ever wondered what it's like to drive through Western Canada at night... well, you've got Rob to thank for bringing you this:

Brutal, Carnage.

A press release went out yesterday announcing that Carnage headliners MegadetH and SLAYER will be performing Rust in Peace and Seasons in The Abyss in their entirety as part of their set. This is mega-excellent news for those of us who have managed to hang on to the tickets despite the date changes, for those who for one reason or another did not hang on to those tickets this isn't very good news at all, but be it as it may, I think is only fair of MegadetH and Slayer to decide to do this for their fans, especially after postponing a tour twice.

Recent reports indicate Tom is healing satisfactorily and the boys are getting back into again, and despite the suggestive comments about Dave's move to go ahead with Testament and Exodus as special guests during the American leg of the RIP tour Slayer doesn't seem to mind much.

Regardless if Testament or Exodus open, the tour promises to be guitar and drum onslaught.

MAD Tour In The Horizon

And we're not kidding! A teaser trailer released on 4:20 suggests an upcoming summer tour featuring none other than Mastodon, Alice in Chains and Deftones. Nothing has been officially released thus far, however info is scheduled to be public on Thursday night (April 29th 6pm EST) according to a countdown clock on the tour's website, HERE. For now we're going to have to be contempt with this:

The Final Frontier

As reported earlier this week, an announcement was scheduled to be made today at 15:00EST through Iron Maiden's official website, and after some "404's" at around 3:04 the press release finally loaded. Iron Maiden and (very) special guests Dream Theatre are touring North America between 9th June and 20th July of this year. This announcement follows a post made by Kevin Sherley on 12th February via his webdiary, stating that though work on the album is not done “the band portion is complete and in the can, so to speak”.

The tour—by the name of ‘The Final Frontier’—will kick off at the Superpages.com Centre in Dallas, TX and will cover the South Western U.S, some of the West Coast, as well as most of Canada. These dates are added to previously announced summer dates across Europe, such as the recently confirmed Sonisphere shows. For a complete (and updated) list of dates confirmed check the band’s website.

No announcement has been made regarding whether the tour is named after the album, scheduled to be released in September, or about the return of EdForce One to ferry the band for the duration of the tour that includes a stop in Toronto at The Molson Amphitheatre on 3rd July.

It is worth noting that Megadeth, Slayer and Testament are scheduled to play at the same venue only 26 days later.

Miami, Zombie!

No, it's not Dawn of The Dead 'Spring Break Ed', but the CSI:Miami episode airing Monday night will sure bring enough guts and weird to gore'round. Directed by Rob Zombie, Monday's episode of CSI:Miami is promising to be one to save in the PVR for a while.



On a recent '5-question' for The Star-Telegram of Ft.Worth Rob admitted to be "amazed at some of the things we did get away with" when asked about his trade gore style, and how it will influence the episode. For more regarding his upcoming CSI contribution check HERE and HERE

Also, don't forget about The Gruesome Twosome Tour

Watch Yerr Head!

Heads will roll this coming spring with the Gruesome Twosome Tour featuring none other than Alice Cooper and Rob Zombie. (WHAT!!!) That's right! Rob Zombie had everyone scratching their heads after he tweeted last night about an 'important announcement' due out today, and it already has people talking, even The Man picked up on it! (and also giving it a funny headline)



Shows announced thus far span all of Western Canada and stops in the Northwestern United States, dates are as follow:

Apr. 26 - Winnipeg, MB - MTS Centre
Apr. 27 - Saskatoon, SK - Credit Union
Apr. 28 - Edmonton, AB- Rexall Place
Apr. 29 - Calgary, AB - Corral
May 01 - Vancouver, BC - Pacific Coliseum
May 02 - Kennewick, WA - Toyota Center
May 04 - Casper, WY - Casper Events Center

With more dates in the works, tickets will go on sale TOMORROW. (!!)

And speaking of Alice Cooper, a New York Times report out today proves that Alice Cooper is one hell of a nice guy, after he has helped a German consumer electronic company boost their sales considerably following the release of three T.V adds featuring Alice as the pitch guy. This isn't the first time we see Alice trying to sell us stuff, if you live in North America you might recall the Staples add where Alice is shopping for school supplies (you can check the Staples add HERE if you need a refresher).

The thing about the NYT note that i thought rather uncalled for was the headline:

Aging Rocker Turns Pitchman in Germany

Gee... How unpolite.





Oh and more Alice! have a look HERE ...

Most Excellent Find!

Here's a movie worth watching, starring the late George Carling as Rufus...

Watch the movie HERE (Excellent!)