Newsbites: Jani’s death saved Jack

Remembered: Jani Lane

Former Great White singer Jack Russell believes he wouldn’t be alive today if it hadn’t been for the tragic death of Warrant frontman Jani Lane on August 11 last year. In an open letter Russell says: “Dear Jani, over the years we became friends, and we genuinely loved each other’s work and had a mutual respect and admiration. I was always worried about you, but, like myself, I thought we were invincible. Unfortunately I was wrong about both of us. If it was not for your passing, little brother, I would not be here. I just with it did not have to happen the way it did. I know it is beautiful where you are and I will see you again some day, my friend. Love until then.”

Rob Halford says the next Judas Priest album is “shaping up, and it’s just glorious.” He reports: “If I try to pinpoint it, there are elements of British Stell and elements of Painkiller in terms of the vibe. We’ve got a really solid record coming together slowly in a strong metal way that will make all of our fans very happy and content. At least I hope it does.” [Loudwire]

The members of Black Sabbath have much more class than the pop musicians keyboardist Adam Wakeman has worked with, he insists. The touring member of the band says: “They’re all just normal, nice guys, like the old-school rock royalty they are. When I first started doing it in 2003, Bill Ward was doing it, and we’d all go out for walks and stuff. I was surprised how little they spoke about music. I’ve played with quite a few pop artists in my time and very few of them come close to the kind of class.” [MTV Hive]

Billy Duffy believes The Cult have struck the correct balance between old and new material on their current tour. He says: “The last thing you want to do is play songs from the new album and people are like, ‘Oh dear, play a hit – this is killing me.’ That happens. I’ve been in the crowd when bands do that. So we try and mix it up. We think the new songs are really strong and exciting and I think we’ve made the album the fans wanted us to make. As a result it’s going to be good fun times playing the new songs. It invigorates the band.” [Glide Magazine]

Robert Plant‘s recording of 1930s track Satan, Your Kingdom Must Come Down is being used as the theme music for Frasier star Kelsey Grammer’s new TV show Boss following a discussion between the two friends. Grammer explains: “We had drinks one night in New York and I had just seen his concert with the Band of Joy. He said, ‘You know, Satan, Your Kingdom Must Come Down is a great song.’ I said, ‘Yeah, it is a great song.’ I fought for it – I think it’s remarkable as a piece to open the show. It leaves a mystery open.” The second series of Boss, telling the story of a city mayor with a severe brain illness, starts on US TV on Friday.

Counting Crows mainman Adam Duritz says his style of changing songs and lyrics during shows came about at the band’s first-ever tour date. He explains: “I said, ‘You know what? You can play anything you like. I’m just going to cut you guys off, and everyone just let the bottom drop out of the song.  I want to be the kind of band where you just never know what’s going to happen – and maybe we don’t.’ They were all like, ‘Okay.’ In the middle of Rain King I just dropped the bottom out of the song and wandered off, and we wandered back eventually, and it was cool. The audience was like, ‘What the fuck?’ but they were into it. As much as everybody comes wanting to hear exactly what they want to hear, they still get transported when you transport them.” [Consequence of Sound]

Producer Roy Thomas Baker is suing Sony for unpaid royalties of over £1m related to his work on 21 Journey songs. Baker, best known for Queens’ Bohemian Rhapsody, has also worked with Ozzy Osbourne, Alice Cooper, Foreigner, Cheap Trick and many others. In his court filing he says the record label under-reported the amounts he was due for the Journey tracks, and he may be owed more but they won’t let him see the paperwork. The document reads: “There was no way for plaintiff to know of this fraud by Sony because of its concealment.” The label admit underpaying but say it was a mistake. [Courthouse News]

Andreas Kisser claims Sepultura would record a Justin Bieber track if they were offered a million dollars to do it. He says: “We’re not scared of music, independently of the style or the quality. We did Bob Marley, U2, Jane’s Addiction – so much different stuff that it would be a great challenge for us, actually.” [Virtual Festivals]

Former Korn drummer David SIlvera has pleaded not guilty to a drink-driving charge in Orange Country, California. He was arrested on March 25 after rear-ending another vehicle, but he says police found no alcohol in his system, and instead he was suffering the after-effects of a sleeping pill he’d taken the previous night. Silvera says: “It was an honest mistake.” A pretrial will take place in September. [TMZ]

Slayer are the latest band to receive the Twinkle Twinkle Little Rock Star treatment – 12 of the thrash giants’ tracks have been transformed into lullabies including South of Heaven, Seasons in the Abyss, Raining Blood, Angel of Death and Hell Awaits. Listen to samples.