Mr. Big Reunion Tour

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The legendary band who kicks everybody's ass is back! Mr. Big is back! This is their first time reunion in 13 years. They planed to do a reunion tour and the place is Japan, this is not a suprise because they were very successful at Japan and got huge number of fanatic fans. The line up will features the original members, Eric Martin on vocal, Billy Sheehan on Bass, Pat Torpey on drum and Paul Gilbert on guitar.

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In his website, Paul Gilbert wrote :

" News from Japan...
I just got back home to Los Angeles after spending a couple very eventful weeks in Japan.

First I did a concert tour featuring the songs from the "United States" CD with Freddie Nelson. We recorded all four shows with a digital multi-track recorder, and as soon as the tour was finished, Freddie and I went right into a studio in Tokyo and mixed FOUR live CDs! These will be released as "official bootlegs" in Japan. Please check the WHD website for details.
You can also check CD JAPAN. Many thanks to Freddie Nelson, Mike Szuter, Jeff Bowders, and Emi Gilbert for killer performances every night!

Then Eric Martin, Billy Sheehan, and Pat Torpey arrived in Japan, and together, we officially announced our 2009 MR. BIG Reunion Tour! We spent a week doing interviews for magazines, radio, TV, and internet sites, and had a great time talking, playing music, remembering our good times from our early days, and getting excited about playing together again. For one TV show we set up our full stage gear (a big drum kit and stacks of amps), and blasted through "Daddy, Brother, Lover, Little Boy" complete with dueling cordless Makita drills. This will be broadcast on Japan's biggest television network (NHK) in March. Hopefully it will find it's way to YouTube quickly for all to see. Mostly, we all had a great time playing together and hanging out for the first time in 13 years!"

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Jason Becker T-Shirt

Get your Jason Becker T-shirt for just $15 plus shipping and handling (For a limited time only). Jason Becker needs your support. Click this link to order.

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Roope Latvala

Roope Latvala
Roope playing with Stone in 2008.
Background information
Birth name	Roope Latvala
Born	June 25, 1970 (1970-06-25) (age 39)
Origin	Helsinki, Finland
Genre(s)	Melodic death metal Thrash metal Heavy metal
Occupation(s)	Guitarist
Years active	1985 - Present

He is a current member of Children Of Bodom and Sinergy. He joined Children Of Bodom in 2003 when Alexander Kuoppala decided to quit the band. He was the first Finnish guitarist that had received high recognitions in Finland. At the very young age of 15 he founded Stone, the most notable band in Finnish metal scenes. In the beginning, Stone's music styles were more like traditional metal sound, but as time goes on, they slowly shifted to a faster and more aggressive sound, which was the key for them to receive mass recognition.The band had produced four studio albums, one live album and one compilation album. When the band was disbanded in 1993, Roople continued his music work as a solo artist. He also played with several local band like Dementia, Waltari and Latvala Bros. During the whole of his career, Roope had many side projects and played as a guest musician, the most notable of the being: Warmen (Side project by Children Of Bodom keyboardist, Janne Warmen), Nomicon, Pornonorsu, Jailbreakers, Gloomy Grim, Amon Amarth, and Soulgrind. At times he also composed movie soundtracks.
The band Children Of Bodom had a very difficult time in 2003, one of their member Alexander Kuoppala took a shocking action to quit the band in the middle of their tour. Alexi Laiho and other band members forced to find a new guitarist, they tried to recruit several guitarist to play with them as a session line up but failed. Roople decided to give a hand as a session member and immediately agreed and acepted by Alexi. Both of then already know each other from the side project, Synergy that they've joined and played together. Roope got a very limited amount of time to learn all 20 songs to be played alive for the band tour but in the end manage to play all of them successfully. Despite been anounced only as a session player, Roople remained with the band and became a permanent member.
Together with other members, he recorded "Trashed, Lost & Strungout EP, "Are You Dead Yet? LP" and the most recent is "Bloodrunk". For those who haven't listen to it yet, I strongly suggest you should do it.

Children Of Bodom just updated their website.The features are really great especially the changing pictures of the members at the left top of the site. You should check it out.

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Metal Forever!

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Joe Satriani

Joe Satriani
Background information
Also known as	Satch, Saint Joe
Born	July 15, 1956 (1956-07-15) (age 53) Westbury, New York, U.S.
Occupation(s)	Guitarist
Years active	1978 - present
	Sony, Epic Records
Associated acts	Mick Jagger, Deep Purple, Steve Vai, G3, Sammy Hagar

I'm sure most of the shredders out there are already know Joe Satriani. He is a well known great guitarist and songwriter. He also a teacher of other great guitarists, to mention some such as Steve Vai (ex-Frank Zappa, ex-David Lee Roth, Vai), Marty Friedman (ex-Cacophony,ex-Megadeath), Kirk Hammet (Metallica).
The best show he had ever produced is the G3 concert tour which featured a power trio consisting of three instrumental rock guitarists, as a founder of this tour, he is the only permanent line-up and featuring differing second and third members.The first G3 concert was held in 1996 where Satriani, Vai and Eric Johnson as the frist line-up. Other guitarists who have performed in G3 are Yngwie Malmsteen, Paul Gilbert of Racer X, Uli Jon Roth, John Petrucci of Dream Theater etc.
He is already 53 but still rocks! Someone said to me if you are getting older you should listen to songs that more spiritual and forget the rest. I want to make my stand here that the opinion is totally wrong and nonsense, you can't just give up your favorite genre. Music is our soul. Rock and metal forever!

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Buckethead

Great and virtuoso guitarist.His real name is Brian Patrick Carroll and born in 1969 (same age with Jason Becker). His music spans such diverse areas as progressive metal, thrash metal, funk, electronica, jazz, bluegrass, and avant-garde music. I really like his insane guitar sound, I think the sound is based on the diminish scales, correct me if I'm wrong.

He has been voted number 8 on a list in GuitarOne magazine of the "Top 20 Greatest Guitar Shredders of All Time" as well as been included in Guitar World's list of the "50 fastest guitarists of all time".

When performing, he will wear a white mask and a hat made from the KFC bucket. His face already been hidden for nearly 20 years under, lot of people are wondering how exactly his face looks like? But for me it actually doesn't matter, He also incorporates nunchaku, robot dancing, and toy trading into his stage performances. Also, he claimed that he has been raised by chicken! Not believe it? You better believe it, Ripley's believe it or not. Haha. This guy rocks dude.

Further reading:
Buckethead bibliography
Buckethead Official Website

Buckethead Chicken Theme


Young Buckethead

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Michael Romeo

Michael Romeo
Romeo 0n July 18, 2007
Background information
Birth name	Michael James Romeo
Born	March 6, 1968 (1968-03-06) (age 41) New York, NY U.S.
Genre(s)	Progressive metal
Occupation(s)	Musician
Years active	1994 - present
Associated acts	Symphony X Ayreon
Notable instrument(s)
Caparison Dellinger II - Michael Romeo Custom ESP M-II Deluxe

This incredible heavy metal American guitarist is my favorite guitarist among others. He is the lead guitarist for Symphony X. Michael Romeo's introduction to formal music training began with piano lessons when he was 10 years old.But he switched to guitar at the tender age of 14. At the age of 19, Michael was one of the finalists of the nation-wide "Sam Ash Music Store" guitar contest.

I was introduced to Romeo composition by friend back in 2007. I only listened one of his song (Song entitled Sea Of Lies if I'm not forgotten) and quickly became his fan. His composition sound a bit like Yngwie Malmsteen. This is ordinary because if we follow his early history, Malmsteen is one of his influences. He is an incredibly accomplished player drawing on a neo-classical style reminiscent of Yngwie Malmsteen while retaining his own identifiable signature that sets him apart from other players in this genre.

His works on the Symhony X latest album is the best among the best. This album consists a lots of heavy riff and insane guitar techniques difficulties. The guitar techniques He developed show that he had practiced very hard, so many hours were involved and the final product is really awesome. If you don't know him and never heard of his composition, I think you should, especially if you are a metal lover.

Further reading:
Micheal Romeo bibliography
Symphony X Official website


Sea Of Lies by Micheal Romeo

Michael Romeo-The damnation game

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