Category: News

THE HOTTEST BAND IN THE LAND: KISS!

KISS Army Radio is coming to SiriusXM to coincide with the kickoff of the band’s “End of the Road Tour.” As a longtime fan and cohort of the band, LB travelled to Los Angeles to spent two-straight days with the band to conduct interviews for the channel.

The interviews were conducted at the KISS rehearsal studios near Hollywood where the band is preparing for their final tour. Lou spent hours with all four band members including Gene Simmons, Paul Stanley, Tommy Thayer, and Eric Singer. Virtually every facet of KISStory was covered from the pre-fame days up to the preparations for the farewell run.

“I’ve been a KISS Army member since I was a kid back in New Jersey so spending days with the band in a setting like this was a dream come true,” said Brutus.

You’ll hear the band’s words interspersed with the music KISS Army Radio will launch on Monday, February 4 at 5:00 pm ET via satellite on channel 30 and will run through Sunday, February 17. There will also be an exclusive live performance on Monday, February 11 at LA’s famed Whisky a Go Go on the Sunset Strip in Los Angeles.

FEAR AND LOATHING AT THE NORTH POLE

The 2018 holiday card from Lou and Darla has been revealed and it may be the best yet!

Based on Ralph Steadman’s “Bats Over Barstow” illustration from Hunter S. Thompson’s landmark novel “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas,” Lou’s is “Fear and Loathing at the North Pole.” It features he and Darla maniacally sledding through a frozen landscape.

The art was created by LB’s longtime partner in artistic crime Alan MacBain of the Alan MacBain Cartoon Company.

Inside the card the caption reads, “We were somewhere around the Arctic Circle on the edge of the tundra when the eggnog began to take hold. Suddenly there was a terrible HO-HO-HO all around us and the sky was full of what looked like red-nosed reindeer, all swooping and screeching and diving around the sled, which was going about a hundred miles an hour to the North Pole.”

The art can be enjoyed online. A select few physical cards went out to family and friends. Also, as the best way to get Christmas card from someone is to send them card, Lou mailed off cards to a number of listeners who had been kind enough to send to him.

IF YOU HAVE GHOST

After nearly a year of working out the logistics, Tobias Forge of Ghost and Lou Brutus sat down for an hour long interview in New York City in early-December.

“Tobias and I have spoken in person on many occasions,” said Brutus. “However, it’s always been around the hustle and bustle of a concert tour. This was the first chance we’ve had to sit together in comfortable quiet for a long form interview. I believe he’s currently one of the most creative and interesting people in music so I’m ecstatic to have had this happen. It’s probably no surprise I picked the band’s ‘Prequelle’ as my top album for 2018.”

Tobias and Brutus made special trips to NYC to make this happen. The conversation was both filmed and recorded at the hardDrive Radio Studios in Manhattan. You can see much of it via YouTube here, here, and here. You can also read about it here on Blabbermouth.

Both gentlemen returned to the area a couple weeks later for the closing night of “A Pale Tour Called Death” at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, NY. After receiving a blessing from Cardinal Copia backstage, Lou hit the photo pit to capture images of the show that you can see on his social media accounts.

THE TOP 18 ROCK ALBUMS OF ’18

It’s that time of year when LB puts together a list of The Top 18 Rock Albums of ’18 that immediately causes everyone to fuss and fight.

“I both love and hate doing these lists,” says Lou. “I love looking at all the great music that came out. I hate that as soon as I publish it, I want to change it. Frankly, it’s also crazy that I’ve limited it this year to just eighteen albums. It really means I’ve cut out some albums that I admire and respect. However, it’s more of a challenge instead of putting out multiple lists of rock and metal albums with up to fifty albums each.” He continues, “The #1 album was particularly hard. In the various versions of the list before the final draft Disturbed and Beartooth both had the top slot before Ghost grabbed it in the final take.

Brutus strongly urges you to publish your own list and respond back to his with the hashtag saying, ” I encourage you to make your own list and post it. I think anyone else’s opinion is as valid as mine. That’s why I list my occupation as ‘Professional Music Fan.’ I’m just a fan like anybody else. We’re all in this together!”

Honorable mentions go to these artists who just missed the cut and who would have been a longer list including Judas Priest, Bullet for My Valentine, OTEP, Parkway Drive, Of Mice & Men, The Struts, Slash and others. Also, some albums that came out late in the year will carry over to the 2019 list including All That Remains.

Here is the list…

18. Five Finger Death Punch, ‘And Justice for None’
17.Jonathan Davis, ‘Black Labyrinth’
16. Shinedown, ‘ATTENTION! ATTENTION!’
15. Tremonti, ‘A Dying Machine’
14. Greta Van Fleet, ‘Anthem of the Peaceful Army’
13. Halestorm, ‘Vicious’
12. Stone Temple Pilots, ‘Stone Temple Pilots’
11. Alice in Chains, ‘Rainier Fog’
10. Red Sun Rising, ‘Thread’
09. Myles Kennedy, ‘Year of the Tiger’
08. Godsmack, ‘When Legends Rise’
07. Sevendust, ‘All I See Is War’
06. A Perfect Circle, ‘Eat the Elephant’
05. Breaking Benjamin, ‘Ember’
04. The Fever 333, ‘Made an America’
03. Beartooth, ‘Disease’
02. Disturbed, ‘Evolution’
01. Ghost, ‘Prequelle’

2019 CALENDARS FROM LB & DARLA

Last year, Brutus produced his first ever calendar. It featured images from lighthouses he’s photographed around the world. Yeah, he’s kinda nerdy with that stuff. For 2019, we’re happy to announce two different calendars that you can only get thru social media.

The first calendar is “2019 Rock N Roll Images by Lou Brutus.” It features twelve black and white photos of stars both onstage and backstage that Lou interviewed during the year. Artists include Avenged Sevenfold, Metallica, Avatar, Five Finger Death Punch, The Pretty Reckless, Slipknot and others.

The second calendar is “Darla the Wonder Dog.” This was done especially by request for Lou’s followers who love Her Royal Pupness. Along with a dozen pictures of Darla through the year including at Easter, Halloween and Christmas, the calendar features special holidays and dates like National Mutt Day and National Puppy Day. Plus, there are birthdays for Darla’s other animal friends like Crosby, Babes and Venus the Meowing Pussycat. (Meow, meow, meow!)

These calendars are NOT for sale and will be in very limited numbers. The Darla calendars were produced in an especially small print run. The ONLY way to get them is to win them thru verified Lou Brutus social media accounts. Good luck.