Zebra Music - an instrument store located in Ilkeston - yesterday became more than the ultimate source for musicians with its variety of acoustic/ electric guitars and drums for purchase. It consequently became the battleground for Guitar Hero’s spanning across the Ilkeston area, fighting for their chance to play at this years Bloodstock Open Air and win some very attractive prizes.



The competition began at 10am Saturday morning. Beginning with members of the Bloodstock Team who seemed to be more than “testing” the equipment in Pro-Battle Face-Off, soon after came the first contestant Matthew Gough who initially came second overall with a score of 234,945 on the song “Raining Blood”, winning him and his parents’ tickets to this year’s final at the festival!

Devised of three runs, a practice run and then two tries for the participant to have a go and achieve his highest score for the price of £5, many came and had a go for the first-time! Among them were Niall Barker and Oliver Haywood, two boys around ten years old that gradually learned to play “Slow Ride” right there at the competition venue and were there just to have fun.



Matthew Lewis, the resulting Guitar Hero Champion at venue Zebra music, left with a stunning 235,305 placing him straight into first, giving him a comfortable bench mark against future competitors later on in the day.



Yet, Saturday did hold a few surprises in its clutches, especially for young Charlotte Wong. By the afternoon 1st and 2nd place were held by both Matthews. After attaining the score of 156,869 on “Welcome to the Jungle” by Guns’n’Roses, medium difficulty, it seemed she didn’t have a chance of winning the competition. Though when she was offered the chance to play a Guitar Hero Pro Face-Off against one of the Bloodstock Team members and won, she was thrown a wildcard as a 3rd prize winner awarded for her skill and determination during the competition; receiving a child and adult ticket to attend the finals.

All three winners will represent Zebra Music, Ilkeston, at the Guitar Hero Finals at this year’s Bloodstock Open Air Metal Festival later on this year in August. Well done to all those that attended the venue yesterday and we hope to see you all at Bloodstock!


Click Here to see some of the other Contestants from Guitar Hero on saturday .

Regards

Bloodstock Team

In November 2007 the band featuring Black Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi and bassist Geezer Butler, singer Ronnie James Dio, and drummer Vinny Appice (Black Sabbath, Dio) will tour the U.K. with support from Lamb of God and Iced Earth. At the end of this week Tickets for the dates are expected to go on sale.

Heaven and Hell's March 30th performance at the Radio City Music Hall in New York City will be filmed/ recorded for the group's upcoming live CD/DVD, tentatively due this autumn. No opening acts are planned to appear at the New York City show, which is expected to feature an extended set from Heaven and Hell.

Several full-length video clips of Heaven and Hell performing on March 13th, 2007 at Rexall Place in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada have been posted online at YouTube.com. Check them out at this location.

Heaven and Hell will wrap its Canadian tour with ‘Megadeth’ and ‘Down’ on March 28th in Ottawa. There will be a U.S. trek with support from ‘Megadeth’ and ‘Machine Head’ which will launch April 22nd in Phoenix, Arizona.

Lamb of God was nominated in the "Best Metal Performance" category at the 49th annual Grammy Awards, which was held February 11th at the Staples Centre in Los Angeles.

Lamb of God's latest album, "Sacrament", has sold 197,000 copies in the United States since its August 21st 2006 release, according to Nielsen SoundScan. The CD was produced by Machine (Clutch, King Crimson, Pitcher, Eighteen Visions, and Every Time I Die).

Iced Earth will release a new single, "Overture of the Wicked", in May or early June. A video for the track "Ten Thousand Strong" will be filmed a video during the coming months, most probably in June right around the band's appearance at the Sweden Rock festival.

Iced Earth guitarist/ main man Jon Schaffer is currently working on a two-part concept album based on the "Something Wicked This Way Comes" story that first appeared on Iced Earth's 1998 album of the same name. "Framing Armageddon (Something Wicked Part 1)" will be released in late August/early September period, to be followed by "Revelation Abomination Something Wicked (Part 2)" in February or March 2008.

Ozzy Osbourne is planned to appear at an NFL charity event at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood, Florida today to distribute $1 million worth of hearing aids to needy kids.

Ozzy Osbourne recently said that unlike 2001's slickly produced "Down to Earth", the last album of original Ozzy material, his new disc, which is tentatively due in May, promises to be a rawer and heavier affair. Recorded with the same band that backed Osbourne on his scattered 2006 Ozzfest dates: Zakk Wylde on guitar, Mike Bordin on drums, and former Rob Zombie bassist Rob "Blasko" Nicholson, the album has no official producer, although long time Mutt Lange protégé Kevin Churko is helping as the engineer.

"I always try to make a great album," says Osbourne. "It's not like I go in there and go, 'You know what? I've had a great run, I'm gonna do a piece of shit for my next album!' But to be perfectly truthful to you, 'Down to Earth' was just a filler album to me. It did well, and some people liked it, and I loved the ballad on it “Dreamer”. But this album I put in the same league as 'No More Tears', 'Blizzard of Ozz', and 'Diary'. It's definitely my influence of SABBATH coming out, here and there. But then again, I would have liked to see SABBATH put out an album like this at this stage of the game."

KISS/Alice Cooper drummer Eric Singer has issued the following update:

"Well, another NAMM convention has come and gone yet again. It was great to see familiar faces and old friends again. It seemed like it was only a few months ago since the previous NAMM. What happens to time? I guess it is like a drummer always speeding up.

"Anyway, I saw a lot of cool new drums and stuff over at Pearl and Zildjian and stopped by Universal Percussion to say hey to the Attack drumhead guys too.”

"In case people wondered what happened department: I was scheduled to jam at the Dimebag Darrell tribute show on Saturday Jan. 20 at the Hilton with Lemmy (MOTÖRHEAD) and Keri Kelli (ALICE COOPER) but was unable to play drums for awhile due to minor surgery a few weeks ago. I am on the road to a speedy recovery and should be back hitting things very soon!”

"I wanna thank everyone who took the time to stop by the Pearl, Zildjian, sure or Music star booths I appeared at. It was great to see fans from all over the world and you all treat me so nice and make me feel special. For this I thank you!"

According to Metal Israel: "The goal of this film is to discover what is happening in metal scenes around the world," co-directors Scot McFadyen and Sam Dunn beforehand said in a statement, "Metal has spread throughout Asia, South America, Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and even Africa. We want to discover what metal means to musicians and fans that come from these diverse cultures."

"Global Metal" is expected to include interviews with Israel's Orphaned Land and Melechesh as well as live footage from Orphaned Land’s November 25, 2006 show at the Theatre Club in Tel-Aviv, Israel and Melechesh's concert at The Opera House in Toronto on September 23, 2006.

"Metal: A Headbanger's Journey" explored metal's impact and controversy over the past 35 years and featured interviews with Tony Iommi, Bruce Dickinson, Alice Cooper, Ronnie James Dio, Slayer, Dee Snider, Arch Enemy, Lamb of God, Cannibal Corpse, Emperor and many more. The two-disc DVD set was released in North America in May 2006 and includes extended interviews, an interactive metal history chart, and a mini-doc on Norwegian black metal.

Finnish "monster metal" band LORDI will perform on the "Ultimate Chart Show" on German TV next month. According to the group's German record company, Drakkar Entertainment, the performance will be on air on February 23 at 21.15h on RTL. A repeat broadcast is scheduled for February 24 at 15.55h.

Since winning the 2006 Eurovision Song Contest in May, LORDI's dream has grown to enormous heights. Besides conquering many European charts the band has been given their own credit card though Finland's Sampo Bank, as well as their own soft drink (Lordi Cola), LORDI candy, LORDI kebab, and comic book.

As previously reported, LORDI has signed a North American deal with The End Records. "The Arockalypse" will be released in North America on March 20th, with bonus tracks and a DVD.

LORDI is currently planning its first-ever trip of North America this spring and is confirmed for a two-night stretch at the annual Bamboozle festival, set for May 5th and 6th in East Rutherford, N.J.