Gearwire has recently conducted interview with the legendary bassist Paul Raven. A few excerpts are follows:

On upcoming projects:

"I am going to El Paso next year to record 'The Last Sucker' — the last MINISTRY record. It is going to be interesting — a lot of songs, a double CD maybe. . . After MINISTRY there is a new PRONG record and with that there is an opportunity there to use a lot of different effects; of painting a bit of a different picture."

On MINISTRY music's political bent:

"For me politics and punk rock went together. That has been handy about my association with Al [ Jourgensen ] and his Bush bashing. I have tried to keep my musical roots intact. I have lived in America so long I feel entitled to state my opinion. 'Maybe I can put a foot on George Bush 's ass on his way out of the White House'."

On whether he has changed what he plays over the years:

"Mostly I haven't changed what I use but I have changed how I play. But I play less hard so I have somewhere to go dynamically. Chris Chaney from JANE'S ADDICTION does that. Its something I picked up listening to that dude. Previously I would bash away."

Source Gearwire

MOTÖRHEAD , HAMMERFALL and RAGE are among the confirmed bands for the Masters Of Rock festival, set to take place July 13-15, 2007 in Vizovice, Czech Republic. The festival billing is shaping up as follows:

MOTÖRHEAD
HAMMERFALL
RAGE + LINGUA MORTIS ORCHESTRA
STRATOVARIUS
DIE HAPPY
PINK CREAM 69
AFTER FOREVER
EPICA
THE TOMMYS
BLACK MAJESTY

More acts will be announced soon.

Source BBM

UK rocker THUNDER have issued the following update:

"The Japanese release of the Thunder DVD, Thunder Go Mad In Japan, has been delayed by JVC/Victor until 24th January 2007. The Japanese edition features two bonus scenes, plus a load of photos taken on the trip. For more details on the DVD click here . To pre-order your copy click here . The UK edition is available now from here . Also note that the Classic Rock enhanced CD, as mentioned in the 4th December article, is no longer happening in the next issue. We hope that this will happen at a later date, but as always, we will keep you posted."

Source BBM