Iron Maiden’s New Final Frontier Online Game Now Playing

Intro screen for new Iron Maiden online game The Final Frontier.

It’s game on for Iron Maiden fans. Just ahead of the mid-August release of new studio album The Final Frontier, Maiden’s new Final Frontier online outer-space game is now up and running at www.thefinalfrontiergame.com.

Here’s the premise: Maiden is on its way to its first intergalactic gig when evil space pirates attack and destroy their cargo ship. The band escapes, but their gear is scattered all over the solar system—guitars, drums, PA stuff, the whole bit. Perpetually decaying band mascot Eddie comes to the rescue in his own special spacecraft, “Ed Force One,” to “salvage the equipment” and “destroy everything that stands in his way.”

In the five-level game, you pilot Ed Force One, maneuvering the craft to collect the scattered gear and deliver it aboard another cargo ship, and acquiring weapons to fend off the space pirates and other nasty threats. You accomplish all this with the aid of fuel, shield, radar and map tools, and there are a couple of bonus letters on each level that, if you snag ’em both, let you unlock an Iron Maiden wallpaper download.

The Final Frontier is the band’s second online promotional game; the first was launched to support the spring 2009 release of documentary Iron Maiden: Flight 666. That game, Flight 666, amassed a phenomenal 4.5 million plays, proving in yet another arena just how popular the mega-selling U.K. metal institution remains with loyal fans.

So what are you waiting for? Climb aboard Ed Force One and start racking up points with Iron Maiden at www.thefinalfrontiergame.com

Where Did the “Concorde” Come From?

Rhoads named the prototype of this guitar ...

True or false: Randy Rhoads named the first Jackson Rhoads prototype guitar model the “Concorde” after the supersonic aircraft of the same name.

True.

That’s right—the second custom V-shaped guitar built at the behest of the late, great Randy Rhoads was in fact named after the turbojet-powered Aérospatiale-BAC Concorde supersonic passenger airliner, a type of British/French aircraft that first flew in 1969, entered trans-Atlantic service in 1976 and was retired 2003.

It was this guitar that would later launch the Bloodline by becoming the first Jackson guitar model, and it was this guitar design that would become known worldwide and beloved throughout metaldom to this day as the Jackson Randy Rhoads.

Aside from the fact that both aircraft and guitar are sleek, sharp, triangular and unbelievably fast, the actual connection is a little more obscure. Allow us to explain.

Randy Rhoads left Quiet Riot to join Ozzy Osbourne’s band in late 1979, and he spent much of 1980 touring Europe with his new boss, playing his first custom-built V-shaped guitar model. To get Rhoads back to States that December for Christmas, Osbourne booked passage for his phenomenal new guitarist aboard the Concorde.

... after this aircraft.

Evidently inspired by his supersonic mode of transport, Rhoads conceived of a new guitar model during the flight home and decided then and there to call it the Concorde.

As soon as he arrived back in California, Rhoads contacted Grover Jackson directly about transforming his hastily scribbled sketches into reality, and the rest is history. Rhoads met with Jackson at the guitar maker’s San Dimas, Calif., shop on Dec. 23, 1980; the result very soon afterward was an asymmetrical V-shaped guitar with the bottom wing shorter than the top, neck-through-body construction, a white finish with pinstripes and, for the first time ever, the name “Jackson” on the headstock.

BFMV Nabs Dual Kerrang! Awards

Thursday night was a great night for metal in London, with pride-of-Wales thrashers Bullet For My Valentine scoring dual Kerrang! Awards trophies for Best Live Band and Best British Band.

The 17th annual Kerrang! Awards ceremony blew the doors off the Brewery in East London, hosted for the second year running by Slipknot/Stone Sour vocalist Corey Taylor and Anthrax guitarist (and Jackson signature artist) Scott Ian. More than 6 million votes were cast.

Bullet For My Valentine, led by Jackson signature artist Matt Tuck, was the only act to score multiple awards.

Other winners included Biffy Clyro (Best Video), You Me At Six (Best Single), Lostprophets (classic songwriter gong), 30 Seconds to Mars (Best International Band), Rise to Remain (Best British Newcomer), Trash Talk (Best International Newcomer), Rammstein (inspiration award), Paramore (Best Album) and Mötley Crüe (Hall of Fame).

Special posthumous honors went to Ronnie James Dio, Slipknot bassist Paul Gray and former Stereophonics drummer/Kerrang! Awards host Stuart Cable, all of whom passed away in recent months.

Jackson’s own international man of metal, Nick Bowcott, attended the ceremony and will be checking in soon with his own undoubtedly epic account of the evening, so stay tuned for that. In the meantime, Britain’s ITN network also covered the proceedings, as seen in the video wrap-up here that includes a word from Matt Tuck and even a brief glimpse of Scott Ian …

Guitar Edge Shout-Out for Jackson RR24 Rhoads

Jackson fans will be pleased to see that the September/October issue of Guitar Edge magazine gives a nice little shout-out to our RR24 Rhoads model, right there on page 12.

In GE’s “Sound Check” column, associate editor Jason Shadrick calls the RR24 one of the more noteworthy single-pickup guitar models out there today—a good one “you should consider next time you’re feeling an urge to forget the details and just rock.”

Jackson's RR24 Rhoads family.

Ellefson Talks Megadeth Return and Current Tours

When last we heard from our good friend Dave Ellefson by video a couple weeks ago, he was across the pond (and then some) in picturesque Estonia. Now back in North America, Ellefson checks in here with Canada’s Musik Universe video channel from the equally picturesque environs of Montreal, where Megadeth just headlined the July 24-25 Heavy MTL 2010 festival.

In this interview, the always-eloquent Jackson-thrashing bassist talks about the circumstances surrounding his return to the band he co-founded in 1983 after an eight-year absence, the importance of having your chops in shape, the band’s just-completed two-month European tour and the upcoming Carnage tour, the now-infamous Big Four shows and much more …



Bullet For My Valentine Announces North American Tour Dates

Bullet For My Valentine (from left): Michael Thomas, Matt Tuck, Michael Paget, Jason James.

The metal pride of Wales, Bullet For My Valentine, have just announced dates for their upcoming tour of North America in support of new studio album Fever. Unleashed this past April, Fever has met with a sea of positive press and an avalanche of sales worldwide. Tour support will come from Escape the Fate and Black Tide.

Dates, cities and venues are:

SEPTEMBER

16   Wichita, Kan.               Cotillion
17   Oklahoma City             Diamond Ballroom
18   Houston                       Warehouse Live
19   Austin, Texas               Stubbs
21   Tampa, Fla.                  Ritz Ybor
23   Orlando, Fla.                House Of Blues
24   Charlotte, N.C.             Fillmore
25   Washington, D.C.         9:30 Club
26   Norfolk, Va.                  Norva
28   Scranton, Pa.               Cultural Center
30   Philadelphia                 Electric Factory

OCTOBER

1     New York                     Roseland Ballroom
2     Albany, N.Y.                 Armory
3     Atlanta                         Verizon Wireless Amphitheater
5     Providence, R.I.           Lupo’s
6     Montréal                      Metropolis
8     Toronto                        Sound Academy
9     Cleveland                    Tower City Amphitheatre
10   Buffalo, N.Y.                Town Ballroom
12   Indianapolis                 Egyptian Room
13   Madison, Wis.             Orpheum Theatre
14   Fargo, N.D.                 The Venue
15   Winnipeg, Manitoba    The Garrick
17   Edmonton, Alberta      Edmonton Events Centre
18   Calgary, Alberta          McEwen Hall at University of Calgary
20   Vancouver, B.C.          Commodore Ballroom
21   Spokane, Wash.          Knitting Factory
22   Seattle                         Showbox
23   Portland, Ore.              Roseland
25   Boise, Idaho                Knitting Factory
26  Reno, Nev.                   Knitting Factory
27  Los Angeles                 Palladium