Warrant - Rockaholic

[Nightrain]

I agree that Jani Lane is a top notch songwriter, especially on those lyrics he penned (and I also dig Ultraphobic), but based on new songs on the greatest hits you mentioned wes, are you sure those were written after 1995 and not outtakes/old tracks from their 80s that haven't made to the album? i didn't buy any of their greatest hits (and rarely buy any other as well)

 

I haven't listen to his solo album though, will check out later, well yeah it's kinda sad to see how he went down to the bottom like this with his booze addiction, hopefully he bounces back later.

[Geoff]

It would be wonderful to see him one day completely free of the booze and back in the fold with Warrant. It'd be a dream come true, but it doesn't look one bit likely at the moment. It's such a shame that one of the biggest single talents of the whole genre we listen to is arguably the most wrecked of all.

[Captain Howdy]

As said before (and backed by Geoff) Jani's solo album and his album with Saints Of The Underground, plus the songs on Under the influence (I am lead to believe that the Latest/greatest songs were actually older songs that were never recorded) were all slightly different to classic Warrant, but certainly would lead one to believe that Jani was heading back to the classic sound after his diversions on Ultraphobic and Belly to belly.

And just for the record, Dog eat dog is as much a classic Warrant sounding disc as the first two, just with a little more balls.

Tell me songs like Hollywood, Quicksand and Let it rain couldnt have fit right in on Cherry pie. Or that a song like Machine gun wasnt as melodic as anything on the first two albums, just with a bit more crunch.

 

Warrant, for my money were no different to early Poison, Motley Crue or Cinderella, in that rather than stick with an identical sound from album to album, they added touches here and there that changed and matured their sound.

While Cherry pie still had its fair share of party rockers, it was certainly a more mature release than DRFSR.

 

As for Ultraphobic and Belly to belly. I like both those albums. Hell, I love Ultraphobic. But I agree they dont have much to do with the classic Warrant sound.

That said, Warrant would not have been the first band to divert off into modern sounding music only to comeback with a more classic sounding album.

[Captain Howdy]

Oh and am a bit confused by Amazon on this one. Just checked out some sites to see the price it will be, and HMV is doing it on pre-order for £9. One guy on eBay is doing a pre-order for £13. Amazon is doing it as an MP3 pre-order for £8, but wants £22 for the CD ... how does that work?

[huskermetal]

From http://www.melodicrock.com/ :

 

WARRANT'S "ROCKAHOLIC" CONFIRMED FOR MAY RELEASE:

 

Warrant's brand new album Rockaholic has now been confirmed for the release on May 13 in Europe and May 17 in North America on Frontiers Records. At the helm of Rockaholic is mega-producer Keith Olsen (Ozzy Osbourne, Whitesnake, Scorpions) and the album is mixed by Pat Regan (Kiss, Deep Purple, Ted Nugent). The album finds the band returning to its trademark sound.Warrant original members Erik Turner, Jerry Dixon, Joey Allen and Steven Sweet welcomed long-time band friend and fellow touring mate, singer Robert Mason (Lynch Mob, Cry of Love) into the fold. With 8 million records sold worldwide, two Top Ten Billboard albums, five Top 40 Billboard hit singles and five #1 MTV videos, Warrant was one of the most popular and successful rock bands to hail out of the Los Angeles rock scene in the late 80s/early 90s. Formed in the mid-80s by original members Erik Turner and Jerry Dixon, Warrant's biggest hits included Cherry Pie and Heaven.

 

 

Warrant Rockaholic track listing:

 

1. Sex Ain't Love

2. Innocence Gone

3. Snake

4. Dusty's Revenge

5. Home

6. What Love Can Do

7. Life's A Song

8. Show Must Go On

9. Cocaine Freight Train

10. Found Forever

11. Candy Man

12. Sunshine

13. Tears In The City

14. The Last Straw

 

Sample all tracks right here.

 

For more information please visit: www.warrantrocks.com / www.frontiers.it.

I like robert mason and all but jani lane was the heart and soul of that band, without him, no warrant.....

[Nightrain]

Oh and am a bit confused by Amazon on this one. Just checked out some sites to see the price it will be, and HMV is doing it on pre-order for £9. One guy on eBay is doing a pre-order for £13. Amazon is doing it as an MP3 pre-order for £8, but wants £22 for the CD ... how does that work?

 

i guess best thing is to stay low until this one is officially released and wait around 2 weeks until the price is stable. My best bet is Amazon gonna sell this for £8 or 9, so no need to rush out and pre-order

[the reg]

To me its simple,the guys in Warrant have every right to continue playing together but should just call the band something else...they kick jani out for a valid reason but then continue to play his songs?and they dont talk to him nomore?thats ridiculous,they should have some pride and write their own songs....Jani was Warrant,to play all the Warrant hits he doesnt need those guys,he can hire a band and play the songs he wrote.....

[Fat Freddy]

To me its simple,the guys in Warrant have every right to continue playing together but should just call the band something else...

 

...which is all well and good in theory, but let's be honest, going by "Warrant" gives them instant name (and brand) recognition. If they changed the name they might still sell a few CDs to (the relatively few) people on forums like these who still pay attention to such things, but outside of that crowd, they'd have no name recognition and therefore nobody'd give a sh*t. The Warrant guys aren't stupid, at this stage it would be career suicide for them to dump the name and start over from scratch with a new moniker.

 

In other words...when those soccer Moms in Peoria read in the paper that WARRANT is playing at the annual Hog Calling Contest and Beer-B-Q at the county fairgrounds, they're gonna go "Oh cool, them's the Cherry Pie guys! Let's go see'um, Cletus!" ... they probably haven't paid attention to the music scene since 1991, they don't even know that Jani Lane's not in the band anymore, and they likely won't even care, especially after they've spent all day loading up on BBQ and beer, as long as they can still hear "Heaven" and "Cherry Pie."

 

Whereas if the band were calling themselves, say, "Ultraphobic" or whatever, those same soccer Moms are gonna say "Who?" and they're not even gonna bother coming out.

 

I exaggerate slightly for humorous effect, of course, but you get the idea...

[the reg]

I get what your sayin friend....but it dont make it right....Its like megadeth kickin Dave out and continuing as megadeth....ridiculous...

[Fat Freddy]

I get what your sayin friend....but it dont make it right....Its like megadeth kickin Dave out and continuing as megadeth....ridiculous...

 

Nobody's ever said the music business was fair (or logical).

[the reg]

Of course not obese freddy but its shamefull and i dont see how jani could stand for it and legally cant do shit....didnt he copyright the tunes?no wonder the dont speak to him,they cant face him...........doofises

[Captain Howdy]

Oh and am a bit confused by Amazon on this one. Just checked out some sites to see the price it will be, and HMV is doing it on pre-order for £9. One guy on eBay is doing a pre-order for £13. Amazon is doing it as an MP3 pre-order for £8, but wants £22 for the CD ... how does that work?

 

i guess best thing is to stay low until this one is officially released and wait around 2 weeks until the price is stable. My best bet is Amazon gonna sell this for £8 or 9, so no need to rush out and pre-order

Oh I certainly wont be pre-ordering it (I dont really have money for CDs at the moment, and having already heard it, I'm not overly impressed with it), it just doesnt make any sense why they would stick it up at that price to start with. Amazon is always my first go to site for CDs as their prices usually piss on everyone elses, but this is the sort of price they would usually set for an import, not a European release.

[Captain Howdy]

To me its simple,the guys in Warrant have every right to continue playing together but should just call the band something else...

 

...which is all well and good in theory, but let's be honest, going by "Warrant" gives them instant name (and brand) recognition. If they changed the name they might still sell a few CDs to (the relatively few) people on forums like these who still pay attention to such things, but outside of that crowd, they'd have no name recognition and therefore nobody'd give a sh*t. The Warrant guys aren't stupid, at this stage it would be career suicide for them to dump the name and start over from scratch with a new moniker.

 

In other words...when those soccer Moms in Peoria read in the paper that WARRANT is playing at the annual Hog Calling Contest and Beer-B-Q at the county fairgrounds, they're gonna go "Oh cool, them's the Cherry Pie guys! Let's go see'um, Cletus!" ... they probably haven't paid attention to the music scene since 1991, they don't even know that Jani Lane's not in the band anymore, and they likely won't even care, especially after they've spent all day loading up on BBQ and beer, as long as they can still hear "Heaven" and "Cherry Pie."

 

Whereas if the band were calling themselves, say, "Ultraphobic" or whatever, those same soccer Moms are gonna say "Who?" and they're not even gonna bother coming out.

 

I exaggerate slightly for humorous effect, of course, but you get the idea...

And to play devils advocate, the name Warrant is also guaranteed to drive away those people that think of them as nothing but a bunch of poseurs from the 80s.

I agree that in reality they should have changed names as it wont make a jot of difference as to how many albums they sell or tickets to concerts in my opinion.

Most people who got to see bands like Warrant these days are people who know the scene like us, so they will go to see most hard rock bands they like, regardless of what name they use.

I mean, lets face it, did the band using the name Heaven & Hell really make them sell less than using the name Black Sabbath?

[Evil Rick]

they probably haven't paid attention to the music scene since 1991, they don't even know that Jani Lane's not in the band anymore, and they likely won't even care, especially after they've spent all day loading up on BBQ and beer, as long as they can still hear "Heaven" and "Cherry Pie."

When I saw them at Sturgis the girls in front of us that were about my age thought Robert Mason WAS Jani Lane. I didn't even waste the air to correct them.

[Geoff]

Spun this again yesterday; definitely prefer it to 'Born again.' I didn't pick up on the amount of slower paced songs first time round. I think I was more concerned about the more uptempo songs, which pretty much one and all appear to be fillers. But there's actually a few pretty good ballads / mid-tempo tunes on here. I need a few more spins, but it sounds pretty decent overall. Just not like Warrant.

 

As for the continuation of Warrant as it is, it's hard for me to comment accurately as I really have no idea what truly happened. But as an overseas outsider looking in, if Jani's f*cked himself up that badly to the point where he can't honestly be an active member of the band, and 4/5 of Warrant want to continue without him, I personally think they have every right to do so. Correct me if I'm wrong, but Jani wasn't an original member of Warrant (pre-DRFSR) and the guys in the band probably have more rights to the name than he does?

 

I know they're all Jani's songs but unless I'm mistaken, the reason the 'Cherry Pie' line-up of Warrant is not together today is pretty much entirely because of Jani Lane, isn't it? You can't blame the rest of the guys for wanting to proceed forth into the future. Even if they're only a shadow of the band they were with Jani.

[Nightrain]

I get what your sayin friend....but it dont make it right....Its like megadeth kickin Dave out and continuing as megadeth....ridiculous...

 

that's a very wrong analogy, friend

 

Megadeth was Mustaine's band, but Warrant isn't Jani Lane's band.

Warrant was started by Erik Turner and Jani isn't their original singer. He joined up, along with drummer Steven Sweet in 1986, two years after the band's formation. Jani's former band was called Plain Jane, and at that time, he recorded several demos, including their hit, "Heaven", which later was made into Warrant's debut.

 

but because Jani plays an indispensable role in Warrant as their leading songwriter, it's like automatically he's the mainman and owner of the band, but he's not, so to back Geoff's wording, yeah they have every right to continue this as a band, and they didn't fire Jani for nothing. It's Jani that so fucked up that the band was forced to continue without him.

[Evil Rick]

Jani is so darn messed up now he can't even get out and tour on his own let alone do so with Warrant. He had a bunch of dates lined up this summer and canceled them due to his "issues". I would be surprised to even see those jabberwocky tracks see an official release unless he hands everything over to a sane and sober person to take care of.

 

I listened to the new album again yesterday. I liked it even less than I did on the first listen. Definitely not something I will pick up unless I find it for a couple bucks in a pawn shop or something. It sucks because I really thought it would be a pretty good cd.

[Captain Howdy]

I've listened to it a few times now, and its just not excited me at all.

I rarely use the term filler tracks, but this album is just full of them.

I actually think that as fucked up as Jani is these days, he would still pull off a better album than this.

[Shawn Of Fire]

I get what your sayin friend....but it dont make it right....Its like megadeth kickin Dave out and continuing as megadeth....ridiculous...

 

that's a very wrong analogy, friend

 

Megadeth was Mustaine's band, but Warrant isn't Jani Lane's band.

Warrant was started by Erik Turner and Jani isn't their original singer. He joined up, along with drummer Steven Sweet in 1986, two years after the band's formation. Jani's former band was called Plain Jane, and at that time, he recorded several demos, including their hit, "Heaven", which later was made into Warrant's debut.

 

but because Jani plays an indispensable role in Warrant as their leading songwriter, it's like automatically he's the mainman and owner of the band, but he's not, so to back Geoff's wording, yeah they have every right to continue this as a band, and they didn't fire Jani for nothing. It's Jani that so fucked up that the band was forced to continue without him.

 

It may technically be Erik Turner's band, but the fact that he spent his whole career playing Jani Lane's songs speaks volumes...

 

Yes, Jani is a screw up and needs to get his shit together...yes, there can be a Warrant without him (as I think Mason is proving)...but just because Lane didn't start Warrant doesn't mean he wasn't the leader. When he got fired Turner just took his band back.

[Shawn Of Fire]

And for the record, I think "What Love Can Do" is a great song! It's the only thing I've heard from the album, but I've spun it 4 times today...

[the reg]

I get what your sayin friend....but it dont make it right....Its like megadeth kickin Dave out and continuing as megadeth....ridiculous...

 

that's a very wrong analogy, friend

 

Megadeth was Mustaine's band, but Warrant isn't Jani Lane's band.

Warrant was started by Erik Turner and Jani isn't their original singer. He joined up, along with drummer Steven Sweet in 1986, two years after the band's formation. Jani's former band was called Plain Jane, and at that time, he recorded several demos, including their hit, "Heaven", which later was made into Warrant's debut.

 

but because Jani plays an indispensable role in Warrant as their leading songwriter, it's like automatically he's the mainman and owner of the band, but he's not, so to back Geoff's wording, yeah they have every right to continue this as a band, and they didn't fire Jani for nothing. It's Jani that so fucked up that the band was forced to continue without him.

 

It may technically be Erik Turner's band, but the fact that he spent his whole career playing Jani Lane's songs speaks volumes...

 

Yes, Jani is a screw up and needs to get his shit together...yes, there can be a Warrant without him (as I think Mason is proving)...but just because Lane didn't start Warrant doesn't mean he wasn't the leader. When he got fired Turner just took his band back.

 

EXACTELY MY POINT,THANK YOU FRIEND..

[LV KIX]

To me its simple,the guys in Warrant have every right to continue playing together but should just call the band something else...

 

 

In other words...when those soccer Moms in Peoria read in the paper that WARRANT is playing at the annual Hog Calling Contest and Beer-B-Q at the county fairgrounds, they're gonna go "Oh cool, them's the Cherry Pie guys! Let's go see'um, Cletus!" ... they probably haven't paid attention to the music scene since 1991, they don't even know that Jani Lane's not in the band anymore, and they likely won't even care, especially after they've spent all day loading up on BBQ and beer, as long as they can still hear "Heaven" and "Cherry Pie."

 

 

 

Hey... what's the date on that annual Hog Calling Contest and Beer-B-Q at the county fairgrounds..?

 

I hope not the weekend of M3 or Rocklahoma.

[edwithmj]

Very good disc! I can't understand all the animosity towards it. So what that Jani Lane isn't in it? Robert Mason's a great singer and the whole CD contains great rock songs.

[Captain Howdy]

The animosity is because it doesnt contain great rock tracks. They aint bad, but they are just mostly filler.

I can honestly say that while there isnt any tracks on it that I hate, there is only one track that I enjoyed, and even that was nowhere near as good as it should have been.

Its a background music album at best.

[Shawn Of Fire]

Now I have heard two songs...spun "Life's A Song" about 10 times today...GREAT song!!!