Archive for the ‘Talk of the day’ Category

Talk Of The Day (Steve Lukather, Ian Gillan, Hagane)

Posted: January 16, 2026 in Classic Rock, Deep Purple Family, Hagane (band), Hobby, Japanese rock & metal, Magazines, My photographs, Talk of the day
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STEVE LUKATHER

Word is out that Steve Lukather is indeed working with Alex Van Halen on an album, which is very exciting. Loads of stuff with Eddie Van Halen exists and could be part of all this. And both Steve and Wolfgang Van Halen (should he be involved) are good singers. And who would say no to participate? Looking forward to this very much.

IAN GILLAN

There is a film online about an organisation called B Sharp Music that is supported by Ian Gillan, with a bunch of kids being allowed to see everything backstage (and a show) with Deep Purple. You can find it on the B Sharp Music YouTube channel, titled as “Ian Gillan & B Sharp – Between Hard Rock & A Beautiful Place”. I do love to see stars giving back, and it is easy to see that Ian is enjoying himself very much.

HAGANE

Japanese rockers Hagane dropped a video today in support of the current tour that features scenes from the road. It is called “Full Album Release Tour (Top Of The Tower)”. Very nice.

(My shot of Steve Lukather, B Sharp Music/Gillan and Hagane images are screenshots from said videos, no malice intended)

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Talk Of The Day (Saki, Maki Oyama, Risky Melody)

Posted: December 23, 2025 in Best of Trinkelbonker, Classic Rock, Cool stuff, Japanese rock & metal, Saki (guitarist), Talk of the day
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SAKI

Saki has signed a solo deal with major label King Records in Japan. Her February tour in Japan can be seen as her kicking off her new career in ernest. Debut album is expected to appear a few months later. This is great news.

MAKI OYAMA

Singer Maki Oyama will visit Europe for the first time in May. Hopefully, this means that her latest solo album “I Am” will see official release on the European market. Maybe these are showcase gigs?

RISKY MELODY

Risky Melody will also visit Europe around the same time as Maki, and open for a few shows as well. Both will play solo dates (at least one, I think we may see more dates – promoters should be paying notice). Again, hopefully somebody will sign Risky Melody for the European market. This is all good.

(Images/CD cover is from official platforms)

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Talk Of The Day (Jon Lord, Haruna, Ian Gillan Band, Thin Lizzy, Babymetal)

Posted: December 14, 2025 in Babymetal, Best of Trinkelbonker, Books, Classic Rock, Cool stuff, Deep Purple Family, Hobby, Japanese rock & metal, Lovebites, Talk of the day
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JON LORD

There is a book about Jon Lord called “Before We Forget – A Work In Eight Movements” coming up by author Ovais Naqvi. Google the title and you can pre-order it on the official site.

HARUNA

Lovebites drummer Haruna is doing one of her solo activities on February 1 at Gakugeidai Noah Studios. She will perform three sets on the day and the audience will be seeing her play from all angles. There will also be a Q&A for each set. She has done this before and it has been a popular event.

IAN GILLAN BAND

There is an eight CD box coming up with Ian Gillan Band in late February called “Down The Road – The Complete Ian Gillan Band Story”.

THIN LIZZY

Fans of Thin Lizzy should be aware of the fact that we have an official seven CD box for the albums “Night Life” and “Fighting” out there since November. Loads of extras and live stuff and the reviews are positive. This was when Thin Lizzy started to sound good, but the best was yet to come.

BABYMETAL

Babymetal has launched a major campaign with a company called Vans, and people can now buy shoes, jackets and all sorts of things in major outlets with the Babymetal brand. Social media is full of images taken by fans. Posters all over the place etc. I guess a pair of Babymetal Death shoes would be pretty cool to have in the old collection.

(All images are from official platforms)

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Talk Of The Day (Sally, Nemophila, Kiss, Living Loud)

Posted: November 30, 2025 in Classic Rock, Cool stuff, Deep Purple Family, Hobby, Japanese rock & metal, Talk of the day
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SALLY

Japanese guitarist Sally (whom I interviewed earlier this year on this blog) has performed the last show with the band Mellows. She will contribute and still be part of their second full album, but will be concentrating on her solo career from now on.

NEMOPHILA

Nemophila will be releasing a five track EP called “Gozo” on January 21. They are putting out new videos fairly regularly and one of the original tunes (that turned out to be very good) was dropped in early November (very Japanese). Not sure what the title of that song is, as it has no lettering in English, but I like it. Still no word about current releases from JPU, their (former?) European label. I guess this means that they can be approached by other labels at this point.

KISS

We have a 50th Anniversary edition of Kiss “Alive” coming up in about a week from now. Not sure how many editions there will be, I have seen a Delux Super Box being on sale at the Kiss online store but I have also seen the cover you see here pop up (t-shirt motif in the big box, but I guess it could also be a more stripped down edition?). We shall see.

LIVING LOUD

We have a couple of (double LP) variants of a Living Loud release called “Live”, recorded in Australia back in 2004. It features Steve Morse (guitar), Don Airey (keyboards), Bob Daisley (bass), Jimmy Barnes (vocals) and Lee Kerslake (drums). Probably the first time we see this on Vinyl.

(Sally image is courtesy of her management, Nemophila shot is from a recent video, inserted album covers are from social media and record stores)

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Talk Of The Day (Babymetal, Stryper, Yungblud, Sammy Hagar)

Posted: November 8, 2025 in Babymetal, Best of Trinkelbonker, Black Sabbath, Classic Rock, Cool stuff, Japanese rock & metal, My photographs, Talk of the day
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BABYMETAL

Babymetal performed at the Arena CDMX in Mexico City yesterday to 17,000 people, with the exact same show set-up as the recent Intuit Dome concert (in Los Angeles) a week ago. I guess we might get a two DVD/Blu-ray set out of it. We shall see. Also, it has been announced that Babymetal has had over two billion hits on Spotify now, which is pretty darned good.

STRYPER

Christian rockers Stryper has a new album out called “The Greatest Gift Of All” on November 21.

YUNGBLUD

Three 2026 Grammy Awards nominations for Yungblud, Best Live Performance with “Changes” at the Ozzy/Black Sabbath gig at Villa Park back in July (with Nuno Bettencourt and others), “Idols” as Best Rock Album and “Zombie” as Best Rock Song. I think the Ozzy/Sabbath gig nailed it for him.

SAMMY HAGAR

Sammy Hagar has released a Double live CD called “The Residency” that features tracks from his entire career. Pretty good song list. Keeping the lagacy alive.

(My shot of Babymetal live, Babymetal ad and CD covers are from official platforms)

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Talk Of The Day (Asterism, Saki, Band-Maid)

Posted: November 3, 2025 in Best of Trinkelbonker, Classic Rock, Cool stuff, Japanese rock & metal, Magazines, Saki (guitarist), Talk of the day
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ASTERISM

Japanese trio Asterism will release a new album called “Kick Down The Wall” on January 14. They have just released a video for the song “Blink Of Ray” that is a rather brilliant piece of metal. I think they could go places with this new record.

SAKI

Our favourite guitarist Saki sold an exclusive CD single with the tunes “Redemption”/”Tempest” on her September solo dates in Japan. This will obviously become a highly valued release pretty fast. Another solo tour is coming up in February/March in Japan.

BAND-MAID

Band-Maid has the cover of the current issue of American rock publication New Noise. The new EP “Scooooop” is out. Two new songs are now to be used in anime television shows; “What Is Justice?” for Togen Anki and “Ready To Rock” for Rock Is A Lady´s Modesty.

(Top main image is part of the new Asterism album cover, which can also be seen / Saki CD and Band-Maid magazine cover inserted / All images are from official platforms)

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Talk Of The Day (Zilqy, Jam Project Featuring Babymetal, Cameron Crowe)

Posted: October 12, 2025 in Babymetal, Books, Classic Rock, Cool stuff, Hobby, Japanese rock & metal, Lovebites, Music (general), My photographs, Talk of the day, TV & Movies
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ZILQY

Japanese rockers Zilqy has signed up with digital platform Blood Blast Distribution (part of Nuclear Blast records), so they will be an international act right out of the gate. At least this is how I read it. In Japan, they are signed to the Maverick label. We shall see if the debut EP “Vacant Throne” pops up outside of Japan in early November.

JAM PROJECT FEATURING BABYMETAL

The third season of Japanese anime show “One Punch Man” sports a theme song titled “Get No Satisfied!” by Jam Project in collaboration with Babymetal. CD release in Japan is planned for November 12.

CAMERON CROWE

Film maker and former rock journalist (think “Almost Famous”) Cameron Crowe will publish the first of two books about his life in late October. Titled “The Uncool – A Memoir” it is likely to be a pretty good read.

(My Babymetal shot, Zilqy band shot, Jam Project CD and Crowe book covers is from official platforms)

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Talk Of The Day (Metalverse, Lovebites)

Posted: October 6, 2025 in Classic Rock, J-Pop, Japanese rock & metal, Lovebites, Talk of the day
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The Babymetal Family project Metalverse are opening for Babymetal in Asia right now (massive shows in Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) and Manila (Philippines). The first clips are starting to appear on YouTube. They have opened for Babymetal in Japan but we all know that law abiding citizens there would never dream of filming with their phones. The concept is very close to Babymetal, the lore, the dancing. However, the music is much more in the J-Pop field. My guess is that official product is in the pipeline and that it will not be long before we see a new video (maybe with footage captured live). As for Lovebites, there will be an after party (organized by fans) right after the New York show (November 4) right next to the venue at the Globe Bar in Manhattan. I think these after show parties is a wonderful idea.

(Metalverse image is from facebook, probably a still from a video / The Lovebites after party ad is doing the rounds on social media – No malice intended in using these here)

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Talk Of The Day (Purple, Yui, Asami, Meiko Kaji)

Posted: September 30, 2025 in Babymetal, Classic Rock, Cool stuff, Deep Purple Family, DVDs & Blu-rays, Hobby, J-Pop, Japanese rock & metal, Lovebites, Music (general), Talk of the day, TV & Movies
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DEEP PURPLE

We have a cool Deep Purple cover story in the German edition of Rolling Stone (issue 372), and it comes with a very exclusive single in the shape of two tracks from the classic 1972 live album “Made In Japan” in “Highway Star” and “Smoke On The Water”. I have to assume that this is from the recent Steven Wilson edition. Fans will love this.

YUI MIZUNO

Former Babymetal member Yuimetal (real name Yui Mizuno) is no longer part of the Amuse agency in Japan. She was a member of Babymetal between 2010 and 2018. Although she has not appeared in public since her last show with Babymetal (in Osaka on October 15 2017), she has remained part of the agency that recruited her all those years ago. Now she wishes to retire, or move on. Says Amuse in an official statement today; “After many discussions with (Mizuno) we have come to respect her wish to step away from the world of entertainment and to live life at her own pace. As such, we have agreed to bring her contract with us to an end at this time. We would like to take this opportunity to express our deepest gratitude to all the fans and everyone involved for your unwavering support over the years. Although she will no longer be part of our company, we sincerely wish to continue supporting (Mizuno) as she begins this next chapter of her life. We would be most grateful if you support her warmly for her personal decision”. I wish Yui all the best.

ASAMI

Lovebites singer Asami will be holding two Christmas concerts on December 21 in Tokyo. The members of Lovebites are quite active outside of the band when they have time off. Makes it all the more interesting to follow them all as they move on forward. I would love to buy a solo album from Asami, maybe a recording of these shows? Shades of Tarja Turunen here, which is nice. A good singer can do different things.

MEIKO KAJI

Well I mentioned actress/singer Meiko Kaji on the blog a few days ago and it is not hard to find some of her classic movies on DVD/Blu-ray. Both “Lady Snowblood” movies are available if you search hard enough and there is also a box with her “prison escape” films (seen above) out there, “Female Prisoner Scorpion – The Complete Collection”.

(Top images are from official platforms, my background shot)

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Talk Of The Day (ABBA, Miyako, Hades, Dianne)

Posted: September 29, 2025 in ABBA, Classic Rock, Cool stuff, DVDs & Blu-rays, Japanese rock & metal, Lovebites, Music (general), Talk of the day
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ABBA

Maybe I should not mention this (it is not an official release), but even if this is one of these dodgy affairs this 1980 live recording from the Budokan in Japan is kind of cool. Would have been way more interesting had it been an official release, but I do have a soft spot for live recordings from this particular venue.

MIYAKO

Lovebites member Miyako has added a piano cover of the Judas Priest (1990) classic “Painkiller” on the Lovebites YouTube page. It is taken from her upcoming solo release “Etude Op.25” that is released in late October. This version of “Painkiller” is absolutely brilliant.

HADES

Japanese rockers Hades has released a live DVD in Japan called “Battle, Ready”. It was recorded at the Chelsey Hotel venue in the Tokyo Shibuya district back in May.

DIANNE

Dianne van Giersbergen is putting out some great music that is eventually going to be released as a full album. Her latest song “The Elder´s Call” is really good (check out the video on YouTube) and there is more on the way. Dianne was the singer in Xandria between 2013 and 2017. She also has a project called Ex Libris (formed in 2004) that may still be active. But she will release music in her own name and this is what we are seeing being built up right now.

(All images are from official platforms or record stores, my background shot)

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