Young sibling band rocks out to Rammstein and....Medieval classics?

I came across this article that highlights a sibling band called the "Children Medieval Band," with siblings Stefan (9), Olga (8), and Cornelia (5).  They all play a number of instruments and practice and perform covers of their favorite songs.  Their parents have modified some of the lyrics of the songs, making them more appropriate for the young trio.  Check them out!

The Children Medieval Band Rock Out Rammstein Tunes

If you think there’s no correlation between metal and cuteness, you’ve yet to witness the Children Medieval Band rocking out covers of their favorite Rammstein classics.

The adorable trio is made up of three siblings, with the wee drummer Cornelia clocking in at a whopping five years old. Stefan, the elder-statesmen of the group, is nine years old and plays a bevy of instruments from violin to keyboard, to trumpet and xylophone. His eight year old sister Olga rocks the violin and keys as well.

According to some stats posted by the trio’s parents on their YouTube page, the three children practice music an hour a day and look tense because they are concentrating on their recordings and they don’t really like “shake-butt” music. Future metalheads in the making?

As far as any concerns for their youngsters playing Rammstein tunes, their parents say that the children are well-rounded and love everything from Little Richard to Rammstein. They feel that the “unique combination of immense power, tension, glorious themes and subtle infusion of good taste romanticism, makes them [Rammstein] the best musicians of the past 20 years.”

Thanks to MetalInsider.net for turning us on to these mini-metalers!



Performing "Ich Will" by Rammstein:     Performing "Mon Amy" by Tielman Susato, a Medieval song:  

New Documentary Depicts Fan’s Quest to Meet Metallica’s Lars Ulrich

A new documentary titled ‘Mission to Lars’ centers on Tom Spicer, a learning disabled man who goes on a quest to meet his hero, Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich. Spicer has Fragile X Syndrome, which is a sort of autism, and is helped on his journey by his brother and sister.

Kate and William Spicer hit the road with their brother Tom, traveling from the UK to Los Angeles, Las Vegas and beyond.  “We had this fantasy of hitting the road with Tom and recreating some of the magic of our teenage years cruising around in £100 cars, eating Burger King and listening to heavy metal on the tape deck,” says Kate. “We thought it would be fun, bonding. We wanted to do something good for our brother. We were also sick of him endlessly asking.”

Kate is a journalist and William a filmmaker, so they have experience in the music industry, but still ran across numerous obstacles in trying to fulfill their brother’s dream. Mencap, the British charity who works with learning disabled individuals, were involved in the making of the film.

The movie’s website says ‘Mission to Lars’ tells the story of the confusing family dynamics around learning disability, and portrays Tom as a complex and likeable character, and not as someone one sees first as learning disabled and everything else second.

In addition to entertaining the audience and raising awareness, ‘Mission to Lars’ is also giving all the profits from the film to Mencap. In June, there will be theatrical screenings of the documentary, which will also be used as outreach opportunities. The soundtrack includes music from Bob Dylan, Devandra Banhart and Blur.

Lars Ulrich himself has seen the movie, and according to the Spicer family, he likes it. Sounds like an interesting documentary with a great message for a worthy cause. In addition to some British screenings, the filmmakers plan on taking ‘Mission To Lars’ on the road.

Alice Cooper Speaks to School Board About the Importance of Music

Alice Cooper rocks Paradise Valley School Board meeting 

by Carina Sonn 

Bio | Email | Follow: @carinasonn

azfamily.com

Posted on April 6, 2012 at 12:17 PM

PHOENIX -- Valley rock legend Alice Cooper made an appearance at a Paradise Valley School Board meeting on Thursday night.

Cooper was speaking on behalf of The Mr. Holland's Opus Foundation, a national organization that donates instruments to under-funded school music programs.

The foundation awarded $20,000 dollars worth of instruments to Arrowhead Elementary School. The school received the donation in response to a grant application.

The donation means some student will no longer have to share their instruments.

"There are kids out there that really want to play that just can't afford it and here they are, here's the instrument, put it in their hands and just watch them go. Maybe some of them won't be great musicians but so what - it's something that they're doing that they love," said Cooper.

Jackie Moran, a student at Arrowhead Elementary said, "Music is like my life. I love music so much. We didn't really have a lot of instruments at our school so I'm really happy that we got it."

Cooper, who grew up in Glendale, told the school board that his band started while he was a student at Cortez High School, "The amazing thing is is I see these kids here everybody's got their instruments like it's a prize. You can take this away. Their culture is involved in their art and their music."

Cooper is getting ready to open The Rock at 32nd Street Teen Center in just a couple of weeks. The facility will provide free music and dance lessons to teenagers.

"Basically to get kids in gangs out of gangs and into music," explained Cooper. "We feel that if we can change one 13-year-old kid that will change everything. I mean there's a kid out there right now probably selling drugs that might be the best guitar player in Arizona. He just doesn't know it. So we're gonna put the guitar in his hand and say try this."

While addressing the school board, Cooper had this message for the students in the audience: "Music is way important guys so all of you kids that are learning right now stay with it it's gonna be with you the rest of your life, calculus probably won't be."

David Ellefson releases book with his own lyrics

Unsung

Words and Images

By David Ellefson

Unsung captures the latest chapter in the life of one of metal music’s most iconic and influential artists, as he explores a new medium for his lyrical creativity. The book is also David’s first venture into the realm of self-publishing and as a result, he encourages the reader to utilize his new and original lyrics under license from him for their own songs. In this manner, song-writers of all levels can actually become a co-writer with David. As bassist for the rock group MEGADETH, David has been a regular contributor to one of Metal music’s most enduring legacies. Followers of David’s work will be delighted that Unsung proves to be yet another unique narrative from a man who is known for creating fresh and innovative ways to inspire and connect with his fans. 

 

Unsung by David Ellefson | Make Your Own Book

Interview: Megadeth's David Ellefson Discusses His New Book, Unsung: Words & Images'

Lately, a musician releasing a book is nothing unusual, and Megadeth bassist David Ellefson has joined the fray, releasing Unsung: Words & Images, a self-published book of his lyrics and photograph.

Guitar World caught up with Ellefson, who offered some insight into the book.

GUITAR WORLD: You recently released a self-published book, Unsung: Words & Images. Can you tell us what inspired the project and how it got started?

I have a lot of lyrics from just the past few months, ideas that were really good, but I wasn't necessarily inspired to go through the process of writing music around them all. Setting the lyrics to photo images opened up a whole new realm of creativity with these words and didn't confine me to having to edit ideas to fit into a specific musical genre, either.

Were the works in the book written specifically for the book?

Much like when you compile a musical album, the lyrics started to shape the book very naturally. Once I realized the potential, I had to not be locked into writing only genre-specific lyrics, other ideas started to flow effortlessly. Pieces like "Sweet Affections," "Goddess Divine" and even "The Cycle" really helped round out the book and give it some unique emotion and variety that I may not have been able to put on a musical album with many of the same lyrics.

The photos used in with each piece -- were they take with a piece in mind or did you look through photos to find what fit your vision?

I was really blessed to find a fantastic creative team to help me put this book together. Raffaella is a photographic artist and, as a result, she has so many great photos we were able to utilize. Her specialty is taking random, thought-provoking photos of various subjects, much the same way I create thought through lyric ideas. Bringing our creative works together with mine was a really unique way to co-create with our respective mediums.

When you write a lyric, you will typically have a melody and form in mind. Was it liberating to be able to just let the lyrics flow naturally?

Sometimes I will have a melody, or even start with a riff and then put lyrics over the song. But when starting with a lyric, I usually just let an idea flow in order to convey the story I have in mind. The trick in putting lyrics to music is that you are often then required to edit your words to fit into the music, either because of space, rhyme or even the simplicity the words require for the listener to grasp the story. That is really the difference between story telling versus lyric writing. Lyrics have to be musical!

This book didn't confine me to have to edit lyrics to fit musical nuances. In fact, I found it really became much more open, like poetry or even spoken word, because the music wasn't dictating to me how I should edit my words to convey my thoughts. That is why the photos are so important, because they reinforce the words to the reader to really go in depth with the thoughts I'm conveying. The photos are visually doing what the music would be audibly doing if these were songs.

What drew you to go the self-published route with the book?

The book publishing business has evolved much like the record business. Today, artists and writers don't have to toil in vain over their creations, only to have some corporate giant reject their work because it may not fit their sales objectives. More and more in recent years, I have really embraced the DIY work ethic because I'm not profit driven but rather creative driven. I really subscribe to the belief that when you can create at your best, all the perks of that will flow naturally anyway and that's the freedom self-publishing now affords writers.

Do you have aspirations to do more publishing beyond Unsung?

Yes, for sure. I'm definitely a communication kind of guy! I like to put thoughts down on paper, audio, video, etc. It's just how I'm wired. So this whole process has really opened up my sphere of creating more in a literary sense, and even being available to help others publish and release their own books, too.

I think at this point the actual physical printing of books is shrinking because of the new formats for digital distribution, like Apple's iBooks, Kindle, etc. Unsung was specifically created to be a high-gloss print book, but I must say that the iBooks version looks fantastic and it is a fraction of the price because there is no printing and shipping involved. It creates a very high-quality version for another kind of book buyer now. It's following the same road as the physical manufacture of CDs vs. a purchase from iTunes.

Can you give us an update on your "David Ellefson Rocks Shop" iPhone app?

Yes! We are finishing the feature set on it as we speak and we are aiming for a launch first week of April. It will be available in the App store from there. It's a fun app, but it's really become a new type of digital work station for musicians to practice and create with. More info available at pocketlabworks.com and davidellefson.com in the coming days.

Listen to an interview with David about his book (the first 18 minutes).