I’m not gonna front like I was a big Bang Tango fan in the band’s late ’80s / early ’90s heyday — I could maybe hum you a few bars of “Someone Like You” (pre-Adele) at best, but I was really too young — although I’ve enjoyed their music enough since then to loosely follow whatever Joe LeSte is doing, and I absolutely LOVED the debut Beautiful Creatures album. I have no idea how many times Bang Tango have broken up and gotten back together or who played in the band each time, but  whenever something new comes out that says “Bang Tango” on it I’m always interested in a listen.

BT’s new album Pistol Whipped In The Bible Belt came out in September of last year, and now they’ve released a music video for “I Like It,” posted below. The video isn’t nearly half as entertaining as the video of drunken Joe LeSte babbling to an audience, but the song itself is catchy and memorable and LeSte sounds really good (and, in the beginning, very zezy and un-LeSte-like). Watch it below, then get freaky with us in the comments section.

-VN

When Metal Sludge reminded us of its glory days last month with a new list of the Top 10 Drunkest Living Rock Stars of All Time I was surprised to see Bang Tango / Beautiful Creatures frontman Joe LeSte place #9. I mean it wouldn’t surprise me if he was a drunk, but could he really out-do Chris Holmes’ famous pool interview, ranked at #10?

Then I saw this footage, linked in the article:

Note his band members roll their eyes after being addressed as “fuckheads” following a minute of Joe’s drunken ranting. Followed by more ranting, more eye-rolling and a lame cover. With a missed intro cue. This video is sad in so many ways!

And then this:

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Kevin Dubrow is dead, and I think that most of us assumed he would take Quiet Riot (the seventh most-often-miscategorized-as-a-hair-metal-band of all time) with him to the grave. Those of us who did make that assumption, however, forgot that desperate times call for desperate measures, and an empty belly holds no room for dignity.

So Quiet Riot are re-forming.

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So Rocklahoma, the once cock-rockalicious festival, may be a wash this year, but it seems that there’s already a new fest to grab ahold of the Aquanet and let us relive our youth gone wile: Rock N America, which take place from July 23 to July 25 in – get this – Oklahoma. Huh.

The line-up basically plays like a who’s who of who shoulda been playing Rocklahoma this year: Scorpions, Twisted Sister, Ratt, Warrant, Dokken, Great White, Enuff Z’Nuff, Bullet Boys, Faster Pussycat, and the Tracii Guns/Jizzy Pearl version of L.A. Guns are all the bill. More bands will be announced soon; in my imagination that will include whatever is passing for Skid Row these days, Vince Neil, Adler’s Appetite, Beautiful Creatures and/or Bang Tango, and the other version of L.A. Guns. But who knows.

It is worth noting that the fest will take place at the Zoo Amphitheatre, which a) has a smaller capacity than the giant open fields of Rocklahoma and b) isn’t just a cool name from some venue, but, rather, is called the “Zoo Amphitheatre” because it’s actually at the fucking zoo. So unless it’s always been Chip Z’Nuff’s dream to play for a crowd of zebras, this isn’t going to be quite the event that Rocklahoma was for these bands.

Still, you should visit the Rock N America website, even if you’re not really interested in attending the show, because, well, it’s like the shittiest website of 1994 and is consequently pretty hilarious.

-AR

[via Bring Back Glam]

It’s the kind of thing that happens mostly in dreams and Mark Wahlberg movies, but a random fan actually got to fill-in on vocals with one his favorite bands this past weekend. When Bang Tango (and Beautiful Creatures) frontman Joe LeSte was taken ill prior to their November 25th performance in Chicago, a man by the name of TJ did a respectable job taking LeSte’s place for an abbreviated 5 song set. Bang Tango aren’t quite Judas Priest and Joe LeSte ain’t exactly Rob Halford, but this story is still pretty fucking cool. That guy will remember this night forever.

Here’s some fan-filmed footage of TJ performing “Someone Like You” with Bang Tango.

What’s the current status of Beautiful Creatures, anyway? Which third-rate guitarist is currently filling the slot vacated by second-rate GN’R axeman DJ Ashba? Inquiring metal bloggers would like to know.

-VN

Folks, it’s finally happened. We’ve often lampooned the hilarity that there are currently two touring bands calling themselves L.A. Guns and two touring bands calling themselves Faster Pussycat, each featuring various combinations of ex-members of those groups. And we suppose that the eventual tour featuring both bands was completely inevitable; but it’s newsworthy (and funny) nonetheless. Just goes to prove that down and out musicians will do pretty much anything to make a buck and avoid having to get an actual 9-5 job. Bang Tango will round out the bill for the tour, which extends from early July to August and looks like it will cover most of the U.S.

For anyone actually keeping track, this is the Tracii Guns version of L.A. Guns (touting the “original” lineup that never got anywhere) and the Taime Down version of Faster Pussycat (lacking the group’s namesake guitarist Brent Muscat).

We’re just waiting for the announcement that both version of L.A. Guns will team up for a supertour with both versions of Faster Pussycat. Never say never…

-VN

Bang Tango frontman Joe Leste underwent quite a transformation from his heyday in the late ’80s to his turn-of-the-century “GN’R for the new milleunium” project Beautiful Creatures.

Leste may never have made as pretty a girl as Bret Michaels, but he did his damndest to try in the “Breaking Up A Heart Of Stone” video:

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Contrast that with the tough-guy / biker image of recent years in the Beautiful Creatures video for “Step Back”:

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We hear rumors of a Bang Tango appearance at Rocklahoma 2008. Say it ain’t so, Joe! We’re still waiting for that next BC tour.

-VN

A band — US 66 — whose members consist of Tracii Guns (L.A. Guns) on guitar, Joe LeSte (Bang Tango, Beautiful Creatures) on vocals, Steven Adler (Adler’s Appetite, ex-Guns N’ Roses) on drums, Chip Z’Nuff (Enuff Z’nuff) on bass, and Michael Thomas (Faster Pussycat) on guitar ought to be able to perform a somewhat decent version of the Guns N’ Roses classic “Welcome to the Jungle,” right? Wrong.

What probably started as a fun, drunken idea (“Hey duuuudez! Let’s play Welcome to the Jungle” tonight! It’ll be awesome!”) ended as a trainwreck at last summer’s Rocklahoma festival. What with Tracii Guns proclaiming “We started Guns N’ Roses together” after introducing Steven Adler — which, while technically the truth he had NOTHING to do with “Welcome to the Jungle” — then the band members guessing when to come in after the intro, flubbing notes, and some of the sloppiest guitar playing I’ve ever heard, the result is downright embarrassing. Have a looksie.

-VN

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