By: Robert Cavuoto
Jake E. Lee is best known for his work in Badlands and as guitarist for Ozzy Osbourne on Bark at the Moon and The Ultimate Sin albums.
But now he is out on his own with his new band Red Dragon Cartel. They have only done a few shows to date but on Friday, January 24th they made a stop at The Grove in Anaheim, California, for NAMM Jam 2014 (National Association of Music Merchants).
This was an industry event only open to NAMM attendees from around the world. RDC played much of their new CD which was release this January 28th, as well as some Ozzy Osbourne songs that Jake wrote when he was in the band like, “Ultimate Sin,” “Rock n Roll Rebel,” and closed out the night with a thunderous version of “Bark at Moon” as the encore. Stand out songs for new RDC material was “Deceived,” “Feeder,” and “Shout it Out”. They even did “High Wire” and “Sun Red Sun” off of Bandland’s first CD as a tribute to one the greatest singers of all time, Ray Gillian.
During breaks in the action fans yelled out, “We love you!” and Jake humbly smiled and thanked them. He has been gone far too long and everyone in attendance was excited to see him play. The band played for about 90 minutes and Jake dazzled the crowd showing everyone he still has what it takes to be a guitar hero.
Jake’s main guitar for the night was his white Charvel signature series with no locking tremolo system. All the bends and dives were done by bending the neck as well as the strings above the nut.
I asked him after the show why he only brought one guitar and his response took me aback, “Because Charvel only made me one!”
There you have it. Charvel please send Jake a few more guitars! It didn’t matter whether he had one or 10 guitars, you could feel the passion in every note he played coupled with the expressions on his face.
The band was honest and raw; no smoke, videos, gimmicks, or pyrotechnics, just in your face rock ‘n roll that had everybody watching Jake’s hands all night. At one point, Jake used a glass salt shaker as a slide on a burning blues version of Badlands song “Rumblin’ Train”.
Singer, DJ Smith may have had a rough start on their first show in Hollywood a month or so back, but tonight he was in perfect form belting out tune after tune. He had a strong stage presence with great vocal abilities – a perfect fit for the band. No apologies needed tonight! The band also includes bassist; Ronnie Mancuso and drummer; Jonas Fairley.
I think Red Dragon Cartel is a new band building on something big. They hit the road in March for a U.S. tour, be sure to see them and pick up their debut CD available now!
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