Red Dragon Cartel...The return of Jake E Lee

In the old days these lineup changes wouldn't be publicized.  What he's doing isn't all that uncommon really.

This just in: I am the new singer of Red Dragon Cartel.

...oops, wait, no, nevermind. I just quit.

You too? I just got let go!

Well, actually, it confused me a bit because I got notice of my firing BEFORE the "Congratulations" letter hit my mailbox. It was a weird Tuesday.

Better to let people go abruptly and have a lot of lineup changes than be stuck with someone who's holding you back.

Temple of Blood wrote:

In the old days these lineup changes wouldn't be publicized.  What he's doing isn't all that uncommon really.

You don't think if Ted Nugent was on tour back in the 70's and changed singers a few times thoughout, the publications of the day wouldn't report on it?

I'm thinking of bands who are just getting started, which is where I see Jake E Lee's new band right now. Even though he is a name he has been pretty much completely inactive for the last 20 years, especially on the live front.

MetalGuy71 wrote:

Temple of Blood wrote:

In the old days these lineup changes wouldn't be publicized.  What he's doing isn't all that uncommon really.

You don't think if Ted Nugent was on tour back in the 70's and changed singers a few times thoughout, the publications of the day wouldn't report on it?

Publications back then were monthly or, at best, weekly. Outside of pre-emptive promotion, abrubt changes were only public knowledge way after they happened.

Shawn Of Fire wrote:

MetalGuy71 wrote:

Temple of Blood wrote:

In the old days these lineup changes wouldn't be publicized.  What he's doing isn't all that uncommon really.

You don't think if Ted Nugent was on tour back in the 70's and changed singers a few times thoughout, the publications of the day wouldn't report on it?

Publications back then were monthly or, at best, weekly. Outside of pre-emptive promotion, abrubt changes were only public knowledge way after they happened.

I'm just trying to understand ToB's logic of "in the old days". Obviously things happen much faster now, but I think line-up changes would be reported on by the media, even if it was a week or month later. Sure it wouldn't be headline news, but Rolling Stone, Creem, Hit Parader etc, would cover known-name line-up changes, especially lead singers.

Unless he's talking about in the real, old, old days. I'm sure their wasn't as much media coverage when Glen Miller brought in a new clarinet player.

I think Jake E. Lee could've auditioned and played club gigs with 3 or so different singers in the days Badlands was forming and it would've gotten a small blurb in Metal Edge or something.  It wouldn't have the kind of publicity that Blabbermouth has with stories every 2 weeks.

But even that analogy isn't accurate because with Badlands he was only a few years removed from his high-profile Ozzy stint and with RDC he is decades removed.

ToB is correct, IMO.

Is Jake E Lee struggling with drugs or alcohol? This whole situation seems strange.

Witchfinder wrote:

Is Jake E Lee struggling with drugs or alcohol?  This whole situation seems strange.

Aside from the one guy that sang the wrong song, my take on it is that Jake is playing little, crappy bars and ain't making squat. A few months ago, when I saw Raven, it was in a tiny, crappy bar in downtown Philly. I felt a little bad for them. They are metal legends and here they are on this cramped stage playing to 50 drunks. There was a flier that the RDC was playing the same bar in a few weeks. Multiply that by a few weeks of touring and it becomes more clear.

The guys he's getting to play with him are older (presumably wiser) and are realizing that the gig is going nowhere. It sounds cliched, but rock n' roll is a young man's game. Hanging out with your buddies, touring the country in a busted up van for little-to-no pay is fun and exciting as a young kid. Not so much fun for grown men with wives, families and the need for steady income.

Maybe if he got hooked-up with some bigger festivals or as a opening act for a bigger name, things might be different. But I haven't seen him play any high-profile gigs yet. It's all small clubs and bars. That's my 2 cent opinion.

But hey, maybe I'm wrong. Maybe Jake's just a giant, drunken douche to work with.

MetalGuy71 wrote:

Witchfinder wrote:

Is Jake E Lee struggling with drugs or alcohol?  This whole situation seems strange.

Aside from the one guy that sang the wrong song, my take on it is that Jake is playing little, crappy bars and ain't making squat. A few months ago, when I saw Raven, it was in a tiny, crappy bar in downtown Philly. I felt a little bad for them. They are metal legends and here they are on this cramped stage playing to 50 drunks. There was a flier that the RDC was playing the same bar in a few weeks. Multiply that by a few weeks of touring and it becomes more clear.

The guys he's getting to play with him are older (presumably wiser) and are realizing that the gig is going nowhere. It sounds cliched, but rock n' roll is a young man's game. Hanging out with your buddies, touring the country in a busted up van for little-to-no pay is fun and exciting as a young kid. Not so much fun for grown men with wives, families and the need for steady income.

Maybe if he got hooked-up with some bigger festivals or as a opening act for a bigger name, things might be different. But I haven't seen him play any high-profile gigs yet. It's all small clubs and bars. That's my 2 cent opinion.

But hey, maybe I'm wrong. Maybe Jake's just a giant, drunken douche to work with.

You're probably right. Too Bad RDC is such a disaster.

Hey, kudos to Jake if he wants to start out at the bottom and work his way up the old-fashioned way after being out of the game for so long, but it's a longer, harder road in this day and at his age. Finding 3 or 4 others to take that trek with him is going to be even tougher.

I wonder if he's been contacted or has tried to contact folks from the M3 Festival or shows like that? Do a few festival gigs this summer and get a little more recognition.

I'm reminded a bit of seeing Jon Oliva when he did his storyteller tour. TSO was playing a huge stadium the night before or after and Jon was playing to a crowd of (mostly) drunks, albeit appreciative ones. That said, he was drinking himself and seemed to be having a ball, so while I felt bad at first, I half wondered if that wasn't all the more "fame" and spotlight he wanted - just playing to a handful of people who loved his music and having fun doing it. Maybe Jake is in the same boat, but he doesn't have TSO money backing him to make the band guys comfortable while doing it.

I saw Kreator in Seattle in 1995 play for a crowd of about 20 people in this little dive bar, I felt sorry for them, but they still put on a great show for the few of us that actually arrived. They even called out for requests during the gig...I blew out my voice screaming RIOT OF VIOLENCE at the top of my lungs.

I feel bad for Jake, he's such a talented guy, but there has to be more to his 20 year absence from the scene than we've heard about.

S.D. wrote:

I feel bad for Jake, he's such a talented guy, but there has to be more to his 20 year absence from the scene than we've heard about.  

That's what I was thinking.

I thought it was pretty much known that it was alcohol.

Temple of Blood wrote:

I thought it was pretty much known that it was alcohol.

I think there was lots of rumors and speculation about drugs and alcohol after he dropped off the map after Badlands, but there hasn't been any actual proof of that, has there? Didn't he address some of those rumors on 'That Metal Show'?

Also, in regards to RDC, as far as I know, none of the former members have come out in the press to bad mouth or blame Jake for their leaving. If he was a drunk, someone would've called him out on it by now.

I got to hang out with Jake and the rest of Badlands after a show they did at Slammers in West Virginia on their first tour (I was friends with the club owner, so I got backstage at every gig).

There was some drinking of course, but mostly it was joints being passed around.

assault_attack wrote:

Maybe this tread should be named  "Red Dragon Cartel...The End of Jake E Lee "    If he is having such a problem with singers, Then Go get Chris Logan... I thought he was awesome on retraced, In fact he was awesome on Retraced..

Ok, So nobody here has listened to Retraced to see how Chris Logan nailed all the vocals on that cd. Listen to the original versions & see.


So how about the singer from  Red Sea, Robin Kyle Basauri.   Red Sea had Badlands bassist Greg Chaisson and drummer Jeff Martin.

I think he suffers from Depression. After reading an article last year in Classic Rock magazine that is the gist I got. The way he was treated by Ozzy and Sharon and then the fallout with Ray Gillen and Ray's subsequent death as well as others close to Jake and the change in musical climate many moons ago may have been to much to handle. Anyway, just my two pennies.

Apparently Darren is still not out of the picture:


http://metalsludge.tv/rejoin-dragon-cartel-source-says-jake-e-lee-is-considering-darren-james-smith-return/

glassprison wrote:

Apparently Darren is still not out of the picture:


http://metalsludge.tv/rejoin-dragon-cartel-source-says-jake-e-lee-is-considering-darren-james-smith-return/

this frontman-apalooza is starting to make White Wizzard jealous!!

This is just getting ridiculous