New York, NY (Top40 Charts) The BRIAN SETZER ORCHESTRA-led by iconic guitarist, songwriter, vocalist and three-time Grammy-award-winner BRIAN SETZER-have announced their exclusive
Black Friday Record Store Day release, which further celebrates the band's 25th anniversary in 2017. Pressed on neon blue vinyl, the 12″ single LP, 25 LIVE!, features two never-before-released live songs, "Let There Be Rock" (raucous rendition of AC/DC's classic track) and "Gene & Eddie" (a big bandversion of the Stray Cats song)andwill drop on Friday, November 24 with participating record stores.
"When I wanted to try another musical idea and put BSO together, people just laughed at me," says BRIAN SETZER, looking back. "It feels like I've taken this monumental, impossible task and have been able to do this for 25 years. It's an incredible feeling."
Earlier this year (August), THE BRIAN SETZER ORCHESTRA kicked off the celebration of their 25th anniversary in style with an exclusive landmark show at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles. Under the stars at the legendary venue where they've performed twice before, SETZER's trademark guitar work and vocal stylings were matched with his 19-piece orchestra's rockin' big-band horn arrangements, making for an unbeatable combination.
Currently, THE BRIAN SETZER ORCHESTRA are gearing up for the launch their 14th annual "Christmas Rocks!" tour. The national tour kicks off November 10 in Minneapolis, MN and will hit 34 cities before wrapping on December 28 in Bellingham, WA. Tickets are on sale now and all dates can be viewed here.
In their 25 years together, the BRIAN SETZER ORCHESTRA have released 14 albums (10 studio and four live). "The music I play in the big band is rock n' roll with a jazz influence," says SETZER. "What keeps it fresh is the quality of the players in the band. Also a big part of keeping the big band fresh is the arrangements; writing the arrangement for 18-19 people is like writing a song within a song. It makes the song you might have heard many times sound new again."
BRIAN SETZER belongs to an elite group of artists who've had three super successful phases of his career, from the Stray Cats, to solo albums, to BSO. The BSO show seamlessly encompasses music from all these phases. "It's all about the set list," he says. "A good set list has a lot of hills and valleys; it has to go up and down. I like it to kind of cover my career, I like it to start with some Stray Cats, because I love that kind of music with the big band behind it and of course some of the big band stuff that everybody knows, we had quite a few hits. But then I also like to cover some things I haven't played in a long time."
ABOUT BRIAN SETZER:
Iconic guitarist, songwriter, vocalist and 3-time Grammy-award-winner BRIAN SETZER is a "Musician's Musician" credited with continually taking chances with innovative and daring musical styles. Setzer is widely credited for taking two forgotten genres, rockabilly and swing, adding his own blend of gunpowder and rockin style, and completely reinventing and single-handedly resurrecting them in the process. Along the way, he has scored chart-topping hits, sold 13 million records and received the Orville H. Gibson Lifetime Achievement Award throughout his decorated career as founder/leader of the Stray Cats, his 19-piece
Brian Setzer Orchestra, and as a solo artist. He is consistently cited as one of the world's greatest living guitarists, and has a best-selling, extensive line of elite Gretsch signature model guitars bearing his name. BRIAN appeared in the 1987 film, La Bamba, portraying rockabilly pioneer Eddie Cochran. In 2002, BRIAN earned the privilege of being one of the few musicians to be animated in an episode of "The Simpsons." That same year, SETZER was personally requested to induct Chet Atkins into the 17th Annual Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. SETZER had the honor of being invited in 2006 to perform at the White House for the President of the United States. In 2014, SETZER received the distinct honor of being asked by the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. to donate a replica of his original 1959 Gretsch 6120 "Stray Cat" guitar, joining an elite collection of iconic treasures at the museum.
