In addition to all of the jaw dropping items consigned by our headliner artists, the auction will also feature rarities and never before seen relics from the private collections of music industry professionals.
Backstage Auctions is excited about the “Rock
Gods and Metal Monsters” Auction coming up in April - and for good reason! In
addition to the insane gear and equipment (see the gear highlight article) we have in this auction from rock icons like Scott Ian, Charlie Benante, Rudy Sarzo and John Tempesta, we have an
overabundance of vintage and rare vinyl, t-shirts, posters, backstage passes,
tour itineraries, handwritten lyrics - and just about any type of promotional
item imaginable!
Over the years we have established unique relationships with many of the music industry’s people behind the scenes -
from record company executives and artist management to celebrated
photographers and renowned journalists. When these folks consign with us, it
enables us to offer things that would normally never be made available to the
general public. Promotional items, for example, that were only distributed to small inner circles - or advance vinyl or CDs, personal correspondence,
contracts, notes, lyrics, etc. The “Rock Gods and Metal Monsters” Auction is
filled with all of this, and more! We’re so excited about this stuff, we feel
compelled to highlight a couple of things before
the preview begins!
Even today, long after their prime, its hard to imagine Guns N’ Roses as anything less than a Rock n’ Roll juggernaut selling out arenas
worldwide. But before they became global rock stars, they were an LA Glam-Rock band
with a new record deal, trying to get a break. This auction features one of the
earliest known Guns N’ Roses press kits: an original ‘Appetite For Destruction’
press kit, complete with 6-page press release and a very rare and obscure 7”
flexi-disc, which contains snippets of the album with commentary to each of the
songs! This incredibly rare press kit is also paired with a sealed copy of the
‘Appetite For Destruction’ withdrawn first pressing that contains the banned
artwork!
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| Guns N' Roses First Sealed Album & Press Kit |
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| Guns N' Roses First Press Kit w/ Flexi-Disc - Super Rare |
Another incomprehensibly rare lot of goodies featured in
this auction comes from our pal Walter O’Brien, long time manager of Pantera -
among many other notable Hard Rock and Heavy Metal bands. From his vault we’ve
assembled an exceptional several collections of original artwork proofs, such as for the making
of the 1997 official Pantera ‘Watch It Go’ video, including 36 individual
sheets of various sizes, which show a progression of ideas that eventually
evolved into the final artwork. Among these is an original drawing by Dimebag
Darrell for the artwork of the video box, done on the back of a Pantera set
list! The lot also features an additional dozen or so sketches from Dime, faxed
to Walter. What a unique look into how some of these things develop.
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| Dimebag Darrell Original Art Sketch (backside of set list) |
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| Set list featuring Dimebag Darrell's sketch on the backside. |
Also from Walter O’Brien is this incredible lot of Phil Anselmo’s original handwritten lyrics for Down’s “II” album! Featuring 13 pages in all,
these ‘raw’ versions contain corrections, scratched out words, some doodles and
perhaps even some changes from the final printed version!
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| Phil Anselmo's Handwritten Lyrics for Down's "II". |
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| Steve Vai's Whitesnake Coat |
Occasionally our consignors surprise us with something so
unique and rare, it is truly a one-of-a-kind item. Such is the case with this
custom jacket that belonged to none other than legendary guitar virtuoso Steve Vai! Vai wore this during his stint with Whitesnake in the late 80s, and can be
seen wearing it in official Tour Programs from that era (available in the
auction), as well as the following official video:
Equally as impressive is this early 1980s Van Halen t-shirt,
stage worn and personally mutilated by David Lee Roth! Roth was notorious for
ripping off his shirt and throwing it into the audience, and would often do so
with official Van Halen shirts. Well, this indeed is one of those shirts! He
can be seen wearing this very shirt in this concert photo taken from a September
10, 1982 Van Halen concert at the L.A. Forum in Inglewood , California
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| DLR Stage worn t-shirt. |
DLR - Live on stage wearing t-shirt
While we’re discussing clothing, we’d be silly not to
mention this next item! This is an extremely rare, heavy duty leather jacket
that was issued by Epic Records in a very limited quantity for the 1990 Judas Priest ‘Painkiller’ tour. Distribution of this jacket was strictly limited to
the band, band management and select record executives only!
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| Judas Priest 1990 Leather Tour Jacket |
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| Judas Priest - backside view of Painkiller Leather Tour Jacket |
When it comes to rare clothing
items available in the auction, this next item ranks pretty high up there! Few
shirts are as collectible and sought after among Pearl Jam fans as this 1991
‘Rookie’ tour shirt. Prior to taking the Pearl Jam name, the band was called
‘Mookie Blalock’, after the NBA rookie for the New Jersey Nets. These shirts
are highly sought after, and the “Rock Gods and Metal Monsters” auction will
have two of them available!
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| Early 1990s rare Pearl Jam "Rookie" t-shirt. |
This next item is certainly worthy of mention as well!
Nirvana turned the Rock and Metal world upside down with the release of their
single “Smells Like Teen Spirit” in 1991, which undoubtedly put “Grunge” and
“Alternative” on the map. The video for “Teen Spirit” was just as epic as the
single itself and is still considered one of the greatest rock videos of all
time! We are thrilled to have in our possession an original casting call flyer
for the “Teen Spirit” video that was handed out at the conclusion of Nirvana’s
August 15, 1991 show at the Roxy Theatre in Hollywood ,
Los Angeles
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| Nirvana Video Casting Call Flyer |
Did we mention all of the awesome record awards available in
the auction? Like this Metallica RIAA 12X Platinum Record Award for the
Self-Titled, or “Black” album! There are so many distinctive record awards just
like this one in the “Rock Gods and Metal Monsters” Auction, you’ll have to see
it to believe it!
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| Metallica "Metallica" RIAA 12x Platinum Award |
This
“Rock Gods and Metal Monsters” Auction will feature an absurd amount of vinyl -
be it vintage, rare, sealed, promotional or all of the above. One small record
that stands out to us in this enormous collection is the very first White Zombie 7 inch! 'Gods on Voodoo Moon' is the very first recording and
release by White Zombie, released as an EP in 1985 under their own indie label
Silent Explosion. Because the lack of funds at the time only 300 copies of
vinyl were pressed at Macola Records Hollywood, California, 100 of which were
sold while the others remained in the possession of the band members. There is
no denying that this is without question the single most sought-after White
Zombie record and we're simply ecstatic to be able to offer this dead mint
copy, hand numbered #160/300. Additionally, the front of the sleeve is signed
by White Zombie bassist Sean Yseult!
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| White Zombie's First Vinyl Release |
Talk about something unique and
rare that just looks down right
radical! Take a look at this B.C. Rich
Warlock signed by Type O Negative, including the legendary Pete Steele! The guitar itself is such a reflection of
Metal music - factor in the autographs, and it becomes infinitely cooler.
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| B.C. Rich Warlock Signed by the members of Type of Negative. |
We wouldn’t feel complete if we
didn’t share a little Anthrax, seeing as Scott Ian is our highlighted consignor
this year! In addition to numerous guitars, effects, clothing and promotional
items, Scott has generously turned over his personal poster collection! One can
only imagine the amount of exceptionally rare stuff you might find in the personal collection of one of Metal’s most notorious guitar players who has been
grinding out tours around the globe for 30+ years! This particular poster
stands out as one that just seems so dang cool because its from such an obscure
show from early in their career! And c’mon - a Belgium
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| Rare 1986 Anthrax Belgium Concert Poster |
As April draws near, be sure to check
back periodically for updates and more sneak peaks into our epic Backstage
Auctions “Rock Gods and Metal Monsters” Auction. We guarantee this is NOT one
you will want to miss! There are an abundance of one-of-a-kind items. Clearly
we are giddy like naughty schoolgirls about the whole thing. We hope you share our
excitement!
Tune in to our special VIP PREVIEW
beginning April 14! The Auction goes live April 21st and ends April
29th.
Grab your VIP All Access Credentials now: Register Here (it's free and takes 2 minutes)
Grab your VIP All Access Credentials now: Register Here (it's free and takes 2 minutes)
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