Veteran female rockers VIXEN have recorded recorded a new single as well as an acoustic version of one of the band's classic hits. Guitarist Brittany Denaro (a.k.a. Britt Lightning) told Guitar World: "[The acoustic version] has a bit of a different vibe than the original, but it came together pretty spontaneously as we were jamming on it in the studio." The new VIXEN recordings are expected to be included as "bonus surprises" on the band's upcoming live album, which was recorded on August 12 at the Arcada Theatre in St. Charles, Illinois. The disc is being mixed by Michael Wagener (METALLICA, MEGADETH, ALICE COOPER, DOKKEN, SKID ROW) at his WireWorld studio outside of Nashville, Tennessee. Brittany joined VIXEN as the replacement for Gina Stile, who left the band earlier in the year. Denaro and new keyboardist Tyson Leslie made their live debut with VIXEN on March 25 at the Rock The Arena II festival at Savage Arena in Toledo, Ohio. Stile originally played with VIXEN in 1997-1998 and returned to the band in 2013 as the replacement for the group's deceased founding guitarist Jan Kuehnemund. Brittany previously played guitar for LA BANDA DE ALEJANDRO SANZ, CHIX 6 – THE MUSICAL and Rachel Platten. Asked how she landed the gig with VIXEN, Denaro told Guitar World: "I was playing with an all-female GUNS N' ROSES tribute band at a pre-party for the Monsters Of Rock cruise. Coincidentally, the person who put it on also happened to be VIXEN's manager. He had known that there was some tension in the band and that they were looking for another guitar player. After the show, he spoke to the girls and told them he thought I'd be a perfect fit. Ironically, around the same time Janet [Gardner, vocals/guitar], Share [Ross, bass] and Roxy [Petrucci, drums] had been asking around and my name kept popping up, so they followed up. It was that simple." Denaro also talked about the first time she played with VIXEN. "I was a bit nervous," she said. "Growing up, I had been in all-girl bands but there weren't many of them to really look up to. I remember the first time I got together with them was without Janet. It was just the music and that took a little bit of the pressure off. Because everyone lived all over the country, the first time I actually met Janet was the night before we did a show together." Gardner released her debut solo album in August via Pavement Entertainment.
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